The Emissary (32 page)

“What trouble?”

“The ‘big one’ finally hit San Francisco—in the ocean, off the bay. Last I heard it was a 9.3-magnitude earthquake.”

Jamie was incredulous. “My mother lives in the Marina.”

Doc looked grave. “We don’t have any radio for the time being, but there was a tsunami warning all the way up to Alaska. Jimbo got you and brought you back here. He’s running the ship out far enough to outrun a tsunami, if it hits, like they think it’s going to.”

Jamie thought about how fate had plucked her out of San Francisco in time, but she knew it had not spared her mother. She was sure of it. It had thrown her together with Jimbo … and now here she was again, back in the deep, as if the ocean simply refused to release her until her work was done.

“You’re lucky you missed the last few hours. The flooding on the waterfront was a foot deep. Jimbo brought you in, soaked through—the both of you were drenched. It’s been rough-going out here, and we’re not really out of danger yet.” The ship slipped back and forth like a skateboard, rolling with the waves, up and down.

“I need to go back to the whales … back to the sanctuary.”

“Whoa, now. We’ve had enough adventure for the time being. Right now, we’re headed for calmer waters.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Look, Jamie, you need to take it real easy now. Let’s concentrate on getting you to sit up, before you run the marathon, shall we?” Doc moved the back of the bed up. “How does that feel?”

“I feel dizzy.”

He took her blood pressure. 85 over 60. Dangerously low.

She asked him to remove the band that had her bound to the bed. “I need to talk to Jimbo.”

“You try to move, you’re going to pass out—if the ship herself doesn’t knock you off your feet first. Don’t resist—I’m trying to help you. You’ve already got one serious head wound. Don’t make things any worse.”

“Can you get him to come here?”

“He’s got his hands full at the moment, but he’ll sure be glad to hear you’re awake.”

“I need to tell him to head back there,” Jamie said, insisting.

“Honey, right now we’re just working on staying alive—it has priority.”

“Jimbo knows. He knows! I need to talk to him.”

After everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, Doc was at the end of his tether. Jamie’s insistence was exasperating. “Dammit, Jamie! Don’t you get it? We’re almost out of danger here. You’re just going to have to cool your jets.”

“There’s no time to wait, Doc … it’s one minute to midnight.”

Philippe appeared outside the door unexpectedly. He was breathless. “We’ve got an injury in the engine room. It’s Mike. He was thrown up against a main.”

“Is he out?”

“No, but he’s hurt.”

Doc grabbed his medical bag. “You stay here,” he said. “And Phil … don’t let her move. Her blood pressure’s way low. She could pass out before her feet even touch the floor.” He rushed past Philippe to tend to Mike.

Jamie, implacable now, seized the opportunity. “I need to go to Jimbo. Can you undo these bands and help me?”

“You heard the Doc. We’re still in pretty rough water. Best to stay lying down.”

“I’m strong enough. Please take me to Jim.” All Jamie was wearing was a flimsy hospital gown, made of lightweight cotton. Outside the stifling sickbay, it was thirty degrees colder.

“Let’s wait for Doc. When he gets back, I’ll go to your stateroom and get you something to wear, and then we’ll go upstairs.”

“No time—give me your jacket?”

Against his better judgment, Philippe acquiesced to Jamie’s overpowering will. He undid the band holding her, and helped her into his jacket. “It will take two minutes for me to run to your cabin and get some warm clothes for you.”

“Later. Help me up to the bridge.”

He wrapped her in the blanket and held her up, steadying her, as they headed towards the lounge, to the stairs. Fortunately, at that very moment, Jimbo had just come down to check on her.
The
Deepwater
was almost out of the worst turbulence, calmer waters just ahead, and Bobby was at the helm.

“I don’t believe my eyes. Jamie! You’re walking. Thank you, god.” He hugged her, without reservation. Her body was so fragile, he couldn’t feel her energy at all. It was as if she were slowly disappearing. “I’m guessing Doc didn’t give you permission to get up, right?” He looked at Philippe sternly.

“Don’t look at Philippe. He had no choice—I was coming up to you with or without his help.”

Jimbo sent Philippe up to the bridge. “Tell Bobby I’ll be a few minutes longer, and then find Alberto for me. We need plenty of coffee up there.”

Philippe let go of one arm, and Jimbo grabbed the other. “Damn, Jamie, you are the most stubborn woman I ever did see. Come on, we’ll go to your suite and get some clothes on you. I get cold just looking at you.”

