by Sean Cullen
“Mother!” Hamish X called, terrified. “Mother?” He screamed and screamed.
“WHAT THE HECK was that?”
Parveen sat up. “It sounded like Hamish X.”
In the galley, Mrs. Francis and Mr. Kipling dropped their teacups when the first howl ripped through the airship.
“Hamish X!” Mrs. Francis gasped. In an instant, the two adults were hurrying down the corridor to the boy’s cabin. Frightened children, startled from deep sleep, stuck their heads into the corridor. “Stay in your bunks,” Mrs. Francis instructed breathlessly.
When they reached the cabin they found the room in a shambles. Hamish X was up on the big Captain’s bed. All the other furniture was overturned or smashed to kindling. The bedclothes were torn to tatters. He was turned away from them, facing the wall and kicking it furiously. With every strike of boot against the wooden wall, a crackle of sparks splashed across the tortured planking. Flares of light shot off the footwear, casting a weird blue glow over the room and making Hamish X appear almost demonic. In his hands he clutched the green leather book Great Plumbers and Their Exploits. He turned and glared at the two adults when they rushed into the room, stopping them short with the fevered intensity of his gaze.
“I have to find my MOTHER!”
“Yes, Hamish X,” the soothing voice in his head said. “Don’t let anyone stop you. Come to me now.”
He nodded and gritted his teeth. Summoning up a surge of energy, he drove a boot into the wall. The surface cracked under the furious kick. Boards shattered into slivers. The concussion was deafening in the enclosed space of the cabin. Hamish X looked like a creature possessed. His golden eyes were wild and staring. He pointed at the boots.
“These! I don’t want them! TAKE THEM OFF!”
“No, Hamish X,” the Voice said calmly. “You need the boots. They are good.”
“I don’t LIKE THEM. I DON’T LIKE THE MEN!”
He seemed to be trying to smash the boots as much as smash his way through the wall in the process.
“Hamish X!” Mrs. Francis cried. “Stop!”
His golden eyes blazed with terror and rage. Teeth exposed in a snarl, he shouted, “Where is my mother! WHEEERRRRRRRE?” The howl raised hairs on the back of Mrs. Francis’s neck. There was no recognition in the boy’s eyes, only fear. The gentle if mischievous boy who had first come to Windcity was nowhere to be seen.
“Hamish X, please! Calm down. It’s me … Mrs. Francis.” She held out her hands to him. “It’s all right. You’re safe.”
“Don’t listen to her. She means you harm. Come to me. Now!”
“MOTHERRRRRRRRRRRR!” The howl ripped from his lungs again. He looked at her, his eyes like slits. The fear had been replaced by rage. “Did you do this to me?” He pointed at the boots. “DID YOU?”
“Settle down, dear Hamish X,” Mrs. Francis soothed, a tremor of fear in her voice. “We’re your friends …”
He seemed to hesitate, confusion twisting his face. “I HAVE NO FRIENDS!” He hooked his fingers around the leather binding of the book. Squatting down on his haunches, he glared at Mrs. Francis. “I want my mother!”
“Come then, Hamish X. I’m waiting.”
Mr. Kipling interposed himself between Mrs. Francis and Hamish X. His hand strayed to the sword hilt at his hip. “Son. Settle down now. There’s a good lad. We’ll find her.”
“They mean you harm. COME!”
Hamish X barked a savage laugh and snarled again. “You can’t hurt me any more! NO MORE!” He gathered himself and sprang like a cat, hands extended like claws.
Mr. Kipling dove to the side, hauling Mrs. Francis along with him. Hamish X missed him by a hair, but the momentum carried him on to the bulkhead. He swung his boots towards the wooden barrier and it exploded outwards in a rain of sparks and singed splinters. He landed in a crouch and then hurled himself down the corridor towards the cargo ramp, howling at the top of his lungs. Mrs. Francis helped Mr. Kipling to his feet. Hamish X’s boots trailed wisps of blue fire.
Inside Hamish X’s head, the woman’s voice was speaking. Her tone was calm but insistent. “These people mean you harm, Hamish X. You must escape. You must come to me. I am in Providence, Rhode Island. Come to me now.”
