Under Vanishing Skies (13 page)

I looked at the palm of my left hand and saw a dozen black dots set in a concentric series of rings. Shit! I must have grabbed a sea urchin when I clutched the reef. The skin was already red and puffy. I took a quick assessment of the rest of my body. I noticed that my legs were scratched up, but not bad. I inspected the soles of my feet and saw a dozen scalpel-like incisions made by the coral. Thankfully, twelve years of going barefoot had provided me with tough feet so the coral didn’t slice through to the bone. Everything else seemed okay.

I pulled the data mat out of my underwear and shook off the water. Then I tapped the screen twice until it came to life. Using my right hand, I opened the communications panel. There was one green dot; it was the MDF patrol boat. I tapped the icon and waited. The screen flickered. I worried that the salt water had damaged it, but the flickering stopped and two video windows opened up. One was labeled MDF Patrol 743 and the other was labeled Ahmed. The window labeled MDF Patrol 743 had the image of someone in an MDF uniform, but the other one had the image of a Somali pirate. His head was shaved like most of the pirates, but I knew who it was.  The scar that ran from the edge of his right eye down to his chin gave him away. It was Jamal. I’d never seen him before, but everyone knew about that scar.

The MDF officer and Jamal stopped talking when they saw me on the net. None of us spoke; we just stared at each other. Talk about your awkward moments. Before I could think of something to say, they cut the channel and the video screen went blank. Well…that was it. They’d be coming back for sure now.

With my data mat still in hand, I walked outside to wait. A few minutes passed and then I heard it, the sound of engines.

That was it.  Game over.  The only thing left to decide was whether I'd let them kill me or I'd kill myself.  It was an easy decision

The spear gun was still on the floor back in the shack where I’d left it. So I went inside, picked it up, and carried it out to the doorway. Holding it up, I wondered if it were even possible to kill yourself with a spear gun. Fifty-fifty odds, I figured. Best odds I’d had all day.

I stared off into the distance and saw the boat silhouetted by the morning sky.  It was almost to the island.

Pulling a spear from the clip on the side of the gun, I pushed it back until I heard it click. It was cocked and ready.

The boat sped toward the small stone dock.  It throttled into reverse and slid up to the stone.

I flipped the spear gun around so that the tip of the spear was against my chest. It was awkward, but I was able to get my thumb in front of the trigger. I tried my best to position the tip between two ribs. It would be embarrassing if it got stuck in my ribs.

Someone jumped out of the boat.  I watched as he ran towards me. 

It was time. My hand was swollen from urchin stings.  It made it hard to hold the gun steady, but I did my best. As I began to apply pressure to the trigger, I heard the pirate say, “Aron! Aron! Are you okay?”

I must have lost my mind. The pirate sounded just like Anand.

“
Put the spear gun down. It’s me, Anand.”

Anand stopped a few feet in front of me. I stared at him.  I knew who he was, but my brain was having a hard time believing it.

“
A pirate boat is about a mile to the west. We have to go.”

I wondered if the urchin poison was a hallucinogenic.

Anand grabbed the spear gun out of my hands and led me back to his boat. We sped out of the harbor at full speed. I looked back and watched North Point shrink in to the distance.

Anand was talking to someone on the radio. I sat down on a cushioned seat in the back of the boat. A strong feeling swept over me, but I couldn’t place it. What was it? Relief? Gratitude? No. It was disappointment. Definitely disappointment.

Chapter 8

The boat bucked against the waves and I found myself following its movements like a cobra follows a snake charmer’s flute. Anand kept turning back to look at me, but he hadn't said a word to me since we left North Point.

My hand vibrated. I looked down to find the data mat still clutched in my hand. I stared at it and considered throwing it into the ocean. Instead, I touched the screen and opened the message.

SUBJECT: CHANGE NOTIFICATION

THIS AUTOMATED NOTIFICATION WAS SENT TO INFORM YOU OF A CHANGE TO THE EVACUATION ELIGIBILITY LIST. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WAS CHANGED:

I began to shake and I couldn’t stop. I grabbed the blanket that Anand had given me, drawing it tightly around my shoulders. It didn’t help.

Jin was missing. Missing was the status they used for people whose bodies were never found after a pirate raid. A ball of guilt rolled into my gut.

I frantically checked through my other messages, but there wasn’t anything from Jin. He had said that he had a plan, but what was it?

Jin documented everything. If it wasn’t for his insistence on writing down the location and configuration of every part of the IICN, we’d still be working on getting the network up and running. The information had to be in his data mat somewhere. It was as good a place as any to start looking.

I stood up and made my way up to Anand, my blanket flying behind me like a superhero’s cape. Anand turned as I laid my hand on his shoulder.

I leaned in close and said, “Head east. We’re not going to Lohifushi. I need to go to Eriyadoo.”

“
What? Why?”

“
I just need to go there. Please.”

He looked into my eyes and I could tell that he was trying to decide if I had blown another circuit. Finally, Anand nodded and wheeled the boat hard to starboard. I grabbed the railing to keep from falling over. After straightening out the wheel, he pointed to a worn, brown leather bag on the empty seat next to him. “I have some clothes in there. Grab a pair of pants. They will be a little small for you, but you cannot walk around Eriyadoo like that.”

I followed his gaze and looked down. I was still in my underwear. I opened the bag and found a pair of khaki pants. Funny, but I didn’t realize how cold I was until I put the pants on. I began to warm up a little, but I still couldn’t stop shaking. The news about Jin must have triggered another release of adrenaline into my bloodstream. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was overdosing on the shit.

