She paused, and for the first time since he had been onboard, seemed nervous.
“Let’s walk,” she said and abruptly stepped down toward the fo’c’sle. They went all the way to the tip of the bow. She faced him, her hands braced against the railing.
“He went blank for a few minutes,” she said.
“Blank?”
“I asked him something, and he didn’t answer. I looked over and repeated it, and he was just staring. His eyes seemed out of focus. I looked at his monitor. It was flickering.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, a glitch, I guess. Flickering on and off, changing color. I switched it off.”
“Didn’t you think that was odd?”
“The gear malfunctions a few times a week. It's a new rig, essentially we are taking it for a test drive. At the time, I was more concerned about Jack. He was starting to hum and…”
He did not say anything, just waited for her to go on.
“I gave him a shake and called his name. Nothing. He didn’t answer, just hummed a few notes over and over. I started to get worried and shook him again, harder this time. I rubbed his hands. I was about ready to call for someone when he came out of it.”
“What did he say?”
“He didn’t seem to realize exactly what had happened. He noticed we had lost the whales, but refused to go into it.”
“Has he ever mentioned it since?”
“I tried to bring it up once, besides the time when you were there. He just clammed up, so I dropped it.”
“You’ve known him a while.”
“Six years. I’ve never seen anything remotely like this happen to him before.”
“Are you aware of any other unusual behavior among the crew?”
“Maybe. Damn it, we’re losing perspective here. I’m getting tired of all the hocus pocus.”
“I don’t blame you. What about the Navy?”
“What about them?”
“Becka, they’ve got three ships on the way. Do you think they’d be allocating this many resources just to track down the cause of a technical anomaly?”
“I don’t know enough to say. Major trouble with their front line defense radar could be reason enough.”
“But Lieutenant Chiffrey just mentioned the displacement. They know.”
“In the context of you not telling them about it. He didn’t say he believed they really moved, and I certainly do not.”
She stalked away a few steps, then whirled around to face him. “Listen, this is not some boutique adventure cruise to the Bermuda Triangle. We’re funded to do straight research out here, not to delve into paranormal nonsense.”
“So, what do we do, just let the Navy take over?”
“I don’t know,” she suddenly yelled, then lunged forward and shoved him so hard he fell over. “Stop haranguing me, damn it!”
He lay on the deck looking up at her, shocked beyond words. She stood over him, her chest heaving.
“I’m sorry,” she said, then spun around and darted off, breaking into a run before she disappeared through a hatchway.
Great job of breaking the ice, Matthew thought.
His arrival had disrupted her projects and those of every student onboard. He was the natural one to blame. Perhaps the albatross that had been hung around his neck belonged there, but he was sick of trying to justify himself, and with still no answers.
He looked at his watch. It was nearly noon, which meant that the ship coming for the news crew should be arriving in a couple of hours. He headed off to find Penny to see how she was doing with the TV reporter. After asking around, he wandered down a companionway, and soon heard their voices emanating from a small equipment room that had been set up to house their new guest. They were arguing.
He hesitated, but knocked anyway. “It’s me.”
“Backup at last,” Penny said. “Door’s open.”
He cautiously poked his head in to survey the terrain. Penny was leaning back against the bulkhead right next to the hatch, her arms folded in front of her. The newswoman was reclining on an improvised bunk, and her annoyed look turned to a smile as she looked up and saw him. “Can’t you do something about this?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, Miss…”
“Hart. Lorraine Hart. Why can’t anyone remember my name around here? Listen, I am really sorry about the whale. I didn’t realize there was any danger. I’m sorry. It was an accident. Anyway, the baby whale that got injured is almost better.”
“Seems that way, but we’ll have to wait and see. And the lead whale, she—”
“She’ll be fine.”
“Well, no,” Matthew said. “She was under too long. She never came back up. They’re not fish. They need to surface or they drown.”
“No, your whale will be all right. She said so.”
Matthew gave Penny a quick glance. “Whatever Penny told you, Miss Hart, we don’t know that yet.”
“Lorraine. It’s Lorraine,” she said, “and your girlfriend here won’t tell me a thing. The whale let me know.”
“You lost me.”
“Why can’t you hear?” She asked, looking at him as if he was a sick puppy.
Penny shook her head. “She’s been going on and on about this. Good luck.”
“All right, then,” Matthew said. “Can I ask how you know that?”
“I have no idea. How could I?”
“Sure, of course,” he said softly. “But, doesn’t it seem, well, a little odd?”
“No, not at all. It was just before she left, but—ha hah…stop it, hey! Ha hah!” She laughed harder and harder until her face turned lobster red. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she doubled over into a ball, then abruptly straightened, snorted a few times, and gasped for air.
It was as if Matthew were watching someone else’s dream. He looked at Penny, but she just glanced at Lorraine, and said in a low voice, “Sorry, but I’m close to my limit here.”
Lorraine’s laughter had simmered down to a steady rhythm of soft giggles. She smiled and seemed blissfully happy.
A knock sounded on the hatch. “It’s me. Dirk.”
