Seeking Safe Harbor: Suddenly Everything Changed (The Seeking Series) (17 page)

The inflatable started to move away from the sailboat, but the man holding the line pulled them in again. Once the officer stepped clear of the inflatable, he was able to move freely and climbed quickly up the ladder. Zach helped him over the rail.

On board, the Chinese officer saluted Zach. “I am Captain Chou Wang of the People’s Liberation Navy. Please forgive us for stopping you, but I felt we should talk. We hoped to catch you earlier, but the storm came upon us, so we waited until it was over to make contact.”

“Were you behind us the night the storm started?” Stacey asked.

“Yes, but we submerged when we saw what was coming.”

“Well, at least that’s one mystery solved,” she said.

“Perhaps I will be able to clear up more”.

“I certainly hope so. I am Zach Arthur. The first mystery that needs clearing up is why you are here. And, of course, what it is you want to talk about.”

“You are captain of this vessel, are you not?”

“I am.”

“Do you mind if I ask, is this your family?”

Zach thought it strange that the captain of a warship, one that was presumably in the middle of a war, would be interested in things such as family. He looked over at the submarine, which had not moved. The armed men were still on deck, but they were sitting around in a rather leisurely mode and showed no signs of being hostile.

His children had come in close to listen to the conversation. “This is my wife, Stacey, my son, Glen, and daughter, Denise. The others are George, Millie, and Ron, who are traveling with us.” Ron had also moved in close, but Millie and George stayed at a distance. All still held their automatic weapons. When Zach turned back to the visiting officer, he saw a momentary tinge of sorrow in the man’s eyes.

“It is good that you have your family with you,” Captain Wang said. “It shall make for a pleasant journey.”

“I agree, and I do not mean to be abrupt, but I am still waiting for an explanation.”

“Yes, of course. Forgive me for interjecting a moment of nostalgia at a time when so many things are of such grave consequence. I have a simple request.”

Zach was not sure what the “moment of nostalgia” meant, but when the captain of a vessel that could blow his boat out of the water in seconds said he had a request, he would listen. “Please tell me what it is we can do for you.”

“We have been following you for days, and by determining your course, based on the median of your tacks, I believe you are headed for the Central California Coast. I would like you to allow us to travel along with you.”

Zach had not given any thought to what the request might be, but if he made a thousand guesses, that would not be one of them. His first reaction was an objection. “Captain, I have only recently become aware of what has happened in the world, but from what I’ve heard, your country and mine are at war. That means that, for all intents and purposes, we are enemies.”

“I know what you say is true; however, our world is now in a situation that is without precedent. No government in the world is what it was two weeks ago. Almost all are gone forever. For all intents and purposes, to use your terminology, the war between us is over. No truce has been called only because there are no authorities in either country who have the power to call such a truce.”

Zach looked to Stacey and then to Ron. Both shrugged. He looked back at the Chinese officer. “Why do you want to go to California?”

“I know California.”

“You know China even better.”

“That is true, but the United States had more nuclear weapons than did China. My home and the homes of all of those aboard were decimated. They no longer exist. Nuclear missiles hit every population center. It will be many years before the radioactivity is eradicated from huge areas of China. On the other hand, nuclear missiles struck only sparingly in California. Please forgive my use of the term, ‘only.’ I know that your country, too, was devastated, and I use the word simply as a term of relativity. The San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego were hit with nuclear missiles. While there is radioactivity in those areas, it is quite possible that the central part of California is relatively free of major contamination.”

“Your family?” said Stacey.

They saw the same look they saw earlier flash painfully across his eyes, and the reason for his use of the word “nostalgia” became clear. “All our families were in the areas hit hardest,” he said.

Zach’s heart went out to the man, but he knew he couldn’t let sentiment get in the way of reason. He considered what the man said about Central California and remembered what Commander Kotchel had said. The Chinese officer might very well be right. But, there were still questions.

“You may have a point about the contamination,” he admitted, “but you don’t need us. Without us, in fact, you could get there a great deal faster. Why would you want to triple your travel time?”

“Many who see us will consider us enemies and will want to fight with us. We do not want to fight.”

“Are you saying that you want to become our prisoners?”

T
HE officer was taken aback by the suggestion, but recovered quickly. “I can see how my words could be construed in that manner,” he said. “However, because I believe we are no longer at war, and my honor would not permit surrender if we were, I suggest a more amicable arrangement.”

“We would be mutual protection for one another. As I said, we have observed you for some time and are aware that you have been attacked by marauders. There are many more out there, and they might want to do the same. None, however, will do so if you are guarded by a fully armed warship.”

Zach looked around. No one spoke but it was clear that the thought of not having to worry about being attacked sat well with the others. And with him. “Yes, that would be beneficial to us,” he told the submariner. “However, we’re a small boat. We can’t offer you any protection.”

