by John Purcell
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Half an hour later, we were out at sea, enjoying a sense of peace that was too good to last.
Rafael’s description had proven accurate: it was hard to say where the Delaware ended and the Atlantic began. The mouth of the river widened and widened and the waters gradually began to swell and eventually there was nothing before us but open horizon. Like the river water, the seawater appeared to be overrun with florescent green algae. I turned the lifeboat south, following the shoreline.
The clouds had vanished completely. It was as hot as the day before, but there was a steady breeze on the water and the hazy orange sunlight was surprisingly mild.
The Three sat facing me on the rear seat. Luma and Dogan emptied out their backpacks, which had gotten wet in the storm drain, and set everything in the sun to dry. Dogan had packed a baseball, a jackknife, and a slingshot, along with a small pouch filled with ball bearings for ammunition. Luma had packed a flashlight and a threadbare stuffed rabbit, her beloved Bun Bun. Bim didn’t own a backpack. All he set out to dry was a single sheet of paper, folded into a square, that he’d been carrying in the back pocket of his pants.
The Three took turns drinking from the VaporFlask, and when they got hungry, they cut open a breadfruit we’d found on the riverbank. Moto curled up on the front seat and went to sleep. I found this reassuring.
Luma and Dogan were full of questions for Bim, who sat between them, and they waited patiently as I repeated his words. There was nothing he didn’t know.
Apparently, the sky had turned orange after the GR shifted all its energy production to the Arctic Circle. By tapping into the oil and coal deposits there, they were able to generate enough electricity to power all the Domes in the Northern Hemisphere. The resulting pollution, however, was so noxious that they devised a way to send it out of the atmosphere, into low Earth orbit. This was a great success, aside from the fact that the pollution formed a cloak around the planet, turning the sky orange.
Luma and Dogan had questions for me as well. I told them how I ended up with the shock wands, and explained that we couldn’t use them without attracting drone strikes.
I woke up Moto and repeated this to her, as well. It was dumb luck her wand had malfunctioned. It was possible they no longer worked at all, ruined by water. It was equally possible that they just needed to dry out. There was no way to know without turning them on.
Then I told them how I’d gotten the ebony box, a story they found astonishing. Even Bim was surprised and could make no guess as to its contents. We tried to open it, only to discover that it was locked. Dogan wanted to pry it apart with the jackknife, an idea I overruled. We couldn’t risk destroying what was inside. I returned it to my backpack unopened.
We made our way southward at a reasonable pace. My rowing improved with each passing mile. I soon perfected a technique that kept the oars in the water close to 90% of the time, which propelled the lifeboat smoothly and steadily across the water. At the rate we were going, we would get to Washington, DC about 3 AM. I wasn’t happy about arriving in the middle of the night, but there didn’t seem to be any alternative. Camping onshore was out of the question.
For the most part, the coastline appeared to be deserted, barricaded by dense blue tangles of vegetation. As Bim described it, the entire stretch from Philadelphia to Washington, DC had once been congested with cities and towns and cars and people. This was difficult to believe, although in places empty shells of buildings rose up above the treetops.
From time to time, we passed breaks in the vegetation, where the remnants of roads and highways reached the shoreline, disappearing into the water. Magnifying the image, I could make out figures moving about aimlessly along the pavement: LobeBots.
About 5 PM, I rested the oars and scanned the coastline to the south. At 10X, I could see a cluster of very tall buildings, a city skyline: Baltimore, about 12 miles off.
Looking down the coast, beyond Baltimore, I spied an unusual object on the horizon, well offshore. Its basic shape was geometric, an inverted trapezoid. The distance was difficult to judge, so I couldn’t be sure of its size, but it seemed quite large. It was flat and featureless except for a tall and chaotic shape near the middle, perhaps a stand of trees. I didn’t know what to make of it.
We traveled south for another half hour, the Baltimore skyline growing to the point where the Three could make it out. The breaks in the vegetation became more frequent, and I noticed something odd: the LobeBots on shore were all lined up at the water’s edge, staring out to sea.
A sudden gust of wind rocked the lifeboat and the waters grew choppy. Awaking with a start, Moto looked up at the sky, growling.
Bim appeared at my side. “There’s a waterspout forming.”
“Where?”
“To the east. Row for shore.”
I began to row, putting my back into it.
Luma pointed to the sky behind me. “Teo, look at that cloud!”
Dogan followed her point. “Where did that come from?”
I turned to look. The cloud had indeed appeared from nowhere, rotating wildly, maroon against the clear orange sky. The water whirling beneath it was a glossy black. We watched the waterspout form, rising to meet the descending maroon funnel cloud. It began to move straight at us, picking up speed.
Rowing hard, I outran it at first, and then it began to gain on us. Soon, it was roaring our way at almost 30 mph. I glanced over my shoulder: we were still half a mile from shore. We weren’t going to make it.
Realizing this, too, Dogan shouted, “Everybody swim for it!”
