Titanic 2020

'Mum?'

'There's just been so much going on. We had an e-mail to say they've escaped from the farm. I'm sure they're perfectly fine and they'll turn up soon enough, but I just thought you should know. See you later, darling.'

Mrs Stanford hurried away.

Claire returned to the table and sat down heavily. 'Don't you dare smile.'

'I'm not.' Although he was, he couldn't help it. He quickly changed the subject. 'So what are we going to do about the paper?'

Claire took a deep breath. 'All my life my parents have been trying to get me to behave in exactly the way they want. Well now I'm going to. If they say I should tell the truth, then I'm going to tell it. Let's do our newspaper. Let's do it properly.'

'Is this just because of the ponies?'

'No! It's because it's the right thing to do.'

'I agree. And I'm sure they'll turn up.'

Claire nodded.

'Unless someone eats them,' said Jimmy.

22 Dolphins

It was a team effort. Claire surprised her parents by insisting that they take her out for dinner; both of them were rather drunk, and so were inclined to interpret this as a sudden flowering of her love for them. She did love them, but this was a deliberate act of deception which allowed Jimmy to slip into their cabin and access Mr Stanford's Internet connection. They had guessed correctly that while the rest of the ship was denied access to the web, the owner would make sure he was still connected. Meanwhile Ty, under the pretence of visiting his parents' bodies, smuggled Claire's camera into the hospital wing and began recording the distressing plight of the infected passengers.

At ten minutes to eight Jimmy and Claire arrived on the bridge with their fake edition of the Titanic Times. The story on the front page said that the plague was still spreading but that medical experts were hopeful of making a breakthrough soon. It wasn't a lie. It just ignored the larger truth. Inside, it was packed with information about San Juan and duty-free shopping and snippets about activities on the ship. The Passenger of the Day was eighty-three-year-old Miss Kitty Calhoon who confessed to having another stowaway on board — Franklin, a small pink poodle. They were pictured together on the back page.

Captain Smith, his eyes red and the bags beneath them as thick as teabags, flicked through the paper, nodding with approval. 'This is much more like it . . .' But when he saw Kitty and Franklin his brow furrowed. 'What is this?' he demanded angrily. 'This woman has a dog on board?' He turned to First Officer Jeffers. 'How could this happen? How did she get it past security?'

'I . . . don't know . . . Captain.'

'I want her arrested immediately and the dog destroyed.'

'Captain?'

'You know as well as I do, Mr Jeffers, that this ship must abide by the many international agreements which prevent the transportation of livestock between nations without proper documentation and approvals. This is exactly how disease spreads.'

'With all due respect, Captain, I think a poodle is the least of our—'

'Mr Jeffers! I have given you an order, now please ensure that it is carried out immediately!'

'Yes, sir, right away.'

Jeffers hurried from the bridge. Captain Smith took another look at the photo on the back page, shook his head, then handed the paper back to Jimmy. 'Good job all round, permission to print granted.'

Outside, Jimmy said, 'That was a bit weird.'

'Did you see the look he gave Jeffers?'

'I know. What's he going to be like when he sees our real paper?'

Claire rolled her eyes. 'I intend not to be there for that one.' She stopped. 'Damn. Look, I've forgotten something — you head back and start printing, I'll be there in a couple of minutes.'

'Are you chickening out on me?'

'No!'

***

Claire arrived back twenty minutes later wearing a shoulder bag. Printing was progressing nicely. Jimmy gave her the thumbs up. They both knew how important it was to get the paper out to the passengers as quickly as possible, because Captain Smith would ban it the moment he saw it. To this end Ty had recruited twice the number of delivery boys and girls they'd used the previous night. They waited impatiently outside in the corridor. They didn't care what the paper contained, they just wanted the money.

As the fresh copies slid perfectly out of the printer Jimmy said, 'It's not too late for either of you to back out.'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, it's your dad's ship, Claire. If you feel bad about doing this you can just go upstairs now and I'll say you had nothing to do with it. And you've got enough problems, Ty.'

Claire shook her head. 'We're in this together.' She nodded at Ty as he divided up the finished copies into even piles. 'All of us.'

'We're like . . . revolutionaries,' said Ty.

'All for one and one for all,' said Claire. 'The Three Musketeers. Which reminds me — did you ever read that book at school?'

Ty shook his head.

'Saw the movie,' said Jimmy.

'So you'll know that there weren't really three musketeers in the story, there were four.'

Jimmy shrugged. 'So what?'

'Well, here's our fourth.'

Claire set the shoulder bag down on her desk. Ty looked at it. Jimmy looked at it. Then the bag moved. It whimpered.

'Claire?'

'I had to do something.'

'Claire!'

She opened the bag, and out popped a pink little poodle head. Franklin was huffing and puffing. Then he began to whine. He jumped down from the desk and began to sniff around the office floor.

'I hate yappy little rats,' said Jimmy.

'So do I,' said Claire, 'but I still keep you around.' It didn't raise a smile. 'Jimmy, I just couldn't . . . Kitty is such a sweet old lady and it would absolutely kill her if anything happened to Franklin. I promised her we'd look after him until the coast is clear.'

'How'd you manage to beat Jeffers and get to Franklin first?'

'Well I knew what cabin Kitty was in, he had to go and find out. But when I came out with Franklin in the bag Jeffers was standing at the rail, just looking out to sea. I started to walk past him and Franklin barked. Jeffers just said, "Evening, Claire," then went up to her door. He knew!

'More than one way to follow orders,' said Jimmy. 'Just as there's more than one way to produce a newspap—'

He stopped. Franklin was peeing over one of the piles of newspapers.

'Claire!'

***

The distribution of two thousand Titanic Times — including thirty-seven slightly damp copies — was carried out with military efficiency between midnight and one a.m. There were small pigeonholes for mail outside each cabin, but the delivery team was under instruction to ignore these and slip the papers under each door so that they would physically be inside the room when their occupants woke in the morning. When it was finally completed and the delivery boys paid, Jimmy, Claire and Ty locked up the office and split up to go to their rooms.

But none of them did.

Ty returned to the hospital and sat with the bodies of his parents. Twice the nurses ordered him out for fear of him catching the Red Death, and twice he returned.

***

Claire sought out her father, and found him close to the bridge, standing smoking a cigar and staring down at the waves in the moonlight. She stood beside him for several minutes without speaking. She wasn't even sure he knew she was there, so intent was his gaze, but then he suddenly pointed at the water. 'Look, Claire — dolphins!'