Guardian Awakening by C. Osborne Rapley Page B

down several small trees and used vines as lashings. After a couple of day’s hard work, he had a serviceable raft with lashed trunks and cross members. He used the laser on low power to cut holes through the deck trunks to the cross members so they could be stitched and pegged together. It had to be really strong, as from experience, he had to expect and prepare for the worst at sea.  
    Water was not a problem since the lake was drinkable, so he concentrated on making a storage area for food. The next day he and Aesia fitted the mast. He used twisted vines for rigging and constructed a small cabin so that they had shelter if the weather deteriorated. One of the waterproof sheets would be used as a sail, and the other one as a spare. At the end of the fourth day, he had a sea worthy craft. The fifth day, they loaded everything onto the raft and lashed it all down. Tristan was not going to take any chances, and, since Aesia was not a strong swimmer, he found some bark that was similar to cork, cut it into strips, and tied them together to form a life jacket.
    There was no tide, as the planet had no moon. So Tristan had to dig away the sand around the raft to get it to float. There was an offshore breeze most of the time, so, once the raft was floating, it was a simple matter of hoisting the sail and steering it with the rudder he had lashed to the stern. The raft worked perfectly. He checked to see if Aesia was all right with it. She seemed a little dubious but was willing to continue.  
    For the first three days the journey proved uneventful. Tristan had made some fishing line with the wire he had used for animal traps, so he tried his luck and caught several small fish. He used the laser on low power to heat one of the pans and grilled them. They tasted a little muddy, but did at least make a change to their usual fare. It did rain one day, but the shelter kept them dry.
    The morning of the forth day dawned bright and sunny. As Tristan expected the further south they travelled the warmer the weather. Tristan was holding the raft close to the wind and making good progress. He had just mentioned to Aesia   how much easier sailing was compared to walking when the raft lurched. It caught her off balance she staggered and fell overboard. She immediately bobbed on the surface coughing and spluttering. A large black shape emerged from under the raft.  
    Tristan’s heart leapt into his mouth, “Aesia stay still don’t kick or splash.”  
    “Why Tristan?”  
    “Just be still Aesia now!”
    The black shape moved around the raft. Tristan pulled on the rudder spilling the wind from the sail and splashed it in and out of the water to attract the creature.
    “Tristan what are you doing is there something after me?” Panic gave her words a sharp edge.
      The creature nudged the raft several times and actually lifted it out of the water. Tristan grabbed the laser pistol and fired as the shape swam from under the raft. The water boiled round the beam and with a flick of its tail the creature disappeared. “Aesia?”
    “Tristan I’m over here. Please get me out of here!” She was by this time quite a bit astern of the raft. Pushing on the rudder and pulling the sail round to catch the wind Tristan turned the raft without taking his eyes off Aesia. If he were to lose sight of her now he would have difficulty finding her. As he had only scared the shark like creature away he did not know how much time he had before it came back.  
    “Come on, come on you lumbering cow.” Tristan muttered under his breath as the craft slowly turned. The wind filled the sail and the raft surged forward. As he got closer he spilt the wind from the sail and turned towards her. He raced to the side “Grab my hand Aesia,” She kicked forward as the raft drifted close and reached for Tristan’s out stretched hand.  
    Tristan noticed a black shape moving up from the depths under her. His fingers brushed against hers, he lent further out