Under Vanishing Skies (4 page)

Why was she doing this? I didn’t want to hear this...not now.

“
He said you felt guilty about not being at home with your family when the storm hit. And do you know what I told him?”

I turned and looked away again.

“
I told him that maybe he should’ve left you alone and let you finish what you had started.”

I turned back and looked into her eyes, unsure if I’d heard her right.

She smiled softly and said, “It’s not that I wanted you to die. It’s just that it was such a terrible time for everybody, so much pain and suffering. I simply didn’t understand why he had stopped you from ending your pain.”

The same thought had crossed my mind a million times over the last twelve years and I still didn’t know the answer.

She continued, “Well…he just smiled at me and told me that if humanity had any chance to survive, then we couldn’t stop helping one another. That’s why he wanted to be on the Council of Thirteen, to help people.”

“
I don’t want to get into that right now.”

“
Into what?”

“
Into the Council bullshit.”

Her eyes glistened with fresh tears.

“
That was something he believed in, Sarah…not me.” I said, “You know my thoughts on the Mars mission. It’s just a shell game. The people up there have the same probability of dying as we do down here...maybe greater. So what’s the point?”

“
The point is hope,” she said. The tears spilled out of her eyes. “Everyone needs hope. I need it, William needs it, and even a thick-headed jerk like you needs it. Rick believed that the Council gave us that hope.”

“
But you’ve heard him talk about the Council. You know all the politicking and backroom deals that go on. The only people with hope are the ones with connections to Ahmed and some of the other scumbags on the Council.”

“
Not everyone on the Council is corrupt and you know it. You know Shannon and you’ve met Michio. Rick trusted them because they’re good people. It’ll be hard for them to keep the Council in line without Rick there to help.”

I knew where she was heading with this, but I wasn’t going to follow her there. “I don’t really know Michio that well, but I know Shannon. She’s as tough as they come. I’m sure everything will work out.”

I turned to leave, but she grabbed my arm. I stopped. I couldn’t look at her.

“
I’m not asking you to do anything that you don’t want to do. I just...I don’t know...I guess I’m just worried about William. Rick and I wanted to give him a chance at a future. You’re a father. You understand, don’t you?”

I understood, but I wasn’t a father, not anymore. Besides, some fucking father I turned out to be. All I had cared about was cashing in on a fishing trip to the Maldives. It was all about me and what I had wanted. Well...I got what I wished for and it cost me the opportunity to be there with my family at the end. And yesterday I fucked up again. I needed some alone time.

“
Aron?”

“
Yeah?”

“
Are you okay?”

I nodded, but took off down the path. I needed a drink.

 ***

I watched as wave after wave crashed relentlessly against the rocky shore, sending plumes of water high into the air. From the look of the storm clouds, I could tell that it wouldn’t be long before the rain hit.

I took another swig from the bottle and winced as the moonshine burned its way down my throat. Holding the bottle up to the light I wondered where Mohamed had learned to distill alcohol. It just didn’t seem like something that an Allah-fearing Muslim would or should know how to do. From the taste of this shit, I wasn’t convinced that he did know.

A long weathered board off to my right sprang up a few inches and then slammed back down with a crack. I jumped to my feet, but fell back on my ass.

“
Still can’t hold your liquor, I see.”

I turned and saw Shannon standing above me on the ruins of the old observation deck. Her short golden locks of hair danced high above that sexy smirk of hers. The last time I saw her was over three years ago, but as the wind pressed her thin dress tight against her athletic body, I recognized every inch of her. Not that I’d ever seen her naked. Shannon and I were drinking buddies, that’s all.

Even if I could get Kelly out of my mind long enough to consider having sex with someone, I’d never have a chance with Shannon. I mean, what could she possibly see in me? I was fifty-two years old. Sure, I still had a full head of thick brown hair, but despite years of kayaking, I had a small floatation ring of fat around my waist. She was eighteen years younger than me and had the body of a twenty year old.

Shannon was originally from Ireland, but a few years before the storm she had moved to the Maldives to be a full-time surf instructor. I had met her a year after the storm when she delivered supplies for us during construction of the IICN. She ended up ferrying us from island to island over the first five years. From the moment she had knocked me into the water by tossing a box of parts at me from the deck of her ship, we were friends. I was in awe of her sharp wit and unshakable nerve. She was like no one I had ever met...no woman anyway.

“
I have not yet begun to drink,” I said in a really bad impersonation of General MacArthur.

“
Good. Then there might be enough left in that bottle to wet my lips.”

She maneuvered her way down the pile of broken wood with the ease of a gymnast and plopped down next to me. I handed her the bottle.

Looking into my eyes, she said, “Here’s to Rick who will live on in our hearts. For to live on in the hearts of those left behind is never to die.” She took a drink and handed me the bottle.

I held it up and said, “To Rick!” Then I chugged.

“
Easy there, hot shot,” she said.

Wiping my mouth, I asked, “Where the hell did you come from, Shannon?”

She motioned with her thumb behind her. “Up there. Weren’t you paying attention?”

“
Don’t be a smart ass. You know what I mean.”

“
I came in from Male for Rick’s funeral, but the bloody batteries on our boat ran out. We had to wait an hour to recharge them. By the time we arrived, the service was over.”

