Far From The Sea We Know
Page 13
CHAPTER 13
“I was surprised at the Captain’s patience with Jack,” Matthew said.
Penny responded, “Andrew can be Ahab when he has to be. During a typhoon off Borneo, he willed the crew to do things they could never have done without him. Or so I was told, but I believe it.”
“You’ve known him a long time?”
“Since I was knee-high to a sea slug. He’s mellowed. For the better, I suppose.”
“Really?”
“At one time he might have just put Ripler’s lights out. He has, as you commented, become a man of great patience.”
“Someone once told me that patience is the mother of will.”
“Will who?” Penny said. “Sorry, Oh-Wise-One, but I like your own thoughts better.”
“Tell me more.”
“Maybe later.”
“I’ll wait,” Matthew said. He clasped his arms behind his head as he leaned back in the chair. “With patience.”
Penny stretched, sat cross-legged on her bunk. She picked up the paper cup with the frayed edge from her earlier drink and held it briefly before crushing it into a tight nugget. “What do you make of the infrared scans? And Ripler?”
“Confusing. Now you see it, now you don’t. I feel like I’m being jerked around.”
Without looking, she flicked the scrunched-up cup into the corner wastebasket. “What happened with you and Ripler?”
He stiffened. “Penny…”
“He’s cast some doubts your way, hasn’t he?”
“Yes, though I can’t say I like the guy.”
“‘Like’? You can’t stand him, and you know it!”
“Okay. But he had some points, like trying to find a rational explanation for this before we so quickly welcome the paranormal and bizarre.”
“Who’s talking bizarre?”
He could have brought up her flat-earth idea, but let it go and only said, “Ripler’s argument is that we have too easily entertained the possibility…of well, the impossible. You know, ‘bad science.’ He may be right. Maybe we haven’t been rigorous enough. And is that so much to ask? This is supposed to be a scientific expedition.”
Penny looked at him and her eyelids dropped so he could barely see the pupils. She wasn’t smiling.
“I know Jack Ripler, Matthew. He’s working closely with the people who are politicking to get control of the Point from my father. People who can’t see past their own little fiefdoms, whose idea of living is simply to increase their influence and power base. You might remember that when you’re considering motives. Who on this ship would you trust with your life, if it ever came to that?”
“Would you trust me with yours?” he said. A feeling that he would be with her for the rest of his life washed over him as softly as a warm summer rain.
He crossed over and sat on the bunk next to her.
“Matthew…”
“Penny, listen to me. I had this chance to make something of myself. By getting a degree I could do finally something worthwhile, only now maybe it’s all going down the drain. And it’s too late to turn back.”
She smiled, let out a short laugh. “You are a romantic!”
She started to get up, when suddenly he held her by the shoulders. “Listen to me! All I can see for sure is you. I trust you, whatever the consequences, and…”
She pulled in a quick short breath. “Where is your patience now?”
He could not say anything. He let her go and sat on the bed looking at her, their breath the only movement. Then her fingers swam through his hair and the heat from her body poured into him, and they submerged as one into the depths of an uncharted sea.