Flood

87

July-August 2039

From Kristie Caistor’s scrapbook:

The New Jersey rendezvoused with the Ark in July 2039, a bit more than a year after rescuing Lily and Manco from the pirate raid. Kristie had a heart-wrenching reunion with her son.

After that, Kristie’s relationship with Lily became even more tangled. She had to be grateful to Lily for saving Manco from drowning in the first place, and looking after him on the sub. But Kristie was jealous. Lily had had Manco to herself for a whole year of his young life. He came back older, a bit calmer, taller, more experienced, changed. And Kristie hadn’t shared those changes with him. She showed him recordings she’d made on her handheld in the months he’d been away, but he showed no interest.

Nathan persuaded the New Jersey captain to stick around for a few weeks. He allowed the sub crew on board the Ark for rest and recreation, and threw some celebratory events in gratitude for the sub’s assistance, and to mark the fourth anniversary of the Ark’s launch. On the last night of the Jersey ’s visit, Nathan threw a party in the restaurant, for senior officers and special guests only. The submarine crew looked spick and span in their whites, and Nathan’s crew did him proud in their best surviving uniforms, tuxedos or ball gowns.

And in the middle of it Nathan stunned everybody by getting up on the stage and announcing that his son Hammond had become engaged to Grace Gray.

Kristie, amazed at this herself, recorded people’s reactions: smug satisfaction for Hammond, a kind of resigned bewilderment clouding Grace’s pale, freckled face-and a look of ice-cold satisfaction in Lily’s eyes.