Distant Waves (20 page)

F
ifteen minutes later, Colonel Astor, Tesla, Mr. Stead, Thad, and I were out on the first-class deck. The night sky was brilliantly clear, a blue black field crowded with stars -- some of which seemed distant and others astoundingly close. We could hear the muted sound of the band still playing at the wedding reception inside. I shivered in the night air, and Thad draped his jacket over my shoulders.

We peered into the darkness but saw no sign of ice.

Two officers joined us. "Officers Fleet and Lee," Colonel Astor greeted them. "Seen any ice, gentlemen?"

"No, but Captain Smith stationed us out here tonight with specific orders to be on the lookout for it," Officer Lee replied.

"Hold on!" cried Officer Fleet. "Look out there!"

In the distance something glowed like a giant phantom in the darkness.

"We should be able to steer around that without a problem," Lee said. "Let's go tell Officer Murdoch at once."

"Officer Murdoch takes command at night," Colonel Astor explained to us. "He's an extremely able seaman."

Tesla waited until they were gone before taking his earthquake machine from its case and handing it to Thad to hold. He did some quick calculations on a pad. "I believe we are traveling at a speed of approximately twenty-six knots," he murmured.

"That is what Captain Smith told me the other night at dinner," Colonel Astor concurred.

I felt a flutter of nerves. Although I'd experienced it nearly thirteen years earlier, I well remembered the power of that small device. "Should we stand back?" I asked.

"No need," Tesla assured me as he took the device from Thad.

We were quickly nearing the iceberg. It surprised me how fast it had gone from being a white spot looming in the distance to becoming an alarmingly large, jagged white pyramid just off the right side of the ship. "We're going to hit it," I said quietly to Thad.

I saw worry in Thad's eyes, and he looked to Tesla to see when he planned to make his move.

Mr. Stead folded his arms and remained calm, but his eyes were locked intensely on the iceberg.

Colonel Astor must have been concerned, too. "All right, Tesla," he said. "Let's see what this invention of yours can really do. Your moment of truth has arrived."

I sensed that the ship was beginning to steer away from the iceberg and felt a tremendous relief. Thad took my 
hand and squeezed it, smiling a little; he, too, must have been reassured that the situation was being handled.

Tesla held his earthquake machine toward the ever-larger iceberg and turned a dial.

Instantly I clutched my head with both hands. That high whine that had made my brain feel like it might melt, the sensation that had occurred during the quake so many years ago, had returned full force. I grabbed for Thad and he held me tight, but he, too, was cringing in pain.

"Something is wrong!" Tesla cried. He tried twisting the dial but it was jammed. "This device has been tampered with!" He scratched something sticky off the bottom of the device. Taking a tiny screwdriver from the case, he undid the minuscule bolts holding the device together. "Some sort of rubbery gum has been poured into this," he observed. "How could this have --"

"Turn it off, would you, Tesla?" Colonel Astor implored through a painful grimace. "Talk later." I cant.

"Throw it in the ocean," I suggested desperately, my teeth chattering.

"No," he said, "it might kill everything down there or create a whirlpool. The entire ship would be sucked under."

"Smash it, then," I said, remembering when he'd done it before.

The ship's outer railing suddenly started vibrating. A small crack began to split the wooden deck right under my feet.

Tesla stared at the device as though he were in a trance. In the next second he came out of it and began pounding the device on the side of the ship with a fury I would not have thought him capable of.

"Thank God!" Colonel Astor exclaimed when the thing finally lay in smithereens at our feet.

"We need to discover what damage has been caused," Tesla said urgently, hurrying toward the ship's bridge. We all followed him, moving quickly.

When we reached the bridge, we were told to get out. It was clear that some emergency was under way. We crowded in the doorway of the bridge as Officer Murdoch shouted at his helmsman, "I said hard astarboard! Didn't you hear me?"

"The ship won't turn as it should," the helmsman replied in a panicked voice. "The rudder isn't responding properly."

Captain Smith brushed past us without a word and demanded to know the situation. Officer Murdoch told him that the rudder was not turning correctly. "Whatever caused all that vibrating just before might have affected it."

"What was that?" Captain Smith asked.

It was a terrible moment for me -- for all of us, probably.

Should we reveal what the earthquake machine had done and risk putting Tesla in peril of arrest? It seemed to me that we had to.

We felt a bump and all of us at once tottered back several steps. Thad caught hold of my elbow to keep me

"We've glanced off the side of the iceberg," Officer Murdoch announced.

Tesla stepped just inside the bridge and spoke. "That vibration you experienced was caused by an invention of mine. I was attempting to shatter the iceberg by vibratory waves. Someone tampered with it, and it vibrated at a rate much higher than intended."

