by S. E. Smith
“Thanks for the information but I’m afraid I have to decline dinner. I’m booked every night for the rest of the cruise.” She didn’t think he was going to take her refusal well but just then Charrli rushed up to her, barking and pirouetting on his hind legs, a red ball clutched in his jaws.
Dian was right on his heels. “He wants you to throw the ball for him,” she said with a breathless laugh.
Juli made introductions and then said, “I only have time to throw it once though, Charrli. I’m on duty today.”
Head tilted the dog seemed to understand and he took off down the beach as Juli threw the toy into an as yet unpopulated area. Mr. Perkimier left in search of more congenial company and Juli turned to Dian. “Thanks! He was in danger of becoming a problem. Doesn’t like to take no for an answer obviously.”
“Yes, he had all the hallmarks of the type who ignore polite hints and persist so I didn’t discourage Charrli from interrupting you.” Dian leaned over to retrieve the ball from a delighted Charrli and threw it into the water. He waded out and then swam furiously, barking in joy at the new challenge as the waves carried the ball out of easy reach.
“At least he set my mind at rest about the rock and the bad luck curse. Fabricated from a bunch of nothing apparently.” Rapidly Juli repeated what had been said.
“Hmm.” Dian didn’t sound impressed. “I might do a bit of investigating on my own, if you don’t mind. I have extensive and exclusive sources, experts who’ll talk only to me if I ask for their discretion.” She gave Juli a smile. “It’ll be an interesting topic for my blog, if nothing else.”
“Let me know if you find out anything new. I have to run now—the guests are waiting for me so the contest can start.” Juli dashed off.
The day went off beautifully as far as Juli was concerned. Several people had to be rescued by the ship’s lifeguards but weren’t really in any danger beyond panic at venturing too far out. The crew’s volleyball team made it to the final match and then lost against a group of ‘passenger superstars’, to the satisfaction of a large, enthusiastic crowd of the fare-paying travelers. The crew members were philosophical, being well aware the ultimate goal of the entire day was to have happy passengers. It was in the ship’s best interests to end the festivities on a victorious note for those who in effect paid everyone’s salaries, although Juli had no doubts the crew team played hard.
The vintage trideo stars made it to all of their autograph sessions, the food and drinks flowed endlessly, Mr. Perkimier didn’t bother Juli again, having found more congenial company to her relief. All prizes were awarded and the activity scaled down for the evening as Maeve altered the lighting to a pearlescent sunset.
Juli was traversing the beach venue when Charrli scampered up to her, barking. She craned her head, searching the crowd for Dian but didn’t see her. “Are you lost?” she asked the dog.
Charrli ran a few steps, danced in a circle and yipped as if to demand she follow him.
“I don’t know what you want,” she said. “I can’t play right now—I’m working.”
The dog bounded to her side and carefully clamped his teeth on her hand, taking care not to break the skin as she stooped over to pet him. He growled.
Fearing perhaps Dian was ill, or in some kind of trouble, Juli looked around wildly for Steve, even as Charrli tugged harder. Deciding she could call for help on the senior officer channel if there was a problem but would feel silly if all the dog wanted was to play, Juli said, “All right, I’m coming. Show me the way.”
Charrli released her hand and bolted along the beach as if time was of the essence. Juli pursued him as fast as she could although he got a bit ahead of her. He was barking excitedly and circling an object in the sand as she quickened her pace.
And came to a dead halt, shocked at what lay in front of her.
The late Mr. Rodrimueller’s souvenir rock sat partially buried in the glistening sand.
Hand on her chest as if to keep her heart from pounding so crazily, she swallowed hard and blinked. Goosebumps rose on her arms. “Maeve, are there rocks on the beach? Did we install any for landscaping purposes?”
The AI’s answer on the private com channel was prompt and unruffled. “Only the big boulders strategically situated in the dining areas. The sand was sifted prior to delivery to eliminate unwanted rocks. Why?”
