P ART IV: Z ERO M OMENT
Scott did think on it, but only in the back of his mind. He was more interested right then in the way the wind danced in the sails ahead of him on the foremast, and the way that the light of the sun caught on the canvas. The motion of the schooner didn’t seem so jarring... the sounds of the crew working below were distant. There was a good, stiff breeze, and that was really the only thing up there with the two cadets. Nothing but the wind. Scott could have said he had plenty of experience with wind, because hang gliding depended on it in some way or another, but on the mainmast of the Lady Grey it was more tangible. Like he could catch it, and in a sense, that was exactly what the ship was doing. So he moved with her, rocked with the motion of the ship, losing some of the queasiness so long as he kept his eyes on the horizon. Like a fixed part of the rigging, he swayed, listening to the sound of the sails, the sound of the water far below, the wind, the ropes as they creaked. The breeze softened with the coming of night, so subtly that neither Corry nor Scotty really thought about it. They noticed it on a more primitive level, lost in their own thoughts or lack of thoughts, not giving it conscious effort. The Queen Mary didn’t exist, nothing existed but them, the schooner and the reddening sunset. It lasted an eternity and went far too quickly, breathtaking out there where there wasn’t a single soul. The slow decent of the sun, the way it grew and turned to fire red as it fell, the light flaring on the wispy clouds in orange and gold. Caught in a perfect moment of life, as the sun vanished from the sky, the two cadets on the mast forgot to breathe.
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