by Dayle, Harry
“Hey! Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay, you know? You’re going to do fine. No, you’re going to do great! Everyone respects you, and nobody thinks it’s going to be easy. We’re all around to help you; you haven’t got to do this on your own.” She put an arm around him, pulled him close to her. Her hair smelt of fire and smoke. As it touched his face, something stirred within him. He immediately felt a pang of guilt. He pulled away from her, got to his feet. Sniffed. Tried to pull himself together.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Just tired. Thank you. It means a lot to know you have confidence in me.”
Lucya stood as well. She smiled, understood this was hard for him. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get back upstairs and get to work.”
• • •
Acting Captain Jake Noah and Chief Radio Officer Lucya Levin left the cabin and set off down the passageway towards the stairs.
“Where did the captain go?” Jake looked around. There was no sign of the body, and the broken glass and blood had been cleared away.
“Max took care of it. He cleaned up, didn’t want anyone stumbling across it and asking questions.”
“What about Johnny?”
“He and Grau took both the bodies down below. They’ve set up a makeshift morgue in one of the store rooms, one of those ones that are always cold because they’re below the waterline and the heating never seems to work properly.”
“How did they get them down there without being seen?”
“I don’t think they worried about it, Jake. There are hundreds of people dead. The captain and Johnny were just another couple of anonymous bodies, wrapped in sheets and carried down below.”
They walked in silence, reached the stairs, and began to climb.
Seventeen
MAX GREETED THEM at the door and let them inside before he closed and locked it behind them. Silvia had already returned with Martin, who nodded once at Jake. Everyone assembled around the map table. Jake felt all eyes were on him.
“Right, so, erm…”
“Jake, we’re your friends, we have every confidence in you,” Silvia said kindly.
“Yes. Yes, of course, thank you, Silvia. Okay, first things first, what is the state of the ship, Martin?”
“I’ve got a couple of guys in the funnel clearing out the ash. It’s a slow job. They’re having to scoop it out with their bare hands. We don’t have the equipment to get in there and do it any quicker; our machines are just too big to get into that sort of space.”
Silvia perked up. “Would a couple of vacuum cleaners from housekeeping help?” Her face fell again. “Oh, but there’s no electricity.”
“No, you’re right, that’s not a bad idea, Silvia. We have a few portable generators knocking around in the engine room. We could run them off those. What sort of size are we talking about? It’s a pretty tiny space.”
“They’re about…so big.” Silvia indicated the dimensions with her hands.
“Perfect! They can get those down there. That will really save some time.”
“Okay, so with the cleaners, how long before we can get the generator working?” Jake asked.
“Maybe four hours? But it would make sense to clean out the exhaust for the main engine at the same time. If we start the main generator the guys are going to have to work around the hot exhaust from that. It will make the job ten times harder.”
“So how long to clean them both?”
“Well…” Martin pondered the question, drumming his fingers on the steel table top. “At a push we could do it in six hours, seven tops.”
“Alright, push as hard as you can, we have to get power back as a priority. Once we do, how long can we keep the generator going?”
“If we don’t start the main engines, and depending on which services we keep running, we’re okay for at least ten days.”
“Right, services.” Jake paused and thought. “We need light, the passengers are really unhappy about that.”
Silvia and Max nodded in agreement.
“We’re going to need heat too,” Lucya said. “I’m not the only one who has noticed how cold it’s getting on board, right?”
“Yes, heat, but the minimum. Keep the temperature at sixteen degrees at the most. We’ll tell people to wear more clothes if they’re cold.”
“Fifteen,” Max interjected. “Fifteen degrees. That’s more than enough.”
“Okay, fifteen. But no hot water. I just took a cold shower and I feel better for it. Hot water is a luxury we can do without.”
“Water is a whole other question,” Martin said. He was met with questioning looks from around the table. “Desalination? You all know we get our water from the sea, don’t you?”
It was clear that this was news to everyone except Jake.
“I thought it came out of the tanks?” Silvia asked. “We fill up tanks at every port, don’t we?”
“Sure, but that’s really a backup supply. We use it when docked because water in the ports tends to be full of diesel and other crap,” Martin explained. “As soon as we’re a couple of miles out, we switch to water from the desalination plant. The tanks would never be enough to supply a ship this size.”
“And the plant runs off electricity from the generator,” Jake added.
“Right. And so does waste water treatment. So we have to ask ourselves, how much water do we really need?” Martin looked around the table.
“There has to be basic sanitation,” Silvia said. “People need to wash, to flush toilets, or we could end up spreading germs and disease.”
“Silvia, you do understand we could be stranded for who knows how long?” Max didn’t look impressed. “Toilets I’ll grant you, but come on, back in the army you were lucky if you got a cold shower every couple of weeks on some tours. I say we switch off water to all the showers in the cabins, just leave one block running in the gym. If people have to queue, they won’t bother.”
“I wish we could,” Martin said. “But there’s no way to do that apart from visiting every cabin individually and cutting the supply, one by one. It would take days.”
