“Nothing for it.” She said and opened the entrance hatch in the floor and leapt out.
One of the most powerful components of the augmentations that the British government had unwittingly bestowed upon her she found was the enhancement to her skeletal frame. She fell from the ship forty feet and landed on a large rock that jutted from the mud at the bottom of the drained lake. She flexed slightly, the metal enhancements in her spine and legs taking up the force of her landing easily. She spun and looked at the round green object. Up close it looked more deadly somehow. It was changing shades of colour; bottle green one moment and lime green the next. It was also she noted, humming slightly.
She moved towards it as a large long tentacle suddenly grew from the sphere and rose into the air before reaching down and wrapping itself around her waist. The tentacle was a good twenty feet long and several others erupted from the object, reaching high into the air as if trying to swat the skimmer out of the sky where it floated high above them.
“I’ve got it.” Said Romney as Victoria found herself plucked off the ground and carried high into the air by the tentacle. She looked up and saw the skimmer quickly dart off west again out of the reach of the tentacles, which now having no set target curled down and wrapped around Victoria’s feet and made to move towards her arms when suddenly a bright blue beam shot from her finger, severing the tentacle that was trying to grab her arms in two.
“It has come far.” Said Romney almost dreamily, “Across the stars. Lost for a long time until it fell here. Lost and lost.”
“Are you okay Romney?” She grunted, firing another beam at the tentacles at her feet and severing the objects grip on her legs too. Its hold of her by the waist however grew tighter by the second.
“Yes.” said Romney. “I think it’s scanning me.”
Victoria shouted aloud and the beam shot again, hitting the tentacle about her waist further down and cutting into it deeply. Fountains of green liquid shot into the air as it waved her around and then a high pitched scream came from the device and it flung her away from it, throwing her though the air until she landed on the bank of the lake and rolled to a stop.
“Yes. So far it has come.” Said Romney. “For a mate it searches. One of it’s own kind but it cannot find a female.”
“Well that explains why it only affects women with the hallucinations.” Said Victoria, ignoring the plain fact that Romney seemed to sound even stranger by the second. She found herself concentrating instead on the small round device that lay in the mud next to the green creature that was sprouting tentacles from very spike on its body now. It seemed to be growing larger by the second too.
Victoria bit her lip and stared at the object next to the green creature, and raising her hand a blue bolt shot from her fingers and across the lake, hitting the device in the centre. There was a brief pause as she intensified the beam beyond its maximum capacity, her Babbage designed computational engine screaming red warning alerts across her vision until there was a loud cracking noise and an explosion tore through the lake, fire and flame ripping through the creature and tearing it to pieces, smoke concealing its destruction until as the breeze cleared it all that was left were green chunks of sundered flesh and tentacles. Of the creature itself there was nothing left at all.
“We may need a bit of a tidy up.” Said Victoria. “We seem to have made a bit of a mess.”
“I think we will.” Laughed Romney, sounding to Victoria as if he was back to normal already.
“Strong psychic scan.” Said the demon. “It fair muddled my head it did.”
“Okay now?” Asked Victoria cautiously.
“Yes, boss. All fine.”
“Well then.” Said Victoria as she connected to the skimmer computational engine and began to make it descend towards her, “Let us go and give the good news to Mister Hawthorne then shall we?”
***
“It is a ruddy good job I did not submit my findings to the society of psychics.” Said Hawthorne later, nursing a cup of tea in his hands. “They would think I was a fool for certain.”
“I think the truth was actually stranger.” Said Victoria. “Much stranger in fact.”
“Well I think we can leave it behind really.” Said the author, “It is not what I was looking for and so not really of use to me at all.”
“I have your fee.” Said the author, rising and placing an envelope on the mantelpiece with Victoria’s name handwritten on the front. “I have added a little extra as a token of my gratitude.” He smiled, picking up his hat and placing it on his head.
“Very kind.” Said Victoria, not entirely sure what she was going to do with the money. She wondered if there was a local cats home that was open to charitable donations and decided to make it her business to enquire later on.
“Good day Mister Hawthorne.” He said and Victoria rose and shook hands with him formally. “I will show myself out.” He smiled,
“Good job too.” Said Romney, “Or he'd be standing in the hall waiting to be let out for a while that’s for sure.” Victoria tutted loudly.
“I shall make it my business to hire a butler.” She said, “I shall write the advertisement later.”
“That should be interesting.” Laughed Romney as the small robotic cat edged around the corner of the door and walked into the centre of the room.
“Kill total to date: twenty-seven rodents, three voles, a squirrel and what may possibly have been a rat.”
“Well done Mister Tibbs.” Said Victoria brightly. “Fanelda! Can we have more tea?”
“Of course, mistress.” Came a voice from out of the chimney and the door to the room opened and then closed of its own accord.
“Let’s hope that this butler has nerves of steel.” Said Romney, “He or she is going to need them!!
***
“I have a bloody awful headache!” Moaned Romney as Victoria twisted the dial of the small brass device on her workbench slightly clockwise.
