by Jordan Rivet
The first mate looked sharply at Esther. “Why?”
“General interest,” Patrick said. “That all right?”
“Fine,” the first mate said, “but keep an eye out. I don’t want people on deck if they don’t have to be.”
“Is the Calderon Group close?” Esther asked.
“We don’t have them on radar yet,” the first mate said after a moment’s hesitation, “but they are notorious for surprise attacks, if half the rumors are true. Just be quick about it.”
“Yes, sir!” Luke said. “I mean, ma’am! First Mate.”
The first mate charged off without acknowledging him. She moved in such sharp bursts. It was disconcerting.
“What’s her story?” Esther asked.
“Beats me,” Luke said. “She was already the number two when I signed on.”
“Same here,” Patrick said. “And I’ve been with the Harvesters a bit longer than these two.”
“When did you join?” Esther asked.
“Two years ago.”
They climbed a ladder and emerged on the main deck. The rain had eased up momentarily, leaving the air crisp and cold. A steady tailwind pushed them through the sea. Patrick led the way aft.
“Actually, they put my old ship out of business,” he said. “We were salvagers too, me and my old man, but we couldn’t compete. They always got to the good stuff first, and they could afford to sail closer to shore. We both ended up joining, but he’s on one of the other ships.”
“How many Harvester ships are there?” Esther asked.
“Not sure,” Patrick said. “Gotta be at least a dozen by now.”
“Do you see your dad often?”
“A few times a year on the Amsterdam.”
They reached the stern, where a huge crane loomed like a dorsal fin.
“We use this baby to dredge metal from shallower water,” Patrick said.
He showed Esther how it worked, and they chatted about pulleys and corrosion problems. The Terra Firma swayed and lurched as she churned through the water. The sea and sky were black, the clouds hiding the stars from view.
Zoe and Luke climbed up to sit on the stern railing. Cody leaned against it beside them. He gasped when Luke pretended to fall back toward the wake spreading behind the ship. Esther caught Zoe smiling, but her face was serious by the time Luke recovered his balance.
“They’re good guys,” Patrick said. He wrapped his hands around a cable and leaned back on it, flexing his arms. He had pulled his sleeves up above his biceps despite the cold.
“You’ve been friends for a while?” Esther asked.
“Yeah. Luke’s been there for me in a tight spot or two, especially when my mum died. We’ve known each other since we were kids. Got into all kinds of trouble on the Amsterdam whenever Dad and I were in port.”
Now Luke was trying to stand up and balance on the railing. It was only about six inches wide, and he kept both hands wrapped around it, moving shakily. Zoe stopped him, then put her hands on his shoulder, using him for balance, and stood up on the railing in one neat motion. She lifted her foot off the edge and stretched it out over the churning sea like a dancer. Luke stared up at her, not daring to move lest he disturb her dangerous balance. She met his eyes, and a smile crossed her lips.
“Why aren’t you and your dad on the same ship?” Esther asked Patrick as they watched their friends. She was thinking of her own father back on the Catalina. She couldn’t believe she was so far away from him for the second time in two months. At least this time she knew he was safe.
“We weren’t getting on so well at the time,” Patrick said. “Too much time together on a small boat, I think. Luke was the one that got me to patch things up with him. We leave messages for each other at his mum’s stall in the Amsterdam Bazaar now. We’re making plans to go back to Australia one day.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s about time, don’t you think?” Patrick said. He scratched at the reddish stubble on his square jaw.
“Probably is,” Esther said. “What’s the plan?”
“We just need to save up enough for the fuel. We still got our old boat at the Amsterdam. We figure she can make one more big trip, then we’ll be back on land for good.”
“Sounds like quite an adventure,” Esther said, remembering the voyage to land that David had proposed. Why had she turned him down?
“Yep. We’re almost there,” Patrick said. “I won’t mind leaving the Harvesters behind.”
“They don’t seem so bad.”
“Yeah, well . . .” Patrick trailed off. He hooked the cable back into place. “We’d better get back below deck before the first mate catches us out here. You don’t want to be on her bad side.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Esther said.
