Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic: A Novel of the Titanic

by Suzanne Weyn

  I told everyone what Mr. Stead had told me. “He’s a brilliant journalist except when it comes to all that Julia nonsense,” Mr. Guggenheim pronounced. “I, for one, am not going to get into a panic before the captain advises me to do so, which I don’t believe will happen.”

  “John, I’m not feeling well,” Madeleine Astor said. “Can we go to our room now, please?”

  Saying good-bye to us, Colonel Astor put his arm around Madeleine’s shoulders and escorted her out.

  “I’m with Mr. Guggenheim,” Mimi said. “I’m not going to worry about a little bump in the night.”

  “Mimi, please get ready to get on a lifeboat,” I argued with her. “I believe Mr. Stead, and I’m scared.”

  “Don’t be scared,” Victor tried to comfort me. “This crew is very capable. Anything that needs to be done will be done.”

  “I must lie down!” Tesla blurted. “I’m having one of my flashes. I can taste the air. I can see all the food smells in this room. It’s overwhelming me.” Without waiting to get to his room, Tesla climbed atop a table and lay down on his back, shutting his eyes.

  Mrs. Brown bade us good night. Mimi and Victor said they would go with her. “Don’t be up late, Jane,” Mimi advised. “Get some sleep. It’s nearly midnight.”

  “Let’s go on deck and see what we can find out,” Thad suggested. Leaving Tesla asleep on the table, we went and discovered the crew pulling tarps off the lifeboats. We looked at each other anxiously. “You alert your sisters. I’ll go wake up Tesla,” Thad said. “We’ll meet back here in fifteen minutes.”

  Chapter 33

  Back inside the ship, stewards were already getting passengers out of their rooms and instructing them to put on heavy coats and gather only the necessities they would need on the lifeboats. People complied grudgingly, many complaining that the ship was putting them through a safety drill in the middle of the night. No one seemed too worried. Their confidence in the ship’s safety was that great.

  By the time I reached Blythe’s room, she was in her nightgown, throwing some things in a bag for the still-sleeping LaRoche girls. “Is it cold out there?” she asked me. “Should I bring coats?”

  “Absolutely, and wear one yourself,” I told her. She looked so young to me there with her hair all tumbled around her shoulders, so thin in her ruffled white gown. A surge of affection for my baby sister formed itself into a lump in my throat. I held her tight. “You’ll be all right, won’t you?” I said.

  “Of course,” she replied calmly. “I’m in charge of Louise and Simone. I have to be all right.”

  “Don’t forget your life belt. There’s one for each passenger in every cabin,” I said as I left. Of course Emma, Amelie, and I didn’t have one, since we weren’t officially on board.

  I then went to find the twins. Li was pacing the room when I got there. “When I wake up, Amelie is gone,” she blurted the moment she saw me. “Emma say she sleepwalking and go to find her.”

  “You go. I’ll find them,” I said. “Dress warm. Bring your life belt. This isn’t a drill, Li.”

  Where could Emma and Amelie be? Would they get to the lifeboats on time? Mr. Stead said he was worried that there weren’t enough of them. I decided to look for them on deck.

  Thad was there to meet me. “Where’s your coat, your things?” he asked.

  “Where are yours?” I countered.

  “I never got to my room because I couldn’t wake Tesla up. I only left him so I could meet you, but I have to go back for him. I have time because they’re loading women and children first. You should get on a boat right now.”

  I spied Mimi, still in her wedding gown with a heavy coat over her shoulders. “Where are Blythe and the twins?” she asked, rushing up to me and Thad.

  Looking around, I pointed to Blythe, who was already on a boat with Juliette LaRoche and the little girls. Mr. LaRoche stood on deck, handing his wife the bag Blythe had packed and some other supplies. Juliette lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. I could tell he was murmuring words of assurance to her as he settled her back down into the boat. After that, the attending officer gave a signal and the boat was lowered out of sight.

  “Amelie is sleepwalking,” I told Mimi. “Emma has gone to find her.”

  I’d never heard Mimi swear before, but she did right then. “Where could they be?” she asked, turning in a circle in her search for them.

