Noah's Ark - Survivors by Harry Dayle Page A

nobody is transmitting, it doesn’t mean there isn’t anyone around to transmit. For all we know that asteroid may just have knocked out the electrics. We still don’t really know what happened to the northern states and countries.”
    “But what do I tell passengers? It’s not just out there that things are getting difficult. There are groups massing all over the ship. Whatever we decide to do, we need to announce it.”
    “That’s down to Jake now. We have to wait for him. In the meantime, we stick to what Johnny told us to do, his orders still stand.”
    There was a clanging noise, and a hole appeared in the ceiling. A pair of feed dangled through it, found the ladder, and grew into legs, and eventually into Max.
    “It’s getting worse out there. I need to disperse the crowd, but I’m outnumbered. I need a weapon,” he said, walking to an innocuous looking locker at the back of the room.
    He took a key out of his pocket and went to insert it into the lock, but found another key already in there. Cautiously, he pulled the door open. There were eight rifles neatly stacked upright inside. He pulled open a drawer under the rifles. Neatly packaged in a foam inlay were four automatic pistols. There was a conspicuous space where a fifth pistol clearly should have been.
    “Well that explains where the captain got his gun from,” Max said to nobody in particular.
    Lucya walked over, saw the contents of the cupboard, and whistled.
    “What are these doing on board? This is a cruise ship not a navy transport!”
    “Anti-piracy measures,” Max said. “We’ve been carrying weapons for the last year in case we got attacked by pirates.”
    “How come nobody told us? What good are weapons if nobody knows they’re here?”
    “Captain knew. And I knew. Johnny knew too. We each have a key to this cabinet. The company wanted to keep it quiet, figured it might make folks worry if they knew we were prepared in case of attack. The guns were put here at the same time as a bridge recording system was installed. It records video and audio of everything that happens up here. Can’t see the point of it myself, they’ve never been able to prosecute these pirates, having video evidence isn’t going to change that.”
    “I would have felt a lot safer knowing we had those handy,” Lucya said. She pulled out a rifle, held it up and looked down the sights.
    “I always forget you were in the Russian Navy,” Silvia said, taking a step back involuntarily. “I hate guns, I hope you’re not expecting me to carry one Max?”
    Max pulled the gun from Lucya’s hand.
    “I’m not expecting anyone to carry one. The intention is to keep the peace. Situation outside calls for a little extra persuasion, so I’m just going to borrow this for a bit.”
    He closed the lock, turned and removed the key, slipped it in his pocket. He strode over to the main door, unlocked it, and swung it open quickly, taking those outside by surprise.
    “Ladies and gentlemen, would you please return to your cabins or the public areas of the ship.” He made a show of placing the strap of the rifle over his shoulder.
    “We’ve been here for over an hour, we want some answers,” a man called out.
    “Yeah, got that right man!” another man chimed in.
    “Where’s the captain? We want to speak to the captain,” said the woman in red, apparently the ring-leader.
    “The captain will be talking to the whole ship when he is good and ready,” Max said. “Right now he’s busy. As I’m sure you can imagine, he has a lot on his plate. The safety of all passengers on board is his priority, it is the priority of every crew member. Now, please kindly get back to your cabins, or I will have to treat this little gathering as a specific threat to the crew.”
    There was a lot of mumbling, but the impressive firearm strapped to Max’s shoulder was enough to persuade the rabble that they were better off complying. They shuffled off, muttering amongst themselves.