Chapter X: The Surging Waters
At the Boat Deck, Officer Honda has his boats swung out. He stood amidst a crowd of uncertain passengers in all states of dress and undress. One first class woman was barefoot, others were in stockings, the maitre'd of the restaurant was in top hat and overcoat. Others were still in evening dress, while some are in bathrobes and kimonos. Women are wearing lifebelts over velvet gowns, then topping it with sable stoles. Some brought jewels, others books, even small dogs. Officer Honda sees Captain Ludwig walking stiffly toward him and he quickly goes to him.
"Hadn't we better get the 1st Class into the boats, sir?" Honda yells into the Captain's ear, through cupped hands, over the roar of the steam...
Ludwig just nods, a bit abstractly. The fire has gone out of him. Honda sees the awesome truth in the Captain's face… He turns back to the crowd and starts to yell over the din.
"Right! Start the loading! 1st Class passengers only!" The appalling din of escaping steam abruptly cuts off, leaving a sudden unearthly silence in which Honda's voice echoes.
***
After a while, The Wallace Hartley quintet has stepped on the boat deck, reassembling just outside the First Class Entrance, port side, near where Officer Honda was calling for the boats to be loaded. They strike up a waltz, lively and elegant. The music wafts all over the ship. Francis, Arthur, Roderich along with Elizaveta come out of the doors near the band.
"My brooch," Elizaveta exclaimed. "I left my brooch. I must have it!"
She turns back to go to her room but Roderich takes her by the arm, refusing to let her go. The firmness of his hold surprises her.
"Stay here, Elizaveta"
Elizaveta sees his expression, and knows fear for the first time.
By this time Boat 7 is less than half full, with 28 aboard a boat made for 65.
"Lower away!" Honda yells, "By the left and right together, steady lads!"
The boat lurches as the falls start to pay out through the pulley blocks. The passengers gasp and were terrified. The boat descends, swaying and jerking, toward the water 60 feet below.
At the stairwell rail on the bridge wing, Second Officer Sadiq and the Quartermaster light the first distress rocket. It shoots into the sky and explodes with a thunderclap over the ship, sending out white starbursts which light up the entire deck as they fall.
Ivan Braginski's face was lit up at the starbursts at the Boat deck, port side. The Managing Director of White Star
Line is cracking. His amethyst eyes were somber as he watched the crowd along deck moved lazily onto the lifeboats. First Officer Honda was now loading the boat nearest to Francis and Arthur. Another rocket bursts overhead, lighting the crowd. Startled faces turn upward. Wonder and curiosity were in their eyes.
Arthur watches the farewells taking place right in front of him as they step closer to the boat. Husbands saying goodbye to wives and children. Lovers and friends parted. Nearby, Elizaveta is getting a reluctant woman to board the boat.
"Come on, you heard the man." She said. "Get in the boat."
Roderich was looking around the crowd, as if he was unaffected by the activities happening.
"Will the lifeboats be seated according to class?" he asked around. "I hope they're not too crowded— "
"Oh, Father…" Arthur looks at him as if in disbelief and shakes his head. "SHUT UP!"
Roderich freezes at his son's loud voice.
"Don't you understand?" Arthur's voice turns almost into a desperate hiss. "The water is freezing and there aren't enough boats… not enough by half. Half the people on this ship are going to die…"
"Not the better half." Francis scoffed behind him.
Arthur turns to look at Francis, his eyes widening. The realization hits him like a thunderbolt. Alfred was in Third class. He doesn't stand a chance! Another rocket bursts overhead, bathing his face in white light.
"You unimaginable bastard…" his voice was cold as ice.
"Come on, Roderich dear, get in the boat." Elizaveta beckons him, "These are the first class seats right up here. That's it."
Roderich gets to the boat, his face stunned and fear was already in his eyes. He looks at Arthur hopefully
"Come on, Arthur. You're next" Elizaveta said, handing him her hand.
Arthur steps back, shaking his head.
"Arthur, get in the boat!" Roderich commanded.
"Goodbye… father." Arthur turns his heel and plunges into the waiting crowd.
Roderich, standing in the tippy lifeboat, can do nothing. Francis was able to grab Arthur's arm but he pulls free and walks away through the crowd. The Frenchman catches up to him and grabs Arthur again, roughly.
"Where the hell are you going?" Francis said, "To him? Is that it? To be a whore to that gutter rat?"
"I'd rather be his whore than be yours." Arthur dared to answer.
Francis clenches his jaw and squeezes his arm viciously, pulling him back toward the lifeboat. Arthur struggles then hawks down and spits at Francis right at his face, just how Alfred had taught him. Francis lets go with a curse, wiping his face disgustedly, and Arthur runs into the crowd.
"Lower away!!" Officer Honda yelled and Boat number 6 was lowered rather jauntingly.
"Arthur!" Roderich yells. "ARTHUR!"
Elizaveta pulls him to sit down beside her. "Be quiet Roderich, Arthur's going to be fine. He can think for himself."
