The waves were calm, and the boat rocked gently on the sea. Andrea couldn't see what was happening behind her. She only saw a flash, then Edward climbed back into the cockpit. The hovercraft now had two ugly wings.
Edward shut the hatch again and started the hovercraft. When it reached a certain speed, the whole boat began to lift off.
Andreia screamed, thinking they were about to take flight. But the boat didn't rise very high; it merely skimmed over the surface of the sea, and the violent jolting stopped.
"This is the best I can do. It's ground effect flight. We can't fly very high. You can think of it as working on the same principle as a seabird gliding just above the water," Edward explained. He secured the joystick, and the boat continued in one direction.
"The speed's improved quite a bit, from less than 200 kilometers per hour to around 350. Since we're flying, the speedometer I made doesn't work anymore. But the good news is we'll arrive early. We might get there tomorrow morning."
Andreia didn't understand Edward's explanation. She only thought it sounded impressive. But she understood the good news. She was happy too soon, though.
When she woke up on the back seat the next morning, Edward had already gotten lost. They had to head west again to find the coastline.
By the time they reached Marala City along the coastline, it was still the afternoon, just as they had originally expected.
Edward parked the boat on a stretch of shore some distance from Marala City's harbor. They changed into their summer clothes and hid the hovercraft.
These days, people moved frequently between the New Continent's countries, and no one checked for illegal immigrants. They slipped into Marala City without trouble.
As mentioned