"Brace for impact," Erin said, and Alex dug his fingers into the back of her chair to keep from being thrown back.


    The little ship, a corvette class, by Erin''s words, slammed into the bright white light of an island''s dome. The glass had already tinted in response to the bright shining light of the island, and Alex appreciated that little convenience. The ship shook around him as several items were scattered from their place throughout the room.


    "God save me from these knickknacks," Sayed said in what he thought was a whisper behind Alex. "I will be happy to have my feet on land again."


    "We''re through."


    They shot out into the island''s atmosphere, the ship shaking but holding together as Erin guided it through the night sky over the sea below. In the distance, Alex could see the island itself.


    Not all islands were large out in the nightsea. Some could be as large as a large country on Earth, like Brazil, while others were tiny things that were barely worth settling down on by people. Cragg Hollow was a smaller one. About twenty tiny land masses sprawled out from a larger island. Each one of the smaller islands was about the size of a small town, while the largest one could easily fit one or two cities on it if the builders weren''t worried about space.


    "It''s the big one," Erin said as she brought the ship on a wide bank around the smaller islands.


    The island was a cove, a semi-circle crescent shape rose with high cliffs above a beach, and a tall spire in the back formed most of the terrain. He could see the shadows of some buildings in the cove, but Alex couldn''t see them for one particular reason.


    "That''s a massive fog bank." Alex pointed out the side of the bubble cockpit.


    "That should be the port, but we''re not going to land there," Erin said. "Don''t forget it is a Military Police outpost."


    "Like I could." Alex smiled.


    "We''ll land and moor on the far side of the island," Erin said. "We''ll have to find the entrance to the cove from the other side."


    "Another small path to climb." Alex looked back at Sayed. "How can you make that a good start to a tale?"


    "I will try once we see it." Sayed nodded from his hunched position among the supplies.


    "I swear, I''m going to regret all of this," Erin whispered as she guided the ship around the cove and down the jagged rocky coast of the island.


    She pulled against a lever and spun the wheel as they sailed past the coast. In a few minutes, they had seen most of what was on the other side. Two beaches cut out away from the mountain that dominated the rear of the island, and either one would make a decent landing point, even if it was a little exposed.


    "I think we''ll be better off if we moor it on land," Erin said, pointing at the beaches. "Those are too exposed. The ship will be easy to spot if they send out any patrols."


    "We can do some camouflage," Alex said. "Throw some of the foliage up over it after we land."


    "It''s the best we can do. I''ll take it in for the landing."


    The ship shuddered and shook as she brought it around on the sparse shrubbery-filled land below. The engines whined as the ship settled against the ground before finally shaking as it touched the ground.


    Thump.


    "Come on, Sayed." Alex turned away as Erin finished off the landing process. "We''ll go and get some of the stuff around here and do our best to hide the ship."


    "Anything to be free of this space," Sayed grunted as Alex turned the wheel that held the exit door closed.


    Creak. Thump.


    The door whined as he pushed it open, and the smell of salty seawater filled his nose as he stepped out onto the small deck. All around him, the open land rushed out in a carpet of short green grass and bushes before quickly rising up the mountain on his left side. Alex looked up at that peak, and he could see what looked like goats higher up the mountainside.


    "So, we must gather some of this to cover the ship?" Sayed ducked through the door and looked around them. "How about a competition?"


    "Whoever can gather the most buys drinks?" Alex asked.


    "I will agree to those terms." Sayed nodded, a smile stretching across his face. "Ten minutes will be the time."


    They set off in separate directions. Alex focused on gathering as much of the tall grass as he could. They would have to tie it together, but when they were done, it would form a net that would block the ship from aerial view. He wasn''t an expert at making camouflage by any means. He just had seen old documentaries on battles in wars, gleaning the basic idea from that. Like a lot of kids growing up, it was the stories of the past that fueled his imagination.


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    Alex had a decent selection of grass piled up in about ten minutes. He turned and saw that Sayed had already had one thought. Using his sword, the man had cut several branches from nearby shrubs, more than enough to cover the ship from at least one side if laid together. Sayed hacked at another shrug with his sword as Alex watched, the curved edge acting like an axe as it severed limbs from the base of the plant.


    After about ten minutes of work, they came back together and agreed that Sayed had won. Using the branches of the shrubs as a basis, they set about masking the ship from sight until Erin came out and looked down at their handiwork. She shook her head and sighed as she jumped down from the ship''s deck.


    "I could have handled all that without the environmental damage," she said, looking out over the small area they had both cleared to gather the material.


    She looked over their work and then reached out her hands. Green energy began to flow out from her hands and into the plants thrown around the ship. The grass and branches slowly expanded over the ship, the gathered materials growing to camouflage it like a net.


    "Patch Growth," Erin whispered.


    "That''s one way to do it," Alex whispered as the ship was covered from sight.


    "An impressive ability." Sayed nodded, with his arms crossed behind her. "While I should take victory in the competition, brother, I say that she wins."


