Mariah Mundi and the Ship of Fools

by G. P. Taylor

  Then another voice – ‘Biba! Biba!’ – as the far doors opened and Mariah rushed in.

  Biba turned. Mariah stood by the door of the circus. The burning knives cast long shadows that flickered and danced across the roof.

  ‘Shanjing is here – beware!’ She shouted the warning as Mariah ran across the circus ring towards her. Biba turned. Shanjing was gone.

  ‘Where is he?’ shouted Mariah. ‘We must go. Lorenzo Zane and Ellerby are searching for me. Zane tried to kill me.’

  ‘Zane?’ cried Biba as the tiger growled loudly.

  ‘Stop there!’ Shanjing shouted as he appeared from under a tiger cage carrying a flaming knife. ‘I will happily kill you, Mariah Mundi.’

  ‘You should stick to sitting in the laps of old men, Shanjing. You’ll never get off this ship,’ Mariah said as he walked slowly towards him.

  ‘You are either brave or foolish, Mariah Mundi.’ Shanjing threw the knife, just missing Mariah. Then he was gone, disappearing yet again into the darkness.

  ‘Get out of the cage,’ Mariah shouted to Biba. ‘We have to get to Deck 13 before Zane finds me.’

  Biba edged her way to the door of the tiger cage. She pushed on it and it opened slowly. Eduardo growled in his sleep. He was old and tired and although he looked much younger, his twenty years had taken their toll upon him.

  ‘I can’t see Shanjing,’ she said as Mariah walked towards her, still wary of the dwarf ’s presence somewhere nearby.

  As she stepped from the cage, a hand grabbed her leg. It gripped her tightly, taking her off balance and pulling her through the gap in the steps. Biba screamed as she fell. Mariah ran to her. Shanjing leapt into his path. He kicked at Mariah and knocked him to the floor. There was a dull thud and Mariah groaned as blood trickled from his ear. Shanjing appeared at the foot of the steps as Biba struggled to her feet.

  ‘I suggest you come with me,’ he said calmly as if it were a pleasant invitation.

  Biba scrambled backwards. She pulled open the cage door and crawled in.

  ‘I won’t go with you,’ she said, sobbing and hoping Mariah would wake.

  ‘Then you leave me no choice,’ Shanjing said as he climbed the steps towards her and began slowly to untie the leather mask from his face. ‘I want you to see – need you to see – who I really am.’

  Eduardo groaned sleepily in the hutch at the back of the cage. Shanjing stepped inside and took off his mask.

  ‘It is a shame Mariah Mundi cannot see this as I am sure he will recognise me.’

  Biba stared at the grotesque face of the man-mannequin. The only part untouched by flame were his eyes. The burnt skin was crinkled like a crocodile’s, tightly stretched and translucent over the bones. Small pulsing veins ran across the cheeks of a face that had no lips.

  ‘Who did that to you?’ Biba asked in horror as she crawled further from him.

  ‘I was left for dead,’ Shanjing said as he dropped the mask to the floor and took the gloves from his hands. ‘Come with me Biba – this is not the right place.’

  Biba looked to Mariah. In the faint glow of the tallowed knives she could see him slumped on the ground. He didn’t move. She looked to the floor, knowing her eyes would give away the secret thought that came to her.

  ‘Very well,’ she said as she got to her feet and held out her hand to Shanjing. ‘Just help me …’

  Shanjing reached out to her. Biba took his hand. She felt the dryness of the burnt fingers against her skin.

  ‘You know it has to be this way?’ Shanjing asked in a melancholic way.

  ‘Yes,’ she said slowly as she tightened her grip on his fingers and stared at the floor of the cage. ‘This way and no other.’

  Shanjing grinned. His teeth were lipless and bared, with just a veneer of burnt skin around the edge of what was his mouth. He flicked his tongue like an expectant snake.

  ‘It is time,’ he said slowly as he stood before her.

  Biba pulled his hand suddenly. She dragged Shanjing towards her, summoning every last morsel of strength. He stumbled as she grabbed his coat with her other hand. Then, without giving him a chance to shout out, Biba pushed him as hard as she could. He fell towards the darkness of the sleeping hutch. The tiger growled as it realised someone was near. Shanjing screamed as he stared face to face at the creature. He fell before it like a sacrifice as Biba leapt from the cage and slammed the door shut.

