11th September
It was two o’clock in the morning when Helen and I were awakened by the first explosions.
We quickly dressed and rushed into the corridor.
There was another explosion and then another. The carrier seemed to vibrate. It then slowly began to list.
We hurried with crew members along corridors and up stairways.
We reached the bridge at the same moment as Joan.
‘What’s going on?’ said Joan to Captain Jamieson.
The captain stared at a monitor. ‘Torpedoes,’ he said. ‘We never detected them coming. They must be American and launched from an American submarine.’
There was another explosion, and the carrier listed even more violently.
The captain pressed a button which sounded a claxon. ‘Abandon ship; abandon ship,’ he called into a handset.
Helen spoke into her mobile. ‘Amy, Wendy, come to the bridge to rescue us.’
‘Can the lifts be used to get the starcruisers onto the flight deck?’ I said to Captain Jamieson.
‘The lower decks are flooded,’ he replied. ‘The lift mechanisms are inoperable.’
I looked out into the blackness. Suddenly, several blue beams pierced the carrier deck from below. They seemed to move in arcs, describing two circles.
In less than a minute, two circular holes had appeared. The starcruisers rose through the apertures and into the air.
The craft were periodically illuminated by the red and white flashing lights that accompanied the claxon.
Fifteen seconds later they were hovering above the bridge.
‘We’ve got about thirty minutes before she goes down,’ said the captain. ‘We’re deploying the lifeboats. Can your team get away on those starcruisers?’
‘I think we should try to do that,’ said Joan as Vladimir reached the bridge.
Joan shouted into her phone. ‘Hello, Etienne, where are you?’
‘I’m heading for the infirmary to get Christian.’ Etienne’s voice was just audible. ‘I don’t know what happening, but the ship’s obviously sinking.’
‘Get to the bridge with him quickly,’ Joan shouted in response.
Helen counted on her fingers. ‘With Vladimir, Joan, Etienne, Christian, Swan and me, there are six of us, Amy.’ Helen spoke into her mobile. ‘Try to pick up all six of us. If there’s a problem, deploy Wendy as required.’
‘Get everyone onto the deck by the bridge, Commander.’ Amy’s calm voice could be heard above the creaking of twisting metal.
We all staggered sideways as the carrier lurched even more violently than before.
‘Everyone on deck,’ shouted Helen.
We pulled ourselves onto the small deck, adjacent to the bridge.
As I emerged into the night, I could see that the ship was listing at about forty degrees and waves were crashing onto the lowered side of the flight deck.
I looked up at the dark shapes of the starcruisers above us. I wondered how Amy could transport us from this unsteady platform into the craft.
The hatch opened in the base of Starcruiser Two.
At exactly that moment, the ship listed violently, the deck rail gave way, and I was aware of tumbling towards the black water below.
Then, I was still.
Then, I experienced the sensation of rising.
I looked upwards to see Helen, Joan and Vladimir being lifted by the same strange force towards Starcruiser Two, all enveloped by a shimmering blue light.
We finally formed an orderly, vertical line – like passengers on some invisible paternoster lift – and ascended into the craft.