(The Silence of Ancient Light, continued)
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An hour passed, and then another one, or at least so it seemed to Anna. Without sight of the sky, and without easy access to Jaci’s tablet, she could not really be sure. Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she realized it was not quite complete, though nearly so. The hatch was well sealed, but still a faint circle of dim grey outlined its circumference and provided some small reference in the pitch black. Occasionally the circle would be obscured, and she knew that was Jaci, between the hatch and her, shifting about to find some less uncomfortable position.
The hold may have been dark, but it was far from silent. Only a few centimeters of wood separated Anna’s ear from the ocean waters outside. The port outrigger in which she and Jaci were hiding was windward, and with the trimaran beating upwind on its southerly course the narrow hull spent most of its time lifted out of the water. The water was not flat, however, and as the boat climbed each wave the outrigger plunged into it, surrounding them with frothy, noisy, bubbling sounds of the sea sluicing past, until the stomach-dropping moment when the boat crested the wave before tipping down into the next trough. These were not big waves, nor deep troughs, and it was not a strong wind, but with only sound and motion to go by, it felt like the previous night’s storm remained with them.
Fortunately, Anna’s nose gradually adjusted to the initially overwhelming odor of fish. The hold was mostly dry, though not completely, and didn’t seem to have been used for quite some time, but the not-quite-rotten smell permeated the wooden planking. In the first hour, she could hear Jaci trying hard not to retch, and he muttered a few choice comments about the environment, but equally fortunately he managed to control his reaction. Anna sympathized, as she too fought not to feel sick. By the third hour, however, the aroma, like the noise, had become background: present, but no longer overpowering.
Read more at
(2,093 words; 8 min 22 sec reading time)
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When last we left our heroes, they had locked themselves into the dark, smelly, claustrophobic holds of a small fishing boat and entrusted their fates to a teenage alien. The invading Orta were hot on their trail and about to intercept their boat at any moment. What would happen when they arrive? Could Ca-Tren, the youthful Kwakitl, talk their way out of a jam? Or would the Orta simply shoot her on sight, as they had already done to others back at her village? Or would Ca-Tren give them up to save her own feathered skin?
Follow the link above to read the entire scene, here on this site. And if you do, feel free to drop me a comment, here or on the scene page itself, with your thoughts. This is a work-in-progress, after all, and also an early beta read, so I welcome your feedback. Or, feel free to just read it for your own enjoyment. It’s free!
If you haven’t been following along from the beginning, however, you might want to go back and start from there. With this new scene, we’re currently up to a 72,000 word count for the entire story, and there’s still more to come. And every part of it written so far is available here on the website. Look to the menu at the top of this page, under Works in Progress / Alpha Reads, for the entire chapter and scene listing, also available in list form under the title page for The Silence of Ancient Light, and under each chapter heading. Or, click here on Arrival to go straight to the first scene! A link at the end of each scene will take you straight to the next one, so it’s easy to keep reading in order without having to pop back out to the menu.
header image credit: user:GeorgeB2 / pixabay.com under Pixabay License
Matt Fraser 