ALICE EMERGED AT THE prow and looked up at the ferry bridge, barely visible through the rain. He could just make out Hope on the port side, climbing a metal ladder to the upper deck. Just as he was about to climb up and join her, Joe, the six-five bouncer from the Jungle Bar, sent after him by Mal, confronted him. With a loud clap of thunder, a torrential squall inundated them both.
Hope was alone on the open deck. The yawing of the boat was forcing her to grip the rail to maintain her balance, and the wind was so fierce it was just about blowing her backwards. Spray from the waves was picked up by the gale and peppered her hands, legs and face with tiny beads of speeding water, which smarted on contact like stings of myriad insects. The wind-chill factor and the pouring rain were making teeth chatter. Wrenching herself along the rail to the lee of the ferry’s superstructure, Hope searched for access to the bridge. The half deck above her had a gunwale leading to the bridge deck. She could see the captain through the windshield, doing his best to pilot the ferry through the treacherous conditions.
On the deck below, Alice’s muscular upper torso glistened in the light as he shaped up to the big man, who growled at him over the ferocious tempest.
“Come on, Joe!” Alice yelled, his voice trailing into the teeth of the wind.
With the waves drenching the two of them, and the violent pitching of the ferry, it was almost impossible for either man to maintain his balance.
Alice let go a solid left that caught the big man in the throat. He followed it quickly with a right cross, which sent him staggering backwards. Mal came rushing to the side of the bow in a fury, but stopped when he saw Alice and Joe coming to blows. Ratsso, close behind, grabbed Mal to restrain him.
“Come on Mal, ease up,” he yelled, “He’s a mate!”
“Sure!” screamed Mal. “He clubbed me in the mouth! He’s supposed to be our leader!”
“Come on,” insisted Ratsso, “just trust him.”
Mal looked up to see Hope climbing onto the gunwale of the bridge deck.
“That bitch!” he shrieked, “she’s gotta be the spy we were warned about — they’ve turned you, Alice!”
By now, Alice had big Joe on the back foot, so he grabbed him, pulled him close and launched his body upward, trying to head-butt the taller man under the jaw. It was a disastrous move. The big bouncer dodged the blow, and belted Alice with an almighty right jab that sat him onto his butt. To Alice, the bouncer’s fist felt the size of a basketball.
Hope saw him go down and let out a panicked cry: “Alice! No!”
Big Joe grabbed Alice by the throat, lifting him off the deck with one hand and driving the other fist into his exposed gut. Alice let fly with a wishful uppercut, and somehow landed it. Joe countered with a powerful one-two that dropped Alice again. He struck out with a Taekwondo Dragon’s tail throw, and brought the bouncer down. In this case the old cliché was right on: the bigger you are, the heavier you fall. Joe hit the deck like the fall of empires.
Alice took the opportunity to stagger to the ladder leading to the quarterdeck, and scrambled up it to get to Hope. Aching all over, he was almost up when big Joe came at him again. Bleeding profusely from the nose, he grabbed Alice by the leg and tried to drag him off the ladder.
A bolt of lightning struck very close to the ferry, punctuating the fight like a feedback loop. The entire boat vibrated from the thunderclap. Alice lashed out with a hook kick that collected Joe smack in the face. Down he went again, this time long enough for Alice to make it over the gunwale onto the quarterdeck.
Seeing big Joe out cold, Mal ripped free of Ratsso and ran out onto the prow. The ferry was rolling so much he had to grab the handrail to prevent slipping over. He glared up at Alice and screamed: “I’m gonna get you Al! I’m coming for you!”
Hope held out a hand and helped Alice over the final rail onto the bridge deck. Mal bolted back inside the ferry.
As lightning flashed again, Alice caught something out of the corner of his eye. It was the American submarine, moving parallel with them, only fifty metres away. A second flash of lightning highlighted the hull number on the conning tower: 666.
Alice pointed at it and yelled: “Look at that evil-looking thing!” Fear gathered like a knot in his stomach.
Hope was shocked, but yelled: “We’re not going to collide! We’re running parallel!”
Suddenly, with a deafening crash, two arms thrashed through a smashed side bridge window and seized Alice around the throat. It was Mal.
Being choked by bloodied hands, Alice screamed through clenched teeth: “Get inside Hope! Get inside, now!”
