Sedulity (Book One) Impact (11 page)

“Yes,” Armando replied. “Good to see you, Phong. I’m glad
you’re okay.”

“But what happened to you, Armando? You look like you were on
fire!” Phong exclaimed.

“I almost was,” Armando admitted. “It was a close call when
the Sky Lounge filled with flames.”

“You were in the Sky Lounge?” Phong said in disbelief. “How
on earth did you survive?”

“Just lucky,” Armando chuckled and waved it off. “But what
about you and the others? How are things down below?”

“Not good,” Phong said.  “Lots of stuff broken, including
people’s arms, legs, and even backs and necks. Not much fire below decks, but
flooding is bad some places. I was near the starboard crew life-raft station,
but the Boson told us to stay inside with the steel doors closed. You should
have seen those doors heat up! Paint bubbled off. Many people burned to death
at passenger muster stations. Others drowned or got swept overboard by big
waves. Staff Captain Stevens was one of them.”

“Oh, that’s horrible,” Armando said with sincere sorrow.
Besides all the other death and destruction, he liked and respected the Staff
Captain whose leadership would be missed during this crisis.

“Where you go now?” asked Phong.

“The Captain ordered me down to Medical to have these burns
looked at.”

“Good idea, but many people go there now. Some badly injured.
Long lines there. Some flooding too. You come with me, Armando. I put butter on
those burns, ice bags too.”

“Thank you, Phong,” Armando smiled at the Taiwanese steward.
“But I was ordered to go down there. I can wait while others are treated. Maybe
I can even help some of them.”

“You sure?” Phong asked and Armando nodded. “Okay then, but
you come to Deck 8 port side aft if you need me. I go to check on staterooms there.
Big mess to clean up.” Armando smiled and nodded again as they parted ways on
the stairway, knowing Phong had no idea how big a mess he would have to deal
with up there. The man loved his job as a cabin steward and would be
heartbroken when he saw the destruction in the balcony staterooms.

At Deck 6 Armando had to leave the crew stairwell because it
did not continue down into the wide open public areas below. He walked to the
atrium and took the main stairs down from there. On Deck 5 he began to encounter
dazed passengers who had come up from the lifeboat muster stations on Deck 4. There
was also more evidence of fire and flooding here. Whereas most of the damage on
the higher decks was confined to balcony staterooms, here it spread through
every public area where windows were broken. Thankfully many of the windows
remained intact, having received glancing blows from the waves of air and
water. However, swaths of fire and water damage radiated from wherever windows
had broken.

Armando was gazing around at the destruction as he rounded
the next flight of stairs and literally stumbled over a body sprawled on the
landing. He tripped and fell next to the young woman, wincing as the burns on
his hands broke his fall. Biting back the pain, Armando turned to check the
woman. At first he thought she was dead, but then she moaned and clutched her
side where Armando’s shoe had struck her. He was immediately remorseful and
leaned over to comfort her.

“Take it easy, miss,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see
you lying there. Let me help you up.” He could tell the young woman needed
help. She had suffered some burns on her arms, legs and face. What was left of
her blonde hair was wet and matted with a mixture of water and blood. It looked
like she had some sort of head wound. “I’m going to the Medical Center. You
should come with me. Can you stand?”

“I…. I think so,” she mumbled and made a feeble attempt to
get up. Armando reached over and helped her upright. They both winced when
their burns rubbed against each other. “Ouch!” she blurted. “Everything hurts
and I’m a bit dizzy.”

“I know, miss,” Armando murmured. “It’s not far. We just need
to go down a few decks and the Medical Center is right there.”

“Down?” she faltered. “But that’s where all the water went.
Down the stairs. And the screaming.  I want to go upstairs, away from all the
fire and water and screaming. Do we have to go back down?”

“Yes, miss, you need to see a doctor. The fires are out and
most of the water is gone. I don’t hear much screaming anymore either. I think
everyone’s in shock. But it’s best if we get you to the doctor before all the
people with minor burns and sprained ankles show up down there. You might have
a concussion and those burns should be treated right away. Let’s go,” Armando
said as he guided her down the steps.

“Thank you,” she said. “Who are you?” she added a moment
later, sounding as if she was worried that she should know him but had
forgotten.