“Okay, so we introduce a ration system,” Jake said. “Martin, I assume you can shut off the water to the whole ship from the desalination plant?”
“Of course.”
“So we let people know that the water will be on for one hour in the morning. Outside those hours they’ll have to make do.”
“The passengers aren’t going to like this. They’re not going to like it one little bit,” Lucya said, rubbing her neck.
“If we tell them it’s that or we switch the lights and heat off, they’ll understand,” Max said.
Everyone nodded; the matter seemed settled. Jake opened one of the drawers under the table and moved around the contents until he found what he was looking for. He extracted a large blue crayon-like pencil. They were designed for plotting courses on laminated maps, but he had other ideas in mind. He started writing directly on the shiny table surface: “Water”. Underneath, he wrote “Rationed, 09:00 − 10:00”.
“Okay,” he said. “Anything else on water, while we’re at it?”
“What about the pools?” Silvia asked. “Five swimming pools and a few hot tubs, there’s a lot of water in those. Can we use any of it?”
“The pools drain through the waste water plant,” Martin said. “We could disconnect them and reconnect them to the fresh water tanks, drain them into those. That buys us a bit of extra fuel as we can use that water instead of the desalinated stuff.”
“Speaking of waste water,” Jake was stroking his chin, deep in thought, “you said that it gets treated by another machine?”
“Yes. Water from showers, sinks, the kitchens and bars, all that stuff gets filtered then goes overboard. Anything from the toilets goes through a shredder then gets dumped at sea. It’s the shredder that needs the power, that and the pumps. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not a good idea.”
“Why not?” Jake asked. “Can’t we bypass the shredde
r and dump everything as it is? Nobody is going to complain!”
“Because within twenty-four hours this ship is going to be floating in a lake of its own shit,” Martin said. “And sucking that same shit up into the desalination plant to use as fresh water.”
Silvia screwed up her face. “Won’t the sea carry it away on the currents?” she asked.
“I doubt the currents up here are strong enough to have much of an effect,” Lucya said. “We could move to a better location, but we’d need a few hours of sailing time. Are you willing to burn that much fuel, Captain?”
All eyes turned to Jake, waiting for his response, but he remained silent. He looked around the table, not seeming to understand why nobody had answered.
“Captain Noah?” Max said.
“Oh, right, that’s me. Sorry, this captain thing is going to take some getting used to. Lucya, work out a course to take us somewhere where the water problem won’t be an issue, but make sure we’re headed towards land. If we’re going to burn fuel, we should at the very least get closer to land. We all know we can’t survive at sea indefinitely, even with rationing. Our objective has to be to try and find land, and land that hasn’t been destroyed by the asteroid.”
Once again everyone nodded their agreement.
“What else is in limited supply?” Jake looked around at the others. “We don’t know how long we’ll be stuck at sea. What can we not live without, and how much of it have we got? Food has to be the next priority, after water and fuel.”
“We’re well stocked, but of course supplies are finite.” Silvia leapt in, glad to be back in her comfort zone. “I suggest we close all the restaurants and bars immediately. Anything non-perishable should be preserved. The freezers are going to need power; they have to be a priority, no?”
“Agreed. We can’t afford to let any food spoil. Martin, can we keep a supply to the freezers and still cut other non-essential services?”
“Yes, they’re run on a separate supply. They draw a lot of power, but sure, we can keep them running.”
Jake was scribbling more notes on the surface of the table. He had added two more headings and scrawled vertical lines between them, creating columns for water, fuel, and food. As tasks were assigned, he noted them in the relevant column along with the initials of the person responsible.
“I know it’s a big job, Silvia, but can you organise some of your people to take an inventory of all the food we have available? Then get the head chef to get a team together and figure out a menu that can feed everyone on board three meals a day for at least the next five days, and still have five days of food in reserve?”
Silvia whistled through her teeth. “It’s not going to be easy. Five days? With as much again in reserve?”
“I’m not talking fine dining here. We need basic meals, the minimum required to provide everyone with enough calories to live on. Chef will love it, a new challenge.”
“Try and work it so that the frozen stuff gets eaten first. Any freezers we can empty, we can switch off,” Martin said.
“Alright, we’re getting there. This will buy us some time that we can use to work out a longer term plan. I’ll make an announcement, let everyone know what’s happening. Is there anything else we need to deal with urgently?”
“There is one other matter,” Max said. “We need to deal with the dead. There are a lot of bodies down below, people who got caught up in that dust cloud. Grau’s got them in some kind of chiller, but they’re going to go off pretty quick.”
“Your suggestion?” Jake feared he already knew the answer.
“Those bodies should go over the side. It ain’t gonna be popular, I’ll grant you, but for the safety of everyone else, it has to be done.”
Jake sighed. “No, you’re right. It has to be done. But it should be done with dignity. I’ll announce a service. We’ll get the minister to say a few words, assuming he’s survived.”
Max rolled his eyes.
