Outpost Read Free Page B

in the corridor, you don't even look
me in the eye. You think me and my boys are dirt. Get off your high horse,
bitch. You contribute zero to this rig. You can't do a damn thing. You can
barely tie your shoes. You just sit around all day eating our food. So don't
act like I'm the one with my nose in the air.'
    He
stared down at Jane. There were centrefolds on the walls around her. Women spreading
themselves, women hitching their legs. He was daring her to look. She held his
gaze.
    'Point
taken. Fresh start, all right? The service is at seven. We'd all be glad to see
you.'
     
    Jane
led prayers.
    'Father,
protect our loved ones in this hour of darkness. We commit them to your loving
grace. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.'
    Nail
and his gang sat in the back row and watched.
    They
sang 'Eternal Father Strong to Save', the sailors' hymn.
    Jane
blessed her small congregation. Rawlins stood and gave the news. The Oslo Star hadn't left port but a second
ship was on its way. Oil support vessel Spirit of Endeavour. It would arrive at nine the
following morning but wouldn't stay long. Everyone better be packed and ready
to go.
     
    Time
to put the rig in hibernation. Rawlins assigned everyone a task.
    Jane
shut down Main Street. She threw breakers in a wall- mounted fuse box and extinguished
the broken neon that blinked and buzzed above each vacant retail unit.
Starbucks. Cafe Napoli. Blockbuster. Signage flickered and died.
    Jane
took a bunch of keys and closed C deck. Punch tagged along.
    'Nice
prayer,' said Punch. 'I heard a couple of guys say they liked it. Yakov. He's
Catholic.'
    Each
corridor had a series of blast doors set in the ceiling. In the event of an
explosion the doors would drop to prevent the spread of fire. Jane twisted a
numbered key into the wall at each intersection and a blast door rumbled
downward like a portcullis.
    'I
bet most of them didn't even know we had a chapel.'
    'Do
you think prayers are ever answered?' asked Punch.
    'It
helps to voice your fears.'
    'It
would be nice to think there was a cosmic parent ready to kiss it all better.'
    'I
wrapped my car round a tree a few years ago,' said Jane. 'They say I was dead
for three minutes. I can tell you for sure there is no God, no happy
afterworld. In fact that's why I became a priest. It's a short life and people
deserve more than work and recreational shopping. They need meaning. A place to
belong.'
    They
stood in the doorway of the stairwell. Jane took a radio from her pocket.
    'C
deck clear.'
    The
steady hum of heating fans died away. Somewhere, high above them, Rawlins
flicked a bank of isolator switches to Off. The corridor lights were
extinguished one by one.
     
    Next
morning the crew gathered in the canteen. They brought kit-bags and suitcases.
They wore parkas and snowboots. They looked like tourists in a departure
lounge.
    They
watched TV.
    Berlin
in chaos. Looting. Riot vans and burning cars. The Brandenburg Gate glimpsed
through tear gas.
    Bilbao
docks. Refugees try to climb a mooring rope and board an oil tanker. Sailors
blast them with a fire hose.
    The
White House south lawn. The President ringed by Secret Service armed with
assault rifles. '. . . may God defend us in this dark and difficult hour . .
! Brief wave
from the hatch of Marine One.
    Punch
found a box of crisps in a kitchen storeroom. He upturned the box and scattered
crisp packets across the pool table.
    'May
as well use them up, folks,' he said. 'A ton of food going to waste.'
    Nail
and his gang hogged the jukebox.
    Rawlins
sat by the window.
    'They'll
be coming from the north-east.'
    Time
dragged. Punch took a pack of playing cards from his pocket. He shuffled and
re-shuffled.
    'There
it is,' said Rawlins.
    They
crowded round the window.
    'That
ship don't look right,' said Nail.
    The
plastic canteen window was pitted and scratched, scoured by fierce ice storms.
The approaching ship was a blur. The crew ran upstairs to the rooftop helipad
for a better view. They stood on the big