Private Mandible sheepishly saluted the General and marched as quickly as he could towards Adam, fearing that at any moment the General would change his mind.
Adam crouched down and held his hand out so Private Mandible could march on to it.
‘All I’m saying,’ he signalled to Adam, ‘is give peace a chance.’
Peace, however, was not to be given a chance. The last thing General Lepti wanted was for other troops to ponder this anti-war message. No sooner had Private Mandible departed, than he ordered his troops to divide into the four assault groups and advance. The army ants marched out from behind the rock and headed towards the wood.
Adam put Private Mandible carefully in his pocket and, along with Doctor, waited to see what would happen. At first nothing did. The two guards patrolled the perimeter of wood, their machine guns slung menacingly in front of them.
‘Aiiee!’ Suddenly, one guard grabbed at his leg.
‘What is it?’ The other gripped his weapon tightly and scanned the area nervously. ‘Ouch!’
Now he knew. Army ants were swarming all over the guards.
‘They’re on my leg!’
‘My arm!’
‘In my pants!’
‘In my eyes!’
Frantically the guards tried to brush the ants off their hands, legs and faces. But the army ants were used to creatures trying to repel them, and for every ant that was brushed off, another two attacked.
‘Retreat to base!’ shouted one of the guards.
They turned and fled – right into General Lepti’s trap. For waiting behind them were the two other attack groups. They swarmed up the legs of the disoriented guards, who had no chance. Everywhere they turned there seemed to be more ants.
‘Aiiee!’
‘Ouch!’
‘They’re everywhere!’
‘I can’t see!’
‘Water! Find some water!’
And desperate to escape the biting attentions of the army ants, the guards stumbled down the mountain.
‘Come on,’ said the Doctor.
‘Aren’t we going to wait for General Lepti’s platoon?’
‘They’ll reform and return to base when their job is done,’ said the Doctor. ‘One of the creatures you need to worry about least is the army ant. We should be more worried about ourselves – we’re far more vulnerable. Remember that and keep your eyes peeled for more guards.’
The Doctor led the way into the wood. Adam scampered after him. The sudden disappearance of the sun forced him to blink a few times to allow his eyes to become accustomed to the murkiness. His ears, however, were immediately sensitive to eerie noises. Branches creaked and twigs snapped underfoot. The very air he breathed was heavy and menacing. And looking round, all Adam could see were dark green bushes perfect for an ambusher or a guard to hide behind.
‘Are you sure about this?’ he whispered.
‘I have seen or heard nothing threatening,’ the Doctor replied.
‘But it feels wrong,’ Adam said, looking left and right and back and forth, trying to keep all the potential points of attack under surveillance.
‘I hope you’re not giving into fear,’ said the Doctor disapprovingly. ‘Fear is a most unhelpful emotion that prevents human beings from acting logically and effectively by allowing the imagination to run riot. You will never see an animal imagining things.’
‘But what if the imagination is right and there is something to be scared of?’ said Adam.
‘That is different,’ the Doctor answered. ‘For example, if we were to come across something in these woods that menaced our lives – let us say, for the sake of argument, ten men armed to the teeth with orders to kill us on sight –’
‘Couldn’t we say two?’ asked Adam nervously.
‘If you insist,’ said the Doctor. ‘In that case, then of course we would give way to terror. Now, I strongly approve of terror. The body shoots itself full of adrenalin and acts at peak performance in an attempt to escape. A real triumph of evolution.’
Adam wasn’t so sure that he would give terror the same ringing endorsement. He might instead speak in favour of sitting on the deck of the Ark of the Parabola with nothing much to worry about. But that didn’t appear to be an option. The Doctor forged ahead. ‘If there are ten men armed to the teeth with orders to kill us on sight,’ muttered Adam to himself, ‘then he’s bound to find them.’
Deeper and deeper into the wood they went. Adam’s eyes grew more accustomed to the dark and his ears were less spooked by the strange sounds. Suddenly the Doctor stopped. There was sunlight in front of them, seeming extra bright after the murk of the wood. They were on the edge of a clearing. Adam craned his neck round the Doctor and saw that in the very centre of that clearing there was a hatch. He tugged the Doctor’s arm.
‘I think we’ve found it,’ he whispered.
‘It’s possible,’ conceded the Doctor.
‘Let’s go back to the city and tell Mayor Puig.’
‘We need some evidence,’ said the Doctor. ‘I’m going to examine it more closely. Wait here!’
Firmly motioning Adam to remain behind, the Doctor cautiously poked his head out of the cover of the trees and into the bright light of the clearing. The noises in the wood seemed to have all quietened. To Adam this felt wrong. But he knew how the Doctor would scoff if he told him that it was too quiet. He watched as his father strode confidently over to the hatch and bent down to examine it. He told himself what the Doctor had told him before, that being frightened when there is nothing to be frightened of is silly and irrational and that he should try to –
What was that?
A black figure on a rope swung out of the trees to his left, another one to his right. Another two emerged from directly opposite. And all four had one thing in common: they were carrying guns.
