Come Alive Ch. 34

"Both maybe, but I'm not really talking about that kind of love..."

"Really? So, do you mean to say that there are different kinds of love?"

"Certainly. Like...you can love some friends and not others, or you can even love a car or a painting..."

"Truly?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Happens all the time."

"So, in what way do you love me?" Pinky asked.

"You're a friend, and I started to like you as soon as I got to spend some time with you."

"You don't find me...unattractive?"

"No, not at all. You're just different, but different isn't a bad thing."

"I have found myself wondering since you first said you loved me, what it would be like to love someone."

"I take it you mean you don't?" Henry said, a little sympathy creeping into his voice.

"No. Never."

"No friends, then?"

"None," she said -- matter-of-factly.

"But...you're an empath, right? I mean, you find it easy to feel what other people are feeling?"

"To a degree, yes, that is true."

"Have you ever had sexual relations with anyone?"

"No, never," she said, again very matter-of-factly, and completely without embarrassment.

"How do you reproduce?"

"You would call the process...artificial."

"No shit. What a drag."

"A drag?"

"Yeah. You know...a bummer."

Pinky shrugged. "Sorry, you've lost me."

Henry shrugged. "I guess, to me anyway, it feels like you'd be missing out on something important by not experiencing something so elemental."

She nodded. "Perhaps because physical interactions are no longer of interest to us, or even what you would call a biological imperative. Also, have you ever considered just how much violence is associated with such acts?"

"Of course, but I think you're missing a big point here."

"And that is?" Pinky sighed.

"Why would it produce such a wild variety of calamitous reactions unless it was a pretty big deal...?"

She turned and looked at him, something like an alluring smile growing on her fine-featured face. "Henry Taggart?" she whispered.

"Yes?"

"I have a vagina. Could you show me this thing?"

Henry's eyes started the whole semaphore thing again, and when he realized what he was doing he wondered if he was sending out an S.O.S., but then he saw something in her eyes that hit him in just the right place. Something vaguely human, and something truly lovely.

He nodded, and she came to him.

+++++

The Old Man and the Young Boy stood on the quay, looking at Rolf as he walked over to the boarding gate.

"Can I help you?" Rolf asked.

"Is Henry here?" the Young Boy said.

"No," Rolf sighed. "Did you know him well?"

"Has something happened to him?" the Old Man in the Cape said.

And while he really didn't understand why, Rolf felt ill-at-ease with the expression on the Young Boys face -- and there was something almost malevolent in the way he was looking around the deck of the boat. "He passed away yesterday," Rolf said, still not taking his eyes off the Young Boy.

"Oh?" the Old Man replied. "I'm so sorry to hear that..."

Now, as Rolf looked at the boy he felt an overwhelming impulse to flee.

"...We had only recently met, and we had a ripping good conversation a few days ago..."

And just then the Young Boy turned and looked right into Rolf's eyes, and the sensation of evil became palpable...

"...and I was hoping to continue our talk," the Old Man concluded.

Rolf shifted his gaze and realized Tracy was standing beside him now, and again, without quite understanding why, he felt more at ease.

"I've seen you before, haven't I?" Tracy said to the Young Boy.

And now the Young Boy's eyes drifted to Tracy's, and a soul-crushing smile drifted across his face. "I think you know the answer to that question, Tracy," the Young Boy hissed --

And again, without knowing why or even understanding the feelings flooding his mind, Rolf launched himself from Time Bandit's deck, and he realized his intent was to attack the Young Boy with all his might.

Yet before he could cross the space between them, the Young Boy simply disappeared and Rolf careened onto the snow covered grass.

The Old Man held up his Cane, then apparently had second thoughts before he too disappeared, then Tracy came to him and helped him to his feet.

"Aren't those the people who shot you?" Rolf asked.

"I'm not sure, Rolf. I think so, but the last thing I remember seeing was a police officer drawing his pistol and taking aim..."

"At me."

Tracy nodded. "Yes. At you."

"And you pushed me out of the way. The bullet hit you."

She pulled the boy close and held him tight, running her fingers through his hair.

"We should leave now," Rolf said, his voice trembling.

"I don't think that will matter, Rolf. I think they'll be able to find us no matter where we go."

"So, what do we do?"

"We finish reading Henry's notebooks, Rolf. All of them. Everything he knew is in those things, and everything he thought we'd need to take them on is in there, too."

