Looking for a crew...

Once I got the money lined up for the ship, I placed an add for a crew. I had secured the funds from several friends in high places, well versed in rhetoric and whimsy. I longed for the comfort of my old friend, whom I had recently let go, but knew that for this voyage I need[ed] some objective parties.

The process of choosing the crew was pretty easy. Somnuk was a crafty native-american fellow who was savy with a fishing pole and could read the seas like a book. When the water bubbled and blackened, he knew how to throw the sails and in which direction to tack to keep us from capsizing. He had a penchant for drink but this was easily cured with the addition of the Colonel whose name we couldn't remember but he resembled the KFC man so that's what we called him. The Colonel had a dog named Derf (Fred backwards) whom he insisted upon bringing onto the ship. The Colonel had traveled far and wide and was a great writer of maps. He could site our longitude and latitude at any given location and could read the stories of the stars. As for me, I had a vision for the voyage, and that was the most important thing on the ship.

And so Somnuk, the Colonel, Derf and I set sail. I had gotten used to the taste of salt on my lips and my fair skin would soon be leathery. Exactly what we were looking for, we weren't sure. Freedom. Liberty. Honour. Independence. That was a place to start.