The captain’s belief that this ship is cursed became more credible with the death of every sailor that walked her deck, and it’s as if I can still feel their presence, haunting me, jeering at me and shuffling around above my quarters as I sleep. I know it was those ghosts that made me push good Mr Finkler the carpenter, over the taffrail to his death, and slice the throat of Gables the surgeon as he slept. Now the curse has finally reached me, and infected me. It influences my hand as I write. My legs are weak, and my head spins like nothing caused by common seasickness. It waits to claim me, but its mercilessness lets me suffer in anticipation.
I can barely hold the telescope to my eye, but I’m able to see that the ship is the Dei Gratia-a first-rate merchant frigate but armed like a war fortress of the seas-and with haste it approaches. Her crew will board hastily with their muskets and bayonets, and somehow find reason to accuse me of murdering my shipmates. Or they shall simply open fire with a fusillade of shots once they are in range and shred the boat to splinters. Perhaps they will have no intention of the like. They might take me aboard their vessel, captive or otherwise, and I will contaminate another crew and consequently a whole fleet. My sinful defecting would be the trigger of the demise of hundreds. I must abandon while I still can.
December 13th
Before I lowered the cutter into the water, stocking it with a sextant and charts, a pistol, and enough food and water to see me to the Azores, I cooked myself a final meal that I could not eat, only minutes before the Dei Gratia would reach me. Once aboard the tiny boat, I found the strength to row it away from the ship, and carefully did so that the sails stood between them and myself obstructing their view.
I know that I am infected with this infernal disease or burdened with the evil curse, but I lasted through the night. I am four hundred miles from land and unknowing as to how much longer I will be alive. I will row, and row, and row until I perish or reach land where I can be tended. For now, I take one last glance back to the horizon where I see a large Spanish frigate, sails slack.
Her crew is now aboard the adjacent vessel and with no doubt considering how the absence of a whole crew ever came to be. But perhaps a conclusion would never be drawn. Nobody may ever know what occurred aboard that cursed ship, and none shall discover how William Richard Sumner-a low ranking naval officer sent across the water on an ordinary vessel for ‘nautical experience’ - was, if for a short time, master and commander of the Mary Celeste.
An Unfinished Race by Ambrose Bierce
James Burne Worson was a shoemaker who lived in Leamington, Warwickshire, England. He had a little shop in one of the by-ways leading off the road to Warwick. In his humble sphere he was esteemed an honest man, although like many of his class in English towns he was somewhat addicted to drink. When in liquor he would make foolish wagers. On one of these too frequent occasions he was boasting of his prowess as a pedestrian and athlete, and the outcome was a match against nature. For a stake of one sovereign he undertook to run all the way to Coventry and back, a distance of something more than forty miles. This was on the 3rd day of September in 1873.
He set out at once, the man with whom he had made the bet - whose name is not remembered - accompanied by Barham Wise, a linen draper, and Hamerson Burns, a photographer, I think, following in a light cart or wagon.
For several miles Worson went on very well, at an easy gait, without apparent fatigue, for he had really great powers of endurance and was not sufficiently intoxicated to enfeeble them. The three men in the wagon kept a short distance in the rear, giving him occasional friendly ‘chaff’ or encouragement, as the spirit moved them. Suddenly - in the very middle of the roadway, not a dozen yards from them, and with their eyes full upon him - the man seemed to stumble, pitched headlong forward, uttered a terrible cry and vanished! He did not fall to the earth - he vanished before touching it. No trace of him was ever discovered.
After remaining at and about the spot for some time, with aimless irresolution, the three men returned to Leamington, told their astonishing story and were afterward taken into custody. But they were of good standing, had always been considered truthful, were sober at the time of the occurrence, and nothing ever transpired to discredit their sworn account of their extraordinary adventure, concerning the truth of which, nevertheless, public opinion was divided, throughout the United Kingdom. If they had something to conceal, their choice of means is certainly one of the most amazing ever made by sane human beings.
The Price of Genius by Debra Grace Khattah
Kathleen waddled into the waiting room with a contented smile on her face. Doctor Piren had said that she should be the first to deliver. Daniel had been so proud when he heard.
Working in the Space Agency’s Dept. Of Extraterrestrial Diplomacy, S.A.D.E.D., he had been in competition with his fellow workers to see who could get pregnant first. The Genius Change seeded to them by the Ftheerians was given to S.A.D.E.D. first to benefit from since they had negotiated the viral change.
They had assumed the Ftheerians would stay around longer after acquiring the metal and mineral supplies the humanoid wanderers needed, but the aliens had departed within six months. Since then the department had been busy analyzing the computer data left to them by the Ftheerians as well as studying what information and history the aliens had been willing to share with them.
