Johann Quisumbing

A Fictional Series by J Quisumbing

Chapter 9

Tess had been knocking on Alicia’s door for the past 10 minutes. She was not surprised. This was why she got up much earlier than scheduled in anticipation. After another 5 minutes of consisting knocking, she finally can hear movement inside. The door then swung open to reveal Alicia, half-asleep, disheveled and scathingly clad.

“Rise and shine!”

Alicia yawned. “Shine!? It’s still dark outside,” she whined. “Why don’t you wake me in an hour?” She started to walk back into the bedroom.

“Oh, no you don’t, ” Tess jumped to block her way and shoved a thermos mug in her hands. “Here’s some coffee. You get dressed. Your team is already having breakfast down below. And you better dress a little warmly, it’ll be a little chilly out there.”

Half an hour later, with the early morning sun just peeking on the horizon, three Badjau outrigger boats exited Oceanus’ stern gate. As soon as the boats cleared the gateway, electric motors shut down and then colorful sails billowed out. Two of the outriggers were small; about 20 feet in length and were manned by three men. The design of which were that of ‘Paraw bancas’ commonly used in most of Philippine waters except that these boats were built not with wood but with a sleek glossy material. The bigger boat looked much different from it’s two escorts. Where the two smaller ones had single masts with triangular sails and double outrigs, this 55 footer had two masts with squared sails and a single outrig on its port side. And Ito Ito was it’s captain.

“Ito… she is a real beaute!” Tess heard the admiral saying. He was standing or… more or less… swaying at the stern just behind Ito Ito who had the till.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Alicia said as she leaned over the side.

Tess could not help being a little pleased inside as she worked her way up to the bow. Reaching the prow, her face was sprayed with cold salt water as the bow easily sliced through twenty-foot swells. She was reminded on absolutely how much she loved to sail. Then her radio squacked into life.

To be continued…

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Note from the author:
Oceanus Adventure is a fun effort on my part to enter the wonderful world of creative writing. It’s a story of a group of people who launched themselves into the Pacific Ocean on an artificial island to solve the Great Pacific garbage patch. My hopes is that this will end up into a TV series.

Comments and idea suggestions will be most welcomed. I hope you enjoy.