Thomas Thompson stood on the deck of his boat, enjoying the sun. He had five days to reach the Fount from where he was. He needed water, but he could make his food last that long. And he could hunt animals if he got desperate enough.

He could take a bead on the Fount when the sun had fallen. Until then, he had to get his things together and get to shore. Then he had to walk toward the nearest mountain range he could see.

He would have to arm himself at one point. He doubted he was going to be able to save the princess with his bare hands.

He wondered if his phantom advisor would be able to give him more information when he was closer. Charging in blind would just get him hurt before he could save anyone.

And what was the Fount? What did it do? How did it throw light into the sky? And why were the natives afraid of it?

If the thing was some kind of energy source, could that be enough to send him back where he belonged? Could it repair the shuttle? That last seemed farfetched but he was in another universe with different stars, maybe different rules in play.

Command would want to know everything about this if he could get home. How much could he censor so they didn't try to grab the Fount for testing? What if his trip was a fluke and other astronauts were killed trying to get where he was?

How much would be his fault if his universe did try to explore this one?

He decided that he could only take responsibility for what he was doing. He didn't know if saving the princess was the right thing to do for instance. He had to do what felt right at the moment. The future would have to take care of itself until he could get this one thing straightened out as much as he could.

If saving the princess didn't fix his problems, he would have to look for the next possibility and use that to get back to his own universe. There had to be an exit somewhere.

He refused to think there was no chance of getting home. The door didn't have to be one way. He didn't know what he would do if he was wrong and he was stuck on an endless quest.

And he might be a decoy for the princess.

He filed that away for later consideration. He might be drawing all the attention away from her while she did whatever she wanted to do.

Thompson saw a place he could land. He looked around. He didn't see any people in sight. He wondered if the pirates kept people from the sea. Was he even on the sea, or just a large lake?

He needed a map to find his way.

He wondered if the cardinal directions applied to this planet. He knew they should but it meant little if the sun didn't move in the same direction. Was this system heliocentric?

That was another question to be put aside. That part didn't matter unless he got out in space somehow. Would he have to do that to reach home? He doubted the locals had an orbiter he could use.

Did they have some kind of magic boat?

He would have put that down as preposterous before he arrived wherever he had landed. Now he had seen some things that didn't make sense. A magic boat would fit in with what he had seen so far.

Thompson dropped anchor when he was sure he could reach land without drowning. He gathered up all the supplies he could carry into a bag to sling on his back. He took off his clothes and put them in the bag so he could have something dry when he reached the shore.

He took a moment to wonder if there was anything like sharks in the water before jumping over the side of the boat and falling into the water. Cold made him regret the quick jump from the deck. He flapped his arms to keep steady until he was ready to start swimming. He struck out for the shore.

Thompson pulled himself out of the cold water minutes later. He pulled his dry clothes out of the sack and put them on. That gave him some minimum warmth. He needed a fire to bring himself back up the rest of the way. He looked at the boat floating on the water. He decided to get moving before thinking about taking a break.

As long as no one could tie him to the boat, he could deny knowing how it arrived in the cove where he was leaving her. Let the pirates, or the pirate hunters, find her while he worked his way to the Fount.

If no one found her, maybe he could use her to sail back to the tower where he had been nursed back to health.

He forced speculation out of his thoughts. He didn't know enough to figure out what he was supposed to do when he did get to the Fount. He might be helping a bad guy thanks to his ignorance. He needed to keep his ears open for anything that might help decide where his place was.

Once decided, he knew he would have to follow through if he wanted to get home. He doubted there was a way home, but he couldn't give up. Just being able to survive what he had would get him free beers at any bar that wanted to hear the story.

If he could bring back proof, that would be the icing on the cake.

What would constitute proof in this situation? Maybe he needed to take back a strange plant that scientists could study until it escaped and took over the biome like every other invasive species. He would have to think about that.

On the other hand, any plant he took home might die if there wasn't enough to keep it alive.

Maybe something from the Fount would be enough proof that something weird had happened to him. If it was some kind of weird energy, could it be used to change the energy industry on Earth?

He imagined that even with proof, some of the Mission Control people would still not believe him. He would stand at the center of one conspiracy theory or another for the rest of his life.

That still might be worth some free beers from the right people.

Thompson spotted a copse of trees ahead. He could use that to rest until he had warmed himself by a small fire. He needed to make sure that he had a fire pit so he didn't burn his hiding place to the ground.

How long did he have before those pirates caught up with him? He doubted they were going to let the stealing of their ship slide. He just couldn't imagine how they would catch up him with his giant headstart on them.

He doubted they would be hampered by the lack of direction that was slowing him down on his own travels. He expected to find them ahead somewhere waiting for him.

Improvising a weapon from the trees might be possible if there was a sturdy branch that had fallen with a strong wind. It had to be sturdy enough to be usable, but harmless looking to anyone not used to a staff.

He doubted a staff would look that harmless to anyone who knew what they were looking at when he started using it.

Anything was better than the nothing he had at the moment. Maybe the princess had a magic sword she could loan him until he went home.

Elmer Fudd's spear and magic helmet ran through his brain as he reached the stand of trees. He felt tired all of a sudden. He decided to camp in a bush, out of sight of the road until he was ready to keep going.

He abandoned his plan to build a fire since he felt he would be asleep and it would run out of control without him watching it. He had seen too many accidents caused by carelessness when tired. The fire could wait until he was awake enough to enjoy it.

Burning himself to death could wait until after he had his nap and figured out where he had to go from the trees.

Thompson settled into his bush, checking for bugs and not finding any. He pulled some leaves over his body with both hands. He nodded at how dry the leaves felt at his touch. He closed his eyes and tried to think of happy thoughts as he slipped away.

He needed a watchdog to sound the alarm when strangers approached. He could work on that when he woke up from his nap.

The major woke up with a static shock in his ear. He sat up, looking around for the bug that had bit him.

“Are you awake?,” asked the familiar voice of his advisor.

“I am now,” said Thompson, rubbing his ear. “I think you overdid that whatever it was.”

“Maybe,” said the voice. “The princess has taken refuge in a cavern to the west of the Fount. She feels that will buy you more time to arrive and help her.”

“I don't know how long it will take me to get there,” said Thompson. “I think I made some good time sailing here, but I don't know how fast I will be able to move on foot.”

“I understand,” said the spark. “I will tell her that you are coming as fast as you can.”

“Can you direct me to a map?,” asked Thompson.

“I think you can get one in the next town,” said the voice. “The residents are not always friendly, so you might have to finangle something.”

“I'll see what I can do,” said Thompson.

“I'm going to leave you now,” said the spark.

“Before you go,” said Thompson. “Which way is west of the Fount from here?”

“When the Fount lights up, look to the left. That will be west from here.” The advisor faded away when he was done talking.

“That's great,” said Thompson. “Except for the part of what it would look like in the daylight if I want to travel in the daylight.”

The warning about the townspeople worried him more than a little. He couldn't resupply without resorting to theft if no one wanted to sell him anything. And if they treated strangers badly, he could be in some danger just trying to get through to the Fount.

He would work on a solution when he saw how bad the problem actually was. An advisor to a princess would not see the same things as someone on the ground. He might actually be able to turn things around if he found the right person to talk to when he hit town.

Maybe he could prevent any trouble as long as he didn't look that dangerous.

If the town didn't want the princess freed, he was in for a hot time of it.

He decided to keep his possible allegiances to himself until he knew which way the wind was blowing.

He looked around for a branch that could double as a bag carrier and decided he needed to get moving before the Fount showed itself. He didn't want to be mistaken for a thief by traveling in the dark.