Gem of the Deep

Chapter 5

Hard to Starboard!

DISCLAIMER: Mummies Alive! is the property and trademark of Dic Inc. and the producers of that show. This page is intended for entertainment purposes only, and no copyright infringement is intended.

Disclaimer: TITANIC is a Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Lightstorm Production. Basically, anything that's in the movie isn't mine, and a copyright infringement is not intended.

Thanx again to Mia, who's allowing me to use her character, Lyris, in this story, and to Sekhmet, who's letting me use her character Joari.

" God himself could not sink this ship..."

- First-Class passenger

There was no sound. No feeling,... nothing. If ever there was a time for silence that day, it was then. Beyond the tall windows, a porch light hung piecefull, illuminating the deck and surrounding white iron walls a dim yellow. The temperature was dropping rapidly, falling below zero in only a few minutes, matching the dark black waters surrounding the Titanic as she passed through the Atlantic swiftly like a ghostly apparation.
They were all stationed around the big round table in the reception room of the Millionaire's Suite. It was less decorated as the main room, but there were large differences that made the place much more cozy and pleasant. Above their heads, a small glass chandelier sat silently, connected to a light cream ceiling which matched the tan and green deco wallpaper stuck to the sides. A tall bookcase stood tall and strong in the corner closest to them, in it's shelves dozens of manuscripts and novels collected the new dust of the ocean liner. And to top everything off, a small three-foot model of the mighty Titanic herself waited on the top of a cradenza by a large unopened window on the Starboard side of the ship. If it were anyone else sitting there, it would have been wonderful.
But it wasn't. In fact, the amount of grief and depression in the room would have been enough to choke the mightiest dignitary or the most pleasant of Presidents. No one talked, there was no need to. They knew what everyone else was thinking, and the word "Failure" seemed to be on all of their minds. It was the end, the night of the 14th, the night when the Titanic would recieve her full destiny. And they had nothing to show for their determination or their searching. The Jewel of the Nile was nowhere to be found.
At the head of the table, sat Ja-kal. He was looking the most out of sorts and more tired than anything. He was wearing a plain dark blue suit, similar to the one that he wore the day that they had docked on Southampton. He had taken off his heavy wool jacket, and was sitting with a white collar shirt and a black vest with a watch pocket in the front of it. The leader had his head propped up on his hand and he was even beguinning to get the sight of a five o'clock shadow on his face. There was one thing about being dead- you didn't have to shave.
That day, he had tried to find the gem in the Saloon once more, leaving no stone unturned and no table unsearched. The staff had graciously lent him a list of everything that was suppose to have been put out the night before, including 32 table lamps, many hundreds of flatware, and a ice swan sculpture that had began to melt when the freezer in the kitchen stalled.
And for the entire afternoon of heavy detective work, the guardian came up empty-handed. Covering only that small of a dining room had taken him hours, all of the searching in the decorations closet took even longer. By now, the kitchen staff were thinking that he was quite a desturbed person certainly, being the only passenger to want to examine the centerpieces and table lamps. But, it was ultimately fudel, there was no crystal to be found in the Saloon.
To the leader's right, sat Lyris, looking down at her hands placed carefully in her lap. She was wearing another one of her elaborate, expensive-looking outfits, one of many that were cluttered in her closet. It was simply enough- a light blue skirt and a white, collarless top, covered over by a long blue overcoat and white gloves that came up to the elbows. She wore her hair in a simple french twist, sitting snugly on the back of her head, and she was wearing a dainty golden ankh necklace around her neck. She was looking pretty gloomy herself, having failed as well in the search for the mysterious gem.
The muse had been assigned to search around the Grand Staircase, seeing as how she was so enthraled with it's sculpting and it's general design. She searched along the railings, in the glass insides of the wire frames, and even around the wooden clock on the small patio-like center of the staircase. Still, nothing. It was almost as if the history books and their memories were playing tricks on them, and there was no Jewel of the Nile to beguin with. She was a hard searcher, but stopped when she looked up at the tall chandelier hanging silently in the tall glass dome overhead. Even she knew that if they were meant to find the crystal, they wouldn't have the bad luck of having it placed in a twenty-foot dome over the stairs.
Beside her, Rath sat in his less than usual straight backed, stiff as a board manner. He was leaning back in his chair, legs crossed carelessly, after being run around the ship until exaustion all day. He was wearing a chestnut business suit with the jacket open and a necktie missing where it should have been. The scribe had his arms crossed in front of him, and was focusing on the small model Titanic at the other end of the room, deep in thought.
It had been a very trying day for him. After looking through some of the books on the bookshelf, he came to a page that said, in these exact words, " The answer to all woes is best found where it once was. Where the high passengers enjoy company, and the Pharaoh is above it all." He knew that he wasn't the best with riddles, but this told him that it was definitly in one of the lounges, and Presley was the key to it. So, after a little convincing, Rath took the prince with him to the reception area, looking for anything that would point to where the gem might be, or even a sigh to it's whereabouts. Unfortunately, not even having the prince along brough out any luck, and the two had to return to the Suite empty-handed and tired.
Finally, the last person sitting at the table was Armon, playing carelessly with a tied piece of string, attempting to teach himself the game of Catscradle through the eerie silence covering them all at the time. He had on the same suit that he had had on back at the pier, it was the only one in his closet that didn't have a billion buttons and cuffs on it, and was the most comfortable.
His job for the day had been to walk around the outer docks and ask others if they'd heard of something called the Jewel of the Nile, or seen anything resembling a large crystal around the ship anywhere. Seeing as how he was the one most qualified for the job, being a pleasant and determined person all at once. The first two or three passengers that he had come across had merely looked at him oddly, and carried on their way, but as the day grew on, more and more were taking care with his questions, and tried to answer them to the best of their abilities. To bad for the guardian that even though many were happy to help him out, none of them had ever heard of the Jewel of the Nile, and didn't recall seeing anything as such as he had described.
Now, when they needed a miracle the most, none seemed available to them. The magic and pleasantness of the past night and the wonderful feeling of being out on the ballroom floor had vanished such as the waves that circled the mighty ship's hull as it barreled through the black expas of the night. There was nothing more to do, after endless hours of walking, talking, searching, they had nothing to show for it. They failed. They were doomed...
" So that's it?" Lyris finally pronounced, dropping the quietness that was covering the room like a deathly white blanket. " We're just going to give up? We're just going to forget everything that has happened to us these past few days and sit in here until the ship goes under?"
" Open your eyes Lyris," Rath sighed, unusually quiet and distant. " These past few days have been a complete waste of time. We have searched and researched every room that the crystal could possibly be. We've asked countless others about it, and have even gone to social events to search for it. If it were on the ship, then Presley's amulet would have picked it up by now..."
" That doesn't mean that we should give up hope." She interjected.
" We played a gamble and we lost. We weren't even exactly sure that the gem was on the Titanic in the first place, and it's very probable now that it isn't."
" So we risked out prince's life for nothing." Ja-kal said quietly to himself, tossing around the many facts and figures that had filled up his head the past few endless hours. And boy, was it beguinning to give him a headache. Too bad that asprin wasn't invented yet, or he would have been popping pills hours ago. " We attemped the impossible, and we failed. There's nothing more to do now."
Off in the distance, the sound of a door closing brough them out of their deep thoughts. It had come from the sitting room, and they all knew who it was. None ever bothered to get up, it was best to stay put and try not to beguin a scene like in a play, trying to pretend that they were something that they were not.
Nefer-tina swayed into the room slowly, knowing full well the atmosphere that she was entering. She had on a dark red and green cover-up, it looked almost like a nightgown, but was registered as a spring evening outfit. Underneath it, there was a creme frilled gown, going down to her ankles and small red heeled shoes.
" Well, I was finally able to get him into bed." She announced solemnly, walking along the back of the wall and taking a seat inbetween Ja-kal and Armon. The charioteer put her elbows on the table, the first time she had been able to that entire trip, and put her chin in her hands. No one else said anything more, so she decided to continue. " And it's about time too, it's almost midnight."
Rath sighed silently, still transfixed on the small model at the other end of the room. To make things easier on himself, he was purposely blocking out any more conversasion. The idea of sitting on a ship soon to be sent to hell's doorstep was enough to make him feel extremely uncomfortable. It was best not to continue to remind everyone of it.
Out in the distance, Nefer-tina came into the room. She was talking about finally getting Presley into bed. After they day they'd had, it was hard to imagine that the boy wasn't drop dead tired by now. After hitting the pillow for a moment, he must have gone immediately to sleep. A very welcoming thought right now. The charioteer was trying to chat a little more, probably attempting to liven up the mood of the team. Good luck. She was right, it was time that the prince had tried to get a little sleep that night. And it was getting late... Midnight? Almost midnight?
He looked away from the model slowly, turning towards the group with a slightly curious look, shrouded mostly by the look of exaustion. " What did you say?" He asked her in an almost sluggish manner.
Nefer-tina looked at him oddly, but repeated what she had just spoken out. " I said that it was about time that I had gotten the young prince into bed."
" After that." He stated, more forcefully. Armon loked up from his botched string game at the sudden uprise in voicetone. Lyris looked up from her hand with concerned features, but nevertheless kept quiet. Ja-kal was still thinking heavily thinking through his mind, and was not even listening to what was going on around the large circular table.
" I said that it was almost midnight. What's your problem?" She exclaimed, beguinning to get severly agitated at all of the questions that were beguinning to come her way. Everyone else had gotten a grieving time, while she was escorting their prince to bed. She had her right to her fair share of the blame and of the guilt.
The scribe stood frozen for a moment, but without another thought, he opened his coat up and looked into a small pocket that contained his watch. It wasn't there, there was no telling the exact time that it could have been. He looked across the table at her, perfectly determined. " What time is it?"
" What?"
" For crying out loud Nefer-tina, what time is it?!"

