"David Midgett"

     Because all that remained now was the inbound piloting, and that would be just another searun. Because that would be just a downhill descent of a slightly wounded voyager who does the descent just a little cautiously, just a little tentatively. So he looked up at the startling to look at, jarring to look at even, vacant space where the two massive the two towering outriggers had been and should be, but were not, and all that remained that actually emphasized their stark absence were the dangle swinging cut cable ends and the whip snapping cut line ends that hung robbed loosed there from the still standing iron pipe latticework bracing, like the pathetic shredded remains that they were.

     Then he looked higher and much farther, and he saw that the hardly even a sliver moon now had waned itself, and had cooled itself, and had lowered itself, and these considerably, and these in only the past hour, here in this bright brighter star now night sky. Then he looked lower and much closer again, and out where he saw that the still long slow sea heaves that hulkingly trailed each other one after the other after the other, had driven white scud running before them in thrown mists here in this still gale gusty wind. Then he looked quite close, and down at the harsh hands that he held palms up before himself, and he saw that they were grey pinched water puckered, and that they showed new cuts and new scrapes and new gouges, among the trying to heal and taking forever to heal cuts and scrapes and gouges, and among the finally scarred over and raised welted old cuts and old scrapes and old gouges. So he said another almost whispered "Jesus" for how gnarly pitiful his hands looked, for how brutally painful his hands felt. But torn sore claws for hands were also the absolute way of things out here daily, weekly, monthly, yearly upon her. Then he looked up and forward to the captainless lonely the captainless empty wheelhouse, and with a sudden good surge of renewal, of cheerfulness even, he said a strong out loud "All right!" that said, 'it wasn't done pretty, but it's done now.'