Defenders of Destiny, book one, the Discovery of Astrolaris

by Brenton Barwick

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The Wreck

  “What is that circle-thing?” questioned Sharianna, as she steered the robot for a closer look.

  “It’s a paddle wheel steam ship!” exclaimed Joseph.

  “What is it doing way up here?” asked Sharianna. “I thought they were only used on the Mississippi river.”

  “No, I think they used a similar type for ocean travel for a short time,” replied Dad. “I’ll bet they used these ships during the height of the Alaskan gold rush.”

  “Let’s explore it!” said Joseph. “Oh, to explore a sunken ship!” he added longingly.

  “That water is probably very cold,” warned Mom, in an attempt to dissuade Joseph from his goal.

  “The spacesuits protect you from the cold,” he replied.

  As they approached, they could see a great hole that had been ripped through the wooden hull, right into the cargo hold. The huge metal smoke stack lay rusting away a short distance from the wreck, lying wedged between two boulders. Part of the bulkhead was missing and they could see in to the huge steam engine with its enormous flywheel and long piston rods still attached to the massive shaft that turned the paddle wheels. They could tell that it had once been a magnificent ship with its ornate carved railings and teakwood decks. As they peered through the broken windows, they could see into the bar and dining area.

  “Look, the mirror above the bar isn’t even broken! And some of the bottles and glasses are still intact,” observed Dad, incredulously. “This was one lavish boat,” he said, looking at Mom. “The cold water must have helped preserve it; otherwise I think it would have disintegrated long ago.”

  “I’ll bet it’s not more than seventy-five feet from the sur-face,” estimated Dad.

  “Think of all the history,” reasoned Joseph, realizing that Mom was the one he had to convince.

  “And the artifacts,” added Sharianna.

  “And the skeletons,” interjected Mom. “And the ghosts…Oooo,” she added, in her most mysterious and chilling voice.

  “I don’t see any lifeboats, maybe the passengers and crew all escaped,” Dad rationalized.

  Without warning, Sophia felt the lure of the adventure begin to grip her, like it did when they first explored the robot. “Okay, Dad and I will go. You two stay here and take care of the robot,” she teased.

  “No!” they cried in unison.

  Mom paused for a moment, looking at her kids as she thought about how brave they had been.

  “Okay, you can come too, but no goofing around!” she ordered, gravely.

  Sharianna quickly set the robot down a few feet from the wreck.

  They were in their spacesuits in record time.

  Mom went over to the counter and dumped out everything that was still in her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. “Artifacts,” she said simply.

  They entered the wreck through the main doors into the dining hall. There were windows on both sides and across the front of the room with a view of the side and the front decks – all of which were broken, except one, which was etched with the image of the mountain peaks above Anchorage, Alaska.

  Several of the round mahogany tables were still bolted to the walnut floor, the others had tipped over on their sides as the bolts that held them slowly rusted away. Immediately to their right was a flight of stairs leading to the upper deck and another flight leading down into the hold.

  Sharianna looked down into the darkness of the hold and felt a shiver run through her body, even though the spacesuit completely insulated her from the cold water. She grabbed onto Dad’s arm, “Let’s look over there by the bar.”

  The mirror behind the bar was beveled and etched with a beautiful pattern all the way around; above it, hung a golden plaque. In large raised letters was the name of the ship: “The Golden Alaskan.” The brass trim on the bar and on the stools was tarnished, but still intact, even though the finish on the wood was deteriorated and peeling. The leather seats on the stools were mostly gone, but the ornate wooden backs bespoke of their original elegance.

  Sharianna looked under the bar and saw many glasses still not broken. Some of them were etched with the name of the ship. She put two of them in Mom’s backpack.

  Above both ends of the bar, still hanging from large brass chains, were two beautiful, ornate brass and red crystal lamps, and an even larger one still hanging from the center of the dining room.

  Joseph swam over to the antique brass cash register and pulled on the lever to open the drawer, but of course, the mechanisms were all rusted together. To the right, and behind the bar was a door with a large gold door handle that was hanging by one tarnished brass hinge.

  Dad swam over to the door and pulled on it. The brass screws holding the hinge to the jam pulled right out of the deteriorated wood and the door settled slowly to the floor. Dad paused as he entered the room, to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. I wish we had some waterproof flashlights, he thought to himself. He could barely make out through the gloomy darkness, a large desk in the middle of the floor. Behind the desk he saw the remains of a large leather office chair. Behind the chair, he could barely discern the outline of a large rectangular box about six feet high and three feet in width. Sharianna was right beside him as he swam over the desk to get a better look at the box. It was pitted and cankered with rust, but he recognized it as the ship’s safe from the large, rusted, combination dial set in the front panel.

  “It’s a safe,” concluded Sharianna, when her eyes had become adjusted to the darkness. “Do you think there is anything in it?” she asked with excitement.

