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Pete paced around the island for the forty-second time.
"We're stuck here," he said, dejectedly swinging his wrench.
"No we're not. Look down there," J-Boy pointed over the side of the island.
Pete ran to look.

About sixty feet down there was a boat sitting in the water.
"Well how do we get down there?" Pete wondered.
"Jump?" J-Boy suggested.
Pete grimaced. "Not sixty-something feet down."
J-Boy kicked a rock off the island; a short while later it splashed into the water.

Pete suddenly remembered the sail in his pocket.
He pulled it out. "There's a hole in the middle, but I think I can fix that."

The sail was made of a material that bonded to itself when hit with any strong force.
Pete whacked the sail with his wrench until it was good as new.

"This probably isn't going to work too well, so brace yourself."
Pete tied the ends of the sail to his wrench and both boys held on tightly.
"Ready?" asked Pete.
"Whatever," J-Boy said.
The boys jumped.

Pete and J-Boy hit the water with a smack.
They swam over to the boat and clambered in.
In the boat Pete found a box that held three large balloons, two paddles, a small pump, a coil of rope and a small canister marked OXEDE.

A short while later, Pete had rigged the boat with both the balloons and mainsail.
The boat floated lazily up towards the islands in the sky as both passengers thought about how to steer.
Pete discovered that the Oxede canister had an outlet and inlet valve. He attached the pump to the inlet valve on the canister and pumped some of the Oxede out of the balloons.
This levelled the flight of the boat, but there was still no way to steer.
The boat was cast periodically into shadow as it passed under the airbound islands.
As the wind picked up, the boat flew past several smaller islands.
Pete was thankful there were no islands in their path; he would have no way of avoiding it since he couldn't steer.
Immediately after he had confided this to J-Boy, a large island loomed ahead.

J-Boy pulled in the sail as Pete jumped up to fill the balloons as much as possible; maybe they could fly over the top of the island.
J-Boy had an idea: He tied one end of what was left of the rope to the side of the boat. Then he flung the other end over the side.
"Try and land it!" He shouted as he leapt over the side.

Pete waited until the boat was approximately level with the island and then started pumping the Oxede out of the balloons.
J-Boy slid down the rope until he reached the surface of the island. He dug in his heels and tried to stop the boat from dragging him across the ground.
Pete managed to direct the boat toward the surface of the island but since there was still no steering he had to hope that the landing wouldn't be on rocks.
J-Boy gripped the rope more tightly and ran towards the only tree on the island. His plan was to try and wrap the rope around the tree and stop the boat.
Pete braced himself as the boat careened toward the edge of the island. The boat shuddered as the rope went taut and slammed into the ground.

Pete laughed nervously as he climbed out of the boat.
J-Boy was smiling. "You landed on the edge!"
The boat had come to rest at the very edge of the island.

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