  Victor joined us, also still dressed in his wedding tuxedo. “Mimi, find a place on the next boat,” he urged.

  “I can’t go until my sisters are safe,” she told him.

  “Yes, you can,” I said.

  “No, I’m the oldest. I’m in charge. I just can’t.”

  “They’ll be all right. I’ll see to it,” Victor promised.

  “Hey!” Thad cried suddenly, pointing.

  We all turned and were instantly bewildered. He was pointing at an old woman in a large, flowered nightgown wearing a ruffled cap who was getting into a lifeboat. Before we could question him about it, Thad had bounded over to the woman. Everyone gasped as Thad yanked the cap from her head, revealing the old woman to be the hired thug who had undoubtedly wrecked Tesla’s earthquake machine.

  The man took off and Thad chased after him. Victor sped away to help. All of them turned a corner and disappeared.

  The same eight-man band that had played at Mimi’s wedding assembled on deck. They broke into another ragtime song. I presumed it was to help keep everyone calm, and it did seem to help. It created the feeling that everything was under control.

  Emma rushed up to us. “Thank God!” Mimi cried. “Where’s Amelie?”

  “I’ve looked everywhere. I can’t find her,” Emma cried frantically.

  “We’ll spread out in three directions,” Mimi decided. “Whether you find her or not, be back here in exactly ten minutes.”

  We agreed and set out to find Amelie. I moved into the halls, walking against the tide of people heading for the lifeboats. I was jostled and had to struggle to get through. Eventually I realized I was outside the Grand Ballroom and decided to check if Amelie had gone there, maybe trying to return to the wedding in her sleep.

  As I ran down the Grand Staircase, I saw at a glance that no one was there except Tesla, who was still laid out on a table. I had to try to wake him but as I approached, he startled me badly by unexpectedly sitting bolt upright.

  He looked straight at me, not seeming a bit surprised at my presence. “Jane, I’ve had one of my dreams. I know a way to right this entire situation. But it’s in the cargo hold. Come with me. I’ll need your help.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked, doubtful that this was the best use of my time at the moment.

  “You doubt my flashes?”

  “Maybe.”

  “My dear, one can think clearly, but one can be quite insane and still think deeply. I have had a deep thought.”

  “All right,” I agreed, persuaded more by his conviction than his words. “I’ll go with you.”

  At the top of the staircase, we met Thad. His face was badly scraped. “He got away again,” he reported. “Victor’s gone back to wait for Mimi and force her into a boat if he can.”

  “Come, Thad,” Tesla said. “We’ll need you, too. The device is very heavy.”

  We knew that the cargo hold was below in third class, so we headed down. When we got there, we encountered a locked gate that barred our way in.

  What I saw through that gate horrified me.

  Water was rushing through the hallways. The people in third class crushed up against locked gates shouting to be let out.

  “Hold on,” Thad said, running back up the stairs. He’d spotted what might be a key cabinet, but it was locked. Forcefully smashing it open with a jab of his elbow, he quickly located a ring of keys.

  We had frantic and frustrating moments as he tested each key until one finally clicked in the lock. Then we were nearly trampled by the stampede of terrified passengers charging up the stairs.


  At first, we flattened ourselves against the wall to let them pass, but more and more kept coming through, since all the other exits were locked. Finally, we had to push our way down the several steps to third class.

  It seemed like so much insanity to be going toward the very situation that these people were fleeing. The knee-deep water was frigid and instantly seeped into my shoes and soaked my dress.

  “This way!” Tesla directed us, slogging through the torrent of freezing water.

  We followed him to the flooded cargo hold, an immense, warehouse-like room where cars and furniture stood side by side. Boxes and trunks had already broken apart, their contents floating like colorful seaweed. An open jewelry box sailed by, its dazzling contents—sapphire rings, diamond bracelets, golden earrings—as in need of rescue as the passengers above.

  There was no time to pay attention to it. Tesla found what he was seeking, a very large crate stacked high on top of other crates. “Thank God, it’s not wet,” he cried.

