Ch 23
With the information Cameron and Delilah got from Fred, the island where Jackie landed was 25 to 50 miles south of there the plane went down, somewhere in a 30 degree arc to each side of due south. That was still a lot of ocean to cover.
Beside location, there was another thing to consider also. Delilah knew her daughter. She didn't think there was any chance of getting Jackie back into another flying machine. She was already paranoid of planes after that first crash. Giving the choice between air rescue and staying on that island, Delilah was sure Jackie would be on the beach, waving good bye to those who left. That meant they needed a boat.
Cameron found a research ship that was looking for funding to analyze the pacific garbage patch, a huge area in the mid pacific that was collecting untold tons of floating garbage. The ship was out of San Diego, a research ship for hire with all the latest sonars and sensors and with it's own submarine and underwater cameras. Before she bought the ship's services, she wanted to go see this ship.
Flying out to California with Joan, Cameron went to the civilian docks in San Diego to find this ship. At their office at the head of the dock, Cameron and Joan met the Captain, Peter Smythe. He took them on a tour of his ship. The 'Eternal Explorer' was a nice ship. 120 feet long and it looked in good condition. He showed them the sensor suite under the bridge and all tracking and video controls for their ROVS and a linked comms for the 2 man sub, which was good down to 20,000 feet, and also had sonar and several video cameras on it. The ship had two booms, one for floating and retrieving the sub, the other for general purpose lifting and lowering and raising the small power boat they had on board.
"As you can see," he went on, "We are capable of many tasks. The ship's propulsion is also a jet pump, not a normal propeller. Lessens the chance of say getting bottom weed caught in it, or whacking sea creatures. May I ask what this expedition you are looking to do is for?"
"Retrieve my daughter and a few others who are stranded on an island," Cameron said. "I know the location of the island within fifty square miles. She was in that plane crash a couple weeks ago."
"There was only one survivor to that crash," he said, watching her.
"That was a lie," Cameron stated. "We found that man and made him tell the truth. He didn't like my Daughter, so he got back in the raft and left her and three others on that island. We are going to get them."
"Not that we don't like the business, but can't you get the Coast Guard to go look for them?"
Cameron shook her head. "Since that man who was found claimed he was the sole survivor, they won't look for anyone actively. Show me a chart of the eastern pacific, and I'll show you about where this island is."
"This may be an expensive rescue operation for you," he reminded her.
Cameron cast him a blank face. "Two million today for your contract. Get ship ready to sail, I will also buy all the supplies you need. I expect we will be gone approximately three weeks. You do have satellite communications?"
"We do."
"We will need them. I have someone who is searching for that island via satellite. By the time we get close, he will have the exact location. I will need to communicate with him."
"There is a group who want us to take them to the pacific Garbage patch," he reminded her.
"Can they pay?"
"Not as of yet."
"Then by the time they collect the funds, we will be at that island, pick up the castaways and be returning to San Diego," Cameron said. "There should not be much of a scheduling conflict."
The Captain nodded. "I shall begin preparations immediately. It's just you who is coming along?"
"Just myself and Delila."
"Let me show you to your stateroom. You may board any time after 11AM tomorrow."
.
"At home, my sister Joan has a husband who has a Mermaid mate," Jackie told Randy as she sawed on the log. "Her name is Ellen. Well, that's what we call her, her mer name is a little hard to pronounce. She has a three, damn, now four year old son by Bob, Joan's husband." Seeing him eye her, Jackie added, "Oh, his sexual activities are more perverted than that. Allison is also one of his wives, and he has another girlfriend who claims she's his slave. Frankly, if I was Joan, I'd kill his stupid ass. Be that as it may, Enel, Bob's son is mostly mer, but he has a split tail from the knees down and his face does look more human and his hair color is closer to Bob's. He can swim fine, but has trouble walking."
"So, she can have my baby?" Randy asked.
"Yup, Mer and Human DNA are the same, with minor physical differences. They have tails, you got legs, your skeletons are identical." Jackie told him. Seeing how the mermaid was sitting closer to Randy once she started talking to him, she added, "Organs, brains, speech, they are just as capable as any human. They are our ancestors. The missing link scientists have been trying to find in apes. Anyway, I know Ellen holds Bob as her mate, and by how she's sitting close to you and eyeing me, she has impressed you as her mate. You have a few serious things to work on, Randy. One is communication. Ellen can talk with Bob, Joan and Allison. I can pick up bits of it, but they made a language for themselves that's a mix of English and mer. I know having sex is great fun, but you two need to talk. Finding out her name is a big priority, don't you think?"
