CHAPTER 18 – ANOTHER ROAD ENDS
22:46 (Iceland Time)
Sunday, April 14, 1912 ‘A’
R.M.S. TITANIC
Middle of the North Atlantic, south of Iceland
Few of the people still up and present on the Promenade Deck paid much attention to the old but tall woman, dressed in a simple but elegant gown covered by a long fur coat, as she made her way towards the Forecastle Deck. Those who did mostly marveled at the vigor of her pace for such an obviously old lady with white hair and wrinkled face and hands. Ignoring the few stares, the old woman exited in the open air and went down on the Forward Crane Deck, then up again on the Forecastle Deck. The air was at the freezing point and made even more cold by the ship’s speed of 22.5 knots. Apparently not bothered by the cold, the old woman went to the bow, where she leaned against the railing and looked ahead of the ship into the dark night. Nancy Laplante ‘B’, traveling under her official name of Lady Jeanne Smythe-D’Orléans, then reflected on her long but fruitful life and her many accomplishments. Officially eighty years old in this life, she was in reality 191 years old now, the longevity treatment received as a member of the Time Patrol helping her look and feel like a woman closer to seventy years of age. Both of her lives, the one in the 17th Century as the Marquess of St-Laurent and the one that had started in the 19th Century as Jeanne de Brissac, then as Lady Jeanne D’Orléans, had provided many tragedies but also many satisfactions to her. As the Marquess of St-Laurent, she was already officially dead at the age of 65, having supposedly drowned during an Atlantic crossing from New England to France in 1700. She had left in Philadelphia her adopted son, James Walker, his wife Annette Beaulieu and his two sons and one daughter. Jame’s wine shop, dealing in wine imported from the estate of the Château La Tour Carnet, near Bordeaux, was prosperous and had provided his family a comfortable living in peaceful Philadelphia, far away from the anti-Huguenot religious persecutions that had been sweeping France since 1680. The estate of La Tour Carnet was itself in the good hands of Nancy’s son from D’Artagnan, Charles. Charles had retired from the royal musketeers and had married a local girl, Jeanne Dupré, from whom he had a son, Pierre, and a daughter, Réjeanne, who in turn had given Nancy a further seven great-grandchildren, albeit after her official death. As for King Louis XIV, once a lover and good friend of Nancy, he had grown into an increasingly intolerant and egotistic tyrant, from whom Nancy had been further repelled by the often mean gossips about her circulated by the king’s confessor, who had rightly suspected her of aiding and protecting Huguenot Protestants around Bordeaux, and by the king’s other mistresses. While Nancy had been sad to leave her sons and grandchildren in France and Philadelphia, she had also felt some relief at exiting the increasingly poisonous atmosphere of the royal court in Versailles, which she had avoided as much as she could by continuing to conduct field missions for the King. As for her life as Jeanne Smythe-D’Orléans, it had been most eventful and had quieted down a bit only in the last decade. After rebelling against the Time Patrol and becoming an independent time-traveling operator as well as a new Chosen of The One in 1860, following the birth of her illegitimate twins from King Louis XIV, she had renewed her efforts to help the wounded, the sick, the poor and the downtrodden, living through the American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune. More work as a nurse and Red Cross representative had followed during the turbulent decades of the end of the 19th Century in Europe. She had also gone through the numerous social tremors and colonial wars of the time while continuing to expand the work of the D’Orléans Social Foundation. Her charitable organization was now supported by a hidden financial empire built along six decades and that was now worth over 300 million British Pounds Sterling. That empire was however operated in a very discreet manner and very few people knew about the true extent of Jeanne’s fortune, which she used almost exclusively to help others or further extend her reach. Her charity and nursing work had attracted her many honors, including the awarding to her of the Order of the Red Cross by Queen Victoria, but also many political enemies. Her support of the legal defense of French Army Captain Dreyfuss during his celebrated trial, followed by his imprisonment and then his retrial, had branded her as a ‘social revolutionary’ in the minds of many French politicians and military leaders. Her financial and political leverage had however been too powerful for those men to dare attack her directly. Her political and social victories had unfortunately been shadowed by the successive deaths in Paris of her father Pierre in 1894 and of her mother Suzan in 1897. Her children in the 19th Century, William, Louis and Anne, had grown to adulthood and married, forming families of their own while staying close to Jeanne. Jeanne now had a total of ten grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren in this century and knew that the future of her charity organization and financial empire was in good, dependable and trusted hands.
