The Emissary (33 page)

Jamie gestured, as if she wanted to add something, but Jimbo pointed his finger at her, warning her not to dare open her outspoken mouth.

“So I decide I just have to shoot over to the hospital, and what do you think I find out there? Try to believe this. Just while I’m drivin’ up, there’s our little Lizzie, watching them lift Jamie into an ambulance and then she gets in with her and they drive her away. Now I know that’s not right, so of course I follow not too far behind. The ambulance pulls up outside this psychiatric facility, a few miles from the hospital. And my mind is racing overtime. Why would anybody be locking Jamie up in a place like that? Meanwhile, I’m thinking, ‘Who brought this little babe into the operation, anyway?’ And then, bam! The light goes on in my head. This is an agent. She’s an agent! And now my question for you, boss, is: who is she working for?”

Still no answer came from the other end.

“You there, boss? Who brought this girl, Liz, into the operation?”

“I don’t have that information.”

“Before Jamie went out unconscious, she told me what she saw. She did what you wanted—she got in touch with the colony, second day out. So, what happened? Why was she dragged from the hospital, unconscious, into a psychiatric prison? What happened in between, with Liz in there, workin’ Jamie? I figure Jamie must have been talking.”

“What are you tryin’ to do here, Jimmy boy?”

“Me, boss? I’m just trying to figure things out.”

“What about Jamie? How did you get her out?”

“I guess it’s better I don’t tell you those details on the phone.”

Mat tried to imagine where Emery Wells was, and what he was going to do when he learned, if he hadn’t already, that Jimbo had snatched Jamie from his clutches.

“She did what you wanted, all right. Somewhere in between dying on the table and being shot up with god knows what—she’s been down there. You hear? She can see it—they’re open to her. And she knows how to get us back. We’re heading back out there now.”

“I’m listening.”

“They’re moving around out here, all right. Sam saw them—he got two big mother ships on radar, but I shut him down before he could really put things together. They are trying to open communication, Mat, just like we are. Thing is, they’re telling her that the sonar is so bad down there, and those ELF waves out of the towers are so powerful, that they can’t hold onto their physical forms—they just keep slipping out. They’re ‘time walkers’; that’s how Jamie described them. That’s got to be the most ironic thing I’ve ever heard! We’ve been blasting the place with sonar, trying to get a fix on them, and we just keep pushing them out!” Jimbo gave a thumbs-up to Jamie.

Mat listened, trying to anticipate where Jimbo was headed.

“Apparently there are several locations in the Pacific. They’re willing to come out and show themselves. Five mother ships off the California coast, two up here. But you have got to silence all navy sonar, and all military sonar, if you want contact.”

“Are you tellin’ me you can see these craft on radar?”

“No, sir, but she can. Jamie can see and hear them. She’s ready to serve as a transmitter, man. You just have to get the sonar turned off.”

“I want coordinates, not transmissions.”

“Boss, are you hearing me? She has got contact. Isn’t this why you sent her … why we’re out here? She’s got the word: silence the sonar, and they will come out of hiding.”

“You know what you’re asking me to do? We’re talking the highest level—that will take time.”

“A 9.3-magnitude earthquake has taken San Francisco out. Tsunamis have leveled the whole West Coast. Jamie says another big quake is going to hit Alaska in a few hours. How much time do you think you’re gonna need?”

“You have no idea what you’re asking me to do, Jimbo,” Mat replied.

“I do, sir. You wanted me to deliver this colony—I can do it. I know now there are several installations all around here. They’re willing to talk through Jamie—she’s their Emissary. But they can’t get past these sonar detonations. As long as we’re blasting them, we are never going to make contact. It’s your call.”

Mat said, “I’ll get back to y’all,” and the line went dead.

