Nigel Thompson - Pheia

They had both interviewed her again in the hotel, and this time she was more composed. But when they asked questions about the crew, she could only keep saying she was sorry to be the only survivor.

Everyone knew she hadn’t caused the accident itself or been responsible for Boris or Chas, and all the reporters had told her so both before and after the interviews.

Morrison and his crew had taken her drinking when she got done with the TV people. She didn’t ordinarily drink much, and to their credit they didn’t push her. She still ended up legless and had to be carried out of the bar. She had slept for fifteen hours.

The next day Morrison had told her they were leaving the island for a job in Bahrain. They would be gone for several months but he promised to get in touch when he was back in Maine. Kate had put his cell phone number in her phone more out of duty than out of any expectation they would speak again. She had hugged him as hard as she could with tears streaming down her face, then kissed him on the lips. She had to reach up a bit for that. Morrison had looked genuinely sad to leave.

Kate had gone to the airport and waited in the upper gallery for them to walk out onto the tarmac as they boarded their plan. She had blown Morrison a kiss and then wondered why she’d done that. Her emotions were all over the place.

Williams had been by to see her at the hotel several times. He had arrived with Babin and Leclerc the day after she got ashore and they had gone over everything in detail. Babin had apologized several times for the structural failure of the Pheia. Kate had hugged her too and thanked her for her help with the hydrogen system. She was a hugging person these days.

Traffic along the Seven Mile Beach road was busy as usual. She looked beyond the road to the sea and wondered when she’d dive again. Not any time soon. That was for sure.

A knock on the door brought her back to reality.

She opened it to find Williams standing there in a nice lightweight suit. He was tanned from days in the sun and looked a little more cheery today.

“May I come in?”

“Sure. Of course.”

Kate stepped back in to the room.

Williams glanced around. It was quite a mess.

“Can’t get quality help,” Kate said to him and smiled weakly.

“Yes, well I’m sure the hotel staff can help if you let them in. I came to let you know that the barge is on its way back to Maine with the Pheia on board. We have recovered all of the personal items that were left on board.”

Kate interrupted him. “I had a box…”

“Yes, we found that in the ops room. It’s all been taken care of.”

Williams sat in a chair and looked at his hands. Then he lifted his head and looked at Kate. “I know you are not keen on going to services. You’ll be pleased to know that most of the families have already held them back at home but we, the institute, will be holding one the week after we get back. I want you to be there and I’d like you to say something.”

He knew Kate would say no, and was preparing to push a little harder.

“OK. I guess I can do that.” She said.

Williams was taken aback but recovered quickly. “Good, well then, there is just one more thing to talk about. I have arranged our flights home for tomorrow morning. We need to leave the hotel around nine.”

Kate nodded.

“Well, then, that’s all I have. Would you like me to have one of the hotel people help you pack?”

He knew he’d make a mistake as soon as the words were out, but it was too late.

“Pack what?” She asked.

“Sorry. Well, I mean, just sorry.”

Kate touched him on the arm. Williams had tried very hard to be supportive over that last couple of weeks.

“I’ll see you at nine then.” She said.

Williams left, and Kate went back to the window. She really should go for a run. It looked fabulous outside. “This might almost be a nice place to come back to someday.” She thought.