Titanic
By Jon Sleeper
Part II: Breathless
"Captain Smith, Titanic. Have had moderate variable winds and clear fine weather since leaving. Greek steamer Athinai reports passing icebergs and large quantity of field ice today in latitude 41.51 north, longitude 49.52 west… Wish you and Titanic all success."
--HMS Baltic, Apr. 14, 1:40 PM
Sunday, April 14, 1912 5:00 a.m.
I crawled out of bed in my second class cabin, awoken by the whirring thrum of the engines. My ticket might have said "First Class," but all the servant's actually got was a second class cabin. Not bad, really. The Titanic's second class is as good as first class on other ships. I walked over to the mirror, and thumbed the dolphin pendant around my neck for a moment. Bottle, you twit! I thought to myself, Why did you accept this Task in the first place? Orca gave you the option of not doing so, but you had to prove to your pod-brothers you were this "Great Disciple". Last time I ever listen to *them*…
I gazed at the happy, round human face in the mirror before me. At least Orca got the face I wanted correct. Humans have such expressive faces. Faces were my favorite thing among a lot of things I love about humans. The second thing being their attempts to swim with their so un-streamlined bodies. A laugh riot! I chuckled to myself. Then I remembered I had to go talk with Orca this morning.
I got into a soft bathrobe, and Marcus got me through to the swimming bath. Orca had invested us with certain… talents. But in order to speak with him directly I have to be in water.
They drain and refill the tank each day on this ship. And while I was Speaking with Orca any crew will tend to leave me alone, or fail to see what I'm doing. The water was a comfortable 66 degrees when I took off my robe and dove in.
Salt water is only the medium of communication that I can use (And it's a good thing the pool is filled with it). The next part involves a very small form-shift, necessary to change my head enough so I can use what Orca calls my "echolocation" ability, otherwise known as "Sight". Once I wetted myself completely, I focused on my pendant and made the mental twist.
I didn't change very much. The pendant began to glow with a bluish, but warm light that spread from my chest onto my entire body. My fingers and toes became webbed, and my skin grew smooth and hairless from scalp to feet, then turned to my otherwise normal bluish gray color. A short dorsal fin grew on my back, my jaw thrust forward into a relatively short snout, my nostrils merging and moving to the top of my head, eyes growing wider apart; and my forehead swelled slightly, just enough to give me a small melon, necessary for me to use my clickings to call Orca.
I took a deep breath and sunk under the surface. [[Master!]] I cried. The Call echoed through the small pool, which seemed to reverberate like a bell in my mind, and then appear to be as large as the Sea itself. The pool glowed faintly blue, like the deep ocean.
[[What is your question, my child?]]
[[Our orca friend has not yet remembered anything! How long do you plan to keep in the dark? Last night I tried to formally introduce Emily to him and he just shrugged her off like she was nothing; he said she should go back to third class where she belongs! And to top it off he has not even begun his Task! Now, what are you going to do about it?]] A bold statement, but I knew Orca pretty well. He'd be disappointed if I did not act like my true self.
[[A good question. I can only answer in part, though.]] He sighed. [[I am not perfect. God knows I'm not. Perfection is an abstraction, anyway. I think I buried his memories a little too deeply, and we're going to have to do something drastic to bring them out. I'll let you know what later.]] He paused for a moment. [[You've been doing well in your own Task. There are many in second class who will make great additions to us. Most humans seem to have a whale side already. So it won't be a problem for me to alter memories. I just wish I could save them all…
[[Your friend Marcus has done well among the crew. I've been Speaking to his subconscious, so he does not really know I'm talking to him. He'll make a great pod-brother for you.]] I could 'hear' him grin, then he stopped… [[You'd better get to Darius' stateroom. He's starting to wake up. I think I hit him with that dream a bit too hard. Good luck again, Child.]] And he was gone. The pool quieted.
