The Forewarning

Cape Roca, the point furthest west in Europe. Here, where the earth ends and the sea begins (Camões). March 8, 1500. A huge monolith levitates, suddenly dropping down into the sea; invisible ships sail in the background.

The Journey

In the tropical sultriness, the oily peaceful sea; the sails still like marble. Everything is petrified.

The cabin boys, Antonio and Gonçalo, are homesick for the sufferings of home; summoned to the stern cabins, they suffer unspeakable abuses; in the ship’s hold, the exiled convicts console them.

In the still unreached seashore, children play with their small canoes.

The ships are infernal for all those who aren’t officers, nobles or priests. In the prow, sailors, cabin boys, and exiled convicts who remain exiled in the hold, sulk. In the stern, the flesh is abused, the liquor abounds.

In the village, there’s an atmosphere of communion, everything is shared, there’s no lacking or separation.

The wind blows; sargassums touch the hull of the ships; frigatebirds and seagulls float in the sky.

The old mount sees the ships on the horizon, which still haven’t noticed anything. In the coast, an omen; humpbacks hear the rumble of the hulls.

A Misunderstanding

Rosy cliffs down the port side forecast a safe bay; iron is made.

The naut men, afraid of the natives they saw on the beach, send the cabin boys and exiled convicts to make contact. A canoe approaches the ship, two natives board it; they are offered water from overseas, which they spit out in disgust. On the beach, they establish friendly contact.

The cabin boys soon turn back to being the children they once were, just as and with the indigenous children that play in the shore.

The natives sympathize with the poor condition of the naut men, showing them to the river, where fresh water streams; they also give them coconuts, bananas and manioc.

At night, the exiled convicts and cabin boys stay back; in the ships, the naut men. In the shelter of the oca, the foreigners settle in; they sleep, warmed up by the fire.

The nightmare of the Earth

In the earth, and on it, nightmares are dreamt.

Water dreams of drought; plants, of fire; the earth collapses; the sky falls; painted leopards become only fur; whales, oil; birds, frozen chicken breasts. Forests dream of pastures, eucalyptus trees and cows. Death is dreamt in people. The past dreamt today.

In their dreams, the cabin boys describe abuses; the exiled convicts, the crimes the naut men committed in Africa.

In the awakened intervals in between nights, the earth realizes, and all of it, that nightmares are oracles. Night after night, the naut men behave in broad daylight with greed and, with avarice, they probe the earth, precipitate the forests, capture, molest.

They reveal themselves to be agents of destruction, which all closed eyes can see.

The council of the Earth

On the eve of departure, before dawn, the rock emits a calling. Animals, plants, fungi, the river; from the skies, birds land by the entrance of the oca. Men and women of the earth awaken. Assembled, they commune and plan to anticipate revenge for the crimes.

The Baptism

In the heart of the forest, where the river sprouts from the earth, sorceresses and serpents enchant the waters, while, downstream, men carry the bewitched barrels back to the ships.

The Torment

Bewitched by the enchanted waters, the naut men sleep. Secret sharing cabin boys, in a boat, abandon the ship. In the canoe, arrows are lit and tear through the sky like meteors.

Slowly, fire consumes the ships.

A few ships realize the attack and hoist sail; however, humpback whales chase them; one after the other, they sink.

the end