After receiving the initial radiophone update, Shaw had called a brief halt to the proceedings to let the passengers and crew remaining on board that the Ocean Princess' distress signal had been received. A ship was coming to their aid, and that same ship was going to make a radio call to the Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras to bring air support to assist them. yes, the lifeboat situation was unfavorable, Shaw told them all, but if and when the worst happened, they were not out of luck, they'd simply move to a different form of rescue operation. Not wanting to waste too much time, Shaw had wrapped his speech succinctly, and they'd dived right back in.
Once everyone had been brought onto the same page, things started moving very quickly. There remained three official "squads" that were set up that coordinated the frenetic lowering of the ship's many lifeboats, and all three had at least two or three passengers and crew who had a bit of sailing experience. Shaw led one with Jake, Rogo, Amanda on the davits, and a handful of other male passengers and crew providing assistance. Even though the loading was pretty straightforward, it still needed the strength of many to slowly slide the lifeboats out to the end of the davits, rather than letting gravity do it for them. That would result in a jarring slam at the end, which would fuel panic.
There was not a lot of questioning, not many stops and starts, everyone seemed to be on the same page. There were no hysterical outbursts from wives temporarily leaving their husbands behind to sometimes board a boat with children, or sometimes board them alone. Part of it was due to the fact that even though they had no captain, Shaw and Harrison had been upfront about the situation. Aboard Titanic, Captain Smith and the officers kept the true fate of the ship from the passengers, resulting in a number refusing to leave the safety of the ship and, by association, leading to lifeboats lowered half-empty or less.
This was different. They knew the ship was in trouble. Shaw and Harrison made no effort to bullshit them, and Shaw leapt into his leadership role immediately. He was in the thick of lowering, not standing back and letting others do it. They all seemed to understand that they had a limited amount of time to get the lifeboats lowered before they became entirely useless. The hijinks of the tall man with the long hair and the short barefoot woman also had a calming effect. When the lifeboat stuck, the woman was quick to dive onto the davit with the knife between her teeth to cut them loose, and they smiled at the kisses they shared after each boat dropped. Neither appeared to be panicked, and more than one couple was just a little bit jealous at watching how completely the two were in love with each other.
The other thing that kept panic virtually non-existent was the location and time of the sinking. It was not the moonless, icy, pitch-black Atlantic the ship was sinking into. It was not freezing. The sun was rising more and more, and the average water temperature in the Gulf of Honduras was around 80 degrees. There was no fear if they had to go into the water of freezing from hypothermia. Virtually everyone on deck was in a lifejacket, and all who remained felt that if the worst were to happen, they'd likely be able to escape directly into the water and simply float until help arrived. The only concern was getting off the ship in time to swim well-clear and avoid the suction.
A few had considered just jumping now, but the ship, while still in distress, was well above water at the moment, and those that had let it pass through their minds let it pass right back out again almost immediately. Some of them even looked directly at Shaw while doing so. They decided to use his demeanor as a barometer. If Shaw started showing signs he was losing faith, then they'd revisit their decisions on whether or not to jump ship and take their chances in the water until hopefully, the helicopters from Soto Cano arrived at the scene.
When the clock finally rolled to 8:00 am, the perfect calm remained. Lifeboats were still being lowered, though it was becoming a slower and slower process the deeper and deeper the ship's list became. More than once Amanda and the other designated rope cutters had to make some questionable calls due to the occasional lifeboat being below the halfway point, but still higher than any of them would have liked to release them from. Yet, they really didn't have a choice, and if the lifeboat made it past the halfway point even a little, they gambled and did their cutting.
It wasn't a terrible decision or gamble on the face of things. These lifeboats were not the open wooden boats with oars and slats to sit on. The lifeboats had seats, and those seats had harnesses, and so far, she and the other cutters, after making those questionable calls, had been greeted by the access door being opened, and a wave from one of the passengers inside, indicating everyone was safe and unharmed before the motor was started and the lifeboat moved away from the ship to safety. After she had done her cutting, Amanda frequently dashed to the deserted bridge only to return and tell Shaw what she had observed the bow doing. With each update, Shaw seemed at ease and of the belief that they were in very good shape.
At 8:03 a.m., the first rescue ship had arrived, as Shaw had promised them it would. They did not know at the time it would also be the ONLY rescue ship that arrived, and maybe if they had, a little panic may have swept the trapped passengers, but in that moment, all that mattered was that they were no longer alone on the high seas. The Norwegian Star dropped anchor at a safe distance. The ship turned out to be a small cargo freighter, but it could hold people, and to everyone assembled that was feeling the deck slowly disappear from their feet, that was all that mattered. They'd hang off the sides of the ship with ropes if it really came down to it.
