Calculating Traveling Time
The four of us got out of the car and headed to our own respective rooms to start packing for the long trip.
[Intraplanetary trips, unlike interplanetary trips, tend to need more expanses, preparations and caution. Even though the distance seems shorter, the planets themselves aren't as overall developed, and therefore controllable, like the AT centers on other planets. And there aren't any shops for us to buy missing supplies at either. So we better pack extra of everything we need. The car can handle it anyway.]
Sazzy encouraged us from the side as Oliver and I walked leisurely in and out of our rooms carrying bundles of clothing.
Since there were cameras watching, all Sazzy could do to 'help' was to encourage us at the side while organizing our items into the suitcase. And as if to make up for not being able to run around the house gathering things, she talked non-stop until Ava was covering her ears with her hands. Beside her, on her personal terminal, was a draft list of our luggage that she wrote while in the car.
"Relax. We're only setting out tomorrow. We still have time to pack everything we need."
Dumping a bunch of clothes that had long sleeves but weren't too stuffy to wear out in the hot sun, I then sat down to help Sazzy out while trying to get to be a little more considerate to all of our ears.
[But! This trip was so sudden, and we were not given a list to pack! Furthermore, if we miss anything we can't just buy what we're missing! We have to return back!]
In more distress than I have ever seen her, Sazzy cried out as she folded the clothes neatly and packed them away into the luggage. She then typed something on her personal terminal.
[But rushing isn't helping anyone. Rushing is the easiest way to miss important things. It is better to calm down and think through everything before doing it.]
Ava chirped up from beside Sazzy, a relieved and hopeful look on her face that Sazzy would quieten down a bit.
"Ava is right. Instead of hurrying, let's walk through what we think the whole journey would be and then confirm everything together. After all, four minds work better than one and putting so much pressure on yourself just stresses you and everyone else out."
Gesturing for Oliver to join us in sitting on the living room floor, Sazzy paused as she took some large breaths to calm down.
[You're right. I was panicking and rushing too much. Sorry.]
Ava patted Sazzy on the back as I opened the rough map that Margret had given us.
"The route that Margret recommended us to go to is first through the coast, then through the forest. For the coast, we can either travel along it or by the water. "
The four of us gathered around the window that I had enlarged.
At the center of the map was Margret's village. By looking at some of the landmarks that I could recognize, I circled the area I thought was our house.
[It looks like there is a shorter route through the forest towards the Media Luna tribe. Can we just take this route?]
Ava drew an invisible line straight from the circle for our house straight to the Media Luna circle Margret circled.
"It does seem like the fastest way, but we don't know any landmarks near the tribe. This is just a rough map, and Sazzy did say before that any mishaps could prematurely end our journey. So it might be safer to follow Margret's advice. She also told us very obvious landmarks to watch out for so we should be fine."
The three of us stared at the rough drawings and Sazzy made a troubled face.
[But there's no markings on the map! How are we supposed to plan our resources if we can't accurately estimate the distance there!]
While the three of us were making faces at the map, as if by seeing our plight it would suddenly cough up a number we could rely on, I heard shuffling going on next to me and turned my head. Oliver stood there, casually holding a ruler.
As the three of us watched, he placed the ruler down on the window and gestured for me to follow his instructions.
"The distance from Margret's village is roughly this distance on the map, if we compare it to the length we need to travel, we should be able to estimate an alright distance to the tribe."
Oliver got me to draw several numbers on the map, and using the calculator on his own personal terminal, he managed to give us a range of numbers.
Sazzy, as if seeing her savior, threw herself at him and gave him the biggest hug I had ever seen. She then recorded the range of numbers down and started muttering to herself.
[Say Oliver, how do you know this method? Even your sister doesn't seem to know it!]
Ava leaned forward in awe as Oliver proudly held up his chin.
"Andrew taught me how to do it! He said that we might never know what situation we would encounter, and survival skills were always important!"
The moment he finished his sentence, Oliver froze and snuck a glance at my direction.
[Who is this Andrew? Your friend? I've never heard Alex mention his name.]
Having an unfamiliar name snap her out of her thoughts, Sazzy leaned towards me and questioned with curious eyes.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see an uncomfortable expression forming on Oliver's face as he tried his best to sink into the floor.
"He is our legal guardian in our previous world."
Answering curtly to allow the both of them to realize that this subject was a little too sensitive, I then directed the topic back to our trip.
"Anyway, back to our topic. Since we have a range of numbers to work from, do we know roughly the supplies needed for this whole trip?"
Sazzy shot up as she looked at her personal terminal, then said with a very cheerful voice.
[Yep! We know the supplies needed for the trip to Media Luna! Now all we need to do is calculate the distance range between Media Luna and Fluvius and the trip back to the AT center, and we will be all set!]
Immediately all eyes went to Oliver, who seemed to thrive in this sort of attention as he diligently calculated all the numbers we needed. It was not long before we had solved our most urgent problem.
[Ok next, we need to pack the supplies. Oh right! Are we going to travel along the coast or in the sea? The car has a boat function too!]
Sazzy interrupted herself as we were suddenly reminded of a very neglected feature of our car.
[If we travel by sea, we can probably shorten the time spent traveling by a little.]
Taking the numbers we had, Sazzy did a little more calculations before she nodded to herself.
[Going by sea the first half would cut down our travel time by 3 days. ]
Sazzy proudly showed her set of numbers, which none of us except her understood.
"If that's the case, we will travel by sea for the first half. But does that mean we need two different types of clothes?"
Thinking of the difference between the land and the sea, I glanced at the half packed clothes in the luggage.
[We will mostly be in the car, so I don't think clothing will matter too much. One problem though would be our food supply. Unless one of us can fish, finding food would be hard.]
Ava closed her eyes as she tried hard to think of a solution for food.
"None of us here can fish, but if I'm not wrong we can attach a fishing net to our car as we travel. This way, we can catch some fish to eat. There are also several berries I can harvest for us to munch on."
I described the types of boats I had seen docked near Margret's village. At that time, she had told me that fish wasn't really part of the village's cuisine, since they had mostly lived deep in the forests before they settled next to the sea. And since they had plenty of food in the forest, most villagers never really go out to sea.
"It's too dangerous. Especially since we never really had any experienced fishermen. But some of the folks still like to head to shallow waters to try their hands at fishing. Cooking with unknown ingredients, on the other hand, is another matter. So the fish are sometimes kept as pets or released."
Margret had pointed to the boats, before pointing to one of the villagers holding a net with holes the size of medium fruits. In that net was a lively fish slapping its tail at its captor. The villager smiled, admiring his catch, before he released it back into the wild.
Ava showed a slightly worried face when she heard that not even Margret knew any recipes for the seafood on this planet.
"It's alright. We can always experiment with it. Besides, I think I have the basic reactions between ingredients down pat. We should be fine!"
Reassuring Ava, I made a mental note to pick enough berries and fruits to last us the whole trip at sea even if we didn't catch anything. At the same time, I pulled up the shopping page and placed a fishing net into my cart. Tomorrow there will be new ingredients!