The Curiosity Machine

by Richard Newsome

  A minute later and Felicity and Ruby emerged, both swamped in over-sized shirts. Felicity had knotted hers at the waist to take in some of the slack and they had both pulled the drawstrings on their shorts to the limit.

  Gerald grinned. ‘So that’s what I’d look like if I was a girl.’

  Ruby adjusted a striped T-shirt on her shoulders. ‘You wish,’ she said, glancing at a mirror on the wardrobe door. ‘Not bad, I suppose. Though I do have a strange desire to spit and scratch myself.’

  Gerald picked up the butterfly net and shoved it, the compass and the note from Jeremy Davey into his school backpack. ‘We need to find a radio or a satellite phone,’ he said. ‘We need to tell someone what’s going on.’

  Sam went to open the door, then stopped. ‘Do you hear that?’ he asked, tilting his head to the side.

  Ruby listened. ‘I can’t hear a thing.’

  ‘Exactly,’ Sam said. ‘The engines have stopped.’

  Felicity put a palm against a wall. ‘No vibrations,’ she said. ‘I think Sam’s right.’

  ‘Why would Captain Cooper shut off the engines in the middle of nowhere?’ Ruby asked.

  ‘Captain Cooper isn’t in charge of this ship anymore,’ Gerald said. ‘We really need to get hold of a radio. We need to get to the bridge.’

  ‘And if someone wanted to shut down the engines, where would they do that from?’ Ruby asked.

  ‘The engine room?’ Gerald said.

  ‘Or the bridge,’ Sam said. ‘Terrific.’

  Gerald nudged in next to Sam and looked though the peephole. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I’ve got my butterfly net.’

  The passage outside was deserted. Gerald opened the door and they scuttled along the wall towards the central staircase. Again, Gerald crept to the landing and checked up and down.

  Nothing.

  The Archer was a ghost ship.

  Gerald sucked in a silent breath and put a foot on the first step—

  ‘GERALD WILKINS!’

  The voice cut the silence like a chainsaw, seeming to come from every direction at once. Gerald froze, as if that would somehow make him invisible.

  Again, the voice pounded along the corridor. ‘Stop and listen!’

  The disembodied words were coming from the ship’s public address system, high-fidelity speakers set into the ceiling.

  ‘You have no hope of escape,’ the voice continued. ‘The engines have been immobilised and the only person capable of flying the helicopter is sitting in front of me with a gun to the back of his head.’

  ‘Poor Mr Fry,’ Felicity whispered.

  ‘I already have the plans for the curiosity machine in my possession so there is no need for you to hide.’ The voice was rich and round, and to Gerald’s annoyance, oddly familiar. ‘I just need to know that you and your friends are all right. Come to the ballroom. All you have to do is show yourselves. Then I’ll leave.’

  Gerald stared at the others. ‘What should we do?’ he whispered.

  ‘I say we give ourselves up,’ Felicity said. ‘They’ve got what they came for. What’s the harm?’

  ‘They’ve got machine guns,’ Sam said. ‘I’d say the potential for harm is quite high.’

  ‘I wouldn’t mind having a gun right now,’ Ruby said.

  Sam glared at his sister, then clipped her over the back of the head, drawing a satisfying Ouch!

  The voice came again: ‘You can trust me, Gerald. You know me. We’ve worked together before.’

  Gerald racked his brain. The voice was familiar, but he could not place it. It certainly was not Sir Mason Green.

  Ruby gasped. ‘Oh my gosh, it’s not the thin man, is it?’

  Gerald shook his head. ‘He got shredded in that pump in India. There’s no way he’s coming back.’

  ‘Then who—’

  The voice boomed along the corridor. ‘You remember me?’ it said. ‘Ursus. Or Special Agent de Bruin from the FBI. Your parents know me as Mr Baloo.’

  A shiver that was tracking down Gerald’s spine did a three-point turn and shot back up to his skull.

  Ursus. The man who had sent them on a chase halfway across Europe to retrieve the Voynich manuscript from Tycho Brahe.

  ‘You know I can be trusted,’ he said. ‘Just show your face, Gerald, and you can return to your birthday party.’

  Gerald spat out a humourless laugh. His birthday was as shattered as the shot-out window two decks below. Felicity snatched his hand and tried to lead him down the stairs. ‘What are you doing?’ Gerald said, pulling back.

