Author's notes…. As always, the original copyright holders retain their rights, and this is intended for the non-commercial enjoyment of the readers. Comments and reviews are always welcome, as long as they bear in mind that I am not a perfect typist, do not always get timelines right, muddle items from manga and anime without regard for canon, and have other personal quirks like my low sense of humour. I plan on staying on the ecchi side of things, but these last few entries are definitely mature in outlook.
I do want to finish this story as mind-worms are bad things to neglect. I'm looking at two more chapters.
- So this is the tale of our castaways,
They're here for a long long time.
They'll have to make the best of things,
It's an uphill climb.-
Gilligan was snuggled up behind Mary Ann in the "workroom" located in the cave when he was woken by something large and hard bumping into his shoulder with a sort-of familiar female voice calling his name.
"Gilligan! Wake up! This is important!"
Suddenly his mind made the connection and he whispered the name of the person behind him, nudging him with the haft of a large and dangerous weapon, "Hild!"
He scrambled out of bed and stood up, still half-awake when he realized what he and Mary Ann had gone to sleep in. "Oops! Sorry!", he whispered, hoping that Mary Ann wasn't waking up.
Hild's eyes roved up and down his frame, looking at the baby doll negligee and crotchless panties. "Cute!" she went with a smirk. "Come with me!" she ordered, turned around and then walked out of the cave, stopping just outside and looking around at the containers on the beach as well as the ones floating in the lagoon or wedged on top of the reef just off-shore.
Gilligan reached down and grabbed the first robe that came to hand and pulled it around him and attempted to belt it up. This was when he realized that another "Gilligan" event had occurred and the robe was more transparent than opaque. Finding the belt, he pulled it around him and tied the knot and then walked out to stand beside Hild.
She flipped her halberd to her left hand and looked at Gilligan, trying hard to look him in the eye and not snicker. "I see that you have overcome most of your propensity for humiliation and disaster. However, events are moving in Heaven and on Midgard that will involve you and your fellow castaways unless you can get rescued quickly. Your wish will not work in this situation, so you have to find the means of alerting those that will rescue you here, amongst these shipping boxes, 'containers' you called them. I cannot directly interfere and even telling what you need to do may trigger those events before you can be rescued, so you must do this yourself. However, if events do come to a climax and you need to use your wish, call for me and my sister Valkyries."
Gilligan concentrated on what was being said. "You can't tell me what these events are, but you can suggest what I can do to get everyone rescued before the events can take place. While you cannot interfere directly, I can wish for you and your sister Valkyries if needed. Right?"
Hild nodded and then winked at him. She pointed at a container just up the beach. "That one has the materials that you will need to access that blue one that sits on the edge of the reef. It contains the means of obtaining your rescue. However, it must be done quickly as the rising tide is about to dislodge the container and it will slide back into the sea and all will be lost."
Gilligan noted the container. "Wouldn't it float? It got this far…."
Hild shook her head. "Its arrival on the reef tore a hole in the bottom. If it falls back into the sea, then it will capsize, bringing the hole to the top and all the air will come out. If it is dragged off of the rock as it currently sits, there is little or no chance for it to capsize but more water may enter. It cannot be determined the right method of bringing it ashore or if opening the doors as it sits on the reef will trigger the capsize. Do your best and may the Gods bless you! Now go! Tell the others and make your rescue!"
Gilligan took off, yelling for the Skipper and the Professor, bouncing off of one of the other containers before he got his balance back and continued up the cliffside path at a full pelt.
Just before she invoked her powers, she heard a voice from the cave calling her name. She looked and saw Mary Ann standing in the cave entrance. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders, then let the power take her back to Heaven.
- Skipper! Skipper! Professor! Professor! (usual start of mishaps involving Gilligan) -
The Skipper was jolted out of his sleep by Gilligan's winded voice panting out his name along with the word Hild, when he turned his head and got a good look at Gilligan.
"Oh God, Gilligan! Could you have stopped to dress in something else? That's something that I'd like to see on someone else but definitely not on you first thing in the morning."
He rolled over the other side of his hammock and straightened up, then grabbed his hat and headed for the door. "Get changed and I'll make some coffee as well as waking up the Professor, Ginger and the Howells. It sounds like it we all are going to need the coffee. By the way, where's Mary Ann? You didn't leave her at the cave, did you?"
Gilligan's muffled voice came from the far side of the cabin as he was rummaging in the cupboard. "Oops, sorry, Skipper!"
Mary Ann's voice came from the doorway and the Skipper spun around and focused on her, then roved down and up again, then firmly locked on her eyes. "Good morning, Mary Ann! Nice to see you…."
Mary Ann smirked. "Not a word, Skipper, not a word…."
