“Could you, Venus, sail a yacht single-handed to Tahiti?"

Chapter 11

"What? Why on earth would I do that?"

"Why we will come to later, but for now stick to the simple question" continued Litara.

"Assuming there is a good reason for asking the question," interrupted my father "a lot of people have done just that as all it needs is money, time, good health and luck! Of those I'd say luck is the most important as of those that dream of it most never start and of those that start most never finish."

"I've never even thought of doing something like that." I added "I've sailed with dad and local boat owners in the Bristol Channel , but the only single-handing I've done though is dinghy sailing"

Litara said nothing just looking at me and waiting for an answer.

"I'd have the time if I had the money and until today I thought I had the health so I guess strictly the answer is yes, with luck! Now for goodness sake tell us what all this is about and what it has to do with my health."

"How many different sorts of television documentaries can you list?"

"David Attenborough!" cried mum, whose devotion to Saint David as we teasingly called him around her was one of the few chinks in her emotional armour.

"Science, history, cooking, holiday destinations, politics, people and places, astronomy, like The Sky at Night…" mum, dad and I listed them as fast as we could…

"Enough" Litara broke in. "You get the idea that there are a lot. You know that I make them and from the time I spend away and the time I spend on the phone and computer, you know that making them takes a lot of time and coordination. What you probably didn't think about was that compared to a television soap opera they are often very expensive to produce, very difficult get an audience for and therefore very difficult to get financial backing to make."

"I watch them" I put in "why do you say it is difficult to get an audience?"

"Like most people, you watch the odd one when you happen to notice an advert for one on a particular subject that interests you. Unlike soap operas and the illustrious Saint David's programs, documentary series rarely accumulate a loyal following."

"Imagine if you could combine something with the pulling power of a soap with not one but half a dozen or more different documentary series. Earlier this year we started work on an project to do just that!

On the 8th June 2004 something is happening in Tahiti that is historically interesting and will attract the attention of a lot of people and draw in documentary makers. The plan is to make another documentary covering the sailing of a yacht from Britain to observe that event whilst linking to it as many science, art, wildlife, cultural and other documentaries as possible appropriate to the stops along the way."

"That sounds like a great idea" I rationalised; "but as you say your project is underway and there are any number of famous people or television stars who would jump at the opportunity to do that. You could even have two or more on board"

"That is what I thought, knowing nothing about sailing, but we ran into what seemed insurmountable problems" Litara explained. "Tahiti is about 10,000 miles away which I've been told is about 100 days of ocean sailing in a smallish yacht spread over the two years we want the series to run. Celebrities are expensive! They earn their pay ashore interacting with other people and the world but on a yacht for 100 days? Nobody is interesting enough to anywhere near earn that much pay just sailing!"

I immediately understood. "You've decided to cheat Litara! You want me to sail the long ocean miles for the celebrities without telling anyone that the big names didn't do it!"

"Brilliant little sister! You must have a truly devious mind to work that out so it is such a shame you are wrong. For this to work I'll need to turn YOU into the major focus of a documentary and a celebrity"

Mum, dad and I just sat there stunned, looking at each other and at Litara. How could she think of doing this to her own family? The publicity would be enormous.

"I told you all that you wouldn't like my idea but it does bring the benefit of an immediate, privately paid medical examination resulting in either rejection for the job with payment to you including expenses incurred or a job for up to 4 years with the costs covered of any medical treatment that is found necessary or desirable. The downside is that although we can keep you protected for a while, once the first program is shown in a little less than 2 years from now your circumstances will be known to the whole viewing world."

It seemed an age before Litara continued but continue she did. "I'm not callous or a monster willing to destroy my family to get what I want. The reality is that Venus needs medical treatment and even privately it might be found necessary to follow Dr Edwards' plan to save her life. Also her life is already open to the public and within a short time she will be the subject of gossip, job discrimination, maybe even newspaper slurs and violence."

"You do have alternatives though don't you Litara?" I asked. "There are other suitable people?"

"Without you the project is dead little sister. You were the one who brought me the solution a week ago. The reason is that in June 1769 Captain James Cook observed a planet cross the face of the sun in Tahiti. That didn't happen again until 1874 and 1882. Another 122 years will have passed before it can be seen again on June 8th 2004.

The planet that Captain Cook saw was Venus which why we know the event as The Transit of Venus.