Through Glass Darkly: Episode Three

by Knyte,Peter

  ‘Horsefeathers!’ she interjected, sitting back in her chair abruptly and folding her arms. ‘Try again.’

  ‘Ariel . . .’ I began, not quite sure how to explain myself. ‘I just feel we’ve endangered these people by coming here.’

  ‘You’re getting warmer Lensman, but something tells me you’re still holding out. So spill it. Why do you look and sound as though the end of the world has just been averted?’

  Her words were so close to the mark they caught me off guard, and for just a moment I was tempted to ask if that weren’t exactly what it meant. I hid it quickly, but she recognised the thought in my expression.

  ‘Ash!’ she said in half-hushed tones. ‘Ash, are you so relieved because you think we’re responsible for endanger-ing this entire world?’

  I honestly wanted to tell her she was mistaken, but she had me dead to rights, and I didn’t have the skill to hide it from her.

  ‘Is this why you’ve been chasing this thing down like a man possessed?’ She asked in an altogether much louder voice than I would’ve preferred. ‘. . . Are you blaming yourself for all of this. That’s ludicrous, one man can’t accept the responsibility for an entire world.’

  ‘You don’t understand Ariel, there was just me.’ I began falteringly, not knowing why I was trying to explain myself. ‘Everyone was dead or dying. No crew, no Captain, no traitors, there was just me. Out of the thousands on board I was the only person able to explain things to the city’s officials, I was the only one to identify the dead and dying, it was just me. And when I realised we’d brought one of those creatures through with us, I realised immediately that if I didn’t destroy it, then sooner or later it would find a way back to the Expanse, and it would bring the rest of its kind back here with it.’

  ‘You can’t think that way Ashton, those things from the Expanse could’ve found this world at any point. We know the odd one has found its way here in the past, and more will find it in the future. By giving the governments of this world this advanced notice and sharing our technologies we could well be helping them defend themselves in the long term,’ she patiently explained. ‘You can’t just take responsibility for something that was never within your gift to prevent in the first place.’

  I knew what she was saying made sense, but even though I allowed her to gradually talk me around, there was still a part of me that felt responsible and couldn’t rest until that creature was dead.

  That she would pick this up with me again in the future I was certain, but for now we needed to focus on finding and killing the creature, and our best way of doing that was through Ariel.

  ‘I could have a quick go at sensing it now, and then we’d have a bit more information to give the Captain when we meet later on.’ She suggested, clearly feeling quite comfortable with the idea of re-connecting with the creature.

  ‘No we’d probably best take things a little more cautiously, just to make sure nobody thinks we’re racing off and taking avoidable risks.’ I replied, desperately trying to figure out how we could sense it without it being able to sense us.

  ‘What about trying to sense it from altitude?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes, that should still work,’ Ariel replied. ‘And there’d be no way it could get to the ship if we were already way up in the air.’

  ‘True, but I was actually thinking back to when you were talking about what you could sense. Didn’t you say you could also sense the rough direction that the creature was in?’

  ‘Yes, it’s not exact, but within a few degrees either way.’ She replied, looking quizzical. ‘What are you getting at?’

  ‘Suppose we took the ship up to high altitude, so high that New York looked just like a street map?’ I asked having a sudden inspiration.

  ‘Of course, if I could look down on the city from that kind of height, it would be like putting a pin in the map. That’s brilliant.’

  ‘Well it’s just a nice idea at the moment, let’s think it through a bit more first. Would us heading up high give any advantage to the creature, or encourage it to act in a way we might not want it too?’ I asked, as much to myself as to Ariel.

  ‘Ok,’ she replied, thinking. ‘Suppose we start with what we know about the creature since it attacked the ship. We know it was badly injured but that it heals fast, we also know it needs to feed to support that quickened rate of healing, even if it’s just eating rats.

