Chapter 65. It’s Coal Outside

Morning came, as it usually does.Will was up with the dawn, lit the galley stoves and boiled his kettle.Tea in hand he opened the gangway doors and climbed to the deck.The doors had to be shut last night, a wave of chilly air had come down and it had gotten a bit cold belowdecks.And he found fog, pretty thick fog too.“Well we’re not going anywhere in this .”, he muttered.The sun would burn it off but it might take a while, depending onthe size of the fog bank.Then today would be a work day until they could steam on.Will was looking forward to making his washing machines, the teens could get their coal gathering kit ready.Also get familiar with the boat, where they can go, more importantly where they can’t.

The sun was a dim red ball.Not showing through the fog much at all, but it was still early.Checking the watch in the wheelhouse Will found it was just after 6.They had decided to keep the watch in there, it was safer and it was really the only place that they needed to know the time.For sailing purposes, speed and such.Being too early to wake the teens, Minnie still sleeping, he decided to see if Naomi was up yet.She was good company.As he left the wheelhouse he heard a faint sound…if he didn’t know better it was a foghorn.Shaking his head he laughed “Must have been a whale blowing.”.But the sound came again, a bit louder now.Hearing footsteps he turned to find Minnie had woke and was behind him, still sleep tousled.

“What’s that noise dad.”, she asked.“It sounds like something from our old world but it can’t be that.”, answered Will, “It must be an animal or something.”.The noise came again, seemingly nearer still.Naomi also came up, followed by several half dressed teens.“What’s that sad sound captain?”, she also asked.Will thought for a second…”That’s a foghorn, ships have them in our old world.To let others know they’re close.Lighthouses too, to warn ships about coasts being near.”.He shrugged “But there’s no way, we’re the only boat on the water.And there’s no lighthouses.”. Minnie ran to the wheelhouse, was quiet for a minute then yelled back “Hey dad, there’s a foghorn lanyard here, should I pull it?”.Will had seen this cord before, tested it and forgot about it.“Yes, give five short blasts.Then one long every two minutes or so.” he called out.

Moments later they heard the horn blast out.The hair on the back of his neck lifted when they heard five answering blasts.“What did that mean Will, shorts and long?”, Naomi asked.“The five shorts mean danger, the long one has to be blown every two minutes when a ship is underway in fog.At that moment the Rose let out one long blast, immediately answered from afar.“I thought it might be a echo from a cliff side, but we’re not close to shore.The only other answer is that there’s another boat out there.”, Will added.“But the heartboat is the only boat and you’re the only captain…this is…I don’t know what but it’s disturbing.”, Naomi said to Will quietly.“I know Naomi, but we’re safe here on the Rose.”, he answered.At that moment Minnie blasted out again…nothing, no sound returned.

The other world

The fog was thick as the huge cruise ship neared the dock.It was quite early still but the bridge crew was hard at work.Their foghorn was sounding as it should, every two minutes.But then a call from the port lookout station put them all on alert.“Captain, report of another boat sounding”, reported the second officer.“Give me a full radar sweep and go to 1/4 speed”, the captain ordered.Calls of “aye aye” and “yes sir “, rang out.A moment later the radar operator reported “We have a close contact sir, a boat about 75 feet long, mostly wooden, profile doesn’t match anything in our data banks.”.

Peter Jensen was confused. The radar image showed that odd boat again. He had thought it was a computer glitch but the IT team had gone through the drives with a fine tooth comb, as it were. No trace of anything like it. And now another sighting, the fog horn sounding…if he was a superstitious man he might have thought they were haunted. “Captain”, the first officers voice was higher pitched than normal, “It’s gone, gone from radar from one second to the next.”. Peter could hear murmurs from the deck crew… ghost ship, Flying Dutchman. Personally he didn’t know what was going on, but he was going to get to the truth. “Number one, you have the bridge.”, he called out, waited to be acknowledged, then left for coffee. He had a few areas he like to relax in but his favourite was at the stern, lowest deck overlooking the ocean behind them. The ship wasn’t over crowded this trip, that would change in the future but for now it was practically empty. There were many comfortable loungers and he chose one and sat with his coffee.

“Busy times hmm Captain Jensen”., came a voice from behind him.With a start he splashed a bit of coffee on his cuff at the sound.“Oh I’m so sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”.The speaker was an older man of about 60 wearing a long yellow kaftan.“It’s no bother,” Peter said, “I was wool gathering for a moment.”.The other man laughed “I have done that many times, much more lately it seems.Again I’m sorry to have disturbed you.”.He made to leave but Peter asked “May I ask your name sir, you have me at a disadvantage.”.With a halfbow the older man introduced himself as “Call me Eli, very nice to meet you captain.”.And with that he turned, started walking away, he seemed to slip into the shadows and was gone.

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Lake World

There was no sound at all except for their foghorn sounding.The Rose rocked a few times and he heard the bells on the barges ringing.“Should I keep going dad?”, called Minnie.“No, it’s just us here, and the fog is burning away.”, answered Will.The teens lining the rails didn’t really know what was going on, just that the crew were worried.“I’m going to start breakfast, Ann..Milly..get the crew ready for breakfast.”, ordered Naomi and she and her helpers went below.The two girls started shooing the children below to get fully dressed and washed.Will was standing at the bow, staring at the lake beyond the clearing fog, Minnie beside him.Just what was going on?

