Far From The Sea We Know (37 page)

Life on board was returning to a something
like normalcy. The afterglow of the whale incident was beginning to
fade, and every one of the crew was hard at work again,
contributing in whatever way they could. Between most of the crew,
there was a genuine feeling of harmony in the air. But not many
people went out of their way to speak to Penny. She couldn’t blame
them.

Everything seemed to be going flawlessly. It
would have been almost anticlimactic, except for one thing: the
Bluedrop
and her crew would be going down tomorrow morning
to look at the impossible.

Penny had made an effort to take part in the
preparations and worked for a while with a couple of students.
Their discovery that the level of plankton in the water surrounding
the dome was way above normal should have been as exciting to her
as it was to them. It probably explained the abundance of fish and
other sea life in the immediate area building up from the chain
below and hence the prevalence of waterfowl. It soon became clear,
though, that the students didn’t really need her help, and worse,
she found it hard to care. Sitting around doing nothing was
becoming intolerable. She paced the deck, trying to get an exercise
rhythm going, but because of all the gear piled up, there was
little room. Defeated, she was about ready to head for the
treadmill in its reeking little alcove when Chiffrey approached her
from behind. She heard him and spun around before he could say
anything.

“Yeah, I’m getting a little antsy myself,”
he said. “This ship seems smaller every day.”

“Maybe you’re just getting bigger.”

“I’ll steal that one. But look, I’m going to
meet with your father. Care to come along?”

She didn’t say anything, just motioned him
to go and then followed him below deck and into the lab where they
would monitor the minisub. Matthew sat at one of the consoles
scrutinizing readouts. Her father smiled at her as she walked in,
and said to Chiffrey, “I believe we are ready to send the
Bluedrop
down. She’s fully fit.”

“Great. Have you settled on a crew?”

“Yes. Myself for one.”

Penny said nothing.

“Glad to hear that,” Chiffrey said.

“I will captain and pilot. Becka will handle
navigation and cameras.”

“Becka. Good, That leaves room for one more,
if I’m not mistaken.”

“Matthew.”

“Hmm, are you sure?” Chiffrey asked. He
looked over at Matthew and smiled. “No offense, but you’ve not
crewed on the
Bluedrop
even once, from what I
understand.”

“I’ve had many hours on the simulator at the
Point, and I’ve always done well.”

Her father raised his hand just enough to
signal Matthew to back off, and said to Chiffrey, “I have to insist
that Matthew be onboard the
Bluedrop
. Choice of crew was
part of our original agreement. You remember that, I’m sure.”

Penny didn’t remember any such conversation.
When had they come to that and what else might they have discussed?
Chiffrey blinked his eyes a few times, his face almost
expressionless. Then he smiled and pushed on.

“Yes, I remember, Doctor, but I’d like you
to reconsider. However worthy of going Matthew no doubt is,” and he
gave a quick wink in Matthew’s direction, “he would be taking the
place of someone with more training and experience.”

Penny found it hard to resist saying
something, and almost laughed because she wanted to come to
Matthew’s defense even though she didn’t want him to go. She should
be supporting Chiffrey’s bid to have Matthew taken off the mission,
but somehow couldn’t.

“Right,” her father continued. “Experience
is precisely what I need, but of a particular kind. Matthew seems
to have a connection to the whale, and I think we all have
concluded that the whale has a connection to what lies waiting
below us. I can’t explain exactly why, but I want him to be there.
You don’t always go by the book, do you?”

“Not unless I clearly see a reason not to,
and when I’m willing to accept all the consequences. Believe it or
not, it doesn’t happen often.”

“Well spoken, but I believe this
is
one of those instances. The
Bluedrop
may be small, but it is
a ship, and I her acting captain. That makes the lives of everyone
on board my responsibility. I know I can count on Matthew, and his
being on board may be crucial.”

“All right, Doc, we’ll do it your way. When
do you launch?”

“Five tomorrow morning.”

