I'm feeling really weird. I know that it's been three years since we were shipwrecked, and it's only been a week since we were rescued. But I still can't believe how much the world has changed!

All the music is different - we used to have guitars and nice sing-along songs, and now there's lots of drums and screaming that nobody can understand, much less sing along with. Everyone talks about politics now - I never even thought about the President before, and now we're all supposed to have opinions on his job. Fashion is really crazy now - I'd almost say indecent but I think they've forgotten the meaning of the word! And I'm expected to have an opinion of it all! Me, Mary Ann! I'm a celebrity now, because of the shipwreck, and I'm just an ordinary girl! The three-hour cruise was supposed to be a graduation-from-high-school present to myself, but I never thought this would happen!

I can't ever say this to my family or anyone except you, Diary, but I miss the island, and the days there with Gilligan, the Skipper, Mr and Mrs Howell, Ginger and the Professor. There we all knew who we were and what the world was and what we did in it. Now I'm aimless. Gilligan and the Skipper are back in business as tour operators. Mr and Mrs Howell went back to High Society and have made their celebrity into a talking point at parties. Ginger's already been approached for a really big movie deal. And the Professor's accepted a position at Yale University. But me - what do I do? On the island I kind of looked after everybody - but now we're back where we belong, and apart from my parents I never had anything to come back to. I feel lost.

I just hope the island's all right. Now that it's mapped, nobody can ever get lost on it again.

I can't believe that we've only been aboard this ship for four days! Hikaru thought as she walked towards the upper deck. I feel like I've been here forever!

She'd heard that this was a common occurrence, this feeling that the world outside the ship didn't exist, and that the instant "shipboard romance" was a cliche simply because it happened, all the time. And that, being the product of an enclosed environment, once the two lovers rejoined the 'real world', the love affair ended. Always.

What if it happens to me? she thought worriedly. Lantis and I have lots in common, but we met on a cruise, and I decided I liked him the second day I knew him. I really like him, and I want this to last. I don't want to go back to real life and have all this end.

She stepped out onto the deck, looked around, and waved at Lantis, who'd been leaning up against the rail as he waited for her.

I really want this to last. I wish I never had to go back...

Above her, the greyish clouds turned greyer.

***

Nova plunked down on her bed, scowling. Here, in her cabin, was the only place she felt free to show her true feelings. Her mother wouldn't notice anything that didn't directly affect herself, and none of the maids would dare disturb her.

She really felt like hitting something. Or someone. The person who was preventing all her pranks, preferably.

She'd set up buckets of green slime on the doors of the room with the pool tables.

Someone had removed them before anyone got splashed.

She'd set up inkbombs all over the ship.

None of them had gone off.

She'd scattered long-shafted tacks on the floor of the disco.

Someone had swept them up before the disco started.

She'd put very-quick-working laxatives in three of the sugarbowls.

None of them had been used since. Or the sugar had been replaced with undoctored supplies. One of the two, and she favoured the latter theory.

Somebody was tracking down all the little jokes she was setting up, and taking them down before any suckers could wander into them. Nova didn't like that, not one little bit.

This is unfair.

She'd only come along on this cruise because she thought it might be fun. And now somebody was stopping all her fun before she got to have any.

She was going to have to think up a way to find the person who was doing it.

And when I do, I'm going to make that person's life very, very interesting. They're going to make up for all the fun they've made me miss out on. Oh yes.

Nova fell to planning what she would do to that person when she found them. It made her feel a little better.

She did not see the sky outside turn greyer.

***

Zagato was thinking furiously. He only usually paid this much attention to work, but now he had a far more attractive matter to focus on.

Emeraude Cephirano.

It wasn't *logical* to feel this way! He'd known her less than four days! He couldn't possibly have fallen in love with her in that short a time!

And yet -

It wasn't lust, because lust cares nothing for the mind, and there were times when he could argue philosophical points and other thoughts for hours with her - and had, too.

It wasn't infatuation, because he was all too aware of her blind spots: a refusal to delegate, even when it was more than convenient, occasional blindness about people close to her, and those were only the two he'd seen in the past few days.

It wasn't friendship - his feelings were much warmer than friendship. Innova had lobbed a box of condoms at him two days ago during a conversation - which had been about her, now he came to think about it. It didn't surprise him. Most of his thoughts were about her, these days. He blushed as he thought about that little box. He didn't want to think about how much he wished he had the courage to ask her to use its contents.

Zagato flopped back onto his bed. His thoughts were simply chasing each other around the inside of his head.

Ah, but what pleasant thoughts . . .

***

Clef lay back on his bed and gave himself to thought.

Something was clearly up.

He had had virtually no time to himself the entire cruise. There was always someone to talk to, or go to have a snack with, or -

They're not letting me be alone. Not for one second are they letting me be alone.

