Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 16:31:04 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Whale - ch 7 Message-ID: Chapter 7 As Al walked into the Imaging Chamber, he saw Alik before him, kneeling in prayer at his cot, a crucifix before him. "You hypocrite!" Al exclaimed, seeing Alik praying. Alik, of course, didn't hear Al's comment and continued to pray in Russian. "You kill your own father and then you kneel here praying!" Alik made an Orthodox Sign of the Cross and put the crucifix under his pillow. He then took a small wooden box from under his cot. He said something to himself. Al could only understand one word that Alik said: Gregor. He didn't like the way Alik said the name. "What about Gregor?" Al asked, hoping Alik would give him some kind of answer even though he knew Alik couldn't hear him and neither of them would understand each other if Alik could. Even so, Al got his answer. Alik opened the little wooden box to reveal a bright silver knife, delicately designed with etchings. The knife must have been over a hundred years old and had probably belonged to Alik's great-grandfather. Upon seeing the knife, Al frantically tried to get information from Ziggy, dropping his mug of coffee as he did so. "Ziggy, what the hell's going on here?" he demanded. "'You have dropped'...," he read. "Ziggy!" Al exclaimed in annoyance. "You know what I mean!" Ziggy gave him an answer. "No!" Al yelled in shock. He quickly pressed some buttons and received a squeal in response. "Damn it, Ziggy! Just center me on Sam! Now!" The scenery changed so abruptly that Al had to regain his balance. "Sam!" he exclaimed, seeing the younger man doing the dishes. "You've got trouble!" "Alik?" Sam asked. "He's going to kill Rustov, isn't he?" "After he kills you!" "What?" "Apparently, you made him nervous about your loyalty when you confronted him. Now, he's gotten out the same knife he used to kill his father and he's going to use it on you! Ziggy gives it a 92% chance that he'll succeed too!" "Al, that's terrible!" "It's worse! He's coming right now! Behind you!" Al warned. Sam quickly did a back-kick, sending Alik across the room. Alike dropped the knife between him and Sam as he staggered back uncontrollably. Sam rushed for the dagger but Alik beat him to it, regaining his control. He slowly came at Sam, the knife raised and ready. "Sam! Watch out!" Al shouted. As Al said these words, Sam spun around with a roundhouse kick. The kick grazed Alik hard, causing him to clutch his face in pain without releasing his grip on the knife. As Alik moved his hands, it was obvious the kick had broken his nose. "Give it up, Alik," Sam told him firmly. Alik glared at Sam with deep hatred. Screaming, he rushed Sam who immediately dodged him, causing him to collide with a refrigerator. "Alik, don't do this," Sam told him. Alik growled at Sam. The look in his eyes showed strong determination. "Traitor!" he yelled, rushing him again. Sam stepped aside again but, as he did so, Alik slashed him across his stomach. Sam cried out as he collapsed to his knees. "Sam!" Al hurried to his friend's side. "Sam, are you okay?" Sam nodded slightly. He could sense Alik coming up from behind him. He slowly stood up. "Sam, you got to take this guy out!" Al told him firmly. Regaining strength as Alik grew closer, Sam took a couple of breaths. He swung around again, this time knocking Alik unconscious. Both Al and Sam breathed in relief as Alik collapsed to the floor. "Sam, that was too close," Al exhaled. Sam nodded in agreement as several crewmates entered the kitchen with concern. Among them was Rustov, who looked at the situation with detachment. He looked at Sam slightly. "Are you all right?" he asked. Sam nodded slightly. "I've been cut, though." Rustov nodded. He looked at the others. "Tend to his wounds and bring Roulier to my cabin." Without another word, he left the kitchen. Al was consulting the handlink for a translation. "Well, he's a cheery one, isn't he?" Sam didn't answer as one of his fellow crewmates tended his wound. "How's the knife wound?" Al asked with concern as Sam lay in his cot. "Hurts worse than it looks," Sam assured him. "It wasn't very deep, just a graze across the skin." He looked down at his bandage. "It's healing nicely." Al exhaled in relief. "Good. You really had me worried there for a moment. Promise you won't do that again." "You can have my word on that," Sam assured again. "So, what's happens now?" Al