Slimer

On the last occasion, when Linda had needed to urinate that morning, Paul had come close to attacking Alex even though he knew that any kind of struggle in the small boat would capsize it. But Linda had succeeded in calming him down just in time.

Alex. Paul hadn’t known it was possible to hate another human being so much. Before the trip he hadn’t even disliked him. On the contrary, he admired the good looking Mexican-American with his cool, street-wise manner and the impressive stories of doing drug-runs from Columbia to Florida. But then on the voyage to Morocco, living with him in such close proximity for several days, he realised he was an arrogant, unpleasant pain in the arse. And then, when he had made a blatant play for Linda right in front of Paul…

Since the sinking of the yacht he’d become even worse. He’d become increasingly belligerent and cruel, goading them all the time and acting like super-macho man. It was odd, reflected Paul, how the crisis had affected each of them differently. Mark’s reaction had been to retreat behind a screen of nervous jokes while his girlfriend, Chris, had sunk into a cocoon of self-pity. Alex’s girl, Rochelle, coped with the situation by becoming a sleep-walker, taking very little interest in what was happening. Paul himself, he knew, had taken on the role of the stoic, level-headed, natural-born leader. He wondered how long he’d be able to maintain the performance.

The only person who hadn’t changed was Linda. She was a little more irritable than usual, true, but otherwise she was the same calm, selfless Linda. He squeezed her shoulder, not caring if Alex interpreted the gesture as an attempt to get extra warmth. She held him more tightly and Paul felt a wave of sick guilt sweep through him. It was because of him she was in the mess. She had been against the trip from the start but he wouldn’t listen to her. Alex’s grandiose scheme for making a certain ?200,000 by doing a dope run to Morocco had blinded him. Now they had lost everything — the dope was at the bottom of the North Sea with the yacht, along with the ?4,000 that Linda and he had invested in the trip. And now they might even lose their lives…

How much longer could they last, he wondered? All of them were fit — well, perhaps not Mark. But none of them were suffering any serious discomfort yet. That wouldn’t start until the last of the food and water were gone, which would be tonight. After then? What would get them first? Exposure? Perhaps, if this cold got any worse. After that thirst would be the big problem. Death by starvation was the least likely scenario. There was a fishing line in the dinghy so they could always catch fish. The trouble was he hated fish. The smell, the taste, even the feel of them were loathsome to him. The thought of eating raw fish made him want to gag.

‘God, I’m hungry,’ said Chris in a clear, loud voice.

Her voice had the effect of rousing everyone from their private thoughts. It was as if they were a bunch of robots whose power had suddenly been restored. Alex grinned at her and gripped his crotch. ‘I got some meat right here you’re welcome to chew on anytime, kid, long as you don’t bite too hard.’

Chris flushed and looked away. Mark pretended he hadn’t heard what Alex said. ‘Don’t talk about food, Chris-sie,’ he told her, ‘you’ll only make things worse.’

Rochelle groaned and moved slowly as though afraid she might crack. Sleepily, she said, ‘Jesus, I’m freezing. What time is it?’

‘Almost dinner time,’ said Alex. ‘We drew straws while you were asleep and you lost, baby You’re it. I get the breasts and thighs so unwrap them and we’ll get started.’

‘Asshole,’ said Rochelle and closed her eyes again. Nothing Alex said ever seemed to rattle her. Not for the first time Paul wondered what the hell she saw in the creep.

Alex grinned. ‘Okay, so what are we gonna do, guys?’ He looked straight at Paul. ‘What about you, Action Man? Any clever ideas?’

His laid-back Californian accent couldn’t have got further up Paul’s nose if it had been pushed in with a stick. He almost sneered openly at Alex. He knew the game he was playing now. He was trying to make Paul look small; trying to take over. Well, they both knew that Paul had established himself as the leader early on and had the backing of the others. Alex was outnumbered.

‘Surely you have some smart ideas, Rinaldo,’ said Paul, his voice annoying him by cracking slightly from dryness.

‘I say we start using the paddles again. Just sitting here is dumb.’

‘And paddle in which direction? We don’t have a compass. It’s a waste of time,’ said Paul.

‘At least we’d keep warm.’

Paul shook his head. ‘As soon as you stopped you’d get cold again, and probably a chill too. It would be a waste of energy. We’ve got to conserve our strength. But you go ahead if you want, Rinaldo. If there’s one person I’d like to watch buried at sea it’s you…’.

Linda squeezed his hand in warning. She was right. A comment like that didn’t help anyone. He should be trying to keep the situation calm, not stir up trouble.

Alex glared at him through narrowed eyes. ‘You think if we just sit here we’re going to get rescued, hey? Come on, Action Man, face facts. Nobody’s even looking for us. Nobody even knows we’re out here.’

That was true. When the fire had started on the yacht they hadn’t radioed for help. How could they, with three-quarters of a ton of dope on board?

Paul said nothing.

Alex went on, ‘We could be waiting months out here in this pea-soup for someone to stumble over us. And by that time we’ll be providing a buffet meal for the sea-gulls.’

‘The mist will clear soon,’ said Paul with a conviction he didn’t feel.

‘Yeah? Can I have that in writing, Action Man?’ laughed Alex.

‘Look, smart-arse, you’re the man as far as you’re concerned — you got us into this, so why don’t you get us out of it.’

‘I didn’t set fire to the goddamned boat,’ said Alex and looked at Mark. ‘He did.’

Mark looked hurt. ‘Hey, I told you before it wasn’t my fault. There must have been a build-up of gasoline fumes down below. Petrol vapour is heavier than air — it collects in the bilges…’

‘And who went down there to work on the pump with a lighted joint in his mouth?’ sneered Alex.

Mark winced. ‘My old man is going to kill me. He loved that damned boat.’

‘Serves you right, you stupid dork,’ said Alex, ‘We were that close to making a fortune and you blew it for all of us.’ ‘Leave him alone,’ said Chris, ‘it was an accident.’

‘Yeah, an accident of birth. The guy’s a pinhead.’

Paul sighed. He was about to tell them to shut up and stop squabbling but before he could say anything Linda started to rise to her feet beside him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. ‘Are you crazy? You’ll tip us over.’

T saw something,’ she said in a dazed voice. She pointed ahead. ‘Out there! There was a break in the mist.’

They all looked in the direction she was pointing. Paul couldn’t see anything but the usual grey wall of mist. ‘What did you see?’

‘I don’t know, but it was big.'

Then Paul saw it too. A massive shape loomimg over them; something the size of a city block standing on four giant legs.

‘It’s an oil rig!’ cried Linda.

‘Thank God, we’re saved!’ shouted Chris. The dinghy began to wobble alarmingly as everyone tried to get a better view.

‘Hey, you guys, take it easy!’ ordered Alex. ‘We tip this thing over and it won’t matter what’s out there.’

‘Alex is right,’ said Paul, grabbing one of the plastic loops attached to the side of the boat. ‘For once. Everyone calm down. We’re gonna get the paddles out and head towards it nice and easy. In a half an hour from now we’ll be sitting down to bacon and eggs and all the coffee we can drink…’

As they got closer to the platform Mark saw it was bigger than he’d realised. He had always been impressed by the underside of fly-overs, with the huge sweep of concrete supported on comparatively thin pillars. Staring up at the rig produced a similar sensation.

The platform was about 150 feet above the sea and consisted of five different levels, each one with a separate deck around it connected by a series of gangways and ladders. On the top level he could see four large