by P. R. Garcia
“Max didn’t have time to measure out the proper dosage,” Lachlan confessed. “He gave you a large dose of a pretty powerful sedative. In fact, I was afraid you wouldn’t survive it.” He reached out and placed his hand alongside her right cheek.
“I’m sorry, Professor,” Max shouted from above. “I never meant to hurt you. You were just so, well, out of control, I didn’t know what else to do.”
“No need to apologize, Max,” Gayle said, taking a sip of tea. “You did the right thing.” She looked at the man before her. “I lost it, Lachlan. I saw that ship, and all I could think of was I had to get off that island. If you and Max hadn’t stopped me, I’d probably be dead. You two might be too. I don’t know what happened. I never panic. I’m always cool and calm.”
“Hey, when I saw that third boat burn, I just about crapped my pants,” Lachlan confessed. “I was so scared I didn’t think I could move. We’ve all been under so much stress for so long, it was bound to catch up with us sooner or later. I forget that, of the three of us, you have probably had it the hardest.”
A displeased look overshadowed Gayle’s face. “Why, because I’m a female?”
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but yes,” Lachlan answered. “Men and women are wired differently. By nature, you’re more nurturing, more empathetic, more supportive. You see the best of us even when we can’t. It’s been you that has kept Max and me going all these months. We men are the protectors, the hunters, the fixers. No matter how I try, Gayle, I can’t fix this. I currently can’t protect you, or anyone, from this virus. I don’t know what to do anymore. But what I do know is that, because of you, I keep trying. You keep me focused, determined and, well, okay. You have since the day I arrived at the Polar Station. Max and I leaned on you without even knowing it. I thank the powers that watch over us every day that you are a girl and the woman that I love. None of this would be possible if you weren’t a female.”
Gayle didn’t know what to say. Never before had she been so proud to be a female, even if she had fallen apart. “So, where are we and what’s to eat?”
____________
Raul looked up into the night sky. It was a beautiful evening, with a huge full moon lighting their way. They were out patrolling for an unknown boat supposedly in the area. On one of their turns, they noticed a small, isolated island poking its head up out of the water. Although too small to offer much shelter, they were ordered to investigate any possibility.
The small boat with four men approached and circled the island, avoiding a significant amount of debris that encircled it. On their second pass, Roberto noticed something reflecting the moon’s light.
“Raul, there’s something on that island?”
Raul adjusted his night-vision goggles, but they were too far out to determine what the object was. It appeared large and metallic. It rolled sideways as if pushed by waves. Was it a marooned boat? Could it possibly be the one they were looking for?
Roberto steered the boat onto the narrow beach. Upon landing, the four men jumped out with their guns drawn and silently approached the shiny object. They were amazed to find a boat hidden beneath a camouflaged cover. A piece of the canvas had come loose in the night breeze and exposed a side railing of the boat to the moonlight.
The men climbed up the back ladder one by one. They searched the vessel for any people. It was soon apparent that no one was aboard. If this was the right boat, the passengers had left. Raul wondered if it was by choice or force.
“Spread out and see if you can find anything that will tell us who was here and how long ago,” he ordered as he walked down into the cabin and examined the half-eaten food on the table. As he walked forward, he heard the clang of a china plate as his foot hit something. He looked down and saw a broken dish, food scattered across the floor. He picked up a cup from the table and smelled the liquid. Coffee. Someone had left in a hurry.
They searched for another forty-eight minutes before returning to the ship that lingered offshore. Waiting on that ship was the Captain. Raul was sure he wouldn't like his report.
“There can be no doubt that someone purposely tried to hide that boat,” Raul reported. “A camouflage tarp was strung over her and secured to the beach. Had the moon not reflected off some of her metal, we would never have found her.”
“How many aboard?” the Captain asked.
“Hard to say, but I estimate two to four people.” Raul reached into his sack and held up a bra. “I believe at least one was a female.”
“Any indication how long ago they left?”
“Three to four hours,” Raul replied. “There was uneaten food on the table. It contained no mold or maggots. It could not have been there long.”
