Chapter 23
Aboard the Sea Dancer
8:15 a.m.
As Sally and Dr Mitchell climbed up the netting to the deck of the Sea Dancer, they couldn't help but feel confused. A lot was happening, and very little of it made any sense.
The men who had invaded the Blue Emerald Resort did not claim to be terrorists, or thieves, or bandits, or anything else, for that matter. They claimed to be privateers or pirates! They did not ask for money, a ransom, or for any political goals to be met, and they gave no religious demands. They stated clearly that they wanted only food and water. They promised that once they had what they needed, they would leave. And Sally believed that they meant what they said.
It seemed too preposterous for their claim to be true, simply because it was not possible. And yet...
As they climbed aboard the ship and made their way onto and across the deck, their eyes were opened to the possibility, - no matter how slight that possibility was - , that this could be the ship of a pirate crew,...that this could be a genuine pirate ship!
They looked at everything with inquisitive eyes. Appraising and evaluating everything they saw. Considering whether or not something they looked at could indeed be a genuine pirate artifact, or, more likely, if it was something bought in Walmart and part of a great, fantastic hoax!
From the clothing on the pirates, the cannons on the ship, the utensils that they saw some of the pirates using as they busied themselves in some chores on the deck, everything became a point of scrutiny, ? and wonder.
As Dr Mitchell looked at the 'pirates' about him on the deck, he started to evaluate them from a medical point of view, looking at their physical conditions, their hair, their skin, their height, and casually examining their wounds, many of which were obvious.
The results were staggering.
Almost everyone he looked at as he passed them by on the deck, exhibited peculiarities that he would never expect to see in humans from the Western World, unless they were very poor and had no access to proper medicine.
Immediately obvious was the fact that the men stunk. To high heaven. They were not over dirty, and most looked clean, as if they did make an effort. Yet, their clothes, their odor, everything about them, reflected that modern day soap and cleaning materials were not on their daily agenda!
Their hair was covered in lice. You could see them jumping up and down and doing summersaults on almost every man's head that he looked at, with the exception of those who were bald ...including Captain McGregor's.
On average the men were smaller than you would expect contemporary grown adults to be. Notably so.
When the men smiled, which they seemed to do a lot - they seemed to be a happy bunch - their teeth were terrible. The doctor had never seen such bad teeth in all his life. Almost all of the men who he saw smile, revealed gaps in their mouths from missing teeth, and on those they still possessed, decay was apparent.
The scars that were visible on their faces or arms showed no sign of the neat repairs that people in the modern world would expect: their scars were crude, ugly and highly visible.
Curiously, Sally and the doctor noticed that the men onboard the ship seemed to be as fascinated by their appearance as they were by theirs.
They had reached the center of the main deck and come to an involuntary standstill, staring and looking at everything around them. It felt as if they were in one giant museum. There were objects all around them that they had either seen in museums or in films, and others which they had never seen before and were unable to guess the purpose for which they were intended.
Sally suddenly became very aware of the fact that Captain McGregor was looking at her, studying her from head to toe. He was sitting on a crate of food that had been freshly delivered from the shore, one foot crossed over the other, both arms crossed over his broad chest, and a smile on his face.
Sally smiled back.
"Miss Sally, please, would you be so kind as to tell me what that object is that you are wearing on your left arm,...on your wrist? I have noticed that many of your subjects are wearing them, yet I cannot fathom their purpose!"
Sally looked down at her wrist, wondering what on earth...
"You mean, my watch? ...This?" she said pointing to her Rolex with her right hand and forefinger.
"Yes! That is what 'I mean'," he nodded, his eyes glinting in the sunshine. "What function does it serve?"
"My watch? Are you joking?" she asked, before she could stop herself.
"I speak earnestly, not in jest. Genuinely I am intrigued to know, what purpose it does serve?"
"This is a watch. It tells me the time. See,..." she said, walking over to the Captain and sitting beside him on the crate. "There are two big hands on my watch, and the position of the hands relative to the numbers that are painted on the faceplate tell me what time it is. Right now, for example, it is 8.25 a.m., on Monday morning. And this thin hand that is moving all the time, this one tells me how many seconds are going past in each minute."
"Aha! It is a pocket watch on a strap! But for what do you need a 'watch' ?"
"To tell me the time."
"Why?"
"Otherwise I will be late..."
"But why can't you tell the time by looking at the sky, the sun and the flowers when you are on land? That's how we do it, and none of us needs a watch!"
The Captain held out his hand, and she placed hers in his.
He smiled at her, then slowly turned the hand over until he could clearly see the watch, face forwards.
" 'Tis a thing of beauty. Like it's owner."
Sally laughed, and pulled her hand gently back.
