GOD of a man
“There is an opportunity hidden inside every setback.”
Chapter Twenty Nine: Captain Drake’s Island
Dated: February, 2427 onwards
Every great accomplishment is born out of a monumental effort, an effort put up in the face of the biggest and worst adversities, an effort that hides the pain of sacrifices made along the course, an effort marked by patient, unwavering and unrelenting commitment. And all this when the easiest way all along was the way out. Only those succeed in getting what they set out to achieve, who believe in their abilities, who desire to succeed to the point of desperation yet never get desperate, those who try to unravel the hidden opportunity in every setback. A setback is just another form of an alternate route, the only thing it demands is a thorough search to expose and unlock the door it is hiding.
Rosalyn and Lisa might have been dumped to perish by the ones’ they intrusted their lives unto death with, but that doesn’t mean they cannot survive their ordeal to live another day. They might be alone in the middle of a sea but they were still out of water. They may not know where to go, but that doesn’t mean they cannot make a move. The only thing they need is a clear head to make a better plan.
As the seven lives onboard a lonely raft in the middle of a silent sea wailed at the predicament they conceived themselves to be in, they were joined by a visitor, the one they could never imagine leave alone expect, a visitor that brings to them all the good luck they need on this cruel day, the opportunity that’s hidden behind the atrocities of this setback.
“Whoa! What’s that?” Jaden screamed out of fear, the recent brush with sharks still fresh in his mind like the second that had tricked by.
“What the hell is that?” Ranjon looked on at the new arrival on their raft.
“Isn’t that a,” Alexia tried to answer but forgot the word that would best describe it.
“It’s a bird,” Omar shrieked in excitement and scared the poor winged guest who immediately flew out of the raft.
Their sorrow was temporarily lifted by the unique visitor that payed them a visit and they all folded the half open tent covering their raft completely to have a look at the skies. Their company wasn’t alone, there was a flock of them, flying above the seas’ and fishing for their food.
“Wow! That’s amazing,” Alexia said as she hugged her husband Ranjon.
“If we cannot fish, we can have a change of variety then,” Ranjon said.
“They are after fish! Let’s attract them with our meat bates and capture them,” Omar said, “I guess that’s what enticed the first one to our boat.”
“Yes, I agree!” Ranjon replied, “As soon as one of them lands for food we will capture it by throwing our tent on it.”
“Great! Let’s do it,” Omar said as he fervently started working at removing meat bates from the hooks and placing them in a corner of the ship, “Everybody sit down and stay still. No movements to scare the birds away.”
“Why didn’t Robin, Daniel or Andy talk anything about birds?” Alexia wondered before asking Rosalyn, “Did he ever mention birds to you?”
“No! Never! Even I am surprised,” Rosalyn answered.
“I think they never met the birds,” Lisa replied.
“What makes you think so?” Alexia asked.
“Simply because they travelled in the southern winters when these birds must have been hibernating,” Ranjon replied, “You’ll remember they mention in Hatsu history that the numbers of the winged visitors to Antarctica dropped drastically post war and subsequently they stopped flying in to Antarctica at all in less than fifty years. The Albatross, petrels, cormorants, they all stopped coming to Antarctica. There was an effort to capture and breed them in Antarctica but the poor birds failed to adapt to the harsh winters we have down there and perished.”
“I can understand your assertion that they never met the birds during their travel to the Australian shores as it was winter, but what about their return journey?” Rosalyn asked.
“The story of their return journey was a farce. They started from Adelaide shores just when the winter was setting in and then they were caught in bad weather and lost course,” Lisa replied.
“Wait a minute! What did you say?” Ranjon caught something in her speech and asked Lisa to repeat it.
“What did I say? I just said they started when the winter was setting in,” Lisa replied.
“No! After that,” Ranjon asked, a glee appearing on his face.
“I said they lost course! Why are you asking so strangely?” Lisa got confused.
“Are you trying to say that they might have sailed too far away from where these birds live?” Ranjon asked with a smile on his face now.
“Yes, perhaps!” Lisa was still surprised, “What’s your point?”
“Simple! Where do birds live?” Ranjon asked.
“In their nests,” Lisa replied.
“And where do they make their nests?” Ranjon asked.
“On a tree or,” and Lisa’s eyes lit up as well as she understood what Ranjon was hinting at, “Are you saying we are close to some island?”
“We need to know where these birds fly back in the evening and that’s exactly the direction we need to take,” Ranjon replied.
“But, what about our food,” Lisa asked.
“Don’t worry! We are still going to catch one or two of them now. There are plenty in the sky to follow,” Ranjon replied.
