Other Side

Chapter 20: House Boat

*Fruebury= Cas and Lucas' pack- the town

Leander chewed on his lip worriedly as Cove and Ari boarded the boat. They weren't even set for sail yet, but he acted as if Ari was disappearing before his eyes. It was a small houseboat, built for the two of them. They decided to minimize the amount of home space as much as they could to increase the storage opportunities. They already increased the storage as much as they could from the original design without compromising the integrity of the boat. The more time they could spend collecting information without having to return would do them well. Of course, it still had to be a working ship and home, so they had less to worry about. It was white and black in design, with minimal purple accents in respect to the faction of the boat.

There was nothing major that Ari and Cove wanted to be changed. It had already gone through multiple tests, and they've gotten more than they expected from it. The ship sailed smoothly all that was left was to make sure they could operate it, but Cove had been training with it for a while. They were taught how to build the walls if a storm came about. It was like those expensive cars Ari saw once. The push of a button and the walls popped out, folding into each other until they were fully sealed. If they pushed another button the dark near black tint would fade to a clear window on both sides. All in all, there were protocols for everything that they could think of.

The only thing that Ari was slightly concerned by, and that the two overlooked, was the single double bed that folded out of a built-in draw when required. It was thinner mattress than normal, but it was comfortable and almost a queen size. When fully out it took up their entire living area, only a small walkway if someone had to get into the separate bathroom space. They'd learned last night that they were okay sharing a bed, it was just a bit odd that it would become reoccurring so soon. They, of course, haven't told anyone about the progress, why would they? Nothing had truly changed unless you included the beat of Ari's heart. The happy little stutter whenever Cove got close. The little stutter that hurt whenever he seemed too far. He was glad no one other than Cove could feel.

"I think it's good. The test drives have been going well?" Ari questioned the pink-dressed elven. Pink for the engineering branch of the business sector.

She tapped away at a holoscreen that showed a model of the very ship in front of him. "Yeah. We've been on five so far and they went perfectly. Though we forgot to deploy the solar panels once and got stuck for a few hours. The test projections have also gone smoothly so we've been testing different factors. IT should hold up well especially if Cove could support it when there may be challenging water activity. We haven't been able to test the storm system though, we're hoping to get that out of the way before you leave."

"So, we're not sure the hull will hold up if we're hit?" Cove jumped in, just as he jumped back onto the deck. He'd gotten more used to the boat the past few days. Spending his time learning how to work the controls and use his power to siphon into it while Ari learned to swim. He'd even steer on one of a few of the test runs.

"We've run hypothetical tests through the faction's structural program, and they've been 97 to 99 percent clear of damage through our worst recorded storms. Tests and the real deal though are different, so we want at least a few live event tests before we clear it." She tapped away at the screen as a red graph showed, "Then there's the chance of a different atmosphere. Your change in altitude and weather could affect the storms on the ocean just as well as on land. Given that you're going into an unknown area we can't predict the weather but just hope it's not too drastic compared to us. There's no telling what could occur, especially if we don't know the powers these other species hold as well. You're in a fairly vulnerable position without cover."

Ari hummed. "Do you know when the next storm should come through? Have you collaborated with the green sector?" Ari asked. He wanted to leave as soon as possible before he could think otherwise. It had also been two years since the original find of Eurma and there was still so much, they didn't know. He wasn't in a rush to get away from the first home that he felt safe in. He just wanted to explore and was scared that if given much more time he would chicken out. Early today was a prime example.