“Sure thing,” Jimbo said, disconnecting every electronic device on the ship. There would be no further calls. Under his breath, he said to himself, “Sure thing, Mattie, you double-crossin’ liar.” He knew that was the last time he’d ever be talking to Mat, one way or the other. After forty years of loyal service to the man he trusted, Jimbo knew they’d reached the end of the line. It was not easy turning his back on that loyalty, even knowing that he’d been used all along. It was the end of an ideal, something he believed in—a man for whom he had given his own life and taken others.

“Are you all right, Jim?” Jamie asked.

He looked up at her, knowing how futile it was trying to hide anything from Jamie. “He wants ‘coordinates, not transmissions’?” he repeated, incredulously. “Man, Jamie, if Mat is that evil, and I never could see it, well, then, none of my life has made any sense at all.”

Jamie was filled with compassion. She could only imagine what he had to work through. “Evil. What drives men to it? People live in so much fear … so much ignorance. They’re disempowered, distracted by the noise. Very few people can even contemplate the vastness of reality, Jimbo. The unknowable—it’s too frightening. When they realize how very small their lives are on this little dot in the infinite universe, they try to hold on to something—anything that gives them a sense of command over their own existence. The dark ones in power—they are afraid of what the light can do. They’re afraid of their own lives and even more terrified of immortality.”

Fin, who had been quiet all this time, barked.

“Mat is not an evil man. He’s just lost.” Jamie had the grace to sit quietly, and let Jimbo have the privacy he needed to work through so many suppressed feelings that finally had risen to the surface. Jimbo had been through almost as much as she had, but his was a different trauma—it was a lifetime of karma in the balance.

“I told you about ’Nam. He gave the order, and we took out a whole village of women and children.” Jimbo cried, releasing the sadness and guilt he’d buried for so long. “Ling was there. We had to follow orders … but I never understood why. We killed so many innocent people. I’ve never forgiven myself. And now, after all this time, I come to find out he’s been waiting to do it again—destroying the innocent, and using me to do it. He’s ready to do it all over again.”

“Take me to the sanctuary?” Jamie asked, gently, stroking Fin. “They’re waiting.”

“We’re on our way,” said Jimbo, wiping the tears from his eyes.

While
The Deepwater
moved steadily forward, bound for the sanctuary, the top management of the world’s governments, the Secret One World Order that had taken Planet Earth to the breaking point, called back all military and navy operations—unilaterally, around the globe. All sonar testing, all underwater explosives, were to be ceased immediately, and they were to remain disabled until further notice. Such an order, from so far up that no one, not even presidents, could identify its source, was unprecedented. The enormous war machine that tormented the oceans, and had driven so many whales and dolphins to their death, was momentarily stilled. On hold. Silent.

The admiral of a Japanese submarine, in maneuvers off the coast of Fukushima, stared at his communications officer in utter bewilderment. They both reread the message from headquarters, to be
sure they’d gotten it right: the entire fleet was ordered to immediately turn off all radar and sonar equipment, regardless of their position, until “further notice.”

In Norway, naval officers at their base in the North Sea went into a preemptive emergency drill after receiving orders to cut all sonar testing across the board.

At the Pentagon, a five-star general stood dumbfounded in the briefing room as he read the top-level security report: cease and desist orders for all military exercises involving sonar anywhere, at all stations around the planet.

No one in any position of military authority was sure whether World War III had just begun, or whether a force from beyond, which they all knew existed, had just taken command.

With no equipment running, and only the ship’s compass and the stars to guide him, Jimbo headed straight for the sanctuary. He had one crewman minding the engines, one man at the helm, and himself to count on for the safe navigation of the ship. It was almost as if he were sailing out blind and wounded, throwing himself at the mercy of the ocean, and the will of the whales. But he had Jamie’s eyes, and he knew she could see for both of them.

Engulfing the coast in its mantle of rage, the storm was behind them now. How much more it would take from the Earth they still could not know. There would be time enough to go back and face the disaster … time enough to help rebuild. Up ahead, past the dark clouds that obliterated the light of dawn, the sun would shine again, and it would be clear sailing on through for
The Deepwater
.