Hamish X shouted, “Yes, Mother! I’m coming!” and ran as fast as he could down the corridor.
Outside on the cargo ramp, Mimi and Parveen stood transfixed. “I think it was Hamish X,” Mimi said. “I think he’s coming this way!”
Hamish X burst into the cargo hold and skidded to a stop on the steel plating of the floor. A shower of sparks sprayed where the soles of his boots struck the metal. He clutched the book tight as if it were the only thing of importance in the world. Casting his gaze wildly back and forth, he saw the cargo ramp with Mimi and Parveen standing gaping in surprise.
Mimi’s surprise turned to delight as she saw her friend up and on his feet. “Hamish X!” She smiled and held out her arms. Then she saw there was something wrong. He was sweating profusely. His eyes darted from side to side. He stood at the top of the ramp, his chest heaving and his eyes filled with panic. When she said his name, he stared at her as if she were some sort of monster.
“YOU! WHO ARE YOU? WHERE’S MY MOTHER?” His eyes narrowed. “Are you one of them?”
“She is an enemy, Hamish X,” the voice said.
“Yes!” Hamish X hissed. He lunged at her, swiping the heavy book like a club.
Mimi reacted instinctively, diving to one side while grabbing Parveen’s shirttail and yanking him along with her. They fell off the ramp onto the wet grass. Parveen grunted as the air left his lungs.
Hamish X leapt down the ramp and landed in the grass. His boots sizzled and steamed. “I WANT my MOTHER!” he roared and the boots flared, casting a blue light in a circle several metres across.
The light revealed the meadow around the airship, the looming gasbag above, and a few terrified, vomiting rabbits. All to be expected. What wasn’t to be expected was a group of six figures dressed in dark, tight-fitting bodysuits, black goggles, and balaclavas.21 They stood frozen in the glare, caught in stealthy poses that would certainly have been effective in the darkness but in the bright blue light seemed superfluous, if not completely ridiculous.
“Who are they?” Mimi whispered, huddled beside Parveen in the grass.
“If I’m not mistaken …” Parveen began.
“We come from the King of Switzerland!” the black figure in front called out. He, for indeed he was a boy, reached up and pulled off his balaclava, revealing a pale face and straight blond hair. “We’ve come for Hamish X!”
Chapter 5
The strange figures faced Hamish X in a loose semicircle. They were all dressed in the same black uniform. On the right breast of their bodysuits was a silver cross embroidered into the fabric. Each wore a heavy belt with small pouches on it, a coil of rope, and a bulky black holster holding a bulky black pistol. Their leader, the blond boy, took a step towards Hamish X, his hands held out before him, palms upward.
“I have come from the King, We mean you no harm.”
“The King?” Mimi stood. “He sent you?”
“Yes,” the boy said, “I am Aidan, Lieutenant to His Majesty and Commander of the Royal Swiss Guards. We’ve come to escort you to his presence.”
For a moment, nobody moved. Even Hamish X, rampaging seconds before, stood frozen and dumb, staring at the strange boy and his masked cohorts. The only sound was a rabbit vomiting softly in the still night. Hamish X’s boots dimmed slightly, the blue light casting an eerie glow over the newcomers.
The blond boy took a step closer to Hamish X, his hand extended. “Let’s just settle down here,” he said soothingly. I promise we are here to help.”
Hamish X said nothing, his eyes flicking back and forth between the boy and the black figures ranged behind him. “Who are you?”
“As I said, I’m Aidan. This is my Guard Squadron.” He indicated the silent group behind him. “We’ve come
to take you to the King.”
Hamish X frowned. “The King?”
Suddenly, in his head, the Voice was there, urgent and insistent. “NO! HE IS THE ENEMY. HE WANTS TO HURT YOU!”
The Voice was like a shout in his mind. He jerked his head in reaction to the ferocity of its tone. “What? Why?” He staggered a step forward.
“Hamish X?” Mimi breathed. “What’s the matter?”
“CRUSH HIM! CRUSH THEM ALL!”
Hamish X’s face darkened. He glared at Aidan and snarled like a wild animal. “You want to hurt me!”
“No, I want to …” Aidan didn’t have time to finish. Hamish X sprang at him, catching the boy off guard and driving his boot into his chest. Aidan flew across the meadow, sliding on the slick grass and bouncing like a stone skipping on a pond. When he stopped sliding, he lay on his back, groaning.
