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.A bank of clouds was to the north and the crewscrambled aloft to reef the sails.For the next two days the ship was tossedby howling winds and blinding rain as the second front in as many weekshammered them unmercifully.This one was, if anything, colder and stronger.And while the winds were fair to send them to their destination, on the secondday the captain had the ship heave to, sailing into the teeth of the gale.Their destination had been the death of countless mariners over the ages andhe was not about to go sailing down on it, unable to get a fix on theirposition and at the front of a gale.By the third day the winds had started to abate and the rain had stopped.Thecaptain had the ship put on the starboard tack and sailed to the west, gropingforward for a glimpse of Flora or anything elseto get a fix on their position.Joanna volunteered to go aloft and try to spotland.She wasn't able to land in the tossing waves but the recovery area hadbeen reinforced and redesigned so that she was able to pull herself out withminimal effort."Flora's over to the west," she said, after she had shaken off."There's aninlet, but there's inlets all up and down the coast.That doesn't tell usanything.There are some islands to the southeast; we're about sixty klicksfrom them.Nothing due east at all as far as I can see.Oh, and there's clearsky well down below the horizon northwest.I think we'll be clear of theclouds, or at least the cover will be broken, by evening."The skipper and Commander Mbeki consulted their charts and came to theconclusion that they were too close to the Isles for comfort without betterconditions or a clear sky to get a navigation fix.They altered course towards Flora, which of the two was the lesser danger, andheaded into the Stream.By evening, as Joanna had predicted, the skies were clearing and the wind andwaves had abated.The latter were choppier, but far smaller and the ship rode over them with agraceful dip and yaw that was easy enough to compensate for.The next morning dawned clear but the winds were increasing and the areaaround the ship was dotted with whitecaps.The skipper had managed to get astar reading the night before so the ship was now under reefed sails, scuddingsouthward over the tossing sea.When Herzer came on deck after breakfast hegroaned, sure that the skipper would want dragons up in this mess."We can launch, sir," Jerry was saying as Herzer reached the quarterdeck.Thewind, hard and cold from the north, blew his words away so that he practicallyhad to shout."But I'm not sure about recovery.And I'm not sure we can readthe water the way you would like.We can see shoals, and we can signal them,but we can't really gauge the depth.""Just steer us clear of them," the skipper said."As for recovery.thewater's warm," he added with a grin."The air sure isn't," Jerry growled, but he was smiling."We'll do it, sir.But we will probably have to do water landings; I'm not comfortable with theway the ship is moving."Page 103 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Do what you can, Jerry," the skipper said, not unkindly."I know you'reworried about the dragons, and their riders, but if we run up on an unchartedcoral head, they're all going to drown.""Gotcha, sir," the warrant replied."Well, I'll take the first flight.He was quickly in the air and before he had even reached cruising altitude thedragon was making the dips and swirls indicating shallow water.He angled tothe east until he reached a point that looked to be about fifteen klicks offthe port bow, circled, then headed south."We're well out in the Stream, then," Commander Mbeki said."This is soliddeep water on both sides and ahead of us for klicks, sir.If we had sonar we'dbe looking at two hundred, maybe five hundred, meters of depth.""Yes," the skipper said, "and it shoals out fast.Signal him to stay ahead of us looking for shoal water until he's relieved.Signal him to look for mer, as well and to signal if he sees any sign ofintelligent life.""Will do, sir.""Put a wyvern on standby for launch.If he sees anything I want to recover himas soon as he's had a good look."It was no more than an hour later when Jerry went into a hover against thenorth wind.At an acknowledgement from the ship he signaled that there was asettlement below him.Then he signaled that there were several small boats."Recall him and launch the standby wyvern," the skipper said."Tell the riderto ignore the settlement and head southward.The mer are supposed to besomewhere around here.Oh, and send a messenger to General Talbot and tell himthat we're approaching the last reported position of the mer."* * *The man who scrambled up the side of the ship was burned black by the sun withhands callusedand gnarled from fishing nets.But he looked around him with lively interestas a midshipman led him to the quarterdeck."Colonel Shar Chang," the skipper said, sticking out his hand."United FreeStates Navy.""Bill Mapel," the fisherman said."This is one hell of a ship you've got here,Skipper.""Yes, it is," the skipper replied with a grin."We don't have much informationfrom down here.How is it?""Well, it's not as good as it used to be." The fisherman frowned."I used torun a fishing charter onBimi island before the Fall and it caught me here.We haven't been starving,but the weather's been a nightmare and finding your way around withoutautodirectors isn't the easiest thing in the world.I'd never learned starnavigation, none of us had, so if we lose sight of shore it's a matter ofmaking our way in and finding a spot we recognize.Storms, reefs, a torn sail,things we never even thought of before the Fall are all disasters.And they'reall taking their toll.We've had some problems with vitamin deficiencies, too,but since we started getting some fruit from Flora that's less of a problem.""What are you trading?" Talbot interjected."Sorry, I'm General Talbot, UFSground force.""The general is also the duke of Overjay," the skipper interjected."Duke?" the islander said with a grimace."Over my bitter objections," Talbot said, "they've reinstituted a hereditaryaristocracy.I at least got them to include methods of turnover.""How's the war going?" Mapel asked."There's not much news.""It's bad in Ropasa," Commander Mbeki said."New Destiny is Changing many ofthe people there against their will.But.it does give them someadvantages.""In the short term," Talbot snarled."We've had to fight them and evencaptured some.They're brutal, aggressive, strong and dumb.Personally, I'llPage 104 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlpass, thank you.""But surely they can be Changed back," Mapel protested
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