“They’re still people, Max,” Jake said. “Many of them will have relatives who have survived. We can’t just dump them over the side like a sack of spoiled potatoes. They get a proper sea burial, even if the service takes a whole day. And nobody is obliged to attend,” he added quickly. “Max, I need you to do what you do best. Get out and about around the ship, get a feel for the mood. Things are going to be hard going for the next few days. I expect not everyone is going to accept that. We need to be ready for problems before they arise.”
“You want me doing community policing?”
“You could call it that, why not. Call it intelligence work if it makes you feel better. You’re head of security and, the way I see it, maintaining the peace is one of the most important things we can do if we are to survive this. But put that weapon back in the locker please, we’re not at war, and I don’t think we need to worry about pirates. Walking around with that on your shoulder is just going to alienate us from the passengers. Martin, can you find whoever is in charge of maintenance and get them to organise a crew to go over this ship top to bottom and check for serious damage? Someone needs to fix the windows in here before we freeze to death, and no doubt the bridge isn’t the hardest hit area. Anything that can be fixed without using power should be fixed, within reason. Windows, the deck thirteen roof, that kind of thing. Get the place weathertight.”
“Okay, shouldn’t be a problem,” Martin said.
“Great, then I think that’s all for now.” Jake felt relief that this was almost over. “Let’s arrange to meet back here at,” he checked his watch, “twenty-two hundred. That gives us six hours. I want everyone to try and get some sleep before then, too. It could be a long night. Any problems, I want to know. Are the internal comms working?”
Martin nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I’ll get them back online from the battery.”
“Okay then, let’s get to it. And by the way, I want all of you in uniform. Until we know otherwise, we are all still employees of Pelagios Line, and we need to show that the crew are still running the show.”
Max, Silvia, and Martin filed out of the door, leaving Lucya and Jake stood at the table. Neither said a word until the door was closed.
“You did really well, Jake, you’re going to be fine at this, really.”
“I’m winging it. Martin can tell. He’s going along with it for now, but he won’t take orders from me forever.”
“What is it with you two anyway?” Lucya tilted her head, looking at Jake with huge, wide eyes.
“Surely you don’t need to ask that?” He felt suddenly very uncomfortable.
“Yes, I do. You two used to be such good friends.”
“Oh, hey, I’m taking up your table. You need to get to the maps to plot your course.”
“Don’t change the subject! And I don’t need the maps, I’ll just use the navigation computer.”
“I don’t think any of the computers have power yet. Looks like you’re going to have to work the old-fashioned way. What do you think, can you remember how?” He grinned at her.
“Cheeky. You are a cheeky man. I will show you just what I can do with a map. But first I am going to get washed and changed before Martin switches off the water. I might even have a little rest, captain’s orders you know.” With that, she rounded the table, and slipped through the door.
Jake stared at his scrawled notes across the steel surface. He opened a drawer and took out a pad of paper and a pen. He began to plan out just what he was going to say to everyone on board.
Eighteen
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN can I have your attention, please? Your attention, please. This is Acting Captain Jake Noah. Earlier today, Staff Captain Hollen addressed this ship and promised that we would update you with news of how the asteroid we witnessed has affected the rest of the world. Surely everyone aboard has someone back home they are desperate to hear from. The news I bring is not what you will want to hear, but I am not going to lie to you. So far, we have not been able to make contact with anyone back on land. It is importan
t we do not draw any hasty conclusions from this fact. It is possible, likely even, that the asteroid damaged radio equipment, or even that the dust and ash cloud which trailed it is causing interference. The only way we can know for sure if there are other survivors on land is to go and see. We are, however, limited by our fuel supply. The same fuel that drives this ship also drives all the services, including power and light. Tempting though it may be, we cannot just sail off and start our search, we must plan ahead carefully to make the most of our resources.
“Although this ship is large, it does carry only a finite quantity of fuel and food. If we wish to survive much further into the future, we must be smart about how we consume both. For this reason, effective immediately, we are introducing a rationing system ship-wide…”
Jake proceeded to announce all that had been discussed: the food and water rationing, the limited use of electricity and heating. He announced that a service for the dead would be held on the deck four rear terrace the following morning and anyone who wished to attend was welcome.
“These measures, I know, will not be easy, but I hope you all understand that they are necessary. They apply to everyone aboard, crew and passengers alike. It goes without saying that all normal services on board are suspended. All crew members are relieved of their regular duties. We are, to all intents and purposes, in a kind of hibernation. I recommend everyone tries to get some rest. Those who are injured and have not yet been treated should attend the medical centre, which has now been relocated to the gym. If your injuries are not serious, please do give consideration to others who may need attention more urgently than yourself.”
Jake felt he was beginning to ramble. He knew he needed to wrap it up.
“I know you may have many questions and concerns, and we will address these as best we can in due course. For now, I ask for your patience as we adapt to our enforced circumstances. Urgent problems can be addressed to uniformed senior crew members, who will do their best to help. Thank you.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that the announcement was lacking in authority and conviction, not to mention structure and coherence, but he was just happy to have got it over with. The questions would come, of that he had no doubt. For now, though, he wanted to take his own advice and get some more rest. He settled down in the captain’s chair, closed his eyes, and was asleep within seconds.