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Andrea's Travels - Chapter 1
By Darkage
(c) August, 2001

Note: This story is loosely based upon Milo Manara's 
"Gullivera" which, in turn is loosely based upon 
Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels".


Chapter 1

The gentle wind blew by, carrying a seagull on high. 
Andrea watched the bird soar across the blue 
Mediterranean sky. She envied it, being able to fly 
wherever it wished. Oh well, she thought, I suppose 
things aren't so bad down here anyway. She lay back in 
the warm sand, soaking up the sun.

After some time she grew hot laying in the bright sun, 
and the turquoise sea looked inviting. Time for a 
swim, she thought, as she grabbed the inflatable 
rubber raft she'd snuck out of her uncle's house.

Walking towards the water with the raft in hand, a 
single tear dripped down her cheek, both because of 
the beauty of the day and the thought of her uncle. 
He's such a cruel old man to have to stay with, she 
thought.

The water tickled her toes. As she walked deeper into 
the sea, it crept up her legs. It was cool on her hot 
skin, and she started running, splashing water about. 
Dropping the raft, she dove into the cool water and 
swam beneath its emerald surface.

The underwater world was clear blue, and she could 
make out every rock and plant for a long distance. At 
first, the water here had scared her; the way it went 
on forever, clear as glass, an enormous empty space 
with God knows what lurking in it, waiting to grab her 
leg drag her down to the ocean floor. It was a strange 
fear she'd always had. She sometimes found herself 
thinking about the shark attack shows she'd seen on 
television. Today, however, it was all just too nice 
to worry about such silly things. The water was so 
beautiful, and besides, all the fish around here were 
very small. The depths of the sea offered Andrea the 
same escape that the sky offered the seagull. She 
broke the surface, gasping for air, filled her lungs, 
and plunged down again.

After a few minutes of swimming, she grew tired, so 
she started heading for the raft. It had drifted quite 
far out. By the time she reached it, she was 
exhausted. She crawled into the rubber float and 
collapsed. Lying back, she sank into the soft raft and 
gazed up at the beautiful sky. The sea rocked her 
gently to and fro. The sun felt so good on her skin 
that Andrea decided to work on fixing her tan lines. 
Careful not to tip the yellow float, she pulled her 
red swimsuit off. Putting it under her calves, she lay 
back to enjoy the sun in the nude. Relishing the sun's 
warmth on her beautiful breasts, she drifted off to 
sleep.


Andrea awoke with a shiver. The sky had grown quite 
grey, and a cool breeze was blowing in. How long have 
I been sleeping?, she thought in a panic. The shore 
was far away and tiny from here. "I don't think I've 
ever been out this far before," she said aloud.

"Oh, no! I'm so stupid!" The red swimsuit was missing, 
perhaps blown away by the wind, or maybe accidentally 
kicked into the water while she was sleeping. She 
started to panic. The suit was nowhere to be seen. "I 
can't go back like this! Uncle will kill me!"

Suddenly, she noticed a boat anchored not to far away. 
That's strange, she thought. It was an enormous ship, 
like something straight out of a pirate's tale. It 
looked abandoned as well. The wood was old, and the 
sails were torn and yellow with age. She started 
paddling towards the old ship, hoping to find either 
some clothes on the abandoned ship, or some people who 
could help her get back to shore.

The great wooden sides of the ship loomed above her 
and she could hear its tattered sails flapping in the 
wind, which had grown quite strong. She paddled around 
and was astonished by her luck when she saw a thick 
rope dangling down the side. She tugged at it, and it 
felt secure enough to hold her, so she proceeded to 
climb up the side of the ship, pulling herself up with 
her arms and clamping the rope firmly between her 
thighs. Finally, exhausted, she climbed over the rail 
of the deck. The ship was enormous, and did indeed 
look abandoned.

"Hello, is anybody here?" I sure hope not, she thought 
to herself.

She climbed the stairs to what looked like the 
captain's cabin. Inside she found a room filled with 
old navigating tools, an antique globe, old books and 
wooden chests bound in leather. An old cot sat rotting 
in the corner.

"Wow," she said aloud, astonished. "It's like I just 
went back two centuries."

There was an open chest sitting in the corner of the 
room. Andrea found some old clothes in it, mostly rags 
though. She settled on a long ruffled blouse that came 
down to her upper-thighs. It wasn't much, but it was 
the only suitable thing she could find. Going home in 
men's clothing would probably be worse than going home 
in nothing at all, for her uncle was a strict man. He 
firmly believed that women should wear women's 
clothes. She trembled to think of the beating she'd 
receive if she came home wearing pants. She donned the 
blouse and kept looking through the old chest, hoping 
to find something a bit less revealing.

The wind was howling outside as she rummaged through 
the smelly rags. The ship rocked suddenly in the wind 
and she lost her footing and fell on the floor. 
Picking herself up, she staggered out of the cabin to 
see what was going on.

The wind slammed against her as soon as she stepped 
through the door, blowing her back into the cabin. She 
crawled back out to see the sails flapping in the wind 
as the ship rocked back and forth in the tumultuous 
sea. Looking out towards the shore, she realized, to 
her horror, that the ship was moving. It was sailing 
out to sea all on its own, and she was trapped aboard. 
Feeling doomed and helpless, she went back to the 
cabin to lay down on the floor cry. Tired and scared, 
she drifted off to sleep, whimpering on the cabin 
floor.


After drifting in and out of an uneasy sleep for a 
long time, she rose. The storm was still raging 
outside, but she was determined to find a way out of 
this situation. Gathering all her courage about her, 
she pushed the cabin door open against the wind and 
started down the stairs to the deck, gripping the 
railing for balance. The wind threatened to knock her 
over, even as she crawled across the deck. The was 
rain pelting her violently, soaking through the 
ruffled blouse. She made it to the balcony at the edge 
of the deck. Grabbing it, she pulled herself up and 
screamed, "HHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLPP!" into the 
stormy sky. It was hopeless. The storm was so thick, 
she couldn't see more than ten feet in front of her, 
and even she could barely hear her screams for help.

A huge gust of wind slammed into Andrea's back as the 
ship crested a wave. The deck tipped and she was 
tossed over the railing, towards the dark water. As 
she fell, she thought she caught sight of land off in 
the distance. With a crash she broke the surface and 
was plunged deep underwater. She struggled to the back 
up, gasping for air as she finally broke the surface. 
Just in time to be smashed with a wave and tossed back 
under.

Over and over she was plunged down and struggled back 
up for air as she tried to swim to the land in the 
distance. She caught another glimpse of the land, and 
just as she thought she was making some headway, a 
huge, rising wave caught her and tossed her into the 
sea. Somewhere in her flight, she lost consciousness, 
but she seemed vaguely aware of the feel of wet sand 
beneath her body. 

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/~darkage_tales
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