What James Did: The Accidental Time Travellers-Book 3 (5 page)

“And you’re not worried?  Are they evacuating the ship?”  Faraday replied.

“What are you talking about?  It will take a lot more than that to sink this.”

“No it bloody won't.”  Faraday shouted.

The men ignored him and returned to kicking the block of ice around.

“We need to warn someone.”  Sarah suggested.

They made their way around to the starboard side of the ship and saw more pieces of ice scattered around the deck.  They saw more people, most of whom were unconcerned by the collision. 

“Why is no one worried?”  Faraday asked.  “I thought it would be manic?”

They walked back towards the other end of the boat and they could feel a slight incline.

“It’s already started to sink and they aren’t evacuating.”  Sarah stated.

They finally came across a man in uniform, he was smoking a cigarette looking out at the water.

“Good evening, sir, madam.”  The man spoke in a very posh English accent.

“You need to evacuate the ship!”  Sarah said frantically.

The man looked baffled by Sarah’s suggestion.  “Madam, do not worry.  The ship is designed to cope with such impacts.”

“It will sink, it’s already tilting!”  She replied.

“I assure you, there is no need to worry.”

They were interrupted as another crew member ran towards them.  “Mr Lightoller, the captain has ordered that we ready the lifeboats.” 

“Really?”  The man asked shocked.

“He wants you in charge of the port side evacuation, women and children first.”

Sarah and Faraday followed Lightoller back around to the port side of the ship, they stood and watched as he looked around almost clueless.

“What are you doing?”  Faraday asked.

“I cannot prepare the boats myself, I need help.”

“We can help you.”  Faraday replied.

“No, no, that will not be necessary.  Someone will be along shortly.”

“This ship is sinking!”  Faraday yelled.

“It will not sink, it is only a precaution.”

Faraday could not believe the stupidity of the man.  “If you don’t hurry up, no one will get off this fucking ship!” 

“Lower your voice sir.”

“Lower my voice, are you out of your mind!”  Faraday barked.

The man did not reply, Faraday touched the gun in his holster, he needed to do something. 

“Let me help you.”  Faraday pleaded. 

“Sir, you will not be boarding a lifeboat until all the women and children have been evacuated.”

“All the women and children, do you have any idea how many people will die here tonight?”  Sarah interrupted.

Faraday had heard enough, he removed the gun from his holster and pointed it at the man.  “Let us help you, or I swear to God, I will shoot you.”

Lightoller was stunned, Sarah too seemed shocked. 

“Now!”  Faraday instructed.

“We need more men.”  Lightoller yelled back.

“Sarah go and get some men.”  Faraday instructed.

“Sir I need crew members.”

“No!  We can do this, you need to get this done quickly!”

The man did not reply, he just stared at Faraday in disgust.

Sarah appeared back with the two men that they had met earlier, they had been kicking the block of ice around.

“What’s going on?”  The man who had spoken earlier asked in shock.

“We need you to help us prepare the lifeboats.”  Faraday ordered.

The three men all stared at Faraday in bemusement.  Faraday handed the gun to Sarah. 

“Just help me.”  Faraday pleaded.

The two newcomers helped Faraday prepare the lifeboat, after a couple of minutes Lightoller reluctantly helped as well.

As the time wore on, larger numbers of people were arriving to board the lifeboats, they were all dressed immaculately and Sarah felt completely underdressed when she saw the women’s attire.

Preparing the lifeboat took much longer than Faraday had expected, when it was eventually finished they began to ask the women and children to board the lifeboat.  They were met by the majority of the crowd refusing to board.

“That’s a fifty foot drop, we are much safer here.”  One woman replied.

“All women and children on the lifeboat.”  Lightoller yelled.

Faraday pushed Sarah on board and began guiding a few other women onto the boat.  When there were no other women or children, he went to get on the boat himself, he was stopped as Lightoller grabbed him.

“Women and children only.”  Lightoller instructed.

“There are none around!”  Faraday yelled.

“Then we send the boat off as it is.”

Faraday looked at the man in bemusement.  “Are you crazy, look at the space on the lifeboat, we have to let men on as well.”

“The orders were women and children only.”  Lightoller argued.

“I heard the order, it was women and children first.  The more people in the lifeboats, the more that will survive, why would you leave spaces?”  Faraday was astonished.

“They are the orders.  Lower the life boat.”  Lightoller yelled.

The lifeboat was lowered to the water as Faraday watched on, the Titanic was now tilting rapidly.  He watched from the ship as the lifeboat was lowered towards the water, still people were remaining so calm.  He had to get off the ship, he didn’t like heights but he knew his best chance was to make a jump for the lifeboat.

“Please you need to let me on a lifeboat.”  Faraday pleaded.

“Don’t be such a coward.”  Lightoller barked.

“A coward?  Am I a coward because I want to live?”

“Only women and children will be boarding the lifeboats.”

Faraday looked over the edge of the ship and looked towards the boat that Sarah was on.  It was around half way down the ship, Faraday glanced towards Lightoller.

“Mr Lightoller.”  Faraday smiled as Lightoller looked at him.  “Go fuck yourself.”  Faraday quickly climbed onto the ledge of the ship and made a jump for the lifeboat. 