Then it hit me… Waking up? Damn! I jumped out of the bath, shifting back to full human (I thought), grabbed my robe, and ran down the corridors. I noticed incidentally that a few of the crewmen that I saw were wearing spotted or bottlenose dolphin pendants. Marcus was doing well after all.
On the way to the stateroom I stopped to pick up a cup of tea at the galley. I'd gotten to know the cooks (I'd given them all beluga pendants, appropriate for these cold waters) and they nodded at me when I grabbed the tea. I walked into the room just as he rolled out of bed, saying, "That's the fourth night in a row!" Subtle Orca ain't. For a moment I felt a little hope. Then my hopes ran aground. "But for the life of me I just can't recall what happened in it! Something about swimming with family? Oh, well."
Then he noticed me. "Bottle you must be clairvoyant!" He took the tea, smiling. "Did I catch you in the bath?" he said, noticing my dripping wet bathrobe. "I thought they were closed at this time of the morning… Are you okay? You look cold." At his last statement I looked at myself. I'd shifted back everything except for the skin on my legs, which was still smooth and bluish. The pendant I wear kept anyone else from noticing, but I could see the eye on Darius' ring gleaming. "It's nothing, sir." I said with a smile, moving my robe a bit to cover my legs. "They just had not heated up the pool so much yet."
"Well, go back to your cabin and warm up. Can't have you catch cold, can I my friend? Just do me a favor and drop these in Mr. Guggenheim's mail slot. I showed one to him last night and he asked to have a couple. Strange thing, I've been giving these coins out like they're nothing. Oh, well. See you later." There was a stack of them on the nightstand, and I picked up the top two.
I examined one as I walked out. It was about the size of a silver dollar, and on one side was a large square-rigged ship, the bottom curve had the title Sothesby in a elaborate script. And on the back was an incredibly detailed orca, complete with gleaming eye…
Back in my cabin I changed into my butler outfit. I'll say this for Darius: he's a really nice guy. I've seen how others treat their servants, and it's terrible. What's worse is from what I've gleaned from eavesdropping on a few conversations is that most up here in first class feel like steerage passengers are just there to fill up the extra space on the ship. If not for Marcus and a couple others, I'd never be able to even see Emily at all. The southern United States is not more segregated!
As I was about to step out, Emily came bursting in. She was crying. She collapsed on my bed in sobs. "I want to save them all!" she said. "Why does Nature have to do this?!" She yelled.
The first Task is always the hardest. Mine was no easier. Orca had wanted me to sink a whaler who was decimating a humpback breeding area in Baja California. Their fleet would not be up again for five years, time enough for the humpbacks to find somewhere that would remain safe for a while. A little bit of gunpowder goes a long way. Relatively few among the crew were worthy of being saved with any kind of memory. The rest had been transformed to help replace some of those they had killed. Those retained no memory whatsoever. A different kind of death. Ape had not been happy with them anyway.
I sighed. "Because among all the Peoples, humans are both the most clever and the most arrogant. If they would not be so arrogant than She would not have to do things like this. Humans often don't make any kind of change unless a big disaster happens. And this is one of them. We can only do our part to save who we can. Then pray for the others." It was what Orca had told me.
She looked up from the bed. "I guess you're right. My inexperience must be showing. I still don't like it though. It's not fair."
"Whoever said life was fair? So what are you going to do today?"
"There's a hymn sing later. Someone must of heard me in the bath… would you believe there are only two bathtubs for the whole of third class? Atrocious! I've not had a chance to Call Orca once! Anyway, they heard me sing and a reverend asked me if I'd do some. How could I resist?" She smiled. Funny to see a humpback do that. They're normally so serious…
"You would," I replied with a chuckle. "I think we both have work to do. I want to circulate a bit more among second class today. The dining saloon should be filling up about now, a perfect spot. I'll see you later, around eleven? Orca's going to come up with a plan for our rich friend."
