The Antarcticans (4 page)

His foot touched the deck, and he instinctively braced himself. He knew that on a boat this large the motion he felt would be minor, but it was still different than standing on solid ground. He stood there and waited for Lucifer, who was speaking with someone in his headset. He put an arm around Gavin and led him to two double glass doors with a short red carpet rolled out in front of them. The deckhand went before them and held open the doors so they both could pass through at the same time. On the other side, the steely maritime feel vanished, and they entered a sparsely furnished but elegant room. The thick, plush, white carpet they stood on reminded Gavin of the cat his wife had gotten for Joshua when he was away on a long mission trip; he used to come home from late nights of Bible study to find her having a full-on conversation with the cat about an obscure topic. The carpet was pristine, without a speck of dirt or oil from the deck anywhere. The room had no other doors and was furnished with just a loveseat and a chair.

“Steady yourself,” the deckhand said to both of them. He pushed a couple of buttons on the phone that sat on the end table between the chairs and the loveseat. Suddenly the whole room began to descend. Gavin had his back to the door, so he didn’t see the top deck of the ship disappear, replaced by an oil painting of colorful toucans and parrots. When the room came to rest, the picture disappeared, and the doors came back into view. The three men emerged into a reception hall with a ceiling that looked to be twenty or thirty feet high. As Gavin looked around, he saw artwork from the great masters of the millennia, set in elaborate gilded frames and hung high on the walls, which were covered in pale-blue-and-gold striped wallpaper. Lining the hall were marble statues, as least as tall as Gavin, perched high on their matching marble pedestals. He didn’t recognize the first few he walked by; some of them were terrifying looking, with extra appendages and morphed human and animal parts.

“A tribute to all the gods who have come and gone,” Lucifer said proudly.

“Where did they go?” Gavin quipped, blowing a puff of air after he said it.

“The same place all gods go to die. They become background emanations, fading from the universe as the world forgets them. But
I
don’t forget them. They all have a place in the human experience, all pointing toward the truth.”

“I can’t say I agree with that.”

“Well, I wouldn’t expect you to…yet.”

Gavin raised an eyebrow. “Yet?”

“Yes, remember, getting Joshua back to health is going to take a leap of faith, one in which Allah, Yaweh, Krishna, Brahma, Ganesha, Ahura Mazda—any of them—might not be able to leap with you. You’ll have to decide where your allegiance lies. Come, let’s not get bogged down in theology just yet.” Lucifer picked up his pace.

In the entry hall, several archways opened into side corridors. Gavin saw people shuffling through them. Everyone was elegantly dressed, making him feel out of place in his shorts, T-shirt, and Converse sneakers.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re my guest. That counts for more than anything you have on,” Lucifer said to him.

Gavin winced—was Lucifer reading his mind? They turned left into one of the archways, which opened into a smaller corridor with white glass-tiled walls leading up to glass doors that opened as they approached. It was the ship’s medical suite. Lucifer nodded at the first person he saw, and she said something into her headset. Seconds later, a tall woman with bright-green eyes, auburn hair pulled back into a bun, and a white lab coat approached them.

“Gavin, this is Dr. Rene Cristofari. She oversees our medical research facility. I’ve told her a little about your son. She thinks she’ll be able to help him,” Lucifer said.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Gavin.” Her eyes oozed sympathy and compassion. “Didn’t you bring Joshua along?” She looked around the room, expecting to find him. “I thought I was going to have a chance to speak with him today.” She looked at Lucifer for an answer.

Lucifer put his hands up in surrender.

“Very well,” she told Gavin. “I’ll let you know what we plan to do, and then you can make a more informed decision about whether you want to bring him in.” She shook her head and glanced sideways at Lucifer. “I also suggest you plan to take some time off from work. It’ll be important to have you here for the duration of Joshua’s treatment.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Gavin said.

“Follow me,” she said, then walked ahead of them.

