BLISS
part 3
by Mike Loader and Lara Bartram
 
	The sun's light fought its way through the trees to shine 
down on the sleeping couple. Ukyo was listing to one side, his 
mouth hanging open. Akane was turned expertly, fitting her body 
into the small space to lean up against Ukyo's chest.
	She stirred slightly, the remembrances of another dark dream 
finally rousing her. Finding herself nearly clinging to Ukyo, and 
with the sun risen, she quickly removed herself from the cockpit.
	Standing gingerly in the tree, the mammoth trunk easily able 
to support her on its oddly flattened top, Akane began to do some 
stretches to get her blood flowing. This also had the consequence 
of waking her stomach up, and she soon realized she was starving.
	The strange dizziness having passed, Akane figured she could 
go off and find some fruit or something. They had no water, but 
there was no way of telling how far away that would be.
	She climbed out of the tree, not completely trusting her 
equilibrium, and felt the ground solidly under her feet for the 
first time since they had arrived at the forsaken temple the day 
before. Whatever _had_ caused that dizziness, Akane could only 
guess it was the heat and lack of water because nothing else made
any sense.
	Not that what had happened to them made any sense, just that 
she preferred to stick with rational explanations for the time 
being. As long as they found food and clean water before they 
walked too much in the heat, she counted that it would not return.
 
	Ukyo woke up and wondered why his neck was so incredibly 
stiff. When he figured out how he was folded into the plane's 
cockpit with his head tilted to one side and his arm along the 
edge... It was easy enough to know why he had a stiff neck, but 
why he wasn't cramped to high heaven in the rest of his body was 
unknown.
	Akane was gone, but that wasn't his concern at the moment. 
Until he managed to remove himself from the cockpit without 
falling from the tree, Akane would just have to take care of 
herself. She was plenty capable of that anyway.
	Daring the pain, Ukyo moved his head around slowly, trying 
to gently work out the stiffness. The one thing he wished he had 
was a good massage right then. The two of them had been safe 
though, and that was the truly important thing. When they got 
settled, there would be no need to hide in a tree. They would 
adapt.
	A somehow forgotten thought pierced his mind then. But they 
could be rescued... And as much as Ukyo hated to do it, he shoved 
the thought away. No, they could not rely on a rescue; they had to 
rely on themselves.
	After some self-applied therapy on his neck, digging his 
thumbs into the muscle and declaring it good enough, Ukyo stood up 
in the cockpit and looked out.
	Jungle stared back at him.
	Sighing, Ukyo got out of the plane and climbed down out of 
the tree. He was rather amused in a grim way to find that the 
bloodthirsty canines had not touched his other companion, the 
stick. He had left it on the ground when he had helped Akane climb 
the tree, and he was feeling vulnerable without it. Just because 
the dogs attacked at night didn't mean they weren't out during the 
day.
	He lifted it gently and smiled. It still wasn't the weapon 
he was used to, but it was more right than nothing at all. Now it 
was time to locate Akane.
	"Akane!" he called out, receiving only the replies of birds. 
He waited a few more moments before calling out again.
	This time, he was answered. "I'm right here!" Akane answered 
back, though Ukyo could tell she was a distance away. "I'm on my 
way back!"
	Ukyo nodded to himself and investigated the area in more 
detail this time. He wasn't expecting to find much, but it was 
hard to say. And as expected, he found nothing in the trampled 
vegetation, flattened by the feet of the circling dogs in the 
night. For some reason, it wouldn't have surprised him at all to 
find out he had ended up in some strange video game, and that food 
and prizes could be looted from an odd looking rock.
	That probably would have made things too easy though, and 
that certainly could never be. Even the tiniest break, no matter 
how insignificant, was too much.
	Yet, the plane had been a lucky break, a safe place for them 
to spend the night in relative comfort. There was the pig Akane 
had caught, and the waterfall... Yes, Ukyo supposed things could 
have been much worse. Not that he didn't wish them to get much 
better...
	"Here, found some fruit," Akane said as she emerged from 
some trees with an armful of brightly colored fruit. She was 
smiling widely, very pleased with her haul. "No water, but this 
should tide us over for a bit."
	She sat with her back against the trunk of the tree and 
waved Ukyo over. She started peeling a large reddish fruit with 
dark nodules inside. "These seed things are good, real juicy, but 
the skin is bitter," Akane said as Ukyo watched her pick out the 
individual seeds and eat them.
	He picked up a ruddy pear-shaped fruit and began to eat it, 
attention turning back to, well, nothing in particular. They 
needed some sort of plan to survive on the island, but they had no 
means of forming that plan. They didn't know what the island 
looked like, what kind of resources were available, they hadn't 
established a base of any sort even. They were basically flying 
blind.
	"What do you think we should do next, Ukyo?" Akane asked, 
taking another big bite of a banana.
	"I have no idea. Keep exploring, I guess." He shrugged. 
"Maybe we'll find something else on this island worth taking a 
look at."
	Akane nodded. "Maybe."
	Then again, maybe they wouldn't.
	"We should probably get going... North?" Ukyo said 
uncertainly. He really wasn't up for eating more sickly sweet 
fruit. He needed something more than meat or fruit.
	Akane looked around from her seat on the ground. "North. 
Sure, sounds good to me." She stood up, finishing off another 
piece of fruit and wiping her hands on her shirt.
	Ukyo stood slower, tossing away a half-eaten banana, and 
began walking without saying a word. He felt rather grouchy, and 
small talk was about the last thing he wanted to do right then. If 
there was a convenient way to remember the location of this tree, 
that might not be so bad.
	It might, in fact, be a pretty good place to build some sort 
of home base around. They could probably dislodge the plane, maybe 
use it in some way, then work in making a make-shift tree house. 
That would keep them up from the ground at night, away from the 
dogs.
	Well, it was a big tree. They'd probably run across it 
again. If they managed to survive that long. "We'll come back 
later," he said as they passed the tree.
	They pushed through some strangely thick branches, tangled 
by vines, leaves obscuring their vision until Ukyo and Akane had 
to finally yank on one vine together. Tugging didn't work, so they 
pulled with all their strength together.
	The vine broke free and brought down a hail of leaves and 
small branches. Pushing aside a loose hanging branch, the two 
jerked back in surprise.
	Hanging amongst the branches was one skeletal Zero pilot, 
still dressed in his pilot's suit and parachute. It had apparently 
gotten caught in the tree on descent, and he had ended up trapped 
there...
	Ukyo grimaced, looking at the pilot's lower legs. They were 
mere remembrances. Jagged bone protruded out of the shredded pant 
legs, feet and most of the two lower leg bones gone.
	"What do you think..." Akane started to ask, but she knew 
how it had happened.
	Ukyo could make the logical, and gruesome conclusions. The 
pilot had escaped the airplane, come down and gotten the parachute 
caught in the tree. He had either been unconscious or it had been 
night, and the dogs had come. Apparently unable to get out of the 
harness, or never having the chance to do so, the pilot hung there 
while he was ripped apart from below.
	"Ew," was the only thing Akane said, grimacing at the sight.
	"I agree."
	The two, eyeing the corpse, moved around it slowly through 
the hanging branches. Once it was behind them, they both breathed 
a little easier.
	"Out of sight, out of mind," Akane mumbled as they moved off 
into the jungle. Hopefully it would stay that way.
 
