I was coming back from a trading venture in Guyana and heading back to my place on the east coast of Panama. I wasn't in any hurry and I had the autopilot set for ten knots. I'd just refueled in Aruba and was heading back out to sea before turning west towards home.
The autopilot was one of the new AI models and you could give it verbal prompts instead of having to input everything manually. It wasn't one of the fancy ones that would talk to you as if it were a crew member but it did speak when it needed to. I called it Bob.
"Traffic astern. Speed thirty five knots. It should pass close to port." it said.
I sat up and watched as the older Sea Hunter came along. There was a crowd of younger people aboard and they were probably coming out of Oranjestad to party or maybe just get in some skin diving. The guy at the wheel was clearly intending to have some fun by using my wake to get his boat in the air.
As the Sea Hunter got closer I could hear thumping music coming from the speakers and it was loud enough to cover the sound of its outboards.
The guy driving the boat turned so the boat was heading straight on to my wake. He'd be passing close and I hoped the damned fool would slow down.
He didn't.
The Sea Hunter hit my wake at an angle and the hull went airborne. The port side went up in the air first and then the starboard side smacked my wake and lurched up into the air. The boat landed nice and level on the water and I could hear the outboards rev up.
In the middle of that idiotic maneuver I'd seen something fly up into the air from the Sea Hunter's stern and then it landed right in the frothy wake of the boat. There wasn't any splash as whatever it was slipped into the bubbling water.
A few seconds later I saw a hand reach up from the water.
"Man overboard!" I called out to Bob.
"Scanning....located." said Bob. My boat accelerated and turned before slowing to approach the person in the water. It was an expert demonstration of seamanship on the part of Bob.
"Help!" I heard the feminine voice.
Bob swung the boat and cut the motors. The young woman was now right behind the boat. I opened up the transom door and held out a hand to her before pulling her aboard.
She was petite, her skin pale and flawless, no tattoos, ice blue eyes, and bright red hair. Cute. No glamour girl by a long shot, but cute. I like cute. She was also naked.
See, that's a thing about hitting the water at high speed is there's a tendency for the water to strip off your clothes. Especially flimsy bathing suits.
"Oh, my God...thank you!" she said.
"Absolutely. Let's get you inside." I said to her as I picked up a towel for her to wear.
"Bob, resume course."
"Acknowledged." said Bob. The motors came on and the boat turned for Panama.
There was a bit of chatter as she angrily denounced her friends who'd not even noticed her absence. It wasn't hard to pick up that she was tipsy. She smelled like a Mai Tai.
I took her below and aimed her at the shower. With the alcohol and salt water working on her she'd be dehydrated and I didn't need her getting sick on me.
Probably twenty minutes later she came back up to the wheelhouse. She was wearing a fresh towel and she seemed a little more sober.
"Hi, are you going to take me back to Aruba?" she asked.
"Nope. I'm going home to Panama." I said this without even looking at her.
"What the fuck? I gotta get back to Aruba! All my stuff is there! My money, my clothes, my friends, everything!"
"Your 'friends' dumped you in the middle of the fucking ocean." I replied.
"I know. But can't you turn around and take me back there? I'll pay you for your trouble!"
I smiled. "You won't be any trouble."