  ‘So, if its hurt and needs to heal up, it’s probably holed up somewhere with a good supply of local food. In the past its used the sewers, but it has been raining fairly heavily of late, and its run into people down there before now, so if the waters running high and its feeling vulnerable it might try to find somewhere else.’

  ‘The underground perhaps,’ I ventured. ‘We’ve speculated that it might have used the tube lines before now, but we know these creatures are sensitive to loud noise. Having said that there’s still a big choice of service tunnels and corridors that might just be ideal for it.

  ‘Either way, we both think it’s likely to be underground somewhere, nursing its wounds?

  ‘In which case, how is it going to feel when it senses that you’re floating away up in the sky somewhere?’

  ‘Well, if anything it’s probably going to be reassured to discover we’re nowhere nearby. It won’t be able to tell exactly how high we are, unless it can see the ship, but if it’s in the sewers or train lines it will be able to tell we’re further away than street level, so if it’s been waiting for a safe time to try something new, then that might tip its hand.’

  ‘You don’t think it might realise we’re using the altitude to pinpoint its location?’

  ‘I seriously doubt it. It will be able to see what I can see of the city, and hear what people around me are saying, but I doubt it would understand either.’ Ariel replied. ‘But if it does react negatively I might be able to sense that much.’

  ‘On the other hand,’ she continued, still clearly working something out in her head. ‘ . . . If we wanted to try and deliberately flush it out, we could try to make it easier for the Lamphrey to understand what we’re planning. . . ‘

  It was brilliant. If we planned this well we might be able to identify where the creature was, and at the same time drive it toward its own destruction.

  ‘Now that Ariel, is real genius.’ I said with a genuine smile on my face.

  CHAPTER 40 – COME INTO MY PARLOUR

  We’d been planning to meet with the Captain later on that evening anyway to try and figure out what the saboteurs might do, if as we suspected, they’d taken the marine suits and abandoned ship in the Expanse, but after Ariel had come up with the idea for driving the creature out of wherever it was hiding and into a trap I was seriously tempted to just go and find him there and then in order to get things moving as soon as possible.

  But there was a part of me that knew the Captain was already being pulled in a dozen different directions by the repair teams working on the ship, by the city officials eager to capture and kill the creature that had been preying upon their most vulnerable citizens, and by the highest levels of the world’s political organisations, who were each eager to get as much benefit for their own countries and citizens from our arrival as they could. And these were just the pressures of which I was aware, I couldn’t even guess what additional factors the Captain might be putting on himself, or how he might be coping with the near destruction of his ship.

  I needed to let some of these thoughts permeate through my brain for a bit, so by way of a break I suggested to Ariel that we spend an hour or so assisting the technicians in finishing off the simplified lensing rigs and then once that was out of the way we could arrange one final brain-storming session between the two of us to discuss the saboteurs before going to see the Captain.

  Previously, working on something familiar that didn’t require much in the way of concentration had often helped me to think my way around different problems, and one of my favourite familiar activities for this kind of thing had been t
he servicing of my gun and my lensing rig. But when Ariel described the assembly of the simplified lensing rigs as being a bit monotonous, she was being kind.

  Each rig only took about ten minutes to put together and test, but it was ten minutes when the brain was barely required at all, and while Ariel and the technicians did their best to keep up a lively chatter, after half an hour or so, with the deep golden sunlight casting ever longer shadows across the room through the open doorway I found my mind slipping into that daydream other state that often lead to great insights.

  For a moment my mind slipped back to the foothills of the Himalaya, and the last few days of our shakedown voyage.

  I don’t know exactly when it had happened, but over the previous few months we’d somehow changed from being a competent crew aboard a capable new ship, to being an efficient well-oiled machine, crew and craft working in perfect harmony. We were a predator now, and while we’d taken on more than our fair share of the creatures attempting to invade our world, the battles had been far too easy, like a tiger hunting rabbits, because we were designed for bigger more dangerous prey.

