Captain's Log
Captain John
Mary Piper
Eleventh Voyage
Day 50
New Tempest was closed--disease was the official reason, and they were uncertain for how long they would be maintaining the quarantine. I decided there was no advantage to waiting, and we continued. I hope I can make up the differences in the cargo later in the run; but it shouldn't be that difficult.
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Captain's Log
Captain John
Mary Piper
Eleventh Voyage
Day 65
I passed up a derelict today. After boarding her and giving her the once-over, I decided that she wasn't in any condition to go through the Rough Passage which lay ahead--and obviously there was no point in even talking about bucking the winds and currents to go back two weeks to the closed port at New Tempest.
Captain's Log
Captain John
Mary Piper
Eleventh Voyage
Day 144
We came upon a ship today that had wandered off course from some southern route; but it worked out well, since they had the ore we needed, and needed the extra manufactured goods we were carrying. That will make a big difference in the balance sheet on this trip.
Captain's Log
Captain John
Mary Piper
Eleventh Voyage
Day 152
Well, we must be off course; we came upon an island which isn't on our charts. Evan went over with Balcon, another security man, a couple deck hands, and Darius. They brought back a load of fruit to stretch our rations. It looks good.
Captain's Log
Captain John
Mary Piper
Eleventh Voyage
Day 173
The fruit has been good; but today what was left of it went bad. The doctor and his crew dumped the remainder overboard. It's not a serious loss--we've still got plenty of rations, and the food which spoiled was extra to begin with. So we're fine.
Captain's Log
Captain John
Mary Piper
Eleventh Voyage
Day 189
We've had a horrible night. A hurricane came through and picked us up, carried us for hours--there were few members of the crew who weren't sick by the time the ship stopped tossing; even the medics were in bad shape. But after much of yesterday and all of last night at the mercy of the winds, we were finally blown clear of the storm late today. The damage to the ship was minimal--we saw the storm coming, and were able to secure the rigging and batten down the hatches in plenty of time. Navigation says that although we aren't where we wanted to be, we can be back on course with only a day lost.
Captain's Log
Captain John
Mary Piper
Eleventh Voyage
Day 193
We decided to salvage a derelict today; the crewmen who went over said it was worth patching. James took command, and took over a skeleton crew to run it, with an extra engineer to help keep it together. We shouldn't be more than a few days from Durnmist, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Captain's Log
Captain John
Mary Piper
Eleventh Voyage
Day 234
We've finally reached Durnmist; it was a rough trip on everyone--over forty days of running two ships, and everyone is exhausted. Of course, the ship is almost empty, with everyone off on shore leave. I'm enjoying the quiet, and getting some rest.
Captain's Log
Captain John
Mary Piper
Eleventh Voyage
Day 270
A close brush with an iceberg has left us damaged; but we're still afloat, and have lost no cargo. Dermott says the engineers can hold us together until we reach Tristar; and if the port is open, we'll be able to make the repairs there.
Captain's Log
Captain John
Mary Piper
Eleventh Voyage
Day 290
We've made the repairs here in Tristar, and are ready to continue the journey. It cost us about two days, but that's not bad at this point. Fortunately, the volcanoes were quiet, and we were able to make a stopover sufficient to get the work done.
Captain's Log
Captain John
Mary Piper
Eleventh Voyage
Day 336
It's been a rough trip, but it's over now. From the port closed at New Tempest to the port closed at Haven (it was a gamble waiting for that to open, but the three days lost there were worth the time), it's been full of surprises. But we're back in Sardic, and my shipping orders say we'll be leaving in 17 days.
I gave each of the men an extra thousand diktar from the sale of the derelict; they earned it. I wouldn't have tried to bring her in had I thought it would have been so long a trek. But I think we'll have a good return for the next venture. James and most of the command crew have already signed on--and that young Darius was first of the crew to say he'd be making the next voyage. I should have a full crew compliment in plenty of time.
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Introduction to the Collected Papers
Stories from the Verse
Links to Other Pages
Next Story for this Character
M. J. Young Net