  The tiger lashed out with its gigantic paw, slashing Shanjing across the chest. The man-mannequin screamed as his body twisted. He stared at Biba, holding out his hand to be saved.

  ‘Not like this!’ he screamed as Eduardo the tiger bit into his side. ‘Biba, no!’

  The tiger dragged him into the darkness of its lair. Biba covered her face with her hands, unable to breathe as Shanjing screamed and screamed. The tiger roared as it tore at Shanjing with claws and teeth. It was as if it would not be satisfied until it had found his heart. Then all was silent.

  Biba looked into the cage. On the floor was the mannequin’s mask. It looked like the discarded chrysalis of a beautiful butterfly that had pupated and flown away. Biba reached inside and took hold of the mask, pulling it to her. She held it in her hands and stared at the empty eye sockets. It was still warm and moulded into the shape of Shanjing’s thin face.

  In the cage, Eduardo purred and slurped hungrily.

  ‘Biba,’ said Mariah as he recovered his mind from Shanjing’s blow. ‘You’re safe?’

  ‘He’s dead,’ she muttered as she stared at the mask. ‘I killed him …’

  Mariah looked towards the cage in disbelief. He thought of Max Arras and the way he had died. It was as if the tiger acted out the desires of his heart.

  ‘Zane tried to kill me. The Triton is damned – I fear it will be scuttled tonight, at midnight…’

  ‘He wouldn’t do that – I know him too well,’ she said and then thought of what she was saying. ‘I suppose he could. He would never want to lose face. My father called him arrogant, but mother wouldn’t listen to him.’

  ‘I think it was Madame Zane who tried to kill me,’ Mariah said. ‘I have a memory of seeing her, hearing her voice. Someone drugged me that night I was on the gantry. I can remember seeing her in the shadows, waiting for me to jump.’

  [23]

  Et mon cul, c’est du poulet?

  ‘SO you don’t deny it?’ Ellerby said as he stepped across the lounge of Deck 13 towards Captain Jack Charity. ‘Sachnasun insists you tried to kill him.’

  ‘What?’ Charity asked bemused by the cross-examination. ‘Et mon cul, c’est du poulet?’

  ‘If I could understand your question, then I would answer,’ Ellerby replied as he walked to the window and looked out over the sea.

  ‘What’s more, Captain Charity,’ Zane interrupted, ‘since you have been on this ship things have happened that cannot be explained. I can only presume that you have something to do with it.’

  ‘Sachnasun is lying. He ran off and I never saw him again. Then I was locked in a chamber and someone tried to drown me. I never assaulted him. I couldn’t,’ Charity replied as he moved to stand next to Ellerby.

  In the far distance he could see the Bicameralist. Like a graceful snail, it floated in between the clouds as it came nearer. He saw Ellerby look at his fob watch as if the skyship’s reappearance had been timed. Ellerby turned from him and gave a nod to Lorenzo Zane like a signal to start some pre-ordained strategy.

  ‘The thing is, Charity,’ Zane said, stumbling with his words, ‘it would not be safe to leave you at liberty to walk the ship. We are in a race with the Ketos and I cannot take the chance that you are in fact an agent of Lord Bonham, sent here to stop us from winning.’

  ‘Isn’t it obvious you will lose? The Triton has been unable to keep pace with the Ketos since leaving Liverpool. With every league we fall further behind. This ship is unfit for the sea, Lorenzo, and you know it.’

  Charity looked at Vikash, who had been silently watching from the doorway
of the room. ‘Someone wants this ship to sink. We found a bomb, as you well know, and we saved the ship. If anyone should want the Triton to be sunk it is you, Lorenzo Zane.’

  ‘For what purpose would I want such a thing?’ he asked calmly.

  ‘The Zane Generator doesn’t work and you know it. You will be disgraced and no one will employ you again. It was convenient for you that DeFeaux should come to such a fateful end – did he know too much and you needed him out of the way?’

  Zane bristled angrily. He looked at Ellerby and then to the door. Down the corridor, the steam elevator shuddered slowly. It was as if it were dying.

  ‘Who is there?’ Ellerby asked Vikash.

  Vikash looked. Biba and Mariah stood by the door.

  ‘No one,’ he replied. ‘I think the ship is doing strange things. I noticed the power is fading. Mr Zane, do you think Charity is really guilty of these things?’

