Journey into Darkness Myka’s and Sendra’s progress was simply a tally of the days they spent at sea. Myka had no map except the one in his head. In his mind the star lines stayed constant and it was the sea that travelled under him, pulling his destination towards him. He only had to maintain the right direction and he would find it. It was not only the sky but the motion of his vessel that allowed him to do this. His planet moved about the sun but it did not move relative to the stars. As long as he travelled east or west, only the time of day where the stars rose and set changed but not their positions on the horizon, so he was aware that they moved from night into day as new ones appeared but their orientation to his course did not change. That happened when he travelled north and south and then new stars would appear while others disappeared. So it was at nighttime, under a clear sky, that his navigation was most secure. At dawn, he took the sun’s bearings from the last stars in the sky, then allowed the shadow cast by the mast to orient him as it shortened, then lengthened in its semicircle circuit that traced the passing of the day.
