The ocean liner arrived in Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas and
Helena wanted to explore the Island for a few hours and talked with Gábor about
it. He also wanted to see the island and wanted to know what to do with Leo.
They talked to him about it and asked if he would want to go. Leo, tired of
wearing a hood and shaved on these occasions, declined and they asked him to
stay in the cabin until they returned. He wanted to practice writing and
reading. Locking the cabin, his parents left.
Taiahae was interesting but didn't offer much in sightseeing
and they visited the market with all the handicraft and goods, candy for the
eyes, and Gábor bought a few items along with massage oils made from coconut
oil and the Tiare, a flower indigenous to the Tahitian Islands and another of
Sandalwood. They visited the produce market, bought some fruits to eat on the
boat, and knew they had to smuggle it aboard because of the agricultural
restrictions, but they intended to eat them before arriving on another island
and did not feel guilty about it. Nuku Hiva was used to visitors and although
it was still very friendly, it was not what they had read about it. Perhaps if
they stayed longer and made closer contact with the locals, the real attitude
would come out.
Two days later, in the late afternoon, the Tuamotu atolls
came in sight and the captain announced over the ship’s communication system
they would slowly and carefully skirt around Fakarava so the passengers could
have a glance at the atoll and then continue on to Tahiti.
Earlier they got a look from a distance of about five miles
to the north of Aratika. Now they were only a few miles off Fakarava and saw a
flashing white light every five seconds indicating the Garuae pass. The
captains briefing was about the dangers these low-lying Islands presented to
shipping and their size. Basically, they came about, he explained, as
underwater volcanoes pushed up the seafloor and then they collapsed and sank
again leaving a coral growth in the shape of roughly a circle. He talked about
the pearl industry and the French nuclear testing in the southern Gambier
Islands and the environmental damage done to the area.
As the briefing came to an end the Fabien family came out of
their cabin to enjoy the setting sun. The ship took a course toward Tahiti, still
about two hundred nautical miles to the West. Leo had his hood up and a scarf
covered most of his face, but his slanted cat-like eyes, not covered with
sunglasses as he had most of the time, were exposed and his face was not shaved
after they boarded. His parents didn't think it necessary. They would have to
shave him if they wanted to disembark, but it would be unlikely Leo would want
to.
The staged accident would happen between Tahiti and Moorea
after the cruisers twenty-four-hour visit to Papeete. Leo didn't like it. It
meant there would be a lot of activity on deck and he would have to confine
himself in the cabin for that time. He
almost looked forward to the staged accident.
As the sun sunk below the horizon, it became dark fast as is
normal in the tropics. The family enjoyed the smooth warm air, and the gentle
rocking of the ship as it moved toward Tahiti with the eastern trade winds in
their backs. Silently they sat close to the bow of the cruiser. Not many people
came here; the movement at the bow was more to the liking of people who were
active in their lives', and not for folks who liked the gambling, drinking, and
socializing.
Leo, with his cape covering his alien looks, stayed with his
parents for a time until it was dark enough to move about without fear of
discovery. Upright, as instructed by his parents to appear human, he lumbered
unnoticed aft towards the stern of the ship. He felt reasonably safe; his Star
Wars character outfit hid his alien body and everybody was either gambling or at
the ship’s bar. Cooped up in the cabin most of the time, he felt he needed some
time to himself to think.
As he stopped on the port quarterdeck, lost in his thinking
without any sign of his usual awareness, a tall figure approached him unnoticed
from behind and put a hand on his shoulder.
Leo jumped, shocked by the unexpected touch he spun around,
his cape came off his head, releasing a shaggy mane of rusty brown hair, and he
snarled like a lion. His distinctively furry lion's face with the broad
wrinkled nose, large and phosphorescent eyes took on a fierce look. Feline
hairy ears flattened against his head. His carnivore teeth exposed, were
frightening to someone not used to it especially to someone not expecting it.
The bright light blinded Leo.
The dark figure in front of him recoiled, at least as
shocked by what he saw, and some words escaped his mouth.
"Fuck! What the fuck is this?" Leo lifted his paw
to cover his eyes, but the man slapped it down.
"What kind of a fucking mask is this? Let me look at that."
Grabbing Leo's face he recoiled, feeling real tissue.
"Jesus Murphy! What the hell are you? Are you for real? You are, aren't
you? How did you get here? Come on you freak, let's see what the captain says
about you."
The big man grabbed Leo roughly by the shoulder, and that's
when Leo recovered from his shock. He swept his arm across his assailant’s
face, his hard razor sharp nails ripped four deep bloody furrows on the left
side of his cheeks and the big man thought a heavyweight boxer landed a hit on him.