Matthew opened it slowly and Dirk leaned in. “The Captain would like to see you two in his cabin. Right away. There will be a meeting after lunch, everyone who can make it, in C-lab. I’ll watch her for now.”
“Be our guest,” Penny replied and headed out. “If she demands food, just throw her a mackerel.”
“Huh?” Dirk looked at Lorraine, who was still giggling. “She okay?”
“Lorraine’s going to need some lunch,” Matthew said. He started out the hatchway and gave Dirk a sign to follow. They stopped a half-dozen steps down the passageway.
“Watch her, and be ready for anything,” Matthew said. He tapped his temple and spun his finger. “A tranquilizer may be in order. Maybe whatever they gave the cameraman. Do you want me to send someone else?”
“They promised me some help in a while.”
“Okay.” He reached over, held Dirk’s forearm and whispered, “Watch yourself.”
Dirk returned the clasp and said quietly, “Guess I just need to roll with all this.”
“What do you mean?”
“What?”
“What you just said. Why did you say that? You said, ‘I need to roll.’”
“Nothing, really.”
“I’m late,” was all Matthew could finally manage, letting it go not so much by decision as overload. He turned and ran down the corridor to catch up with Penny. They walked quickly down toward Thorssen’s cabin, his breath faster than the short run would account for.
“What’s up now?” she asked.
“What’s not?”
“I mean this meeting with Captain Thorssen. Any idea?”
“All bets are off at the moment. Lorraine…”
“She doesn’t seem to think it at all strange that a whale spoke to her or whatever she believes happened. Almost seems like psychotic delusion.”
They arrived at T
horssen’s cabin. Penny knocked.
“Enter,” came the reply.
Matthew pressed up close against Penny’s back as she swung the door open and stood in the hatchway.
“We’ve been talking since I got a call from Martin,” Thorssen said, glancing at Chiffrey who sat like a child on a low stool by the desk.
Penny guided Matthew to the bed, and they sat down side by side. “What’s the news from Dad?” she asked.
“Not so good. He got a call from someone on the Board at the Point. Questioning his judgment for our change of plans. And for getting involved with the military.”
Penny glanced at Chiffrey. “And whoever else they are.”
“As I mentioned before,” he said, ignoring her dig, “what we would like to do is work together on this. We need your help.”
“Then don’t go behind our backs,” Penny said.
Chiffrey leaned back on his stool and smiled. “I’ve just made a promise to the Captain that I will make an all-out effort to persuade the brass to give you a high enough level of security clearance that you get all of our side of the story. We’ll catch more flies with sugar—that’s what I told them and I know they’ll go along.”
“And what about us?” Penny asked. “You must know that we will eventually make public and put into the record whatever we find. Isn’t that likely to conflict with your so-called ‘security’?”
“Mine, no. The Air Force or certain other agencies of the federal government, it depends. I can’t give you a guarantee—much as I’d like to—that you will be able to print everything.”
“Well, then,” Penny said.
“I can, nevertheless, say that we are not interested in suppressing any information having to do with marine science. We still don’t know what phenomenon we are really dealing with here, of course. In the end, it may have nothing to do with your work out here, and truth to tell, that would be my best guess at present.”
He almost laughed. “Look, you’re in way over your heads here, and I’m not talking about water. You need us, too, and probably more than you realize.”
Matthew was tired and had decided to just listen. Besides, he could see that Penny had enough wind in her sails for both of them. Now she was starting on a new tack. “We know there’s more to it than the technical problems with your radar.”
“With a bit of luck, I’ll be able to fill you all in later. Now wait a sec, please—”
“Later, it will have to be,” Thorssen said, holding up his hand like a referee. “We have a meeting in half an hour, so we better get to lunch.”
“Now that, at least, is something we can work on together.” Chiffrey spoke as if everything had worked out great, when it clearly hadn’t.
Matthew got up first and went out, the rest following him down the passageway.
“You’re the cause of all this!” Ripler cried as he came around the corner from nowhere and pointed his index finger in Matthew’s face like a sword. He grabbed Matthew by his shirt collar and wouldn’t let go. Mary Sims appeared and tried to pull Ripler back, but he was oblivious to her efforts.
“I hold you responsible for the death of that whale!” he yelled in Matthew’s face, spraying him with saliva. “Why didn’t you listen!”
Matthew took Ripler by the wrist and stared into his ravaged eyes. Anguish played upon every muscle in his face, contorting it into a mask of despair. There was incredible strength in his grip and the shirt collar tightened around Matthew’s neck.
“Jack, let go. We still don’t know for sure…”
“She’s dead, dead, dead! Nothing but evil you’ve brought, wretched fool, they’re using you, why can’t you see? Leave us now before…”
All at once the tension dissolved out of Ripler’s hitherto taut body and he collapsed to the floor like clothes gone empty of their wearer. He sat leaning forward with his legs straight out like a child, his head in his hands. Matthew still held his wrist but loosened his grip. Mary supported Ripler from behind.
“Let’s get him to a quiet place,” Chiffrey said to Mary. He turned toward Thorssen and whispered something about tranquilizers.
