When she woke up, the first thing she noted was that there was a rather heavy weight resting on her stomach, and that the weight was giving her already beleaguered lungs hell. The second thing she noticed was that her throat was incredibly dry, and that it only made it harder for her to breathe.
She opened her eyes slowly, allowing the bright sunlight overhead to wash over her retinas gradually. The last thing she needed was to go temporarily blind. She moved her lips, and mentally swore when she felt them crack. The wind, sun, and saltwater had played havoc on the sensitive skin while she was knocked out, and now she knew almost with certainty that doing anything that involved her mouth would be a very painful experience.
Her next concern was what was sitting on her stomach. She lifted her head slowly to see what it was exactly, and was stunned to find a rather large iguana sitting there, basking in the sun.
Bloody hell, she thought viciously as she sat up completely, making the iguana roll off her abdomen and down her legs. She would have kicked it off had she not remembered laws regarding endangered species and the like, so instead, she reached out, gingerly picked the creature up, and set it down a good distance from her limbs.
Naturally my body should give me a bloody hard time for all my troubles, she thought morosely as she got up, ignoring the pain that shot across her nerves as she struggled to get onto her feet by herself. It would have been easier if there was something nearby that she could use to pull herself up, but since there was none; she would have to do this by herself - faulty balance notwithstanding.
She also noticed that she was starting to swear like her older brother, and she knew that was not a very good sign.
After she had managed to stand up, she stayed still for a few moments, allowing the still-whirling world to settle back into place. First, she had to get her bearings and find out where she was exactly. Second, she needed to establish some form of contact with her brother, let him know that the mission had gone terribly wrong, and that she would need backup. And finally, she would need to locate Romelien, and take the machine off of him. After all, he could not be that far off.
When the landscape finally stopped swirling, she reached for her portable GPS machine, and checked it for any damages - not that she needed to, really. It was not one of those flimsy models that were made available for the average consumer: hers was a top-of-the-line military model that could handle rough treatment and being submerged in up to two hundred feet of water. She flicked the power switch to turn it on, and watched as the LCD screen glowed. She waited for the program to load and get a feed from the satellites, finally telling her where she was.
Much to her surprise, all she got was an error message: the GPS wasn't receiving a signal from the satellites.
She frowned. She turned the machine off, then on again. Maybe the memory banks needed to be jolted a little.
But when she got the same error message, she started to get worried. Maybe there's something interfering with the satellites, she thought, and glanced up at the sky. But the day was clear, and the weather was perfect. There was nothing that could get in the way of the satellites' beaming capacities.
So what was wrong?
She put aside her GPS, thinking again. All right, if the satellites won't work, maybe I can use radio, she thought, and reached for the small handheld radio that she carried with her. Since radios worked on frequencies, they were often able to work when satellites couldn't. As long as someone was close enough to hear - and she was certain that the Hecuba still wasn't too far out of range for her radio - she would be able to contact someone.
But as she lifted it from her belt, she heard the soft, swishing sound of seawater running along the inside of the machine. The thing was never meant for use underwater, unlike her GPS machine, and the saltwater would surely have corroded all the important internal bits and pieces that made the thing work. There was no way that she would be able to use it now.
She returned the radio to her belt, fuming. She was on the beach of what appeared to be one of the rockier islands of the Galapagos, the only signs of life being the seals that lay all along the beach, and the iguanas that were sunning themselves on the black volcanic rock that made up the island. She knew that she wouldn't starve, because the sea was rich with fish and other forms of marine life that she could subsist on. And she knew that she would be able to survive through the night - after all, there was nothing on the Galapagos that was large enough to eat her, and she was quite sure that there would be caves and crevices amongst the rocks where she could take shelter during the night.
But what worried her was the fact that there was no water - at least, not where she was standing.
She shook her head. It didn't matter. She would be able to find some - if she started moving immediately. Hopefully, while she walked, she would be able to find a spring, or at least some cacti or aloes from which to suck some moisture.
Sighing, she checked the leather soles of her shoes. She knew that they wouldn't last long over the rough terrain, but she had no choice. She would reinforce them when she found something suitable for the job. Right now, she had to start walking if she wanted to find water soon.
And already, she was feeling rather thirsty.
The sun was already quite high when Dr. Stephen Maturin decided that it would be a wise thing to pause for a drink and a meal. He glanced over his shoulder, watching as Padeen and Lord Blakeney trudged towards him, both looking quite tired.
He turned around more fully, and smiled at them. "I think we should stop and rest for a moment, before we proceed."
The statement as greeted by relieved sighs from both, and Stephen had to chuckle at that. Well, they had been walking for quite a while, and they had put up with him for all that time. They deserved the rest.
