Low Flyer

It's near-certain that Emoe did use all the words ascribed to him, but possibly not in that precise order.

I didn't say it was ready, only that I know that it's a fair way through the beta process. The final edits and decisions are always made by CJ, though. And, wildone - yes, it will be worth the wait. Very worth it.

There's the chapter you're all waiting for which should be out soon, I'd have thought. Then there's one more chapter and an epilogue.

I discovered it around chapter 75 or so and I was exactly the same - I did little else until I'd caught up. Luckily Trevor had just made it to Australia when I did catch up. I don't know how I'd have dealt with his crossing of the Indian and Southern oceans on a week-to-week basis.

It seems to me that the goat has accepted a degree of increased tension at the end of the last-posted chapter. Now, are we really going to disagree with him?

To be fair, if a goat can't quote himself, whom can he quote?

Oh joy - another marathon proof-read coming up...

That's pretty much what I said to CJ after I first read it. I don't know how the rest of you have got the strength to be here so soon after finishing this chapter. I felt completely drained - totally empty. I ended up going out for a walk before starting in on the proof-reading proper so that I could try to maintain some distance from the story itself.

This is exactly my fear Trebs. And Shane is, of the four of them, best qualified to be doing CPR or whatever you need to do to revive someone struck by lightning. It's also possible that the non-beating heart is Trevor's. After all, he did get shot and we don't know how much blood was lost. My only hope is that the narrative says that there are still 4 souls on board. This is the usual terminology for the number of people on a ship or aircraft so I'm keeping everything crossed that all is not yet lost with the non-beating heart.

Are you talking about the "Oxford comma"? For example, I was taught (about a thousand years ago) to write red, blue and green balloons. With an Oxford comma, that become red, blue, and green balloons. As far as I can see, the only need for this would be if there was any possibility of confusion - perhaps some of the balloons are blue and green. In this case, that's just not possible so the comma is unnecessary.

We live in exciting times!

I never heard of that, Mike. Thanks. What an educational place this is.

I didn't realise that corned beef was Irish.

I would agree with you all the way, but I do know many very careful (British) users of English who would insist on "an hotel" and "an historic occasion". This goes back to the French roots of these words where the "h" is not pronounced and, although we now do pronounce the "h", the "an" has remained. And then you get to words such as "herb" which are pronounced differently across the Atlantic. I (as a Scot) would say "a herb garden" whereas I would assume that Americans would say "an herb garden" because Americans generally don't pronounce the initial "h" of "herb".

I could live without Atlantis. It seems a shame when she's only just been refurbished but the boys do own two boats, after all, and it's better than losing Trev or Shane. You might just have put your finger on it, Rick. BTW, the next chapter won't be there tomorrow. At least, I'll be very surprised if it does because I haven't read it yet. Last I heard from CJ this morning, he was still working on getting perfect.

The problem with that argument is that any scenario in which Trevor (and Shane, Lisa and Joel, probably) survives would qualify as an escape. And if we rule all of them out, then the only scenarios left are ones where Trevor dies. And I don't want to contemplate that.

That just might be a way out. The only problem I see is if the boys still wanted to set themselves up in chartering. It would be hard to do that, and advertise their services without Bridget finding out about it. Of course, being alive and doing something else would be better than being dead... No offence, but I hope that's not it. It would be very hard to write it without it being an incredible cop-out.

I'm with glimsong. Given that Trevor knew that Joel and Lisa were out of the resort, I think he's crazy to try to sail in and get them. Of course, he doesn't know about the plan to take the resort or that he's been spotted, or that there are dozens of fast boats full of armed men in the vicinity. He does know that there are at least some armed men, of course. I hope Shane doesn't live to regret not decking Trevor. If he'd done as Gonzales suggested, Bridget would have sacked the resort only to find that her primary target had slipped away again! What would that do to her credibility in the cartel? Lisa and Joel would have been stuck on the island with an approaching Cat 5 hurricane and, no, I don't suppose I can really understand what that might be like. I've seen photographs of places hit by severe hurricanes and it's not pretty but some structures generally survive. Are there no caves in Jamaica? The hurricane's 24 hours away - plenty of time to get to Kingston, surely. I suspect that a good part of Trev's motivation is in his statement to Shane that it has to end somewhere or they'll spend the rest of their lives running away. He may well be right, but I've grown fond of him and Shane and I'd rather see them living out their lives in the Falklands or the Australian outback or wherever than mown down by Bridget's henchmen. I'm pinning all my hopes on the Goat's ability to pull a rabbit out of the hat and, somehow, get all 4 of them out of Jamaica and to safety. On the one hand, I can't believe he'd kill off any of Lisa, Joel, Trev or Shane but, on the other, he's got form in this area. And if the story required it, I think he'd do it rather than compromise the tale.

How very kind of you to look that out, Benji, though I'm not entirely sure it's a parrot either... Anyway, I've got used to my swan struggling to take off. Seems to fit, somehow.

Couldn't find a pic of a low-flying parrot...

In the interests of balance, I think it's only fair to point out that, when I mentioned to CJ that there seemed to be a slightly elevated level of tension at the end of the next chapter, he was swift to reassure me that that, in fact, is not the case. Indeed, he went so far as to tell me that there is nothing to worry about. So, there's no need for this scaremongering.

I wasn't particularly quoting you on this one - though I know you've got firm views on the 30-06, and you may well be right about it coming down to a final show down between Bridget and Trevor. I just don't see how Trevor et al can survive the 70-boat attack. The 30-06 is of academic interest only against that lot.

You're spot on with the date of the earthquake, but the story's taking place in 2007 so well before it.

The 30-06 isn't going to be much use against 70 boats is it? Practically nothing would be, and certainly nothing that Trevor and Shane are likely to have on Atlantis, surely. The next chapter isn't likely to appear any time soon, I don't think. I haven't seen it yet and it usually takes me a couple of days to go through it once I do. Last I heard CJ was triple-checking that everything fits together before sending it out. At this stage, it's really important that all the loose ends are tied up properly.

I don't think it can be a whole week or there'd be no way CJ could get the story posted before the end of 2012...