“Armando the bartender. I’m one of the crew. What’s your
name, miss?”

“Rachel. Rachel Murphy…. No, Rachel Brewer. I just married
Brad Brewer. This is our honeymoon. Oh God,” she stopped and yelled, “Brad?!
Brad?! Oh my God, no! Brad!”

“Stay calm,” Armando cautioned. “He might be fine and looking
for you somewhere else. If so, he’ll come looking in the Medical Center. And if
he is injured he might already be in the Medical Center. Either way, he would
want you to go to the doctor.”

“He was standing with me at the lifeboat station when the
room filled with fire. He threw me down and laid on top of me. He protected me
with his body.” She was sobbing now and Armando saw that a horrible realization
was dawning in her eyes. “He was in pain. I heard it in his voice. We were
surrounded by fire, but he was worried about me. He kept saying, ‘Get out of
here, Rachel.’ But I couldn’t leave him. Then the water came. It was like being
tossed around by a big wave in Hawaii. I hit my head on something. Then I was
on these stairs. Alone. The water was pouring down and it was taking other
people with it. I just crawled up until I was out of the water.” She trailed
off and Armando knew that she feared the worst. He had scant consolation to
offer, but gave it his best shot.

“The water put out the fires,” he said. “It saved you and
might have saved your husband too. If it washed him down the stairs he might
already be in the Medical Center. And, if he’s there, we’ll find him.” Rachel
continued to cry quietly from a combination of pain and despair as Armando helped
her downstairs.

****

Kevin and Chief Petty Officer Perkins went to the forward
stairway as soon as they left the theater. This was the stairwell where Amanda
should have been waiting, six decks above. Perhaps they were still making their
way down. Kevin took a moment to call their names up the stairs, but his shouts
mingled with those of others, none of which sounded like Amanda.  He paused for
a moment, wondering if he should go back up to look for them, but realized
since he was already down here, it would be better to check all the
possibilities. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if one or both of them
were injured a calling for him down in the ship’s hospital.

“I’m going to the Med Center,” Kevin told the radar man.

“And I’m going with you,” Perkins replied evenly.

They descended the forward stairs past Deck 3 to Deck 2 where
they encountered a foot of water in the lobby. It had clearly been higher
recently, but was draining away to lower decks. This was the lowest deck of
passenger accommodations. Everything below was restricted to Crew, except for
the Med Center. Unsure if they could make their way aft to the central stairway
leading to the Medical Center on Deck 1, they waded into the Deck 2 forward
lobby and stopped short.

Bodies were floating in the corridors on either side of the
lobby. Kevin suspected that most of them had been washed down the stairs by the
flooding, although some may have been trapped below and drowned while trying to
escape. The latter possibility seemed to be confirmed by the large percentage
of crew members among them. Peering aft down a corridor they saw a waterproof
fire-door blocking the passage and holding back the flood.

“We’ll have to go back up to Deck 3 and cross above this
flooding,” Perkins suggested. Kevin agreed, but he paused to search the
floating bodies for any sign of his wife and daughter. He didn’t want to find
them like this, but his fear drove him to make sure. Eventually satisfied,
thoroughly horrified, and deeply relieved, they turned back up the stairs and
emerged on Deck 3.  This level also showed signs of water damage, but all of it
had drained below by now. They were still below the lowest balcony staterooms.
The only windows on these lower decks were portholes in outside cabins and they
were made of strong Plexiglas to withstand heavy seas. Therefore all the
flooding here had probably come from the decks above, most of it pouring down
stairwells to wash up and down these corridors when the ship rode out the
massive waves.

Many of the cabins and staterooms on these lower decks were
probably in pretty good shape. Sort of ironic, considering they were the least
expensive accommodations on the ship and closest to sea level. That assumption
was confirmed when an outside cabin door opened down the corridor and a white
haired gentleman of at least 80 stepped out of it. He spotted Petty Officer
Perkins and waved, saying, “Is it over? Good Lord! That gave us quite a scare.
Tossed us around a bit too. What in heaven’s name happened?”

“Were you here during the entire event?” Perkins asked.

“Yes. It was terrifying.”

