The Golden Mast, page 7
I scooted behind a couple sailors patching a scrape on Vedic’s siding. If Dayita was unavailable, I was Fatima’s second favorite target.
Janine grinned and held a piece of fiberglass in front of me. “Coward,” she mouthed.
Fatima stomped across the deck, hands on her ample hips, and glared at Dayita. “Where’s my dinner? I’ve been waiting long enough.”
I kept my head down and pulled on the rope.
“Dinner is at the same time every evening, Fatima. The crew is busy right now. If you offered to help, you might get your dinner sooner.” Dayita turned back to her sea charts.
The Island Chief’s face darkened at the use of her given name. “You shall call me Island Chief,” she said between gritted teeth. She stomped back to the cabin she shared with Belani and two other kids.
I rolled up a rope and snickered. On our first day at sea, Fatima raised a ruckus about sharing a cabin. Dayita pointed out that all the adults slept in the galley, and she was welcome to join them if her quarters were unsuitable. Fatima had glared at Dayita and sputtered with powerless rage.
Belani tried to soothe her mother, but Fatima spat, “Why on earth did you survive instead of Sameer!”
The hurt in Belani’s eyes had torn at me. How could a mother be so cruel?
Dark gray clouds circled the ship, teasing us puny humans, but we were enjoying a brief lull in the storm. Seagulls circled above Vedic, and put up a great fuss. Land must be near.
Belani staggered out of the hold, her face deathly pale. Vedic had synthed a golden jumpsuit for her, similar to the crew’s uniform. The color brought out the flakes of gold in her hazel eyes, but did nothing for the greenish shade of her skin.
“Feeling any better?”
“No.”
I leaned against the golden mast. What were we doing out here? Vedic was skirting the edge of the hungry storm as it gobbled up the Maldives islands, but everywhere we sailed, all we found were more destroyed villages and bodies floating in the water. We relived the nightmare of losing our village and the people we loved every time we found another shattered island.
“We’re coming up to a large island,” Dayita said.
I stood at Vedic’s bow and gazed at Thuraakunu.
The bubble domes were gone, and many of the trees, roots and all, floated in the briny water around the doomed island. I could not make out the lodge, but the giant black tree jutted above the forest. One trunk was bent, and the tree leaned to the left, but red and blue light imps flashed up and down two of the trunks. The tree was still alive.
“Let’s move on, Dayita. Bad men live inside that strange tree. They forced us to work for them and beat us for fun.” I lifted up my shirt.
Dayita gasped at the red welts crisscrossing my back. “The Arkers did this?”
Arkers? “Tree people, we call them. The sergeant whipped me for sassing him.”
She cursed under her breath. “I’d like to get my hands on those cretins.”
“No, you wouldn’t, they’re bad men,” I said again.
She sighed. “Very well, young man, we’ll avoid the tower on Thuraakunu, but I fear many more towers are scattered across Mother Earth.”
Of Viringili, we found no sign, but his cats swung from the few trees still standing. They caught sight of us and howled.
Misty quivered in Belani’s arms and shrank from their pitiful cries. She stroked the cat’s back. “Easy, Misty. You’re safe with me.” She kissed the kitten’s head. “We should rename this island the Isle of Cats.”
I read the look in her eyes. “Cats can take care of themselves. Don’t worry about them.”
“Well, that’s it,” Dayita said as she flopped onto a raised mat, what Janine called a lounger. “We’ve searched all of the Atolls. No one’s left alive, except those infernal cats.” She sighed and shook her head. “If only we had gotten here sooner.”
“You mean we’re all that’s left?”
“I’m afraid so. You are all that remains of the Maldivian people. And the Island Chief, of course.”
Belani rolled her eyes and mouthed the word, “Sorry.”
“Where are we going, then?” I said.
“Goa, India, where we’ll await the Manitons.” She fixed me with a Dayita-stare. “Our mission, remember, is to get you to safety in Maniton.”