"Ah, Captain McGregor! You are back aboard!" a voice cried out, interrupting them, and they all turned to see a rather odd, small man with a big smile emerge from the ladders and come out onto the deck. The man came quickly towards the Captain, but when he noticed that he was with guests, he slowed down.
"A woman? You have brought back guests? Oh dear, I do not think that is wise... May we speak, Captain, in private?"
Captain McGregor nodded, and then walked with Dr Bones onto the forecastle, where he took his report.
Two of the men had died, their condition having deteriorated much faster than they expected. Another two had been stricken badly, and four others were beginning to show the initial signs of the strange sickness that was beginning to ravage the Captain's ship. And they were in addition to the nine others who were already sick.
"And,...have you seen this illness before? Do you recognise it?"
"Perhaps," Mr Bones replied. "In fact, yes, I think I have." And with that Mr Bones bent towards the Captain, beckoning him to bend down so that he could whisper something in his ear.
As soon as the Captain obliged, and the little man spoke into his ear, the Captain's face went as white as a sheet.
"Mr Bones, let me introduce you to Mr Mitchell, a doctor like yourself. I have seen him work magic ashore, with medicines that you, unfortunately do not have. I have invited him aboard to assist you in your work, and to save my crew." Captain McGregor said solemnly, as he took Mr Bones back over to Sally and the doctor.
Sally sensed that the Captain's mood had changed. It was like as if a cloud had descended upon him, and his face had lost all of its color.
"Mr Mitchell, sir, your presence is actually not a complete surprise. The Captain just mentioned to me in private that you are aboard, and I welcome you. In fact, I would be grateful if I could avail you of your assistance in a matter that I believe you may be well versed in. It is a matter of medical opinion."
"Certainly," Mr Mitchell agreed, thinking that for a supposed pirate, the ship's doctor was certainly very polite and formal.
"Please, then, if you will follow me. We must go below decks..."
As the two men turned to go, Sally stepped forward to follow them, but was immediately stopped by Captain McGregor.
" 'Tis best, if you remain aloft. You may not go below," he said, his voice sud
denly very authoritative.
Sally turned, "Why not? My uncle is a vet. There is nothing that could surprise me..."
"...Because I do not want you to go below." He replied. "Now come, I think it is best if you were to leave the ship immediately. You have been here too long already. It is best if you were to wait in the boat. I will send the doctor straight back to you, once he is finished looking at my men."
"Certainly not. I am not going anywhere until he returns. And don't even think of trying to force me. I will not..."
"So be it. I could have you thrown over the side, but I fancy you would not forgive me for it. If you will not leave of your own free will, then I must insist that you accompany me to my cabin, and there wait in private. Follow me!"
"You wish to take me to your cabin? I'm sorry, but I must decline the offer..."
The Captain turned, looked her up and down, and then stooped forward and picked her up over his shoulders, carrying her to the ladders leading down to the door to his cabin.
"Fear not, I will not harm you. I give you my word. Now, either you climb down these ladders yourself, or I will drop you down. Either way..."
She looked at him, and then down the ladders to the dark passageway beneath. The Captain stepped towards her, and she turned, scurrying down the steps to whatever fate awaited her below.
At the bottom of the ladder there was a dark corridor that led through the rear end of the ship. There were three doors in the corridor, the first and largest being immediately in front.
"In here, if you please," the Captain said, opening the door and stepping aside, and waving with his hand for her to go through the largest doorway.
She opened her mouth to protest, but thought better of it.
Slowly, she stepped through the doorway into the room beyond.
No sooner was she through the doorway, when she heard the sound of the door closing and being locked behind her. Turning swiftly around, expecting to find the Captain, she discovered that she was alone.
She dived for the door, turning the handle and trying to force it open. It would not give. For a second she considered screaming and banging on the door, but then realised the futility of it.
Stupidly, Sally-Anne Davis had just walked straight into the Captain's trap. She had been imprisoned. In a pirate ship almost four hundred years old. With no hope of escape.
After taking a moment to control her emotions and steady her breathing, Sally walked around the Captain's cabin, marveling at the things she saw. It was as if she had been left locked inside a museum by herself when all the guards had gone home. She could pick up and examine any of the exhibits, at will, and no one was there to tell her not to touch, or to drop anything. Everything she looked at was old, but curiously new. If that made any sense.
She wandered around, staring incredulously at all she saw. The candlesticks, the candles, the shoes, the plates on the table, the table itself, the bunk, the clothes folded neatly and placed on the chair. The tiny pictures encased in small glass jackets, the few old coins left lying on a small brass plate, the telescope....wow, a real, pirates' telescope.
After looking at the dates on the coins - none of which were more recent than 1684 - , she was just picking the telescope up and trying to focus it and look out through the window back towards the beach, when she heard the lock in the door behind her rattling, and the sound of loud, excited voices.
The door burst open, and Dr Mitchell burst through, breathing heavily, and as white as a sheet.