“Because—because I’m staring at one.” And it can’t be here.
Tail wagging, ears fully extended, Charrli sat as if guarding the stone. Juli ventured a step closer. It was her rock all right. She recognized the marks on the side where it seemed to have been carved a bit. How in the seven hells did it get here from my office? Is someone playing a prank on me? She spun in a circle, sure if a trickster was playing a practical joke, they’d be close by to see her reaction. Contrary to her expectation, she had this area of the beach to herself, with only Charrli for company.
The dog gave the rock a nudge with his cold nose.
“Yes, now what?” Juli wiped her hands on her shorts and tried to force herself to pick up the rock. No matter how it got here, she couldn’t leave it in the sand. She bent over, worked her fingers into the sand around the bottom of the rocky lump and as she lifted it free of the beach, there was a pop like a bubble bursting and her hands were empty.
The rock was gone.
Overbalanced, Juli fell to her knees and Charrli licked her face before he started barking again.
“Juli, where are you?” Steve asked through the officers’ channel.
“I—I’m down the beach, to the east of the party venue a bit.” She sounded as dazed as she felt. Juli knew she should get up and go back to work but wasn’t sure her knees would support her right that moment. Rocks didn’t appear and disappear. “Maeve, do you have a vid of what just happened?”
“Negative,” the AI replied. “There was interference with my ganglion in the specific area.”
“Is Charrli with you?” Steve asked, his voice cutting across the AI’s message. “Dian wants to go to her cabin now and she can’t find him anywhere. He’s not responding to her telepathic commands either.”
Juli’s chest was tight with nerves and talking was a bit of a challenge. She longed for a tall, cold feelgood right about now. “Yes, I’ve got him and I’ll bring him to her in a minute.”
“Are you all right? You sound odd.”
She took a shaky breath. Who was going to believe her, without a vid from Maeve to prove she hadn’t suffered a hallucination? Charrli had obviously seen the rock too but even if he was a retired Z Corps asset, no one but Dian was likely to believe him. “We’re screwed,” she said to the dog, stroking his silky ears. “I’m glad you saw it too though or I’d doubt my sanity right now.”
A breeze ruffled her hair and then a gust of wind blew sand across the beach in a glittering spray. Juli stood and picked Charrli up. As she turned, she realized Dian and Steve were bearing down on her.
“We thought we’d better come check on you,” he said. “Are you sure you’re ok?”
Handing the unresisting dog to his owner, Juli said, “I—we— saw something odd and we came to investigate.”
Dian was staring into Charrli’s eyes. “I’m getting a mental picture.” Jaw dropping, she pivoted to gape at Juli as another wind gust blew her skirt around her knees. “He’s sending me a projection of what appears to be the rock you showed us in the groundcar when we gave you a ride. Did you bring it up here? Because Charrli is concerned about it.”
Brushing hair out of her eyes as the breeze intensified, Juli shook her head. “Charrli found it and brought me over. I have no idea what happened. And then it…well, it vanished.”
Steve raised his eyebrows. “Vanished?”
Dian put her hand on his arm. “Don’t be hasty—Charrli’s telling me the same thing.”
Another gust rocked Juli and she lifted her head to stare at the beach and the water, which was sporting white caps now. “Maeve, what’s with the wind? We didn’t order t
his weather for today. A gentle breeze during the kite contest but that ended hours ago.”
“Working on it,” the AI said. “There’s a malfunction of the air circulation on Level Five.”
“How serious is this?” Steve asked in a sharp voice. “As senior officer present should I order an evacuation?”
“It would be advisable.” Maeve was calm as always.
“Sound the evac alarm now.” Steve sprinted toward the area of the beach where the party had been as klaxons sounded and Maeve broadcast an emergency warning, rotating rapidly between the five primary languages of the Sectors.