In fact, as the relief swept across the promenade deck, the assembled group of passengers were so excited to see rescuers that slowly, everything once again stopped for a brief moment as cheers and applause started from one end of the deck to the other. The Norwegian Star, as small and tired as she was, got a heroes welcome that would rival that of the Titanic's savior rescuer, the Carpathia. After many many years of quiet and dedicated service among many captains and crews, the old, but still feisty work horse was finally getting the recognition she deserved.
And by being the only ship to actually arrive on the scene, she was remembered fondly in all of the internet postings, and even the occasional nautical book. In fact, only a month or two after the sinking, the company owners gave a complete overhaul and repaint to the shipping line's now world-famous vessel, and Vandenberg was often seen smiling on the brand new decks as they made their shipping runs, while the warm sunlight made the Norwegian Star's new white and ocean blue paintjob gleam as though she were brand-new.
Shaw, who had been focused on maintaining his cool and calm since taking charge, allowed for the temporary break in lifeboat lowering, and roared with relieved laughter. Rogo, Jake, and the other lifeboat loaders linked arms and were in the cheering camp, and Amanda was with the clappers, hopping up and down like an excited child who is shown by their parents that one last gift that Santa brought them that they didn't notice, and knew in their hearts was the thing they most wanted.
Amanda eased on her jumping and claps and hollered, "I'm going to go and say hello!" She quickly passed the knife to Jake before she hurried to the bridge. Having a better understanding of the radio system now, she disconnected the automated distress message and made sure she was on channel 16 before she hailed Vandenberg on his own little ship. Still, she couldn't resist using what she assumed would be a well-outdated way to do so and said, "Ahoy there, Norwegian Star. Avast, ye mateys. I've never been so excited to see seamen in all my life."
On the Norwegian Star, Vandenberg's face visibly reddened. "Nice to hear your voice again Amanda. You've managed to make me blush, and I have no doubts that you're quite skilled with others in that regard. I see your communication style is still stuck in the past, yet it's the most entertaining way I've ever been hailed and I can't blame you for it. Would you do me a favor and come outside of the bridge on the starboard side?"
So she set the radiophone down and did so. And then in the distance a man in overalls and a gray t-shirt appeared on the deck and enthusiastically waved, staring at her through a pair of binoculars, and while Amanda wasn't close enough to see his face clearly, she knew it was Vandenberg and couldn't help but giggle and wave back. Made another friend, Jake, she thought. She wondered what kind of steak he preferred? Vandenberg pointed to the interior of the ship indicating he was going back inside. Amanda nodded before he lowered the binoculars to signal that she understood what he meant.
After Amanda indicated she had returned, Vandenberg said, "Forgive me, I could not resist taking the opportunity to connect a face with the voice and the name." He wasn't sure who exactly he pictured when he'd only heard her voice, and now that he'd seen her fairly closely through the binoculars, he was amused that a woman as seemingly small and unassuming as she was could easily beat Captain Gomez in a swearing contest.
Amanda was beaming. "I'm glad to meet you too. If we had power we'd certainly invite you to the Oceanview Café' for breakfast, but cold eggs and bacon don't sound very appetizing, probably. now that you're here, is there anything that you need us to do to make things run smoothly on both of our ends?"
Vandenberg was quick to reply. "Due to the small size of our vessel, we only have one lifeboat with a capacity of 20. I wish we had more, but one will have to do. We will lower it and travel to you. Is there a rope or a ladder the passengers could use?"
Amanda shrugged, again remembered she was on a radiophone where Vandenberg could not see her, and once again felt like an idiot. She said, "I haven't looked but there must be. Hang it from the railing and let people climb down? On the...Starboard side?" Vandenberg responded with an affirmative. "I'll go tell our former shore excursions manager. He's been promoted to captain. Now that I've mastered the use of port and starboard, he might promote me to third officer."
Vandenberg laughed briefly and said, "Since you're so excited to see...Ahem...Seamen, a number of the crew have volunteered to board your ship and assist in the lowering of lifeboats if you need us to. Hopefully it would be all the seamen you would require."
