Fearful Fathoms: Collected Tales of Aquatic Terror (Vol. I - Seas & Oceans)

by Richard Chizmar

  “It was immediately apparent that the craft was even more opulent than I had imagined. It seemed to be built from mahogany, brass and mirrors, enhanced with chandeliers of the finest crystal, and carpets of the deepest pile. I was led to a room that would have graced any club in London and sat in an armchair that threatened to swaddle me with comfort. I was given a Cuban cigar and a glass of the finest brandy. Then I was told a story that chilled me to the bone.

  “‘It began off the southern tip of Ireland,’” McAllister said. “‘Up until that point, it had been an uneventful trip across the Atlantic after our protracted stay in New York for the Hudson-Fulton Celebration. We were all starting to look forward to some shore leave and family visits. It was not to be. The first sign there was anything amiss came from The Ballroom. The night’s festivities were over and the guests back asleep in their cabins. But several of the crew heard cries echoing along the corridors. When they went to investigate, they discovered not late revellers as they had expected, but an empty room. Nevertheless the cries continued. They were screams—but not of joy. There in that empty echoing Ballroom something howled, like a beast in rage.’”

  “As you can imagine, I checked all the men for signs of drinking. But, to a man they were all sober. Sober, and badly frightened. The night went downhill rapidly after that. More screaming was reported in the engine room, quiet at first, beneath the noise of the turbines, but growing steadily. And all too soon the mania had spread. Shouts and cries began to rise along the corridors and even out on the decks. Soon the whole ship was in an uproar, with passengers and crew alike running hither and tither, either away from, or in search of, the source of the shouting.

  “It was the longest night of my life—of all our lives. I doubt that a single wink of sleep was had by any person on board. I had the band play on deck, as loud as was possible, but even that was insufficient to drown out those screams. They seemed to come straight from Hell, and blasted a chill through the hearts of even the stoutest of us.

  “We made full steam for port here in Liverpool, and I do believe we may have set several speed records in the process. The screams persisted all the way. When we arrived, the passengers—and, I must say, most of the crew—disembarked as soon as the gangplanks were lowered. It will be a cold day in Hell before any of them return.”

  “‘We have been in dock six days now,” McAllister continued. “The screams have died down. But they still persist, particularly around the Ballroom, which no one will go near. We cannot in all good faith take another trip, for a repeat of the last one would bring ruin, possibly for the whole fleet. We need your help, Mr. Carnacki.’”

  * * *

  Carnacki paused to refill his pipe, and we took our cue to refill our glasses and get fresh smokes of our own lit.

  “I say Carnacki,” Arkwright piped up. “Did you know that when the Lusitania took the Blue Riband for eastbound crossing from the Kaiser Wilhelm, she averaged twenty four knots westbound and twenty three knots eastbound? But they say that a certain Mr. Wright in New York is promising that the days of the liner are over and that flying machines will be making the trip in two days or less in the next few years. Did you know—”

  Carnacki now had his pipe lit to his satisfaction. All it took to quiet Arkwright was a glower through the fog.

  Once more, we settled as Carnacki continued.

  * * *

  “As you chaps can see,” he continued. “This was just the sort of thing I could get my teeth into, although I must admit the sheer scale of the activities had me somewhat daunted at the task to come.

  “McAllister showed me to a most sumptuous cabin, and I was solely tempted to succumb to its luxury. But duty called and besides, my curiosity had been piqued. I considered setting up immediate defences, but decided that a closer look at the lay of the land was required before committing myself to a course of action.

  “McAllister led me to the Ballroom entrance, but refused to go inside, blanching at the very prospect.

  “‘You will think me an awful coward, Mr. Carnacki. But I have had my fill for the moment. And you will understand yourself soon enough, once you encounter what waits for you.’”

  “He took his leave, with the promise of more brandy for me in the Club Room when I was ready for it. I waited until he had gone down the corridor, then approached the tall door to the Ballroom.

