Far From The Sea We Know

CHAPTER 53

  She woke up in her bunk, breathing hard. Another dream, but all the details forgotten save one: Matthew had been there. She grabbed her alarm clock and saw immediately that she hadn’t set it right. Four-thirty, and the light of dawn was already glimmering on the rim of the porthole. The Bluedrop would be launched in half an hour. Damn!

  She leapt off the bunk, splashed water from a bottle onto her face, and started to dress while scanning the other bunks. All empty.

  Why hadn’t anyone woken her? Why—

  There was a knock on the door.

  “I’m up. I’m…thanks.”

  “Penny, the mission’s been canceled.”

  She flung open the door. Chiffrey looked startled for once as she glared at him. “What!”

  “You’d best have a look yourself,” he said.

  His eyes flickered down for a moment and she brought together the front of her unbuttoned shirt.

  “Just come,” he added. “It will be quicker than trying to explain.”

  “I’ll be there in three minutes.” She slammed the door shut and immediately began yanking on her still-tied sneakers, not caring about the pain from the scraped flesh. She finished tucking in her shirt as she ran along the companionway and up the steps to find what seemed like the entire crew on deck, gazing in reverence at the Bluedrop’s shiny yellow hull. It was still sitting on its cradle and the crane was not even hooked up. She slowed her approach. Her father turned her way, a twinkle in his eye.

  “Our friend below seems to have other ideas about how we will spend our morning.” He sighed softly. “Pity they couldn’t have let us know last night. I really could have used more sleep.”

  She slid in between them all and looked at the Bluedrop.

  “What’s the problem?”

  “You don’t see?” her father answered.

  She looked again, but it seemed fine.

  “The hatch, Pen.”

  “Where…oh, no.”

  The hatch was gone.

  Only a few days ago, she had stood with Emory, helping him open it, straining on the wheel with all her strength. Now the hatch was simply not there anymore, and she could barely see where it had been. She stepped forward, climbed a stepladder and ran her hand over the area. Warm. It was as if the opening in the hull had grown over, healed like a wound, yet leaving no scar. Even the texture of the paint matched. The color seemed almost the same, yet when she really looked at it, oddly different. She looked at Andrew.

  “Found the people on watch asleep,” he said, answering her unspoken question. “They remember nothing.”

  Her father shook his head. “And we can’t hold them responsible. They were clearly rendered unconscious, perhaps the same way we were while down in the Bluedrop.”

  “This can’t be a coincidence,” Penny said. “The dome knew we were coming.”

  “Would seem that way,” Andrew said.

  “You think this is a message for us?” Chiffrey asked her father. “As in, ‘stay away or you’re next’?”

  “I don’t detect aggression here at all. Quite the opposite.” He glanced up at where the Bluedrop’s hatch had been. “I’m not sure what the entire strategy is, but part of the reason for this may be to prevent us from getting hurt. And, I’ll have to say, the means were concocted with a fair dose of humor as well.”

  Penny looked at him, surprised only for a moment, then it was as if a few pieces of a jigsaw puzzle had fit together all on their own. Not for Chiffrey, though. He looked incredulous and was puffing up for a speech.

  “You’ll have to excuse me for being a bore, Doctor,” he said, “but I’m having trouble finding the humor in the loss of two attack submarines and their crew.”

  “If that truly happened, Lieutenant, I would be the first to call it a terrible tragedy, but I’m still betting against it.

  “The propellers.” Everyone looked at Andrew. He was leaning against the Bluedrop’s crane and looking squarely at Chiffrey. “In the photos you brought, the propellers were found in the middle of the Pentagon courtyard. Dead center. One on top of another, the five blades pointing to the five walls.”

  Her father laughed. “Yes, in some kind of logic, perhaps the perfect place for them. The same with the divers. They went down to see what had happened to those same propellers and emerged later as poets and prophets, at least from what you’ve told us, Lieutenant. Whether they were spouting the ravings of madmen or the wisdom of the enlightened, perhaps we’ll know one day. But it all is beginning to strike me as resembling something out of the Odyssey. And as long as we’re on Greek classics, what about Lorraine, our TV news reader, turned sibyl and seer?”

  “You’ll have to excuse me, Doctor, as I’m afraid I still can’t quite make out the humor,” Chiffrey said, “but that is an insight I’d love to explore another day. Thing is, we’re running out of time. What’s next?”

  “Don’t you understand?” Her father looked up a moment as if beseeching heaven. “We are dealing with a totally different kind of intelligence, another order entirely. Although some of the actions taken toward us may seem almost nonsensical at times, there is a pattern here if we could but see it. One thing does seem abundantly clear and that is that we are not welcome closer to the dome. So at this point, I see nothing wiser than simply standing by.”

