The next day went slowly for everyone. Terry and George helped the Collinans with getting the boat ready. The boat was an old wooden “speedboat” about six metres long. The first thing they realised was that the hull needed some caulking, so Terry and some of the Collinans drained some sap out of the trees to accomplish this. They also did a little service on the engine and some work on the electrical system.

They all had to keep one eye on the sky. The sky cooperated with rain and thunderstorms, so the Verecundans patrols were thinner than they anticipated. Every now and then they peeked over the beach to see a patrol boat, but most of the ships they saw pass by were cargo ships to and from Beran or Collina. As the boat came closer to being ready, the tension in the camp built. The radio chatter started to die down with the afternoon, which was something of a relief. Not even Richard Marlowe was greater than the weekend, and the IP’s had a trade union to boot. As night fell, the sky started to clear up and they made their final preparations for the voyage.