Coming out of her mental contemplation of her past lives, she looked at her wristwatch and saw that it was now twenty past eleven. Walking calmly away from the railing, she went back inside the ship and made her way aft to the 3rd class social hall, in the stern part of the Upper Deck. She had just arrived in the social hall when the ship shook, while a long scraping sound could be heard from the lower hull. Knowing perfectly well that this announced the collision of the TITANIC with the iceberg that would sink it, Jeanne nonetheless went to sit quietly in one corner of the mostly unoccupied room, where less than a dozen men were still playing cards in two groups. A few of the men, 3rd class passengers that had booked passage on the ship to emigrate to the United States with their families, eyed her briefly but discreetly, surprised by the visit of an old woman who was visibly of a much higher social class than them. They however didn’t comment loudly about her and continued playing cards.
After a few minutes and with still no signs or indications that the ship was in trouble apart from the fact that it had slowed down and stopped, Jeanne got up and used the nearby 3rd class main staircase to go down to the women’s lavatories. There, she relieved herself one last time and washed her hands. A young redhead woman who was combing her hair in front of the sinks counter looked at her with curiosity when she saw the six medals pinned to her dress, which had been hidden up to now by her fur coat.
“Uh, excuse me, madam, but are we suppose to celebrate something tonight?” She asked with a strong Irish accent. Jeanne shook her head gently and looked into her brown eyes, speaking softly to her.
“No, miss. There will be nothing to celebrate about tonight.”
“Then, why the medals, madam?”
“Because I wanted to look my best tonight, miss.”
On those mysterious words Jeanne left the young woman and returned to the 3rd class social hall, her fur coat over her left arm. Before entering the hall, though, she stopped briefly in a poorly lit corner and sent a silent radio message through the miniature radio still embedded at the base of her skull.
“This is Nancy. Send the bag of transit probes to the pre-selected location now.”
She had to wait less than ten seconds before a large Victorian-style canvas travel bag appeared in a flash of light a few centimeters above the deck, then dropped with a soft thud to the ground. Jeanne, still incredibly strong despite her age, thanks to her powers as a Chosen, picked up the thirty kilo bag and carried it without difficulty. Her entrance in the social hall was much more noticed, thanks to her now visible medals, but she simply returned to her original seat without saying a word. On their part, the card players probably made her up to be some sort of eccentric and continued their game after staring at her for a few seconds.
Half an hour later, the last few card players still left in the hall started seeing apparently confused passengers enter the hall, coming from the open decks. One player, a big Scandinavian man, shouted in Danish at one of the passengers who had just come in.
“HEY, SVEN, WHAT IS GOING ON?”
The other man shrugged his shoulders and approached the table before speaking also in Danish.
“I’m not sure, Erik. There is some sort of evacuation drill going on on the 1st class decks.”
“An evacuation drill? What do you mean?”
“Passengers milling around and wearing life jackets while sailors are starting to lower the lifeboats. The ship is also stopped.”
Now alarmed, the big Dane glanced at his game partners, then back at Sven.
“The ship has stopped? Why?”
“I don’t know, Erik!” Replied in a somewhat exasperated tone Sven. “We couldn’t get to the boat deck and the crewmembers I spoke with didn’t know what was going on either.”
Erik then put down his cards and got up, concern on his face.
“I think that I will go see by myself what is going on.”
“But, the game…” Protested one of the other players at his table.
“Screw the game! This could be serious.”
Erik was about to walk away when he stopped and looked at the deck with alarm.
“The ship…it is listing by the bow. I can feel it.”
“Are you sure?” Asked Sven, prompting a no-nonsense glare from Erik.
“I’m a fisherman, Sven: I can tell when a ship or boat is listing.”
The big Dane then ran out of the social hall, followed by quite a few more men. Erik came back less than fifteen minutes later at a near run and went straight to his game partners.
“You better get your families up and dressed: lifeboats are being lowered to the water, with passengers in them. Also, the bow of the ship is nearly under water right now.”
That started a miniature stampede as the men present ran towards the 3rd class access staircase to go to their respective cabins. Erik was about to also run downstairs when the weird old woman that had sat quietly all along touched his shoulder and stopped him. She then spoke to him in fluent Danish.
“I believe that I can help you and your family, Erik. Could I go with you to your cabin?”
Erik eyed her quickly, barely managing to stay polite as he answered her.
“Who are you, madam? Why do you want to come with me?”
“To save you and your family, along with many others.”
Now convinced that she was crazy, Erik tried to walk away from the old woman. To his utter surprise, her grip on his shoulder then tightened, showing incredible strength.
“Please,” said softly the old woman, not even showing strain while immobilizing him, “I simply wish to help you. This ship is going to sink in less than an hour and there aren’t enough lifeboats for everyone.”
“What are you? Some kind of witch?” Said Erik angrily, trying to break free without success. She shook her head while looking straight into his eyes.
“You may call me some sort of angel, Erik. Show me the way to your family’s cabin.”
Reasoning that he was wasting precious time and that he might as well go to his cabin with or without her, Erik nodded once and started on his way downstairs, followed closely by the old woman carrying her canvas bag and fur coat. When they got to the port passageway on the Main Deck, two levels down, they saw and heard a ship’s steward banging in succession on the cabin doors lining the passageway while shouting urgently.