  “If I tell Command the dive is cancelled,” Chiffrey said, “let alone why, and then say our reaction to that is to just wait and see, they will immediately go to plan B, which means you all get pulled out of here. So while we’re standing by, you might as well start packing—ah, Malcolm? What’s up?”

  Malcolm had been trying to plug some diagnostic equipment into an electrical port on the Bluedrop but, after half-stumbling over a cable while lugging a tool box, had suddenly dropped it and run over to the railing, his mouth opening and closing like a dying fish. He gazed out to sea, shielding his eyes with cupped hands until he noticed some binoculars that had been left nearby. He brought them up to his face as if trying to screw his eyes directly into the lens casings. “It’s smooth and shiny,” he said. “Purplish red, shot through with green.” He put down the binoculars and turned to face the others, a triumphant smile playing on his face like that of a truant.

  Penny could make it out now, although not in such detail. It was about a hundred and fifty meters away, bobbing in the waves.

  “A whale carcass?” Chiffrey asked. “The color and all, maybe we’re just seeing the top?”

  “Don’t think so,” Becka said. She twisted around toward the bridge and shouted, “Over there!” to Emory, who was behind the wheel. Andrew gave a confirming hand signal to the bridge and the Valentina began coming around to the new heading.

  As they got closer, Andrew motioned Emory to slow down, then gave him the thumbs-up sign. “Get the Zodiacs in,” he said to Becka. “And bring your diving gear. We’re going to get wet.”

  Penny insisted on being in one of the boats, and no one protested. Andrew sat in front of her. Mateo was piloting, and as she briefly wondered why, the cook nodded his head at Andrew to indicate that he had been asked.

  They motored over slowly, keeping the bulbous shape to their starboard. It bobbed up and down with the waves, buoyant enough to float half out of the water. They came alongside, and found the surface of the thing to be as smooth and perfect as blown glass. It was a slightly elliptical sphere, almost two meters long. The violet-tinged surface was translucent to a depth of several centimeters. The thin veins of green that spidered through this outer layer and into its depths reminded her of nerves. When she looked closer she saw other colors embedded in the green: warm blues, intense yellows, and a little film of fiery red here and there that seemed to disappear when she looked directly at it. Then she remembered where she had seen this before. Of course. The tendrils that emanated from the transceiver on the deck of the Valentina’s bridge.

  Andrew, in his diving gear, was sitting so still that he might have been meditating. Then, without a word, he tipped b
ackward into the water and immediately went under.

  Mateo cut the engine. “She is an egg. I see before.”

  “What?” Penny asked.

  “In a dream. Long time ago. I was child. Yes, same dream every night until I forget. Only till now, I remember.”

  Mateo returned her steady gaze without a hint of self-consciousness. He was telling the truth. Memories of her own dream came back to her, the apparition, the colors…

  Malcolm was directly opposite the object, at the helm of the other Zodiac. Becka was with him, pulling on the rest of her gear. “I’m going in,” she said to Malcolm. “Be ready to power us out of here if necessary, please.” He vigorously nodded his agreement, yet smiled at her as if the most wonderful thing was happening.

  Perhaps it was.

  Penny couldn’t help getting her hopes up and was suddenly envious of Becka, who was preparing to go in with snorkel and mask. Becka pulled on her fins, spit in the mask and rinsed it out, then strapped it to her face and flipped over the side. Penny could see her orienting under the water and then kicking over to the mass before coming to the surface. Andrew must be on the other side, judging by the bubbles, but she couldn’t see him.

  “What do you think?” Malcolm asked. “The crane with a sling? We’ve used it to bring up small whales, so it shouldn’t have any problem with the weight. The egg wanted to be found.”

  “How do you know that?” she asked, but he said nothing. “Listen, Malcolm, listen to me. It may lack an internal support structure. More than anything else, it looks like a jellyfish to me not an egg. If we try craning it into the holding tank, it may not be able to support its own weight out of the water.”

  Malcolm idled down the engine to its lowest speed, and said, “It wants to be taken. You know that.”

  “A little patience is all I’m suggesting.” She peered at it, trying to focus on every detail, but could see no sign of movement. “If it’s alive, it may need to remain right where it is to stay healthy.”

  “That should be possible to check,” Malcolm said. He looked over at Becka who was swimming around looking very closely at the surface. “Hasn’t eaten her yet. Good sign.”

  “Mateo,” Penny said, “could you move in just a little closer?”