“Do you think…,” Matthew said. “I mean, I could try—”
“Best if we take it from here,” Chiffrey said. Matthew got the meaning clear enough and nodded agreement. With Mary’s help, Thorssen and Chiffrey got Ripler up and guided his listless form back toward the infirmary.
Matthew felt Penny’s hand on his hip.
“You okay?”
“Not really.”
“Go to my room. I’ll bring us something to eat.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“And maybe you could air out the bottle for me. It’s past noon.”
“No argument.”
He held her hand and drew her closer. Her breath warmed his neck, but the feeling combined with the lingering sensation of Ripler’s hand tugging and shaking him.
“Okay, so go,” he said. “I’m starving.
He looked at her, and the innocence of a child suddenly smiled through her face. Why would she want to have anything to do with him?
She walked away, and said over her shoulder, “Don’t complicate it, Matthew.”
And, of course, he already had.
CHAPTER 21
“What’s the buzz in the galley?” Matthew asked as Penny backed into the cabin carrying two plates of some kind of stir-fry. He had already poured shots of scotch into paper cups, though his own was still untouched.
“Ripler,” was all she said at first. Then when she saw his face, “No, he’s not there but he might as well be. His meltdown’s got everyone going. I could never understand it, really, but he’s always had this way of influencing people. And lately, he’s been almost messianic.”
“He’s not the only one.”
“If you mean a few more people are turning fey almost every day, no, he’s not.” She picked up her scotch and drank it straight down. “I swear by this. Keeps me immune.”
She splashed another shot into her cup, seemingly untouched by the day’s events.
He looked at the bottle. “About gone.”
“I’ve got another.”
He glanced at her.
“Not interested in your opinion, Matthew.”
“Well, I’m interested in yours. What’s happening to people here?”
She grew silent and seemed to be looking somewhere else. “It’s reminiscent of the effect of psychotropic drugs, particularly hallucinogens. Euphoria and obsessive wonder, at least for a while. Ripler seems the worst. Manic, almost apocalyptic.”
“But I doubt if somebody is spiking the coffee.”
“And unlikely to be accidental, like ergot poisoning.” She took a few bites of the stir-fry and, without looking up, said, “Some of the behavior is highly reminiscent of religious hysteria. I have no idea why this would happen here, but something is touching people, and for some, touching them deeply.”
“Except you.”
She gave him a weary smile. “Not much gets to me. Hey…are you all right?”
Like beads from an endless string, he fell through soundless space, past time and light, past all thought and understanding, fell one by countless one into a single instant with no beginning or boundary…
He drifted…
“Maaaathew? Heeeyyy!”
The bed came up as if catching him, and he clutched the sheet like a lifeline. Penny was leaning over him. Her face, finally coming into focus, showed fear.
“Matthew?”
“How did I get back?…”
“Don’t you ever do that again!” she said, and let out a deep breath.
“How long?…”
“A few minutes.” She reached for the bottle. “Any more and—listen, I don’t want you wheeled away strapped to a gurney, okay?” She brought the drink close to his mouth.
“Smells like violets,” he said.
“Drink it!”
He took the paper cup with both hands, swallowed a sip and
savored the taste. “I don’t know, but just for a moment there, it did smell like violets. Really.”
He had never seen her flustered like this.
“Penny, I’m okay. I don’t know what happened, but I’m fine now.”
“All right, all right,” she said, “but it’s creepy enough around here as it is.” She looked at his plate. “Maybe you should eat, the meeting’s in ten minutes.”
He was hungry, and dove into the mounds of vegetables and rice, happy that he had an excuse to eat fast.
“Slow down!” she almost yelled. “Remember Emory?”
He slowed down, but not by much. In between mouthfuls, he asked her what had happened. She kept a steady eye on him.
“You just zeroed out. You wouldn’t answer me, you were just staring off into empty space. Then you fell back on the bed.”
“Glazed over?”
“No, you looked peaceful, although…I had a sudden feeling you would never come back.” She gave him a gentle shove. “I’m not through with you yet.”
“What?”
“Kidding.”
Her plate was empty. He had no memory of her eating anything.
“Did you eat when I was unconscious?”
“Of course not.”
“But…”
“Are you sure you’re back?”
“Yes, and I didn’t do it on purpose, you know.”
“Just get a grip. We need you.”
“And what about you?”
“I’ve had enough talk,” she said and flung her arms around his neck.
“Don’t we only have a few minutes?”
“Yes, so let’s use them.”
She fell over him on the bed, and every part of her was like a puzzle finding the one place in him that fit perfectly. Her hair washed over his face like a balmy breeze, and a memory came back, then slipped away, not lasting long enough to be forgotten.
CHAPTER 22
When Matthew walked into the crowded C-lab with Penny, he decided he did not want to spend the entire meeting with all those eyes drilling into the back of his neck, and went to stand against a bulkhead near a porthole. The Captain was up front, leaning against a lab counter. Chiffrey was up there as well, looking back at the crew. Mary Sims was off to the other side. Malcolm and Emory, looking subdued but content, stood at the back on the other side of the entryway. Dirk was still watching Lorraine Hart in the equipment room. Becka was with Ripler in the infirmary, and his absence became a presence impossible to ignore.
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