  Dad pulled on the door of the safe but the iron was so thick that it had not yet rusted all the way through.

  “You found a safe?” asked Joseph, as he swam into the room. “Can you open it?”

  “No,” replied Dad. “It is pretty thick iron…but maybe we can move it.” He put one hand on the back of the safe and with his other pushed against the wall. The safe began to tip when, suddenly, his hand went right through the deteriorating wall.

  “Let’s work together,” suggested Joseph, as he tapped on the wall and found a spot that seemed stronger than the rest. Dad and Sharianna did the same, and they all pulled together. To their surprise, the safe tipped and then fell. As it hit the floor, the deck boards gave way in between two structural members and it fell down into the hold.

  “I guess these suits do enhance your strength,” acknowledged Dad. “But they definitely don’t make you superman,” he added, as he looked through the hole in the floor.

  Joseph voiced what Dad had thought earlier as he peered down into the darkness: “I wish we had some flashlights.”

  Mom swam into the room with a huge smile on her face, wearing her now bulging backpack and carrying the large chandelier from the center of the dining room. “I always wanted lamps just like these, and these are real antiques.” She almost giggled with delight. Sophia looked down at the dark hole in the floor. Suddenly, an almost tangible gloom seemed to emanate from the hole. She consciously shook off the unexpected feeling. “Hey, what about the lights on the robot? You could shine them through the hole in the hull. Then you could see what is down there.”

  “And it might not be as scary,” concluded Sharianna, as she gazed down into the darkness. Suddenly, she thought she saw some movement. “Something moved down there!” she declared.

  “Probably fish,” consoled Dad.

  “I’ve got to make a trip back to the robot, so I’ll shine the lights for you,” proposed Mom.

  “I’ll go with you,” offered Sharianna.

  Joseph made an exaggerated, scary sound.

  “Stop that!” rebuked Sharianna.

  “That’s not very nice,” scolded Mom, who felt a little spooked herself.

  While Mom and Sharianna hauled their newfound treasures to the robot, Joseph and Dad busied themselves investigating the room. Joseph opened the desk drawers, or rather,
he pulled off the drawer fronts and reached into the drawers, since the wood had swelled up with the water and the drawers would no longer slide. He found an old pistol that was cankered with rust, but the pearl handles were still perfect, and a bunch of old papers and documents.

  They looked out the small window of the ship’s office to see the robot bend down as Mom directed the light into the hold.

  “There is a lot of stuff down there,” reported Mom.

  “Are you still wearing your spacesuit?” inquired Dad, when he heard her voice.

  “No, but we can still hear you perfectly,” she replied.

  They looked through the hole in the floor and saw the safe lying on top of a pile of flattened barrels. The water was a little murky in the hold, probably from the debris that was kicked up when the safe crashed to the floor. They dropped through the hole and swam down toward the safe. Joseph noticed that the hold must have been used for transporting both animals and cargo, because there were several partitions that looked like pens, and on the opposite side of the ship there was a large door ajar in the bulkhead about halfway up from the floor, with a ramp extending up to it that looked like it was for loading livestock. They swam around the hold examining the cargo.

  “I think they were on their way back from Alaska,” deduced Dad.

  “How can you tell?” asked Joseph.

  “Because there are no cattle skeletons, only a few horses’.”

  “What’s the significance of that?” asked Sharianna from her position in the control room of the robot. She could see Joseph’s and Dad’s shadowy figures swimming around in the murky hold.

  “On the way up they would probably take cattle to sell to the miners. On the way back they would only have a few horses that belong to the passengers,” explained Dad.

  Joseph pointed to the smashed barrels that the safe had landed on. “Pickled herring – that comes from up near Alaska too, doesn’t it?”

  “I think so,” replied Dad.

  At one end of the hold, Joseph saw a large cage with old rusty iron bars. As he swam closer he could tell, through the murky water, that it was divided by iron bars into two compartments or cells. Suddenly, he swam backwards with a startled shout.

  “What is it?” asked Dad, as he swam toward Joseph.

  “What’s the matter?” asked Mom, anxiously from the robot.

  “A skeleton,” answered Joseph, trying to regain his compo-sure.

  “It’s the brig,” explained Dad. “Looks like they forgot to release the prisoner.”

  “That one’s not a man,” said Joseph, as he pointed through the rust cankered bars of the other cell.

  “It looks like it is either a polar bear, or a grizzly bear; I’ll bet they were taking it down to the states for a zoo, or for some other kind of exhibition,” speculated Dad.

  “How did they get it in there?” asked Joseph. “And how were they going to get it out?”

  “Good question,” replied Dad.

  “He gives me the creeps,” shuddered Joseph, as he looked back at the prisoner, the bones of his arms still extended between the bars. “I hope he deserved it. Let’s get the safe and get out of here.”

