Sedulity 2: Aftershock (Sedulity Saga) (4 page)

Within a few minutes the young technician was dangling
outside the bridge wing on a tether, fighting the wind and unnaturally hot rain
to redirect the starboard FLIR camera.
 
The dome shaped housing for the camera was
dented and partially melted, making it difficult to swivel on the mount, but
Perkins used a screwdriver as a lever to get it moving enough to turn by hand.
A minute later he had it pointed forward over the bow and clambered back inside
the ship.

“Well done, Mr. Perkins,” Captain Krystos acknowledged while
looking at the LCD display above the helm. It showed things that were invisible
to the naked eye, or even those using low light marine binoculars. The FLIR was
a thermal imaging system that measured and visualized heat signatures. The
greyscale display showed hotter objects in lighter shades, while cooler objects
were darker.
 
What it showed now was
somewhat confusing to the casual observer. It looked as if the
Sedulity
were sailing straight towards a
brilliant white oak tree that was so far in the distance that its trunk must be
many miles wide and several miles high, up to the point where it branched out
across the whole sky. The thermal image of that sky was brightly lit with
billowing and rapidly moving clouds, highlighted by lightning and twinkling
streaks of hot rain, while the ocean was nearly black in contrast. This was
unusual at night in the tropics, where the water was often as warm as the air
and retained its heat at night. The FLIR proved that the clouds streaming over
the ship were closer in nature to steam than normal condensation, but it was
the white hot column in the center of the screen that drew everyone’s attention.
  

“What is that thing?” Mr. Crawford asked uncertainly.

“A column of superheated steam rising from the impact
crater,” replied the aged voice of Professor Farnsworth from behind the
gathering of ship’s officers. He and Kevin had come out of the dayroom in hopes
of watching the sunrise in front of the ship and were concerned that the
horizon remained so dark.
 
“These clouds
are so thick that they’re blocking the light of dawn and reflecting it away
from the Earth’s surface.”

“Are you saying it will be dark all day?” Mr. Crawford asked
incredulously.

“No, we’ll get some light eventually,” the professor
explained. “But not much more than twilight this close to the impact zone.
These steam generated clouds are thicker than normal cloud cover and stretch far
beyond the horizon by now. I’m afraid it will stay quite dark until the sun
rises high enough to send light straight down, as opposed to across the sky.”

“That makes sense,” Captain Krystos said. “I’ve seen more
than a few storms that came close to turning day into night, but nothing quite
like this.”

“Nobody has seen anything like this,” Kevin Summers
interjected. “The cloud cover must be twenty or thirty thousand feet thick. I
think the professor is right; we’ll be lucky if it gets any brighter than twilight
by noon. It’s fortunate that your FLIR is working, Captain. With the weather
radar knocked out, those thermal images will probably offer the best picture of
what’s happening outside today.”

 
Everyone on the bridge
stared at the LCD display and tried to comprehend the scale of the event they
were witnessing. The brilliant white column of steam filling the center of the
screen represented millions of gallons of evaporated water being spewed into
the atmosphere to form solid cloud cover spreading out at gale force speed in
every direction. It was a scene that would have frightened anyone. For the few aboard
Sedulity
who understood the full
implications of this event it was truly terrifying.

*****

Rachel Brewer was coming to the horrifying realization that
she was a widow, only two weeks after marrying the man of her dreams. Brad
Brewer had been everything she could hope for. Smart, fun, adventurous, a
successful video game designer, Brad was a self-made-millionaire at the age of
twenty-six. He and Rachel had dated for more than a year before his video game,
Undying Hunger
, became a hit. She
always thought it was a silly game. In it the player was a zombie who had to
keep finding people to bite without being shot in the head in order to advance
to the next level. Apparently a lot of gamers loved it, enough so that Brad
bought a house and asked Rachel to marry him.
 
After a fairytale wedding on the beach in Malibu they had boarded the
Sedulity
for their honeymoon cruise to
Australia.
 
