The Chaos Code

by Justin Richards

  ‘Yes, all right,’ Robin conceded. ‘Only …’ ‘Only what?’

  She looked away for a moment. When she looked back at Matt she was smiling sadly. ‘Only, I just don’t like her much. That’s all.’

  ‘I didn’t like you much when I first met you,’ he said. ‘So there.’

  Robin’s mouth twitched, as if she was trying not to smile back at him. ‘Liar,’ she said.

  They’d talked on the flight before Robin slept about what to do when they got back to England, and Venture’s house was as good a base to start from as any, although it probably wouldn’t take Harper long to guess where they had gone. Balanced against that was the library and other resources that Venture had at his disposal.

  There was just one minor detour that Matt wanted to make though. As the plane began its descent into Birmingham Airport, he told Katherine and Robin: ‘I want to go to Dad’s place first.’

  ‘Why?’ Robin asked. ‘Homesick?’

  ‘Yeah, right. No, actually – there’s something there we need.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Katherine asked.

  ‘I’ll show you when we get there.’ Matt wasn’t sure he was right, and he didn’t want to seem stupid. He was pretty sure Robin thought he was an idiot anyway, and after her skill at flying the helicopter he was even less keen to give her any excuse to think the worst of him. ‘Just a hunch, at the moment. But the way to stop Harper must be to decipher that disc before he does.’

  ‘But we don’t have the disc,’ Katherine said.

  ‘That’s right.’ Matt smiled.

  He felt tired and drained by the time they landed. Katherine went to hire a car, and Robin to find a payphone to call Mephistopheles Smith. She had called from Amsterdam and left a message for him.

  ‘Still not available,’ she told Matt when she returned. ‘I asked them to have him call me at home as soon as he can.’

  ‘I bet Katherine has her mobile with her,’ Matt said. ‘Try him on that, or leave them the number.’

  Robin didn’t reply, and before Matt could ask her why this was a problem Katherine herself was back. So he let it go. But he borrowed Katherine’s mobile himself to call Aunt Jane and tell her they’d be back in a few hours.

  ‘There’s a lot to tell you,’ he said. ‘But not over the phone, and he left it at that.

  The car was fast and red and got them to Dad’s house in less than two hours despite the slow moving traffic on the motorway. Matt and Robin sat together in the back, and Katherine drove with an urgency and speed that set Matt’s teeth on edge. She overtook when it looked like there wasn’t room, and took corners so fast the whole car tilted and threw Matt and Robin against each other.

  ‘Why don’t you offer to drive?’ Matt said to Robin.

  ‘Don’t have a license,’ she told him, and they laughed.

  ‘So where did you learn to fly helicopters?’ Katherine asked.

  ‘Dad’s got a couple,’ Robin said, as if this was perfectly normal. ‘There’s a small hangar behind the house and a landing pad. He was a bit annoyed Harper didn’t use it but landed on the lawn instead.’

  It was dark by the time they arrived outside Dad’s house, and Matt saw the curtains of the house opposite twitching. He waved, and the curtains stopped. He smiled as he imagined what Mrs Dorridge must be thinking as she saw him and Robin and Katherine getting out of the sleek, new car.

  ‘Bit of a tip, isn’t it?’ Robin said as soon as Matt turned on the lights.

  ‘Yeah,’ Matt admitted. ‘Well, it’s even worse than usual since Dad was abducted by the mud men.’ He kicked at the trail of dirt across the hall floor.

  ‘So why are we here?’ Katherine said.

  Matt led them into the study, and they negotiated a path to the desk. He hunted round for where he had left what he wanted, and eventually remembered putting it in a drawer together with the books and papers that had been with it.

  ‘What is that?’ Katherine said.

  But Robin could tell immediately what it was, and laughed out loud. ‘That’s incredible. How did it get here?’

  ‘I was wrong about Dad’s planned trip to the island,’ Matt said. ‘There’s his itinerary here somewhere. I assumed he hadn’t been there yet. But he had. He’d already gone to Valdeholm.’ He held the clay disc out carefully on the palm of his hand so they could all see it. The symbols embossed on it were difficult to see as there was no variation in the texture or colour of the material. But it was obviously the same as the disc Harper now had, the disc they had found on the island.

