by Dave Brown
“Yes, sir,” Reg said and then switched frequencies to make the call. Half an hour later he watched the Folly's skiff puttering off to port, Jones at the controls and Errol shuffling through papers behind him. When suppertime came and went without their return he called George up to relieve him and went down to the galley to see what was left.
The next morning he walked onto the bridge just in time to see the skiff angling toward the back of the ship where the lift was located. “I'll be back in a few minutes,” he said to Patty as she sipped her tea in the lawn chair.
He descended the stairs and stepped out into the cool ocean air. He could hear the lift already working from astern and walked quickly in that direction. The Folly originally came with a lifeboat frame designed to launch the vessel once, via gravity. Putting it back would require the use of a crane at the dock. Patty had once told him how Errol and Bob Graham had used the parts from the two partially dismantled cranes to create a reusable boat lift while keeping the emergency launch system intact. Watching George operate the lift now, Reg had a sudden pang of vicarious grief. Graham had clearly been a gifted engineer and Reg was sorry he hadn't had the chance to meet the man.
It took a few minutes to secure the straps on the skiff and bring it up. As it rose into view Reg saw Errol and Jones had brought two others back with them, Seung Jin from the planning committee and their committee liaison during their time on New Taiwan, Renee Devoux. Errol caught sight of Reg and waved.
“How's it going, Reg?”
“Going well, Captain. Nothing to report.”
Errol nodded, gathering a few things together into his pack. George used the controls to swing the skiff into its cradle. Jones scrambled out and helped him tighten down more straps to secure the craft.
“Okay,” Errol said, climbing down from the boat. Seung waited until he was clear, followed, then turned and assisted Miss Devoux. “We're going to Midway,” Errol said, and that was that.
Chapter 21
The engine room was much noisier than usual because the engine was actually running. The Folly was making an even twenty knots, putting them about twelve hours away from the atoll. Patty motioned for Seung Jin to follow her along a catwalk and then pointed out a case made of thick transparent plastic with several conduits sticking out of it. She had to raise her voice to a near shout in order to make herself heard over the engine.
“This is one of our electrical nodes, taking in power from different sources and distributing it to consumption sites or other nodes.” She moved a hand along one of the conduits, showing where it disappeared into a computer station for monitoring the engine. “We tried to decentralize as much as possible so if one node went down the others could pick up the slack with minimal intervention.”
It was Seung's first visit to the Folly and he had asked for a guided tour. He had regularly mentioned how impressed he was with their work and did so again now. “This is very professional. So much of what we did was jury-rigging and improvisation, often quite messy. Seeing these clean lines of conduit and carefully constructed devices is quite something.”
Patty smiled warmly. “Thank you, it's much appreciated.”
They continued through the engine room and then climbed the stairs to the next deck where the machine shop and some other workspaces were housed. Patty handed Seung off to George and then went back to the engine room. She hadn't been there long, going over engine diagnostics on the computer, when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and spun around, stumbling into a railing. Jones reached out to steady her.
“Hey, sorry 'bout that. It's pretty loud in here.”
“Yeah,” she said. Her heart was pounding. She took deep breaths and did her best to slow it down. When she felt calm again, or at least not utterly electrified, she looked at her friend. “What do you need?”
“I got a little project for you,” he said.
She brightened. New projects were always good news. She pulled a notebook from one of the half dozen pockets in her coverall. “Shoot,” she said, flipping it open and readying her pencil.
“I need you to make me a stun gun.”
She stood frozen. Nobody had ever asked her to make a weapon before. “What?” was all she could manage to say.
“We don't really know what the folks there are up to. They could be crazy government wackos or somethin' like that. I need somethin' to disable somebody without killin' 'em. Just for self-defense, just in case.”
It made a kind of sense. After their experience on the Illustrious, Patty was inclined to believe he knew what he was talking about. “Okay,” she said, “I might ask Dr. Hayes to help me out a bit, see if he knows what sort of current level is necessary.”
“How 'bout you just keep this between us?”
She paused again, wary. She wasn't used to secrets on the ship. “Why?”
He put on that sexy grin of his. “You know me. I love to be the one with the surprise that saves the day.”
#
After a little research Patty had the figures she needed to work up a design. It was a pretty simple concept, using a step up transformer and a few basic circuits to deliver a sustained electric shock. She found most of the parts she needed in the salvage from the Royal Navy helicopters they stripped two months earlier. With some careful modifications she built the device into a flashlight housing, and she even managed to keep the light part functional. She pressed the intercom button on the wall of the lab.
“Jones, need you in the electronics shop.”
He arrived a few minutes later, leaning up against the hatch opening like nothing special was happening. “You got somethin' for me?” he asked.
She held out the flashlight. “It's a three-way switch. Push it toward the light, you get the light. Push it toward the back while these two studs are touching skin, you get your surprise.”
He took the light from her and examined the studs. “How many uses?”
She shrugged. “Depends on how much you use the light and how long you hit somebody with it. Five seconds should be enough to drop anybody, but two or three should be enough for most people. I'd say you got maybe five of the full charges.”