There was no wind that night, but as the ship wound it's way through the cold black waves, a freezing breeze fell over all that were assigned or stupid enough to be out this time of night in that type of cold. It chilled everyone right down to the bone, cutting through warm clothing and boots like a hot knife through butter.
" It never fails. Evertime I get assigned up here, it beguins to get friggin' freezin'!" An unhappy voice told the world. The only person that heard him was the man standing next to him in the tight quarters.
" What I wouldn't give for a shot of whiskey." The other agreed, wrapping his hand around himself and rubbing along the tops of his arms, attempting to try and keep from turning into a popsicle. " Cheap booze and cheap women. That's a night that would make me forget cold like this."
The first man shoved his companion farther away from him, snickering. " A night like that would make you forget about the world exploding."
" What can I say? I'm a simple man with simple needs."
The joking pair surveyed the entire front portion of the bow, watching intently as a deckhand rushed past them, and back into the safe and warm confines of the ship wearing a thick wool coat. From the crowsnest, they could see the entire stretch of the magnifiscent liner, including the very last golden funnel, sitting silently beside her sisters puffing out thick black smoke into the nippy sea air.
" It sure got cold pretty quick tonight." The first lookup exclaimed, cuppng his hands and holding them up to his mouth. By blowing into the makeshift funnel, he was able to warm up his nose, now red with oncoming frostbite.
" You were never one for the cold, Fleet." His friend told him sarcastically, smiling through chattering teeth and pointing with a black-gloved hand. " One small chance of an icesicle and you go running on home to mummy."
Fleet glared at his sternly. " Oh you weren't just talking about my mother, where you?!" The men exchanged stares of frustration, before exploding into a mess of laughter and back-patting. It was a very welcomed feeling from the bitter cold.
" Oh, I'm going to miss this."
" Well, I'm not. Another twenty minutes or so, and I'm hurrying my arse back down to the hold, where it's warm!" The man squinted into the darkness before the ship, and returned to his job once again. It was pointless, of course. Without a sparkling moon in the sky, even despite the many millions of stars shimmering from the heavens, there was no way to site any approaching objects. And that, along with the calm sea, ensuring that there was no breakwater to show up, was making the men's jobs even more difficult. Fleet smiled at his friend's antics, and blew into his hands once again.
Then, as if out of nowhere, the expression on his companion's face, went a little rigid, as if perplexed by a riddle or curios as to the answer of a puzzle. It wasn't them most comforting thing to see on a watcher's face, especially when there was threat of icebergs in the viscinity.
" What?" Fleet asked anxiously.
His friend pointed outwards from the ship's bow, and through the blackness that was the night. As he did, his hand shook slightly from the cold. " What's that?"