  ‘He went there, and he found the Treasure,’ Robin realised. ‘Before Harper had him kidnapped. When they came and took him, they weren’t looking for this. And later, they just came back for his notes.’ She gave a short laugh. ‘And here it was, right under their noses all the time!’

  ‘I bet he worked it out while working for Harper, and went there as soon as he could, without telling anyone. I saw where he got in through the tunnel roof, though I didn’t realise it. Dad took a cast of the disc, and then he put it back – preserving the site for future discovery, he’d do that. Then he came back here. And that’s probably when Harper’s creatures nabbed him.’

  ‘So why didn’t he tell Harper?’ Katherine said. ‘May I?’ She took the disc carefully from Matt and examined it. ‘You’re right, it’s identical.’

  ‘He knew Harper mustn’t have the disc,’ Robin said. ‘But he made a copy to decipher for himself, I suppose.’

  ‘And this is what you wanted to tell your Dad?’ Katherine asked. ‘That you knew he’d already got a copy of the disc?’

  Matt shook his head. ‘I hadn’t realised that. And anyway, till I looked at it again just now I wasn’t sure it was the same disc. It might have been something completely different. Then I’d have looked pretty stupid.’

  ‘But it is the same disc,’ Robin said. ‘You were right, and now we have a copy so we’re back in the race. We can decipher it before Harper and find out exactly what he’s up to, with luck.’ She grabbed Matt in an unexpected hug. ‘You’re a genius.’ And kissed him.

  It was only a quick kiss on the cheek, but Matt could still feel it all the way to Robin’s house.

  ‘We thought it was odd that your Dad followed up some leads but not others,’ Robin said as they tore along country lanes and frightened cattle in the nearby fields. ‘I guess he knew already where the Treasure was, he’d already done some work on it and was stalling for time.’

  ‘Or he didn’t share all his work with Harper,’ Matt agreed. ‘If he’d had more time he might have laid a completely false trail and led Harper – and us – to completely the wrong location.’

  Aunt Jane was waiting for them outside the main house, standing in a pool of light spilling out from the porch. She looked pale and close to tears. She had her arms folded tight across her body and was shivering despite the warmth of the night.

  Matt ran to her as soon as he was out of the car. ‘We’re all right,’ she said. ‘Really we are. And we found Dad. He’s OK. We had to leave him, but we’ll get him back. I promise.’

  Aunt Jane hugged him tight, just for a moment. He could feel her trembling. Matt could not remember seeing her like this before. She was more than just upset, more than tearful and worried. She was frightened. When she spoke her voice was also shaking. ‘There’s a … visitor,’ she said. ‘Waiting inside.’

  She turned towards the door, and Matt could see the trail of soil and gravel that led through the porch and into the house.

  The creature was standing in the hallway – a large approximation of a man, fashioned out of dirt and earth and sand and gravel from the drive. Like some ghastly sculpture that lacked detail or finesse. What might have been a face turned to regard Matt and the others as they entered. It was blotchy and textured, gritty and mottled. A few blades of grass poked out from one side, and small stones peppered the face like acne. Thin, pale roots ran through it like veins. An arm moved, detaching itself from the side of the creature
, pointing to Matt and the others.

  The arm moved in an arc as the thing turned slowly. It stooped down, though it seemed to flow into the new position as if moulded by some giant, invisible hand rather than actually changing position. The stubby fingers touched the floor, leaving a dirty trail across the polished boards as the ends flaked off.

  ‘It’s writing,’ Aunt Jane said in a hushed voice.

  ‘Giving us a message,’ Matt realised.

  The whole hand was gone now, the arm following – disappearing into the floor as it rubbed away to leave the letters, like graphite rubbing off a pencil lead. The whole creature was shrinking down as the dirt and gravel it was made from flowed out of it like ink from apen…

  Crude, childish capital letters across the floor. An ultimatum:

  DO NOT INTERFERE AND THEY WI LL BE SAFE

  By the end of the last letter, the creature was thin and depleted. It hesitated a moment, as if checking it had nothing further to add. Then suddenly it fell – collapsing in on itself so that all hint of humanity was lost and there was just a pile of earth and mud and stones in the middle of the hallway.

  ‘No prizes for guessing who it means,’ Robin said. ‘Your dad, and mine.’

