Within the Water

by Kelly Fallows

  Ben now had two targets at opposite ends of the room to choose from. He chose Marius.

  ‘Marius,’ he warned, but Marius gave no signs of stopping and lurched for his gun, which lay a few feet from his outstretched hand. Ben didn’t bother with any further warning, knowing it wouldn’t make any difference and shot him clean.

  Turning back to the pilot, who had watched in undisguised, immobile horror as Ben killed his boss, he now seemed to be galvanised into action once again and began reaching across the controls. It was then that Ben realised the reason they had rolled forty-five degrees was that the pilot had blown half the port main ballast tank. He was now reaching to empty the rest.

  ‘You don’t want to do that my friend. You capsize this boat and we’re going to hell,’ Ben warned him.

  ‘Like you’d spare me anyway. This way you go with me,’ the pilot cried defiantly.

  ‘Don’t…’ Ben warned desperately, not wanting to kill the kid.

  The boy’s hand hovered, paused in mid-air for a couple of seconds before he gathered his courage and grabbed the control. His fist barely closed around the handle, when he gave a sharp cry and slumped over the desk. Blood blossoming around the bullet hole in his back.

  ‘You gave me no choice, kid,’ Ben muttered. Shooting someone in the back always made him feel like a coward, even when he’d had no choice.

  ‘Ash?’ he asked into his comm.

  ‘Will you stop trying to sink the bloody subs I’m standing on,’ Ash growled back at him.

  ‘It wasn’t me this time.’

  ‘Hmph.’

  ‘You all right?’

  ‘I’ll live and we’re all clear down here.’

  ‘Same here too, for now, at least. I’ll contact Dunc and let him know. Make a secondary sweep of the decks before coming up.’

  ‘Yeah, sure. I don’t suppose you’d mind righting the damn thing before I run all over it looking for survivors?’

  ‘I’m working on it, Ash; I’ve got to redistribute the ballast.’

  ‘Wonderful. I’ll get started then, and get Crippen to come over and look at that head of yours.’

  ‘One thing at a time, Ash, one thing at a time.’

  ***

  The gasps of horror at the Requin listing forty-five degrees to starboard had long since subsided by the time the crew of the Coelacanth got word from their captain.

  ‘Coelacanth, this is Requin,’ Ben’s voice finally came over the sub’s comm.

  ‘This is Coelacanth; we read you loud and clear Requin,’ Duncan responded with sheer delight.

  ‘Good to hear you, Coelacanth.’

  ‘How’re you doing over there?’

  ‘We’re fine, except for the port ballast tank now being half empty.’

  ‘Good to hear; you want us to assist?’

  ‘Negative. I’m pretty sure Marius has a way of redistributing the ballast between the starboard and port tanks.’

  ‘Ah, his “sub in peril” sucker routine?’

  ‘Exactly, it wouldn’t do him much good unless he could unperil himself,’ Ben agreed.

  ‘“Unperil”, Ben?’

  ‘Ah, I’ve got a head injury, leave me alone.’

  ‘Ben what part of “we’re fine” covers the fact that you have a head injury?’ Duncan demanded.

  ‘It’s fine, Dunc; Ash bandaged it and everything,’ Ben replied unconcerned.

  ‘Simon’s coming over now to see to it properly,’ Duncan told him in a no-nonsense tone.

  ‘Well, he’ll have to wait until I bloody well right this blasted boat.’

  ‘The moment…’

  ‘Yes, yes the very moment,’ Ben agreed. ‘You didn’t take any damage did you?’

  ‘No Ben, we’re all fine here.’

  ‘Your fine or my fine?’ Ben half quipped.

  ‘A sane person’s definition of fine,’ Duncan retorted.

  ‘Excellent. I’ll radio back when I’ve fixed this.’

  ‘We’ll be waiting.’

  Chapter Thirty-four

  ‘Okay, so we have two subs; now what?’ Sophie asked from her seat in the mess after the clean-up had been completed, which included Simon stitching Ben’s head back together, much to his annoyance.

  Ben and Duncan exchanged ominous looks, or that’s how Ash would describe it, but then he was still nursing his bruises from the Requin fight and subsequent unannounced roll.

