# 127: Banana Slug

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Rain.

It rained. It had been raining for many months. It had been raining longer than at any time in living memory, and there was fog. Fog on the river was a given. Not ‘if’ but ‘how thick’. Sometimes the fog obscured the river and the islands in the river for weeks at time. No one would see the Banana Slug, the former Flint Island, leave in the night, in the fog.

They were preparing to launch. Since the island would be mobile it would no long be an Island. It would be a ship. A ship needed a name. The name Banana Slug had began as a joke, then it had stuck. Why not? They were embarking on a new life, why not a new name. It was fitting, so they used a name babbled by a toddler. As islands went, Flint Island hadn’t been very large. As villages went, the municipality of of Flint Island was tiny. It’s population was a bit over two hundred people, including the children. As ships went, the ‘Banana Slug’ was fairly large. The entire population of the village were housed with a great deal of room to spare in its very spacious accommodations.

The design had come to Shelby in a dream. That’s was his story and he was sticking to it, he had claimed. Regardless of where the design came from the Banana Slug was unique, unlike any other vessel ever constructed by man at that time. It was composed of part of the original island supported and strengthened by a great deal of Structural Smoke.

Weeks before the projected departure date he had sent a QEC text to all of the non resident wearers of neurolinks. It had shocked many of them initially. They’d never imagined ‘mind text’ before. After their initial astonishment at the new method of communication wore off many of the mainlanders and Shelby had a little talk. A long, long talk actually. He spent many a long hour explaining the situation to them. He told them what was happening to the earth, the rain, the expected floods and what the people of Flint Island intended to do. He had extended to them an invitation to move in with the residents of the islan and perhaps survive the coming turmoil. They, their family and friends were invited aboard.

Oddly enough, most declined. People would much rather stick with what they knew rather than venture into the unknown Too bad, most of them died.

While Shelby was fighting the mother of all sales resistance , the preparations to leave were completed. Finally there came that day when...

“Nominal,” Chad replied from the starboard eyestalk. “All the sensors indicate optimal structural integrity. The coefficient of cohesion is within acceptable design parameters. We’re perfectly aligned, balanced and ready to ooze. Or would that be crawl?”

“Okay, I’m running the heuristic routine now,” The ArchMage breathed. He was feeling the full magnitude of their undertaking. A great deal of work, by all of them, was coming to fruition. He had literally, bled for this.

Quite often in fact,

Minutes went by. Nothing bad had happened yet.

“Okay, that’s cool, we haven’t died, at least not so far. Everything seems to be in the green. Power levels optimal across the board. The Di-lithium crystals are five by five.” Shelby was feeling relaxed enough to joke. THAT, more than anything else set everyone's mind at ease. This might actually work.

“Oooooziiiit. Crawl initiation, level one. Slither, slime and awaaahay!” Josh sang out from the tail tip.

Through out the island a cheer went up. The population of the village had been monitoring the wheelhouse chatter. At a distance, the Banana Slug did indeed resemble a gigantic banana slug, hence the name. It began to move slowly into the river. It left, nothing behind it, nothing above the water that is. There was no evidence on the surface that there had been an island there, ever. From a few feet below the surface of the island to a depth of a few inches below water level the rocks and earth had been processed. Carbon and any other useful substances had been extracted. Where once had sat a small island with a small village on it, nothing remained

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The Next Episode will be
#128: Slither down the river…
The Previous Episode was
#126: Virtual Town Hall
the First episode was
#1 : Prologue

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@everittdmickey
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