A hot burning sensation erupted into his awareness, and he nearly lost
consciousness.
Shrieking with pain, he staggered, then struck with the
heavy flashlight toward Leo's head, and connected. Leo fell back against the
guardrail and sank onto his haunches, blood rushing into his eyes. The
flashlight had cut a gash on his forehead to the bone. He tried to get up to
his feet as the black man advanced on him, and in that moment, another person
arrived at the scene, Leo's father.
"Get off him you son of a bitch. That's my child,"
Gábor roared beside himself with anger. Seething with rage he lifted his right
hand to strike the much larger man. His left hand pulled the man back by his
jacket and stopped his advance toward Leo. Furious, the large man whirled around
and swung the light toward the new target. Something in Gábor's mind snapped. A
force welled up with the intent to get this man as far as possible away from
Leo. He dodged and shoved the man hard. He didn't really think it was as hard
as the effects were, but the man lifted off his feet and literally flew through
the air before connecting with Leo. As Leo was up on his feet, shaky and
wobbly, the heavy man slammed into him. Leo lost his balance and crashed into
the man onto the guardrail. Losing ground from under his feet, Leo grabbed
desperately for something to hang on to and that something was the man
colliding with him. Seeing the two entangled figures perilously losing
equilibrium, Gábor lunged forward to pull them back but was too late. Both, Leo
and his assailant went over the rail and fell from the upper deck overboard
into the churning water astern of the ship.
At that very moment, a deep transformation happened in
Gábor. In an instant, he recognized Leo as his son in another form of
intelligent life, a life that Helena and he produced. Together they didn't
create a human; they created life, other in form than human, but nevertheless
worthy of love, respect, and all the rights a human would request for himself.
Paralyzed for a moment Gábor looked into the dark water, and then shouted.
"Man overboard! Man overboard!"
Helena's heart stopped and she froze. Only a few meters
behind Gábor she had witnessed the entire scene. Someone took up the alarm and
Gábor kicked off his shoes and with a shout flew over the guardrail into the
water. The last he heard was Helena's piercing scream "NO" before he
hit the foaming, black water.
Waves about two meters at the crest and the wind from the
East at thirteen knots created valleys deep enough to render a swimming person
invisible unless they were close. At night, one may just forget it. The
captain, receiving the alarm, hit the MOB button on the GPS and instantly
ordered the ship to stop the engines. An operating engine in reverse could suck
a person into the prop and kill him. However, it takes a while for a big ship
to come to a full stop traveling twenty-five knots.
The inertia of a large vessel will carry it farther than two
miles. To launch a life raft was the best option. It took only five minutes for
the first raft to hit the water and it sped off in the wake of the “Emerald
Seas” while the cruiser circled around, then another fifteen to get close to
the point where the man overboard should be. The ship turned perpendicular to
the original course to light up the water around it and lay broadside to look
out for the MOB. Searchlights pointed in the direction where the ocean cruiser
came from, the water still frothy, and the raft circling in a pattern with
lights searching the dark waters and around the returning ship. The GPS
coordinates were right, but nothing.
Aboard the cruiser, Helena stared into the dark waters
screaming, frantically pacing fore and back, shouting. "Leo, Gábor, Leo.
This can't be happening, please, no," to any avail. A hollow feeling in her
being nearly killed her. Then a faint shout of a man in one of the rafts
sounded.
"I see something. Shine a light over there. Over
there," and a light beam pointed in a direction to the right away from the
cruiser.
There was nothing and the boat began to move away.
"Wait. Wait. Wait. There. There he is. Go! Go!
Go!" Now there was something in the water, someone, or something coming up
and going down again for a long time, then coming up. It was Gábor. He held
something in his hand. The crew in the raft reached for him, but he went down
again for a long time.
For a while, there was no sign of him, then he surfaced
again near the raft and some hands got a hold of him. He tried to fight them
off, gasping for air, but they were stronger and hauled him into the boat.
Incomprehensible words came out of his mouth and he struggled against them, but
they were five of them holding him down.
"There are sharks in the water. Are you crazy? Look.
What the hell do you think you can do in the water? Stay in the boat. There is
nothing you can do. You're lucky the sharks didn't get you," and a light
caught a glimpse of three fins slicing the water. Sharks indeed. Gábor sobbed,
struggled against the hands holding him until someone slapped handcuffs on him,
and shackled him to the gunnels of the raft and Gábor collapsed. In his hand
was the scarf Leo had around his neck. Helplessly, he kept looking around while
the raft circled and more rafts joined in the search to aid the rescue
attempts.