  “I stood for long seconds, listening. The ship’s engines were quiet, and the only sound was a far off whistle of a train. I summoned up what courage I had, opened the door and stepped inside.

  “The Ballroom seemed to double as a dining room, and was as expensive and opulent as you chaps would imagine, occupying a space two decks high and topped by a huge ornate dome. Corinthian columns and potted palms defined the seating areas, with a dance area and bandstand dominating the lower floor, and tables on the upper deck. My footsteps echoed on hardwood flooring as I walked across the space.

  “Now I will freely admit I was ready to run almost as soon as I reached the dance area, for there was a feeling about the place that raised the hairs at the back of my neck. My first thought was that it was cold—cold and clammy—as if I walked through thick fog. I tasted salt spray on my lips, and that in itself nearly sent me back to the door. But it would be a dashed bad show to have come all this way just to flee within a minute of arrival, so I stiffened my back and strode into the center of the dancefloor.

  “I stood, hands at my side, just waiting. McAllister had been right; I did not have to wait long. It started as little more than a whisper, but like a train rushing down the line, it grew and grew until it filled the whole Ballroom with a shriek the likes of which I have never before encountered.

  “I don’t mind telling you that my knees were like jelly, and I was sorely tempted to leave that place and never return. But I forced myself to endure, to try to discern the nature of what was around me.

  “The scream rose, sending the chandeliers high above rattling, grating on the nerves like fingernails on a blackboard.

  “I thought I might be able to discern patterns in the noise, but by this time my heart pounded high in my chest and in my ears, and my legs would brook it no further. I backed away, slowly at first, then faster as the sound seemed to follow me, intent on driving all rational thought from my mind.

  “In a blue funk, I fled.”

  * * *

  Carnacki paused and took a long swig from his whisky, as if he needed a stiffener just to erase the memory of the experience. When he put the glass down he was once more composed as he continued.

  “McAllister was true to his word. He had a large snifter of brandy waiting for me when I reached the Club Room. That, and a pipeful of his fine tobacco, settled me somewhat, enabling me to look back more dispassionately at my experience.

  “It was my belief that some denizen from the Outer Realms had taken hold in this liner, and that only by expulsion would its effects be mitigated.

  “I told McAllister as much over a smoke. He seemed relieved that I at least had a plan, and I got the impression that he was a man close to the end of his tether, holding it together only by the compelling force of his duty. I resolved to do whatever I could to ease his fears. I had him return with me to my cabin and together we carried my defences back to the ballroom.

  “As soon as we got there the officer showed every sign of wanting to be somewhere else, despite the fact that our own voices were all that could be heard, echoing around the vast empty space. He hovered near the door, torn between being courteous to me and an obvious urge to go. I waved him away.

  “I shall find you if I need you,” I said. “Besides, I rather prefer to be alone on these occasions.

  “He had gone almost before I completed the sentence.

  “I set to building my defences.

  “I started by drawing a circle of chalk, taking care never to smudge the line. Beyond this, I rubbed a broken garlic clove in a second circle around the first.

  “When this was done, I
took a small jar of water that had been blessed by a priest and went round the circle again just inside the line of chalk, leaving a wet trail that dried quickly behind me. Within this inner circle, I made my pentacle using the signs of the Saaamaaa Ritual, and joined each Sign most carefully to the edges of the lines I had already made.

  “In the points of the pentacle I placed five portions of bread wrapped in linen, and in the valleys five phials of the holy water. Now I had my first protective barrier and with this first stage complete the circle, now protected as it was by the most basic of spells, already felt more secure.

  “I set my electric pentacle to overlay the drawn pentagram upon the floor. When I connected up the battery, an azure glare shone from the intertwining vacuum tubes.

  “I was as ready as I was ever going to be.

  “As it turns out, all my defences were to be to no avail. I had hardly lit up a pipe when the noises started again, a whistling howl, like a tortured cat mewling in the wind. The noise rose and rose to a crescendo. And all the time, the valves on the pentacle maintained a steady soft glow, showing no reaction to the manifestations.

