“Brought you some dinner. You haven’t eaten in days. We’re done – we’ll pack up and head out, day after tomorrow. I’ve booked your flights back to Perth. You can go back and sober up. I’ll see you again next season.”
A plate of fish was put in front of me on the table. I looked at it blearily. Was there one plate or two? Or was it three?
“Baldchin groper, tastiest fish in the sea,” Skipper said. “Enjoy, mate.”
That’s what Vanessa said.
I grabbed for the warm beer and took a big mouthful. It had to be the worst beer I’d ever tasted. I turned the can to look at the label. Fuck, that’s the Swan Gold that looked like it was older than me. It tastes like cat’s piss.
I made it to the kitchen sink before I threw up.
I opened the fridge, wiping my mouth, looking for something to chase the taste away. The fridge was empty.
I staggered out to the veranda, looking for more beer, but I only found empty boxes. Fuck, I drank it all.
The next two days I had the hangover from hell and vomited it all back up again. The last thing on my mind was dolphins as I hawked my guts up. I even managed not to think of Vanessa.
Skipper threatened to take me to the plane in the wheelbarrow if I didn’t walk, so I staggered out to the airstrip myself on the last day, one bag in each hand.
I threw up one last time in the airsick bag on the plane, just after we took off. The pilot didn’t say anything.
When I got home to Perth, I slept. I didn’t want to do anything else.
71. Sirena
“To the west, what have you found?” Elder Darma asked formally.
“They have little or no information about changes and they are undertaking no research to obtain more. The changes have had little effect on them as yet. I do not recommend further information gathering will yield anything in the west,” Elder Nafula responded.
Attention turned to Elder Indah.
“To the north?”
Elder Indah hesitated, but her response was sad. “The changes are greatest in the north, but are not regarded with much concern above the surface. The humans are focused on politics and immigration on the water’s surface, not the changes deep below it. I fear the northern humans will not devote their attention to their world beneath the waves until it is too late.”
Elder Darma turned her eyes on me before she spoke. “And to the east?”
I lifted my head to voice our best hope. “The Australian humans are also concerned about the politics in the north, but the changes to their coastal waters have come to their attention. They have observed the warming temperatures, the changes to fish numbers and storm patterns, but they do not presently look for the underlying causes of their observed changes. They appear to be willing to look at this in detail, however, but it will take some time before this occurs, or the factors are associated. I think the east offers the most promise for information in the future…”
“So we are to conclude that the humans are woefully unaware of the changes taking place in the world around them?” Elder Cantrella interrupted. “Changes which may mean the end of their survival?”
“So it seems, yes,” I replied mildly. “It does not necessarily follow that the end of their survival will mean the end of ours. The ocean’s gift will ensure our survival, even if the oceans reclaim the land from the humans.”
“We cannot long outlive them. We are dependent on them for our children, and their demise will result in ours. We still require them to conceive our young. Without offspring, we will not survive.” Elder Sunitha sounded frightened.
Elder Darma’s voice delivered my conclusions. “So we are left with one course of action. We must maintain contact with the humans, observe their research and attempt to guide it, so that at least some of them may survive and so shall we. We must also make contact with other communities in other oceans, to see if other sisters of the ocean’s gift are better informed than we. And we must plan for contingencies, to preserve human technologies even if the humans themselves are lost, so that our people may still survive. Elder Sirena, whom do you suggest we assign to these tasks?”
I drew a cool, salty breath and said, “For technology, I would assign such a task to Maria. She has greater knowledge and experience with human technologies than most. She has lived successfully among them, too. For contact with other oceans, I recommend caution, for their societies are very different to ours. I trust you will send diplomatic elders for such a delicate task. Liaison with humans will be my responsibility, once more.”
“This task is urgent. How can you undertake it, carrying a child? You cannot leave her until she is weaned, and then you cannot leave her without a teacher. You must remain with the child, and choose another to go in your place.” Elder Darma sounded worried.
I attempted to reassure her. “The humans will not make great advances for some years yet. I will go once the child is weaned.”
Elder Cantrella spoke up, as I knew she would. “Our people must be hidden at all costs. You may need to live on land among humans for a considerable time.”
I hid my smile. “I have managed on several occasions to live among them. Even the human man who conceived this child does not know of her or of us. I will do whatever is necessary to protect my people.”