If the crew would have had a bit more experience, they would
have followed the shark's direction and would have had a better chance finding
the people, but it was not so. Thirty minutes later, Helena watched the raft
returning to the ship with her husband aboard. The rafts began a search pattern
to look for the MOB. The crew ascended with Gábor in tow. Helena rushed to
them. Others took the place of the returning men and joined the rafts in the
search. Gábor resisted the crew returning to the ship and someone shackled him
to another man. Two other crewmembers held him by his arms. Both were bleeding,
one had a swelling eye and bleeding from the mouth, the other bleeding from his
broken nose and had a fat lip. Clearly, Gábor fought the men. He thought it was
his fault that Leo fell overboard and felt guilty that the men stopped him from
saving his son. Helena realized the deep changes he went through.
When earlier they noticed Leo's absence, they thought he had
returned to the cabin, checked, but he was not there. She had a premonition
about something being wrong and told Gábor. He looked at her and saw the worry
on her face. She had in the past foreseen events and he trusted her intuition.
"I should have watched him. Let's look on deck,"
he said and left the cabin. Walking aft, they heard a man's angry voice and a
beam of light shining at someone. Suddenly there was a lightning-fast swipe of
an arm, a shriek, and a bright light descending on the figure hidden by the
man's looming silhouette. A solid "tock" sounded and a muffled hiss,
and with absolute certainty Helena knew who the hidden person was. She saw him
crumple to the deck. A fury rose in her and Gábor rushed the man, grabbed his
jacket and pulled back on it. The man turned, his dark cultured face fuming
with anger. Bloody, with deep slashes from eyes to mouth, he struck towards the
new target with the light. Gábor easily dodged the strike and shoved the man
back. "Get off him you son of a bitch. That's my child," she heard
her husband's roar. In this moment, he didn't really have the control over his
emotions as he normally would have, it seemed. The full impact force lifted the
man off his feet, and without ground under him, he sailed through the air as if
he were on strings.
The big man on the receiving end of the shove must have felt
as if a gigantic horse had kicked him hard. He crashed onto Leo, who at that
moment rose to his feet. The two figures collided and the heavy man fell over
the guardrail, taking Leo with him. Something clattered on the lower deck, and
then they were gone.
A shout, ‘man overboard, man overboard' rang out a moment
later and then Gábor flew over the railing. Helena's scream pierced the air
like an arrow. "NO!"
When she saw Gábor flying over the guardrail, her heart
froze in her chest. She saw all that happened, and for a moment, she stood
paralyzed. I'll lose them both was her first thought and she got ready to jump
also to save them or die with them, her hands on the guardrail, ready to jump
when somebody grabbed her arm. She shook it off, but then another pair of arms
clamped around her waist as she grappled with the man holding her arms.
She heard them shouting at her, but didn't process the
words. All she wanted was to help her husband to find her son. She wasn't aware
of her screaming at the men holding her and then there were others pushing past
them to see what happened. Where did they come from so fast?
A man in the ship’s uniform of the liner looked down, seeing
blood on the deck, spun around and yelled.
"Get the raft in the water. Now! And clear the area of all
people. Seal off the area. Move! Move!
Out of the way! Get back! Move, goddamned," and he ran off toward the raft
bays.
During all the confusion, nobody aboard noticed a half dozen
fins moving through the dark water, about twenty meters to starboard. It seemed
everybody aboard congregated on the aft deck and gawked to port at the spot
where the cruiser had been minutes ago.
Finally, the men let her go. There was no sense in going
after Leo and Gábor anymore. She wanted to go with the raft, but they did not
allow it, so she hastily returned to the guardrail and saw something on the
deck. She stooped to take a better look and a chill ran down her spine. Blood.
But whose? Leo's? In a flash, she recalled seeing blood running down his
forehead.
A terrible fear rose in her and she began to tremble, tears
flooded her eyes and she clawed her way through the throng at the rail to see
if there was anything, but the mass of people pushed back by the crew swept her
along and all she could do was call her son's and husband's name in hope they
would hear and answer.
Agonizing minutes elapsed and some passengers' pitiful
glances grazed Helena. The crew in the raft seemed to have found something and
she ran to the raft bay to see the lowered ramp and the crew with her husband
in tow. Oh, thank heaven he is okay, but where was Leo? She ran to him and
hugged him fiercely. "Did you see Leo?"