“There’s so much I have to tell you.”

“The only way I’m listening to you is if you’re lying down, with some warm clothes on your little ice-blue body here. Let’s see if you’re strong enough to make it down the hall.”

With Jimbo holding her up, Jamie made her way to the cabin, but she was far too weak to dress herself. Jimbo sat her down on the bed, propping her up against the pillows, and then he ruffled through the dresser, looking for something warm for her to slip into. He found a fleece jogging suit, and plenty of wool sweaters. As if he were dressing a child, Jimbo got her out of Philippe’s jacket and slipped the sweatshirt over her head, feeling how she trembled in his arms. He helped her into the pants, and then sat her up, untied the gown’s knot, and pulled it out from under the sweatshirt, taking care to protect the intimacy of her body: showing respect. He rifled around in the dresser again, and found woolen socks, which he slipped over her cold, bare feet.

Jamie lay still, letting him care for her.

Once she was dressed and under the blanket, he pulled up an armchair and said, “I’m all yours.” He noticed the crystal skull on the night table. It fascinated him—he had this sense of it prompting something within him, and he found it difficult—almost impossible—not to stare at it.

“I bet you this isn’t the first time you saved me, Jim.” Filled with gratitude, she reached out and put her hand on his knee.

He’d never really learned how to deal with moments like these, and he was uneasy before her immense capacity to express her feelings. “Well, let’s make it the last, shall we? I can’t keep up with you, girl.”

“You trust me?”

He nodded. “I do, Miss Jamie.”

“How high up are you? How much do you really know?” she asked.

Jimbo squirmed, and said nothing. He looked away, evasively.

“How high up, Jim?”

“I can’t really talk about that.”

“I’ve seen everything. I know the story. It’s all being triggered by the towers—you know about that. I know you do.”

“You mean Alaska?”

“I mean Alaska, and the highways of towers lining the ocean floors. The whole system is setting off a series of calamities around the globe. It’s almost too late for Planet Earth, Jimbo. Do you hear me? The clock has almost run out.” Jamie shivered, deep and violent—to the bone. “I went down to this city. I was there. The whales and these beings down there … they’ve got the resonance frequencies to shut it all down. They can disrupt the system with higher earth resonance patterning—but the sonar and these towers … they’re killing the whales and dolphins. They’re the music weavers. It’s drowning out the music, blowing their brains out. It’s deliberate. All these ‘tests’? They want to block the music.”

“What do you mean, ‘you were there’?”

“I died in the hospital. I don’t know how long, but I was shown the way. I saw them—this beautiful city of lights. I didn’t want to come back, but I had to—for them. For the planet. I had to deliver their message. They know you’re trying to destroy them, but they don’t know why.”

“I always thought we were trying to open communication with them … I swear. We’ve had all kinds of remote viewers working on it for so long; they got glimpses, that’s all. The government knows they’re there. But I never knew the plan was to destroy them.” He shook his head in resignation. “Thank god we haven’t succeeded.”

“They move between dimensions, in and out of time, too—that’s why you can’t catch them. They’re in the love zone, Jimbo. Your radar, the sonar … none of that can enter there. It’s like trying to hold quicksilver in your fingers.”

“What are they doing here?”

“They live here, like we do—they’ve been here for hundreds of years. But, right now? They’re trying to save the planet from being blown apart.” She looked despairingly into Jimbo’s eyes. “We need to stop the sonar.”

“We have nothing running—not even the tracking system.”

“I mean, we have to stop the sonar around the globe. I’m talking about the military. Can you get them to stop testing—right now?”

“What military are you talking about? Everybody’s working sonar.”

“You’re not hearing me. Do you have the power to stop all military sonar testing now? Right now? That’s why I’m here—that’s why I was called. These beings in the colony—they can reverse it, but they need the whales to override those low frequency waves.”

“I beg your pardon? You want little Jimbo man to tell the highest powers of the planet to turn off their weapons? Nobody’s got that kind of power—the sheer magnitude of it is beyond your imagination. Not even presidents can do that.”

“9.3 off San Francisco? There will be another earthquake off Alaska in a few hours. And another, and another after that. They’ve lost control of their own weapon—it’s self-perpetuating now. Look around you, Jimbo. It’s your call.”