"Well good! It's about time. See you then." And Marcus escorted her back to third class. If not for the pendant he wears he'd lose his job for sure, White Star company policy dictates strict separation of the classes.
At breakfast I met a man named Lawrence Beesley. A school teacher who said he'd always wanted to go to America on tour. "It's a great country." I told him. "When you get to New York try going up into the Adarondacks. Beautiful scenery." We spoke for a long time, and I was about to give him a bottlenose pendant, when I paused for a moment. For a moment in his voice I heard the Tone of Life. He'd be a survivor. I gave it to him anyway for some reason…
Others I spoke to would not be so lucky. I gave away thirty more pendants and rings. Mostly beluga, a narwhal or two, orca, and lots of bottlenose. When I ran out of things in my pockets I went back to my room and refilled them. By 11 am, I must of distributed nearly one hundred pieces of jewelry.
Later I brought Darius his noon meal. He'd decided to sleep in. A thought occurred to me. "Sir, why don't you try out the pool this evening? You have not done so yet."
"I'm not sure about that," he said. "Are you sure it's healthy?" He was very dubious about it, I could tell. You never know what kind of superstitions seamen may have.
"Yessir," I replied. "I'm sure of it." Orca must of come up with something and put it in my brain. I hope this works…
The hymn sing in the second class dining saloon went well. Human voices are not as versatile as I like, but I was able to put in Singer nuances that caught their imagination. Rev. Carter had requested me to be brought up from third class, and the purser had reluctantly agreed. Rev. Carter asked me if there was any hymn I'd like sung in particular. "'For Those in Peril on the Sea,'" I'd said. He just looked at me for a moment and nodded quietly. The hymn was sung in very hushed tones. I think that many, for one reason or another, knew something was going to happen.
I'd gotten that feeling when I woke up. There was a new Tone to the loud clank of the engines, and the hull seemed to sing of it's demise. Tonight's the night, I thought. This ship is doomed. Then I'd grabbed a bunch of jewelry and started to hand it out like popcorn.
I'd used a bit of my "talent" to alter a few of the bits. There were now "family pendants". All I had to do is give the piece to one member of a family and they'd all be saved. Disappointingly few had a Tone of one who would be on a lifeboat. What kind of society judges what kind of person you are purely on how much money you have? Horrible!
At eleven I met Bottle on the stern poop deck. "So," I said. "What's happening with our rich friend?"
"You have NO idea what it took me to get him to agree to take a bath in salt water. The pool closes at eight, but with the help of Marcus and a few others he'll have the place to himself at about ten… Just after they refill the tank." I stared at him for a moment.
"Won't the water be too cold for his human body?"
"His ring should automatically take steps to prevent that. How, I do not know. Nor do I know how Orca will bring anything back… Only time will reveal I guess. I've got to go take him his meal now. One more thing. If this works out, you'll meet him on the bow at about eleven tonight. Keep your fingers crossed."
"Now that I have fingers I will." I said, he laughed and strode off back to first class.
That evening I saw the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen as a human. The water was a dead calm. I heard much comment over that as I continued to circulate among the passengers. There are always wives and husbands looking for some trinket of bauble for their spouse. And the sunset was a boon to my Task. Romanticism abounded, even though it was very cold.
Down in the General Room I listened in on a conversation or two. Human languages are so basic, I can understand Polish, French, German, you name it. I heard one woman say in Polish to her husband: "This night is so calm Edvard! It's as if Nature is holding Her breath! Something is going to happen. I can feel it." She said the last sentence very quietly. And I wondered, Are humans more connected with Nature than they think they are? One of the many questions I'd asked myself over the past few months. As usual, no answer came.
At 10:30, with another crewman helping me, I waited at on the forecastle deck on the starboard side, and gazed at the starlight. The stars were especially clear tonight. Before I took human shape, I did now know what those lights in the sky were. Orca calls the Universe a "Sea of Stars". Other worlds, other oceans. And humans to take us there.
