2 Degrees

by Bev Prescott

  The door hissed open.

  The two soldiers poured from the door. Sharon shot the first in the back. As he fell, Federico wheeled around, shooting the second in the chest.

  Woody pulled free from Limmy. “Get them out of the way, and let’s go.”

  Limmy and Federico each dragged a body from the doorway.

  Woody motioned for her crew to follow her inside the command room.

  Sharon, Federico and Limmy trailed her into the spacious room with OVAs on every wall. An enormous command desk and STELA were lit up with screens showing satellite images; pictures of the inside and outside of the ship; GPS coordinates; weather; biometrics; and a slew of other measurements Sharon didn’t understand.

  “Get that door locked.” Woody pointed at Limmy. “And scrub the fingerprints from it. I don’t want anyone else in this room.” She rushed to the command seat and ran her palms over one of the STELA’s digital screens. “How I’ve missed you, my ship.”

  “What do we do next?” Sharon’s heart raced. She was so close to finding Eve. “I’m ready.”

  Woody patted the seat next to hers. “Sit.” She pressed the audio-comm button. “This is Dr. Wilhelmina Woodhouse. I command the Bird of Paradise. In a few minutes, you will be surrounded by my army. I invite you to surrender and join us. If you’re willing to live by our Qaunik code, you will be spared. Should you decide otherwise, you’ll be allowed to leave the ship unharmed. If you fight us, we will fight back to the death.” Woody flipped a series of switches.

  Cameras relayed images from the inside of the ship. The screens monitoring the hallways showed weary men, women, and children spilling from their rooms.

  “They look scared,” Federico said.

  Woody nodded and hit the audio-comm button again. “I repeat, you will not be harmed if you surrender. You’ll no doubt be better off in every way.” She tapped in a frequency. “Dale, Dale, Dale, Woody here.”

  “This is Dale, go.” Her voice sounded strained.

  “What’s happening out there?” Woody asked.

  “Our water-skipper pilots and crew seem to have overwhelmed the Strelitzia’s soldiers. No one’s firing anymore. Unfortunately, we lost two vessels.”

  Woody bowed her head at the news. “Go on.”

  Dale continued. “The majority of the Strelitzia’s soldiers are either dead, in custody, or hiding.”

  “Okay.” Woody lifted her head. “Bring Belosto-One down to the surface of the ocean. You did great work.” Woody held up five fingers. “The Bird of Paradise’s main deck hatch will open in five minutes. Come aboard. Do not fire unless fired upon. Those civilians who surrender should be collected in the holding bay. Give them food and water. Fight any resistance at all costs.”

  Federico sketched a command on the STELA. “Main deck hatch opening in five.”

  “How will you feed all those people?” Sharon asked.

  “I don’t know.” Woody’s jaw clenched. “That’s a worry for another day.”

  The OVA on the left wall flashed on, and the Strelitzia gazed out from it. The bird-like mask hid his face, but accented his evil. “Call off your dogs, Wilhelmina.” Bound at their wrists, Eve and JJ knelt in front of him.

  “No,” Federico gasped. “Not my boy.”

  The Strelitzia smirked. “Guess Sharon isn’t the only one with someone to lose.” He grabbed a handful of JJ’s hair and yanked his head up.

  One of JJ’s eyes was swollen shut, and the hair on the left side of his face was caked with blood. “I’m okay,” his voice rasped.

  “He’ll be the first to go if you don’t exit that command room and get the fuck off my ship.” The Strelitzia shook JJ’s head by the hair.

  Eve twisted and pressed a shoulder to JJ’s as if trying to comfort him.

  The Strelitzia shoved them apart and stepped forward between them.

  “It’s not your command room,” Woody said. “And it sure as hell isn’t your ship.”

  “Why don’t you ask your father about that?” the Strelitzia asked. “Oh wait, he’s a fraud like you. And dead.” His eyes flicked to Sharon. “Why don’t you ask your new fucking guru where she got the idea to build the Bird of Paradise?”

  “It was always my father’s idea.” Woody’s voice was calm.

  “The rewriting of history.” The Strelitzia crossed his arms over his chest. “According to Wilhelmina Woodhouse. A fraud in a bleeding heart’s clothing.”

  “Stop!” Federico yelled. “You’re not getting this ship.”

