Mariah Mundi and the Ship of Fools

by G. P. Taylor

  [12]

  Isbrae

  ‘IDON’T see why we should give in to them,’ Captain Tharakan protested earnestly to the Marquis DeFeaux as the steam elevator opened on Deck 13.

  ‘We give in to them because they will blow up the ship,’ DeFeaux replied. Close by him stood Casper Vikash.

  ‘And you let the Bureau of Antiquities take control of the security of my ship,’ Tharakan shouted, his eyes bulging with anger.

  ‘Your ship? Your ship?’ DeFeaux asked. ‘You are the man who just steers the Triton. It was my money, my time, my energy – not yours.’

  ‘But the gold is not yours – you cannot just give it away,’ Tharakan answered back.

  ‘Under the circumstances the Marquis can give it to whom he wants,’ Charity said as he stepped from the elevator, followed by Mariah Mundi.

  ‘It is the prize money for the race, money I was promised a share in if I won. You cannot give away my fortune,’ Tharakan said, ignoring Charity.

  ‘If it is the money that worries you, I will pay you from my own purse,’ DeFeaux said as he banged the long mahogany table that stretched out before him. ‘The Ketos is still ahead of us. Lorenzo Zane is having trouble keeping the engine at full power. There is a bomb on the ship and all you worry about is the money?’

  ‘Is the gold in the lifeboat?’ Charity asked as he sat at the table and looked about the panelled room.

  ‘They are loading the last ingots as we speak,’ said Casper Vikash as his fingers traced the scars on his face.

  ‘Then we should do what they want. I have searched the ship and found nothing,’ Charity replied.

  ‘And Sachnasun – what have you done with him? He is missing,’ Tharakan snarled angrily, leaning towards Charity.

  ‘We met with some opposition. I have not seen your Third Officer since I was locked in an airtight room and nearly drowned,’ Charity replied. ‘I have some questions I would like to ask him myself.’

  ‘Then that explains what they found in Eduardo’s cage?’ DeFeaux asked with a raised eyebrow.

  ‘Sadly, that was a twist of fate. The man tried to kill Mariah and the tiger killed him … And before you ask, there is a slight problem with a lifeboat on Deck 11 and a body in Locker 17, Deck 1.’

  ‘You killed my crew?’ Tharakan demanded.

  ‘For some reason they appeared to have a strong desire to kill both Mariah and myself,’ Charity replied as DeFeaux walked from the table and looked out of the window towards the horizon.

  Casper Vikash took a step to follow.

  ‘If you chose your crew wisely,’ he said to Tharakan, ‘then Charity might not have to resort to such methods. He is only protecting Mariah Mundi as they do the bidding of the Bureau of Antiquities.’

  ‘I didn’t. Lorenzo Zane chose them for me. Every man on this ship was hand-picked by him. I had no say in the matter,’ Tharakan snapped in reply.

  ‘Only because they had worked on the ship in Greenland and had taken part in the sea trials,’ DeFeaux said, turning to face him.

  ‘Then we should ask Lorenzo Zane how he came to have so many trained assassins in one place at one time. I have never known so many military men with the desire to become sailors.’ Charity laughed as he spoke.

  ‘What more do you know of these men?’ asked Casper Vikash.

  ‘I see from the scars on your face that you are a man prepared to lay down your life for your master?’ asked Charity.

  ‘I am,’ Vikash replied.

  ‘Then so were the men we encountered today. Before they died they talked about an oath, sworn under the threat of a curse should it ever be broken. One of them was even prepared to die before giving away the secrets to us,’ Charity went on. ‘These are not common thieves – they are loyal servants of an unknown master. Their intent is to destroy this ship and steal the gold.’

  ‘Then who can we trust?’ Vikash asked.

  ‘Perhaps, my dear Vikash, the only people we can trust are in this room,’ Charity replied as he looked at each man in turn.

  The ship gave a sudden jolt and trembled in the water. It shook the dark wood panelling and rattled the gold chandeliers.

  ‘It is the generator – there is a problem with the force of the water,’ said Tharakan.

  ‘And Lorenzo Zane?’ Charity asked.

  ‘He has spent the entire voyage in the engine room. He eats there, sleeps there and refuses to come out,’ Tharakan replied.

