Long ago, in a bar in Veracruz, I shared a bottle of rum with an elderly sailor. He imparted a secret of tremendous power:

“It is known,” he said, significantly, “as ’The Wave.’”

When he saw my quizzical look, the wizened sailor took all the drinkers outside.

Without a word, without even a nod of instruction, we formed ourselves into lines and the sailor shouted:

“Hallelujah!”

He lifted his skinny arms high in the air and yelled, a sound that reverberated through my very bones. It felt like every fibre of my being had awoken.

The woman next to him raised her arms, and so did the next, and the next…and the next!

All at once the impulse reached me, and I too surrendered to it.

I heard myself shout and felt my arms reach above my head. Touching God. As suddenly as it came, it was over.

“The power is yours now, lad,” the sailor said.

The traffic stopped in front of us. The merchants jumped from their carts to take us in their arms. We returned their embrace and the whole crowd danced in the street. None who passed could resist joining in, and the festivities continued for nearly a week.

I never saw the sailor after that. He slipped away during the jubilation; perhaps to shores unknown, perhaps to some quiet cottage inland for a well earned rest. I’ll never know.

But I often wonder.

I wonder where he went to, and whence he came…

Begin voyage.

Distance: 0
Crew: 20
Food: 50


Produced in Brighton for Global Game Jam 2017.
Story by Fiona Roberts and Damon L. Wakes. Unity programming by Morrison Cole, artwork by Mark Grizenko, sound by Laurence Bush.