'Eggs, Jimmy. Eggs'.
'So, following that logic, the pigs are on board for . . . ?'
Claire was about to give another rapid-fire response — only she couldn't immediately think of one. She was thinking: cows — milk: chickens — eggs: pigs . . .; cows — milk: chickens — eggs: pigs . . . Her mouth dropped open a little. Her eyes met Jimmy's.
'No... ?'
Jimmy nodded. 'Unless you've worked out how to milk a pig. It's pork.'
'No!'
'Fraid so.'
'They wouldn't.'
'I think they would.'
'Not my Babe!'
Jimmy raised his eyebrows. Then a thought struck him. 'Unless . . .'
Claire looked suddenly hopeful. 'Unless what, Jimmy?'
'Unless . . .
'Jimmy!'
'Unless she really can talk — then we could retrain her as a radio operator!'
Jimmy spun on his heel and strode away before Claire could attack him.
'I hate you, Jimmy Armstrong!' she yelled furiously after him. But as soon as he was gone she allowed the tears that had been welling up to spring from her eyes. She stroked Babe some more. How could anyone . . . ?
No!
It wasn't going to happen. Her dad owned the Titanic, he was the boss, even over Captain Smith, and she was her daddy's little girl. He would do whatever she demanded. Nobody was going to impose a death sentence on her friend Babe. NOBODY!
3
The Speech
It's all very well, of course, stamping your feet and saying, 'NOBODY!' when all you've got is pigs for company. They'd agree with anything as long as you kept their trough full of disgusting swill. It was quite different when it came to making the people in charge see sense. For a start, her father absolutely refused to intervene.
'I'm sorry Claire, but no. The pigs are on board for one reason and one reason alone. If we are going to get through this we need a good, healthy, balanced diet, and that means fresh meat whenever possible.'
'But she's my pet, she's my friend! Would you really eat one of my friends?'
'It's a pig, Claire.'
'Please, Daddy! My ponies were taken away from me, don't take Babe as well!'
'Claire, operational control of the Titanic rests with Captain Smith. I have promised not to intervene.'
'But what am I supposed to do?'
Her mother appeared in the bedroom doorway, swathed in a luxurious dressing gown and with her hair hidden beneath a towel. 'What about becoming a vegetarian?' she asked.
'HOW WOULD THAT HELP?' Claire yelled.
'Watch your tone, young lady!' her father immediately snapped out.
Claire stormed out of the suite. Her next stop was the bridge, where Captain Smith was seated before a computer screen, examining charts. She stood before him, breathing hard, and waited for him to notice her. And waited. And waited.
Eventually, without looking up, he asked her what she wanted.
Claire rubbed the back of her hand across her damp cheek. 'Have I ever asked you for anything before?'
'Yes, you have.'
'I mean, something really, really important?'
'What is it, Claire?' His eyes remained fixed on the screen.
'If you had the chance to save someone's life — someone who has never done anything wrong, who has never harmed anyone on purpose, who might get into trouble occasionally, but really has a heart of gold, and if I really, really begged you — would you do it, would you do it for me?'
Captain Smith typed something on his keyboard. Still without looking up he said: 'Claire, don't worry. We've already decided to keep Jimmy alive.'
'Not Jimmy!'
She could see now that his mouth was tightly shut but turned up slightly at the sides, as if he was struggling to keep himself from laughing.
He already knows — and he's laughing at me!
'It's not funny! Babe is my pig! You're not having her!'
Captain Smith finally looked up. 'Claire, I understand that you've become attached to the creature, but I'm afraid that I agree with your father. We live in difficult times and discipline is important. The pigs were brought aboard for food. I'm sorry, but when the time comes, and I believe that will be within the next few days, the pigs will be slaughtered. All of them.'
'No!' Claire glared down at him. 'You are a cruel, horrible man and I will not allow you to do this!'
She stormed away from the bridge.
She was an expert at storming.
She'd had a lot of practice.
The deadline for the next edition of the Titanic Times was fast approaching and the newspaper office, deep in the bowels of the ship, was a hive of activity when Claire came — yes, storming — in.
Jimmy looked up from his desk, recognised the look on her face, and sighed wearily. 'What is it now?' he asked.
'They're going to murder Babe!'
All around the office, work stopped.
'Ladies and gentlemen,' Jimmy said quickly, 'relax. Babe is a pig. Claire, you cannot murder a pig. Unless it's done by another pig. And even then I'm not—'
'Be quiet!' She looked deadly serious. Jimmy cleared his throat and signalled for her to continue. She looked around the room. 'I'm not stupid,' she said. 'I know the pigs were brought on board to provide us with fresh meat. That's fair enough. OK, so I've become attached to one of them. Babe's my friend. She's cute, she's lovely. But yes — she's still just a pig.' She nodded around the company. 'Captain Smith has said that all the pigs have to die. That no exceptions can be made — but what I'm asking is, why not?' Everyone, with the possible exception of Jimmy, was listening intently. 'Look,' she continued, 'our whole world has been turned upside down in the past few months. We've all lost relatives and friends. My father and Captain Smith are right when they say that to survive we must have order and discipline — but I know my history. When times are hard and people are weak, that's when dictators come along, like Hitler, like Stalin, and they take control and before you know it you have no freedom left at all, no right to make your own decisions, you're not individuals any more, you're numbers, you're slaves. Well I say — it stops here. We show them that we will not be ruled with an iron fist. We show them by refusing to allow Babe to be slaughtered. Babe must live!'
Ty hesitantly began to raise his hand. 'Surely—'
But Claire wasn't to be interrupted. 'You may ask how are we going to achieve this? After all, we are weak, and they are strong. But we have an instrument at our disposal with which to sway public opinion! The Titanic Times! We all believe in the freedom of the press, don't we?' The reporters nodded. 'Haven't we protected that freedom in the past by defying Captain Smith? And didn't he thank us for it in the end? And didn't we defy the mutineer Pedroza by continuing to publish the Times when everyone else had given up?' There were murmurs of agreement all round. 'Then we must do it again! This newspaper must mount a campaign to spare Babe's life! We must rally the people behind Babe! She represents our freedom, our liberty, our future! Are you with me on this?'
Jimmy had to admit that she was a fantastically inspiring speaker. Their entire team of reporters and photographers, even the delivery boys and girls crowding in the doorway and the IT expert and the idiot who made the tea, they were all fired up.
'Are you WITH ME?' Claire demanded again.
And this time they all rose to their feet, clapping and punching the air and yelling: 'BABE! BABE! BABE!'