Free The Ships of Aleph by Jaine Fenn Page A

boat – no, a ship – such as the world had never seen, and sail it further than any man had ever gone. He said that he would welcome anyone who wished to work with his engineers or improve his men’s scanty knowledge of sea-craft.
    Naturally, I was the first to volunteer.
    Though I was not alone in lending a hand, some thought the Duke’s obsession ungodly. My father was one such, although he did not forbid me to answer the Duke’s call. Perhaps he was even glad, in his own quiet way; certainly he was relieved I had found something to divert me. The way I saw it, there was nothing in the Scriptures forbidding exploration, and if God disapproved then he could easily have destroyed the great wooden skeleton taking shape on the beach.
    Our priest, after too much honey ale on Midsummer Eve, suggested the Duke might be an exile who had come here to escape the intrigues of his home burgh.
    The Duke’s men caused some disruption in the village, although they were well-disciplined, and the Duke paid the council more coin than we’d see for five years of sending salt fish inland. He was also liberal with his gifts of fine cloth and metal goods. At first I did not question this generosity, but then I began to wonder if the priest was right, if this was a man who did not expect to need earthly goods for much longer. My suspicions grew as the date of departure neared and several of the Duke’s men deserted.
    By now the ship was afloat, and had been out on short proving voyages into the bay. It would leave for good before the winter storms arrived.
    I was not surprised when the Duke offered me a place on board. He asked others too, but although my fellow villagers were happy enough to pass on their expertise for the right price, all the electrum in Omphalos would not have persuaded them to sail with him. What fool would venture into unknown waters on a ship crewed by inexperienced sailors and captained by a man who appeared to have a death-wish? Yet if I did not go on this voyage I’d spend the rest of my life wishing I had. I held off giving the Duke my final decision for as long as I could.
    In the end the choice was made for me. The day before the departure, the girl I had set my heart on told me she would never marry me, and our dalliance had come about only due to my association with the Duke. So in the end I left my home not in the spirit of discovery, but to spite a feckless wench.
    On the morning of the launch I was scared beyond reason, but determined not to show it. I waved goodbye to everyone I had ever known with a smile fixed hard upon my face.
    The ship was fast, and within half a day we were free of the encircling arms of the bay. It was another day before the Current began to tell, forcing us rightwise, even though we tacked into the wind which came, as usual, from outwards. ‘God’s constant breath’ the villagers called the breeze that blew ceaselessly inwards from the edge of the world, though out here it was not so much a breath as a scream. The great rudder strained, and my advice was constantly called on in minding the sails. It did not matter to the Duke that we were being swept around the circumference of the world, provided we also progressed away from land but I found myself wondering if we would fetch up on the far side of creation.
    For three days and two nights we continued fighting the sea and making what we could of the wind. The Duke used his optic glass (an instrument I eyed up with envy) to observe the way ahead, hoping to glimpse the edge of the world. As the Scriptures had little to say on the matter, theories abounded as to what it might look like: according to the Duke, some scholars said it was a great wall, others a void men’s eyes could not bear to look upon, others still that the sea arched up to meet the sky and there was no edge at all. We saw no change in the horizon, and if the Duke’s optic glass revealed more, he did not say.
    On the third night, a storm blew up. As the sun