  “No?” The Strelitzia cocked his head. “Opera man.” He turned and kicked JJ in the stomach. “Well, then some people are going to die with me.”

  “Leave him alone!” Sharon shot back.

  Eve lifted her head. Her eyes betrayed exhaustion and something Sharon had never seen in them before. Defeat.

  The Strelitzia yanked Eve from her knees onto her back.

  With his wrists bound, JJ bent and tried to help Eve into a sitting position.

  “No one else has to die today.” The Strelitzia’s voice softened. “To make that happen, all you have to do is give me my ship and the secret to the apples. I’ll even make you a deal. You, Sharon, and Eve can stay on. We’ll do great things together.”

  Sharon let the image of Eve wash over her. She was why Sharon’s heart still beat after so much loss. She glanced at Limmy, remembering what he’d confessed about his wife. Now he wanted redemption. So did Sharon. Maybe in order to be redeemed, her inevitable end must come. But she couldn’t let it be the end for Eve, Woody, Federico, JJ, Inu, Annie, or Erik. They all had to go on.

  But Sharon had a question for Woody. “Why didn’t you take what’s in my backpack? You had plenty of opportunities.”

  Woody locked eyes with Sharon. “What belongs to you isn’t mine to take.”

  “Silence!” The Strelitzia stormed forward. “You arrogant hypocrite. You’re no different from me. We bulk up in groups and take sides. Humans can’t escape their tribal instincts.” He directed a long, bony finger at Woody. “Not me, and not you.”

  “We can evolve,” Federico said. “If we hope to survive, we have to.”

  “Oh, god.” The Strelitzia laughed. “The preachy opera guy speaks. Stick to singing. You’re much better at it.” He regarded Sharon. “And you. You and me, we are as alike as two humans can be.”

  “No!” Sharon shook her head. “I’m nothing like you.”

  “Oh really?” The Strelitzia snickered. “Every day, people all around you starved to death. Yet!” He poked a finger skyward. “You and Eve squirreled away the secret to your apple tree. Not once did you think of sharing it with a starving and desperate world. No. You looked after you and yours. I actually admire that. How many people have you killed or maimed along the way to keeping your secret?”

  “Too many to count.” Sharon gazed on the image of Eve, trying to remember every touch and sweet moment.

  An alarm sounded on STELA. Woody pressed the “A” icon. Words scrolled across the OVA on the far wall. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet Has Fallen. The Extinction Wave Warning Has Been Issued For All Coastlines on Earth.

  “Time is wasting!” The Strelitzia backed up even with Eve and JJ. He pulled a spectraletto from his flowery robe. “I need to be inside that command room. We’ve got to dive the ship into the deep if she’s to survive the coming monster wave.” He pointed the weapon at JJ. “Now! Or I’ll kill him.”

  “No!” Woody yelled.

  “That got through to the ice queen.” He reared forward and slammed the butt of the gun into JJ’s head.

  JJ crumpled.

  Eve threw herself protectively over him.

  The Strelitzia holstered the spectraletto. “Don’t doubt for a second the things I’m capable of doing. Remember poor lovely Areva? I will do what needs to be done.” He reached behind the bird mask and lifted it from his face.

  Sharon stumbled backward. Shock sliced her in two. “You bastard! That’s how—” She groped for her voice.
<
br />   “How I knew everything,” Dr. Ryan said as he pressed the audio-com button on the wall behind him. “Except your secret.” Without the mask, his voice was no longer electronically modified. “Your underground growing room is quite impressive. But even with the tracking chip in your shoulder, one planted in the medicine case, a pack of Banditti, and kidnapping your wife, I still could not get my hands on it. Now is the day you give your secret to me. Open the box.” He bent, grabbed Eve’s hair and yanked. “Or I’m going to kill Eve and JJ. Just like I did Areva.”

  “Don’t do it, Sharon,” Eve whimpered. “I’m begging you. I’d rather die than see such evil have what we created.”

  Sharon fumbled in the backpack for the box. She yanked it free and broke the lock with her hammer.

  Tears filled Eve’s eyes. “I love you. But please, don’t give it to him.”

  Dr. Ryan pulled Eve’s hair. “Shut up.”