Randy glanced at the mer beside him. "Mate, as in..."
"As in she is basically your wife," Jackie stated. "You rode the hobby horse, she's yours. All the other mers will see that too, so as far as mates go, you are her fella, and that's it. Besides learning to speak to each other, you have a big question before you. When we finally leave here, what are you going to do?"
He stared at her briefly and said, "Go with you."
"And you're taking her along?"
Randy swallowed. "How would that work?"
"You are her mate, she is your mate. Are you going to leave your mate and sail off into the sunset?" Jackie asked.
"I ..."
"Didn't think," Jackie supplied. "Now, you must. Mers don't think deeply. They do think, but not as complex as humans do. They have no social filters, they are more instinctive. Remember, they are the older race that came before humans. You took an interest in her, she accepted and now you're mates. That is how she sees it. You take off without her and you just don't break her heart, you shatter her life. From what I know, mers do mate for life. If a mate dies, the surviving mer doesn't last that long. If there is a child involved, yes the surviving mate will care for that child. They will never have another mate."
Randy stared at nothing for a few minutes as Jackie sawed her way down the log.
The mermaid cooed at him and petted his arm. He looked at her, then kissed her and cooed back.
"I've got to think hard about this," Randy said in a near whisper.
"Yes, you do. Her life is in your hands," Jackie stated. "Where do you live?"
"A small town in Oklahoma. Jackie, We don't have any big rivers or lakes there. How can I even get her there?" Randy asked.
Jackie shrugged. "The way I see it, you got three choices. Take her with you, stay here with her, or go away and forget about her. Just be sure you can live with what you decide."
"This is serious," he said blankly.
"Very. "
"What would you do?" he asked. "I mean, this is life changing!"
Jackie chuckled. "Wow you just got that? The light bulb did turn on!"
Wanda came over and said, "Jackie, Duncan and I got a bunch of vine, we need help to braid it up, we got a few really long ones."
Jackie held up her arm saw. "I'm not done here yet. Take Romeo here, I'll talk to Juliette and keep her busy."
Wanda let out a snort of a laugh. "OK, Romeo, let's go."
Jackie stopped sawing and got the mermaid's attention. Pointing to herself, she said, "Ja-ckie," then pointed to the mermaid.
.
By the long conversation the light haired woman had with her new mate and by how light hair was doing much of the work, she'd concluded this was her mate's mother. She did have the lighter hair of older people. "Ha-kee" she repeated, pointing at her, then pointed to herself. "Moa-han."
"Moa-han," Ha-kee repeated.
Moahan felt accepted, her mate's mother was was talking with her. These were very unusual, but interesting people. Mate's mother here was the only one she had even heard of that killed a big predator! She had to be old and wise. They sat and struggled through speaking and understanding. Some of the sounds mother made were very hard to copy. She was getting it was hard for mate's mother also, but she kept on trying. They talked a while and getting hungry, they decided to go into the water for a 'sim' to go get some food.
It was very odd that Mate's mother had a tail she could put on and take off. She still swam very well with it. Ha-kee was also strong and fast. While they weren't finding many fish here, Ha-kee went into the surf and looked up at the trees. Moahan joined her and tapped her shoulder, then shrugged. A shrug meant not understanding. Ha-kee then pointed up at a tree. About halfway up the trunk a big crab was slowly crawling up.
Ha-kee got up on the beach, got her tail off and ran at the tree. A jump up and she flew up high and punched the crab with a balled up hand. She and the crab fell. Ha-kee fell down to squat, and picked the dead crab up. Coming back to the shore, Ha-kee knelt down and coaxed Moahan up on her knees to wrap her arms around Ha-kee's neck. Ha-kee then lifted Moahan up to hang off her back, picked the crab up and walked back up the beach to the place they lived.
This was better than having to sim back. She liked spending time with her mate's mother.
.