  We were cruising at just a few hundred feet over the beautifully natural Kullu Bhuntar region in northerly Himachal Pradesh, the Himalayan mountains soaring above our port side, like some great wave of stone about to break, while the undulating lowlands of Northern India swelled and rolled like a deep ocean away as far as the eye could see to starboard.

  I was on the bowsprit again, basking in the golden sunlight, and watching the land below us as it changed its complexion and character, fertile and abundant forest giving way to grassland, which in turn gave way to watery lagoons and marshes, then rocky outcropping before more water, wetland or forest, and all the creatures that dwelled therein. The great herds of antelope and flocks of waterfowl, interspersed with the occasional brown bear or leopard, some of which would take flight at the first sound of our engines, while others regarded us with the calm eyes of a fellow predator.

  I was lost in the memory for a moment before I realised someone was talking to me, and that my hands had run out of parts to assemble.

  ‘You were off in your own world for a moment their Lieutenant Commander,’ Ariel joked, using my new title in front of the technicians.

  ‘Yes, must’ve gotten into the rhythm of the work a bit too much.’ I confessed, still pulling my mind from the memory.

  ‘Well, with your help we’ve managed to get the whole lot done a bit earlier than I’d anticipated, so I think I might knock off for a while and go and get a shower while I’ve got the chance.’

  ‘Good idea, I could do with a bit of a lie down to stretch out my back,’ I replied. ‘Shall we meet up again in a couple of hours, say eight pm. We can grab a quick bite to eat and discuss this question of the saboteurs before we meet the Captain. What do you think?’

  ‘Unless you want to ask the Captain if he’d like to join us for dinner?’ Ariel asked. ‘I know it’s not normally the done thing aboard ship, but as there are only the three of us . . .’

  ‘Actually, I think that’s a splendid idea. I’ll pop up and see him now.’ I agreed.

  With that I left Ariel to it and went to find the Captain, who as it turned out had been thinking along exactly the same lines.

  ‘Mr Bradbury’s chef is very capable, but it’s good to have a change once in a while, so if you’ll permit me I’ll make all the arrangements for dinner, if you and Ms Shilling would like to come to my quarters for half past eight.’

  I certainly wasn’t going to argue with the Captain wanting to bring a chef of his own choice on board to serve dinner in his quarters, and I was sure Ariel wouldn’t mind either, so after agreeing on her behalf I left the Captain to it, dropping a note off at Ariel’s cabin to inform her of the change of arrangements, I then retreated to my own cabin to rest my back and dust off my dress uniform.

  After an hour in my own quarters, where I was able to stretch out my tired and aching muscles, there was a significant part of me that would’ve liked nothing better than a leisurely evening in my pyjamas and dressing down with a good book and a tall glass of something cold. But there was still work to be done, and a lovely dinner to be had, so with about three quarters of an hour before I was due to call for Ariel, I quickly washed, shaved and dressed for dinner.

  I was ready a few minutes ahead of time, so took the opportunity to try and figure out what I would have been doing for the past couple of weeks if I’d been one of the saboteurs abandoning ship in the Expanse with a marine suit and all the associated supplies and equipment we knew were missing from the locker.

  When I took the saboteurs out of the question and simply asked what would I do, if I found myself in that position with three dozen of my shipmates, it became a lot easier to think about, and by the time I called at Ariel’s cabin I’d got a good idea of the things I was going to suggest after dinner when I knew the topic would inevitably turn back toward the creature and the traitors.

  I did however, very nearly forget everything when Ariel opened her cabin door wearing a lovely long evening gown of some dark shimmering material.

  It was so easy forget that she was an attractive young woman who would’ve looked perfectly at home at any fine party, club or dancehall, had she not instead devoted her life to battling the invasion of our world.

  ‘You look beautiful,’ was all I needed to say.

  ‘It’s just a little something I brought along in case we decided to have a dinner party in the Expanse,’ she joked.

