Voyage (Powerless Nation #2) (8 page)

“Y
OU
MUST
HAVE
HEARD
him wrong,” Danny said, after making her explain why she’d practically dragged him out of the room.

“I guess,” said Sena. It
had
been a long time since she’d heard any Korean. And why would the men have any reason to want to hurt them? Regardless, his tone still echoed in her head and creeped her out.

Danny and Sena turned at the sound of footsteps in the hallway and Sena recognized Captain Brady and Chief Engineer Huang.

“Visiting the survivors, I see,” said the captain. “I hear they’re not very talkative.”

Sena shook her head, contemplating whether she should mention what she’d heard.

“Captain Crane said the same thing. Said they kept to themselves on the lifeboat too.”

“You called him ‘captain.’ Does that mean you’re reinstating him?” Danny asked. “He’s a good man,” he added.

“No, habit, I guess. He
is
a good man, but he’s going to have to face a Board of Inquiry before he can captain a ship again. I know there’s a faction that wants him reinstated, however, maritime law is clear. Regardless of the reasons for his leaving,” the captain met Danny’s look, “there’s no question that he left the ship in a crisis situation. Bringing back the survivors may or may not help his case. I won’t speculate; that’s for the Board to decide. How are they, anyway? The survivors, I mean.”

Danny looked to Sena. She took a deep breath and said, “I think they might be trouble.”

The captain raised his brows in a questioning look.

She hurried on before she lost her nerve. “Are we sure the plane crashed because of an EMP? And why are they all wearing the same thing? I think they might be hijackers.”

The captain shook his head. “I doubt that. Maybe union workers headed to a job. I don’t want you to worry about it too much. We’ll get this sorted out. Now, I’m sure this young man needs his apron so he can get back to work.” Captain Brady emphasized
back to work
in a way that made Danny shift uncomfortably.

“And Ms. Morgan, you should join the scavenger hunt Lydia set up for the teens on the Lido. Everyone who participates gets a can of Coke.”

“Cold?” asked Danny.

“Now that
would
be a prize,” said the captain, before entering the medical center.

Back on the upper deck, the sun was slowly sinking toward the horizon and Danny left Sena to go find out what his next assignment was. Sena wasn’t interested in participating in a scavenger hunt, so she wandered the deck, going wherever her fancy took her. She was surprised to see one of the ship’s gift shops was open and went inside to look around. It was pretty typical fare—key rings, coffee mugs and photo frames. The bookshelves were almost bare though. With no computers or tablets to occupy them, people were reading more books and magazines. The puzzles were sold out too. 

She picked up a toy cruise ship that you could pull back and release to make it roll across the floor on its own. Her foster sister would love it. 

A moment later Sena’s smile faded, and with a heavy heart she placed it back on the shelf. Her foster family was gone. Where would she go when they got back to shore? Maybe to find her mother?

On her way out, Sena noticed the disposable cameras were almost sold out.
Makes sense
, she thought, since camera phones and digital cameras no longer worked. She decided she’d get one too, and document life on a stranded cruise ship. Maybe she could write a book about the experience someday.

They only had waterproof cameras left, and they were slightly more expensive, but she had enough cash for one, and thought it would be fun to experiment with a few underwater photos.

With the camera in hand, she became fascinated by what the other passengers were doing. One level up from the Lido was the Panorama Deck where the captain had addressed the passengers from the open air stage.

Mattresses and blankets covered almost every inch of the deck, with only a few narrow pathways left for walking. Sheets were rigged to form barriers when possible, giving a sense of privacy for a few. It was cold at night, and they were lucky so far that it hadn’t rained, but it was better than being in the staterooms on the lower decks. 

She snapped a few photos of the transformation of the deck, and then turned her camera on the people.

Sena had always heard that tragedy brought out the worst in people. She’d believed it, based on the rioting and destruction she’d seen on videos at school of post-disaster areas. That’s what happened in most of the zombie books she’d read too. It was always every man for himself.