  ‘Then Mariah and I shall pay him a visit,’ Charity said as Mariah stood by the elevator door and kept silent.

  ‘Impossible,’ muttered Tharakan. ‘His guards will not let you in through the door. I went myself and was told to leave immediately – how dare they speak like that to the captain of the ship?’

  ‘These guards, who are they?’ Charity asked.

  ‘From Greenland – they have been working on the project for almost five years. They are committed to the task,’ DeFeaux interrupted.

  ‘Sachnasun?’ asked Mariah.

  ‘Sachnasun,’ replied Tharakan.

  ‘The one thing every assassin has had in common is that they were put on this ship by Lorenzo Zane,’ Charity said.

  ‘Very well,’ said DeFeaux as he returned to the table and smudged the thick wax with his finger. ‘I think it is time to speak with Lorenzo Zane.’

  ‘Tell me, Lyon. The Great Race – will the Triton win?’ Charity asked.

  ‘If the generator cannot be fixed, then the ship will not win and Zane’s reputation will be ruined,’ DeFeaux replied.

  Tharakan looked out of the window of the room at the distant Ketos. The Bicameralist hovered in the sky to the south of the ship. He appeared to be thinking deeply.

  ‘Strange weather for this time of year,’ he said, changing the conversation like a sailboat tack. ‘I don’t think I have ever known such calm water. It is like the Arctic just before the water is about to freeze.’

  ‘I too noticed that. Perhaps it is the conditions that affect the Zane Generator,’ The Marquis said as he looked uncomfortably around the room.

  ‘Tell me, Lyon, do you have access to the Bicameralist?’ Charity asked.

  ‘For what purpose?’ he replied, wondering why he should be asked such a question.

  ‘I noticed that it communicated with the ship via means of light. Is it possible for the skyship to land on the Triton?’ said Charity. He got up from the table and crossed the room.

  ‘It is very possible and in certain circumstances could be arranged immediately,’ Vikash said uncomfortably before DeFeaux could speak. ‘You cannot have one of the richest men in the world at the mercy of the Atlantic without an exit route.’

  ‘On a day such as this I would be more in danger on the pond in St James’s Park.’ Charity laughed. ‘Apart from the bomb hidden in the ship, our only peril would be to be struck by a demented seabird.’

  ‘How can you laugh at such a thing? We could be blown into oblivion and it is not a thought I like to hold in my mind,’ Tharakan growled.

  ‘Oblivion is not a place I intend to go. I cannot believe in such an empty situation and I do not think we shall be blown up. The Marquis will ensure that the gold leaves the ship and we will continue to search for the bomb. Mariah and I will supervise the launch of the vessel with the gold at midnight. I suggest we keep the ransom a secret. I am sure that we will be watched if we are not already.’ Charity smiled at the Marquis and then turned to leave. He walked towards the elevator and before he reached Mariah, he turned momentarily. ‘I suggest we all carry on as normal. With so many deaths on the ship we do not want the guests to become worried.’

  ‘I am glad I have your confidence, Captain Charity. After all, we shall sleep safe in our beds knowing the Bureau of Antiquities is protecting us,’ Tharakan said sarcastically as he yawned.

  ‘And sleep we shall – what a good idea,’ Charity replied as he and Mariah walked through the door and along the elegant passageway.

  ‘Do you really think the ship is safe?�
� Mariah asked as they neared the apartment given to them by the Marquis.

  ‘We are sailing to hell, Mariah. Whoever is after the gold could blow up the ship as soon as it is delivered. That way there would be no witnesses. We have to find the bomb,’ said Charity.

  ‘But Cody said it was not about the gold,’ replied Mariah.

  ‘I fear that Lorenzo Zane has something to do with this. The Triton is not how it should be. If I were Zane and about to fail, I would have a plan to redeem myself.’ Charity wiped the tiredness from his eyes. ‘The consequences of such a thought are beyond belief and I can presume that only a madman would do such a thing.’

  ‘Sink the ship if he thought it was going to lose the Great Race?’ asked Mariah.

  ‘Then his reputation would not be lost. If it were an act of sabotage, Lorenzo Zane could say it was a jealous rival who set out to destroy his invention.’