Now it was Amanda's turn to blush...But she wasn't going to tell Vandenberg she was doing so. Christ, the ship was sinking and she was actually doing some harmless flirting. She did sometimes wish that with the money Jake had access to, that he could buy her a filter. But she knew that for some strange reason, he loved her bluntness and capacity to blurt out whatever she felt like, no matter what company she was keeping. She replied, "Unfortunately...It's getting harder and harder to lower the lifeboats. I can see Mr...Er...Captain Shaw is getting really concerned. We've had to cut a few loose from a height no one was really excited about, and I hate to say it, but sadly, I think it would be a wasted trip for all of them. We're very close to your lifeboat being the only game in town."
Vandenberg was quiet a moment as the gravity of the situation startled away the good humor and brought reality crashing down upon them. One 20-person lifeboat would slow the evacuation to a standstill if they lost the use if their own boats on the Ocean Princess. But hopefully that standstill, if it happened, would not last for long. He said, "We won't be the only game in town. I was able to make radio contact with Soto Cano and they are already scrambling their helicopters. The commander I spoke to said they have three that I'm sure by now are already on the way, and they were attempting to recall three more from training exercises. So even if we become the only game in town for a while, we won't be for long. fear not."
Amanda's somersaulting stomach quit doing back flips and she closed her eyes. The cavalry wasn't here yet but they were coming and she couldn't help but feel a wave of relief. She said, "I'm going to update Shaw. That'll make him happy, the lifeboat situation has been making him increasingly grumpy. But he's British and he hides it well. However, if he starts dropping F-bombs like I do it's probably time for all of us to abandon ship." She couldn't resist one last chance to get the goat. "I'll just swim right over to you and get a first-hand look at all of the seamen then."
Vandenberg had been taking a sip of water and actually choked on it, much to Amanda's personal delight. When he collected himself, he said he'd stick by the radio and for Amanda to call again if they needed anything. She told him goodbye and went to relay the message to Shaw. At the time, neither had known it would be the last contact ever made from the doomed ship.
Before she moved backwards, Amanda once again darted to the front of the bridge and looked out the slanted observation windows to see the ship's current state. She saw the front of the ship...Er...The bow...Was settling a bit more than she assumed Shaw would have liked. It was still above water, but it was noticeably sinking now.
For a moment, Amanda's calm resolve dissipated. She was alone, and in that moment she could let her guard down. What a fucking nightmare. She just could not fucking believe that on their FIRST trip back to the real world, she was actually on a sinking ship. I mean, what the fuck? Millions of people took cruises and never had a bad experience in their lifetimes. Her first one, and the fucking thing was sinking right out from under her fucking feet. She started flashing back to that Final Destination movie she remembered seeing when it first came out, and how after they'd avoided being on the exploding plane, how death had been pissed about it and killed the survivors off in bizarre and convoluted ways. Its methods had been almost as technical as her father's traps.
Now that she was in a situation where she was also facing "death," she couldn't help but wonder if it was after her like it had been after those movie characters. After all, she'd died. Then she'd changed her past and now was alive. Was death gonna keep fucking with her every time she and Jake returned from the realm because technically she wasn't supposed to fucking be here? Did her changing her past from her death to survival upset the apple cart of the fucking world that much? She was a fucking nobody. She wasn't going to cure cancer or win a Nobel prize or become president. Would her continued existence cause the fucking world to stop spinning?
Still, she was not a fucking idiot. Even if death WERE out to fix the glitch in the matrix, sinking an entire cruise ship just to get to her seemed a bit extreme. If it really wanted to get her, it could easily just decapitate her with a bed's falling headboard while she was getting fucked. It put a lot less lives in danger, a bed was a place she was well-known to frequent, and it would have at least one opportunity to kill her every day. Amanda's face slipped into a scowl. She hoped that death would have the goddamn common courtesy to let her cum before it happened, if it tried.
She shook her head to clear the thought from her mind. Jake would tell her she was being fucking paranoid. Hell, she herself knew that she was being fucking paranoid. She reminded herself that the ship would have sunk no matter what. In essence, they were just stowaways. She wondered what the outcome would have been if she and Jake hadn't been on it. But then again, she and Jake had something that no one else had. When they left and came back, things would reset, and she would be able to read the news stories and see what happened. She'd find out who sent the radiophone message out in her place, and who used Rogo's knife to cut the lifeboats free. The production of the sinking of the Ocean Princess would play out again and again. In this current production, she and Jake were just understudies.
