by K W Frost
‘I might need a medicinal when I get back,’ Child said, grinning up to Dr Withers.
‘One of the best will be waiting,’ said Withers, sounding concerned.
‘Don’t worry, Withers, we’ll be fine,’ said Child. He turned to Ritson and gave him a light tap on his arm. ‘Come on, let’s get this show on the road.’
‘Ready when you are,’ came Ritson’s cocky reply.
Dr Withers reached out, gripping the two men by the arm.
‘Please, be careful,’ he urged.
‘Don’t worry, we are always careful,’ said Ritson.
Ritson and Child walked out to cross the twenty metres of rock, carrying the spare sets of gear. Child turned and saw the small group of people huddled at the bottom of the cliff, watching them at they entered the water. The wind buffeted Ritson and Child with unexpected ferocity and they had to lean into it to stop being pushed back. Rain stung the exposed skin on their face and hands. The sea crashed over the rocks and swirled around their legs making progress difficult as it curled the ends of their fins. Then the backwash would come and they could make three or four steps forward. Child stepped carefully as the rocks were seamed with cracks, some only inches deep others opening up to under sea caverns eight feet beneath the rock. If they fell through one of the gaps they would be sucked into the maze of undersea caverns.
It took five minutes to cover the twenty metres to the edge of the rock plateau. Ritson gave Child a thumbs up, then turned to face the sea. Ritson timed his jump perfectly, landing on the back of a wave and was getting sucked out with the backwash before disappearing from view. Child judged Ritson’s progress from the whirling reel at his waist, relieved to see it spin out evenly.
Suddenly, Child sensed danger. He looked up to see the monster wave. Two waves had come around either end of the island before forming one hulking wave, a metre and a half bigger than the rest. The wave charged towards Child. He dropped to the rock gripping the spare gear under his left hand and grabbed for a crack with his right. He pushed his facemask down into a clump of seaweed and hung on. The water crashed down onto his back pounding him into the rock but Child’s facemask stayed on. His legs tossed and turned in the surging water. The spare gear was plucked from his grasp as easily has easily as a muddy rugby ball. The bag tumbled out over the rock. Then the bag hit the end of the rope and pulled Child’s chest up off the rock. Grimly he clung on, fingers grasping the small barnacles in the crack.
As quickly as it had appeared the wave ebbed, and the tension was gone. Child pulled the bag with the spare gear to him and stepped into the swirling water below.
Samantha and Dr Withers saw the freak wave appear at the same time. Child was standing on the edge of the rock plateau, the wave looming over him.
‘Quick! Back up the path!’ cried Samantha.
Frantically, the small group scrambled up the slippery path. Dr Withers’s foot slipped out behind him and he turned fearfully to see the approaching water. He struggled desperately to find his footing before a hand reached down and pulled him upright, helping him up ahead of the wall of water.
Dr Withers got his feet and thanked Samantha for her help. They both peered back out over the rocks.
Child was gone.
‘Can they survive a wave like that?’ she asked, quietly.
‘I’m sure they will,’ replied Dr Withers, gaining some composure again. ‘They’ll find the two men and bring them back alive.’
The wind seemed to have dropped momentarily. Dr Withers took a deep breath in.
‘Those two out there have been in more wild adventures than most people have in several lifetimes.’
Samantha looked at him, questioning.
‘Windsurfing, scuba diving, hang gliding, rock climbing, extreme skiing, snowboarding — I also think Simon did some jet boat racing at one stage. You name it, if it involves risk or speed then he would’ve had a go at it. Recently, Steve has been his companion in his adventures. Not that they are foolhardy but I think they just enjoy the risk.’
‘Have they done anything like this before?’ Samantha questioned further.
‘No,’ replied Dr Withers, the concern not entirely hidden from his voice.
‘But then again, I don’t think anyone else has either,’ he added to himself.
Doug and Terry had also turned around and looked bleakly out over the bare rocks.
‘How about you go back up to the lab?’ suggested Terry. ‘They won’t be back for at least three quarters of an hour. I can stay here and keep watch.’
