High Seas Series
The Explorers
Book Two
Chapter 04
Charles W Bird
[email protected]
This story is a fictional account of a period that begins after The Carson Family and their many ships had settled in Australia and helped civilization to cling to life after much of the world had suffered from Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) and chronicles what happens to that family, who had saved many youngsters from death or a life so horrible, death would have been welcomed.. While the story is completely fictional, actual names, characters, places and incidents that might coincide with actions, places, people or events have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty or are the product of my imagination and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The actual shipboard processes, however, are based upon experiences of the author.
This story is copyrighted and may not be reproduced by any means without my express, written permission.
***************************************************************
From Chapter 3: They set their course to sail well offshore of South America and headed for the Cape. They had been gone from their homes and loved ones for three years now and it was time to head home. They cranked up the engines and set course for Darwin, Australia. It would take them about a month to get home and it would be another one hundred years before any of the children returned to North America.
***************************************************************
HOMECOMING
The arrival of the Rescue fleet had been eagerly awaited, the new tug, THE CARSON RELIEF, proudly sent her cables up through the bull nose on the Flag Ship and took up the strain.
Each of the arriving ships in their turn, were delivered to the Receiving Pier, where members of the Carson Family were waiting to greet those who had been rescued from North and South America.
Port Onslow had become busy during their long absence, there were numerous vessels anchored in the basin, most flying the Carson Shipping house flag, but many were flying colors they did not recognize.
.
Robby and Tommy stood at the Quarter Deck to receive Tommy’s Father (T3). Tommy’s Uncle Jeremy (J3) was much too frail to come down to greet them.
Robby’s Great Uncle, The Grand Shaman of All Australia stood alongside T3 with a huge smile on his face as he saw his Grand Nephew hold the hand of Tommy Carson. Robby’s dark skin and tattoos hid his deep blush, but Tommy’s face made up for it, his face was shining bright scarlet!
Jeremy stood to one side laughing. He once had designs of Tommy being his mate, but, he knew how deeply his cousin Tommy loved Robby.
Tommy and Robby proudly introduced their five sons and one daughter to their Fathers and Grandfather Rolling Stone staggered at the mind power of his new Grand Daughter’s greeting. Among the Aborigines, girl children did not have the strong mind powers that their brothers developed.
As the rescued children came down the gangway, they were met by the CROCKYDALE Warriors and loaded on large wagons with seats and a canvas top to shield them from the intense Australian summer sun.
They were taken to large, hotel-like barracks located on the far end of the property, well away from the noise of the busy shipyard.
Those, who had not yet “landed” a family, were checked in to two-person apartments, where they discovered the beds already made up and there were fresh towels and toiletries laid out for their use. A sign on each bed listed the meal times and that day’s special activities.
All the new children realized that their lives had dramatically changed, but it was still staggering to their emotions. Many just sat on the floor and cried. The CROCKYDALE Warriors had whole squads stationed on each floor, ready to hold a child whose emotions had taken over.
More than a few Warriors discovered children of their own during that time.
It required several days for a comfortable routine to be established and school classes were begun the next week.
The older boys rallied around the Citadel Cadets and the petitioned the school authorities to allow them to establish a Corps of Cadets. The High School principal agreed and the Carson Family Trust provided a nest egg fund for uniforms and equipment.
It was not long before the new Cadets were seen practicing on the ball field as soon as it got light each morning.
The Cadet program was very popular and Junior Cadets were established in the Elementary School.
A Senior Cadet program was begun for the boys or girls who were already working on the ships. The shipboard Cadets worked together with the Crockydale Warriors and they soon put the fear of the ancestor’s in the pirates and scumbags that proliferated in the ports of Southeast Asia.
TRADER CADETS
A number of the Cadets worked with traders as they went about their business. It unnerved sleazy traders ashore to have an armed cadet, who, they were told, could read minds, standing next to the trader they were attempting to fleece!
It was not long before those shore based traders learned that the rumors were correct! The Cadets, however, like their military brethren, had a very strong code of ethics. They could not, under any circumstances allow either party to cheat the other, even when it was their own family members doing the cheating.
Business was very good and trade was rapidly expanding westward towards Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The traders had already been dealing with Muslim peoples in Southeast Asia, but those in the Arabian Peninsula were a different “breed of cat”!
Those in Asia were too busy making a living to be worried about “infidels”, but those living on the deserts of Arabia were, as one young Cadet reported, “Fruitcakes”! He had no idea what kind of cake a fruitcake was, but he understood that it meant crazy!
There was not much to trade for in those lands of blowing sand, so there was not a great deal of exposure. The one trade item that the Trader Cadets would not allow was slaves and that seemed to be the most plentiful trade item the Sand Muslims had to offer.
There were stories that once those people had vast wealth in the form of oil, but they saw no sign of it and they certainly did not have wealth of any kind at that time.
The few ships that did call at port on the Arabian Peninsula always found young boys stowed away in their holds. Nobody could figure out just how they got there, but, their condition was universally so pitiful, the boys were brought back and given over to the Cadets to care for.
The Trader Cadets became established members of the trading teams, they were powerful mind-speakers and accomplished linguists. Every trading ship had at least one Trader Cadet on board and many traders themselves employed a Cadet or two to assist them personally.
The Cadets had established a reputation for absolute honesty and fair dealing and many shore-side businesses were hiring them also. Even the Australian Government saw their value and The Cadets were found in many government agencies.
Trade was opened up with small island nations of the South Pacific Ocean and, probably out of sentiment, a trade mission was established in Hawaii.
The Hawaiian Trade Mission included two Trade Cadets, Cadet Corporal Oto Hiro and Cadet Second Lieutenant Milan Longo. Of the two, Cadet Corporal Hiro was the more powerful mind-speaker.
It was early in the morning when, when the Duty Officer at Cadet Headquarters heard a frantic mind call from the section communicator. He headed for the Comm Center at a dead run!
The Chief Communicator was sitting in a chair, tears were running down his face and he was holding his head in pain. He shoved a paper at Lt. Longo, unable to speak of the horror that was on that paper.
Lt. Longo read the message and the entire building was awake! Gabe Carson was on duty that morning. He had been instrumental in the rescue of many children on the last voyage of rescue that had been made to the old North American continent and had been to author of the famous song, “COME TO ME”.