Captain Smith listened to him without comment and then turned to Officer Murdoch. "Send someone to get Thomas Andrews, the ship's designer. Tell him to meet me below. I'll want his assessment of the damage."

We hurried back to the wedding to tell the guests what we knew. The wedding had been scheduled to end at eleven thirty and most of the guests had already left. Blythe and the LaRoches were gone. The band was packing up its instruments and soon departed, too. Mimi and Victor were saying good-bye to the few guests still in the process of leaving. Soon only the Astors, Mrs. Brown, Mr. Guggenheim, Ninette, Mimi and Victor, and Thad and I were left.

"Jack, where were you?" Mr. Guggenheim asked Colonel Astor.

Everyone gathered to listen as Colonel Astor told them that we'd hit an iceberg and that the captain was assessing the damage.

"We felt the impact," Mrs. Brown said, "but we weren't worried. This ship is unsinkable. What was that strange shaking, though? It gave me quite a headache while it was going on."

"I was demonstrating an invention of mine," Tesla admitted.

"What are you -- some kind of mad scientist?" Mrs. Brown asked.

"It would seem so," Tesla replied despairingly.

"I am sure there is nothing for us to worry about," Ninette spoke up. "This is the
Titanic."

I noticed Mr. Stead was standing off by himself at the bottom of the Grand Staircase. Leaving Thad's side, I went to him. As I approached, I heard him speaking rapidly in a very low tone. When he noticed me, he stopped talking in this way. "Julia has come to me," he said. "This is the test of which she spoke. My destiny is before me at last, and I must meet it in the right way. Tell your sisters, tell everyone, to prepare to leave right away." He hugged me in a fatherly way and then held my shoulders, speaking to me urgently. "Go immediately. There is not as much time as 
everyone is saying." Having said that, he hurried up the Grand Staircase.

I told everyone what Mr. Stead had told me. "He's a brilliant journalist except when it comes to all that Julia nonsense," Mr. Guggenheim pronounced. "I, for one, am not going to get into a panic before the captain advises me to do so, which I don't believe will happen."

"John, I'm not feeling well," Madeleine Astor said. "Can we go to our room now, please?"

Saying good-bye to us, Colonel Astor put his arm around Madeleine's shoulders and escorted her out.

"I'm with Mr. Guggenheim," Mimi said. "I'm not going to worry about a little bump in the night."

"Mimi, please get ready to get on a lifeboat," I argued with her. "I believe Mr. Stead, and I'm scared."

"Don't be scared," Victor tried to comfort me. "This crew is very capable. Anything that needs to be done will be done."

"I must lie down!" Tesla blurted. "I'm having one of my flashes. I can taste the air. I can see all the food smells in this room. It's overwhelming me." Without waiting to get to his room, Tesla climbed atop a table and lay down on his back, shutting his eyes.

Mrs. Brown bade us good night. Mimi and Victor said they would go with her. "Don't be up late, Jane," Mimi advised. "Get some sleep. It's nearly midnight."

"Let's go on deck and see what we can find out," Thad suggested. Leaving Tesla asleep on the table, we went and discovered the crew pulling tarps off the lifeboats. We looked at each other anxiously. "You alert your sisters. I'll go wake up Tesla," Thad said. "We'll meet back here in fifteen minutes."

***

B
ack inside the ship, stewards were already getting passengers out of their rooms and instructing them to put on heavy coats and gather only the necessities they would need on the lifeboats. People complied grudgingly, many complaining that the ship was putting them through a safety drill in the middle of the night. No one seemed too worried. Their confidence in the ship's safety was that great.

By the time I reached Blythe's room, she was in her nightgown, throwing some things in a bag for the still-sleeping LaRoche girls. "Is it cold out there?" she asked me. "Should I bring coats?"

"Absolutely, and wear one yourself," I told her. She looked so young to me there with her hair all tumbled around her shoulders, so thin in her ruffled white gown. A surge of affection for my baby sister formed itself into a lump in my throat. I held her tight. "You'll be all right, won't you?" I said.

"Of course," she replied calmly. "I'm in charge of Louise and Simone. I have to be all right."

"Don't forget your life belt. There's one for each passenger in every cabin," I said as I left. Of course Emma, Amelie, and I didn't have one, since we weren't officially on board.

I then went to find the twins. Li was pacing the room when I got there. "When I wake up, Amelie is gone," she blurted the moment she saw me. "Emma say she sleepwalking and go to find her."

"You go. I'll find them," I said. "Dress warm. Bring your life belt. This isn't a drill, Li."

Where could Emma and Amelie be? Would they get to the lifeboats on time? Mr. Stead said he was worried that there weren't enough of them. I decided to look for them on deck.

Thad was there to meet me. "Where's your coat, your things?" he asked.

"Where are yours?" I countered.

"I never got to my room because I couldn't wake Tesla up. I only left him so I could meet you, but I have to go back for him. I have time because they're loading women and children first. You should get on a boat right now."