“They’ve scrambled your brains, man!” Mal howled. “You’re working for them now, you bloody traitor!”
Hope took off to the door of the bridge deck. It was locked. Time was running out, so she raised her elbow and smashed the small glass window, reached through and opened the door from the inside.
The captain was desperately trying to maintain course, but there were too many distractions: the storm, a woman had smashed her way onto his bridge, a guy was bleeding all over the place, fighting through a smashed window with someone outside, everyone yelling: it was total mayhem.
Hope shouted, “Stop the ferry Captain!”
“Get off my bridge!” he roared.
Hope spotted a bottle of wine on the console, picked it up and threatened him with it.
“Just steer on course, or so help me…” Hope cautioned.
“Don’t you threaten me, young lady!” countered the captain.
“What’s the matter with you Al?” Mal raged.
“The ferry…” gasped Alice. “It’s going to collide with the sub!”
Mal dragged him in through the smashed window. Broken glass lacerated Alice’s upper body as he came through. There was blood everywhere. Alice flopped to the floor, gasping for breath. With his back to Hope, Mal had his fist drawn back, set to smash Alice to oblivion. She swung the bottle at the back of Mal’s head, but the boat pitched. She missed, smashed the captain’s instead. As he tumbled to the floor, hand still on the helm, the big wheel turned.
Mal looked around at the thud of the captain going down, giving Alice the chance to belt him. It was a good short jab, right on the chin. Mal, finally, went down. Hope reached out a hand and helped Alice up. He was a bloody mess, unsteady on his feet.
“You alright?” she asked.
They both looked through the windshield, but recoiled in terror. The conning tower of the submarine, the huge characters of the devil’s number — 666 — were looming right in front of them. They were going to ram it.
“The sub!” screamed Hope.
This was the end of the line. Alice had fought all the odds, conquered the impossible to get here. He stared through windshield, wondering fleetingly whether all he had fought for had amounted to this: was the collision inevitable? Was it possible to change time? His mind flashed through his journey — his friends’ faces flicked through his mind: fearless Ex, stunning Djard, mighty Derg, clever Karn and Chez, a big strapping man with a little boy smile. The beautiful face of Zule loomed, and his words to her resounded in his mind: “I’ll come back, I promise...” Alice remembered that if he stopped the collision, all those friends would cease to exist, that future would end. The question in his mind was whether he could do it. Could he terminate the lives of his friends to save the rest of humanity? The answer was simple: he had to. It was up to him.
Hope was frozen, awestruck, staring at the sub. Shoving her aside, Alice grabbed the throttle and wrenched it backwards with all his might. The old ferry shuddered and protested loudly as the engine roared in reverse. Through the windshield, the conning tower of the sub was growing larger and larger.
Hope shut her eyes tightly and grabbed Alice’s arm, ready to accept oblivion.
Alice spun the big ship’s wheel as fast and hard to starboard as he could. A massive wave broke over the bow, and splashed violently against the windshield. It rocked the ferry wildly as it finally began to turn.
The huge, upright stern fin of the sub came into view. Closer, closer … it was no use. He was too late. Closer still, the fin towered over them. They were all going to die. He’d failed. Numb with horror, he watched the huge metal structure take over the world … and slip by the bow, avoiding collision by the narrowest of margins.
When nothing happened, Hope tentatively opened her eyes.
Face battered, bloody and torn, Alice’s mouth still managed a wide grin of mingled disbelief and success.
Reality struck Hope. She looked up at Alice in awe. “I don’t believe you, mate,” she gasped, almost in a chuckle. “I really don’t believe you.”
“That’ll teach you to mess with Al!” scoffed Alice, as the sub continued past. He turned and winked at Hope with a bloodshot eye, “You know what?” he said. “Time travel rocks.”
Sitting on the floor Al was staring thunderstruck at the glowing orb.
“That was cutting it fine … nearly didn’t ice it.”
“But you did and changed the destiny of the world.”
Alice got to his feet. “Is was you that gave me the power to jump and slow down time, wasn’t it?” En-Ki offered no reply, so Al changed tack, “All this time travel should’ve ended there but it didn’t, did it?”
“It was not my fault the formula Secta had used to alter your molecular structure had serious side-effects.”
“That En-Ki is the understatement of a lifetime … Continue...”