Juli heard Steve and Jake Dilon conferring on the officers’ com as she struggled against the rising wind, assisting Dian toward the nearest emergency exit. Maeve dropped the beach holo and flashing holograms pointed the way to each exit, including the ones strictly for emergencies such as this. As soon as Dian stepped safely through the portal into the central core of the ship, Juli spun on her heel, ready to race to the party area to help with evacuating any remaining passengers and nonessential crew.
“Are there any passengers on the extended beach?” she asked Maeve as she ran.
“You are the closest crew member to a woman in distress on the water,” Maeve said. “I believe she’s panicked.”
Juli stopped dead, kicked off her shoes and headed closer to the water’s edge, where waves were now crashing ashore. She was a strong swimmer and the pool masquerading as an ocean wasn’t overly deep at this point. Shading her eyes from the spray with one hand, Juli peered out across the water. “Where? Oh, I see her, on a pink float. Send me help.”
Wading into the waves, Juli dove under the next one and swam strongly out toward the stranded passenger, who was clinging desperately to one of the ship’s floatation devices and clutching a small boy, maybe eight or nine, holding him tightly. When she caught up to the craft, Juli grabbed on with one hand. “You’ll be fine, the lifeguards are coming, just hang on.”
The woman was hysterical, her fingers clenched on the edges of her raft like claws. Her teeth chattered. “I was so afraid we were going to drown. What the seven hells happened?”
“Send the medics,” Juli said on the officer channel, keeping her voice low so the passenger wouldn’t hear. “We’ve had a malfunction, I’m afraid, but the Level isn’t losing air pressure. On the contrary we’re experiencing too much localized volume. Our AI is working to shut the wind off completely. I’ll stay with you until the lifeguards arrive.”
It was eerie being on the water with all the holograms powered off. The Level was revealed to be a bare shipsteel chamber, with water and sand and glaring emergency lights, instead of the usual pleasant beach ambiance. Juli kept talking to the woman and tried to draw out the boy, to keep them from an even worse panic attack. Where the hell are those lifeguards?
The wind died and the water quieted. Juli heaved a sigh of relief. “That’s better, isn’t it? Let me see if I can tow you closer to the shore now. The Line will be happy to refund the cost of your cabin for this leg of the voyage, by the way.”
“I should think a refund is the least you can do.” The passenger was regaining her self-control and her tone was pure acid.
Juli couldn’t blame her in the least.
There was a shout from the beach and shortly Steve and two of the Ship’s lifeguards were at her side. She released her grip on the float and let Steve guide her to the shallow water, then escort her to shore, while the burly lifeguards took care of the passengers.
“Are you okay?” he asked, face full of concern.
“Cold.” Her teeth were chattering, as much from repressed fear breaking loose in reaction to the near catastrophe as to the chill on the beach deck.
He wrapped her in a big fluffy Nebula Zephyr beach towel and she stood watching as the lifeguards and the medical team tended to the woman and her son, and whisked them away to sickbay. Eyebrows drawn together in a fierce frown, he asked, “What were you thinking, swimming out there to them?”
She heard the genuine concern in his voice and observed how he couldn’t take his eyes off her, as if to reassure himself she really was fine. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing for me to do. Juli kept her own tone even. “I was going to try towing them in but the water was so rough, I hung on and offered moral support instead.” She dried her hair on the towel. “I was so glad to see you and the lifeguards. Does Maeve have any explanation for the incident yet?”
He shook his head. “Completely unprecedented.”
“No other passengers or crew remaining on the deck, sir,” Jake reported over the com. “Repair crew coming on now.”
“Was anyone hurt?” Juli asked as they left the Level themselves.
“Bumps and bruises, a broken arm, all among the crew,” Steve said. “Lucky the scheduled event was over and even the stragglers were leaving. Imagine if the wind problem happened in the middle of the day.”
Juli shuddered and not just from the cold. “I should get out of these wet clothes.”