	"Akane?" Ukyo asked after they had been walking in relative 
silence for over two hours.
	"Yeah?"
	"Those flashbacks you had... What were they like?" he asked 
hesitantly. He was prepared for her response to be not good at all 
and put a distance between them.
	Akane tightened up, her jaw clenching, but said nothing. 
Eyes focused on the vegetation in front of her, she made no effort 
to answer, but the question was definitely stewing in her mind. 
How to answer, if she even wanted to, was the issue plaguing her.
	"You don't have to answer," Ukyo added, but it was an 
afterthought.
	Akane looked at him angrily, ready to tell him in no 
uncertain terms to go to hell, but the strange look on his face 
prevented her from doing so. It was obvious he knew that she would 
react unfavorably, but there was also some desperation there, like 
a cornered animal.
	And in fact, weren't they both cornered animals, trapped 
with no foreseeable escape? If their end came as an accident or 
disease, who could they run to? There was no one. They were alone, 
and any memory at all was better than the frightening blankness.
	Akane sighed. "I don't know," she said in a voice that 
seemed small compared to the sounds of the jungle around her. "It 
hurts. There are things..." She stopped walking and closed her 
eyes. "Mostly feelings. A lot of pain. Misery. Anger."
	Ukyo nodded, cutting through some bushes. "No... no faces? 
More names?" Anything at all. Anything because there was that 
bubble inside him that kept threatening to burst. A bubble that 
held all his memories, and things on the just below the surface of 
that bubble niggled at his brain.
	The name, his name, Ukyo was one of those things, but it 
didn't quite feel right either. Like wearing two different kinds 
of socks. They fit and served their purpose, but they were 
still... wrong.
	Ukyo was wrong. Maybe. Or he could just be lying to himself, 
trying to make sense of things when it just wasn't possible. But 
Ukyo... That just didn't sit right with him.
	He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Akane. I just..."
	She laughed roughly. "Yeah, I bet. You're welcome to them, 
but I don't think that's going to happen any time soon." To bear 
the weight alone of those memories... Akane would have given her 
right arm to share that pain with Ukyo. She was already giving up 
her sanity.
	"I really am sorry."
	"So am I, Ukyo."
 
	After everything, their sudden emergence into a relatively 
wide open space was refreshing. And this time, there was no creepy 
pillar. There was something else entirely.
	On the other hand, there were no flashbacks associated with 
this, just confusion.
	"What is that? It looks like a... a..." Akane shook her 
head. "It looks like a big mound of crap."
	Ukyo approached the massive mound slowly, as if he was 
expecting it to come to life and attack. From the looks of it, 
that was a distinct possibility. "I think it's just dirt," he said 
as he got closer.
	Akane shrugged and walked up next to Ukyo with no 
hesitation. "I'm glad it is just dirt. I'd hate to see the thing 
that left of pile of shit that big. It'd have to be a monst..." 
Her face paled as she thought of the statue. "Never mind," she 
added.
	Nodding, Ukyo looked away from the mound. "Agreed." 
Strangely enough as he looked around, he noticed that the area was 
mysteriously clearer than the jungle they had emerged from. Not 
just a little clearer, a LOT clearer.
	"Akane, does the area like at all strange to you?" he asked, 
looking at the foliage.
	Akane looked around and shrugged. "It's green, it's leafy, I 
hate it. I don't see anything different."
	"Well, look. The area looks like it's been... defoliated. 
It's all so short, no large trees or anything."
	Akane shrugged. "Right, I see that now. But what does that 
have to do with anything?"
	"I'm not entirely sure. Yet, I don't think I want to find 
out either." He almost laughed out loud at himself. That was just 
ludicrous, like some monster, Godzilla or King Kong, came through 
the jungle, ripped the place up, left a giant mound of dirt and 
then left.
	Outrageous. There was some obviously logical explanation for 
things; he just didn't know what they were. "I wonder..." he said 
quietly.
	"Wonder what?"
	"Well, maybe this used to be some sort of road. For that... 
temple." To imagine that there was some sort of civilization that 
could have actually built that place... made that statue...
	Akane shrugged and looked too entirely relaxed. "Well, I 
don't know, but I bet we could find a good spot to have a hut or 
something, and we wouldn't have to clear any trees or anything."
	That was one thing about the island that bothered Akane. And 
there was nothing wrong with wondering, she knew, but it bothered 
her. There was an obvious natural order to the place, but it was 
an impossible ecological system. That waterfall... There hadn't 
been enough water in that crater to form the river or the 
waterfall.
	And that... temple. That was obviously not a natural 
structure. The only rock they had seen was dark and jagged. Unless 
there was some giant hidden quarry, the white stone the temple had 
been made from did not come from the island.
	Unable to make any of these things comfortably gel in her 
mind, Akane pushed the thoughts aside. When she was sitting safely 
in a fortress, she'd think about it, but not then, not when she 
had to worry about her survival.
	"This looks like it continues on for some distance. How do 
you suppose it was made?" Ukyo asked, shielding his eyes as he 
looked down the path carved into the jungle.
	"I couldn't even start to guess," Akane answered listlessly. 
She wasn't sure if speculation was such a good idea especially 
when considering the huge mound of dirt. And that temple. After 
that, she could have just as easily guessed King Kong as anything 
and it would have been valid.
	"Possibly the soil is bad. That would explain the lack of 
large tress," Ukyo continued, though he was reaching for 
explanations.
	"I doubt that."
	Ukyo shrugged. "So do I, but..."
	Akane cleared strands of sweaty hair from her face. "You 
know, right about now this whole exploration thing is just not 
agreeing with me. How about we just plant our butts somewhere, 
build a hut and go from there?"
	"Well, I suppose so. We do need a place to work from. We can 
just work from there once we get settled." Ukyo looked down the 
wide lane they were walking. "We could do it here. It's as good a 
spot as any."
	"Little further," was all Akane said. Best to put that weird 
mound and that t... She shuddered, fighting off the sensation of 
an oncoming flashback. Whatever it was, she didn't want to know, 
she didn't want to remember.
	"We'll keep going."
 