As they sat at the bow Howard came up with fresh tea and warmed milk, he was quieter than normal. Just dropped off a small tray, said good morning and left. “What’s up with that guy?”, asked Minnie, taking her mug and drinking with gusto, “He usually talks my ears off.”. Will laughed “Either Naomi talked to him or he’s a bit freaked out.”. Minnie’s ears popped up “Freaked out? What’s that mean?”. Thinking for a moment Will answered “Slang word from the old world, means worried or nervous…maybe both at the same time.”. Minnie mouthed it a few times “Freaked out, freaked out…I love it. I’m gonna go freak Naomi out.”. And she scampered off. Will sighed, and drank his tea slowly. He was more worried that he liked to show. “I wish I could talk to Elaith, that little lad might have answers.” he said out loud, “I said I would like to talk with Elaith…”. Nothing, no response. Ah well, it was worth a try he thought. Trying to put the weirdness away for now he went down for breakfast.

It wasn’t more than an hour later before Minnie and Will were hard at work.The Rose was off anchor and steaming slowly for the barges.First was easy,the next three took a little more work.They had it under control and another hour saw them making way for the coal shores.“Be there by dinner, start loading tomorrow Min.” said Will as he checked his course.“Aye aye dad, but don’t get freaked out if we’re early…okay.”, Minnie answered.He raised his head and looked at her happy face… “Freaked out huh?”, he asked.She dissolved into laughter.“ Naomi didn’t get it”, Minnie managed to hiccup out “I think she was freaked out.”.At this Will snorted out a laugh too, “Write that down in your log Min, word of the day is freaked out.”.She got to it immediately,carefully writing in her spidery hand.

Will brought his tools on deck and set up a work area. Bringing up two large barrels he got to work on his washing machines. He could have done this below but the weather was too nice to be inside. Minnie had tied the Rose on course and was watching, checking her course every few minutes. Well, watching was a kind word, she was commenting on his work and giving valuable advice. “You might wanna make that opening bigger, easier to put bigger loads in.”, or “Don’t make it too high or I can’t use it without a stool.”, then it was “That frame needs more bracing and use longer bolts.”.

Will definitely appreciated all her advice, if she had just ignored what he was doing he would have worried.Now his invention was taking form under his skilled hands and Minnie’s skilled observations.He had an issue with the gearing for the hand crank, so he took the wheel while Minnie tinkered away and got it going.“Good one Min, that part was beginning to irk me.”, Will sighed.“You had the ratio right, at two to one but the axis weren’t aligned…maybe a worm gear system would be better.”, Minnie leaned over to take it all apart.“No no, it’s good Min.It works well like this.Maybe we can change the design when this one needs replacing.”, Will said.She looked unconvinced but agreed to let it go for now.With the barrel turning smoothly, the door was holding watertight.Adding soap, water and some towels he ran a test load.He cranked it for a few minutes, checking for leaks…nothing.Popping the top he had clean soapy clothes ready for rinsing, it worked as intended and that made him happy.Several of the children had been watching and a couple of them had drawn what he had created, it looked like Laketown might be getting washing machines in the future.

Now the harder part, to make what his mother had called a mangle.It was part of her big washer, it pulled clothes through rollers to squeeze excess water out.He had sketched it and it was going to work on the same gearing method.Turn a crank and the rollers turn, pulling the clothes through at the same time as squeezing them.He could have made them but had bought four large wooden dowels in Laketown.Each 10 inches in diameter, banded with brass for strength and loaded into a frame, large bolts in the ends to connect to the crank gears.Again he left this part to Minnie.She rooted through a large assortment of gears they had found in the workshop, muttering under breath about ratios, aspects, axis, and the number of teeth per gear.Will knew she was enjoying herself so he took the wheel for a while.He called down to the galley and asked Naomi to send tea and cake, or biscuits up please.

The lake was smooth as butter and they cut a fine wake leaving a path behind them for miles.The wheelhouse windows were open and the last of summer breeze was blowing through, warm and mild.The mornings fog nothing but a memory now.He called to Minnie and asked if she needed a hand, but whatever she muttered made the watching children laugh, so he figured she was okay.A few minutes later a nicely loaded tray was delivered by Howard… “Naomi just made fresh tea captain, should I call her second mate Naomi cause that’s long, but there’s cake and biscuits, oh and juice for Minnie, I mean first mate Minnie, good bye captain”, and he was off.Well, thought Will, he’s getting a little better.He pulled the steam whistle to get Minnie’s attention, and when she looked up, he held up a plate of snacks.She straightened up from the work bench, gave a big stretch and scampered up .“Hooray break time.”, she said happily, taking a few biscuits.“Nearly got it figured out?”, Will asked.“Oh yeah, it’s easy, just fiddly.”, gotta line up the gears in a train, make sure they’re brass too, iron ones would rust.But nearly done, just tightening, I had to make some better washers though.”, she paused and ate a biscuit in one happy bite.

After a half hour she went back to work.Will was writing his log when she called to him “Hey you guy…it’s done, come see my creation.”.Laughing to himself, he roped the wheel in place and joined her.There they were.About the same size as the washers, two large mangles all brass and polished wood.The rollers squeezed all the excess water out, directed into buckets.This would sure save time hand twisting everything.“Well done, Min, this will make our life easier on laundry day.”, said Will.“Good”, she replied “My fur gets very sticky and hard to brush out, and my ears….they’re horrible after.”.

Will loaded the equipment onto a pallet and lowered them into the hold. Later they would take them to the small laundry room and set them up. But for now it was just about time to anchor up, the ore shoals were in sight. Busy days ahead.