Gabe took one look at the message that read, “The volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is erupting and the volcanoes on Kauai, Oahu and Maui are rumbling. Our people will die if we cannot be rescued!” His mental scream brought every Carson Company Department Head running to Cadet Headquarters.
By noon of that same day, four of their fastest freighters were fueled and crews were streaming on board. Gabe insisted that he be included and he grabbed The Chief Communicator who had received the original message and Cadet Lt. Longo and told them to pack their duffels. They were going to ride the Alice Carson to Hawaii.
Before dark, the four ships passed the breakwater and headed east, toward the Hawaiian Islands at twenty-six knots! It was a mercy run that could not, must not fail. All three watches of Engineers were in the Engine Room to make sure the engines did not even burp on any of the four ships.
As usual, they discovered stowaways in the holds of the ships. They were the boys of superior mind-speak, who had been able to “eves-drop” on the mind communication with those in Hawaii. They were made welcome and included in the rescue crew.
Each ship was running “flat out” and they were projecting a 19 day passage. Those were quite possibly the longest 19 days the crews had ever spent.
The engineers slept on the deck plates of the Engine Room, just to make sure they were right there if the engines even hiccupped! The off-duty mates and senior watch hands slept on the decks of the passageways surrounding the pilot house, to be on hand if the mates needed any assistance.
The nervous energy on the ships hung in the air as a purple cloud of static discharge, there was a mind communicator on each bridge in contact with each group of people on the several islands.
The largest group of frightened island folk was trapped on the Big Island of Hawaii. Each ship would go to a different island. The Alice Carson would head direct to Hawaii. The Jonah Carson would head to Maui, the Roger Carson to Oahu and the Matilda Carson to Kauai.
As the 20th day dawned, three ships continued north along the island chain and the Alice Carson headed for the small port of Hilo. There were six hundred refugees crowded on the pier and adjacent beach in Hilo. They could see two volcanoes spewing out liquid rock in their direction.
Both Kilauea and Mona Loa were in violent eruption! The lava was so close that they could feel the radiated heat in their faces. As soon as the gangway was lowered, six Trader Cadets ran down and began funneling refugees onto the ship.
There mere presence of the Cadets seemed to calm the frightened people and, in two hours, everyone was on board.
Just as they began to raise the gangway, a family was seen struggling down the pier. They were carrying a man who had terrible burns on his back and legs.
Trader Cadet Master Sergeant Johnny Tenbow quickly appraised the situation and called for a stretcher team, NOW!
When the stretcher arrived, he ordered them to take the injured man AND his family straight to sickbay! They could worry about the paperwork after they got away from this terrible place of liquid stone!
MAUI
Meanwhile, the Jonah Carson had pulled into Kahului Harbor, where a crowd of more than 500 people were waiting for them.
They could see fiery lava running down the side of Haleakala Volcano, straight for them. It would be a close thing, the Jonah Carson would go out of the harbor at flank just as the lava reached the pier!
As they fled the small bay, the entire mountain exploded and flaming stones were dropping on the upper decks of the Jonah.
Many of the rescued people had terrible burns and, unfortunately, not all of them survived their injuries. The Trader Cadets were comforting the families who had lost loved ones as the pressure wave of the exploding mountain hit the ship.
The lights went out momentarily, before the engineers could throw the breakers back in. It was so fast, the children did not even have time to scream.
More explosions were heard, so Captain Miles Enloe headed his ship out to sea, away from the exploding island as fast as her two main engines would drive her.
All the Captains had agreed to meet up in the Kauai Channel, north of Oahu. The explosion knocked the governor off-line on number two Main Engine, but Second Engineer Thomas Carson quickly shoved the reset lever back in and the engine caught without needing to stop it and restart. There was sufficient energy in the spin-down to restart the engine without resorting to the compressed air start.
OAHU
The Roger Carson headed for Pearl Harbor on Oahu, the old Navy base had the only remaining pier on the entire island. Despite the tortured entrance to the harbor, it remained the best place to take on passengers, especially if they were injured.
The volcanoes that had formed Oahu had long been considered extinct, but, as Captain Tommy maneuvered the Roger into Pearl Harbor, he looked up in horror as he watched lava gushing down the famous Pali Cliffs that divided the island.
There were a thousand panicked people waiting to board the Roger Carson. Gabe was on board the Roger and he asked the Chief Mate for the mic.
He began to sing his famous song, “COME TO ME” and the panicked crowd calmed a bit. The crew ran up the gangway, carrying the elderly and infirm or wounded people first.
The Cadets lined the gangway to prevent panicked people pushing and shoving, they told their new passengers that the lava was a long way off and they had lots of time.
As it turned out, however, the lava was running down the street in front of the ship as they backed away from the pier!
As they reached the seawall, where the channel emptied into the ocean, the entire center of the island exploded and the pressure wave was enough to rock the ship as the engineers were bringing the engines up to EMERGENCY (flank)!
KAUAI
The Matilda Carson was the last to reach her destination. Captain Joe Hooker was pulling on the whistle chain as the Mattie entered Nawiliwili Harbor. The sound bounded and reverberated against the surrounding cliffs of Mt. Waialeale. They could see a trickle of red lava running down the Koloa Cliffs.
There were about 300 people lined up to board the ship. The old volcano was making cracking and popping sounds as the hot lava hit the moisture sodden cliffs. Kauai was the oldest of the major islands and there had not been any volcanic activity there in, perhaps, a million years!
Steam from the exploding rocks drove lava boulders out like missiles and, each time one of those hot boulders landed anywhere near the ship, the pace of the refugees running up the gangway increased.
The loading, however, was orderly and in a shorter time than Captain Hooker would have believed, everyone was on board. As they were backing away from the pier, the Bridge Mind-Speaker screamed, “Niihau!”
Captain Hooker had no idea what the word meant, but one of the refugees pointed to the west and screamed, “The Native Island!”
He glanced at his charts and saw what they were shouting about. He backed away from the pier and turned the ship west towards the small island of Niihau.
It was just a short run to the only protected bay and beach anchorage on the island.
At the north end, there was a shallow bay and he could launch the MWBs (motor whale boats) He asked the Bridge Mind Speaker to contact the natives on the island and have they come to Niihau Beach. They replied that they would be there by daylight of the next day.