That wasn’t what was happening on the ship though. Yes, a few people were difficult, still complaining about the onion sandwiches from the first day, or the red bags that everyone had learned to hate. However, most of the passengers were friendly and helpful to each other. 

As she walked through the makeshift tent city she took a picture of a group doing Bible study and another of a man with a guitar leading a sing-along. She saw couples offer their cabins to parents with young children, and teens offer to wait in the food lines for elderly people. Everywhere she looked she saw kindness and charity, and it made her proud.

She realized it had been a while since she’d seen Charity, and wondered how her bunkmate was dealing with everything. She decided to look for her.

Charity was on the Lido Deck, curled up in a big towel on one of the pool chairs, shivering.
Click
. A moment frozen in time.

“Oh, hi,” she said when Sena sat down next to her.

“Are you okay?” asked Sena, pressing a hand to her forehead, worried she might have a fever. The last thing they needed right now with no working toilets was an outbreak of rotavirus. It was unthinkable.

“Yeah,” said Charity. “Jessica dared me to go in the pool. I didn’t think it would be so cold.” Her teeth chattered and Sena could barely make out what she was saying. “It’s cold downstairs too, and stuffy. I figured at least up here I could breathe.”

“Where did Jessica go?”

“I don’t know. I think there’s supposed to be a dance a little bit later, and there are rumors they’re opening the bar. She probably went to get ready.”

“I somehow doubt Ms. Friedel is going to let her go to open bar night.”

“The Frizz won’t know. The teachers are in over their heads. No one wants to hang out below, and they can’t keep track of everyone coming and going.”

“Don’t you want to go?”

“I guess not,” Charity said, her voice trembling slightly. “I keep thinking about my family back in Seattle, you know?” 

Sena did know. She’d been very carefully avoiding all thoughts of her foster family’s flight to California.

“It’s hard to party when so many bad things are probably happening back home.”

Sena found herself surprised that Charity was capable of thinking beyond the next social event, and then immediately felt bad for thinking so harshly of the girl. The truth was, they barely knew each other.

“If you want, you can share my cabin tonight,” Sena surprised herself by offering.

“You’ve got a cabin?”

“Well, it belongs to a married couple… they’re letting me crash on their couch. It’s a hide-a-bed if you want to share.”

“That sounds pretty good,” said Charity. “I thought a great big slumber party with the whole class would be a blast. It wasn’t. It was kind of sad. A lot of crying, more than anything.”

“I can’t promise no crying, but it will be more comfortable than the floor.”

“You’re on,” said Charity and stood up. She bent down to get something and Sena realized she had her suitcase. 

“Do you take that with you everywhere?”

“Pretty much,” said Charity. “Which way is the cabin? Does it have a balcony?”

Sena led the way, hoping she hadn’t just made a big mistake.

Claire and her husband were happy to share their room with Charity, and they sat in the semi-darkness for a while, talking about home and families. Claire's husband was named Ted, and they were visiting from Maryland. Ted was a government contractor and he wasn’t optimistic about their chances of getting military help.

“You think the military’s electronics are fried too?” asked Charity.

“They’ve known about the threat of EMP for years and never took it seriously. I think we’re in a world of trouble.”

“All right, well we should probably get to sleep,” said Claire. “It’s getting dark.” 

In the fading light they made the couch into a bed, and Sena laid down facing away from Charity. She turned on her book light and curled her body around it, not wanting the light to bother anyone.

“Is that a night light?” whispered Charity.

Sena braced herself for the inevitable mockery she knew was coming. She was surprised when instead of making fun of her Charity asked, “Can you put it in the middle?”

Sena rolled over and put the light in the darkness between them. Tiny specks of light reflected in the tears on Charity’s cheeks. “Thanks,” she whispered, and the two girls stared at the little light until the motions of the ship rocked them to sleep.

Sena awoke the next morning to find the cabin empty, and sunlight streaming in through the open balcony door. She went outside and found Charity sitting in one of the chairs, wearing jeans and a long-sleeved sweater, staring out over the water.