Gavin followed her, and Lucifer disappeared through the electric glass doors. Dr. Cristofari’s heels clicked against the travertine floor. “This medical research facility has developed a technique to reorder the brain’s neurons to their original, default positions in areas where there are abnormalities. Once we scan the brain”—she pointed to her left at two people sitting in chairs with small glowing orbs spinning around their heads; they smiled at Gavin as he walked by—“we can determine what’s gone amiss and repair it. It’s the future of psychiatry. We treat a whole spectrum of diseases the general public calls mental illness. The reality is each abnormality is completely unique. Much of what affects the body starts in the brain. If we can correct the problem there, the symptoms of the body disappear. Would you like to try it out?”

“Me? But I don’t have any mental problems.” Gavin looked down at the floor.

“You won’t know until you try, will you?” She laughed. “The procedure is a bit much at first, but I go in for a fine-tuning annually. We all have imperfections, especially as the years pass. Most of my patients are older. Dementia is a big problem.” She kept walking and pointing out the various machines and treatment rooms.

“When you bring Joshua in, we’ll do a full scan,” Dr. Cristofari continued, “as well as a sleep study, and then have him stay here for a day of observation and interviews. It’s important to know what the voices are saying, to understand where in the brain the disease resides.”

“You make it sound as if this is proven technology, around for years. We’ve been through strings of hospitals and centers. Not one doctor has ever mentioned this.” Gavin sounded exasperated. He was uncomfortable with someone who looked as if she hadn’t even turned thirty performing such invasive procedures on either himself or his son.

“It isn’t perfect yet, and there’s more to releasing medical technology to the general public than just having it available. There are studies and trials. Government regulation and ethics boards. Lucifer doesn’t necessarily want to fight through all that yet. But in your son’s case, I’m hopeful.”

They had circled through the hallways back to the waiting room, where the entry door was.

“Well, here we are, back where we started,” Dr. Cristofari said. “Have a seat. Lucifer will be back in a few minutes. I’ll see you soon.” She patted him on the shoulder before she disappeared into one of the labs.

Once Lucifer returned, he led Gavin back to the labyrinth of corridors and grand rooms.

“My son’s problem has nothing to do with mental illness,” Gavin said. “We’ve seen everyone. He’s possessed. He tells me what the voices tell him. That couldn’t come from anywhere but demons.”

“I know that’s what you believe, but the demons he faces have nothing to do with disembodied spirits. Why don’t we put a more positive spin on them and call them angels?” Lucifer let out a sigh as though he were tired of revisiting the same misconception.

Gavin looked surprised and offended at the suggestion “You talk in riddles.”

“Or I speak a truth you don’t yet understand. In fifteen minutes, the UN secretary general is holding a meeting in our conference center on Deck Seven. I’m sure you’ll recognize some of the faces in attendance. While I’m not required to be there, I’d like to attend if you don’t mind. You’re free to come with me or wander the ship. But if you attend, mum’s the word.” He laughed and smacked him on the back.

“I’ll wander. I’m not a political man. Anything I should be aware of? Places I shouldn’t go?”

“There are very few restricted areas, and they’re all clearly marked, mostly for passenger safety. I’ll find you when I’m done.”

After they parted ways, Gavin wandered the ship, wrestling with the idea of bringing Joshua here. He hoped he wasn’t out of options. He hoped God would answer his prayers, but this seemed so real. All this technology and resources to back it up. His mind flipped back to Lucifer—everything about Lucifer felt sure; he knew that was why it was so easy to fall into his embrace. Gavin nodded at people he didn’t know as he passed them in the corridors. He walked past several meeting rooms and galleys where the ship’s guests were eating and drinking. The mood of the ship seemed serious; conversations were hushed and hurried.

