It’s taking too long to make such elaborate illustrations. I’m wasting countless hours working on them instead of writing. So, I’m going to have to make some adjustments. We’ll see how a simpler chapter cover goes. If it works, I'll still make the fancy ones when I'm between chapters thinking about the plot

Jack sat on the starboard railing of the listed yacht and watched the tide come up around the hull. The sun had just come up on the world they had left, and arrived on a world with the sun just going down. He wasn’t tired, even though it was technically bedtime here. It was a sort of galactic jet lag and something Jack had experienced many times. He dropped a sounding line into the water and checked the depth of the incoming water. The line indicated almost three feet of water. On the whole, it was an amazingly brutal high tide, but wasn’t going to be enough draft to right the yacht and allow him to pull off the beach. This was probably going to be the final resting place for the ill-fated ship. The high tide would need to reach 4 or 5 feet deep to save the yacht. He slid down to the salon door and slipped inside. With the yacht at a 45 degree angle, it was difficult to walk around. Tan had found the best spot on the boat to lay, wedged as he was on the couch. Jack had to step over him on the way to the galley. The stove wasn’t safe to use, but a can of peaches would serve well enough for dinner. He slurped down the peach juice first, then started on the sweet fruit inside. Jack was just finishing the can of peaches when Luca crawled up the stairs from below. Luca looked pale and smelled like vomit. “You sick?” asked Jack. “I threw up, my stomach hurts,” Luca replied weakly. Jack threw the peach can into the trash compacter as Luca crawled into the salon and curled up next to Tan. Tan laid a hand on Luca’s forehead, then wrapped a comforting arm around the boy. Jack followed into the salon and perched on the end of the couch. “What’s wrong with him?” asked Jack. Tan shook his head. “I’m not sure yet, it started suddenly about a half-hour ago while you were outside.” Jack grabbed some of the loose pillows that had fallen from the opposite couch and positioned them into a bed along the wall. The fuel in the tanks was angled away from the outtake line that led to the generators, so without electricity, there wasn’t anything to do. Jack tried to force himself to sleep, but after the third time Luca threw up, the smell in the salon was starting to make him nauseous. He threw the pillows outside to make his bed on the deck and escape the smell. He could hear Luca throwing up inside and decided to spend the rest of the night inside his V.R. world. At least in there he could sleep in a regular bed. “Jack, wake up.” Jack was already awake, having set his proximity alarm to a very wide perimeter, just in case there were predators on this planet. The moment Tan had stepped outside, Jack’s A.I. had initiated an emergency exit from V.R. “What’s up?” asked Jack. “We need to go,” said Tan. “You’ll have to carry Luca’s pack, I’ll carry Luca.” Jack sat up, fully alert now. “What’s wrong with him?” Tan leaned over the side railing to check the tide. “Assuming your insides are in the same places as mine, I think he has an appendicitis, and I think it’s either ruptured, or close to it.” “Seriously? That’s like the easiest thing there is to cure,” said Jack. Tan glanced at Jack. “Do you have a miracle up your sleeve?” Jack’s shoulders slumped and he shook his head. “No, minors aren’t allowed to have a medical A.I. module in their V.R.” Tan pressed his lips into a frown. “Then the nearest hospital is 850 million light years away, all we can do is start walking and hope we find people. The tide’s gone down, we can get off the beach now.” Jack stood and kicked the pillows away. “He’s not going to die, is he?” “Even on my world an appendicitis is easy to take care of, provided you can get to a hospital. If it’s ruptured, he has a few hours, if it hasn’t, three days, but I think he’s already used up one day. We need to go.” Jack helped lower Luca and the gear to the ground. Tan added camping gear to their backpacks, then lifted Luca into his arms. Jack led the way with Tan following behind. The beach was much wider than it had appeared in the dark, it was nearly a mile before they reached the end of the sand and normal ground began. Jack paused, trying to decide which way to go. Tan came up alongside Jack. “How’s he doing?” asked Jack. “I sent him inside his V.R.,” replied Tan. “His A.I. said in extreme emergencies she can turn off his pain receptors as long as he stays in the V.R.” Jack gave Tan a lopsided guilty grin. “I should have thought of that.” “You can’t think of everything,” said Tan. “Okay, pick a direction. I don’t have any good clues which way to go. I don’t hear any signs of civilization.” Jack was about to choose a direction when a faint scent arrived on the wind. He lifted his head and sniffed. He knew that scent, but from where? “Do you smell that?” asked Jack. Tan scanned the horizon, searching for the source of the scent. “Yeah, just barely, smells a little bit like orange blossoms, but sweeter.” “I swear I know that smell from somewhere,” replied Jack. Tan shifted Luca slightly in his arms. “Well, orange trees are usually a cultivated crop, so that might be our best bet.” “I can’t tell which way it’s coming from,” said Jack. “The wind is coming from that direction.” Tan nodded in the direction of the wind. “Okay, we’ll go that way,” said Jack.