Robin Cook - Abduction

“I’ll second that,” Donald said. “Come on! Let’s walk around to the windward side. Even from a distance a gander at old Beantown will do my heart good.”

“I’m with you,” Perry said.

The group got to their feet, stretched, and started hiking along the beach in the hard-packed sand at the water’s edge. Despite their exhaustion, they began to sing. Even Donald was drawn into the merriment.

Rounding a point forming the side of a small inlet, the group stopped in their tracks and fell silent. Not more than a couple of hundred feet upwind from them was an old gray-haired man clamming in the shadows. He had beached a moderate-sized skiff. Its lateen sail was luffing in the steady breeze.

“Isn’t this a happy coincidence?” Perry said.

“I can taste the coffee and feel those clean sheets already,” Michael said. “Come on, let’s make this old guy a hero. They’ll probably put him on CNN.”

With a whoop, the group broke into a run. The fisherman panicked at the sight of the pack of bellowing men charging toward him across the dunes. Dashing to his boat, he tossed in his pail and net and tried to flee.

Richard was the first on the scene, and he raced out into waist-deep water to grasp the boat’s transom and slow its progress.

“Hey, old man, what’s the rush?” Richard questioned.

The fisherman responded by releasing his sail. With an oar he tried to fend Richard off. Richard grabbed the oar, yanked it out of the man’s grip, and tossed it aside. The others ran out into the water and latched onto the boat.

“Not a very friendly chap,” Richard remarked. The fisherman was standing amidships, glaring at the group.

Harvey retrieved the oar and brought it back.

“No wonder,” Perry said. He looked down at himself and then at the others. “Look at us! What would you think if four guys dressed in lingerie came running out of the morning mist?”

The entire group broke down into giddy laughter fueled by exhaustion and stress. It took them several minutes to regain a semblance of control.

“Sorry, old man,” Perry said between chokes of laughter. “Pardon our appearance and our behavior. But we’ve had one hell of a night.”

“Too much grog, I suspect,” the fisherman said.

The fisherman’s response sent them off on another laughing jag. But eventually they recovered enough to convince the man that they were not dangerous and that he would be generously compensated if he gave them a ride into Boston proper. With that decided, the men climbed into the boat.

It was a pleasant ride especially in comparison with the tense hours in the tight, claustrophobic submersible. Between the warm sun, the soft whisper of the wind in the sail, and the gentle roll of the boat, all but the fisherman were fast asleep before the skiff rounded the island.

With a steady breeze the fisherman expertly brought the boat into the harbor in good time. Unsure of where his passengers wanted to be dropped off, he gave the nearest person’s shoulder a shake. Perry responded groggily to the prodding and for a moment had trouble opening his eyes. When he did, the fisherman posed his question.

“I guess it doesn’t matter where,” Perry said. With supreme effort he sat up. His mouth was dry and cottony. Blinking in the bright sunlight, he glanced around the harbor. Then he rubbed his eyes, blinked again, and stared at the surroundings.

“Where the hell are we?” he demanded. He was confused. “I thought we were supposed to be in Boston.”

“ ’Tis Boston,” the fisherman said. He pointed to the right. “Them there is Long Wharf.”

Perry rubbed his eyes again. For a moment he wondered if he were hallucinating. He was looking at a harbor scene of square-rigged sailing ships, schooners, and horse drays along a granite quay. The tallest buildings were wood frame and a mere four or five stories.

Fighting off a wave of disbelief that bordered on terror, Perry shook Donald awake in a panic, crying that something was terribly wrong. The commotion awoke the others as well. When they took in the scene, they were equally dumbfounded.

Perry turned back to the fisherman, who was lowering the sail. “What year is this?” he asked hesitantly.

“Year of our Lord seventeen hundred ninety-one,” the fisherman said.

Perry’s mouth dropped open. He looked back at the square-rigged sailing ships. “Good God! They put us back in time.”

“Come on!” Richard complained. “This has got to be some kind of joke.”

“Maybe they’re making a movie,” Michael suggested.

“I don’t think so,” Donald said slowly. “That’s what Arak meant when he said they were going to take us back. He meant back in time not back to Interterra.”

“The intergalactic ships must involve time technology,” Perry said. “I guess that’s the only way travel to another galaxy is possible.”

“My god,” Donald muttered. “We’re marooned. Nobody is going to believe our story about Interterra, and the technology doesn’t exist to prove it or for us to get back there.”

Perry nodded as he stared ahead with unseeing eyes. “People are going to think we’re mad.”

“What about the submersible?” Richard cried. “Let’s go back!”

“And do what?” Donald asked. “We’d never find it, much less salvage it.”

“I’m not going to see my family after all,” Perry cried. “We gave up paradise for colonial America? I don’t believe it.”

“You know, I’ve finally figured out where you lubbers are from,” the fisherman said as he readied the oars.

“Really,” Perry said, without interest.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind,” the fisherman continued. “You’ve got to be from that college up the Charles River. You Harvard fellows are always making fools of yourselves.”

AsthenosphereA zone within the earth ranging in depth from 50 to 200 km; it is the upper part of the mantle (see below), situated directly below the lithosphere (see below). This area is theorized to be molten and yielding to plastic flow.

BasaltA dark, almost black rock formed from the cooling and solidification of molten silicate minerals. It forms a large part of the oceanic crust.

BathypelagicAn adjective relating to moderately deep ocean depths (2,000- 12,000 ft).

CalderaA crater formed by the collapse of a volcano’s summit.

CircadianAn adjective relating to a twenty-four-hour cycle.

DikeA tabular rock formation arising from molten rock forced up a cleft or fissure and then solidifying.

DinoflagellatesA type of plankton (see below) that includes many bioluminescent varieties. Dinoflagellates also cause red tide.

EctogenesisEmbryonic development outside the womb.

EpipelagicAn adjective relating to the part of the surface ocean in which enough light penetrates to support photosynthesis.

ForaminiferaTiny marine protozoans whose calcerous shells form chalk and the most widely distributed limestone.

GabbroA dark, sometimes green rock that makes up a significant part of the lowest part of the oceanic crust.

GameteA male or female germ cell.

globigerina oozeA cream-colored muck that covers a good portion of the deep ocean floor and is composed mainly of the minute skeletons of foraminifera (see above).

GrabenA fault block that has dropped below the height of the surrounding rock.

GuyotA seamount (see below) with a flat top.