Far From The Sea We Know (22 page)

The Captain walked up behind her, his
surprisingly light footsteps giving him away. She turned to him
with a smile. “You see the divers a while ago?”

He brought his binoculars up to his eyes and
nodded. “Chiffrey’s been in direct contact with the captain of the
salvage vessel. Was told that their propellers are gone, same with
the other ship. Just sheared off, no explanation. Happened when
they closed on us, just before the whales left.”

“Left? More like vanished.”

He shook his head as if remembering the
impossibility of it and gazed out at the Navy ships. “They’ve
rigged sea anchors, so they’re okay for now. Tugs are on the way
and we’re standing by just in case.” He smiled. “Doubt if they’ll
ask.”

She had known Andrew Thorssen almost as long
as her father. Even when she was a small child, he had always
spoken to her in this direct and plain way, had always included her
in whatever was going on as an equal. There was probably no one on
earth she trusted more.

“Andrew, they’re just not going to believe
that two ships could become disabled at the same time by
accident.”

“Can’t blame them for wanting answers. Looks
like their asking starts now.”

Lieutenant Chiffrey came around a bulkhead
and ambled up in his usual relaxed way, an innocent smile at home
again on his face. His earlier loss of aplomb was evidently only
temporary.

“I believe we have a deal,” he said. “You’ll
both get a high level of security clearance. Matthew as well.”

“Sounds like a field commission,” Penny
said.

“No, but it will do the job. And we’ll work
something out with the rest of the crew as well. I convinced the
brass that we need you all. After what happened to the cruiser and
the salvage vessel, they believed me.”

He glanced over at the disabled ships. “They
don’t know why they lost their props, but I pointed out that the
Valentina
had no problems. Or at least mechanical ones.
You’re also set up well for an investigation, you have the gear,
the facility, some talented people. You’ll have backup, don’t
worry. Got some stuff for you to sign.”

He took some large envelopes from his
briefcase and handed them out. “Any questions, let me know. You can
give this one to Matthew, thanks. The sooner we get this out of the
way, the better. A
fait accompli
. Got to tell you again it
took some persuasion, but they understand now that your ship and
crew are an asset best left as is.”

“So we’re your Judas goat,” Penny said.
“Bait.”

“That’s not the way I would put it,”
Chiffrey said. “This clearance will allow me to tell you all we
know. They accepted that as justifiable considering the
threat.”

“Threat?” Penny said. “They have problems
over there, but surely they’re in no danger.”

“Let’s see,” Chiffrey said. “Two Navy ships,
top of the line, rendered helpless, and nobody can begin to explain
how. Or why. Many would consider that an act of war. If I had not
talked them out of it, by the way, they would have quarantined your
ship, gotten you out of the way, and taken over. I need your help,
you need my help. I know you want to discover what is really going
on with the whales just as much as we do.”

“Help doing what?”

“For starters, Captain, we want to know
where the whales went. What force disabled these ships? And,
especially, why?”

He scratched his ear, looked up to the sun,
chuckled. “And I guess we’ve all become believers in purple whales.
Sorry for ever doubting Matthew. Where is he, anyway?”

“Brooding on his redemption somewhere,”
Penny said.

“Well, he earned it.”

“What else?” she said.

“How about the state of the people here?
Ripler’s had a total meltdown. And the others. Have you seen the
cameraman lately? That kid’s spontaneous recovery seems like a
miracle. I wouldn’t have believed it possible. Happy as a clam at
high tide now, but I got to wonder. Maybe his detour through cloud
cuckoo land is not a real recovery.”

“Getting a little paranoid?” Penny said.

“Something out of the ordinary is going on
here, and you both know it as well as I do. I just spoke with Dirk
and Lorraine Hart. They’re planning to get married when they get
back on shore! They’ve known each other a few hours, and they’re
getting married? Just passed them, and they were mooning over each
other like lovesick teenagers. And the stuff they were saying! If I
ever start spouting babble like that, please stab me with a fork.
And more of the like going on all over this ship. It’s certainly
not just stress. Some unknown agent affected your people.” He
glanced at Penny. “Or at least most of them. You put that together
with the ability to render warships useless and, yes, we have a
problem.”

