by Chris Ryan
TWO
They made it in nine. All five of them had managed to change into clean, dry clothes and Amber and Alex had plasters covering their grazes. Heather was already there, stalking up and down the aft-deck. They looked at one another, then formed a ragged line and waited in silence.
Heather ignored them. She had stopped pacing and was standing with her head down, apparently deep in thought.
Amber looked at her watch and sighed. Then she cleared her throat. Finally, she spoke. 'You do know our Watch is officially over, right? Hey! I said—'
Heather's head went up and she homed in on Amber like a heat-seeking missile. 'Hey? Hey? Hay is what you feed to horses!'
'OK. OK,' muttered Amber.
'No, not OK!' snapped Heather. 'I expect you to do me the courtesy of using my name. Is that clear?'
'Sheesh! What is this? A floating boot-camp?'
Heather took a deep, calming breath. 'No, Amber, to most people this is the trip of a lifetime.'
Alex grimaced. The trip of a lifetime. That was what he had thought when he found out about the Phoenix Project nearly a year ago. A crew of young people from all over the world were to be brought together aboard the Phoenix to take part in the first of a series of eco-voyages. It was to be a special crew. The successful applicants would have to be fit, speak English and have a variety of useful background skills. The advert stressed that this was to be a working voyage, but it didn't sound much like work to Alex. The chosen crew would be surveying and recording the variety of plants, animals and sea-life to be found in the Indonesian Archipelago. They would spend the summer sailing amongst the thousands of tiny island groups dotted around the Java Sea, dropping anchor every few days to explore a new island and dive on its surrounding reefs.
It sounded wonderful. Alex had fired off an application and was thrilled when he was invited to join the crew. It had taken him the whole of a long Northumbrian winter to raise enough money to pay for his place on the Phoenix. He had spent his evenings writing to local businesses, asking for sponsorship. His weekends had been taken up with whatever casual work he could find. He had cleaned holiday cottages and cleared snow from driveways in sub-zero temperatures. For two gruelling weeks in December, he had felled Christmas trees non-stop until there were blisters the size of saucers on his palms.
Now, Alex grimaced again, remembering how hard he had worked to get here. At the start of the voyage, when the crew all came together, he had been full of excitement. It was a truly international crew. There were twenty of them, from all over the world. Alex had particularly liked a friendly Nigerian boy called Samuel and Kathe, a German girl with a beautiful smile, but, when the four Watches were chosen, they had all been put into different Watches. He had been assigned to A-Watch and his trip of a lifetime had turned into a nightmare.
Amber seemed intent on making things worse. She was looking down her nose at Heather as though their Watch-leader was a piece of chewing-gum stuck to the deck.
'Trip of a lifetime?' Amber sneered. 'I didn't ask to be here. I wanted to stay in Boston for the summer.'
Heather raised an eyebrow. 'All alone in an empty boarding school?'
'Yeah, well, I'd rather be on my own in Boston than here with him,' said Amber, throwing a sideways glance at Hex. 'Which reminds me, has my uncle arranged my flights home yet?'
'Unfortunately not,' said Heather, grimly. 'He spoke to the skipper this morning. Your request is denied.'
'What!'
'You're on board for the whole voyage. Your uncle thinks it'll do you good, mixing with people from all walks of life.'
'People I can handle,' retorted Amber. She jerked her head at Hex. 'It's street-rats like him I have a problem with.'
Silently, smoothly, Hex moved out of the line and headed for Amber. Paulo and Alex were standing on either side of her and they both stepped out to block Hex's way. Hex only stopped when he ran up against them. His green eyes were flat and his face was expressionless as he stared at Amber, but Paulo and Alex between them were struggling to hold him back.
'See what I mean?' said Amber, smugly. 'Straight to the violence. No discussion. Typical London street-rat reaction.'
'That's enough, Amber,' said Heather. 'And, Hex, there will be no fighting aboard the Phoenix. Understood?'
'My palmtop is in the sea,' grated Hex.
'Gone phishing,' smirked Amber, using the hacker's term for searching out information. 'Or, maybe, gone surfing?'
Hex surged forward again, nearly managing to power his way past Alex and Paulo.
