Breakthrough (29 page)

41

The swells were getting taller the further Alison got from land, and the morning sun was finally beginning to crest over the horizon.  The straps that the guys installed were keeping the server relatively stable, but she kept her hand on the equipment when she could to help counter the rocking motion of the boat.  The increasing swells and the sensitivity of the server kept her limited to a relatively slow speed, so after more than two hours she was not even half the distance to Bimini.  Alison also realized that to transmit a clear signal, she had to stop and turn off the engine.  This kept the engine noise from impairing the broadcast from the speakers, something she remembered from their trip on the Pathfinder.  Unfortunately, every time she turned off the engine, the battery backup device would sound an audible alarm indicating that it had lost power from its source.  She wished Lee would have remembered to disable that.  The benefit though was that she had a digital display of exactly how much more time she had left before the battery went dead.

She throttled down again and let the boat coast to a stop.  Most of the boat’s rolling motion disappeared, and she let go of the server to reach over and turn off the ignition.  She turned on the monitor and typed the command again;
Dirk Sally Stop Danger
.  A moment later, she heard the sound come out from the speakers under the boat.  She waited patiently for a couple minutes and tried again.  While she waited, she wondered how far the sound from those speakers could travel in the open ocean.  She knew that sound traveled better underwater, but she had not thought to ask Lee what the distance was.  It also occurred to her that she didn’t know exactly which direction Dirk and Sally might be coming from.  They assumed it would be a similarly straight line from Miami, but if not then the range of those speakers were even more critical.  The other unknown was when Dirk and Sally would be coming.  John Clay indicated it was going to happen soon but the more she thought about the statement, the less sure she was.  Did he mean soon as in now or soon as in a couple of weeks?  In the end she didn’t know, she just had to go with her gut.

Alison was beginning to feel the exhaustion setting in.  She sat down and reached
for a couple more packs of Oreo cookies.  The previous dose had perked her up, and she was hoping they would again as she tore the wrapper open.  She slowly chewed the cookies and thought about how much less enjoyable junk food was when it was your only option.

Alison sent one last message before starting up the engine again.  When the engine rumbled to life, the alert on the battery shut off and the system when back to charging.  She eased the throttle forward again and verified her location on the GPS as the boat resumed her drive forward through the small waves.

After the third hour, she began stopping the boat more frequently and sending more broadcasts.  Sitting on the seat waiting, she watched the server nervously as it rocked more from side to side under the influence of the swells rolling under the boat.  She looked at the digital screen on the backup battery.  She had three minutes of power left.  At two minutes, she turned the engine back on and continued forward.  Alison was getting increasingly nervous.

After each stop, Alison’s anxiety grew until she was well within sight of Bimini Island’s south
cay.  She did not know where this underwater city was, but she couldn’t be very far from it.  It probably would not be long until she was right on top of it which meant she may not be able to reach Dirk and Sally until it was too late.  Her heart began beating faster at the sudden prospect of now being too close to what was about to happen.

Alison quickly stood up and decided to head back away from the island.  She turned the key to start the engine and listened to the battery alert, waiting to hear it go off.  In a moment of confusion, she looked down at her hand thinking something did not seem right.  The battery alert was still sounding, but she realized the key had already been turned.  She was not sure what she did wrong, but she tried it again, twisting it back to its original position and then turning the key again.  Again, nothing happened.  She looked at the battery
and the alarm was still ringing.   The display on the battery read five minutes and forty-eight seconds, but what caused Alison to panic was that the display did not indicate that it was charging again.

She quickly examined the ignition area, thinking she hit something or flipped a switch accidentally turning something off.  She could not find anything
, every piece seemed firmly in place or downright immovable.  She tried to start the engine again, this time a little more forcibly.  All she heard was a mechanical “click” somewhere inside.  She instantly felt a feeling of dread come over her and stop right in the middle of her stomach as though she was going to be sick.  “Oh god,” she said, trying the key one more time.  Still nothing.

“Oh god!  Please, please start!” she moaned.  She kicked the area beneath the steering wheel, very nearly breaking her foot.  She was now in
a full panic.  She looked at the battery display which read five minutes and twenty one seconds left.  Alison suddenly realized that if she could not start the engine this was all she had left on the server.  She desperately hit the return key sending out another broadcast.  The battery continued to count down.  “No No NO!” she screamed.  She checked the gas gauge and found the tank still a quarter full.  She tried an interior light which showed the electrical was working.

As the battery kept counting down, a dark realization swept over her like a terrible nightmare.  Not only was she about to lose power and the ability to call out to Dirk and Sally…but without the ability to start the engine she couldn’t
leave
.  She was stuck and probably well within range of being killed instantly when the bomb went off.  She was trapped.

“God, please no!’ she screamed again, now hitting the keyboard over and over in desperation.  Below her, the sound from the speakers could be heard broadcasting the same familiar clicks in rapid succession.  She stood watching helplessly as the battery display counted down past the five minute mark.

Sally followed close behind an excited Dirk who swam quickly through the emerald blue waters.  Both were happy to be in the open ocean again.  She stayed close to Dirk easily as the large gift on his back slowed him down.  She could now detect the distant hum of the giant ring almost twenty miles away.  It was then that she heard something else, a faint sound coming from another direction.  Sally slowed, listening as Dirk began to pull away.  The sound was familiar.  She watched Dirk, intent on helping his friends, slowly fade ahead into the glimmering blue veil of the underwater sunlight. 

Alison kept hitting the keyboard sending out the message again and again.  The display was down to two minutes and thirty-two seconds.  She was desperately digging through the storage compartments looking for a manual to the boat.  Of course
, it was pointless, since she did not know the first thing about boats or mechanics, but she looked anyway.  She simply could not think of anything else to do.  She had every cushion seat turned over and finally pulled up the last storage compartment lid.  She felt a glimmer of hope when she spotted a large toolbox and pulled it out.  Alison flipped the cover over and dug through the tools a quickly as she could.  No manual.  Her heart sank. 