“Where are Ted and Claire?” asked Sena, blinking in the bright light.

“They went to get breakfast, and they’re bringing some back for us.”

“That was nice of them.”

“Did you know their son died last year?”

Sena nodded. “Yeah, Claire mentioned it. Do you know what happened?”

“He was hit by a car, riding his bike home from school.”

“Wow, that really sucks.”

“You never know what’s going to happen. Everything can change so fast.”

“Are you okay?” Sena asked. “You don’t seem like yourself very much.”

Charity blurted, “If we get out of this I’m going to try to be a better person. I am going to be a good daughter, and I’m going to sell my stuff and give the money to the poor. I don’t care about being popular or having the best clothes anymore.”

Sena looked at Charity curiously. “You’re going to give away all your stuff?”

“Yep.”

“And stop being popular?”

“Maybe.”

“How’s that going to make you a better person?”

Charity thought about it. “I don’t know. Maybe it won’t. I feel like I need to do something different, or be a different way.”

“Do you want a suggestion?” Sena asked, feeling like she was walking on thin ice.

“Sure.”

“It’s not about your clothes or popularity. It’s about how you act and make other people feel. You could keep all of your clothes and just be nicer to people. That would make you a better person.”

Charity was silent, looking down at her bare feet. Sena noticed her toenails were turquoise blue, and one nail on each foot was painted like a tiny cupcake.

“I think I owe you an apology,” said Charity, so quietly Sena almost missed it.

“What? No, we’re fine. You don’t owe me an apology.”

“Yes I do,” insisted Charity. “I’ve been a huge jerk to you and I’m sorry.”

Sena hoped Charity was serious about being nicer. At least she was trying.

“Did you see that?” Charity asked, shading her eyes and looking out at the water.

“No,” said Sena, relieved by the change of subject.

“I think it was a dolphin. Look, another one!” Charity’s face was lit by the biggest smile Sena had ever seen on her. “I love dolphins. I’m going to be a marine biologist someday. Have you ever been swimming with dolphins?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “I’ve always wanted to, but I don’t think wild dolphins should be captured for tourist attractions. Someday maybe I’ll get to though. Aren’t they beautiful?”

There were a lot of dolphins now, leaping in graceful arcs around the ship. Sena looked at Charity; her face was radiant with joy.

Her expression changed suddenly to a look of disgust. Sena turned in time to see a red bag sail down and land in the water.

“You’re a sick jerk!” shouted Charity to the offensive, out-of-sight passenger. 

And with that, the moment was broken.

CHAPTER NINE

A
FTER
BREAKFAST
,
THE
GIRLS
decided to look for their classmates. To Sena, the passengers seemed less optimistic and more resigned. Instead of conversations and singing, she saw people sitting on their mattresses or pool chairs looking lost and staring into space. All they could do was wait and worry about their families back home and their own fates.

They walked past one woman sitting on the stairs, sobbing for her children. Several people sat near her, offering comfort. Her weeping followed Sena and Charity long after they had left her far behind.

Sena picked up a snippet of conversation between two male crew members as they passed.

“Did Brady ever show up for his shift this morning?”

“I don’t think so. He’s probably off somewhere enjoying the perks of his new job.”

Their coarse laughter faded as they turned a corner.

When Sena and Charity finally found their class at the distant end of the Lido deck, they discovered the students were in the middle of a lecture by Mr. Stoddard about cargo ships. 

“Container ships are the big rigs of the sea. Each one has stacks and stacks of truck-sized containers piled as high as a small building. They look like floating apartment blocks. The containers can hold all kinds of things, and they’re very efficient. Here’s a bit of trivia I think is interesting. Did you know it it’s cheaper to catch fish in Scotland, freeze it, ship it to China on a container ship, thaw it and let the Chinese filet it, freeze it again and ship it back to Scotland, rather than to have the Scots filet it themselves?

“It’s going to be important that these container ships keep operating until we can get the country back on its feet. Without them, there will be all kinds of shortages – especially food shortages.”