Delphine wipes the sweat from her eyes as she finishes making the modifications to Kathy’s cabin cruiser. She changed the motor over to the same setup Stingray used. The cabin cruiser no longer used a propeller, but a water jet system like Stingray. It was a difficult conversion, but she managed to build a custom system for the cruiser.

“Okay, try the system now, Kathy.” Delphine steps back to watch the system.

Kathy turns the power on and the indicators on the panel show everything was running. She couldn’t believe it as the cruiser powered up.

“It’s working.” Kathy was excited.

Since the boat show, Delphine has been helping her rebuild and repair her cabin cruiser. Kathy knew that Delphine had gotten a lot of offers for Stingray. The people she spoke with, she informed them that Stingray wasn’t for sale and that it was leased to NOAA. Which in a sense, it was? They paid her for the mileage she puts on him for the jobs she does.

Delphine heads up to the pilothouse where Kathy was. They had moved the cabin cruiser to her family’s private boatyard. They took the boat out of the water to clean the hull and to make the modifications for the water jet system.

Once the hull had been modified and fiberglass. They costumed painted the hull to what Kathy wanted. The boat looked a little different then it did before.

“Well, do you want to take it out for a test cruise?” Delphine looks at Kathy to see what she thought.

“Can we?” Kathy was looking excited. She’s been wanting to take the boat out for a while.

“Yes.”

Delphine gets one of the guys from the shop to put the cabin cruiser into the water. She disconnects the belts from the crane they use to lift the boats. Once everything was clear and they checked out all the new instruments and navigation equipment.

“Okay, Kathy. Let’s see what you can do.” Delphine steps back, away from the controls of the boat.

Kathy steps up to the controls and starts piloting them out and up the channel. She was a little nervous because she has never piloted a boat before. However, under Delphine’s watchful eyes, she takes them out into the ocean.

A smile appears on Kathy’s face as she increases speed on the cabin cruiser. The water jet system Delphine installed reacted better than the propeller system, it used to have. She increases the speed until it tops out.

She felt the front of the boat life upon the special hydrofoils they installed on the boat. Delphine watches as the speed increase and hits fifty-five miles per hour.

“Okay, Kathy, bring her back down to normal cruising speeds.”

“Yes ma’am.” Kathy decreases her speed to twenty miles per hour.

Delphine looks at Kathy “did you feel the bow lift out of the water, once the hydrofoil skies extend?”

“Yes ma’am. Is that something I need to worry about?”

“No! The engine management computer we installed. It is a program to automatically extend the foils, once you reach the speed, we programmed it for.” Delphine had to do the programming of it.

“Can you reprogram it, if something happens.”

“Yes, I can reprogram it or build a new unit for you.” Delphine had everything she needed at her parents’ house.

“Cool!” Kathy enjoys testing her refurbish boat.

She liked all the new instruments they installed. They had radar, a sonar unit, fish finder, GPS, satellite communications, a new navigation system, and an autopilot. After a few hours, Kathy takes the boat to a marina near Delphine’s family shipyard.

She buttons up the boat and removes the hydrogen fuel cell. Delphine gave her a group of fuel cells for her cruiser. She keeps them in a secret compartment, under the sofa.

“Tom has invited you out to dinner with us. Would you like to come?” Delphine watches Kathy as she thinks about it.

“I think I’ll stay home and spend time on my boat.” Kathy wanted to stay on her boat and get used to all the modifications they did to it.

“I can understand that. I spent a lot of time in Stingray when I finish skinning him.” Delphine remembers the first night she spent inside of Stingray.

“Thanks for everything, Delphine.” Kathy hugs Delphine.

“You’re welcome, kiddo. Call me if you have any problems.”

“I will.” Kathy watches as delphine leaves. She was thankful for everything Delphine did for her.

Delphine drives towards the restaurant she and Tom visited the most. The food was good, and the view was even better. It was out on the beach and the place was decorated with pieces from pirate ships.

She spots Tom’s car as soon as she pulls into the parking lot. Luckily for her, there was a parking space two cars down from his. She parks her truck in the spot.

She grabs her small purse and heads inside the restaurant. She spots Tom at their favorite table. She heads towards their favorite table. As she gets closer “have you been waiting long?”

“Nope, how did things go with Kathy’s boat?” Tom knew Delphine has been spending a lot of time with her.

“Good, the boat hit fifty miles per hour and the hydrofoil skies extended at the right time. The water jet system worked extremely well.”
Delphine was happy everything was working as it should.

“That’s good. I’m glad everything worked as it should. So, have you thought about some of those offers people made for Stingray or building
something like him for them?” Tom had seen how many offers Delphine had gotten to buy Stingray or build duplicates of him.

“I know I can make a lot of money building more versions of Stingray, but he’s one of a kind. I didn’t build him for profit. I built him for research.” Delphine knew she could make a lot of money with his design and technology.

The next hour Tom and Delphine eat dinner. Later, after dinner, they take a walk on the bench. While they are walking, Delphine was thinking about Kathy and how in a few months she’ll be having her eighteenth birthday. On her eighteenth birthday, she had joined the Navy.

Late in the evening, she heads back to Tom’s place with him to spend the night. She’s been keeping some clothes at his place. They make love for a while.

While Delphine is sleeping and being held by Tom. Her cellphone starts blaring In The Navy song. She reaches for her cellphone on the nightstand next to Tom’s bed “Hello?”

“Delphine, the shipyard has been broken into.”

“Why, what was stolen, dad?” Delphine sits up exposing her naked body.

“Someone broke into our shipyard and stole several of our high speed, cigarette boats, and the one you have been working on as well.”

“How? His fuel tanks are empty, and he was tied up.” Delphine was concerned because he was extremely fast.

“They towed him, sweetie.” Ross was at the shipyard along with four police officers, including Marine police.

“Who could have done such a thing, dad?” Delphine was concerned. She was worried they might come after Stingray, next.

“Don’t know baby, girl. Whoever broke into the shipyard, disabled all the security cameras.” Ross was surprised at the damage they found.

“Do you need me to come down there, dad?” Delphine was about to get out of bed.

“No, you go ahead and stay where you are. Your brother and I have everything under control. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

“Alright, daddy.”

“Bye, sweetie.” Ross ends the phone call.

Tom had woken-up when he felt Delphine sit up in bed. He had listened to the conversation.

“Is everything okay, Delphine?” He saw a concerned look on her face.

“No, the shipyard was broken into and several of our top cigarette boats were stolen, along with the one I have been working on.”

“How?” Tom sits up in bed and looks at Delphine.

“Don’t know. Whoever it was, took the security cameras out and got away with our boats.”

“Did they get Stingray?” Tom knew he meant the most to Delphine.

“Dad said no, but I might want to check.” Delphine takes her cellphone and uses the security app she has for Stingray to activate his onboard
cameras and external cameras as well.

He was still safe and secure back at her folk’s private dock.

“I wonder who stole the other boats?” Tom was curious as well.

“We won’t know for a few days.”

“Well, come back to bed. There’s nothing you can do right now.” Tom tries to get Delphine to lay down.

Delphine lays back down and snuggles against Tom. There was one thing she could do, but she needed Stingray to do it. She closes her eyes and tries to relax enough to fall back asleep.