" What time is it Nefer-tina?" Rath repeated his question, sitting up from the layed-back silent position, and leaning over the table, putting both hands palm down on the varnished oak surface. The tiredness and exaustion was gone from all of his features, but was replaced with a more worried air.
She looked at him oddly, but instead of start an arguement, decided to reluctantly go along with what was happening. " Just a sec, I'll go check." She snapped back, rising up from her seat slowly and unsurely. " Don't have a cow."
The charioteer walked out of the room the same way that she had come in, by moving around the outer part of the table, and past Ja-kal, who was still sitting silently and forelorne. She squeezed through the tiny opening between the new wide table and the tan and green deco wallpaper, and out into the open room. Brushing her skirt off, still slightly agitated, she walked over towards the doorway, where just behind it, a tall grandfather clock ticked away the minutes and hours the same way it had all through the journey. She stopped when she reached it, and read out the information that the clock hands fed out to her.
With a sigh, Nefer-tina leaned against the wall by propping her arm up against it. She turned around, not perticularily concerned about anything. " It's almost twenty to twelve."

Fleet peered down in the same direction as his friend's finger was pointing. What could he see that he himself could not? Before them was a sea of black, pitch black. If it had been any other night, than there would have been no problem decifering his little quirk, but tonight it was too difficult for anyone to take the job of look out seriously. Basically, it was just too dark.
But then, as if the sparkling stars in the deep, rich sky shone out extra luminescence all at once, he saw something as well. It looked amost as if they were going to run into a tall piece of rugged land, but he knew better than that. They were hundreds of miles out to sea by now, and there were no known islands around. It sloped down in an almost triangular fasion, showing off sharp points and deep inlays where it had no doubt fallen off of a melting ice flow. There was only one thing that it could be.
" Oh S***!" Fleet cried out in intence frustration. It had taken him too long to figure out what was there, he had been lost in though. An iceberg, one of the biggest he'd ever seen, taller than a large bulding. And the Titanic was heading right for it!
He spun around quickly, feeling around in the dark for the emergency bell that hung silently in the dead of night. When he found it, he grabbed the ringing handle, and pulled as hard as he could, again and again. The sound of the bell echoed over them, and down towards the bridge, where the staff on duty were sitting and where the stationmaster was busy steering the mighty ship on course.
He let the bell go, and raced over to a small reviever that waited by a small telephone-like box. When he picked it up, he had immediate access to the bridge's emergency phone line, and planned to use it to the best of his ability. He knew that they didn't have much time left, they had to hurry.
The phone rung once, and then rung again. After a third time of hearing the familiar chime, Fleet grew impatient. " Hurry up, damn you! Pick it up!" He yelled into the reciever, as if hearing his please would get things moving along. " We don't have time, pick up!!"

At the mention of the time, the scribe immediately stood up from his seat, and left it in a rush, nearly sending it falling backwards onto the soft carpet. " We have to go!" He exclaimed loudly, surprising and shocking them all. It was even enough to bring Ja-kal out of his silent repose, and into the shaky conversasion that was no doubt about to errupt.
"Excuse me?" Nefer-tina conversed, still leaning heavily against the adjascent doorframe, where if it were closed, would be closing her off from the others sitting silently around the table. Unfortunately for her, her question wasn ever answered, because before she could open her mouth to say one more thing, he passed by her, walking at an extreme pace, and heading for the large oak door beyond the foyer of the Suite.
The charioteer turned to the rest of her team, still slightly confused, but more frustrated over all. She had asked a question, and given her curious nature, didn't take too kindly to people leaving her inquiries unattended. " What was that all about?" She asked strictly.
Ja-kal didn't bother answering, he simply sighed and turned back around in his seat, returning to the same position he had been in before the uprise. However, he stayed alert, and never went back into his supconsious to search for missing clues or quams. Lyris and Armon exchanged confused glances, but none of them said anything more.
Until, almost five seconds later, when the warrior finally put down his tangled up mess of string, setting it ruggedly on the smooth table surface. " Maybe something was going to happen soon." He told them absently. " That's what I'd do if there was something important going on."
Lyris smiled at him and nodded, then turned back to her place, setting her hands on the table this time, instead of in her lap. She was concerned now, concerned for them all. Here they were, stuck on a ship destined to sink within a night's time, they were all in the pit of despair, and then Rath runs out of the room to go who knows where...
She gasped loudly, a cold chill running up her spine and into her senses. The world began to hurry up around her, she could hear every single sound going on. As if out of nowhere, there was a small jaunt in the room, as if it had suddenly stopped and was shifting position, turning around the other way. But that couldn't happen, it was a ship. The only way that it could do that was if... was if they had purposefully stopped the ship, and were going in reverse.
" Ja, Ja-kal," She stammered, trying to get one simple sentance out of her bothered mind. The muse was going a mile a minute, her heart was racing faster than an Indie racecar. The leader looked up at her through tired eyes, but pretty soon got a look of concern on his face as well. No doubt that by now, Lyris was looking quite distressed.
" What?" He inquired to her anxiously. " What is it?"
" Ja-kal," She began again. She was talking in a low, scared whisper now, never once trying to hide back what she knew was happening. " What time did the Titanic hit the iceberg?"

