Titanic
By Jon Sleeper
Part III: Unsinkable
"I say old man, we are stopped and surrounded by ice."
Californian
"Shut up! Shut up! I am busy! I am working Cape Race!"
Titanic, 11:00 pm, Apr 14 1912
Apr. 14, 1912. 11:39 p.m.
It seemed an eternity.
A bell was madly rung from the crow's nest. The shape grew and grew. I recognized it as a "blue berg". An iceberg that had slowly turned over in the water as it melted, making it clear ice on the top. Invisible on this moonless night. Adding to that, since it was so calm, no waves foamed on it's sides to reveal it's presence. So it was really quite invisible.
I heard a voice from the bridge yell, "Hard a starboard!", then a moment later I felt the engines reverse. "Idiot!" I almost yelled.
"Why's that?" Asked Emily.
"A ship this size needs a lot of water flowing over the rudder to make it effective. That idiot is slowing us down!" Then the ship began to turn, slowly.
Almost too slowly. For a moment I thought we were going to make it. The berg looked like it would clip the starboard side just a bit. Then I felt what can only be described at the "Hand of Nature" give the berg just a little push. Only a few inches, but enough.
The sound of the hull scraping along the ice was like a ring of death. And it surely was. By how long it lasted, I estimated that almost a third of the ship's length was slashed, either popping rivets or maybe even shattering the brittle iron that I'd noticed they'd used in building the ship.
I only thought of this much later, though. Because Emily and I were too busy standing beside the rail with our fingers crossed and eyes closed that we would miss, and our Task would somehow be solved for us. Nature had other plans it seems.
I had to grab Emily and jump when a cascade of ice fell onto the deck as the ship made contact, and the entire time we spent behind the huge anchor chain, waiting for the terrible noise to end. Then, to our surprise, when we stood up we came face to face with a boy, maybe about thirteen or fourteen years old. He was wearing a fedora (which looked kind of funny) that had a falcon feather and an orca's tooth in the band. "She really did it, didn't she?" said the boy in an emotionless, but cracking voice.
This boy had a sort of "Presence" about him. "Are you who I think you are?" I asked, somewhat dumbfounded.
"Mother calls me 'Simian'," he said, smiling. His grin dropped. "My Brother sent you, didn't he?" We both nodded. "I'm glad at least one of my Siblings has heart enough to send someone to help." His eyes filled with tears, and he suddenly collapsed against Emily's chest, "She pushed it! I can't believe she pushed it! What have I done wrong?" He collapsed into racking sobs. Emily held him close, saying "there, there," cradling him like a baby.
Time seemed to stand still as the thrum of the engines slowly died away and the ship came to a halt. Bottle showed up a minute or so later, while Ape was still sobbing against Emily's chest. He looked at the boy, "is that who I think it is?" he asked. I just nodded. The boy stopped sobbing.
He looked up at Emily's comforting and beautiful face. A face I was beginning to love more every minute… "But…" he began. "I guess I deserve it don't I? I mean… I know Mother dotes on me but. I just don't know how to stop! I mean, I know I'm only five million…" he seemed to stop and think a moment. He closed his eyes. I felt his mind expand, and for a brief moment I could feel he was in the hearts and minds of all humans. He now had an astonished look on his face, "I've not done that in two hundred years… Is that really what humans have become?"
I was about to answer, but between one eyeblink and the next another was now standing on the deck with us. He was a black man of average height, had jet black hair, but a very white goatee, and white hair at his temples, and wearing a black tuxedo with a bright white dress shirt underneath. Then I recognized the Presence. I could be none other than Orca. "I'm afraid so, Brother. You merely have to look aboard this ship to see it. I tried to talk her out of it… but you know Mother. Once she has her mind set on something…"
"…You have to throw a tantrum to change her mind." finished Ape. "I'm sorry, Brother. I have been blind. I promise I'll never do it again."