He nodded, slipping the light into a pocket of his Navy windbreaker. “Thanks, Pat.” As he straightened up to go, Patty saw a shadow move out in the hall. Jones noticed her shift in attention and spun around, looking for the source. She got up and went to the hatch, peering out. There was nobody there.
“Heh, all this secret stuff's got us nervous,” he joked and clapped her on the shoulder.
#
Lunch was a little dull. Hayes had chef duty for the day and he had never gotten the hang of anything beyond salad. At the same time, lunch was quite interesting. In one corner of the galley, Mr. Seung was having a lively discussion with several of the Folly's crew, but that wasn't what drew Patty's attention. The opposite corner was deserted except for Errol and Seung's assistant, Renee Devoux. The two of them appeared to be having quite the conversation, and Patty saw something on Errol's face she wasn't sure she had ever seen before. For one thing, he was making eye contact, something of a rarity. For another, he had a genuine smile on his face. She had seen him smile before, but it was usually a wry grin in the face of some difficult puzzle. This smile carried warmth, fascination, even a certain peace. Patty suddenly realized that what was so novel about his expression wasn't something new that wasn't there before, but something missing that had always been present: worry.
Patty spent the rest of the trip to Midway doing a thorough cleaning and inspection of the skiff's lift. She didn't want any unexpected trouble if they had to pick the boat back up in a hurry. Just before seven in the evening, the address system blared to life, Errol's voice ringing out.
“We're nearing Midway. Anybody that wants a look should head up to the bow.”
Patty took her time getting to the front of the ship. She wasn't sure why, but this encounter seemed different from the others. She wasn't scared or anxious about it, b
ut she wasn't excited either. By the time she got to the bow, there were only a few spots left against the railing. There wasn't a lot to see yet, just a thin line of tan and a slightly thicker line of green above it, sand and trees. As they got closer a white smear became visible. Somebody passed her a pair of binoculars. The blur sharpened into an airplane shape through the powerful lenses, and since she already knew what it was, her eye picked up some details right away. A blue stripe running a long the length, big dark letters above it, though they were still too far to read.
It was ten minutes before they were close enough to really start seeing things on the big island. There weren't many buildings visible from the south, but it was clearly a place where mankind had left its mark. The big plane sat toward the western end, its nose pointed out to sea. It must have approached and landed from the east. There were plenty of trees scattered around but Patty didn't know enough about the subject to identify them. There was a smaller island to the east, almost barren. She could see a thin white froth all along the southern perimeter except for a break between the two islands, and realized it was the reef she had heard about.
She felt the engine beginning to slow beneath her feet and guessed they would be stopping soon, sending a team the rest of the way in the skiff. She had no idea if the break in the coral line was wide and deep enough to admit the Folly, but she was glad they weren't going straight in. Until they knew more, she felt safer keeping the ship at a distance.
Chapter 22
After the initial shock of seeing Air Force One, the view through Jones's spyglass was a little on the dull side. Errol swept the lenses slowly back and forth. He saw trees, a few buildings, the enormous plane. There was no movement that he could see.
“This is research vessel Errol's Folly calling anyone at Midway Atoll,” Reg said next to him. The former Royal Navy man had been trying to reach someone on the radio since they first spotted the island. So far there had been no response. Errol continued to sweep the glass, looking for any sign of life.
“Reg, you're sure the people you saw were, you know, alive?” Jones said from the other side of the bridge.
“Absolutely, sir,” Reg said before resuming his work at the radio.
Seung Jin and Renee Devoux were standing outside on the bridge catwalk with their own sets of binoculars. “I think I see something,” Renee said, “on the east side of the big island.”
Errol moved the glass too quickly and lost the island. He slowed down and swept back slowly until the land came back into view. Near the eastern corner, where the little harbor would be according to the maps he had studied, was a small figure. Errol couldn't make out much more than that it was human shaped and waving both arms purposefully above its head. It didn't look like any zombie behavior he had ever seen.
“Well, I guess that's somethi-” He stopped mid-sentence as the little figure put one hand in the air and a jet of bright light shot out of it. “Okay, I know one of those things can't shoot a flare. I guess that's an invitation.”
“Sounds like a safe bet to me,” Jones said.
#
The skiff creaked as Dr. Hayes climbed aboard, the last member of the away team. He settled in next to Anne and gave Seung and Renee a friendly smile. Errol nodded to George and then braced himself as the lift jerked to life, lowering the boat toward the water. As soon as they made contact, he and Jones released the straps and then the Texan eased her forward. They swung around the Folly's starboard side and settled in for the short ride to the island.
After a few minutes the boat passed into the gap in the coral reef. Errol guessed it was less than a thousand feet wide.
“This is Brooks Channel,” Jones said, “It was dredged in a couple different stages, finally finished just before World War II.”
They continued north for a bit and then turned to the west. A harbor had been built there and Errol could see docks for smaller craft. There were a few people there now, waving at them as the boat puttered into the sheltered water. Jones guided it expertly up to one of the docks, applied a quick burst of reverse thrust, and then cut the motor. The people on the dock hurried over to greet them.