Oh, Capri - I can't help it. I miss you so much. I don't want to have fun, I don't want to be distracted. I want -

I want you back.

I hate this. I hate reaching out to touch you, and finding only air. I hate turning to tell you something and remembering you're gone. I hate all our old routines because half of it is what you used to do.

I hate living without you. I hate that I have to live without you.

Clef sat up, stretching.

"Are you okay, Uncle Clef?" Puresea poked her head around the corner of the door.

Clef had to smile. Yes, one of them was always there, but it was because they cared. Puresea, Emeraude, Presea, Ferio and Ascot all cared enough to interrupt their activities to spend time with him.

Puresea looked like she wasn't interested in continuing her search for a holiday romance right that minute. It was ironic - Puresea, the brighter, more cheerful twin, was the one member of their party who hadn't found a holiday romance yet.

"I'm fine, Puresea. In fact, I'm feeling like some tea. Would you like to join me?"

"Yes, I'd like that," Puresea smiled. The two headed up towards the cafe on the main deck.

Neither noticed the grey sky turning black.

***

Caldina was sitting in LaFarga's office, helping with the filing. She often did. It was one way to pass the time between performances, and she had the added benefit of being able to watch LaFarga as he worked. She often played little games with herself on afternoons like this; today she was playing How Long She Could Stare At LaFarga Before His Ears Turned Red. Her current best time was thirty seconds.

Maybe she was acting like a high school girl. She didn't care. It was fun.

"I thought you'd be more excited," LaFarga commented.

"Why should I be?"

"It is a cyclone, Caldina. People generally do get excited about them."

"We're going around it, aren't we?"

"Well, yes."

"Well, then. I don't get excited unless we're in danger or it's something I've never seen before. We're perfectly safe and we've done all this before."

LaFarga sighed. "Are you feeling like a change?"

Caldina blinked and thought about what she'd just said. And how many different ways a proud man like LaFarga could take it.

"Didn't you say, just before this cruise started, that you'd been offered the position of Chief Purser on the new Summer Princess?" Caldina asked, referring to the brand new liner the company would be launching in a few months.

"Yes."

"We'll have fun setting up on a new ship, won't we?" Caldina grinned at him.

LaFarga let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. Yes. I'm tired of this ship and this route too. I must have caught a little of Caldina's wanderlust, I think. Thank God for this new job - I could never give up Caldina. And thank God she understands.

"I love you, Caldina," LaFarga said gratefully.

"And I love you, too," Caldina smiled. Then she looked down at the papers she was holding and the smile vanished. "But I *don't* love filing. How many ways can you misspell 'account'?"

"I don't know, but I counted twelve once. Of course, that was a very quiet day," LaFarga replied with a straight face.

Caldina's laughter spilled out through the office.

***

The Department of Seismology at Berkeley University picked up a small undersea earthquake in the Pacific Ocean, some two hundred kilometres south-south-west of the Zephyr Princess' projected location. They dutifully alerted all government agencies, shipping and cruise companies, and the coastal areas likely to be struck by the resulting tsunami.

Then they forgot about it.

Lectures for the next term had to be prepared, it was, after all, a very small quake, and now that the warning had gone out, nobody was likely to be affected at all.

***

Most of the other passengers didn't notice the wave at all.

Umi and Ascot had been hanging over the railing (if any adult had come along, he or she might have mistaken them for a pair of potential suicides or victims of a very bad case of seasickness, they were hung over so far) when they saw it. A larger wave than most, about two metres high, came towards the ship.

"We'll bob up over, no problem," Ascot predicted.

"It'll splash up over the side and make a boom," Umi decreed.

The ship, however, did neither - it slipped up the wave and slid over the top. It didn't slide down because the top of the wave was flat.

Both Umi and Ascot looked at it.

Then they looked at each other.

A flat wave?

A tsunami!

"A TSUNAMI!!" they yelled, and took off down the deck, shrieking "TSUNAMI!! TSUNAMI!!" as they ran.

***

"There is no need to worry," Alcione repeated to the young couple before her. "A cyclone was drifting into our cruise's course, so we have been taking an alternate course. An undersea earthquake occurred, which we have been alerted to, and that caused the tsunami. It's moving quite fast, so we don't have to worry. And the people in its path have been warned, so we don't have to worry about them either."

"All right then," Fuu said softly, walking away.

"You seem tense," Ferio commented.

"I just have a bad feeling," Fuu replied. "As if - we're not going to make it out of this unscathed." She lifted her head and appeared to be looking at Ferio, but he knew better. What Fuu was seeing wasn't him. "Something's coming, and it will change all of us."

The wind blew around them both, and for a second, Ferio could swear he heard voices in its song.