That meant he would need to anchor out in the bay over the night, but there did not appear to be any volcanic activity on the little island.
NIIHAU
The Matilda Carson made the two hour passage to Niihau and anchored offshore from the beach at Niihau Beach. They could see a small crowd already on the beach, so he ordered the MWB launched, rather than make them wait over the night.
There were not that many people on the island and, by daylight, all had been evacuated by the MWBs. There was no apparent volcano on the island, but land tremors made walking difficult and many of the native huts were tumbled down by the seismic activity.
The ships were to rendezvous a hundred miles west of Oahu before sailing for home. There would need to be some shifting of passengers as the Roger Carson was overloaded with rescued people from Oahu.
As had been discovered many years earlier, the youngsters from Hawaii were more advanced and proficient with mind speak than others and those who had been rescued from the Big Island of Hawaii were demonstrating an ability to manipulate physical objects by mind power alone. They could move small coins across a table top and recover small objects that had fallen to the deck.
Those youngsters who could do those things were no longer ostracized by other as had once happened and as they taught others how to do their “trick”, youngsters were spotted out on the foredecks of the other ships, practicing. The “trick” made games such as coin toss obsolete!
THE LONG ROAD HOME
When all the ships had gathered and adjusted passenger loads, they pointed their bows homewards and began the long trek back to Onslow, Australia.
In some ways, it was fortunate that Australia was experiencing a change in the weather, the great interior desert, sometimes called the “Great Red Center”, was receiving more rain than historic records indicated and small streams were beginning to run the year around.
Already ranchers were grazing their cattle further out into the desert than had been possible in the past and farms and orchards were being established in the area south of the Hamersley Range of mountains in Western Australia.
During the voyage back to Australia, the CROCKYDALE Warriors held classes for the people who had been rescued from a fiery death by molten rock. They needed to know about their new homeland and it’s dangers as well as its more pleasant prospects.
There were no dangerous animals native to the Hawaiian Islands and no snakes of any kind. In Australia, there were abundant dangers from crocs, poisonous snakes and even some animals whose bites or spurs were poisonous.
There were no large carnivores, other than the crocodiles, however and attacks by dingoes were rare. When the children were told about the schools, they all groaned.
A number of boys’ ears perked up however, when they learned about the ship schools that the Carson Family had begun. Those boys had already been drooling over the engine rooms on the ships as well as the bridges.
When the ships finally arrived at their homeport of Onslow, their passengers got their first glimpse of the modern, bustling port that Onslow had become.
There were ships loading and unloading at the cargo piers, massive tugs were hauling lines of barges north to Darwin and it was launching day for a new Australian Navy Picket Ship.
Many of the Polynesian boys and not just a few of the girls, had their eyes glued on that brand new Naval Vessel just being introduced to the water.
Gabe waltzed by humming his song, “COME TO ME” and he whispered,, “Ya wanna meet Captain Jerry Carson, the captain of that there new ship?” He knew that Captain Jeremy Carson had been invited to lunch by his cousin, who was Captain of their own ship.
The poor, unsuspecting Captain Jerry would be mobbed by anxious boys and girls, wanting to know all about the ANS CROCKYDALE WARRIOR!
They got all the rescued passengers settled in their new homes and the ships cleaned up so that they could be returned to Merchant Service.
The demand for merchant bottoms was frantic. Trade throughout the region was booming and new trade routes had been opened up to Africa and to the Mediterranean areas. North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean countries had been heavily bombed during the collapse and the people were desperate for everything, but most important was food.
The Carsons had learned long ago not to extend credit to those people, as hard as it was, they insisted on the bills being paid before the goods were swung over the side.
Another thing they learned about trading in that region was to not allow any of the natives of that area on board their ship. A few Captains swore that the child vandals stole the fillings out of his teeth!
Anything that was not welded down to the deck would disappear, never to be seen again!
INDIA TRADE
Trade with India was beginning to open up and Australian wool was in high demand there. One of the advantages of trading with India was that they paid in gold, rather than barter.
There was little demand for meat in India, but grains and building supplies were in great demand as were iron and steel. Brass was worth nearly its weight on gold!
There were factories in India that made paper and there was a good market for paper in Australia. There was no papermill in all of Australia. One type of paper was an instant success as an import, toilet paper! A whole ship load of toilet paper was sold out in only a few hours after arrival in Darwin!
Several tank ships had been built in the Onslow Yards to carry light distillate fuels, like lamp oil and kerosene. That ship was sent to India with a cargo of lamp oil, the entire cargo was sold out in two days!
That ship was put on a regular run to India loaded with lamp oil and other light grade fuels on a twice a month turn-around! It proved to be highly profitable as the ships returned with high value luxury goods like carpets, brass lamps, brass bed frames, and table ware, including fine pottery.
Traders who ventured up through the Suez Canal to the Med usually took several older boys who were strong mind readers. They had to be careful, however as the people who lived in that area called them devils and something called Jins.
A couple of boys had barely escaped with their lives. There was not a great deal to trade in the area, most of the people who lived there were too busy fighting each other.
There were other peoples further to the west, but they were little interested in trading. They were mostly farmers and herders and were pretty self-sufficient.
The recent news from Japan was drawing traders to that island Nation, customers in Japan were ordering whole shiploads of steel and iron. Shipping companies there were expanding and replacing their older ships.
One of the products that Japanese firms ordered in great quantities was oil. The Carsons kept two tankers fully employed just hauling oil and oil products to Japan.
Lamp oil was always in short supply in both Japan and the Koreas. Even though its old government had collapsed, North Korea remained a difficult place to do business and most ship operators preferred not doing any business at all with them.
TRADING WITH CHINA
The sales force was surprised when several large orders for grains and food products came in from China for delivery to Hong Kong and Shanghai. Other than raw materials for machinery, only a very few orders came in from that country. Carson Shipping dispatched four ships to carry what buyers from China had ordered.
Because of problems they had experienced previously in that country, all four ships carried a platoon of CROCKYDALE Warriors each. Each platoon included several very powerful mind speakers as well as a full load of weapons and ammunition.
Three of the ships were headed to Hong Kong, that was a normal port for Carson Shipping, but Shanghai had always before been closed to them. The Danny Carson was headed to Shanghai with a load of steel beams and plates. It was a full load and the Danny was down to her load line.