Of course, not or he would have been with him, she realized.
"Gábor, my god, what will happen to him?" Gábor looked at her, his
eyes deep in their sockets, hollow and dark he seemed to have aged ten years.
He lowered his eyes, his head dropped to his chest and he shook his head
without a sound.
"Oh god, no," whispered Helena. "Not like
this." She had a feeling her heart had been ripped out from her chest. Leo
was in the water and bleeding. And what was Gábor thinking? Did he want to die
too? What chance did he have to find Leo in the night? She turned to the men
holding her husband.
"Please, keep looking for our child. He is only five.
Please find him. And let my husband go."
The crew who had the handcuffs tied to Gábor's wrist stood
silent. Two other men held Gábor as well. Seeing that he no longer fought them,
they relaxed. "You're safe; you're safe," she said over and over,
"I thought I'd lose you both," and tears obscured her vision.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"I'm so sorry Honey. I couldn't find Leo. I couldn't
see a thing. I'm so sorry. Help me, please," a sob racked his body and he
sank to his knees. The two men holding his arms released him and stepped back.
She squatted in front of him, hugged him, with tears streaming down her face,
crying, trying to comfort him, and seeking solace herself by holding him. But
somehow she knew her son was alive and safe.
"They'll find him, Honey. Leo is okay. I know he is
okay," she said.
For some time they just held each other, seeking comfort in
each other then somebody helped them up and led them to a chair. Another person
stepped up to them and Helena looked up. The captain stood in front of them
with a pair of shoes and keys.
"These must be yours, Sir," handing the shoes to
Gábor while he used the keys to remove the shackles and handing them to an
oriental woman in ship’s uniform.
"These are no longer necessary I'd think. Victor,
Garry, go and see doctor Henning with those injuries." The crew left and
the captain turned to Gábor.
"Sir, Ma'am, I'm Captain Sven Olafson. Are you
okay?" Both shook their head. Gábor glared at the man. They couldn't
believe he asked them that. The captain caught himself, not believing he'd
asked something stupid like that and tried to correct his mistake.
"I'm
sorry, but I must ask you to come to the mess hall to tell me what happened. My
crew is looking for the person in the water and if they find something, they
will let me know. I am very sorry, but I must know what happened. I alerted the
French authorities and a search team, chopper and rescue ship are on the way.
The chopper will be here in an hour and a ship should be here in four. Would
you please accompany me so I can take your report?" Helena didn't believe
her ears. Leo was in the water and this man wanted a report. Helena was
indignant at the man's request.
"Look, captain, our child just fell overboard and you
want us to give you your goddamned report? Can my husband get into some dry
clothing first at least? Find our son and you'll get your damned report."
"But of course, I'm sorry" replied Olafson, taken
back by his own insensitivity and her furious response. She just lost her child
in the ocean and nearly her husband. With sharks in the water at night, this
man was fortunate to still be alive and he had asked for a report. Her outburst
was justified and understandable. He noticed also how spectacularly beautiful
she was, even when she was angry, he thought. Hastily he apologized again.
"Whenever you are ready it's fine. I didn't think. I'm
sorry. This is a first for me too." He really seemed to mean it and Helena
backed off. After all, he was the captain and had to do his duty. She looked at
his face and found compassion in it. He didn't seem to be insensitive, but not
very tactful.
Her anger subsided, but her pain of possibly losing Leo made
it difficult to be reasonable. She wanted to know if a half hour would be okay
and requested he remain in the area to look for the men in the water. Olafson
assured her they would be looking until the rescue team arrived and then the
S&R would take over. They knew their job much better than he. Helena
accepted. The captain had a ship full of passengers and once the rescue team
arrived, his job would take precedence.
She understood Olafson. He seemed to be a good man and
appeared trustworthy. She did not want to be hard on him but was scared and
therefore angry. She realized, once they found Leo alive, and they would, she
knew deep in her heart they would, his identity would come out, but that wasn't
important anymore; to find him alive was.
She looked at the captain again. Should she tell him about
Leo? If they found him they would think it was an animal and not likely take
him onboard. Querying she scanned him over. Scandinavian, Olafson was a tall
man and his stature imposing. Almost a head above her husband, he looked like
she had imagined Vikings of old. He suited the image, she noted. If she told
him about Leo's looks, would he tell the men to pull him out of the water?
She hesitated. What would he think about her and Gábor? She
noticed his clear blue eyes skimming her over like most men she's met in the
past and although she enjoyed being seen as a woman, in light of the present
situation she found his interest inappropriate. Annoyed, she rose to her feet
and opened her mouth to tell him about Leo when Gábor stood up.
