“Shh. It’s okay Eileen. The asteroid couldn’t kill us. I don’t know why, but it was never going to destroy this ship.” He disengaged his wife’s arms, put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away to arms length, looked at her, beaming. “That’s why you won this cruise, so I could be here for this. Because He has one last job I must do. He chose me, of all his soldiers, for the most important mission of them all.”

A crackle came from a speaker mounted in the ceiling, then a voice spoke. Hesitant at first, but gaining in confidence.

“Can I have your attention please. This is Staff Captain Hollen.” A pause, the sound of a deep breath being drawn. “We have witnessed a terrible event. We all have many questions, not least of which is just how much damage the asteroid has done, and the fate of our loved ones at home. We are working to find answers, but right now our priority is the safety of everyone on board the Spirit of Arcadia. My crew are hard at work securing the ship. I ask that all passengers and crew remain calm at this most difficult time. Please return to your cabins where you will be safe. If your cabin has been damaged, make your way to the casino instead. For the time being I must ask that all outdoor decks remain closed until we have been able to fully assess the damage caused by the ash. If you are injured, you should make your way to the medical centre on deck five. Your patience will be necessary, our medical facilities, whilst excellent, are not designed for an emergency of this scale. If there are any doctors or nurses among the passengers, your assistance in treating the wounded would be very much appreciated. Once again, I urge everyone on board to remain calm. Your crew have the situation under control.”

Flynn and Eileen stared at each other.

“You hear that, Eileen? You hear how he spoke? ‘Under control’? Nobody says they have a situation ‘under control’ unless they are afraid of losing control. This is where it starts, right here. But I need to be smart!” He looked serious now. “Only fools rush in. I will take my time. I will not fail Him. When the time is right, I will complete his work!”

Ten

JAKE WASN’T CONVINCED that Hollen’s message had been very effective. Everywhere he went, people were stopping him to ask him questions. In some of the bigger areas of the ship that he visited, he was virtually mobbed by crowds of passengers and crew members alike.

“Did the world end?”

“Are we the only people left alive?”

“Is it true the ship is sinking?”

“Why aren’t we moving? When are we going home?”

This last question was the most common, and the most difficult to answer. All he could do was repeat the party line: “Everything is under control. We are in the process of securing the ship and assessing the damage. The captain will update us all in due course.”

He did his best to try and calm people, send them to their cabins, but it was clear he was never going to win this battle. In desperation he headed back down to his cabin to change out of his uniform. He had already searched two decks for the captain and there was no sign of him. A detour via his own cabin down on deck three would slow down the search briefly, but once no longer recognisable as a senior officer, he knew he would be able to pick up the pace. And anyway, he supposed, the chances were good that Johnny would find Ibsen in his quarters and that this search was pointless.

Taking a crew only staircase hidden behind an unmarked door, he reached deck three in no time. Jake had worked on other cruise ships before coming aboard the Spirit of Arcadia, some of them considerably larger. Normally the senior officer cabins were on the upper decks, one of the privileges of rank. But Pelagios Line, who owned and operated the Arcadia, were not known for awarding perks or spending money on staff unnecessarily. The upper decks represented an important revenue stream, they weren’t to be wasted on pandering to the crew. So Jake, like all the other crew members, was based down here in the bowels of the ship. His cabin was barely big enough to house the double bed, small desk and chair, single armchair, wardrobe, television, and shower room that it was equipped with. Indeed getting around between these items of furniture more often than not involved turning sideways and walking like a crab.

He changed quickly, jettisoning his navy blue jacket and swapping his previously white shirt, now turned grey by the ash, for a plain black t-shirt. With arms bare he noticed that the temperature had already begun to drop now that the heating system was off. He rummaged through a shelf of clothes in the wardrobe and found a grey sweatshirt, which he pulled on as he stepped back outside into the corridor. That was the moment he heard the first gunshot.

Eleven

LUCYA AND GRAU knew before they arrived that there was going to be trouble in the medical centre. The corridor leading down there had been pressed into service as an overflow waiting room.

“Oi, where do you think you’re going? Get in line you bloody queue jumpers!” A young bearded man was shouting at them. He had his arm around a small woman who had terrible burns to her face. She was weeping softly onto his chest. Several people turned to look, some began mumbling in agreement.

“Sir, I understand you are impatient to be seen, but I am the chief medical officer abroad this ship. It would be very much in your interests to let me and my colleague through quickly, so that we can start processing the wounded.”

“Oh yeah granddad? And I’m the bleedin’ captain! Get to the back of the line and wait your turn!” Another man joined in, moving to block their passage.

Lucya unhooked Grau’s arm from her shoulder, steadied him, and strode up to the angry passenger. Unencumbered by the wounded medical man, the stripes on her uniform were now plain to see. She wasn’t a tall woman, around five feet four in flat shoes, but when she spoke it was with a ferocity so unexpected as to stun all present to silence.

“Now you listen to me, sir,” she stabbed her index finger towards his nose, emphasising every word. “This is not a military ship so we don’t have a brig where we can hold troublemakers. But personally, I’ve always been in favour of capital punishment as a way of maintaining order at sea. Doctor Lister asked you to let us through. I suggest you oblige immediately, or you are going to be in even more serious need of medical attention than you are now. Got it?”

The man swallowed hard. Someone further down the line whooped, and a couple of people giggled, nervously. He stepped back in line, said nothing. Grau smiled, and hobbled on towards medical.

Lucya was of the opinion that ‘medical centre’ was a somewhat grand name for what really amounted to a couple of small rooms stuck in the bows of the ship. With the number of passengers piled into the corridor outside, it had never seemed so inadequate. Two nurses were trying to maintain order and treat people at the same time. Normally the first room was used as a reception and waiting area. A door at the back led to the main treatment room. Given the size of the task at hand though, both rooms were being used to tend to the injured.

“I’ll take care of your hand and then you’d better get on,” Grau said, surveying the chaotic scene.

“This is ridiculous. You can’t cope with this many people in this space!”

“No, I know. I’m going to commandeer gym, but that’s my problem to organise, not yours. Come on, we need to patch you up.”