Packed with pemmican and split-peas,
Packed with tack and nuts and meal-worms;
Packed with tools for garden-working,
Packed with weapons for protection,
Sailed the spaceship, Kiss of Fortune.
From the wondrous town of Boomport
From its spaceport on the mountain,
From the carven granite spacedock
Raised above the forces pulling
All things downward, ever downward,
Sailed the spaceship, Kiss of Fortune.
Up the thermals of the Gray Ridge
Far above the rhododendrons,
Far above the beaver meadows,
Far above the bright pine barrens,
Far above the deep green hollows,
Sailed the spaceship, Kiss of Fortune.
Onward, upward, ever upward,
Sailed the crew of Kiss of Fortune
Till at last the ground below them,
Kilometers down below them,
Faded into mist and distance,
Faded out of sight below them.
All their homelands, all their stories,
All their comforts, all their neighbors,
All the places they had lived in,
All the people who had loved them,
Everything they ever knew of,
Faded out of sight behind them.
Out before them, all around them
Floated objects strange and mystic:
They saw drifting fields of space rocks.
They saw floating chains of islands.
They saw rushing deep-space rivers.
They saw fiery motes of starstuff.
Out before them, all around them
There were dangers, there were hazards:
Sudden windstorms, fiercely howling;
Hungry creatures, ever stalking;
Greedy pirates, ever sailing;
Ancient magic, ever waiting.
Somewhere out there, somewhere distant,
Somewhere off among the dangers,
Lay the object of their questing,
Lay the reason for their journey:
Fields of turnips, special turnips
That could serve all kinds of people.
Finding these would surely challenge
Many crews of hardened spacers.
But they only had each other:
Fellow rookies new to wildspace.
So they learned and so they practiced
Building skills or teaching others.
From Ra fal they learned of sailing,
All the workings of a sailboat,
She could share her hard-earned knowledge
Of the ways of winds and rigging.
Though she did not know of spacing
She could lead them through the practice.
Mabellyne, with her mechanics,
Taught them spaceship engineering:
Navigating spatial vectors,
Steering by the elementals,
Basic care and needed cleaning
Of the complex spelljam engine.
Sofonisba knew of cooking
With the slow-cook spaceship galley,
Thus she served them hearty dinners.
Since she also knew of brooming
She could tutor bright bold Mary
While the others practiced sailing.
Mary brought them joy and friendship,
And she often helped the others
When they needed warmth and comfort.
She was also fast at learning,
With her spirit, with her focus
Soon she was an able deckhand.
Gladys showed them rapid learning,
Asking questions, deep and thorough
With her focus just on knowledge.
Very soon she was a sailor.
Oft she talked of arcane secrets
That might matter in the future.
Tsinta showed them quiet service,
Calming presence, mystic union.
For she'd formed a deep connection
With the ship and with her crewmates
After being split from commune
With the forests of the Gray Ridge.
and could function as a ship crew.
They were ready for a challenge
All together, as a unit.
Very soon they would be tested
Far beyond what they had trained for.
Next (Mary)
Next Sofonisba
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