  Sharon turned the box around and lifted the lid. Her eyes moistened, but she steadied herself. “There’s so much more than the secret to the apple tree in this box.” She lifted a vial. “The apple tree’s genetic material.” She riffled through hundreds of tiny packets. “And heirloom seeds collected over the decades by my family. Everything from vegetables, to herbs and fruits from all over the world. Most aren’t viable. But what Eve discovered is that the apple’s genetic material can revive them. Given a little time, what’s in this box will feed every person on this ship, and then some.”

  She removed her satchel from the pack, fished out her last apple and placed it on the command desk. “Lots more genetic material can be extracted from this one perfect apple.” She closed the lid and slid the box across the command desk to Woody. “I want you and the Qaunik to have it, in exchange for a black sea devil. I’m going home with my wife.”

  “Of course.” Woody’s eyes bore into Sharon’s as if trying to read her mind.

  Sharon turned to Eve’s image on the OVA. “Tell me I did the right thing.”

  “Yes, you did.” Eve closed her eyes and smiled. “Thank you, my love.”

  “You just signed your wife’s death sentence,” Dr. Ryan growled. “You might make it back to your charred farm, but she won’t.”

  “If you kill Eve, you’ll have signed yours too,” Sharon said. “But I have another option for you—my so-called friend.”

  “I’m listening.” Dr. Ryan put a foot to Eve’s back and pushed her onto JJ.

  Seeing him shove Eve filled her body with pain and rage. Keep your head. “Spare JJ, and the three of us will escape. Eve, you, and me.” The words tasted like acid. “It’s either that, or I kill you. Awful and slow.”

  “Do I look stupid?” Dr. Ryan spit out his words. “If I go with you, you’ll kill me the first chance you get. I’d have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of my life.”

  “Have you forgotten why we shared our apples with you in the first place?” Sharon asked. “Neither Eve nor I know how to make her cancer treatment from the Sprucanidone when her supplies run out. As much as I’d like to kill you, I need you alive to keep Eve alive.”

  Dr. Ryan straightened his spine, and did not speak for several long seconds. “All right. Have your guru ready a black sea devil for launch from the surface deck in five minutes. That’s how long it will take me to drag your wife there. Plus, we don’t have time to finagle with an underwater launch. You keep remembering for the both of us, Sharon, that if I die, she dies.” He tugged Eve to her feet and drew his spectraletto. Pressing the muzzle to her temple, he shuffled Eve out of the room.

  Woody wrapped her arms around Sharon, and whispered quickly into her ear, “Take what you need. But I hope this is a trick. Because I vouch you and Eve in. You’re one of us. But you’ve got to hurry. I’ve got eighteen minutes, tops, before I have to submerge the Bird of Paradise. The Extinction Wave is coming. We need to be deep in the abyss when it gets here.”

  Sharon held Woody tight. “Tell me you can synthesize a leukemia treatment from Sprucanidone.”

  “In my sleep.” Woody pulled back and gripped Sharon by the arms. “What are you planning?”

  “To give that bastard, Ryan, something to think about other than Eve long enough for us to escape. How do I sink a black sea devil?”

  “Blow the ballasts, trim to port, and haul ass out of the starboard-side emergency exit hatch. Look for the applicable icons on STELA. Once the ballasts start to fill with water, the shuttle will sink low enough for water to start spilling into the cockpit from the open emergency hatch. Get out of there before it fills completely. If you don’t, you’re down with the ship when it sinks like a rock. You’ll have maybe two minutes to escape. We’ll be waiting on the surface to fish you out.” Woody glanced at the clock. “We’re down to sixteen minutes. With or without you, I have to dive this ship. Otherwise, everyone on board will die. Now go.” She bumped her forehead to Sharon’s. “Thank you, for everything.”

  Sharon wheeled around and raced toward the upper deck.

  Sharon stood in front of the open hatch of a lone black sea devil. An ominous breeze ruffled the collar of her jacket, foretelling things to come. Somewhere, out on the vast stretch of ocean, a fiendish wave grew more colossal with each second, hell-bent on swallowing the world whole.

  Dr. Ryan emerged from a door to the deck. He held Eve close, keeping the muzzle of a spectraletto pressed to her temple. “Show me your hands.”

