TW05 The Nautilus Sanction NEW (8 page)

For her part, Andre found him to be quite attractive with his flaxen blond hair, sparkling blue eyes, wide smile and cleft chin, but his manner mystified her.

“What the hell’s the matter with him?” she asked Finn one night. “God knows, I’ve dropped enough hints. If I was any more direct, I’d scare him off and ruin my chances. You men are so damned stupid, it’s a wonder women ever manage to get laid!”

“Hey, I resent that!” Finn protested, laughing.

“Oh, you know what I mean. How the hell am I supposed to deal with a 19th-century male?”

“You should talk,” said Finn. “You’re a 12th-century female.”

“With 27th-century sensibilities,” she said. “Still, even in the 12th century, we were more direct than this! I like him. He’s handsome, he’s charming, he’s fun, he’s rough-edged and he has a terrific body. But he’s so goddamn
dense!
What am I supposed to do, fall overboard?” Finn began to laugh again, then saw the expression that suddenly appeared upon her face.

“Oh, now
wait
a minute!”

“It’s perfect! Why didn’t I think of it before?”

“You can’t be serious! That water’s cold. By the time the ship could turn around—”

“It doesn’t have to turn around! Not if we time it just right.”

“We?”

“That’s right, you’re going to help me.”

“Hey, get your own guys.”

“Finn, dammit, you help me with this or I’ll bust your jaw!”

“Boy, you’re really nasty when you’re in heat, you know that?” A moment later, as he was picking himself up off the floor, he shook his head and said, “Okay, okay, I’ll help you. But I hope you know what you’re doing.”

They timed it with excruciating precision. They took up their positions with Andre up forward and Finn roughly amidships. At the proper moment, Andre “slipped” and plunged over the side with a piercing scream loud enough to be heard in the Canary Islands. Instantly Land was diving over the side after her, hitting the water scant seconds after she did. Finn was ready with the rope and life preserver, tossing it to Land on cue. The ship was steaming along at a leisurely pace and there was plenty of time for them to be pulled aboard with the aid of several crewmen who instantly leaped to Delaney’s aid. As Land picked her up in his arms, both of them shivering and streaming water down onto the deck, she threw her arms around his neck and said, “Oh, Ned! You saved my life! My hero!” And kissed him.

Lucas came running up to Finn, having heard all the commotion.

“What the hell happened?” he demanded.

“Excuse me,” Finn said, brushing him aside. “I’ve got to go throw up.” They were eighteen days out when a knock came at Finn and Lucas’s cabin door at about midnight.

Finn opened the door to admit a haggard-looking Verne.

“I must speak with you,” the author said, entering the cabin.

Lucas sat up in his bunk. “Are you all right, Mr. Verne?” Verne waved his hand irritably. “I am
not
all right,” he said. “Oh, I am occasionally seasick on an ocean voyage, but that is of no consequence. I have been for the past two weeks the victim of acute anxiety. I must ask you gentlemen to open those cases for me. I simply
must!”

“Mr. Verne,” Lucas began, “we’ve been through that. We simply cannot—”

“Then you must decide what sort of drastic thing it is you want to do about me,” he said, visibly agitated. “For if I am not permitted to see what is inside those cases, I will go to Commander Farragut and tell him what I know.”

“Mr. Verne,” said Lucas softly, “we can’t allow you to do that.”

“That curious alarm device of yours,” said Verne, “has left me almost completely bereft of sleep. I am on the verge of complete nervous collapse. I must know the nature of its operation, gentlemen!”

“Mr. Verne,” said Finn, “Lucas explained to you. This is a top secret government—”

“Do you take me for a fool?” Verne almost shouted. “I
wanted
to believe you! I wanted for there to be some sort of sane, rational explanation, but there
isn’t
one. You’re lying to me. I know it beyond a question of a doubt. Even given all the resources of the American government or any other highly industrialized state, such a device could not possibly have been manufactured!
It contravenes known
science.
It exists, yet it cannot exist. You understand, gentlemen, I am no scientist, but I keep abreast of new developments. I read voraciously; I am not an unversed layman. I do have some understanding of these things. The technology simply does not exist to manufacture such a thing! The scale of miniaturization is beyond
any
comprehension. There is no known power source which could be made small enough for such a device. There must be circuits, yet for someone to make circuits of such infinitesimal size, they would have to be able to dance upon the head of a pin! I must know how it was done. I must know what sort of process made those cases. I must know how those locks upon those cases operate when there are no apparent workings within them. I must know how these things were done. I must know
where
they were done. And I must know . . .” He sat there, staring at them wildly.