“To the contrary,” he responded, “it is quite possible you will be able to be of even greater benefit to us. It is not the marauders that concern us, but that of your country’s warships. Before the communications systems went down, we caught several conversations between some of them. As with our navy, most of the U.S. force is gone, but a few of your ships are still afloat. They are now operating only on orders they received more than a week ago, when battles raged. If they see a Chinese submarine, they are likely to attack. As your movie people say, they will shoot first and ask questions later. That would force us to respond, and no good purpose would be served by our killing one another at this point in time.”

“How do we know you won’t attack them?” Ron asked.

“Ron,” Stacey objected.

“That is all right, ma’am,” the officer said. “He has stated a legitimate concern. I can only respond by telling you that we had every chance to sink the aircraft carrier you met with before you went to Hawaii, but we did not. It was without the escorts that normally travel with a carrier, protecting it from attack by submarines and others. It was as easy a target as any combatant could ask for, and if I had considered us to be at war, I would have been obliged to sink it. As a matter of fact, sinking an aircraft carrier is a dream come true for a submariner. In this case, though, we instead watched from a distance and saw they were ridding the world of the pirates who prey upon the innocent and unarmed. It is a good thing that they are doing, and so we gave them a wide berth, and avoided contact.”

“You’ve been following us since then?” Zach asked in amazement.

“It was then that I came up with this idea. It would be impossible for us to set up this conversation directly with the commander of a warship, which is why I did not attempt to contact the captain of the aircraft carrier. I am sure he would have felt obliged to fight us. It, however, is quite reasonable for you, the captain of a private boat, to do so. You did, in fact, talk with them. As I watched you, I saw the name of a town on the back of your boat. I am aware that it is common to paint the name of the home port on a boat’s transom along with the boat’s name. San Diego is your home port. It is not where we want to go, but it is in California, and I thought if we stayed with you for most of the trip, it would get us close to our chosen destination. So I decided to observe you closely. As you can imagine, I was elated when I saw that your course was farther north toward Central California, which is the same area as we want to go.”

“What makes you think that they’ll believe me if I tell them that you are not a combatant or that I even believe it myself.”

“I understand your concerns. I don’t ask that you do anything that you feel will compromise your beliefs or that you think might put you or your compatriots in harm’s way. Just tell them what you know of me and my crew and what I have said to you. Let them decide if they are willing to talk with me. I believe they will. You see, for most of my adult life, I have dealt with military people from several countries. Most, like me, prefer peace to war. That feeling must be compounded a thousand times now, after what has happened. That is all I ask… that you simply tell them all I want to do is talk, and I believe they will then ‘ask questions before they shoot’.”

“Wait here,” said Zach, and he motioned for the others to follow him to the bow, where George and Millie were standing.

Zach got them in a huddle and asked, “What do you think?”

“I think he’s sincere,” Stacey replied.

“It seems to me it’s a rather, ah, unorthodox request,” George said.

“True,” Ron responded, “but we’re living in a very unorthodox world right now.”

“You said you’re ex-navy,” Zach said. “What do you think?”

“Not speaking to whether I trust him or not,” Ron answered, “but his logic holds up. If I commanded a warship, I’d try to sink him, but I would talk with you.”

“And so, speaking to whether or not you trust him?”

“I was afraid you’d ask that. I don’t really know, but I believe it’s possible that he is being straight with us. One thing you might do is agree to allow them to go alongside us and see if we can figure it out by the time we have to do something about it.”

“I realize I’m just an interloper here,” Millie said, “but it seems logical to me, especially being as they can go alongside us even if we say no, and there’s not a blasted thing we can do about it.”

“Kids?” Stacey asked.

“I think Millie’s right,” Glen said. “Besides, it would sure be good to have a big guy around to help if we run into a bully.”

“Ditto,” said Denise.

Stacey agreed.

“Okay, that’s what I’ll tell him.” Zach went back to talk with Captain Wang. The others followed.

“We accept your suggestion,” the sailboat captain told the Chinese officer.

“I am pleased that is so. If it is all right with you, we will stay on the surface most of the time.”

“It will be good to know where you are,” Zach agreed. “But keep in mind that we do not sail a straight course.”

“I went sailing with friends several times when I was in Santa Barbara,” Captain Wang told him. “I am familiar with how sailboats maneuver to catch the wind, so I will be sure to stay out of your way when you change directions.”

“You said you would be on the surface most of the time, which tells me you plan on submerging some other times. Is that when you will go under water, when we cross over into your path?”

“No, we can stay out of your way easily enough on the surface just by changing speeds. However, if we pick up a large ship with our sonar, or a plane comes into view, we will submerge until we are sure it is safe.”

“That sounds fair.”

Captain Wang saluted Zach, and then shook hands all around. He got back in the inflatable, and the three Chinese mariners returned to their submarine. The crew of the
La Sirena
hoisted their sails.

Thus, they resumed their journey to California, the sailboat tacking and the submarine motoring straight ahead at a very slow speed.

T
HE first day and night were pleasant but unremarkable. The weather was sunny and the seas relatively calm, with enough wind to push the boat along at over six knots. The submarine stayed close and was never an obstruction.