  “Be careful,” cautioned Mom.

  Joseph wondered if he and Dad would be able to pick up the safe.

  “Ready? Heave!” grunted Dad, as they lifted the safe from the floor.

  Even with the added strength from their suits they had to rest several times before they got it to the hole in the side of the hull.

  “Mom, put the foot of the robot right here, so that we can step out onto it.”

  As they carried the safe across the top of the foot, Joseph thought he saw, from the corner of his eye, something move within the hold.

  Finally, they had the safe in the tiny airlock; they had to lay the safe on the floor lengthwise and there was still barely enough room.

  “I’m beat, let’s have some lunch,” suggested Dad, as he pushed the button to close the airlock.

  In the kitchen, they made sandwiches for lunch from the groceries they had purchased in Hawaii.

  “I’d still like to get the name plate of the ship that’s above the mirror,” said Joseph, as he took another bite from his sandwich.

  “I want to explore the upper deck,” declared Sharianna. She felt a little apprehension at the thought of going back into the spooky ship, but she quickly suppressed the feeling, realizing that if she expressed it, Joseph would likely exploit her fear, just for the fun of it.

  “I think it would be real cool to explore the engine room.” Joseph paused, “What about you, Mom?”

  “I think I’ll have a look at that engine room too.”

  As they exited the airlock, Sharianna and Dad swam directly to the upper deck. Joseph and Mom entered the hold through the hole in the hull.

  Joseph made his way to the engine room with Mom follow-ing.

  “They are pretty scary looking,” commented Mom, as they swam past the brig with its skeleton prisoners. A strange shiver made its way through her body, but she shook it off.

  “Look at all those gages,” said Mom, when they entered the engine room.

  It was pretty dark, but a little light from the robot filtered through the murky hold and illuminated the room.

  As they looked around the engine room, they could see the huge boiler tank and the big firebox where they burned the coal or wood to make the steam that turned the huge crank shaft that powered the paddle wheels.

  Sharianna felt a surge of excitement as she swam over the railing of the upper deck and saw the ship’s bridge, with the ship’s wheel still intact. She swam through the large front window, being careful not to snag her suit on the broken glass that was still clinging to the edges of the frame; she looked around. Next to the ship’s wheel was a tall desk, almost like a podium with a sloped top. Attached to the side of the desk was a tarnished brass funnel with a brass tube attached to it. Sharianna swam over to the funnel and called down into it. “Jooseph, caaan yooou heeear meee?”

  “Of course I can hear you. Why are you talking so strange?”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot about the radios in the suits. We’re in the bridge and there is a communication funnel with a pipe, I think it goes to the engine room.”

  “Oh yeah, I see it,” Joseph grabbed a large rusty old wrench that was still hanging on the wall and tapped the edge of the brass funnel. “Did you hear that?”

  “Yes.”

  On the back wall of the bridge, in a brass frame, was a large map. The glass covering the map was still unbroken. It showed all of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and the west coast of Canada and the United States all the way down to San Francisco.

  “I can’t believe how well preserved this map is,” commented Dad. “I wonder how well it would survive in the air if we were to take it home?” he mused, as he pulled it off the wall.

  “Hey, if you guys are done looking at the engine room, you should come up here - we’re going to explore the rest of the upper deck,” suggested Sharianna.

  “Okay, we’re coming,” replied Mom.

  “Let’s go out the loading ramp, then we can swim straight up the outside of the ship,” suggested Joseph.

  Sharianna swam out the door of the bridge and looked over the railing. What she saw made her blood feel chill. She opened her mouth, but her larynx seemed stuck.

  Three sleek gray torpedo-like forms swam in the water below; one was at least twelve feet long. The largest seemed to slide effortlessly through the water, when suddenly, it disappeared through the large loading door, into the hold.

  “Look out!” Her voice had been stuck for only a fraction of a moment. “Sharks!”

  The two smaller sharks seemed to hear her scream as they fluidly changed direction and efficiently swam up toward her. Sharianna felt very exposed, clinging to the railing.

  Joseph looked toward the loading door and saw the massive creature as it silently glided into the hold and turned to look at
them. “It’s a Great White!” he exclaimed.

  “Quick! In the cage!” ordered Mom, surprisingly cool, as she grabbed the bars and pulled on the door. It did not move. She looked down at the lock, then looked at the perfect killing machine that was gracefully making its way toward them.

  Joseph struck the lock with the large wrench that he still had in his hand with all the force that both he and the suit could muster.

  Mom grabbed the only weapon within reach and turned to face the fearsome predator. Her weapon seemed severely puny as she held it up to face the approaching menace.

  The rust weakened mechanism inside the lock finally gave way under the immense blows delivered by Joseph and the lock opened up. Joseph pulled on the door with all his strength and the huge rusty hinges capitulated.