  ‘We’re going to be splitting up for this next play,’ Ben told her.

  ‘As much as I appreciate the use of the word next and not last, splitting up doesn’t fill me with confidence that it won’t be our last,’ Blue said.

  ‘It’s the only way, Blue.’

  ‘It really is, Ash,’ Duncan chipped in when Ash snorted in contempt at the idea. ‘And I don’t like it any more than you do.’

  ‘I think some explaining might help, especially considering you’re not supposed to be doing anything accompanied or unaccompanied for a few days,’ Simon told him.

  ‘Come off it, Doc; it was a graze.’

  ‘Yes, to your head.’

  ‘The plan if you will, Ben,’ Duncan cut in before the argument could digress.

  ‘Yes. It’s pretty simple. We need to broadcast the videos on the disks. And not just to those within the Republic but to those up there – those who watch. We need everyone to know what’s really going on if we’ve got any chance of things changing,’ Ben explained. ‘And, as Theo pointed out in Abantos, we’ve got to broadcast to every area simultaneously or we run the very high risk of being shut down before everyone gets to hear it.’

  ‘Hence the splitting up.’

  ‘Exactly. Duncan will lead one team into the Ministries in Eckarna and I will lead another up to the surface.’

  ‘The surface?’ Melanie repeated incredulously.

  ‘We’ve been discussing the fact that it exists for some time,’ Zhe pointed out.

  ‘That’s just crazy; how do you know what’s really up there? More to the point, how do you know you’ll find somewhere to broadcast from?’ Melanie once again ignored Zhe’s existence.

  ‘Because I came pretty close before and just didn’t know it,’ Ben responded evenly.

  ‘We need to maximise our chances of being heard,’ Duncan added, before anyone could question Ben on just when he'd almost been there before.

  ‘Then we need another point of origin.’ Every head turned to Simon as he announced this.

  ‘Excuse me?’ Ash was incredulous; Simon had just laid down the law that Ben was not going anywhere and now he seemed to be adding to the crazy plan.

  ‘You’ve got Abantos covered, right? Now you’re betting the whole of the Republic on getting through the Ministries defences and those above? They’ve been guarding against this since the things began; they are too smart not to have foreseen this and made a contingency plan,’ Simon explained.

  ‘All right, that makes sense,’ Ben conceded, ‘but where’s your fourth point?’

  ‘The Colonies.’

  ‘The Colonies?’ Ash repeated, ‘that’s the other side of the ocean!’

  ‘Keep going, Doc.’

  ‘They have their own broadcast system for the workers, which runs separate to the main system. It was designed so the Republic’s broadcasts weren’t interrupted every five minutes by the workers radio.’

  ‘So, you want to hijack that?’

  ‘Yeah. That way we still get the message out and to those most affected.’

  Duncan looked over to Ben to see what his captain made of this addition. Ben, in turn, nodded thoughtfully, ‘That’s good thinking, Simon, but it does spread us very thin.’

  ‘I’m volunteering to go to the Colonies and do this,’ Simon replied with conviction.

  ‘You’ll need a tech,’ Sophie volunte
ered as well, not wanting to see Simon go it alone.

  ‘I’m afraid, Soph, you’re already spoken for,’ Ben told her.

  ‘By who?’

  ‘Me,’ Duncan said. ‘If you and Melanie are up for it; we’ll be the team heading into the Ministries.’

  ‘I’ll go with Crippen,’ Ash announced. ‘Just to stop his fool self from getting killed.’

  ‘Thanks Ash.’

  ‘Soph, do I need to do anything special, or is it just plug it in and away we go?’ Ash asked her.

  ‘You’ll be fine, Ash; there’ll be no encryption to speak of, so you should have no problems,’ Sophie reassured him.

  ‘Looks like it’s me and you for the surface then,’ Ben said, turning to Zhe, ‘You up for it?’

  ‘You can count on me,’ Zhe told him with certainty.

  ‘I know I can, little darling.’

  ‘So, just where do I figure in all this then?’ Blue asked.

