Far From The Sea We Know (17 page)

Penny was piloting this time. The regular
crew had plenty on their hands so this made some sense. She cut the
engine and they slowly coasted the rest of the way. Their bows
touched and Matthew tossed a line across.

“How’s the chopper crew?” Matthew asked.

“The pilot’s recovering quickly,” Penny
said, “but the woman keeps going in and out of some kind of
daze.”

“And the cameraman?”

“Bad shape,” Thorssen said. “Not physically.
Some kind of extreme shock.” He looked at the injured gray and the
darker shape beneath. “Fifteen minutes under.”

Thorssen looked down, trying to fathom the
wavering shape below the water. He spoke without looking up.

“No one else in the water. Clear on
that?”

What was clear was that this was not to be a
debatable point.

“Maybe you could get tissue samples now,”
Dirk said. “See if there’s anything that would indicate some kind
of recent skin abnormality. I was thinking of Matthew’s report of a
purple whale—”

“Dirk, put the camera away.”

Dirk looked stunned and seemed about to
contest the order, but Thorssen’s gaze didn’t let up against the
young man’s stare, and he added softly, “Maybe later.”

Dirk shrugged his shoulders and put his
photo gear away. Thorssen looked around slowly, taking in all the
whales, surveying the scene all the way back to the
Valentina
. Chiffrey was on the deck watching them with
binoculars.

Thorssen pulled on the tanks and the rest of
his gear, and tumbled backwards off the side of the Zodiac. The
momentum carried him all the way around before he straightened out.
Appearing to be just drifting, he nonetheless made his way steadily
toward the whales.

Matthew was about to put the mask on when
Penny reached her hand toward him. “Can I try?”

He tossed the mask to her and she put it on.
Then, without a moment’s hesitation, she dipped her face below the
surface to peer into that other world. It was as if she had left
him, and he waited for a moment before trying to peer through the
rippling surface himself. Even without the mask, he could see
Thorssen hanging in the water, almost motionless, near the enormous
head of the whale. He became completely still.

Penny came up for air. “He’s matching her,”
she said. “Mirroring the way she is, just drifting. It’s his way of
establishing a connection.”

“I’m not sure,” Dirk said. “He’s supposed to
be the best in the world at getting close to whales, or just about
anything else in the water. But the ‘how he does it’ has always
sounded a little fuzzy, to tell you the truth.”

“The ‘truth’ is he’s added more to the
knowledge of whales in the last thirty years than anyone else you
can name.”

“Yes, but some have said his work is
not…rigorous enough. Not that I would.”

“You just did.”

“Not going to argue,” Dirk said shrugging.
He glanced at his watch. “Twenty minutes. She’ll have to come up
soon. I hope the Captain’s clear.”

Penny gave her head a little shake. “He’s
been around whales his whole life.”

They waited.

A few gulls had been trailing after the
ship, and they landed in the water near the calf expecting,
perhaps, good eating to come out of the evolving drama.

“Thirty minutes,” Dirk said. “Way past due.
Can you see anything going on down there?”

“About the same,” Penny said. “They’re both
just barely moving. What’s the record for a gray whale staying
under?”

“Passed it five minutes ago.

“The calf doesn’t seem in any distress, just
subdued.”

“Must be in shock,” Matthew said.

“Getting whacked by a helicopter blade would
do that,” Dirk said. “Can I try the mask?”

She handed it toward him, but he ignored it
and looked past her. Matthew and Penny turned to follow Dirk’s
stare and as they all watched, a mass of bubbles broke forth from
the wreck of the helicopter as it vanished beneath the waves
forever.

Dirk came up for air again and this time
took off the facemask.

“Forty-five minutes,” he said, checking his
watch. “They’ve hardly moved. Your turn.”

Matthew put the mask on and leaned over the
side, one hand locked onto a nylon rope. The waves, small as they
were, made it difficult to keep water out of his ears, and he soon
lost most of the sounds from above the surface. Five meters below
them in the silence, the whale and the diver seemed motionless, as
if suspended in amber. Then Thorssen began stretching out his hand,
so slowly that the movement seemed to erase all memory of it
happening even as it occurred. It was hypnotic to watch and Matthew
had to force himself to come up for air. He gasped, and pushed the
mask up over his forehead so far it fell off. Penny’s Zodiac had
moved next to theirs and she caught it before it sank.