  Thad jumped up on some boxes and began pulling at the crate, but it was too heavy. Tucking the hem of my skirt into my waistband, I scrambled up to help him.

  “Here, I found this!” Tesla called, reaching to hand me a crowbar. “Don’t try to bring the crate down. It’s too heavy and it will get wet. Just open it up. It will work just as well in a horizontal position.”

  Thad took the crowbar from me and began cracking open the slats of wood. “What is this machine?” I shouted down to Tesla.

  “Haven’t you guessed?” he asked. “It’s my time machine. I’m going to transport this entire ship forward in time so that other ships will have a chance to get here. Surely the Titanic has sent out calls for help by now.”

  “They have,” Thad confirmed. “The Carpathia is not far, and neither is the Californian, if they can be reached before they resume their morning telegraph operation. The captain has sent up a number of flares.”

  “Could we send the ship back to the past and change what happens?” I asked.

  “Theoretically, maybe,” Tesla answered, as he began to climb up on the boxes to us, “but I don’t know how to do that yet. I can only go forward.”

  We got the crate open. Tesla slowly climbed alongside of it. With Thad’s help, they pried open the door. Inside was a chamber big enough for two or three adults. “Normally, one would enter the chamber, but in this case I’m going to turn it high with the door open. Hopefully the frequency will emanate out and take the entire ship forward.”

  “Will this hurt?” I asked.

  “Maybe,” he admitted, “a little. But it’s worth it to have so many more people saved. All these steerage passengers don’t have a chance unless one of the big ships arrives much faster than they will get here otherwise. It’s just a small hop forward, but it will be significant in its consequences.”

  After that, everything happened so fast. Tesla began turning dials.

  Thad clutched my hand.

  “Jane!” Mimi splashed into the cargo hold.

  “Mimi, why aren’t you on a boat?” I shouted.

  “I couldn’t leave without you.”

  There was a loud, loud humming.

  The room became a blaze of blinding, ultrabright, white light.

  In the next moment, I was flailing in icy water, gasping for breath. A chair floated by, and I grabbed onto it to keep myself afloat.

  At first, I was so shocked by the freezing water that I couldn’t even think. People floated by, many with wide-eyed, horror-filled stares, and my brain couldn’t make sense of it. Who were they? Why were they floating in the ocean? Why was I?

  Slowly my body temperature adjusted and rational thought and memory returned, but it was still hard to make sense of everything.

  Where was the ship?

  How could a vessel so enormous have sunk so completely that no sign of it remained?

  Off in the distance, dark forms hovered in the water. Why were they just standing out there? “Help!” I yelled, waving my arm. “Help me!”

  “Jane!” It was Tesla, several yards away. He was floating on an overturned table. Using his arms to paddle, he moved toward me and pulled me on with him.

  “Have you seen Thad or Mimi?” I asked.

  “Not yet,” he replied. He pulled a small light from his pocket. I assumed it was another of his inventions and didn’t even bother to question it. He shone it around the dark waters.

  What we saw was too horrible to describe. Colonel Astor and Mr. Stead were blue-faced and still. They clutched the same piece of a floating door. Soot covered Colonel Astor, which led me to guess that one of the ship’s funnels might have hit him.

  A man I guessed to be Mr. LaRoche lay facedown in the water, his arms spread in front of him. I saw a great number of the women who’d worked as seamstresses on our dresses just this morning.

  I spied Victor floating there, and had to turn away. Poor Mimi. How would she ever get over this?

  Once again I began searching for Thad and Mimi, but couldn’t locate them.

  And then I saw two figures in lavender bridesmaid dresses. They lay side by side on another floating door. They appeared to be sleeping, eyes closed.

  “My sisters!” I told Tesla urgently.

  We both began paddling frantically until we were beside them. Tesla reached out from our floating table and felt Emma’s pulse, then Amelie’s.

  I waited only a moment for his response but it felt like a hundred years.

  “They’re alive,” he said, “but barely.”

  “Help!” I shouted at the dark forms of the lifeboats hovering out there. “Help! Help! Help!” I screamed until I was hoarse and then called even more. Tesla shone his small light at them.