" Pick up the damn phone!!" Fleet screamed into the mouthpiece, after hearing the fourth and fifth rings go by unattended. He was grabbing onto the line now, nearly strangling it under his force.
" What? What is it?!" His companion shouted over his head. All he knew was that there was something that caught his eye in the dark, and before he could wink, his friend was scrambling at every alert signal and emergency operator inside the tall crowsnest.
" Just shut up and ring the bell!" He ordered, pointing a finger at the questioner. " If you hadn't been fooling around...!" The other man remained motionless for a time, finally clueing in to what his friend was getting at. It wasn't a bird, or an object on the wind that had captured his attension. It was an ideberg, it had to be. There had been four ice warnings that day. With one long action, he reached out for the bell directly in front of him, and began to ring it, hard. Never had he seemed to have more enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, down in the steering room, the phone continued to ring. The shipsmaster looked away from the wooden wheel he held in his hand, for only a brief moment. It was beguinning to get on his nerves. Why wouldn't anyone answer it?
First Officer Murdoch was stationed on the right side of the bridge, his hands on the railing and his gaze out into the black of the night. From behind him, a faint ringing caught his ear, followed by a small clang from way atop him. He turned around slowly, making his way to the ringing telephone with an easy step. He was in no hurry tonight, the Titanic had just set a new record. With her last two boilers lit, she might soon be able to dock at New York on Tuesday night, instead of Wednesday morning.
When he reached the entrance to the steering room, the shipsmaster turned back to his post. The officer walked to the machine, flipped a switch, and took the earpiece off of it's metal hook. His voice was flat and toneless, as it was with all of the ship officers. " What do you have to report?"
The voice that came through was as far away from flat and toneless as someone could possibly get. It was rushed, hurried, loud... and deeply scared. " Iceberg, right ahead!!" It came.
" Thank you." Murdoch answered, taking away the piece from his ear, and setting it back down on the reciever. Without hesitation, he yelled over to the ship's steerer. " Hard to Starboard!" Was his command. The man didn't even have time to object. Before another word could be spoken, the First Officer was off again, heading for the ship's engine shift. With an expression of concern, the man began to turn the wheel full to port, as fast as it would allow him.
Murdoch rushed over to the Titanic's gear shift, and grabbed the brass handle with large force. With one quick upward thrust, he sent the shift from the word "full" to the word "reverse", praying that he wasn't too late. If the man on the other end of the reciever sounded that bad, then the berg must have been close. Too close for comfort, and that meant that they didn't have very good odds against them.

Ja-kal gulped, the wave of depression suddenly leaving him. Left behind, there was a sense of duty, of well being. Even though he knew that there was no hope of them seeing home again, he still had priorities to the team. He couldn't afford to fail them now, not when they needed guidance the most. The empty feeling left him and a stronger, more authoritive one took charge.
He looked at Lyris with unbelieving eyes. There was only one thing that it could have been, only one thing that would have made the ship jerk like that, then suddenly reverse directions and head back into the blackness of the night. He didn't know when the Titanic struck persay, all he knew was that it was in the late evening- early night, and it was intense...
" Come!" He ordered them all, getting up from his seat the same way that Rath had done only just previously. He pushed the chair back, sending it sprawling across the dark carpet and halfway into the doorway. Struggling to get by it, the leader actually kicked the wooden ornament to the side, so that others in the room could get out a little more easily.
Lyris and Armon exchanged the same confused glances that they had done earlier, but this time, there was no mysterie to the answer of their puzzle. They both knew why Ja-kal had acted so quickly and where their other teammate had gone to as well. It was the iceberg, and they were going to have front row seats in watching it damage the lovely vessel. Not wanting to make him ask a second time, the other two guardians followed their leader around the large wooden table, and through the doorway.
" Would somebody, PLEASE tell me what's going on?!" Nefer-tina exclaimed loudly, holding her hands out in front of her in a sign of exasperation. " What's going on?!"
Ja-kal ran through the sitting room as fast as he could, and grabbed onto the doorknob. With one great action, the door flew open, revealing a perfectly lit hallway, quiet and deserted. He held the door open as the warrior and the muse followed. " There's no time!" He yelled back to her, glancing at his teammates as they ran through the door and out into the hallway.
" But... what?!"
" Stay here with the prince!" Ja-kal ordered, rushing out of the doorway as well, and slamming the large oak door behind them. The room lay silent, with only the sound of desintegrating footsteps in the distance.
The charioteer stood there, completely dumbfounded. What could have been so important that even Ja-kal, who had been silent and awkward all night suddenly snapped out of it and took charge the same way he had always had. It must have been something big... something huge... like an iceberg.
" Of all the!!" She snapped, leaving her position to punch the wall with unwanted anger. " The damn ship's going to hit the stupid iceberg, and I'm stuck here while the rest of them go off and see the show!!" Frustrated, she rubbed her sore knuckes with her other hand where they had slammed into the wallpaper.
A door creaked, echoeing it's sound over the emptyness and silence of the room. She was so wound up that Nefer-tina hardly even noticed it, until a voice talked to her. It was both slightly groggy, but fully alert.
Presley pulled the door away from it's impressive wooden trimmings, and he stepped out into the open. He was wearing the same blue pajamas that he had been the previous nights, as well as the long black/green plaid overcoat and the comfortable brown slippers. He looked something out of the movie Mary Poppins.
He rubbed one of his eyes to try and get the sleep to escape it. " Nefer-tina, what's going on?" He asked between yawns.

