Gary Underwood

I set Sail for Pari's Island. I had searched the crew's stuff and had found their CDs, books, and um well porn. One of them had been a fan of Latin Jazz, I didn't understand a word but under the starlight the music played as I sailed onward. Why was I searching for a long dead woman? I don't know, all my life I had been pushed to do something, to play it safe. Eventually something inside me broke and I just stopped caring. If I lived ok, if I died whatever, I had to go to prison to become free, an ironic truth.

I smiled as fish jumped into the air, a few of them glowed. The ocean was black and formless, the color of inky darkness sparkled with stars, I think I was beginning to love this world. I had time so I opened up a can of something and placed it into a microwave. In this new world I lived like a king, well comparitively speaking. When it beeped I ate some canned pasta and let time flow. It was said that time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted, I never understood that when I worked in accounting. Time was money, something you spent chasing, some floating pieces of paper so that someone else could get richer. I suppose I would have done that until I died if they hadn't of screwed me.

I ate slowly, enjoying some instant coffee, some canned pasta and some music. I drifted off to sleep, I used the engine only occasionally, prefering to just drift along to my destination. Maybe I would get there, maybe I wouldn't it didn't matter, nothing mattered and that was ok. When I saw the island ahead of me, glowing with soft white light I slowly stopped the ship at the sandbar. I put down the anchor, and carefully put out a plastic table, I lit a fire and carefully brewed some coffee. I had some fish so I started cooking them. I got some candles and a boombox and played one of the former salior's Jazz CDs as the moon watched from above.

I just sat down and enjoyed the music waiting for the food and coffee to finish cooking, I felt something sharp poke my back.

"Dinner will be finished soon please take a seat."

It smelled really good, I think I got it to smell just right, I didn't understand the words so I shrugged and got up. The poke was a little harder but it didn't cause me to bleed so I was fine.

"The meals ready now, do you like coffee?"

The pointy thing was removed from the small of my back and I turned around. The woman before me was in tattered clothing, she looked malnorished and had a crazed look in her eyes.

"Coffee?"

"Yes, it's instant but we will have to make due."

"Coffee?"

I grabbed the boiling pot and put out the fish, I carefully mixed in the coffee.

"Sugar, non dairy creamer or both?"

"That smells like Coffee?"

"I know the instant stuff is almost edible these days, a miracle of science I assure you."

I motioned for her to take a seat, and placed the cooked fish on her plate and some on mine. I stirred my coffee and smiled as the sensation warmed me and my soul.

"You're not real?"

I enjoyed the music.

"I know, it's amazing what you can do with simple ingredients, the fish is exquisite."

I took a bite and savored it. I never did that on Earth, food was just fuel to be devoured for energy, not enjoyed. I was a criminal now I could afford to wallow in excess. She started crying as she drank her coffee.

"Are... Am I going home, am I finally going home?"

I shook my head.

"I'm sorry miss Verma but I'm but a humble exile like yourself."

I took a sip.

"Oh... what did you do?"

I shrugged.

"Embezzlement, I stole from people who stole from me first."

She sighed.

"I didn't mean to fuck everything up, I didn't want to hurt anyone. I was 19 years old, I was young and stupid and I thought that it would look so cool that everyone would love it. I didn't mean to destroy Io."

She looked sad.

"I... was stupid, I just want to go home."

"That isn't possible, I'm afraid."

"It isn't fair, I hate this place, there's no sun, no light it's horrible here."

I shrugged.

"The difference between heaven and hell is perspective, there is moonlight, music, food and conversation."

I took another sip of coffee, her cup was empty so I refilled for her.

"What did your company do?"

I took a bite of fish.

"I worked for a bank, a big one, I ran numbers like a good little drone, lived off of top ramen and saved up for a house."

I smiled.

"I spent five years of my life saving, scrimping and then I bought my house free and clear. I had the deed and everything. Then the bank said that it was now their house because I did not pay the mortgage. So I brought my deed of sale and ever thing else and my boss comes to me. You see the bank that wanted my property was my employer."

I frowned.

"I was told that if I wanted to keep my job that I had to give up my home. If I didn't they would fire me and blacklist me."

"And?"

"I said good bye to over a hundred thousand dollars and lost my home, and then they fired me and blacklisted me anyways, they also ruined my credit score. My boss was kind of a cunt, sorry for the language, so what I did was this, I knew that the bank was lazy, where the security holes were. So what I did was I took bank funds and I transfered over a hundred million dollars of the banks money into my former boss' offshore accounts."

I smiled.

"Then I turned myself in, you see what I did was illegal but my boss, that horrid woman? Well I got 20 years and she got life. I chose exile and here I am."

She blinked.

"Oh, that's um? Good for you? Um?"

"Oh I'm sorry that was rude of me, my name's Gary Underwood."

She nodded her head and studied me and my boat.

"Are you going to um... you know? Hurt me?"

I shrugged.

"I don't plan on hurting you."

"Then why come here?"

"Why not? I have a ship, food, music but no one to talk to, if you're getting tired of this island I would be glad to take you aboard my ship, would you like to sail a sea of stars with me?"

"And I can leave the Island?"

"Yes."

She cried and I sipped my coffee as the music played on.