Chapter 28 SOUTHAMPTON ENGLAND FEBRUARY 1913 "OLYMPIC"

Oceanic and I were docked side by side. The old ship was coughing again, as she had been for the past week and a half.

"You should sleep, Oceanic." I scolded. "And why should I do that?" She asked, spluttering. "Because you need it." I growled. "So do you!" She countered. "You've hardly had time for a rest yourself since you've been keeping an eye on me."

"You need rest more than I do." I growled. My patience was wearing thin. I loved Oceanic. The elder ship was my mentor. She'd been taking care of me before I was even launched and she still did.

"You're hiding something, Olympic." She rasped. I stiffened. She knows! I thought worriedly. "I don't know what it is but I'm not going to force you to tell me. If it was important you'd tell me, wouldn't you?" She asked.

I looked away guiltily. "There are some things that, although important, must stay hidden until the right time." I replied.

"Like hiding the fact that I have well-advanced Propellerous?" Oceanic suggested shrewdly. I looked at her. "You knew?" I whispered.

"Knew?" Oceanic repeated. "Of course I knew. How would I not? Carpathia may be the expert on illness around here but that doesn't mean that I don't know a few things too." She snapped.

"Oceanic, I…" I began. Oceanic cut me off. "I know your reasons, Olympic. But next time, remember that all things that must be told must be told immediately." She paused, pondering the silliness of her words and burst out laughing.

I laughed too. "Well at least that's optimistic." I suggested. Oceanic sighed. "I should've expected this." She said. "Propellerous runs in the family."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "White Star's first ship, RMS Tayleur, suffered from Propellerous. The disease was in its middle stages when she sank. Atlantic also had it for a time. She was one of the few ships I know who actually fought through the disease. But the effort had taken a lot of her strength, which made her vulnerable to severe Sand Sickness if she was caught in a wreck. She could've easily survived the Sand Sickness if she was at full strength." Oceanic explained.

"But she wasn't." I murmured sadly. Then I remembered something. "Oceanic, Carpathia told me that a ship can survive her own sinking and remain alive on the ocean floor for years. Is that true?" I asked.

Oceanic nodded. "Yes, Olympic. A ship can survive for decades if she is in hibernation." She replied. "And what's that?" I asked, curious.

"Sometimes ships, if they are damaged badly enough, will enter into a dreamlike state to stay alive. They can stay like that for hundreds of years. Most never wake up and die only when their bodies have been completely demolished." Oceanic said.

"What about a ship who doesn't fall asleep. What if she's awake on the ocean floor? Is it possible she could survive Sand Sickness? Could she, if she was a White Star ship, even contract Propellerous down there?" I asked hopefully.

"I've never heard of such a thing." Oceanic said. "But then again, we don't hear anything from the ones we lose below surface. I know what you're asking, Olympic but I really don't know if Titanic could survive the damage she sustained. I doubt she remained awake if she did. Most eyewitness accounts say she broke in half, as shocking as that sounds. If she survived, she most likely entered into hibernation."

"If she did, would she be sleeping, I mean…" I wanted so badly to know for sure. If there was any chance my sister was still alive, that I could somehow talk to her.

"There are 2.5 miles of North Atlantic between the surface and the ocean floor. As hard as this is to believe, you wouldn't be able to hear your sister's supersnoring."

I nodded sadly. "First Titanic, now you." I cried. "I've still got a good couple of months left." Oceanic growled. "I'm not going anywhere just yet."

I looked her in the eye. "Promise?" I asked. She nodded. "Promise." She whispered.

A few weeks later, I was resting in New York when a sudden noise of building woke me from my deep sleep at my berth at Pier 59. I felt a familiar pang of sadness when I remembered how close I was to sharing this dock with Titanic.

Yawning, I looked to see what had woken me up. It was early so the harbor wasn't as loud as it normally was and sound traveled a long way. It was coming from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

I groaned. For the past 2 years, the United States had been building battleship after battleship which meant the constant noises in the early morning hours prevented any ship from getting a good long sleep.

First it had been the 2 ships of the Nevada class. They had both been launched a year earlier. Now it was the Pennsylvania class that was being built.
Sighing, I went over to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. "Do you think you could keep it down a little?" I snapped. "Some of us are still trying to sleep here."

