'This is what happens when intelligent species disagree,' Crowe told him.
He stared at her as though she had three heads.
Crowe sighed. She'd run to a spot directly above the starboard-side elevator. Below them was the opening to the hangar deck. She'd called over the side a few times, but no one had answered.
The boat was burning, and they were going to sink.
Maybe there were lifeboats somewhere on board, but they wouldn't be much use. Everything on a helicopter carrier was set up for people to be evacuated by air. And, anyway, even if they did find the lifeboats, they'd still need someone to lower them, and everyone who knew how to do so had vanished in the blaze.
Tarry black smoke drifted towards them. 'Have you got any cigarettes?' she asked.
She expected him to pronounce her completely insane, but instead he dug out a packet of Marlboros. 'They're Lights,' he explained.
'Oh, the healthy option…' Crowe smiled and inhaled as the cook put his lighter to the tip. 'Very sensible.'
Pheromones
'We'll squirt it into his tongue, his nose, his eyes and his ears,' said Weaver.
'Why?' asked Anawak.
'To give it a better chance of escaping.'
'In that case we should get some into his fingertips and toes. The more the better.'
The well deck was deserted. The technicians had fled. They undressed Rubin to his underpants, working as swiftly as they could, while Johanson filled Anawak's syringes with the pheromone. Rubin was laid out above the embankment. The water was only a few centimetres deep, but it was rising all the time. They'd removed the layers of jelly clinging to his head and flung them out of reach of the water. There was more inside his ears, which Anawak fished out.
'You could inject some into his arse,' said Johanson. 'We've got plenty.'
'Do you think it will work?' Weaver asked doubtfully.
'The few yrr that are still trapped inside him won't be able to make nearly as much of the pheromone as we're giving him. So if they fall for the ruse, they'll think it's all coming from him.' Johanson crouched and held out a bunch of syringes, 'who's going first-'
Weaver felt a wave of revulsion.
'Well, don't all shout at once,' said Johanson. 'Leon?'
In the end they did it together. Hastily they pumped Rubin with nearly two litres of the pheromone solution. Half of that probably ran straight back out.
'The water's rising,' said Anawak.
Weaver listened. Screeching and whining noises were still coming from all over the boat. 'It's getting warmer.'
'Because the roofs on fire.'
'Come on.' Weaver put her hands under Rubin's armpits and pulled him up. 'Let's get this over with before Li shows up.'
'I thought Peak had put her out of action,' said Johanson.
'I wouldn't count on it,' said Anawak, as they dragged Rubin's body to the basin. 'You know Li. She's not that easy to get rid of.
03 LEVEL
Li was beside herself with rage. She raced down the passageway, stopping at every open door, then sprinting onwards. That damn torpedo had to be somewhere. It was probably right in front of her. 'Look harder,' she scolded herself 'They're torpedoes, for Christ's sake. You can't be that stupid, you pathetic half-witted…'
The deck shuddered. She lost her balance and clung to the side. The water had evidently torn down more bulkheads. The passageway tilted further. The Independence was so bow-heavy that it wouldn't be long before waves were washing the flight deck.
She was running out of time.
All of a sudden she spotted the torpedo. It had rolled out from an open passageway. Li whooped in triumph. She darted forwards, grabbed it and ran back towards the companionway. Peak's body had slumped through the entrance. She pulled away the heavy corpse, then climbed down the ladder and jumped the final two metres.
The second torpedo was lying at the bottom.
From now on it would be child's play. She hurried on. Maybe it wouldn't be so easy after all – fallen objects blocked several of the companionways. It would take too long to clear them. She had to go back. Up and on to the hangar deck, then down the ramp.
Hugging the torpedoes, she made her way up as fast as she could.
Anawak
Rubin weighed a tonne. Once they'd pulled on their wetsuits – to Johanson's groans of pain – they combined forces to drag the body up the starboard jetty, which was sticking out into the air like a ski-jump. The water had drained away from the stern gate now, exposing the planked floor. The four moored Zodiacs had risen steadily as the contents of the basin flowed into the tunnel towards the lab. Anawak listened to the creaking steel and wondered how much longer the vessel could bear the strain.
The three submersibles were hanging obliquely from the ceiling. Deepflight 2 had taken the place of the missing Deepflight 1. The other two boats had each moved up a position.
'Which one was Li intending to take?' asked Anawak.
'Deepflight 3,' said Weaver.
They inspected the control panel and flipped various switches. Nothing happened.
Anawak's eyes scanned the console. 'Roscovitz said that the well deck had its own power supply.' He bent closer to the desk and read the labels. 'OK, this is the one. It lowers the submersibles. Let's have Deepflight 3, so Li can't cause any trouble if she shows up here.'
Weaver activated the mechanism. A submersible descended from the rail, but it was the first, not the second.
'Um, can't you get Deepflight 3 for me?'
'Well, I expect I could, if I knew how the bloody thing worked. They're going to have to come down one by one.'
'Never mind,' Johanson said. 'We don't have time to worry about it. Take Deepflight 2 instead.'
They waited until the boat was hovering alongside the jetty. Weaver bounded over and opened the pods. Rubin's body was unbelievably heavy, saturated with water and pheromone fluid. His head jerked back and forth, eyes glazed and staring emptily into space. Together they pushed and pulled until it plopped into the co-pilot's pod. They were ready.
Anawak thought of the iceberg in his dream. He'd known that the time would come when he'd be called under water. The iceberg would melt and he'd sink to the bottom of an unknown sea…
But who or what would he meet there?
Weaver
'You're not going, Leon.'
'What do you mean?'
'What I say.' One of Rubin's feet was sticking out of the pod. Weaver kicked it back in. 'I'm going.'
'Why?'
'Because that's how it should be, that's why.'
'You can't.' He took her by the shoulders. 'Karen, you might not come back alive, it's-'
'I know the risks,' she said softly, 'but none of our chances are good. You two take the other subs and wish me luck.'
'Karen! Why?'
'Do you really need to hear reasons?'
'Forgive me for interrupting,' said Johanson, 'but we're rather pushed for time. Why don't you both stay, and I'll go?'
'No.' Weaver hadn't taken her eyes off Anawak. 'Leon knows I'm right. I can steer a Deepflight in my sleep. I've got the edge over you both there. I've been down thousands of metres in Alvin exploring the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. I know more about submersibles than the two of you put together and -'
'Nonsense,' cried Anawak. 'I can fly it as well as you can.'
'It's my world down there. It's the deep blue sea, Leon. That's been my world since I was ten.'
He opened his mouth but Weaver pressed her finger to his lips and shook her head. I'm going.' She looked around. 'Once I'm in, you can open the sluice and lower me. God knows what will happen once the flaps are open. We may find ourselves under attack, or maybe nothing will happen. Let's hope for the best. Once I've released the boat from the chain, wait a minute or so if you can, then take the second sub. Don't try to follow me. Stay close to the surface and get away from the ship. I may have to dive pretty deep. And afterwards…' She paused. 'Well, hopefully someone will fish us out. At least these things have satellite transmitters.'