Cloud Field

by A M Russell

  Later with a large piece of folded out coated matting, I drew the positions of my markers. I already had the shapes of these wobbly edges sliding across the paper. It was looking less and less like it would make any sense. I glanced at my watch. Nearly six. Dinner would be a simpler affair than under Marcia's supervision. Reconstituted bolognaise and rice. I put down the whiteboard pen, and wiped out the bit I had just done. I rubbed my eyes. I had been at it for two hours and it still looked like the meanderings of a mad spider. I just couldn't seem to join the dots and find the lines of magnetic flow. As I struggled a bit more, Janey came and bent over the sheet. She picked up a green felt pen and drew one line in a smooth curve.

  'Do you see it now?'

  'Huh? Not sure... I'm still not clear what I'm looking at.'

  ‘Is that better?’ She added another line.

  ‘Yes. I think… thanks Janey.’ I could see a pattern that looked like a familiar shape. I picked up a pen and for the next few minutes I drew the lines with Janey. Suddenly it became clear. It was really quite beautiful. Lines of force that created shapes that looked like marbled hearts in rows. The “point” of the heart was towards the eggs. The rounded tops faced away and joined with a second one, which in turn joined with a third and so on. I’d managed to map three rows of them. Each “heart” was about 30 feet in length.

  ‘The question is..,’ said Janey, ‘does the pattern continue further out.’

  I watched her eyes; they were darting from side to side as if considering possibilities.

  ‘Janey?’

  ‘You know…,’ she said without looking at me, ‘What if you went on and on. You could just roll out a string; peg it in the ground, and keep unrolling it until you found the end of it all…’

  ‘What do you think is out there?’ I asked

  ‘I don’t know.’ she looked at me then, ‘but one day I want to find out.’

  ‘Janey I….’ something had lurched inside of me, perhaps it was my heart; I really didn’t know. We stared at each other; as if she saw inside of me and knew that my wild insane desire was the same as hers. In my mind’s eye I saw us walking hand in hand and disappearing into the Cloud Field. I shut my eyes as she leaned closer. I could smell roses. I could feel sunshine on my face, maybe it was just my imagination. Janey’s warmth like a summer garden. I opened my eyes. We were almost nose to nose.

  ‘There is always the possibility that there is no end. Or non we can reach…’

  ‘Or,’ I said softly, ‘You reach the sea. I see waves on a warm shore.’

  ‘And beyond that another place,’ she said in barely a whisper, ‘where the light always shines… and it’s not cold and dark anymore…’ She breathed in my ear, and I could feel her hair brush my face. She drew back and I thought she was going to kiss me. But she just looked thoughtful.

  ‘Time Kids!’ said Curly Pete. I turned. Janey moved away. It was clear from Pete’s face that he hadn’t seen us so close together, but was just making sure we got our dinner while it was still hot.

  While we all filled up on our customary second helpings I watched Janey. She seemed more relaxed, more real somehow. I felt shy and didn’t join in the conversation.

  ‘So you cracked it then?’ Jared had got up and was passing out bowls of chocolate pudding.

  ‘I cracked what?’

  ‘The mystery of the compass readings of course!’ Jared and all of them were looking at me.

  ‘Well done.’ said Hanson.

  ‘Yeah! Well done!’ Nikolas shouted and clicked his small camera at me as I tried to look embarrassed and they all applauded with hands or spoons on the table.

  ‘This calls for a toast!’ announced Jules. Everyone went quiet as he produced a large flask from under his fleece and then like a magician pulled out a number of small metallic cups.

  We were all told to hold one as he came round and poured an Amber liquid into them.

  Hanson stood. He sniffed appreciatively. ‘Thank you Jules. And I don’t want to know where you managed to hide it… we have so much to celebrate; Davey has revealed the mystery of the spinning needles, and while this doesn’t help anyone travel into the boundary land, it does at least give us a scientific explanation as to why it isn’t really possible. The other matter of note for today is some excellent results with the samples. We’ll have to take them back to End Base tomorrow to be sure, but I think I can safely say that we might at last have discovered the missing compound rumoured to exist out here. May we thank Janey and her able assistants: Jules our other veteran; and Peter on his first outing with us!’ Here everyone applauded again. Curly Pete looked just like I had a minute ago. Jules was unmoved by Hanson’s speech but simply raised a glass; and looking sideways at Janey said: ‘To Each one of us, Success.’

