The Titan Drowns: Time Travel Romance by Nhys Glover (highly recommended books .txt) 📕

in her hands. This, then, was not the one that had activated the Portal behind her. One of the others must have given him theirs. For her? Yes, for her. They were all worried about her and wanted her to have a choice; wanted her to come home. The realisation was like sunshine breaking through heavy cloud for a brief time.

She turned and smiled up at Jac, so far above her. ‘Thank you. I will wait. I might come. There is time yet.’

‘He may not be able to get back up here. Remember what the stewards will do to the restaurant staff. If he doesn’t get back it may not be because he doesn’t want to. He left you because he had a duty to that boy not because he didn’t love you. It's what we're like, us men.’ Jac gave a humourless grunt. 'It doesn't mean we love you any less.'

Pia saw him for the first time. Not the austere giant who had always daunted her, but the caring, conflicted man, ever caught between duty and love. What must it be like to walk that knife edge, weighing the good of the many against his personal wants or needs?

‘I know.’ She turned away from him then, not wanting to feel empathy for him. Not wanting to feel anything at all. Her eyes were riveted to the door once more. ‘You better go, Jac. The Portal has been open a long time. Cara will be anxious. If… if I do not get back, tell the others I love them. You are all like family to me, especially after these last few days.’

‘I will tell them. Please don’t wait too long…’

She heard him walk away and as suddenly as the light had appeared it was gone, and so was the buzzing that accompanied it.

For a split second, she felt the overwhelming terror of being left alone again. Her people gone, four hundred years and more into the future, and she was here, alone.

The terror gave way to acceptance and she sat down on a nearby chair and fiddled with the PA. Would it be found amongst the wreckage in the 1980s? Would they wonder about it? No, there was no record of such a gadget being found. It probably ended up buried somewhere away from the wreck. She knew her body would have dissolved long before the submarines came to explore the depths of the icy Atlantic for the legendary Ship of Dreams.

And that's all they were – just dreams, for her and for all those who would not survive this night. She felt the tears trickling down her burning cheeks but made no move to brush them away. What was the point? There was no one here to see her.

 

 

Marco

 

He ran, faster than he’d ever run before. Plunging down the galley staircase to Scotland Road and along to their cabins where he prayed Paulo would be. When he threw open the door, his heart sank to his feet. No one there. They were all still all in the restaurant, even now.

He turned to run back to the staircase that would take him directly to B Deck and the restaurant. However, as he reached it, several of the staff were coming down, laughing and joking about the ice someone was handing around up on the deck. One of them was Paulo, and when the young man saw his face he was immediately alarmed.

‘What is it? Where did you go? Someone said you went out the front way.’

‘Come,’ Marco gasped, grabbing the boy by the collar and dragging him along Scotland Road toward mid-ship and the staircase that would take them up to the Portal; if it were still there; if he hadn’t thrown away this chance at survival.

But he couldn’t have left. Once he saw that it was all real. Everything that Pia had told him was real. He couldn’t leave Paulo. For once in his life he needed to put someone else first. The boy deserved to live. If he could get him up there in time he would make them take Paulo in his place. Even though his spot was only his because of Pia, his sweet, beautiful Pia, he would make them take Paulo in his place because the boy deserved to live. He deserved a chance.

‘Where are you… hey Marco, are you crazy! Let me go,’ Paulo cried, struggling to escape the fist that clutched his coat and dragged him along the passageway.

Marco could hear the voices of the other staff calling after them, making fun of them. Rude, crude comments about what they were to each other.

‘Shut up, Paulo, and come with me. We're late. We may have missed your chance. I didn’t believe it, you see. I didn’t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.’

‘Saw what? For god’s sake, let me loose! You're going to tear my jacket!’

‘Shut up and run like your life depends on it, because it does, damn you, it does!’ With that he gave the boy a big push and let him go. Paulo did as he was told, running ahead of him up the passage.

‘Take the stairs at the engineer’s mess.’

‘But we aren’t allow…’

‘Just do it!’

They ran, knocking anyone in their path out of their way. Gasping for breath, they reached the bottom of the stairs and began to take them two at a time upward to the kitchens one deck above.

‘Hey, you can’t go up there!’ They heard a voice shout behind them. But they were through the door at the top now and the yelling was muffled. Marco quickly glanced around for something to jam the door shut. He saw a door-stop on the bench. He slammed the chock under the door.

‘What are you doing? Are you mad? We’ll lose our jobs, Marco. I can’t afford to lose this job!’ The boy was almost in tears as he gasped for air.

‘You have lost it. We all have. The ship is sinking, Paulo; the ship is sinking. Come, now, if you want a hope of surviving!’

