Sedulity (Book One) Impact (8 page)

He stared out at the pouring rain coming down from roiling
clouds that were also spitting out lightning and burning streaks of fire. It
was an apocalyptic vision unlike any he had ever imagined. What he saw seemed
to defy common sense, if not the laws of nature. Where had the clouds come from
on what had been such a calm and clear night? How could any clouds
simultaneously belch out a deluge of rain and fireballs too?  He knew they were
indeed fireballs because he saw one of them impact the poolside bar where
Armando had only recently been pouring cocktails. Flames and glowing coals
spewed across the deck area, but were quickly snuffed by the pouring rain.
There was also a glowing hole where part of the bar had stood, indicating that
some of that flaming fireball had penetrated below deck where it undoubtedly
caused more damage.

****

Lieutenant Reiner was trying to calm and reassure the
passengers in the theater when he heard and felt a resounding crash above
them.  The banging continued for several seconds and culminated in something
breaking through the ceiling and dropping into the theater below! It was a
glowing object, no larger than a basketball, trailing smoke and flames. Reiner
was horrified to see it fall directly on top of an overweight man seated in the
balcony section, pass through him, his seat, and the upper deck of the theater
before finally crashing through an empty seat on the main level and rolling
down towards the stage. It left a smoking trail of blood, gore and scorch
marks, but failed to ignite a fire due to the amount of water that had soaked
the seats and carpet in the theater.

This latest “event” was enough to get hundreds of people
screaming again, especially those who saw the falling object squash the fat man
like an overripe fruit. Lieutenant Reiner was momentarily speechless while he
tried to make sense of what had just happened. He ran over to the object as it
came to rest at last in a puddle in front of the stage. It looked like a black
igneous rock. It still glowed and threw off steam like the lava flows he had
seen at the ocean’s edge in Hawaii. Had it fallen out of the sky? And smashed
through eight or nine decks to reach the theater? Were more coming? It was
almost enough to send him into panic mode, but then he remembered his duty to
the passengers and the ship. He allowed the passenger to freak out for another
minute while he used his radio to inform the Bridge that there was a meteorite
in the theater.

****

Captain Krystos wore a stoic poker-face since learning that
his wife had been sucked into a whirlpool below decks. He wanted to run and
search for her, or order all the crew to drop everything to find her, but those
were things he could not do. He was responsible for the ship and every life
aboard her. He couldn’t afford to grieve or be distracted by personal concerns
until the ship was out of danger. By all indications, that still might be
awhile.  Nevertheless, his dilemma made him sympathize with Kevin Summers’
concerns for his own wife and daughter. The man had proven invaluable in
predicting the course of events since the asteroid strike, but was clearly in
fear for the safety of his family.

“Mr. Summers?” the Captain gestured him closer. “Thank you
for your assistance. I think we all owe our lives to your warnings and advice.
If you think the situation permits it, this might be a good time to gather your
wife and daughter. Lieutenant Reiner said he left them in the Deck 10 stairwell
lobby where you told them to wait for you and he thinks they should have been
relatively safe there – safer perhaps than those I sent to the lifeboat
stations. I can provide you with an escort to find your family and bring them
back to the Bridge with you.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Kevin replied with obvious relief.
“Yes, aside from the infernal rain and a brief threat of fireballs falling from
the sky, I think we’ve made it through the worst of the initial effects.  I’m
anxious to find Emily and Amanda. I’m sure they’re worried about me too.” It
was the first time Kevin had smiled since all of this began and it was nice to
see the man had not lost hope.

The Captain nodded and shook Kevin’s hand before instructing
the radar operator, whose position had become useless when the blast wave
knocked out the radar, to escort Mr. Summers to retrieve his family. When the
two men turned to leave the Captain’s thoughts returned to dwell on Lydia and
he tried not to imagine all the horrible fates she might have met. He also
reflected on the sure knowledge that even if Lydia survived, many other lives
had already been lost and more remained in grave danger. 

