John Wright - Fugitives of Chaos

Victor said, "Report."

Everyone started to talk at once.

Victor said, "Oldest first."

I said, "Powers shut off." Keep it brief.

Vanity said, "I sensed what she did. We just passed over a boundary. It is so obvious! I should have figured it out before! This necklace has a boundary stone in it, just like the green table, just like Boggin's ring on his toe. All you are doing is attracting or deflecting the attention of whatever enforces the laws of nature. That is why I can sense when people are paying attention to me, you see? It is so I can do what I do. That is the principle the ships are built on; that is why they can read minds! I know how to do it now!

The trick I did with Bran's Head to turn people's powers off and on! I know how to do it!"

Victor said, "Do so. Do it now."

Vanity said, "Well, I can't do it now. My power is off. But if my power got turned back on, I could turn it off. Other people's, too. You have to be near a boundary for this to work. Something decides where boundaries are…"

Victor said, "Later, please. Colin?"

Colin said, "I had a dream while the voice was talking. Knowledge just came into my head out of nowhere. Were you guys wondering what I am supposed to be able to do, like Amelia seeing through walls and Victor seeing molecules and magnetic fields? I saw something with my heart. I saw the future.

Fishmonger is going to capsize the ship and trap an amount of air in it. She is going to push it to the bottom. She is going to eat the people a few at a time. She is going to keep them alive, keep the air fresh, for a long, long time. Like a crab tank in the restaurant. I saw an old couple, lying in bed in an upside-down room. I thought they were hugging each other. At first, I thought they were kissing. You know, saying good-bye because they both knew they were both about to die. The old gal was already dead. The guy must have been very hungry because he was eating her face…"

Vanity said, "Ugh! Stop! No descriptions of cannibal face-eating! No! Ugh!"

Colin said, "A lot more will kill themselves, or each other. It's going to be pretty bad. You know that scene I never translated right in the Odyssey ? The one where Odysseus and his men are trapped in a cave by a man-eating Cyclopes? Okay. The fishmonger here is from that same background story, see? It will be pretty bad for the people."

Quentin said, "The fishmonger must have pushed us over a ward, in addition to pushing the ship into another sphere of reality, because my friends all fled The one who was talking was one of the Dukes of Hell, a fairly influential fellow, and the largest spirit I had yet called up. I was going to use him to drive away the influences controlling the fishmonger's powers. I waited too long. We could have won, and been free. I wasn't expecting this. I didn't think our powers could just be shut down like that. The undersea shelf we are passing over must be an area like the school grounds back home. Kind of clever of her, actually."

Colin bent, picked up one of the shards of the broken mirror, and, before anyone could stop him, he drew the sharp point along one arm, making a scratch and drawing blood.

"Gross!" said Vanity.

Colin then dropped the shard, passed his hand over the cut, and wiped the blood away. The scratch was wiped away as well, and his arm was whole.

Colin looked up. "Leader, I can report my powers are still on."

Victor sat down in a chair, and bowed and put his face in his hands.

We were all silent, staring at him.

I had never seen Victor hesitate before. I had never seen him afraid.

The noises in the background, the stir of the wind, the shouts of alarm from other cabins, grew dim.

Perhaps the storm was dying down, now that we were overtop the undersea mountain.

Victor raised his head, and his face was pale and stern. He spoke in an even-toned and level voice:

"Either we have an obligation to save the human beings, or not. If not, we should run away. If we have an obligation, then we cannot risk ourselves fighting a monster, because good evidence suggests our death would immediately trigger an attack on Cosmos by Chaos, and entail the destruction of the Earth. There are more people aboard Earth than are on this ship. The people here aboard ship, if they viewed the matter objectively, would agree that their sacrifice, in order to preserve the Earth, is a reasonable exchange. Logically, of course, these people aboard ship will perish in any case if Chaos destroys Cosmos. In either situation, whether we are obligated to defend the humans or not, logic suggests that we should run and leave them to their fate."

I could feel the blood draining out of my face. The others had strange, strained looks on their faces, too.

Colin was looking particularly annoyed.

Victor continued, "A second factor, though, is the fact that they rescued us. They did not know we were not in any real, danger, but, nonetheless, the crew of this ship rescued, to the best of their ability, a group of us stranded in a motorboat. As a general principle, in order to encourage the rescues of ships at sea, there must be an incentive rather than a disincentive attached. One incentive is that the rescued party should operate according to a reciprocal standard, and perform such rescues as may be needed when called upon to do so."

His voice trailed off.

Colin said, "What does all that goobledygook mean, Mein Fuhrer?"

Victor said, "We must see if there is anything we can do without getting ourselves killed, since getting killed, so it seems, might entail the destruction of the Earth by Chaos. We have Colin turn into something large enough to hold us all, something that swims or flies. If we cross back over the boundary we just crossed, our powers may simply turn back on again; Quentin may be able to vanquish the fishmonger in short order."

I said, "In case I wasn't clear on how big she was, let me say again; Grendel's mother is twice as long as this boat; there is no way to get into the water without being right next to her. As for a flying thing, I'd be surprised if Colin could take off in this weather."

Quentin said, "If we cross the ward, and my friends return, I will not be able to send anything back across the ward to where she is wrapped around this ship. We will be able to save ourselves, but not this ship. That is assuming Colin is able to change shape, carry us all, and get us across the ward—which remains to be seen."

Colin said, "What if Colin quits the group?"

As what he meant sank in, I felt as if I had been slapped. Quit the group?

Vanity looked too outraged to speak; I saw the feeling of betrayal and treason written on her features.

Quentin bowed his head slightly, turned to one side, hiding his reaction.

Victor remained calm. "I hope you would do us the courtesy of waiting till we are no longer in the middle of an emergency."

Colin said, "I am not sure I want to be in a group that is going to run off and leave this whole ship's complement to die horrible, horrible deaths. What kind of people would that make us? I'd rather be dead than be that kind of person."

Quentin said softly, "And rather have the Earth destroyed in the process, too, I suppose."

Colin barked at him, "Yes! Why not? I am not responsible for what the folks in Chaos do! I didn't start this war!"

The deck tilted slightly underfoot. We all felt it. After a moment, the deck righted itself.

The sensation would not have been strange for someone in a smaller boat. Boats always rock when someone climbs over the side. A ship this size, as steady as a fortress even in the heaviest waves, would not rock if any lesser creature climbed aboard. But Echidna was not one of the lesser ones.

Victor said, "We have no time to debate, no time to come to a consensus. At the moment, you cannot quit the group, since we are in the middle of an emergency. It is possible, I admit, that my orders are ill-advised, or even wrong. Nonetheless, you will all obey them, promptly and without question, while the emergency lasts."