	"How far do you think we've gone?"
	"No clue."
	"Let's stop here."
	"Right."
	The two collapsed in the green grass that covered the lane.
	"I think I hate this heat," Ukyo said, his body covered in 
sweaty grime.
	"I know I do." She sat up and looked at his prone form. "But 
how do you think we should do this?"
	"Do what? I'm considering just closing my eyes and taking a 
nap," was Ukyo's lazy reply.
	"Making a shelter or something, dimwit. I don't think we 
have much of a chance of getting one up before tonight, but this 
is something we need to do. Fast."
	Ukyo sat up and looked around, thinking about the quickest way of building such 
a structure that would also provide them the most protection. "I suppose we could start by building a wall..."
	"Of what? Leaves and twigs?"
	"We use tree trunks. Dig out holes, drop them in. Lash them 
together with vines or some such. That will be adequate protection 
at night. Then we can proceed to work on a hut." Ukyo gave Akane a 
rather pleased and somewhat smug smile.
	Akane looked at him, blinking slowly. "Right. I'll believe 
it when I see it."
	Rising slowly to his feet, Ukyo looked around. "Where is the 
ground flattest? That will make things easier." He walked around a 
bit, surveying the area.
	"This seems fine. I bet we could dig a hole... here," he 
said, marking and area by jabbing a nearby stick into the ground. 
"How big do you think it should be? Twenty five feet? Thirty?"
	Akane shrugged. "Twenty five is fine."
	Ukyo took twenty five measured steps away from the stick in 
the ground and marked a second point. He turned what he roughly 
figured as ninety degrees and took another twenty five steps. A 
third point was marked. He marked the final point and stepped 
back.
	"We anchor trunk in the ground at each corner then just tie 
a bunch of them together between, work a gate in there somehow and 
we have a nice wall those dogs won't be able to get through." He 
nodded his head once to emphasize his point.
	Akane looked completely unimpressed. "We still have to do 
this. Alone. With no tools, no supplies."
	Ukyo sat next to Akane on the ground. "The biggest problem I 
see is some sort of vine or fibrous plant that we can use to hold 
the trunks together. Maybe if we could find some sort of clay to 
fortify the bases. Or use a little water and sink them into mud 
and..."
	"I get the point already! Give it a rest!"
	Ukyo leaned back a little. "You wanted to know..."
	"Yeah, and I'm sorry I did. You think this wall thing will 
work? Really work?"
	"I don't see any reason it would not. There is nothing 
supernatural about these beasts. They will not leap the wall or 
knock it down. It depends on how well we can set a foundation for 
it, but..."
	Akane flopped back in the grass. "Next time I'll learn," she 
groaned, rubbing her eyes. "Right. I'm putting my life in your 
hands now. How long will this take?"
	"I'm not sure. It might be best for us to gather all the 
necessary materials first then erect it as swiftly as possible all 
at once." Ukyo's mind was racing in unfamiliar directions. Plans 
for this wall, how to make a gate, a ladder of some sort, where 
they would sleep... It was all churning in his mind. Could he have 
been an architect or carpenter of some sort?
	Akane knew what all of that entailed. "I'm never sleeping in 
a tree again," she said and shook her head.
 
***
 
	"This one. Do you think it's tall enough?" Akane looked up, 
shading her eyes with her hand from the sun. "Looks straight 
enough."
	Ukyo stood next to her, judging the height of the tree. "It 
looks fine to me as well. Stand back," he warned.
	Akane got out of the way so Ukyo could bring the tree down. 
Getting hit with whatever technique he was using was something she 
didn't want at all.
	Ukyo eyed the tree. The tree sat there. Having no idea how 
he actually managed to do it, Ukyo just took a deep breath, held 
his stick just so then swung.
	As if he had swung through air and only air, Ukyo's stick 
lazed right through the tree. There was a moment of stillness 
before the tree began to topple, sending a small and annoyed group 
of birds into the air.
	The moment it had crashed to the ground, Ukyo and Akane were 
on it, dragging it across the ground to place it next to the 
others.
	"Perfect. I don't know how many we'll need," Ukyo said, 
wiping his brow on his arm. "We should do one wall at a time. 
Though I am concerned about what we will use to tie them 
together."
	Akane's forehead creased as she sank into deep thought. She 
couldn't really identify the plants, but she had a pretty good 
idea about what would be the ones they were looking for. "Let me 
look around a little first. You keep up with the trees and when I 
get back, we'll move them."
	Akane was up and moving before Ukyo could reply. There was a 
mass of trees close by that she had seen from her perch in their 
tree while they relaxed at night.
	The trunks of these trees were thick, larger around than any 
others, and were relatively short with broad leaves that were a 
vibrant green. There were also long, slender vines drooping from 
the highest branches.
	When Akane reached the trees, she yanked on one of the 
vines, ripping it free of the tree. It was maybe an inch around 
and had a rough exterior. She wasn't sure if it would work since 
it was so thick, but it had a sponginess to it. She pulled down a 
few more of the vines to show to Ukyo and headed back to the 
building site.
	On her return, she found that Ukyo had felled two more trees 
and was sizing up another. "Check out these vines. They might work 
to tie the trunks together." She went to one of the trunks and 
experimentally tied a vine around it. It gave way a little when 
she tried to pull it tight, but held. "This is gonna work," she 
said to herself.
 