“Why didn’t you go to the lifeboat muster stations?” Perkins
pressed.

“My wife and I were asleep. We don’t wear our hearing aids to
bed, you see, so we might have missed some warnings. We woke up when the whole
ship was shaking and it looked like there was fire outside our porthole. Then
we heard alarms and announcements about muster stations. We were getting
dressed and putting on life jackets when everything, including us, started
flying around the cabin. By the time we opened this door there was water
rushing down the hall. So I closed the door and we stayed here and prayed. I
guess it worked, eh?”

“Yes, sir,” Perkins replied. “You and your wife are very
lucky and it looks like you made the right decision. At this point, if you
aren’t injured, it might be best for you to remain in your cabin until you hear
additional instructions.”

“Thank you, officer, but can you tell us what happened?”

“It was an asteroid strike over the horizon,” Kevin
interjected. “The ship was lucky to survive.”

“How far over the horizon,” the old man asked pointedly.

“I’m not sure, but I’d say about a hundred miles based on the
time it took the effects to reach the ship,” Kevin answered.

“I see,” the old man said. “If the effects were that
dramatic, it must have been a big one. This will be more than a local event.”

“Yes,” Kevin said in surprise. “May I ask how you figured
that out so fast?”

“Certainly. My name is Professor Maxwell Farnsworth and I
taught Earth Science and Geology at Stanford University until I retired. The
implications of what you described and what we experienced here are quite
alarming, young man.”

“Yes, sir, I know,” Kevin agreed. “My name’s Kevin Summers
and I’m a meteorologist studying for a PHD in Climatology at Cal Tech.”

“Then you know what this means too,” the professor nodded
sadly and started to turn away.

“Professor?” Kevin said, halting the old man’s retreat.
“Please, sir, as soon as the immediate crisis is under control, could you come
up to the Bridge? I’m sure the Captain would appreciate your input and I’d like
to discuss my own projections with an expert, such as yourself.” 

“Of course,” agreed Farnsworth. “I assume the Captain has
notified the proper authorities ashore of what has happened and what to
expect?”

“He was trying to do just that when we left the Bridge to
look for my family,” Kevin said.

“I certainly hope he succeeded,” Farnsworth said. “And I’ll
be glad to discuss the situation with you and the Captain. I also wish you luck
finding your family safe and sound.”

“Thank you, Professor,” Kevin said.

Perkins dipped his head and said, “I’ll be back to escort you
to the Bridge soon, sir.” The old man nodded and closed the door.  The two
younger men continued down the hall towards the atrium and main stairs leading
down to the Medical Center.

****

“It’s finally ringing Captain,” Crawford said as he started
to pull the Iridium sat-phone away from his ear. Then he paused and said, “Yes,
hello? This the
SS Sedulity
with a threat warning from mid-Pacific.
Stand by for the Captain.” He held the phone out and the Captain snatched it.

“This is Captain Krystos of the cruise ship
Sedulity
at approximately One Minute South Latitude,   176 Degrees East Longitude reporting
a massive asteroid strike approximately 100 nautical miles east of our
position.” He paused to listen to the response for a moment and said, “No, wait,
you don’t understand. We just encountered impact waves hundreds of feet high.
The largest was over a
thousand
feet high. It’s a miracle the ship rode
over it in one piece. You must sound an alarm for the entire Pacific Rim. These
waves are spreading out at hundreds of miles per hour in every direction.”  He
paused again, shaking his head slowly. “No, this is not a normal Tsunami and it
was not caused by an undersea quake…. I don’t care what your seismographs are
telling you. This was a massive
asteroid strike
. Cubic miles of seawater
were vaporized and even more of it displaced. We saw the asteroid hit the ocean
over the horizon and the blast wave set this ship on fire. Check your mid-ocean
buoys if you don’t believe me…. What? No, damn it, your buoys are
not
malfunctioning! If they are giving you unbelievable readings on wave heights,
you better start believing them right now! We are convinced these waves will
grow even larger when they hit the coastlines of Australia, Asia, Africa, and North
and South America. Every second you delay will cost countless lives, although
I’m afraid that millions are doomed no matter what you do…. Yes, I’ll hold.”