I stood on this deck with 250 other people, all of us wearing life jackets, feeling goofy, shifting from foot to foot, and waiting for it to be over. Now there are … maybe 120 of us, all told? We are the people who did not take Solu. Everyone looks beaten, bloodied, and ragged. The injured are hanging on to the able-bodied. There are a lot of crew members among our ranks, helping people with life jackets. It makes sense that there are more clean crew members than passengers—they were supposed to not take Solu. The lifeboats hang just above us, from big mechanical braces. I see a crew member on the rigging near the lifeboats, moving levers. The first of the three boats lowers down. Everyone cheers. Rich is standing with Tom and me. Vihaan and Jaideep went to make sure everyone has a life jacket. After everything that has happened, after the mistreatment they experienced at the hands of the crazed passengers, they and the other crew members are still doing their jobs. It’s amazing.