‘Contact us as soon as you see anything,’ demanded Dr Withers.
Then he turned away to head back up the path. There was no escape from the wind and rain so the others followed suit, Samantha climbing carefully past Terry. They covered the trip back up to the lab in silence, each one deep in their own thoughts. At the top of the cliff, Dr Withers turned for one last long look, wondering if anyone could survive the wild water below. Then with a shake of his head, he turned away. There was no going back now and he had better check that everything was ready for when, or if, Child and Ritson returned safely with Hans and Jens.
Chapter Two
Child plunged into the cold, dark water, letting the backwash carry him away from the rocks. As his feet hit the seaweed on the bottom he jack-knifed forward and kicked powerfully forward with his legs. Only when he was safely away from the dangerous undertow did he reach for the cord attached to his waist. Finding it with his right hand he held it out in front of him while turning rapidly on the handle of the reel with his left hand.
Visibility was restricted; swirling pieces of seaweed and silt stirred up by the storm could barely be seen in the poor, but increasing light of daybreak above the surface. Child strained his eyes, trying to pierce the sea in front of him — and then out of the murk came the dim outline of Ritson, waiting patiently on the sea floor. Ritson gestured to Child before turning away, and proceeded to lead across the sandy bottom of the channel between the mainland and Goat Island. Carrying the spare set of gear in his arms, Child took up a position slightly above and behind Ritson to allow both of them freedom of movement. Even at a depth of five metres they were pushed sideways by the turbulence above. Ritson headed directly across the channel towards Goat Island and Child soon noticed the decrease in pressure from the overhead swells as they came near the island, which offered protection from the winds. The first rocky outcrop appeared out of the murk in front of them. Ritson turned to the east and started around the island, keeping the rocky outcrops covered with swaying seaweed on their left.
For the two men time seemed to drag — although it seemed like hours it was only ten minutes since Child had jumped into the water. They gradually turned north again, hugging the island as it curved around. Fortunately, the sea floor gradually got deeper as they were now travelling straight into the turbulence from the waves above. Holding the spare gear to their chests, Ritson and Child didn’t need to communicate. Together they struggled forward towards their goal. After seven minutes, they began to turn again, this time towards the west as they rounded the end of the island. Another five minutes passed and they stopped again. Ritson gestured upwards to Child, who nodded. Together they rose to the surface.
The surface was a cauldron of waves. For the two men it was like being stuck in the top of a giant washing machine. Waves were three to four metres high, whipped along by gale force winds. Visibility was increasing as the sun slowly made itself seen. Searching the rocks, Child realised they were still a little too far east. Turning back to the open water he sought out the Lady Rose, but she was nowhere to be seen. It would be hopeless trying to search for it now. With a tug on Ritson’s arm and a gesture forward, Child duck dove under the waves.
As their heads surfaced fifteen metres from the rocks, Ritson and Child looked searchingly at the island, looking for some sign of life. Then the gods smiled a little and the cloud cover broke enough for them to see two dark shapes up on the ledge. Raising their arms and y
elling, from the top of each wave, they watched for some sign of life, but the shapes on the rocks didn’t change.
Ritson swam towards the rocks while Child kept station where he was. Child bobbed up and down like a cork, his only clear view of the rocks was on a wave peak, nothing could be seen in the troughs. Five metres from land Ritson paused, trying to judge the wave pattern from the seaweed smashing into the rocks in front of him. Ritson made his decision and rode a wave towards the rock face. Child watched as Ritson’s hands gripped a crevasse and his feet scrambled to find solid footing, but he was still too low and in danger of being sucked back in. Child dropped down into a trough and waited anxiously for the next lift. The next wave arrived and lifted him up, and what he saw made him cry out.
Ritson’s hands had been ripped from the crevasse and he was picked up by a sharp, vicious wave that slammed him back into the rock face.
As Child started to drop back into the tough again, his last sighting of Ritson was his limp body falling into the sea.
