Lina looked at the pinkish rind of lychee fruit and felt the first tear in the corner of her eye. All the emotions she had been holding inside, so that she could deal with the emergency at hand, came streaming out all at once. Tears streaked her face and stung her eyes. She wailed and pounded the decking with her fists.
Arabel wrapped Lina in her arms, cautiously at first, but then tighter as Lina began to regain her composure. Lina had settled to the point of the occasional sob when she suddenly sat up, hung her head over the railing, retching again.
“Oh, baby,” Arabel said, “I’m here for you. Do you want to try some fruit?”
Lina shook her head weakly and curled up on the decking with her head resting on Arabel’s lap.
Arabel looked at the position of the sun in the sky. “It shouldn’t be too much farther,” she said. “Your mentor said only a day’s journey between colonies. And we started out at sunrise. No, not far now.”
Lina wondered briefly who Arabel was trying to reassure with her comment, Lina or herself. They both knew what would happen if they got lost or somehow overshot their destination—they would sink into the clouds, never to be seen again. Lina tried to mutter some words of encouragement, but fatigue and sickness got the better of her. She concentrated on Arabel stroking her hair, and closed her eyes.
* * * *
Lina awoke to the sound of the cloud skimmer’s hull being dragged over flat rock. The sound was magnified due to the fact that Lina was still curled up inside the craft and subjected to every little echo.
“Sorry,” Arabel said. “It didn’t wake you the first time, so I figured it was okay.”
“What?” Lina sat up and shivered.
“It’s official. I’m a cloud sailor.” Arabel smiled, but it looked forced. “I got us here and landed us on this little outcropping. I just wanted to pull the skimmer up a little more before I stow the bladders.”
“You should let me help.”
Arabel rolled her eyes.
“What?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve seen things come through the reclamation facility that have more life in them than you do right now. You need to rest.”
“What’s wrong with me? I should have metabolized the tree flower by now. I’ve never had this kind of a—” Lina hoisted herself up just in time to vomit, but on the rock this time.
Arabel knitted her eyebrows together. “I guess I’ll pull us up a little farther,” she said.
“I’m sorry, maybe someone in the colony can—”
“There is no colony.”
Lina cocked her head.
“There hasn’t been a colony here for a long time.” Arabel exhaled heavily.
“You’ve been exploring? How long was I out?”
“Do you know if your mentor kept any emergency supplies on board? Blankets? The sun’s almost down and it’s going to get cold.”
“There’s only the one compartment. Though it’s got a false bottom. I suppose all rebel cloud skimmers do.” Lina tried to laugh, but it fell flat.
“I already found it, and the Book of Origin. Interesting book, but I don’t think it’s going to keep us warm tonight.” Arabel looked around the tiny craft, her eyes pausing on the main sails, safely stowed, and then the mizzen, before finally coming to rest on the two air bladders, each still a bit puffy as the remaining air leaked out.
“You can help me pull these inside, if you think you’re up for it,” Arabel said, as she began dragging the starboard bladder between the supporting posts of the skimmer’s curved top. “We’ll use them for blankets.”
Lina tried, but was too week to feel like she was offering much in the way of assistance. The rigging got tangled on the posts and the opening was so narrow that the bladder only made it part way in—definitely not enough of it to serve as a blanket, which is what Lina figured Arabel was trying for.
“Okay, plan B,” Arabel huffed and pushed the bladder back out. “Hold this please.”
Lina held the end of the deflated bladder and watched as Arabel draped it over the top and wrapped the rest of it around the supporting posts. She had created a shield from the elements on one side. With the port side bladder she managed to do the same, and the center part of the cloud skimmer was wrapped up like a small tent. But even with Lina and Arabel’s small size, it was cramped, and both women had to sit cross-legged to fit.
“What if I get sick again?” Lina said.
“Well, try to get through the flap in time.” Arabel pushed the end of the air bladder outward to demonstrate, and gave a wan smile.
Lina sighed and curled into a ball on the skimmer’s deck. Arabel wrapped herself around behind Lina and snuggled in. Fortunately, Lina’s sickness had passed for the moment and she didn’t need to test her ability to make it through the flap in time.
“What are we going to do?” Lina said.
“I don’t know,” Arabel replied.
Lina tried scenting love, but it came out tinged with fear, so she stopped. Instead, she took Arabel’s hand and laced her fingers in tight as the two huddled up for the night.
* * * *
Lina opened her eyes to find Arabel sitting up and munching on a lychee fruit. The first rays of sunlight were beginning to creep in through the cracks of the improvised tent and cast two golden slivers over Arabel’s naked body.
Arabel smiled. “I figured the gala costume wasn’t doing me much good, so I decided to go native.” She held up a half-eaten piece of lychee fruit. “This is good stuff.”
Lina moaned and made no attempt to sit up.
“We can leave or we can explore,” Arabel said, “but we have to decide soon. I want to have as much daylight for sailing as possible. I’ve been looking through the Book of Origin and the next colony should be a shorter distance than it
