Chapter 2

At the time my story starts I was at the tender age of forty. I had watched my money grow for over twenty years now and Global Warming had just started to become a major embarrassment for all power companies. Now, what we do when something becomes an embarrassment in the western civilization is not to kill those protesting. That is counterproductive and will only create you more enemies. No, what we use is disinformation, that and advertising of course. Never underestimate the raw power of advertising, when done right.

It was easy enough, more than those worried for the consequences of global warming were those worried for their livelihoods. It was amazingly simple giving them some numbers and misdirection's to mouth. We set up several websites with engaged personnel spreading our gospel, fighting for what they saw as the good cause, keeping their plush jobs and salaries coming.

It's an old adage that people believe what they want to believe, so it was not that hard, and after a while there were enough people believing it for free, making me hope that I might be able to finally take that break. I hadn't had a vacation since primary school and I was starting to feel real tired, like a string stretched and tensed to its breaking limit. I was also getting quite bored with all the ass kissing that came with my new, more visual, position as a chairman of the board.

I know you think it sounds like a stupid move, but hell, at that point I was feed up with it all, and the company worked well enough without me. The decisions that needed to be taken could be made by me anyway, the board was mostly there as eye candy. And the decisions I could take over the Internet, from anywhere in the world. Yes, I had for the first time in my life fallen in love with something else than money, I had gone and bought myself a sailing boat.

It was built in England and had a very innovative solution on how to handle the sails, you used an electrical crank, cranking them in, sweeping them around a rotating mast. It was an incredibly efficient solution, making it possible for one man to handle a quite big ship. Yes, it worked and I had made sure that the electrical engines rotating it were over dimensioned too, with backups. And even if those too would fail you could still use the sails as you did in a ordinary sailing boat.

She was a little over eighty feet long, eighty two to be precise, with a spacious cabin twenty seven feet wide, fifty feet long, thirteen feet high. It was placed at the exact middle of the ship to minimize the swells of the sea, and she was so extremely seaworthy, and fast. I know, maybe I had came into that age where I wanted to fulfill my youths fantasies, but, as compared to yours, I could actually afford to make them come true. And yes, this boat I wanted for myself, with no plans on sharing it. It would be my castle of fortitude where I could be myself.

I had a state of the art satellite navigational system installed, powered by solar cells, and my radio and internet worked through the same link. I even had a small machine installed that could turn salt water into drinking water, powered by those same solar cells.

I had bought some very efficient water and wind turbines too, small ones with the blades cleverly hidden inside 'wind tunnels' that made her practically self efficient when it came to power. And my cabin was a real marvel of efficiency and good design, heck, the bed was better than the one I had in my home, and bigger too. And the kitchen? Good enough for me at last.

The boat was self steering through my navigational computer, through dead reckoning or GPS. Yep, I had some pretty god software there and hardware too. I could draw a course on the touch screen and the boat would steer it automatically if I wanted. With my radar connected to it, warning and correcting the course when obstacles came about, there was little chance of anything taking her by surprise. And yes, of course I had a backup, ready to take over instantly if something went wrong with my main computer.

Don't get me started on all the devices and marvels I had put into that boat, it had been my baby for three years, rebuilt to my specifications at least two times. It was my jewel, my newborn, waiting for me in its cradle at Bristol. And of course it had a diesel engine too, fuel efficient and silent, also doubling as my electricity provider in case of needs. It was the best of all worlds to me, costing me well over a million to build, not that you could see it from the outside though. You might notice the solar cells inlaid everywhere over the boat, hiding under their protective coating, but that was all.

As I took ownership of it one early April morning, leaving the port, I felt as if chains were breaking around my chest. I don't know why but I had started to act like a reclusive, not that I had had any illusions about my fellow men, not since I started generating money at least, but lately they had started to grate on my nerves more than ever. It had gone so far that every time I had to hold a board meeting I first had to fortify myself with liquid courage to meet them. I wasn't a drinker normally but the last year I feared that I had started to become one, developing quite a taste for single malt.

As I came out on open water I laid out my course, I was planning to sail most of Europe, to finally steer for Barbados before the winter, but I didn't really have any set plans. As I laid out the course to Norway, trying to avoid the main shipping lines, I could feel the taste of salt caressing my nose and mouth, listening to the lonely cries from seagulls circling above me, probably expecting me to be some sort of fishing boat.

There was something indescribably soothing with the soft up and downward movements of my ship as it danced itself on the waves acting as a balm for my tired nerves, revitalizing me. As I decided that I could take a break I went down to open my Islay malt. Sitting there, having a cup of coffee and a dram, watching the boat steer itself on my laptop, with a three hundred and sixty degrees vision through my small cameras I finally felt as if I could relax.

I really wanted to test out my navigational system to see if it would work as I thought, and I had let out some of my water turbines at the same time testing their efficiency. And surprisingly enough it all worked, better than I ever would have dreamt of. Normally even the best laid plans have some setbacks and failures, but this one worked from scratch, and made me feel immensely proud over my boat and myself.