  ‘I guess punctuation and grammar come later,’ Matt said. ‘I’ll see you in the library in a minute.’

  ‘Where are you going?’ Aunt Jane asked.

  ‘To get something’ he said grimly. ‘I won’t be long.’

  If Katherine was impressed with Venture’s library, she had already said so before Matt joined them. Aunt Jane, Katherine and Robin were sitting at the large round table under the domed roof when Matt arrived.

  ‘Robin and Miss Feather have told me what’s going on, and we all agree that we can’t let Harper intimidate us,’ Aunt Jane announced. ‘What have you got there?’ she added with a wariness that Matt had not expected.

  Matt was carrying a small wooden box. He set it down on the table. ‘I found it when I was looking for something for Mr Venture. I think it might be useful. I’m surprised you’re not more surprised, Aunt Jane.’ In fact, she was still looking pale and Matt wondered how much of their story Aunt Jane believed.

  ‘Very little surprises me any more,’ she replied. ‘And I saw that thing in the hall with my own eyes. What is that?’ Aunt Jane asked again. She was sounding hesitant, as if she didn’t really want an answer. Or she already knew. She glanced at Robin, and the girl looked back at her, also worried.

  Matt didn’t wait for them to tell him what the problem was. He opened the box and showed them the disc inside – a disc very similar to the one Harper now had, but made of metal. He took it out and placed it on the table beside the clay copy they had got from Dad’s study.

  ‘You see? I don’t know where Julius Venture got this, or if he realises its significance. But it’s the same as the disc we found.’

  ‘Similar,’ Robin conceded. ‘So what?’ ‘So what?’ he echoed. ‘So if we have another disc maybe that can help us work out what they mean, what they’re for.’ He looked into her deep blue eyes. ‘Unless you or your Dad already know what they are for?’ he said quietly.

  ‘They’re not for anything,’ Robin replied sharply. ‘They’re just … old discs. That’s all. With patterns on them.’

  ‘Then why is Harper so keen to decipher the patterns?’ Katherine asked. ‘He thinks it’s some sort of ancient language or hieroglyphs or something. Matt’s right, having another to work from should help, shouldn’t it? Where did this come from, anyway? How come it’s here in this house?’

  ‘Dad collects all sorts of things,’ Robin said.

  ‘You are assuming there is a connection between them,’ Aunt Jane said, examining the disc. ‘It actually looks very different to me.’

  ‘How do you mean?’ Matt asked. ‘They’re the same size and everything.’

  ‘But look at it.’ She pointed to the metal disc from the box. ‘This has a series of symbols, a pattern, spiralling into the middle. Whereas this one …’ She pointed to the clay disc beside it. ‘This has a ring of symbols round the edge and then a large pictogram or motif or whatever it is in the middle.’

  ‘They could be from completely different sources and periods,’ Robin agreed. Matt thought she sounded relieved, but if that was the case surely it was a big set-back.

  ‘That just means the picture in the middle is really significant,’ he said. But he could see what they meant.

  Superficially the discs were the same, but the details were very different.

  ‘So what is this picture in the middle, then?’ Katherine asked. She carefully picked up the clay disc and angled it so the impression caught the light and she could see it better. ‘Three irregular shapes. Looks like it might be a single shape that’s been split up. Like jigsaw pieces pulled apart, or crazy paving. The edges seem to match up, so you could push them back together. Your father didn’t give you any idea what he thought it might be, did he?’ She looked from Matt to Robin. ‘Either of your fathers?’

  Robin shook her head. ‘I do think I’ve seen it somewhere before, though,’ she admitted.

  It seemed familiar to Matt as well, but that was probably just because he had seen the clay disc before. ‘Dad never mentioned it to me,’ he said. ‘It was on his desk, with some notes and books and stuff.’

  ‘Notes?’ Aunt Jane said. ‘About the disc?’

  He shook his head. ‘No, they were notes on some book he’d been reading. Load of old maps, I think.’

  ‘I suppose it could actually be a map,’ Katherine said slowly. ‘Just possibly. Three islands that were once a single land mass, maybe.’

  Robin was staring at Matt. ‘Old maps? Hapgood?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The book – was it by Charles Hapgood?’