Ali tugged on Dayita’s sleeve. “What’s a Maniton?”
“Maniton is an underwater city for First Children. People like me were sent out to rescue children like you. We’ll take you to the gathering site at Goa where submarines from Maniton are waiting.”
Ali blinked his large brown eyes. “Why?”
“The World Council refuses to let First Peoples die out. They built the city for the Rainbow Warriors—that’s you and all the other rescued First Children. No matter what happens topside, you’ll be safe in Maniton.”
Ali puffed up his chest and slapped Hasan on the back. “Hear that, Hasan, I’m a Rainbow Warrior.”
Hasan scarfed down a handful of peanuts and returned the slap. “Big deal, so am I.”
Fatima sidled closer. “What about adults?”
Dayita shook her head. “No one over nineteen can go to Maniton.”
Fatima snorted. “Except for you, of course.”
A nerve twitched on Dayita’s cheek, but she answered calmly. “When I deliver these children into the care of the Manitons, my mission is over.”
Ali crawled onto Dayita’s lap. “Will we have fun in Maniton?”
Dayita grinned. “Lots of fun. You’ll go to school and learn to read about all sorts of interesting things like the history of Earth and space exploration.”
Fatima waved her hand. “They need not know any of those things. Learning the Quran is enough.”
Dayita pursed her lips. I knew that look. “The people of Maliku used to be some of the most educated, well-read people in the region. What happened?”
Fatima lifted her flabby nose in the air. “Many seasons ago, our wise leader saw the light and banned books and learning except from reciting the holy Quran.”
“What a pity,” Dayita murmured.
Fatima’s eyes flashed, and she opened her mouth to argue.
Wise beyond his years, Ali changed the subject. “Any snakes in Maniton?” He cast a sly look in Belani’s direction. She stuck out her tongue.
Dayita chuckled. “I expect so. Bio-domes are being prepared for animals from all over the world.”
“Will we live in a dome?”
“Yes, indeed. A beautiful dome that resembles your home in the Maldives.”
“With palm trees, and sand, and lots of fishes?”
“I don’t know exactly, but Maniton’s scientists have been collecting samples of fish, animals, and plants from all over the world. Before I met you, we stopped at several atolls and took samples of the plants and our fishers picked up DNA samples of marine life in the Arabian Sea.” She patted his back. “You’ll feel right at home.”
Ali had fallen asleep in Dayita’s arms.
Mixed-up emotions assailed me. Maniton sounded wonderful. We would be safe there, but did I want to spend the rest of my days hiding in a bubble beneath the sea?
“We should reach Goa in a week if the storm holds off.”
At my questioning look, Dayita added, “Storms seldom dissipate anymore, they just take a breather. Then they move on, building strength and wreaking havoc wherever they touch land. A storm like this one might survive for decades or even forever.”
Captain Jones sauntered over, a worry frown marring his high forehead. He handed Dayita a cup of milky coffee. “Bad news.”
“What’s happened?”
“That mother of all storms has veered again and is heading straight for us. It’s cut us off from Goa.”
I tucked Ali into his bunk, and Dayita flattened out her sea charts. “Which route’s safe?”
Captain Jones grinned. “You know, you could use the holocharts.”
Dayita harrumphed.
The captain took off his hat and scratched his thinning, white hair. He traced his wrinkly fingers along the map and jabbed a spot. “The storm will hit us some time tomorrow about here. We’ll dive if the weather becomes too bad. Southeast Asia looks safest for now. We’ll cross into the Java Sea for calmer waters and head southeast for shelter behind Australia.”
“But that’s so far away from Goa,” Dayita said.
Captain Jones shrugged. “That storm’s the size of a continent. No sense getting in the mix if we can’t reach Goa.”
Chapter Ten
The Mother
of All Storms
Captain Jones hoisted all the sails to save the solar cells, and Vedic sailed into the hot wind. The storm’s lead clouds circled above, gray instead of pink and green, but maybe more dangerous.
