Far From The Sea We Know (14 page)

Penny gazed up at the man who had become a
slowly oscillating pendulum. “He’s smiling, at least.”

Dirk and another of the
Valentina’
s
crew steadied the man as he neared the open deck. When his feet
made contact, he unhooked a clasp and hand signaled to one of the
chopper’s crewmen who knelt in the open hatchway. Almost
immediately the line retracted. An orange plastic net with bundles
of bags was then hooked on and let down.

“Doesn’t look like just a quick visit to
me!” Becka yelled, loudly enough for everyone to hear, even over
the din of the chopper.

Their visitor had meanwhile climbed out of
the sling, and hooked it back on the line. The chopper’s crew
hauled it up and began to slowly slip astern in the
Valentina’
s wake. The man left on deck was dressed in the
uniform of an air force officer. He looked back at the hulking
machine floating incongruously in the air and saluted just before
they swung around and sped away.

He advanced toward Thorssen who greeted his
salute with a simple handshake and a few words. The blondish
officer was younger than Matthew, maybe in his late twenties. His
easy smile complemented his relaxed and confident posture. He had
the bearing of someone who was used to being reckoned the sharpest
knife in the drawer.

“Becka’s right,” Matthew said to Penny.
“Judging from his gear, he’s going to be here for a while.”

“Along with some missing pieces of our
puzzle, most likely.”

“Maybe, but will he let us play with
them?”

Instead of answering, she walked over to the
young officer and introduced herself. When she got an even wider
smile back, Matthew was annoyed, but even more annoyed for feeling
the way he suddenly did. He was debating whether to introduce
himself as well, when a female voice with a tone like an automated
answering service came from over his shoulder. “The welcoming
ceremony seems more than adequately covered,” she said.

Mary Sims, the whale cataloger. She stared
at the new arrival, who was still grinning at Penny.

“Such a bore,” she said, coming around to
face him. “Breakfast?”

Matthew followed Mary down the steps to the
galley. Mateo was up now. He must have slept late like the others,
but it still seemed odd that the ship’s cook had slipped up that
way. The smell of pancakes, however, was reassuring.

Jack Ripler came in just after them and sat
down across from Mary and Matthew.

“Good morning, Matthew. Morning, Mary,”
Ripler said.

“And a good morning to you, Jack,” Mary
answered, a slight strain in her voice.

“Sleep well, Matthew?” Ripler said with more
than a hint of a sly smile on his lips. Secrets did not last long
on a ship.

“Just fine, thank you.”

“Glad to hear that. Sometimes it’s hard on
our new arrivals. The rolling and rocking all night long.”

Ripler was baiting him, but he didn’t have
to bite.

“I’ve been at sea in far worse conditions
than these, Jack. I’m used to it.”

“Ah yes, the noble life of the fisherman,”
Ripler said. “Noble, but wearisome. Not here on our ship, though,
where there are now new headlines every day. And with yet another
new gentleman caller, I’m sure we can look forward to even more.
All thanks to you.”

“Jack, please…” Mary said.

“Anything new on our zombie whale,
Mary?”

She waited for him to look at her, but he
gazed straight ahead. She cleared her throat. “I have compared the
photos we have of our lead whale with another of Black Beauty.
There are some more recent ones, but we don’t have them in our
database yet.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Ripler said, still
not bothering even to glance her way. “And of course, we can’t
download them because we lack the capacity. And we lack the
capacity because the intrepid Doctor Bell doesn’t want us to loosen
his tenacious grip on the past by being distracted by the
present.”

He sighed and looked at Matthew. “Sorry.
Just ignore all that. I’m a grinch before my morning coffee.” He
finally looked at Mary. “So, what did you find out—wait, let me
guess. Dead ringer, right? Pun intended.”

“Yes, that is right. They might as well have
been twins.”

“That’s quite rare, isn’t it?” Matthew said.
“I mean, multiple births?”

Mary paused a few seconds to collect
herself. Her pinched forehead was an island of tension in an
otherwise unlined face.

“In some instances, what were thought to be
multiple births were adoptions. Twins may not even be possible. In
any case, it would not just be a question of birth
characteristics,” she said. “Many of a whale’s identifying marks
are the result of accidents. Even twins would be different.”