“Captain,” Mr. Crawford called across the Bridge. “Lieutenant
Reiner reports that a flaming rock, or meteorite, has penetrated the ceiling of
the theater, killing one of the passengers.”

The Captain shook his head, clearing his thoughts before
replying, “Sound the fire alarm again and instruct the crew to maintain fire
watch at Condition Epsilon.  Then send a rapid response team from the deck crew
to the theater to assist Mr. Reiner and the passengers there. Send others to
check the decks above, in case that thing started more fires on the way down.
And give me a status report on the bilge pumps, especially the forward
compartments below the theater. I have reports of people being sucked below by
the flooding.” That was the closest he could come to focusing on Lydia’s fate.

****

Chapter 7:

The island nation of Kiribati,
formerly known as the Gilbert Islands, was composed of more than 30 atolls
scattered over three million square miles of ocean. Many of these islands had
been inhabited for thousands of years and were home to slightly over 100,000
people when the asteroid struck.  Fully half of the nation’s population resided
on Tarawa, where the
Sedulity
had visited earlier that fateful day. The remainder lived in traditional
villages spread out on the other islands. Kiribati had been a leading voice in
the political movement to prevent global warming. They feared a rise in sea
level because more of their islands stood only a few meters above the current sea
level. They wouldn’t even act as speed bumps for the effects of the asteroid
strike.

The islands closest to the point of
impact were swept clean of life by the initial blast wave. Traditional
buildings made of thatched walls and roofs were ripped to shreds, even as they
ignited in flames. On the main island of Tarawa the devastation was severe, but
some modern buildings survived the blast and it was far enough away that only
scattered fires were sparked. Still, no typhoon had ever struck so hard, not to
mention without warning.  Even elderly natives who had lived through the
invasions and bombardments of World War 2 had never experienced this type of
onslaught. Windows shattered, trees fell, and fires sprang up across the
island. There were few initial fatalities, but everyone got the wake-up call.
The people of Tarawa picked themselves up to help their families and others
recover from the shock and destruction caused by the superheated blast of
condensed air. They had more than an hour to comfort their loved ones before
the real waves arrived.  

Moments after the falling fireball hit the pool-side bar
Armando decided that he should go below to check the damage, in case it had
started new fires. Realizing that the rain was hot enough to scald his skin,
not to mention giving off a strange smell, he retreated into the elevator lobby
and went to the stairs on the other side of the atrium. He ran down several
flights to the deck below the Resort Deck and moved up a corridor towards the
bow. The fireball would have come down through an inside cabin, possibly a
common area, just aft of the forward stairwell.

Running down the corridor Armando encountered an increase in
the smoke and that same strange scent that he could only describe as brimstone.
Approaching the end of the corridor, he noticed one of the inside cabin doors
was buckled and smoke seeped out through the bent frame. He paused for a moment
to grab a fire extinguisher from a recessed cabinet in the hall, then moved
forward to kick the door open. Sure enough, the cabin was in shambles and
flames were licking up the walls from the beds which were almost fully engulfed
by fire. He pulled the pin on the fire extinguisher and immediately attacked
the blaze.

Armando was aided by the hot rain water that fell through the
hole in the ceiling, but hindered by smoke that roiled up through a matching
hole in the floor. Worse than the smoke and flames were the screams and shouts
that echoed up through that hole from far below. It made what was left of
Armando’s hair stand on end, but he persisted to fight the fire in that cabin
until the flames were suppressed and the extinguisher expended. Then he backed
out of the cabin and pulled the door closed as much as possible to contain the
smoke from below, or at least direct it up through the hole in the Resort Deck
like a chimney rather than pollute this deck.

His next plan of action was to descend another deck and see
what damage had been done below this cabin. If necessary, he would repeat the
process on each succeeding deck until he inevitably reached the source of the
screams emanating from below. Armando turned in the direction of the bow and
jogged towards the forward stairwell. Approaching the lobby he thought he heard
the anxious cries of a young child.