I sniffed the air and got a lungful of dead fish and something undefinable. Dead, whatever it was.
Most of the kids had retreated to the lowest deck. Vedic was playing a twenty-first century show called Moana on the lounge’s holo. The cheery music and the cartoon mesmerized them, even the seasick ones. Good, the holo would keep their minds off missing their families and what the approaching storm might bring. I’d overheard Janine talking to another crew member while she heaved on heavy ropes. “We won’t survive if the storm catches us,” she’d said.
Belani pushed against the wind and came to stand beside me on the topmost deck. Now that Vedic was skimming over the waves, her seasickness had eased, and her cocoa-colored skin no longer had a sickly green tinge.
“Don’t you like the holo?”
She twitched her pert nose. “Nah, her hair’s too perfect, but I might ask Vedic to make me a grass skirt like Moana’s.”
“Your grandmother will roll in her grave. What kind of Muslim are you, anyway?”
“A good one, in all the ways that matter. Besides, I’m kidding.”
Vedic swayed to one side, and Belani grasped the rail. “Storm’s moving in. I’ll be hanging on to what Janine calls the great white telephone soon enough.”
I squeezed her slim hand. “Dayita will get us to safety.” I held back my own fears. Safety seemed a faraway fantasy.
“Yeah, but Cook said we’re running out of supplies for the synthor, and the filtrators can’t use the same water for much longer. We’ll be eating sailor rations soon. And this Australia they talk about is thousands of klicks away from Goa.”
“If we can reach calm waters, we’ll fish for our food.” If there was one thing Malikuns knew, it was fishing.
“Fish, yuck,” Belani said.
Vedic shuddered and groaned as the wind, and the waves picked up. Lightning streaked across the darkening sky, and thunder rumbled overhead. Mud rain splattered the white sails and left ugly trails as it slid down the sails. Yep, safety was a faraway fantasy.
A rogue wave crashed over the ship, and she floundered for a time before regaining her balance. Belani and I clung to the railing and ducked under the worst of the wave.
“Vedic, armor up!” Captain Jones shouted over the screeching winds.
Oh yah
Vedic raised her dark armor, and day turned to night. Lights came on in the topside lounge.
“Everyone below deck,” Dayita said.
We entered Vedic’s underwater world. Her glass walls, what Janine called transparent aluminum, opened up the sea world on good days, but with her armor down, I couldn’t see a thing.
Vedic rolled again and tossed the kids watching the movie across the carpeted floor.
“Hey, that’s not funny,” Ali said. He picked himself up and turned back to Moana.
“That’s it, we’re going down. Prepare to submerge,” Captain Jones said over the ship’s comm.
Musa turned her frightened eyes on me. “Are we sinking?”
“Vedic floats under water as easy as above, Musa. Don’t worry, they know what they’re doing,” I said, unsure if I believed my own words.
Fatima strutted out of her cabin. “Time for Dhuhr prayers.”
We gathered for afternoon prayers in the alcove Janine and Dayita had prepared for us, and knelt on the red and blue prayer mats Vedic synthed. My body relaxed and my fears eased as I prayed.
Our prayers finished just in time. Vedic rocked and rolled during the first part of her descent. That did it. One by one the mighty Malikuns headed for the toilets.
Belani was sitting on the floor and holding onto the toilet bowl when I passed by. “I can’t take much more of this,” she said.
“Dayita said the ship will settle down once we reach calmer waters.”
“Calmer water seems unlikely at the moment.” Her eyes rolled back. “Oh no, here I go again.”
I beat a hasty retreat.
The deeper we sank, the calmer the water. Vedic released her armor and the undersea world open up to us.
The kids staggered into the lounge, their faces varying shades of green. Ali and Belani sported the best shades. They flopped down beside the glass wall and watched the sea world pass by. Filtered light from the surface cast an eerie blue-green glow over the underwater sea.
“It’s a green world,” Ali said.
Hasan smirked and threw a peanut at Ali. “Kind a like your face.”