Each gun was pointed directly at Doctor Forest. He stood up. Though he must have been terrified, he appeared perfectly calm. Adam marvelled at his father’s ability to control his emotions.
‘Good afternoon, gentleman,’ Adam heard him say. ‘I left my family at the amusement park and went for a walk. I do apologise if I’ve wandered into some kind of restricted area.’
The guards kept their guns trained on the Doctor and said nothing.
‘Is that the time?’ he went on, glancing at his watch. ‘I really should be . . .’
The Doctor’s voice trailed off. The hatch door was opening. Out of the ground emerged an old man wearing an immaculately pressed brown suit, sporting a monocle and carrying an ivory cane. He paused for a moment to impale a slug on the end of his cane.
Adam had never seen this man before, but from the Doctor’s descriptions he knew exactly who he was: Professor Silus Scabellax.
He fitted the Doctor’s description in every detail except one. He was wearing earmuffs. And moments later it became clear why.
The Dreadful Alarm of Buenos Sueños rang out. Adam jammed his fingers in his ears. Down in the city it was so loud it was painful. But up here it was agony. Adam tried everything to shut it out, but he was powerless. The Doctor was even closer and the force of the sound brought him to his knees. Like Adam, he buried his head in his chest, but there was no hiding from the deafening noise, which seemed to go on and on and on. All they could do was wait for it to stop.
The guards did not so much as flinch. In spite of the alarm, they continued to level their guns at the Doctor.
Just when Adam thought his head was about to explode, the noise finally abated. In the clearing, Professor Scabellax removed his earmuffs and approached the Doctor.
‘Hello again,’ he said.
‘I beg your pardon,’ said the Doctor, and for the first time Adam could see apprehension on his face. ‘Did you say again? I don’t believe we’ve ever met.’
‘As I was explaining to these men . . .’ the Doctor went on.
Scabellax smirked.
‘What is the matter?’
‘Forgive my amusement,’ said Scabellax, ‘but I doubt you got very far. For reasons that have just been demonstrated, all these guards have had their hearing surgically destroyed. They would not have heard a word you said.’
‘You destroyed their hearing?’ said the Doctor sharply. For a moment his natural repugnance for such cruelty overcame his pretence of being simply a lost tourist. The Doctor was not a very good liar.
‘Only these guards,’ said Scabellax, crushing a spider slowly and deliberately beneath one of his feet. ‘It is the simplest way to keep them alert while I conduct my sonic experiment. But the inside of my base is soundproofed, so the guards there still have their hearing intact. Only a cruel man would destroy the hearing of people when it wasn’t necessary. And I’m sure nobody would say I was cruel.’
Adam watched the Doctor force himself not to argue with this glaringly false statement.
‘Ah,’ said the Doctor, trying to look as stupid as he could possibly manage. ‘Well, obviously I don’t know what you’re talking about. As I was telling your guards, I left my family at the amusement –’
‘You’ve aged.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said the Doctor, taken aback. ‘I don’t understand what – You must be confusing me with someone else. I don’t believe we’ve ever met.’
‘We met briefly,’ said Scabellax, smiling. ‘But I am certainly very well known to at least one member of your family.’
‘I –’
‘Your wife, Doctor Forest. She has been my close companion for over ten years now. We are firm friends.’
Watching from the edge of the clearing, Adam gasped in shock. Any hope of the Doctor talking his way out of the terrible situation had disappeared.
‘How did you know I was here?’ demanded the Doctor.
‘Oh, I make it my business to know things,’ said Scabellax. ‘Since my sources informed me that a boat known as the Ark of the Parabola had docked, I’ve been looking forward to this meeting. If you expect to keep a low profile, Doctor, you really shouldn’t sail a boat with such a well-known name. I thought of coming to see you, but then I thought, why bother? It wouldn’t be long before you came to say hello.’
‘How very clever,’ said the Doctor sarcastically. ‘Well, now that I’m here, you can hand over my wife and switch off the alarm.’
Professor Scabellax threw back his head and roared with laughter.
‘That, my dear Doctor, is precisely the opposite of what is going to happen. What is going to happen is that my guards are going to escort you down below to my base and then you are going to reveal to me the secret of animal communication that has eluded me for more than a decade.’
The Doctor was reminded of the question that had plagued him the past ten years, the question he had forbidden Adam from asking him.
‘Why did you never contact me?’ he demanded. ‘Why did you never offer to exchange my wife for the secret?’
The Professor shook his head.
‘Like so many small men, you overestimate your importance, Doctor. Your discovery, clever though it was, is merely a small part in my grand plan – the scale of which will soon be revealed to you and indeed the world. I had many other things to occupy my considerable talents in the past years. And I knew that eventually you would find me. So why did I need to go to all the trouble of finding you? Besides, I’ve grown rather fond of your wife.’
The Doctor was silent, his face a picture of fury.
‘And of course,’ added Scabellax, ‘knowing you were suffering all that time made me feel better. But now the time is ripe for you to share your little secret.’
‘I’ll never reveal it to you,’ said the Doctor, through clenched teeth.