  ‘You know I brought my beach towel and swim suit on the same principle?’ I replied, and received a genuine smile for my trouble.

  ‘I thought about beachwear, but then I wasn’t sure what the weather would be like . . .’ she continued on with the nonsense.

  What Bradbury’s men must’ve thought of us as we strolled along the decks of the ship on our way to the Captain’s quarters, dressed in our Sunday best and talking such twaddle I can’t imagine, but by the time we got there we were both half intoxicated with silliness, and about as far away from the stiff formality normally associated with a military vessel on a wartime footing as it was possible to get.

  The Captain however didn’t seem to mind our high spirits at all, and welcomed us into his cabin warmly, before offering us an aperitif.

  I’d visited the Captain’s cabin occasionally before now, when I’d been asked to attend one of his senior staff meetings to brief the staff on our attempts to map the Expanse, but on those occasions the place had always been set up to look as business like as possible. Now in contrast with the lighting turned down to a more subdued level, and the main meeting-table set up for dinner it looked altogether more welcoming and homely.

  It was an elegant room, with a large desk and chair at one end, some comfortable chairs around a low coffee table at the other, and then the main dining table at the opposite end closest to the door. A good portion of the room was panelled in a pale, almost golden wood, that was complemented by the deep earthy colours of a large Persian carpet which covered the entire centre of the room. And then of course there were the books and the films. The projector had pride of place on another low table between two comfortable chairs, behind which and filling two full bookshelves were silver canisters of the Captain’s favourite films, though from what I could see none of his own creations. Another half dozen bookshelves were devoted to his books, and then liberally interspersed between these were his framed photographs and paintings, a gramophone player and his radio.

  He’d got the gramophone set up, but hadn’t yet put anything on to play, so after complimenting Ariel on her dress and serving us our drinks, he invited Ariel to select some music from his collection while he informed the chef we had arrived.

  There was obviously no kitchen in the Captain’s quarters, so the chef had set up in a galley a short walk down the corridor.

  We had quite a lot to discuss, but the Captain I knew placed a premium upon ensuring his crew were able to relax properly when the o
pportunity presented itself, so it came as no surprise at all when he kept the conversation light and enjoyable until we’d had a chance to not only eat the lovely French food which the chef had prepared, but also to enjoy some coffee before he brought our attention back to work.

  ‘I’m sorry to have to bring the conversation back to the situation we find ourselves in,’ he began, diplomatically. ‘But I hope you’ll both forgive me for seeking your views and insights on a couple of the more pressing issues at hand.

  ‘Firstly and most concerning, this creature which has been attacking vulnerable members of this city, and more recently has launched an attack upon this very vessel. I know you hurt it quite badly Ashton, but it still needs dealing with once and for all. You Ariel have been able invaluable to us in the past because of your ability to sense the creature’s location, is that something you’d be prepared to try again?’

  ‘Yes, of course Captain,’ Ariel replied. ‘Though I think we may have come up with an option that would not only help us identify where the creature is, but to also help corner and destroy it.’

  Between us we outlined the plan we’d discussed to take the ship up high in order to get an accurate fix on the monsters location, and then to exploit what the creature would be able to sense from Ariel to make it think we had forces closing in on its location in order to drive it straight at an overwhelming force that could take it down.

  ‘That sounds very promising,’ the Captain replied after hearing the details. ‘And you’re thinking we could have all the relevant specialists together in one place, so as soon as we’ve got a location we can figure out which way to drive it and then deploy a reception party directly in the path we’ve sent it down?’

  ‘Precisely Captain,’ Ariel confirmed. ‘There’s always the chance the creature will have already attempted to bolt, and be too far away to be able to get our forces in place quickly enough, or it might just be in an area where it would be too dangerous to risk panicking it, in which case we simply fall back on just pinpointing its location until we can get our people closer, or until we can more gently encourage it to move to a better area for us, and then we use the same ploy to drive the creature into our hands once we’re ready.’