She turned from the windows. She'd fucked around in here long enough and if she stuck around any longer, Captain Shaw might think she'd taken a wrong step and fucking sent herself overboard. The slanting deck was making it harder and harder to walk normally, and she was glad she'd ditched the sandals and went fucking barefoot like she preferred. It wasn't a huge improvement probably but at least it didn't feel like her feet were going to slide out of them as she walked like they had been threatening to do before. Her soles against the deck offered some stability.
Amanda dashed back to her husband and Shaw and Rogo in time to hear Shaw yell for a couple of the passengers to search for a rope ladder and attach it to the railing so passengers could flee this fucking death ship in the Norwegian Star's lifeboat. Okay, he didn't ACTUALLY call it a fucking death ship but that was sure what the tone of his voice indicated when she heard him give the command in that classy accent of his. She wondered if Jake could do a British accent. If he used it in bed, Amanda knew she'd cum pretty hard hearing him dirty talk her with it as he fucked her.
Amanda gave another bow update, which made Shaw's face look chagrined, and then gave him the official word from the Norwegian Star that contact had been officially made with Soto Cano, and the air support was likely on the way, which made Shaw's face brighten. She quickly stopped things for a brief moment to once again let the passengers know that air support was now confirmed, and the news brought fresh cheers and excitement across the promenade deck.
Jake had returned from cutting the ropes for the lifeboat to be lowered and set his feet down on the deck. The three loading crews moved on to the next empty lifeboats and started helping passengers over. Amanda took the pocket knife back from him. Jake was disheveled, sweating, and nervous. Both of them were tired, Jake more so than her because it was heavy work operating the ropes to get the lifeboats to lower.
But she also knew another reason for his demeanor was that he probably felt like shit. It was his idea to take this cruise, and now here they were fighting to get off of this damn tub. Even knowing the realm was waiting wasn't enough to overpower the fear of the water getting closer and closer to the deck. She felt the fear too.
When she'd watched "Titanic," and since she knew what happened going in, she couldn't believe that in the early goings, as presented by the film, that passengers actually were more inclined to stay on the sinking ship than they were to get into a lifeboat. Now that she was in a similar scenario, she realized that even though the ship was obviously in distress, there was something about the solidity of the deck, even slanted, under her feet that was more reassuring than even the safety of the enclosed lifeboats.
It was definitely more reassuring than the thought of swimming in the water. having the bottom of the ocean be who knew how far below her, not to mention all the unknowables swimming out there that were between her and the ocean bottom. She'd seen "Jaws" when she was nine, and the grisly death of Robert Shaw's Quint was burned in her mind. She crazily felt like if he even put a foot in the water, a shark's fin may appear.
She wasn't going to have Jake blaming himself, not when he was doing so much in this situation. They'd barely been able to slow down and speak since being drafted, and their kisses after she had done her davit acrobatics earlier, she could tell, were no longer keeping him from worrying that even though they were "safe," That he'd still put his wife in a situation that put them both in danger. So she grabbed his face in her hands, pulled him forward, kissed him suddenly and fiercely whispered, "I fucking LOVE you. Now get your fucking chin off the deck. The first two days of this thing were magical, and while I'm pissed we don't get the next seven, I'm definitely not pissed at YOU."
It seemed to sooth Jake. "I fucking love you too...Thank you. I needed that," he whispered back. With another lifeboat loaded, Jake, Shaw, Rogo, and the others got the boat as low to the water as they could before the rope snagged, and Amanda was off onto the davits again, cutting ropes and hauling herself back to the decks.
It was the 20th lifeboat to be lowered from the ship. No one knew that it would also be the last.
Shaw had kept up a count, and with the lifeboats each holding 20 persons per, that meant they'd evacuated 400 female crew and passengers and children to safety. But he estimated there were still at least 600 to 700 to go. Shaw glanced at her. Her eyes were not filled with panic, just reserved excitement. He knew that Amanda was actively keeping herself out of the evacuation line, but she was rapidly running out of other women and children to keep putting in front of her.
But, as he knew even before, Amanda was not going to even consider leaving before she was given the all-clear to do so. He was resolved. He was going to do it now, and make sure Jake was included in the bargain. He told her, "You've both definitely done your duty. Amanda, if your plan is to wait to be the last woman who leaves, I'll make Jake among the first male passengers to board the lifeboat with you. After all, he's done his duty as well..." And then she said something that shocked him so much that his mouth almost dropped open.