"You're a kid, kid. And don't make promises you can't keep. Remember that time just a few thousand years ago…"
"Don't start that again! I just asked for too much too quickly that time… How was I to know Thera was a bad place for Atlantis? I thought Mom said she was done with that volcano!"
Then Orca looked at me, "I think we should let my Children continue with their Task. It's become too urgent now for them to listen to us rehash an old argument. Away with the three of you. And good luck."
Ape looked at us and smiled, "and go with my blessing." The last thing I heard him say before the both of them vanished was, "you agree with Mother way too much you know…"
We looked at each other for a moment, then scrambled for our cabins, and the jewelry contained therein.
First class was surprisingly empty of people, considering the circumstances. Darius and I met briefly in his cabin, Emily had gone with Marcus straight back to third class. "Wasn't that a sort of strange conversation? Between Ape and Orca, I mean."
"Yes indeed," he was busily stuffing coins into his pockets. "But for all their seeming powers, they are really no different from any other family. They have sibling rivalries and all that. And it can get quite out of hand sometimes. Late in the last century I seem to recall an incident between Ape and Tiger which resulted in a couple rampaging lions in Africa. They killed for pleasure. Very chilling. Orca had to mediate the dispute." He sighed, holding the gold coins in his hand a moment. "All this money and it isn't worth a damn."
"You've finally realized that?" I said, letting a bit of my dolphin smile through.
"I guess so. My mind is sort of in a fog right now. I remember everything, but it's still very mixed up." He looked at his ring, and shined it with his coat sleeve. "I guess I'm still somewhat in disbelief that I'm one of these incredible creatures… Which reminds me. Aren't these waters too cold for you?"
I stopped short. "Come to think of it… Yes. Orca must have something planned for us warmer water-types, but I get the distinct feeling he'll want me to stay with you after she goes down. So I wonder what…" Darius' face suddenly lit up a moment, and he pulled my pendant from beneath my shirt, and touched his ring to it. Eye to eye. There was a brief flash, and I felt dizzy a moment. When I looked again the bottlenose looked like it was overlaid by an orca, almost like a double image. I gaped in surprise, and stared at him.
"Don't worry," he said. "It's only temporary, you'll revert once Orca transports you to warmer waters. I only just remembered I could do that… I think that's why we've been handing out mostly cold water species. I think the other ones might be transported immediately."
I clasped the pendant for a moment tightly in my hand, there was a brief blue flash, and a single wave of change ran all over me, but only for a fraction of a second, going back to human skin once the wave passed. "Thanks. I think," I said. Then I looked up.
Behind him was a half glass of wine in a very clear goblet. The wine was now noticeably tilted in the glass. The sight must of brought a seriousness to my face that is seldom seen. For Darius turned around and looked with me. "Well," he said. "So much for 'unsinkable'. We'd better move. It's been almost twenty minutes."
I went straight back to second class. I saw many stewards knocking on doors, one of which I recognized as one of our Acolytes, he noticed me. "Bottle! I'm glad that's you! Could you assist me in waking up the passengers? They really need to get to the boats now."
"I know, I know." I reached into my pocket. I'd forgotten until now I had a few bits inside my pocket. I grabbed a few and gave them to him. "Here," I said. "Give these to as many as you can… then take one for yourself. Just how much do you know about us?"
"Well, the voice in my head says you're not really human, well, sort of." I handed him a bottlenose ring.
"What does that tell you?" I said. He looked at it for a moment. "You mean? So you're a… I always suspected, but I never thought… A dolphin saved my life last year." It was not me, obviously. For some reason Orca most often uses those His Children saves as Acolytes. Marcus was my contribution. There is something in humans, it seems, that opens up to us if we have close contact with them. He put on the ring. "This ship is going down, isn't it?" he continued. "So I guess I'm doomed, not enough boats. Well, it's not been much of a life anyway." His face turned morose…
Then I enlightened him as to the purpose of the rings. And he stared unbelievingly it his ring, which he'd put on. While he was staring at it, I decided to see how much control I had over my form, orca or dolphin. So I concentrated, and Shifted my head to half-dolphin (I'm glad that it worked, too…) "I'm not sure I believe you…" Then he trailed off when he saw me.