***

The Titanic didn't jerk, more or less. It maybe stopped then reversed, might have jiggled a little, maybe even jumped slightly, but it never jerked. The strong currents of the ocean and the velocity that they were going made sure of that. Murdoch cursed it uder his breath as well. If it would have jerked, then it would have meant that they had slowed down, or even better, stopped. But the ship continued on it's way, even seconds after the order for full reverse was given.
Even he could see the large outline of the berg now. It was pitch black and tall, maybe even as tall as the large funnels sitting quietly above him. It was the most hideous thing that he'd ever seen. In other circumstances, it was very beautiful, but not when there was the danger of running a 45 000 ton ship into it.
The shipsmaster kept pulling the wheel to the left, faster and faster. It continued to keep going this way, until suddenly, there was a small screech and it remained still " Full to Port!" The man exclaimed loudly, through the bustle of telegraphers still walking in and out of their post without a second thought, and over the announcing bell echoeing from the crowsnest.
" Thank you." The First Officer told him, walking quickly back out onto the boat deck. Past the hard glass of the steering room the berg could be seen much more clearly. It was shimmering slightly, the lights of the ship bouncing off of it in a way that he had never seen before. It was deathly beautiful. And still, the ship was heading directly for it.
" Turn," He whispered under his breath at the large vessel. " Hurry up and turn..."
Atop the tall crowsnest, Fleet was watching the ice coming closer and closer to them. His companion had stopped ringing the large bell, by now everyone that was going ot hear it had heard it. They were both transfixed on it, another though never entered their minds except that of the large iceberg. The ship had been alerted to it for quite a few seconds now, but still, she remained on course, never turning away.
" Why doesn't she turn?!" Fleet exclaimed in the frustration that was keeping them high atop the ship. Was it actually possible that Murdoch was going to run right by her? After all, the Titanic had been dubbed unsinkable, what would a little ice do? But this wasn't just your typical iceberg. It could have stopped a thousand Titanics in it's wake.
" Hurry up and turn! Damn you!" His companion turned around and shouted his comments out thowards the bridge. There was no one listening, but it made him feel a hell of alot better.
Down on the decks, workers and sailors were still busy doing their jobs, unaware of the threat that was looming over them even as they spoke and joked about. One man was carrying a large chain across the deck, another was securing rigging attatched to the top of the crowsnest. Various others were running in and out of the telegraphing house inside the bridge, arms full of letters and telegrams to be sent to people on the ship. They never even saw the huge figure coming.
With one swoop, Rath pushed the door, opening to the outside promenade deck wide open, and stepped out into the bitter cold. It was below freezing by now, anyone standing out there without a coat or jacket was definitly a fool. But none were around, they were all still inside, enjoying the card games and the laughter of the first-class smoking lounge no doubt.
He walked up towards the bow of the ship with great strides, trying to get there as quickly as possible. The bleached white ceiling covered his line of vision, there was no telling how close the iceberg was to the Titanic now. It hadn't hit however, so there still must have been time.
The scribe walked down to the end of the promenade, turned a sharp corner, and stopped. He was on the main landing of the vessel now, where the deck hands were all at work. Above their heads, the stars shone brightly in the sky, there was no moon, everything beyond them was nearly black, but the ship's lights made sure that everything nearby was well lit. One of the most well lit things that he could see right now, was ahead of them. A tall, glimmering mountain of ice, growing bigger with every passing moment. If he hadn't known of what was about to happen, he would have been sure that they would have been able to miss it.
Murdoch watched as the ship came ever closer to doom. It had been almost twenty seconds since the information was given that there was an object in their path, and still the vessel hadn't shifted course yet. It was full to port and in full reverse, there must have been something going on. Closer, closer...
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the bow of the ship seemed to be moving away from the center of the berg and over towards the side. Then, past the side, then, completely clear of it. The First Officer gave a huge sigh of relief. All of his quick thinking, loyal crew and fast acts were going to be rewarded. They were going to miss it.
Meanwhile, the thoughts of those sitting high atop the ship's decks were much more negative. Yes, in fact, the ship was trying to turn, and yes, the front had probably cleared the danger, but they were still going too fast, and turning too slow.
" Should have known," Fleet stated, still looking out beyond their small basket. " It's too big, the rudder's too small." A sigh of grief swept over them both as the brutal reality of three years of building a gigantuous ship was going to cost them. " She can't turn worth beans."
The craft made it's way gracefully, coasting along the water's surface like a newly fallen leaf in a shallow brook. The bow slowly began to head towards the left, hoping to perhaps leave this large piece of nature alone, and continue along it's way to the East coast. Everyone stopped. Everyone watched. But alas, there was nothing that any of them could do. It was time for that infinitive amount of 37 seconds before what was to be happened.
Out of breath from running so fast, Ja-kal jumped over the small uprise at the bottom of the doorway, and out onto the wooden-boarded promenade deck. He looked about both ways and felt it odd that there was no one else about them, everyone must have still been inside, the same way they had been until just previous. Behind him, Armon came out of the doorway, not as quickly as his leader had, but he had definite authority in his movements. And lastly, Lyris hopped over the incline and hurried along beside her comrades, shocked at the intense cold that was flowing over her then.
" This way!" Ja-kal called to them as he began to hurry along the deck, towards the pointed front of the ship's bow. There was a cold wind falling steadily across the vessel as it went at almost full speed through the freezing Atlantic waters, and it hit him hard as he too, ran quickly down the promenade, adding a lower temperature to the already plummeting thermometer.
As quick footsteps approached from behind, Rath turned around to see who it was. More to the point, he was verifying who he knew it was already, just to make sure that he wasn't mistaken. " Well, it took you long enough." He stated as they all approached.
" Maybe we would have been here sooner if..." Ja-kal began in his usual stern voice, but the instant that he got through the end of the promenade deck, the ceiling cleared away from his line of view, and everything that was going on could be seen as if it were day. The leader stopped short in his tracks, nearly sending the two other teammates in a heap on the floor, as they were following closely behind. All stood then and watched, eyes never blinking, as the tall iceberg loomed over their heads, casting eerie shadows and marvelous glows over them all.
" My gods..." Lyris exclaimed silently, putting a hand over her mouth incoherently. It was one of the biggest objects that she had ever seen. It was the size of a mountain, and easily as heavy. There was no way that any ship couldn't have been sunk by it, it was... impossible.
Armon too, saw the greatness of the berg, but failed to take it as the dooming to the ship. He walked over towards the end of the deck, and with his new right arm, put a hand on the railing overlooking the sea. " Come on!" He ordered the vessel, as if it could actually hear him. " You can do it! Just a little more to the left!"
Ja-kal retained his view of the massive object, heading ever closer to them. Never had he though about what it would have been like to witness such a thing. He had always assumed that the by the time that the Titanic ran afoul of it, they would have been off the ship. But here they were, watching and hoping for false hope. It was a terrifying feeling.
From behind them yet again, more steps were sounding through the windowed outdoor hallway. Rath and Armon turned around to see who it was, while the muse and Ja-kal were still transfixed on the large iceberg.
Two pairs of feet, one in tall heeled boots, and another in simple slippers ran towards the group. In front, Presley's childlike enthusiasm brough him farther ahead then Nefer-tina, but she still fought to catch up, what with her feet still stuck in uncomfortably tall shoes and her dress getting tangled up whenever she went a couple of steps.
" I though you were suppose to watch the prince." Armon exclaimed to the charioteer as the two of them approached.
" I did." She gasped, stopping for a short breather, never even noticing the large berg approaching beyond. " I watched him open the door, leave the room and run down the hallway." She grinned, but still breathed quite heavely. " You didn't think that you'd get rid of me that easily, did you?"
" Whoa!" The boy announced loudly at his first sighting of the ice. It began to draw even closer, closer... it was about to hit them surely enough. It was practically on top of them now, bearing down on the ship with an evil glare of the vessel's lights, as if to say, " I win, you lose."
Then the first sound of scraping metal was heard.