  ‘And with the skyship they would be ensured of a means of escape. Biba told me she had travelled on it from Greenland to Nova Scotia,’ Mariah replied as they reached the doorway to their apartment.

  ‘My thoughts too, Mariah, and best we keep them to ourselves,’ Charity said as he opened the mahogany doors to the room and stepped inside.

  They both stopped, equally surprised to see Biba DeFeaux lounging on the sofa by the balcony. Spirals of incense swirled upwards from the table by the door, giving the room a fragrance of myrrh. The lace drapes had been pulled so that the net mellowed the harsh light of the afternoon sun.

  Biba was dressed as a Mandarin and had painted her face with lines of kohl to slant the eyes. She fiddled nervously with a large diamond set in a gold necklace.

  ‘I wondered how long you would be,’ she said apologetically. ‘I came to say …’

  ‘Mad as cheese. Crazy as a buffarilla,’ muttered Charity as he smiled benignly and walked into his room, slamming the door behind him.

  ‘Is he always like that?’ Biba asked as she stood on the sofa and bounced up and down.

  ‘Only when irate,’ Mariah replied as he looked at the long table laid out with cakes and steaming silver pots and China cups. ‘Is that chocolate?’ he asked.

  ‘Not only is it chocolate – it’s Belgian chocolate made by the inscrutable Mr Bonnet,’ she whispered, not wanting Charity to hear her. ‘I thought I could say sorry by bringing you something nice.’

  ‘Why do you act like that?’ he asked as he sat next to her and poured the rich dark liquid into a translucent cup.

  ‘I can’t help it. Not a single person ever says no to me … and you look like someone who will, just for the sake of it. My father believes me to be spoilt and says I must be indulged and my mother keeps out of the way. The only time we ever touched was when that dreaded polar bear tried to kill me. Even then she seemed more concerned for Vikash.’ Biba frowned as she slumped to the leather sofa. ‘Madame Zane cares more for me than she does.’

  ‘Do you know her well?’ Mariah asked.

  ‘It is planned that at some time in the future our families will come together. I have spent the summer with them and Lorenzo will be with us at Christmas,’ she said as she took a piece of cake and crumbled it in her fingers.

  ‘Then your life is planned for you,’ said Mariah.

  ‘Isn’t that how it is for everyone?’ Biba asked, astonished at the suggestion that it could be any other way. She stopped, realising that she was about to do what she had done before. Biba giggled and sipped from Mariah’s cup. ‘I have never met anyone like you before. There is something strange about you, Mariah Mundi.’

  Mariah looked at her in the Mandarin suit and embroidered slippers. Biba smiled at him and screwed up her nose as if she were a rabbit sniffing the air.

  ‘What is Lorenzo’s father like?’ he asked in as matter-of-fact a way as he could.

  ‘Luscious,’ she replied. ‘Just like chocolate. I think everyone should be seen as something to eat. You remind me of a parsnip – bitter at first and then quite sweet.’

  ‘Do you know him well?’ said Mariah, thinking Charity was right in saying she was mad.

  ‘I saw much of him when we went to Greenland. He spent a lot of time talking to my mother. They share an interest in Alcatorda …’

  Mariah didn’t know what she meant but smiled as if he did.

  ‘Why should anyone want to harm Lorenzo Zane?’ he asked.

  Biba suddenly recoiled like a snake. It was as if she knew a secret that she couldn’t share with him. She put her hands over her eyes and sighed. Mariah waited for her to reply. The incense swirled about him like long dark fingers that dripped with strands of torn hair. Then the light in the room dimmed and darkness fell unexpectedly as a gigantic shadow fell across the window.

  From outside, Mariah heard the grumbling of the Bicameralist’s engines. The skyship hovered above the Triton. Mariah went to the window, pulled back the lace and looked out. There, like a gigantic cloud, blotting out the southern sky was the airship. It was the closest it had ever been to the ship. Its vast, whale-like carcass hung in the air, and beneath it the long gondola stretched the length of the Triton. Underneath the rear of the ribbed gondola were the steam engines, suspended like church bells. They buzzed as the blades turned and the steam pistons churned. Like the spouting of a whale, a column of smoke blew from a funnel on top of the skyship.