The Danny arrived as scheduled and the Harbor Pilot guided them to a pier. After they had tied up, a young Chinese man came aboard. He spoke very good English and told them there had been a delay on the rail system and that off-loading would not begin until the next morning. He was very sorry about the problem and that his government would pay demurrage for the delay.
There were no power or telephone hook-ups available on the pier, but they could see guards at the head of the pier keeping people away.
The CROCKYDALE Warriors set their own watch and the night passed without incident. THAT IS, until Captain Robard Walking Stone sat to his breakfast. The duty mind speaker came up to the Captain and said quietly, “Cap’n, we got visitors, they be hidin’ behind the main deck winch and they bes kids sir an’ theys scairded n’hurted!”
Captain Robard nearly choked on his morning coffee and managed to squeak out, “WHAT?” The duty mind speaker, Cass Demming smiled and replied, “I gots them calmed down Sir, an’ promised them that you would come down and speak to them ASAP, sir. Me an’ me buddies gots them mind cloaked from the Chinese Sir, theys ain’t in no danger of bein’ discovered an’ there ain’t no bodies what kin break a Aussie mind Cloak, Sir.”
Captain Robard got up from his breakfast immediately and followed the young mind-speaker out onto the main deck. He could see a slight purplish haze hovering over the cargo winch and he knew that he had more mind speakers on board than he had realized.
As they made their way across the main deck, Cass said to the Captain, “Theys alls speak English, Sir, theys all are not Chinese. Some o’thems be our kind, sir.”
Captain Robard Walkingstone was horrified at what he saw as he rounded the winch controls. There were several older boys with small babies in their arms and several more boys holding girls who were obviously right from a maternity ward. There was blood running down their legs and all the girls were Caucasian! They would find out that the girls had been slipped out of a brothel and the babies were theirs.
Captain Robby Walkingstone’s temper was simmering just slightly under nuclear!
He called for some sailors to carry the girls down to Sickbay and to help the boys carry the babies down to one of the wards, where they could be taken care of.
He was a fair mind speaker himself and he told the Chinese boys that they could stay on board if they wished and that he would take them back to Australia if they wished to get away from people who would harm tiny babies.
All the boys shook their heads in agreement and they rushed down the ladders to get out of sight.
As soon as Robby had checked on the babies and their mothers, he went back to the Mess Deck and ordered food to be sent down to Sickbay.
As he gobbled down his own breakfast that had gotten cold, he explained to the Mates what he had discovered. Needless to say, the anger level on the mess deck was running towards volcanic!
The CROCKYDALE Warriors stood guard at the hatch to Sickbay while the cargo was being worked. The entire cargo was destined for Shanghai and it was dark before the holds were empty.
They had a cargo waiting for them at Busan (Pusan) in Korea and they would ride light across the Yellow Sea. By that time, all the young girls who had given birth the night before had new Papas. Those Papas gained not only a daughter, but also a grandchild in the bargain.
The news that the Chinese authorities had planned to bash the newborn children in the head and dispose of the bodies was withheld from the crew until after they had left Shanghai!
By the time all the ships had left Shanghai and headed for Busan, the young girls had pretty much lost their fear of these strange men and they began to feel safe at night, knowing that they would not be yanked out of their beds to perform sex acts with a strange man.
Carson Shipping was going to find it difficult in the future to crew any ship taking a cargo to China. Only those with an iron will and a cast iron stomach could be persuaded to go.
By the time all the ships had returned to their home ports, the girls’ story was spread all over Australia. When a people have mind-speak, there are no secrets!
Unknown to all but his Room Steward, Captain Robard Walkingstone had a rescued girl and her baby in his stateroom. He was not married, but he had already sent a radio message to his sister, Anne, and she had agreed to help him raise the girl and her little baby boy. The girl would become Rachel Anne Walkingstone and the baby boy would be Andrew Robard Walkingstone!
BUSINESS AS USUAL (ALMOST)
Robby found it difficult to leave his new family behind when he had to sail. He was a senior Captain of the Carson Fleet and his ship, The Danny Carson, was the premier ship of the Carson Fleet, The Flag Ship.
The ship was Robby’s pride and joy, except for his new son. He had hung a painting that his own Mother had done of the boy on the bulkhead of his stateroom. He would say “Good Night” to the picture each night as he went to sleep.
Every time he came home after a voyage, he could see that the little boy had grown a tiny bit more. The child’s mother, Rachel Anne Walkingstone had blossomed out into a beautiful teen and was as devoted to her child as was her Papa.
Time seemed to pass rapidly and, almost before Robby was ready, little Andy Walkingstone was walking. Robby would come home from a voyage and the little guy would run on wobbly legs, straight at his Daddy, knowing with a doubt that Robby would pick him up and swing him in the air.
Andy would giggle and Robby would have to wipe tears from his own eyes.
The shipping business was experiencing a boom cycle, Korea was embarking on a massive rebuilding program and the small countries of Southeast Asia were shipping goods as far west as Italy and Spain.
The steel mill at Onslow was maxed out and was undergoing a huge expansion. A new ore deposit had been discovered and two additional smelters were under construction. Australia was the only producer of high grade steel in operation.
China made steel and cast iron, but it was not suitable for construction or shipbuilding. It was called “puddle iron” and was filled with impurities and blow holes.
The day came when a boy, who was not so little any longer, met his Daddy on the pier as he came down the gangway. He was wearing long pants and had a clean white shirt on that said, “Carson Shipping” above the left pocket. The youngster saluted Senior Captain Robard Walkingstone and said, “Cadet Andrew Robard Walkingstone reporting on board, Sir”
He then giggled and added, “Daddy” to his statement!
Robby was stunned, he had not thought his son was interested in working on ships and worse, was he that old already?
He suddenly realized that his son was 16 years old! Where had the time gone? Andy would be one of the few who followed a Carson Shipping tradition and would receive both a Third Mate and a Third Engineer License.
The boy never traded on his Daddy’s reputation as the Carson Shipping Company Senior Captain and, in the minimum length of time, he was Master of his own ship.
***************************************************************
TBC
There is still more to tell of Carson Shipping and its people. The world is beginning to recover from the “Great Collapse”. The people of Europe will soon need shipping service and the folk living along the Gulf Coast of North America will be heard from. The East Coast will take a little longer, but, sadly, the West Coast will never recover from the terrible bombs that left the land glowing at night.