As the days went on, the camp and the path to it from the beach were becoming more refined. The initial barely there path was now smooth and solidly packed. The hut at the camp had logs walls, windows and a log and plank roof. The long this strips Jackie cut from logs Duncan used to make layer by layer shingles. They didn't look pretty but kept the rain and sun out. A wider ridge board on top elevated just above the peak also let smoke out from the cook fire.
Moahan was a regular in camp, now, and her and Randy hung out together. Wanda stayed near Duncan, except when Jackie was right there. Guessing they had been her a month or more, Duncan also had the best day count at 43. He updated one tic on a log in his room every morning. Now and then, Mers would come up on the beach. Moahan's mother came up to meet Jackie (Randy's mother), every now and then mer kids would come to slide down the stream into the sea for fun. They and Randy dug out a bigger pool on the beach to play in. Randy and Moahan also made a place for themselves just inside the tree line not far from the pool.
Except for Jackie's boat-building, they had all but settled into a routine.
While Jackie worked at making a log hull for a boat, Duncan set up sticks to track the sun sun-dial method. Picturing in his mind about where Hawaii was in the pacific and where they were headed back to, LA, he figured they had to be traveling Northeast. Even if they went due east, he was sure they would hit Baja California. He's rather hit the USA.
"Wacha doin?" Wanda asked and came up to sit beside him.
"I've been trying to find out the way to go when we leave. I've figured out we're north of the equator, so to get to the US, we need to travel about 40-45 degrees by compass, which we don't have. I'm hoping to add a couple navigation aides to Jackie's boat later on. Simple sticks pointing at the important markers, like the North Star. Daytime, it will be the sun."
"If you could land anywhere in the US, where would it be?" she asked.
"Secouver. Even if we hit Seattle, it would be a blessing," he said. He finally looked at her. She was wearing the one of the big shark hide hats Jackie had made, and a pair of shorts. That was it. 'Gave up on wearing a shirt?" he asked.
"These hats do good for keeping the sun off. I also was hoping that seeing human girl's breasts would make Randy think about more than that mermaids ... assets." she replied.
Duncan shook his head in a chuckle. "That ship's already sailed. I'm sure he appreciates the view, but he and Moahan are already mated."
"Do you like the view?" she asked.
"It's nice," he admitted, "But you know I'm involved with Jackie. She gets wind you're trying to come on to me and she will rip you apart. I'm not talking figuratively."
Wanda frowned. "She wouldn't kill me, would she?"
"Fred saved his life by going away," Duncan stated. "If he kept up, I'm not sure Jackie would have let him live. You do not want to see Jackie angry. I have been doing my best to calm Jackie down, but she is who she is."
"She's dangerous?"
"Deadly. One town we went to to get rid of the PSR, they set up a machine gun pointed at us. Jackie killed the men and destroyed the gun. At another place, eight men had their guns trained on her, three got away, she killed the rest. Jackie pops her cork, you don't want to be anywhere near her."
"They didn't shoot her?"
"Jackie has internal armor, she's bullet proof." Duncan stated.
Wanda stared at nothing for a moment, then got up and walked away.
.
Randy sat in the pool at the camp, trying to converse with Moahan. It was going slow. It was going though. Mers did have a speech, but it was hard to decypher. In the same way, she had a tough time repeating words he said. A few times they ended up in giggles at badly mispronounced words. That was fine, sitting here in the water with Moahan on his lap was totally awesome.
Watching her and listening to her, Randy found he was falling in love with Moahan. He was having a wonderful time just sitting here with her. It wasn't because she was a mermaid, actually, it was in spite of it. He didn't give a shit she had a tail instead of legs. Watching her swim was also very cool. Moahan was easy to talk to, when they figured out what to vocalize so they both understood. Even doing that was fun in a way. She also loved attention. She liked being touched and he loved to touch her.
With these thoughts in mind, he petted her cheek and kissed her. She readily responded and wrapped her arms tighter around him. Yup, for the moment, speaking lessons were done.
.
Wanda walked along the beach frowning. Randy the perv was wrapped up with a mermaid, and the only big, strong hunk of a man on this island had a phyco girlfriend. Looking off at the horizon, Wanda hated this island. Staring out, not really seeing, she had been hoping for a little male attention.