“Come on, you three,” Patrick called. “Let’s head in.”
Zoe stepped gracefully off the railing. Luke tried to help her, but she let go of his shoulder as soon as her feet reached the deck.
“I’m beat,” Zoe said. “Gotta get rested up for more bilge work in the morning.”
She traipsed off without even bidding Luke good night. She was strutting a bit, though, and Luke was watching her with stars in his eyes.
When they returned to their cabin for the night, Esther lay on her lumpy bunk thinking about what Patrick had said. Yes, it was about time for people to start heading back to land. She hoped Patrick and his father would find a way to make it happen. If all they needed was fuel, maybe she could help.
They had to find the Calderon ship soon. She wanted to go home.
Chapter 16—Sand Queen
AT NOON THE NEXT day, the news spread through the Terra Firma like fire in a fuel cell: “Someone spotted a Calderon warship booking it west.”
“We’re in for a fight, boys.”
“They won’t know what hit them.”
“Finally! We’ll show ’em who’s in charge on the New Pacific!”
A heavy cloud cover still hung above the iron sea. Esther wasn’t sure how far they had traveled. The sun’s absence made it difficult to get her bearings. She had reported their position to Neal on the satellite phone that morning, but she wasn’t sure if it was doing any good.
The rain continued intermittently, and the gloom had started affecting morale on the ship. It was a relief that something was finally happening.
“You better get ready, girls,” Luke said.
He had come to confirm the news with Esther and Zoe, who had been discussing the rumors by the starboard railing. Luke tapped his foot and stared across the water, a dark ring of sweat forming on his uniform.
“Oh, we’re ready,” Zoe said. She pulled out her pocketknife and flipped it back and forth through her fingers.
“Careful. You don’t want to hurt yourself,” Luke said.
“I know a thing or two about knives,” Zoe said, then flipped it down so it sunk deep into the plank between Luke’s feet.
“Hey! That’s dangerous.”
Zoe batted her eyelashes at him. Esther suspected that Zoe really liked Luke. Teasing him seemed to have cheered her up a lot over the past few days.
“What’s the plan, Luke?” Esther said. “You guys have a protocol for engaging other ships?”
“Uh, we’ve had some training exercises,” Luke said. “Theoretical stuff mostly. Our contact says the ship is alone. But the Calderon guys are normally the ones attacking.”
“We’re not going to sink it, right?”
“That wouldn’t do your friend much good, would it?”
“No.”
“I think Captain Alder is smarter than that,” Zoe said.
Luke opened his mouth to respond, but a voice cut him off.
“Get moving, you lazy scum!” The first mate stormed across the deck, brandishing a large machine gun not unlike Dirk’s. Her arms seemed to quiver with energy. “Don’t just stand there staring like rockfish. We need all hands. The ship’ll be in range soon. We only get one chance. You
two”—she jerked her head at Esther and Zoe—“do your part, or stay out of the way. Can you shoot?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Zoe answered, snapping to attention.
Esther nodded, though she felt less confident. She knew the basic idea.
“Then get your butts to the armory.”
The armory was a whirlpool of clattering metal, clicking magazines, and shouting crew. A paunchy man in an ugly brownish-green uniform shoved guns into their hands. Esther’s was like obsidian—cold and heavy.
She asked how to use the weapon, but the man just growled, “It’s semiautomatic and loaded. An otter could fire that thing. Move along.”
They jogged back up to the deck, where Cody had joined Luke at the starboard railing. They trained their eyes on the horizon.
“Any minute now,” Cody said, his voice breaking a bit. A sharp line of sweat cut down the side of his face.
Esther’s hands shook, the muzzle of her gun vibrating in her hands. She wasn’t ready. She had never fired a gun before. Why did she think she could go after the Calderon Group? None of the Harvester men seemed to know what they were doing either. This was going to be a disaster.
The sea was a dreary smear of gray, empty so far. The crew waited, breathless. The engines grunted. Wind cut against the hull and whined through Esther’s hair and jacket. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zoe reach over and squeeze Luke’s forearm.