***
 
	"Push!" Ukyo yelled, sweat dripping from his forehead, his 
eyes closed tightly shut.
	"What the hell do you think I'm doing?" Akane shouted back, 
her arms straining as she tried to push the trunk upright.
	The base of the trunk slipped slightly in the dirt before 
getting the edge caught on the hole that had been dug for it.
	"It's going. A little higher!" Ukyo urged.
	"Then you get back here! You're taller than me anyway!"
	"PUSH!"
	The two strained themselves until they got the trunk upright 
and planted in the hole.
	"One down," Akane wheezed and slumped to the ground. "How 
many more to go?"
	"A lot," Ukyo replied, barely able to catch his breath, his 
arms aching.
	"Oh, whee." Akane kneeled on the ground and began filling in 
the rest of the hole with dirt and medium-sized rocks. It would 
have to do until they could find something better. Maybe clay, or 
something else like that.
	"I think," Ukyo said, starting to tie vines around the tree, 
one almost at ground level and another just above his eye level, 
which was slightly over halfway to the top, "that we should 
actually work on two walls simultaneously."
	That was answered by a grunt from Akane.
	"Then they two walls will be able to brace each other. With 
our limited supplies, we can't rely on these vines to hold an 
entire section up. So if we just..."
	"Do we need more vines then?"
	Ukyo looked down at Akane, who was looking up at him with a 
patient annoyance. "Um, not at the moment. We will when we..."
	"Then let's get another one of these bastards up. Sooner the 
better." She stood, dusting herself off, and looked at the next 
trunk. "How are we gonna do this without a hole to anchor it in?" 
she asked.
	"I suppose we could lift it and put some sort of braces 
under it. Then lift it again and put a taller brace. We could get 
it up pretty high that way. It would probably work to dig a 
shallow hole to brace it in as we lift. Once we tie it up, we 
can..."
	"You talk too much, Ukyo. If that's how it's gonna work, 
let's just do it that way." Akane leaned against their first post, 
anchored into the ground. It fortunately did not give. The hole 
had apparently been deep enough.
	Ukyo was already digging the shallow hole for the next 
trunk. When he was finished with that, he and Akane dragged the 
next trunk into position. "So now we just..."
	"This isn't going to work."
	"And why not?"
	"Once we get this one up, how are we going to keep it from 
falling over? It's huge, and how much you figure it weighs? We 
can't hold it up and build the rest of the wall at the same time," 
Akane asked, eyeing the huge log they would have to raise.
	"We just tie it with the vines to the first one."
	"Assuming that holds it."
	"Assuming."
	Akane sighed. "Great, just great. Though I suppose we don't 
have much of a choice, do we?" Akane lifted the end of the trunk 
and tested its weight. "Well, it's lighter than the last one."
 
	"Tie it fast. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold it 
steady, and if it starts to slip, I sure can't hold it then."
	Akane nodded. "Quick as I can. Ready?"
	Ukyo braced himself, not leaning too much into it, but 
keeping it steady. "Ready."
	"Letting go... now." Akane released her hold on the log and 
fell immediately to her knees and tied the vine quickly. She stood 
and tied the second one tight. "OK, tied. See how it stands." She 
stood back as Ukyo relaxed his hold.
	The log swayed a little, but the vines tying to the anchored 
log combined with a nice flat base for it, kept it steady.
	"Looks like we have success," Ukyo said, letting out a big 
breath. Now for the next one."
	Akane groaned.
 
***
 
	Ukyo looked at the construction of their primitive 
protective wall. Three sides were done and they were just starting 
the fourth. It had been over two weeks of hard work and sleeping 
in trees, but in his opinion, it would be worth it.
	"It actually looks like something now," Akane said, coming 
up behind him with a gourd of water and drinking from it. "Now all 
we need is a place to live."
	"We'll get there. And we won't have to worry about those 
dogs at all, not with our expertly constructed wall."
	Akane snorted and finished off the water. "Expertly built. 
We'll be lucky if it lasts one night with us in it and those dogs 
outside. And if it doesn't, we'll be dead. Of course, it would 
probably be because the whole damn thing fell on our heads."
	Ukyo smiled back at her. "Cheerful ray of sunshine that I've 
grown to... know, as always. Let's just finish up this last side, 
and then we'll give it a test run. We've got a gate after all."
	Akane considered the spit and leaves gate they had attempted 
to construct. "After the dogs and the whole thing collapsing, 
that's the one thing I'd expect to break when we're leaving and 
kill us."
	Ukyo just laughed, in far too good a mood from the progress 
they'd made on the barrier to get annoyed. Yes, Akane had an 
extremely pessimistic outlook on things, but that was probably 
better than both of them being hopelessly enthusiastic. "Right, 
one more and we're done. Let's go."
	Akane made a disgusted face and tossed the empty gourd 
aside. One more and then she'd swear off log lifting for the rest 
of her life. Though... She looked at her arm. Two weeks and her 
skin was darkly tanned and she could see some improved definition 
in the muscles there.
	She hated doing the work, but there were a few interesting 
benefits of it.
	"Pectorals are next."
	Akane looked at Ukyo. "What?"
	"We can work on pectorals next." He was smiling, having 
caught her quick self-examination.
	"Pervert," she replied and marched over to the next log. 
They had exhausted the small group a trees' supply of vines and 
had to search for more. It was, predictably, one of the few rare 
things on the island. They would never go hungry, never be 
thirsty, but they had trouble finding the trees that grew such 
useful vines.
	They had discovered the secret to the vines' strength, and 
that had made the relative rarity of the vines even more 
unfortunate. They seemed to be made of a large bunch of long 
fibers, all collected in a rough, protective skin.
	These fibers proved to be strong and even stronger when in a 
bunch. Akane could see lots of uses for them. If they could find 
enough of them. Well, if there was going to be problem after 
problem, they'd just have to overcome them all. They couldn't just 
quit.
	She tied the vines around the next log, having learned two 
walls ago that it was easier to tie them on before they got them 
standing. Akane slapped the trunk roughly once the vines were 
securely tied. "OK, this one's next."
	The two carried the log into position and began the rather 
arduous task of lifting it into place. The process had gotten less 
time consuming and a little easier, but it was still a strain on 
the both of them. Thankfully, they wouldn't have to do it again, 
at least for a while, after the final wall was finished.
	"One down, too many more to go," Akane said, hopping down 
from where she had climbed the anchored post to tie the vine at 
the top. "How long do you think this thing will last anyway? I 
don't want to end up doing this again in a week." Though she had 
to admit that it looked petty sturdy, and when she climbed up the 
thing, there had been no dangerous wiggle, no wobble to it at all.
	"I'm not sure. It should hold off the dogs for as long as we 
need it to. Solid, tall, and once we reinforce the base, it should 
be able to hold off a rhino. Not that I believe there are any on 
this island." Ukyo's arms were smeared with the dark, sticky sap 
the trees bled, but that was another one of those lucky 
coincidences.
	It acted like a natural gum to partially stick the posts 
together. For once, luck seemed to be favoring their side.
	"A rhino? I'll hold you to that. But now about that gate..."
	Ukyo groaned.
 