Ranjon and Omar set up the baits for the birds and after much patience and a couple of mishits, they finally managed to capture a couple of birds and finally everybody on board had their food.
“Did you notice one thing?” Ranjon asked everyone after the meal.
“What?” Alexia asked.
“The birds had smaller wing spans,” Ranjon replied.
“How’s that important?” Omar asked.
“It means they cannot fly long distances, a reason why we don’t see them in Antarctica anymore, and perhaps the reason the off course cheats didn’t notice them,” Ranjon replied.
“So the island shouldn’t be too far off?” Omar asked.
“Perhaps, just beyond the horizon,” Ranjon replied, “Or slightly more, as we can’t see too far with our limited elevation above the sea.”
“Finally, something to cheer about,” Rosalyn replied, the pain of the realization her husband is a cheat nearly choking her voice as she covered her face in her hands and sobbed silently. So did Lisa.
“Mom, where is papa?” if Jaden’s question made the situation even more unbearable for Lisa, Suzie made it tough on Rosalyn.
In the evening when the birds started for their homes, the course of the raft was immediately set to follow their flight. The enthusiasm generated by the thought of finding a new home and escaping doom at sea, pumped them enough to use their oars proactively to hasten their journey. The birds might have beaten them in the race to their new home but the joy at the first sighting of the land as the sun closed in on the horizon invited a roar that reverberated for many seconds.
“Wow! Look at that colour! First piece of land that is not white,” Alexia nearly jumped with excitement and the excitement was infectious as the kids started jumping up and down too nearly upturning the raft.
“Hold on you kids,” Ranjon rebuked them as he and Omar set on oaring the raft even more vigorously now. When they looked like getting tired, Rosalyn and Lisa swapped places with them. As they approached the island and the sun slowly marched towards its’ veil, the colours of the island became more distinct and varied.
“Wow! That’s multicoloured,” Alexia was excited.
“Yes indeed!” Rosalyn also forgot her pain for a moment.
“I can see a very light brown sandy beach, the one we see in pictures in our library, and that looks like,” and Alexia’s words were left stuck in her mouth as her amazement knew no bounds, “Is that what I think it is, grass and plants?”
“It sure is,” even Ranjon and Omar got excited and forgot to oar for a few seconds as they gazed at the sight in front.
“Wow!” the only word to have left Lisa’s lips in the last hour or so summed up the elevation in her mood brought about by the grace and mercy of the one whom, none of them knew anymore.
Their raft touched the shores just as the sun set for another night.
“Let’s just stay on the raft for the night ‘cause we don’t know what else dwells on this island,” Ranjon said.
“I agree with you! Let’s tie the raft with some rock on the beach but stay on the raft in waters,” Omar added his vote. None of the women folk objected as it was getting dark and the decision was confirmed. They found a rock along the beach and Omar got off the raft to tie the long rope that was shamelessly released from their guide by their guide and guardian himself just the night before. And everybody retired for the night on the raft.
Many nautical miles away from the three shores, two cheats thrived and revelled in the misery they have caused to many hearts that shared their company.
“So what’s your progress with Natalie?” Robin asked Daniel as he nudged him teasingly, the two were standing outside on the deck, hidden from any other pair of eyes by the blanket of darkness that covered everything.
“That thorn in my flesh Andy, he won’t let me make any,” Daniel replied grinding his teeth with hatred, “Can’t we just push him in the sea tonight?”
“Don’t be ridiculous? We’ll be caught and loose everything,” Robin replied, “I have given you such a golden opportunity to get near to that girl, her sister is dead, or can be taken to be so, she is alone and in distress, don’t you know how to console and comfort a woman when she is weak?”
“She is not alone! And that is my biggest problem! Andy won’t leave her side for a moment. If anything, you have given him an opportunity to console and comfort a woman when she is weak,” Daniel replied, his words not betraying the anger and frustration he was experiencing at failing to implement his plan.
“Don’t blame me for your lack of talent. I could have only created an opportunity and that I did. Now it’s up to you to make the most of it,” Robin replied, “Getting up and close to her is not my job. You need to do it on your own and you better figure out a way to do it quickly or you will run out of time.”
Robin’s words left Daniel speechless and in retrospection as Robin got up and walked inside to retire for the night.
Morning light brings with it not just a fresh day, but also a fresh perspective and fresh ideas. Mornings represent new beginnings.
“What are you thinking?” Clara asked Steve as she noticed him sitting on the beach gazing into the distance.
“Clara, I think the water problem over here shouldn’t be too hard to solve,” Steve replied, still in a contemplative mood.
“What makes you think so?” Clara asked.