 “
Better late than never, I guess,” I smiled. “It’s good seeing you again. It’s been a long time.”

“
Yes it has,” she said matching my smile.

I knew she wouldn’t broach the subject, but I had the courage that comes from drinking a half bottle of moonshine, so I did. “Where the hell did you disappear to for the past three years? I asked around, but nobody seemed to know. I heard that you sailed off one day and never returned. Everyone had you figured for dead.” I know that I did.

Lifting an eyebrow she said, “You sound like my father.” And then she laughed. “I’ve been on what the Aussies call a walkabout, only I’ve been using my boat instead of my legs.”

“
Walkabout?”

She grabbed the bottle, took a drink, and then said, “Three years ago I got a bad case of island fever. So one day I decided to go back to Ireland. I loaded up my boat with food and water and took off.”

I shook my head. “You’re nuts. We’re in the middle of the fucking Indian Ocean. And from what the refugees said, there’s nothing left that far north...not even air.”

“
I guess I just had to see for myself.” Her face darkened and she took another drink. Handing me the bottle she said, “I made it as far north as the Persian Gulf.”

I choked as I swallowed. “You’re shitting me! How long did it take you to get there?”

“
I don’t know really. I didn’t keep track of time. Maybe a couple of months. Anyway, I wasn’t in a hurry which was a good thing. My batteries only held enough charge to power the boat five hours a day.”

I took another drink and then asked, “Well...what was it like? Did you find anyone alive out there?” I knew the answer, but it was one thing to hear about it from some refugee and another to hear it from a friend.

“
If there is anyone out there alive, I didn’t see them.” She took a sip. “The weather up there is fucked up. The farther north I went, the colder it got at night and the hotter it got during the day. I’ll bet the temperature reached a hundred and forty degrees. Anyway, I spent about six months exploring the coast of India. By the time I reached the Persian Gulf, my common sense caught up with me and I decided to get the hell out of there. I didn’t want to end up like all of those dried up corpses that littered the streets.”

“
And it took you three years to get back?”

“
No. Just a little over a year.”

Tilting my head, I asked, “If you got back a couple years ago, why didn’t you drop by and say hi or at least answer my messages? When Rick told me that you were on the Council, I thought he was joking.”

“
I met a guy,” she said, looking away.

“
You picked up a guy in the middle of the ocean?”

“
I didn’t say I picked up a guy. Now who’s being the smartass? I said I met a guy, Saravan. He was one of the Bangladesh refugees that resettled on Gan. Until a few months ago, I’d been living with him down there. I guess I just got caught up in the relationship, that’s all. Anyway, when word got around about the Mars mission, everyone convinced me to run for the Council…so I did. Not sure why.”

“
I know.”

“
You do?”

“
Yeah. Like I said before…” I grabbed the bottle out of her hand. “…you’re nuts.”

I took a long, deep drink and didn’t stop until she said, “Easy now or I won’t get any more.”

I brought the bottle down and smiled. “Sorry. It’s been a while since I had a drinking partner. I guess I forgot how to share.”

“
Well, we’ll just have to fix that now, won’t we?” She reached for the bottle. “So listen, before you say no...and you will say no...just hear me out. I want you to come to Male and be on the Council with me.”

“
No! Uh uh. The Council is—”

“
Hey!” she said cutting me off. “I said hear me out.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and let her continue.

“
Most of the hard work is done. We’ve already compiled information about all the inhabitants, assessed their health, collected their bloody skill sets, blah, blah, blah. It’s all done. And the candidate list is just about complete. We’re just quibbling over a few names, mostly people that Ahmed and his buddies keep putting on the list, people who don’t meet the criteria for going to Mars.”

“
Then why do you need me?”

“
Two reasons,” she said. “With Rick gone, Michio and I are the only two people on the Council who aren’t in Ahmed’s back pocket and it takes two votes to block passage of the list.”

“
I’m pretty drunk, but I can still count. You plus Michio equals two.”

She smiled, “That’s true. We can block their bullshit candidates now, but some members have been mysteriously dropping out of the Council.”

I nodded. “I heard. Rick mentioned it.”

“
So you understand why I’m a little nervous about Michio and I being the only two left. If Ahmed manages to get Michio to quit, then Ahmed will get his people on the ship and a lot of people who deserve to go will get left behind.”

“
What makes you think that one more person on the Council would make a difference?”

“
Because,” she said. “We’ve only got a couple more weeks before the ship from Mars arrives. If it arrives before we finalize the list, the captain of the ship takes charge.”

“
Really? Why?” I asked.

“
Because they only have a two-week window to return to Mars. Michio tried to explain it to me, but orbital mechanics and space trajectory math is beyond me. The point is that if the captain takes over the selection process, then Ahmed’s candidates won’t have a chance. Of course, that axe swings both ways. We may not get all of our candidates on the list either.”

“
Who cares? Let the fucking captain decide.”

She slapped me on the side of my head, not a friendly slap either, a sharp crack to the noggin. “I care!” she said. “I’ve gotten to know the people around Gan and the other surrounding islands. There are some very good people down there who deserve a shot at going.”