'Amber! Hex!' snapped Heather. 'Stop it, now!'
'What's the problem?' sighed Amber. 'I'll buy him a new one.'
'You think money fixes everything,' said Hex, pushing Alex and Paulo away and returning to his place in the line.
'Yeah, right,' said Amber. 'What would you know about that, street-rat?'
'Speaking of street-rats,' said Hex, 'I read about your father on the Net.'
Amber blinked with shock at the mention of her father and her hand went up to the chain she always wore at her neck. An oddly-shaped twist of beaten gold hung from the chain. It had been roughly hammered into a coin-sized circle, broken at the base with the two ends bent back on themselves.
'He might've died a software billionaire,' continued Hex, 'but he was born and dragged up in the Bronx. A ghetto boy. A street-rat.'
Amber ducked her head and, for once, said nothing. There was an awkward silence, then Heather stepped closer to Amber and laid a hand on her arm. 'I can see you loved your parents very much, Amber,' she said, gently.
'Don't bring my mom and dad into this,' said Amber, clutching the broken circle protectively and glaring at Heather.
'But that's why I can't understand your behaviour on this voyage,' continued Heather. 'The Phoenix was built in their memory—'
'I don't need a stupid sailing ship to remember them, OK?' snapped Amber. 'That was my uncle's stupid idea.'
Heather sighed and tried again. 'You know what a phoenix is, don't you?'
'Yeah, yeah,' drawled Amber. 'The bird that rose again from the ashes. A new beginning. A rebirth. Well, I don't want any new beginning. My parents, they died. The e-end.' Amber stopped as her drawl developed a wobble. She swallowed, then lifted her chin and tried again. 'The end!'
'Omega,' said Hex, gazing thoughtfully at the twist of beaten gold in Amber's fist. His voice was quiet, but Amber jumped as though he had shouted the word in her ear. She stared at Hex in shock, but he did not seem to notice. He just kept looking at the twist of gold.
What's that about? thought Alex, watching them both.
'Gee, Heather, you really brightened up her day,' said Li, seeing the tears in Amber's eyes. 'Always Keep a Happy Watch, that must be your motto, right?'
Paulo snorted with laughter and Li rewarded him with a smile. She did not seem to notice the way Heather's face was darkening but Alex groaned inwardly and took a step away from the others. He stared straight ahead and tried to pretend he was nothing to do with A-Watch.
'That, Li, is just the smart-ass kind of remark I've come to expect from you,' snapped Heather.
'Only joking,' muttered Li.
'This is no joke! Amber could've died back there! And do you know the scary part? It could happen again tomorrow. Because A-Watch is not a team, it is a total disorganized mess! The other Watches, they've made friends—'
'I have made friends,' objected Paulo.
'No, Paulo. You have tried to make it with every girl on board. That is not the same as making friends. You lot don't know the first thing about the people standing right next to you! Well, I'm going to tell you a few truths! Amber and Hex, you are two of the most selfish people I have ever met.'
Hex and Amber started to protest, but Heather cut them short. 'Neither of you wants to be here, so what do you do? You both go into a permanent sulk! And Li, you think that because you're our animal expert, you don't need to do any of the work on-board ship. Wrong! Paulo, what can I say? Y
ou seem to think you're too good-looking to work!'
Alex lowered his head to hide a smile. Heather had captured them all perfectly.
'And you, Alex,' continued Heather, moving to stand in front of him. 'First, I have to say thank you. I think Amber probably owes you her life.'
Alex shrugged and started to say something modest, but Heather hadn't finished.
'But I also have a question for you, Alex. Do you think you're too good for us?'
Alex's grey eyes widened with surprise. 'What?'
'I saw you step away from us just now. That's how you always are. One step away from us. Observing. And you don't seem to like what you see.'
'I—' Alex could feel a flush spreading up his neck and across his cheeks. He glanced sideways at the others, then straightened his back, squared his shoulders and stared over Heather's head into the middle distance.