Looking at this ship, I believed that it just might happen. [[Mother is lonely.]] Orca had said. [[Humans are Her way of ending her billions of years of solitude. She cannot communicate with others like Herself, the distances are too great. Humans are Her messengers, they will find a way around Her limitation. But mark my words Child. Where they go, we will go with them. One way or another. Another Sea is Calling, the greatest Sea of all in fact. How can we not but respond to it's Call?]]
As I continued to gaze at the Milky Way, I heard a sound. A noise like no other, coming from inside the ship. The crewmen in the crow's nest did not seem to hear it though. Then, a single word rose above the bell-like Tone, [[REMEMBER]]. Then all was quiet once more, but for the sound of the water rushing past the bow, the clank of the engines, audible even this far forward, and the whistle of the wind in the rigging. I turned back to my quiet contemplation of the Universe, and waited.
"Are you sure this is healthy?" I asked Bottle for what seemed to be the fiftieth time. "Yessir," he replied cheerfully. But frankly, I was still quite dubious.
There was a sign on the door that said "pool closed," but when Bottle knocked a large man with a large smile on his face opened the door. "Thank you Marcus," said Bottle. I was so stunned I reluctantly went in.
I have nothing against baths. As long as it's warm or cold freshwater, but quite frankly I was unsure about the practice of taking water directly from a sea where all sorts of things have been dumped by other steamers. I would have to do something about that in the future…
Unsurprisingly, there was no one else in the small room where the swimming bath was placed. On one side was a row of doors, changing rooms. On the other, a row of portals, which were black as night. The pool itself is sunk into the floor, to keep it from sloshing to much I'm sure. There were railings on both of the longer sides, and on opposite corners of the smaller ends were steps. I went and changed into my suit, then stopped on the step just above the water.
I dipped a toe in. The water was freezing! "I thought you said the water would be warm, Bottle! I'm not swimming in this!" I turned to go back up the steps, but was stopped at the top one. "Let me past!" I said angrily.
He looked at me for a moment, apology written in his features. "I'm sorry sir." He said. Then he promptly pushed me in.
I splashed about, the freezing water hurting for a moment, "Now! See here!" I yelled. For some reason my right ring finger felt okay, then the ring shocked me. Then for some reason I told it to stop that. And suddenly I was comfortable in the water. My body tingled all over. As I watched, a blue glow spread from my finger all over my body. In it's wake, it left my skin blackened. My suit felt very tight, but after a moment of extreme discomfort it just ripped off. Then I saw not all my skin was black, there was a bright white on my belly all the way between my thighs, and up my throat. It also felt incredibly slick and rubbery.
I could not believe what I was seeing! Or feeling! My fingers were suddenly joined with a webbing, my ring disappearing in a flash of light. Then the tingle and glow moved up to my head. My hair fell out, my nose felt strange as it seemed to migrate up my forehead, and I could feel my face push out into a blunt snout, forehead swelling slightly. Strangely I felt no panic. But I still called out, "My God! What am I?"
Then as if in answer, the pool began to glow a deep blue. The glow seemed to slosh around in the pool. Bottle, who'd taken up a spot on the railing on the side with the portals, was "wetted" by a bit of this glow. His pendant began to shine, and to his surprise, his skin turned bluish and his faced pushed out into a snout, and his smile grew wider and wider. His friend next to him, Marcus, had been looking at me with an astonished look on his face, turned to Bottle gaping as his shirt ripped open in the back and a curved dorsal fin appeared out the rip. I then became aware of the tall, triangular one on my own back. "Oops…" said Bottle. "Guess I was standing too close." Then it was Bottle's turn to gape.
A bit of the slosh had hit Marcus on the foot, there was a glow on his chest, and then his skin went the same color as Bottle's, and his shirt and face followed suit. He felt his new smooth skin and snout with apparent wonder and excitement. "'ello? What's this?" he said. Bottle looked at him. "You're not mad?"