Chiffrey was pacing back and forth as he
spoke, but in spite of his concern, he seemed oddly happy.

“Fortunately, we finally have physical
evidence: two pairs of propellers sheared right off. Not to mention
the whale’s transceiver sprouting on the deck of the bridge like a
mushroom. No, let’s do mention that.”

“It’s not a plant.”

Chiffrey smiled at the Captain’s
comment.

“Who knows, but that thing has sent down
roots and they’re still growing. I saw them move! Anything else to
add to the long list of questions without answers?”

“That’s plenty for now.” Andrew replied. “If
we help you, then what?”

“At this point, we can’t even be sure what
we’re looking for,” Chiffrey said. “Whatever way we believed the
world worked is now in tatters. So how can I possibly say?”

He had his hand on the railing and seemed to
be trying to wear away the paint with his thumb. “We need to work
together, and you have my promise that I will do everything I can
to see that this comes out right for all of us.”

Chiffrey looked toward the drifting cruiser
and then to the Captain. “What about it?”

“I’ll have to ask for volunteers.”

“We can take back anyone who wants out,”
Chiffrey said. “Escort them all the way to the safety of their
homes, if requested.” He looked at Penny.

“I’m in,” she said, “but I want to make
clear that I have serious misgivings about your agenda, and I’m
remaining in spite of them.”

“Or maybe because of them,” Chiffrey said,
giving one of his annoying winks.

“You’ve got your ‘yes,’ Lieutenant,” Andrew
said. “Leave it at that.”

“Yes, sir. Looking forward to working
together.” He held out his hand and the Captain met it halfway with
his own. “I’ll set it up, then. Should be fun operating as a team,
finally.” He gave Penny a quick nod and walked away.

Andrew turned to Penny, smiling. “Take some
down time. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”

“Is there any other kind?”

She kept her gaze on Chiffrey as he strolled
away. “Can we really trust him?”

“Up to a point,” Andrew said. “But his own
mission will always come first.”

“You told us when he first arrived that he
wasn’t just a troubleshooter for Air Force radar glitches. He seems
to have clout. What do you think of the deal?”

“The terms he offered are as fair as we’ll
get. We either take this berth and ship with him or get left
behind.”

“You never believed him, did you? Ripler, I
mean.”

“I had the advantage of knowing his words
were false. Don’t blame the crew for taking him seriously. Jack
believed what he was saying.”

“He was persuasive,” Penny said, “but did
you see his eyes after the whales vanished?”

Andrew nodded sadly, then squinted through
his binoculars toward the south. “They got here fast enough.
Tugboats, another salvage vessel.”

“I never liked Ripler,” she said, “but I
didn’t realize he was so fragile.”

Andrew put the binoculars down and scanned
the entire horizon before speaking. “Jack’s fallen right off the
edge of his little world. I’ve seen it before, and you know what?
People can forget they’re insane. With enough time. Happens
everyday.” He looked at the ships again. “I’m due on the
bridge.

Dawn was just breaking when Penny walked out
on deck. It was still cool from the night, but the new day’s sun
was already bringing a little warmth to her skin. The weather was
as perfect as it could be. No rain. Sun with some clouds. A mild,
but constant, breeze easily earned her gratitude. She glanced up at
Andrew behind the wheel on the bridge and gave him a quick wave.
Things were returning to normal.

But not really. Things would never be normal
again. Normal was gone and wasn’t ever coming back.

Another day and a night had passed since
Penny’s meeting with Andrew. Since then, a frigate had appeared
yesterday and was shadowing them on their port side. The two
disabled Navy ships still floated like bathtub toys to their port.
For some reason, the seagoing tugboats were just standing by.

After searching around, she found Matthew on
the fantail, gazing at the
Valentina’
s wake. She walked up
slowly and took a place by his side at the rail, but not too
close.

“Must be driving them mad,” she said,
grinning as she looked over at him. “Their propellers just falling
off like that.”

