Chapter 57 Your job is to lie here and bask in the sun
After a day of sailing, Xiao Peng sat by the stern rudder lazily reading an e-book. Felix, who was sitting on the side of the boat eating canned fruit, suddenly pointed at the horizon and shouted, "Captain! Ship! There's a ship!"
Xiao Peng said helplessly, "If there's a boat, there's a boat! Don't be surprised, I already knew it! That's our goal this time!"
Felix blinked. "Captain, how did you know there was a ship there when you didn't even look up?"
Xiao Peng rolled his eyes at him. "Felix, don't panic when you encounter something! Come here and take a look. This is called the AIS system, or Automatic Identification System, a very common navigation aid system nowadays. Its function is to automatically broadcast the precise heading, speed, turn time, current location, ship name, ship type, call sign, hull size, and other data of our ship and other ships via VHF. Any ship equipped with the AIS system within 20 nautical miles will automatically receive this information. 20 nautical miles is about 37 kilometers, and the distance you can see with the naked eye is about 5 or 6 kilometers. Who do you think will know the ship's location first? Today's ships are equipped with high-tech equipment. Do you still think we are still in the days of a lookout tied to the top of the mast?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a call came from the intercom: "'Red Head Ship', 'Red Head Ship', this is the 'Cape of Good Hope Storm'. You are now heading towards our work area, please pay attention to the channel."
Xiao Peng adjusted the sail and slowed down, then picked up the intercom and said, "'Cape of Good Hope Storm', this is 'Red Head Ship', I'm looking for Mr. Constantine Thomas. I'm Xiao Peng, the new observer sent by the association to replace him. You can call me Xiao."
After a moment of silence, a gruff voice rang out over the intercom: "Didn't the association say you'd have to wait a few days before coming? Those idiots in the association told me your ship was the 'Loire'!"
Xiao Peng explained, "I should have taken over from you a week ago, but the 'Loire' ran into trouble, so I had to find a way to get a new ship. I'm really sorry, Mr. Thomas, for keeping you at sea for so long! Actually, something happened this morning, otherwise we would have come here earlier."
"X-YACHTS? Are you here to show off your wealth?" A voice of laughter and scolding came from the intercom: "Don't call me 'Mr. Thomas', just call me Constantine! Don't apologize to me, I want to thank you! If you hadn't come, I would probably stay here for a month! Bring the boat over, we have some fish here, and since we are going back, we will leave them all to you!"
"Thank you so much! I'll be right there!" Xiao Peng hung up the intercom and sailed over to Constantine's boat, stopping beside it. Constantine's First 27 sailboat lay like a little baby next to Xiao Peng's boat.
That is because the Mediterranean Sea is calm. If it were any other ocean, they would never dare to dock the ship so close.
Two men were standing on the boat. One had a Mediterranean hairstyle, evidently someone who'd spent years at sea. His skin, roughened by the wind, looked to be in his sixties, though seafarers often looked older than their actual age. The young man next to him, with brown hair, had a childish expression and was definitely no older than twenty.
The older one should be Constantine.
Xiao Peng was about to say hello when Constantine spoke first: "Xiao! Do you have any beer?"
"Ah?" Xiao Peng didn't understand what Constantine meant.
Constantine said angrily, "The beer ran out four days ago! Those guys from 'Mediterranean Victory' are so stingy. They wouldn't even give me beer when I tried to buy it from them!"
Xiao Peng laughed after hearing this: "Bo Ke, get a dozen beers from the refrigerator!"
"No need for a dozen!" Constantine said. "I can be back soon. Just give me half a dozen to satisfy my craving."
Boco took out half a dozen, or six cans of beer, from the refrigerator and threw them to Constantine on the opposite boat. The latter caught it and opened it directly, and the beer foam sprayed all over him.
But Constantine didn't mind at all, and drank the beer in one gulp. "Great! I've been going crazy these past few days! Xiao, let me introduce you, this is my son Gabriel. Hehe, he's a student from the Sorbonne University and he's on vacation to help me!"
No wonder Constantine is so proud, the Sorbonne University is one of the world's top research universities in marine science.
"Hello, Mr. Xiao!" Gabriel said to Xiao Peng, "My current research topic is the changes in fishery resources in the Mediterranean over the past seventy years and the impact of human conservation interventions on marine resources. So I planned to work on a paper this summer and came here with my father."
Xiao Peng nodded and said, "This is an excellent research topic. I suggest you go to the University of Esca-Marseille to discuss it. There's a research team there currently working on a similar project at the Medes Nature Reserve. If you're planning on writing a paper, you could get a lot of data from them. Also, when researching this topic, it would be best to consider climate change rather than simply focusing on the results of human intervention."
Gabriel was stunned after hearing this. What he said just now seemed a bit boastful.
The thing young people fear most is being looked down upon. People at sea are generally rough and uncouth, so the words he just said would usually make other people at sea feel intimidated. However, Xiao Peng was not like that.
Constantine laughed out loud: "Silly son, do you think everyone is a rough guy like your father? Xiao, I can't even understand what this brat is saying. Are you also a scientific researcher?"
Xiao Peng smiled and said, "I just saw some relevant research materials at Aix-Marseille University a few days ago. I like reading and I read a lot of different books."
"Wait! Your name is Xiao..." Gabriel suddenly asked, "Are you the one from 'Dancing with Sharks'? The Chinese guy who saved people in Marseille Harbor a few days ago?"
Constantine was stunned after hearing this, and he looked Xiao Peng up and down.
Although they are at sea, they are not isolated from the world. There are satellite videos and radios on the ship, so they will know any news.
Xiao Peng saw this and didn't deny it. He said modestly, "It's not as far-fetched as the media says. You know they all love to brag and get attention!"
"Wow!" Gabriel said excitedly. "Hey, actually I didn't recognize you at all. I just asked casually. I didn't expect I would be so lucky! We must take a picture together. I'm going to post it on Twitter so that my friends will envy me!"
Xiao Peng waved his hands hastily and said, "Please forgive me. I'm just doing what I should do! Constantine, can you tell me what our job description is?"
"Lie down here and bask in the sun," Constantine shrugged. "I have some DVDs and books here. Do you need them? Believe me, you'll need these to pass the time on the ship."
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