  ‘You heard the man,’ she said. ‘We just have to go back to the ballroom and all this will be sorted and everyone can go home and be with their loved ones and no one has to get hurt.’ She pulled again at Gerald’s arm, this time with greater urgency. ‘Come on,’ she said, clenching her teeth. ‘It’s time to go.’ Tears welled in her eyes. Big round tears.

  ‘Stop it,’ Gerald said. ‘What’s gotten into you?’

  Felicity lifted her face to him. ‘You have to come,’ she said. ‘Please.’

  Gerald pulled back and Felicity fell, landing at his feet. She stared up at him, red eyes beseeching. ‘You have to come, Gerald,’ she said, her voice catching in her throat.

  ‘Why do I have to go?’ Gerald asked.

  Felicity wiped the tears from her face. ‘Because I promised them you would,’ she said.

  Chapter 11

  Gerald tried to take a step back but Felicity grabbed at his ankle, tripping him to the carpet. ‘I promised,’ she sobbed. ‘You have to go.’

  Ruby dropped to her knees beside Felicity and tried to pull her up. ‘Oh, Felicity,’ she said. ‘What have you done?’

  Gerald’s mind was spinning. He couldn’t make sense of what Felicity was doing. But Sam managed to nail it: ‘You promised to deliver Gerald to these pirates? To Ursus?’

  Tears streaked Felicity’s cheeks. She tugged at Gerald’s leg, like a beggar in the gutter. ‘You have to come,’ she said, every breath an effort. ‘You’ll be all right. Everything will be all right.’

  Before Gerald could answer there was a shout from overhead. They looked up the stairwell to see a masked gunman three levels above. He raised a rifle to his shoulder. A bullet struck near Felicity’s foot. Her scream was almost as loud as the rifle’s report.

  Gerald grabbed her arm, and he and Ruby hauled her upright. ‘I don’t think everything is going to be all right,’ he said. ‘Come on.’ He led a mad dash down the staircase, deeper into the body of the ship.

  There was another shot. Gerald had no idea where the bullet went, and he didn’t stop to look. They passed the landing at the ballroom level, but there was no sign of Ursus or the other invaders. Gerald had only one notion: to put as much distance as possible between them and the shooter.

  A deep voice rolled from the speakers in the ceiling, ‘Hold your fire!’ Gerald looked back as he kept running; Ruby, Sam and Felicity were right behind him. ‘They are not to be injured.’

  They rounded another landing without slowing down. ‘Gerald,’ Sam panted at his heels. ‘Where are we going?’

  Gerald surged onwards. ‘I’ll tell you when we get there.’

  The plush carpets and wood panelling gave way to more utilitarian materials: metal steps, stainless-steel-lined walls. They had reached the levels used by the crew. Round and down they clattered until a metal door studded with rivets and with a large ring set into its centre blocked their path.

  ‘It’s like something from the Titanic,’ Sam said. He and Gerald clamped their hands on the wheel and turned. Shouts tumbled down from above, followed by the sound of boots pounding down the stairs.

  ‘Hurry!’ Ruby said. ‘There’s a load of them coming this way.’

  The wheel spun in place and Gerald pushed the watertight door open. He clambered through, followed by Sam and Ruby. ‘You too, Felicity,’ he said, hauling her in. He glanced up to see three burly men rounding the final landing above them, their combat boots clattering on
the metal stairs. Gerald swung the door shut with a juddering clang and spun the wheel, activating a lock that sealed them in.

  Fists pounded on the other side of the door, followed by shouted threats to open up, or else. Gerald rested his hands on his knees and sucked in deep breaths until his heartbeat slowed. Then he looked around to see where they were. It appeared to be a storage compartment. The floor was a dull moulded plastic and the space bare apart from a circular hatch in the wall opposite and a panel with three green buttons beside it. The glass hatch cover revealed nothing, just a black sink of darkness beyond.

  ‘We should be okay in here,’ Gerald said. ‘That door looks bullet proof.’

  Ruby ran the palm of her hand along the featureless walls. ‘Until they starve us out,’ she said.

  Gerald turned at the sound of sobbing. Felicity was slumped on the floor, her knees clutched to her chest. A red mist of anger settled over Gerald’s eyes. ‘Who have you been talking to?’ he demanded.

