Chapter 18


He had told them not to do it! After everything that Kent had gone through to get here and help them, the sorry bastards would not listen! You would think that when a guy jumps out of a helicopter, into a raging sea, just to try and save your life, you might actually believe he might know what he is talking about! What was Kent supposed to think now? That fifty percent wasn’t so bad?

Two of the four people he had seen were still with him. One of them was a young boy who was probably all of fifteen years old from the looks of it. Kent did know that this kid, Rick, was on his very first trip out. The boy had made that very plain and did so quite often by talking about how his luck could not be this bad. It was annoying after the first few minutes and he was making both Kent, and the girl with them, wishing for the opportunity to strangle the kid before they all drowned.

Fortunately, Kent had sense enough not to act on his initial impulse. Besides, he also did not wish to ruin his record which was bad enough after the initial fiasco. The girl, who was lashed to his back, and gripping his wet suit so hard that she was actually cutting his skin beneath it, had no such temperance. She gave her name as, Leslie, and Kent was not even sure what job she had on the Roby Celeste. From the sounds of it her duties were a little bit of everything.

All four of the initial survivors had been in the water since almost the start of the crisis that wounded their ship. They had only gone out on the weather deck in an attempt to open several hatches. They were deliberately trying to flood some of the lower compartments in an attempt to fight the fire that was growing out of the engine spaces. None of them made it to even the first hatch. A wave had come rolling right over the deck and swept them into the water.

All in all, Kent had considered them lucky considering how moronic they had been for slipping around on an open deck, in this weather, with no safety lines. Their only response to that had been, “the weather wasn’t so bad at the time.” Kent did not exactly buy it. When he first reached them he had only considered them lucky and, at least smart enough to hold on to each other once in the water.

That changed when the two older merchant seaman grabbed Kent’s bag. He had been busy at first trying to get them organized and, then, attempting to stop the bleeding on Rick’s arm. The kid had a nice sized gash that, while not particularly lethal, could become a problem in sea water, particularly on this planet. It was then that he noticed the two older survivors had separated form everyone else.

The Leslie made Kent aware of the fact that it was not by accident. The men had swam off with the bag intentionally. They apparently had a pretty good idea of what was in it and that included the inflatable raft. Kent believed the girl because, that raft was only big enough for two. When he saw the man getting it out he knew for certain what their plan was. They had intended to leave everyone else behind. It was a bad idea and the morons had never bothered to wonder why Kent had not been using the raft all along. They managed to get it inflated, all the while drifting further away from their original group. They ignored the pleas of Leslie who constantly urged them to try and come back. They completely ignored Kent who was trying to warn them.

The two men survived in the raft just until they reached the first up lift from a swell. The raft was simply not big enough to take that kind of incline. It flipped them with ease and both men went right back in the water. Kent saw the raft a couple of more times before it became lost in the three story chop. He never saw it’s two occupants ever again. They just never came back up. They also did not have the personal flotation devices that he did on his suit. After this long in the water he was pretty sure they were gone for good.

Leslie kept looking anyway. Kent just let her because, in his view, it meant the girl still had hope and it kept her mind occupied. Doing something useful in a crisis was always better than sitting around and waiting. That always brought about nasty little thoughts that could change ones attitude. Kent also knew from countless experiences that attitude could be the biggest single deciding factor in your survival. So he even started to encourage Leslie to keep looking and, besides, the two morons might actually still show up.

On the other side of the equation, Rick was not so helpful or hopeful. Kent was starting to suspect that it was not the boys fault. The kids eyes were getting glassy and his head was bobbing worse than it should. Kent began to constantly check the boys vitals and, without the bag, there was not much else he could do. Of all the things that Kent could check, the boys pulse rate really mattered the most. After a couple of times, and even accounting for error which was very possible in these conditions, the kids heart was racing way faster than it should. Even their current predicament should make it beat that fast.

Over his shoulder, and the howling wind, Kent told the girl, “if you happen to see that bag girl, let me know.” He did not want to tell her why he needed it. If he did then the boy would hear and maybe be lucid enough to understand. Kent did not want to add a state of panic to his already deteriorating state. Kent needed some of his medical supplies and, in particular, several syringes in his bag. He needed to slow down the kids heart and the infection that was causing it.

Leslie had not seen anything in some time and that included her own ship. The world looked like nothing more than the caps and depression of the angry sea. She started to despair when she told Kent, “it’s gone. It’s all gone!”

“Non sense girl,” Kent replied. “There’s help out there and it can’t be that far away. We haven’t been in the water that long.”
“You don’t get it,” she was almost crying when she said that, “we were in the Baskum Straights when the engine blew.” She looked back at him and covered her eyes from the constant sea spray coming off the water. Leslie saw his smile and realized he did not know, “we’re caught in a current and it’s pulling us out. These are bad waters at the best of times.”

“Don’t you worry about that dear,” Kent slapped the little yellow and red canister that was hooked to his suit. “This here little device is letting them know exactly where we are. All we have to do is wait till the seas calm and they’ll pick us up in a jiffy. You’ll see.”

Leslie was starting to loose it now, “if we last that long.”

Kent looked at the boy lashed to his front. Then he lied to the girl, “oh we’re going to make it plenty fine, don’t you worry a bit.” It did not work. Leslie now noticed how badly Rick was looking. Kent noticed how she was starting to panic so he calmed her down, “hey, he’s going to be fine. Don’t you worry, that’s why I went to medical school.”