yes, as long as they followed the etiquette.
Daniel wondered how long it would take him to walk to the harbour. His training as a soldier and his Bactine body would certainly come in useful, but the clothes proved to be the restricting factor. He called for a carriage.
Once he reached the Pricosine, he quickly stowed his gear away and changed into something a lot more comfortable. He had talked about that with Ulaman who was all in favour of Daniel being comfortable.
Daniel walked out on the deck of the giant ship.
“Good morning!” The voice came from high up.
Daniel looked up and saw someone wave. He waved back. “Good morning, Stroro!”
Stroro Ettekos was one of the sailors. The man stood in the rigging halfway up the fourth mast and was obviously on his way up. Daniel wondered about the man’s eyesight. He had to be related to hawks or their counterpart on NGC6637-VIII.
As he was looking around where he could climb up also, he heard his name again, this time from behind. “Hello, Bilk.”
Bilk was a strange character. He only went by Bilk. He was not from the planet, but lived here since long and had done nothing but sail the boats for Clelem Dandra ko Galem. If that wasn’t a sign of a good employer, nothing was.
“You are early,” said Bilk. “Ulaman is still at the house of the Seigner, for last information. He asked me to help you if you need something.”
“That’s wonderful. Thank you. Can you tell me what the cargo is?”
“We are moving soil today.”
“Soil. Like ground. Dirt.” Daniel frowned.
“Indeed. There is an island that has been damaged by a storm several weeks ago, and we are bringing them soil to rebuild a part of their island.”
“I see.” Daniel frowned. “How important is soil on this planet?”
“Not very important. Unless your island is in need of some,” Bilk shrugged.
There was no arguing with that.
Ulaman returned not much later, and as everything was in place, the Pricosine was prepared for departure. Daniel was on the bridge with Ulaman and Lidrin Starhouse, who was the ship’s navigator and best hand for the steering wheel.
Daniel’s hydger rattled, making him jump. It had not done that before.
Ulaman and Lidrin laughed as he grabbed for the book-device, opened it and found the switch to answer what turned out to be an incoming call.
The face of Seigner Clelem Dandra ko Galem appeared on the small screen. “Mr. Zacharias. I take it you are on your way to the Pricosine?”
“Good morning, Seigner Dandra,” said Daniel. “I am already on board, sir.”
Clelem’s face twisted a bit. Daniel was not sure if that was because of the reception of this device, or if the man took offence to how Daniel had butchered his name. He looked at Ulaman, who was shaking his head. Damn. It was the name-bit.
“Admirable, Mr. Zacharias. I trust that you will be doing well. I hope you understand that you will be out of hydger-range for most of the journey, so if anything happens, the crew and the ship will rely on your ingenuity and resources.”
“Thank you for informing me, Seigner Dandra ko Galem,” Daniel tried to make up. “I will do all that is in my powers.”
“Very good. I will hear from you again upon return. Safe sailing, Mr. Zacharias.”
“Good day, Seig-” The connection was ended before Daniel was done. He looked at Ulaman. “Bad move?”
“Bad move,” the captain confirmed. “He’ll live. And so will you. Come here, Daniel, we are about to sail.”
Daniel witnessed how the small-sails on the front mast were hoisted, and the large aft-sail was brought up halfway. Slowly, as the expertly-set sails caught wind, the giant ship drifted away from the quay as large unseen machines rolled in the large hawsers that had held the vessel tied to shore.
The few people that manned the boat used something that resembled a primitive bicycle to quickly go from one side of the boat to the other. Daniel was astounded at the speed they developed with the thing.
As if the ship was pestering everyone, it turned only ever so slow before the bow was pointing towards the exit of the harbour.
Ulaman kept yelling commands into a tube, occasionally rang a bell and seemed to enjoy the whole thing tremendously.
After a while, more sails were set. The Pricosine picked up speed, helped by the outgoing tide, and then they were outside.
10. Sailing
Sailing was a new experience for Daniel. He had never been out on the water before, and to be on such an enormous ship was totally new for him as well. As there was not much for him to do, he had conferred with Ulaman about helping the crew with chores. Ulaman was glad that Daniel offered that. Every little bit helped, after all, and there were always small things that were left undone because of the large amount of big things that needed doing.
Daniel learnt a lot about the ship and the way of sailing. He even was allowed, under supervision of Stroro, to climb all the way up in the rigging. Supervision of Stroro also meant that Daniel had to use safety-hooks to secure himself. He was not allowed, Stroro said, to fall down on the deck and kill himself, because that would make a mess. As Daniel proposed to just fall in the water instead, Stroro advised against that. “You’ll fall to your death just as easily from this height. You don’t seem to know how hard water is.” The former soldier did not know, indeed, but he trusted Stroro’s words. So he used the hooks.
They had been at sea for a few days already, when Darigyn asked Daniel if he could help. Darigyn was a big strong man, bald, covered in tattoos and skin like weathered leather. “There’s some rigging that needs fixing, maybe you want to try,” the sailor said. Daniel was game. Everything was new.
The two sat in the shade of one of the masts and Daniel tried to do what Darigyn did. It looked simple but was quite a tricky task.
“What is this material?” Daniel asked. The ropes that made the rigging was no ordinary rope. He had seen and felt that.
“This is Aramid,” Darigyn explained. “That is also what the sails are made of. Very strong, durable. Hard to break.”
“And hard to fix when it’s broken,” Daniel added.
Darigyn nodded as his hands moved on to the next piece that needed patching up.
“And what stuff is the boat made of? I have read that old Earth clippers were made of wood, but this is no wood. And it’s not metal either.”
“Ship. Not boat. The Pricosine is a ship. Okay?”
Oops. “Okay. What stuff is this ship made of, then?” Daniel had no idea that the difference between boats and ships was so sensitive with the people that worked on them.
Darigyn nodded. “It’s called Polychlon. Fake wood, some people say. Wood and metal do not live long in this water. Polychlon does.”
“Wood and metal?” Daniel frowned. “Why’s that?” It now occurred to him that he had not seen any metal on the ship, indeed.
Darigyn shrugged, which meant that a lot of body mass was moving. “I don’t know, I just sail here. It’s something with chemistry in the water and things like that.”
Daniel could not blame the sailor for that. It was not his job to know and explain about chemistry. Later that