  Felicity struggled for breath. She raised her face to Gerald, her eyes road-mapped in red. ‘I don’t know who I spoke to,’ she said. ‘It was just a voice on the phone. I suppose it was Ursus. Kidnapping seems to be his thing.’

  Gerald wasn’t sure he had heard correctly. ‘You spoke to Ursus on the phone? When was this?’

  Felicity could not look at Gerald. ‘Two weeks ago,’ she said. ‘He has my parents, Gerald. My mum and dad. That’s why they’re not here. I didn’t know what to do.’ She buried her face in her hands.

  ‘Your mum and dad have been abducted?’ Ruby said. ‘Why didn’t you say something? Why didn’t you call the police?’

  Felicity wiped the heel of her hand across her eyes. ‘He said he would torture them unless I did what he asked. What was I supposed to do? What would you do if it was your mum and dad?’

  Ruby turned away.

  ‘Ursus told you to hand me over to him on this holiday?’ Gerald asked.

  Felicity drew a deep breath and finally managed to look at Gerald without flinching. ‘Oh, Gerald,’ she said. ‘He told me to do a lot of things.’

  A thunderous hammering of metal on metal tore through the compartment. Gerald recoiled, pressing his hands over his ears to dull the assault on his hearing. He looked to the door: it was rattling on its hinges. Whoever was on the other side had found a power drill and was trying to force their way through. Gerald screwed his eyes shut, as if that could somehow dampen the noise. But the attack continued. After what seemed an age, the drilling stopped but Gerald’s ears rang on with the sound. A sharp tug on his sleeve turned him around and it took a few seconds for him to understand what Ruby was saying through the pealing that reverberated through his brain.

  ‘…out of here,’ Ruby was saying. ‘We have to open the door.’

  Gerald nodded. There was nowhere else to go. Ursus would have him and who knew what would come after that. Gerald had his hands on the wheel to unlock the door when Sam spoke.

  ‘What about the hatch over here?’ he said. Gerald looked across to where Sam stood by the circular glass cover in the wall. ‘It might be a back way out.’

  ‘A back way out to where?’ Ruby said. ‘We’re still trapped on a ship. There’s nowhere to go.’

  Sam gave his sister a sour look. ‘Then there’s no harm in opening it then, is there?’ Sam tugged on the cover but it wouldn’t budge. He looked at the row of buttons and, with a here-goes-nothing shrug, pushed the first one. Gerald tilted his head, unsure if the sudden clanking sound was his ears still ringing or something new. Then a dozen jets of seawater opened up from the ceiling. The sheer force of the torrent threw Gerald to the floor, as if a battery of fire hoses had been set on him. Water swamped the room and started licking its way up the walls. Gerald climbed to his hands and knees. The water jets pummelled his back. Ruby sloshed about next to him; Felicity had been knocked sideways and was struggling to roll upright. Across the room, Sam sat with his back against the wall and a look of surprise on his face as a hydrant in the ceiling opened up over his head. Gerald lifted his hand to wipe his eyes clear, only to discover the water level had risen to his elbows. He crawled through the downpour, trying to get to Sam. The roar of the water was joined by another barrage of drilling from the other side of the door. The noise was overwhelming.

  Gerald reached Sam and shouted in his ear. ‘Turn it off! You’ve got to turn it off or we’ll drown.’ Gerald’s head was so full of sound he couldn’t be sure he had even spoken the words.

  Sam got to his knees and hammered his fist at the first button, but still the water came.

  ‘The second one!’ Gerald shouted above the roar. ‘Try the second one!’ Water washed about Gerald’s waist, climbing higher at an alarming rate. Sam slammed his hand onto the second button. Circular covers from twenty outlets high in the walls swung free and twenty torrents arched into the room in broad unrelenting spouts.

  They had to get out.

  Gerald almost lost his footing as he turned towards the door. Felicity was already there and by the time Gerald reached her she had started turning the release wheel. Together they spun it, winding the pins back until it was unlocked. The water lapped at their ribs as they pulled at the door.

  It wouldn’t move. Gerald heaved again, putting all his strength into it, but the door might as well have been welded shut.

  Then he realised. The water in the compartment was almost halfway up the door. The pressure was just too great. They were trapped.

  Felicity grabbed Gerald’s hand and they forced their way through the flooded room to Ruby and Sam. ‘What do we do?’ Felicity shouted.