  ‘To Success!’ most of us echoed. I noticed Adam staring past Janey and wondered what he might be thinking.

  Later I wrote in my journal. Just the facts; as ever. I closed it and switched off my lamp. I was sharing a space with Pete, Jared, and Nikolas. Hanson, Adam, and Jules were in the next space. Janey was of course accorded Lady’s privileges and got the third space to herself. I stared into the darkness then, thinking about a lot of things. Mainly about what this “Compound” was, and if it had the magical properties that had made Aiden risk his career to obtain it. I wondered about Jules, and if he was a sceptic like Adam. He still reminded me of that cat. Watchful, still, ready to spring; secretive. And mostly I thought of Janey… she wasn’t going to kiss me. But maybe another time she might. I thought about how old she was… because I would never ask her. We were probably about the same age. But she was more world weary than me, I suppose though, if nothing else, I certainly was heading in that direction. I wondered if I really was going to go home. But I surprised myself now and for many of the days that followed, that I was no longer afraid of the question or the answer.

  I woke with a start. A very nasty storm had howled in and somewhere someone was shouting. Jules put his head round the pod door. ‘Don’t Get up. It’s ok now. Just had a bit of trouble with the line.’ this took some processing in my half-awake state. Pete was still in his mummy bag sleeping like a baby; and Nikolas blinked and rolled onto his side and didn’t stir. I half sat up and listened. Jared was out. And ten minutes later he came back with a small lantern.

  ‘Is everything ok now?’ I asked him as he zipped our pod shut. He shivered and climbed back into his bag.

  ‘I think we’ve done all we can for now. We’ll have to see if there’s any damage when the storm dies out.’

  ‘Is it snowing a lot?’ I asked

  ‘Hell, yes!’ he lowered his voice as Nikolas mumbled something in his sleep, ‘truthfully. I don’t know what is going to be left of our carefully built science set in the morning.’

  ‘Is Janey up.?’

  ‘She was. But Hanson ordered her back into her pod.’

  ‘Oh,’

  ‘She did just that. I don’t think she’ll be in a good mood tomorrow though.’

  ‘Oh heck....’ I felt cold.

  ‘I know. The woman’s a menace. It will take more than a few soothing words to smooth her feathers. She’s on her last trip.’

  ‘I didn’t know that.’ That certainly put things in a different light.

  ‘Yes,’ Jared continued making himself more comfortable, ‘You can’t go on indefinitely. Janey’s had her fill. A beautiful woman like that shouldn’t spend her life out in this wilderness. She should be with friends, on a terrace, on a summer night, drinking wine.’

  ‘Have you got anyone Jared?’ I asked cautiously.

  ‘Yes. Believe it or not, I have. I intend to pursue the lady in question when I get back.’

  ‘Is she not already your girlfriend?’

  ‘No. Not yet. A situation that will be remedied Asap on return.’

  ‘Jared?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Do you believe in falling in love with a girl… and err....’

  ‘Oh. You mean not t
elling her. Unrequited and painful…. tragic love; noble and ending in death?’

  ‘That wasn’t quite what I had in mind.’ I was fishing and had not really got used to making myself feel like an idiot on this trip.

  ‘Davey.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Don’t wait too long.’

  ‘How long should I wait?’

  ‘Never long enough….’

  ‘Jared?’

  ‘What is it?’ his voice began to mumble into sleep.

  ‘How did you know about the girl back at home?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘What is she like?’

  ‘Tall.’

  ‘Oh…?’

  ‘But shorter than me.’

  ‘When will you see her?’

  ‘I see her nearly every day…..’

  ‘Jared….are you…?’