The boat lurches downward as the falls are paid out.
Arthur runs through clusters of people dodging them and pushing them aside rather rudely. He looks back and sees a furious Francis coming after him. He turns into a sprint and dashes through the First Class entrance. Francis breaks free from the two men who was blocking him and reaches the entrance, but runs into a knot of people coming out. He pushes rudely through them impatiently.
By the time Francis runs in, down to the landing, and pushing past the gentlemen and ladies who are filling up the stairs, he scans the A-deck foyer.
Arthur had already disappeared.
***
Down below… down down below, in the Master at Arms Quarters… Alfred pulls on the pipe with all his strength. It's not budging. He hears gurgling sound somewhere and he turns to look for it. Water was pouring under the slit of the door, spreading rapidly across the floor.
"Shit." Was all that he could say, he tries to pull one hand out of the cuffs, working until the skin is raw… no good. "Help!! Somebody!! Can anybody hear me?!"
The Corridor outside was deserted, flooded a couple of inches deep. Alfred's voice comes faintly through the door, but there was no one to hear it. For a while no one answered… it was just dead silence and the sound of the Atlantic waters slowly rushing in.
"This could be bad…"
***
Ivan Braginski was walking frantically through the First Class corridor, opening stateroom doors to check that people are out. He moves calmly yet his nerves were a jumble of worry.
"Anyone in here?" He calls out.
His breath was caught in his throat when he felt a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to turn around. He faces the stranger to find that it was Arthur, breathless and panting, his clothes a bit worn. His green eyes were wild and desperate.
"Mr. Braginski, thank God! Where would the Master at Arms take someone under arrest?" Arthur asked, hurriedly without even stopping to breathe.
"Vhat? You have to get to a boat rright away!" Ivan argued and grabs Arthur by the wrist.
"No!" Arthur yelled, yanking his wrist back. "I'll do this with or without your help, sir. But without will take longer."
There was a long and silent beat between the two of them. Ivan was contemplating which one was the right thing to do.
"Take the elevator," The Russian said after a while, feeling exasperated. "to the very bottom, go left, down the crewman's passage, then make a right."
"Bottom, left, right. I have it." Arthur nodded impatiently.
"Hurry, Arthur."
***
By the time Arthur finally got to the foyer of elevators he runs up as the last Elevator Operator was closing up his lift to leave.
"Sorry sir, lifts are closed—" said Feliks, the Polish operator
Without thinking Arthur grabs him and shoves him back into the lift. "I'm through with being polite, goddamnit!!" he lets go of the man's collar forcefully. "Now take me down!!"
The operator fumbles to close the gate and start the lift. Soon they start to descend. Arthur's insides moved with a jolt as the lift started. He was way passed beyond common thinking. Through the wrought iron door of the elevator car, Arthur could see the decks going past. A couple of them having no lights at all. Finally the lift slows … and suddenly ice water was swirling around his legs. He gasps in surprise and Feliks screams beside him. The car has landed in a foot of freezing water, shocking the hell out of them.
"I-I'm going back up!" says Feliks, frantically fumbling for the levers.
"No!!!" Arthur prevents him from going just yet and claws the metal door open and splashes out into the flooded corridor.
"I'm going back up! I'm sorry!" The operator apologizes several times but Arthur could care less. The lift goes back up, behind him, as he looks around.
"Left, crew passage…crew passage" he mutters under his breath. The cold waters were already numbing his legs. He spots the passage and slogs down the flooded corridor. He turns into a cross-corridor, splashing down the hall. A row of doors on
each side.
"Al…? Alfred!!?" he shouts.
In the Master at Arms office, Alfred is hopelessly pulling on the pipe again, straining until he turns red. He collapses back on the bench, realizing he's screwed. Then, with a sudden wave of relief he hears Arthur's voice through the door.
"ARTHUR!! In here!"
In the hall Arthur hears his voice behind him. He spins and runs back, locating the right door, then pushes it open, creating a small wave. Al's blue eyes light up once he sees it was really Arthur. The Englishman splashes over Alfred and puts his arms around him.
"Oh Alfred… Al… Al… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Arthur couldn't help himself from kissing Alfred's face all over.
"I swear Arthur," Al managed to say between the kisses. "That guy Zwingly put it in my pocket."
"I know, I know."
Arthur held onto the American for a while longer and he stood back so they could see each other.
"See if you can find a key for these." Al gestures to the cuffs on his wrist. "Try those drawers. Its a little brass one."
"Alright." Arthur kisses his face and hugs him again, then starts to go through the desk.
"So... how did you find out I didn't do it?" Alfred asked as he watched the other man looking frantically.
"I didn't." Arthur said simply and pauses on his search. "I just realized I already knew."
They share a look, then he goes back to ransacking the room, searching drawers and cupboards. Alfred sees movement out the porthole and looks out. A lifeboat hits the surface of the water, seen from below.
"There's no key in here."
They look around at the water, now almost two feet deep. Alfred has pulled his feet up onto the bench.