[email protected]
This story is a fictional account of a period that begins after The Carson Family and their many ships had settled in Australia and helped civilization to cling to life after much of the world had suffered from Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) and chronicles what happens to that family, who had saved many youngsters from death or a life so horrible, death would have been welcomed.. While the story is completely fictional, actual names, characters, places and incidents that might coincide with actions, places, people or events have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty or are the product of my imagination and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The actual shipboard processes, however, are based upon experiences of the author.
This story is copyrighted and may not be reproduced by any means without my express, written permission.
***************************************************************
From Chapter 3: They set their course to sail well offshore of South America and headed for the Cape. They had been gone from their homes and loved ones for three years now and it was time to head home. They cranked up the engines and set course for Darwin, Australia. It would take them about a month to get home and it would be another one hundred years before any of the children returned to North America.
***************************************************************
HOMECOMING
The arrival of the Rescue fleet had been eagerly awaited, the new tug, THE CARSON RELIEF, proudly sent her cables up through the bull nose on the Flag Ship and took up the strain.
Each of the arriving ships in their turn, were delivered to the Receiving Pier, where members of the Carson Family were waiting to greet those who had been rescued from North and South America.
Port Onslow had become busy during their long absence, there were numerous vessels anchored in the basin, most flying the Carson Shipping house flag, but many were flying colors they did not recognize.
.
Robby and Tommy stood at the Quarter Deck to receive Tommy’s Father (T3). Tommy’s Uncle Jeremy (J3) was much too frail to come down to greet them.
Robby’s Great Uncle, The Grand Shaman of All Australia stood alongside T3 with a huge smile on his face as he saw his Grand Nephew hold the hand of Tommy Carson. Robby’s dark skin and tattoos hid his deep blush, but Tommy’s face made up for it, his face was shining bright scarlet!
Jeremy stood to one side laughing. He once had designs of Tommy being his mate, but, he knew how deeply his cousin Tommy loved Robby.
Tommy and Robby proudly introduced their five sons and one daughter to their Fathers and Grandfather Rolling Stone staggered at the mind power of his new Grand Daughter’s greeting. Among the Aborigines, girl children did not have the strong mind powers that their brothers developed.
As the rescued children came down the gangway, they were met by the CROCKYDALE Warriors and loaded on large wagons with seats and a canvas top to shield them from the intense Australian summer sun.
They were taken to large, hotel-like barracks located on the far end of the property, well away from the noise of the busy shipyard.
Those, who had not yet “landed” a family, were checked in to two-person apartments, where they discovered the beds already made up and there were fresh towels and toiletries laid out for their use. A sign on each bed listed the meal times and that day’s special activities.
All the new children realized that their lives had dramatically changed, but it was still staggering to their emotions. Many just sat on the floor and cried. The CROCKYDALE Warriors had whole squads stationed on each floor, ready to hold a child whose emotions had taken over.
More than a few Warriors discovered children of their own during that time.
It required several days for a comfortable routine to be established and school classes were begun the next week.
The older boys rallied around the Citadel Cadets and the petitioned the school authorities to allow them to establish a Corps of Cadets. The High School principal agreed and the Carson Family Trust provided a nest egg fund for uniforms and equipment.
It was not long before the new Cadets were seen practicing on the ball field as soon as it got light each morning.
The Cadet program was very popular and Junior Cadets were established in the Elementary School.
A Senior Cadet program was begun for the boys or girls who were already working on the ships. The shipboard Cadets worked together with the Crockydale Warriors and they soon put the fear of the ancestor’s in the pirates and scumbags that proliferated in the ports of Southeast Asia.
TRADER CADETS
A number of the Cadets worked with traders as they went about their business. It unnerved sleazy traders ashore to have an armed cadet, who, they were told, could read minds, standing next to the trader they were attempting to fleece!
It was not long before those shore based traders learned that the rumors were correct! The Cadets, however, like their military brethren, had a very strong code of ethics. They could not, under any circumstances allow either party to cheat the other, even when it was their own family members doing the cheating.
Business was very good and trade was rapidly expanding westward towards Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The traders had already been dealing with Muslim peoples in Southeast Asia, but those in the Arabian Peninsula were a different “breed of cat”!
Those in Asia were too busy making a living to be worried about “infidels”, but those living on the deserts of Arabia were, as one young Cadet reported, “Fruitcakes”! He had no idea what kind of cake a fruitcake was, but he understood that it meant crazy!
There was not much to trade for in those lands of blowing sand, so there was not a great deal of exposure. The one trade item that the Trader Cadets would not allow was slaves and that seemed to be the most plentiful trade item the Sand Muslims had to offer.
There were stories that once those people had vast wealth in the form of oil, but they saw no sign of it and they certainly did not have wealth of any kind at that time.
The few ships that did call at port on the Arabian Peninsula always found young boys stowed away in their holds. Nobody could figure out just how they got there, but, their condition was universally so pitiful, the boys were brought back and given over to the Cadets to care for.
The Trader Cadets became established members of the trading teams, they were powerful mind-speakers and accomplished linguists. Every trading ship had at least one Trader Cadet on board and many traders themselves employed a Cadet or two to assist them personally.
The Cadets had established a reputation for absolute honesty and fair dealing and many shore-side businesses were hiring them also. Even the Australian Government saw their value and The Cadets were found in many government agencies.
Trade was opened up with small island nations of the South Pacific Ocean and, probably out of sentiment, a trade mission was established in Hawaii.
The Hawaiian Trade Mission included two Trade Cadets, Cadet Corporal Oto Hiro and Cadet Second Lieutenant Milan Longo. Of the two, Cadet Corporal Hiro was the more powerful mind-speaker.
It was early in the morning when, when the Duty Officer at Cadet Headquarters heard a frantic mind call from the section communicator. He headed for the Comm Center at a dead run!
The Chief Communicator was sitting in a chair, tears were running down his face and he was holding his head in pain. He shoved a paper at Lt. Longo, unable to speak of the horror that was on that paper.
Lt. Longo read the message and the entire building was awake! Gabe Carson was on duty that morning. He had been instrumental in the rescue of many children on the last voyage of rescue that had been made to the old North American continent and had been to author of the famous song, “COME TO ME”.