***

She was humming a soft tune, one that she remembered one of her nannies singing to her when she was a little girl. It was about spring flowers and swans, and although she had forgotten the words to it ages ago, the tune of it was still fresh in her mind and always cheered her up when she was down.
Starting onto another verse of the hymn, Joscerine finally finished her entry, leaving just enough space to fill in her name at the bottom. This is what she did on every trip that he family took, everyday, finding a nice quiet place to sit down and write in her little journal. It held her most fondest memories, and no memory was fonder than the ones that she had on that trip.
Looking back on what she had written the day before heading to Southampton, the girl couldn't help but laugh. It had been so silly of her to write such a thing, to feel like that. There was no real reason for her to feel that way, after all. The Titanic has been called unsinkable:

April 9, 1912

This may be my last entry for awhile. My parents are both bent on taking the trip tomorrow, and don't even listen when I try to tell them otherwise. I know that I say this everytime I have to get on a boat, the doctor says I have a type of phobia towards it, but that can't be true, can it? I particularily have a bad feeling about this one imperticular. Man wasn't meant to build such a boat, it would surely sink, and it is it's maden voyage, who knows what little errors haven't been worked out yet...

With a happy sigh, she closed her book up and set it down on the slanted drawing table, one of many which littered the writing room, at the other end of the hall from the Saloon. It was where the ladies in first-class were suppose to come after retiring from dinner or dancing, but it was the 1900's, women didn't retire until late, so she was all alone.
Joari let the happy memories of the trip wash over her. Ever since the first day, when she had come out of her cabin, and had been bowled over by Nefer-tina, or her first chance meet with Lyris, while she tried to keep a small distance. And the dinner party, that was the best. Her mother had been set in her place that night, and everyone seemed to enjoy the Rapses Party's company.
Suddenly, there was a small shift in her seating, as the chair bumped up and down against the new wooden floor. She felt a small scuffle below her, and heard a faint sound like nails down a chalkboard. The ink in her flask jumped up and down as the bottle skidded across the oak desktop, spilling black pen ink all over it. One brief moment of it, and then all was still.
Joscerine looked around her. There was no one around to ask about the situation. When she looked into the hallway, there was no one there either. Was it just her who imagined it? No, of course not, then how could she explain the ink spilling over? Whatever it was, she was going to have to complain about it. There was no way that she was going to clean that mess up...

He took off his jacket, and set it ever so carefully on the hanger from which he had taken it from that night. It was the blazer from his tuxedo, and he had just returned from the Smoking Room to get some rest. After hearing Colonel Gracie tell another story about his invite with the Queen, he was ready to hit the pillow for the evening, ready to return to his duties the next morning, fresh as a daisy.
Sitting on the dresser at the other end of the room, sat his Captain's hat, the polished black flap glistening in the dull light of a hanging lamp. It hung silently on the right side of his statesroom, sending it's light over all, including a set of twin chairs sitting in the middle of the room, where he would sit someone down and have pleasant chats. When he wasn't on duty that is.
Smith was just about ready to call it a night, when the small hanging oil lamp on his wall began to bang against the deep wallpaper, causing the lights to flicker suddenly. It rocked back and forth, and back and forth, the oil in it washing one way and another. Curiously, he looked back to his dresser, where his Captain's hat sat. It wasn't sitting peacefully anymore however. As a matter of fact, it was jiggling, jiggling around the wooden top as if it were a windup toy. It was almost as if the entire room had been picked up and someone was shaking it ever so slightly. And then, as quickly as it had begun, it stopped.
He stood there, looking around. The hat was still, the lamp was quiet. There was no evidence that anything had gone wrong, but his experienced mind told him that something was afoul with the ship. He walked over to the door and quickly pulled it open, never even minding to put a jacket on over his white collared shirt...