“Welcome! We're so glad to see you!”
“Uh, same here,” Errol said as he tied a rope to one of the dock posts. Once the boat was secure, the six of them clambered out and onto the concrete surface. “I'm Errol Stimsky, from the-”
“The Errol Stimsky?” One of the people said, a woman.
“Well, I guess so,” he said, a little confused.
“StimTech Errol Stimsky?” She said.
“Oh, yeah. Sometimes I forget.” He shrugged. He introduced the rest of the team and then shook hands as each of the islanders gave their own names: Maria Thompson, Greg Weizt, and Harry O'Neil.
“We tried calling on the radio but didn't get an answer.”
“Yeah,” Harry said. “There was a little accident about a month ago and the transceiver was kind of... shot.”
“Do you guys have a little seaplane, came by here a couple days ago?” Greg asked.
Seung Jin stepped forward. “Yes, we sent them out to have a look around. We were considering Midway as a place to rest, perhaps even settle.”
Jones pointed a thumb to the west, where the tail of the big jet stuck in the air. “When we saw the big plane we decided to come have a closer look.”
“Oh,” Maria said. “He's not here, if that's what you were hoping.”
Errol shook his head. “We didn't know quite what to hope for, just thought it was worth a look.”
“Well, why don't we take you all over to the Mall and we can swap stories,” Harry said, already turning to go. Errol looked at Jones but the Texan just shrugged and started following after the trio.
The Mall turned out to be a large grassy square surrounded by buildings. A large sign announced they had arrived at Midway Mall in large garish letters. There were more people there, some sitting on the grass and eating, others fooling around with a Frisbee. The sight of the food made Errol's stomach rumble. He had missed dinner during their approach to the island.
Once the first person there noticed the newcomers, it was only seconds before the entire group was looking in their direction. Their faces bore expressions ranging from joy to confusion, but Errol didn't see a one that looked unhappy to see them.
“We spotted a ship while we were at the dock,” Harry said, “and these folks came to shore. This is Errol Stimsky.”
A few people clearly recognized the name. “The Errol Stimsky?” one man asked.
“Yeah, I know!” Maria shouted.
Harry gave out the names of the rest of the team and that seemed to break some kind of barrier. All at once the crowd rushed over to shake hands and introduce themselves. There were even a few hugs. Errol accepted his as best he could, embracing awkwardly in return. They were invited to sit down and share the dinner meal. A few people hurried off along a gravel path and returned several minutes later with more food and more excited people. Soon there were at least three dozen. Errol had lost count. The Mall was filled with different conversations, but before long the talking died down as one person at a time told his or her story.
It started with Errol, who rushed through an abbreviated version of how he got the Folly project together. Jones picked up the thread when it got to the collapse and carried it all the way to their first encounter with New Taiwan. Seung Jin took over at that point, relating how the makeshift island came together and ultimately broke apart again.
“Which essentially brings us to now,” he said. “We were looking for a place where we might attempt resettlement. Mr. Jones suggested Midway and our research was promising so we sent our plane.”
A woman with short brown hair spoke up excitedly. “So that was you guys!”
“As we told our welcoming committee, the sight of Air Force One is what made us decide to bring one of the ships in for a closer look.”
The visitors' story seemed to be finished, and for a few moments they we
re all quiet. The sun was sinking behind the trees. Some of the people that arrived with the extra food produced hand-cranked lamps which were then set up in a circle.
“So,” Errol said, “What's been happening here?”
There were a few nervous giggles. Gradually attention shifted to Greg Weizt. “Well, I guess you could say we're trying to save the world.”
Chapter 23
Anne put her hand on the ground and brushed her fingers over the coarse grass. She was still in a state of mild disbelief. There was solid ground beneath her, trees all around her, buildings made of wood visible around the sides of the clearing. It didn't seem real. The air was cooling and she was grateful for the jacket she had tied around her waist before leaving the ship. She pulled it on and turned her attention back to Greg Weizt. All of the Folly crew and most of the locals were riveted upon him.
“July 12, 2004, was when the first outbreak hit the news. We were trying to fix it the day before that,” he said.
“Did you... are you the people that made the thing?” Hayes asked, and Anne wasn't sure if he sounded accusatory or just curious.
Greg shook his head. “No, they were already dead, massive infection by the virus almost instantly when containment was breached.” He leaned back, looking like he was settling in for the long haul. “No, we were from all over the place. Some government, some private sector. I was a researcher at Columbia. Late at night on the tenth a bunch of secret service guys basically abducted me. I mean, they were polite, but there was no question that I was going with them. That's what happened to most of us.”
“They took me out of the shower,” one man said, and there were several chuckles.
“They took us to a lab, very high tech. We didn't know it at the time but it was under the Pentagon. The windows in the vans were blacked out. Anyway, we got up to speed pretty fast. The data coming out of wherever they had cooked up Z, the bug, was pretty comprehensive. Tissue samples were delivered within the first day.”