  ‘You’re piloting the Coelacanth right up to the Ministries, Blue, and Dunc’s team is going to need you for a speedy getaway.’

  ‘We’re taking the Coelacanth? Wouldn’t the Requin be less conspicuous?’ Melanie asked.

  ‘Unfortunately, we want to be somewhat conspicuous.’

  ‘You want them to think it’s Ben,’ Sophie stated.

  ‘Yeah, I’m afraid we’re going to be painting a giant target on our backs for this one,’ Duncan conceded.

  ‘So, if you don’t want in, then you don’t have to go,’ Ben told them seriously. ‘That goes for everyone here; this’ll put targets on all our backs from here on out,’ Ben paused for a moment before adding, ‘if we survive.’

  ‘Well, that’s cheerful.’

  ‘I’m serious, Blue. Those of you going into the Ministries will have the biggest targets; I don’t know what armaments we’ll face on the surface and the Colonies aren’t exactly hospitable to outsiders.’

  ‘We said we'd see this through, even when we didn’t know exactly what was on those disks; we knew exposing them was the right thing to do. Something doesn’t stop being right just because it stops being easy,’ Simon said.

  ‘Got it in one, lad,’ Blue agreed, clapping Simon on the back.

  ‘A fitting end,’ Ash toasted the group.

  ‘What else is there?’ Melanie muttered nodding her assent.

  ‘Well, you sure as hell aren’t leaving me behind,’ Sophie put in.

  ‘Zhe?’ The group turned to their last member, who was yet to speak.

  ‘The Republic will fall,’ she declared.

  ‘I’ll drink to that!’ Duncan led the cheer.

  ***

  ‘So…’ Dunc paused in the hatchway to Ben’s quarters, not knowing how to follow up his opening gambit.

  ‘Yeah, you all set?’ Ben asked him, letting him off the hook of having to come up with an actual conversation starter.

  ‘Not much for us to do until we get closer to the Ministries. We’ll drop Simon and Ash off on the western edge of Brant; Simon says he can get them to where they need to be from there,’ Duncan explained.

  ‘I hope things haven’t changed too much from what he remembers; it’s going to be hell for him going back again.’

  ‘Yeah, this whole “Displaced” crap has really shaken him up.’

  ‘Ash’ll watch out for him.’

  ‘You about ready?’ Duncan gestured to the bag laying on the bunk that Ben had already packed.

  ‘Pretty much. I just hope we can get around the back of Isnal; there’s no way we can go through the Straits all the way. But uncharted waters…’

  ‘You’ll be fine; you have the luck of the devil.’

  ‘Ah, now if only that were true.’ Ben grinned before glancing around the room. ‘Well, no more delays.’ He nodded to himself, and walked past Duncan and out into the gangway.

  ‘Time for goodbyes then.’

  ‘Temporary ones at least,’ Ben agreed, before heading down the central access ladder to the mess where everyone had gathered.

  ‘Nice to see so many cheery faces,’ Ben commented as he dropped his bag down on the table and took in the sight of his entire crew scattered around the mess, all looking as serious as the grave.

  ‘I’ve given the Requin a once over; she should see you right. She’s been well maintained and has a good arsenal. Between the two boats, we’ve managed to make half a complement of torpedoes for each,’ Blue told him, wiping his hands clean on an oil rag.

  ‘Thanks Blue, I take it my girl is still in fine shape?’ Ben asked patting the side of the sub fondly.

  ‘Aye, the finest, Captain.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Ben, I’ll take good care of her,’ Duncan reassured him.

  ‘I know you will, Dunc, but it’s the people inside her that really matter.’ Ben paused and looked at each member of his crew, each member of his family, in turn. ‘We know this is the right thing to do and by no means the easy thing to do,’ he gave a nod to Simon at this before continuing, ‘We know what’s been happening, what has been allowed to continue for generations, is beyond wrong; it is an atrocity. And we know that it has to stop. But we shouldn’t labour under false hope; what we are embarking on is a tough course but moreover it’s a long one. Nothing gets changed in a day; the suffering of the people of the Republic will not end instantly. So, we do this for the right reasons, for the hope that what we’re beginning here will be concluded; maybe not by us, but by others who share our horror at what has been allowed to happen to our fellow compatriots. We trust in each other and in them to do the right thing. I know of no finer group of people I’d trust this to nor want to fight alongside: my family.’