“
Mon Dieu,
dare I say it?”

“Go on, Mr. Verne,” said Finn.

In a voice that was almost a whisper, Verne said, “I must know
when.”

“Jackpot,” Finn said.

Lucas gave him a tight-lipped look.

“I
am
right, am I not?” said Verne, softly. “I felt certain I was going mad. Or perhaps I am already mad. Please, gentlemen, I beg you, for the sake of my sanity, you
must
tell me!”

“Mr. Verne, Jules,” said Lucas, “before this discussion goes any further, you must understand one thing. When I spoke of a top secret mission, I was not lying. If I tell you what you want to know, you must swear it will go no further than the confines of this room. Thousands upon thousands of lives could depend upon it.”

Verne licked his lips and took a deep breath. “And if I do not swear so?”

“Then Finn and I will have to figure out some way to make certain you
cannot
tell anyone. We do not wish to harm you. We do not wish to harm anyone on board this ship. Chances are no one will believe you anyway, but we can’t risk having our belongings searched. Please, Mr. Verne.”

“All right,” he said. “Conditionally, I will so swear. The condition is I cannot stand by and allow any wrongdoing. If that is what you intend, you shall have to kill me, for I will do everything within my power to stop you.”

“I can accept that,” Lucas said. “The answer, as you must already have surmised, is yes. We are not of this time.”

Verne shut his eyes. “I knew it,” he said. “I did not believe it was possible, but it was the only explanation that made any sort of sense. Both of you, and Miss Cross, as well—”

“Are from the 27th century,” said Lucas.

Verne gasped. “The 27th . . . but . . . that is over seven hundred years in the future!”

“That’s quite correct,” said Finn.

“Travel through time,” said Verne, awestruck. “I had thought about it from time to time—” he chuckled. “From time to time. Ironic choice of words,
n’est-ce pas?”
He stared at them both with wonder. “I had often thought of writing a story about it, but it seemed too incredible, too much of a fantasy for my sort of work. I always sought to strive for some believability and so I dismissed the notion.

Yet . . . there are a thousand things I wish to ask you and I do not know where to begin! Yes, yes, of course I do. The most obvious questions is, why are you here? It is something about this creature, is it not? This must be like some sort of archaeology for you—but no. You said thousands upon thousands of lives could depend upon it. Surely an aquatic mammal could not threaten—no, naturally not, if it is so important, then . . .”

The sound of the forecastle gun was heard and there was shouting up on deck. Andre burst into the cabin. “It’s Ned! He’s sighted it! They’ve opened fire and—” She saw Verne and brought herself up short.

“Get the ordnance!” Lucas said. “
Move!”

“What is it? What’s—the creature!” Verne jumped to his feet as Finn and Andre both bolted out the door. Lucas put his palm up against Verne’s chest and shoved him hard. He fell back against the bulkhead. Lucas grabbed his equipment and moved toward the door.

“I’m sorry, Jules,” he said. “I can’t explain now and you’d just get in the way.” He closed the door and locked it.

The torpedo struck amidships and the explosion rocked the
Abraham Lincoln,
blowing the steamer in two, obliterating men and metal alike as it shattered the ship’s spine, sending a great gout of flame and smoke leaping high into the air to illuminate the night sky. Finn reached the deck with Andre right behind him and the shock of the explosion flung him over the rail into the sea. He never felt it when he hit the water.

“Finn! Finn, come on, wake up! Snap out of it, I’m getting tired.”

“Andre?”

“Can you swim? Are you all right?”

Delaney began to tread water as Andre released him. He coughed as seawater sloshed into his mouth. “How long have I been out?”

“Don’t know,” said Andre. “Seemed like forever.” She gasped, gulping in air. “The ship went down.

I dove in after you when you went over. I think some boats got away, but there was a lot of noise . . .

boilers blew . . . I screamed myself hoarse, but no one heard me.”

