Come Alive Ch. 21

"Right."

"Where is boy?" Anton asked - again, and Dina simply shook her head.

"I have no idea, but I suspect Henry knows..."

"What is going on here?" Anton sighed.

"You should talk to Henry..."

Mike asked Anton for help getting a mattress set up on one of the cockpit seats, then they moved Henry, hanging the IV bag from the cockpit enclosure in the process...and a moment later Rolf reappeared - sending Anton into another stumbling back-flip over the rail, and back into the canal...again.

21.9

"Where have you been?" Dina asked Rolf as they helped Anton out of the water again - and back up on the swim platform.

"I do not know, Grandma-ma, but I believe we were far from here..."

"We? What do you mean - we?"

"Mother and Eva were with me," he added.

"How you disappear like that?" Anton asked, taking the fresh towel Rolf offered.

But Rolf only shook his head as he continued talking to Dina: "I almost think we were up there," Rolf said, pointing skyward. "It felt like we were inside some kind of ship."

"How is your mother?" Dina asked.

"She has changed, Grandma-ma. It is almost like she has grown more calm, or maybe less afraid - but I think many things have changed since you last saw her."

"Things are changing here too. I am now more concerned about Henry."

"How long was I gone?"

Dina shook her head. "Not long...an hour or so, maybe, but something terrible has happened. That...thing...went inside him again and he is more ill than the first time." Dina seemed more than angry now, but even so Rolf thought she was reacting jealously as she spoke. "You'd better start tracking that storm again, and I'll see if Henry will be strong enough to help you tonight."

Dina returned to the cockpit as another gust of hot, dry air whipped along the grassy banks of the canal, rocking Time Bandits and sending the hull to the limits of her dock lines. Rolf grabbed onto a handrail in time - but Anton was knocked off his feet and back into the canal.

"Maybe just stay here, no?" Anton snarled.

+++++

'Winky' had called this meeting, and he had seemed more agitated than usual when he did.

Dozens of the ship's crew had already gathered in something like a conference room when he entered and called the meeting to order, and he quickly detailed what he had seen on the planet below. 'Pinky' had intervened in Terran affairs and in the process killed three humans; the gathered scientists and academicians seemed shocked and a few wondered if Winky had evidence to support such startling accusations. He reached into their minds and presented what he had - which was, apparently, enough to quiet the naysayers. Pinky was then quietly summoned, and no one looked forward to what surely had to happen next.

+++++

"The water is shallower here, and so much warmer," Mike said, pointing at the weather overlay on the plotter. "If the storm comes ashore at Calais the dangerous quadrant will hit us, and hit us hard, but the winds will come from the east, or maybe the east-southeast..."

"Those temperatures can not be correct..." Anton whispered, his eyes wide as he tried to visualize what calamities awaited in the night.

Rolf picked up the latest news feed from Radio France and pulled up images from LeHavre; the port area was ablaze and every tall structure had been flattened; trees and farmland had been similarly scorched. The last available reports from the harbor area recounted 190 knot winds and 130F degree temperatures before the reporting stations went off the air, and even Paris had reported similarly hideous extremes before Epsilon's influence passed.

Mike looked at Henry, still asleep but apparently out of immediate danger, then he looked at the outside air temp display; it was already almost a hundred degrees Fahrenheit out and the sun was only just setting now. "If the winds will be coming from the east, these lines aren't going to do much," he said, pointing at the spaghetti bowl of lines warped around the boat. "We'll need a bunch run across to the far side of the canal, and we'll need to be prepared to reset any that come undone, too."

"See all fire in video?" Anton began. "If tree catch fire," he said, pointing at the closest Linden a few yards aft of them, "could fall on boat. What we do if happen?"

Mike's face scrunched up as he thought about that. "If the wind is from the east it ought to blow away from us..."

"If not, there's an axe in the garage," Henry said, his eyes open a little now.

"Henry!" Rolf cried as Dina bent over to look in his eyes.

"Hey, Bud. Glad to see you made it back in time for the festivities."

"How are you feeling?" Dina said, whispering in his ear as she kissed his cheek.

"Not bad, considering. Somewhere between roadkill and an end-cut of prime rib."

She shook her head. "I'd say you're feeling fine, no thanks to that pink thing."

"She saved your lives, Dina. Mine too, come to think of it."