“And this whale that washed up?” Ripler
asked.

“Some students from Oceanic in California
were the first to check it over in any useful way,” she said. “They
failed to get permission for autopsy, the local government just
wants to dispose of them before…”

She looked across the table and lifted her
coffee, her hand shaking slightly. “It gets disgusting rather
quickly. They usually bury them at the local landfill. Because they
are so large, they have to cut them up first.”

“Yes,” Ripler said, “chain saws aren’t
exactly the tools of surgery, but the evidence must be buried. I
mean the stench. Or are they the same in this case?”

“Jack,” Mary said giving him a look that
almost turned to tears. “Do you know more than you’re saying?”

“Not more, but less!” He looked a porthole
opposite him, as if to address someone who wasn’t there.
“Scientific method, remember? Too bad we left it back at port.”

“Why are you being so…”

She stopped speaking, and her face seemed
incapable of hiding anything as she gathering herself again.

“Be specific,” she said. “You have been
sitting on something ever since we started this mission.”

“Mission, is it? To boldly go where we’ve
already gone before? The time will come, Mary my dear, but why
spoil the fun so soon?” Ripler looked at his watch. “Must run. My
turn on deck,” he said. He widened his eyes and waved his hands
like a stage magician, then sailed out of the galley, Mary watching
him all the way.

Matthew resisted the urge to say
something.

“Jack is just a little keyed up,” she
finally said. “Because of the direction events have taken lately.
No offense, Matthew, but we will eventually find explanations for
all your mysteries without resorting to the fantastic. Being
gullible is not something you want on your resume, I would
think.”

“Gullible’s Island!” Emory said as he came
into the galley. He was grinning like a Muppet.

Matthew suppressed a groan. He looked at his
watch. It was exactly eight o’clock. Ripler must have taken Emory’s
place.

Emory sat down next to Mary and gave her
head a pat as if she were a puppy. She jerked around and glared at
him, but finally just shook her head and went back to the last of
her breakfast.

Emory began tossing what pancakes were left
from the serving platter onto his own plate but slowly came to a
complete stop. For a moment he was motionless, just staring at his
hands. Then his head started waving loosely back and forth, his
eyes lost focus, and his face, which had been a little red,
suddenly went pale. He sprang to his feet like a huge
jack-in-the-box. The table was jolted so hard a few screws ripped
out of the deck. Emory wavered for an instant, then careened out of
the galley at full speed. In the process he almost knocked over
Mateo, who was just coming in with another platter of pancakes.

Mary looked across the table at the hatchway
that Emory had just exited. A tide of worry washed over her face
like an unwelcome guest.

“Matthew, is it just me or is everything
getting somewhat odd around here?”

“It’s not just you. And it’s a safe bet that
Malcolm will soon be hanging over the railing with Emory.”

“The sea is quite calm and beautiful today,”
she murmured, almost seeming not to have heard him. Yet when he
lightly touched her hand, she pirouetted on the bench to face him
and said, “What have you brought to us out here?” Then, as if she
thought Ripler might somehow hear, she started to whisper, but it
sounded more like a hiss. “Why is Jack suddenly so cynical?”

Before Matthew could answer, footsteps
sounded in the passageway. He looked up to see the Air Force
officer entering the room with the Captain. Penny glided in soon
after.

The young officer walked straight toward
him. “Mister Amati, I’m Lieutenant Chiffrey,” he said with an
elegant southern drawl. He held out his hand.

Matthew rose and prepared for the inevitable
vise grip. He looked the young lieutenant in the eye. “I’m…well, I
guess you know my name. This is Mary…”

“Sims,” she added, smiling coyly as if she
were a receiving visitor in her Sunday parlor. “Mary Sims. Pleased
to make your acquaintance, Lieutenant.”

He took her hand and gave her a gentle nod.
“That pleasure is already mine.”

“There’s some coffee here,” Matthew said,
“and it looks like there’s still plenty of pancakes.”

Lieutenant Chiffrey’s eyes brightened as
they took in the still-steaming platter Mateo had just
delivered.

