Far From The Sea We Know

by Frank M Sheldon

CHAPTER 16

  Matthew followed Mary down the steps to the galley. Mateo was up now. He must have slept late like the others, but it still seemed odd that the ship’s cook had slipped up that way. The smell of pancakes, however, was reassuring.

  Jack Ripler came in just after them and sat down across from Mary and Matthew.

  “Good morning, Matthew. Morning, Mary,” Ripler said.

  “And a good morning to you, Jack,” Mary answered, a slight strain in her voice.

  “Sleep well, Matthew?” Ripler said with more than a hint of a sly smile on his lips. Secrets did not last long on a ship.

  “Just fine, thank you.”

  “Glad to hear that. Sometimes it’s hard on our new arrivals. The rolling and rocking all night long.”

  Ripler was baiting him, but he didn’t have to bite.

  “I’ve been at sea in far worse conditions than these, Jack. I’m used to it.”

  “Ah yes, the noble life of the fisherman,” Ripler said. “Noble, but wearisome. Not here on our ship, though, where there are now new headlines every day. And with yet another new gentleman caller, I’m sure we can look forward to even more. All thanks to you.”

  “Jack, please…” Mary said.

  “Anything new on our zombie whale, Mary?”

  She waited for him to look at her, but he gazed straight ahead. She cleared her throat. “I have compared the photos we have of our lead whale with another of Black Beauty. There are some more recent ones, but we don’t have them in our database yet.”

  “Why am I not surprised?” Ripler said, still not bothering even to glance her way. “And of course, we can’t download them because we lack the capacity. And we lack the capacity because the intrepid Doctor Bell doesn’t want us to loosen his tenacious grip on the past by being distracted by the present.”

  He sighed and looked at Matthew. “Sorry. Just ignore all that. I’m a grinch before my morning coffee.” He finally looked at Mary. “So, what did you find out—wait, let me guess. Dead ringer, right? Pun intended.”

  “Yes, that is right. They might as well have been twins.”

  “That’s quite rare, isn’t it?” Matthew said. “I mean, multiple births?”

  Mary paused a few seconds to collect herself. Her pinched forehead was an island of tension in an otherwise unlined face.

  “In some instances, what were thought to be multiple births were adoptions. Twins may not even be possible. In any case, it would not just be a question of birth characteristics,” she said. “Many of a whale’s identifying marks are the result of accidents. Even twins would be different.”

  “And this whale that washed up?” Ripler asked.

  “Some students from Oceanic in California were the first to check it over in any useful way,” she said. “They failed to get permission for autopsy, the local government just wants to dispose of them before…”

  She looked across the table and lifted her coffee, her hand shaking slightly. “It gets disgusting rather quickly. They usually bury them at the local landfill. Because they are so large, they have to cut them up first.”

  “Yes,” Ripler said, “chain saws aren’t exactly the tools of surgery, but the evidence must be buried. I mean the stench. Or are they the same in this case?”

  “Jack,” Mary said giving him a look that almost turned to tears. “Do you know more than you’re saying?”

  “Not more, but less!” He looked a porthole opposite him, as if to address someone who wasn’t there. “Scientific method, remember? Too bad we left it back at port.”

  “Why are you being so…”

  She stopped speaking, and her face seemed incapable of hiding anything as she gathering herself again.

  “Be specific,” she said. “You have been sitting on something ever since we started this mission.”

  “Mission, is it? To boldly go where we’ve already gone before? The time will come, Mary my dear, but why spoil the fun so soon?” Ripler looked at his watch. “Must run. My turn on deck,” he said. He widened his eyes and waved his hands like a stage magician, then sailed out of the galley, Mary watching him all the way.

  Matthew resisted the urge to say something.

  “Jack is just a little keyed up,” she finally said. “Because of the direction events have taken lately. No offense, Matthew, but we will eventually find explanations for all your mysteries without resorting to the fantastic. Being gullible is not something you want on your resume, I would think.”

  “Gullible’s Island!” Emory said as he came into the galley. He was grinning like a Muppet.

  Matthew suppressed a groan. He looked at his watch. It was exactly eight o’clock. Ripler must have taken Emory’s place.

  Emory sat down next to Mary and gave her head a pat as if she were a puppy. She jerked around and glared at him, but finally just shook her head and went back to the last of her breakfast.

  Emory began tossing what pancakes were left from the serving platter onto his own plate but slowly came to a complete stop. For a moment he was motionless, just staring at his hands. Then his head started waving loosely back and forth, his eyes lost focus, and his face, which had been a little red, suddenly went pale. He sprang to his feet like a huge jack-in-the-box. The table was jolted so hard a few screws ripped out of the deck. Emory wavered for an instant, then careened out of the galley at full speed. In the process he almost knocked over Mateo, who was just coming in with another platter of pancakes.

  Mary looked across the table at the hatchway that Emory had just exited. A tide of worry washed over her face like an unwelcome guest.