“Oh stop complaining.” Sighed Victoria. “I am nearly there now.” She pressed a red button on the device and a brief high pitched squeak sounded loudly about the room.
“Not quite right.” She said and moved the dial even more carefully clockwise before pressing the red button again. This time nothing could be heard at all. They stood listening in silence until there came a slight dull thud from the fields outside and above the house. “Must be a copper lode high up in the hills.” Said Victoria, “It’s the only metal that the pulse would affect now.”
“So that’s it then?” Asked Romney wearily. “The assassins magnetic pulse won’t affect me now?”
“No.” smiled Victoria. “No more surprises from the assassins. They won’t catch us out like that again.”
“Pity it will probably take me a week to get over this headache.” Muttered Romney but this time Victoria ignored him as the telephonic device that she was using for the detection business began to ring. She did not answer it however, letting it ring until it gave the caller the opportunity to leave a message.
“Well damn and blast it!” Said the oddly familiar voice on the other end of the call. “I need to speak to the detectorist. Doctor Prendergast here. I want someone there to look into an incident in my garden if they would. I use copper discs to protect my strawberries you see,”
“Oh dear.” Said Romney, remembering the dull thud they had heard mere minutes before.
“A few minutes ago the ruddy things all exploded. I haven’t a damnable strawberry left. It is like strawberry Armageddon up here in my garden. Get back to me as soon as you can please.” He finished and the line went dead.
“Oh dear indeed.” Smiled Victoria, “I think we may just give that one a miss.”
“Good idea boss.” Said Romney, Good idea.”
The Vanished Man
Lamplight on a charred, burnt wall. Shadows flickered revealing burnt remnants of furniture. Everything the lamp caught as it hurried on was burnt and blackened. The man holding the lamp raced onwards,
looking over his shoulder as he went, the sounds of pursuit coming from close by.
“Come back, father!” A shout from the darkness and the man flinched, tearing open an elaborately decorated set of double doors and slamming them shut behind him. The room in which the man now found himself was just as badly burnt, what little remained of the furniture that was revealed by the lamp as he ran past was all ruined in some way by the effects of fire and smoke.
“Albus!” Shouted a different voice, a woman's this time, her voice barely concealing what appeared to be irritation and fear. “Come back! We can discuss it! You are not alone remember!”
The man sneered as he heard this and he rushed on, crossing the large dark room rapidly, approaching a now illuminated set of double doors on the far side of the building. Again he tugged the door open and stepping through slammed it behind him. This room was almost exactly the same as the previous one, if not a little larger.
“Father!” Came another deeper voice and the man rushed across this room now, stumbling on a small foot stool carelessly left by a fire damaged armchair. The man tripped and landed on the floor, sprawled on the fine carpet, the lamp bouncing onto the floor. The device was new technology and all that happened was a small burst of steam emitted from the lamp and disappeared in the cool dark air. Sighing thankfully that it was still lit he scrambled for it as he rose and groaning he raised himself to his feet and kicked out angrily at the foot stool as he stood, the piece of furniture flying across the floor almost as if it was eager to escape his ire. He raced on as light began to show beneath the door that he had just shut behind him at the far end of the room and it was suddenly pulled open, revealing a tall well-dressed woman holding a lamp aloft, a younger woman looking about in concern and two young men looking around anxiously. One was a lot older than the other and was carrying a lamp himself, which the younger man did not. They looked around the room and seeing the man opening the single door on the far side of the room in which they were standing they cried out in alarm and all began to race towards him as the man shot through the single door and slammed it behind him.
“Why is he crossing the west wing?” Asked the younger woman, puzzled. The older woman frowned as they strode across the room and opened the single door, peering inside to see the light from the torch the man was carrying disappearing up a wide steep stone staircase on the far side of the room.
“He is going up the King’s Tower.” Sighed the woman, “He always used to do that when he was a child if something bad had happened. Some habits are harder to break than others it would appear.”
“Come on!” Shouted the older man impatiently, “At least he cannot get away now! There is no other exit from the tower!”
They walked carefully here for this room was very badly damaged. The walls were bare, the plaster dark and soot stained as if by a fierce fire. There was no furniture, but the ground was littered with fallen tiles and small pieces of brickwork, and the dust resting on every surface was thick, grey and clung to the back of the throat. The smell of remembered smoke was strong, as if it had permeated itself into the brick walls somehow. Footsteps were perfectly clear in the thick grey dust that was revealed by the lamplight leading straight to a wide arch on the far side of the room, steep stone steps leading up out of sight above.
“The King’s Tower as you said mother.” Said the younger woman with a snort of disdain. She was young but still the oldest of her and the boys there. “Why he just doesn’t stop and talk…” she trailed off, observing the older of the boys looking at her in irritation.
“Well if we get to it and follow father then we will be able to ask him.” The older boy said disdainfully, “The room at the top of the tower is enclosed. He cannot lose us now.”
“Well what are we waiting for?” Queried the younger boy in excitement and the four of them began to walk swiftly up the steep stairs just as an older man broke into the room through the single door, looking about him in bewilderment.
“Cordelia!” He shouted and the older woman paused on the stair raising the lantern above her head so he could see her. “What on Earth is going on?”