“Look, in Hatsu Saisho we never needed to worry about fresh water as ice was a perfect source of it but here it will be different. We’ll have to find a source of water to sustain a bigger human population,” Steve replied.
“What do you propose?” Clara wanted to know the details of what Steve envisaged.
“Underground water,” Steve replied, “Clara we need to get the water below this land above it somehow.”
“That’s an intelligent proposition Steve but how will we be able to do it without proper infrastructure?” Clara had her doubts.
“Clara, there’s plenty of scrap metal buried under these mounds and there are plenty of trees as well. It won’t be hard to use our metallurgy skills to create infrastructure for digging a bore and then taping the underground water but,” Steve stopped at that point as if he was struggling to find the right words to phrase the real issue.
“But what,” Clara asked.
“It won’t be long before humanity will run out of buried trees and there’s no way of generating new plants,” Steve replied as Clara nodded her head to add her vote and the two were lost in thoughts of their own.
Depths and depths away from them, on a new shore, seven souls rose up afresh, ready to take on the new world.
“Did you sleep well?” a yawning Ranjon asked Omar.
“Nah, I kept hearing strange animal calls all night,” Omar replied.
“Me too! It was scary,” Alexia added.
“What island do you reckon we are on anyway?” Omar asked.
“I wouldn’t have a clue,” Ranjon replied.
“I think we are on Macquarie Island which was a part of the Tasmania state of Australia and administered by a small research unit consisting of Scientists and armymen,” Lisa replied.
“How do you know all this?” Alexia asked a bit surprised.
“I read about it in our library as I was interested in knowing what landmarks or islands we may come across during the course of our journey,” Lisa replied.
“Do you have any idea where we can find their base or remnants of it now?” Ranjon asked.
“If I remember correctly the base was towards the northern tip of the island on an isthmus connecting the main land with a hill,” Lisa replied.
“How far is it from here?” Omar asked.
“I don’t know but the whole island is barely thirty four kilometres in length and I think we have landed fairly in between,” Lisa answered.
“It is worth a try to sail towards it and see if there’s anything useful for us that lies there,” Ranjon exclaimed and looked at the rest for their opinion.
“We have no where else to go anyway, so why not try it out,” Rosalyn replied and the rest nodded in affirmation as well.
They set sailing towards the upper tip of the island. Fish around the island were scarce and once again baits were set for the birds and their next meal was caught. By the time they reached the tip it was already past noon but the site that greeted them wasn’t too encouraging either. All the structure that might have been present over the isthmus had been razed to the ground.
“Nothing’s left anymore,” Ranjon replied.
“Let’s not loose hope until we have searched the place thoroughly,” Lisa replied.
They finally reached the isthmus and were about to disembark when Ranjon said, “Look, we don’t know what sorts of creatures lurk on this island. It might be safe if you women and kids stay on the raft in the water.”
“This island is only home to rabbits, cats, penguins, seals, rats and birds. There is nothing else on this island,” Lisa replied.
“Perhaps you are right but why take a chance? The sounds we heard last nigh while we were trying to sleep were not too welcome,” Ranjon replied as he armed himself with the oar, and so did Omar.
“He’s right! You people should stay behind. Besides we will always be in your site,” Omar added.
The women finally agreed to stay on the raft whose sails were folded and the raft was tied to the shore but still left floating in water. So Ranjon and Omar set out in search of anything worth a discovery.
“Just pile after pile of rubble! I don’t see even a single structure standing,” Omar shook his head.
“The good thing about this base being near a hill was, it was naturally protected against the assault of the tornadoes that ravaged the Southern Hemisphere after the weather shift,” Ranjon remarked.
“You call this protected! What remains of it?” Omar asked.
“It is still in a condition from which something could be recovered,” Ranjon replied.
The finally reached the last group of piles and looked around to see if there was anything worth picking.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Omar asked.
“Nothing,” Ranjon replied.
“Then why are we here?” Omar asked again.
“We are here to see if something grabs our attention by standing out from the surroundings,” Ranjon replied as he looked around until something finally caught his eyes, “What do you reckon is that?”
“What’s what?” Omar wondered.
“C’mon I’ll show you,” Ranjon said as he walked towards an empty space that had rocks in the shape of crosses dug into grounds.
“This looks like a graveyard and these crosses must be their religious symbols,” Omar replied.
“Perhaps, but what interest me is this piece of metal that is lying in the sand near that pit,” Ranjon said as he pointed to a big metal box that looked heavy and was lying next to an open pit.
“That’s strange!” Omar commented.
“Let’s see what lies inside it,” Ranjon said as they walked up to the box. Ranjon knelt down, put his oar to the side and looked at the heavily rusted box. It had no lock on it but its’ lid looked fairly heavy to open by any means other than a heavy masculine effort.