"Captain, I must go with your men to look for my son.
His image is not as you would expect it. He's got a condition that makes him
appear different. Your men might get scared when they see him."
"I'll tell my men to rescue whomever they find, but I'm
bound by regulations that won't allow you to go with my men until I know what
happened. I'm sorry. I'll tell them to bring aboard whoever they find."
Olafson glanced again at Helena as if he wanted to comfort
her. He saw a beautiful woman that had just lost her child, but at least her
husband was back onboard. A stab of envy towards her husband surprised him. He
had a beautiful partner as well, but this woman would look very good on him
too. Her husband had great taste for sure. He noticed her eyes on him, studying
him.
‘Please, find them', she pleaded inwardly as she looked back
at him. He seemed concerned about the fate of her son and the crew.
Gábor was wet and looked at the captain as if he was an
enemy, but admitted, the man did his duty. He too implored the captain to keep
looking for their child.
"Look, I understand. I'm sorry about the man, but I
protected my son."
Olafson didn't catch on to what Gábor said right away or
have the heart to tell them that the chances of finding a person in
shark-infested waters alive were slim. A man overboard at night is a dead man.
The chances for bleeding people in the water with sharks around were absolutely
zero.
"Ma'am, Sir, we have four rafts in the water now and
we're searching for any clues of the person who went overboard. I must know
what happened. Walker saw blood on the deck."
"It was my son and another person who went over. I want
to go with the men. I want to find my son," Gábor insisted with a voice
that came from the grave. Like Helena, he also worried about the rescuers would
not pick up a lion from the waters if they saw one. They would expect to see a
human.
"My son looks a bit unusual. I need to go with
them," Gábor insisted.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that until we know what
happened. I'm sorry; this is a matter of investigation by the authorities. I
can't do anything about it. Who was the other?"
"I don't know. It was a person who struck my son with a
light and I tried to stop him. It was a big black man. The man turned and took
a strike at me and I shoved him. He fell on my son and both went over. I went
after them but didn't see anything in the dark. Then your people pulled me out
of the water. Let me look for my son, please."
Sven Olafson scanned his memory and knew four in his crew
that were African-Americans, but only two were big and one was off duty. Lundy
was on the roster for tonight. Did this man in front of him scuffle with him?
Not many would take on Lundy.
"Jonathan, Jonathan Lundy. I have to check with the
crew," the Captain said quietly ignoring Gábor's pleading. "Heaven
have mercy on him. You're lucky my men got you. There are sharks in the water
in this area. I'm truly sorry, but I can't allow you to join the men for the
search. I'm bound by regulations. There is not much hope for the people in the
water, especially at night, but we'll keep looking for them. I'm very sorry. We
saw blood on the deck; do you know who was bleeding?"
"I saw the face of the man briefly when he attacked me
and he had blood on his face. I did not see much as my son was behind him, and
the man's body obstructed my vision. I don't know if he was bleeding or
not."
"I saw him. He had blood on his face, I'm sure,"
whispered Helena under tears. It broke Gábor's heart. Olafson felt their pain
like a knife in his heart.
"I'm very sorry, believe me. Please take your time and
when you're ready, join me in the cafeteria. And for you, my name is
Sven."
He offered his hand to Gábor and shook it, then bowing to
Helena she extended her hand and he took it.
"I'm truly sorry. I wish we had met under other
circumstances."
He turned and left. Helena's eyes followed him until he was
out of sight. The master of the cruiser was an attractive man, polite,
considerate, and focused on his duty, but his poorly concealed and ill timing
in showing interest in her bothered Helena. To a point, he had similar
characteristics as Gábor and that appealed to her as well as his looks; only
his almost rigid bearing was in contrast to his apologetic manner. Perhaps it
was his position as captain of a big ship that portrayed him like that, but she
was sure he would do all that he could to find the unfortunate crew and Leo. If
the circumstances were different, they could become friends. The man seemed to
have compassion and was doing his duty.
It was the first time they came face to face although they
have been on the cruiser enough time to meet. But because Helena and Gábor
didn't participate in social events with the other guests where the captain
attended as well, they were never acquainted nor had personal contact before.
This tragedy changed that. Helena looked at her wristwatch. The time was
22:45h. Leo was now 1:45 hours in the water. Was he still alive?
She listened to her
heart and there was a trace of hope and a sense of a flickering presence that
she felt whenever she was around her son and that assured her that he was still
among the living, but for how long?
