The Incredible Tide
Alexander Key
 The story alternates between the experiences of Conan and Lanna. A New Order ship discovers the island where Conan has been surviving for five years since the helicopter crash and captures him, taking him back to the city of Industria as a worker. Meanwhile, Lanna and her parents at High Harbor have to deal with Dyce, who wants her people to supply lumber faster than they can with the tools they have and is desperate for knowledge of the whereabouts of Briac Roa. The New Order seems to be resurrecting only the worst of the fallen civilization's qualities, putting together a military-industrial complex without a culture or conscience. Without telling him what it will mean, they mark his forehead with a tattoo that designates him as an "apprentice citizen," meaning that he will have to work to pay off the "debt" that he owes in gratitude for having "rescued" him. Enraged, he seizes the tatooing device and marks several self-important officials before he is subdued, and they assign him to work for a crazy old man named Patch, who turns out to be Teacher. Teacher has been hiding in Industria since the cataclysm, since it's the last place where the New Order would ever look for him, hiding his identity by acting like an insane, crippled old man. At High Harbor, Lanna and her parents are continuing to deal with Dyce and his demands -- now he wants some wrecked aircraft that are on the island and some sassafras roots. Teacher has said that the New Order should by no means have those aircraft or the roots (the trees haven't yet multiplied to populations where there are enough to trade). Lanna finds out that they also have to deal with Orlo, who has been leading a rebellious tribe of children and teenagers that has broken away from the rest of High Harbor. Teacher, in the guise of Patch, is still an apprentice citizen despite having been in Industria for years, because he likes where he is: in a boat shop, building boats. No one else in Industria knows know to build them -- the city wasn't even on the coast before the Change. But Teacher has been planning to leave, and now that Conan is here, Teacher can put those plans into motion. Sickness breaks out at High Harbor, and Dyce is the only one who has any medicines. Lanna discovers that not only is Orlo trying to take over High Harbor, he's making deals with Dyce. Teacher discovers that there's going to be another earthquake, and this one will drop half of what remains of Industria into the sea. His humanitarian nature forces him to go to the Council and tell them who he really is so he can warn them, but he wants Conan to take the boat he's been building and wait for him at a designated rendezvous point. Meanwhile, a child has died from the illness at High Harbor, and Shann and Mazal agree to let Dyce have the aircraft in exchange for the medicine they need, although Shann thinks Dyce deliberately started the sickness as a bargaining chip. Conan waits for Teacher, but Teacher doesn't come. Realizing that Teacher is in trouble, he returns to Industria and rescues him, and they set sail for High Harbor, hoping that the searchers from Industria don't find them. They run deliberately into a storm as the only way to escape pursuit, but Teacher nearly drowns. Conan manages to get them to the island where he had survived for five years, and with Teacher's help he modifies their ship for the voyage to High Harbor -- but they will have to hurry, because they know that with the coming earthquake will also come a tsunami. To their surprise, they discover that Dr. Manski has also washed up on this island, because her survey ship was ordered to search for Briac Roa and went down in the same storm. They can't just leave her there with a tsunami on the way, and she has no choice but to go with them, but she still can't believe that he is Briac Roa or that such things as telepathy -- or God -- exist. Lanna despairs when Dyce entices more and more of the High Harbor people onto his trading vessel to show them the goods he has to trade -- things that people don't need but that he can entice them into believing they want. She wishes she could see the ship for herself, because it might give her a better idea what to do, but she doesn't dare go there for fear of looking as if she were herself endorsing Dyce and his goods. So she tries something that has worked for her in the past; she sends her tern Tikki to fly over the ship and attempts to see through his eyes. But this fails. Instead, she climbs to the highest point on the island and tells Tikki to find Conan and bring him safely to High Harbor. Teacher tells Dr. Manski about how Dyce had traded for the flying machines and their power cells for medicine to stop the sickness that had killed one child at High Harbor, and how he may in fact have spread the sickness in the first place. Manski thinks he's lying, because she doesn't trust how he gets his information and because he's an enemy of the New Order. But she begins to believe that he really is Briac Roa. Tikki makes it to their ship, but the fog has closed in, and they can't follow him because they can't see what direction he flies in. Lanna and her parents learn that Orlo and Dyce have a plan to take over their house and move in, throwing Shann and Mazal out but keeping Lanna around, presumably as a plaything for Orlo. They resolve that this will not happen without a fight and arm themselves. Teacher has warned Mazal about the coming tsunami, and she has warned Dyce to take his ship out to sea, but he doesn't believe her. Lanna tries once more to put her psyche into Tikki and help him lead Conan and Teacher home, and this time she succeeds. Conan, Teacher and Dr. Manski arrive at High Harbor right in the middle of the strife. Orlo and Dyce's faction immediately moves to seize Conan and Teacher, but Conan fights back and tells them to take shelter because there's a tsunami coming. Neither Dyce nor Orlo believe either Conan or Dr. Manski. Orlo captures Lanna, but lets her go when Conan challenges him directly, and Conan easily defeats him, awing his followers. Conan then uses the situation to get them all to seek higher ground, carrying the semi-conscious Orlo himself as the tsunami waters start to rush in. The story ends rather abruptly as it appears they will all make it to safety by working together.