It would be a lifetime before her children would go to space, Kathleen knew that, but still she felt it was her prerogative to daydream and imagine them piloting humanity’s way to the stars. She had been so happy and proud when it turned out she was pregnant with twins. She just knew that her children must be extra special since there would be two of them whereas other women would probably only have one. She was quite disappointed when it turned out that all the patients impregnated through the Genius Change program were pregnant with twins.
Nurse Chaney called her in to the exam room and she got up carefully from her seat. At eight months she was being seen twice a week due to the fact that she had twins to observe and the doctor’s concern about how the Genius Change might affect the actual birth itself.
After taking her vitals like usual, Nurse Chaney helped her remove her shoes since she could no longer see her feet and left her with the standard green gown to put on.
Kathleen managed to get her smock off, she refused to call the huge tent like travesty she had to wear now a dress, and struggled into the hospital gown. She was just trying to sit on the exam table when Dr. Piren came in.
‘Well I see those two youngsters are becoming a healthy size.’ He smiled as he helped her get up on the exam table.
‘Can I hear their heart beat again Doctor?’
‘I don’t see any reason why not, it isn’t necessary but can’t hurt.’
He got her laid down and began to position his stethoscope. Kathleen stared at the speaker set in the wall eagerly. The double heartbeats came in together this time.
‘They must be face to face right now. Sounding quite healthy. How active are they?’
‘Way too much, I take a lot of cat naps now instead of getting to sleep the night through.’ She didn’t sound very disappointed.
‘We’re going to do another sonogram today Mrs Mertz. I want to make sure the twins aren’t getting too big. Otherwise we’ll be needing to schedule a caesarean.’
‘As long as they are healthy, that’s all that matters to me. The operation isn’t too hard to cope with afterwards is it?’
Dr. Piren was making notes on his charts and checking her progress on the graphs.
‘No, the operation isn’t too hard to recover from, especially not with modern medicine. It’s not like in the days of your grandmother when a woman who had a C-section would be laid up for six weeks recovering. It should only be about ten days to two weeks and you’ll be back on your feet and feeling pretty close to normal.’ He finished writing and looked up at her with a smile as he finished talking. ‘I’ll be right back with the sonogram machine Mrs Mertz. You just relax and sta
y put.’
‘Alright.’
It was only a few minutes before Nurse Chaney, Dr. Piren and a technician came in with the sonogram machine. The Nurse dimmed the lights while the technician plugged the machine in.
For once, Dr. Piren was the one who actually put the gel on her stomach instead of the tech. Kathleen didn’t think much of it, she was too excited to see what the sonogram said. The technician got up and let the Doctor sit down once he had everything set up.
‘All right Mrs Mertz, let’s see how those twins look today.’ His voice was tense as he tried to sound casual. Luckily his patient didn’t seem to notice any difference.
The technician leaned over and quietly murmured at the doctor, pointing out the twin’s faces and heads as soon as they showed up on the sonogram. The eyes of one twin were already open and seemed to be staring straight out at them.
The doctor found that to be one of the most startling things he had ever seen, the awareness in the face staring out at them from the sonogram, almost as though it was aware of them looking at it. The other twin had its eyes closed and its thumb in its mouth.
Then the doctor noticed what the technician had pointed out about the last sonogram done a week ago. The twin with the closed eyes had a smaller head, a much smaller head than its twin. It was even more obvious now than it had been a month ago when he and the tech had thought it might be a glitch in the positions of the foetuses since they weren’t face to face but one behind the other at that time. Dr. Piren hadn’t taken it that seriously as a concern and had only wanted to be here during the next sonogram to double check it, but now he was worried.
‘How do they look Dr. Piren?’ Kathleen’s voice was impatient as she waited for them to show her the sonogram picture like they usually did.
‘They look pretty good Mrs Mertz. Let us just check a few more things and we’ll give you a chance. Remember, we’re trying to evaluate the possible need for a caesarean right now so we need to take more measurements and estimate their sizes.’ His calming patter assured Kathleen and she laid back to wait.
The tech pointed out the difference in sizes of torsos between the twins. The larger twin had its arms around the smaller one and turned to look at the smaller one while they watched. The Doctor and tech still couldn’t determine the sex of either foetus since both twins once again had their legs twined up and around each other’s waists as before when they had done the sonogram last week. Noting how long the umbilical cord was and how much it entwined around the smaller twin’s arms and legs beneath the larger twin’s limbs, the Doctor made a note on the chart. He then turned the screen so Mrs Mertz could see it. Since the twins were now facing each other, it wasn’t as disconcerting to realize that the larger twin had its eyes open.
‘Oh look at them, they are so big now. I swear if I didn’t know better, one baby looks like it is cradling the other. Have you been able to determine the sex yet Dr. Piren?’ Her happy voice questioned him as she reached out towards the screen, almost as though she wanted to touch them.
