Previously: Elias came to a dying island motel, out of range of phone signal. Surprised to find other guests there, he watched them leave on a boat for something he pretended to understand. He stayed behind and put a bead under his skin. [Part 1]
Elias didn’t go back to sleep.
He was jazzed. As exhausted as he’d been before. Now he felt like he’d had the perfect sleep. No drag at all.
The wood paneling of the wall was peeling. He hadn’t noticed before. He counted the threads of the sheets through the weave on his skin.
He could taste the salt in the sea air outside.
He sighed. It was night. Evening, at least. On an island with nothing. And a motel with the same number of distractions.
The view out the window was a dimly lit strip of concrete and a dimmer strip of sand. There was a small orange light hanging at the end of the jetty.
He did some push-ups.
He did some jumping jacks.
He touched his fingers to his neck. Felt the bump. Pushed it a little. Testing a loose tooth with his tongue.
Whisper. Ops-tech. He wished he’d been able to get some of the early clinical test data out, too. The behavioral stuff was alien. You thought, and-.
The bump went cold. Ice, suddenly. The world went slow.
His thoughts stayed fast.
The wood paneling wasn’t just peeling. He could see exactly where the damp had loosened it.
He didn’t just taste the salt. He tasted the chemical rot beneath it, and tried not to gag.
Elias closed his eyes. Put his hands down to the bed and gripped the blankets. He remembered a meditation class long ago, and tried to slow his breathing. His thoughts.
The ice melted, a little. The world more aligned with the speed of his mind.
He was breathing hard.
He had, at last, managed to sleep again. After midnight sometime.
Dawn was gray, and woke him through the curtains. He could hear the sounds of everyone else through the walls. Groans. The creak of turning in bed. Voices. Other things.
He wished for silence, and was surprised when he realized the sound of the voices had softened.
Fast footsteps, and a knock.
A familiar face when he opened the door.
“You’re up. You must be feeling better.” It was Miriam.
‘I’m making it,” Elias said. He forced a smile.
“Great!” she exclaimed. “It’s not raining today. I think we’ll have more luck when we go out.”
He couldn’t think of an excuse.
Nobody seemed surprised by the addition. People shuffled in the morning chill.
“Picked the right day to miss,” commented one man, with a smile.
They waited for the same boat as the day before. Two crew. A weathered, tanned woman, and a younger man.
“Mind the step,” the young man said, offering Miriam a hand as she stepped into the boat.
The older woman didn’t move from the controls. She waited for everyone to board.
“Morning, everyone,” she said. Her smile was sunshine. “It’s looking much nicer than yesterday. Hope that means the same for everyone’s sea legs. But stay seated all the same!”
She glanced over at the younger man, then at Elias. “Carl-”
“Yes, mom,” he said, and stepped over to Elias. “Life vests are in that chest aft,” he gestured. “If y’all need to puke, don’t try and do it at the front of the boat.”
That seemed the extent of orientation. Elias realized he could smell the traces of stale vomit and cleaning liquid, among the rust and salt.
Was the sky always so big?
“You’ve gone green already,” said an older woman in a big hat. She nudged his arm. “Sit down, or you’ll be done before we’ve even started.”
He sank down to a wooden bench. He didn’t feel sick, more like overwhelmed. He looked down at the deck. The shadows inside the boat. It felt better.
“D’you need some water?” Miriam sat down next to him, proffering a plastic bottle. He noticed her freckles. They made her seem younger.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Y’all ready?” called the captain. She pressed at the control panel next to the wheel, and the engine gunned into life.
“All set, mom,” called Carl from the rear, coiling a rope.
The engine went from idling to a quiet roar, and they jerked forward.
“I can’t wait,” whispered Miriam. “Can you?”
He didn’t even know where they were going.
Part 2 of a three-part story from the Static Drift universe.
Part 3 will be published next Friday (Oct 30).
Article photo by Denisa Urluescu on Unsplash.