Pulling the pencil steadily down the ruler, Mr. Andrews made one more adjustment to his design. His mind was going a mile a minute. ' The writing room must be made smaller to make more room for the Saloon... Perhaps the Turkish Bath could have a few more hanging ornaments... why didn't I place more riding horses in the gymnasium...'
The only reason that he was on the ship now was to make adjustments and get new ideas to change the Titanic for the better. Already, people were coming up to him with suggestions and comments about certain little things they've noticed. And, responding to public demand, the shipbuilder had tried to encorporate them in as much of his plans as possible. However, he didn't know how he was going to get the Smoking room another deck higher, while making the swimming pool another four feet deeper. Some things were completely out of his hands.
He was just about to put the paper aside, ready to work on yet another one, when the hanging light above his head began to waver, back and forth and side to side, in an almost circular pattern. He looked down, and the pencils and erasers on the wooden desktop were bouncing up and down, running across the desk and falling onto the carpeted floor. At the very edge of the oak top, the ice in his drink was shifting rapidly, jiggling up and down in the glass in a vibratory motion. And then, all was silent.
Not even waiting for a cue or another act that had just happened, Andrews got up out of his seat with amazing quickness. There was something wrong with the ship, there was no doubt about it. He reached down and picked up a few rolls of carpenter's paper, sitting snugly beside the desk. Without another hesitation, the shipbuilder raced out of his room, and down to the deck of the ship.

The ice connected with the hull perfectly, sending shards this way and that. The force of the blow ran alongside the black iron with amazing strength, pulling out bulkheads and sending them into the cold ocean water. With every bulkhead that flew out of it's position, the sea took it's place, flowing in an insteady stream into the bow of the Titanic.
From the inside, it was far less peaceful. Every few feet, small holes were turning into larger ones, and sending streams of water everywhere. It flew up into the air, along the floor, and even through nearby open doors quickly flooding their compartments. The cold water surged and turned when it met resistance, but it was easily rectified as the brute force of the ocean pushed by them, blowing out hinges and wooden barriers, sending them every which way, not stopping for anyone...

***

At the moment of impact, First Officer Murdoch expected them to pass by without incident, but as the sound of scraping metal reached his ears, he knew the truth. The ship shifted to the left as the iceberg pushed her away from itself, and out into the open waters. Without hesitation, Murdoch rushed back into the steering room and over to the end wall. There, there was a detailed picture of the ship's bottom deck, complete with switches for the first five compartments. Quickly, he flipped all of the switches down, causing all of the watertight doors to slam down, and keep as much water as possible out of there.
Down on deck, the workmen and deckhands that were walking this way and that reacted to the impact with curiosity. Looking to the starboard side of the ship, they saw the huge berg pulling along side them, as if ordering the vessel to leave it alone. They watched as large chunks of ice began to fall on the wooden deck as it passed by, hundreds of pounds of frozen water shattering as it hit the floor.
The six watched as this happened, how the berg rushed up against them and how it was leaving it's mark on the ship. It was coming ever closer to them, it's sides still shining in the lights of the bridge, and a cold seemed to encircle them all. The sound that it was making was just horrendous, a mixture of a knife on silverware and a million gunshots going off at once.
It reached out to them, pieces of it breaking off and leaving behind a trail of tragedy. When it was only about two meters away from them, they all began to get troubled expression. It was heading directly in their way, and wasn't going to slow down for the party. They all moved back as it began to go by them, dropping little pieces of itself right in front of their faces. A large piece came off and drifted in the air for a moment, before slamming against the deck and breaking apart, throwing ice in every direction. Lyris sheilded her eyes from the flying debris, and Presley looked away for a moment as Armon put a hand in front of his face to try and catch any ice that may have ventured there.
Finally, after a few seconds, it was over. The iceberg seemed to drift beside the ship for a moment, before beguining to depart back into the darkness from where it had once come. The emmense cold that had come around them all was gone, and although the air was still nippy, it was nowhere near as deathly freezing.
The lights of the ship seemed to vanish on it as it grew farther and farther away from them. Soon, all that they could glance at in the dark was a pitch black mountain sitting peacefully in the calm sea. There had never been such a calm sea...

Murdoch sighed with exileration, leaning against the wall with the switches on it, all pointing downward. He had done all that he could. Now, if only it was enough to keep the berg from doing more damage of the ship's hull then he feared.
As a precaution, the ship's engines were shut off to conserve power, this was to be the way of it until someone went down to the lower decks and checked out the damage. It was a precaution that all officers had to follow when in a situation such as this, and no passengers could say otherwise or complain. In front of him, the shipsmaster looked at him strangely, a mixture of fear and ignorance.
The sound of footsteps echoed over the bridge, as a lone figure came ever closer towards him. The First Officer straightened up and put his feet together, arms steady at his sides. He had to be, in a matter of seconds he would be talking to the only person that was his superior on the ship, the only person that had the right to tell him what to do, and the right to question his actions.
Captain Smith rushed in, looking around the front of the ship cautiously. Everywhere on the starboard side, there were large chunks of debris, what looked like maybe... ice? Either way, he was going to find out what all the commotion was all about.
" Officer Murdoch."
" Yes sir." The younger man answered, attempting to straighten his back even more.
" Your report, please. What's going on?" Smith interrogated, leaving the side of his comrade, and walking up to peer through the large windows in the front of the steering room. " What is all the commotion about?"
The First Officer gulped heavily. It was either now or never. He wondered how the Captain would react to such news. " An iceberg, sir."
The man turned around slowly, as if not believing his officer's words. " Excuse me?"
" An iceberg." Murdoch repeated, holding his head high and trying to keep his voice as steady as possible. " It was sighted directly ahead of us. I called a Hard to Starboard and we went full to port but she hit."
Smith looked down at the floor, amazed and bewildered. An iceberg? All of those ice warnings began to flood back into his mind, clouding it. As he spoke he could feel them burning a hole in his coat pocket, where he had placed them after they had been given out. Going harder south had not stopped them. He glanced back at him. " Close the watertight doors." He ordered.
" Already done sir." The First Officer replied, with only a slight twinge of pride. The look on his Captain's face wasn't at all comforting. It was as chilly to him as the biting Arctic cold raining down on the ship as they spoke.
" Well then, let's go and check out the damage." Smith told him. " We must be ready for whatever may have happened."