Chapter Three
The harsh light from the fluorescent bulbs contrasted starkly with the grey dawn outside. Bender sat at a desk in the lab, idly drumming his fingers on it; the monotonous rhythm showed that his thoughts were elsewhere. After making the initial calls to the local doctor and ambulance, there wasn’t much else to do but wait. If Child and Ritson didn’t rescue Hans and Yens, all there would be to do was recover the bodies, and that would need to wait until the weather settled. If that did happen, he only hoped they would be recovering two bodies and not four.
Dr Howell sat in a hard, wooden chair, passing the time by staring out of the window or glancing at his watch. Doug Green was in the equipment room checking gear in case anything more would be required. He was on his third check through but at least it kept him busy and not thinking about the difficulties that Ritson or Child would be experiencing. Dr Withers walked from the window to the kitchen door in a slow but steady pace. His agile brain trying to think of what else could be done, but knowing they had done everything they could. Now there was only the waiting.
Samantha appeared to be the most relaxed of them all; she sat back in an old couch that had been scrounged up many years ago and had become part of the furniture. She was reading a nautical magazine with a picture of two dolphins on the front cover. It wasn’t until she had turned to the second page that she realised that she couldn’t remember what was on the first. The clock on the wall ticked over another minute.
It was Dr Withers who broke the silence first.
‘Bill, when are those damn medical people going to arrive?’
‘We’ve still got another seven or eight minutes before they arrive,’ Bender answered quietly. ‘Relax — Steve and Simon can’t get back before them. I reckon there’s twenty minutes or so before they can possibly get back, even if everything goes according to plan.’
‘Don’t you “relax” me — your damn fingers are driving me crazy,’ Dr Withers confronted Bender over the desk.
‘Francis, calm down,’ said Dr Howell, standing up and walking over to the two men. ‘We won’t achieve anything by arguing. I know you’re worried — we all are — but we must be patient as this is entirely out of our control.’
‘I know, I know,’ replied Dr Withers, irritably, ‘it’s just the waiting I don’t like.’ He turned back to Bender, looking sheepish.
‘Sorry Bill, I just wish it was over, that’s all.’
‘I know, waiting is the hardest part,’ said Bender, looking solemn. ‘Talking helps relieve the tension though. I’ll tell you what, when the ambulance arrives we’ll all go down and wait for them together.’
‘Tell me about Simon and Steve — why are they doing this?’ inquired Samantha, joining the men around the desk. ‘They aren’t paid to take risks like this, are they?’’
‘Paid? They aren’t getting paid anything at all. They’re volunteer members of search and rescue. They are simply the two best men for the job. Their underwater experience is second to none, around here at least,’ explained Bender.
‘But they appeared so calm, there must be more to them than just that…’ she pushed on.
‘Maybe you better tell her about some of the escapades that those two have been up to — the legal ones of course,’ said Dr Howell to Bender, with a slight smile on his face.
‘You mean they’ve been involved in illegal activities?’ queried Samantha, looking hard at Bender.
‘Well, let’s just say they’ve bent the law a few times,’ answered Bender. ‘You’ll see what I mean when I tell you about what happened last Christmas.
‘The local community committee decided to have a Christmas parade. All I could get out of those two was that they would enter but they wanted to go at the back, and that Simon would be Santa. Well, along comes the big day and Steve is driving the fire engine, all done up with streamers, balloons, the whole works. The big seat all ready for Santa, but we had no Santa. The parade was about to start but still no sign of Simon. I asked Steve where Simon was but he didn’t seem worried and said he’ll get here.
‘So, we got the parade on the way. There were only a dozen or so floats but people had gone to a lot of trouble. Last in line was Steve, in the fire engine, with no Santa. As the parade got going, everyone asked where Santa was. Then as we entered the park, Steve started to drive off course and it seemed like he was heading for the bank.
‘Suddenly, out of nowhere, Simon appeared dressed as Santa — and he was flying his hang glider. He came swooping over the crowd and then he banked and came back. I asked myself, the crazy bastard, where is he going to land? Well, he came up over the fire engine, almost stalled his hang glider, hit a quick release mechanism and landed squarely on the seat on the fire engine. Everyone went mad, clapping and whistling. The children loved it. They probably broke several aviation and road rules, but would you have charged him?’