“She’s way past her supposed limit,” Penny
said.

“Mary thought she was an older whale.
Greater maturity might allow greater capacity. Her inactivity might
also allow her to stay down longer. Less activity should reduce the
need for air.”

“Still seems way too long.” Dirk said. He
fingered the camera bag and looked at his watch. “The Captain, at
least, is going to have to come up soon. He should be close to
bingo air in his tanks. Why didn’t he want me to take
photographs?”

“For one thing,” Penny said, “it’s intrusive
and the whales might’ve picked up on that,”

“How could they possibly know if I was
taking pictures?”

“I didn’t say they would know.”

“He’s swimming away!” Matthew said, pointing
to the injured calf now slowly moving away from the area. The young
whale’s flukes fanned up and down as if bidding them a sad
goodbye.

Matthew slipped the mask back on and leaned
into the icy water. Slowly the dark form of the great whale was
descending, but more like falling, into the depths. Thorssen
followed her down but still barely seemed to move. They became
faint shadows, then vanished.

Matthew came up for air.

“Could you see them?” Penny asked.

“Not anymore.”

“Then I think we should send someone else
down,” Dirk said, and reached for the walkie-talkie.

“Look at the calf, though,” Penny said.
“He’s swimming fairly well, considering how he looked a while
ago.”

The young gray was now diving and rising.
Two adults were escorting, but not supporting, him.

“The Captain’s running low on air,” Dirk
said. “I really think I should call in help, just in case.”

“That’s not what he said to do,” Penny
said.

“I know, but where is he?”

“Wait,” Matthew almost yelled. “There he
is!”

Dirk and Penny turned to see Thorssen’s head
rise above the water about fifty meters away. He pulled back his
mask and took a few deep breaths. He floated for a while and then,
in one movement, brought his mask and snorkel back down and started
swimming their way. When he reached them, he undid his tanks and
Matthew and Dirk hauled them into the Zodiac. Thorssen pulled and
kicked out of the water and into Penny’s boat.

“What happened?” Dirk said.

“She started to sink. I followed but my
tanks zeroed. Had to come up.”

“Was she still alive?” Penny asked.

“Barely moving and maybe just swaying in the
currents. She began to lurch to one side before she fell…”

Thorssen’s voice dropped off, leaving
silence for a moment.

“I’d guess it’s about a hundred and fifty
meters deep here,” Dirk said, but Thorssen didn’t reply.

The other whales still lingered in the
general area with, seemingly, no inclination to move on despite the
fact they’d starve if they failed to reach their northern feeding
grounds in time. As for the whale that had gone down, Matthew could
not explain the color change, but he was certain that she was the
same one he had first seen from the decks of the
Eva Shay
.
He looked around. No sign of her and no reason to think there ever
would be again.

Thorssen spoke into the walkie-talkie.
“Emory, get a reading of the bottom, over.”

“Yes, we could see the whale dropping down
on the side scan, and you as well, then we lost her. There was
interference of some kind. When it came back—”

“—Breaking in. Need some high resolution
scans of the bottom, see if there’s any hope of retrieval,
over.”

“Should be possible with the minisub.”

“How soon? Over.”

“We can get her wet in two hours, over.”

“Good. We’ll need some nets and flotation
bags, over.”

“Okay. Captain? Do you know why—”

“Later. Over and out.”

Thorssen tossed the walkie-talkie onto a
cushion and sighed deeply. He looked tired but strangely at ease.
“Quick recovery,” Penny said nodding toward the injured calf, now
placidly swimming with the others and without apparent
distress.

“Strange, yes,” Dirk said, “but what isn’t,
these days?”

Thorssen clearly did not want to talk.
Matthew glanced over his shoulder to see the Chiffrey peering
through high powered-binoculars. Was lip reading among the young
lieutenant’s skills? He turned toward the
Valentina
and
mouthed the words, “stop spying on us,” but it had no effect. Of
course, he would not give himself away so easily if he were
competent.

Thorssen stirred himself and moved upright
on one knee. He said, “Take us back.”

