Jeffery filled up as many containers as he could carry, carefully juggling them so as to not spill the water. "That sounds like a pretty decent plan. You ready to head on back?"

---

"My father owned a midsized asteroid mining company. He struck it big during the last platinum shortage thirty years ago, afterwards he diversified his holdings. Its all rather boring, but the short version is that I was never hurting for credits. Growing up here on Dittotopia, I got to meet people from across the universe, I used to beg them for stories. Eventually though, I got tired of listening and decided I want to make my own. So I did."

"Sounds pretty exciting," Maeve replied. "Any favorite spots?"

Ainsley's green eyes sparkled a little when Maeve inquired about her travels.

"There's this dwarf planet, just barely inside the habitable zone. Its so tiny and remote that it hardly appears on any charts. It's official designation is DittoX3z9, but like to think that it is Nilfhiem, land of the mists. At the poles The temperature drops deep into the negatives and the mountains shoot into sky. Down in the valleys there are frozen rivers that are so clear you can see straight to the botten, nearly a mile down. The combination of methane snow and low gravity make for some of the best snowboarding I've ever encountered. It's beautiful, but dangerous, you know what I mean? The cold alone would kill you in less than a minute if you were directly exposed. But if I could chose where and how to die, I'd chose to die there, shredding the best powder in the galaxy."

"Sounds glorious," Maeve replied. "It seems like it would offset your fiery personality well, too. What are the people like there?"

"That's the best part," the redhead replied, a massive grin plastered across her face. "There is no sentient native population, there never was. The only semi permanent settlement is a small mining colony along the equator, but other than that it's just you and an entire planet to explore."

Maeve shrugged.

"Don't be too sure of that sort of thing," she said. "Just because the Coalition scanned the planet and declared it unoccupied doesn't mean it's true. They tend to make mistakes in that area."

Life is weird, Dan thought to himself. After all, here he was, sitting on a beach next to the love of his life, on a tropical island watching the sun go down. If the ship hadn't sunk then this could be just like an ordinary port of call.

But, of course it wasn't. Angie and Ainsley had been injured, and if this was the wrong island there was no certainty of a rescue waiting in the wings.

He glanced again at his wife. Her condition seemed to have stabilized, and except for an occasional odd remark her memory seemed about the same as well. He wondered how long it would be necessary to keep her awake. With night falling that would be more difficult for all of them.

Grace and Kaelin were huddled over a pile of fronds, and he couldn't help smiling at Kaelin's patience in showing his daughter how to braid them together.

I have a lot to be grateful for, came the thought. Both Maeve and Kaelin had proven to be great friends, willing to help care for Angie and being there for Grace in this tough time. Kaelin appeared to be about Grace's age, but Dan had gathered that she was far more world-wise than his child. Just her being there for Grace meant a lot.

His reverie ended when that annoying Pittersticks was suddenly encased in ice. He couldn't help chuckling at the sight but guessed it wasn't going to be a fun night for the squirrel.

The Pitter-Cube also had Grace's attention; she got up from her fronds and followed Kaelin to investigate. She briefly ran her hands over the ice, as if to confirm by touch what she was seeing.

"Is he going to be all right?" she asked in a very small voice.

Faye nodded back to Jeff. No need to dally with how fast the sun was setting. It was quite the balancing act, but they managed to bring most of the water back without spilling much. Faye found herself glancing back and forth from the edge of the jungle repeatedly. After the tracks they found earlier, coming back to the stream just reminded her of the possibility of what creatures they might find here. They still hadn't seen any other than the ones that came with them, but surely the island had at least some animal life.

By the time they got back to the camp, Ainsley and Maeve seemed to be deep in conversation, the youngest girls were braiding palm fronds, and the squirrel... was frozen in a block of ice. No one seemed overly concerned about this, so curious as she was, she decided not to ask about the story behind this, at least not for the time being.

Faye set her containers of water down, then carefully carved and piled the sand around them to give them less chance of tipping or being knocked over. Faye had to admit, the adrenaline rush had faded a long time ago, and she was starting to feel the exertion of all the day's activities. Still, Maeve had been quite clear about getting enough firewood to last the night. The fire was still going, thankfully, but the pile of driftwood they had wasn't likely to be enough.

Faye looked back into the jungle. Was it worth risking any potential predators to get more wood? She glanced around; well, there was still some driftwood to be collected. Not much, but it was a start. She decided to at least work through that first.

)

"Probably...I don't think Maeve wanted to kill him, so..." Kaelin tapped on the ice in front of Pitterstick's eyes. "Maybe we should try defrosting him? We could as Miss Twigs if we could use the water on the fire."