He turned and faced her. "You're not sick, are you? I mean, you're not going to leave me too, are you?"

"No, I'm not sick, Rolf, and we're going to get through this. You and me, together."

"And Anton...right?"

"Yes. And Anton will be with us, too."

Rolf nodded and was still holding on tight...when Dina walked up and out of the companionway. She saw Tracy and her grandson standing together in the snow and she cursed the day Henry Taggart had drifted into her life.

Part IV

The big, blue Swan 65 was berthed in Victoria, British Columbia, at a small marina located deep inside the inner harbor a stone's throw from The Empress Hotel, and Henry Taggart had just finished stowing supplies for three weeks down below. They'd probably only need ten days for the crossing to Maui, but better safe than sorry, right?

This was the second time Rupert and Henry were taking the Swan on the Victoria to Maui Race, and they were taking this second effort more seriously than the first time they'd made the run. They'd placed tenth in class on that first race and Rupert had been pissed, but now that he and Henry understood this would be their last race, period, they'd both decided to take the whole thing more seriously this time out.

So...it had been decided early on that they'd bring only one case of rum on this race, instead of the three cases they'd carried on the first race. Sacrifices had to be made, right?

But this time Rupert had insisted on a proper crew, and besides Henry, all were from Boeing. Test pilots, including a retired shuttle pilot, were making this trip, and as they'd been practicing together for several weeks now everyone was hopped up and ready to go.

"What say we take a break and head up to the hotel for tea?" Rupert said as he came out of the companionway.

"Tea?" Henry sighed. "We're going to be locked up on a boat for ten days with a bunch of pilots and you want to get tea?"

Rupert shrugged. "Ain't no hookers in this town far as I can tell," he snarled, "and anyway, I ain't real sure I'd like to get it on with one of those hairy-legged Canadian girls."

"Oh yeah? After a week at sea, Rupert, those hairy legs are gonna start to look real good."

Rupert shook his head and shivered. "Never!"

"Well, anyway, I'm glad we have those rooms up there. I'm going to get in that shower tonight and stand under the water for an hour -- just so I don't forget what it feels like."

"Taggart...you're a wuss."

"Damn straight," Henry said as he hopped down to the dock. Once Rupert was down they started the short walk up to the hotel and, as no shorts and t-shirts were allowed in the Lobby Lounge, where tea was being served this afternoon, they needed to hit the showers and change first. They paused at the crosswalk and waited for traffic, then made their way up to the main lobby.

"I'll meet you back here," Rupert said as they waited for an elevator.

"Right," Henry replied.

And so Henry went on to his room, not at all expecting to find Pinky already there and waiting impatiently for him.

"Well, this is a surprise," he said as he walked into his room. "To what do I owe..."

"Henry! I am with child!"

"Excuse me?"

"I am with child. You are the father."

"And you're not funny."

"I am not trying to be funny, Henry. I am with child."

"But how is this even possible? I'm no geneticist, but the last time I checked the DNA from two distinct species couldn't..."

But then Henry stopped talking, and now he looked at Pinky once again, only like he was looking at her for the very first time. Five fingers, horizontally opposed thumb. Bilateral symmetry. Structural anatomy of her arms and legs -- all identical to ours, from her toes to her nose, and so what was the chance her species had developed in some faraway galaxy?

And when he looked at her now she turned and looked away, and for the first time he knew, he really knew, that she was capable of being truly evasive.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on?" he asked.

She turned back to face him once again, only now she spoke softly. "We are from earth. The earth of your distant past."

"Distant? Like...how distant?"

She shrugged. "That is not important."

"Okay. So, what is important?"

"This child. This is important."

"What can I do to help?"

"I do not know. My -- superiors -- are not at all pleased."

"Well, I'm not too sure I'm all that happy about this myself."

Which caused Pinky to fall to the bed -- in tears.

"Ah, estrogen," Henry sighed. "Can't live with it...can't live without it."

"What?"

"Oh...nothing, dear."

"I don't know what to do!"

"You...and about 42,000 other teenage girls."

"What?"

"Nothing. So tell me, what are your options?"

"I have none. I am to report to our hospital for observation and monitoring of fetal development."

"You won't be able to visit while this is going on?"

"I do not know."

"How long will you..."

"I do not know."