Matthew didn’t return the smile, didn’t say
anything. He had become almost unwilling to speak, preferring long
looks of knowingness. It was as if he had simply packed his bags
and moved up to some lofty peak of self-containment. In the
aftermath of the whales disappearing, and all his disbelievers
being laid low, he had fallen into the role of vindicated prophet
as if into the arms of a true lover.

“Quite a regatta out there today,” she said,
trying again. “What’s taking them so long to tow those ships?”

He shifted his posture a little and mumbled,
“Soon, now.”

At least he’s starting to talk, she thought.
For some reason, she remembered how he had gone into a kind of daze
when he walked into the bar after the floatplane dropped them off
on their trip up.

“Matthew? Do you remember what Normy said to
you?”

“Who?”

“The guy in Abercrombie. Normy. He said
something to you and you just froze up and started to sweat and
turned pale as a ghost. Remember that? Something about bones?” He
just looked at her with the same vaguely sublime face.

“Matthew? You’re creeping me out.
Hellooo…?”

His head quivered for a moment, and he
suddenly seemed to see her as he said. “Why are you goading me?
Because I stayed in the men’s quarters last night?”

“You can sleep where you want. I made that
clear.”

“Some of the crew seemed to need to talk.
About what happened to them.”

“Well, how compassionate of you, then.”

He didn’t strike at the lure, saying only,
“I hope you had a good evening.”

“Slept like a baby. Nice to stretch
out.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” he said, “the guy next to me smelled
like a fresh-turned compost heap. Is there anything I could do to
win a place back, if not in your bunk, at least in your cabin? The
floor would be fine.”

She looked at him, kept looking, and at last
his face broke into a true smile. She pounded his arm. “Damn you!
Okay, you’re back in, but you could use a shower yourself, you
toad. I have to tell you something. Chiffrey was picked up by a
launch from the frigate after you and your buddies turned in last
night. About three in the morning.”

“You were still up?”

“I woke, couldn’t get back to sleep. Found
out this morning that Chiffrey left no word of when he would
return. Well?”

“Wait and see.”

“And stare at all the pretty waves, you
mean?”

“Something changed for me, Penny. I’m sorry
I haven’t been able to put it into words. It needs time, and I need
time. Part of me is here and part of me is…looking on.”

“You need guy space. Got it.”

He was about to protest, but then seemed
relieved. She let him off the hook, after all.

Most of the crew would soon be filing into
C-lab for a meeting, but she wasn’t going and she wasn’t surprised
that Matthew had also decided to stay away. She looked at him
again, his hair rustling in the breeze. He no longer stared at the
waves, but had produced a set of nail clippers from somewhere and
was busy with an impromptu manicure, of all things.

“Keeping up personal hygiene, good,” she
said. He suddenly seemed completely absorbed in his clipping, as if
he were working on his definitive masterpiece, and didn’t respond.
She persisted. “Why has this happened to everybody? And you?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, but the knowing
look on his face was exasperating. “Everything is the same, yet
somehow nothing is the same and never will be again.”

“How fine and wise.”

“I will be able to say it better one
day.”

“Listen, you’ve been holier-than-thou ever
since the whales disappeared, and the Navy was disabled. I was
watching people around you yesterday. They treated you with such
deference, and why? Because all along you were right. I know it’s a
relief to finally have everyone see that you’re not crazy, but is
this going to be your new career?”

“You were going to give me a break.”

“I never promised.”

“No, I guess you didn’t.”

She waited, but he didn’t follow through, so
she said, “I’ve always been straight with you. That’s better than
bullshit with sugar on top, isn’t it?”

“I’d just like the rest of you.”

“So, you want it all, do you? No one gets
everything.”

He seemed to look inward for a moment and
said, “Then I must make everything of what I get.”

“Skip the platitudes. Where are you now with
this? Explain it to me.”

“Ever since the incident, I look at people,
I see them, I hear them. I mean,
really
see and hear them.
And everything around them as well. The ship, it’s almost as if it
is alive. I feel right with everybody. Things may be the same
outside, but I feel so
connected
in a way that is just…” He
struggled for words and looked almost sad. “…just the way things
were always meant to be.”