  Mariah opened the cupboard door next to the steam elevator and he and Biba slipped silently inside.

  ‘It is quite possible,’ Zane replied.

  ‘Then how is it that I can vouch for him on two occasions?’ Vikash asked.

  ‘An accomplice, Mariah Mundi. He was found in the engine room tampering with the Zane Generator,’ Ellerby replied. ‘It is obvious he works for Charity and does what he is asked. Did Bonham pay you well for this?’

  Charity leant against the glass and laughed. It was as if he realised what was to come. He held out his hands, touching them at the wrists as if to be manacled.

  ‘I think you should do what you have to do and spare me the betrayal. It is obvious, Vikash, that no matter what you say, our friends have the will to arrest me and Mariah Mundi.’ Charity spoke loudly as if he knew Mariah were near. ‘I may be an easy catch, but Mariah will prove more difficult.’

  ‘Then you admit it?’ Ellerby asked.

  ‘Dear Ellerby, you and I both know that this is preposterous. Take me away and have done with it. Does the Triton have a brig?’ Charity asked.

  ‘You will be confined to Tharakan’s cabin. You will find it is secure enough to keep you,’ he said. ‘Mr Vikash, you will be confined to Deck 13 for the remainder of the voyage. The steam elevator will be disabled and food will be sent up to you. There will be a guard to make sure you don’t come looking for Captain Charity. As for Biba DeFeaux and Mariah Mundi – when they are caught they too will be kept from you both.’

  ‘So even children are a threat to the ship?’ Charity asked.

  ‘Only when they are employed as saboteurs,’ Zane replied as he walked from the room.

  Ellerby followed. He tugged Charity by the sleeve as if to take him along. It was a tentative touch, as if he didn’t dare take hold of him. Charity brushed off the hand as if it were a fly. He straightened his tie and took a step in front of Ellerby.

  ‘I shall enjoy the view from Tharakan’s cabin,’ he said loudly. ‘I believe the only way to it is through the bridge?’

  ‘I will see you in New York, Jack,’ Vikash said as he winked at him. ‘Don’t worry about Mariah – I will look after him.’

  ‘If you see Mariah Mundi, I would suggest that you hand him to me. That boy has a lot to answer for,’ Zane muttered in a spitting voice.

  ‘I will, I will,’ said Vikash in reply. ‘It will be the first thought that enters my head.’

  Vikash watched them take Charity to the steam elevator. Zane slid open the doors and stepped inside, anxiously looking around him as if he somehow feared the device would crash to the bilges of the ship. Ellerby pushed Charity inside and slid shut the gate. Charity lifted his hand slightly as a gesture of goodbye. He smiled at Vikash and then looked to Zane, who fumbled to press the button for three decks below.

  ‘I think you will find it helps to keep a steady finger,’ Charity said as he pushed the button for Deck 10. ‘Goodbye, Vikash – see you in New York.’

  The steam elevator rattled to feeble life. It juddered more than usual and sounded as if it were gasping for breath. All its power had dissipated. It dropped slowly from view, leaving Vikash to stare on a dark void. He waited until it had vanished completely and then opened the cupboard door.

  ‘You are lucky that you are both not skinned alive,’ he said as he took Biba by the ear and pulled her from the hiding place. ‘As for you, Mariah Mundi – what have you done to the ship?’

  ‘Zane tried to kill me,’ he said as he held Biba’s hand, hoping they would stay together.

  Biba squeezed his fingers tightly for him to stop speaking. She looked at Vikash with eyes that spoke of a revealed secret.

  ‘I know who you are,’ she said, and she stared at his face as if for the first time.

  ‘Of course you know who I am,’ Vikash replied as if to shrug off the words and stop her from going further. ‘I am Casper Vikash – the servant and bodyguard of your father.’

  Mariah stood back, as if it wasn’t his place to be there any longer.

  ‘You are more than that. Shanjing told me everything,’ Biba said as she took a guarded pace towards him.

  ‘How can I be more than that?’ Vikash asked. He turned away.

  ‘Shanjing said you are my brother,’ she said, whispering the word.

  Vikash stopped. Mariah could see a tear in his eye that glinted as it rolled across his scarred cheek.

  ‘Does that change anything?’ he asked Biba.

