Earth Thirst (The Arcadian Conflict) - By Mark Teppo Page 0,53
it got real quite. I hid, or tried to, actually. There's not a lot of places to hide in those cabins. After a few hours, I started to wonder what was going to happen if no one ever came looking for me. How was I going to get out of this cabin? Was there anyone piloting the boat?
“I was starting to get hungry and having my second or third panic attack about being trapped, when I heard someone tapping at my door. It was the old guy, Gus—the engineer who'd been in Vietnam. He had been hiding down in the engine room. Once things quieted down, he started to sneak around the boat to see who was still alive. He found me and a couple of others. Gus had the clever idea of hiding in your cabin—the room where you four all stayed. At first, I thought it was a terrible idea, but he explained that none of you were on the boat anymore.”
“What happened?”
She shakes her head. “I don't know. I asked everyone we rescued, but no one knew anything. They had all been below deck when things had gone sideways. By the time Gus let me out, the Japanese were running things.”
“The Japanese? From the whaling fleet?”
“Captain Morse—or whoever was in charge on the bridge—sailed the Cetacean Liberty right up to the processing ship and handed it over. The Japanese put a crew on board and turned the boat around for Adelaide.”
“Why?”
She shrugs. “I don't know. We stayed out of sight. They didn't come looking for us. But they had to know we were there. And they didn't care.”
“What happened?”
“There was some British guy with them. Hard-looking guy. At the time I thought he was military of some sort, but now, I realize he was probably Secutores. Short gray hair, well-groomed stubble like he'd just come from a fashion shoot. I only caught sight of him a couple of times before Gus insisted I stay in the cabin. Anyway, as soon as we hit the Bight, there was another boat. The enforcer and his crew took off; Gus said it sounded like they were using a go-fast boat. ‘Two engines, maybe a thousand horses,' is what he said. Ten minutes later, the bomb went off and the fire started.
“That's when we found out who was still on the boat; we could hear them screaming and shouting. Me and Tawni—she was the one who had the orca tattoo on the back of her neck—well, anyway, she and I tried to get all the rooms open, get people out and on deck where the life boats were. Gus and some of the other guys tried to fight the fire, but it spread too fast. It all happened so quickly. We didn't have any time. We barely got the life boats in the water in time. And then there was nothing we could do except wait for someone to spot the smoke.”
“How many made it into the lifeboats?”
“I don't know. There were three boats. There were six—seven?—in the one I ended up in. At least that many in the others. I… don't really know. And once we got picked up and taken to the hospital, it was chaotic. There were lawyers from Prime Earth there. The police showed up. Hospital security was trying to get everyone out of the way. It was a mess. I don't even remember a lot of it. The next morning, the guys in dark suits show up, and I know they're friends of the guy from the boat.”
“Secutores.”
She nods. “And that's when I knew we were going to disappear. Those of us who were coherent enough to talk about what had happened. I had to get out of there or get a message out to someone, but before I could do anything, the nurses came in and put me out. When I woke up… well, I didn't really wake up again. Not until you came.” She flushes slightly, and turns her attention to her food, which she has barely touched. “Your turn,” she says. “What happened to you?”
I give her the short version—glossing over the parts where people died. She pretends not to notice the judicious editing.
NINETEEN
She wanders out onto the balcony again when we're done eating, and I stack dishes and clean up—giving her some space—before I join her. The sky is wide above us, and a bat flies by, a dark rag fluttering across a panoply of glittering stars.