Mitheral
"Growf!"
Jonathan Rhand
Off Coast of Athens, Greece
Year 2 Day 302 (Fall)
4999 BCE
Average Temp 67 F
Despite Jon’s efforts to learn night time navigation by stars and his creation of a simple sort of stellar position timepiece, Jon’s trip made far better time than it should have. It left extra time for fishing. But it still concerned him that it would mean that long voyages would be more unpredictable. That messed with his OCD. He liked sticking to plans. But he was also pragmatic.
His efforts weren’t bad, all things considered. His sailing skills left a lot to be desired. He had feared that the choppy waters would be a problem for Sabela. But the catamaran’s design proved solid. He made inspections a routine, checking the hull for signs of leaks. The first time had worried Sabela, but he assured her that he had planned this long ago. He even showed her where he had made the plans in writing.
The following morning he got his first look at what he guessed was Athens - or what passed for Athens in this time. For the first time he had doubts about his plan for the visit. He wasn’t ready. And this wasn’t the way to arrive. His ship might very well be perceived as a threat. And as well made as it was, it would be no match for slings. They had nothing he wanted.
That wasn’t entirely true. The truth was that he had another immediate goal in mind first. Two goals in fact. The first was going to take about a month and a half to get there - one way. He would need about a month when he got there. Then he would have to figure out how to get back tacking against the wind - or running the old trade routes across the Atlantic.
One problem at a time.
He had plenty of provisions. He was going to need them. Dimly he wondered if he would be able to find his way back.
The trip through the Strait of Gibraltar and down the coast of Africa was over 8000 miles. Part of him wished he had made this trip alone. It would have been so much simpler. Taking along a family complicated things beyond reason. But complaining wouldn’t change things.
********
Coast of Southern Namibia
Year 3 Day 1 (Fall)
4998 BCE
Average Temp 60 F
Jon weighed anchor a little off the shore of southern Namibia and took the small outrigger in. He had heard so many stories of this place. In 1995 the beaches had been well combed through. One could still make a nice profit from beachcombing. But in the past, before the arrival of Europeans, the beaches were strewn with vast wealth. This was where he planned to obtain a vast wealth with which to do trade with other lands.
In 5000 BCE there were maybe a couple thousand people in the entire region. It would be thousands of years before there were more. By the end of the third day, he secured the ship better. By now Sabela could handle the ship on her own, though she still wasn’t much of a navigator. Together they began to fill jar after jar with treasure.
While they were uncommon, every now and then a tiny nugget of gold would show up. He knew roughly where to look for gold. But most gold would require mining. Mining would require manpower. So that was a project for the future. He could do some panning, but he wasn’t sure just how much he would find. His grandparents had lived north of Sacramento within a very short walk of a site where 49ers used to pan for gold. He had found plenty of historical artifacts just walking around using his eyes. He had also visited old ghost towns in the southwest - silver and gold sites. And he had even done a little panning at a tourist trap sort of place. Oh, the panning was the real deal. But the findings were pretty meager. Here, he would be hampered by a lack of the right equipment. The best he could really hope for was to find a few nuggets among the diamonds.
The plan had been simple. Fill up a cargo full of precious stones and some gold. He’d hide most away in caches for a future time. But what he carried with him would provide all the fortune he would ever need to trade in foreign lands.
