ALL NOVEL Chapter 66: Island Sanctuary Retreat
“Shotgun!” Eva called out once we reached our little boat. It looked like one of those very old wooden motorboats you’d see in movies from the early 2000’s. At the front there was a robot behind the steering wheel beside which Eva would wanted to be seated. “Wouldn’t want to split up our lovey dovey couple after all.” She smirked as she gracefully hopped into the boat.
I rolled my eye with a smile and stood next to the boat, holding Luna by her hand so I could guide her in. “Watch the step.”
Luna nodded and carefully got into the back seat without any issues after which I followed her in as well.
“This boat wobbles a lot more.” My girlfriend commented when I sat down next to her.
“It does, but don’t worry, the seas are pretty calm right now so we shouldn’t experience a very wild ride.”
“Have no fear, human.” Our robot driver turned its head around to look at us. I was pretty happy it didn’t really look human otherwise that would have been rather unsettling. “My navigational programs are so that I can navigate storms with ease, even in vehicles as small as this. While it is not a recommended time to go sailing, because of my safety protocols you shall not be in danger for a single moment.” As quickly as it had turned its head towards us, it turned its head back to the front again.
“See, nothing to worry about.” I smiled at my girlfriend.
“I wasn’t really worried.” Luna chuckled. “It was just something I was wondering about.”
“Commencing travel to your destination.” Our robot driver said as the electric engine of the boat started humming softly.
Eva leaned back in her seat as the boat departed the pier. Laying her arms on the backrest while looking back at us too. “It’s quite a while since we’ve been in a small boat like this, hasn’t it, Lauren?”
“Quite a while indeed.” I nodded. “Basic training if I recall correctly.”
Eva nodded back. “Yeah, I think so too.”
“Why was this included in your basic training?” Luna asked. “I’ve never gone through this.”
“They stopped doing it after the war.” I replied. “Back then naval basic training for spacefaring personnel still had a small section on seafaring vehicles. For the marines it’s still a requirement because we can get thrown into any situation, really. But that’s why you haven’t run into it.”
“Not very useful for people who never come into contact with water.” Eva added. “More important that you focus on emergency procedures in space and how the shuttles work rather than learning how you dock to actual seafaring ships.”
“Oh yeah, that does make sense.” Luna agreed.
The boat glided through the water towards our private island. The little trip was quite calming. There was something about bobbing up and down on the waves, this close down to the water, that felt very soothing to me. Aided by the crystal clear seas below. As evening started to set in, the orange glow of the sun reflected beautifully over the tops of the small waves. This vacation was definitely going to be a treat to the eyes.
On the final approach to our lovely island vacation we saw the torches along the pathways starting to light up. Luna sat upright in her seat, clearly very giddy to get off the boat.
Before she could jump off and make an attempt at swimming to shore, our robot captain stopped at our own personal pier. “You have arrived at your holiday destination. If you need anything, be sure to contact staff. I will stay here until your luggage has been unloaded.”
“Thanks.” Eva said as she stood up and stepped up onto the pier, stretching for a second before giving Luna a hand.
I quickly followed behind my girlfriend and together with Eva we unloaded our bags.
The robot captain gave us a final goodbye before he zoomed off again towards the main island which was quite the distance away now that we looked back over the sea.
“Ah, finally time for the vacation to officially start.” Eva put her hands on her hip and looked out at the beach in front of her, taking a deep breath of the fresh sea air too.
“The island is bigger than I expected.” Luna commented as she looked in the opposite direction.
“It’s definitely not small.” I put my hand on my girlfriend’s back. She looked up at me and smiled in return, doing the same and then leaning onto me.
“Should we go and drop our luggage off at our huts and then meet up again to eat something?” Eva asked once she had enough of staring over the ocean.
“Yeah, eating something light probably isn’t a bad idea.”
“Light?”
“We had quite a bit to eat on the ship.” Luna explained.
"Ah. It might have been wise of me to do that too.” Eva laughed.
“In any case, we won’t keep you waiting, let’s go.” I took my girlfriend’s hand and in my other hand took my luggage while Luna did the same.
The dark brown wooden planks ran all the way to our huts that were set on the right hand side of the island. They were not immediately set by the water but we would still have an amazing ocean view from within them. Both provided huts were approximately the same size, big enough to house quite a few more people than were present right now. They looked pretty much like small houses.
Eva took the hut on the left and we took the other. We unlocked the door with our holo stick. Something we would probably only need to do once during this holiday. As we were alone it was not necessary to lock these huts at any point. Although maybe for the master bedroom that would not be a bad idea at times.
The hut had been decorated in a Polynesian style with lots of browns and beige colors. I could imagine it fitting in real well with the tons of natural light that the big windows and sliding door could provide. The indoor lighting that had sprung on as we entered had a light orange tint which worked calming on my eyes.
“It smells really nice here.” Luna commented as she walked around the living room of our hut. Is it the wood?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I think so. The wood together with the plants presumably.” There were quite a couple of plants placed around the hut. All very well kept. Not the fake plastic plants you would sometimes see around, that’s for sure.
“Luna! Lauren! Do you want some fruit smoothies?” I heard Eva yell from outside.
“We’ve not even seen the kitchen yet and you are already making smoothies?!” I called back.
“There’s a huge fruitbowl here, how could I not? So do you want one?”
I looked at Luna who just gave me a very happy nod in return. “Sure, we’ll have one.”
“Good!”
Luna and I chuckled as we put our bags next to our very comfortable looking bed. “Let’s unpack tomorrow. Don’t really want to get into that for now.” I said.
“Me neither.” Luna sat down on the bed and tested it out by bouncing up and down a little, followed by the floofening of the provided pillows.
“What’s the verdict? Is it as comfortable as it looks?”
Luna nodded and threw the pillow at me. I saw it coming though so it didn’t poof in my face. The pillow was firm and lump free. “Oh, I like that.” and then lobbed the pillow back at Luna.
“I hope the air conditioning won’t make too much noise at night though.” She said, looking up at the vents at the top of the wall. They were camouflaged to blend in with the room but still quite visible if you looked for them.
“I sincerely doubt they will have skimped on the air conditioning if the rest looks like this.”
“Yeah, but otherwise it’ll be pretty hard to get a good rest.”
“Eh, as long as it doesn’t whine we’ll get used to it, just like sleeping in a spaceship.”
Having put away our stuff for the moment we headed out of the bedroom, past the living room and into the kitchen where there was a huge fruit bowl set up for us as well. It had oranges, pineapples, apples, grapes and other kinds of fruits. Plenty to make smoothies from, together with a powerful looking blender on the kitchen counter to make them with.
I doubted we would need the kitchen that much during our vacation, but it was a nice option to have if you really wanted to make your own food.
We looked around the hut for a bit longer until Eva called out to us from outside. “Smoothies are ready! I’ll put them on the patio in front of our huts, okay?”
“We are coming!” I called back. -Time to relax and let the stress and tiredness of our day of travel flow off our bodies.-