  I thought about it for a while. Had I got competition? Then I felt guilty. From noble adventurer to immature bloke in one leap. I was pretty sure Janey wasn’t his dream girl. But I’d been very wrong before. And on the balance of probability, I’d most likely guess it all incorrectly. As Alex often said: best to sleep on it. He usually smirked in an un-gentlemanly way at that point; but I was thinking of the storm and what it might have done; and the thought of Janey’s anguish and disappointment was more than I could bear at that moment. Distantly I could hear the low moan of the wind, then a pause as it dropped again. It began to sooth me. I felt my body relax. I felt my mind and consciousness blur and drift. Eventually I forgot it all and slept.

  *****

  Seven

  'Come and look at this!' Curly Pete came back in to the tiny prep room just as I was pulling on gloves. We went out. The sky (which was visible) was a pale hue like a silk dress, with just a hint of high streaks. The sun gleamed on ice cream mounds, with just a few tufts sticking out the top. The pennant spike stood empty and odd looking near the midi dome. The red cord that had been fastened there, and which led in a continuous line to the science compound outside the egg lands, was nowhere in sight.

  'Crikey!' I exclaimed, thinking who'd get the job, 'We're going to be ages finding this.'

  'No. Look.' Curly Pete pointed at the measuring spike. Just below the wider top part was tied part of a piece of rope. It was ordinary, not red, and had been neatly cut from another longer length. The ends were slightly fluffed next to the stopper knots. It was tied round the spike with what looked like a reef knot but with extra bits on it.

  'Who's been out here?'

  'No one except us so far.' said Curly Pete. He pointed down. I saw our two sets of boot prints leading to and from the entrance.

  Hanson and Jules followed. Hanson examined it briefly, looked at Jules 'Get Janey.' and to me, 'Tell Nikolas to fetch the small camera right now.'

  Jared was in the small space we called our prep room. He’d just finished lacing his boots. I told him about the rope. Nikolas was taking his camera out. He gave me a funny look but didn't say anything. It might have been disgust, that despite my best efforts, I didn't know which knot it was.

  We were all stood round it. Hypothesises flew in all directions. Jared crouched down.

  'It's a surgeon's knot.' he said, 'I thought so.'

  'Oh?' Hanson glared very hard at him.

  'Davey was trying to describe it. And doing a really crap job!'

  All at once everyone laughed.

  'It was a reef thingy with bulgy bits!' said Curly Pete. Hanson grinned, 'So which one of you jokers put it here?'

  Suddenly everyone went very still. He ran his penetrating gaze slowly round the circle. Everyone made small gestures of negation. Janey bent down and touched the knot.

  'Someone else was here. It must have been last night.' she said.

  'What do mean someone else?' Hanson spluttered, 'We're in the middle of nowhere for God's sake!'

  Janey stood and glared at him, her lips set in a determined line.

  'I think that this is not the time to start being suspicious of the team,' she said threateningly, 'until we see what has happened to all the experiments we set yesterday.'

  Hanson looked like he was about to reply to her jibe; but then seemed to relax. He shrugged and grinned. 'Ok!' he said in a smooth drawl, 'Let's tool up and visit the compound. Jared, get the extra set of markers and fresh cord. Adam, you help him start setting a new line with a fresh end spike. Nikolas, follow Janey, photograph everything.' Janey and Jules had already set off walking. Hanson looked round. 'Right. Davey, Peter. Equip to dig. You're looking for the lost cord.' Hanson tramped back to the dome with Adam in tow. They seemed to be having an argument of some sort. Adam gestured quite energetically and Hanson kept nodding.

  'Righto! Come on!' said Curly Pete cheery as ever, 'As we've got the dull "looking-for-a-needle-in-a-haystack" kind of job we might as well enjoy the scenery.' We went back inside. We took tools in bags slung diagonally across our shoulders. Curly Pete got the binoculars and an infra-red head set.

  'What do you think we'll find; bodies?' I joked.

  'Nope. Something far more interesting. Here, get those and put them in your suit pockets.'

  'Sample bottles? But what for?'

  'I'm just the novice remember,' he said, 'No one will suspect me of anything.'

  'You did it!' I was trying to keep my voice from squeaking, 'But that's not possible...'

