Far From The Sea We Know

by Frank M Sheldon

CHAPTER 63

  Later in the afternoon, Chiffrey gave them the news that some of the involved agencies were insisting they have some of their own people on board. Her father did not put up a fight this time. They arrived the next day, three civilians and half dozen Navy personnel, but it was obvious the civilians were making all the calls. They were courteous enough, but they never gave or used their names.

  Chiffrey, to his credit, did what he could to make this less painful. He told the new arrivals that they should leave things like they were until they got back to port. “Like a crime scene,” he had said. They had come with their own containers, but Becka, standing alongside Chiffrey, made a convincing case that the integrity of the tissue samples from the dome would be in jeopardy if they were moved even a little without special equipment. In the end the newcomers elected to simply seal the labs and place them under Navy guard. They locked down all outgoing transmissions, including data transmissions through their own satellites, which even Chiffrey thought foolish. They even went so far as to place one of the civilians on the bridge. There was no reason given, and since all signs of the transceiver were long gone, it seemed little more than a demonstration of control.

  When Penny finally awoke after a long rest, it seemed as if the previous twenty-four hours had all been a dream, that what she had known and felt then, on awakening was just a dimly remembered bedtime story. Yet some of the feeling remained because her sadness at Matthew’s departure still burned like a banked fire in her heart. The rest of her felt empty. The hurly-burly of her old life seemed to have packed its tents and cheap displays to skulk off on more profitable prowls. There was space between her thoughts, and in these spaces blessed silence reigned.

  Out on the foredeck, Penny glanced up at the bridge. The tall Navy guard still stood behind Emory, who hunched resolutely over the wheel. She sighed as if a life had left her.

  I’ve had enough.

  She wandered into the galley to check the status of the coffee urn. Her father was at the long table nearest the port side alone. She sat down next to him.

  “Dad?”

  “Yes, dear?”

  “They’re going to take the ship, aren’t they?”

  Her father’s face clouded. “Yes, I’m afraid so. Almost certain.”

  “But why? They can crate up everything and haul it away somewhere, can’t they?”

  “Because of the transceiver.”

  “They’re just looking for an excuse. There’s no longer any trace of it.”

  “Well, exactly. That’s why they want the whole ship, to find out if it did anything, and if it is still active.”

  “Chiffrey seemed to believe they wanted to just forget the whole thing and move on.”

  “I’m sure that’s right for many of the parties involved. But not all. And if everyone else declares victory and goes home, it’s convenient for those few who want to delve deeper. And they may even be right to do so, who can say, but taking our ship is the wrong way.” He took a slow sip of tea, long grown cold.

  “Did you tell them this?”

  “Of course, but it’s not the way they work. They don’t want us around, getting in their hair. Not much we can do except protest, which we have and will continue to do.”

  She saw the look hidden in his eyes.

  “Dad, I’m sorry. They’ll take the Bluedrop, too.”

  “Because of the disappearing hatch, if nothing else. Yes. And we’ll carry on.”

  “They’ll have all our records, all our samples, everything in the end, and we’ll have nothing.”

  “Not completely. I think we may still be, if not in the loop, within sight of it now and then. Our Lieutenant Chiffrey is insisting on that. And for the record, he was against them taking the Valentina.”

  “Sure, because he still views us as assets.”

  “That may be part of it but, I rather believe, not all of it.”

  She paused for a moment and in a low voice said, “Dad, I need to get back.”

  “Well then, you’re a mariner after all.”

  She looked at him, puzzled.

  “I sometimes feel the reason all sailors venture out is only so they’ll eventually have a reason to return.”

  He gazed out the galley porthole as the Valentina came about. “You can feel it in the ship already, can’t you? We’re heading home.”