***
 
	"Swings out. Like a regular gate."
	"Those are twelve feet high. How are we going to make them 
do that? Not to mention move those stupid things without tearing 
the whole thing down..."
	Ukyo shrugged. "I don't know. We can't cut one in half or 
the others will be unstable. I am open for suggestions if you can 
think of something." The gate thing had been plaguing them the 
entire time and they had put it off until the last moment.
	Akane scratched her head, thinking about it. "We only really 
need to close it at night, right? We could leave it open during 
the day. So it doesn't need to be a swinging door or anything. We 
just need to be able to get supplies in and out of here and keep 
the dogs out. So if it's hard to open, that's fine. As long as it 
doesn't make the entire thing fall down..."
	Ukyo growled in frustration. "It will not fall down! It will 
not crash down upon our heads! Please give me a little credit! Can 
you do that for a moment, Akane?"
	"Sure, I can do that," she answered quietly.
	"Then help think of a way to make this work instead of only 
how we'll fail."
	Akane could see that he was really upset this time and 
decided to lay off a little. "Well, we could anchor two posts near 
the center and maybe have shorter posts between those... It'd be 
tough, but then they could swing out, or we could just drop them 
to the ground, then at night we'd just put them back in place and 
tie them together..."
	"I suppose that works, but how will we brace them? We can't 
just have them there, waiting to be knocked down. If those dogs 
manage to break through, then..."
	"I know. You don't need to explain it." Akane was attempting 
to work around their lack of building supplies and wasn't doing a 
very good job of it. "Well, what if we... Hmm. How about if we had 
three thick logs, but not as huge as these and made an arch with 
them. Then we put the arch against the inside of the door and 
brace it with two more logs braced in the dirt?"
	Ukyo considered the idea. Not all that practical, but they 
couldn't afford to be practical when it came to safety; they had 
to be sure. "I do believe that would work."
	"Good. Then we can give it a try. And then we'll finally be 
done."
	"Done with the palisade. We will still have the house to 
work on."
 
	"First we sharpen the ends of these two." Akane hacked away 
at the end of one log with a flattened rock until it was formed into a rough point. 
"Then we make holes in this one where we want them to connect." 
Akane pointed to the third log.
	"I see. We can tie them with the vines to secure them," Ukyo 
said as he finally understood what it was Akane was trying to 
accomplish. "Then we just hold that up against the gate."
	"Right. As long as those dogs try to get in this way, it'll 
be braced. Even if all of this should fall down, it's still a lot 
of wood that would be laying in front of the gate." Akane spoke as 
she continued to whittle away at the end of the log.
	"And if spread rocks and gravel around the base, maybe mix 
in clay or mud and let it dry, we should be securely tucked in."
	Each of them smiled at that, but Ukyo's smile faded when he 
realized that they were on a permanent camping trip and would most 
likely never see home again.
 
***
 
	It was something to be proud of. After all that work, they 
had to be proud of it. It was virtually impenetrable, if somewhat 
hard to get out of once the "gate" was closed, but that was fine.
	They each knew they would, in time, devise new ways to make 
things work. All it took was time and experience in their new 
surroundings.
	"Feel this," Ukyo prompted.
	Akane felt the point on the piece of bone he had been 
sharpening against a large, flat rock. "Yow. What's that for?" The 
thing was sharp, formed from the short rib of a boar, and wicked 
looking.
	"Instead of using sharpened wooden spears, we can affix 
these tips to the spears. They'll work better for fishing, though 
I don't know if they will last more than one or two uses," Ukyo 
said, holding the bone up and looking at it. "And it may be better 
to continue to use the wooden spears for regular hunting. These 
may be too fragile."
	Akane nodded. "Yeah. I haven't had any problems so far just 
hunting regularly. Fishing is another story." She laid out the 
armful of leaves she had gathered. They came from the same trees 
the vines did, being quite thick and heavy. Each one was about as 
big around as her head and would work as natural shingles to the 
shelter.
	Construction of the shelter had been left mostly to her 
motivation. It wasn't that Ukyo didn't help, she just didn't need 
it. She didn't really want it either. The shelter was small 
enough, not like the palisade, that she could do it all herself, 
and it felt nice to have her project to work on.
	There was nothing wrong with teamwork, but it felt good to 
work at her own pace and not rely on someone else. And Ukyo looked 
like he was doing fine, making spears, their own version of tools, 
and working on little things like that. His latest thing had been 
to gather gourds, strange squash that seemed to grow in large 
clumps, empty them out and leave them to dry in the sun.
	"Water," he had told her. "If we keep an adequate supply, we 
won't need to make so many trips to the spring."
	Akane couldn't believe the waterfall. There just wasn't 
enough water in that crater to form a waterfall of that power. She 
had discovered, in her mission to gather as many vines as 
possible, that the island seemed to be covered with little natural 
springs. It still didn't explain that waterfall really, but the 
one that was not too far away from their choice of locales was 
pretty handy.
	Of course, not too far away in this case meant a nice half 
mile hike. Again, though, it was one of those things they could 
just do. Go out, go for a walk, fill a couple gourds with water, 
pick some fruit...
	The fact that she was getting complacent about things didn't 
sit well with Akane. There wasn't much she could do about it, but 
she didn't have to get comfortable with it. Not until she was good 
and ready to.
	"Maybe we could build a small boat or raft to fish from," 
Ukyo said, having finished with the bone-tipped spear. He had set 
it aside and was working on carefully weaving together a few of 
the strands from the vines. If it worked, they could maybe make 
their own rope. That would be far more convenient than relying on 
the vines.
	"Yeah, that'd be good. A raft..." Akane's mind was more on 
building the shelter than anything. It was only temporary, but 
that didn't mean it had to be shoddy. "Just let me finish this up 
before that."
	"Well, I didn't mean you had to do it. I can help if you 
want. There's not much..."
	"No, Ukyo. I can do it."
	Ukyo looked at Akane for a moment then nodded. If she didn't 
want his help, then... he'd just have to find something else to 
do. "If you're sure..."
	"I am. I can do it by myself."
	Ukyo looked at Akane with a small frown on his face for a 
moment before returning to his work.
	It was ugly, but it would do. It was just big enough to 
allow the two to sleep under, situated in the corner of their 
protected yard. It would serve its purpose until a more permanent 
structure could be built.
	Akane relaxed under the brush and leaf roof, trying to fall 
asleep, but not having much success. The constant sounds of the 
dogs on the other side of the palisade were more disturbing than 
she had anticipated.
	"Akane?"
	"What do you want, Ukyo?"
	"Come out here. Look at the sky."
	Akane rolled over so she was facing the palisade wall. "I've 
seen it before. Dark and lots of stars."
	"But look at this. Just for a moment."
	Having a yawning fit as she got up, Akane crawled out from 
under the shelter to see Ukyo sitting on the ground, head tilted 
back, staring up at the sky. "What is it?"
	"Look," he said, pointing upward.
	Akane sighed in annoyance and looked up. The sight took her 
breath away. The sky was the normal midnight blue she was used to, 
and there were too many stars visible to count because of that, 
but she immediately saw two things she hadn't seen before.
	The first, which almost brought tears to her eyes, was the 
only constellation she was familiar with: Orion. She wasn't sure 
why, but it comforted her in a way, to know that they really were 
still on Earth and rescue was always a possibility.
	As she stared, Ukyo reclined so that he was lying in the 
grass and looking up. He put his arms behind his head and just 
looked.
	Like a vertical gash in the sky, Akane also could see a 
whispy trail of what appeared to be clouds. "What is it?" she 
asked, her voice having dropped to a whisper.
	"I think it's the Milky Way. It's the galaxy," Ukyo replied 
with a touch of awe in his voice.
	"I didn't know it was possible to see that."
	"It is, but only under certain conditions. New moon, no 
clouds, no lights..." There weren't words to describe the mixed 
feelings he was experiencing. Awe and profound sadness were the 
most prevalent, but not the obvious sadness he would have thought.
	Maybe it was denial. Maybe he was just fooling himself, but 
that was the only way he could cope. To continue to believe that 
they might be rescued, leaving a powerful ache in his heart, and 
seeing the now familiar stars... It was all he could do to keep 
himself from crying.
	Akane sat down next to him and looked up at the sky. It was 
another moment before she lay next to him and stared into the void 
overhead.
	"It's pretty. I don't remember ever having seen anything 
like it," Ukyo said quietly.
	Nodding, Akane didn't say anything. There was an ominous 
peace that accompanied the wide open sky, like the entire world 
was about to be swallowed up in those stars. Akane closed her 
eyes, consumed by total darkness.
 