He gulped and nodded, then squeezed out the door, heading over to the kitchen area.
- Breakfast proceeds apace, half an hour later-
The Professor nodded, digesting all the facts that Gilligan had presented. "So, we have an urgent request to get ourselves rescued or some disaster will reach us that Hild is unable or unwilling to tell about for fear of actually triggering the event or events. She did give us two clues that will allow us to notify someone so that we can get rescued, as well as a suggestion that, if all goes to hell in a handbasket, we can involve Hild directly by Gilligan using his wish to call for her and what she calls her 'sister Valkyries'."
Everyone nodded, and he proceeded.
"So, in order to get us rescued, we have to open one of the containers on the beach and find something that will allow us to get the second container, which is precariously balanced on the edge of the reef with a hole in its bottom, off of the reef or into a stable position so that we can get into it and find the whatever that will let us get rescued."
Again, everyone else nodded.
The Skipper stood up. "I've got some suggestions but I need some information first. Gilligan, ladies, when you were going through the first container, did you find any ropes or tackle that we could use to secure the second container, the one stuck on the reef?"
Heads shook then Gilligan put his hand in the air. There's rope in the Minnow and some tackle! Rope's pretty light as it was for tying the Minnow to docks and such but might be enough to steady the container. Do you want me to check, Skipper?"
The Skipper nodded and said, "we've been dipping into that supply so there may not be enough but we could use it to tie to one of the other containers floating in the lagoon. Big problem is the weights of the containers and the strength of the rope, especially under sudden tension. That rope's pretty old. Gilligan, Ginger, Lovey, go get the rope and whatever else is in the locker that we can use. If it's too much for you to carry, come back and let us know. Meanwhile, we'll get lunch packed as well as the tools that we're going to need for opening container and stuff. Meet back here in ten minutes, everyone!"
- Two hours later, some success -
Thurston brought up some water jugs and passed them around. "How long to high tide, Professor, Skipper?"
"Sometime around sunset," came the Skipper. "What is working in our favour is that the weather is looking good."
Thurston nodded towards the containers out on the reef as well as those floating in the lagoon. "And the sea anchors, as Gilligan and Mary Ann called them?"
The Professor nodded back. "Looks good right now. I was originally thinking that we had long sections of rope and were going to tie everything to the shore, but we wound up with just short sections and Mary Ann thought of typing nearby containers together with the sections that we have. Not elegant but it seems to work."
The two other men nodded and a shout came from down the beach and they headed over to what they'd been calling the "first container".
Gilligan was frantically digging out boxes and heaving them towards the doorway. "Quick, I think that I found it!"
Everyone dug in and quickly started moving the boxes and cartons out of the container and along the beach, dumping them into unorganized piles so that they could get back and clear more of what Gilligan was dragging out and tossing around. Within minutes, the boxes had been cleared and they were looking at a squat machine on a pallet at the back of the container, with a large supply of heavy rope sitting behind it.
Gilligan was squatting down beside it, stroking it as you would a dog as he inspected it and checked the various parts and instruction panels.
Lovey looked at Gilligan and wondered out loud, "what is the darling boy getting so excited about?"
Thurston answered her, surprised that the answer came to him. "It's a donkey engine. My first real job was working in a lumber camp for one of Father's businesses and they used them in all sizes and jobs. You set up the machine, make sure that it's fixed securely, and wind the rope around the capstan, the drum, about three or four times, in the direction of rotation, and then start pulling on the rope while the motor turns the capstan. All you have to do is keep the rope tight and stay up with the capstan. It does all the heavy pulling."
The others looked at him with gob-smacked expressions, except Gilligan, who was intently reading a small plaque. "What?" went Thurston. "I'd ticked off Father, something about losing a million or three, so he decided that I had to replace those funds the hard way. What he wasn't counting on was my learning the business, and spotting opportunities that no one else saw. Made me my first ten million dollars."
Gilligan looked up at the Professor. "Any idea how heavy the reef container is?"
The Professor thought back and mused, "Going to have to swim out there again and look at the recorded weights, TARE is definitely 4900 pounds and the payload can be up to 48000 pounds, but I suspect that it's less than that. However, if that donkey engine is rated for even half of that, we might get away with it as we'd be towing it through water. Speaking of which, Gilligan, what is the donkey engine rated for?"
Gilligan concentrated and read out the plaque. "15 tons. Uh, what you just said, that makes the container must contain less than 25000 pounds for the engine to work."
Ginger stepped up. "I'll go out and check to see what it says on the container. It's got the same information and it should still be readable, unless they wrote it in chalk. And yes, I'll be very careful around that container. It's rocking with every wave." With that, she ran off to the water's edge and then waded out and then swam to the reef.