Ranjon put his hands below the lid of the box and tried to lift it up, “Damn! It’s jammed.”
Ranjon picked up his oar and hit the lid of the box a few times to break the jam caused by the rust. Then he tried to push the lid again. When it didn’t work he hit the lid with his oar again and tried lifting the lid again. A few more hits and the box finally gave up and the lid was free to be lifted. On opening the box Ranjon was surprised by what lay infront of him.
“It looks like a diary,” Ranjon exclaimed as he pulled out a diary safely stored inside a rusted box, safe from weather outside and cushioned and protected with dry hay on the inside. The diary’s pages however had turned yellow.
“Looks like it was left here for someone to find it,” Omar replied.
“Perhaps it was,” Ranjon replied, “Let’s see what it says inside.”
Ranjon opened the diary carefully so as not to tear the fragile pages and was shocked to find only a couple of pages written in all, the writings appearing very faint due to the ageing of ink. “That’s strange! There’s not much written in it,” he said.
“Just go through whatever is written in it,” Omar replied.
“Dear friend,
Whoever is reading this diary, I am Captain Drake of the Australian Antarctic Division team stationed at the Macca base. First of all, I hope you are human and can understand English. Then I would like to inform you that the grave you are standing next is my own grave. Yesterday, 12th August, 2022, I buried the last man left on this island other than me.
We were a team of twenty men and six women, Scientists, researchers and army men, stationed at this base. Each one of us has finally succumbed to the radiations. We lost our radio contact with the Australian and other global arcs and the human population in Antarctica last week when our radio broke down and neither of the three of us still alive at that time knew how to fix it. Now I am the last one alive and I am writing this diary, which although doesn’t come naturally to me but I hope it might be of some use to anyone who survives the radiation carnage and happens to stumble upon it. Besides I am left with no one to talk to. Being a scientist I am making sure I keep the diary secure in a heavy metal box, which will rust with time but will keep the diary secure inside it as it is a vacuum tight container for biological samples.
Since I am the last one left on this island, I have dug myself a grave and will be sleeping in my coffin from now. Now that you are reading it, it means I am already dead and the coffin you see lying in the pit is my new home.
“Where’s the coffin?” Omar asked as he looked inside what appeared to be an empty pit.
“Perhaps it has got covered in sand over time,” Ranjon replied.
“Should I dig up the sand to check?” Omar asked.
“Don’t worry about it now. Let the dead man enjoy his peace,” Ranjon replied and then continued with the diary.
“However there are a few things I wish to share with anyone who reads this diary. Firstly, we all knew we are going to perish due to the spreading radiations and we had no means to travel to Antarctica. So we decided to utilize our limited resources over here to save as much of useful items as we can for anyone who survives the nuclear fall out and arrives at this location.
If you see the buildings on the side of this grave yard, you will notice a basement just infront of the middle one. We created that basement to survive all weathers and keep the stuff we were protecting safe for as long as it can.
If you go into the basement, you will find a big tank made of reinforced concrete and covered with a heavy concrete slab. The tank is full of oil mixtures, containing our cooking oils and oils required for research and oil derived from Penguin and seal fat. Submerged in this oil you will find weapons and tools that have been kept there to avoid rusting. Also submerged is a motor for a small boat. There are a few tightly sealed packets as well, a packet of cutlery, a packet of ammunition, a packet of engine seals and other nuts and bolts, a packet containing navigational equipment like magnetic needles, maps etc, a packet containing information about how to assemble or disassemble the motor, how to use and clean guns etc.
There are stacks of fuel barrels lying next to the oil tank, all full of gasoline for the engine, all tightly sealed and painted in multi-layers. Next to it are two drums of engine oil for the motor.
Also, we have planted all our food grains, wheat, rice and barley on the hill top on the northern side as also the mainland. We did that when only four of us were left. Since meat is in good supply and we didn’t expect ourselves to live too long after the demise of the rest of our members, we decided we may as well plant the food grains that we have hoping they will survive the harsh weather conditions and propagate themselves over seasons, rather than degenerate in our store. You can check for them at the two locations that I have mentioned. If the plan clicked and you find them propagating themselves, I’ll be glad the efforts of these dying scientists didn’t go waste.
A word of caution though, the radiations have had a strange affect on the flora and fauna of this island though. While plants have started growing taller than the herbs they used to be, rabbits whose life has increased compared to the decrease in case of us humans, have grown in size to become as big as a German shepherd dogs now and they have become carnivores due to the shortage of food. They are the main predators on this island now. I don’t move around without my gun anymore. Infact I will be sleeping with my gun in my coffin from today.”