UNDERCOVER on the TITANIC (book 1)

Part 43 - Lifeboats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YDLewssvg8

That broke our impasse. We raced up the spiral staircase.

Several decks higher we bumped into Isambard coming down. We stopped to catch our breath as Mister McIntyre glared at him. 'Isambard, are you shirking your duties again.'

'Nah, Mister McIntyre, I wuz onan errant. I wuz on d' way back t' d'engine room.'

'Speak up, laddie,' Mr McIntyre said, not unkindly. 'I canna unnerstand a wurd yer saying.'

'Mister 'Urn sent me t' d' bridge wiv a message,' Isambard said more carefully. 

 'Isambard, I have another task for you,' Mister McIntyre said. 'Do not return to the engine room. You are to go to the boat deck and assist the deck officers with the life boats. Tell them I ordered you to crew one of the lifeboats. Do you understand.'

'Yes, Mister McIntyre . . . sir.' He looking puzzled as he turned away. 

Mister McIntyre showed us the door to the passenger staircase and said he had to return to the boiler rooms via the funnel ladders. I stopped him. 'Don't go back down there. The ship is going down.'

'I don't think so,' he replied evenly. 'She's holed but well designed and we must keep some of the boilers working for steam pressure to run the electrical dynamos. If we fail, there will be no pumps and no lights.'

'No, seriously, the ship is gonna sink. Many people will die.'

'Now how could you know that?' he asked with a chuckle. 'I am sure we can keep her afloat. I'll wish you all a good night and good dreams.' With that, he opened the door to the crew quarters and was gone.

'We should go to the boat deck,' Denny said reluctantly.  Maybe this blinking Triple Oh can help us.' 

'Let's go get our clothes first,' I suggested. 'You still have the key to the stateroom?' 

He patted his pocket and nodded. 

'Most of the people died from hypothermia,' I added. 'They might have survived with some insulation. We should wear all the clothes we can find.'

Licia was looking worried. 'How about we get some life jackets, too?'

A few minutes later, we were hurrying along a corridor when Denny stopped. 'This must be the wrong deck. Do we go up or down?' Miguel and I said, 'Down.' But Licia and Denny though we were on the starboard side instead of the port side and we were going to the bow instead of the stern. 'Have you noticed the angle,' Miguel pointed out. 'The deck is already tilted down toward the bow.'

We compromised by going up to the boat deck, still arguing which way to go.

'Gor, fancy meeting you 'ere,' Isambard said.

'Isambard,' I said, 'we're lost. Do you know how to find Sir Saint Denny's stateroom?'

He looked at the cabin number on the key, 'Yerse, oy'll show yer.' He led the way to down to the stateroom where Denny opened the door. There was no sign of Sir Saint Denny, Charlotte or her brother so we took turns using the washroom while we hurriedly changed back into our old clothes. Everyone looked pale and anxious and I felt sick to my stomach. 

We barely spoke except to ask Isambard for help getting our collar studs undone. As soon as everyone was ready, we raced up the stairs and looked around. There were a lot of people standing around and a few crew members working on the lifeboats. Everyone looked nervous but there was a surreal absence of hysteria. 

Isambard was the only one who seemed to be enjoying himself. As a distress rocket shot into the sky, he pointed out the fireworks to two children with a worried looking young woman. 

Denny was trying to get the attention of a harassed junior officer when suddenly there was a disturbance as a large man, wearing a coat with gold rings on the sleeves, barged through the crowd around the nearest life boat. The coat was several sizes too small for him and he wore an officer's cap balance precariously on the back of his head. He was staring at something in his hand as hurried toward us.

'Ah, 'tis well met,' he announced, 'and verily not too late. Duncan said you would return. Follow me, but hasten.'

'Ondy!' I exclaimed joyfully. 'Am I ever glad to see you. Murga said you were dead.'

Triple Oh chuckled. 'Methinks, Murga doth exaggerate.'

He led us to a cabin on a lower deck and opened the door with a key. 

'How did you find us?' I asked. 'Licia's cell phone,' Triple Oh rumbled as we stepped inside, 'I used it to track you.'

'Licia, Denny, Miguel,' I said cheerfully, 'I don't believe you have met Time Agent Onderdonk also known as Triple Oh or Ondie.'

Miguel and Denny said, 'Hi,' as Licia said, 'Pleased to meet you. But my cell phone wasn't working.'

'Thou speakest truly, fair maid. 'T'was not connected to the phone network but it was still emitting a periodic radio signal.' There was a terrible roaring sound as the boiler safety valves vented steam.

 'Kozak!    Where's Kozak? ' I shouted urgently.  

'Fear not,' Triple Oh said, he hath Murga's nexus. He will not be trapped here and we must exeunt this scene quickly.'

Triple Oh pulled what looked like a cell phone from his pocket and one of the walls lit up with a dazzling light. Triple Oh was saying something but no one was trying to decipher his Shakespearean dialogue over the noise. And we were all anxious to get away from the Titanic so we barged into the intense green-blue light. For several heart beats I was blinded and churned into a maelstrom of scintillating colours before I was dumped on a hard surface in a cloud of smoke.

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