  Matt shrugged. ‘Might have been. Who knows. Why?’

  Robin got up and hurried across to one of the bookcases across the room. ‘Hapgood published a book of many of the old maps. He thought they derived from even older sources. It’s here somewhere …’ She pulled out an old book, glanced at the cover, then pushed it back again and continued her search. ‘Piri Reis, Mercator, all sorts …’

  ‘Dad’s notes mentioned Mercator. I think. I don’t know, maybe …’ He was struggling to remember.

  Robin had found the book she wanted and brought it back to the table. She set it down and started leafing through for the page she wanted. ‘Here we are. Mercator’s map dates back to the sixteenth century. Bauche is a couple of hundred years later.’

  She turned another page, and smoothed it down. Matt could see the map on the page, the distinctive three islands that looked like they had once been a single landmass. ‘That’s it! You’ve found it. Where is it?’

  ‘It’s a map of Antarctica,’ Robin said. ‘Or rather, of the landmass now buried under the Antarctic ice. This is Antarctica as it was before the glaciation. As it was fifteen thousand years ago.’

  ‘That’s incredible,’ Katherine said. ‘I didn’t realise they knew what Antarctica looked like so long ago.’

  ‘They didn’t,’ Aunt Jane said quietly. ‘Back then, they didn’t know Antarctica even existed.’

  ‘Then – how …?’

  ‘Antarctica wasn’t discover until the early nineteenth century,’ she went on. ‘And the landmass wasn’t mapped until much later.’

  ‘1958,’ Robin said. ‘As I remember …’ She was staring into the distance. Suddenly she focused her piercing blue eyes on Matt. ‘These maps are old,’ she said, ‘and they are based on even older maps. Maps that it is thought were taken by the Venetians from Constantinople in the thirteenth century.’

  ‘Constantinople,’ Matt said, ‘but that’s where the Treasure of St John came from.’

  ‘And this disc came from Constantinople with it,’ Robin agreed. ‘This is the Treasure of St John – this disc. This, or rather the real disc, is what Harper wants. The patterns round the edge will give the detail, and the shape in the middle shows the
general area. He’s looking for something and he thinks the disc is it. He thinks the disc has coded in its symbols the knowledge he is after. But actually, it looks like the disc is a map showing him where that knowledge is. Where he will find the knowledge he’s after.’

  ‘In the Antarctic?’ Katherine said. ‘But what can he possibly think is there? Some sort of ancient library or something? And how did it get there?’

  Robin was looking at Aunt Jane now. Jane opened her mouth, as if to say something. Then she seemed to change her mind. She pushed back her chair and stood up, turning away from them so that Matt could not see her expression.

  ‘He’s searching for the greatest store of ancient knowledge you can imagine, and now we have what appears to be a map showing where it is. Harper is looking,’ Robin said, ‘for the knowledge of Atlantis.’

  Chapter 15

  There was silence for a few moments, then both Matt and Katherine were talking loudly at the same time – both incredulous and astonished.

  ‘Oh please do treat this seriously,’ Katherine said.

  ‘Don’t be so ridiculous,’ Matt was telling Robin. ‘OK, so we’ve had talk about ancient civilisations and all that stuff, but Atlantis is a fairy tale. It’s a myth, a legend, no one seriously believes it.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Katherine agreed. ‘I’m no archaeologist and even I know that. It’s just some Greek guy’s story, isn’t it?’

  ‘If Harper found Atlantis, it would be the greatest archaeological discovery ever,’ Aunt Jane said, turning back to face them.

  ‘Though that isn’t actually what he is looking for,’ Robin told them. ‘He’s after their knowledge. And while Atlantis may be a myth, a legend, those myths and legends are actually based on fact. There is an underlying truth to the stories. Plato didn’t just make it up you know. He got the story from another Greek, who in turn had heard it from an Egyptian priest.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter who made it up,’ Matt said. ‘The point is that there is no Atlantis to discover. Harper may think there’s untold riches and goodness knows what treasure and relics and forbidden knowledge waiting under Antarctica or even under Cheltenham for all I care. It isn’t there. Atlantis never existed. It was really the island of Thira, or Akrotiri, or the Minoan civilisation or whatever. I know. Dad’s told me all about it.’