Richard was long past feeling surprise at the ease and precision with which it was possible to communicate across the world these days. His call to Bill Heritage at the United Nations had been no more complex than a call home, necessitating only a multiple-number dialling code. The old man had picked up the phone himself. It was fantastic.
‘… Karanga here. Is that you, Richard?’
‘Hello, Emily? Yes, it’s Richard here. I wonder if I might ask a favour?’
‘Yes, of course. Name it.’
‘There’s a crusty old harbour master down at the port I need to have charmed out of his tree.’
‘Well…’ Emily didn’t sound all that impressed.
‘Look. This is more important than it sounds. We’ve come up with a scheme for bringing meltwater aboard here. We need some small coastal tankers to put it onto. We can offload one and a half million tonnes of fresh water. If we can do that, then we can bring in the same again — an extra three million tonnes in all. That’s a good-sized lake, for crying out loud! But I can’t get the harbour master to tell me the names of any tankers. Not their captains or their owners. And he’s got all the information I need.’
There was a brief silence while Emily assimilated the information and thought about how best to deal with it. Then she said, ‘Right. Is there any special sort or size of tanker you need to know about?’
‘Yes, indeed there is …’
As he began to explain, he felt the weight of a certain amount of responsibility lift off his shoulders. And he was relieved.
While the afternoon rolled by and the convoy with Manhattan at its heart came past Harper, Liberia, past Cape Palmas, and then past Tabou, Ivory Coast, Richard went through with Asha his current condition and applied ointment under her direction, then worked at arranging the final details of his office. When everything was exactly as he wanted it to be, he sent up to the bridge for the Admiralty chart of the west coast of Africa and, together with the Admiralty Pilot, began to go through the fine detail of what exactly would be involved in delivering Manhattan safely into the interior anchorage of Mawanga harbour.
At four, he phoned round all his captains again and checked up on how their calculations from this morning’s meeting were going. After the others had rung off, Colin Ross stayed on the party line, but it was clear that he was trying to ensure that no one else could overhear what he was saying. ‘You know, Richard,’ he began, and Richard knew him well enough now to recognise that slight Scottish burr as a sign of worry, ‘the melt rate figures I gave you have a wider relevance than simply the tonnage of fresh water you can pick up.’
‘Yes, I know that, Colin.’
‘I mean to say, I don’t think we’re going to make it as we are. I can’t be absolutely accurate of course, and not even Kate, who’s as experienced in this area as I am myself, can give me any guidance.’
‘It’s in the lap of the gods, Colin.’
‘Aye, you can put it like that if you want, but it will affect all of your calculations about the depth and width of the harbour entrance. It will have to affect your sailing orders — everything. Will we need to warn the coastal areas? I mean, God knows what will happen.’
‘As I understand it, that will depend on whether it rolls to the north or to the south.’
‘That it will!’
‘Well, the best I can offer is this. When Manhattan is sitting so high that it looks from your figures that she’s going to roll, I’ll ask the ships to cut themselves free in a carefully calculated sequence.’
‘Psyche last.’
‘Psyche and Niobe last.’
There was a short silence, then Colin observed, ‘That would be dangerous.’
‘Yes. But it comes with the territory. I’ll have to call the odds between two ships and eighty lives, and the probable damage to the whole of the coast north of us if it rolls the other way.’
‘But you recognise that it will roll. Before we get to Mawanga. All my figures point to it.’
‘I know that, Colin. We all knew it was a probability right from the outset. Now it’s just something else I have to try and include in my calculations.’
‘Talking of calculations, I have another set of schedules which allow for a wide range of melt rates.’
‘Fax them over to me here. I’ll go through them and see if I can calculate the critical point. I’m the one responsible, after all. I have to warn the captains — give them an accurate countdown if I can.’
‘Rather you than me!’
‘What can I say? It’s what I get paid for.’
‘You don’t get paid enough. Believe me!’
Richard looked at his left hand — his right was holding the walkie-talkie to his ear — and saw through the light gauze of the bandage that the skin was still soft and full of blisters. His blood ran cold and he shivered with revulsion. ‘I believe you,’ he said feelingly.
He was holding the walkie-talkie, getting ready to phone Robin, when Emily Karanga came back through.
‘Hello, Emily?’ he said, his spirits lightening just to be talking to her. She was such a dynamo that it was possible to soak up energy from the simple idea of her.
‘Hi, Richard. That information you wanted is on its way over by fax. He wasn’t such a bad old guy. He just needed someone to appreciate what an outstanding job he was doing, and in extremely difficult circumstances, too.’
Richard wasn’t sure whether she was joking or not. ‘Oh, yes?’ he said noncommittally.
‘Certainly. We Kyoga are a badly underrated tribe. We’ve always done all the work here and never received any of the recognition due to us. It is most upsetting. Even the United Nations is really only interested in saving the lives and property of thousands of worthless, feckless N’Kuru peasants who have never been anything but a drain on the state. If we Kyoga had our way, they would all be used for what they are best suited for — manure.’
‘Oh Emily! I’m sorry!’
‘Never mind. I got what you wanted and I hope it’s useful. Hey! I’ve got a message from an old friend for you!’
‘Oh? Who?’
‘Ann Cable. She’s been in the biggest private hospital we have here for a week now and she only came round this afternoon. I was the one who brought her in, so they called me at once and I went straight over.’
‘How is she? What happened to her?’
‘She’s surprisingly well. She seemed in a pretty bad way when I found her in an irrigation ditch upcountry. But they say she’s pretty good. Pulling through nicely now. When I told her I knew you, she brightened up a lot. All the nice girls love a sailor, I guess.’
‘She does, but not this sailor. I’ll give the right man a call later. What on earth was she doing in an irrigation ditch?’
Emily explained what little she knew.
‘Sounds grim,’ he said when she had finished.
‘It is. I haven’t been right into the interior, but there are all sorts of stories coming out of there. You don’t want to know!’
‘Horrific.’
‘Do tell! Well, you just get that ice cube of yours over here before we run out of Martini.’
‘I’ll do my best.’
‘Hey! That’s not too impressive, Richard! I’ll do my best! Where’s that old Mariner spirit? Are you all right? You sound pretty beat to me. As a matter of fact, Ann sounded a good deal brighter. What’s the matter?’
‘Well, now that you ask…’
And, against his nature, breaking the rule of a lifetime, too exhausted to maintain his usual facade of granite, he told her exactly what the matter was.