As he fell he could hear the women in the boat screaming, as he landed he hit the only man on the boat, knocking him unconscious.  The landing was hard, and as he hit the boat, one of the ropes that were lowering the lifeboat into the water dropped the boat far quicker than the other. For a moment it seemed as though the boat would tip over, dropping the passengers into the ocean. 

As it did so the women screamed, Faraday almost fell off himself, but Sarah grasped his arm.  The screaming continued and a woman’s hat fell off into the sea.  The men eventually managed to level out the ship and continued lowering it into the water.

“How dare you!”  One woman screamed.

“Who will row the boat now?”  Another asked.

“He would have died if he hadn’t done it, there is plenty room.”  Sarah snapped.

“They are far safer on the ship.”  A woman argued.

“Believe me, they are not.”  Sarah snapped.

“What a coward.”  Another woman barked.

When they eventually reached the water, Faraday took one of the ores and tried to row.  He had presumed that it would be easy, he was wrong.  The small boat was going around in circles. As Sarah looked up at the Titanic, she could see that the front of the vessel was already submerged in water.

“Oh my God.”  One of the women exclaimed.

“The ship won’t sink.”  Another stated.

“Look at it.”  Sarah said.

Faraday continued struggling to row the lifeboat away from the Titanic, he had only ever rowed the canoe that he and Jane had been in on the day that it had flipped at Loch Ness.  This boat was considerably bigger and much heavier.  He was trying to ignore the glares from the women on the boat, but he was finding it difficult.

Sarah sensed that Faraday was feeling incredibly uncomfortable, she went over to join him.

“Are you okay?”  She asked.

“I'm all right, are you?”

“Yes, just ignore them.”

“Don’t be so rude!”  One of the women barked.

“He is trying to help us!”  Sarah snapped, turning back to face the crowd of angry women.

“He is trying to save himself.”  A woman snapped back.

“He almost killed us all!”  Another one shouted.

“The rest of the men are still on board.”  A third woman intervened.

Sarah again turned away from the women and looked at Faraday once again. 

“And here I thought you were a hero.”  She smiled.

Faraday managed a wry smile which was short-lived as the lifeboat again seemed to be turning back in a circle.

“Where is Bobby?” She asked.

“It is a long story, perhaps it would be better to wait until we are back on dry land.”

Sarah nodded and looked a little worried before she retook her seat.

“Fucking thing.”  Faraday snapped in frustration at the lifeboat.  His foul language received more filthy looks from the women on-board.

After a few more minutes, the man that Faraday had landed on began to stir.  He was right beside where Faraday was sitting.

“What is going on?”  He asked softly.

“That man jumped on you!”  A woman shrieked.

The man looked up at Faraday in confusion and grasped his head.  He had a lump on his forehead that looked painful.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to land on you.  It was a long drop.”  He explained.

“The orders were women and children only.”

“I’m sorry I had to get off the ship.”  Faraday began.

“You are a coward.”  The man barked.

“For not wanting to die?  There is plenty of room, and you need help rowing.”

“You are doing a very poor job.”  The man replied.

“Do you want to take over?”  Faraday asked.

“I think that would be best.”

Faraday rose from his seat and allowed the man to take the ores.  He squeezed between the women that filled the boat, each of them giving him filthy looks.

“You cost me my hat.”  One of them moaned.

“You are lucky to be alive!”  Sarah snapped.

Faraday took his seat beside Sarah at the front of the lifeboat, they faced away from the women and towards the sinking ship.  Its angle had changed considerably, and the front of the vessel was almost entirely flooded.

“So are we stuck here?”  Sarah asked.

“No.”  Faraday removed the generator from his inside jacket pocket and showed it to Sarah.  “All we have to do is type in the date and location we want to go to and then we will be able to get back.”

“So why didn’t you just do that on the ship?”  Sarah asked.

“Apparently it doesn’t work on moving vehicles.” 

Sarah smirked and looked at the ship.  “Would you say that ship is moving?”

Faraday looked as the water poured into the vessel, she was right.  “Bloody Edward!  He told me I’d need to get to dry land.”

“So you could have used it?” 

“I can try just now.”  Faraday turned to face the others in the boat.  “Can you please stop rowing, just for a minute?”

The man frowned at Faraday in annoyance but did as he was asked.  Faraday turned back to Sarah and typed in 13:15, 22
nd,
November, 1963 and then the address of the condo.  The light flashed from red to green and the wormhole appeared.

“Walk into the light.”  He instructed. 

Sarah did as she was told and disappeared, the others on the boat were stunned.  Faraday jumped into the light quickly and vanished.

Chapter 13

Bobby had never been so thirsty in his entire life.  The salt water was so dehydrating, he had told Emmerich and Will about his experience. They had not had the pleasure of meeting Mengele, well not yet anyway.

“They are evil.”  Will stated, breaking the silence in the tiny room.

“How long have you been in this cell?”  Bobby asked, his hip was now badly swollen from the prolonged pressure on it.

“I think it’s been two weeks.  They let us eat whilst you were with Mengele, but that’s the first time since I’ve been in here.  It was this tasteless, horrid soup, I’ve never been so hungry.”  Will replied.

“There must be a way out, they told me I would see my wife at the weekend.  Maybe that would be the best time to escape?”  Emmerich replied.

“They lied Emmerich, she is dead.”  Will spoke bluntly.

“We don’t know that yet.”  Emmerich said half-heartedly.