Asiatica 5679

ACT NINE

Espada Line Cebu 162, somewhere in the Philippine Sea

Rosabella opens her eyes. The cabin is dimly lit and rusty. The porthole just a metre from the end of her bed shines with the early morning sunlight. She pulls the tight covers off herself and twists her body to place her feet upon the metal floor below her. Above her, Leanne lies awake in another bed, and across from them Landon and Michael sleep in another set of bunks. 

Their beds are recessed into the walls of their cabin, which is enclosed with a bulkhead. Rosabella stands up, narrowly missing hitting her head on the bunk above her. Leanne turns to her and the two make eye contact, a silent pact of not waking up the men across from them. Bella turns to the bulkhead, and twists open the handle. The bulkhead creaks and slides open. 

Bella and Leanne head out into the ship. It is practically devoid of life. They pass a clinic with a small, non-English speaking doctor in it. He waves at them, and Bella waves back. They continue forward, heading into the cafeteria. There is just one man cooking. He eyes them suspiciously, as though word had not yet gotten around of their arrival aboard the ship.  Leanne and Rosabella continue upward towards the bridge, hoping to try and see what was going to happen now that they had had some rest. 

Arriving at the bridge, they find themselves inside a large room with about five people in it. The captain stands the front of the room, and his helmsman, navigator, radio operator, and first mate are scattered around the room doing various different jobs. Leanne clears her throat, and the captain turned to the two teachers.

"Hello, Mr...." Rosabella looked for a nametag, but did not find one. She elects to just continue onwards with the conversation. "My name is Ms. Macaluso, and this is Mrs. Yandell. We were here to discuss with you the possibilities about what is going to happen to us."

The captain stared back at them, blankly, for a moment. He looked confused, and slightly disappointed. "Kaya hindi ka nagasalita ng Tagalog?"

"Oh Christ..." Leanne mutters.

"Uh-" Rosabella stammers. "Do you speak English by chance?"

"Anong pingasasabi mo babe?"

"Well this complicates things," Rosabella lest out a slight laugh. "Umm, Australia?"

"Hindi, hindi, Amerika?" the captain shakes his head as he responds.

"No no not America, we are from Australia."

"Hindi ako pupunta doon, pupunta ka sa Amerika o bababa ka sa barko ko."

"Not Amerika, no." Leanne tries to sound out.

"Amerika. No Australia."

"What about Japan?" Rosabella says, trying to negotiate.

"Hindi."

"I think that means 'no'," Leanne states.

"Thank you I had gathered that," Rosabella responds flatly. "Oh my god... uhm, Singapore?"

"Hindi. Amerika." The captain reaches down for a document, and shows them the manifest, which includes a map of the route the ship is taking. He flips to it and presents it to Rosabella. The map depicts a route out of Manilla, and towards the west coast of the United States. "Tayo," he points to a part of the line nearby to the Philippines. 

"Us?" Rosabella motions to the three of them, and he nods in response. She sighs realising how far away from the US they still are. "We can't go to America, we will be deported. They will not let us in," she tries to sound out to him. "De-port-ed." The captain mutters something in Filipino, but suddenly another member of the crew starts shouting from across the room.