Heather stepped back to take all five of them in with one glare, then she moved along the line, handing each of them a pencil and a pad of paper. 'You will each report to me first thing in the morning, with an essay on the meaning of team spirit. Until then, I do not want to see any of you. So, you will not, repeat not, watch tonight's film and you will not eat dinner in the mess with the rest of the crew. Just – keep out of my way!'
Heather began to walk away. Just before she left the deck, she turned back to give them all one last glare. 'Understand this,' she said. A-Watch is going to be a team by the end of this voyage.'
As soon as Heather had disappeared, Amber tossed her head and threw her pad and pencil to the deck. She stalked over to the stern rail and leaned over it with her back to the rest of them. Hex also threw down his pad and, out of habit, reached into the pouch at his belt for his palmtop. An expression of pain crossed his face as he remembered he no longer had it. He slumped down onto the deck, suddenly at a loss for something to do. Paulo and Li sat down together with their pads and started playing an X-rated game of Hangman. Alex stared at his blank sheet of paper and wished with all his heart that he was back home in Northumberland.
'I am hungry,' announced Paulo, a few minutes later. 'I cannot go without food. I will grow faint and pale. See?' He pushed the dark curls back from his forehead to give them all a good view of him wasting away.
'You know, Paulo, you're absolutely right,' said Amber slowly, staring down into the water.
Paulo blinked in surprise. Amber never agreed with anyone. He grinned with pleasure, showing all his even, white teeth. 'I am?'
Amber turned to face the rest of them. 'Yeah. We shouldn't have to go without food. So, here's what we'll do. We're going on a raid, OK?'
'Yay! At last, a bit of action!' said Li, bouncing to her feet.
'Collect up any food or drink you have in your lockers,' continued Amber. 'Grab some bunk blankets, then meet me back here in ten minutes.'
'Where are you going, Amber?' asked Paulo.
'I'm gonna see what I can lift from the galley store-room,' grinned Amber.
'You're going to steal food?' said Alex.
Amber frowned, thinking about it. 'Nah. It's not stealing,' she said finally. 'How can it be? I mean, this whole boat sorta belongs to me. So that must include the galley supplies.'
'I'd like to hear you say that to Heather,' sneered Hex.
'Oh, yeah? You planning on telling her?'
'No.'
'Then how's she gonna find out?'
'On a boat this size?' said Hex. 'She'll find out. Do you think you won't be spotted having a picnic with stolen galley supplies out in full view on the aft-deck?'
'But we're not going to be on the aft-deck,' said Amber, smiling sweetly. She pointed over the stern rail to the water below. They all hurried to look over the rail. There, bobbing along in the wake of the Phoenix, was the little wooden boat they used to get from ship to shore on island stops.
'We'll be hidden down there, in the tender,' said Amber. 'That's a boat, to you,' she added, giving Hex a withering glance.
'Are you stupid or something?' asked Hex. 'One glance over the rail and she'd see us!'
'Yeah, but the Phoenix has a counter-stern. That means the deck level sticks out over the water like a shelf—'
'I know what it means,' said Hex absent-mindedly, studying the little tender.
'So,' said Amber. 'We could—'
'– haul the boat in with that tow rope,' interrupted Hex.
'You mean the painter,' retorted Amber.
'– then bring the rope round to the side there,' continued Hex.
'– which would tuck the tender right in under the stern!' crowed Li. 'We'd be completely hidden from anyone on deck.'
'I don't know,' said Alex. Aren't we in enough trouble?'
'Come on!' yelled Amber. 'We'll be doing exactly what Heather said. Keeping out of her sight—'
'– and working as a team,' finished Paulo.
Alex hesitated, looking at the four faces staring back at him.
'Or was Heather right? Are you too good for us, Alex?' said Li, slyly.
Still, Alex hesitated. It felt wrong to him, but perhaps this was what A-Watch needed to finally bring them together. 'All right,' he said, reluctantly. 'Let's do it.'
THREE
Ten minutes later, they were back. All the food and drink they had managed to collect was piled up in the middle of the aft-deck and Amber was busy packing it into two rucksacks. Paulo was acting as a look-out. When he nodded the all-clear, Hex and Alex grabbed the painter and began to haul it in, hand over hand. Li finished unclipping the rope-ladder and stood watching as the little tender moved steadily closer to the stern of the Phoenix.