Gabe took one look at the message that read, “The volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is erupting and the volcanoes on Kauai, Oahu and Maui are rumbling. Our people will die if we cannot be rescued!” His mental scream brought every Carson Company Department Head running to Cadet Headquarters.
By noon of that same day, four of their fastest freighters were fueled and crews were streaming on board. Gabe insisted that he be included and he grabbed The Chief Communicator who had received the original message and Cadet Lt. Longo and told them to pack their duffels. They were going to ride the Alice Carson to Hawaii.
Before dark, the four ships passed the breakwater and headed east, toward the Hawaiian Islands at twenty-six knots! It was a mercy run that could not, must not fail. All three watches of Engineers were in the Engine Room to make sure the engines did not even burp on any of the four ships.
As usual, they discovered stowaways in the holds of the ships. They were the boys of superior mind-speak, who had been able to “eves-drop” on the mind communication with those in Hawaii. They were made welcome and included in the rescue crew.
Each ship was running “flat out” and they were projecting a 19 day passage. Those were quite possibly the longest 19 days the crews had ever spent.
The engineers slept on the deck plates of the Engine Room, just to make sure they were right there if the engines even hiccupped! The off-duty mates and senior watch hands slept on the decks of the passageways surrounding the pilot house, to be on hand if the mates needed any assistance.
The nervous energy on the ships hung in the air as a purple cloud of static discharge, there was a mind communicator on each bridge in contact with each group of people on the several islands.
The largest group of frightened island folk was trapped on the Big Island of Hawaii. Each ship would go to a different island. The Alice Carson would head direct to Hawaii. The Jonah Carson would head to Maui, the Roger Carson to Oahu and the Matilda Carson to Kauai.
As the 20th day dawned, three ships continued north along the island chain and the Alice Carson headed for the small port of Hilo. There were six hundred refugees crowded on the pier and adjacent beach in Hilo. They could see two volcanoes spewing out liquid rock in their direction.
Both Kilauea and Mona Loa were in violent eruption! The lava was so close that they could feel the radiated heat in their faces. As soon as the gangway was lowered, six Trader Cadets ran down and began funneling refugees onto the ship.
There mere presence of the Cadets seemed to calm the frightened people and, in two hours, everyone was on board.
Just as they began to raise the gangway, a family was seen struggling down the pier. They were carrying a man who had terrible burns on his back and legs.
Trader Cadet Master Sergeant Johnny Tenbow quickly appraised the situation and called for a stretcher team, NOW!
When the stretcher arrived, he ordered them to take the injured man AND his family straight to sickbay! They could worry about the paperwork after they got away from this terrible place of liquid stone!
MAUI
Meanwhile, the Jonah Carson had pulled into Kahului Harbor, where a crowd of more than 500 people were waiting for them.
They could see fiery lava running down the side of Haleakala Volcano, straight for them. It would be a close thing, the Jonah Carson would go out of the harbor at flank just as the lava reached the pier!
As they fled the small bay, the entire mountain exploded and flaming stones were dropping on the upper decks of the Jonah.
Many of the rescued people had terrible burns and, unfortunately, not all of them survived their injuries. The Trader Cadets were comforting the families who had lost loved ones as the pressure wave of the exploding mountain hit the ship.
The lights went out momentarily, before the engineers could throw the breakers back in. It was so fast, the children did not even have time to scream.
More explosions were heard, so Captain Miles Enloe headed his ship out to sea, away from the exploding island as fast as her two main engines would drive her.
All the Captains had agreed to meet up in the Kauai Channel, north of Oahu. The explosion knocked the governor off-line on number two Main Engine, but Second Engineer Thomas Carson quickly shoved the reset lever back in and the engine caught without needing to stop it and restart. There was sufficient energy in the spin-down to restart the engine without resorting to the compressed air start.
OAHU
The Roger Carson headed for Pearl Harbor on Oahu, the old Navy base had the only remaining pier on the entire island. Despite the tortured entrance to the harbor, it remained the best place to take on passengers, especially if they were injured.
The volcanoes that had formed Oahu had long been considered extinct, but, as Captain Tommy maneuvered the Roger into Pearl Harbor, he looked up in horror as he watched lava gushing down the famous Pali Cliffs that divided the island.
There were a thousand panicked people waiting to board the Roger Carson. Gabe was on board the Roger and he asked the Chief Mate for the mic.
He began to sing his famous song, “COME TO ME” and the panicked crowd calmed a bit. The crew ran up the gangway, carrying the elderly and infirm or wounded people first.
The Cadets lined the gangway to prevent panicked people pushing and shoving, they told their new passengers that the lava was a long way off and they had lots of time.
As it turned out, however, the lava was running down the street in front of the ship as they backed away from the pier!
As they reached the seawall, where the channel emptied into the ocean, the entire center of the island exploded and the pressure wave was enough to rock the ship as the engineers were bringing the engines up to EMERGENCY (flank)!
KAUAI
The Matilda Carson was the last to reach her destination. Captain Joe Hooker was pulling on the whistle chain as the Mattie entered Nawiliwili Harbor. The sound bounded and reverberated against the surrounding cliffs of Mt. Waialeale. They could see a trickle of red lava running down the Koloa Cliffs.
There were about 300 people lined up to board the ship. The old volcano was making cracking and popping sounds as the hot lava hit the moisture sodden cliffs. Kauai was the oldest of the major islands and there had not been any volcanic activity there in, perhaps, a million years!
Steam from the exploding rocks drove lava boulders out like missiles and, each time one of those hot boulders landed anywhere near the ship, the pace of the refugees running up the gangway increased.
The loading, however, was orderly and in a shorter time than Captain Hooker would have believed, everyone was on board. As they were backing away from the pier, the Bridge Mind-Speaker screamed, “Niihau!”
Captain Hooker had no idea what the word meant, but one of the refugees pointed to the west and screamed, “The Native Island!”
He glanced at his charts and saw what they were shouting about. He backed away from the pier and turned the ship west towards the small island of Niihau.
It was just a short run to the only protected bay and beach anchorage on the island.
At the north end, there was a shallow bay and he could launch the MWBs (motor whale boats) He asked the Bridge Mind Speaker to contact the natives on the island and have they come to Niihau Beach. They replied that they would be there by daylight of the next day.
That meant he would need to anchor out in the bay over the night, but there did not appear to be any volcanic activity on the little island.