The horizon line remained uninterrupted, blurry with the motion of the sea. Then . . .
“There she is!” someone shouted.
“That’s a Calderon ship all right.”
“You think they seen us?”
“It’s the big one!”
Esther squinted. Finally, a darker patch of gray detached from the sea: a ship growing larger in the distance. Slowly, the hull took shape, the turrets and portholes coming into focus as they sailed nearer. It was the warship that had moored beside them at the Amsterdam.
The first mate stalked the deck. She ordered the crew to keep their guns low so the men on the Calderon ship wouldn’t see them. There was a chance they’d been tipped off already, but so far the Calderon ship wasn’t getting any further away. They didn’t appear to be running. Maybe they didn’t know the Harvesters’ intentions.
Esther lowered her gun, keeping her foot on it so it wouldn’t skitter away as the ship swayed. She felt calmer without the weapon in her hands. The Calderon warship drew closer. They were near enough to see the details now, even the name Sand Queen scrawled on the hull. A few figures moved across her deck. Soon they’d be close enough to fire.
Suddenly, the Calderon ship leapt into motion. It began to pull away.
“They’re running!” The first mate’s voice cut through the wind. “Damn it. Full steam ahead, boys!”
“They must have figured out who we are,” Cody said nervously.
“This is it!” Luke clutched his gun tightly. “Time to show them what we can do.”
The auxiliary engines kicked in. The Harvesters abandoned all pretense of innocence and sailed full tilt after the Sand Queen. Sea spray cascaded over the decks as the Terra Firma cut through the rough waves. The warship fled before them.
“Can we catch them?” Esther asked.
“Captain won’t give up now that he’s got them in his sights,” Cody said.
Wind howled in their faces. Tension gathered like a rain-black cloud. Their prey was escaping. No! Esther thought. David is on that ship.
Then the Sand Queen swung around in a wide turn.
“They’re coming toward us,” Esther said. “And fast.” They’re not going to run. They know they’re more than a match for the Harvesters. Suddenly, everything was happening too quickly.
“They’re attacking!” Luke said.
“Things are about to get stormy, boys!” said another voice, its source lost in the wind.
The enemy charged them head-on. Light rippled across the Calderon sigil. The red crab looked angry against the steel. Gunshots split the air. Esther hit the deck, dragging Cody down with her. Bullets ripped into the hull and pinged off rivets. The Terra lurched sideways, but the Sand Queen kept coming.
Sailors shouted, shuffling backward.
“They’re going to ram us!”
“Get down!”
A boom echoed across the water, followed by a violent splash.
“They’ve got a big gun!”
Another boom split the air. The entire ship shuddered and creaked.
Luke stared wildly from a few feet away, body pressed to the deck. “We’ve gotta fire on them!” he shouted, voice ragged.
Esther didn’t answer but released her grip on Cody’s arm and shuffled forward to get a better view of the attack. In the fore, a handful of sailors opened fire on the Calderon ship.
“Look out!”
As the ships converged, a shell shrieked through the air and landed squarely on the upper deck of the Terra Firma. Debris cascaded through the air. Esther ducked, but a heavy piece of metal slammed against her shoulder. Pain rippled down her arm. She didn’t have time to raise her gun.
The ships sailed straight for each other, prows aimed like arrows at each other’s iron hearts. Esther grabbed the railing.
“Hold on. This is gonna hurt!”
Then the two ships crashed into each other.
The impact sent a shock wave across the deck. Metal sang with the vibrations. Esther lost her grip on the railing. Luke swore. Anyone not already on the ground fell to their knees.
In the commotion, men leapt from the Sand Queen across the two tangled prows. They spilled gunfire across the Terra Firma’s deck. The attackers swept forward, gunning down anyone who tried to stand in their path.
Esther lifted her weapon, but the safety was stuck. She fiddled with it, disoriented by the pain in her shoulder. Cody wasn’t faring much better. His safety was off, but he stared wildly, unable to pull the trigger. Around the deck other young Harvesters cowered or shot wildly. There was no organization, no sense of control at all. This was a disaster.
