Heath grinned. “It does get a bit boring in here, truth be told. But Nurse Lopez sits with me a lot and tells me stories of what everyone else is up to. Not,” he added hastily, afraid of besmirching her reputation, “that she gossips. She’s not that sort of girl. But she keeps me up-to-date on what’s happening.” He glanced towards the window where the wooden shutters were firmly closed. “And it’s not like there’s much to see out there.”
A sudden chill prickled along the length of his body as he realised how he’d emphasised the last word; Annabelle had clearly picked up on it, for she leaned just a little closer.
“Not much to see out there? I wouldn’t have thought there was much more to see in here, to be honest.”
Heath smiled tightly but said nothing.
“So,” said Annabelle, after a thoughtful second or two. “Tell me all about what you’ve been up to here on Mercury. You were working with Professor Fournier, weren’t you, before her accident?”
“I was, miss, yes.”
“She was a geologist, I understand.”
“She called herself a ‘hermologist’ on account of this being Mercury and not Earth, miss. That’s what she said, anyway. Didn’t really get it meself—geology’s the study of rocks, isn’t it? And it was rocks she was looking at here, too.”
“Colonel Shawbridge assigned you to help her, did he? How did you find it, working with her on her hermology?”
“Oh, it was fine. She was a lovely old bird—if you don’t mind my saying, miss. She said the queerest things, you know, sometimes, and could be a complete cow—sorry, miss—at times. Her English was pretty good, though, for a Frenchie. Better than my French. I think she was a bit suspicious of me at the start, if you know what I mean. Thought the colonel had sent me to spy on her. But we got on fine—I got quite attached to…” Heath sniffed away an unexpected tear and lowered his head so that Annabelle wouldn’t see. “Terrible way to go, though…” His voice tailed off and he stared down at the bed.
“Sounded like it was very quick, though.”
He gave a shrug. “I reckon so, miss—but I can’t rightly say. The last thing I remember is her climbing up on a pile of them there plates as she called ’em. Crystals they were—so the Prof said. But she called them plates. About that size of my hand—some were a lot bigger and some smaller. Sort of glassy but frosted and mucky, like raw diamonds or something.”
“And she was climbing on top of them, is that right? Where was this, then? Uncle—Colonel Shawbridge mentioned some caves.”
“That’s right, miss—they’re just along the river. Well, the entrance is. Bloody huge ones. If you’ll pardon my French.” He gave a sheepish grin. “Loads of these plates around—big balls of ’em sticking out the walls. Told her I thought they looked like boils and she didn’t understand what I meant so I had to explain.” He broke off to sniff. “This is going to sound silly, miss—but she was a bit like a mum to me.” He looked up. “Does that sound daft?”
“Not at all. You must miss your mom and your family. How long since you last saw them?”
“Coming up to a year now. Got transferred straight here from duty in Africa. Didn’t have chance to even do an overnighter with them.” He paused and wiped his eyes with the back of his right hand. “I reckon she’d have liked you. No nonsense, that’s what she was. Said as she found. No messing.”
“Thank you, Paul. So then what happened—if you don’t mind talking about it, that is?”
“Well she found this big mound of ’em, like I said. Sticking out of the wall. Odd things they were.”
“In what way?”
“When you shone a torch on them, the light came back sort of redder. Professor Fournier tried to explain it to me. Something about waves and frequencies, but I never really got it. You should chat to that new Frenchie—Doctor Fountain or something. He’s taken over from her. Anyway, the Professor had seen them before but said something had changed about them and she wanted some samples. I offered to get them for her, what with her being a lady, but she was having none of it. Up she went, like a mountain goat, and started to chip away with that hammer of hers. Only she dropped it, so she pulled out this ruddy big lump hammer.” He shook his head at the memory of it. “And before I knew it, she’d taken a great swing at it…and then…”
Heath found himself staring across the room. Staring at the figure that he couldn’t quite see, standing not quite in the corner.
He had no idea how long he’d been out of it, but suddenly Annabelle was there, bending down slightly, her face just a couple of feet from him. She was saying something.