He stepped off the thick carpet of the hallway and looked through two French doors into a library. The door handles were manual and seemed out of place on the ship. He turned one of them and stepped inside. The noises and huddled chatter ceased when he closed the door behind him. The room was only slightly larger than his bedroom at home, the walls lined with built-in bookshelves filled with every size and shape of book. Gavin noticed a small pedestal with a paper tablet and a pen attached. He walked over to it and ran his finger down the handwritten titles of books. Most he didn’t recognize; besides religious texts, he wasn’t much of reader. He picked up the pen and wrote “The Bible” on the next line down. Behind him, a copy machine suddenly hummed. He waited, realizing he had set a process in motion. Two popular horror books on the shelf in front of him moved in opposite directions, leaving a space between them. A black leather-bound book with gold lettering that read
The
Bible
slid from behind the bookshelf into the space. “Neat,” he said to himself.

He pulled the Bible out and made his way to the engine room. When he arrived, he marveled that the mighty engines produced no sound. He was leaning over the railing, looking into one of the view holes of the engine core. An intense green light burned inside a cylindrical platinum tube. The pipes, wire, and an array of control panels created a puzzle of parts that resembled a snake’s nest. If Gavin agreed to let Joshua on the ship, he would be sure to show him this part of it. They had cruised on family vacations, and Joshua always begged the crew to take him on a tour of the engine rooms.

Lucifer placed his hands on the railing beside Gavin. The ring on his left index finger rang against the metal. It was a chunky amalgamation of gold and another bluish-gray material Gavin didn’t recognize. “I see you made it to our library.” He nodded toward the Bible that Gavin was holding. “Incredible feat of engineering, no?”

“Well, I’ve seen something like that in my local bookstore,” Gavin said.

“I’m talking about the engines.” Lucifer stared down at them. “The nuclear physicist who designed these was working in the Chernobyl plant when it melted down. He was one of our test subjects for the technology Dr. Cristofari uses now. It’s amazing how we never know the value of one human life and how important living here in this world is, not only to ourselves but also to everyone sharing the planet.”

“Are the engines always this quiet?” Gavin asked.

“They are! The deceptive quality of nuclear power—you can’t hear when something is going wrong. But I assure you, they’re perfectly safe. Let me take you on a tour of the ship. There are far more interesting sights than the engine room. Most people go immediately to the top deck. I think it tells me something about each visitor, where they go first.”

They entered the elevator. “Deck Three,” Lucifer commanded. When they arrived on the third deck, he said, “This is mostly the working deck: food preparation, waste disposal, laundry, several shops to repair anything from a first lady’s ball gown to a president’s Swiss timepiece. I think you’ll find it an impressive operation. I like to bring new visitors through to provide us with feedback regarding what we might be missing.”

Gavin shook his head in amazement as he walked through. The individual work areas for each specialist were equipped with the newest version of equipment in their trade.

“Emma here”—Lucifer pointed to a tall woman with the same green eyes as Dr. Cristofari’s—“is Dr. Cristofari’s sister. She’s our master programmer. She can fix any code that needs adjustment on the ship. I had all the computers on the ship run one language. That way I only need to find one programmer. We’ve attached the living quarters to their shops, so if they have to work in the middle of the night, they won’t have far to go. On our last ship, we found there were a lot of injuries during night work, many of them happening while the workers were traveling to and from their shops.”

The corridors between the shops were wide and winding. Had this been a passenger cruise ship, this area could have been a shopping promenade. The lighting was fluorescent, with alternating colored filters to change the ambience. As sunset approached, the filters turned orange and dusky. There were tailors as well as makeup and toiletry shops. Many of the clothing stores had a few displays in the window but mostly were walls full of fabric and machines to create nearly any piece of clothing. There also were traditional gift shops, with souvenirs from many different countries.

“Your CIA came up with the idea for this one,” Lucifer said, pointing at a storefront.

“A souvenir shop?” Gavin asked.

“Yes, many of our guests have told their families and employers they’ll be somewhere else. How else to make their trips look authentic than to bring back authentic souvenirs?”