  “Matthew, is it just me or is everything getting somewhat odd around here?”

  “It’s not just you. And it’s a safe bet that Malcolm will soon be hanging over the railing with Emory.”

  “The sea is quite calm and beautiful today,” she murmured, almost seeming not to have heard him. Yet when he lightly touched her hand, she pirouetted on the bench to face him and said, “What have you brought to us out here?” Then, as if she thought Ripler might somehow hear, she started to whisper, but it sounded more like a hiss. “Why is Jack suddenly so cynical?”

  Before Matthew could answer, footsteps sounded in the passageway. He looked up to see the Air Force officer entering the room with the Captain. Penny glided in soon after.

  The young officer walked straight toward him. “Mister Amati, I’m Lieutenant Chiffrey,” he said with an elegant southern drawl. He held out his hand.

  Matthew rose and prepared for the inevitable vise grip. He looked the young lieutenant in the eye. “I’m…well, I guess you know my name. This is Mary…”

  “Sims,” she added, smiling coyly as if she were a receiving visitor in her Sunday parlor. “Mary Sims. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Lieutenant.”

  He took her hand and gave her a gentle nod. “That pleasure is already mine.”

  “There’s some coffee here,” Matthew said, “and it looks like there’s still plenty of pancakes.”

  Lieutenant Chiffrey’s eyes brightened as they took in the still-steaming platter Mateo had just delivered.

  “Thanks, yes. Didn’t get much this morning. Mmm, boy! This smells like home.” He looked around the galley then back to Penny and Thorssen.

  “Fine operation you run here, Captain.”

  “Mateo’s our most important crew member, Lieutenant, a professional. Most of the rest of the crew are students.”

  “Yes, I read up on that. I applaud the approach.”

  Thorssen gestured toward a bench. “Have a seat.”

  Penny, who had stayed in the background, slipped in and sat next to Matthew. She grinned at him and said, “Good morning, Mister Amati.”

  He nodded and poured her a cup of coffee.

  “Black and bitter, like my life,” she said.

  His annoyance from earlier had already begun to melt away and now the rest receded like a waning storm line.

  “I know you all have questions,” Chiffrey said. “Essential
ly, we had some discrepancies in our tracking equipment that coincided with an anomaly reported by your folks. No luck in finding the origin of the problem and thought we might learn something from you all.”

  He turned toward the galley and almost yelled.

  “Mateo, you are one great cook! These hotcakes are the best I’ve had since I was last back in North Carolina. Excelente!” He turned to continue his work on the syrup-soaked stack.

  “How long do you think you’ll be here?” Matthew asked.

  “To be honest, I’d love it if this takes a while.”

  “We had heard it would be a quick visit.”

  “That was the original plan,” Chiffrey said, wiping his mouth with a napkin, “but things changed. Listen, I can’t tell you what a thrill it is for me.” He looked at Penny. “Your dad’s undersea adventure specials? Loved to watch those on TV when I was a kid. I probably should have joined the Navy, you know, but my dad was Air Force all the way…”

  Chiffrey babbled on. Maybe he was just trying to smooth over the revelation that he could be here indefinitely.

  “No offense, Lieutenant,” Thorssen said, “but your presence here right now will be a distraction.”

  “If so, I apologize, sir, but believe me, I will do everything I can to stay out of your way. We’re fully cleared with your people, as you know. Nobody had their arm twisted, or not too much, anyway.” He laughed a little as he took another bite. “I’m sure once the novelty wears off, it won’t be a problem. However, this is a matter of national security. Could we just give it a while and see how it goes?”

  Thorssen took this all in without any obvious reaction and didn’t say anything immediately. Then he looked at Chiffrey without blinking and said, “Be sensitive in how you conduct your investigation here. Understood?”

  “Sensitive all the way,” Chiffrey said, still held in Thorssen’s gaze. Finally getting a nod in return, he turned in his seat toward Matthew. “Say, could you tell me more about the purple whale you saw? Boy, that must have been a sight!”

  Matthew looked around the room quickly. Thorssen also seemed surprised.

  “Sorry, guess that wasn’t so sensitive of me. Didn’t mean to blind-side you. Please forgive me, but you might as well know now. Buddy, you’re famous. Big time!”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I got the news just now on the way out here. Front page, yes sir.”

  Dirk came running in, looked around and hesitated a split second before addressing Thorssen, “You’re wanted on the line. It’s important.”

  The last remark was accompanied by an emphasis that left no doubt.

  “Excuse me,” Thorssen said and rose to his feet.

  After he left, Chiffrey reached into his thin briefcase and pulled out a few sheets, by the look of them copies of a newspaper article.

  He gave the papers to Matthew and said, “Here, have a see.”

  Matthew started reading a printout of the Seattle Times story. Gilliard’s unmistakable grin looked out at him in mockery from under an appalling large headline. There was also a small photo of the Eva Shay tied up at the wharf in Victoria, but seeing his own name in print blotted out everything else.

