TEOTWAWKI (An Original Novel - Part 8)
Chapter 8: Sea Trials
After lunch the next day the small group met at the docks near the Banana Slug’s pod-bay doors. If the Slug had been a real slug instead of a mechanism it would have been the mouth. They met Tommy, Sally, some friends and their parents as they were leaving. The kids seemed to be happy. The adults seemed to be in shock.
That was a bad sign.
Cody immediately launched into instructor mode.
“So what Tommy figured” Cody said, “was to cheat.”
Shelby looked at the young boy with new appreciation. Not only was it a good idea to cheat, or rather to not reinvent the wheel, but Cody was giving credit where credit was due rather than taking it for himself. “Tommy’s right. There’s no need to reinvent something that’s already been invented some where else. Cheating, as you say, is a perfectly valid design tactic.”
“We decided not to think of it to be ‘boat design’’ Cody said “That constrained our thinking, it was too limiting. We forgot the preconceptions brought to mind by the word ‘boat’.What we wanted was something that moves through the water that we can ride in, right? ”
“Yes we do.” Shelby agreed “I see your point”
“We aren’t limited to any one type of construction technique or materials. We grow things out of SSmoke and control them by using Neuro-Loop brain interfaces.” Cody continued.
Shelby nodded
“The SSmoke is powered by integral NStat-Fusors so we’ll never run out of power, right?” Cody continued
Shelby nodded. “You will be limited to the amount of power you can draw at any given time, much like a pond that only has a limited amount of water in it. You can draw it down, but that power is constantly being refilled, much as a spring fed pond would be.”
“So that means we’re not limited to Sails, Oars, Internal Combustion engines or Steam engines for power” Cody Continued. ”We can shape the SSmoke in any way we want that is consistent with it’s limitations. We can have active fins, tails or wings. Right?”
“Yes I believe that’s all true. I think I see where you’re going with this but please continue” Shelby and everyone else were grinning.
“So we cheated. Nature has been building ‘swimmers’ for millions of years. A lot of them have gone extinct but many haven’t. Why not use the design of something that’s lasted a long, long time? That would be an indication that it’s a good design wouldn’t it?” he finished. It was obvious that he’d practiced his presentation.
“That would be true. If we’re not cheating, we’re not trying. Cheat anyone except the Tribe. Don’t cheat the Tribe.” Shelby repeated. He was proud of that boy.
“So what are you copying?” He asked.
“Rays” Cody said ”As a species they were old before dinosaurs were new. We copied their design and built a great many tele-operated models to experiment with many of their features. Rays are common in all the warm waters of the ocean and are even found in some rivers. Their form factor works well.”
“Finally we decided to make one man rated. We felt we needed a multi-passenger model, so we built it very large, as large as a cabin cruiser. We decided on a variant of Manta Rays . He waved toward a slip in the pod-bay. Sure enough, it held something shaped much like a Manta Ray. “This one is much larger than a real Manta.”

When they reached the slip in which the MantaBoat was berthed it opened it’s mouth. Quite wide actually. In other circumstances it might have been alarming.
“Enter through the open mouth, pick a seat. They’re all the same.” Cody instructed. They did as he said. He gave them the VR access code.
“Cody, you drive first.” Chad said “Get us clear of the Slug, then everyone else can take a turn at the wheel as much as they want.”
He spoke metaphorically. There was no wheel. The controls and sensors were neurologically inductive. The pilot’s POV was what the Manta, if it had been alive, might have seen. The POV of the passengers gave the impression of being a passenger, somehow.
In other words, they could see in all directions. The only limitation was due to the clarity of the water. Oddly enough they could see further underwater than they could on the surface. The fog on the surface was THAT thick.
The manta flew slowly away from the Banana Slug. It skimmed the river bottom. Everyone took turns driving.
The Manta was as fast and as agile as it’s namesake, and as silent.
“See how it works everyone?” Chad said. “This thing, as is, can stay out longer than you want to. It can travel as fast and further than a typical boat. It uses it’s tail whip as an extended siphon to suck air out of......yadda yadda yadda...GREAT Detail ”
Shelby was impressed. He was also mildly disappointed. The boys could do so much more with just a little bit more effort. He had some ideas. He sent Joshua a text.
You might not be aware of
Hydrofoils.
Also something else I’ve been working on.
are you and the boys free for lunch?
At your Command ArchMage
When and where?
Shelby groaned. This wasn’t going the way he had wanted it too. All he’d wanted to do was to make a few helpful suggestions. Guess not. Burden of command and all that.
get something they’d really like.
a Steak, or Burgers at Ernie’s maybe,
I dunno, knowing that crowd maybe both.
You decide. Anything you want.
You all deserve it.
My treat.
Take your time,
Have a GOOD time.
Then Ya’ll drop by to see me.
ArchMage.
Shelby sat with his head in his palm for a few minutes. He thought of an old quotation.
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown” He didn’t have a crown. What he had was worse.
“Oh Boo Hoo” Elvira was NOT sympathetic. “Poor you. It's your party and you’ll cry if you want to. Cry until your pity party something, something? Just like the song says?”
“We ain’t got time for that. CowBoy up Gramps. I have ideas in motion. I did a Cyber-Plunge into the fountain of the SoulStone chasing your mind waggles, so saddle up! It takes a big tractor to plow the fertile field of your mind and I’m just brimful with ontological commitments, instantiation and domain specifications! ” She said.
“WELL?” Elvira continued, not a bit patient.” Extending this logic, the direst scale to be less than an untoned, advised bangle of an unshrived cognitive organization. Much like the zeitgeist of millrun plants but without the understated beauty of karate or the apparel of unlined cymbals!”
“I’m in awe” Shelby said “I don’t believe I’ve ever hear such a wild, mixed rant.”
“Yeah yeah.” Elvira cut in “ I bet you say that to all the girls. It got your attention. Now listen up. If you vary the resonance spectra of the tau-geek-speak techno-babble, baffle-gab yadda yadda”
In spite of himself Shelby listened. This was new. It actually made sense in context. He began to grin.
Everyone was eating. Joshua was almost in awe of what the youngsters could eat, the wild combinations of food that they would eat was rather disconcerting, but mostly by how MUCH they could eat. They had to have hollow legs. Joshua was the youngest mage, was barely older than the kids he was chaperoning. He was the eldest of the bunch but not by much. He could easily remember being that age and able to do what they did. Well maybe, not exactly, not like Carl. Carl had just finished three, half pound burgers with Cheese Fries, Onion rings, nuggets, two malts and a milkshake. He was reaching for the dessert menu. Joshua had never been able to eat like that, not even close. Seriously Carl?
Carl was as so skinny that if he turned sideways and stuck out his tongue he’d look like a zipper. Tommy had to stand in one place twice in order to cast a shadow. Sally was so thin that she could hang glide using a Dorito, Cody wasn’t much better and the other’s were much the same. There wasn’t a fat boy or a chubby girl among them. They were all much too active. They were all hyperactive as ferrets on speed and so full of energy that they almost vibrated in place, the lot of them. They ate like a swarm of locusts too.
Everyone one of them had avatars which just made it more comical. Yvette, was the only Avatar that was self aware, the others were tele-operated puppets. The kids didn’t let that bother them. They were learning to use their Avatars very well. Ernie didn’t have much to do. The little dragons avatars retrieved napkins, silverware, and glasses of water quite well.
The rest were almost as bad, if no quiet. Ernie just smiled , took their money and kept on bringing food.