  A dim light that looked like a match flickered, burned for a second, and was gone. But it wasn’t as far away as the others. Tesla shone his beam on it and kept it there until a familiar face came into view.

  It was Mrs. Brown, and she was rowing. So were a number of the other women in the boat with her.

  Before long, the lifeboat was close enough that Mrs. Brown and the other passengers could pull Emma and Amelie on board. I noticed the quartermaster of the boat looking out to sea, not even acknowledging us. “He didn’t want to come back for you,” Mrs. Brown explained as Tesla and I climbed on. “So I threatened to throw him overboard; then the ladies and I commandeered the boat.”

  “Thank you! Thank you!” I said, my teeth chattering uncontrollably from the bitter cold.

  “Sure thing,” Mrs. Brown replied as she draped her sable coat over my sisters.

  “Mimi and Thad are out here somewhere,” I told her, peering anxiously out into the darkness. And Blythe, I had to hope, was still safe in her boat with the LaRoche women.

  The water was so frigid. We had to find Mimi and Thad. Why hadn’t they materialized beside me and Tesla? Where were they? I was sick with worry. “Mimi!” I shouted at the black ocean. “Thad!”

  “I don’t see them, but they’re in luck,” Mrs. Brown said. “Look at that.”

  In the far distance, something glowed and streamed across the sky like a comet. “Is it a shooting star?” one of the rowing women asked.

  “I hope not,” said Mrs. Brown. “I’m thinking it’s a flare from a rescue ship.”

  Emma opened her eyes and clutched for my hand. Grasping it, I sat beside her. “It’s okay. You’re safe,” I assured her.

  “No,” she said with a chilled quiver. “Jane, I don’t want to leave.” Her voice was so faint I barely heard her.

  “Of course you do, Emma. A ship is coming for us. We’re going to be saved.”

  “No, not that,” she said, shaking her head slowly. Her voice was so nearly inaudible I had to bend low to hear her. “I won’t leave,” she whispered hoarsely. Then her eyes closed and her head lolled over.

  “Emma, wake up!” I shouted. “Emma! Emma!”

  I kept shouting at her until Mrs. Brown drew me away. “She can’t hear you anymore,” she said softly. “Sh
e’s in a better place.”

  “No!” I shouted, tears exploding from my eyes. “Emma! No!”

  I didn’t want her to be in a better place. I wanted her with me, right there in the freezing lifeboat—alive.

  Chapter 34

  I don’t remember much about the trip to New York on the Carpathia. Amelie slipped into unconsciousness before we were even on board. Since she was one of the more critically ill, they found a cot for her; many others had to sit up or lie on the floor. The doctor said she was in a coma.

  The official report was that Emma had died of hypothermia, meaning she’d frozen to death, but the doctor allowed that she no doubt had many broken bones and other internal injuries. Amelie had two broken legs and frostbite on her toes.

  Blythe saw what had happened to them from her lifeboat. Through the course of the first day on the Carpathia, she made five attempts to tell me what she’d witnessed, but each time couldn’t get through the entire horrific tale without breaking down in heaving, racked sobs.

  That night, as I sat on a wooden chair beside Amelie sleeping on her cot, Blythe came in and sat at the foot of the cot. Once again she tried to tell me what she’d seen. She took a deep breath to calm herself and began.

  At about two in the morning someone remarked that there was a person walking way up high near the funnels. Blythe looked up and knew instantly that it was Amelie and guessed she was still sleepwalking. Then she spotted someone else climbing after her.

  “It was very hard to see, but I knew it had to be Emma,” she recalled miserably. “She reached her, too. But just as she did, the ship seemed to snap in two and the front end sank into the water very fast. The front funnel broke off and flew toward the water. At the same time, Emma and Amelie went flying into the air.”

  An image from last year flashed in my mind: Amelie on the roof, silhouetted against a field of stars; Emma dreaming she was flying through the night. Had they somehow known what would happen to them?

  I didn’t want to think of them hitting the water from so high up. It must have been horrible. “They were so injured, yet they hung on for an hour and a half more,” I said.