  Sharon lifted her empty palms. It took every ounce of willpower not to run to Eve. If things went wrong, she might never get to touch her again. No matter what, though, if they did go wrong, only one, maybe two more people would die today. She wouldn’t let Eve be one of them. Because with Eve and Woody, the Qaunik would survive. They both understood that nature held the answers to humanity’s endurance. Eve had to go on. But today was Sharon’s day of redemption. She’d leave nothing to chance. Whatever move she made needed to ensure, with finality, that Eve would live and Ryan would die. If that meant giving her own life, so be it. It surprised her, not to be scared. Only sad.

  “Get in.” Dr. Ryan gestured to the open shuttle.

  Sharon smiled at Eve and ached to hold and kiss her. She turned and went inside, taking a quick glance at the STELA to identify the locations of the ballast and trim icons. There. She noted the direction of the handle on the starboard emergency exit. She sat in the seat closest to starboard.

  Dr. Ryan pushed Eve into the seat next to Sharon, then seated himself in the command seat.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” Eve murmured. “I knew you’d come for me.”

  Sharon breathed in Eve’s scent. Their shoulders touched. It felt like heaven to be so close to her again. She heard Eve’s breathing. Soon, soon.

  “Shall we?” Keeping the weapon pointed into Eve’s torso, Dr. Ryan tapped out commands. The black sea devil’s thrusters whirred to life, lifting the shuttle enough to clear the deck railing.

  With his left hand, Dr. Ryan moved the throttle forward and eased the shuttle away from the ship and into the water.

  The shuttle bobbed and righted.

  Sharon lunged toward the STELA and jammed a finger at the ballast icon, then the portside trim. She yanked the emergency hatch handle upward as the shuttle rolled ninety degrees to port and dropped lower into the water.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Dr. Ryan dropped the spectraletto and fumbled at the STELA. “Goddammit, you’re sinking us.”

  Sharon seized Eve’s waist and hoisted her upright.

  Water poured in through the open hatch.

  Dr. Ryan splashed through the water, groping for the weapon he’d dropped.

  “We’ve got to go.” Sharon kissed Eve’s neck and hugged her tight. “Swim hard. I’ll be right behind you.” She helped Eve clamber over the STELA toward the opening.

  The black sea devil sank lower as water filled in up to their waists.

  “I love you. Now go!” Sharon shouted.

  Eve touched her cheek. “My Sharon.” She turned and w
ith Sharon’s help hoisted herself through the opening where a sliver of clear sky beckoned.

  Sharon reached for the rim of the opening to pull herself through. A searing pain tore into her left arm. She fell and splashed into the quickly rising water. Blood from her arm clouded the water. She glanced at it, relieved that the spectraletto had only grazed her bicep.

  Dr. Ryan climbed onto her, shoving her face underwater.

  She wrapped her arms around him and rolled. As he strained against her, she dug her fingers into a pressure point on his neck.

  He thrashed, and went limp.

  Sharon shot to the surface. The water was up to her shoulders. She kicked hard toward the hatch. Something snagged the back of her jacket. She thrashed about to free herself. The water rose to her chin. She took a deep breath and twisted around, trying to find what held her in place. Her chest ached to inhale. She straightened to catch another breath. But the water was too high now. She couldn’t reach what little breathing space was left in the shuttle. She shook her head, trying to stay conscious.

  Small bubbles slipped from her lips. An urge to inhale threatened her resolve to keep her head. She reached again behind her, flailing. Her ears popped. She noticed her peripheral vision blackening. Too tired. More bubbles of air escaped her mouth.

  Time seemed to slow with the shutting down of her oxygen-deprived body. She watched daylight continue to disappear as seawater snuffed out the cockpit’s remaining airspace. The water of the Atlantic Ocean was so much clearer compared to the algae-clogged Pacific. She’d ask Woody about that someday. Someday isn’t coming. She stopped struggling in order to take in the last fragments of consciousness before dying.

  A smile spread across her face. Her mom was there with arms held open wide. Elliot and her father laughed together in a lush field of summer corn. Jon and Mark beckoned for her to follow them in a game of hide-and-seek through the orchard.

  Eve. A million memories played out in a medley of images in her head. Some beautiful, some terrible. But every one of them, every single one, had been worth it. Sharon closed her eyes and let peace usher her to the end.