shrugged. "Well, you've obviously changed history. Rustov has Alik locked up in a cabin until the Khrushchev gets back to port where he plans to have him brought up on charges of attempted murder. But Ziggy isn't exactly sure what is going to happen." Sam frowned in confusion. "What do you mean? You just said Rustov is going to turn Alik in." Al rose an eyebrow. "Got that from listening in on his interrogation of Alik. Had Ziggy translate for me. But Ziggy says that the Khrushchev doesn't make it to shore. She still disappears in the Devil's Sea." "How can that be? I thought you said that Alik caused the ship to sink." Al nodded. "Ziggy still thinks that's the case. Obviously, somehow, Alik escapes." "How?" Sam asked. "We don't know." Sam frowned at him. "Sam, everything we know comes from Gregory's memory and his journal. The rest is pure speculation based on character assessments." He raised the handlink. "Ziggy speculates that Alik will probably escape and kill..." Al grimaced at the handlink. He hit it with the palm of his hand, trying to get the rest of the information. "He's going to kill..." Another hit. "...the ship. What? Ziggy!" He shook the handlink, which protested with a tinkling sound. "Ah!" he said, finally getting what he wanted. "He's going to sink the ship, killing you and everyone else aboard in the process. I guess he wants to be a martyr to his own cause." "Great!" Sam said sarcastically. "What are the odds?" "Ziggy says there's an 85.72% chance in Alik's favor. Well, that's better than the last time," he finished in a softer voice. "Not much better," Sam stated softly before slowly standing up. "Whoa! What do you think you're doing?" Al questioned. "You need to rest and let that cut heal." Sam took a breath, closing his eyes at the pain in his abdomen. "Al, the only way we're going to keep Alik from sinking the ship is to convince Captain Rustov to stop whaling." Al shook his head. "He isn't going to listen to you, Sam. He's being whaling for years!" Sam looked at Al. "We have to at least try." Alik felt claustrophobic in the cabin in which the Captain detained him. He looked around at his surroundings. It was a small cabin, about the size of a walk-in closet. There wasn't a single window and there was only one way out: through the door. The door was locked but Alik doubted it was guarded. After all, this wasn't a military vessel; it was a whaling ship. The Captain would probably assume that the lock would be enough to hold him until they reached the shore. Just to be certain, he looked through the crack between the doorframe and the door. As he thought, he was unguarded. He smiled slightly before he reached into his shoe and removed two narrow pieces of metal. Getting on his knees, he started working on the door's lock with the picks. "It's hopeless!" Tina exclaimed, standing and pacing the floor. "It's not hopeless," Gushie assured her. "It's just going to take longer than we thought." Tina had not heard him and kept complaining. "This system is completely outdated for this place. I mean, this is supposed to be a top secret clearance complex, right? Then, why don't we have the best security system? Why won't they let me have the materials I need to keep this place top of the line?" "Five years ago, we did have the best security system," Gushie pointed out. "Thanks to you." "And now we're in the Dark Ages," Tina muttered, unwrapping a stick of gum and putting it in her mouth. She always chewed on gum when she was anxious about something. "If we have to replace the system, we'd better pull some strings. Going through channels, we might not get the system for another six months." Gushie frowned. "The Admiral would not be happy with that. That would only give Congress a reason to shut down the project. Why else would they ask for a systems update this last in the fiscal year?" "Don't assume the worst, Gushie," Tina told him. "Well, we have to do something," Gushie told her. "Can't we put the original system into operation until we get a new one?" Tina shook her head. "You saw that info. This system is shot. There's something wrong with the programming or something else but it's now incompatible with the rest of the world. The way technology has been advancing without us, a five-year-old child could get in here without so much as a 'hello'." "Then, what do we do?" Tina smiled. "I have some connections. We might get our system before the end of the week. That is, if my connection is still around."