A round of cheers and applause rose up from the assembled crew and Emily found herself smiling while she hugged a beaming Rhiannon to her side. Even Jacob, who had taken to secreting himself away for long periods, and, Emily suspected, begun drinking on a regular basis, had joined them. Looking embarrassed, and a little too pale, he raised a hand in acceptance of the crew’s thanks.
“It was never our first choice to remain here on this island,” the captain continued, “but given the circumstances and the information we’ve received from both Emily and Commander Mulligan of the ISS, I think it’s time for us to discuss what we will do next.”
The captain paced back and forth in front of his men, stroking his beard as he spoke.
“We have enough supplies to last us for several months, but after those supplies are gone we are going to be up that proverbial creek without any kind of a paddle. So, bearing that in mind, we need a plan for survival. So, if we are to survive… if the human race is to survive… then we must work together and we must do so smartly, with a plan. And that means we have to leave here and find somewhere where we can regroup, recuperate, and reorganize. I know we all hold out hope that there will be other survivors, but we have to assume that, for the foreseeable future at least, we are alone. And, while you are all still members of Her Majesty’s Royal Navy, and subject to my command, this is not a decision I can make alone. It’s your lives that are at stake, and humanity has become the rarest of resources on this planet. So, I ask for all of you to speak your mind. Speak freely.”
There was a moment of silence as the crew looked at each other, unsure of just how much they could say. Finally a lanky seaman toward the back of the room Emily thought might be named John stood up.
“Sir. Why not just stay here? No offense to Miss Baxter, but all we have is her word for what’s going on out there. Who’s to say she’s not lying—again, no offense, Miss—but we don’t know her from Adam. Don’t you think we should check out other options first?”
Emily smiled at the young sailor, he couldn’t have been more than twenty. “No offense taken, but it’s not just my word, is it? You’ve all heard from the captain and MacAlister what Commander Mulligan has seen happening,” she said.
“And what options do you think we should aim for exactly?” the captain asked. “Where do you think we should go?”
“Well,” the sailor hesitated, “if these aliens are as affected by the cold as she says, then maybe we should stay right here? Or maybe stay in Canada at least? I mean, didn’t Miss Baxter say that they couldn’t survive in the cold?”
“That’s not entirely correct,” Emily said. “From my experience, all the cold seems to do is slow them down. Extreme cold seems to stop them in their tracks, to the extent that they are unable to thrive, but the same applies to us, right?”
“Emily’s correct,” said MacAlister. “And think about it for a second: Where would our food come from? We can’t grow anything here and there’s only so much food we can scavenge from the area. So that would mean regular trips out to locate supplies. We’ll need to become self-sufficient as quickly as possible, which means we have to find somewhere we can support ourselves. There’s no guarantee we’ll find anywhere that’ll support us, but we have to try. Besides, if you’re going to meet your maker, wouldn’t you prefer to do it in the sunshine?” Jimmy gave the room one of his devastating grins and Emily couldn’t help but smile right back. The man had a way of making even the most depressing of positions seem hopeful.
“Sergeant MacAlister is correct… for a change,” said Constantine, with a smile of his own. “We have to look at the big picture, long-term planning. If we are it for the human race—and God help us if we are—then we have to be smart. We need to find somewhere we can be safe and start afresh, grow our food, and settle down. Raise families and begin over.”
“Yeah, but if there really are aliens out there still, what then? How are we supposed to defend ourselves?” the sailor pushed.
“Son, we have a nuclear bloody submarine at our disposal,” the captain said. “I think we can handle a few aliens, don’t you?”
This brought a roar of agreement from the crew.
“So, let’s see a show of hands then. All of you in favor of finding someplace warmer than this island, hands in the air.”
The vote was unanimous.
Captain Constantine smiled like a happy father at his crew. Emily doubted that he had ever had any worries how the vote would turn out. In the time she had spent with them, it had become obvious that his crew had nothing but respect for the older captain of the boat. Most of them were still on the right side of twenty, by the looks of them, so the captain really was a father figure to most, she was sure.
“So, now the only question is where? Any suggestions?” asked the captain.
“Emily,” the captain said, turning his attention to her; he held a single sheet of paper in one hand. “We have put together a list of naval bases that we think would be prime candidates to at least set up an initial base. What we would like you to do is speak with Commander Mulligan, give her the coordinates of each site, and have her reconnoiter them from her rather unique advantage point for us. What we would like to know is how viable they are, given the spread of the alien plant life.”
“Of course,” said Emily, “I’ll get right on it.” She took the sheet of handwritten notes from the captain.
“Sergeant MacAlister. Would you be good enough to start organizing our departure plans? I expect us to be ready to depart as soon as we have confirmation from Commander Mulligan on an appropriate location.”
“Yes, skipper.” Mac turned to face the crew, waiting impatiently for their next order. “Alright you lot, you heard the captain. Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”
The crew was on their feet and immediately moving with a practiced familiarity toward their allotted tasks.
“Ms. Baxter. Mr. Endersby. If I may have a few moments of your time?” The captain asked as the rest of the crew cleared the room.
Emily walked with the captain while Rhiannon pushed Jacob as Constantine ushered them to his office, closing the door behind them.
“I know you had your own plans, and that we did not factor into them, but I want to officially extend you an offer to join us. There’s more than enough room on the sub for you, and, to be perfectly frank, we could use the extra sets of hands.”
“Are you offering us a ride?” Jacob asked.
The captain nodded. “If you’re interested…?”
“Yes?” said Emily, looking at Rhiannon. The little girl nodded enthusiastically. “Yes,” Emily repeated to the captain. “You can count Rhiannon and me in.” All eyes turned to Jacob, who looked unsure.
“I suppose I have little choice,” he said eventually. “Yes, I’d like to come along too.”
Emily managed to establish a crackling, static-filled communication link with Commander Mulligan.
“These connections seem to be getting worse,” the commander told Emily. “I think the degradation of the Earth’s electronic communications systems is finally starting. We may not be able to stay as connected as we have been once the satellites begin to fail.”
“I understand, Commander. You have a fallback option?”
“The station is equipped with an amateur radio system that doesn’t need any kind of relay or satellite system, but it does require line of sight with whoever we are talking with, so you won’t lose us altogether when everything goes down, but communication will be a lot more sporadic, I’m afraid.”