All of her dreams had come
true, right up until they turned into a nightmare.

Brad and Rachel had been on the balcony of their honeymoon
suite at the time of impact. They had no interest in the Line Crossing Ceremony
on deck, preferring to mark the moment alone. They had seen the asteroid appear
high in the western sky, growing into a fiery streak of blinding light as it
passed over the ship. A second or two later night turned to day at the moment
of impact somewhere far beyond the other side of the ship. They clung to each
other in a shocked embrace until the alarm was sounded, then they followed the captain’s
instructions to go to their lifeboat muster station, which happened to be in
the Martini Bar on the Promenade Deck.

Rachel remembered their journey down the stairs, surrounded
by dozens of confused and panicked passengers. Terrifying as that memory was,
she would relive it again and again just to feel Brad’s firm grip on her hand,
exuding reassurance and guidance in the midst of chaos. Brad had carried their
lifejackets in his free hand, using them to open a pathway through the crowd at
the landing on Deck 5, until one panicked passenger tore one the lifejackets
out of his grasp and ran away with it. “Hey! Stop him!” Brad had yelled, but it
hadn’t made any difference. Her husband probably would have chased the thief,
if Rachel hadn’t been clinging to him in fear. Instead he pressed the remaining
lifejacket into her arms, cradling it between them, and pressed on to the
lifeboat station.

She was so proud of him. Even in those final, flustered,
fearful moments Brad had stood as her champion and knight in shining
armor.
 
He insisted that she put on the
remaining lifejacket. She could still see Brad standing there in the Martini
Bar, smiling at her while he slipped it over her head and saying he would be
fine without one. Then the window behind him exploded inwards and an
unimaginable force threw both of them across the room to sprawl on the deck.
 
Rachel’s memory faded at that point, skipping
instantly from love and tenderness to despair, highlighted by pain and hellfire.
Deep searing pain, bright burning flames, hopeless despair, were all
overshadowed by her beloved Brad. He covered her, sheltered her, and saved her
from the worst of the inferno that consumed most of those gathered at the
muster station.

Even as the flames engulfed them, Brad protected her. And after
the worst had passed, he swatted out the flames on her clothes while his still
burned. When she reached out to him, he said, “Get out of here, Rachel,” over
and over again, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave him there. Rachel’s
next memory was of water, lots of water, rushing over her and dragging her away
from Brad. The lifejacket kept her afloat. The last memory she had of Brad
Brewer was what looked like a smile crossing his charred face as the water
enveloped him and swept her away. Rachel remembered being relieved that the
water had extinguished the fires. It soothed her burns and she recalled hoping
that it made Brad feel better too. Why else would he smile?

Rachel had been tossed around in the rushing water. She
remembered being carried towards the stern, then back towards the bow more than
once. At one point she thought she would be sucked out of a broken window and
off the ship entirely, but the final wave drove her back towards the center of
the ship. Then she felt the lifejacket slip off her shoulders and wrench her
arms as it was ripped away. She had failed to snap the clasps together across
her chest. Rachel went under water for an eternity and was certain the end was
near while her mind replayed all the happy times she had shared with Brad. Her
next memory was of the wave depositing her on the main staircase and receding,
leaving her burned, bleeding and totally alone in her pain.

That was how Armando Ramos had found her. The bartender was
in arguably worse shape than she was, having fought fires on several decks
above. Nevertheless, he had assumed the mission of getting Rachel down to the
ship’s hospital and even offered to go back to the muster station in search of
Brad. She had seen the bartender return later with more injured passengers, but
saw no sign of her husband. After treatment for her burns, cuts, and a mild
concussion, and with no word on Brad’s fate, Rachel was forced to face this
disaster alone.

She sat in a chair next to the bed where Armando lay in drug
induced slumber. Most of the crewman’s face and both hands were covered in
bandages. Rachel had her own share of bandages, including one covering a
laceration on her forehead, but the selfless bartender had been exposed to much
worse.
 