“Any idea where they went?”
“No, Sir. There are several shipwrecked vessels around the island. It is possible one was capable of still sailing.”
“Did they leave on their own accord?”
“Unable to verify, but I do believe so. We found no signs of a struggle, no blood, no bullet holes. And there were a number of items our pirate friends would have taken had they discovered the boat. Food, clothing, marine equipment. But I do believe whoever was on that vessel left in a hurry. In addition to the interrupted meal, the fuel tanks were half full. There were some packed boxes left behind, almost as if they had planned on switching ships but didn’t have time to complete their plan. I did find this, Sir, in one of the boxes. I don’t think they meant to leave it.”
Raul handed the Captain a notebook. When the Captain opened it, he read, “Field Notes. August 23, 2038. Dr. Lachlan Quartermaine.”
“At last, we have found them,” the Captain sighed. “Notify the other ships that we have a lead.” He walked over to the map hanging on the wall. “Have them concentrate their search in this area, about forty miles from Brazil’s coastline.” The Captain drew a wide circle with his finger on the map. “Tell them to patrol the waters from Porto Alegre to Rio de Janiero. Tell them I want that ship found by sunrise.”
“That’s a lot of water, Captain.”
“That it is. And somewhere inside it is one tiny little boat that we need.”
A FOOTPRINT IN THE SAND
The three travelers continued north, each taking a turn at the wheel. But this time, no one slept. Fearing they would be seen in the moonlight, the two not steering kept a constant watch for movement on the ocean. No lights testified to their presence. Paranoia was now their guide.
Twice they saw whales. For twenty minutes they passed through a school of luminous squid, up from the deep for their nightly feeding. While a beautiful sight, they quickly navigated away from the creatures for fear they would draw attention to the vessel.
Every three hours they stopped to give their new boat a rest, allowing the vessel to gently roll in the waves. Unsure of how much the engine could tolerate, they didn’t want to chance overheating it. Nor did they turn the motor off, fearing what would happen if it wouldn’t start again. To their disappointment, they had to refill the tank. The other boat would have gone on for at least another six hours before they would have had to switch the tanks. It appeared they now could travel only half the distance with the same amount of gas. The trip was certainly going to be more challenging and dangerous with the new boat.
Before long the sky to the east began to brighten as day began to creep into their part of the world. With the sun came a new sense of security, a new vigor. They had survived the night, and as far as they could see, there were no boats out looking for them.
When the sun had risen above the water, they put the boat in idle once again. There was very little wind blowing across the ocean today, so the seas were calm. Max played with the radio, checking to see if he could pick up any chatter over the airwaves. He thought he heard someone say “barco” in Portuguese as he switched the frequencies, but he wasn’t sure. “Barco” meant boat. Was it the pirates? Were they speaking about them? Fearing the worst, he desperately tried to tune into the sound. But the
voice was gone, replaced by static then silence.
Gayle searched through the containers and found the coffee maker, coffee and some suitable items for breakfast. Lachlan got ready to record the sightings of the whales and squid in their notebook. The squid was a new animal to be added to the list of surviving species.
“Gayle, do you know in which box you packed our research?” Lachlan asked, unable to find the needed notebook.
“It’s the one with the large blue happy face drawn on it in marker,” Gayle replied, carefully pouring water into the coffee pot.
Dr. Q looked amongst the boxes, moving several in the limited space. “I don’t see any smiley face.”
“Here, let me find it. It’s probably underneath something. If you wait out on the deck, I’m sure I can find it.” She flicked on the coffee switch then began to lift down boxes into the location of where Lachlan had been standing. Box by box she searched, but the needed one was not located. “Max, where else did you guys put the boxes?”
“Nowhere, Professor,” Max replied. “Everything we brought we put inside the cabin. The only thing out here is boat and fishing equipment plus the gas.”
“No, no, no,” Gayle said, starting to get worried. “There have to be more boxes somewhere. The research data is not here. Neither are the blood samples of the grad students or the members of the Australian Station. Are you sure you guys got everything?”