It was then she saw a ship. It took her a moment to realize what it was. When she did, she stared at it. A ship! a real ship! "Hay!" she screamed as loud as she could. "HEY! OVER HERE!" She jumped up and down and waved, but the ship didn't seem to take notice. She ran back to the others. Running towards them she kept yelling, "A ship, There's a ship over there!"
Jackie looked up from her pile of logs she was trying to make a boat out of. Beyond, Duncan also stood up.
"Where? Show me!" Jackie yelled back.
Wanda waved and ran back the way she'd come. Jackie sped past her, searching the horizon. Wanda tried to keep up, but soon, Jackie was around the corner.
Jackie saw what looked to her like a freighter. She summoned up the largest plasma bolt she could and fired it high over the ship. They didn't seem to see it, she she fired one lower. OK they did see that one. It looked like the ship was turning.
"Did they see it?" Wanda asked in a pant as she stopped by Jackie.
"They did, they're turning," Jackie said excitedly.
The ship did turn, and got smaller in the distance. Jackie used maximum magnification on her sight. The ship was turned away, she saw the stern. "NO!" she wailed, "No, come back!"
As the ship disappeared in the distance, Jackie dropped to her knees and pounded the sand with a wail of "GOD DAMN IT!"
Wanda felt the thump in her feet when Jackie pounded the sand.
"FUCK FUCK FUCK!" Jackie cried.
Duncan came running up. "What happened?" he asked.
Tears in her eyes Jackie got up and plowing into him to hug him. "I'm sorry! I shot plasma bolts above them and they ran away!"
Duncan petted her hair. "You tried," he assured her. "Even if they thought you were shooting at them, someone will come looking to find out who was shooting what. Someone will come."
"I didn't mean to scare them away," Jackie said in a sob.
Duncan kissed her head and said, " Maybe shooting plasma bolts is not how to get their attention."
"What do we do then?" Jackie asked weakly.
"We'll figure it out," he said in a huff.
.
Cameron and Delilah were on the bridge talking to the Captain. They were only a couple days out of San Diego. A small circle n the map showed the search area for the island.
The captain winced. "We'll be headed right for the garbage patch, we'll have to go south around it."
"How big is this garbage patch?" Delilah asked.
"Last estimate, 1100 miles in diameter. "It's serious navigation hazard," he explained. "Even with our pump jet system, it's not safe to travel. There's everything from long rope to small items that could get sucked up in the intakes, or plug them solid. Get some plastic over the intakes and we're not gong anywhere. There's even a few shipping containers floating around."
Cameron kept her laptop plugged in and receiving so John Henry could call at any time. His face appeared on the monitor. "Cameron, Are you there? I have news."
Cameron went over to the lap top. "Here, good news?" she asked.
"Yes, the island has been found," he said. A satellite picture of part of the island with HELP written on the beach. "A ship reported being fire on by an energy weapon that sounded like a plasma canon. They gave the coordinates to the island the shots came from. I got a picture of the island." The coordinates came up on the screen.
"Yes, that's her!" Delilah said happily. "Captain, come look at this! We have the location of the island."
He did and called the location to the plotter. It was south west of the garbage patch. "We're headed the right way," the Captain said. "We can be there in nine days."
"We're coming, Jackie," Delilah said to the picture of the island that showed the HELP sign.
.
The report of a ship being shot at by an energy weapon made international news. Once it was out, the fleet at Pearl Harbor dispatched two destroyers to go find this island and who was shooting what. Five Chinese fishing boats also got the message to go find out what was there, as did a Russian submarine and an American one. A C-130 with photography equipment was also readied to do recon of this island.
John Connor was also alerted. He got a call just before he called Washington. He left them know his daughter was on that island, and she and a few others had also survived that plane wreck. He got told they needed to put an American flag on that island and claim it as soon as possible. The C-130 was told to drop a 'care package' of supplies, as well as a tall flag. They could not let a cyborg be captured by any other country.
Even ambassadors were told it was an American possession, and admitted to doing weapons testing there. The shots were fired due to them not expecting a ship to ever get close to that island. The weapon was shut down right after it picked up that ship so the ship could get away.
.
Since Duncan was sure someone would be coming, Jackie stopped working on her boat. Well, her attempt at making a boat. She still hadn't figured out how to keep the together, or what to use for a sail. She was happy that at least now, there was a chance of someone coming to find them.