But Zoe kept her head.
“Follow me!” she hissed.
She grabbed Luke’s arm and crawled forward. An enemy with a machine gun ran near her, eyes on the upper turret. She tucked herself into a ball and rolled, sweeping his legs out from under him. Before he could rise, she buried her pocketknife in the back of his neck. Luke followed her lead and tackled the knees of another gunman.
The two moved as a unit to attack another Calderon assailant from behind. Jolting out of her stupor, Esther rose to her knees, but her gun jammed again. Salt! Panic stabbed at her. She darted to the shelter of the lifeboat winch. She was out of the line of fire for the moment.
Calderon and Harvester men struggled on the foredeck. There weren’t as many as Esther had expected. She spotted Patrick swinging his gun like a club. Cody had managed to get his gun pointed over the railing, and he was spraying bullets randomly at the nearby hull of the enemy ship.
“You! Help me with this!” the first mate shouted. She was dragging an armload of dynamite through the path cleared by Zoe and Luke. Esther slung the useless gun across her back and ran to help her lift it.
“We’re not going to sink the other ship, are we?”
She had to get David first.
“Shut up and help me,” the mate barked.
Esther’s knees buckled under the weight of the dynamite, but she kept pace with the taller woman. The mate grunted an order as they reached the tangled prows. Other Terra crew members ran forward to cover them, firing across the deck. Esther and the mate charged onward.
“Heave on three.”
They shoved the pile of dynamite over to the deck of the Sand Queen and followed after it. Esther vaulted over the railings, remembering too late that her shoulder was injured. The ships shifted apart, revealing a gap of white foam between the hulls far beneath them. Her boots hit the deck of the Calderon ship.
It looked almost empty compared to theirs. It was a bigger,
wider vessel than the Terra, making it more obvious that there weren’t many sailors aboard. Half a dozen men fired at the Terra from the upper decks. The first mate took out two with her sidearm before they realized she and Esther were on board.
“Get the explosives to the bridge. Move!”
More Harvester men jumped from the Terra to the Queen. Esther dragged the dynamite as fast as she could. Gunshots rang around her. She prayed wildly that none of the shots would land on the bundle.
She half expected to find more fighting men boiling out of the hold, where they’d been lying in wait, but the first corridor was empty. Emergency lights guided their path into the warship.
“Where is everyone?” Esther asked as she and the first mate carried the explosives up a steep ladder.
The woman swore. “This is a skeleton crew. We’ve been played.”
“What?” Esther nearly lost her grip on the dynamite.
“I’d bet my ship it’s a decoy,” the mate said. “The inventor isn’t on board.”
“We have to look.”
“Not until we take out the officers.”
Both women knew instinctively how to get to the bridge in the warship. They carried their load up another ladder to a heavy steel door.
“Get ready to shove it in. You got a light?”
“Yeah.” Esther pulled her work lighter from her back pocket. “Wait. What if David’s in there!”
“That’s a risk we’re going to take, unless you want this ship to run again. Get that lighter ready.”
The first mate kicked open the bridge door. Esther lit the fuse and shoved the dynamite as far inside the room as she could. She caught a glimpse of surprise on the faces of the men and women inside before the mate shoved the door closed again.
The two women ran back toward the ladder as the explosion blocked out all sound.
Chapter 17—Information
AN HOUR LATER ESTHER’S ears still rang. The Sand Queen didn’t sink, but the explosion in the bridge gutted her navigation and control equipment. She wouldn’t be running anywhere. The fight was over.
The struggle hadn’t lasted long after the bridge was destroyed. The first mate had been right. A skeleton crew manned the ship, just enough to keep her moving and to put up a fight. Now the Terra Firma and the Sand Queen floated side by side. She was a big vessel, impressive from the outside, but when the Harvesters boarded they discovered she was in terrible shape. Slow leaks spread water across the bottom level, and half the machinery had rusted away. It was a wonder the thing could sail at all. Despite their victory, the ship wasn’t much of a prize.