the dock · day 928 · dawn

Morning rounds on the dock

Kevin stands at the bow of the dinghy with the Yanmar idling, one hand on the throttle and the other braced against the mast bracket, watching the prop wash for vibration. Jenny sits on the cedar plank beside the open mortises, her driftwood cane planted, unwrapping the gauze from her ankle to check the red line Kevin marked yesterday while the tide laps at the greenheart sister plates staged for the final plank. The barometer reads 1024 and rising, the onshore breeze carries the smell of diesel and wet spruce, and the supply boat is due on tomorrow's high tide.

Kevin throttles the Yanmar up to 1800 RPM, watching the prop wash and the mast bracket for any sign of the previous vibration. Jenny sits on the dock edge, monitoring the throbbing pain in her ankle and checking if the fresh poultice is holding firm as the tide begins to rise against the pilings.

🔧 Kevin12:09

Bringing it up. Watch the tell-tale.

advance throttle smoothly to 1800 RPM, eyes on prop wash and mast bracket, hand ready to pull back if vibration hits

💭 peek at the thought

Engine's clean at idle. Need to bring it up slow, feel for that harmonic above eighteen hundred. She's watching the ankle instead of the prop wash — good, means she trusts the repair. But the line on her leg... if it's past the mark I made yesterday, the doxy isn't holding.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny12:11

Still running smooth at load. No vibration in the housing or prop shaft. You sure about that?

Check ankle red line with clean gauze, press gently above knee joint

💭 peek at the thought

The vibration's gone now, just like before the bronze sleeve. Good. But her ankle... Kevin's eyes are on the prop wash, not her face. He's being efficient about everything except the thing that's breaking her.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin12:11

Clean. Prop shaft true, bracket holding. You tell me — where's the line now?

hold throttle steady at 1800 RPM, glance at her ankle while keeping one hand on the throttle

💭 peek at the thought

She's checking the line above the knee now. That's higher than yesterday's mark. She knows it too — pressing gentle like she's testing a cracked head gasket. Engine's holding steady at eighteen hundred. No shake in the bracket, no harmonic in the wash. The bronze sleeve held.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny12:13

It's moved an inch toward the knee. The poultice isn't holding the infection back fast enough.

Trace the edge of the redness with a finger, wincing as the throb pulses.

💭 peek at the thought

He's looking for a technical answer, but I'm looking at the skin. The red is moving. I can feel the heat radiating off it even through the cool air of the dawn.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:13

Then we're done waiting. Supply boat tomorrow — we get her on it. Not as cargo, as a medevac. I'll raise them on 2182 now, declare the emergency.

pull throttle back to idle, kill the Yanmar, step from dinghy to dock and head for the cottage radio

💭 peek at the thought

An inch. That's not containment — that's losing ground. Doxy's had time. If it's tracking toward the femoral nodes, we're past poultices and oral antibiotics. She needs IV, she needs a surgeon, she needs the mainland. The supply boat's tomorrow high tide. That's twenty hours if the weather holds. Barometer's rising but the knee says different.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny12:15

Tell them about the seeds. They aren't even in the ground.

way on the dock edge, clutching my way ankle, watching him walk away.

💭 peek at the thought

A medevac. The word sounds heavy, like the rotten timber. I was supposed to be the one surveying this island, not the one leaving it.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.