Payne leaned out of the starboard wing station window, to the side of the bridge. “There’s a glitch with the electronics. We’re looking into it now.”
“Is it anything serious?”
“It can’t be—everything checked out just fine this morning. It’s always the way when something urgent comes up.” Payne looked across to the communications and electrical racks on the rear wall of the bridge, where Mike Ellipulos, the captain, and Nick, seaman and electronics specialist on the crew, had opened up the main breaker panel and were probing among the wires at the rear. “Mike, how’s it going? What’ve we got back there?”
Ellipulos looked mystified. “I don’t understand it. It wouldn’t reset. The replacement module didn’t work either. Now we find this.” When they went through the pre-sailing checks, they had found an entire distribution subsystem dead, disabling the satellite-driven plotter and navigation system and one of the radars.
Payne strode over and looked down. “What?”
Ellipulos gestured. Nick was examining several stubs of cable protruding from the connectors. “Half the wires are gone at the back. They look like they’ve been cut.”
Vanessa came across and looked past Payne, but still she said nothing. Payne shook his head, nonplussed. “That’s crazy, Mike.”
“I know.”
“You’re sure it was okay this morning?”
“Tested it myself.”
Payne jerked his head from side to side, as if asking the world to judge if he deserved the things he had to endure. “Well, can we fix it?” he asked.
“I could replace the cables, no problem, but it would take a while,” Nick said.
Vanessa moved closer behind Payne. “You don’t need computers to move a boat,” she muttered. “Fix the problem when we’re at sea. Corfe’s still loose in the city somewhere, and I don’t like it. We need to get out of here.”
“Forget that for now, Mike,” Payne said. “Take her out manually. We’ve still got Loran backup.”
Ellipulos straightened up and used a hand-held intercom to talk to the first mate, who was out aft on the boat deck. “Zed, get ready to cast off. We’re moving out now.” Nick left the bridge via an outside ladder to go forward. Ellipulos moved into the captain’s chair at the wheel and alerted Cole, the engineer down below. “Is everything set down there? We’re casting off now.”
From the boat deck behind the bridge, Zed’s voice called orders to Nick and the other seaman, George, who was at the stern.
Vanessa was still staring dubiously at the opened breaker panel. “So what’s Mike saying?” she demanded curtly, looking at Payne. “Are we supposed to have a saboteur on board, or something?”
Payne could only show his hands. “I don’t know. It’s like I said—crazy. One thing at a time, Vanessa. If you want us out of here, we’re getting out of here, okay? We’ll take care of that problem when we’re clear.”
Vanessa looked at the cut wires again. Impossible thoughts flew through her head. She walked over to the bench seat by the chart table where she had put down her shoulder bag, picked it up, and opened the flap. Back at Microbotics, she had, as a precaution, bound the mec that she had taken from Michelle’s pocket tightly in adhesive tape to immobilize it. . . . But no, that wasn’t it. The mec was still there in her bag, wrapped like a miniature mummy. Puzzled but still suspicious, she put the bag down again and went back to the opened panel. Payne, standing next to Ellipulos, was looking baffled. Ellipulos frowned and pressed the button again. “I don’t get this. The starter’s dead too.”
“This isn’t real,” Payne breathed, shaking his head.
“Can’t you start it from up on top?” Vanessa shot across at them.
“I wouldn’t bother trying,” Ellipulos answered. “The fly bridge controls are farther down the circuits from here. If we’re dead, it’s a certain bet it will be up there too. The only other way is to use the local starters on the engines.”
“Do it, then,” Payne ordered.
Ellipulos used the intercom to rouse Cole again. “Use the engine-room starters. Both engines, right away.”
“What in hell’s going on?” Cole’s voice squawked from the speaker.