Her father hadn’t hesitated to use the same
argument that Chiffrey had been employing: Matthew as a ward
against the dome, a charm for remaining in its good graces. But it
seemed to Penny to be more than that. In his battle against forces
that sought one day to completely reduce the mystery of the sea to
the scale of park and farm management, her father had never found a
real protégé, someone to pass his work on to, his legacy. Someone
with the same essential view. Perhaps he now believed he had.

After dinner, Penny found Matthew and pulled
him into a small lab, flicking on the exterior Do-Not-Enter light
as she went in. She whirled around on him. “You shouldn’t be on the
Bluedrop
.”

“I thought we settled this. I have to be
there.”

“But do you
want
to go?”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It is that simple. Do you want to go or
not?”

“Yes, I do want to go. But I’m afraid.”

She was silent for a moment and looked him
in the eye.

“Is that what this is about?” she finally
said. “Matthew’s big chance to conquer his fears? Some ‘be all
you’re told you to be’ bullshit? Can’t you just take a ropes course
or something?”

“Your father’s going down, and you don’t
seem so worried about him.”

“Who says I’m not? And who says I’m worried
about you?”

She jerked away, took as many steps as the
small room would allow, and wheeled back right in his face.

“Listen. My father does what he does. That
doesn’t mean you have to do the same. You don’t need to prove
anything. And this is not a good idea.”

“Why?”

“Because you have no real experience. You’ve
never been down there. Not once!”

“Have to start sometime.”

“This is clearly the wrong time. More
important, you’ve been affected by this thing, touched somehow.
Several times.”

“Which is a good argument for me going, as
your father pointed out.”

“But a much better argument for
not
going.”

“Why?”

She started to say something, then stopped.
Her reason didn’t make any sense, or any more sense than anything
else. Everything they were saying was emptier than air.

“Just listen to me,” she said. “Yes, we
don’t really know much, but we do know that whatever it is we are
dealing with is unpredictable and therefore dangerous, even if not
by intention.”

“I don’t get it. How come you’ve become so
cautious in the last days? Why are you worrying about every
possible thing, and especially me? You didn’t start this mission
that way.”

“I just don’t—”

“You don’t want to lose me.”

“That is not what I was going to say.”

“But that’s what you’re feeling. Why don’t
you admit it, for once?”

“Oh, all right, why not. It’s true. Yet
another woman—excuse me—girl, hopelessly in love with Matthew
Amati, he of the killer good looks, and world class jerk. Sniff,
sniff, sob, sob.”

“Penny, it’s never been that way for me.
You’re the best thing—”

“Don’t flatter yourself! Yeah, it’s been
good, but I don’t need you, and don’t ever say that again, unless
you want to get rid of me. And you may want to yet.”

He stuck his thumbs in his pockets and
leaned back against the bulkhead. She had the feeling that he was
tuning her out.

“Ayn Rand,” he finally said. “You sound like
you’ve been reading
The Fountainhead
. The self-righteous
indignation, the over zealous individuality—”

Swak!

She slapped him across the face. The
sensation on her hand didn’t even register to her.

He is such an ass! Shit…

She watched, suddenly detached, as the blood
rushed burning hot into his face. His arms made quick movements
toward her, then just as abruptly locked. In the suspended moment,
it was as if a thin crack of light appeared between them, and
instead of boiling over, the heat from his rage subsided to a
simmer, then drained away completely, taking his anger and tension
with it. His arms fell back to his sides. She looked into his eyes
and saw the glitter of tears held back. He found his way back to
her, and held her so softly they seemed to melt together.

“Matthew, look…stay with me. For now. Before
you go.”

“I’ll come back, you know. Nothing will stop
me.”

“If you’re going to make a promise, how
about coming up with better lines than that?”

He hesitated a moment, but smiled. “Yeah,
okay, but I meant it. And as far as the slap across the face, it
broke something loose in me, so thanks, but if you ever do that
again…”

“I might do it again.” She didn’t smile. Her
guard was completely down. He looked at her, a little sadness in
his eyes, then kissed her and said, “Your place?”