Doc stormed in, looking for Jamie. “What am I going to do with you?” he said, like a father scolding a child, knowing there was no containing her. “You are almost the worst patient I have ever had.”

“Let me guess,” she said, looking at Jimbo.

“That’s right—Jimbo takes that prize. But you’re a close second. The two of you … I tell ya, you’re two peas from the same pod.”

“Not to worry, Doc. You’ve done what you can,” she replied, cryptically. “I’m stronger than you think.”

“I’m not done yet! You’re going to lie down, whether I have to knock you out again to put you down.”

“Okay, I will agree to that. I’m ready to rest, just don’t try to tie me down on the examining table again. That can’t happen,” Jamie said. “Will you walk me down?” She walked over to Jimbo and put her arms around him. “You’re an old soul, Captain James. There’s so much I would love to tell you, but I have to lie down now … I have the worst headache.”

“Back downstairs,” Doc said, worriedly. “Doctor’s orders.”

Jamie was filled with tenderness. “I’m sure this isn’t our first lifetime together, and I know it won’t be our last.” She kissed Jimbo on the forehead, and went with Doc, who walked her slowly, carefully, back down to the lounge. Fin followed, quietly, in Jamie’s footsteps.

Alberto had the galley up again, with hot tea and coffee the first order of the day. How long had it been since Jamie had anything in her stomach? She couldn’t even remember. She took her place on the sofa, across from Jimbo’s chair, and agreed to lie down there, wrapped up in blankets, under Doc’s watchful eye. He took her blood pressure and was relieved to see it had climbed back up to only slightly under normal, a positive sign. Alberto brought her a cup of raspberry tea, which she drank down with gusto, and then she lay down, her head pounding, slipping in and out of sleep, back and forth in her dreams, swimming with the whales.

Fin never left her.

She awoke to the music of whales: not the cries she’d heard from their despairing hour, but a celebration. This was a symphony in Earth sharp; every instrument in the ocean played it: the waves, holding the rhythms; whales and dolphins, singing the opus of the ultimate symphony; a mysterious melody, emanating from the deep. It played to a different Earth vibration—the unfettered pulse of Earth’s own heart, beating.

She waited until Doc was out of sight, and went out the door, onto the main deck, wrapping herself up in the blanket. Fin followed, quietly. Up ahead of the ship, she could make out the Orcas, just as she had before—when they had first entered the sanctuary. It was as if she were reliving the same exact scene over again. Only now, the frenzy was over.

She walked over to the railing, hypnotically, and peeked over the edge. Sure enough—there was the whale: the great Humpback, looking up at her—calling out. As Jamie entered deeper into a state of trance, she felt the pull of the colony, calling her home. Mesmerized, she climbed up the first rung of the railing.

Fin went ballistic, barking wildly. He pulled at her pant leg, to take her back down, but she was going to jump, intent upon it. The Humpback was calling her, lifting her great fin, as if to wave her forward.

The door from the lounge burst open. Jimbo and Doc ran out.

“For the love of god, Jamie!” Doc shouted.

Jimbo cried out to her. “Aw, man, Jamie, not this way, please.”

Jamie teetered with one leg over the railing. She looked back at Jimbo, smiling, and then threw herself into the waves below.

Fin was up on his hind legs, searching frantically for her. He ran over to Jimbo, his master, his friend, torn between that loyalty and the love he’d known since he was a pup, and the destiny that awaited him. In an instant, before Jimbo could even move, before he could fathom what was about to take place, Fin ran back to the edge, climbed over the buoy, and leaped over the railing, into the ocean. It all happened so fast, neither Jimbo nor Doc could possibly have stopped either one of them.

Doc grabbed the buoy and threw it as far out as possible, but they were long gone. Even if they had somehow surfaced, Jimbo knew they didn’t want to be saved. They were going towards something, not away.