“Hamish X!” Mimi shouted. “Stop!”
One of the strangers pulled off her balaclava to reveal dark, shoulder-length hair. She hauled her pistol out of her holster. “Nobody kicks my brother.” She thumbed a switch and the pistol hummed to life. She pointed the pistol at Hamish X. It had a wide barrel like the mouth of a small cannon. “Stun him!” The others drew their pistols even as she fired.
“No!” Parveen cried as he flung himself in the path of the green bolt of energy erupting from the pistol. The bolt struck him squarely in the chest. He fell in a boneless heap on the ground.
Mimi rushed over and dropped to her knees at her stricken friend’s side. “Parveen? Are you all right?” She turned her friend’s face up. His glasses hung from one ear. His eyes were closed and he was breathing.
Hamish X stood looking down at Mimi and Parveen. His chest heaved. His eyes were wide. “He … He tried to save me.”
Mimi looked up at him, tears streaking her face. “Of course he did. He’s your friend.”
“Friend …” Hamish X’s face was a picture of confusion. “He’s my friend?”
The girl and the other Guards held their pistols ready, aimed at Hamish X.
“He tried to save me …”
“No. He isn’t your friend.” The Voice was so sure of itself. “He’s trying to trick you. It’s all a trap.”
“No …”
“Yes. They are out to get you. They have pistols. They want to shoot you. Crush them.”
Hamish X shook his head. He looked at Mimi, cradling Parveen’s head in her lap. “No. They’re my friends …”
“NO! CRUSH THEM ALL!”
Mimi was beginning to think Hamish X was going to be okay. Then his eyes clouded and his mouth drew back into a snarl. Teeth bared, he raised his boot. It flared with blue energy as he prepared to bring it down on her. He didn’t get a chance.
“Fire!” the girl from the Swiss Guards ordered. All the Guards discharged their pistols. The green bolts struck Hamish X in the chest, the legs, and the right arm. He roared in pain and staggered backwards, dropping the book on the ground and falling heavily onto his backside. The air burst out of his lungs with a loud Whuff! He sat blinking like an owl.
“Mother?” he mumbled thickly and tried to rise again, crawling on his hands and knees towards the book lying in the grass. “Mother?”
“Fire!” the girl shouted again. Once more, green bolts splashed into Hamish X. He groaned loudly and made one more effort to push himself upright on shaking arms, but failed, slumping to the wet grass and, finally, lying still.
“Oh dear!” Mrs. Francis and Mr. Kipling rushed down the ramp, having arrived just in time to see Hamish X being stunned for the second time. Mrs. Francis gathered the inert boy into her arms, rocking him gently. Mr. Kipling came to where Mimi held Parveen and scooped up the little boy easily. Mimi went to look down at Hamish X. Aidan, walking carefully beside the other girl, came to join her.
“That could have gone better,” Aidan said. He held out a hand to Mimi. “Now that the excitement’s over, I’ll introduce myself once again. Lieutenant Aidan of the Royal Swiss Guards.”
Mimi ignored him and stepped up to face the dark-haired girl. “Who’re you?”
The dark-haired girl curled her lip. “I’m Cara Doorfer. Aidan’s sister.”
“Well, Cara Doo-Whatever, Aidan’s sister,” Mimi said, “I’m Mimi Catastrophe Jones, Hamish X’s friend, and I don’t take kindly to people shootin’ my friends, git it?”
The two girls stood toe to toe, staring into each other’s eyes. For a long span of seconds, neither blinked. Finally, Cara sniffed and flicked her hair back over her shoulder. “Whatever.” She turned away and went to join the other Guards, who had removed their masks and stood in a loose knot a few metres away.
Aidan shook his head. “This isn’t the way the King would have wanted it. I’m sorry. We didn’t expect this reaction from Hamish X.”
Mimi nodded, sizing the boy up. “Yeah. He ain’t been himself lately. It don’t help, you folks sneakin’ up like that.”
“Sorry. We can’t take any chances. We had to make sure you were really bringing Hamish X, and not just part of a trap set by the ODA.”
