The Island
- The passengers are gathered on the beach while the captain makes a speech thanking them for their cooperation. He insists that they are not shipwrecked, but that he needs the ship as light as possible while they make the necessary repairs.
- Matt knows the reason she needs to be light is because airships were never designed to support their own weight—without hydrium, the ship will collapse onto itself.
- Matt wishes he could help with repairs, but instead he's stuck catering to the passenger's needs.
- The good news is that they have no need to worry about supplies. They have plenty of food and drinking water for everyone, so until they repair the ship they should be fine.
- The captain finishes reassuring everyone, and asks that they all stay within sight of the ship. Everyone needs to avoid going inland on the island unless absolutely necessary, and then only with a member of the crew for safety's sake.
- Matt, for one of the first times in his career, resents having to wait upon the passengers with all of their luxurious amenities when he could be working on the ship.
- Baz reminds Matt that these poor people went without fresh croissants this morning, couldn't he have a little pity? Shmoop loves sarcasm.
- After breakfast, the chief steward—Mr. Lisbon—insists that Matt go get some sleep even though he'd much rather be helping with the repairs.
- Unfortunately though, when he gets to his bunk he cannot sleep. He feels claustrophobic when he's on land, and needs to keep moving.
- Matt runs into Baz and Lunardi who have been sent on a mission to find fresh water in order to resupply the ship for drinking and to replenish all of the ballast they were forced to drop. He decides to accompany them. (How can he not be exhausted? Geez…)
- On their way they see Miss Kate, Lunardi comments that she's quite the looker and Baz playfully lets him know that he'll have stiff competition from Matt for her attention.
- They approach Kate, and Lunardi realizes he's met her before, at some fancy-shmancy gala the year before.
- Kate politely makes small talk with them, and when they tell her they're seeking out fresh water she helpfully lets them know she's already found a stream not far from the beach. She's also assessed the local flora and insists they couldn't starve anytime soon even if they wanted to: they have breadfruit, coconut, mango, pineapple, and an abundance of marine life for protein. She can identify all of the things because of all her fancy book-learning.
- Baz and Lunardi head back to the ship together, but Matt lags behind wanting some fresh air.
- On his way back though, Kate stops him to thank him for being so reassuring before the ship went down.
- Kate is ridiculously excited about being temporarily stranded, but Matt is increasingly dour about their situation. His precious Aurora is hurt—how could he be excited?
- Kate has a reason for her optimism, though: She's pretty sure that the island fits the description of the one her grandfather hovered over while watching his beloved creatures.
- Matt offers to ask Grantham if he was able to determine their coordinates despite everything that'd happened (you know—pirates, murder, a collision, and a crash landing) and despite his skepticism, he realizes that Kate could be right.