Archipelago Intro Contest:

Entry by Alexandre Freire Filho

It's 25:12 p.m., and Ituaan is still waiting for the boat. After all he did
to escape from his foes and keep the real localization of the Long John's
mine, the boat is late. As he waits, he wonders if he was wrong when he
decided to come to Poseidon. That entire wilderness, the unknown was so
common here, and everything was so different. So... wet! Soon, he can see a
boat getting near. Just behind him, one of the two moons, which he didn't
learn to differ one from the other. The paradise-like blue water seems more
translucid than glass, and he wonders if someone could see the bottom at
midday.
He stands up and walks slowly into the water. Silently he enters in and start
swimming to the boat, trying to keep the small recorder with him. At that
exact moment, he hears a great engine. Maybe a huge vehicle, or a plane. Or
worse, a VTOL. He dives, and  hold his breath and swims as fast as he can. He
got to reach the boat. 
That was the first time he saw the lights of an aborigene, swimming under
him. "Great Sea!", he thought, "just now I gotta be damn fast, I see one of
these! I could win a huge prize if I could ....."
BOOM!!
The noise coming from the boat is so enormous he could hear even underwater.
When he looked forward to the boat, he saw the flames just before the
explosion that ended it's career as a spy. He then looked the aborigene under
him. It, or him, started to dive. Ituaan breath again and dive following the
creature. It seemed to enter thru a opening in the corals. He swim into it
and see three or four other of that creatures. And they seem to look at him.
Ituaan feels a bad feeling, and with fear running fast in his blood, he
wonders if the best is to go back to the beach.
Desperatly, he turns around and starts swimming as fast as he can, but it's
not sufficient. One of the aborigenes come after him and grab his left leg.
He kick it and swim even more harder. The creature only hold his leg, no
seeming to warm Ituaan, but that doesn't make him calm. He uses all his force
and desperation to try to escape this. He learned in books that they're
dangerous, and he is not going to be caught after escaping from an
Incorporate base with the crucial information, to be drown by an aborigene.
Kicking his leg as he swim, he keeps it from getting more of his leg, and
start breaking free from it. He is still 30 metres away from the shore, and
there's nobody on the beach. He has only a knife, tied in his right leg.
Maybe it's his chance. He would be world-famous to be the first one to kill
one of there, and will still know here's the Long John's mine. He can't give
that chance away.
In a sudden, he stop swimming, breath and pulls his knife from his leg. He
tries to raise his left leg, but it's heavy. He so strike the aborigine with
the knife. It wasn't a good blow, because it was still alive, but the
aborigene gave up grabbing him. It turned away, and went back to the coral
hole.
Ituaan came back to the beach, still wet with the viscous blood of the
aborigene. When reached the shore, we felt a thin strong pain in his left
leg. A cut, that seemed to be made with a knife. 
He so decided to go back to Haven, the next city, walking on the shore, and
then find the ones who payed him for the information, and probably, find
someone who wanted to go with him to the coral where he believed the
aborigenes hide. 
He walked for hours before the sun rises. When it was almost in half the
morning, he decided to rest. He layed back in some plants he'd never seen
back on Earth, and thought about what happened. When he woke up, it was
almost afternoon. 
Walking all afternoon to get to Haven, he reaches the city at night. The
lights of the city, the traffic and the huge buildings remembers of a
prettier Earth, clean and nice. The clean sky made a perfect combination with
the sea, and the lights of the city seemed like a crown jewel in a princess
head.
All we know about Ituaan is that he sold the localization of the mine to
another corporate and lived the rest of his days in a confortable peace in
the Jewel of Poseidon, the city of Haven.  
And you can make shure this story is true. He's probably somewhere, drinking
and telling other people about the aborigine he fought. Go and find him. He
can tell you better, and I bet he knows more stories about this wonderful
place than I do. Or if you prefer, you can live your own stories here,
buddie. Poseidon is here, where anyone can make the difference. Welcome home!
-Teller, Dolphin writer