***

The shudder ran through the entire ship.

Clef lurched against the side of the corridor, while Puresea stumbled. "What was that?" they both demanded of thin air. A young stewardess appeared at the top of the corridor and hurried towards them.

"Ah, good, you're all right," she exclaimed, helping Puresea up.

"What happened - Alcione?" Clef asked, reading the stewardess' name badge.

"A small seaquake happened somewhere to the southeast - I think it was the southeast - and it wasn't supposed to affect us, but it pushed a whole pile of silt up. It's altered the depth of the water here by about twenty metres - which the Captain just found out the hard way. We have to leave the ship."

"Leave the ship?"

"Uh, yeah. Pack a small bag containing your most essential belongings and at least one change of clothing, put on your raincoat, and report to your assigned lifeboat. When all your lifeboat's assigned passengers are assembled, your lifeboat will launch off and make for the nearest port, which is - uh - Honolulu. I think. There's no danger, but you are advised to hurry. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go tell other passengers."

Puresea and Clef watched as Alcione hurried off. Then they looked at each other.

Then they headed back to their own cabins, to do as she suggested.

***

"So each lifeboat seats sixteen people, right?" asked Presea, from under one of the winches' tarpaulins.

"That's what the book says," Eagle replied from beneath the other.

Lantis, Hikaru, Umi and Ascot watched in bewilderment.

"Is he always like this?" Ascot inquired, sotto voce.

"No, he's usually thrown out after five minutes and then I have to cheer him up," Lantis replied, equally quietly. "I was honestly expecting him to get thrown out of the engine room about four times this trip. Presea must be able to charm the engineers."

"Are they in our boat?" Ascot asked.

"We're all in the same one," Hikaru replied. "You, me, Lantis, Umi, Fuu, Ferio - and those two."

'Those two' were now examining the winches, and having a lively argument over the merits of hydraulic over mechanical winches. Eagle, with hydraulic, appeared to be winning.

***

"So, Sang Yung, we're in a different boat to ol' Qiang Ang?" asked Aska cheerily.

"Lady Aska, I think you're taking this much too lightly! Our cruise liner is stuck, we're being asked to evacuate, and our tutor isn't even in our lifeboat! The danger -"

"I think you're being a worrywart. I have you to look after me, right?"

"Well, of course I will make sure you're all right, Lady Aska -"

"So I have no need to worry, with my best friend Sang Yung with me!" sang Aska, whirling around the basketball goalpost.

Sang Yung watched worriedly. It had been fortunate that that Nova girl (they had found out her name by asking a waiter that first night) had been as malicious as she was; dismantling her cruel little jokes had been a full-time task and kept Aska from becoming bored. When Aska was bored, she did one of two things - she pulled a practical joke on him or she brooded about her parents' constant inattention. He preferred it when she pulled the jokes. They usually had a funny side.

Looking after Aska was something he'd been doing all his life, and while he fully expected to be doing it well into the future, he'd never anticipated doing it on his own - or at least, not yet.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he muttered, running after Aska, who was blithely skipping off towards the lifeboats.

***

"Got the photo album?"

"LaFarga, why would we take the photo album?"

"Clothes and credit cards are replaceable. Photographs aren't. Besides, you look so cute in those snapshots - and there are the photos of that time we were in London - and -"

"And there are the photos of you in New Delhi. Good idea. I'll just put it in here. Now, have we got everything?"

Lafarga turned around from his own packing, and baulked. "Caldina, we cannot take all that!"

Caldina smiled. LaFarga was such fun to tease - especially when he didn't know that five of the six suitcases she'd piled up were empty.

"Why?"

"Oh Caldina!" LaFarga groaned, and bent to pick up two of the cases. Caldina quietly picked up the little holiday camera sitting on the table, and snapped a quick picture of LaFarga's face as he picked up the two empty suitcases, before she dissolved into giggles.

Yes, taking the photos is a good idea, she thought, as LaFarga looked at her, realised the joke, and tried to keep a straight face - not easy, considering Caldina was giggling like a maniac.

As they both laughed, neither saw how dark the sky had become outside the porthole.

***

"Are we all here?" LaFarga asked. "We should have myself, Caldina Dancer, Zagato Shields, Lantis Shields, Eagle Vision, Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, Fuu Hououji, Aska Fahren, Sang Yung Chang, Emeraude Cephirano, Ferio Cephirano, Ascot Saffir, Presea Smith, Clef Magid and Nova D'Malicia. Nova, I see there is no one else from your party here. Do you want me to find the boat your mother's on and organise a swop between you and one of the other occupants of her boat?"

Say yes, say yes, say yes! Sang Yung urged inwardly. Looking after Lady Aska will be well-nigh impossible if you're aboard! Oh, say yes!