“Everything that was boxed and taped,” Max said.
A look of horror spread across Professor Dilbert’s face. “Gayle, I don’t like that look. What’s wrong?” Dr. Q asked.
“There were two small boxes next to the sink that I hadn’t finished packing,” Gayle replied. “One contained our research notebooks, and the other one had our prepared slides and samples of the Stevosaurus. It also contained the astronauts’ recordings to their families. Didn’t you guys grab them?”
“I assume that was stuff we were leaving behind,” Max confessed. “I thought you had finished getting everything ready.”
“No, I stopped to help you two,” Gayle replied. “I planned on finishing those boxes after dinner. But then I saw the boat and . . .”
“And we knocked you out,” Lachlan sighed. He looked out the back of the boat, staring across the water towards their tiny island so far away. “So, the two most important boxes got left behind in our panic to leave.”
“What do we do?” Gayle asked, sinking down onto the small bench.
“Should we go back?” Max asked.
“That’s a good eight to nine hours in the wrong direction,” Lachlan said. “And another eight to nine to return, plus probably one or two tanks of gas.”
“Not to mention the pirates back there,” Max added.
“Lachlan, I freaked out at the sight of that boat yesterday,” Gayle said. “I’m scared to death to go back, but Major Wesley and his team did so much for us. We wouldn’t be where we are now had they not dedicated the remainder of their lives to getting us home. We have to go back and get the recordings. And the future of mankind may rest in what we recorded in those journals. I don’t know about you two, but I certainly can’t remember everything that I wrote I them, that I discovered.”
“I agree, Dr. Q,” Max said. “I don’t see where we have any choice but to go back.”
“Do we have enough gas?”
“Barely. But there’s still half a tank in the old ship. We can refill our fuel supply. Would only take about twenty minutes.”
“Twenty minutes being sitting ducks,” Gale whispered.
A huge sigh escaped Dr. Q’s mouth. “Turn us around, Max. We’re going back.”
Since no one had slept during the night, it was now necessary for them to get some rest, even if they were returning to hostile territory. Believing the closer they went back to the island the greater the danger, they decided Max’s steering expertise might be needed closer to the island. Therefore, Max took the first sleep while Gayle drove and Lachlan was the lookout. While Max slept, the two professors decided Max would be needed to drive the boat not only as they approached, but when they left also. They allowed him an extra hour of sleep. Then Gayle slept, Lachlan drove and Max kept watch. When it was time to switch again, they were less than an hour away from the small island. So far they had seen no boats on the horizon. They just might pull this off.
Twenty miles out they encountered a pod of sperm whales. Since life forms were now a rare sight out on the ocean, the whales came close to investigate the boat, much to the scientists’ joy. Knowing he wouldn’t want to miss the pod, Gayle quickly woke Lachlan. The pod consisted of eighteen adults, three newborns, and two youngsters. Although delighted to see the newborns, the scientists wondered why they weren’t impacted by the virus. They weren’t whale experts, but each assumed a group of twenty-three sperm whales was slightly higher than the average pod size. Perhaps because the sperm whale typically ate squid in the deep ocean, their food source had not been diminished or tainted by the deadly virus. Dr. Q grabbed some loose paper and quickly jotted down some notes about the whales. He wanted to spend time with the sperm whales, but he knew their present circumstance dictated that they press on.
Before long their former home came into view. Each one instinctively scanned the area in a three-hundred and sixty-degree radius, fearing that from every direction boats would suddenly rise up from beneath the water. Gayle admitted to herself that she had watched the movie “Waterworld” too many times. She kept envisioning the scene where the bad guys were on jet skis hidden beneath the ocean. When the hero, Kevin Costner, sailed by, they leapt out of the ocean in an attempt to capture him. When two humpback whales emerged and blew into the air, she and the two men almost jumped out of the boat. The three looked at each other and began to giggle, allowing the laughter to calm their fears.
