Long Voyage Back (17 page)

Ì don't give a fuck about the laws of the sea,' Tony broke in. 'We're not sailing into a rain of death.'

`That's right,' another man said, coming up to the wheel. `Some of us are sick already. We can't take any more radioactivity.' A teenage boy, an older man and two women now gathered near Frank too. Neil moved towards Frank, feeling a rising anger.

`What's going on?' another man asked, pushing his way past Neil.

`This man is taking us south back into the fallout,' Tony answered loudly. Ìf you like . . .' Frank began.

Ì thought we were going north,' the new man said.

Ì did too,' the elderly man said. 'Away from the explosion.' Several additional voices made noises indicating that they

agreed. Neil felt a wave of blind rage surge through him. Frank stood frowning.

`But in the north too . . .' he began again.

`Who owns this boat anyway?' Tony asked, looking around aggressively as if someone were trying to put something over on him.

Ì do,' Frank replied. 'And I I. .

`Well, get us turned around before it's too late.'

A chorus of 'yeahs' resounded after Tony's remark.

Neil slid away from the crowd and found 01ly organizing the suitcases and knapsacks in the port cockpit.

`Go get the .38 hidden in my aft cabin,' he whispered to

him, 'and be ready to back me up. Tell Jim to get the 22.'

01ly nodded solemnly, and when he had left to-go aft Neil descended into the main cabin. Two strange women and three children were seated at the dinette and Jeanne and Lisa seemed to be waiting on them. Jeanne looked up intently at him as he entered. '

What's happening now?' she asked anxiously.

`Chaos,' Neil answered. He walked past her and took from its hiding place behind a short shelf of books Macklin's .45. After checking the chamber he returned up into 'the wheelhouse.

Ì think we'd better head east, Neil,' Frank said to him nervously as he emerged and went to the entrance of the port cockpit. 'These people think that . . Neil's gun exploded once with a deafening bang. All conversation ceased. He shoved the person nearest him and the others backed away too. Everyone in the wheelhouse and cockpits stared at Neil, who stood for a moment in the centre of the crowd holding the . 45 with its barrel just a few inches below his chin - where everyone could see it He was feeling a strange mixture of desperation, fury, and determination. With his yellow foulweather gear he appeared, among the newcomers, strangely out of place. Àll right,' he began in a loud, tense voice. 'I want you all to listen and I want you to get it.

`We're in a war and I'm your commanding officer. I expect everyone here to obey me as if I were God incarnate, without hesitation and without question. I've commanded regular Navy ships ten times this size and been sailing boats like this for ten years. If anyone else aboard feels he's better qualified he'd better speak now.'

There was a silence, and when Neil felt some people begin to stir restlessly he plunged on.

`Good,' he went on, still loudly. 'Frank Stoor, here beside me, who owns this boat, is First Mate. You treat him as you would me. Captain 01ly, the old fellow standing over there, is Second Mate. And Jim at the helm now, is Third Mate. They are the ship's officers and their word is law. If anyone wilfully disobeys any of our commands I will personally throw him overboard. Do YOU GET IT?'

No one spoke. Most of them were falling back into that listlessness they'd had before Tony stirred them up.

`Good,' said Neil after a pause, aware now of the sweat dripping down his face, of Frank staring at him uncertainly, of Tony looking at him with a mixture of fear and resentment. Às captain I'm announcing that our course is through the fallout area around Norfolk and out into the Atlantic.'

A few groans greeted this statement but Neil cut them off immediately ,

`SHUT UP!' he shouted. 'We're heading south until I feel it's safe to make a landfall. You may feel that we ought to have a democratic discussion of what we ought to do. I don't give a shit how you feel. If you don't like this policy I'll give you a life jacket and you can go in a different direction. You may decide later out in the Atlantic that you wish you'd never left land. Bitch among yourselves all you'd like, but obey.'

`But what if . . .' someone began.

Ànyone who wilfully disobeys one of my commands will be thrown overboard.'

When Neil paused again no one spoke. 'You're beginning to understand,' Neil went on more quietly. 'Now for some commands. First of all I want all weapons - guns and knives with a blade longer than two inches - turned in to the ship's officers immediately. These weapons will be returned to you when we part company. Anyone found with a weapon on his person or in his luggage ten minutes from now . . . will be thrown overboard.'

Silence.

