Chapter 111: Cruise Ship (9)
On the second day after entering the time loop, at 19:50 in the evening, more than a dozen people—including Everly—quietly gathered on the lower deck.
During the day, the Mary Jane’s failed attempt to evacuate had already caused panic among the cruise ship’s passengers.
When the ship passed through the transparent “membrane,” the sight of its bow vanishing into thin air as if erased by an eraser—and then reappearing from the other side of the time loop—had been witnessed by far too many people. Even though the ship’s broadcast later tried to explain it away as a mirage caused by refraction and total internal reflection of light, and claimed the ship had only stopped because of the storm, the passengers remained skeptical.
After all, anyone with functioning eyes could notice the eerie calm of the sea surrounding the Golden Anchor. There were plenty of superstitious people in America; it only took someone a bit overly devout to come out and proclaim things like, “We must have angered the gods and brought down divine punishment,” for a large number of wavering individuals to believe it.
To calm everyone down, the captain had no choice but to rack his brains organizing all sorts of random activities on board—both to distract the passengers and to give those with too much pent-up energy an outlet.
It wasn’t easy to bring the situation under control. By nightfall, taking advantage of the song-and-dance party being held in the banquet hall, the exhausted captain, first mate, and others finally found a chance to slip away.
Below the deck, sailors who had already received instructions were standing at the bottom of the gangway. They had used poles to push a test lifeboat to the edge of the time loop, waiting only for the captain’s order to place it at the designated position.
Everyone stood silently in the darkness, no one speaking, each second dragging on like an eternity.
Finally, after a long wait, the time reached 19:59. From that moment on, everyone tensed up, staring at the massive Golden Anchor before them with a mixture of hope and fear. The captain tightened his grip on the walkie-talkie, ready to notify the crew below to push the lifeboat forward the instant any change occurred in the ship ahead.