Modern exploration had made the ocean more navigable, less terrifying, banishing the tales of shipbreaking monsters to the realms of fantasy; and the discovery of Sundia—a strange paradise, vast and abundant, isolated from the rest of the world—had transformed it from a place of death to a place of possibility. But even so, the crew of the Sunfish knew they were sailing into some of the most remote territory they had yet encountered. And Sundia itself was almost as much of an unknown.
‘I did see a cool vid once about the Sundians,’ Essie said. ‘They were originally from the Moon Islands and they made boats out of reeds and just sailed around the world until they got to Sundia. And once they got there, they didn’t see anyone else for like a thousand years—or five thousand years, I don’t remember exactly—and then explorers from the north came, and it all got quite bad, and there was some kind of war…Anyway, the Sundians believe in sea gods, lots of different sea gods, and when the Flood happened, they thought it was the gods’ judgement, and that’s when they stopped letting foreigners in.’
Blossom’s ears pricked up at the mention of the sea gods. ‘They know about the sea gods there?’
‘I think they invented them,’ Essie said.
‘So what do you know about their defences?’ Will said. ‘Why is it so hard to get in there?’
‘I don’t know,’ Essie said. ‘I’ll see what I can find out.’
While Pod and Will went ashore for supplies, Essie loaded all the information she could find about Sundia onto her shell. She found old tourist guides and maps, information about Sundian politics and religion, and infrequent news reports that emerged from the isolated nation. When the others returned, she gave them some of the highlights.
‘The Supreme Leader of the Sundians says the sea gods will protect their shores against foreign aggressors,’ Essie read.
‘Does he say how they do that?’ Will asked.
‘Not really,’ Essie said.
‘If they’ve only got made-up gods looking after them, this might be easier than we thought,’ Will said.
‘Don’t say that!’ Blossom snapped.
‘Say what?’ Will said, genuinely confused.
‘That they’re made up! You’ll make them angry!’
Will looked at her for a moment in disbelief, then said: ‘Personally, I’m more worried about defences I can see, like patrol boats and guns, but okay. Sorry, sea gods.’
Blossom did not look pacified, but she said nothing more.
They began their long journey south, spending every quiet moment working on their plans.
Sola Prentice, the last of the scientists, lived in a place called the International Bio-Archive and Research Co-operative—or the Ark, for short. It wasn’t on any of the tourist maps, but it appeared on one very detailed pre-Flood government map. The Ark was the most remote place they’d tried to get to so far, even more remote than Sujana’s little house in the mountains of Norlind. It was located in the vast arid desert that lay inland from Sundia’s south-west coast, which was the most remote part of the remote island nation. The cities and old tourist attractions had been clustered around the north coast and down into the east; the south-west, for reasons they would soon discover, had never been particularly attractive to visitors.
‘It looks like there’s only one road in and out,’ Annalie said, studying the map. A line led from the dot that was the Ark to another dot on the coast.
‘I’m not even sure it’s a proper road,’ Essie said. ‘It’s only a dotted line.’
‘And this map was made forty years ago,’ Will said. ‘Who knows what’s there now?’
‘If people are still living there, there must be some way to get there,’ Annalie said.
‘We can’t exactly rock up and ask them for a lift, though, can we?’ Will said. ‘We’re not even supposed to be there. We’re going to have to find a way to get there under our own steam.’
‘It’ll be a long walk,’ Annalie said.
‘Through the desert,’ Essie added.
They all stared at the dotted line for a moment.
‘Maybe we’re overthinking it,’ Essie said. ‘We think Spinner’s still there, right? We can just contact him and he can get us picked up.’
They all thought about the many times they’d tried to contact Spinner, and failed.
‘I think we need a Plan B,’ Will said.
He spent a lot of time looking over the documents Essie had collected, studying the terrain, looking at pictures. Something he saw gave him an idea, and after that he spent all his spare hours up on deck, making something.
‘What are you building?’ Annalie asked.
‘It’s just an idea,’ Will said.
‘What sort of idea?’
‘You’ll find out when it’s done.’
The only person who didn’t have much to do was Blossom. Pod had hoped she’d look for some way to pitch in and help, as he did when he first joined the crew, but Blossom didn’t seem to feel any need to work. She idled through the days, napping, dozing, staring into the water, chatting to anyone who was available, and teasing Graham. Sometimes she disappeared under the curtain they’d set up for her—if it hadn’t been packed away for the day—and played quiet games on her own. They’d hear her voice murmuring away, but she got very cross if anyone tried to find out what she was doing. In some ways, she was ferociously protective of her privacy. Pod was very embarrassed by her refusal to help out and began nagging her, but it had absolutely no effect. She could not be shamed. Words and guilt bounced right off her.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said to the others. ‘I don’t know why she’s being like this.’
‘Maybe she feels like she’s done enough work for a while and she wants to have a bit