The rest of the journey to the isle was uneventful. Max steered the boat as close as he could to the beach, then disembarked with Gayle. Lachlan would remain on board, keeping the engine running. Gayle would retrieve the forgotten boxes and the microscope. Lachlan wanted to test the ocean water for life since they were seeing so many whales. Usually, whale sightings meant lots of food.
With empty gas cans in tow, Gayle and Max waded through the shallow lagoon and climbed aboard their old ship. Max once more wished they could free her and take her instead of their current ship. She was so superior. While he began to fill the containers, Gayle went downstairs. She returned with only one box.
“I can’t find the box with our notes,” Gayle stated. “Are you sure you didn’t take it aboard the other boat?”
“You checked all the containers,” Max said “It has to be down there. I’ll help you look as soon as I finish here.”
“I swear, Max, it’s not there. I purposely marked it with that smiley face so we could locate it quickly. Maybe you moved it when you or Lachlan moved the microscope and box of slides.”
“Gayle, we never touched the microscope,” Max replied. “We didn’t have time. It was on the counter like it always was.”
“You didn’t move it over to the couch?”
“Maybe it slid there when the tide came in and the boat rolled.”
“If it did, it found a way to glide through the air. It’s sitting on that blue pillow straight up. If it had rolled there, it should be on its side.”
Now worried, Max stopped what he was doing. He ran downstairs and looked around. Gayle was right. Things had been moved. He saw several Hershey’s wrappers on the floor. Someone had been inside the cabin after they left.
“Gayle, take the microscope and box down to the beach,” Max shouted. “We need to get out of here. Someone’s been inside the boat.”
“Are you sure?” Gayle asked, her fear returning.
“Yes.” He threw the containers of gas over the side. He heard a loud splash as they hit the water. Jumping overboard, he grabbed as many cans as he could and headed towards their waiting boat. Gayle was already beside him with her treasures. Max had only
taken about four steps in the sand when he stopped and looked down.
“What’s wrong?” Gayle asked, not seeing anything threatening on the beach or on the ocean.
“Look, footprints,” Max said.
“They’re probably ours,” Gayle offered as a reason they were there. She prayed she was correct.
“We came in from the other side,” Max replied.
“Then they’re probably from when we were here before.”
Max placed his bare foot beside the footprint. It was easily two inches longer than his. “None of us have feet this large.”
“I’m scared, Max.” Gayle looked around again.
“Me too. I don’t think they’d imagine we’d come back to the island. I’m sure they’re looking for us somewhere far from here. Let’s just get this stuff over to the boat. I’ll pile the gas cans on the beach. You carry them out to Lachlan along with your stuff. Tell him to stay on board, not to come down and help. If the boat drifts away, we’re dead.”
Doing as requested, Gayle ran across the beach hugging her box against her chest, the microscope firmly in her hand. She ran into the water until it became too deep to run. Then she swiveled her body back and forth through the water trying to reach the boat as fast as possible.
“Lachlan, hurry, take this stuff,” Gayle yelled. “Someone’s been on the boat. And there are footprints in the sand that aren’t ours.”
“I’ll help,” Lachlan shouted back, preparing to jump over.
“No, Max said for you to stay on board. We can’t chance the boat drifted away on us or turning off the engine.”
“I can put the anchor out,” Lachlan suggested.
“Just take these.” Gayle placed her items on the aft swimming platform, then hurried back to get several gas cans. She made three trips to the beach and back. On the last trip, Max came with her. They had all the gas that had been left behind.
“Dr. Q, run that rope through the cans and tie it to the boat hooks,” Max ordered as he pulled in the anchor. Letting it fall onto the deck, he leapt up to the bridge taking the steps two at a time. “Hold on to something.” His heart was pounding and adrenaline coursed through his body. The moment he reached the throttle, he pushed it forward, spinning the boat around, sending water and sand flying into the air. Within seconds, they were speeding back out to sea. Somehow Lachlan was able to secure the fuel containers before they were flung overboard. Gayle twisted her ankle as she tumbled down the stairs to the cabin determined not to drop the microscope. The box fell out of her arms, spilling the contents all over the floor.