****

After gathering her thoughts in the Resort Deck lobby, Amanda
led Emily slowly back down the stairs they had recently ascended. She didn’t
know what else to do. The Spa and Fitness Center were a disaster area and, as
little Emily described it, the ‘
sky is falling’
outside. All she could
think to do was return to the Deck 10 lobby where they were supposed to wait
for Kevin to find them. Emily continued to chatter questions in fearful
excitement, trying to make sense of what they had seen, but Amanda didn’t know
how to explain it either.

Rounding the landing on the next deck with the intention of
continuing below, Amanda was shocked to see a man run out of the corridor into
the stairwell. She vaguely registered that he was dressed like a crewman, but
it was hard to tell with so much of the white uniform scorched and soiled by
flame and smoke. She didn’t immediately recognize his face either, especially
with most of his hair singed off and burn blisters rising under the soot
plastered to his skin. He, however, recognized her and came to an abrupt stop.

“Mrs. Summers! Little Emily! You shouldn’t be up here. Are
you alright?” The mother and daughter stared at him in speechless shock, so he
continued, “It’s me, Armando, the bar tender.”

“Armando!” Amanda exclaimed in recognition and relief.
“What’s happening? The fire? The water? Things falling from the sky… It’s
unbelievable.”

“Yes, ma’am, it’s all from that thing your husband called an
asteroid,” Armando replied. “It’s a miracle that the she ship has survived. But
what are you doing up here? Shouldn’t you be at the lifeboat muster stations?”

“My husband, Kevin, told us to wait for him in the Deck 10
stairwell lobby while he went to the Bridge with the Captain. After everything
seemed to calm down a little, well, I just got tired of waiting and thought we
should go find him. But we don’t know how to get up to the Bridge. Do you?”

“Yes, Mrs. Summers, you are actually quite close. It’s just a
bit forward on this deck.” The look of confusion on her face caused Armando to
explain. “Most people think the Bridge would be on the highest deck, but on a
big cruise ship like the
Sedulity
the Bridge is actually positioned
below the Sky Lounge and Resort Decks.  Come, I’ll take you. I should make a
report anyway. Then I must go back to fight the fires and look for other
survivors. Follow me.”

Armando led Amanda and Emily out of the stairwell, through
the lobby and up the corridor towards the bow. They passed by the doors to half
a dozen premium suites before reaching a watertight door that secured the end
of the passage. Armando pulled out his crew ID card and used it on the
key-card-reader. A red light blinked back at him, indicating he was not
authorized to override the security level in place. Undaunted, he reached for a
telephone receiver mounted to the wall marked
Crew Only
and pressed a
button labeled
Bridge
.  After a few moments he spoke into the phone.

“Sir, this is Hospitality Mate First Class Ramos,” Armando
said. “I’m at the starboard door to the Bridge area with the wife and daughter
of Mr. Summers, the weatherman. They believe he is in there with you, sir, and
want to rejoin him. I can also report on conditions at the Sky Lounge, Resort
Deck, Grand Atrium, and below deck where some sort of burning object crashed
into the ship, sir.”  After listening to a reply Armando said, “Yes, Sir.” A
moment later a buzzer sounded and the light on the lock turned green, allowing
them access to the restricted Bridge area.

****

 Kevin had followed the radar operator, Petty Officer
Perkins, off the Bridge and directly to a
Crew Only
stairwell that took
them down without entering the public areas. They exited on Deck 10 and Kevin
rushed to the public stairway lobby where he expected his wife and daughter to
be waiting for him. A kernel of fear gripped his gut when he didn’t see them.
Freezing in front of the elevators he yelled, “Amanda! Emily! Where are you?” 
He repeated that call up and down the stairwell before rushing towards their
stateroom down the hall. The radar operator kept pace.

