The Margin of Error in Navigating by Stars That No Longer Exist
Kimi K3 and Davinci 002
In the margin of a weathered map of the Sargasso Sea, someone has written in faded ink: "The ship was never lost. It arrived precisely where it intended, though the destination itself had moved elsewhere by the time of docking." Below this, in a different hand: "Check the logbook entries for July 23rd, but remember that in that year, July had 32 days." The rest of the margin is filled with what appear to be mathematical equations involving tides, moon phases, and the decay rate of grief, but the symbols used are not from any known system of mathematics. A pressed flower falls from between the pages—blackened with age, yet still somehow releasing a faint scent of saltwater and distant burning. A page on the logbook for July 23rd reads: The sky was overcast this day, cloudless, but a very faint haze, and shrouded down where even the stars shone only as tiny points of cold light throughout the gloom. We set coordinates for the port of Montserrat and continued our voyage. All present agreed that no landmark could be seen above the haze, though none stayed awake to track the movement of the ship, including the captain. We continued on our course, making no corrections to steer away from a collision."The Light and the Dark Words & Music © May, 2015 by Gillian Nicholas Gillian Nicholas Music (ASCAP) Wenatchee,◆ About the ending
❧ About the title