“…all right, Paul? What is it?” She turned to follow his gaze. For a few seconds, all he could see was her hair and her shoulders, and then her face snapped round, her eyes wide. “I saw it,” she said in a whisper. “Paul…. I saw it!”
Chapter Four
“In Which Nathanial and Arnaud Hear of Annabelle’s Experience”
1.
“Mon dieu!” exclaimed Arnaud.
“What?” asked Nathanial anxiously.
Arnaud was standing at the far end of the apparatus, monitoring the dials and gauges on what they decided to call the analyser—the device designed to receive the light transmitted through the sample from the arc-lamp. “This…” He paused and ran his hand over his dark hair only to have it bounce right back. “I don’t understand.”
Nathanial sighed and joined the Frenchman. The needles on the gauges had moved and were, if he was correct, showing that the light received was delayed by several fractions of a second. If that were true, did that mean that the plate somehow concentrated the aether? Was that even possible?
“Try again,” Arnaud said. “Perhaps the equipment is damaged or needs to heat up.”
Nathanial was resetting the lamp when he heard the sound of the door.
“Nathanial!” came a voice from behind him, and he spun round to see Annabelle standing there, looking—if he were honest—a little frightful. She was breathing heavily and her hair looked a bit windswept, but it was the wide-eyed look of alarm on her face that caught his attention. In her arms was a collection of folders, the documents they contained all but spilling out.
“Annabelle? What’s wrong? Come in, come in.”
“Oh dear Lord, Nathanial. You’ll never guess what I’ve just seen. A ghost! A real, live ghost!”
“Where?”
“In the hospital.” She paused to take a few deep breaths. It was clear she’d been running. “Can you believe it?”
“If this had come from anyone else, I’m not sure I would. But if you say you’ve seen one…Arnaud’s been telling me about them.”
“Perhaps a glass of cognac will help steady your nerves,” ventured Arnaud, raising the bottle.
“Is that your answer to everything?” asked Nathanial and then sighed. “Perhaps on this occasion you might be right. A small medicinal brandy might help steady your nerves, Annabelle. Sit here and tell us all about it.” He gestured to a chair and she sank into it and accepted the glass from Arnaud. The two men took seats opposite her. “Now,” said Nathanial. “Start at the beginning and don’t miss anything out.”
Annabelle set down her folders on the table and took a gulp of the cognac. She winced a little as it burned her throat, and handed the glass back to Arnaud, before proceeding to tell them everything that had happened in the hospital with Corporal Heath.
“Remarkable,” whispered Nathanial when she’d finished. “So what did it look like, exactly?”
“That’s the strangest thing—I can barely remember now. I’m fairly sure that it was a man—and wearing some sort of uniform, I think.” She shook her head, clearly irritated at her own inability to remember. “Someone said that remembering them was a little like remembering a dream—I know exactly what they mean now.” Her face pursed up in annoyance. “Oh, Nathanial, you’ve no idea how frustrating this is!”
“Don’t worry about it, Annabelle. It sounds like these ghosts, or whate
ver they are, have the same effect on everyone. I wonder why it appeared then, whilst you were there. Arnaud and I haven’t seen one yet.” There was a trace of disappointment in his voice.
“Perhaps they only appear to people who believe in such things, and maybe the scientific mind isn’t as approachable as the normal one,” Annabelle suggested, with just a hint of archness in her voice.
“That is possible,” Arnaud agreed. “Religious people are often more gullible, are they not?”
“Are you calling me gullible, Doctor Fontaine?”
“No, no, not at all,” Arnaud said hastily. “Perhaps ‘open-minded’ would be better—that’s correct, yes?”
Annabelle took a breath, mollified. “Perhaps these will help.” She gestured at the pile of documents on the table.
Nathanial began to leaf through them. “Medical documents… Reports of the sightings… Where on Earth did you get hold of these, Annabelle?”