Taking a day off from much of the work they'd been doing, after serving a breakfast of a few coconut crabs, Jackie went back into the hut with Duncan for some private time. The pond would be better, but that was Randy and Moahn's hangout.
Settling down for some kissing and cuddling fun. Duncan and Jackie went slow, savoring their time alone. Jackie stroked Duncan's back and held his head as he grazed on a breast, fondling it slowly. She kissed his head. This was nice. She swore she heard a buzz of happiness. She then frowned slightly.
No not a buzz. A drone. It sounded like a four radial engine drone. It was getting louder. "A plane!" she cried.
Duncan looked up. "What?"
"I hear a plane!" Jackie cried. "A four engine prop plane!"
They stumbled up and got dressed and ran out, looking up. "We can see better from the beach," Duncan noted. They ran down the path.
Before they got to the beach, Duncan could hear it now too. Running down onto the beach, they found Wanda looking around at the sky.
"Do you see it?" Duncan asked as he ran up.
Wanda shook her head, then pointed at Jackie. "Do NOT shoot at it and scare it away!" she cried.
"There!" Jackie cried, pointing off to the left. It was tiny looking in the distance, but there was a big propeller plane coming right at the island.
"Grab something to wave at it," Duncan said.
Wanda took her hat off to wave it. Duncan ran over to grab some palm leaves, Jackie ran over to pick up an ten foot piece of tree top. The plane came closer and lower. They yelled, waved and jumped. Not far off the beach, the plane came down low enough that they could see the pilot stick his arm out the window and wave back.
"YES, YES, YES!" Wanda screamed happily as she bounced up and down, topless.
.
On the Eternal Explorer, Cameron was alerted when the C-130 did a close flyby of the island. Video from the plane showed Jackie waving the top of a palm tree, Duncan waving more foliage, and a bare chested hippy girl waving her hat as the plane flew by.
"Confirmation, we found them," Cameron said with a smile.
"I knew Jackie would survive," Delilah said with a satisfied grin.
The screen split, John Henry came on and said, "There is now a rush to get to that island. Many ships and a couple subs are headed there. The C-130 is going to drop them supplies, a flag and a satellite radio set so they can communicate. Vessels will be arriving beginning in five days. The first expected to arrive is a Russian sub, followed by two destroyers. More ships will be coming, the bolts Jackie shot at that ship have gotten the attention of several countries."
"Captain, how soon can we get there?" Cameron asked.
"Six days, minimum."
"Make your best speed, Captain, that island may turn into a hot zone," Cameron stated.
.
They watched as the plan climbed and banked away.
"Where are the going?" Wanda cried.
"Relax," Duncan told her. "That's a cargo plane. They are probably bringing us supplies."
"How will they land?"
"It's a C-130, they don't need to land to drop off cargo," Duncan told her. "They will need the beach. Everyone, back to the tree line." Duncan hustled Jackie and Wanda back to stand just inside the trees.
A short time later the plane came back, flying right down the beach just above treetop level. The back was open and a parachute blossomed out of the back to pull a pallet of strapped down boxes out. The plane flew on as the pallet dropped. The pallet slowed and landed on the 'E' of Jackie's HELP sign, sending log pieces flying.
"Help me get that chute off those boxes," Duncan said.
Randy emerged from the path, winded and carrying Moahan. "Did I hear a plane?" he asked.
.
It was like Christmas. Duncan and Jackie got the parachute off the pallet. The cargo netting was held on with latches they easily unlatched and got the netting off. Each box was wood with latches on the upper sides. Popping latches, they opened up their presents.
Jackie grabbed a can from inside and held it up and laughed. "I never thought I would be happy to see a can of SPAM!" she cried. "No more shark for dinner!"
"Ahh, Corned beef hash!" Duncan said happily as he grinned at the can.
"LOOK!" Randy cried and pulled up a bottle "GATORADE!"
Besides the food and drink they unboxed, One box held packing and a radio set with a monitor, satellite dish and a book of codes and instructions. A long box held a flag, flagpole, support wires and long stakes to drive into the ground.