Jimbo leaped to his feet. “I may just have a shot at it. You stay here, though. You have to promise me you will lie down.”

Jamie threw the cover off. “I’ve
been
lying down.” She reached for Jimbo’s arm, and together they walked back up to the bridge.

He called out to Bobby, from outside the door. “Do me a favor: get a leash on that dog and hold on—he’s going to go berserk the minute he sees Jamie. If he jumps up on her, count on it—she’s going to fall right over.”

“Hold on, Captain, I’m tying him up right now.” They waited until Bobby gave the thumbs-up that Fin was secure, and then walked in. “Wow, Jamie, it’s hard to believe you’re up and running,” Bobby said. “We thought we were going to lose you.”

Fin, with his heightened canine perception, immediately sensed that Jamie was wounded and weak. He approached Jamie gently, welcoming her back, devoting himself to her. He was careful, protective. He lay at her icy feet, covering her in the warmth of his body.

Everybody was home now.

Jamie was thrilled to see Fin again, too. They were connected to each other, just as they were both connected to the whales and the dolphins.

“Go ahead down to the galley, Bobby. Grab yourself something to eat. Make sure everything’s okay downstairs. I need a little private time up here with Miss Jamie.”

Bobby took his cue and made a discreet exit.

Jimbo turned on the radio for the first time since he had left harbor, sneaking out under the radar. The news was devastating—far worse than he had predicted. A tsunami estimated at eighteen
hundred feet, the largest to ever hit land, had devoured Vancouver Island, completely submerging the most-populated areas, and taking the waterfront with it. All along the northern California coast, up through Oregon and Washington, tsunami waves had moved inland, submerging entire cities, devastating the population—reshaping the world.

Jimbo switched on the tracking system and waited for the communication systems to come back on. He lifted the radio from its hook. “You are not going to say a word, you hear me?” he warned Jamie. “This is my business, not yours.”

Jamie promised.

“You just sit there, real quiet. It’s your turn to trust me.”

He dialed Mat Anderson in Houston, who picked up after only one ring. “Jimbo?”

“Here I am, Mat—alive and kicking.
The Deepwater
is safe.”

“Oh my god—I had given up on that possibility. The news is downright overwhelming. Where are you?”

“We’re out of trouble, out here … a distance from the coast.”

“How the hell did you get out? I can’t believe you, Jimmy—you are the Ocean King!”

“I decided to outrun the tsunami. Looks like we got out just in time.”

“Only you, Captain J … only you. What’s the damage report?”

“I’m not sure yet, but I think we’re still in one piece. We’re lightweight out here. Liz disappeared last night—Sam went to find her and I have no clue where he ended up. I hope they made it up into the mountains. Some of the crew didn’t come with me.” Jimbo took a deep breath. “I have Jamie.”

There was a pregnant pause on the other end of the line. “Jamie is with you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How is that possible?”

“Well, you remember last night … I told you it was too late to visit the hospital? I’m afraid that wasn’t the whole truth. I mean, it was too late to visit—that was no lie, but I went out there anyway. I figured I’m still not too old to charm my way past a few nurses and into a hospital ward, right?” Jimbo signaled Jamie to stay absolutely quiet. “I just had this bad feeling about that girl, Liz. She was too good to be true, from the start.”

Mat reached for the Rolaids.

“When Jamie was down, lying there going under, she was trying to tell me about the colony. She could hear them—those big ol’ whales were the communicators. I was doing my best to keep Jamie from spilling the beans, man. Liz was right there, listening. Doc calls ‘Code Red,’ and we decide to bring in a copter to get her to the hospital, and before I even know what I’m doing, Liz decides she’s the one going with Jamie, without even asking permission. All nice and neat. Now you have to admit, that’s a bit of suspicious behavior from a mere intern, wouldn’t you agree?”

Mat didn’t answer.

“Well, once Jamie was gone, them crazy whales finally moved out and I headed in to port—storm was coming. It’s been damn rough out here. I brought the ship in … had a few beers with Sam … and the storm was getting crazier by the minute. We put back a couple more beers and, all of a sudden, Sam decides he’s in love with this chick, or something. I don’t know—I guess we had more than a few beers … it made sense at the time! Next thing you know, he decides he’s going to go looking for her in town—how crazy is that? And I’m sitting there, by myself, and I just had this sixth sense—maybe I been hanging around Jamie too long—but I could just feel something wasn’t right.”