"'Ell no! 'Ve been waiting for it somehow. Is this really how it feels?" He spoke very rapidly, but I had no trouble following him.
"Yes, wait until you're in the water though and you'll like it even more. How do you feel, Darius?" Nice to know he'd not forgotten about me.
"I… I don't know. It's awfully hard to describe. This body almost feels almost right for some reason. It's, it's…" Then I realized that the both of them looked remarkably like humanoid bottlenose dolphins. "What… what do I look like?"
"Like you're part orca, Mr. Orcan. What else?" His already wide smile grew wider. Once more I asked myself the question, God, what am I? With that, the water began to seethe and boil and churn. And I was pulled under, taking a deep breath, my new nose plugging itself instinctively.
I was pulled down impossibly far! This one pool seemed to be the size of the whole Sea! As I was pulled down, I felt my body change more. My legs seemed to fuse, the dorsal fin grow taller, my body inflate, my neck shrink and my head grow large. [[Help me!]] I yelled in a strange language. [[What am I?!]]
Then an answer came. A deep bell tone sounded, and then grew to almost an unbearable loudness that seemed to poke holes in my mind. Then a single word appeared out of the Tone, [[REMEMBER]].
The next thing I knew I was floating at the top of the pool, breathing through my blowhole, mostly human once more. I then thought of what I did to Emily. I've been such a fool. I thought.
[[I'm afraid that's my fault.]] Said Orca. I'd regained all my memories, and I knew what I was. [[Your human side is very strong. Strong enough to block your True Self. That has made you an asset to me over the centuries. But… I sometimes forget things… I'm sorry, my son.]] And He was gone. The pool stopped glowing.
Bottle and Marcus were still standing at the rail, not too much time had passed, it seemed. They were conversing very quickly in the squeaks and clicks of the Surface dolphin language, Marcus's tone of voice amazed that he seemed to even know the language, and were still in the partial bottlenose shape. I decided the interrupt them. "You want to take a swim, Marcus?" I said. "Orca heated up the water a bit."
They looked at me for a moment, Bottle shrugged. "Don't mind if we do." He said, and they both dove in, Marcus emitting a dolphin squeak of joy.
We swam around for quite some time. Bottle showing Marcus the ins and outs of being a dolphin just a bit. In my part-form I must weigh four hundred pounds, which is why my suit ripped off. I also spoke with Bottle about what I remembered.
We got out of the pool, Bottle showing Marcus how to shift human, he also looked at his pocketwatch. "Damn!" he said. "Darius, you were supposed to of met Emily on the bow ten minutes ago! You'd better hustle!"
I ran back to my stateroom wrapped in a towel. Most had gone to bed, I threw on some warm clothes and a jacket and rushed, with a help of a crewman who was also a Helper, showed me where she was standing. It was nearly 11:30 by the time I got up there.
In the darkness I saw her outlined by starlight. She was very pretty as a human. I walked up to her quietly. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I was such a fool. I did not realize…" she put a finger on my lips.
"It's OK. You remember now. But do you realize tonight's the night? How many coins have you distributed?"
"Not nearly enough… But there aren't too many in first class to begin with. And I don't know how many are with saving. Most of them are arrogant fools… like I was."
"Don't degrade yourself." She sighed. What a face she had… My heart went thump a couple times, and I realized I was anxiously awaiting her next sentence… "But what happens next? We're close. I can feel it. Have you ever seen a night like tonight?"
I thought a moment. "Only once. I was only a calf in my mothers' slipstream at the time… but it was near Chesapeake Bay. The night before the British colony at Roanoke disappeared." We then stood and stared a while at the incredibly dark and calm sea. A moonless night.
Then, a looming shape in the distance. It looked almost looked like a windjammer with the sails limp. It took a moment for it to register what it was. Someone in the crow's nest must of identified it just as I did. A bell was rung feverently, and I heard a voice call out, "Iceberg! Right ahead!"
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