Sea of Chaos

By Julia H. West

Science fiction novelette. Winin is a wayfinder: he uses ancient Micronesian navigator's art to navigate starships through overspace in a virtual reality outrigger canoe. Winin is chosen for a rescue mission seeking a starliner adrift in overspace. When the virtual reality in his ship goes down, are his knowledge and reflexes enough to guide a starship through the Maelstrom?

First Place winner, 1st Quarter 1994; Grand Prize winner, 1994, Writers of the Future contest. Appeared in Writers of the Future, Vol. XI, Bridge Publications, June 1995.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Callihoo Publishing
• Release date: Sep 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466026827

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Sea of Chaos

Julia H. West

Published by Callihoo Publishing at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Julia H. West

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Cover design by Danica B. West

~~~

Master Navigator Winin settled into the contoured couch of the starship Sally Ride's navigation tank. He closed his eyes and said, VR, Puluwat. The splash of waves, mew of seabirds, and creak of his canoe's rigging replied. He raised his face, breathing deeply. Stale ship's air. Damn cheap VR.

He opened his eyes and saw Puluwat, his home island, its white sand beaches lapped by the waves of Earth's Pacific Ocean. But though the sun shone in the tropical sky, no welcome rays warmed his face. He shifted his weight on the navigator's bench, evaluating how ripples rocked the canoe's hull beneath him. He looked behind, to the canoe house sheltered by palm trees, and ahead, to where the other islands of the atoll rose from the ocean. Palms on Allei's beaches swayed in a slight breeze, and he could hear children calling to each other from the breadfruit trees on tiny Elangelap, to his right. The virtual reality had what he needed to navigate a starship—but just barely.

VR Off. The nav tank was small, only the main and an auxiliary couch, with a tiny lavatory built into the wall left of the main couch. But the equipment was clean and well-cared-for; someone knew the importance of a starship's nav tank. Winin pressed the door release and slid out of the couch, his bare feet slapping the deck. He tugged his red and yellow loincloth straight as he stepped through the irising door. Awfully primitive equipment, Captain, he said to the short, round-faced woman fidgeting in the corridor outside the door.

But will it do? asked Akiko Teramoto, captain and owner of the Sally Ride.

I haven't used equipment like this for twenty years, but I explored the Maelstrom in a ship very like this one, when I was young. It will do.

Good. I'll have your things stowed in your room. The other navigators are waiting aft, in the galley.

Winin followed the captain through the door into the ship's common area. Around a corner, in the tiny galley, three people sat at the tables. A young couple, their hair and skin dark as Winin's, looked up expectantly when Winin and Captain Teramoto entered. The third man, slender and with silver-lined dark hair, didn't raise his eyes from the computer solitaire layout in the table before him.

Pete, Amy, and Tevita, this is Master Navigator Winin Davis. Galaxy Starliners brought him out of retirement for this mission.

The couple stood hastily. I'm Navigator Amy Lolohea and this is my husband, Junior Navigator Tevita Lolohea, the young woman said. I'm—we're really glad to have the opportunity to work with you, Master Navigator Davis. We studied under Hipour.

Winin shook their hands. Please, call me Winin. He was pleased; Hipour had been one of his better students twenty-five years ago.

The other navigator finally looked up from his solitaire game. He pushed himself from his chair and said, Senior Navigator Pedro Sanchez. He neglected to put his hand out for Winin to shake.

Captain Teramoto waved them all into seats. "We need to get moving, so I'll brief you and let you work out the navigation details among yourselves.

"You should have heard by now that Galaxy Starliners discovered a safe route through the Maelstrom Overspace Hazard. All their small ships got through