"You almost died this time, Henry."

"She asked this time, Dina. I agreed."

"You did what?"

"They were armed, were they not?"

"Yes, but she killed at least two of them. Doesn't that strike you as odd...?"

"It's complicated, Dina."

"No it isn't, Henry, and any fool can see that."

He looked her in the eye, didn't break contact but neither did he say a word.

"I see," she said. "Well, at least you understand my anger."

"I do."

"You can be such a paternalistic prick."

Henry nodded and smiled. "And I can't tell you how many years I've spent perfecting my craft."

"Well, you've succeeded admirably."

He grinned but turned to Rolf. "Let's get a few lines across the canal to those two trees," he said, pointing at an oak and a linden on the far side of the waterway. "You grab some line and we'll get the Zodiac ready to go," he said, turning to Anton and Mike. "You two feel up to some work?"

"Yeah, sure," Mike said. "I know the drill; why don't you just lay low for now."

"Yeah, right..." Taggart said, rolling his eyes.

"Would someone tell me where boy went, please?" Anton asked - again.

+++++

When the added lines had been set, Henry went back to the plotter and checked on Epsilon's progress; there was no doubt about it now...the storm was going to come ashore just north of Calais, so they were going to be slammed by the dangerous quadrant. Anton came and sat beside him just then and Henry sighed inwardly, not really wanting to fill in all the blanks right now - yet if anything, Anton was deeply perceptive and already Taggart was warming to the aviator's wry sense of irony.

"So, storm comes to Calais?"

"Looks that way. I'd say eight hours to landfall; maybe nine."

"So, after midnight. But we will feel effects before that, no?"

Henry nodded. "See that band?" Henry asked, pointing at the weather overlay on the plotter. "We'll feel that one in about three hours, give or take. You better grab some chow and a nap; it could be a long night."

Anton nodded. "Must say something first, Genry."

"Okay."

"Because I your enemy you could have let me drown, yet instead you take me here, you give respect to me. I want thank you."

"You're welcome."

"You are not well?"

"No, I am not."

"I very sorry."

Taggart nodded.

"One question more. Is okay I stay here?"

"Sure, stay as long as you want."

Anton nodded - yet he looked a little relieved. "Thank you, Genry. You rest now too?"

"Maybe." He looked at the Russian and smiled. "I actually feel rested right now, but we'll need you rested tonight."

Anton stood and extended his right hand, and Henry took it - looking into the aviator's eyes as he did - and when he felt the man's openness and respect he nodded again. "I'm glad you're here, Anton."

"War is a stupid thing, Genry."

"I think so too."

"Yet without war I would not be here."

Henry nodded. "Be careful, Anton. Keep thinking along those lines and you'll be thinking about God soon enough."

The aviator nodded before he turned and walked below.

He turned his attention back to the plotter but almost immediately felt Pinky reaching out for him - and for the first time in his life he experienced someone else's fear.

'What's wrong?' he asked.

'I am hiding.'

'From?'

She filled his mind with images of events earlier today, and then of a hastily called meeting where her actions were being roundly criticized.

'What do you need?' he asked.

'A place to think.'

'And a place to hide, I take it?'

'That too.'

'So? What are you waiting for?'

'I will no longer be able to hide my physical form from you, Henry.'

'Okay.'

'I may frighten you.'

'Let me deal with that.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes.'

He heard Anton coming up the companionway steps and he turned in time to see the aviator coming up to the cockpit carry bowl of salads and some fresh bread. He placed these on the cockpit table about the same time Pinky appeared on the aft deck...

"Holy Mother of God..." Anton muttered as he stumbled backwards towards the lifelines; Taggart shook his head - if only because he knew what had to come next - but he turned to the aft deck and he too seemed more than a little in awe of what he found there.

She was easily three meters tall, and her body was covered with white - feathers? Yet...she had very human hands and feet, and what he thought on first glance was a most angelic face. Then she spread her wings, revealing a span of almost six meters...and only then was the visage was complete.

"Don't tell me," Taggart quipped. "Your real name is Gabriel..."

"Fuck me in the a..." Anton cried as he catapulted over the rail - again - causing a stampede of voices and footsteps coming from below as everyone made their way up the companionway steps.

Dina was the next to see Pinky; her screams were worthy of a B-grade slasher film.