	Akane woke up to gentle morning light and a cool breeze. She 
sat up and looked around, feeling out of sorts. They were still on 
the island, still in the safety of their walls, and...
	Ukyo was still sleeping, on his side with his back to her, 
next to her. Not bothering to wake him up, she rose and started to 
unbar the gate as quietly as possible.
	When she finally got it open, able not to wake Ukyo, Akane 
headed on the hike to the nearest spring with a gourd in one hand. 
The one... two horrible things about being in such an untamed 
environment without any sort of environment control were 
uncontrollable sweating and bugs.
	After a night of sleeping outside, Akane tended to wake up 
with both problems working at full capacity. Just dousing herself 
didn't work nearly as, or feel as nice, as submerging herself, but 
it was better than nothing. Now all she needed was soap.
	At the spring, Akane filled the gourd from the clear water 
burbling up from between some rocks and spilling out onto the 
ground. She took a long drink before refilling it and setting it 
down.
	Facing the spring, Akane began to remove her ragged 
clothing, hoping for a miracle so that she might have something 
sturdier to wear before the shirt disintegrated off her back. 
Shirt and pants both were laid out carefully on a rock, then she 
sat on a large rock and dumped the contents of the gourd over her 
head.
	One simple courtesy item she wished she had: underclothing 
that she'd be able to keep clean and in good shape. As it was, she 
had had to dispose of her old ones along with Ukyo's. It just 
wasn't practical.
	Akane continued with the process of pouring the water over 
her skin. It at least cleaned off the visible grime even if it 
didn't get her _clean_.
 
	Ukyo yawned and rubbed at his eyes, trying to get the sleep 
out of them. Sleeping on the ground like that had put a horrible 
kink in his neck and he had apparently been sleeping on a rock. At 
least that was what his back was telling him. A quick wash would 
hopefully wake him up, get his muscles ready to work.
	He wished they would have chosen a spot closer to the river, 
near that waterfall. That had been so much nicer than being forced 
to just dump water on themselves. But he could also imagine the 
hassle in building the structure they had near the river, without 
the benefit of the open space.
	There was no reason in dwelling on that though. They had 
finished building something he hoped to never build again and that 
was that. They had immediate needs to satisfy and relocating was 
not one of them.
	He pushed aside the branches that crossed his path and 
suddenly held his breath. Every muscle in his body refused to even 
twitch while he took in the sight before him.
	Smooth, _naked_ skin assaulted his eyes, making his brain 
grind to a halt. Ukyo swallowed what felt like a boulder in his 
throat as Akane poured water over her shoulder and down her back.
	Hand tightening on the gourd close to the point of crushing 
the slender neck, Ukyo tried to make himself back away. He 
twitched, but that was the only movement he could manage.
	For what seemed like a lifetime, he stood there and stared. 
Every detail, every curve revealed to him he studied and vowed to 
never forget. He didn't think anything would ever surpass the 
moment.
	That seemed to free him of his paralysis, and quietly as 
possible, Ukyo turned and started to walk away.
	Akane turned, hearing the bushes rustle, her arm held 
instinctively across her chest. "Ukyo?"
	Ukyo stopped, his eyes darting back and forth. "Y... yes?" 
She would kill him. And if she was naked while she did it, he 
would enjoy it. A lot.
	"Just making sure that was you. I'm done here. Just let me 
get my clothes back on."
	Breathing a sigh of relief, Ukyo relaxed slightly and 
answered, "Take your time."
	"Why don't we work on that raft today," Akane continued 
while she redressed, "and then we can work on a house. Feel up to 
it?"
	Ukyo's cheeks reddened and he subtlely held the gourd in 
front of crotch. "Yeah, I think so."
	Akane slapped him on the shoulder, causing him to jump. 
"Great. I'll see you back at the fort." With that, Akane walked 
away, whistling something.
	Now shaking, Ukyo hurried back to the spring and thanked his 
luck that the water was cold.
 