‘No we haven’t determined the sex yet, they are being independent and refusing to turn in the right direction.’ His voice was light while he studied his patient’s face. He decided not to mention his concerns to her past a certain point. Mrs Mertz didn’t seem to be the most rational or worried woman he had met when it came to serious questions and concerns, quite unlike a few of the other pregnant women in his care through the S.A.D.E.D. Genius Change program. Part of him wondered what it would be like for a genius child to be raised by this rather simple woman. He was glad he didn’t have to live with her and find out.
His own wife Peggy was eager for her turn to try out for the Genius Change program, but since she was a genius Biologist in her own right, he didn’t see as much a need for her to participate as he had told her.
‘Unfortunately it looks like we are going to need to do a caesarean Mrs Mertz. See how large this twin’s head is?’ He pointed at the larger twin who now partially hid some of the other twin in the picture as they both moved slightly.
‘And there is some concern as to how much the umbilical cord is interfering with the other twin’s movement.’ He omitted to point out the fact that the cord was literally wrapped around the smaller twin much too much.
‘When?’ Kathleen looked up at the Doctor.
‘It might be good to schedule it for today. We don’t want the twins to get any larger, that could affect your health and we want the Mom to be healthy and ready when there are two babies that need to be taken care of.’ He didn’t mention that the head of S.A.D.E.D. had requested that c-sections be done if there were any unusual concerns. The program wouldn’t be released to the public until it was proven safe. Dr. Piren was beginning to wonder if there might not be some hidden problems. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately he began to think, that decision was out of his hands.
Kathleen smiled a little nervously as she thought of it. Her eagerness to hold her children won out and she grinned up at Dr. Piren.
‘This afternoon would be fine. Could you call Daniel and let him know?’
‘Absolutely, nurse, have her in a wheelchair and transferred to floor seven right away.’
Floor seven had been set aside special for the Genius Change patients with its own staff of Paediatric and OB/Gyn specialists. Kathleen found herself positioned on a table that was much too narrow with her arms out at her side within four hours. She looked around the room with interest, both nervous and excited, wondering who was who out of the many people hurrying to check machines and consult with each other around her. The Anaesthesiologist had already spoken to her and given her the spinal anaesthesia which would allow her to be awake during the operation.
Just then Daniel came hurrying through a nearby door. Kathleen found herself giggling nervously when she saw him dressed in greens with a funny cap on his hair that looked somewhat like her shower cap. Daniel smiled as her clasped his wife’s hand.
‘They said that I could be here as long as I stay at your head and stay out of the way.’
‘Daniel, are you going to watch?’ She found part of herself wanting him to so he could report how it was going and part of her not wanting him to see her all opened up like that.
‘They recommended that neither of us watch.’
Just then someone began to lower the curtain which shielded her from those operating. She found it weird to have the green screen right below her chin. The Anaesthesiologist came to sit behind her head now and told them they were starting. Daniel put his hand at her shoulder as he sat on a stool a nurse brought for him. He leaned over and murmured ‘I love you’ into her ear.
The operation seemed to go quite quick to Kathleen whose sense of time blurred as she listened to the doctors murmuring to each other.
There seemed to be quite a few. She guessed that was probably because this birth was special. Suddenly she heard a loud wail and her husband was called away.
‘You have a healthy daughter Mr Mertz.’ The Doctor’s voice sounded quite happy to Kathleen.
‘Let me see her Daniel.’ She prodded him with her voice as her hands couldn’t and found herself craning her neck to try to see around the curtain where Daniel was standing at the side of the room. As he turned to come to her, she saw the blanket wrapped bundle.
‘She’s gorgeous Kathleen, just like you.’ His awed voice was quiet as he brought the baby down to where she could see her.
‘Oh look, her eyes are open and she is so aware.’ The baby reached out a hand towards her and Daniel brought the baby close enough so her hand touched Kathleen’s cheek.
‘What about her twin. Is it a boy or girl?’ Kathleen looked away from her daughter momentarily to glance up at her husband.
‘They should have the second twin out any moment now Mrs Mertz.’ The Anesthesiologist’s soothing voice answered her Suddenly there were loud voices and people hurrying over to the side of the room where Daniel had gone to gather up the baby girl.
‘Daniel wha
t’s happening?’
‘I’m not sure.’ He started to stand and a nurse noticed him and hurried over to him.
‘Please stay here Mr Mertz. Don’t get in the Doctors way.’
‘What’s wrong?’ His scared reply was louder than he had meant to be.
‘Your second baby is a son and it looks like he is having some trouble breathing. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about but they are taking all precautions to make sure he is fine.’
Daniel sat down confused. He wasn’t very reassured. The Doctors seemed very urgent in their voices and movements but he knew better than to interfere. If there was something seriously wrong, he could make it worse if he distracted them.
‘What does she mean Daniel? What are they doing? Is my baby alive?’
Kathleen’s voice got shriller with each question.
‘He’s alive Kathleen, of course he’s alive. They wouldn’t have told us he was alive otherwise.’
All Destiny MoON Fiction: A Mix of Old & New Short Stories Page 2