“Whoa! Would you look at that!” Ali said.
Vedic sailed by a craggy rock wall in silhouette, then glided over a wide gorge and mysterious fissures.
“Wonder what’s down there.” Ali said. “I bet it gots no bottom.”
Belani crawled onto the lounger with me. I pulled her into my arms. Fatima glared, but I ignored her. “You’re looking close to normal,” I whispered in her ear.
She managed a feeble smile. “Wish we could sail underwater all the way to Goa. Then I might make it.”
I squinted at the hazy ocean scene, and almost made out a shape. “What is that?”
Dayita was staring at her glower. “Wait for it. Wait ….”
We drew closer and Vedic’s lights shone across a jumble of rotting timber ribs spread across the ocean floor. “Why, it’s a sunken ship. A big one.”
Dayita waved her glower at the ship. “A Portugal galleon, from the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Must have been marauding Malaysia before it went down.”
We stared at the ship’s skeleton, no one saying a word, not even Ali. Four or five hundred years ago, that ship had sailed the sea.
Vedic came to a sudden stop and drifted in the current.
“Vedic has a bit of a propulsion problem at the moment. We’re anchoring to keep her from going over the edge of the chasm,” Captain Jones said over the comm.
Clanging pillars, like long legs, thrust out of the ship and dug into the sea bottom.
“Maumoon, Captain Jones is sending out a repair crew. He wondered if you would like to join them for a bit of a swim. Maybe explore the shipwreck,” Dayita said. She glanced at Belani and held back a grin. “I doubt your friends are in any shape to go along.”
Go outside? Like in my dream? But the shipwreck called to me. I dreamed of being an explorer all my life so why not start with the wonders on the sea bottom? “Okay, but I’ve never been underwater except when diving for seashells or crayfish.”
Dayita grinned. “Our suits take care of life support. You’re just along for the ride and the fun.”
Janine helped me with the suit. It slid over my entire body, even my face.
“Just breathe naturally,” she said. “No need for a breather.”
I stepped out of the airlock and into a wonderland of green, blue, and black anemones waving in the gentle current. Curious seahorses peeked at me from inside the anemones’ tentacles, but darted away when I moved closer.
The ship’s carcass loomed over me. I swam across what used to be the ship’s top deck. Green algae and clusters of dusky pink and soft blue coral coated the skeleton and added some color to the ruins of the ancient ship.
“Whoa!”
A moray eel lunged at me from inside the wreckage, and I stepped on an anchor covered in layers of barnacles when I jumped back. The eel’s beady eyes glared at me, and it opened and closed its mouth, flexing its two sets of sharp teeth. “Okay, I’m moving on, sorry for disturbing you.”
A bit of shiny peeked through the crud underneath the anchor. I swooped down and picked up a round piece of metal.
“That looks like a coin,” Dayita said over the comm. “Bring it in, and we’ll date it.”
The cold water sucked the life out of me even with my suit, but I loved the freedom of floating in the sea world. We glided over small pockets of yellow and purple brain coral, except most of the coral was gray. “What’s wrong with that coral? It looks dead.”
Janine floated up to me. “The warming oceans killed off most coral fifty years ago, but small clusters survived in these cooler waters. Some didn’t.”
This was warm water?
The ocean hummed, softly at first, then louder and louder, and a strong current from above pushed at me.
“Why it’s a pod of whales,” Janine said. “They’re coming back now that humans are no longer hunting them.”
The whales undulated in the water, then one stood on its head and sank down to my depth. A giant eye stared at me, unblinking, for a long moment. Silver netting was wrapped around one of the whale’s flippers. “Janine! The whale’s caught on a net.”
We cut and tugged at the netting until the mesh sank to the bottom of the sea. The whale blinked its thanks, then righted itself and joined the pod disappearing into the darkness.
“Maumoon, watch out!” Janine said.
The water around me bubbled. I turned and came nose to nose with a gigantic shark bent on having me for lunch. The shark opened its toothy jaws.