After glimpsing the death and destruction in other parts of
the ship, as well as hearing horror stories from other injured passengers,
Rachel had decided to stay in the medical center after being treated and
released. Instead of leaving she pulled a chair next to Armando’s bed and sat
silent vigil. Rachel remained unsure if she was there to comfort him when he
awoke, or if being with him while he slept was her own lifeline to security and
sanity.
 

Rachel’s emotions were barely held in check, so she released
a startled gasp when a hand was placed gently on her shoulder from behind.

“You’re still here, I see,” said the exhausted voice of Dr.
Segal, the ship’s Chief Medical Officer. “I hope the burn ointment and pain
killers are working.”

“Yes, Doctor,” Rachel replied in a shaky voice. “I’m feeling
much better. I’m just afraid to go back to the upper decks. It’s like a
nightmare up there. I’m afraid of what I’ll find. I mean I want to find my
husband, but not his dead body.”

“I understand, Mrs. Brewer,” Dr. Segal said. “I’m afraid that
far too many of us have lost friends and loved ones tonight.” He glanced down
at the sleeping form of Armando and asked, “Do you know this crewman?”

“Not really,” Rachel replied with a shake of her bandaged
head. “He found me and brought me down here for treatment. Then he went back to
search for my husband. He didn’t find Brad, but I saw him helping other injured
passengers. He seems like a good man and he was helping people even though he
was burned worse than most of the rest of us. When I saw him here, well, it
felt right for me to stay here and pray for him.”

“That’s very kind of you,” the doctor smiled sadly. “I’ve
heard from others that Armando was quite a hero. He refused treatment until he
couldn’t stand the pain anymore. Several people owe him their lives and he’s
lucky we treated him before we ran out of some of the burn ointments and
sedatives.
 
We’re even running short on
bandages now. Pretty soon I’ll be reduced to handing out Band-Aids and
aspirin.” The doctor shook his head and started to turn away.

 
“Is it really that
bad?” Rachel couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m afraid so,” Dr. Segal replied. “We do stock medicines
and supplies to treat burns. Surprisingly, fire is the worst danger at sea. But
this isn’t a real burn treatment center and it’s impossible to prepare for a
disaster like this. I have some of the crew going around the ship gathering
first aid kits to add to the supplies down here. Thank God there were half a
dozen doctors among the uninjured passengers who are pitching in now. I’d be
overwhelmed without their help.” He looked around the small compartment and
then back at Rachel. “I was searching for space to fit more patients, but I
think you should stay here with Armando. He’ll sleep for a few more hours, and
I’m sure he’ll be pleased to find you here when he wakes up. Let a nurse know
if he experiences any convulsions or obvious signs of pain before then. I’ll
keep an eye out for your husband, in case he is brought down here.”
 

Rachel tried to smile while she nodded and wiped a tear from
her eye.
 
It had been a long and
horrifying night, which she now realized would stretch into an equally
difficult day.

*****

Dr. Segal left Rachel sitting next to Armando and rubbed his
bloodshot eyes before venturing back into the emergency room down the hall. The
moans and occasional screams emanating from the larger compartment left no
doubt as to the seriousness of the crisis. The two regular treatment tables
were each flanked by a pair of gurneys, all of them occupied by injured
passengers and crew.
 
Several nurses and
other volunteers assisted the additional doctors enlisted from the pool of
passengers to render assistance during the crisis.
  

The range of injuries was wide and distressing. They were
dealing with everything from fractures and lacerations to heart attacks, smoke
inhalation, and near drowning. However, Dr. Segal was most concerned about the
burn victims. Managing their pain would be next to impossible, considering
their number and the limited resources at hand. Their distress would only
become more acute as medical supplies dwindled. He made a mental note to speak
to the captain about establishing a burn ward in one of the more secluded
public rooms where their cries of anguish would not disturb other patients
after the pain killers wore off. Although many of those burned were in no
danger of dying, he could only imagine the torment they would suffer without
sedatives and pain meds in the days to come.