NIIHAU
The Matilda Carson made the two hour passage to Niihau and anchored offshore from the beach at Niihau Beach. They could see a small crowd already on the beach, so he ordered the MWB launched, rather than make them wait over the night.
There were not that many people on the island and, by daylight, all had been evacuated by the MWBs. There was no apparent volcano on the island, but land tremors made walking difficult and many of the native huts were tumbled down by the seismic activity.
The ships were to rendezvous a hundred miles west of Oahu before sailing for home. There would need to be some shifting of passengers as the Roger Carson was overloaded with rescued people from Oahu.
As had been discovered many years earlier, the youngsters from Hawaii were more advanced and proficient with mind speak than others and those who had been rescued from the Big Island of Hawaii were demonstrating an ability to manipulate physical objects by mind power alone. They could move small coins across a table top and recover small objects that had fallen to the deck.
Those youngsters who could do those things were no longer ostracized by other as had once happened and as they taught others how to do their “trick”, youngsters were spotted out on the foredecks of the other ships, practicing. The “trick” made games such as coin toss obsolete!
THE LONG ROAD HOME
When all the ships had gathered and adjusted passenger loads, they pointed their bows homewards and began the long trek back to Onslow, Australia.
In some ways, it was fortunate that Australia was experiencing a change in the weather, the great interior desert, sometimes called the “Great Red Center”, was receiving more rain than historic records indicated and small streams were beginning to run the year around.
Already ranchers were grazing their cattle further out into the desert than had been possible in the past and farms and orchards were being established in the area south of the Hamersley Range of mountains in Western Australia.
During the voyage back to Australia, the CROCKYDALE Warriors held classes for the people who had been rescued from a fiery death by molten rock. They needed to know about their new homeland and it’s dangers as well as its more pleasant prospects.
There were no dangerous animals native to the Hawaiian Islands and no snakes of any kind. In Australia, there were abundant dangers from crocs, poisonous snakes and even some animals whose bites or spurs were poisonous.
There were no large carnivores, other than the crocodiles, however and attacks by dingoes were rare. When the children were told about the schools, they all groaned.
A number of boys’ ears perked up however, when they learned about the ship schools that the Carson Family had begun. Those boys had already been drooling over the engine rooms on the ships as well as the bridges.
When the ships finally arrived at their homeport of Onslow, their passengers got their first glimpse of the modern, bustling port that Onslow had become.
There were ships loading and unloading at the cargo piers, massive tugs were hauling lines of barges north to Darwin and it was launching day for a new Australian Navy Picket Ship.
Many of the Polynesian boys and not just a few of the girls, had their eyes glued on that brand new Naval Vessel just being introduced to the water.
Gabe waltzed by humming his song, “COME TO ME” and he whispered,, “Ya wanna meet Captain Jerry Carson, the captain of that there new ship?” He knew that Captain Jeremy Carson had been invited to lunch by his cousin, who was Captain of their own ship.
The poor, unsuspecting Captain Jerry would be mobbed by anxious boys and girls, wanting to know all about the ANS CROCKYDALE WARRIOR!
They got all the rescued passengers settled in their new homes and the ships cleaned up so that they could be returned to Merchant Service.
The demand for merchant bottoms was frantic. Trade throughout the region was booming and new trade routes had been opened up to Africa and to the Mediterranean areas. North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean countries had been heavily bombed during the collapse and the people were desperate for everything, but most important was food.
The Carsons had learned long ago not to extend credit to those people, as hard as it was, they insisted on the bills being paid before the goods were swung over the side.
Another thing they learned about trading in that region was to not allow any of the natives of that area on board their ship. A few Captains swore that the child vandals stole the fillings out of his teeth!
Anything that was not welded down to the deck would disappear, never to be seen again!
INDIA TRADE
Trade with India was beginning to open up and Australian wool was in high demand there. One of the advantages of trading with India was that they paid in gold, rather than barter.
There was little demand for meat in India, but grains and building supplies were in great demand as were iron and steel. Brass was worth nearly its weight on gold!
There were factories in India that made paper and there was a good market for paper in Australia. There was no papermill in all of Australia. One type of paper was an instant success as an import, toilet paper! A whole ship load of toilet paper was sold out in only a few hours after arrival in Darwin!
Several tank ships had been built in the Onslow Yards to carry light distillate fuels, like lamp oil and kerosene. That ship was sent to India with a cargo of lamp oil, the entire cargo was sold out in two days!
That ship was put on a regular run to India loaded with lamp oil and other light grade fuels on a twice a month turn-around! It proved to be highly profitable as the ships returned with high value luxury goods like carpets, brass lamps, brass bed frames, and table ware, including fine pottery.
Traders who ventured up through the Suez Canal to the Med usually took several older boys who were strong mind readers. They had to be careful, however as the people who lived in that area called them devils and something called Jins.
A couple of boys had barely escaped with their lives. There was not a great deal to trade in the area, most of the people who lived there were too busy fighting each other.
There were other peoples further to the west, but they were little interested in trading. They were mostly farmers and herders and were pretty self-sufficient.
The recent news from Japan was drawing traders to that island Nation, customers in Japan were ordering whole shiploads of steel and iron. Shipping companies there were expanding and replacing their older ships.
One of the products that Japanese firms ordered in great quantities was oil. The Carsons kept two tankers fully employed just hauling oil and oil products to Japan.
Lamp oil was always in short supply in both Japan and the Koreas. Even though its old government had collapsed, North Korea remained a difficult place to do business and most ship operators preferred not doing any business at all with them.
TRADING WITH CHINA
The sales force was surprised when several large orders for grains and food products came in from China for delivery to Hong Kong and Shanghai. Other than raw materials for machinery, only a very few orders came in from that country. Carson Shipping dispatched four ships to carry what buyers from China had ordered.
Because of problems they had experienced previously in that country, all four ships carried a platoon of CROCKYDALE Warriors each. Each platoon included several very powerful mind speakers as well as a full load of weapons and ammunition.
Three of the ships were headed to Hong Kong, that was a normal port for Carson Shipping, but Shanghai had always before been closed to them. The Danny Carson was headed to Shanghai with a load of steel beams and plates. It was a full load and the Danny was down to her load line.