  Gerald looked at the third button on the wall. How could things possibly get any worse? He pressed it. A dull yellow light flickered on behind the glass hatch. Then the circular cover popped open and swung out, hitting Gerald in the chest. Then it was a mad scramble. Sam pushed on a glass inner-hatch and was the first one through, followed a second later by Ruby.

  Still the water poured into the compartment. It lapped the bottom of the hatchway. Just as Felicity lifted her leg through the hole, Ruby poked her head back out. ‘It’s the mini-submarine!’ she shouted over the roar.

  ‘Then get out of the way so we can get in,’ Gerald shouted back.

  ‘But there’s only room for three of us,’ she said.

  Chapter 12

  Gerald shoved Ruby in the chest, sending her knees up and backwards into the submarine. Then he pushed Felicity through the hatch. ‘Get in!’ he shouted. ‘We’ll just have to squeeze tight.’

  Gerald clambered inside, squeezing through with his backpack, and pulled the main hatch door shut just as the water started spilling over the lip. Another few seconds and it would have been sealed as tight as the main door. He swung the submarine’s inner-hatch closed and it locked. The noise of the cascading water dulled, and Gerald finally had a chance to draw breath.

  Yellow light illuminated the spherical interior of the mini-sub. Ruby and Sam sat in two seats at the front behind a bank of dark flat-screen panels. Gerald had landed on top of Felicity in the only other seat, behind the Valentine twins.

  Sam let out a long, slow breath. ‘Do you get the feeling those buttons are meant to be pressed in the other order?’

  ‘Make a note of that will you, Gerald?’ Ruby said. ‘Better labelling required in the submarine docking area.’

  The four of them exchanged glances, then burst into laughter of pure relief.

  ‘What’s your story?’ Gerald said to Ruby. He broke into a fair imitation of her accent. ‘I’m terribly sorry, the submarine appears to be full at the moment. Would you mind terribly waiting for the next one? Terribly?’

  Ruby’s cheeks flushed red. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I panicked. I saw three seats and for some reason I thought we were only allowed three people on board. I thought we might—you know—get in trouble.’

  ‘There’s a half-dozen armed pirates trying to batter their way through a steel door to kidnap us,’ Sam said. ‘I thin
k “trouble” is a fair description of where we already are.’

  Gerald ran his eyes over the interior of the sub. The cockpit consisted of a large transparent bubble that seemed to offer a view above, below and in front, but it was too dark outside to see anything. Then he had an idea. ‘How would you like to get in even more trouble?’ he said.

  ‘Is that possible?’ Ruby asked.

  ‘Oh sure,’ Gerald said. ‘Look where we are and we haven’t even been trying. I say we get this submarine working and make a break for it.’

  ‘Are you completely crazy?’ Ruby said. ‘What is that going to achieve?’

  ‘We get away from the bad guys for a start,’ Gerald said. ‘That has to be a good thing. And there should a radio in this tub so we can call for help.’

  ‘But what about my parents?’ Felicity said.

  A frosty silence filled the submarine’s compact interior. Gerald could hear Ruby muttering but couldn’t make out what she was saying. ‘As long as we’re on the run, your parents will be fine,’ Gerald said. ‘In fact, the best thing we can do to protect your mum and dad is to not be caught by Ursus.’

  Felicity furrowed her brow. ‘How do you figure that?’

  ‘Because if Ursus wants me, he has to keep your parents safe. If we can disappear and remain free, we actually have the upper hand,’ Gerald said.

  Felicity shook her head. ‘No. We have to stay here. You have to go to him.’ She reached around to grab at the hatch, her fingers scrabbling at the lock. Ruby launched from her seat and took hold of Felicity’s arm, bending it back.

  ‘Ow!’ Felicity cried. ‘You’re hurting me.’

  ‘You need to stop and listen,’ Ruby said, shoving Felicity into the seat. ‘Ursus is not going to hurt your mum and dad. He tried to play you and now he has lost that advantage, so you can give up on any plan you had of delivering Gerald to him. It’s over, and you should be thankful that Gerald even let you into this sub. I would have left you on the other side of the glass.’

  Felicity clenched her jaw and glared at Ruby. ‘I knew you wouldn’t understand,’ she said. ‘You are so self-centred. My parents have been kidnapped.’