When Rolf saw her he dropped to his knees and started giggling uncontrollably.

Mike took one look at Pinky and crossed himself before he dove into the canal; he and Anton swam for the far side.

"Maybe we'd better get you below?" he said to Pinky.

29.10

Epsilon's first band washed over the central Belgian coast a little after 2100 hrs, and this first brush with the storm worried Henry Taggart and absolutely terrified Rolf and Dina.

The outside air temperature had been holding steady at 105 degrees Fahrenheit through the early evening when suddenly the barometer jumped and the temperature went up ten degrees; moments later a 90 knot gust slammed into the Brugge area and older trees began snapping and tumbling away in the wind. The sound made by the snapping trees, Anton said, reminded him of distant cannon fire.

Yet Time Bandits hardly budged under the force of this first onslaught. She leaned a bit, perhaps two to three degrees off-plumb, then shrugged-off the impact and stood resolutely upright, and Henry was pleased.

Pinky was secreted below, her massive frame curled up on Henry's berth in the aft cabin; Dina remained in the galley working on a fresh batch of bread but every now and then she looked in on Pinky to see how she was doing. The sight horrified her.

After Epsilon's first band passed a pale blue orb appeared at the top of Time Bandit's mast; the slowly spinning orb simply fixed itself there, an inert, watchful presence that was simply impossible to ignore. People on nearby boats stared and pointed, yet by now nothing seemed to surprise these people after a day of watching the antics on the American boat.

Clyde seemed to be in a little too much pain after the thug's kick and Henry looked at his urine after each walk to the bushes, but it was still running clear so he resolved to simply keep a watchful eye on the old boy for a few more days - or until they could find an open veterinarian clinic.

He looked up at the masthead from time to time, at the baleful eye lingering up there, and at one point he saw stars and moon glow through an opening in the scudding clouds, and maybe the faintest hint of an aurora, too. He could just make out Orion up there, and even the pink glow under the belt was faintly visible - yet the overwhelming mood of the moment was how utterly surreal this bizarre heat made everything feel. It was autumn in northern Europe coming up on 2200 hours and it was now 120 degrees Fahrenheit on deck.

The BBCs 2200 broadcast was rife with vivid images of British seaports along the southern coast all ablaze. Cathedrals from Canterbury to Salisbury had lost their roofs, and there were reports of airports closed after fuel storage facilities 'cooked off' as the storm hit. Taggart and Anton looked up at that, if only because the various tank farms in Zeebrugge were less than ten miles away, and Rolf intuitively switched to the weather overlay function when he heard that, and they all gathered around the display and measured distances in their minds' eyes.

"The next band will hit in less than an hour," Henry said, "and it won't let up until the storm moves out of the area. If anyone is still hungry, now's the time to do something about it..."

He felt Winky probing his mind then and didn't even try to resist.

'Is she with you?'

'Yes. She's below and quite afraid.'

'What happened?'

'When she moved inside me I resisted, but using her strength I was able to strike out at the intruders.'

'So...you are saying it was not her actions that resulted in those three deaths, and that they were the result of yours?'

'I am.'

'I see. I had no idea you'd grown so attached to her.'

'Nor had I.'

'I was being sarcastic, Henry.'

'I know,' he said. 'I wasn't.'

'She must answer for what she has done.'

'She didn't do anything.'

'I am sorry, but she will not be allowed to hide behind your denials.'

And with that, Winky disappeared. Taggart stood and steadied himself as he grew light-headed, a wave of nausea washing over him, then he went below to check-in on Dina, then Pinky.

"You look pale..." Dina said as he came down the companionway. "Sit down. Let me take your blood pressure."

He sat and she put a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice down on the table in front of him, then she hooked up the cuff and pumped it up.

"100 over 40. Drink your juice, then go lay down for an hour."

He nodded. "How's she doing?"

"Sleeping, as far as I can tell."

"Sleeping?" Henry asked. "Or simply depressed?"

Dina shrugged. "Beats me. I've never treated an angel before."

"An angel? Dina, are you serious?"

"What would you call her?"

"I don't know; a species that evolved on a low gravity planet, maybe?"

"Oh, Henry, you are such a romantic."

"What kind of bread are you baking? It smells outrageous!"

"Walnut and black olive. It will be ready in a half hour or so."