Elder Darma was disappointed, but she knew it was fruitless to oppose me. “Then needs must. You will proceed as outlined. Remember the survival of our people rests with you, and possibly the survival of the humans, too.”
I imbued my words with power. “I will not forget.”
72. Joe
I woke up, knowing it was time to leave for another remote site again. I barely had time to pack my field gear before I had to board the next plane up north. This time it was different. I couldn’t forget the Abrolhos, because every time I put on my steel-capped boots, they stank of dead lobster.
Dean met me in the airport, waiting for our charter flight. “How was fishing?” he asked.
“The fishing was good,” I told him, my voice flat.
“Did you get to swim with the dolphins? Skipper said there were heaps out there this year.” He sounded wistful, like he wished he’d been Skipper’s deckie instead of me.
“No, but I got a video of them playing around at night.” I pulled out my phone and found the video I’d recorded and not looked at since. I handed it over to him.
“Mate, it’s all black,” he told me, handing the phone back. It took me a minute to realise he was talking about the video on my phone.
“Hang on a sec.” I played with the editing software for a bit, lightening up the picture until I could see the difference between the waves, the water surface and the beach. “Try it again.”
He hit play and watched it, his mouth open. I could hear the dolphin sounds. When it finished, he played it over.
“What were the dolphins doing?” I asked.
“Those aren’t dolphins, just the sound of dolphins in the background.” He laughed. “You had me for a second there, mate. It looks like the end of a bad porn film. I’d like to borrow the porn flick you taped it off, though. She looks hot.”
I played the video and watched it. My jaw dropped, too.
I watched Vanessa rise from the water, moonlight glistening on her bare skin, and whisper her goodbye. Then she curved across the waves as gracefully as any dolphin, her tail unmistakeable as it splashed down behind her, fracturing the moonlight on the water to the depths of my dark thoughts. Further out, I saw two similar-sized tails clear the water and vanish.
Oh shit!
The tale continues in Ocean’s Infiltrator.
Bonus – Sneak Peek
Belinda wasn’t always the ice queen. Who was the fiery man who introduced her to whiskey and love?
Find out in Water and Fire (read on for a sneak peek of Demelza’s new book, released on 1 August 2013)
Water and Fire Sample – Part 1
A screech and a thump were my only whisper of warning.
; I sighed. Another suicide.
I rounded the corner. The humped body of the big buck kangaroo sprawled like a sleeping seal by the side of the road. No other animal has a death-wish quite like a kamikaze kangaroo. The bitumen glittered in my headlights, as if frosted over in preparation for the dawn. The crunch beneath my tyres belied the thought of ice. I knew the sound of crushed glass.
The tail-lights of the tiny Toyota bled their glow onto the gravel beneath. The tree toppled between those two red eyes had folded the roof into a pair of ominous knitted eyebrows.
I slowed to a stop in the gravel behind it, hoping my help wouldn't be necessary. I left my headlights on to illuminate the wrecked hatchback. "Hello?" I called.
The answering groan was deep and came from the car. I peered through the back window, but the inflated airbags inside made it hard to see. I approached the driver's door.
"Are you okay?" I asked, knowing the answer already as I surveyed the damage done by both the kangaroo and the tree the driver had blindly swerved into.
"No," whimpered a female voice. "I…I can't get out."
Her door had popped partly open, so it wasn't difficult to pull on the handle to widen the gap. The airbag sprouting from her steering wheel pinned her to the seat. Under the weight of the fallen tree, both the roof and the console tightened into a cage around the airbag, making her car a padded cell in which she started to panic. She struggled to twist out of her seat, but she couldn't.
I waited a moment, before asking, "Can you undo your seat belt, or is it stuck?"
She looked at me in wonder and began fumbling for the seat belt buckle. I clearly heard the click that released her, before her scream shattered the air.
When she ran out of breath, she panted for a moment before she spoke. "I'm sorry," she said hoarsely.
I gritted my teeth into a smile. "Nothing to be sorry about. Let's get you out of there."
I helped her out of the driver's seat and onto her shaky legs. Only as she straightened beside me did I see the swollen belly that the airbag had hidden. I had barely a second to recognise her pregnancy before another contraction seized her. My arms were strong enough to support her, but her scream was longer this time. I saw the blood and fluid staining the driver's seat and felt a frisson of fear.
No. Can't hesitate. I'll do whatever it takes to save her. I won't lose this patient.
When the sound had died away, I said quickly, "Let's get you to my car, where you can lie down."