“Lucas?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“Damn.”

“We’re going to have to clock out, Finn. I can’t stay afloat much longer. Holding you exhausted me.”

“You’re right,” he said. “There’s nothing else to do. We—”

“
Ha-llooo!”

“Son of a bitch!” said Finn. “Someone’s out there!”

“
Finn! Andre! Ha-llooo!”

“That’s Lucas!
Here! Over here!”

They couldn’t see a thing. The moon was full, but a thick fog had rolled in and visibility was practically nil.

“
Keep shouting so we can find you!”
Lucas cried. “
You sound very close!”

“
God damn it, hurry up!”
yelled Andre. “
The water’s freezing!”
They heard Priest let out a whoop. “
Hang on, Andre! We’re coming!”
They shouted back and forth for a few moments, and then the boat came drifting out of the fog with Lucas standing up in the prow, peering intently into the water. He spotted them and within seconds, they were being pulled over the side. Verne was at the oars and Devries lay in the bottom of the boat, unconscious.

“I was beginning to think you drowned,” said Lucas.

“I almost did,” said Finn, gasping for breath. “Andre kept me afloat.”

“I saw you both go over,” Lucas said. “You can thank Jules here for the boat. I think maybe one or two others got away, as well, but we lost them in the fog. There was a rush for the lifeboats when the boilers blew and most of them were caught in the explosion. This one was literally blown off the ship and Jules swam for it. We managed to pull Devries out, but he’s in pretty bad shape. We looked for other survivors, but with the ship going down so fast and the fire and the fog . . .” His voice trailed off.

“How the hell did you get out of the cabin?” Finn said, looking at Verne.

The author grinned weakly. “I have some slight skill with a lockpick,” he said. “In all the excitement, you seemed to have forgotten that.” His clothing was completely soaked and he was shivering in the cold night air. The heavy fog wasn’t making things any easier.

“Christ, it all happened so fast,” said Finn.

Andre flopped down in the bottom of the boat. “Ned spotted it first,” she said. “He’d been keeping his eyes peeled for it ever since Farragut announced that reward for whoever saw it first. Several of the men were cleaning the forecastle gun and they were able to bring it into action almost immediately. I think they had time for two shots, three at the very most.”

“Can we do anything about Devries?” said Finn.

Lucas shook his head. “I think he’s got internal injuries. He’s hanging on, but we haven’t got anything aboard the boat to help him with. We don’t even have any fresh water.”

“Speaking of water,” Andre said, “has anyone noticed this boat is leaking?” They all exchanged glances. They were all thinking the same thing. The three of them could escape by clocking out, but that would still leave Verne and Devries. They couldn’t simply abandon them.

“Quiet,” said Verne. “Do you hear something?”

They fell silent, listening.

Lucas frowned. “No, I—”

“Listen!”

This time, they heard it. Somewhere, off in the mist, someone was singing.

“
So I grabbed ‘er and I kissed ‘er, bent ‘er down across me knee,
And I said to ‘er, me bonny, this is how it’s going to be,
If you want to love a sailor man, then best learn to be true,
For if you daily round behind his back, he’ll beat you black and blue—”

“It’s Ned!” said Andre.

“
So I struck ‘er on the bottom, kept it up til she cried, ‘Hold!’

She gazed up at me so tearfully, yet saucy and so bold,
Says she, ‘In ports across the sea, I know you wasn’t true,
So if you love those foreign wenches, I’ll go down for half your crew.’ “

“Ned!” shouted Andre, leaning out over the side of the boat and trying to see through the fog.

The singing stopped. “Andre? Is that you?”

“Keep singing, Ned!” cried Finn. “We’ll row toward the sound of your voice!”

“Put your back to it, my lad!” Land shouted, then began singing once again, louder than before and with considerable gusto.

“
So I slapped that wench upon ‘er hum and threw ‘er to the floor,
Looked down at ‘er and hated ‘er, the bloody little whore,
I said it was all done with, that her words made up my mind,
And I told her I was leavin’, I was finished with ‘er kind.

“
She looked up at me with fury and came at me with a blade,
I was faced with the most fiery wench the good Lord ever made,
I twisted round and felt that deadly steel scrape my side,
And I knew if I lived through it I would take ‘er for my bride.”