"You tell them Olympic." Baltic murmured sleepily from nearby. "Sorry miss," Said a workman. "But we've got a deadline to meet so you've just got to deal with it."

"She does have a point" snapped one of the builder's ships before I could reply. "Even Pennsylvania's complaining about it."

"She'd complain about anything that interrupts her sleep!" The workmen protested. "Oh, be off with ya! And don't make me have to intervene in this again." The workmen ran off. The battleship turned to me.

"Sorry about that." She told me. "They mean well, but their work can get to their heads sometimes." I nodded. "Yeah I know what you mean. I had to endure that sort of thing for 3 years." I replied.

The battleship looked surprised. "It took the English 3 years to build you?" She asked. "Not just me," I replied. "My sister was built beside me."

"Must've been a long, hard job." She said. "Oh, I don't know. There are no workmen as tough as a Belfaster. I think it was fairly easy for them." I replied.

"And you are?" She asked. "Olympic." I replied and remembering warships and their titles I added "RMS Olympic."

"Be a hefty price for sinking you, being an RMS." The warship muttered. "Sorry, where are my manners, USS Arizona." She said. "Pleasure." I replied.

The battleship nodded. "And that sleeping hulk there is my older sister USS Pennsylvania. She can sleep through just about anything if you let her." Her tone was disdainful but she was looking at Pennsylvania with the affection of a younger, dutiful sister.

"I've never met an American battleship before." I murmured in awe. "Well, I'm not a battleship until I'm commissioned and that won't be until 1916." She sounded cross and I was reminded of the impatience at my own building progress and the frustration I felt that I was not being made ready fast enough.

"There could be a war on by then. Germany's becoming a real hassle for Britain to handle." I said. "Germany's its own country with its own people. Maybe it's just getting tired of being bossed around by the English." Arizona suggested wisely.

I shrugged. "You're American," I said. "Of course you would think they need their own influence, just as you think everyone does. Chaos would erupt if Germany got what they wanted."

"Only because Britain wouldn't want them to get it." Arizona countered. "You have a lot to learn about the ways of battleships." She added thoughtfully.

"I think I've had my fill of them to be perfectly honest." I replied coolly. "American battleships." Arizona corrected. I sniffed. There was no way I was going to be able to worm my way out of this one. "Fine!" I huffed.

Arizona grinned. "Great, if you're still here tomorrow we start at 05:00 hours ET. DON'T BE LATE!" I raised my bow in salute. "Yes USS Arizona." I said.

Arizona returned my salute. "Tomorrow then RMS Olympic." And I returned to my berth, surprised at the eagerness I felt to learn what Arizona had to teach me.

Opening my eyes, I hauled myself out of my berth and half-awake, I made my way to the Brooklyn navy yard. Arizona was waiting for me when I arrived.

"You're right on time, RMS Olympic." She said, sounding rather pleased. "Didn't think I would make it?" I asked. "No, I thought you wouldn't come at all." She laughed. I glared at her.

"Now, you are here because you want to learn more about the ways of battleships?" Arizona asked. "Yes, USS Arizona." I replied.

"We begin with our first lesson. The key to understanding any ship is how she is born. If a ship is built for a specific purpose, in response to an event, or the possibility of one, she is designed to fulfill that purpose and so it becomes her own mission." Arizona paused.

"What is your mission, RMS Olympic?" She asked. I thought long and hard. White Star had built me and my sisters in response to Cunard's challenge with Lusitania and Mauretania. "To beat White Star's rival Cunard Line and my rivals RMS Lusitania and her sister RMS Mauretania or any other rival of the White Star Line." I replied.

Arizona looked pleased. "Good, very good." She replied.

"And how do you think that's going so far?" She asked. "Not so well." I replied. "We're you the only White Star ship designed for this purpose?" She asked. "No." I replied. "No, there were, are 3 of us." I said.

Arizona nodded. "How long into your building process were you when you awoke?" She asked. "I was a good 1 ½ years into it so about halfway." I replied. "That's average for a ship of my breed." I added defensively.

"Yes, so I've heard. You were designed for passenger service so you woke much later than a battleship would." Arizona said. "And when does a battleship wake?" I asked, unable to hide my curiosity.

"Usually, as soon as her keel is laid." Arizona replied. "She is both blind and mute, and can barely hear at all. It teaches us to rely on more than just our senses and to be alert at all times."