The Professor looked down at the pallet and asked, "any idea what the weight of this is?"
Gilligan pointed at the plaque. "One thousand pounds and there are rods here for carrying it over there in the corner.
The Professor nodded. "Ok, we're not going to be able to carry it over there in one lift. We'll use the old lift, step and drop technique, unless you all don't mind dragging it over to the edge of the trees."
Everyone groaned and Marry Ann quipped, "Lucky Ginger" while Lovey muttered, "you and me, sister."
- An hour later -
The Professor trotted up with a Jerry Can banging against his shins. "This is all that we have. I didn't make another batch because we weren't using that much and this is still fresh enough for the lanterns."
Mary Ann stuck a funnel into the fuel tank of the donkey engine as the Professor undid the cap of the Jerry Can. With the assistance of the Skipper, they managed to slowly pour the contents from can to tank.
At that moment, Gilligan, Lovey and Ginger dragged up the hemp rope that they had attached to the reef container.
Gilligan puffed, "which way around the capstan, Mr. Howell?"
Thurston stood and looked at the capstan and indicated the direction that they needed to wind it, and then looked at the amount of rope trailing behind Gilligan and the other ladies. "Better take up the slack first. The less slack we have to deal with, the better. I hope that this is an engine designed to operate on all grades and types of fuel and not just high-grade gasoline."
The threesome sighed and then went down to the water's edge where they started pulling in the excess rope and then worked the new "end of rope" back to the donkey engine. A large wave crashed over the reef and pushed the container sitting on top of it and the resulting surge caused them to go flying. Adjusting to the new position, the quickly pulled up the rope to the engine, and the Professor and Skipper helped in wrapping the rope around the capstan and taking up some of the slack.
Gilligan started pulling the extra rope outback down the beach when he took a sudden turn and started pulling it around a single palm tree that was sitting in front of the two that the donkey engine was wedged behind. Straightening out the line, he then wound another three turns around the tree and started tying if off.
Grinning at everyone, he said "Being ready in case we have a Gilligan moment and the container starts falling off of the reef before we're ready. This should slow it down, along with all of the other containers."
At that moment, another wave cashed over the beach and the container shifted, then groaned and started sliding back off of the reef.
"Quick, everyone! We gotta keep it from falling off!" yelled Gilligan as he braced his feet against the palm tree and pulled hard on the rope. The ladies immediately rushed over and grabbed the rope behind Gilligan and braced themselves as best as they could as the container shifted again and the slack went out of the rope coming up the beach, almost yanking Gilligan off of his feet as the palm tree shifted.
The Professor and Mr. Howell jumped over to the donkey engine and started priming the engine, while the Skipper aligned the manual starting rod into the matching cup and waited for the signal from the others.
It became a race between the sea trying to pull the container off of the reef and all of the ropes being used to prevent it and the donkey engine getting started.
With a cough and belch of smoke, the donkey engine started and began rumbling at a low growl. Mr. Howell made some quick adjustments on the carburetor and the growl became a steady rumble though it still belched out black smoke and did not run exactly smoothly.
He looked at the Professor and the Skipper and shouted "It's as good as it'll get, I'm going to engage the clutch and run it up. Get ready!"
The other two grabbed the rope between the engines and the tree where Gilligan was and braced themselves.
Mr. Howell then advanced the throttle and the rumble got louder and the amount of black smoke increased. He then slowly released the clutch and the capstan started turning, then froze.
He then advanced the throttle further and the rumble got louder still and the capstan started turning again and the rope started to smoke from the friction.
Another advancement of the throttle and the capstan finally gripped the rope and slowly started pulling the rope up from the beach.
A massive crash came from the reef and everyone jumped and looked quickly. The container had been pulled forward enough that it came back level and had started being dragged across the reef.
Mr. Howell yelled over the noise of the engine, "Start pulling the rope off an an angle. If it breaks, I don't want anyone near the line of the rope if there's a backlash.
As the donkey engine struggled and slowly pulled the rope, the others pulled the rope coming off of the capstan around Gilligan's tree and past one of the other containers and then started piling the rope behind that container.
While they were doing this, they also kept taking glances at the container on the reef as it inched its was across the reef and to the inside edge.
It approached the edge and slowly came over far enough that the front dipped and the container started sliding forward.
With a splash, it entered the water and started bouncing around, breaking some of the lighter cords that had tied it to the floating containers in the lagoon.
Everyone held their breath as the bouncing slowed down and the container now sat slightly door-down but still slowly coming towards the beach.
The Professor realized that they might have a new problem. "The ropes to all the other containers!", he shouted out to everyone as he pointed at the container. "They be a drag and can prevent the container from reaching the beach. Who's got a knife?"