***
 
	"That," Akane said, "is a big ugly bastard of a mountain."
	That wasn't exactly how Ukyo would have put it, but he 
nodded his head anyway. It _was_ a big ugly bastard of a mountain.
	"Hopefully there's something worthwhile on the other side of 
it," he said. "At least, something besides vines and monkeys."
	"Heh. Yeah, maybe there's a luxurious island resort."
	"Yes, where wealthy tourists frolic with the playful hordes 
of wild dogs infesting this hellhole," he replied sourly. Still... 
no luxury resort, certainly, but perhaps a coastal outpost? A tiny 
settlement? Anything?
	It was very easy to get his hopes up. But he had the 
depressing feeling that they were going to find absolutely 
nothing.
	Akane jogged ahead, starting up the slope of the mountain. 
"C'mon. We'll get there a lot faster if we cut over this thing."
	Pushing down a growing sense of foreboding, he followed.
	The trail - well, not trail so much as non-overgrown bit of 
rock - led them further and further up the mountain slope. As they 
circled around, the trees and vegetation began to thin, and the 
rocks became sharper and more broken.
	"This is not exactly the most attractive part of this 
island," he noted. Akane shrugged.
	"It ain't pretty, but it's kind of nice. We don't have to 
worry that something's going to jump out at us from a branch."
	"I suppose so," he said, picking his way forward through a 
particularly rough patch of rocks.
	Then the earth beneath him gave way and he fell, yelling, 
into darkness.
	Akane gave a sharp shriek and grabbed for his hand as he 
fell. She caught it - and then, off balance, fell in after him.
	They hung in the black air for a second, and then they fell 
on something soft, yielding, and furry. There was a rather 
decisive, short snap.
	Ukyo looked up. He and Akane were lying on something furry 
and twitching, they were in some sort of cavern, and about twenty 
pairs of glowing yellow eyes were staring at them through the 
darkness.
	"Oh shit," he commented.
	"You said it," Akane muttered, glancing around, hands moving 
into ready positions.
	One pair of the glowing yellow lamps moved forward, 
revealing themselves to be attached to a fanged muzzle.
	So this was where the wild dogs went during the day.
	"Ukyo, there's a tunnel right behind us with no eyes in it. 
Start backing up real slow."
	He did. That was what his body was screaming at him to do 
anyway.
	The eyes began moving forward. A low growling began to fill 
the cavern.
	"Keep going... almost there..."
	The first dog growled and leapt.
	Ukyo's fighting stick swung out, almost faster than the eye 
could follow, and sliced it cleanly in half. The two pieces fell 
to the cavern floor with a meaty thud.
	The other dogs continued slowly advancing, confused. They 
knew what to do when you were on hunts; snarl, bark, and rush the 
prey. But they weren't hunting; they had been half-asleep and 
napping in their cozy den when two huge ape-things had fallen from 
the roof and killed their leader. The number-two dog had attacked, 
and now number two was dead. This wasn't in the vicious wild dog 
scenario book.
	So they were settling for snarling, advancing, and slowly 
waking up.
	Akane and Ukyo, of course, knew none of this.
	"How many left?"
	"Only twenty-six or so."
	"Only?"
	Ukyo winced, and kept backing up. "I know."
	They slowly retreated into a low tunnel, the dogs following.
	"Ukyo, I think I can see daylight to the left."
	"Good. Keep going."
	Another dog sprang, and again Ukyo's stick lashed out, 
sending it tumbling to the ground a corpse. A few others crowded 
forward, the scent of blood in the air attracting instead of 
dissuading them.
	"Akane, how much farther?" He fought to keep his voice calm; 
there were an awful lot of eyes appearing in the darkness....
	"Not much, just keep... oh shit."
	He gritted his teeth. "Oh shit what?" The dogs grinned at 
him, lolling tongues flopping out between yellowing fangs. The 
growls grew louder.
	"There's some dogs at the entrance. I'll take care of them, 
just keep going."
	Two sprang at him, and he slashed out, decapitating one, and 
tending to other crashing into a third attacker. The dogs paused 
to savage the two wounded pack members, then resumed their steady 
advance. He could almost smell the bloodlust.
	The sounds of combat behind him didn't register until they 
ceased.
	"Keep going, Ukyo. Don't trip on the bodies."
	He gingerly stepped over the four dogs that lay unmoving at 
the cave mouth, and then they were outside.
	The remaining dogs hesitated at the cave entrance, blinking 
in the sun. Ukyo guessed that they had a largely nocturnal 
existence; while not blind in the sun, they were unused to it and 
needed quite a bit of adjustment.
	He thought it over, and concluded it was worth the risk. 
Indeed, it looked like their best chance.
	"Run for it," he yelled, turning around and taking off. 
Akane, already facing the right direction, dashed just ahead of 
him.
	They could hear the yelps and snarls as the dogs made a 
fumbling pursuit, their natural impulse to chase fleeing animals 
kicking in to full force. Normally they would have run the two 
bipedal humans down easily; however, they were still half blind 
from the unusual amounts of light. And so their pursuit was slowed 
by a great deal of stumbling, colliding, and running into trees.
	The sounds of canine skulls colliding with wood would have 
been enjoyable if they hadn't been scared out of their wits.
	The terrain was rough and jagged, and tripped them up 
several times. Fortunately, the dogs had twice as many legs to 
stumble over outcroppings with.
	Five minutes later, panting, they pulled to a halt.
	Akane glanced around, her breath coming in gulps. "At least 
know we know where the dogs live."
	"Yes. The mountain."
	"Hrm. Needs a name, you know. We can't just keep calling it 
'That Mountain'."
	"Why not?"
	She poked him irritably in the side. "We're exploring. If 
you discover something new, you name it."
	He rolled his eyes. "I suppose you wish to name it 'Big Ugly 
Bastard'?"
	"Nah, it needs a serious name. Something Latin or Chinese or 
something." She furrowed her brow. "What's Latin for dog?"
	"'Canis,' I believe."
	"Okay, it's Canis Mountain."
	"Yes, oh great explorer," Ukyo deadpanned. Akane flushed 
slightly.
	"C'mon, let's head toward the sea. If we find a lagoon or 
something, you get to name it."
	"Oh rapture."
	"You're no fun, Ukyo."
	"Sorry. Would it help if I named the trees as we walk?"
	"Baka."
 