‘They did it rather well, didn’t they,’ added Dr Withers. ‘It was the icing on what turned out to be a marvellous day.’
Samantha looked slightly stunned but she didn’t disbelieve it. She was still stuck on the logistics of it all.
‘What happened to the hang glider, and was anyone hurt?’ she asked.
‘No, it did crash but wasn’t badly damaged. It ended up in the bank that Steve was heading for. They had really thought it out.’
The four of them suddenly fell silent as they heard the faint, but increasing wail of an ambulance.
‘Right, let’s get moving,’ said Bender, grabbing the large pile of blankets they had organised earlier. He crossed over the door, waiting for arrival of the ambulance.
It was time to get ready for Ritson and Child’s return.
Chapter Four
Child reacted as soon as he saw Ritson falling.
He dove deep into the water, pulling and finning himself along the safety line, desperately searching for his friend. Ritson appeared out of the gloom, floating face down on the bottom on a shelving slope of sand. Riding a surge of water, Child caught up with Ritson and turned him over. His mask was still on but his mouthpiece was floating free. Pushing it back into Ritson’s mouth, Child turned him around and gave him a couple of quick squeezes around his chest. Ritson appeared to recover slightly.
A surge of water turned Child over. Ritson rolled away, tumbling towards the depth of the cave. Desperately, Child reached out and grabbed Ritson’s lower leg, digging his fins into the sand for grip. Suddenly, a stunning blow hit Child from behind, which caught him high on the left shoulder. Child crashed into Ritson, pushing him back into the sand below, its cushioning effect saving them from serious injury. A heavy weight was pushing Child down and for a few seconds Child lay there, stunned. Within a moment, the weight shifted off him again. He turned to look back at what had hit him. Child saw a chilly bin-sized yellow container bearing down on him again as it was carried forward with the next surge from the waves above. Grabbing Ritson, Child finned forward with all his strength, desperate to move aw
ay from the underwater ram. The strange container bore down on them again, and then with one last kick Child and Ritson moved out of its path. It slid past them and disappeared around the jutting rocks, down into the depths of the cave.
Child and Ritson were now being dragged along the sea bottom towards a similar fate. Again and again Child maintained his leg kicks, but the surge was too strong and the two of them were being drawn closer and closer to the corner to the cave. Gritting his teeth, Child kicked harder and harder — and then suddenly the surge stopped and they made several metres carried by the backwash, out towards the open sea before the next surge hit them.
The spare scuba gear trailed out behind them, trying to pull them into the certain death trap churning in the waters of the cave interior. Again, with frantic kicks and gasping breaths, Child fought the currents. Ritson was a dead weight and it would have been so easy to simply let him go into the water. Determined, Child fought the surges and was slowly making headway when the water flowed out of the cave behind him. Child looked ahead and targeted a rock just visible through the swirling, cloudy water. If he could get there then he would be free of the worst of the surges.
Fighting hard through another couple of surges, he thought he would make it. Then he was stopped. Something was holding him here. Child thrust desperately again, fighting the urge to panic. Nothing. Looking behind him Child could see his line with his spare set of gear disappearing around the corner into the underwater cave. He was trapped.
Child came to a decision, reaching down he unclipped the line. Immediately, he felt an easing of pressure. Ritson’s bag hung two metres behind them, its line tangled around Ritson as he swayed in the surging water. With a final burst of energy, Child fought his way forward. Child’s left arm screamed for release as needles of pain laced up his bicep, but still he hung on. He would not let his friend down. As he got closer to the rocks that were his target, the water got deeper and the surges less powerful. Child was able to make better progress. They were out of danger. As Child dragged Ritson out, he found it easier to pull him along, and then Child realised that Ritson was kicking too. Turning to look at his friend, Child saw that both eyes were open. Ritson was recovering quickly. Rising to the surface, Child got his bearings.