  “Once again the fear gripped at me, like ice in my bones. I tasted salt on my lips and suddenly I felt wet, soaked through to the skin and spluttering to keep my breath under a sudden flood of water.

  “Avaunt!” I cried. “ADJÚRO ergo te, omnis immundíssime spíritus, omne phantásma, omnis incúrsio sátanæ, in nómini Jesu Christ.”

  “There was no discernible slackening of the onslaught on my senses. Now you chaps know that I’ve been in some dashed tight spots and come out unscathed. But never before have my defences proved so entirely useless against my adversary. And as the sound rose once more to a raging howl, I’m afraid to say that my own mental defences also proved equally limited. I could take it no more. I rolled across the floor, my legs refusing to support me, destroying the circles in the process. With screams still wailing like a banshee in my ears, I crawled out of that ballroom, a defeated man.”

  * * *

  Carnacki stopped suddenly. His face had gone white, the memory quite overcoming him. He drained a glass of whisky that would have floored a lesser man and puffed urgently at his pipe.

  We took the opportunity to recharge our own glasses. Arkwright, with his usual lack of tact, chose to press Carnacki on particulars.

  “So, when you say defeated, Carnacki, do you mean that you never got to the bottom of the wretched matter? It’s just that I had a hankering for a cruise myself and if there’s something on that liner, I might just have to change my plans. I hear there’s a new, larger ship being built in Belfast. I may wait for that one. Although I must say—”

  Carnacki waved him quiet with a weary waft of a hand.

  “I would put off any thought of sea cruises if I were you,” Carnacki said, and there was such a sadness in his voice that we were all moved to complete silence. “I fear the seas may not be safe for some time.” He would say no more. “The reason will become clearer as our story continues.”

  He took his time filling his pipe again, giving us all plenty of opportunity for reflection on what he had already told us.

  “I have thought long and hard as to whether to tell this tale at all,” he said. “I have delved deep in places where mortal man should not tread. But in this case I have gone even further than ever before. And I have not yet come to terms with all that the story portends, for either myself, or all of you chaps. Mayhap it will become clearer in the telling.

  “Now, are we all settled?”

  * * *

  “I only have the vaguest recollection of making my way back to the Club Room. McAllister was three sheets to the wind by now, and I was sorely tempted to join him. Indeed, I may well have done so, had it not been for the arrival of a worker from the engine room, face and hands covered in dark oil, eyes like white saucers staring at me wildly.

  “‘They say you are here to help?’” he said to me without preamble. “’If that is the case, you need to come with me.’”

  “Without another word he turned on his heels and left. I followed, my mind whirling. I don’t mind telling you that a large snifter of brandy was uppermost in my thoughts—that and a pipeful of tobacco—in my own armchair in front of my own fireplace.

  “All thoughts of comfort were wiped from my mind as he led me out onto a promenade deck high above the dark waters of Albert Dock. Lights twinkled on the far side of the Mersey, but it was as if my eyes were blurred and unfocussed, a haze hovering in front of me like heat from a hot road.

  “‘Listen,’” the man who had brought me said.

  “Then I heard it. This was no scream. It may well have come straight from the Outer Regions, but this time it was a wail so soft, so piteous that I felt sudden tears form in my eyes. A desolate sadness threatened to overwhelm me, a sense of the utter futility of life and the smallness of my place in the Macrocosm. The man beside me sunk to his knees, weeping like a lost child. I will admit to considering doing the same, but once more, my curiosity was piqued. I realized that the sound and the blurred movements were synchronized and seemed to coincide in a dance that was happening just too fast for my eyes to follow.

  “The noise grew to a steady whine. And that is when I had my epiphany. I remembered my experiences in the Larkhall Barrow, where my defences had proved inadequate against a noise. But something else had proved most efficacious.

  “I dragged the poor man at my feet away, back inside the adjoining corridor, where he finally pulled himself together. He was apologetic, somewhat sheepish, and showed a willingness to help when I told him what I required.