I spied Mimi, still in her wedding gown with a heavy coat over her shoulders. "Where are Blythe and the twins?" she asked, rushing up to me and Thad.

Looking around, I pointed to Blythe, who was already on a boat with Juliette LaRoche and the little girls. Mr. LaRoche stood on deck, handing his wife the bag Blythe 
had packed and some other supplies. Juliette lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. I could tell he was murmuring words of assurance to her as he settled her back down into the boat. After that, the attending officer gave a signal and the boat was lowered out of sight.

"Amelie is sleepwalking," I told Mimi. "Emma has gone to find her."

I'd never heard Mimi swear before, but she did right then. "Where could they be?" she asked, turning in a circle in her search for them.

Victor joined us, also still dressed in his wedding tuxedo. "Mimi, find a place on the next boat," he urged.

"I can't go until my sisters are safe," she told him.

"Yes, you can," I said.

"No, I'm the oldest. I'm in charge. I just can't."

"They'll be all right. I'll see to it," Victor promised.

"Hey!" Thad cried suddenly, pointing.

We all turned and were instantly bewildered. He was pointing at an old woman in a large, flowered nightgown wearing a ruffled cap who was getting into a lifeboat. Before we could question him about it, Thad had bounded over to the woman. Everyone gasped as Thad yanked the cap from her head, revealing the old woman to be the hired thug who had undoubtedly wrecked Tesla's earthquake machine.

The man took off and Thad chased after him. Victor 
sped away to help. All of them turned a corner and disappeared.

The same eight-man band that had played at Mimi's wedding assembled on deck. They broke into another ragtime song. I presumed it was to help keep everyone calm, and it did seem to help. It created the feeling that everything was under control.

Emma rushed up to us. "Thank God!" Mimi cried. "Where's Amelie?"

"I've looked everywhere. I can't find her," Emma cried frantically.

"We'll spread out in three directions," Mimi decided. "Whether you find her or not, be back here in exactly ten minutes."

We agreed and set out to find Amelie. I moved into the halls, walking against the tide of people heading for the lifeboats. I was jostled and had to struggle to get through. Eventually I realized I was outside the Grand Ballroom and decided to check if Amelie had gone there, maybe trying to return to the wedding in her sleep.

As I ran down the Grand Staircase, I saw at a glance that no one was there except Tesla, who was still laid out on a table. I had to try to wake him but as I approached, he startled me badly by unexpectedly sitting bolt upright.

He looked straight at me, not seeming a bit surprised at my presence. "Jane, I've had one of my dreams. I know a 
way to right this entire situation. But it's in the cargo hold. Come with me. I'll need your help."

"Are you sure?" I asked, doubtful that this was the best use of my time at the moment.

"You doubt my flashes?"

"Maybe."

"My dear, one can think clearly, but one can be quite insane and still think deeply. I have had a deep thought."

"All right," I agreed, persuaded more by his conviction than his words. "I'll go with you."

At the top of the staircase, we met Thad. His face was badly scraped. "He got away again," he reported. "Victor's gone back to wait for Mimi and force her into a boat if he can."

"Come, Thad," Tesla said. "We'll need you, too. The device is very heavy."

***

We knew that the cargo hold was below in third class, so we headed down. When we got there, we encountered a locked gate that barred our way in.

What I saw through that gate horrified me.

Water was rushing through the hallways. The people in third class crushed up against locked gates shouting to be let out.

"Hold on," Thad said, running back up the stairs. He'd 
spotted what might be a key cabinet, but it was locked. Forcefully smashing it open with a jab of his elbow, he quickly located a ring of keys.

We had frantic and frustrating moments as he tested each key until one finally clicked in the lock. Then we were nearly trampled by the stampede of terrified passengers charging up the stairs.

At first, we flattened ourselves against the wall to let them pass, but more and more kept coming through, since all the other exits were locked. Finally, we had to push our way down the several steps to third class.

It seemed like so much insanity to be going
toward
the very situation that these people were fleeing. The knee-deep water was frigid and instantly seeped into my shoes and soaked my dress.

"This way!" Tesla directed us, slogging through the torrent of freezing water.

We followed him to the flooded cargo hold, an immense, warehouse-like room where cars and furniture stood side by side. Boxes and trunks had already broken apart, their contents floating like colorful seaweed. An open jewelry box sailed by, its dazzling contents -- sapphire rings, diamond bracelets, golden earrings -- as in need of rescue as the passengers above.

There was no time to pay attention to it. Tesla found what he was seeking, a very large crate stacked high on top of other crates. "Thank God, it's not wet," he cried.

Thad jumped up on some boxes and began pulling at the crate, but it was too heavy. Tucking the hem of my skirt into my waistband, I scrambled up to help him.