`Secondly, I want this area around the wheel and around the winches kept clear. When an officer orders you to go sit some place on the boat you go sit there and don't move without permission. Consider where he puts you to be your battle station.

`Thirdly, anyone who.brought a stash of food aboard with them shall immediately contribute all of it to our ship's store. If you leave soon it will be returned to you. We are sharing our ship, our weapons, our water, our food and our skills with you, and we expect you to do the same with us. Anyone caught hoarding a private stash of food or eating or permitting his or her children to eat any of the ship's food not rationed out to them will be thrown overboard.'

Again Neil paused, aware of Jim watching.

`What if we have to go to the bathroom?' a woman asked in a frightened voice. Ìf a man has to piss he goes to the leeward side of the boat and pisses into the bay,' Neil replied with the same tense voice. 'If you don't know which side of the boat that is ask an officer. Knowing which side of a boat to piss off is what has made him an officer.' 01ly chuckled, but the others were too frightened or awed to respond.

`Ladies will piss in buckets provided in the side cabins. A mate will see to it that the contents are tossed overboard.' Àren't there marine toilets?' someone asked.

`Yes, there are. But the animal species capable of landing men on the moon and blowing the world apart has not yet developed a marine toilet that doesn't clog if you stare at it too long. While we're so crowded and while we have more important things on our minds, we won't use them.'

This time when he hesitated Neil felt that he was being understood. Ì sound harsh,' he continued. 'I intend to be harsh. I intend this ship and those remaining aboard it to survive. My experience has been that in life and death situations the traditional Navy way of doing things is the only one that works. This policy is not open to discussion. Are there any questions?'

The silence aboard Vagabond as she sailed serenely down the Chesapeake in the direction most people thought they

didn't want to go was uncanny. NG one spoke. Most of those he looked at, Neil noted, looked simply numb.

`What if we have to vomit?' an elderly man finally asked.

Ìf you feel'seasick go to the leeward cockpit and lean over the coaming. Vomit to leeward.' Neil paused. 'Anyone caught vomiting to windward will be . . . thrown overboard. Anyone vomiting to windward will be so covered with vomit, he'll probably be happy to be thrown overboard.'

A few nervous giggles.

Àll right,' Neil concluded. 'All weapons and food to the ship's officers. Anyone attempting to resist these commands will be shot. 01ly, Frank, get the weapons first . .

`Jesus, Neil,' Frank said a half hour later when Vagabond was as calm and orderly as a concentration camp. 'Don't you think you were a little hard on them?'

`No,' Neil replied. 'Absolutely not. We're all trying to survive. Everyone on this boat, everyone, will lie, steal, cheat, and kill in order to survive. That speech served one purpose: to let their survival instinct know that the first thing it has to consider is me, and what serves the survival of this ship.'

Ìt was nice of you to let me be First Mate on my own boat.'

Neil looked at Frank with total seriousness. 'It wasn't nice,' he said. 'You deserve it.'

Frank stared at him. 'You bastard.'

`You'd better believe it,' Neil said coldly. 'When I said everyone obeys my commands I meant everyone.'

Ì see.'

Ì hope so.'

21

At seven that evening Neil had them anchored off the coast near Cape Charles and began ferrying refugees into the beach with the inflatable. Neil had repeated to them his intention of continuing south, passing within fifteen miles of Norfolk before making it out into the Atlantic where they would remain until fallout conditions and radio reports indicated they dare return to the US coast. Three people asked to remain on Vagabond, one the man who had started all the fuss in the first place, Tony Mariano; the second a woman named Elaine with a small child; and the third a middle-aged college professor named Seth Sperling.

Although Neil had the .45 tucked into his belt and had armed both Frank and Jim for the evacuation and the redistribution of food and weapons, the event proceeded more smoothly than had the boarding five hours earlier. Even Conrad Macklin went meekly when Neil, after consulting with Frank, ordered him off with the very first group. As he helped people down into the dinghy Frank became aware that some of those leaving were now fearful that they were choosing wrong and wanted to remain, but when an elderly man hesitated and was clearly intending to ask to come back aboard, Frank brusquely ordered Jim to take the last group ashore and cast off the dinghy's painter. The beach was only fifty feet away from the anchored Vagabond, and so ten minutes after the last trip ashore Vagabond's inflatable had been pulled back up on deck and stored and the ship was underway again.