He tossed down his juice then stood, holding onto the table until the light-headedness passed, then he shook his head and walked back to the ten foot tall winged creature asleep on his bunk...

+++++

She knew the dream was over yet it felt so good to simply sleep...

Eva sat up in the darkness expecting to feel the harsh contours of the tank, but groping around she felt a mattress underneath and something that seemed to imply she had returned to normal gravity. She swung her legs out of bed and felt carpet underfoot and then knew she was back in Britt's house, so she walked to the kitchen and found the light switch, then she found a clean glass and filled it with water.

And there was Britt on the sofa in the living room, apparently wide awake and staring out the windows that overlooked the bay. She filled a second glass and went to the sofa...

"Here. Drink this."

But the physician appeared to be in some sort of trance-like state; Britt was rigid, quiet, and unresponsive, so Eva looked out the window too.

The female orcas were out there, not a hundred meters away from what she could tell, and they were perfectly still, too. Shaking her head, her thoughts reached out for Henry - yet she was shocked to find her way blocked. She'd not experienced this before, and she wondered what it meant.

+++++

As he lay down on the bed her eyes opened, then she smiled.

And as soon as he looked into her eyes he smiled too - because he'd never felt anything quite like what he was feeling inside that moment. It was reminiscent of the first time he'd looked at a girl back in grade school and he'd felt a funny stirring in the pit of his belly - a funny, timeless tremor both within and beyond the moment. Yet different, too.

Her eyes were larger than his, but otherwise her face was in proportion almost human. Still, her eyes were silver-gray and flecked with specks of pinkish amber; the skin on her face was silver-gray too, yet almost pinkishly iridescent. And almost everything else he saw was covered in whitish feathers; white with amber roots and faintly pink ends.

Then she folded one of her wings over the bed, covering his entire body in one easy move - and affording an unusual layer of privacy. And she pulled him closer, her eyes taking on an almost laser-like intensity, and whatever else it might have been, he felt an overwhelming wave of love washing over him.

"What is this?" he whispered.

"My feelings for you, Henry Taggart. This is what it feels like when you reach for me, and it is now as it has always been - from the beginning." Her hand came up and caressed the side of his face, and when her skin touched his another overwhelming wave of love crashed over him. "Do you feel how it is for me now?"

She was, he decided then and there, something like love-heroin. Her feelings, her touch, the look in her eyes. Could he live without these feelings?

He instantly doubted that.

"What would be the point?" he said to the universe.

"What do you mean?"

"What would be the point of life without you?"

The smile in her eyes left him breathless and he felt himself drifting away into the madness of pure timelessness.

Then Rolf was reaching into his mind -

'Henry? We need you up here. Can you come now?'

Then Eva was there, too -

'I couldn't reach you. What happened?'

She cupped his face in her hands and strength poured into his parched body, then she nodded. "Go to them. There will be time for us."

"I'm not sure I can now..."

"Yes, you must, for you are their strength now, and this is your time."

She then placed a hand on his chest and warmth poured into him, and with the warmth a kind of resolve. He inhaled deeply and seemed to grow into the moment...

When he stood this time there was no light-headedness, only the strength to get through the coming storm.

21.11

This was a different world. Entropy - no longer gradual, but energetic, almost chaotic - reigned supreme here.

"Henry...look at this news report," Rolf exclaimed almost breathlessly, pointing at the screen.

Taggart hunched over and looked at the display: two more hot cyclones had formed in just the last six hours - one south of Bangladesh, and another, much larger storm southeast of Japan. Like Epsilon, both of these new storms were redefining meteorological theory with their blistering hot temperatures and historic wind velocities, and now climate change scientists were gathering information from every available source, trying to make sense of these developments. Yet as information poured in from satellites and remote sensing buoys the data just didn't seem to make sense...

Unless...

Some unforeseen tipping point had been breeched.

Henry looked up from the screen and shook his head, then he looked up at the masthead.

But Winky wasn't there.

He closed his eyes and leaned back, reached out for Winky - only to find a wall of emptiness in the darkness. This hadn't happened before, and he suddenly felt very unsure of his footing.

So he reached out to Pinky - and once again found only a void.

He reached out to Eva and found she was sitting up in Britt's seaside home just outside of Bergen, watching several female orcas, while Britt seemed to be lost inside of some kind of catatonic funk.