“It is Albus, Nigel.” She said wearily, “My husband seems to have taken it upon his shoulders to resolve the lack of funds for the repair of Harrington Hall by putting it on the market with the intention in mind of selling it.”
“But it is your family home!” Said the older man as he reached the woman and he reached out and touched her on the arm, attempting to reassure her.
“Quite.” Said the woman haughtily, turning from the man and lamp held before her continuing up the stairs.
“Stay away!” Came a voice from above them. “I will lock myself in the tower room whilst you all stop and consider what I have done. I am sure in the cold light of morning you will see that I have no alternative!”
“You will do no such thing!” Shouted Cordelia up the stairs, “You stop right where you are and we shall all discuss this now like adults! Have you lost your mind?”
“Go away!” Came the voice again but the five people continued up the stairs, their breath misting on the cold night's air as they made their way up the steep stone steps that spiraled up above them, rising even higher.
Cordelia increased her pace, keen to get to the top of the tower as soon as possible, yet as all five of them turned the last circle on the staircase and saw a large iron door facing them they also saw Albus Harrington staring at them angrily. As they approached and tried to stop them he pushed the metal door closed and there was the sound of a key turning in a lock. Outside the door stood the lamp he had been carrying, discarded presumably as he had not had enough time to collect it before his family arrived at the top of the staircase.
“Come out!” Screamed the older woman, thumping her hand on the door and trying the handle. Yet as they had all heard it was locked.
“I will come out in the morning!” Shouted a voice from within the room, “And we shall discuss matters tomorrow. Until then I would be greatly obliged if you….”
There was a sudden silence as the sentence hung unfinished in the air.
“Leave me alone.” Said the youngest man, finishing the incomplete sentence for his father and looking at the door wildly as if expecting it to fly open at any second. It did not.
“Albus!” Shouted Cordelia, hammering on the door with the flat of her hand, “Open this door at once!”
From inside the room came no reply at all.
“Albus.” Said Nigel, who having arrived late, seemed to be trying his very best to make up for lost time. “Be a good chap and open the ruddy door. There aren’t many problems that can’t be solved with a drop of the old fire water in hand. Come on, old fellow. Open the damned door.” Angrily he kicked the door but there was still no response. The small group of people fell into silence.
“I think we should leave him to it.” Said the younger woman, “After all there isn’t much he can get up to in there is there?”
“Not really.” Said Cordelia. “Heaven only knows why he always locks himself in there when he gets upset. He told me it was a habit from childhood but it seems to me he hasn’t achieved an awful lot of growing up if he still feels the need to lock himself in there when the going gets tough.”
“Is there another key?” Asked Nigel and the youngest boy nodded eagerly.
“I think Royston has a spare set of every key for the building in the butler’s pantry.” He said, “I would be amazed if he did not have one for this door.”
“Very well William.” Said Cordelia to the younger boy, “Take yourself to the butler’s pantry and ask Royston for the key. I am not going to sleep until my husband and I have discussed the sale of our family home.” She banged on the door furiously with her hand, finally kicking it with her heel too. “Do you hear me, Albus?” She shouted, but there was no reply and so she shrieked loudly and turned her back on the solid iron door, noticing that William had already departed.
“Come on father.” Shouted the younger
woman, stooping down and looking through the large keyhole. “Can’t see a thing.” She said, rising to her feet once again.
“Well he cannot go anywhere, Charlotte” Said Cordelia. “He seems to want to keep his two sons and daughter waiting for his idiocy to falter.” She shouted, hoping he could hear her.
“And his old business colleague waiting too.” Said Nigel joyfully, losing his smile instantly as he saw Cordelia frowning at him. From the room within came silence.
“Father!” Shouted the eldest boy, thumping the door loudly, “Open the door please. It is cold out here. See sense, man!”
“Oh do please desist, Montague,” said Cordelia, giving her eldest son a look of irritation. “Your father obviously is not going to say a word until William returns with the key.”
“And even then he will probably sulk all evening.” Said Charlotte, barely masking her irritation.
They stood in silence for a few minutes until far below they heard the sounds of doors banging and then a light began to show from the bottom of the staircase, becoming stronger as William returned with Royston in tow who was looking remarkably flustered.
“Lord Montague has locked himself in the tower room, Royston.” Said Cordelia.
“I see my lady.” Said the butler, “Well I have the key here.” He smiled and walked across to the door, and placing the key in the keyhole gave it a quick turn. The lock seemed to be very stiff as the butler had to struggle with it a little but eventually the key turned a half circle and twisting the handle he pushed the door open.
“Excellent work, Royston” said Montague, and raising his lamp walked into the room, followed by the others.
“What the…?” Began Nigel, staring around at the bare empty room. There were no windows and no other exits from the circular chamber other than the door through which they had just entered. The room was completely enclosed and empty of any furniture or anything at all. The only object at all inside the entire chamber was a large metal key which was in the centre of the floor. William bent down and picked it up, staring around him in disbelief.
The Complete Adventures of Victoria Neaves & Romney Page 12