  Mom threw the prisoner’s arm bone in the direction of the approaching danger and it floated harmlessly to the floor.

  They darted into the cage behind the door and tried to pull it shut but the shark was already there. Its eyelids rolled back as its lips seemed to recede and huge jaws with innumerable teeth protruded, expecting to tear away the flesh of its victims. Somehow, remembering that sharks have a tender nose, Joseph pulled on the door with his left hand and swung the wrench as hard as he could at the carnivore’s nose with his right hand. Instead of impacting his intended target, the wrench struck the upper gums and large triangular teeth of the upper jaw, breaking several of them away. Joseph released his grip as the jaws slammed together, clamping the wrench in its grasp. The shark, realizing that it had not grasped onto soft warm food, quickly darted away and they slammed the door shut.

  Sharianna’s heart leaped when she felt something grab her by the ankle and pull her away from the railing. She looked back to see her dad pulling her toward a door behind the bridge.

  “Hurry, get into that hallway!” admonished Dad fervently.

  As they closed the door behind them, they saw, through the broken window in the door, the two smaller sharks rise up and swim over the railing toward them. One of them put his nose near the broken window and nudged the door, as if testing it. The other shark seemed to swim away.

  Sharianna looked down the hallway. There were several doors along the hall that led to the passenger cabins, some of which were closed, while others were open. The door at the end of the hallway opened up onto the opposite side of the ship. She could see the railing through the open door at the far end of the hall.

  Dad continued to hold the door as his mind raced, trying to think of a solution. Suddenly, he felt Sharianna grab his arm in a viselike grip. He turned his head toward her and saw the other shark entering the far end of the hall.

  Sharianna quickly opened the closest cabin door and pulled her dad inside.

  Thomas felt a sense of surprised relief as he slid the brass dead bolt latch into place.

  “A huge shark went into the hold,” Sharianna declared as she tried to catch her breath.

  “Sophia? Joseph? Are you okay?” asked Dad anxiously.

  “Yes, we’re in the brig, but there is a huge great white shark swimming around the hold, waiting for us.”

  Dad looked toward the small window and saw a shadow as one of the sharks swam by. “There are two sharks up here, but we are safe in one of the cabins.

  Dad looked around the room, searching in vain for something to use as a weapon.

  “They will probably go away when they realize that there is no food for them here,” reasoned Dad hopefully.

  It seemed like a long time had passed, but the sharks contin-ued to linger about the ship. Soon they were joined by three more. It seemed that they knew there was prey, and it would have to come out eventually.

  “Are the other two sharks still up there?” inquired Mom.

  “Yes,” replied Dad. “It looks like they have been joined by a few more. How about the big one?” queried Dad.

  “Yep, he’s still here,” answered Joseph. “I thought great whites were supposed to be solitary creatures,” he added.

  “I guess not always.”

  Sharianna looked out the window toward the robot. She couldn’t see any sharks. She flipped her wrist back and pushed the button. Barely squeezing through the window; she shot toward the robot.

  “Sharianna!” Dad cried, as he rushed to the window. It was too small for him to follow.

  “I’ll get the robot,” Sharianna called out.

  Dad rushed to the door and quickly drew back the bolt. Suddenly, the nose of a shark pushed through the opening. Dad hit the nose with his fist and it withdrew. He slammed the door and refastened the bolt and raced back to the window. Sharianna was more than half way to the robot with three sharks close on her tail.

  “Faster, Sharianna!” he cried, frantic for her safety.

  “Robo-ship! Open the airlock!” ordered Sharianna.

  Dad began kicking at the windowsill in an effort to enlarge the opening. Suddenly, another shark descended from above and made an attempt to feast on his foot.

  “What’s going on up there?” demanded Mom.

  Sharianna dared not look back. She was going full speed. Realizing that she would slam into the back wall of the airlock, she pulled back on the button. Reaching around the edge of the doorway, she pushed the button to close the door. Finally, she looked back to see the lead shark only feet away. As the door began to close, it turned with all the grace of a figure skater and swam back toward the ship.

  “I’m in the airlock,” she announced, as she impatiently waited for the water to drain out of the little room.

  As she leaped into the captain’s chair she reached toward the sharks with the arms of the robot.

  The most fearsome predators of the ocean scattered like frightened minnows in a pond. The giant great white made a beeline for the hole in the other end of the hold and followed the example of his companions.

  Dad opened the door of the cabin and, seeing no sharks, swam toward the robot. He waved at the robot, knowing that Sharianna could see him. “You’re so brave, honey.” He went into the bridge and emerged with the map in the brass frame.

  Joseph picked up the three huge shark teeth that had fallen to the floor and pushed open the door of the cage.

  As Mom and Joseph swam through the doorway of the loading ramp toward the airlock, Joseph stopped. “I’m going to grab the nameplate.”