He looked around, and noticed a crevice at the base of a large chunk of volcanic rock, shaded by a convenient overhang. He pointed it out to his companions, smiling at them. "I suppose that it would be best to go there and take advantage of the shade."
The three of them made good progress over the relatively flat basaltic rock underneath their feet, and in no time they were seated quite comfortably in the shade of the overhang. They really had not gotten that far, and Stephen could still see, in the distance, the smoke rising from the campfires back where they had started, and, out to sea, a tiny dot that was the Surprise.
"Are you alright, sir?"
Stephen looked up, and smiled upon seeing the concerned face of the young William Blakeney. "I am quite fine, Mr. Blakeney." He gestured to the satchel that contained their food. "Now then, shall we?"
They proceeded to dig into their meal - a simple one of cheese, bread, and water - all the while discussing the strange creatures and plants that they had found on this, their first day on the Galapagos. Stephen took the time to skim through the notes that Blakeney had made, and he was pleased to see that the boy was starting to develop a sure hand for drawing, and a keen eye for detail and observations. True, he was still a little bit raw around the edges as a naturalist, but that was always easily remedied.
Blakeney learns quickly, he mused, reading the boy's notes on one of the beetles that he had found underneath a slab of rock. William Blakeney, son of Lord Blakeney, was a sweet-faced, charming young lad, and it almost seemed that he did not belong to the harsh, hard life of the Navy. But there was obviously an inner toughness beneath that cherub face, and the boy was proving himself to be an effective leader. He still had some ways to go before he became a lieutenant, but he was already well on his way.
Just then, Stephen felt grit and pebbles collide against the nape of his neck. He ignored it, thinking that it was just the action of the wind at the top of the rocks. But when it happened again, he started to look up. "Blakeney, are you alright?" The boy had lost his arm during their first encounter with the Acheron, and Stephen was worried that if Blakeney got it into his head to start climbing the rock in order to reach something, he could end up breaking his leg - or worse, his neck.
"Yes sir."
Stephen turned his head, and noticed that Blakeney was still sitting where he had been all that time. The next person to look for was Padeen, but he was there as well. He blinked. Then what had caused the little tumble of pebbles?
More grit came falling this time, and Stephen knew that something was wrong. He hobbled out of the shade, and looked up the rock face, hoping to find out just what was wrong.
As an answer, something long and dressed all in black tumbled down the rock face, and rolled across the surface of the overhang to land at his feet.
He immediately recognized it as a person. "My God..."
"Doctor, what happened?" Blakeney and Padeen jogged up to him then, concerned.
Stephen waved them off. "I'm fine, quite fine. Nothing hurt." His instincts, however, caused him to reach out, and roll the person over, so that he would be able to see the face.
He was stunned to see that it was a young woman, gripped in the throes of heatstroke and dehydration, and bleeding from the soles of her feet. He knew that they had little time for dawdling.
"Padeen, bring me the water," he said then, running over in his mind the things that needed to be done. "Blakeney, go and find some sturdy pieces of wood - branches, anything - that we can use to make a litter. We need to bring her back to camp." He touched the young woman's forehead, and winced. She was burning with fever - a sure sign that the heatstroke was at an advanced stage.
They didn't have a lot of time.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
Miss Flossy – Thank you for being the first to review, as well as for the positive nature of said review. Do not worry; as you can see, I have finished the second chapter, and am attempting to write a beginning for the third. Updates might be slow in coming, as I am terribly busy with the work I have to do for university, but I will try to update as often as is humanly possible on my part, and on the part of my Muse as well.
Bean02 – Thank you for finding the time to read my story, though it is my first for the Master and Commander fandom. Yes, Timeline was a thoroughly intriguing book, though I will have to agree with you when you said that the movie did not do it justice. The best part about it – in my opinion, at least – was the appearance of Gerard Butler as Marek (though, if my memory serves me right, Marek wasn't Scottish, originally). He and James D'Arcy are simply two of the men in my list of actors whom I find completely adorable.
Ladyofthelake13 – Thank you for the compliment. I will try to update as often as my schoolwork and the frivolous nature of my Muse will allow me.
MusicBoxDancer – Thank you as well for thinking my story intriguing. I cannot pinpoint the exact year Mercy comes from, but I can safely put it beyond the year 2015. I am more or less certain that by that time, research in quantum physics and its technological application will be advanced enough to suggest the development of a "time machine" as described in Timeline. I do not want to put her too far into the future, but the years beyond 2015 should still be relatively like our own, though with more advanced technology than what we have now.
TheMusingFit – Thank you for reviewing, and for thinking my story an intriguing one. As you can see, I have updated. Though this is a short chapter in comparison to the first one, I hope that you will find this an interesting one nevertheless.