"Believe me now?" I said quickly. If not for my pendent making my Shift invisible and our conversation unnoticeable we'd never been able to talk like this… To my amazement he still shook his head. I only had one last resort. For some reason I really wanted him to believe me. So I reached out and touched my pendant to his ring. His ring activated immediately, of course.
The power of this jewelry amazes me. Time seemed to stop (and must have). His clothes just disappeared for a moment, then he was forced onto his stomach as his legs fused and he fell over, arms shrinking and dorsal fin leaping into existence on his back. It was very brief, but for a second he was fully a dolphin (A very confused one) and the next standing next to me human again, fully clothed, with a look on his face I'll never forget. I should know that look. Orca told me I'd had it the first time He'd Shifted me human. It was the look of both complete joy and total horror. And he also did the same thing I did. He ran off screaming. Can't win them all. I thought. Lucky thing he'll never get that ring off, ever. So he'll still be saved.
"It seems some people just can't handle it… no help for it I'm afraid." Said a familiar voice behind me. It was Orca, this time as a black-haired white man with the white-haired goatee and temples. "Don't worry, though. He'll come around. If I recall you weren't exactly happy about the first time I made you human myself."
I smiled, shifting human again. "I remember. Boy do I remember! But if I may ask. Why are you here?"
"I want to help," Orca said. He was in a steward's outfit, and then I noticed the boy beside him.
"And so do I," continued Ape, dressed as a cabin boy. "These are my Children. I'm not letting Mom win without a fight. I do know things will change after this ship goes down… A lot will change in this century. I think I'm going to take a more active role in my Children's lives from now on. With the help of my Brother here I'm going to take Disciples and Acolytes. I think some of my Children need to start experiencing life as other species, might give them new perspective. I don't want something like what happened between me and Tiger to happen again."
Now that we had the direct help of both Orca and Ape perhaps things might go differently… "There's something I should tell you though, my friend." Said Orca. "We're restricted right now in what we can do. Mother does not know we're doing this… so we're limited to your level of 'talent'. The jewelry is programmed correctly to do everything. Only when this ship finally slips beneath the waves may we use our full Powers. Don't worry about losing either of us, though. As long as our Children live, so do we."
We had to cut the conversation short, though. Activity was picking up in the hall. By now most had been woken up and now were speaking animatedly among themselves about the strange goings on. There was talk of lifeboats. The three of use looked at each other, and separated in our Tasks.
As I strode off, I thought: Boy, I seem to be doing that a lot lately. Oh well.
As usual, if not for Marcus and his friends I'd never of gotten back to third class unnoticed. It was chaos down there. There is no other word for it. The jolt was felt the worst on the starboard bow, and many whom I recognized as having cabins in that part of the ship (single men, mostly) had a harried look to their expressions and many were carrying their belongings, some of which were soaked in seawater.
While we were pushing our way through the crowds I took time to examine my feelings for Darius. I really did not know what I was feeling. Frankly, as an orca he was quite a specimen. I like the tall dorsal fin… humpback males don't have it. I did not have all that much time to think about it, though. We finally pushed through to my cabin door.
Before I slipped into my cabin I saw a steward pounding on a door further down, "Come on, come on! Get up now, it's time to get on deck! We're sinking you know!" He pounded more. "Come on!" I heard a muffled yelling from within, the voice from behind the door was in Polish, and had an angry tint to its tone.
Marcus, his ever-present smile fading to more a scowl for a moment, went over to the steward.
Then punched him in the nose. "Sorry, mate. But can't ya see they can't understand you?" Marcus said.
The man rubbed his bleeding nose. "I don't really care, they're all the same anyway."