  ‘I understand why you have done the things you have. Saving my father – saving me – covering up for mother.’ Biba reached out and caught the tear with the tip of her finger. ‘It all makes sense. You would have rather died than see my father killed by the piranha and you fought a bear to save me.’

  ‘I would have done it anyway,’ he said as he took her hand from his face. ‘I always wanted you to know, but our father swore me to secrecy until the time was right. Why did Shanjing tell you this?’

  ‘He was trying to kill me and blackmail you,’ she said. ‘He was going to offer to do it for you for all the money in the safe. I heard him talk to a man – he called him Markesan.’

  ‘I wish Jack Charity had heard that name. There is more than one person who wants to see the Triton at the bottom of the ocean.’

  ‘And it will happen tonight. I heard Ellerby talking to Zane. The Bicameralist is coming back for them tonight. They are going to leave the ship,’ said Mariah.

  ‘No captain and no inventor – we shall be left to our own fate,’ said Vikash as he went to the window and looked out. ‘It is very dangerous for you, Mariah. I cannot be there to protect you – please understand I have to look after Biba. If there is to be a problem with the Triton I have to make sure she is safe.’

  ‘I understand,’ Mariah replied as he looked at Biba. ‘I would do the same for her. I will take my chance and find Captain Jack.’

  ‘The cabin on the bridge will be well guarded. If you get caught then I do not think you will leave the ship alive,’ replied Vikash.

  ‘The Triton is going nowhere. I smashed the Zane Generator. There was a man stuck inside. Zane sent me in to bring out a device, then he tried to kill me and the turbine was smashed.’ Mariah started to laugh. ‘I have never seen anyone so angry – I escaped through the air vents – they run throughout the ship. I know a way of finding Captain Jack.’

  ‘Then you must wait here until it’s dark,’ Biba said. ‘The lights on the ship are fading – they won’t be able to see you.’

  ‘By that time the ship will be dead in the water. It is slowing all the time,’ said Mariah as Vikash went to the window and looked out to sea.

  ‘And panic will set in and the passengers will wonder what is happening,’ said Vikash ‘How will you get from Deck 13?’

  ‘Easy,’ said Mariah. ‘The same way Shanjing did without any of us seeing him.’

  He walked into the corridor. There, near to the steam elevator, was the dumb waiter, its wooden panel door fitting neatly into the partition. By the side was a mahogany button that looked like a stud in the wall.
r />   Biba pressed the button. It rang far below and echoed through the dark shaft.

  ‘They could be waiting for you,’ she said slowly.

  ‘I will have to find that out for myself, Biba,’ Mariah replied as the dumb waiter stopped and the door opened automatically.

  ‘Tell me one thing, Mariah. This hotel of yours – can I come and stay there?’ Biba asked as he squeezed himself inside the compartment.

  ‘I insist,’ he replied. ‘You will find the Prince Regent far safer than the Triton … and not as crowded.’

  Mariah looked to Vikash. He signalled for him to press the button.

  ‘If the Bicameralist is to return I will try to get Biba on board. The docking gantry was made so that it can be accessed from Deck 13. Good luck, Mariah, and we will see you in New York.’

  ‘Luck? No such thing – Captain Jack told me that. Masters of our own fortune or victims of fate – that’s what he said,’ Mariah replied as the door shut suddenly and he was plunged into darkness as the dumb waiter slowly descended. Luck was a thing he didn’t believe in. Topher had carried an elephant amulet, sent by his mother from darkest Africa. She had said it would protect him from all evil. He would go nowhere without it and slept with it under his pillow. On the day he had drowned in the Thames he had worn it around his neck. It became a millstone on his life and never brought him luck.

  Mariah heard Biba whisper a faint goodbye as the lift rattled down. There was a nagging doubt in his mind. He had hoped in his heart that the apparition of his friend was long gone and that it would haunt him no more. Mariah knew he would have to find Charity and set him free from Tharakan’s cabin. He knew too that the Triton would be sunk that night, scuppered by Lorenzo Zane in the dark Atlantic Ocean.

  The dumb waiter eventually stopped several floors below. Mariah could smell the sweet scent of the ship’s kitchens and hear the sound of the chefs screaming orders to their battalions. There was the clanging of pots and pans as the evening dinner was being prepared. As the doors to the dumb waiter opened steam flooded in from the churning of the metal pot-washer that hissed and spurted near by.