  He didn’t hesitate, but first stopped the engine, then stood up and used an oar to scull his way over. She stretched out her hand and touched the surface of Mateo’s ‘egg.’

  “It’s warm. Somehow, no surprise.”

  “Like just cooked,” Malcolm answered, nodding casually.

  Malcolm had also moved in closer and, after simply gazing at it for a moment, touched the surface.

  “Yeah, warm like a great lovely soft-boiled egg.”

  She was staring at him, wondering exactly what he was thinking, when Andrew broke the surface near Becka. He pulled the mask away from his face. “We’ll need the net.” He saw the concern on her face and added, “A purse net, much larger than this. Close it on the bottom and keep it open on top. Containment in the sea.”

  “The net has floats along the edge,” Becka added, “and we can keep it loosely alongside the ship as if it were in its own lagoon.”

  After some back and forth discussion, Emory maneuvered the Valentina around so its stern was pointing to their new arrival and then slowly backed toward them using only the forward maneuvering props. The net was rigged to the crane and lowered down to Becka and Andrew who were still in the water. With help from those in the Zodiacs, they managed to slide the open net over the silky shape and close off the bottom. They placed extra fenders around to prevent scraping against the dive platform. Andrew then signaled to slowly move the ship into a slightly better position with respect to the prevailing wind. Emory gave a little reverse and rudder and they drifted around, then he reversed the process until they came to a dead stop.

  The railing was lined with the entire crew staring down at them, including Chiffrey who was scanning in all directions with binoculars. Looking for others, no doubt, but she had a feeling this would be their only Easter egg today.

  Becka had climbed onto the dive platform and was now waiting with a stethoscope around her neck for the mass to drift a little closer. Crewmembers passed down other testing instruments, and Penny arranged them as best she could. Becka ignored them all and simply placed the receiving end of her stethoscope on the form’s surface.

  “I can hear something, a heartbeat maybe, but more complicated. Okay, now we try this.” She motioned Penny to slide over a small EEG unit, and started to stick on its sensors.

  “Well, that is quite a catch,” Chiffrey said from the rail. He was not smiling. “Your holding tank will be plenty big enough.”

  “Not bringing it up, Lieutenant,” Andrew said.

  “This is the most valuable specimen on the planet. We can’t risk losing it.”

  “Which is why we don’t want to be hasty,” Penny said over her shoulder. “Haven’t you learned anything?”

  “Captain, I have gone along with you on most things, but we can’t play the long game here.”

  Penny glared up at him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, and the Captain does, so shut up and listen.”

  “Wait,” Becka said, holding a hand up for attention. “Something’s moving.”

  “Get back from that thing!” Chiffrey yelled. “Becka!”

  Instead, Becka cautiously moved in closer and had both hands on the now slowly pulsating form when it suddenly flexed. She was thrown back onto a coil of line, her head just missing a steel handhold. Then the crane suddenly started. The tightening lines quickly closed the net.

  “Stop that crane now!” Andrew ordered.

  “You’ll hurt it!” Penny shouted.

  But the machinery drowned out her voice and the net continued up. She could see the object clearly distort under its own weight as it was lifted. She edged out as far as she could and looked up to see her father arguing with someone out of her line of sight. She scrambled up the ladder.

  “Dad! What’s going on?”

  “It was me,” Chiffrey answered. Operating the crane, he lowered the net into the tank with surprising skill.

  “You had no right!”

  “Between the hook and your plate, a fish can be lost.”

  “This is not some trout for the pan, you idiot!”

  “Easy there, just looked like we were in danger of losing it, and there wasn’t time for discussion. Whatever this is, it will receive the best of care. That is now my top priority.”

  “What have you ever cared for?” she said as she ran to the tank and up the steps to the attached observation platform, then began to loosen the lines.

  “That might surprise you.”

  “Then give it more slack!”

  “Lieutenant, get over here.” Andrew said. Mateo ran up and took over the controls of the crane as if he did this every day.

  “Believe me, this is really going to save our bacon with the brass,” Chiffrey said. “I need to call this in first if you wouldn’t mind—”

  “I do mind,” Andrew said. “Get over here, or I will haul you over.”

  Chiffrey froze. “Yes, sir,” he said a moment later and followed Andrew to the unoccupied foredeck.

  Penny stayed on the top of the platform even after she loosened the net. Some evidence of Chiffrey having his ears pinned back flew by, carried by the wind. Given the circumstances, he would likely get away with what he’d done, but Chiffrey was no longer her main concern. With help from Becka and Malcolm, she hauled the purse net out of the tank. The huge egg-like sphere floated free, but now seemed as lifeless as a beach ball.