“EVERYBODY UP! PUT ON LIFE JACKETS AND GO TO THE BOAT DECK: WE ARE EVACUATING THE SHIP.”
Erik looked with shock at the old woman, then ran to the door of a cabin twenty meters away and opened it, entering the cabin and switching on the lights.
“FRIDA! ELSA! LARS! GET UP AND GET DRESSED, NOW!”
His young wife Frida groggily sat up in her bunk bed and looked at him with surprise and confusion.
“What is going on, Erik?”
“The ship is sinking, that’s what’s up! Get dressed quickly while I prepare our children.”
Now afraid, Frida got out of bed and was about to remove her night gown in order to put a dress on when she saw a distinguished old woman that had just entered their small cabin and had closed and locked the door behind her. Before she could ask who she was, the old woman spoke first, urgency in her voice.
“Just get dressed quickly, miss: there is little time available and I want to save as many people as I can before the ship sinks.”
That prompted Erik, who had started to help his two year-old son dress, to turn around and face her angrily.
“Look, madam! You warned me and I thank you for that but you may go now.”
“Not before I send you and your family to safety. Take this!”
She then put inside his belt a small cylindrical object after pressing a red button on top of it. The object then slipped under his belt, falling inside his undershorts and preventing Erik from throwing it away. Before he could do anything, the big Dane disappeared from where he stood in a flash of white light. Frida opened her eyes wide in horror at that and was about to scream when the old woman covered her mouth while slipping another cylinder in her corsage.
“You are going to join your husband now.” Said Jeanne, who withdrew her hand just before Frida disappeared as well. That left a small girl and a toddler boy with her in the cabin. Crouching down and facing the two scared children, Jeanne smiled to them to reassure them.
“Don’t worry, little ones: you will join your parents right now. Just take those cylinders.”
“Where will we go?” Asked in a tiny voice the small girl, still afraid.
“In a new home where you will live happily and prosper. Please take this cylinder, Elsa.”
Only half convinced, the girl nonetheless took the transit probe and disappeared two seconds later. Jeanne next gave a probe to the toddler boy, who was frozen with his eyes wide open in a corner of the cabin.
“Goodbye and good luck, Lars.”
As soon as the boy disappeared, Jeanne grabbed two empty suitcases and one kit bag from under one bag and quickly stuffed in them the clothes and personal effects that were in the cabin. She next activated and put in the bags three transit probes, making the luggage disappear seconds later. With Erik and his family now sent to safety aboard the time transport ship GILGAMESH, Jeanne grabbed back her canvas bag and coat and exited the cabin, going to the next door cabin and entering it. A man who was hurriedly dressing up with a woman and four children stared at her as she closed the door behind her.
“Who are you?” He asked with a strong Irish accent. “What are you doing in our cabin?”
She gave him a disarming smile while getting closer to him.
“I am here to help save you and your family.”
Jeanne had time to evacuate to safety a total of four families and three single men from inside their cabins before the rest of the passengers in this section of the ship had run out to go to the boat deck. Those passengers however found out to their utter distress that most of the lifeboats had already been lowered in the water and had left, while the few boats still being loaded would accommodate only a small portion of the people left aboard the ship. Some of the stranded passengers, panicking, started running around the stricken ship, trying to find some unused lifeboats. The majority, though, either stayed passively on the outer decks or went back to the aft 3rd class saloons, away from the steadily submerging bow. Many of the lower class crewmembers of the TITANIC, maids, stewards, cooks and valets, also went to find temporary refuge in the aft parts of the ship. Faced with the daunting task of trying to save over 1,500 persons with less than fifty minutes to spare, Jeanne had to improvise and show ingenuity, catching by surprise people who were unaware and standing out of sight of others and dumping activated transit probes in their pockets. She however quickly ran out of such opportunities, apart from running out of transit probes. She had to go quickly back to her predetermined pickup point to get a second bag of probes while operators aboard the GILGAMESH worked frantically, using spy probes to find crewmembers trapped low in the bowels of the ship, then evacuating them by sending to them transit probes. With a new bag of probes in her hands, Jeanne decided to return to the 3rd class social hall, hoping for more opportunities there. She found the hall packed with passengers and crewmembers either sitting sullenly or trying to forget their incoming faith by drinking from bottles grabbed around the ship or by playing cards. Looking at her watch, Jeanne saw that she now had less than thirty minutes left before the ship would disappear under the surface of the sea. In even less time, the ship’s list would become so severe that most movement aboard would become nearly impossible. She would need to act quickly if she wanted to save at least the people present in the social hall. Standing in front of the doors of the hall and blocking them, she then sent telepathically as loud a mental message as she could, stunning the crowd in the hall into silence.
