"Is everyone alright?"
"Yes! It feels good to look around the vineyards after so long!"
"I feel like I've returned to my holand too! Though my actual holand is across the Atlantic, of course!"
I returned to Croatoan Island after a long ti. And with Hewett, Eleanor, Vicente, Manteo—the so-called founding mbers—all together.
We were there to manage the vineyards after the harvest and to test the newly made water pumps.
"The performance of these water pumps is quite good, isn't it?"
"All thanks to the blacksmiths in our settlent."
Yes. I'll forgive your blowing off my arm last ti when trying to replicate the weed trimr engine, for this. The pain was excruciating—a white-hot flash followed by numbness as I watched my limb separate from my body—but seeing what we've accomplished now makes that sacrifice seem almost worthwhile.
After installing improvised water pumps connected to drum-barrel wood stoves here and there, we could quickly drain water from wetlands all around Croatoan and begin land reclamation. The forrly sodden earth, which had been unusable for generations, began to firm up under our feet as the pumps worked day and night, their rhythmic chugging becoming the heartbeat of our new settlent. Murky pools that once harbored disease-carrying insects gradually gave way to fertile soil, rich with possibilities.
This too... was an achievent that couldn't have been accomplished without quite a long period of trial and error. Weeks turned into months as we tested different designs, experiencing countless failures before finding success. The community gathered to watch each new attempt, their faces shifting from skepticism to hope as our progress beca evident.
Disassembling the agricultural machinery I had, replicating parts, trying to copy them exactly but failing, then making only simple machines... The workshop floor was perpetually covered in tal shavings and discarded prototypes. My hands beca calloused and stained with oil and rust, the skin cracking at the knuckles as I worked through cold nights illuminated by the amber glow of lanterns. The occasional spark from tal striking tal would light up the darkness montarily, like shooting stars in our small universe of creation.
Making high-performance wood stoves that way, creating floor heating, and then connecting various pipes to move the water pumps... We learned to seal joints with a mixture of clay and plant fibers when proper gaskets failed, discovered how to regulate temperature by adjusting the air intake vents, and eventually understood the delicate balance required to maintain optimal pressure throughout the system.
It was an achievent that couldn't have been realized without 21st century steel and materials, but an achievent nonetheless. The recovered scraps of civilization—springs from abandoned vehicles, tal sheeting from collapsed buildings, copper wiring from electronics long since obsolete—found new purpose in our hands, transford by necessity and ingenuity into sothing entirely new.
These water pumps were the fruits of that labor.
After watching the water drain from wetlands everywhere with these hastily assembled pumps, we spread a tent nearby and shared stories.
"Wait... Vicente? You t Sir Drake while sailing on the Nautilus?"
"Yes. Well, that's right."
"Didn't you say that when you were governor of Santa Elena, the English led by Drake turned nearby colonies into wastelands? I heard you withdrew from Santa Elena because of that."
"Ha, hahaha, hahahaha. That's just sothing from the past."
"How far in the past?"
"Exactly 9 years, 5 months, and 2 days ago."
"...For soone who spoke as if it didn't matter, you rember it quite in detail."
"Well, the colony I poured my life into was destroyed in an instant. It can't be helped. Back then, I used to grind my teeth just thinking about the English, but who would have thought things would turn out like this? Hahahaha!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
Isn't he here because he tried to do the exact sa thing to this settlent that Drake did to him?
Of course, no one bothered to point that out.
"Anyway, as that fellow goes around plundering Spanish colonies, he's bound to co to this area. So I've encountered him several tis, and he was more interesting than I expected. He's also good at killing people."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"He was a better person than my first impression suggested. Isn't it about ti he returns to this area?"
That's how we spent our first day back on Croatoan, talking and then falling asleep.
The next day, we earnestly tended to the vineyards, prepared for next year's farming, and looked after the settlent.
The place was in disarray since the 300 people living here had beco a kind of high-ranking officials, busily traveling back and forth to Chesapeake Bay. We also dusted the houses that had accumulated dirt for a long ti.
We spent another two days like that.
Just as I was thinking it was ti to return to Chesapeake Bay...
Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!
"W-what's that?"
I woke up to the sound of soone knocking on the door. I quickly changed out of my pajamas and went outside to find Manteo and Eleanor.
"What's the matter with you two?"
"Sothing trendous seems to be happening near the coast! The Spanish guarding the outpost said they saw several large warships..."
"What? Warships, you say?"
"Yes!"
I hurried to the warehouse, started the Hijet, and ca out. After picking up the two of them, I drove straight toward the eastern coast.
And...
BOOM!
"...What's that?"
I heard a thunderous sound.
Sothing like an explosion echoed from far away. When I stepped on the accelerator and reached the coast, we soon could tell what that thunderous sound was.
"T-there! Over there!"
Even in the dim light of early dawn, we could see several warships fighting quite close by.
Each carried flags of England and Spain.
As the English fleet moved northward, the Spanish fleet chased after their rear, firing a barrage of shells.
The English ships seed to have caught an unfavorable wind and eventually gave up fleeing, turning around one by one.
As soon as they completed their turn, their loaded cannons poured fire on the Spanish vanguard. The flas and smoke rose over the water surface like stars and clouds.
In short, all of that scene was clearly visible.
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