  ‘Family.’ The word was echoed around the room, each of the crew of the Coelacanth feeling the depth of emotion that was imparted in those words. They were family and they would be still standing as family long after this had played out.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  ‘That was quite a speech you gave,’ Zhe commented into the quiet of the Requin’s control room, where she and Ben had remained since moving away from the Coelacanth.

  ‘It seemed the right thing to say,’ Ben shrugged.

  ‘It was beautiful, especially the part about family.’

  ‘We are a family, little darling. Simon has his wife and soon will have a little baby girl too, but, as for the rest of us, we’re all each other have.’

  ‘I know, and it’s a lovely thing to see.’

  ‘You don’t have to be on the outside looking in, you know,’ Ben told her, ‘you’re more than welcome to join.’

  Zhe smiled softly saying, ‘I’d like that. It’s strange, but I have this feeling that I have some family already somewhere.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘I don’t know, it’s almost like I get flashes or stray thoughts like “I’ll have to tell him that” but they disappear before I can work out who “him” is,’ Zhe turned to face Ben, ‘Do you think I’m going mad?’

  ‘Everyone’s a little crazy in their own way, Zhe; it’s what makes us individuals. But to answer what you’re really asking, no, I don’t think you’re losing your mind.’ Ben finished tapping out a series of commands, before swivelling his chair to face Zhe as well.

  ‘Zhe,’ Ben took her hands in his, ‘I think I may have part of the answer to everything that’s been happening with you: the conflicting feelings, the sudden skills, the strange memories…’

  ‘What?’

  Ben sighed and changed tack slightly, not really knowing the best way to approach this. ‘You remember Estelle stopped me before we left Abantos and said something to me, and I told you I’d tell you later?’

  ‘Yes,’ Zhe said slowly, trying to see where Ben was heading with this.

  ‘Well, she told me something about you. Now this is just her opinion, but I can see where she’s coming from.’
/>
  ‘About me? But she hardly knows me – I hardly know me, so how can she?’

  ‘She thinks you are displaying all the signs of having been brainwashed.’

  ‘Signs? What signs?’ Zhe asked incredulously.

  ‘The inconsistent memories and behaviours, the drifting in and out of conversations, and your appearance: the darkness to your eyes, and slightly dilated pupils. She says you read like two different people – completely opposite people – and she would know; she’s made her life out of reading people.’

  ‘But brainwashing?’

  ‘You know how Estelle told us about the chemicals the Republic uses to bury people’s memories, give you new ones and change your personality? Well, Estelle thinks that’s what’s happened to you. That they’ve buried your real memories and implanted false ones, which has changed you along the way.’

  ‘So, she thinks I’m not me?’

  ‘She thinks you’re starting to remember who you were before. If she’s correct, then you were probably fed the drugs every day in your food to keep you under as it were, a constant drip, drip, drip of the drugs, which prevented you from remembering, and now you’re free of that it’s all coming back – in fits and starts – but it is there.’

  ‘So, they didn’t erase it completely?’

  ‘I don’t think so. I know very little about all of this and am going on Estelle’s word, but it all does seem to fit.’

  ‘So, who was I?’

  ‘That I can’t tell you, little darling, but Estelle did give me something to help,’ Ben told her reaching into his coat pocket and producing the vial that Estelle had dropped in there during their hastily whispered conversation.

  ‘More drugs?’ Zhe asked sceptically.

  ‘You don’t have to take them, darling, if you don’t want to. It’s your choice.’

  ‘What’ll they do to me?’

  ‘Estelle said they’ll help break down the compound that’s keeping your true memories locked away.’

  ‘So, I’ll be back to how I was before.’

  ‘You’ll still have the false memories and feelings that go with them. The longer you’ve been under the control of these compounds the stronger the residual effects are, I believe. So you’ll always carry those memories, thought patterns and behaviours.’