Thirty-Five

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"Hang on, Jack. Help's on its way. We'll get you back to Ocean Base, and Doc Baines will fix you up."

"I doubt it." Jack's voice was weak, but his voice was quite calm, as if he was resigned to his fate. And, indeed, his chances looked slim, as Marine Boy could plainly see. A harpoon in the ribs was not something that could be fixed with a piece of sticking-plaster. Already, the floor was slick with Jack's blood. Marine Boy knew enough about major injuries to know that his friend was also bleeding internally. It was this, he knew, which would shortly prove fatal – and that there was nothing he could do.

He cradled Jack in his arms, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. The vibrations caused by the attack of Ocean Base's personnel had largely died away. This meant, he hoped, that the cavalry had already penetrated Captain Morgan's lair, and were searching it. He willed them to hurry. He considered trying to find them, to guide them to where he and Jack lay, but he knew that he couldn't. He couldn't leave Jack, not for an instant. Not when that instant could be his last.

Jack coughed, weakly. Pinkish bubbles formed and burst about his lips. Marine Boy wiped them away with his hand. He knew that they were a sign of bloody fluids beginning to collect in Jack's lungs, and that eventually Jack would drown internally.

"Johnny..."

"Hush. Don't try to talk."

"Listen to me, Johnny..."

"Hush. Whatever it is can wait. You'll be fine once the Doc gets here. We can talk after that."

Jack smiled, weakly. "You're not a very... good liar, Johnny. It's one of the best things... about you."

"I'm not lying."

"Sure you are. It's already too... late. I know it, and so... do you."

"Nonsense."

Jack shook his head, slightly. "Listen, Johnny, I don't... have much time. I'm sorry, Johnny. No... let me finish. I'm sorry for... what I did."

"I've already forgiven you."

"I know. But now... I can forgive myself."

"Hey, it doesn't work like that, you know."

"Which shows how... little you know. You're too... good a person ever to have needed... to forgive yourself. This..." Jack gestured weakly in the direction of the bloody harpoon. "This is karma."

"Don't talk like that, Jack." Tears rolled down Marine Boy's cheeks and dripped onto Jack. "Remember –" Marine Boy tried to make his tone light and conversational. "Remember that you promised to show me a city. I'm going to hold you to that, you know."

"Two... cities."

"Sure. Two cities. Or three, or four, or every city on Earth. By which time there'll be cities under the sea as well..." Marine Boy stopped. Jack was shaking his head.

"No. I meant A Tale... of Two Cities. You remember I said... that I liked reading... Dickens?"

"Sure."

"It's a far... better thing I just did... than I ever did before."

Marine Boy found that he had no words. He looked into Jack's eyes. The light in them was going out.

"I... I..." Jack was struggling to speak. Marine Boy leant over so that his ear brushed Jack's lips. "I... I love you, Johnny Mar... iner."

"I love you too, Jack Templeton," Marine Boy replied. He never knew if Jack had heard him.

***

The first man to find them was Bullton. Piper was on his heels. Marine Boy wasn't surprised by this – he had some sort of connection with the two of them, which made them more likely to find him in a strange base than anyone else. Even his father.

Bullton and Piper were each carrying automatic pistols, as if they'd known that any fighting wouldn't be done under water. They took in the situation at a glance, checking that none of the unconscious goons was in any state to cause trouble. "You OK, Marine Boy?" Bullton asked, in a voice that sounded both gruff and concerned. He looked from the near-naked Marine Boy, to his suit still hanging from a peg, and back; though he made no comment.

"Yeah, I'm OK," Marine Boy said. Then, "Did he get away?"

"Who?"

"The boss of this place. I don't know his name. I last saw him trying to make his escape via an air-lock."

"We've got this place so surrounded a sardine couldn't get past us," Bullton assured him. Marine Boy didn't share his confidence, but let the matter rest.

There was a pause. Piper knelt next to Marine Boy and Jack. "What happened to your friend?" he asked.

"That harpoon was meant for me," Marine Boy said. "Jack –" He couldn't finish the sentence. His tears fell anew. Piper reached out and put his hand on Marine Boy's shoulder, to comfort him. "He was very brave," he said.

Bullton shuffled his feet and cleared his throat, in a way that somehow conveyed the sympathy for which he didn't have the words.

"We'll – we'll take him back to Ocean Base," Piper said. "So things can be done – properly."

Marine Boy nodded, and stood up. He put his hands under Jack's arms. Wordlessly, Bullton took Jack's legs, and the two of them started to carry his body away. "Bring my stuff, please, Piper," Marine Boy said.

"Sure thing, Marine Boy," Piper replied, gathering suit and boots into his arms, and retrieving the boomerang. Like Bullton, he asked no questions.

"Bullton, Piper?" Marine Boy asked, hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"From now on, could you call me Johnny?"

THE END


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