He pushed the boy ahead of him toward the second class pantry at the end of the corridor.

Even before he got to the double saloon doors, he knew it was too late. There was no bright light under them, no loud hum coming from the other side. They had all gone. He had lost Paulo’s chance for him.

Slowing to a walk, he trudged on hopelessly. He thought there would be time. He'd prayed there would be time. Paulo, ahead of him, noticed he’d slowed.

‘What? I thought we were in a rush…’

‘It’s too late,’ he said tiredly, dragging his feet forward until he reached Paulo. He swung the doors outward into the dark and empty Dining Saloon.

‘Marco?’

Pia’s voice had to be a dream. They had all gone. How could he hear her calling his name?

But as he stared in utter amazement he saw her running toward him out of the darkness. Tears were coursing down his face as he scooped her up and clung to her, sobbing. ‘I thought you’d gone. I thought you’d all gone.’

‘I could not go without you.’ She was sobbing, too, clinging to him just as tightly as he held her.

‘You have lost your chance to go home because of me?’ he cried, feeling the full force of what she was doing there. Not only was he responsible for Paulo’s life but now Pia’s? He truly was a bastardo. ‘I never wanted that. I never wanted that!’

She pulled away from him. ‘It is all right. I have a PA. We can go.’

He stared down at her, trying to make sense of her words. What was a PA? How could they still go? However, he trusted the confidence in her voice, knew that it was somehow still possible for her to go; for them to go.

‘Take Paulo instead of me. Please. If you love me, take him instead of me. He deserves to live!’ He begged her.

She grinned at him through her tears and she began to press the small object in her hands.

‘I know it is too much to ask but please, if you can go home, take the boy with you,’ he said again, trying to convince her. He looked back at the bemused boy standing behind him. His face told him he thought Marco was mad.

Suddenly the light was back, blazing so brightly and buzzing so loudly that it made him cower away from it in panic. Paulo cried out in terror and Marco made a hasty grab for the boy to stop him from running away. In the distance, he could hear fast approaching footsteps. Whoever had seen them come into the kitchen had come after them. Any minute they would burst through the doors.

‘You are both coming. Come on, now. There’s no time!’ Pia’s face was beautiful in the strange, bright light.

‘Both?’ he asked, not sure he understood her. There was no room for the two of them. It could only be Paulo or him. How could it be both?

‘Both. Now. Those who are following you cannot be allowed to see the Portal. Quickly!’

Grabbing Paulo’s jacket, Marco hauled the boy toward the light. The lad struggled to get away, frightened of what he was seeing.

‘It’s all right, garzone, trust me,’ Marco said as he raced into the light with the boy clutched to his side. He felt, more than saw, Pia follow them in.

 

 

Spring 2337 New Atlantis, GAIAN CONFEDERACY

 

And then it was chaos, blinding, noisy chaos and the only thing that was real was the jacket he clutched in his fist. Just when he thought he would go mad from it all, they fell out onto a stone dais with Pia close behind them. Then the light and the noise were gone.

For a moment, he lay where he and Paulo fell, gasping for breath, heart still racing. The silence was as deafening as the noise had been only seconds before.

‘Thank God you made it!’ The red-haired girl called Jane rushed out of the darkness and threw her arms around Pia. They were suddenly both crying and laughing at the same time.

However, their joyful reunion was short lived as Jane turned to him and yelled, ‘you selfish bastard!’ If she hadn’t been such a fragile looking woman he might have been afraid.

‘Jane, no!’ Pia cried.

Ignoring Pia, the young woman stood her ground, fury streaming off her in waves. ‘Get up. I’m going to hit you hard for what you did back there. I nearly lost my friend because of you! Get up!’

Marco clambered unsteadily to his feet brushing his hair back out of his eyes. He watched the girl approach him in a fighter’s stance.

‘Do it!’ he said, offering her his chin. ‘I deserve it. I never meant for Pia to stay behind. I never wanted to risk her!’

Jane stopped to stare at him furiously. ‘What did you expect her to do? She loves you and you left her!’

‘Jane,’ Pia pleaded, dragging at her friend’s arm. ‘Do not. It is over. We are all safe.’

‘No. It isn’t okay, Pia. This arrogant idiot had a chance of a lifetime with a woman far too good for him and he was willing to throw it all away. Throw you away, for god’s sake! It’s not okay.’

‘Jane!’ This was her husband Peter, who stepped up onto the bottom stair; his face was dark with censure.

‘I went for Paulo. He deserved to take my place. I didn’t believe it was real until I saw the light.’

‘Your place?’ Jane demanded, ignoring her angry husband.