Every bone in my skeleton was on fire. Lying on my back, the pain had an irregular pulsation through my body. With knowledge of pain came comprehension, intelligence. The irregular pulse was caused by the motion of the surface I lay upon, causing my body to rock back and forth.

An intense light was passing over me in time with the motion, hot enough to be felt on the surface of my body. Bright enough to make my closed eyelids into fire-coloured ovals in my mind’s vision.

Thought came to me, first as words on those fiery ovals and then more complete forms that began to make sense.

“I’m lying on the deck of Passage, I can feel the texture of the nonskid. The light is the sun, high in the sky … but it was just rising!.”

Grasping the guard rail, I lever myself to a sitting position, wanting to scream with the agony flashing through me. My eyes still closed, I lean my forehead against the cool steel of a stanchion. With one hand I wipe away sleepy grit from my eyes and open them.

“The water! It’s wrong!”