She looked at the battery.  It read one minute and forty-five seconds.  She hit the keyboard again and collapsed down onto the floor crying.  She felt so utterly stupid.  She hardly knew anything about what was happening and here she was running to the rescue.  Except there was no rescue.  Instead, she had condemned herself to die as she sat helplessly in the middle of the ocean.  She even tried
turning her phone’s cellular back on but there was no signal.  It was hopeless.

She was crying so hard now that she did not hear IMIS relay a message. 
Alison
.   She tried to catch her breath and looked at the battery display which was now nothing more than torture.  It was almost down to one minute.  IMIS broadcasted again and Alison’s heart stopped. 
Alison
.

Alison almost couldn’t move.  Half frozen
, she forced herself to the side of the cabin and looked outside.  Sally was next to her with her head sticking out of the water.  “Oh my god!” she cried and ran for the door.  “Wait!”  She suddenly stopped when her hand grabbed the handle and turned around.  The display said forty-seven seconds.  In a flash, she rushed back to the keyboard and typed as fast as she could. 
Sally danger.  Must leave fast.  Get Dirk
.  She hit the enter key and waited what felt like an eternity for Sally’s reply.

Dirk far now.  Has gift.

“No no!” Alison moaned.  She quickly typed again. 
Must leave. Gift much much danger.

She hit the enter key and looked at the display.  It passed ten seconds.  She could hear the server making noise preparing to shut down.  “
Nooooo!” she yelled.

And then it was off.  The screen went blank
and all of the lights on the server disappeared.

“Dammit!” she shouted.  She turned and burst through the door into the open air.  Sally was watching her and making a series of clicks and whistles, but Alison no longer had any idea what she was saying.  She looked out over the water and then to the dark flat line on the horizon which was Bimini.  How far ahead was Dirk?  How close was the ring?  Her hands were shaking.  The explosion could come any second.

Alison looked off to the south and could see the tiny island of North Cat Cay a few miles away.  She then looked down at Sally and in desperation jumped from the side of the boat and into the water.  She passed Sally and began swimming in the direction of North Cat, but she did not get more than ten feet before Sally bumped her from behind.

Alison shook her head.  “We have to leave, Sally!”  Sally remained quiet
, watching her.  Alison gave her an exasperated look, frustrated at her inability to communicate, and started swimming again.  But she knew it was futile.  Even an Olympic athlete could not swim that far in time.  It was all she could think of.

Sally bumped her again from the back, momentarily pushing her underwater.  Alison sputtered, coughing water out of her mouth, and again began swimming.  Again Sally bumped her.  “We have to GO!” she said spitting more water out. 

She turned away again and felt another bump, this time harder.  Alison realized she was not moving.  Instead she felt Sally’s nose and mouth dig into her back, grab the life jacket strap, and rip it free.  The life jacket suddenly came loose around her neck and she scrambled to keep it on.  Sally then bit the jacket around Alison’s neck and pulled it off.

“What are you doing?!” Alison screamed, trying to tread water.

Sally gave another series of clicks and whistles.  She then flipped the jacket around keeping the neck area in her teeth.  Alison stared at her trying to understand.  She looked at the white nylon straps hanging on either side of Sally. 

Suddenly Alison’s eyes opened wide.  She quickly swam up behind Sally and wrapped her arms around Sally’s thick neck.  She gave her a giant kiss on the back of the head and then reached for the straps, wrapping them around her wrists.  “Go Sally!” she yelled.

At once, Sally bolted forward with Alison hanging on behind her.  Her powerful tail pumped hard behind them and the water surged past.  Alison laid her head against Sally’s neck and closed her eyes, trying to keep as much water out of her face as possible.  She felt Sally’s whole body move back and forth soon reaching a smooth rhythm powering through the water.

Dirk did not know where Sally went, but he could now see the distant bright blue glow from the ring.  He pushed forward excitedly and descended deeper and deeper toward the bottom.

Alison was struggling to keep from choking on all the water.  She tried to lift her head for air.  They were getting closer to North Cat.  Suddenly Sally accelerated.  Alison began to slide side to side from the motion and fought to stay on.  The pressure on her wrists was cutting off her circulation and she could barely feel her hands, now white and losing blood.  Alison lifted her head and could see something ahead.  It looked like… rocks.  Did Sally see them?  Were they going to come all this way just to smash themselves onto the rocks by accident?  Sally’s pace suddenly quickened even more.

Alison looked up again.  It was a giant breakwater!  And it was made up of thousands of giant boulders.

“Sally stop!” she yelled, but Sally seemed to move even faster.  “Sally, rocks!”

At that instant, behind them and deep underwater, the nuclear material inside the bomb fused and the atomic detonation was unleashed.  In a fraction of a second, billions of tons of water were instantly vaporized.  The giant explosion lifted a massive amount of water over twenty feet above sea level before falling back down again into the giant vacuum created in the center.  The shock wave was enormous and traveled out in every direction, hitting Bimini first.  Trees, cars and buildings were instantly flattened as Bimini’s two islands absorbed much of the impact headed westward.  The rest of the shock wave quickly rippled outward into the Atlantic, to the northeast and southeast.

After climbing over Bimini’s islands, the wall of energy approached North Cat Cay at over two hundred miles per hour.  Sally was now upon the breakwater and, with all of her might, she jumped as high into the air as she could with Alison desperately holding on.  In what felt like slow motion, they traveled over the giant rocks and hit the water on the other side just as the shock wave smashed into the north side of the island.