“Uncle Ernest gave them me. I don’t think he was intending to, but I talked him round. I think he’s actually quite relieved that I’m here. It means he can let me do the investigating without having to give the impression of taking it all too seriously. Is there anything interesting in them?”
“Hmm,” Nathanial said. “Not sure—we’d need to sit down and go through them, see if we can find some common factor between all these people.”
“I’ll do that whilst you two do whatever it is you scientists do, shall I?” She peered over Arnaud’s shoulder at the device they’d been fiddling with when she’d come in. “Fascinating,” she said unconvincingly. “I’m sure it’s very complicated work, so I’ll go to my quarters and have a look through these, and you can tell me all about your samples and rocks and things tomorrow.”
She got up to leave.
“You are quite sure that you’re all right?” enquired Nathanial, solicitously, handing back her notes. “You’ve had quite a shock you know. It’s not every day that someone sees a real, live—erm, dead—ghost.”
“I’ll be fine—but thank you for asking. And thank you for the brandy, Arnaud. I rather think it’s doing the trick.”
“Well if you’re sure,” Nathanial said. “But at least let me walk you back. It’s entirely possible that you might have another visitation, or whatever we’re supposed to call them.”
“Oh Nathanial,” smiled Annabelle. “You’re such a fusspot. You can’t be at my side twenty four hours a day, you know.”
There was a slightly awkward pause.
Nathanial gave a little cough. “Well maybe I am a fusspot—but I’d feel much better knowing you were safe. No arguments, young lady.”
Annabelle let her shoulders fall with a melodramatic sigh that made Arnaud chuckle. “Oh, very well—if it will let you sleep sounder, then of course you may escort me. Good night, Arnaud.”
“Goodnight, mademoiselle. Have the beaux reves—the sweet dreams.”
Annabelle looked back at him from the doorway. “Trust me, Arnaud—dreams are the last things I want to experience tonight.”
2.
“He seems a pleasant enough fellow,” said Annabelle as they headed for her quarters.
“Oh, he is. A little…unorthodox might be the world. And he does love his brandy. How is your uncle, by the way? Has he been deliberately keeping out of our way since we arrived? I hope I didn’t scare him off with all those questions.”
“I think he’s more preoccupied with these ghost sightings than he’s letting on. Poor Uncle Ernest… He’s not terribly happy here.” She looked up at the sky. “Earlier on it seemed beautiful and exotic. But to spend every day, all day, in it… I’m not sure I’d like it very much.”
“Yes,” Nathanial agreed as they passed under the purple-green foliage of one of the local trees, spiked leaves glittering in the streetlight. “A shame Mercury has no moon—moonlight would be nice.”
Annabelle glanced sideways at him. “Moonlight? Surely you’re not turning into some old romantic, are you?”
“Ha! Less of the ‘old’, please. And no—I was just thinking that it might introduce a little variation.”
“Uncle Ernest and Doctor Schell thought the conditions here might be responsible for the ghost sightings—well, partly.”
“How did Heath strike you, then—as someone prone to flights of fancy or melancholia? And how was he when you left him?”
“I can’t say he did, no. He seemed to be a perfectly decent, ordinary chap. Nurse Lopez gave him something to help him sleep, and I made sure he took it.” They rounded the corner to the three rows of whitewashed accommodation bungalows, and she indicated the documents in her arms. “Maybe these will give us a clue.”
They walked in silence the rest of the way until they reached her bungalow, whereupon Annabelle stood on tip-toe and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Thank you Nathanial,” she said.
“What was that for?” he asked, slightly surprised.
“For being a gentleman.”
“Oh my,” he laughed, feeling his cheeks colouring. “I shall have to be a gentleman more often, shan’t I?”
“Good night, Nathanial—don’t work too hard with Arnaud.” She smiled and gave a matronly wag of her finger. “And don’t let him lead you astray with that brandy of his.”
“Yes ma’am,” said Nathanial, giving a little mock salute.
He waited until Annabelle was inside and the door closed, and then set off back to the lab, his cheek still burning.
3.