When the sun set at eight-forty they were still fifteen miles from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The wind was dropping and shifting as they neared the NorfolkPortsmouth area, blowing now out of the northeast at only six or eight knots. With the tide now against them they began motoring.

After the sun was gone and with the half-moon not yet risen, the blackness that descended upon them was depressing. Fallout was again appearing on deck and the only lights they could see were from fires still burning in the blast area, one in particular blazing up sporadically like solar flares from a dying sun. All the navigational aids seemed to have been destroyed; the lights of the Bridge-Tunnel were gone. They had seen no ships except for one tiny sailing boat in the late afternoon; now at night they saw no running lights of any shipping. As they motored south towards the northerly opening through the Bridge causeway out to sea, it was as if they were the last ship on earth, alone and sailing away from a doomed land into the unknown. Leaving 01ly alone at the helm, Neil joined Frank, Jim and Jeanne in the main cabin for a conference. Although he had ordered each of them to try to sleep for a couple of hours, as they sat around the dinette table all looked exhausted. The men hadn't shaved and were dressed in the same clothes as when the war had started. Jeanne's white clothes were now dirty, her eyes red from fatigue or weeping, and her bruised cheek still ugly. As Neil spoke his voice was noticeably softer than it had been whenever he'd spoken to anyone on deck. He quietly laid out his plan of three-hour watches, with three watch teams, one led by each of the mates. Frank would work with the newcomer, Seth Sperling, a small man with glasses who seemed uncertain of himself, 01ly with big Tony Mariano, and Jim with Lisa. The third new passenger, the young woman named Elaine Booker, was to stay with her three-year-old child. 01ly and Seth would sleep in Neil's aft cabin; Tony in the forepeak cabin and Jim with Frank in Frank's cabin. He himself would sleep on the aft settee of the wheelhouse, to be always on call. Neil said that the amount of radiation they'd been exposed to so far was insignificant, but Frank wasn't certain whether Neil really believed that or was speaking for the sake of morale. Jeanne's queasiness, Neil insisted, was simple seasickness. When the meeting seemed over Jeanne unexpectedly spoke. 'I don't know how serious you were, Neil, but I warn you that I'll try to stop you from throwing anyone overboard,'

she said softly.

Startled, Neil looked at her, then his severe face broke into a small smile. Ì'd have to throw you overboard too,' he said. 'Then who would care for your children?'

Jeanne flushed in anger and Frank quickly cut in. 'He'd have to throw me overboard too.'

Neil stopped smiling and shook his head. 'I never said how close to shore we'd be when I threw someone overboard,' he finally replied.

Ìs that a promise?' Jeanne asked, looking at him.

Òn the other hand,' Neil went on, 'the traditional punishment for mutiny is death. I'm afraid that is the way things are done aboard ship.'

`Not my ship,' Frank said.

`Let's agree then,' said Neil quietly after a pause, 'that if there is a wilful disobedience I'll call together a Court of Inquiry composed of all the ship's officers and let them decide on the appropriate response.'

Jim nodded and then Frank did too.

Jeanne,' Neil went on gently, 'please leave the management of the ship to me.'

`Not when it involves the lives of my family.'

`Your family?' Neil asked uncertainly.

Ì consider everyone who comes aboard this boat a part of my new family.'

Neil frowned. 'Then in that sense every decision I make involves your family.'

`Then I am involved.'

Frank was amazed at how serenely she gazed at Neil, her eyes glowing in rebellion. Àll right,' Neil finally commented. 'I understand your concern. If I seem cruel or capricious you may complain to me and we'll try to resolve it.'

`Thank you.'

Ànd if we don't, I'll throw you overboard.' He grinned. `Not if I have my butcher knife,'

she rejoined, grinning back.

Ì believe it,' Neil said, standing up to end the meeting.

Back on deck in the darkness Neil realized that the passage through the Causeway or remains of the Causeway was going to be difficult to locate. He had taken a bearing on Fishermans Island just before dark but since then it was all dead reckoning. Even after the half-moon had risen there wasn't enough light to see anything on the horizon except the line of fires to the southwest. They would be able to see objects appearing in the water no more than sixty feet away. Their fathometer confirmed that they were in the big ship channel, but by itself would give little advance warning of the presence of the Causeway or the rocks of its wreckage. Vagabond was making towards the Causeway at only about four knots.