“Captain Fleming has called a staff meeting in half an hour,” Steve said. “To debrief what we know so far. Want me to walk you to your cabin?” As they stepped into the antigrav tube and descended, he added, “It’s not out of my way, since our cabins are on the same Level. We can go to the meeting together as well.”
“Thanks. I’m kind of shaky, I’ll admit.” She hadn’t even heard the captain’s call for a staff meeting, which showed Juli how out of control she’d been, jostling about in the waves, trying to take care of her passengers.
“Are you going to mention the rock?” he asked, voice low and full of caution.
“I think I have to.”
“I wish I’d seen it.” He turned to her, face full of concern. “To be a witness, not because I doubt you. But it’s rough to have your only corroborating account be my aunt’s dog. I’ll tell her to stand by with Charrli in case Fleming wants to hear from her about a deskaza’s capabilities.”
Pausing at the door to her cabin, Juli was flustered at how close he was standing to her but found his warmth comforting. She wondered if he was going to kiss her but of course that was foolishness. What he did was squeeze her shoulder in a reassuring, comradely manner and head toward his own door. “I’ll stop by in what, ten minutes? And we can head up there together?”
“Make it fifteen and you’ve got a deal.” She entered her cabin and put her back to the door as it slid shut, fighting not to cry. The time in the water had been terrifying but also, the day had been one of her biggest successes as the Nebula Zephyr’s cruise director and now it was overshadowed by the disaster. At least no passengers were seriously hurt and no member of the crew died. She kept seeing the damn rock in her mind’s eye, sitting in the sand where it had no business being and then—even worse—disappearing. The memory jolted her every time she replayed it.
“You have seven minutes before Officer Aureli arrives at the door,” Maeve said, breaking into her fugue state.
“Thanks.” Flicking the tears from her cheeks, Juli forced herself to move across the room, although as she did so, she checked all the flat surfaces to see if the rock had reappeared. “Can you review my office vids and see if the rock is there, on the desk?”
Juli was stripping off the clinging wet garments, leaving them in a pile on the deck, when the AI reported in. “There is nothing on your desk resembling a rock.”
Her heart stuttered. There was a knock at the door and she gasped. “Tell him two more minutes, please, Maeve?”
Grabbing a clean uniform, she got dressed faster than she’d ever done before in her life, ran a brush ruthlessly through her wet hair, thrust her feet into shoes and rushed into the corridor. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“No problem.” He looked as handsome and well-groomed as always in his standard uniform. As she made haste toward the antigrav tube, trying to match her shorter stride to his, he said, “You do know none of this is your fault? Maeve, sorry to say, had a malfunction and we hav
e to get to the mechanical or systemic root cause but it’s not on your shoulders. You and your staff did a terrific job of getting the passengers out.”
A warm flush went through her at his praise. “I worry about—”
“The damn rock? Even if you’d hauled it up there yourself, it has nothing to do with the air pressure regulators on Level Five going haywire.” He allowed her to precede him into the silvery antigrav stream, although he stayed close as they ascended toward the bridge, on the top level of the ship.
When she arrived at the wardroom on the Bridge level, Captain Fleming was already in his chair. Juli took a terrified glance at the wall chrono but she and Steve weren’t late. The captain must be really worked up over this incident.
They were the last two to arrive and as they slid into their chairs, Fleming focused his laser-like focus on Steve. “Report.”
He gave a concise summary on the events and the actions taken by all hands to protect the passengers, mentioning Juli and her staff, as well as the security team. Then Jake Dilon provided his report on the injuries. Chief Engineer Tanaka reported in from Level Five via com.
“We’re making repairs from wind and water damage. No hull breach. No sign so far of what might have caused the problem. I estimate the level will be ready for testing tomorrow by noon and could potentially reopen the day after.” The Chief tended to be conservative in his estimates but his reputation for fixing problems was unparalleled. If he said the beach could reopen by a certain time, Juli knew she could count on it and make her plans.
