“I think they’ll be fine now,” said Duncan.
There was another exchange of puzzled looks among the group, as the man leaned over and knocked on the hull of the ship.
At first, nothing happened. Then, a tall, dark-skinned woman jumped out from the hatch and landed on the platform… Flynn felt his blood drain from his face, his legs suddenly unsteady. He took an involuntary step back, bumping into Madison.
“You’re not going to faint on me now, are you?” The woman walked purposefully over to Flynn.
“Ann Baxter!” Flynn struggled to find his words. “I thought… you’re dead…”
“No! I’m not dead… and I’m not a ghost… See for yourself!” Ann Baxter gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Now, take a deep breath and introduce me to the young lady here… I guess she must be your girlfriend!”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Flynn’s voice took on a steely edge, and he felt his face grow hot.
“My name’s Madison Ray… Nice to meet you.” Madison stepped in front of Flynn and extended her hand. “I’m just his Crew Mate.”
“I’m Ann.” The woman squeezed Madison’s hand in an iron handshake. “I used to babysit this young man when he was a kid!”
“He’s always spoken of you with great admiration.” Madison grinned, having taken an instant liking to Ann Baxter.
“Think I taught him everything there’s to know about free diving… Isn’t that right, Flynn?”
But Flynn wasn’t paying any attention… After the initial shock of seeing Ann Baxter, his thoughts had turned back to Madison. His girlfriend! That’s what Ann Baxter had called her… He remembered Madison’s determined face and the fury with which she had thrown herself at Duncan up on the boat… She had been willing to kill a man twice her size, to risk her own life for Flynn… He was about to say something to Madison, but the gasps from the group made him turn around.
“Look! They’re alive!”
Flynn turned and saw that people were coming out of the hatch, joining those on the platform. He recognized some of the faces. More ghosts… people whose names had also been on Departure Lists over the years… who were supposed to be long dead… coming back to life before his eyes… There were tears of joy flowing freely down their cheeks, hugs and kisses… They all seemed to be moving in slow motion now… Flynn had never been more bewildered in his entire life…
“Come!” Ann Baxter grabbed his hand. “Let’s sit down and I’ll explain everything!”
“It’s all true, then? What they’ve been saying about you?” asked Flynn. He and Madison were now sitting on an upturned barrel at the edge of the platform, away from the cheerful crowd.
“Yes and no,” said Ann Baxter as she moved an empty box in front of them and sat down. “Me and Duncan have been together since we were… I guess your age. Best Scavenging team in town, they used to call us. There were no Trials back then… Duncan came up with this competition when he got into Government.”
Flynn studied Ann as she leaned back against a heap of fishing nets and folded her bare, muscular arms over her chest. She hadn’t changed that much, he thought. Her hair was still cropped short, but it was no longer even in color. The black had turned grey around her temples and over the crown of her head. There were wrinkles in the corner of her eyes… But she was still a very beautiful woman and just as full of energy as he remembered her to be.
“Anyway,” Ann continued, “we were still together, when we discovered this Power Plant on one of our scavenging dives.”
She and Duncan had found air pockets before, but nothing like this one. Sealed by six foot thick walls, it was like a concrete coffin. Some water had managed to get in through the smokestacks with the initial high Flood wave, but not enough to completely drown the solid structure. And the smokestacks served as a fresh air supply, making the submerged building perfectly livable.
“We told them we’d seen the stain of a toxic leak down there, and the Government rushed to fence the area off… put up the warning signs… The place was made off limits for diving… No one would go near it! So it became our hiding place… And the perfect place to build the Ark!”
“To build it?” Flynn’s eyebrows rose up. “You mean you had the idea even back then?”
“Duncan did.” Ann smiled. “He was obsessed, you see… had this dream of Dry Land from very early on. He collected pictures, photographs… anything he could lay his hands on. He believed it was out there somewhere, waiting to be discovered, and… you have no idea how much he hated life on the Archipelago!” She paused for a moment before saying, “That’s why he joined the Government, Flynn!”
“He got all the way to the top, so he could… escape?”
“Yes, that was one of the reasons!” She leaned forward and looked Flynn straight in the eyes. “As much as he despised the Van Zandts and the system, Duncan thought it was the best way to gain access to all their resources, and the power it’d give him to get things done…” Ann took a deep breath and shook her head sadly. “It wasn’t easy for him, believe me! He had to do some terrible things to keep his cover, to make his allegiance to the Government look convincing! There was a price to pay…”
“You two had to separate…” Madison said quietly.
Ann Baxter nodded gravely. “He went his way, I went mine… I didn’t see much of him over the years, no! Not until we faked my accident and I joined him down here…”
She looked away and fell silent. Flynn followed her gaze and saw Duncan, holding court in the middle of the crowd. Smiling, shaking hands, people slapping him on the shoulder and thanking him. Excited chatter was echoing around the hall.
“You said,” said Flynn, turning back, “he had another reason to join the Government?”
Ann Baxter tore her gaze away from Duncan and looked at Flynn. “Yes, he did!” she whispered, her face full of pride. “He did it, so he could save all these people you see here!”
Flynn opened his mouth, then closed it and lowered his eyes. What could he say? He had felt such hatred for the Rottweiler… he had dreamt of killing the man… The Duncan Roth, the one Flynn thought he knew, seemed like a distant memory now… Fading fast… A world apart from the Duncan he had just met… Flynn had been left puzzled, and then astonished by him… but Flynn was feeling something different now… he had to admit he felt pure admiration for the man! Madison’s hand found his and squeezed gently. She was thinking the same. Flynn looked up. Duncan Roth was walking toward them.
“Enjoying your little reunion?” asked Duncan, placing his hand on Ann Baxter’s shoulder. “You know… I’ve been keeping an eye on you, Flynn… Ever since Ann told me you were one of her best students!” He paused for a moment then added, “She was right, of course! And as much as I hate to break your little party here… I need my top crew members back now… We’ve got a job to do!”
Flynn was up on his feet. Being praised by Duncan Roth made him suddenly feel extremely flustered. “Sir… I mean… Duncan!” He couldn’t stop stammering. “Can I ask you something?”
“Go on.”
“What is the Ark?”
Duncan rubbed his chin for a moment.
“It’s a submarine,” he answered then glanced at Ann, cocking his eyebrow. “A kind of… rescue vessel.”
“It is, indeed!” the woman said. “And it’s our only hope in getting away from the Archipelago.”
TWENTY FIVE
“Did you have any trouble with the final leg of our Departure Ceremony?” Marcus Van Zandt flicked the ashes of his cigar on the floor. It was ages since he had smoked his last real one. But these Algae replacements were not bad either, he thought.