"Right." He went to the bed and laid down next to her, then he caressed her face as he looked into her eyes.

"Is this the love you spoke of, Henry? This thing I see in your eyes?"

"I don't know? What do you see?"

"It is almost like sadness, but not quite. It is more like a willingness to share good things as well as bad. Is that it?"

"Maybe a part of it, but there's more to it than that."

"When this race is over, will you come visit me?"

"Of course."

"I love what I see in your eyes right now, Henry Taggart."

He smiled. A little smile at first, but soon it grew and grew...

"What is so funny, Henry?"

"Did you hear to what you just said? You said 'I love what I see...' Don't you get it? You're there, Pink. You're feeling love!"

Her eyes flashed wide just before she sat up on the bed, then she winked out and was gone.

"Damn. Must've been something I said," Henry said as he ambled into the bathroom. Then, as he scrambled out of his clothes, he looked at the shower and sighed.

+++++

Rolf was shaking with rage; Tracy helped the boy stand and brushed snow off his jacket, and when they turned to go back to Time Bandits she saw Dina standing under the cockpit dodger, scowling -- as if the weight of all the world's problems had suddenly landed squarely on her shoulders.

Yet Dina came to the rail and helped them back aboard, and she held Rolf's hand as she led him to the cockpit. "What is it?" she asked when she saw the anger on her grandson's face. "What has happened?"

"Nothing," Tracy said.

"Oh, right," Dina snarled. "Just like nothing happened when you got yourself shot in the shoulder! When are you going to start trusting me, Tracy! I loved him too, you know!"

"And you left him, Dina," Tracy sighed. "You left him when he was at his most vulnerable."

"So that's it, is it? I am never to be trusted again? One mistake and..."

But then Rolf stood, his eyes clear, his mood resilient. "Granma-ma," he began, "I need you to stay here, with the boat. Henry has left directions and contacts for all the work he thought might need to be completed before we can go to sea again, and it is most important that these things be done while we are away..."

"Away!" Dina cried. "You're going away again?"

"As soon as Anton returns, yes, we will leave. I will be counting on you to get both boats ready to leave at a moment's notice..."

"That's preposterous!" Dina growled, her hands slashing about like a bouquet of scalpels. "Where will you be? When will you return? How am I to function without knowing even the basics of where you are, or even who you are with...?"

"Granma-ma? If you want to see Britt again, or even Eva, you must trust me."

"Trust you? My God, Rolf! You are just a boy!"

"And that," Tracy whispered, her words trailing away on a breeze, "is why we can't trust you..."

+++++

With two minutes to go before the start, Henry held the Swan back a little, hoping to maneuver behind an ultra-lightweight design and slip into a better, or windward, position when the starting gun sounded. He checked the apparent wind angle and the apparent wind speed indicators as he tried to read eddies on the almost calm surface of the sea off Victoria, then he turned and looked over his right shoulder -- and saw another boat now had the same idea and was going to slide in and push his Swan down towards the ultralight, at the same time blanketing his sails and stalling his start. He pushed the Swan closer to the wind, hoping to stall the overtaking boat while maintaining his momentum towards the starting line, but he was beginning to doubt this updated Frers design had the upwind chops to hold his line in this light air.

Rupert had their lightest, biggest genoa up, and they were making almost 4 knots over the ground, but the overtaking boat was doing just a little better. Still, if he could push the other boat too far into the wind he might still just pull this off. He looked at the telltales up and down the gennie and sighed...

"Let her out a little, Dave," Henry said to Dave Mason, a Boeing test pilot along for the ride.

"Got it."

Henry watched their boat speed pick up two-tenths of a knot before he fell off the wind a little, looking for the perfect 'slot' of airflow between the main and genoa, then he saw another eddie on the water and began to time his next turn into the wind.

"Okay Dave, get ready to bring her in again on three -- two -- one...now!"

Henry caught the header and the Swan's speed jumped to five knots, then five point two, and the overtaking boat began to fall behind with only about fifty yards -- or fifteen seconds -- to go to the start. He looked at his countdown timer and then at the imaginary line between the committee boat and an inflatable marker buoy set out a hundred yards or so from the powerboat, and he grinned. Rupert gave him a fist-pump as the cannon fired and as their Swan crossed the start -- in the lead!

