As the trough gathered speed, a bow wave began to form at the front end, threatening to swamp the occupants with its spray. Before they could cry out, a smaller dolphin swerved over in front of the blunt ended trough, positioning itself such that it formed a streamlined shape to cleave the water, and the spray quickly disappeared, the trough surging ahead as its resistance to the water decreased.
One by one, the other dolphins who were not engaged in pulling the trough, came alongside to have their backs scratched by Jay, Kel joining in on the other side a little hesitatingly at first, and then getting quite enthusiastic about it when he realized they were harmless, and enjoyed it.
Moss meanwhile, was holding himself somewhat aloof from the proceedings, pretending to busy himself readjusting the provisions, but keeping an eye on the others, just the same.
He finally succumbed to the inevitable when both of the towing dolphins slipped back from their nooses, while another pair slid up alongside and ran their noses into the loops, and took up the strain. There was no noticeable change of speed as the change over took place, and Moss had to admit, albeit to himself, that there was some sort of benign intelligence involved here somewhere.
The trough sped on, and the Greater Sun having passed its high point in the sky, began to fall towards the horizon. The crew, with little else to do except scratch the back of the odd dolphin who came alongside, rested, giving their tired muscles a chance to recover, although Kel insisted his would never be the same again.
Moss, unknowingly took up the offered bait, fell into the trap, and a long but friendly argument ensued, much to the amusement of Jay, who had never seen anything like it.
They had expected their helpers to rest when the Greater Sun sank below the water, but as the Lesser Sun rose, it was evident that a night shift had taken over, and the trough surged on across the sparkling silver sea, leaving behind it a foaming phosphorescent wake to the delight of Jay, who thought it was very pretty, and it was a shame that it couldn’t be seen during the time of the Greater Sun as well.
Four times the Greater Sun rose and sank, the trough never faltering once in its race across the ocean. Moss kept checking with the Direction Pointer to see if they were still on the indicated course, and was amazed to find that the dolphins had a better sense of direction than he had imagined possible.
On the fifth day, they saw a plume of dark smoke on the horizon, and as they drew nearer, flames could be seen lighting up the base of the huge column of smoke and ash.
Lightning darted about in the upper cloud levels, adding a deep crackling noise to the dull roar of the volcano as it spewed forth a constant stream of molten rock into the sea, building yet another island in the midst of an otherwise featureless spread of water.
While Moss and Kel were discussing what they thought it was all about, Jay interrupted their conversation,
‘Our friends say there are many fire lands like that, and some of them are under the water, below us. They say the ground under the water is so hot, it runs like water, and that is what is coming out of the top of that one over there.’
‘If you can talk to them,’ Kel said, indicating one of the dolphins, ‘why can you not talk to me in the same way?’
‘I never try. I try now?’ she asked, raising her eyebrows.
‘Yes, all right. I’ll think of something, and you see if you can see what it is.’ Kel was interested, but doubted if anything would come of it.
‘You think of a man like you, but older, much older. He your friend. You like him a lot. He stands by a black hole in a tree.’ her eyes opened wider than Kel had ever seen them do before, even in fear.
‘The tree is soo big. No tree can be so big, it would fall over.’ the look of astonishment left her face to be replaced by a grin.
‘You make fun of me! No place like that really.’ she added, still grinning.
‘Oh yes there is,’ said Kel seriously, ‘we both come from there, and I now believe you can see me thinking, otherwise you couldn’t have seen the tree home of Mec, our Story Teller.’
Moss had suddenly taken an interest in what was going on, as he could see the possible outcome of such a gift.
‘Can you see what I think?’ asked Moss, screwing his face up in concentration.
‘No, I not see your pictures. It is not easy to see Kel’s pictures, but easy to see our friend’s pictures.’ she said, sweeping her arm out over the sea.
Moss was relieved that his private thoughts couldn’t be eavesdropped on, while Kel didn’t mind one bit. He tried to get Jay’s pictures, but made no headway at all, and both were disappointed at the outcome.
Early the following day a new shape of colossal proportions joined them, and for a while the men were frantic with worry until Jay explained that the black and white killer whale would be acting as a guard on this part of the journey, for the dolphins told of a strange new creature which had been seen locally, and it attacked just about everything it came across.
By now, Moss was accepting everything about the dolphins told to him via Jay, and joined in wholeheartedly in the lookout for the new threat to their survival.
On the eleventh rising of the Greater Sun, and with their rations dangerously low, Jay announced that they would reach landfall before the Lesser Sun rose.
As there was nothing in sight except more water, they could