"You have to go for help."
Arthur nods determinedly. "I'll be right back."
"I'll wait here."
He runs out, looking back at him once from the doorway, then splashes away. Alfred looks down at the swirling water.
***
Arthur splashes down the hall to a stairwell going up to the next deck. He bounds up the stairs to find himself in a long corridor... part of the labyrinth of steerage hallways forward. He was alone here. A long groan of stressing metal echoes along the hall as the ship continues to settle. Arthur runs down the hall, unimpeded now.
"Hello? Somebody!"
He turns a corner and runs along another corridor in a daze. The hall slopes down into water which, shimmers, reflecting the light. The margin of the water creeps toward him. A young man appears, running through the water, sending up geysers of spray. He pelts past him without slowing, his eyes crazed...
"Help me! We need help!" Arthur calls after him
He doesn't look back. It is like a bad dream. The hull gongs with terrifying sounds. The lights flicker and go out, leaving utter darkness. There were a few long seconds of blackness… Then they come back on. He finds himself hyperventilating. That one moment of blackness was the most terrifying of his life.
A steward runs around the nearest corner, his arms full of lifebelts. It was Torris. He looked upset to see someone still in this section. He grabs Arthur forcefully by the arm, pulling him with him like a wayward child.
"Come on, then, let's get you topside, sir."
"Wait. Wait!" Arthur tries to yank him back. "I need your help! There's— "
"No need for panic, sir. Come along!"
"No, let me go! You're going the wrong way!"
Torris wasn't listening. And he won't let him go. He shouts at the steward's ear, and when he turns, he punches him squarely in the nose. Shocked, he lets him go and staggers back.
"To Hell with you…" The steward runs off, holding his bloody nose.
Then… he was alone again. His shoulders slumped as if he has lost all hope. Arthur then turns around and his eyes caught and sees a glass case with a fire-axe in it. He breaks the glass with a battered suitcase which is lying discarded nearby, and seizes the axe, running back the way he came.
At the stairwell he looks down and gasps. The water has flooded the bottom five steps. He goes down and has to crouch to look along the corridor to the room where Alfred was trapped. Without even a second thought, he plunges into the water, which was up to his waist... and powers forward, holding the axe above his head in two hands. He grimaces at the pain
from the literally freezing water. When he finally makes it into the office Alfred has climbed up on the bench, and was hugging the waterpipe.
Arthur wades in, holding the axe above his head. "Will this work?"
"We'll find out."
They were both obviously terrified, but trying to keep panic at bay. Alfred positions the chain connecting the two cuffs, stretching it taut across the steel pipe. The chain is of course very short, and his exposed wrists are on either side of it. Arthur gulps.
"Try a couple practice swings first." Alfred suggests.
Arthur hefts the axe and thunks it into a wooden cabinet.
"Good. Now try to hit the same mark again."
He swings hard and the blade thunks in four inches from the mark.
"Okay," Al sucks in a breath. "I think that's enough practice."
Alfred winces, bracing himself as Arthur raises the axe. He has to hit a target about an inch wide with all the force he can muster, with Alfred's hands on either side.
"You can do it, Arthur." Alfred sounded calm. "Hit it as hard as you can, I trust you."
The American closes his eyes. So does Arthur.
The axe comes down and… K-WHANG! Arthur gingerly opens his eyes and looks... Alfred was grinning with two separate cuffs. He drops the axe, all the strength going out of him.
"Jesus bleedin' Christ." Arthur takes in a relieved breath.
"Nice work, there, Paul Bunyan."Alfred climbs down into the water next to him. He can't breathe for a second as his feet his the water. "Shit! Excuse my French. Ow ow ow, that is cold! Come on, let's go."
They wade out into the hall. Arthur starts toward the stairs going up, but Al stops him. There was only about a foot of the stairwell opening visible.
"Too deep." Al said. "We gotta find another way out."
***
The painted letters of "TITANIC" was now only two feet high on the bow of the doomed steamer. Once 50 feet above the waterline, they now quietly slip below the surface. They turn gold on black, rippling and dimming to a pale green as they go deeper.
In boat 6, Roderich looks back at the Titanic, transfixed by the sight of the dying liner. The bowsprit is now barely above the waterline. Another of Boxhall's rockets explodes overhead. K-BOOM! It lights up the whole area, and half a dozen boats in the water, spreading out from the ship were lighted and reveiled.
"Now there's something you don't see every day." Elizaveta whispered solemnly next to him.
AN: I have no excuse. Life has pretty much caught up with me and I wasn't able to write in my free time. No, I did not include the principal rule of "women and children in the lifeboats first" or else it'll mess the whole thing up. This is a fan fic after all, and I'm not aiming for historic accuracy in some parts. So if I here anymore whining about that detail, I shall jump off a cliff and would not be able to finish this fic at all. Worry not because I've already written the last succeeding chapters of this fic. I'm just going to wait awhile to get them BETA-ed and upload them.
I promise the next chapter would be a lot more interesting.
Cheers!