"Here, I found this!" Tesla called, reaching to hand me a crowbar. "Don't try to bring the crate down. It's too heavy and it will get wet. Just open it up. It will work just as well in a horizontal position."

Thad took the crowbar from me and began cracking open the slats of wood. "What is this machine?" I shouted down to Tesla.

"Haven't you guessed?" he asked. "It's my time machine. I'm going to transport this entire ship forward in time so that other ships will have a chance to get here. Surely the
Titanic
has sent out calls for help by now."

"They have," Thad confirmed. "The
Carpathia
is not far, and neither is the
Californian,
if they can be reached before they resume their morning telegraph operation. The captain has sent up a number of flares."

"Could we send the ship back to the past and change what happens?" I asked.

"Theoretically, maybe," Tesla answered, as he began to climb up on the boxes to us, "but I don't know how to do that yet. I can only go forward."

We got the crate open. Tesla slowly climbed alongside of it. With Thad's help, they pried open the door. Inside was a chamber big enough for two or three adults. "Normally, one would enter the chamber, but in this case 
I'm going to turn it high with the door open. Hopefully the frequency will emanate out and take the entire ship forward."

"Will this hurt?" I asked.

"Maybe," he admitted, "a little. But it's worth it to have so many more people saved. All these steerage passengers don't have a chance unless one of the big ships arrives much faster than they will get here otherwise. It's just a small hop forward, but it will be significant in its consequences."

After that, everything happened so fast. Tesla began turning dials.

Thad clutched my hand.

"Jane!" Mimi splashed into the cargo hold.

"Mimi, why aren't you on a boat?" I shouted.

"I couldn't leave without you."

There was a loud, loud humming.

The room became a blaze of blinding, ultra bright, white light.

***

In the next moment, I was flailing in icy water, gasping for breath. A chair floated by, and I grabbed onto it to keep myself afloat.

At first, I was so shocked by the freezing water that I couldn't even think. People floated by, many with 
wide-eyed, horror-filled stares, and my brain couldn't make sense of it. Who were they? Why were they floating in the ocean? Why was I?

Slowly my body temperature adjusted and rational thought and memory returned, but it was still hard to make sense of everything.

Where was the ship?

How could a vessel so enormous have sunk so completely that no sign of it remained?

Off in the distance, dark forms hovered in the water. Why were they just standing out there? "Help!" I yelled, waving my arm. "Help me!"

"Jane!" It was Tesla, several yards away. He was floating on an overturned table. Using his arms to paddle, he moved toward me and pulled me on with him.

"Have you seen Thad or Mimi?" I asked.

"Not yet," he replied. He pulled a small light from his pocket. I assumed it was another of his inventions and didn't even bother to question it. He shone it around the dark waters.

What we saw was too horrible to describe. Colonel Astor and Mr. Stead were blue-faced and still. They clutched the same piece of a floating door. Soot covered Colonel Astor, which led me to guess that one of the ship's funnels might have hit him.

A man I guessed to be Mr. LaRoche lay facedown in the water, his arms spread in front of him. I saw a great 
number of the women who'd worked as seamstresses on our dresses just this morning.

I spied Victor floating there, and had to turn away. Poor Mimi. How would she ever get over this?

Once again I began searching for Thad and Mimi, but couldn't locate them.

And then I saw two figures in lavender bridesmaid dresses. They lay side by side on another floating door. They appeared to be sleeping, eyes closed.

"My sisters!" I told Tesla urgently.

We both began paddling frantically until we were beside them. Tesla reached out from our floating table and felt Emma's pulse, then Amelie's.

I waited only a moment for his response but it felt like a hundred years.

"They're alive," he said, "but barely."

"Help!" I shouted at the dark forms of the lifeboats hovering out there. "Help! Help! Help!" I screamed until I was hoarse and then called even more. Tesla shone his small light at them.

A dim light that looked like a match flickered, burned for a second, and was gone. But it wasn't as far away as the others. Tesla shone his beam on it and kept it there until a familiar face came into view.

It was Mrs. Brown, and she was rowing. So were a number of the other women in the boat with her.

Before long, the lifeboat was close enough that Mrs. Brown and the other passengers could pull Emma and Amelie on board. I noticed the quartermaster of the boat looking out to sea, not even acknowledging us. "He didn't want to come back for you," Mrs. Brown explained as Tesla and I climbed on. "So I threatened to throw him overboard; then the ladies and I commandeered the boat."

"Thank you! Thank you!" I said, my teeth chattering uncontrollably from the bitter cold.

"Sure thing," Mrs. Brown replied as she draped her sable coat over my sisters.

"Mimi and Thad are out here somewhere," I told her, peering anxiously out into the darkness. And Blythe, I had to hope, was still safe in her boat with the LaRoche women.