I helped her hobble to my car in time for her to topple into the back seat as her next contraction hit. Her scream rang in my ears, but I pulled out my phone, ready to ring for help as soon as she was silent.
I looked down. No signal. I held her life in my hands and mine alone. No, not just hers. Her unborn child, too.
So be it.
"I'm sorry," she whimpered, "but I think I'm having my baby, too."
For the first time, I smiled properly. "Then you're in luck. I'm Belinda, one of Albany Regional Hospital's best midwives and I'm on my way to work. I guess I'm starting early today, with you as my first patient. What's your name?"
"Miranda Nelson," she groaned over the next contraction. A gout of blood soaked the seat beneath her.
"I'll buckle you up and then we'd best get going," I said brightly, hoping there were no police up yet to catch me speeding. If I didn't get her to hospital soon, Miranda might bleed to death.
Not on my shift she won't.
Water and Fire Sample – Part 2
"I'm sorry," Miranda sobbed, before another scream sounded her next contraction.
"No need," I replied cheerfully. I found myself singing under my breath. I lifted my voice a little so she might hear the soothing song, too. After all, it can't hurt. She's in enough pain already.
A wail heralded another contraction, Miranda's panicked panting punctuating the time between. I glanced at my watch. Five minutes. With the contractions so close, the next one should hit just as we get there.
I braked carefully as we reached the ambulance entrance, the sound drowned in Miranda's deep groan. I threw myself out of my door and pelted to hers.
"EMERGENCY. I NEED A WHEELCHAIR!" I bellowed as a stricken-looking ward clerk appeared at the door.
"Yes, Belinda," Helen replied smartly, vanishing back inside. She returned in a moment with the small hospital's only wheelchair, angling it perfectly to catch Miranda as I levered her out of the car.
Helen pursed her lips at the sight of blood in the back seat of my car, but she said nothing. I passed her my keys as I took hold of the wheelchair. "Can you take care of my car, Helen?" I asked brightly, already rolling Miranda inside.
With the help of a sleepy orderly named Rob, I quickly ensconced Miranda in a birthing suite, her wail rising as another contraction hit her.
"Where's Jill?" I asked Rob, before he left the room.
"In with Mrs Barker. She went into labour and won't let Jill leave. Jill and the anaesthetist are trying to persuade her to have an epidural, but she swears she won't."
Two difficult births in one night – Mrs Barker and now Miranda. This was going to be harder than I'd thought. I sucked in a breath, wondering who else would be able to help me. "Where's Dr Henderson?"
Rob shrugged. "He's not on duty – he's on the afternoon shift. We got a new intern for the morning shift – he's shaking in his office. I swear he goes whiter every time Mrs Barker bellows. Not like you – everyone knows you're the ice queen. Cool, calm and collected – no matter what."
The last thing I needed was a terrified intern for this birth. Alone, then. "Can you send the anaesthetist to me, after he's done with Mrs Barker? Miranda Nelson was in a car accident, and it looks like she's gone into premature labour."
Miranda let out another hoarse scream.
"And get someone to call her husband. He's up in Perth this week, I believe – tell him we'll have her flown up to King Edward Memorial Hospital as soon as we can. Call the Flying Doctors for transport, too." I looked at Miranda, straining through another contraction.
Rob hurried out, leaving us alone.
"Just you and me, Miranda," I said softly.
"No," Miranda gasped out. "She's coming. She's coming…urngh!"
Not wanting to believe her, I examined her as quickly as I could. She was almost fully dilated. There would be two patients for transport, not one.
And it's up to me to make sure they survive.
"So she is," I replied, keeping my voice calm. "It's time to push, Miranda. I hope you have a name picked out."
Water and Fire is available now
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Demelza Carlton has always loved the ocean, but on her first snorkelling trip she found she was afraid of fish.
She has since swum with sea lions, sharks and sea cucumbers and stood on spray drenched cliffs over a seething sea as a seven-metre cyclonic swell surged in, shattering a shipwreck below.
Demelza now lives in Perth, Western Australia, the shark attack capital of the world.
The Ocean’s Gift series was her first foray into fiction, followed by her suspense thriller Nightmares series.
Want to know more? You can follow Demelza on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or her website, Demelza Carlton’s Place at:
http://www.demelzacarlton.com
Don’t forget to review Ocean’s Gift before you go!
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Ocean's Gift Page 17
