Chapter 24


It was the kind of sight that Amy had always imagined being the end of time. She would have never admitted to anyone else but, she was terrified of waves. She always had nightmares, when she was a little girl, living back on Earth, of a giant wave rising up on the horizon and sweeping over her, around her, dropping and crushing her from miles up high. Of course, then Amy would wake up, wipe the sweat off, and feel safe in the comfort that she did not live anywhere near the ocean. It settled her mind when she was eight.

When she was eighteen, and already living in the Arch, the year she graduated high school, she heard the news about Beta Canaan Veticorum and the asteroid that hit the planet. Amy had browsed the pictures from that planet with an almost morbid curiosity. It was like watching a horror movie for a vicarious release. Those pictures had showed sky scraper sized waves wiping out cities that were even further from the water than where she had lived back on Earth. It petrified her.

Now, here she was, intentionally working on the water. She also happened to be tying herself down to a boat that was deliberately trying back right into a three story wave. Cal, still safely up in his enclosed cabin, had not even waited for Amy to reach her clamps when he fired up the engines. She logically understood that they had no time to waste but, that did not keep Amy from letting the words escape her lips, “ass hole.”

When Amy secured her last D ring to the deck, she pulled the strap around her waist tight, and then grabbed for a hand hold on the engine cover. She knew she should have been watching Garcia who had the unfortunate job of having to work the crane. He was secured too but, in a far more vulnerable position. It was his own damn fault and that was exactly what Amy was thinking of it as right now. Next time maybe he would do the smart thing and keep his mouth shut!

Once again, Amy fully understood the logic behind what they were doing. She completely agreed in the cause. This was a good thing. It was the right thing to do. It was also the most insane and stupid thing she had ever agreed too in her life and she hated anyone and everyone that forced her in to this!

The BMV was not really traveling at the swell behind them. The engines weren’t really powerful enough to overcome the current and winds by that much. What those three jets were doing was shooting streams of high powered water out of the front intakes for all they worth. It had the effect of nearly freezing the vessel in place and then causing them to slip back down into the depression beneath them.

From Amy’s view, on the aft weather deck, it looked to her just like a giant wave was rising up from the horizon and coming for her. She watched the raw power of nature getting higher and higher. Then she could tell it was getting closer with every passing second. The first of the water that overtook the fantail crashed down onto the deck and Amy did not remember much from that point on. It felt like a giant hand had come down and smacked her entire body. Then it felt as if she were being smothered to death. Everything was dark and all consuming.

Her screams were going full blast when she first noticed that she could see the sky again. She tried to breath but only found herself coughing out water and then something a lot hotter than that felt as if it was scalding her throat and lungs. She barely even noticed being soaked to the bone since she had been in the rain for so long. The sea had lost it’s punch there.

It was just as Amy was starting to figure out what was going on that she realized they were not even done yet. She saw Garcia still holding his post but, he had not activated the crane yet. Why hadn’t he done that? Only then did Amy realize that the rear of their boat was pointing skyward. It took actually seeing it because her body had lost just about any sense of direction on their last little dip. Unfortunately, she realized, their last dip was a little one. It was also an unexpected one and not a part of the original plan.

“OH MY…” Amy’s words broke off into a scream as she watched the entire rear end of the boat become covered in water. This was not like the first time around. That had been more like a wave that was that was crashing over a sea wall. Sure it was a big one but nothing compared to what was over taking them now. This time it was like they were driving right into a literal wall of vertical water that swept right across the aft section, past the raised superstructure, and then completely submerged the entire craft. They had literally driven underwater without the usual benefits that submarines have like, say, air.

Amy was not even sure how long they stayed underwater. It felt to her like an eternity. It also felt like they were never going to come back up. The current rushing past her had actually picked her up off the deck and held her there. The harness and D rings were holding her in place but, the weak point was not was her own body. She felt like the straps were going to cut her in two.

Then suddenly she felt cold. Amy had almost thought she was dead until she realized she also felt rain. Her body slammed to the deck and, for good measure, she bounced up and slammed back down at least four more times before it was over. When she felt the engine rev up again she was almost too drained to care.

Then there was a hand on her back. It start patting softly and grew ever more violent as she coughed and ejected fluids. The last impact, right between the shoulder blades almost made her cross eyed. That’s when Amy rolled over and slugged Garcia with a right cross to the jaw. He fell back to the deck as far as his safety line would let him.
As Garcia grabbed his jaw, he said, “you’re welcome!”

“That’s for saving me from drowning by knocking me cross eyed,” Amy told him in between gasps for more air. Then she pushed herself up on her knees and slugged him again, “and that’s for not keeping your fucking mouth shut Garcia!”

He just tossed his thumb towards the crane. Amy looked up and had to use a hand to shield her eyes from the rain but, what she was looking at was obvious enough. The net was swinging right over the deck. Their catch, the three last survivors from the Roby Celeste, were secure. Garcia had really managed to hang on long enough to reel in the line when they were underwater. It pulled the net right back to the ship and avoided the problem of waves crashing them into the hull and killing them. The merchant seaman were coughing, screaming in fear, and the last one was thanking his rescuers using choice words that only sailors knew.

It all meant one thing to Amy. They were alive. She yelled up to them, “I’m a medic! Who needs medical attention?” All three began crying out for it. Amy laughed. Then, as Garcia reached his feet, she turned and laughed at him. That was right before she socked in the jaw one last time and then growled, “because you deserve more than one, shit bag!”