 ****

I shielded my eyes from the glare of the rising sun, but its reflection off the water blinded me.  I wondered how Anand could see. I guessed that after twelve years of running supplies around the atoll Anand could probably navigate these waters blindfolded. An hour later, we arrived at Eriyadoo.

Two bare-chested, middle-aged Chinese men met me on the pier. They wore traditional Maldivian sarongs and sandals. Their faces were vaguely familiar, but in my current frame of mind I couldn’t remember where or when I had met them. They seemed to know me.

The shorter of the two said, “Li Jing said that you would come. She asked that you wait for her at her hut. We will show you the way.”

I knew the way, but I didn’t argue. From their somber expressions, I knew they were as upset about the news as I was.

Before I stepped off the boat, Anand asked, “Shall I wait here for you?”

“
No. Go home. I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

“
Are you sure? I can wait.”

I shook my head. “Go home to your family. They need you more than I do.” He studied me for a moment and then nodded.

“
And thanks,” I said. It didn’t come close to expressing how I felt. I couldn’t figure out why he would risk everything, his wife and six children, for someone he barely knew. Whatever his reason, I owed him.

“
Okay,” he said. “Stay safe, my friend.”

I stepped onto the pier and followed the men to Jin’s hut.

Li Jing was Jin’s wife. She wasn’t there when I arrived, but his oldest son, Bohai, was. He sat in front of their hut with his back against a coconut tree. He was systematically peeling fibers off a coconut shell. He looked up, studied me for a second, and returned his attention to the coconut without saying a word. I wondered if it had been a mistake to come here.

Bohai had been five years old when Jin and Li Jing came to the island. Rambunctious and always eager to help, Jin used to bring him along on our work trips. Bohai had been a great little assistant. He climbed the scaffolding and brought us tools, food, and anything else we needed, always with a big smile on his face. But that smile was nowhere to be seen now.

Now he was seventeen years old and stood a good four inches taller than his dad. His hair must have driven Jin crazy. It was short and spiky all around except for the back where he maintained a long, single braid. He had the braid draped over his right shoulder and it was almost long enough to reach the ground. His face was stuck somewhere between a boy and a man. It didn’t look like he was shaving yet, but I could make out a whisper of a mustache.

 “
Bohai,” I said. “I just heard about...” I cleared my throat, “I’m sorry about your father. I’m sure they’ll find him.”

Bohai peeled another fiber off the shell and dropped it on to the pile next to him.

“
Did you hear from him recently? I mean, did you get a message or…”

He finished peeling another fiber before he said, “No. He didn’t have his data mat with him.”

That was odd. Jin always had his data mat with him.

Bohai threw the coconut hard against the hut. It bounced and rolled back to his feet. He kicked it away and then looked up at me. There were tears in his eyes. He said, “You know my father. You know cautious he is. He would never go out on a boat at night.”

“
Is that what they told you?”

He nodded. “The MDF sent a message to my mom.”

Bohai was right. Jin was a stickler for safety. I felt sick to my stomach and struggled for something to say. “So it happened last night?”

“
That’s what they said.”

It didn’t make sense. There wasn’t a single time in the twelve years that we worked together that Jin travelled at night. He always insisted that we leave in the morning. There was no way he would do it…not unless he was running from someone or…going to North Point to find me.  The ball in my stomach seemed to explode.

I didn’t know what to say. “Your father was a good man, Bohai.”

“
He is a good man!”

“
I’m sorry. That’s what I meant.”

I started to turn away.

“
Wait.” He got up, reached into his back pocket, and pulled out a data mat and handed to me. “This is my father’s. Before leaving for Male, he gave it to me and told me that if anything should happen to him, I was to give this to you.”

I stared at it, afraid to touch it. Unlike my data mat, Jin’s was folded neatly. It even had the original elastic band that held it closed. My hand shook.  I reached out and took it.

*** 

I waited for the helojumper on a small beach at the northern end of the island. Surrounded by a wall of soaring palm trees that reached out towards the ocean, the beach was only fifty feet wide, but it stretched nearly a hundred feet out into the water. It had probably once been a great beach back when this place was a resort, but now it was littered with dried seaweed and swarming with sand fleas and cracked crab shells. 

My conversation with Li Jing had been brief, hardly a conversation at all. When I saw her approach the hut supported by two elderly Chinese women, I knew she wasn’t in any condition to accept visitors, much less answer questions. So I didn’t ask any. I just told her that I was sorry and that I would pray for Jin's safe return. Her response was a deep, mournful sob.

A glint of light in the sky caught my attention and pushed the memory from my mind. It was the helojumper and it was coming in for a landing.

I couldn’t believe that I was actually going to get inside one of those contraptions. Helojumpers scared the shit out of me, but I had to get back to Male and this was the fastest way.

Twelve years ago when I had arrived at the Male airport, I was offered a seat in one of those flying, glass-bottomed boats. I had considered it, but politely refused when I saw one up close. It resembled a giant food processor with seats inside.

The fuselage was round except for a small beak-like protrusion in the front where the pilots sat. Everything except for the column in the center of the fuselage that housed the engine were made out of transparent carbon fibers.  Even the damned passenger seats transparent. 

Turbine blades sat inside two stacked airfoil rings perched directly above the fuselage. It was an accident waiting to happen.