  “This Gilliard, quite a character,” Chiffrey said. “He’ll be on TV later, I was informed. I expect they’ve pumped up the story, Matthew. Believe me, I know how they can be, but they didn’t get your picture, at least not yet, anyway. You know, this time of year, people are at the beach and tired of the same old dreary news. A strange story with a twist, add some well-known players…” He glanced at Penny. “Thinking of the Captain and your father. Well, a story like this is sure to gather some eyeballs. It’s even been picked up by the wire services.”

  Chiffrey let his gaze wander over to a porthole. “You know, I certainly didn’t see any purple whale out there this morning, and I had a splendid view as we approached your ship. We were very careful, I hope you noticed, and followed the Captain’s instructions to approach from your aft. Didn’t get too close, right? Matthew? You okay, boy?”

  Matthew looked up from the pages. Everyone around the table seemed to be waiting for him.

  “Could I keep this for a while?” Matthew asked.

  “Sure, keep it for your scrapbook. Say, it would be a real help if I could ask you a few questions later. Maybe we could meet back here.” He looked around the table. “You’re all welcome, of course. Everything can be open, no need to feed the rumor mill. If it’s convenient, could we do this, say, eleven hundred hours?”

  “Yeah. Maybe.”

  “Great.” Chiffrey gave Matthew a light pat on the shoulder. “I’d like to talk with some of the folks who have been doing your tracking, but first, maybe I could visit C-lab? That’s your main lab, right?” He looked around the table.

  “The Captain recommended you highly, Miss Sims. Would you possibly have time to escort me?”

  “Yes, Lieutenant Chiffrey, of course.”

  “Marvelous. At your convenience.”

  “Now is good. I mean, there’s nothing that will not keep.”

  Chiffrey was quick enough to get up and take her hand as she edged her way around the narrow space at the table’s corner.

  He followed her out, then he turned and said, “I’ll see you all later, folks. And thanks again for the hotcakes.” He yelled again, “Alimento maravilhoso, Mateo!”

  Matthew could not seem to take in the news story anymore. The words were refusing to line up and make sense. He looked up and said to Penny, “Could you read this for me?”

  “You look upset,” she said.

  “Here, take this thing.”

  She reached over and took the limp pages, dragging a corner through a small puddle of pancake syrup. She began to read to herself—with far too much pleasure it seemed to him—and swiftly reached the end.

  “They know you’re here on the Valentina. It looks like you’re the real hook of the story. Most likely they will use your sudden departure on a mysterious voyage as a way to milk as many days out of this as they can.” She looked up and fanned out the pages on the table, again hitting the maple syrup.

  “Then my coming on this trip created the story,” he said. “Right?”

  “It added the sizzle.”

  “What else do they say?”

  “It sounds like a mostly accurate account, based on what I’ve heard from you. Your friend Gilliard comes over like a complete ass.”

  “He’s no friend, but they got the ‘ass’ part right, at least.”

  “I’ll read part of it to you: ‘Matthew Amati, a part-time crew member on the Canadian fishing boat Eva Shay is now on the Valentina, the main research ship of the Point Kinatai Marine Science Center, according to sources there.’ Bad writing. It makes it unclear what the—”

  “Who did this?”

  “It doesn’t have a byline, it just—”

  “No, who leaked this to the press?”

  “Doesn’t say. Here’s more: ‘Mr. Amati, who is from British Columbia, is the first participant at the Point in a controversial student-exchange program with Canada. He was the also the first one to see what several crew members of the Eva Shay are now claiming was a bright purple whale. Others who were on the ship refuse to talk about it, including the Captain. Two days later, unofficial sources say, Mr. Amati was specifically asked to make an unscheduled visit to the Valentina. They have also stated that the Valentina is now engaged in tracking the alleged purple whale. Doctor Bell was unavailable for comment.’”

  “Anything about the whales disappearing?”

  “It’s coming….Says they ‘mysteriously vanished as—’”

  “Okay, enough!” He got up, wheeled around, and sat down again.

  “Don’t worry.”

  “Sure, no need to worry, I have an exciting future waiting for me. Appearances on daytime talk shows as the freak of the week. That’ll be some compensation for blowing away my career as a marine scientist.”

  “You can always work with me.”
>
  “Doing what, mowing your lawn?”

  “Stop.”

  He leaned his head on his hands, pressing his temples with his thumbs while a slowly widening circle of pancake syrup seeped into the pages of the news story below his eyes. Although the grain of the wooden table top showed through clearly, all the words remained and, as far as the account of his own life was concerned, would remain so forever.

  “I’m sorry,” he finally said.

  She was silent for a moment. Then she slid her hand across the tabletop to his and said, “We’ll find someone else to mow the lawn.”

  He let out his breath all the way and looked at her. They rose from theirs seats together, like reflections in a mirror, and kissed.

  Matthew saw Mateo’s head appear around the corner. The cook showed no surprise at their embrace and simply said, “The Captain would like you to see in his cabin. Now, okay?”