Chapter Ten

Jenny had gathered as many men as calmly as she could, but now everyone knew the ship was going down, and they flocked to the deck. Trying her best not to be trampled, she stuck to the side of the corridor and managed to push her way through the crowd. On the deck impatient men and women prepared to jump into the sea with bars of gold they'd taken from the cargo hold. Immediately, Jenny recognized the foolishness of this idea.
Not only was the water turbulent enough to dash a human body to pieces, but the gold would weigh them down- especially the women, who would have a hard time swimming with their heavy dresses and restraining corsets.
"No wonder no women survived," she thought. She was angry at their stupidity, but her hearts ached to see them so desperate. She rushed forward and called out "No! You mustn't go into the sea. You'll drown; it's not worth it!" but nobody listened. She just stood and watched in horror as they disappeared under the waves.
A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped, turning around to see Jack. "There's nothing you can do. This was supposed to happen," he said in an attempt to console her. She wanted to tell him it only made her feel worse, but that would be admitting to a weakness, so she stayed silent.
Jack seemed to understand her silence, so he guided her through the chaos to where the lifeline had been made. The only way to shore that wasn't a lost cause was via a bosun's chair attached to a rope. This meant that only one person could be transported to shore at a time.
"It's a bit like a zip line, except you're sitting the whole time," Jenny commented when Jack attempted to explain the concept.
"Basically," Jack agreed. "Guzeppi made it to shore safely some time ago. We've already transported nearly twenty people."
Jenny showed a hint of a smile at this news. "That's great! How many more can we transport before the ship breaks apart?"
"Er.. well, I think about forty people survived, so that would be another twenty. My memory's not too clear."
Jenny's smile faded instantly. "But there's several hundred people on this ship!" She looked around at the deck and saw that most of the passengers were already in the ocean, fighting for their lives. Wasn't the point of time travel to stop things like this? "Jack, tell me honestly, what would happen if we changed this event? If we saved more people?"
"Honestly?" Jack cringed at the idea. He knew Jenny wouldn't take it well, and he wasn't sure if he could handle her when she was upset. "There's no way of knowing. Paradoxes take many shapes. Most cause a larger disaster than the one history intended, while others rewrite the future into an unpredictable mess. Some even do both, depending on whether you right them before things get out of hand."
Jenny didn't respond right away, and instead stood frozen for a solid minute until she'd had time to sort her thoughts. Her initial thought was a realization of how unfair the universe was. What was the point of time traveling if you couldn't make a difference? Is everyone just a puppet to the will of time? She recalled her father saying he was a Time Lord, and wondered how he could be a lord over time when time had such absolute control over events.
"You're an echo, that's all. A Time Lord is so much more." The words resonated in her mind for the first time since hearing them, and at last she thought she understood their true meaning. She wasn't a Time Lord because she didn't have control over time. She couldn't change anything, because she didn't know how to do it without creating a disaster. Real Time Lords knew what they were doing, most likely, and that's where they got their names from. That's why her father hadn't accepted her at first.
"Alright, then," Jenny finally said. "Let's help as many people as we can and get out of here." If she couldn't change anything, she didn't want to be on the Royal Charter. She wanted to go home. "Oh, and you are going to teach me about paradoxes later," she added with a poke to Jack's shoulder.
Time seemed to pass at an infinitely slow rate as they helped the passengers and crew into the bosun's chair. Jenny had made sure that William got to safety in thanks for his help, despite his reluctance at the time. The ship wasn't being tossed as much now that it was in a sandbank, but the sea pounded on its side harshly. It became apparent that any minute a wave could hit the ship and break it to pieces against the rocky coastline.
"It's almost time, Jenny," Jack hollered over the wind. Jenny could barely hear him despite his shouts.
"Set your vortex thing!" Jenny replied. She had quite forgotten what it was called after the evening's events.
Jack looked around at the sea, trying to set his vortex manipulator at the same time, and realized that a large wave was towering above the ship, about to crash down. "No time!" he said to Jenny. He saw that the bosun's chair was empty and pushed her towards it. "Get in."
"No!" she refused. "Surely you can-"
Jack pushed her again, forcing her to topple onto the seat. Before Jenny could protest further, she was secured in place by the crewmen and sent off towards shore. Her first thought was that she didn't like being helpless, and her second was that she should have been the one pushing Jack onto the chair. She watched as the wave crashed over the ship and it began to break up. She vowed to herself that she'd never let circumstances- whether they be time or people- get in her way. She would return to the Gatehouse somehow and learn about time. She would find a way back to this event and a way to change it without creating a paradox. She wouldn't stand by and let anyone suffer again.
When she reached the shore she saw that a group of locals had come to help the survivors find their way safely to the village. Some f them had been given warm coats, or wrapped in blankets. She counted these people and the number was thirty-nine, including her. Jack had been right about the number. This realization hurt, and for a brief moment she thought that they should've saved one less person so there would've been room for Jack. She stopped herself when she saw that some of the survivors were boys little older than seventeen. They were still young, young enough to have a much longer future ahead of them.
A villager came up and offered her a blanket, but she waved her hand in dismissal. Pulling Jack's coat tighter around her, she walked off into a ridgey area to hide from the crowd.