"And let you stay here having all the fun? Nah. We'll go last with you, I'm in no rush." After all, Amanda thought again, we don't REALLY need a lifeboat to get out of here. But even without that seemingly invincible safety-net, Amanda was well familiar with games of life and death, and she likely would have said the same thing even if the safety of the realm wasn't waiting for her.
Shaw found his voice after a moment. "That's very noble, but I'm afraid it's quite against protocols to be put in the back of the line behind male crew members such as myself. You're working hard and I appreciate the company but I really must insist..."
Jake interrupted him. "You're talking to a brick wall Mr. Shaw. I kind of want to be among the last also. It's not every day you can fight for survival on a sinking ship, after all. And I'd say any rules in this situation went out the window when the Captain departed on his pleasure cruise and left us the fuck behind."
Jake was in no hurry to leave either, and while it was partially because he knew the realm was waiting, the other part of it was because it just felt good to be aiding in this rescue and knowing his actions were saving lives. For years, he'd just been Jack Park's son. Now he was in a situation where he could be more. He could be one of the heroes. It didn't matter that when they left and returned, history would reset and Shaw and Rogo would not remember him. He would remember this moment. He would remember that when the chips were down, he rose to the occasion. He wanted to keep doing so until the last possible moment.
He was also relieved that Amanda was of a similar mindset. She'd put it to words before he could. If she'd wanted to evacuate for some reason, he wouldn't have tried to talk her out of it, but he found he was relieved that she wanted to stay aboard just as strongly as he did. He wondered if somewhere deep within herself, it was because she still had that desire to atone for her past sins. Putting herself at the end of the line was certainly a way for her to do so.
Shaw was thoughtful for a moment. "I think you're both insane. If I were in your shoes I'd want to be out of here as soon as possible."
"You can't be in my shoes, I'm not wearing any." She wiggled her toes. "Besides, the bridge tour sucked. You can make it up to us by letting us keep helping you. It's not on you, it's on us. We're the ones choosing to take the risk, you're not forcing us to do it, so you don't have anything to blame yourself for. I know I'm rapidly running out of time to play the trump card...So I'd better drop it fast...You can't make us leave, we're VIPs." Then she playfully stuck her tongue out at him.
Shaw chuckled and said, "I won't order you to leave, and I certainly won't force you. If you wish to remain, I must allow it. After all, as you've so plainly said..." He paused. "...You're VIPs, in fact, you're the last VIPs the Ocean Princess will ever have had in her grand stateroom."
Amanda held out her hand. "Last three off of this tub?" Shaw laughed and so did Jake and they both placed a hand on top of Amanda's.
"Four!" Rogo came over and put his hand on top of the other three. "I've had a good life so I ain't in a rush to get outta here either. And besides, we been eatin' dinnah together so it makes sense we all leave the ship together, eh? I'm a, well I guess I'm a VIP by assoshiashion."
"The insanity spreads. I feel as though it's a mutiny," Shaw chuckled again in spite of himself. "Alright, I will extend my offer of not ordering people off to you as well, Mr. Rogo. In part because I've seen you'll do what I say and follow the instructions I give to the letter...You've earned the right to choose." He looked at Amanda, the adorable little instigator of this small "mutiny" and said, "As you are a firebrand, I'm assuming you wear the pants?"
"Oh shit yeah." Amanda replied. "We set those boundaries first thing. It was like a prenup."
Jake rolled his eyes. "Shit. I've changed my mind. Suddenly drowning doesn't seem like such a bad thing after all...I will forever be remembered as being pantsless. Goodbye, cruel world..." He pretended to start climbing over the rail to jump. Amanda slapped him in the ass. Hard. They giggled. He picked her up off the deck and kissed her.
They moved on and filled another boat with passengers. The other two stations had been slowed down in the interim, as both boats had slipped to the end of the davits and had to be pulled back and secured to finish filling them. The distance between the deck and the boats had been too great to risk trying to have the remaining passengers wishing to board do so, as there was gap of several feet between the deck and the lifeboat entrance with nothing below them but the open sea.
But finally, all three boats were filled, and released to slide to the end of the davits to be lowered. But as they went to do so, the Ocean Princess gave another death heave and tilted even further to starboard. This hadn't been a slight list either, the ship heeled over by at least five degrees or more. The davits were designed to allow for lifeboats to be lowered, with difficulty, with a list of up to 20 degrees. The list of the Ocean Princess was now 23 degrees or more.
To punctuate the situation, from deep within her decks there came a long continuous sound of crashing, as the severity of the list had finally grown so great that it started tipping over a majority of the things that weren't nailed down.