As she stood on the edge of the flickering firelight, Molly felt the tension slowly easing out of her. Maybe things would turn out well in spite of the mess. Pretty decent bunch of people, over all. Once again they were all pitching in to better their position for the night. She'd best do something to add to the effort.

"Mr Walters, why don't you come and help me collect wood, like Faye is doing. You can bring your bag with you, if you must," she added, sure that his eyes were goggling at the thought of leaving it behind. Then she realized that he was looking beyond her. Turning about, she saw a running squirrel, chased by Mel, become encased in a block of ice.

"Never mind him," she continued grimly. "He won't be going anywhere for a while. Come and help."

And she dragged the man willy-nilly off along the beach, as the girls discussed how they should deal with the frozen rodent.

Grace liked Kaelin's idea so she walked over to Twig's and tried to look as cute as possible - hey, it worked sometimes with her parents - and smiled up at her to ask, "Miss Twig's, could we please have some hot water from the fire? It's for the frozen squirrel."

Kaelin followed Grace, and joined in with her own puppy eyes.

"Or can we just put his cube in the pot? We promise not to cook him!"

Maeve did her best to hide her smile from the girls. They were so intent on their rescue, their ideas distracting them from the much larger problems at hand. She looked back at Ainsley.

"Excuse me for a moment," she said standing. "I think I'll take a short walkabout before we settle in for the night."

Maeve sedately wandered to the edge of the camp, soon catching up with Molly and the poor Mr. Waters. It was not ideal, but it would have to do.

"I've been sitting so long, my foot fell asleep. Would you like some help gathering driftwood?" she asked Molly.

"Um, sure," said Molly, eyeing Maeve a trifle warily. She didn't look angry at the moment, so it should be all right. She lowered her voice, glancing over her shoulder to see that no one was close by. "I'm not just looking for firewood; I'm hoping to find a box or two that should come washing up. One has fish-hooks and other implements, the other we call the 'food bank.' Chicken soup mix, powdered milk, and other dry goods to supplement our diet. That's if they did it right."

An overwhelming bitterness rolled over the stewardess. Did she dare to trust Maeve, or any of the others, for that matter? "They" had warned her about relying on passengers. But she needed to talk to someone, and if the company had let them all down again....

"I'm really upset with Management right now. They faithfully promised that there would be no more glitches. This"--indicating the barren shore--"doesn't look right at all. And they shouldn't send people on adventures without telling them first. Unless it's all an accident, and that's worse than ever!"

Maeve nodded.

"Sounds like a vacation plan only the idle rich could come up with," she said softly. "I'm sure the boxes will show up. The supply box and the tarp were set here, so they can't be that far off."

She paused and looked out at sea, considering.

"What happened with your last...group? Did they know about their adventure, and it just went wrong, or did they not know, either?"

"Oh, the last group," Molly groaned, "that was a nightmare. You know, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that they were on board with the plan, if I can use that expression. They were all boasting about how wonderful they were going to be at this survival stunt--the funny thing is, that they were the worst guests I've ever had. A pack of spoilt rich kids--used to being catered to, I guess--and not one of them would lift a finger to help themselves or anyone else. They complained a lot, right from the beginning, and fighting!--you never saw such a bellicose bunch. I'm suspect they would have done each other much more damage, if it hadn't been that not one of them knew how to throw a punch, their personal assistants having always done the dirty work for them."

Molly's brow darkened as the memories flooded in.

"That was before the real trouble began. Things really went downhill later. Anyway, there was a disagreement between the management and the custodial branch. The custodians wanted a raise, and refused to work if they didn't get it. I don't know if everyone else decided they wanted a raise, too, or whether they were claiming solidarity. The upshot of it was that the rescue crews went on strike. We were stuck, with no one to fetch us.

"I was following the news on my radio; someone overheard the broadcast, and started a panic in the camp. When I suggested rationing the food, just to be safe, they began rioting and tearing up the camp. Just after that, Junior's private staff came to airlift him out, and wouldn't take the rest--that made everyone else even more frantic. I couldn't do anything about it, because I had run off into the jungle with the only machete. Of course they chased me, and of course some got lost, so I had to deliver them back to camp. Do you know how hard it is to administer a camp when you're hiding out, with irate campers breathing threats and slaughter?

"The company did finally come for us, after they had sorted out their labour disputes. Nobody died, nobody killed anyone (maybe because I had hidden the machete) and once we all got back to port, to hear them talk, you would have thought that the guests had had the time of their lives. So instead of being fired, management decided to give me another chance. I'm not so sure I should have taken it."

Another thought struck Molly, and she turned to face Maeve.

"By the way, who did sign up your group for this cruise?"