The Danny arrived as scheduled and the Harbor Pilot guided them to a pier. After they had tied up, a young Chinese man came aboard. He spoke very good English and told them there had been a delay on the rail system and that off-loading would not begin until the next morning. He was very sorry about the problem and that his government would pay demurrage for the delay.
There were no power or telephone hook-ups available on the pier, but they could see guards at the head of the pier keeping people away.
The CROCKYDALE Warriors set their own watch and the night passed without incident. THAT IS, until Captain Robard Walking Stone sat to his breakfast. The duty mind speaker came up to the Captain and said quietly, “Cap’n, we got visitors, they be hidin’ behind the main deck winch and they bes kids sir an’ theys scairded n’hurted!”
Captain Robard nearly choked on his morning coffee and managed to squeak out, “WHAT?” The duty mind speaker, Cass Demming smiled and replied, “I gots them calmed down Sir, an’ promised them that you would come down and speak to them ASAP, sir. Me an’ me buddies gots them mind cloaked from the Chinese Sir, theys ain’t in no danger of bein’ discovered an’ there ain’t no bodies what kin break a Aussie mind Cloak, Sir.”
Captain Robard got up from his breakfast immediately and followed the young mind-speaker out onto the main deck. He could see a slight purplish haze hovering over the cargo winch and he knew that he had more mind speakers on board than he had realized.
As they made their way across the main deck, Cass said to the Captain, “Theys alls speak English, Sir, theys all are not Chinese. Some o’thems be our kind, sir.”
Captain Robard Walkingstone was horrified at what he saw as he rounded the winch controls. There were several older boys with small babies in their arms and several more boys holding girls who were obviously right from a maternity ward. There was blood running down their legs and all the girls were Caucasian! They would find out that the girls had been slipped out of a brothel and the babies were theirs.
Captain Robby Walkingstone’s temper was simmering just slightly under nuclear!
He called for some sailors to carry the girls down to Sickbay and to help the boys carry the babies down to one of the wards, where they could be taken care of.
He was a fair mind speaker himself and he told the Chinese boys that they could stay on board if they wished and that he would take them back to Australia if they wished to get away from people who would harm tiny babies.
All the boys shook their heads in agreement and they rushed down the ladders to get out of sight.
As soon as Robby had checked on the babies and their mothers, he went back to the Mess Deck and ordered food to be sent down to Sickbay.
As he gobbled down his own breakfast that had gotten cold, he explained to the Mates what he had discovered. Needless to say, the anger level on the mess deck was running towards volcanic!
The CROCKYDALE Warriors stood guard at the hatch to Sickbay while the cargo was being worked. The entire cargo was destined for Shanghai and it was dark before the holds were empty.
They had a cargo waiting for them at Busan (Pusan) in Korea and they would ride light across the Yellow Sea. By that time, all the young girls who had given birth the night before had new Papas. Those Papas gained not only a daughter, but also a grandchild in the bargain.
The news that the Chinese authorities had planned to bash the newborn children in the head and dispose of the bodies was withheld from the crew until after they had left Shanghai!
By the time all the ships had left Shanghai and headed for Busan, the young girls had pretty much lost their fear of these strange men and they began to feel safe at night, knowing that they would not be yanked out of their beds to perform sex acts with a strange man.
Carson Shipping was going to find it difficult in the future to crew any ship taking a cargo to China. Only those with an iron will and a cast iron stomach could be persuaded to go.
By the time all the ships had returned to their home ports, the girls’ story was spread all over Australia. When a people have mind-speak, there are no secrets!
Unknown to all but his Room Steward, Captain Robard Walkingstone had a rescued girl and her baby in his stateroom. He was not married, but he had already sent a radio message to his sister, Anne, and she had agreed to help him raise the girl and her little baby boy. The girl would become Rachel Anne Walkingstone and the baby boy would be Andrew Robard Walkingstone!
BUSINESS AS USUAL (ALMOST)
Robby found it difficult to leave his new family behind when he had to sail. He was a senior Captain of the Carson Fleet and his ship, The Danny Carson, was the premier ship of the Carson Fleet, The Flag Ship.
The ship was Robby’s pride and joy, except for his new son. He had hung a painting that his own Mother had done of the boy on the bulkhead of his stateroom. He would say “Good Night” to the picture each night as he went to sleep.
Every time he came home after a voyage, he could see that the little boy had grown a tiny bit more. The child’s mother, Rachel Anne Walkingstone had blossomed out into a beautiful teen and was as devoted to her child as was her Papa.
Time seemed to pass rapidly and, almost before Robby was ready, little Andy Walkingstone was walking. Robby would come home from a voyage and the little guy would run on wobbly legs, straight at his Daddy, knowing with a doubt that Robby would pick him up and swing him in the air.
Andy would giggle and Robby would have to wipe tears from his own eyes.
The shipping business was experiencing a boom cycle, Korea was embarking on a massive rebuilding program and the small countries of Southeast Asia were shipping goods as far west as Italy and Spain.
The steel mill at Onslow was maxed out and was undergoing a huge expansion. A new ore deposit had been discovered and two additional smelters were under construction. Australia was the only producer of high grade steel in operation.
China made steel and cast iron, but it was not suitable for construction or shipbuilding. It was called “puddle iron” and was filled with impurities and blow holes.
The day came when a boy, who was not so little any longer, met his Daddy on the pier as he came down the gangway. He was wearing long pants and had a clean white shirt on that said, “Carson Shipping” above the left pocket. The youngster saluted Senior Captain Robard Walkingstone and said, “Cadet Andrew Robard Walkingstone reporting on board, Sir”
He then giggled and added, “Daddy” to his statement!
Robby was stunned, he had not thought his son was interested in working on ships and worse, was he that old already?
He suddenly realized that his son was 16 years old! Where had the time gone? Andy would be one of the few who followed a Carson Shipping tradition and would receive both a Third Mate and a Third Engineer License.
The boy never traded on his Daddy’s reputation as the Carson Shipping Company Senior Captain and, in the minimum length of time, he was Master of his own ship.
***************************************************************
TBC
There is still more to tell of Carson Shipping and its people. The world is beginning to recover from the “Great Collapse”. The people of Europe will soon need shipping service and the folk living along the Gulf Coast of North America will be heard from. The East Coast will take a little longer, but, sadly, the West Coast will never recover from the terrible bombs that left the land glowing at night.