    "I can''t really argue with that." Alex laughed as he turned and started walking away from the ship. "We treat Erin at the first tavern we find in town."


    "Hah, another competition to find it then, for the second round?" Sayed laughed after he followed after him.


    "Hey!" Erin turned around and followed after them. "We need to find the logbook first!"


    Alex led the way toward the town, and he soon found a well-worn footpath that led through the various shrubs and grass that surrounded the beach and toward the cove. He noticed that Erin would stop a few times as they walked down the path, bending down to pick up a plant and depositing it inside her cloak. He didn''t think to ask, mainly because it wasn''t his business, and it didn''t slow the group down. However, he made sure to pause every time he noticed her doing it.


    After about thirty minutes of walking, they were into the larger cove and could see the fog-covered city itself. Starlight still twinkled above as he looked out over the hilly land that led to the rocky beaches. The only real oddity was the fog. It seemed very unnatural.


    "You think that fog''s going to be a problem?" Alex looked back to Erin because he already knew Sayed''s answer.


    "It doesn''t seem right," Erin said as she looked at the fog beside him. "It seems to end in the city limits."


    "Could be a cursed person," Alex said. "Or someone mucking about with an island core."


    "We''ll find out. The important thing is the logbook." Erin shook her head, moving forward and leaving the two of them behind.


    "I still don''t like it," Alex grumbled, thrusting his hands in his pockets as he walked.


    He dearly missed his ironwood staff. The weapon had been with him for years, and being able to hold it gave him a measure of confidence, even if it was just a staff in the end. A showdown with an ex-Apostle on Glory Plateau had ended with the staff shattered, and he had no idea where in the nightsea ironwood came from.


    "Maybe a frying pan," he whispered to himself as he and Sayed followed after Erin.


    <hr>


    "Sir, we''ve pulled up the ship." Erick saluted as Captain Hawkins watched the recovery operations. "We already have men working inside to search for survivors."


    "Belay that," Captain Hawkins said, looking over the ship. "Have them search the cargo hold first. We need to know why they were attacked. Recover can come after that."


    "Sir, those are our people in there." Erick''s voice shook as anger boiled inside of him. "We can''t just leave them."


    "I have no use for a soldier who can''t follow orders." Captain Hawkins looked down at him, his muscles bulging around his neck. "If you can''t give the order, I will, Private."


    "Sir." Erick stopped his salute and turned to walk to the recovery efforts.


    He communicated the orders down the line and entered the ship with the recovery team. Ropes held the ship up to the docks, keeping it from sinking further into the bay. He went through a hatch on the deck and down below, climbing the metal ladder and going into darkness.


    The ship was of metal construction like all the Military Police ships. The short light sail masts that powered the lodestones were all broken, so the ship couldn''t maintain its height on its own. Some portholes on the ship gave light to the dark interior, and Erik could see especially well through the pale moonlight that came in through the massive hole in the side of the ship.


    He made his way down a second ladder and into the ship''s cargo hold. Twice, he came across dead soldiers and confirmed their status despite his orders. However, the cargo bay was mostly empty, except for one large chest in the center.


    "That would be it," he said, reaching down and cracking open the chest.


    "Are you sure you should?" Agnes''s ghost whispered in his ears, but he shrugged it off.


    "I need to know if the order is worth it," he told himself as he looked inside the chest.


    In it was a rectangular metal box gleaming with a light of its own. A single red button rested on the lower right side of the box, and text was printed across it like a book. Erik reached in and picked it up.


    Hrm.


    The box hummed in his hands, and he looked it over carefully. It looked like a book, except hinges locked the sides, and no one in their right mind would make a book out of metal. On the front, he read the text. ''Roald''s Log of a Journey to the New World.''


    "What in the night is this?" he whispered, already knowing that information was above his pay grade.


    Taking the ''book'' in hand, he climbed back up the stairs until he was back on the decks. He made his way over to the captain. Lieutenant Tanis returned with the doctor by his side as he came over.


    Doctor Livesay was hunched over as he walked, his dirtied doctor''s coat dragging across the ground as he approached on his cane. His thick glasses forever seemed fogged over so that no one ever saw his eyes, and he gave Erik the creeps.


    "Captain Hawkins!" Erik yelled out as he jumped back onto the docks and approached the man. "I recovered this from the hold. It appears to be the only cargo."


    "Let me see." Captain Hawkins reached down and picked up the book, holding it up to his eyes and squinting to see it.


    "Looks like a book to me," Doctor Livesay quipped as he scuttled over to the Captain, his small form dwarfed by the Captain''s frame.


    "Not much of a cargo then," Lieutenant Tanis said as he rested against one of the dock''s poles.


    "No." Captain Hawkins shook his head as he held up the book. "This is great. With this, we''ll all get promotions. This is a guide to get to the New World!"


    A sinking filling burned into Erik''s stomach as he watched the men fawn over the book. Behind him, soldiers and comrades had died or might be dying in the ship''s hold. Yet, all three of his commanding officers only cared about some metal box.


    The anger inside him burned brighter, but he kept it there and didn''t let it go.