Annabelle’s head was still whirling as she made ready for bed. Only two days ago they had been in space, heading for what she thought was an insignificant little rock. If it hadn’t been for the discovery that Uncle Ernest had been here, she would have been quite happy to return to Earth, but she had enjoyed her adventures on Venus with Miles, Thymon and Nathanial so much that she’d seized on any opportunity to extend her journey. She missed home, but she knew that as soon as she set foot upon the Earth, she’d start missing her travels even more. Especially at the Chatham Dockyard, despite the Whites’ generous hospitality.
Fluffing up the pillows, she positioned herself upright in bed and started to leaf through the documents. It was dry old stuff—even the reports of the sightings—but she picked up a pencil and a wad of paper, and started making notes, condensing down the often rambling statements to the bare facts. It took about an hour and then she put the pile of reports to one side and scanned her notes. It took only a few moments to see that there was no discernible pattern or common thread to the sightings.
Annabelle sighed and rested her head against the wall, catching sight of the clock on the bedside table. It was a little past two in the morning. It was so easy to lose track of the hour on this timeless world. She found herself yawning and decided to leave it until the morning: perhaps with a refreshed brain, something might come to her. Turning off the light, she lay back in bed and stared up at the ceiling. Once her eyes had adjusted to the almost-complete darkness afforded by the shutters, she could just about see the fan slowly rotating, whuffing around and around and around….
4.
Nathanial was woken from the strangest dreams about talking to himself in a mirror by a hefty rap at the door and sat up in bed feeling very sweaty and annoyed.
There was another, louder knock, followed by Arnaud’s unmistakable voice. “Nathanial! Are you awake?”
“Yes, yes—come in.”
Arnaud’s tousled head appear round the door, his brown eyes bright and his eyebrows raised. “Are you decent?” he asked with a grin.
“I’m always decent, Arnaud. I’m British, remember. Come in, you look silly like that. What time is it?”
“Quarter after seven.”
“What? Why are you waking me at such an ungodly hour?”
“Ungodly? Mon ami, we have much to do today. They will be finding the professor’s body—would you not wish to be there?”
Nathanial pulled an expression of horror. “Why would I want that? I’m not a surgeon or
a coroner, you know.” He sat up in bed, self-consciously pulling the damp sheets around him.
“But you are a scientist, non? This would be a good opportunity to see the caves, whilst there are many soldiers around to protect us—or extricate us if there is further rockfalling.”
Nathanial scowled. He could think of better things to do than wandering around dank caves in search of a corpse, after all what could the caverns of Mercury offer that Luna’s did not? But he supposed Arnaud had a point. “Oh, very well. Give me ten minutes to get dressed. Where shall I meet you?”
“Do you know where the bathing beach is?”
“This place has a bathing beach?” asked Nathanial incredulously. “Why on Earth would it have one of them? Who’d want to bathe here?”
Arnaud shrugged. “I have no idea, but apparently the water is very warm and full of minerals and salts—as long as you don’t swallow it. I’m also told it is a very romantic place for couples to have their secret meetings.”
“Well I hope we won’t be encountering any of them today—now shoo!” Nathanial waved Arnaud away. “You continentals may be happy with wandering around in front of strangers with barely any clothes on, but—”
“You’re British,” Arnaud finished for him. “Yes, I know. Ten minutes then, on the beach. And don’t forget your bucket and spade.” And with another cheeky grin, Arnaud left Nathanial to get on with it.
5.
Finally washed and brushed, Nathanial followed the sound of voices to find a group of five soldiers assembling in the main square, with ropes and lanterns and all sorts of digging paraphernalia.
“Are you chaps going down to get Professor Fournier?” he asked one of them.
“That’s right, sir. We’ve got the go-ahead—the way’s clear. Are you coming with us, sir?”
“If that’s all right, yes.”
“You’ll need one of these, then, sir,” the soldier said, offering him a solid-looking metal helmet. “Not taking any chances, not after what happened before.”
series 01 03 “THE GHOSTS OF MERCURY” Page 5