“Thanks, yes. Didn’t get much this morning.
Mmm, boy! This smells like home.” He looked around the galley then
back to Penny and Thorssen.

“Fine operation you run here, Captain.”

“Mateo’s our most important crew member,
Lieutenant, a professional. Most of the rest of the crew are
students.”

“Yes, I read up on that. I applaud the
approach.”

Thorssen gestured toward a bench. “Have a
seat.”

Penny, who had stayed in the background,
slipped in and sat next to Matthew. She grinned at him and said,
“Good morning,
Mister
Amati.”

He nodded and poured her a cup of
coffee.

“Black and bitter, like my life,” she
said.

His annoyance from earlier had already begun
to melt away and now the rest receded like a waning storm line.

“I know you all have questions,” Chiffrey
said. “Essentially, we had some discrepancies in our tracking
equipment that coincided with an anomaly reported by your folks. No
luck in finding the origin of the problem and thought we might
learn something from you all.”

He turned toward the galley and almost
yelled.

“Mateo, you are one great cook! These
hotcakes are the best I’ve had since I was last back in North
Carolina.
Excelente
!” He turned to continue his work on the
syrup-soaked stack.

“How long do you think you’ll be here?”
Matthew asked.

“To be honest, I’d love it if this takes a
while.”

“We had heard it would be a quick
visit.”

“That was the original plan,” Chiffrey said,
wiping his mouth with a napkin, “but things changed. Listen, I
can’t tell you what a thrill it is for me.” He looked at Penny.
“Your dad’s undersea adventure specials? Loved to watch those on TV
when I was a kid. I probably should have joined the Navy, you know,
but my dad was Air Force all the way…”

Chiffrey babbled on. Maybe he was just
trying to smooth over the revelation that he could be here
indefinitely.

“No offense, Lieutenant,” Thorssen said,
“but your presence here right now will be a distraction.”

“If so, I apologize, sir, but believe me, I
will do everything I can to stay out of your way. We’re fully
cleared with your people, as you know. Nobody had their arm
twisted, or not too much, anyway.” He laughed a little as he took
another bite. “I’m sure once the novelty wears off, it won’t be a
problem. However, this is a matter of national security. Could we
just give it a while and see how it goes?”

Thorssen took this all in without any
obvious reaction and didn’t say anything immediately. Then he
looked at Chiffrey without blinking and said, “Be sensitive in how
you conduct your investigation here. Understood?”

“Sensitive all the way,” Chiffrey said,
still held in Thorssen’s gaze. Finally getting a nod in return, he
turned in his seat toward Matthew. “Say, could you tell me more
about the purple whale you saw? Boy, that must have been a
sight!”

Matthew looked around the room quickly.
Thorssen also seemed surprised.

“Sorry, guess that wasn’t so sensitive of
me. Didn’t mean to blind-side you. Please forgive me, but you might
as well know now. Buddy, you’re famous. Big time!”

“Excuse me?”

“I got the news just now on the way out
here. Front page, yes sir.”

Dirk came running in, looked around and
hesitated a split second before addressing Thorssen, “You’re wanted
on the line. It’s important.”

The last remark was accompanied by an
emphasis that left no doubt.

“Excuse me,” Thorssen said and rose to his
feet.

After he left, Chiffrey reached into his
thin briefcase and pulled out a few sheets, by the look of them
copies of a newspaper article.

He gave the papers to Matthew and said,
“Here, have a see.”

Matthew started reading a printout of the
Seattle Times
story. Gilliard’s unmistakable grin looked out
at him in mockery from under an appalling large headline. There was
also a small photo of the
Eva Shay
tied up at the wharf in
Victoria, but seeing his own name in print blotted out everything
else.

“This Gilliard, quite a character,” Chiffrey
said. “He’ll be on TV later, I was informed. I expect they’ve
pumped up the story, Matthew. Believe me, I know how they can be,
but they didn’t get your picture, at least not yet, anyway. You
know, this time of year, people are at the beach and tired of the
same old dreary news. A strange story with a twist, add some
well-known players…” He glanced at Penny. “Thinking of the Captain
and your father. Well, a story like this is sure to gather some
eyeballs. It’s even been picked up by the wire services.”