Elise Runs and Dorothy Falls

Chapter 29

Below them the ocean had changed from purple to such a deep blue it appeared black, and in all directions they saw only fog. The rain fell steadily—very steadily—but it no longer brought a clamor; it poured without lightning or thunder. They could no longer see a sky, and it seemed almost as if there was no sky to see.

"We're inside it," whispered Elise.

The others turned to her. "What do you mean?" Dorothy.

"We crossed its boundary... and now we're inside it."

"You mean we're still inside the Wall Cloud?" Tyrio looked skeptical. "It seems to me we just finally got to the other side."

"No... no that's not it at all. The storm was just a boundary, like a skin... This is the Wall Cloud."

Dorothy looked at Elise's grey eyes closely. They didn't seem altogether there. "Elise, are you feelin' all right...? I think maybe you should sit back down, yeah?"

"Whether I sit or stand, it doesn't matter," the girl said cloudily. She perched herself on top of weapons control and continued to gaze out the window. The other thing they realized is that the wind had entirely gone. The waters stirred, gently, but no waves crashed.

"Say, it's only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea... But it wouldn't be make-believe, if you believed in me..."

Tyrio sat down in the captain's chair. "Albb, I need you at your station," he said, unable to shake his uneasiness. "Let's take some readings of the area, see if we pinpoint any nearby land masses... get a signal of another vessel."

"Yes, sir." Albb, matching his second cig for a third, pulled himself up and limped over to his pilot's chair. Sat down.

"All stop."

"All stop."

The vessel, which had run steadily for hours, grew quiet, too. It almost seemed to run another hour, but then time seemed very odd to those who yet perceived it.

"Get ahold of the Western Seaboard Buoy," said Tyrio. "My sensors won't be out of reach. Approximate our position."

"Negative contact. We're not receiving any signals from the Western Seaboard, captain."

"That's not possible. We haven't gone that far."

"Could be the storm causing some kind of interference."

"Get a hold of any Unum signal—private, commercial, military, anything."

Albbenaro worked for a moment. "Negative. I'm receiving static on all known frequencies."

Tyrio bit his lip. "Yeah. It must be the storm..." He tried to think but found himself unable. "SOS, all call signs," he muttered at last. His mouth felt dry. "Lower sonar probe."

"The sonar probe was damaged in the attack, sir, but I'm issuing an SOS."

"Are you getting anything, anything at all, from any of our instruments?"

"Yes, sir. It's ten degrees Celsius with a humidity of 100%. The cloud cover is 100%. There's dense fog, a constant medium rain, no wind, and no unusual audio readings. There are no ships in our area and no signs of marine life. There is no nearby land."

"So what you're telling me is, we're in the middle of nowhere."

"More like in the middle of nothing, sir."

They didn't speak after that. Tyrio, tapping his finger less and less, looked straight ahead. Alexis started the song over again, but this time even silkier. She had not yet moved from her side.

"Captain..."

It was Father Sergius. Tyrio looked back at the priest, who finally looked up to regard him.

"John... your friend... it won't be long now."

"What do you mean? Won't be long until what?"

"He's fallen into a coma. It'll be any minute now that he passes."

Tyrio took in a deep breath and turned around. He took almost a minute to respond, and, when he did, it came out thickly without feeling. "Let him pass," he said. "Give him a prayer, or whatever you do, and lower him into the ocean. Get Blainwick to help you move the stretcher."

Less than a minute later John Denton breathed his last. The father stood and muttered some final respects, although he too couldn't find much of a voice. Over his words swam those of Alexis Striper, who had yet to finish her song. It didn't seem she ever would. Afterwards the father beckoned Dorothy to help remove the body.

When they got back to the bridge, they found Tyrio talking. "No, no further orders, Albb," he said. "That's it." He closed his mouth. His hands were on the arms of his chair like his resting place, and he didn't move after that.

"Yes, sir."

Father Sergius slumped against a wall. Worn-down, gaunt, he took off his biretta and let it tumble down his knees. He let his head drop and covered it with his arms. Distantly, Elise gazed upwards into the endless fog.

How long had they been adrift? Dorothy, standing in the hallway still, noticed how wretched everyone appeared, worn not only by battle, wind, and rain, but by also by time. Had Father Sergius read aloud his entire Bible while John fell into the sea? Somehow she didn't recall, although she remembered the body drifting downward, slowly, amid soft grey vapor and words like, 'thief' and 'grace', which went on and on. She looked at Alexis, whose voice had become their situation. Striking and solitary, it hung in the air like the moon above a tiny stage. There seemed to be nothing else.

Dorothy opened her mouth against a force that almost crushed her. Only two others noticed: Albbenaro, who concentrated on the length of his cigarette, and Giada, who looked right through Dorothy into the energy within.

"Whoever's left, come with me," ordered the witch.

When they arrived in the rec room, Dorothy sat down at the table. Albb lit the gas lamp that always hung in the room, and he and Giada joined her.

"Well," Dorothy said, lost but not defeated, "I guess we're the only ones."

Albb took a deep breath. "Unfortunately I think you're right. This place... it's not like anywhere any of us has ever been, but my gut says Elise is right. We're inside that thing."

"It's almost like..." whispered Giada, "being in a theatre after the show, when there is no one there. I..." She struggled with the common language. "I am frightened."

Dorothy reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. She put her other hand on Albbenaro's shoulder. Albbenaro returned the grasp, and with timidity so too did Giada.

"We have to stay together... somehow fight it," said Dorothy, "because if all of us fade away..." She moved on over silence. "When that signal comes, one of us has to be there to follow it home."

"Count on it."

Giada nodded as best she could.