Chapter Thirteen – 4:15 p.m.
Carolyn looked at the 'Captain' talking to empty air. "Daniel . . . what is it? What's wrong?"
"It's the kids . . . there's something . . . they're down at the beach . . . in a cave . . ."
Sam headed for the stairway, Carolyn following behind him – their argument forgotten, and ran into Martha in the foyer.
"Martha!" Carolyn gasped, ". . . The kids . . . they're at the beach . . . they're trapped in a cave! Call the fire department!"
"Sam! Hurry!" said Al, ". . . The water is rising! The cave is in a little cove exactly point eight miles north of here!"
"I'll meet you there, Al!" Sam said, not really caring that Carolyn could hear him talk to his holographic friend, and then to Carolyn he added, "I'm going to the cave! Join me as fast as you can . . . " and he started to dematerialize.
"You aren't going anywhere without me, Captain!" said Carolyn as she grabbed his arm.
"But . . ." he paused, and held both her hands in his. "Hold on! He loosed her hands for a moment; "Cross your fingers . . . I don't know whether this is gonna work . . ."
Both Sam and Carolyn dematerialized and re materialized at the cove in front of the cave. There was already over two feet of water flowing freely into the opening. Carolyn looked around, and then down at herself. "I didn't know you could do that!" she said in surprise.
"Neither did I . . ." Sam mumbled, ". . . But this really isn't the time to discuss it! "Jonathan! Candy!" Sam yelled, leaning toward the entrance of the cave.
"Candy!" cried Carolyn, straining her ears for a response.
"Jonathan!" Sam cried. "Al! Go to them! Let me know what's going on!" Al's holographic image moved through the water, into the cave.
"Sam!" Al cried, "It's Jonathan! He's on his way out!"
Sam half-walked, half-swam to the cave's entrance and pulled Jonathan further away from the opening. "Jonathan! Are you all right? Where are Adam and Quentin? Where's Candy? Speak to me! We haven't much time!"
Jonathan, tears swimming in his eyes, tried to collect himself. "Adam and Quentin left Captain, to see a movie . . . Candy's trapped . . . I'm so sorry! We were exploring and she was climbing on some rocks, and she slipped and the rock moved . . . her leg is caught . . . we tried pulling . . . she said it hurts . . . I can't move the rock . . . I wasn't going to leave her, but I heard you shout! You gotta go get her!"
"Can you get to your mother?" Sam asked hurriedly.
"Sure, Captain, but what about Candy?" Jonathan asked, tears filling his eyes again.
"Sam!" shouted Al from inside the cave, "Follow the sound of my voice! You've got to get her loose! Ziggy says you only have two minutes before her head is covered!"
Sam dematerialized and rematerialized inside the cave beside Candy, who was indeed stuck — and the water was rising fast! "Captain Gregg!" Candy cried, already swallowing water as the waves flowed through the rocks, "You're here! You found me! Is Jonathan okay?"
"He's fine!" Sam shouted, trying to move the boulder pinning the girl.
"Captain!" Candy screamed, "The water's getting higher!" Sam tried again to move the boulder trapping Candy's foot, without success.
"Al!" Sam shouted, "I can't move it!"
"Sam!"
"What?" He shouted over Candy's cries.
"Grab her! Hold on to her and dematerialize! If it works the way it did with Carolyn, you should be able to move her right out from under the boulder!"
Sam grabbed the little girl and held her tight.
"Hey, Captain!" said Candy, "I didn't know you could . . . you were . . ."
"Later Candy! Cross your fingers and hold on!"
Sam and Candy dematerialized together and rematerialized outside the cave — a few feet away from Jonathan and Carolyn.
Carolyn embraced Candy and then Jonathan again, hugging them tight — tears streaming down her face as well as the children's. Sam looked at the children and then at Carolyn.
"We need to get them back to the house. Jonathan, can you walk?"
"I'm fine, Captain, just wet! But, Candy . . ."
Sam glanced at the shivering girl. "You, I better . . ." he scooped her up and they all headed for the house — Sam carrying Candy, who smiled at him, despite her aching ankle, with Jonathan on one side of him and Carolyn on the other. As they walked back toward Gull Cottage, Sam signaled Al to get closer to him.
"You did it Sam!" Al said. "That was close! Ziggy only figured out what happened ten minutes ago! There was a typo in the paper — that idiot editor, Finley, either didn't catch it or didn't care enough to correct it! The paper for that week went out with a date of April 18, 1971! It got downloaded into the computer banks with the wrong year! Once Ziggy found it, it was simple to find the story though! The article in the SBB told us everything." Admiral Calavicci heaved a sigh of relief. "In the original history, Candy was stuck, and Jonathan wouldn't leave her — he kept trying to move the boulder. The cave filled with water and he was trapped also and they both drowned. Mrs. Muir never got over it. Essentially she lost the Captain and her children all in a space of less than twenty-four hours. Carolyn never wrote anything else under her own name after that — just did enough ghostwriting and editing work to survive . . . sort of. She became a recluse." Al punched a series of colored cubes on the handlink. "Ziggy says the kids will be fine now though — Do you want to know how the baseball tournament turns out?"
Sam shook his head covertly and gave the tired little girl he was carrying another squeeze and thought: 'Obviously I'm not done yet . . . I haven't leaped.