"No, I'll be fine. It's only for an hour or two anyway," Nova replied.

"Very well. All aboard!"

***

The lifeboat was moving easily towards Honolulu when the first drops started to fall.

"Rain?" Hikaru said, looking at the sky. "I thought the skies were clear."

"They were this morning," Lantis said.

"Well, they're not now," Fuu said, with finality. "I wouldn't be surprised if we're sailing into the tail-end of that cyclone."

"Will the boat withstand the storm? Sang Yung?" Aska asked worriedly.

"It should. Shouldn't it?" Sang Yung told her - not very convincingly. He was worried himself.

"It will, don't worry," Presea tried to reassure the two children.

"Fraidy cats," Nova muttered.

"I'd rather be a fraidy cat than a nasty little - little lizard! And don't you dare talk to Sang Yung that way! He's my friend!" Aska attacked. Unused to fear, she was angry at this strange feeling that made her feel like crumpling up and crying. She didn't want to feel like that. She was glad Nova was being snippy, it gave her an outlet for her anger at herself. And nobody was allowed to say nasty things about Sang Yung except Aska. He was her best friend.

"It's okay, Aska," Sang Yung tried to calm her down.

"I'll call a spade a spade. An' I'll call a fraidy cat a fraidy cat." Nova sniffed. "You're scared. Scared of a little bit of rain. An' I wouldn't bother talking to your little boyfriend either. He's a wimp. No wonder you're friends - a fraidy cat and a wimp."

"He's not a wimp! And you're a - you're a -"

"Aska! Sang Yung! Come and sit up here beside me, LaFarga and I are good swimmers!" Caldina called, in order to stop the fight before it started. An argument was the last thing they needed.

Sang Yung scrambled up the boat towards her. Aska followed, casting a dire look at Nova, promising retribution on a divine scale once dry land was reached. Nova cast up her nose, pretending not to see.

***

Fuu was right.

They were sailing into the tail end of the cyclone. While not nearly so bad as sailing into the cyclone itself, it was bad enough for LaFarga, ordinarily a competent sailor and well able to captain and guide the little lifeboat, to totally lose all chance of guiding the lifeboat. All his energies were concentrated in keeping them afloat.

The effort of holding on to the boat was exhausting to the passengers. Before long all their energies were devoted to staying conscious and in the boat, rather than flung out by the wind. Hanging onto each other and the sides of the boat, the wind stole any words and the motion of the boat made clinging a necessity rather than a choice.

When the lifeboat finally rode out the storm, all sixteen occupants, rather than attempting to find their way back into a shipping lane, simply collapsed into a heap in the centre of the boat. Let the currents push the boat where they would. When everyone awoke, then they would attempt to get to shore. Until then, they would sleep.

***

Hikaru saw it first.

The boat had drifted into a bay, almost fully enclosed. It had a small beach, which the lifeboat was nosing up against gently. From the beach, a gravel path, neatly edged with seashells, led away.

A path? That means - someone lives here! She nudged Lantis, curled up against her back.

"Hmm? Wazzat? G'way Z'g'to, 's hol'd'y," muttered Lantis, snuggling closer. She jabbed him harder.

"Huh? Hikaru? Wha'sit?" Lantis yawned, finally opening his eyes.

"We're here!"

"Great!" Lantis said cheerfully, then, "Um, where's 'here'?"

"An island! I think ..."

Lantis shook Zagato's shoulder. "Wake up, big brother! This is something you ought to see!"

Slowly, everyone began to stir. LaFarga and Zagato jumped out and dragged the lifeboat up onto the beach. Nobody wanted to be the first to go up the path and visit the inhabitants of the island.

Finally, Hikaru, Lantis, Aska, Sang Yung and Clef agreed to lead the way up the path, and so the entire group walked quietly - very quietly - up the path.

The clearing the path led to held four huts, haphazardly crafted of reed and driftwood. There were a few equally-poorly built chairs and tables. All was neat and tidy.

"I feel as if Mama, Papa and Baby Bear are about to wander in any minute and demand to know what happened to their chairs, porridge and beds," Zagato whispered to Emeraude.

"Yes, this place does have a feeling of expectancy about it, doesn't it?" Emeraude whispered back.

Aska couldn't take the hush or the mystery any longer. She cried "I'm gonna take a look!" Snatching Sang Yung's hand, she dashed into the nearest of the huts.

Everyone stood frozen for a long second. Then:

"What?"

"How could she do that?!"

"The inhabitants aren't even here!"

- and other such comments erupted.

Aska appeared at the door of the hut, waving something that looked like a letter. "Look at this! Everyone, look!"

"Give it here, and I'll read it aloud," LaFarga offered. Aska obediently handed up the letter.

Clearing his throat, Lafarga began.