Marcus' face got so dark I was, frankly, scared for a moment. He looked at me, "excuse us, milady. Me stuck up crewmate here does not understand. Methinks I'll have to teach him a little lesson. So at your word I'll go ahead." At my nod he grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him off, leaving me standing at the door to my cabin.
When I looked in my steamer trunk I discovered to my dismay I only had nothing left, I'd somehow given out everything without knowing it. My heart went into my throat, and I sat on the edge of my bed for a moment, leaning a little to counter the growing list. What was I supposed to do now? Then the door was thrown open by a strangely familiar looking steward…
"What's all this then? Come on, come on! Out of your room with you! Put your life belt on! Get out on deck…" He said it rather stiffly, like he was only repeating what he was expected to. Then he looked at me, a friendly glint in his eye. "My Child. The time has come. I need your strength and talent to help me keep this ship afloat long enough to launch the lifeboats. I can't do anything more than you can right now. You've done as much as you can for these people. Darius, Bottle, and my adopted Child Marcus will take care of the rest. But I need you now."
The look in His eyes was that of fatherly love and worry. It said it all for what he was asking. I knew without saying that if I agreed to this I might not live to see another sunrise. "Let's go."
The trip forward was a strange dreamlike thing. We were definitely going downhill, and we went down to E-deck. The lights were glowing brightly, and we stopped between what looked to be just between the third and fourth funnels. "We must make our stand here, Child," said Orca. "This is the weakest part of the ship. I need you to reinforce the structure, while I slow down the water coming in. Are you ready?"
I concentrated a moment, centering myself in my head. "Let's do it." At his nod, he semi-Shifted to increase his Powers, and I felt his mind expanding outward, meeting resistance as it contacted the water. I Heard him utter a single word: [[Stay]] and the water obeyed, just a little, slowing down perceptibly to my Senses. I estimated that the ship would probably sink at least an hour later. Then it was my turn.
Unlike the toothed whales, in order to use my talents I have to Shift a little. The only thing that changes on me is my skin color, with a faint grooving on my throat. I hugged a bulkhead, then expanded my own consciousness into the ship itself.
Among my training (which had actually been a mystery to me until now) that Orca had given me was an extensive knowledge of ship design. This part of the stern has several large spaces in it, making it structurally the weakest part of the ship. With the bow filling with water, this weak point is much enhanced. With my mind now a part of the ship itself, I could feel the straining of the weakest points and I knew at some point they would give way. I bent my Will to these points and supported them with my mind.
Orca and I settled for a long fight.
After Bottle left, I decided to try to go up to the bridge to see what was going on. Captain Smith and I, being fellow seamen, had become quite fond of each other. I decided to give him an orca coin. I had a feeling he may want one.
I used a bit of my "talent" to move up that way. When I got there the atmosphere on the bridge was decidedly eerie. Captain Smith seemed abstracted, and spoke little. Then I heard Second Office Lightoller say, "Shouldn't we get the women and children into the boats, sir?" Captain Smith only nodded quietly.
I think I understand how he felt. When the Sothesby ran aground I felt the same way. We were lucky enough to come along later to shift off her cargo and refloat her. That ship was my pride and joy, so I think I know how Captain Smith was feeling. Then Fourth Officer Boxhall noticed me. "Captain Orcan! What are you doing here?"
"I want to help," I said. "What happened?" I feigned ignorance. At Smith's nod, Boxhall filled me in on what was happening. The ship was definitely doomed. The first six watertight compartments were slashed open by the berg. Too many. "When I was down there the water had come up the mailroom on F-deck. Then something peculiar happened. It almost seemed to slow down. I had been afraid we'd not have time to load the boats. We should now."
Smith and J. Bruce Ismay had been talking to each other. While they did so, using my talent, I quietly moved towards them and slipped a coin into Smith's pocket…
I was then asked by Boxhall to assist loading the lifeboats. I agreed wholeheartedly.
On to the next part
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