  “‘It’s a big boat, sir,’” he said. “‘I’ll find what you need, even if I have to look in every cabin.’”

  “While I waited on his return I went back to the Club Room where, to my surprise, McAllister was still upright and working his way down the brandy decanter, although somewhat slower than previously.

  “As I strode across the carpet toward him, the whole ship rang, twice in rapid succession, as if hit by a mighty hammer. I must have looked surprised, but McAllister laughed hollowly.

  “‘Aye,’” he said, his brogue starting to show as the drink took hold. “‘It does that as well.’”

  “I joined him in a snifter, but only a small one, for I knew that the night was by no means done. I tried to engage the officer in my growing theory, and in the principles of sonic vibration and how it might relate to the Outer Entities. I told him of my adventures at Larkhall, and how I had prevailed through the manipulation of tonal acoustics. I also explained how I thought I might be able to dampen the aural assault on the Lusitania, but by then it was too much for the poor man, and I am afraid I bored him into a drunken slumber.

  “The brandy was starting to look very enticing, but I contented myself with a fresh pipe as I waited for the engineer to return.

  “The ship lay quiet around me. Although we were perched on the edge of one of the largest cities in the country, I felt like we could be anywhere on the Seven Seas, lost and adrift at the whim of current and tide. I tasted salt at my lips again and had to wash it away with some brandy.

  “The engineer returned as I was lighting my second pipe. He went straight to the liquor and took a long slug that made him cough and splutter.

  “‘I found what you wanted, Mr. Carnacki, sir,’” he said when he recovered. “‘I have left it in the Ballroom as you requested. But, if it’s all the same to you, I think I shall stay here and get on the outside of more of this brandy?’”

  “My walk back to the Ballroom was a slow and lonely one. If truth be told, I was on the verge of fleeing, for I had no desire to face the wailing shriek for a third time that night. But I was bolstered by remembering my triumph in that barrow on Salisbury Plain, and although I was by no means certain of success, I was no longer considering the possibility of failure.”

  * * *

  At that point, Carnacki stopped again. He looked pensive as he tapped fresh tobacco in
to his pipe.

  “I find I am loath to continue,” he said after a moment. “We are reaching the climax of the tale, and in the telling, I may have to divulge things that you will not be able to talk of save to each other.”

  “Come man,” Taylor said. “We have kept your confidences in the past, and gladly. You cannot leave us high and dry at this stage of proceedings.”

  “Dashed bad show, Carnacki,” Arkwright said. “Do you not trust us?”

  “With my life,” Carnacki said quietly. “You are the best friends a man could have. But trust is not the issue. Once I tell you what must be told, you will not be able to forget it. And the thoughts that will accompany the tale’s conclusion may lead you to question many of the tenets you hold dear. Indeed, it may even lead you to question the very nature of reality itself.”

  Arkwright guffawed.

  “You always were the one for melodrama, Carnacki. Come, tell us your tale, and we shall discuss it afterward as usual. It cannot be any more outrageous than some of your other stories.”

  Carnacki smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

  “My dreams are haunted now,” he said. “I had hoped not to inflict the same on you. But if you insist...”

  Taylor and Arkwright spoke almost simultaneously.

  “I insist.”

  Carnacki lit his pipe.

  “Very well. Let us rush on to the conclusion. But do not tell me you were not warned.”

  * * *

  “The Ballroom was as cold and clammy as before,” he continued. “The equipment lay in the middle of the floor near what remained of my circles. Although my defences had proved of no use so far, I did not want to abandon them completely—more for my own peace of mind than from any feeling of confidence in their efficacy. I spent five minutes repairing the damage I had done before turning to investigate what the engineer had brought.

  “He had been as good as his word. Not one, but two new phonographs lay on the hardwood floor. They looked to be the latest models, and I guessed that they had been raided from the first class cabins. Arkwright here would have spent hours poring over the technical specifications of these fine boxes, indeed as would I, given the time. But for now, I was aware that the aural onslaught could return at any moment.