11th September
Alpha Leadbetter remained locked in a room in the infirmary, many decks below the flight deck.
He heard the explosions and noted the vibration and listing of the carrier.
He looked out through a porthole and judged that the ship was rapidly sinking.
Alpha tried to summon help via the intercom, but there was no response.
He judged that it was time for Beta Leadbetter to take over.
Beta had not prepared for the sinking of the carrier, but he had been contemplating how to escape when the right circumstance arose.
He had spent a lot of time in this room during the past fourteen weeks. He therefore knew that the door could be opened from the inside by use of a keypad. The code for operating the door was changed weekly, but this was done by just one orderly. Beta had noticed that the orderly always chose codes that formed simple patterns on the keypad. Also, three of the numbers on the pad made a distinctive and different clicking sound when pressed. It had therefore become possible to deduce the pattern for the week simply by watching the arm movements of anyone opening the door, while listening for the distinctive sounds.
The current code was a cross centred on the central number: five.
It took Beta ten seconds to be standing in the corridor of the infirmary. Alpha was impressed. Gamma was oblivious.
Water was already filling the corridor.
Beta climbed a stairway to an upper corridor. He encountered no one, but he thought that to be unsurprising in the infirmary at this hour of the morning. The sleeping quarters were two hundred yards away.
It was at that moment that he heard the claxon and the tannoy announcement of the captain to abandon ship.
As he moved along the upper corridor towards the next stairway, Beta saw a figure descending those steps towards him.
It was Etienne.
At that moment, the ship lurched violently, and amid sounds of creaking and wrenching metal, a pipe that ran along the ceiling of the corridor tore itself loose. It struck Etienne, and he fell, face downwards, into the rising water that had now reached this level of the ship.
Beta retained his characteristic, calm composure. Alpha, however, was feeling anxious. The water was rising rapidly, and he feared that he might not be able to reach safety. Alpha momentarily lost concentration and thought about Gamma. This lapse was sufficient to bring Gamma to the fore.
Gamma surveyed the scene before him in bewilderment.
Flashes of recollection passed through his mind: the meteorite in Waterford, ARK, the Great Lord Morrison, Rycroft, Area 51 and the starcruiser.
As the water rose to his knees, he felt a sense of relaxation. This was clearly all a bizarre dream. He was very tired, however, and did not yet wish to awaken and face another day of his parish duties in Waterford. He yawned and closed his eyes as Beta leapt back into the scene.
Beta rushed forward and dragged the pipe away from Etienne. The psychologist appeared unconscious, so Beta lifted him onto his shoulders and began to ascend the swaying stairway.
At the top of this stairway, he encountered many sailors rushing along a corridor towards the flight deck that was visible through an open door at the corridor’s end. One crew member stopped to help him carry Etienne.
By the time they reached the flight deck, it was awash.
Moments later, the water was knee deep.
Moments later, Gamma reappeared, smiled, yawned once more and then closed his eyes.
Moments later, the water was at waist height.
Moments later, Alpha and Beta felt themselves and Etienne being gently lifted into the air, surrounded by a strange iridescent glow.