'That's it,' said Li softly, as soon as the boat was tucked out of sight under the counter-stern. 'That's far enough. I'll go down first. I should be able to swing the rope-ladder in under the counter-stern and then jump off into the tender. You lower the rucksacks and bunk blankets down to me, then I can anchor the bottom of the ladder for the rest of you to climb down.'
Nobody argued. They all knew Li was an expert free-climber who could scale a sheer cliff without using lines. She was an Anglo-Chinese girl, born and brought up in London, but her parents were zoologists and they had been taking her on field trips with them since she was little. Li had come across a friendly group of free-climbers on one of these trips and discovered that she was a natural. The sport suited her wiry strength, perfect balance and sense of adventure. She loved climbing. A swinging rope-ladder would be nothing to her.
Amber tightened the straps on the rucksacks while Paulo left his look-out post to collect a spare length of rope from the deck locker. Quickly he looped one end of the rope through the straps of the two rucksacks and secured them with an expert knot, then stuffed the rolled blankets through the straps, threw the rest of the coiled rope over his shoulder and carried the whole lot over to the stern rail.
The gate in the stern rail had been padlocked shut, so Li pushed the rope-ladder under the bottom rail and let it uncoil. Boosting herself over the top of the rail, she balanced casually on the very edge of the deck and waited for the movement of the ladder to settle down.
Alex left Hex to finish tying the painter while he hurried over to try and hold the ladder steady. Li swung down onto the first rung and Alex grunted with effort as the ladder tried to twist itself out of his hands.
'Be careful, Li!' hissed Paulo. Li stuck out her tongue at him, then quickly made her way down the spinning ladder, stepping from rung to rung with sure-footed grace until she reached the bottom. There, she began to swing on the ladder until it was moving like a pendulum, each swing taking her further and further in under the counter-stern. On the final swing, just before she jumped out of sight to land lightly in the hidden tender, Li lifted her head and grinned up at them, her eyes alight with excitement.
'Five go on an adventure!' she laughed and they all laughed back, caught up in the thrill of a shared rebellion. Not one of them guessed how accurate her words would prove to be.
The Phoenix was holding a
steady course and moving at a low rate of knots, so the little tender bobbed along gently enough under the counter-stern and they all managed the rope-ladder without any problems. Li had already spread the bunk blankets out to make the seating more comfortable. She and Paulo settled down side by side in the stern, Alex and Amber faced one another across the rucksacks, and Hex sprawled out in the bows with one arm hanging over the side.
'Give me food,' moaned Paulo, pretending to faint with hunger. 'Give me drink.'
'Did you get anything from the galley, Amber?' asked Alex, feeling his own stomach suddenly clench with hunger.
'Did I? Wait till you see the menu for tonight.' Amber reached into one of the rucksacks. 'Soda for starters,' she said, tossing each of them a can of cold drink. 'Fruit to end the meal,' she added, pulling out a bagful of apples and bananas and carefully laying it aside. 'But here's the best bit.'
They all leaned forward as Amber dug down into the rucksack and lifted out two of the large storage tins from the galley. She cracked open the lids and a fragrant steam rose from both tins, filling the air with the smell of roast chicken and cooked rice.
'I snuck in and filled them up from the pots on the stove while the cook was out of the galley,' said Amber proudly, pulling a chicken drumstick from one tin and biting into it. 'Still hot,' she mumbled through a mouthful of chicken.
They all attacked the food, suddenly realizing how hungry they were after four hours of work on deck. The rice was cooked to perfection and flavoured with herbs. They formed it into balls with their fingers and shoved in into their mouths along with pieces of spiced chicken. For a while there was silence as they all concentrated on eating. Finally Paulo leaned back, licking the last of the rice from his fingers.
'Good,' he said. 'Excellent. It is always best to eat outside, after work.'
'Work?' said Li, cheekily. 'You?'
Paulo smiled at her fondly. 'Ah, yes, I work. Back in Argentina, on our ranch, I go out with the vaqueros—'
'The what?' asked Amber.
'The – how do you say—? The ranch hands? The cowboys, yes?'