He ran across to the window, fumbled with a latch, and just managed to open it before he vomited out of the window and down the stern of the Sea Dancer.
Following immediately behind him came the Captain and Mr Bones, the ship's surgeon.
"What?" Sally asked, "What is wrong?"
Dr Mitchell turned to her, his eyes wild, his face twitching. She had never seen him like this before.
"For goodness sake! Tell me, what is wrong!"
"I'll tell you in a second. Listen, I left my cell phone in the resort. Have you got yours here?"
"Yes," she replied, reaching inside her pocket in her shorts, switching it on and unlocking it. "Here..."
The doctor practically grabbed it out of her hands. He immediately started to dial a number, but cursed loudly when he misdialed the numbers in haste and had to start dialing them again.
"What are you doing?" Captain Rob asked, stepping forward.
The doctor lifted his hand upwards, showing the Captain his palm and feigning a pathetic smile.
"Nothing bad, Captain McGregor. I promise you,...I give you my word. Let me explain in a moment... please... Hello, hi!" the doctor said to a voice at the other end.
"Is that the Dr Wilson? Yes, great! This is Doctor Mitchell, from the Blue Emerald. Has the helicopter you sent over to collect our injured guard returned yet? What...it's just landing? Okay, listen. And please listen to me very carefully and then immediately do everything I tell you."
The doctor paused, taking a deep breath, his eyes jumping nervously from one to the other of those in the cabin with him.
"I am currently on-board a ship in the bay of the Blue Emerald attending to some sick people, and examining the bodies of some sailors who have just died. Do not ask how or why, but please just believe me. Two have died already, and there are at least fifteen others who are now infected with what I am entirely convinced is what we would now call the plague. The two dead sailors, I believe, died of bubonic plague, but from what I can tell, most of the others are infected with pneumonic plague. I've seen the plague before...there are cases every year in the US and in the Caribbean. But this one is very different. This seems to be a more virulent form. More deadly. I'm sure that almost everyone else who is infected is going to die too..." The man at the other end of the connection tried to say something, but Dr Mitchell shouted him down. "LISTEN TO ME, and DON'T interrupt. You must STOP anyone getting off the helicopter. Let NO ONE come in contact with the men. And you must order them to fly back to the beach here, and follow my orders when they arrive. If any man steps out of the helicopter, and refuses to obey, you must shoot them dead. And then you must go nowhere near the body. Just burn it! Immediately! Do you understand? And as soon as you have done this, get the Superintendent of the island to call me back on this number. I will be waiting for his call. And then instruct the police to seal off the resort completely. They must let no one in, and no one out. Shoot to kill if necessary. Dr Wilson, you must get this right. We must not cause panic, or tell anyone else who does not need to know, but if I am correct, we could be dealing with one of the greatest threats to the survival of the human species that the world has seen in over seven hundred years. If this is the pneumonic plague as I believe it is, no one in the world today will have any immunity against it. If it starts to spread, we could be wiped out, in our billions! Now go...stop them leaving the helicopter, or you will be the next to be infected and the first to die!"
END OF PART ONE
You have now reached the end of Book One of 'Time Ship.' If you have enjoyed reading this book and would like to continue the story, please return to your ebook provider and download 'Time Ship (Book Two)'.
In Part Two, you will find the answers to the following questions:
1: Will the infection on the Sea Dancer spread to others in the complex? Is it as serious and deadly as the doctor believes it is? Will it threaten the survival of mankind itself?
2: What is the secret that is kept hidden aboard the Sea Dancer? What will happen when others learn of the secret?
3: How will the authorities react when they discover that the infection in the resort has the potential to wipe out humanity? What is the Top Secret 'Piras Plan' and will the American President sanction it to be used against the Pirates?
4: What will happen to the Pirates of Puerto Rico?
5: Is Kate Schwartz dead?
6: What is the truth behind the secret project that Colonel Patterson is conducting deep underground beneath the
mountains of Colorado?
7: Is time travel possible?
8: Why does Derek Martin hold the key to saving the world?
For this and more, download "Time Ship (Book Two)"
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Other Books by Ian Irvine
Haunted from Within
Haunted From Without
The Orlando File
Crown of Thorns: The Race to Clone Jesus Christ
London 2012 : What If?
The Sleeping Truth : A Romantic Medical Thriller
Alexis Meets Wiziwam the Wizard
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[email protected] .
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For advice and guidance as to aspects of U.S. Law, I am indebted to Charles Waterbury, of Waterbury Law, P.C. in Dallas, Texas.
[email protected] I am also indebted to my friend Moira Cerny, for help in reviewing this book, and whose namesake can be found within these pages! Thanks, as ever, also go to Linda, and to my wife!
My other friend throughout the writing of this book has been Wikipedia. A great source for everything.
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