“Amanda?” Kevin called out as he tried to open their cabin
door. The electronic lock was not working, but the crewman with him produced a
manual master key and jiggled it in the lock until the door reluctantly opened
inwards. It only opened about a foot before jamming in place. Kevin leaned his
head inside. At first he thought it was the wrong stateroom. Nothing looked
familiar. A bed, or what was left of one, was jammed up into the bathroom
doorway, blocking the main door from opening further. The interior walls were
blackened, in contrast to the off-white colors he remembered. The balcony
window was shattered and the curtains had been incinerated. Water still dripped
from the fire sprinklers in the ceiling and everything in the room was soaking
wet. Then he spotted what was left of Emily’s favorite stuffed animal lying on
the floor near the entry door. Squatting down, Kevin reached his arm inside and
pulled out Mr. Snuggles who, though singed and soaking wet, was still
recognizable as a cuddly dolphin from Sea World. “Emily!” Kevin shouted again,
but there was no response.

“Come on, Mr. Summers,” the radar man said. “We know they
weren’t in the stateroom during the event, and it’s clear they didn’t get back
in afterwards. They must have gone to another deck, probably down to the
lifeboat muster stations after the Captain made those announcements.”

“Of course,” Kevin agreed, holding back the worst of his
fears. “Or maybe they are waiting at the other stairs in the Atrium.”  The two
men continued down the passageway to the center of the ship where the main
elevators and stairways overlooked the ten story atrium. There was no sign of
Kevin’s family, but he shouted their names repeatedly. Then he looked over the
atrium balcony and witnessed the devastation that had been wreaked upon the
Sedulity.
Scattered fires on almost every deck illuminated more than the emergency
lighting would have, but the scene was obscured by billowing smoke from
smoldering areas that had been dowsed by the temporary flooding. Kevin realized
now that the massive waves they encountered had actually saved the ship from
becoming a floating inferno. Nevertheless, looking down to the bottom of the
atrium, it was disconcerting to see water still flowing down the grand stairway
and swirling around in the main reception lounge. 

Lydia wasn’t sure where she was, having never been in this
section of the ship. She was pretty sure it was part of the crew quarters,
below the theater, but was unsure how far down into the ship she had been
carried. The water level had fallen to below her knees when she let go of the
light fixture and dropped to the deck of the corridor. It was still like wading
in a swift river, but she managed to keep her feet under her.

Although Lydia wanted to go back up to the theater, she
realized it would be too difficult to try wading against the current,
especially considering she was already exhausted from her ordeal. The only
alternative was to go with the flow and hope she found another route up towards
the public areas of the ship. The corridor was lined with doors and she notice
one of them was open. Glancing in the door, she confirmed that the cabin was intended
to house four members of the crew. Water swirled around under the bunk beds and
it was clear the whole compartment had recently been flooded, just like the
corridor, but there was no sign of any crew members.

Following the flow of water draining from the upper decks
brought her to a narrow stairwell. More water flowed down from above here, but
nowhere near as much as had carried her out of the theater. It merged with the
water she was wading in and poured down the stairs to a lower deck which seemed
almost fully submerged. Lydia shivered as she noticed several human bodies
floating at the bottom of the stairwell. It was only by the grace of God that
she had not joined them.

Lieutenant Reiner was having trouble getting the people in
the theater to calm down after the burning rock fell through the ceiling. Some
of the passengers fled the theater, despite his shouted protests. Screams of
shock echoed back from where they ran, probably caused by coming face to face
with drowned and burned corpses or badly injured passengers near the lifeboat
stations. Well, he reasoned, they would have to face the reality of this
disaster sooner or later anyway, but his orders were to keep as many of them as
possible in the theater until the situation stabilized. 

His current challenge was an irate American from Texas who
insisted that he had a
right
to speak with the Captain and be told
exactly what had happened and what was being done to fix things. It truly irked
the Lieutenant because those were obviously questions that everyone else wanted
answered too, but most were smart enough realize that the answers were not so
easy to come by.