Jade swallowed. She had wanted to stay in that other world so badly she could taste it, yet if she had tried where would she have landed? In the middle of the ocean? Outer space?
“I think that’s what happened to the crew,” Professor said. “I guess we were smart enough not to fall for it. Or just plain lucky.”
Jade felt that luck had played more of a part in her case. It had happened so quickly. She wondered what alternative realities had enticed the crew. Had Nichols glimpsed a world where he was a famous treasure hunter, a world-renowned celebrity, whose exploits made the front page of every newspaper? Had Lee seen himself, clean and sober, and in command of a five-star cruise ship? What about Ophelia? For that matter, what ‘might-have-been’ had Dorion glimpsed and ultimately rejected?
“I think it peaks when the moon rises,” Professor continued. “The additional pull of gravity supplies an extra kick to the dark matter field. We’re safe for the moment, but with this time dilation effect, we won’t have long.” He started up the stairs. “We have to abandon ship; leave in the RIB.”
“Then why are you going up there?” When he didn’t answer, her curiosity got the better of her and she headed up the stairs after him, with Dorion right behind her. She passed through the doors a moment later and was surprised to find him kneeling over a groggy Ophelia.
“I guess we’re not the only survivors after all,” Jade said under her breath. Evidently, whatever alternative reality Ophelia had glimpsed had not been as enticing as the prospect of using the Moon stone to dominate her family enterprise, and perhaps the rest of the world, too.
“What…” Ophelia looked up at him, then at Jade. Although her disorientation might have been attributable to the effects of the Moon stone, there was a spot of blood at the corner of her mouth and a distinctly hand-shape bruise on her cheek. When her eyes fell on Dorion, her expression became apprehensive.
She doesn’t look very happy to see him. I wonder why?
Ophelia’s gaze came back to Professor. “What happened?”
“Long story,” Professor told her. “Jade, get her up.”
Jade helped Ophelia stand while Professor went to the helm. Through the big window that looked forward, Jade could see land directly ahead and approaching fast. Only then did it occur to her that the ship’s engines were still chugging away. Professor adjusted the controls and the view changed, the islands slipping away to their left.
“That should do it,” he said. “Unless I’m mistaken, that’s Abaco to port. Once we’re past it, there’s nothing more but open ocean all the way to Africa. Not that this tub is going to hold together long enough to make it that far.”
“It is Abaco,” Ophelia said blearily. “Hodges wanted the captain to make for Abaco Canyon. He was going to dump the Moon stone there.”
“Hodges? He’s here?” Professor looked at her for a moment, but then shook his head. “Well, he had the right idea. The canyon would be the perfect place to get rid of it. I think that, in addition to everything else, the dark matter field is creating a gravitational anomaly that’s causing the ship to implode. It’s going to sink, probably very soon. We have to try to get it away from populated areas before it does.”
Ophelia came wide-awake. “No. You can’t. We have to save it.”
Jade placed a hand on her shoulder. “Ophelia, the Moon stone is dangerous. It’s already taken the crew.”
Ophelia looked around, evidently noticing for the first time that there were only the four of them on the bridge. She frowned but then pointed to the not-too-distant outline of Greater Abaco Island. “There’s land right there. We can put into port. Quarantine the ship until we’re able to figure out how to move it safely.” She turned to Dorion. “Paul, you said it would settle down if we stop moving it. Tell them.”
He started to answer, but Jade cut the debate short. “We’re getting off this ship. End of discussion.”
Professor stepped away from the helm and went to the chart table, on which a map of the Bahamas was displayed underneath a sheet of Plexiglas. He tapped it. “We were here, at Great Isaac last night at sundown. Now we’re here. That’s about a twelve-hour journey under normal conditions. With the ship taking on water, it’s probably taken a lot longer…relatively speaking that is. From an outside perspective, we’re moving at a normal speed, but because of the time dilation effect, a twelve or fifteen hours only feels like a few minutes. To us, it’s like hyperspace travel.”
Outside the window, the southern tip of Greater Abaco Island slid out of view. Professor returned to the helm and adjusted course again.
“So what does that mean?”
He searched the controls for a moment, found what he was looking for, and pressed a button. The engines instantly fell silent but the ship continued to move forward at what seemed like breakneck speed. In the sudden quiet, the noise of the ship’s slow structural collapse was audible. “It means, we’re right where we need to be, and not a moment too soon. Now, let’s get the hell off this ship.”
“No!” Ophelia jerked and began clutching around her for a handhold, like a defiant child refusing to leave a playground. “I won’t go.”
Jade was about to respond with an appeal to reason, but the memory of what she had seen in the Shew Stone vision silenced her. There were worse things than letting Ophelia go down with the ship.
The Moon stone would be lost, probably irretrievably so, at the bottom of a submarine canyon. Without it, the dire future Jade had envisioned could not possibly happen. Or could it?
It wasn’t hard to imagine someone with Ophelia’s resources moving heaven and earth to recover it from the depths. And wasn’t it possible that there were other pockets of dark matter scattered about the planet? If they were out there, Ophelia would keep Dorion looking until they were found, and then everything Jade had seen — things that even now were too horrible to contemplate — would still come to pass.
There was only one way to definitely ensure that none of that would happen. All I have to do is let her have her way.
Professor stepped to Jade’s side. “Ophelia, if you stay here you will die.”
“If I die, it will be your fault,” she retorted. “If you just take the ship to land… No, you know what? Go ahead. Leave. I’ll figure it out myself.”
“Well, we can’t have that.” Jade clenched a fist at her hip, and then threw an uppercut that connected solidly with Ophelia’s chin. There was a click as the blonde woman’s perfect teeth knocked together and then she slumped unconscious to the deck.
Professor sighed. “I suppose now I have to carry her.”
“Look at it this way. You’ll get to be the hero who carried her ass off the ship. I’ll just be the bitch who slugged her.”
He stared down at Ophelia as trying to figure out what to do next. “She might sue, you know?”
“Can I call you as a character witness?”
Professor grinned and then knelt down and swept Ophelia’s limp form up and threw her over his shoulder. With Jade leading the way, they exited the bridge and headed out into daylight. The sun was already overhead.
“How long do you think we’ve got?” she asked. “Relatively speaking, that is.”
“No friggin’ clue. But it seems only a few minutes have passed since we woke up. So figure a few minutes more. And I’m not sure how far away we’ll need to be to escape the effect. So get a move on.”
Jade did, but in some deep recess of her mind, she found herself craving one more glimpse at that otherworld where she and Maddock were together. Now that she knew the risk, what harm could it do?