‘Of course you will,’ said Scabellax. ‘You do want to see your wife again, after all, don’t you?’
The Doctor said nothing.
‘Unfortunately,’ continued Scabellax, ‘I have to travel down to the city just now on business. But please be assured, Doctor, that I will be back soon and then I will be ready to learn.’
Still the Doctor said nothing.
‘Take him down.’ Scabellax signalled to the guards and they leapt to obey him.
I should do something, thought Adam. Now. Before they disappear. I have to stop them.
But there was nothing he could do except watch as the guards grabbed the Doctor roughly and forced him down the hatch and into captivity. Scabellax looked on, idly killing a butterfly as he did so, and glanced at his watch. Then he, too, departed. Adam was left looking into an empty clearing. Suddenly he felt very alone.
The Doctor was gone. For the first time in his life, Adam had to decide by himself what to do next.
And he didn’t have a clue.
.
CHAPTER 18
‘I want to see the Mayor.’
‘I want to play centre forward for FC Buenos Sueños,’ answered the fat security guard outside the town hall. ‘Do you know what our dreams have in common, chico? Neither of them is going to happen. Now be off with you.’
‘Don’t you remember me? I came here with Doctor Forest. It’s very important –’
‘Important, chico. Let me tell you what is important to the Mayor: getting as many votes as possible in the election. And do you know who votes, chico?’
‘People.’
‘People over eighteen years of age. Not little chicos like you.’
‘I’m not little,’ insisted Adam. ‘I’m thirteen.’
‘So in five years’ time the Mayor will want to talk to you. But, until then, you can go to school or play videogames or do whatever you kids do, but make sure you get out of my face.’
Adam backed away.
He’d sneaked away from the clearing, crept out of the wood, dashed down the mountain, leapt on to a bus and rushed all the way to the town hall, certain that if he told the Mayor about the hatch, the alarm and Professor Scabellax, then he would send the police to rescue the Doctor. It had never crossed his mind that he wouldn’t be able to get to see the Mayor. He was discovering that, as far as adults were concerned, children were almost invisible.
Now he was all alone in a strange city, with both his parents in the hands of an evil professor. Adam didn’t know what to do next. He felt tears well up in his eyes and then roll down his cheeks. One landed with a plop in the pocket of his T-shirt and Private Mandible crawled out.
‘Make nests not war,’ he signalled to Adam.
Adam didn’t answer.
‘All you need is leaves,’ he indicated.
Still Adam was silent. Private Mandible scrutinised Adam’s face.
‘I didn’t know humans could rain,’ he signalled.
‘I’m not raining,’ protested Adam.
‘There’s water falling out of you,’ the ant observed.
Normally Adam would have found this funny. But right now things were too serious for him to find anything funny. He could think of nothing to do but to head back to the Ark of the Parabola. He had no idea how to rescue the Doctor – or his mother. Scabellax had said that they were friends. But that couldn’t be true, could it? He climbed up the gangplank of the Ark, telling himself that it had to be a lie.
‘Psst!’
Adam stopped and looked about him.
‘Psst!’
Adam couldn’t think of an animal on board the Ark that had a word like ‘Psst’ in its vocabulary.
‘Psst! Over here!’
A human!
‘Over
here!’
The voice was coming from under the tarpaulin which covered the small lifeboat that sat on the deck.
‘Are you alone?’ demanded a gruff voice.
Adam backed away towards the gangplank. ‘Depends.’
‘Does this boat still belong to Doctor Forest?’
Adam gulped. ‘Might do.’
‘Depends? Might do? Am I ever going to get a straight answer out of you, boy?’
‘Don’t know.’ Adam was poised to run.
The tarpaulin was flung back.
‘Excellent. A bit of deception never did anybody any harm,’ said an old man, popping up from the lifeboat. ‘Adam Forest, you might just be worthy to be my grandson.’
‘Grandad!’
Adam had never seen his grandfather before, but he knew straight away it was him. He didn’t know how. He just knew.
‘Not so loud! And don’t call me Grandad. It makes me feel old.’
‘But you are my grandad, aren’t you?’
‘Grandad be damned,’ said Adam’s grandad. ‘My name is Calico Jack. But you can call me Jack.’
‘Don’t you mean Calico Jack Forest?’ persisted Adam.
Calico Jack looked mystified.
‘Forest must be your surname,’ Adam pointed out. ‘It’s my surname and it’s my father’s surname so it must be yours.’
‘Surname?’ hissed Calico Jack. ‘I haven’t had one of those in years. Surnames help with records and I’ve never been a fan of records. Records help the police.’
‘What are you doing here?’ Adam asked. ‘The Doctor said you were in jail.’
‘I’ll be back there if you don’t stop yapping so loud,’ said Calico Jack, looking around anxiously. ‘Keep your voice down.’
‘Back there?’
‘I had a bit of a disagreement with the authorities about the length of my sentence.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘They sentenced me to five years but I felt I only deserved one. So I took matters into my own hands.’
‘You broke out?’
Adam and the Arkonauts Page 10