“Our place. Unless you prefer the men’s
quarters.”

“Come on. It’s late.”

Matthew had risen earlier and, after
silently dressing, slipped from their cabin like a wraith. Penny
had been awake but had not stirred, preferring to lay still and
listen to his quiet movements. There was nothing left to say or do,
nothing they hadn’t shared last night, and they had already had the
closest thing to a farewell she desired. She would wait and go out
later.

By that time, he was already on board. She
stood at the railing while they gently lowered the
Bluedrop
into the sea from the fixed crane on the aft deck. When she had
seen them do the sea test the day before, it had reminded her of a
baptism. Today, it was more like a burial, with the minisub a gaudy
yellow sarcophagus. It was not a good thought at this moment, and
she renewed her effort to concentrate on what was going on around
her.

Emory was on top of the
Bluedrop
,
checking the connections. He had always seemed more like a techie,
but in spite of his size he looked comfortable in full diving gear.
Sunlight, glinting off the high-visibility yellow hull, made the
vessel look as if its paint hadn’t dried yet.
Lemondrop
would have been a better name, thought Penny. Her father’s sense of
humor. It looked more like a child’s plaything than a vessel that
could protect them from the crushing pressures of the depths they
would reach.

Along the tethering line ran a full
communications cable, which meant the
Bluedrop
would have
audio, visual, and data communications with the
Valentina
.
Unless something went wrong. Not many other than Penny were
thinking this way. Nearly all the crew had brightened up over the
last few days, as if finding the dome had buoyed their spirits.
Ripler’s disturbing outburst seemed to have faded from memory.

Emory now stood on top of the
Bluedrop
, holding onto the cable as they slowly dropped into
the sea. Water began to wash over the shiny yellow hull, an
enormous lemon sloshing in a punch bowl. Finally the ocean took all
the weight of the minisub, and the line went slack. The small
vessel found its buoyancy, but because of its bulbous shape bobbed
up and down like a coracle, even in this relatively mild sea.

Emory slipped off to join other divers
already in the water. They released the safety fenders and he
hand-signaled “all clear” through a porthole to Becka. The divers
swam away and the
Bluedrop
slipped below the surface like a
stone. The vague tension in Penny’s chest that had been there since
waking became sharper. Although what she really wanted to do was to
curl up on her bunk with a tall glass of scotch, it was time to
head for the control room.

She didn’t feel like sitting and, in any
case, there were no extra seats. Malcolm was in front of one
console. Chiffrey had commandeered the one available bar-height
stool, and sat with his arms crossed as if waiting for the big game
to start. There was a free chair in front of another console, but
that was for Emory, who would soon be joining them. She stood
behind the empty chair, which gave her a view of all the screens:
one for the interior of the
Bluedrop
, and six for exterior
cameras.

“Why only one camera pointed forward?” she
asked.

“No,” Malcolm said. “These two aiming back
at the sub are for inspection now but will be turned forward later.
We have cameras all around, including bottom and aft, and all can
be independently swiveled as needed, zoomed and panned as
well.”

Chiffrey nodded, obviously impressed. “And
onboard the
Bluedrop
, they have the same monitor array?”

“Right,” Malcolm said. “Their auxiliary
screens are smaller, but they can shuffle the feeds back and forth.
And, of course, they have the windows.”

“I’m amazed they’re so big. Can they really
withstand all that pressure?”

“Nearly as strong as the hull. Major
engineering effort and one critical breakthrough went into those.
Doctor Bell still thinks windows are the best high def. I’d like to
go down one day.”

Lately, Malcolm and Emory never missed a
chance to extol the advanced capabilities of the
Bluedrop
,
especially the safety features and backups. And it was no
exaggeration. Multiple redundancies were built into every system
and the vessel had tested stronger than anything else of its kind.
If they had to go down, at least there was no better craft than her
father’s masterpiece.