While Randy showed Moahan how to unscrew the top to drink an orange flavor Gatorade, Jackie worked at getting the radio set up. Wanda helped Duncan get the pieces of the simple wood burning grill out to put it together. In another box, they even got simple cookware, some utensils and two multi-purpose metal buckets.
Mers came to see what the excitement was about. While the boxes and what was in them had the land dwellers occupied, it was the large white parachute and the ropes on it, as well as the cargo net that had the mer's attention. Moahan became a sort-of interpreter between her clan and her mates clan. Her clan wanted the big smooth cloth, those sturdy looking vines on it, and that net that looked like it could catch a bunch of fish. Duncan had no problem with that. He and Randy even gathered up the chute and cargo netting to take it to the lagoon for the mers.
The rest of the day was unpacking the goodies they got and setting things up. Jackie had the radio set up with the antenna just outside the tent that came to put the radio in. She dug a hole on the sand to raise the flag pole up, and held it as Wanda used a real hammer to pound the stakes into trees, then one in a buried log on the beach to hold the flag up. Once that was done, Jackie glassed the sand around the flagpole to help hold the pole up. She then went to the radio to contact someone.
Not an expert at this, Jackie used the frequency at the top of the list. On the screen, John Henry's face appeared.
"Hello, Jackie Connor," he said.
"John Henry!It's really good to see you!" Jackie gushed.
The screen split, John Henry was now on the left, Cameron and Delilah showed on the right. "Hey Jackie!" they chorused.
"Moms!" Jackie cried happily. "It's so good to see you, we never thought anyone would find us!"
Wanda came over behind Jackie. "Your mothers?" she asked.
"Yup!"
Cameron said, "We are on our way, dear. It will take approximately six more days to get there. Right now, the top priority is to get you off that island. When you shot at that ship, that alerted half the world, and they are coming to see who shot what. I see the cargo arrived for you?"
"Yes, they dropped the supplies perfectly, right on the 'E' of my help sign," Jackie beamed. "We were never so glad to see real food and drinks before."
"We were living on water and eating shark and coconut crabs," Wanda added. "Jackie has done the most to make sure we survived."
"And going 'native'? Cameron asked in a smirk. Seeing Wanda looked confused, she added, "Doin what you like is fine, dear, but when people come, remember to put a shirt on."
"Moms, we got a pod of mermaids here," Jackie told them. "They appear the same as the ones we got at home. They do live in salt water, I don't know if that makes a difference, they do look the same. So far, we've been getting along good with them."
John Henry said, "That will give us reason to put that island under a protected status, to preserve a unique and endangered species. Can you bring one to the screen so we can see it?"
Jackie turned to Wanda. "Where's Moahan?"
"In the pool on the beach."
Jackie got up. "I'll get her, be right back."
Running out to the pool, Jackie did her best to explain to Moahan that she wanted Moahan to see her mothers. Moahan was confused, but was curious about her mate's great mothers. She got up in Jackie's arms, Jackie carried her into the tent.
Moahan stared at the monitor and the flat people on it who were able to speak. She looked behind the monitor, no one was there. She tapped the screen, yes they were flat, but alive. She was stunned such a thing was possible. They even waved to her. She waved back. Having learned to speak with Mate's mother, she did her best to ask how this was possible. What did flat people eat?
Jackie chuckled at her and tried her best to explain. Not understanding Jackie's references, Moahan didn't have a clue what Mate's mother was trying to tell her.
.
On the beach by the lagoon, Duncan tied parachute cord into the open blocks of the cargo net to make the holes smaller. Several mer men watched. With hand motions they communicated enough that the mers began helping to make a this a fishing net. Not the best net Duncan ever saw, but it was better than the nothing that they had now.
Randy was also helping make the new net. It was now, Duncan asked him. "Randy you know that soon, we will be rescued."
"Yeah, we will," He agreed with a grin.
"So what are you going to do? I'm sure Moahan will want to know your intentions." Duncan told him.
Randy stared at nothing for a moment. "The time has come, huh?"
"Yes, it has. Ships will be here in a few days. It's time to decide what you're going to do." Duncan said firmly.
Yes, it was. Soon, Randy had to decide to go or stay, and if Moahan was coming with him if he left. His decision was also going to be permanent. He felt the weight of responsibility come down hard on his shoulders.