***
 
	The strolled along under the shadow of the mountain, heading 
for the northern ocean beaches. Both of the thought it unlikely that 
any settlement would be built far inland; at least, any civilized 
settlement.
	That was something that they discussed from time to time. 
Someone had built that temple, and that someone obviously wasn't 
your typical twentieth-century explorer or settler. Were the 
builders still around, and, if so, were they friendly? Hostile? 
Cannibals?
	There was no sure way of knowing. But, as Akane pointed out, 
the intentions of anyone who would carve a statue like the one in 
the temple were dubious at best.
	So they made their way quietly, cautiously, and hoped that 
they'd find a modern settlement instead of a headhunter's village.
	The northern face of the island was craggy, cliffs and 
headlands forming bays and inlets. The trees, dipping and rising 
in steep little valleys, helped shelter and hide the various bays 
and lagoons. Akane and Ukyo checked each one closely, painfully 
aware at how easy it would be for someone to be spying on them.
	The first five coves had nothing even resembling 
civilization.
	The sixth, however, surpassed every expectation they had.
 
***
 
	"Yup," Akane said slowly. "It's a ship. I don't believe it."
	It sat in the bay like a metal leviathan, the evening 
sunlight playing upon flaking paint and rusty metal. From the size 
and shape of it, both instantly assumed it to be a cargo vessel of 
some sort, riding low in the water.
	They looked at each other for a second, and then ran down 
the slope, frantically waving and yelling at the top of their 
lungs.
	By the time they reached the shore of the bay, they began to 
realize something was wrong.
	"I don't see anyone on deck," Akane said, pulling to a halt 
with a frown.
	Ukyo nodded, studying the ship. "Look at the paint, and the 
state of the metal. I think it might be abandoned."
	She scowled. "Damnit. Still... you know, I bet we could 
figure out how to steer that thing. It could be our ticket out of 
here."
	Nodding, he continued to stare at the huge vessel. "I do not 
know if there would still be usable fuel in the tanks... if not, 
perhaps we could distill something that would be suitable, or rig 
sails."
	"The important thing is the size," Akane said, eyes 
gleaming. "If we made a raft, we'd have to worry about it tipping 
over in even moderately rough weather, and we wouldn't be able to 
carry more than a week's worth of fresh water. This... we could 
carry a whole damn lake in it."
	Ukyo suddenly trotted off along the shore to a stand of 
vegetation. Blinking, Akane followed, and watched as he hauled a 
tiny ship's launch out of the weeds.
	"It would seem someone has been ashore," he said, pushing 
the small boat into the water. "Shall we row out to the ship?"
	"I think we shall," she replied with a smirk.
	Each took an oar, and soon the tiny craft was speeding 
through the bay towards the looming bulk of the ship.
	As they drew close, Akane suddenly stiffened. "Ukyo. Hey, 
Ukyo, look at the flag on the mast!"
	He peered up at the masthead, seeing a dangling, ragged 
piece of red and white cloth. "It looks like white and red 
stripes... perhaps it is Amer..."
	A sudden breeze blew the flag for a second, and it hung open 
before collapsing back into a limp rag.
	"That was the old Imperial ensign," he said slowly. "The 
Rising Sun."
	Akane nodded grimly. "Look over there towards the bow. I 
think that's an anti-aircraft gun."
	Ukyo felt a sour feeling begin to form in the pit of his 
stomach. "It this is a Japanese ship from the Second World War, 
and it's been sitting in this bay for the last fifty years... I 
don't think people visit this island much. At all, even."
	"Yeah," Akane said heavily. "I was just thinking that too."
	Their skiff pulled alongside the huge vessel, and they 
clambered up rusty metal rungs set into the side of the hull. Each 
noticed how bad the corrosion really was, and now and again they 
had to skip a particularly unstable rung.
	After the short climb, they hauled themselves over the side 
and stared.
	The deck of the ship was a shambles. Rusted pieces of mast 
or bulkhead lay strewn across the wooden deckplanks, and bullet or 
shellholes seemed to riddle half the forward area.
	The anti-aircraft gun was a rusted, corroded mass of metal, 
and slumped at its levers and handles were two skeletons, tatters 
of uniform covering yellowing ribs.
	Akane swallowed. "This isn't good."
	Equally dismayed, Ukyo nodded. "Hopefully, it isn't quite as 
bad belowdecks. After all, this has all been lying in the wind and 
rain for the last half century, ne?"
	She nodded. "Yeah. C'mon, there's a door in that structure 
over there."
	Ukyo took the handle of the indicated portal, and pulled. 
The door came off in his hand.
	"Don't break the ship, baka," Akane said, nervously 
smirking. He gave a halfhearted chuckle, and carefully entered the 
hallway.
	Inside, it was almost as bad as the deck. Bits of ceiling 
littered the floor, and a jagged hole gaped in one wall. Three 
more bodies lay sprawled along the length of the corridor.
	Gingerly, they edged around the ancient corpses and made 
their way towards a stairwell.
	Akane was the first one down, and frowned as she realized 
the lack of light that the lower decks obviously had. "Hey, Ukyo, 
could you make us a light?"
	He shrugged helplessly. "From what?"
	"I dunno. Those dead guys had some cloth on em, you could 
use..."
	"I don't think so."
	"Feh, squeamish." She trotted down the stairs, squinting in 
the dim light. "Just because it's on a dead guy doesn't mean 
that..."
	She opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, and had to 
stifle a shriek. She had found the upper hold.
	Half of it was underwater, either through decades of rain or 
a rip in the lower hull. In the fetid muck, grinning at her in 
welcome, sat several hundred of the Emperor's finest soldiers. 
They still clutched their rifles, bits of gear, or handholds, and 
all of them sat and smiled at her with empty eyesockets, helmets 
drooping low over bony foreheads, rank pins and medals glinting 
dully from chests of bone and decaying cloth and mud and algae.
	Akane slowly backed away, and Ukyo let out a strangled gasp 
as he reached the door. "Oh my God..."
	"There must be hundreds of them," Akane said in horrified 
fascination, staring at the rows upon rows of silent, grinning 
faces.
	"Yes..." Ukyo said, unable to look away.
	The sight held them spellbound for a few seconds; then, with 
a shudder, they quickly retreated back up the stairs.
	"This is bad," Akane muttered as they climbed.
	"Yes, a ship full of dead men isn't exactly a blessing from 
heaven, I suppose."
	"Worse," she told him glumly. "A sunken ship full of dead 
men."