  'No. Of course I didn't do it!' he looked at me puzzled, 'That is, I believe, a genuine mystery. But I think that there is a scientific explanation even to that.'

  'So what are you doing?' I was trying not to sound incredibly thick. Who was doing what for whom?

  'I'm collecting samples; as we look for the missing piece of string.'

  'Oh.'

  'Let's go. Time to show what the little first years can really do!

  I tightened the strap and checked my torch. The oxygen reading on my dial was half full. I had found that I needed it less and less. This could last for a week with current demand. I noticed that the others didn't use it much either. We had all toughened up. Curly Pete only used the mask when the temperature dropped. He seemed full of energy today when the sun was out. We started nosing around the entrance. Nothing. We moved along the clearer area, where a path of new footprints indicated which way Janey and the others had gone. We took it slowly looking for any sign of the red cord that had snapped from the spike last night. Just ahead of us Jared and Adam were busy setting new spikes. This cord was a bright fluorescent orange that stood out nicely from the snow and black twigs. We passed them and followed the trail made by the set of footprints from the rest of our group. We found some of the spikes still intact but not a trace of the red cord. We got to the edge of the big egg rock mounds; here the snow was lying thickly too. The spikes and most of the pennants were intact but buried down several inches. Again the cord was completely missing. Nothing to stop me passing between the spikes; and stepping out onto forbidden land. It tingled in my fingertips this desire while we dug round the spikes for any sign of a lost red thread. Curly straightened up. ‘We can conclude,’ he said with a curious calm teacher-like voice, ‘…that this wasn’t the weather that removed the thin rope. It has been untied. Deliberately.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Curly held the trowel lightly and swung it about, ‘but maybe….’ he stepped outside of the designated area and walked towards the dip in the curve.

  I stood feeling foolish at the sudden creepy feeling that gripped me. Then I followed. We knelt down on the edge of this ditch. Curly poked it with the short shovel. A biggish bit of snow broke off and dropped into the crack. This part of one was quite shallow, only about two feet down. Curly Pete prodded it some more. More pieces dislodged filling the gap.

  ‘Do you mind me asking what we are looking for?’

  ‘No. I don’t mind.’ he got a sample pouch out and some long tweezers. He reached down and gripped something that was sticking out of the side of the ditch. It was a needle like object, six inches
long and shiny like old silver, or polished steel. It had some notches in the side and on the blade edge.

  ‘You can always guarantee that they’ll leave you a clue.’ said Curly.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Oh… Davey. I forgot; it’s just habit. I worked for a forensic department last summer. You just get an instinct for this sort of thing. The spikes where leaning away from each other at this point. If the rope was cut between them and dragged forcibility through the loops it might have pulled them apart just as you see.’

  ‘What else?’ I was getting interested.

  ‘Well not much… I was only on work experience. Don’t get the idea that I have all the answers because I don’t. It was just a feeling.’

  ‘Well... Your feelings have got us the first bit of solid evidence that someone has been here other than ourselves.’

  ‘Right. Well let’s tell the boss.’ he stood and bagged the blade and put it inside another canvas bag.

  ‘Where is Hanson anyway?’ I asked as we went back inside the boundary that we had set.

  ‘I think he’ll be along in a minute.’ Curly Pete turned towards the science compound. Hanson had just emerged, and was walking quite quickly carrying something. Janey followed looking thunderous. Whether it was aimed at Hanson or not; I couldn’t tell from this distance. As they got closer I could see that Hanson was carrying what looked like the remains of a core sample case. It was wrapped in a cloth and seemed a lot shorter than I remembered them as being.

  ‘Come on.’ ordered Janey, ‘We’re going back to camp.’

  Jules was tying the door of the compound shut; lacing it from top to bottom. He joined us. His expression was weird and neutral.

  ‘What’s going on?’ I asked.

  ‘We’re going back to camp for a stiff drink if I’ve got anything to do with it.’ Up close he looked upset in an over-controlled way that fixed his mouth like the taste of under ripe apples.

  ‘Where’s Nik?’