Luma’s voice was ferocious. “No! We stick together!”
Bim spoke in my ear. “Turn the boat around! Stand up and wave your arms!”
This suggestion seemed nonsensical, but I plunged one oar into the water, spinning the lifeboat 180 degrees. Then I jumped up and waved my arms overhead.
We were close enough to shore now that I could make out the LobeBots at 2X. They were about 20 of them, lined up at the water’s edge, staring out at us.
Luma and Dogan were screaming at me to keep rowing. This was perfectly understandable, but there wasn’t any point in trying to calm them. All I could do now was trust in Bim.
At the last second, the waterspout veered sharply away from us, to the north, its funnel cloud pulling up from the water. The churning wake overtook us, spinning the lifeboat in circles, but we rode it out and then the waters calmed. We watched the maroon cloud fold in upon itself and disappear.
As I turned the boat south again, Luma said, “Okay, what just happened?”
I said, “I can explain some of it, but Bim will have to explain the rest.”
I told them what I knew about Queen Scarlett, including the encounter at Wissahickon Park. Bim interrupted to explain Queen Scarlett’s winged beast. She had used genetic engineering to construct a mythological creature, half eagle, half lion, known as a gryphon. When she discovered the beast was too large to fly, she equipped it with an exoskeleton, providing extra power to its wings.
As it happened, this discussion took place as we neared the Baltimore skyline, which allowed Bim to point out Queen Scarlett’s 37-story skyscraper, a sinister, elongated castle with a sharp peak, known as the Bank of America building. The skyscrapers around it were topped by twisted girders, as though they’d been torn in half. Bim explained that Queen Scarlett, fancying her building the tallest in the land, had cut the others down to size with a string of tornados.
This brought us, at last, to the point: Queen Scarlett’s ability to control the weather.
Luma looked incredulous. “Are you saying she sent that waterspout after us?”
Dogan scoffed. “Get out! That’s impossible!”
I said, “I know it’s difficult to believe, but it’s true. Right, Bim?”
Bim nodded.
Luma frowned. “Okay, then why did she call it off?”
I looked at Bim. “That’s what I’d like to know.”
Bim said, “When she sent the waterspout, she didn’t know who was in the boat. She was just drowning us to pass the time. When she saw Teo, that changed everything.”
I repeated Bim’s words.
Dogan said, “What do you mean she saw him?”
“Queen Scarlett’s eyes are everywhere. Whatever her LobeBots see, she sees. That’s why I had Teo row toward them.”
I repeated Bim’s words.
Luma was still frowning. “Wait a minute, wait a minute! How does Queen Scarlett know what Teo looks like? How does she even know who he is?”
Bim looked at me. “Do you want to tell them?”
I turned to Luma and Dogan. “Queen Scarlett is Miss Veiny. Or vice versa.”
Luma furrowed her brow. Dogan clutched his forehead. Both fell silent.
Finally, Luma said, “You know, that actually makes a lot of sense…”
Dogan spoke quietly. “Yeah, it does…”
Bim said, “It saved us from drowning, but now she knows Teo is Outside. That’s going to complicate things.”
I repeated Bim’s words.
Luma turned to me. “But why? What does she want from you?”
I was deliberately vague. “I have something she needs. For the time being, I think we’re safe.”
Bim said, “I hate to tell you this, Teo, but we aren’t safe at all. All she really needs is your skull. She called off the waterspout because it would have ended up on the ocean floor.”
I didn’t repeat that.
I said, “We’re going to need a place to spend the night, somewhere far from shore.”
I rowed straight out to sea until the coastline vanished from sight, then turned south and headed for the trapezoid shape, now approximately 2 miles away. As we neared it, there was no longer any doubt: it was an immense ship, unlike any I’d seen. The chaotic shape in the middle seemed to be some sort of control tower.
I pulled in the oars and turned to Bim. “What do you make of that?”
“It’s a ghost ship.”
“A ghost ship?”
“After the Invasion, UNK/C took the older Navy vessels out to sea and set them adrift. Some were scuttled, some were used for target practice, and some are just ghost ships.”
“You mean there’s no one on board?”
“In theory.”
Luma said, “No secrets! What are you two talking about?”
“Bim says there’s nobody aboard this ship. I think we should try to dock there for the night. If we’re lucky, we might find a comfortable place to sleep.”
Dogan was squinting. “What kind of ship is this, anyhow? Why is it all flat?”
“I have no idea. Ask Bim.”
“Hey, Bim, what about it?”
“It’s an old 20th Century aircraft carrier. The deck is shaped that way because it’s a runway. Jets used to take off and land there.”
I repeated Bim’s words.
Luma looked doubtful. “Are you sure it’s deserted? I feel like we’re barging in.”
Bim said, “You don’t have to worry about that Outside, Luma. Everybody’s welcome wherever they go.”
I repeated Bim’s words.
Luma gave him a look. “Oh yeah? How about Baltimore?”