Now, one by one, boats started falling off as tacticians on each boat began maneuvering for the next tactical advantage, their job to exploit long-range weather forecasts, not just the local winds and current. Knowing exactly where the North Pacific High was located would become the most important bit of information each skipper had as they neared the halfway point to Maui, but first they'd have to clear Race Rocks and then set a course for Tatoosh Island, all while each boat's skipper kept close eyes on the other boats in their class.

Alston, their tactician, called up a new course and Henry turned to starboard 30 degrees; Dave let out the gennie while Karen Grimes, another Boeing test pilot, handled the main -- both without being told to do so, always a good sign they were paying attention. The big gennie was pulling well in this light air so Rupert came back to the cockpit and settled down next to Henry.

"Man, I thought I was gonna stroke out when Pyewacket began squeezing us..." Rupert snarled.

"So that's who that was," Henry said. "Aggressive move. Too bad for them."

"You did great, Henry. That was a bad-ass move. I bet Roy is cussing you out right about now."

Henry smiled, if only because his dad would have been proud. If you lost tactical awareness in the start you were doomed, and as many skippers never recover from a botched start a lot of practical emphases is placed on winning the race at the beginning. Crew morale can rise or crash depending on the outcome at the starting line, so Henry had given his strategy a lot of thought. Now he wanted to beat as many boats as he could to Tatoosh, though the bigger boats had the decided advantage of greater boat speed. Still, there were only three boats bigger than the Swan, so Henry knew they had a shot a Class honors on corrected time.

The wind piped up a little and Henry looked at Rupert.

"One point five knots and we'll have to drop that light air sail. Better rig the twin-stay and get ready."

Rupert nodded and went forward, then a shadow off to port caught Henry's eye.

It was an orca -- his orca -- he saw, dancing down there beneath the sun-dappled surface of the sea. Shadowing the Swan, playing with him out here under the dome of the sky.

+++++

"So," Rupert said, "you're really gonna do it? Sell out and sail away?"

It was 0200 and they were in the middle of their watch, and tonight, their third night at sea, the Swan was almost a third of the way to Maui.

Henry nodded. "Yeah. I've been thinking about it for a while, since dad died, anyway."

"Yeah, I miss the old guy. Helluva sailor, too. He made a difference on our first race, ya know?"

"I miss him too," Henry said, looking away for a while.

"The man did love his rum," Rupert added.

"That he did. I think it kept him running."

"So? What are you gonna do?"

"Not really sure yet. I ran across a bunch of books when I was packing up the house, books about cruising the canals in Sweden and the Netherlands, and I think he wanted to do that. I guess, what is that saying? He ran out the clock?"

"Don't we all," Rupert sighed. "No one complains about having too much time, do they?"

"Probably not."

"You got anyone in mind to go with you?"

"No, not really, but I was halfway thinking I'd make the crossing by myself."

"Oh," Rupert said, but Henry could hear the disappointment in his friend's voice.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Watch Madeline curl her hair, for all I know," the retired general snarled. "Hell, I don't know, Taggart. This whole retirement thing has me beat."

"Why don't you load up the Swan when we get to Maui and just keep on going. Go to Tahiti, New Zealand, stop when you get tired..."

"Or have to go home to sign the divorce papers."

"There is that."

"Interesting idea, but I can't handle a tub like this by myself."

"You won't have any problem finding a couple of wahinis to make that trip with you. Not with a boat like this."

"You think?"

"I know."

"My boy would shit a brick..."

"So invite him along. Get to know him. Might be the only chance you get, ya know?"

"I'd have to leave Boeing," Rupert muttered, but Henry could already see the wheels turning. Add a little imagination and Rupert would be off on the adventure of a lifetime...

Pete Mitchell came halfway up the companionway steps and passed over some iced tea and tuna salad sandwiches before he came all the way up into the cockpit.

"Thanks, Pete," Rupert said. "I was getting hungry."

"Me too," Henry said as he snagged a sandwich and took a bite.

"Hank, there's a band on the radar when I set the range out to 48..."

Henry nodded. "I thought I saw a little flicker a few minutes back. Little to the right of our current heading, right?"

"Yeah, but I think it's headed our way."

"Got a velocity vector?"

"Yeah, if my math is right it'll be here in fifty minutes."

"Pete," Rupert asked, "has your math ever been wrong?"

"I made a mistake once," Pete replied, "back in 1973, I think."