At first, the Rapses Party didn't even move. The sight of hundreds of pounds of ice nearly raining down on their heads was about enough to send them all into a bought of shock and unusual fear. None dared to move until the berg was far out enough that the bright lights of the ship didn't reach it's jagged edges and gaping bottom.
Finally, after a few moments of dead silence, they all began to come out of it. one by one, they all regained their composure, and returned to the real world. Almost instantly, Presley ran away from his current location, and over to the railing, where ice crystals were beguinning to form where the berg had scratched by. Soon, Lyris and Nefer-tina joined him, and seconds after that, Armon followed.
There were all watching the dark form as it drifted silently in the still waves of the Atlantic. The water below them looked different tonight. Possibly because they knew that in a matter of hours, the Titanic would soon be below it's surface.
" Guess this is the end, huh?" Presley asked to no one inperticular. he just had to say it, it seemed the most appropriate.
" Yes my prince." Lyris answered quietly, leaning over the rail slightly to perhaps get a better look at the berg.
" So long to all the fancy parties and fine clothes." Nefer-tina sighed, putting her arms on the railing and crossing them, setting her chin on them. Now she was beguinning to notice the cold a little more, and she was beguinning to freeze, she was sure of it. " Hello..."
" Hello to the ocean." Armon finished the sentance for her, knowing what wavelink they were all on. If they had felt bad before, then they had just hit rock bottom now.
Ja-kal was still watching the iceberg as it drifted silently in the quiet waters. He was perplexed by it, a sight that he could neither explain or describe in later dates. It was a mixture of nature and technologie, of life and death. And he knew what odds they were dealing against.
Rath was watching it go as well, but wasn't as awed at it as the other guardian. At first, it was very impressive, but now, it was just a big hunk of ice that had just doomed the famous liner. There was no need to get sentimental over it, there would be plenty of time for that later...
He looked at Ja-kal, who was transfixed on the immovable object in the distance. He didn't want to be the bringer of bad news, but there was no other choice. He inhaled greatly. " We have two and a half hours left."
The leader could only nod in recognition, and he continued to nod until the berg was out of sight.

***

In a hurry, Mr. Andrews walked into the bridge, carpenter's paper wrapped in scrolls, tucked away neatly under his arm. Behind him, Bruce Ismay tried to follow, but was finding it hard, what with the shipbuilder walking so fast. The director had just gotten into bed when the sound of scratching against the hull had woken him up, and he was bound and determined to find out what was going on.
Andrews already knew what was going on. He had passed by one of the Captain's deckhands, whom had gone down to the hull below the waterline to servey the damage. Safe to say, it wasn't happy news.
The two men walked out of a large iron door, and out onto the boat deck, where the ship's eighteen lifeboats sat silently, waiting for such a time when they would have to be used. In front of them, the bridge. They walked around a corner, and entered the small, makeshift hallway that joined the steering room with the rest of the ship.
A moment later, they were both at a small table. Captain Smith was there, along with all of his five Officers, from First Officer Murdoch to Fifth Officer Lowe. They were all waiting for the news that the two brought with them. It was going to be a short meeting.
Mr. Andrews threw a plan onto the table, and opened it up. There, they were able to see a blueprint of the ship's decks, as if the Titanic had been cut down the middle from bow to stern, showing every door and every deck.
" From what has been told to me," Andrews began." The iceberg struck here, and followed it's way along to here." His finger led a trail from the front of the bow, to the sixth square chamber. " Now, she can stay afloat with the first four chambers filled, but now six. As well, the waterproof doors only go up to G-deck..."
" Are you saying that the Titanic's in trouble?" Mr. Ismay asked loudly, still annoyed and bothered that he had been woken up at this time of night.
" I'm saying that the Titanic's going to sink." Andrews told them all truthfully. The words struck them all like a brick wall. The Titanic, the only ship ever to been dubbed the Unsinkable, was going down? On her maden voyage no less.
Captain Smith's face was full of concern. Slowly, he turned to his First Officer. " How many people are aboard?" He asked quietly.
Murdoch sighed. " 2200 souls aboard, sir."
" And how many lifeboats are there?"
" Eighteen, sir. Enough for..." He trailed off, coming to the same conclusion that his superior must have reached as well. " 1100 people." The others in the room looked from person to person. If there was enough room for only that many people in the lifeboats, then everyone else... would go down with the ship. Half of the people on the Titanic were going to die.
Captain Smith then turned to the shipbuilder. " Mr. Andrews, how... how long do we have?"
Andrews reached into his pocket, and pulled out his pocket watch. The time read 11:47, only minutes after the incident. He did a quick calculation in his head. The odds were not good. " An hour." He replied grimly. " Two at most."
Ismay was glancing at them all, completely amazed. " But, I... What?! This boat can't sink!" He exclaimed, trying to get his point across. He had been with the Titanic since the beguinning, they had taken every precaution with her. She was the unsinkable ship, she had to be.
" She's made of iron sir, I assure you she can!" Andrews snapped back at him, through with his dancing around the obvious and ready to face the facts. " We just have to come to grips what we have on our hands now." His voice was softer now, almost silent in the still air of the cabin.
" By morning's break, the Titanic will be at the bottom of the ocean."

To be continued in Chapter 6: The Sinking Return to the Gem of the Deep Homepage