D-Rock picked up a rock and threw it.
“When you throw a rock there are two things. There is the direction you throw and there is how hard you throw. You control these two things, and after that, there is no more choice—the rock follows the only possible trajectory.”
D threw another rock.
“I am on trajectory. I have made my throw.”
D-Rock turned and looked at Romp.
“I gave what Ned said some thought. There is the sea, and there is the sea.”
My first conclusion was that it might be some sort of sage wisdom like, if something is important to you, spend more time thinking about it. Maybe it was Ned’s, think twice not once. Of course, this isn’t exactly new.”
“I was on the deck of one my ships throwing rocks. There was kind of a joke. Someone said that if you throw a stick, a dog can’t help but go chase it and bring it back, and if you give me a rock, I can’t help but throw it out over the water. So an hour later Ricardo shows up with a big bucket filled with rocks, he gives them to me and he laughs.”
“That joke was a pivot point. It’s weird how a baird sings a song and it gets stuck in your mind even though it often is very much a non-clear thought. The other night the baird Howard sang the following:”
I wish that I
could offer you
a chance to change direction…
But you know
that pathways must
be followed to destruction…
There are those who move clouds…
“I had that song in my mind as I was throwing the rocks. And then there was one rock, and I threw it, and I must have been been leaning back more at the moment of throw because the rock went upward a bit. I watched it and for half a second it looked like it was going to hit the middle star in the Belt of Orion. I realized I was looking at the second sea.”
“We have our chests maxxed out each at two hundred thousand gold. It was not enough for me to acquire power. You know that game with a rock and a paper and a scissors? Rock trumps scissors. Scissors trumps paper. Responsibility trumps power. It was time for me to do something.”
“How do we get to Orion? I can’t tell you yet. I may die having learned how we can do it but not having done it yet, but I accept that. I know what I want.”
“So this is a project…” Romp asked.
“Yes. We haven’t started work on the ship yet. First we have to figure out about how we breathe. You know how when you climb a mountain there it gets harder and harder to breathe? That’s because there is less and less air. People who fly in balloons know the same thing. This screamingly begs a question—what do we breathe? Obviously we can’t see it but someone gasping for breathe will tell you it is there. Now, we have made contact with a scientist in France. His name is Lavoisier and I think he will help with this—and, this is but the first step…”
