Crashed on an Alien World, Music

        I dreamed and there was music in the dream.

        "I've got a ticket to waaagh!

        I've got a ticket to waaagh!

        I've got a ticket to waa-aa-aagh!

        I've got a ticket to waaagh, and I don't care!"

        Too much time reading the “War Hammer” threads on one of the boards I frequent.

        In addition to the music I was loading sleeping bags and sealed plastic boxes full of food into a large outrigger equipped canoe. There was a pair of masts and a couple of sails that were going on last. The masts were sealed hollow titanium honeycomb, very light and strong, we could use them as masts or as poles if we were in shallow enough waters. I know we also had enough food to last a couple of months if needed; there were plenty of fishing supplies and hunting gear as well. I didn't recognize the person who was traveling with me, they were bundled up in some sort of fur lined parka with the hood up.

        I wasn't dressed for freezing weather, but seemed to be quite comfortable, if not a bit warm. Some of my other companions apparently originated in much warmer climates.

        When I climbed into the canoe, I noticed that the outriggers were covered with solar electric cells, as was the small cabin roof. I pulled up the anchor and several well-wishers pushed us out into the ocean.

        I checked the GPS and we started away from our island. We were going to navigate to the islands we could see over the horizon, just to see if they were better than the one we'd crashed on. After that we would spiral out looking for larger land masses. So far we hadn't had any contact with others, but we had a beacon in orbit (thus the GPS, at least when it was over the horizon) and I figured it would only be a matter of time before someone found us. We needed to have a viable settlement if it was the Imperium, and something defensible if it was anyone or anything else.

        I checked the radios and we put up the masts and sails. The boat raced over the surf, bouncing a bit until we hit open water and the swells were much lower. At that point our speed increased even more. I checked the GPS, we'd already made a half dozen kilometers in just a few minutes.

        Off the starboard bow we spotted a large animal, it had a neck that stood a good 3 meters out of the water with a tiny sharp toothed head on the end of it. I didn't see any others. It watched us with some interest, and then swam parallel to us for a time, its head held just above the surface. We pulled away from it.

        Small fish with wide fins sailed out of the water ahead of us, spraying to either side of our path. One of them misjudged its leap and landed with a wet plop in the boat. I picked it up; it was dark blue with an iridescent sheen running over its fur. The fin/wings were almost like a bat wing, thin leather with just the slickest little coating of fine hair. It didn't have eyes, at least not as we know them, there was a pair of us shaped ridges on its face, one looked like a filter mouth and the other was almost like an insect eye, hundreds of tiny glittering facets. I held the fish aloft head into the wind, it spread its wings and flapped, taking off and gliding out into the ocean. It tucked its wings just before knifing into the water without even a splash.

Ad astra per technica,

FF