“LISTEN TO ME, ALL OF YOU! I AM THE OLD WOMAN NOW STANDING IN FRONT OF THE EXIT. ALL THE LIFEBOATS OF THE SHIP ARE EITHER FULL OR HAVE ALREADY LEFT. I HOWEVER CAN OFFER YOU A WAY OUT. IT MAY LOOK LIKE MAGIC TO YOU BUT THINK OF IT AS A MIRACLE OFFERED BY GOD. WHO WANTS TO LEAVE THIS SHIP? THOSE WHO DO, RAISE ONE HAND.”
Everybody raised a hand, hesitantly at first, then more readily, while staring at her. Jeanne nodded, then pointed at a young maid who had been sobbing with terror in a nearby corner of the hall.
“Come to me, miss.” She said verbally in a gentle tone. The young woman hesitated for a moment, then got up and slowly came to her. Jeanne then showed to all one of her transit probes and used telepathy again to better impress her point.
“THIS OBJECT AND OTHER SIMILAR ONES ARE YOUR WAY OUT TO A SHIP WAITING NEARBY. ONCE ON THAT SHIP, YOU WILL BE BROUGHT TO A NEW COUNTRY WHERE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO LIVE AND PROSPER IN PEACE.”
Jeanne activated the probe, then quickly slipped it in a breast pocket of the maid’s apron. Two seconds later the maid disappeared in a flash of light, attracting exclamations and even screams from the onlookers. Jeanne gently smiled to the people around her and spoke telepathically again.
“IF YOU WANT TO SAFELY LEAVE THIS SHIP, THEN LINE UP IN FRONT OF ME.”
When no one moved at first, Jeanne used her powers of spacetime travel and jumped instantly to just in front of another ship’s maid.
“AS YOU CAN SEE, IT IS PERFECTLY SAFE TO MOVE THE WAY I DO.”
She then jumped again, reappearing in her previous spot.
“TIME IS RUNNING SHORT. YOU MUST MOVE QUICKLY IN ORDER TO SURVIVE.”
Either convinced by her arguments or figuring that he had nothing left to lose, a man got up with his wife and three children and came to Jeanne, hat in hands and eyeing her with hope.
“Can you really save my family, madam?”
“I can and I will, good man. Take these.”
The man and his family took the probes presented by Jeanne and disappeared within seconds. That seemed to decide many in the hall, who then came to her in increasing numbers. Ten minutes later all of the 126 men, women and children that had been in the hall were gone, transported to the safety of the time cargo ship GILGAMESH.
Now nearly out of time, Jeanne called for and got a new bag of probes, then went back on the open aft Poop Deck, packed with desperate, terrified passengers and crewmembers trying to escape the sea that was progressively engulfing the forward decks. Barely bothering to hide her actions due to the lack of time, Jeanne quickly walked around the crowd, working her way from aft to forward while activating probe after probe and stuffing them in nearby pockets. Most of the people on the deck had eyes only for the rising waters approaching them and never noticed the others disappearing in their backs. By the time the ship’s list started increasing at a much faster rate, Jeanne had sent to safety a further 131 persons and stood alone on the Poop Deck. With no transit probes left and with less than a minute to spare, Jeanne concentrated and jumped spacetime, appearing just outside the entrance to the 1st class lounge on the Boat Deck. Entering the luxurious lounge, she found inside less than twenty male passengers waiting their final fate there as water was about to rush in via the forward entrance doors. Walking quickly to a man with gray hair dressed in a fine evening suit, she sat beside him at his table, drawing a stunned look from the man.
“Lady Jeanne? How come you didn’t take place in one of the lifeboats?”
Jeanne smiled calmly to Benjamin Guggenheim, one of the richest passengers on the TITANIC, and gently pressed his left hand.
“I wanted to leave a space for someone younger who still had not seen much of life. I also wanted to die by the side of a true gentleman.”
Guggenheim swallowed hard, with tears coming to his eyes as he looked into her resolute green eyes.
“It will be a true honor to have you with me at this time, my dear Lady Jeanne.”
Just then, the forward doors of the lounge crashed open under the pressure of the sea and tons of water rushed in. Jeanne passed one arm around Benjamin Guggenheim’s shoulders as the frigid water started rushing around and over their legs.
“God is about to accept us back in his fold, Benjamin.” She said tenderly to the man, mere seconds before the water submerged them completely.
On the bridge of the time transport ship GILGAMESH, operating under cloak above the doomed liner, Captain Jan Zirel, who was watching intensely a holoscreen connected to a spy probe, got up from his command chair and, tears in his eyes, spoke up to his bridge crew.
“ALL WILL STAND UP!”
Waiting for the others to be all up on their feet, he then spoke with difficulty in a strangled voice.
“Nancy is now with The One. She…she was one of the greatest. May her spirit be in peace, along with the other unfortunate soulds still on the TITANIC.”