  ‘Look Biba, have you ever seen such a thing?’ Mariah asked.

  Biba didn’t move. She sat with her face in her hands as if in her mind’s eye she watched something far more fascinating.

  ‘It was her fault,’ she said softly. ‘If she hadn’t left me behind to go looking for razorbills then the bear would never have come for me … She tried to make out that she had nothing to do with it. They left me behind in the village – I went looking for them – they had set off across the bay. I tried to follow – no one told me about the polar bears.’

  ‘So you blame her?’ Mariah asked.

  ‘Why am I telling you this?’ she replied, as if her speaking were beyond her control.

  ‘We all have to tell someone. I know what it is like to be angry with your parents. You can’t expect them to be perfect. Mine put me in the Colonial School and went to Africa. They went missing – some say they are dead. I wish they had taken me with them – at least I would know what happened to them.’

  ‘Do you think they are dead?’ she asked.

  ‘Probably,’ he said quietly as he watched a set of stairs being lowered from the front of the gondola as it moved closer to the ship.

  ‘I wish my mother was … I thought of poisoning her, but Casper Vikash found out. He said it wasn’t a kind thing to do,’ she replied.

  ‘I think it is better to have a mother alive and hate her, than hate her when she is dead,’ said Mariah thinking of his own mother.

  ‘It’s better not to hate at all,’ Charity said. He stood in the doorway of his room. ‘Bitterness can eat you from the inside, Biba. The only way you’ll be free from this is if you forgive her and forgive yourself for hating her. Is that why you couldn’t speak?’ he asked.

  Biba nodded as tears filled her eyes.

  ‘I felt so alone. Not natural to leave a child like that. Left me on the edge of Jacobshavn. Lorenzo would walk my mother to a red hut by the Isbrae Glacier. She told me to stay on the beach until they came back. Mother would often disappear for hours with Lorenzo Zane and then just return. Father was working – he didn’t know. I waited and waited and then the bear came. At first it just followed me. It knew I was frightened. I tried to run. It chased me along the shingle beach. I thought I had escaped. I climbed a small hill. My heart was pounding. Then it jumped from behind an ice boulder. Casper heard my screams and he shot the bear. When Casper found me, he told me to say nothing to my father and that he wasn’t to know where mother had gone. He said it was a secret that I couldn’t speak because it would ruin my family.’

  ‘So you didn’t speak at all?’ Mariah asked.

  ‘It was easier that way. If I
didn’t speak then I couldn’t give away the secret – it was as simple as that,’ Biba said. ‘Now you know, now you both know. Casper will not be pleased.’

  ‘Have you not told anyone else about it?’ Charity asked Biba as she sobbed.

  ‘When you are the daughter of the Marquis DeFeaux, not many people ask. My father pays for children to be my friends. He doesn’t let me go to school in case I am kidnapped. There is no one to talk to – but then you wouldn’t understand that.’

  There was a dull rumble and a grating noise above their heads. It was as if something scraped the roof of the ship.

  ‘I take it that the Bicameralist has docked safely with the Triton?’ asked Charity.

  ‘My father arranged it this morning. He wanted to be sure everything was working and in order. They have come for some papers – to keep them safe. I heard him telling Casper Vikash to make them ready.’

  [13]

  Midnight

  THE Triton cut its way through the black, glassy sea. A silver full moon touched the top of the sky. From the forward lifeboat deck, Mariah could see the lights of the Ketos near to the horizon. They looked like the glinting of a small town. In the light of the moon, Mariah thought it could be mistaken for New York and the end of the journey.

  Biba stood with him, huddled close by. He thought she would see the view as he did, but then again, crossing the Atlantic was not a new experience for her. Biba had sailed many oceans and knew the sea well. For Mariah it was vast, dark, foreboding. He knew not what was beneath the calm waters and his mind conjured creatures greater and more dangerous than the Kraken.

  The Marquis DeFeaux, Vikash and Tharakan clustered in deep conversation near to the lifeboat as Captain Jack looked at his watch and counted the minutes to the hour. ‘Five minutes to midnight,’ he said as three sailors packed the last of the gold ingots into the lifeboat and pulled the tarpaulin back across the boat. The red straps dangled to one side as the small boat rocked back and forth, ready to be lowered to the sea.