"My youngest sister, RMS Britannic, she woke as soon as her keel was laid. Although," I added. "I think that was because I woke her up."

Arizona looked amused. "No, no one can wake a ship when she hasn't first woken yet. Only a battleship or a ship that will see only battle in her future would wake that early." She replied.

"Apparently your sister is meant to serve as a ship of war, not a passenger liner." I was cross. "I doubt it." I said. "She's a passenger ship, not a warship like you."

"Passenger ships can be converted into warships if necessary, RMS Olympic." Arizona said calmly. That much was true. If there was a war, all White Star ships would be called upon to serve the British Admiralty.

"Can you see the future, USS Arizona?" I asked. She shook her head. "No." She replied. "I can only make guesses based on what I see here and now."

"However," She added. "Some battleships do have a certain sense of things. If there is to be a war sometime in the not-to-distant future, we feel it coming. We don't have an exact date of course, we don't even have a year half the time, but we know it's coming. I'm not even fully built yet and I can tell that within the next 2 years, there will be a war on. And judging from what I sense, it's gonna be a big one."

I looked at her curiously. "And what do you sense, USS Arizona?" I asked. "It's not very precise but I can tell that the United States is becoming increasingly worried about European issues. Great Britain is frustrated and annoyed with Germany's arrogance. Europe is beyond diplomatic help, they will reach their breaking point within a year. Germany is fed up with being a second rate country and is preparing for an all-out war with the Triple Entente for they know that there is no way they will get an empire of their own by asking, which is why they formed the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy. Serbia is fed up with Austria-Hungary's big mouth and is planning an assassination which, if it comes to pass, will ignite the fuse that will start this Great War." I stared at her, speechless.

"You sure you're not a fortune teller, USS Arizona?" I asked. The warship shook her head. "It's far from fortune what I've seen so far. And I've barely brushed the tip of the iceberg." She said. I winced at her word choice.

She looked at me curiously. "What's wrong RMS Olympic?" She asked. "I ah, I'm not fond of icebergs." I said. Arizona grunted. "No ship's fond of ice. It's like suggesting that fish are fond of sharks."

I shook my head. "But it goes deeper than that I see." Arizona said. I nodded. "Yes, my other sister struck an iceberg a day out of New York and sank." I said sadly.

"And when was this?" Arizona asked, her curiosity getting the better of her common sense to just drop the subject. "April 1912." I replied.

"Your sister, she was RMS Titanic wasn't she?" Arizona asked me. I nodded. "Yes." I said. "Yes she was."

"That must've been hard for you." Arizona murmured sympathetically. "I couldn't imagine a life without USS Pennsylvania. That must've been rough. How did you cope with that?" She asked.

"It wasn't me. It was RMS Oceanic that snapped me out of my gloomy world. I'd been depressed since that night and Oceanic helped me see and feel joy again." I answered, a wave of affection for the old ship rushing over me.

Arizona nodded. The harbor was, by now, fairly active and she decided to end the lesson before too many people were up and working.

"When do you leave for England?" She asked. "Tonight." I replied. "Then we resume lessons when you return." She said. I nodded. "Yes USS Arizona." I said.

As I left the harbor later that night, I saw Arizona in the Navy Yard, continuing her building. "She'll be a fine battleship for her country." I thought.
As much as I disliked warships in general I could not avoid the feelings that I got when I was around Arizona. I wanted her to succeed. To be the best battleship she could be and serve her country to the fullest of her abilities.

I shook my head to clear it. I had felt the same way towards Titanic and Britannic and I still did with the latter. Arizona was a great friend, but she was not my sister. I had no business feeling this way and I resolved to ignore my feelings for as long as I could.

Titanic and Britannic were my sisters, Arizona was not. She had a sister of her own anyway. Besides, she was an American warship; I was a merchant mail-carrying British vessel, I could never be close to her even if I wanted to and I don't want to. I thought irritably.

I would not dishonor Titanic's memory by finding a replacement for her.

I gazed at the stars overhead. Oceanic had once told me that the stars were the souls of ships, watching over the ones that still sailed the seas.

They were called the Ancients. I raised my eyes to look at them, twinkling overhead. I wondered if my sister was up there, watching me now. "She will be a close friend and nothing more." I promised to my sister.

I didn't realize just how wrong I was to think that I could keep that promise.