Ficlets

Able Passage

Time to shoot my morning stars. We lost all electrical power two days ago and I forgot to buy extra batteries for the GPS before we left English Harbour. Bring out the sextant

The 21st C. and we three are back in the 19th. No time travel, just reality on a sailboat with a non-functioning engine and no electricity, making a passage from Antigua to Bermuda.

The horizon is a barely visible division between the black sea and the very dark blue of the heavens right now but becoming more solid by the minute. Vega, Deneb and Altair are all visible in the eastern sky. Shoot them first and then Jupiter to the southeast and Antares almost due south.

Find Vega in the scope, bring it down to the horizon, a little swing to be sure – Hey! The horizon just curved upward!

Drop the sextant away from my eye and look to the eastern horizon. The sea is apparently swelling, as I search for a reason. There has been little wind for the past two days but it could be a swell from some disturbance far to the east.

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