Chapter Sixty-two
Doctor Needleman drifted up from the depths of a child-like sleep and struggled a moment. Something was different. And then he realized– the penetrating hum and vibration that had underscored his every waking moment, like a toothache, for the past three days had subsided. Sometime during the night the captain of the Excelsior had brought the ship to its mooring. Deckhands had made fast with two hawsers and the diesels had been shut down; the ship put to bed.
Now only the sound of water lapping at the hull-side and dappled sunshine reflecting from the surface of the sea, leaked through the open porthole. Needleman filled his lungs with brisk sea air, felt young again, and looked over.
The sun rippled, glimmering across Susan’s cheek and wreathing her slick head in golde