Gilligan grabbed for the knife strapped to his belt, and then ran down the beach and down into the lagoon. He soon reached where the container was and then looked around, making up his mind what he was going to do, and then swam to the container itself and the shifted to the corner away from the hemp rope and then started sawing at the ropes attached there.
The ropes snapped as each were cut and the other containers stopped being a drag on the main container. Gilligan got hit by the remaining bits of rope but kept on going. Freeing that corner, he swam down the side of the container to the back end and started cutting those rope, then the opposite corner and finally returned to the front of the container and gingerly avoided getting close to the help line as he worked on the other ropes and tried avoiding any backlash from the remaining portions still tied to the container.
Taking a last look at the hemp rope now doing a better job of towing the container towards the beach, Gilligan then swam at an angle to the rope for the closest point of the beach and dragged himself out of the water. Here, he was gang-tackled by the ladies who smothered him with kisses and hugs.
Just as the Skipper and the Professor looked at each other and shrugged, the donkey engine gave a massive bang and puff of smoke and then resumed with its growling.
The Professor gasped at the same time as Mr. Howell shouted out, "the fuel's getting low!"
The Skipper jumped out and ran back to the donkey engine and grabbed a coconut mug, shook out the water and then filled it with some of the Jerry Can's contents and the swished it and threw it away, then refilled the cup and handed it to Mr. Howell. Mr. Howell had taken off the cap and taken a quick look, followed by stuffing the funnel into the opening and then taking the cup from the Skipper and gently pouring its contents into the funnel and then into the tank. This sequence was repeated several times until the tank overflowed a bit, resulting in the funnel being removed and the fuel cap being screwed back on, the cup returned to the Skipper who poured the remaining contents back into the Jerry Can and secured its lid and placed the cup upside down on the Jerry Can.
The Skipper then dashed over to help the Professor moving the hemp rope until Gilligan and the ladies returned.
The donkey engine was adjusted to a slightly higher setting and everyone watched the container as it slowly approached the beach.
The Skipper noted how deep in the water the container was sitting and that it looked like it was getting deeper.
"The hole must be acting as a funnel and it's taking on more water!", he exclaimed as he pointed at the container.
The Professor nodded and then looked at how close it was to the beach and how the beach sloped under the water.
"Crap! Shit!", he went. "It's also going to digging into the beach and start piling up sand ahead of it."
"Logs!", went the Skipper. "Gilligan, are there any logs around?"
Gilligan pointed up to the cave. "There's a couple of logs that we'd dragged down to build stuff with. Maybe three or four inches in diameter and ten feet long, that big enough?"
Both the Skipper and the Professor nodded. The Professor thought a bit and suggested, "we'll have to get those stuck under the container just as it starts push up the sand. Let's grab one and try it now and see if the other can be dragged down to the water for when they're needed."
Mr. Howell had joined them during this conversation. "I'll pull the rope while everyone else moves the logs."
Gilligan dashed to the small pile of palm tree logs and started dragging three with him as he went down to the beach, followed by the others. At the water's edge, he grabbed one of the logs and started pulling it into the water toward the fron of the container. He was joined by the Professor who grabbed the other end of the log and the swung it towards the hemp rope just ahead of where it was tied off. Pushing the log under the rope, he guided it so thatit now went as far across the container as it could reach, with both the Professor and Gilligan bobbing the log to get it to pass under the rope.
They then got the log under the corner of the container and kept it there as the slop of the beach rose and the log hit the sand and stuck, then started to roll. They released the log and reached out for the next log, that had been positioned by the Skipper and Lovey near them.
This was repeated for the six logs that they had when Mary Ann spotted that the first log had just popped out from under the container and was floating nearby.
This was repeated for the set of logs again as the container now hit the shore and started up the slope of wet sand.
Gilligan was handed a short log and looked at it. "Fireplace logs," went Ginger. "There's boxes of them in the first container, and you wouldn't get the tree logs under rope on dry land."
"Right!", he went as he dropped the offered log in front of the edge of the container and then stomped on it to embed it into the wet sand a bit, then looked at the Professor who was doing the same with the log offered by Mary Ann.
They rapidly went through the boxes of logs, dropping several logs in front of the container on either side of the rope to provide a fairly even number of logs for each side of the container to roll/slide on.
A resounding "BANG!" from the donkey engine startled everyone. Gilligan and the Professor looked down and saw that they were now several feet into the dry sand.
Mr. Howell shouted out from the side of the donkey engine. "That's it! Just threw a con-rod through the side of the engine. Glad that no one was here when it happened."
Author's notes: Please post any reviews or comments, but please use your name and don't use "Guest" reviews. I like to talk with my readers and some great ideas can come out of the conversations.
