Sedulity (Book One) Impact Read Online Free PDF Page A

crew had assigned fire drill stations. His was in the Sky
Lounge. He stepped out from behind the bar and ran that way. His first priority
would be to make any passengers leave the lounge and go towards their muster
stations. Then he would open up the firefighting cabinet, uncoil the hose and
grab a fire extinguisher, in case a fire started or spread into the lounge.
Fire was usually the greatest threat to any ship at sea, short of a collision with
another ship, or an iceberg, or a reef.  Those other dangers were almost
unheard of now, due to radar, depth finders and GPS, but fire remained a
constant threat that every crewmember was trained to combat.
    Upon entering the Sky Lounge he was faced with an immediate
decision. Several dozen passengers were clustered by the floor to ceiling
windows overlooking the bow, staring out at the massive glow beyond the horizon
on the starboard side of the ship. Armando was also momentarily transfixed by
the scene, but his training and instructions quickly kicked in.
    “Ladies and gentlemen!” he called out. “You must go down to
the Lifeboat Muster Stations! This is not a drill. It is not safe to be up here
by the windows.” As he said that he noticed that one of the giant windows was
already spider-webbed with cracks from the sonic boom. If was unlikely to
survive much more punishment. “Please clear the lounge and go below
immediately. This is for your own safety,” he implored them.
    “What is it?” asked an elderly woman, pointing towards the
glowing horizon and over at the damaged window. “What’s happening?”
    “I’m not sure, ma’am, but the Captain says it’s not over yet.
Everyone is to go below to your muster station and stay away from the windows.
Now, please, you must all leave now!” Armando was growing anxious. The ship was
listing in a hard turn to starboard and he was terrified to realize that would
put them on a direct course towards whatever the hell was happening over the
horizon. “Get out of here!” he yelled.
    The passengers, mostly senior citizens, reluctantly complied
with barely restrained comments such as, “Well I never!” and “That’s a hell of
a way to treat the passengers!” Armando didn’t care. They could report him
later, but he would do what he had to do now. As soon as the last of them left
the room he moved back from the windows and went to open the Fire Locker.
Several other members of the crew should have joined him here by now, but they
were nowhere in sight. They were probably Pollywogs, still scrambling to exit
the pool or running to the crew quarters for dry clothes. Some people have a
warped sense of priorities.
    With the fire hose ready to deploy and a fire extinguisher in
hand, Armando moved to the circular bar in the center of the Sky Lounge. He felt
more comfortable behind the bar. It felt safe and familiar. It would also give
him something to duck behind if anything smashed through the windows.  So he
crouched behind the forward side of the bar and peered over it while the
ominous glowing mushroom cloud grew and centered up in front of the ship.
    “Hail Mary, full of grace,” he mumbled as he reached for some
Johnny Walker Black Label Scotch and took a deep swig straight from the bottle.
    ****
    Lydia accompanied Staff Captain Stevens and a group of uniformed
crew members, some of them dripping wet, as they led the procession of
passengers from poolside down the stairs towards the lifeboat muster stations
on the Promenade Deck. Mrs. Krystos was not an official member of the crew, but
they all deferred to her status of first lady aboard the ship. She didn’t know
quite what to expect, but the fireball in the sky and the warning given by the
meteorologist convinced her that this was truly a crisis situation.
    She thought about her husband’s warning to stay away from
windows. Most of the lifeboat muster stations were clustered alongside windows
facing the Promenade Deck where the lifeboats were located. Lydia was