Matthew eyed the whales, but they seemed
uninterested as Dirk and Penny restarted the engines. Soon the
Zodiacs were back at the scaffold, and the group climbed the ladder
to the deck. Thorssen headed straight for the bridge without a
word. Matthew followed Penny up to the fo’c’sle to watch the
whales.

“I’m not sure why they haven’t moved on,” he
said after a while, “but it’s a sixteen thousand kilometer trip.
They’ll starve if they don’t get to their Arctic feeding grounds in
time.”

She didn’t say anything, so he continued.
“There’s little, if anything, they could eat here. I would have
thought…”

He walked a few paces away and then back to
her. “Listen, I’m not criticizing—”

“No, you are merely passing judgment.”

“The lead whale is almost certainly dead,
and you don’t seem to care.”

As soon as he spoke, his words sounded
stupid in his ears. Penny slowly looked him over, as if taking his
measure for a coffin, and said, “Should I be dumping ashes on my
head, then? If it’s rending garments you want to see, maybe I’ll
start with that stupid beer hat on your head.”

“Doesn’t the death and sacrifice of this
whale affect you at all?”

She trained her gaze on him like a gun. “She
did what she did. I have no basis to judge, and there is nothing I
can do about it. Get it?”

He was about to answer, when she looked past
his shoulder and whispered, “Quiet. Here comes Chiffrey.”

He barely heard the footsteps coming up
behind him. The lieutenant came to a stop and stood at Matthew’s
side, just a little too close.

“You really aced it out there this morning,
boy. You too, Penny. Great work.”

“Thanks,” Matthew said, without enthusiasm.
“How is the TV news crew doing?”

“The pilot’s going to be fine, just
swallowed a load of sea water. The woman’s a tad dazed, but she’ll
be okay.”

“What about the cameraman?” Matthew
said.

“Daryl, yes. Once we got him on board, Mary
just took over. She’s terrific, isn’t she? Doing a great job with
him, but that kid’s still totally scrambled. Figured another
chopper would be a bad idea, so we have a cruiser on the way to
pick up our unexpected guests.”

“Navy?”

“I have some pull. Least I could do.”

“But why not the Coast Guard?” Penny
asked.

“Well, if you mean the U.S. Coast Guard,
we’re off the coast of Canada for one thing, and they are not
nearby. There is a Navy cruiser nearby and it’s fast. They’ll get
them back safe. You folks are lucky I’m here.”

“How long?”

“I haven’t set a time to leave as I—”

“No,” Penny said, shaking her head. “I mean
till the cruiser gets here.”

“Three or four hours.”

“Kind of a lucky coincidence they were so
close,” she said. “Don’t you think off-loading the cameraman to a
Navy ship will spook him even more?”

“It’s far from ideal, granted, but he needs
special care and the faster he gets it the better.”

“What do you mean?” Matthew asked.

Chiffrey leaned back against the railing and
slumped enough that his military bearing seemed to wash away like a
sand castle against the tide. His usual cheerful countenance fell
with it.

“I’ll tell you the truth,” he said. “I’ve
seen this before. Bad as his accident was, it shouldn’t have had
such a catastrophic effect on that boy. It’s like Daryl’s looked
into some abyss and then fallen in. When he looks up, it’s all a
nightmare. He is absolutely terrified. I doubt if he even knows his
name anymore. It’s going to be a while, a long while probably,
before they let him walk away. At least that’s my opinion. Poor son
of a bitch. ’Scuse me, miss.”

Chiffrey shook his head and looked toward
the tracking station on the fo’c’sle. Matthew followed his gaze.
Only Mary was there.

“I’m going to check out what’s up with your
friends,” Chiffrey said. “The whales. Care to join me?

Matthew just stared at him, not knowing what
to say.

“Look, Matthew, the sooner I can complete my
report, the sooner I can get out of here. Much as I’d hate to
leave, of course. What’s up with the lead whale, by the way?”

“She’s never came back up.”

“Well, that can’t be good.” Chiffrey scanned
Matthew for a moment, then said, “Sorry to hear that. Guess I
missed it when I was checking on Daryl. Maybe Penny could fill me
in…”