At the Mercy of the Elements

Greetings to everyone, the following story was inspired by the digital art of @xpilar, I invite you to visit his blog. The picture that motivated this story is the following.

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Source

At the Mercy of the Elements

Even though the transport of people and goods has largely overcome the limitations of time, distance and gravity, there are still reminiscences of the past on Earth that seemingly will never be lost.

At a time when ships can overcome previously immeasurable distances in a matter of hours. When bridges make it possible to travel hundreds of light years in seconds; when, thanks to vacuum power reactors, the need to refuel has disappeared, because energy can be obtained from the uncertainty of quantum foam itself; when gravity has lost importance, thanks to antigravity engines. Navigation through the turbulence of bodies of water remains a passion of humanity.

Even if it seems an unnecessary nuisance, humans continue to use ships as a means of transport, more often than one might think. From the Ferris that cross the channel that separates the north and south zones of Polaris in Heracles, to the small boats that are used to carry small amounts of cargo between the islands of the many reefs of Palas and Dione.

But the greatest sign of humans' love of navigation is the persistence of sailboats and not just the robotic ships that once traveled to Gigante, the huge lake of Taranis, before the unfortunate end of the planet. Even at this time humans venture into the sea, in sailboats, which, although built with materials unimaginable to ancient land sailors, remain at the mercy of the unpredictability of currents, winds and tides.

In Typhon, once every three years, the main sailing boat race takes place, which brings together more than five hundred ships from all worlds, including some space stations, which must follow a route that varies in each edition, circumnavigating the planet, stopping in the various floating cities that in turn navigate the infinite ocean of this oceanic world.

The vessels; which are transported in many cases even by hundreds of light years, using all the modern artifacts used to save the enormous galactic distances; must navigate carried by the wind and the currents and guided only by the celestial vault of Typhon, to give a tour of the planet in a time that, in the best of the cases, came to be of approximately nine months; approximately the same time, in which one of the most advanced military ships would take to travel, from one end to the other, the region of the galaxy where ninety percent of the colonized worlds are grouped, without the need to use bridges.

Text of @amart29 Barcelona, Venezuela, July 2019

Other stories from the Time and Space series

• Los Bosques de Perséfone / The Forests of Persephone
• Osiris / Osiris
• Metamorphosis
• Hastio
• Paradox
• Decay
• Under the influence of the Pleiades
• Anniversary
• Memories
• Core
• Uoke
• Cerberus
• Underwater Companions
• Ultraviolet Visions
• Obstacle Race
• Stranger
• Trackers
• At the Mercy of the Elements

I can only thank @xpilar for allowing me to use his digital art in my publication and for motivating my creation. Thank you very much @xpilar

Thank you all for visiting my publication, I hope your comments and I appreciate your support, until next time

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