“Are ya satisfied that we ain’t?”
“Yes. But we’re wasting time. We have to get out of here.”
“And go where?”
“To the Hollow Mountain, of course.”
Mrs. Francis let out a gasp as Hamish X’s eyes suddenly flew open. He leapt to his feet and stared wildly around.
“I’m not going anywhere! I’ve got to find my Mother! MOTHER!”
Cara and the Guards reached for their pistols, but Hamish X was too quick. He lunged at Aidan and grabbed the front of his black bodysuit, lifting him into the air. “You can’t stop me!”
Mimi battered Hamish X’s arm with both her fists but couldn’t break his grip. “Hamish X! Stop it!”
“Mother. I … You …” Hamish X’s eyes suddenly rolled back into his head. He dropped Aidan, who fell to his knees.
“Mother?” Hamish X whimpered, then fell face first onto the grass. Mimi and Parveen rushed to his side, followed closely by Mr. Kipling and Mrs. Francis, with Aidan and the girl bringing up the rear.
“What happened?” Mimi asked.
Mrs. Francis pointed at Hamish X’s neck. “Look.”
Two small silver filaments had penetrated the skin of the stricken boy’s neck just above the collar of his flannel shirt. As they watched, the filaments withdrew. With a soft rustling sound, the Swiss Army knife crawled out of Hamish X’s shirt, its many blades functioning again as legs. It climbed down onto the grass, and with a click, all its blades withdrew into its body and it lay still.
“The King.” Aidan smiled, rubbing his bruised chest. “He thinks of everything.”
Mr. Candy and Mr. Sweet
Mr. Sweet and Mr. Candy sat at the kitchen table in the little house on Angell Street in Providence, Rhode Island. Mr. Candy’s hat lay on the table while Mr. Sweet fiddled with the wires at the top of Mr. Candy’s head. Mr. Sweet prodded the nest of colourful wires with a long steel pin. Every now and then the rod crackled at the end and smoke curled up in thin tendrils. The reek of burning plastic filled the small kitchen.
Mr. Sweet probed one area of Mr. Candy’s cortex and Mr. Candy’s right hand splayed out involuntarily. The fingers wiggled.
“That’s better,” Mr. Candy said, flexing his long fingers. “I was experiencing some difficulty manipulating my digits after the refit.”
“I’m glad to accommodate you, Mr. Candy.” Mr. Sweet laid down his instrument on a cloth beside a number of other bizarre implements whose purposes one could only guess at. As he did so a chime rang out, soft and sweet, seeming to throb in the air and coming from no particular source.
“The unit has been located.” Mother’s voice filled the kitchen.
Over the centre of the table an image of a spinning globe flickered into existence. The globe stopped spinning and a blue dot blinked in a mountainous region in Central Europe.
“There!” Mr. Sweet’s overlong finger stabbed
out at the glowing map.
“Switzerland?” Mr. Candy said, baffled. “How could they have travelled so far without being seen?”
“It doesn’t matter. We have them now. Mother?”
The calm female voice filled the air. “Listening.”
“Prepare an assault team. We leave within the hour.”
The dot winked out. “It’s gone,” Mr. Sweet said.
“It doesn’t matter. We have a lead now. We go to Switzerland. We know where he is. Now we retrieve Hamish X.”
“We must be quick.”
“Prepare the SST.” 22
Part 2
THE KING OF THE HOLLOW MOUNTAIN
Enjoying yourselves? I’m sure you are. How can I be sure? Obviously, I am an excellent narrator and any narrator worth his salt23 knows his audience, what they like and don’t like, and delivers the story accordingly. For example, if this story were aimed at a group of whales, I would dwell more heavily on aspects of the tale that might interest them, like the flight over the ocean in the early chapters. As it stands, this book is for human children, so I glossed over that part and spent more time talking about Mimi, Parveen, and Hamish X. In fact, if the book were addressed to whales, I would probably not have called it Hamish X and the Hollow Mountain at all. The book would likely have been called A Whale Sees an Airship Flying Over the Ocean and Then Eats Some Plankton,24, 25 which would hold no interest for you, a human audience. That is, I assume you are human. If you aren’t, please put down this book and back away slowly.
So, Hamish X is in his strange comatose state once more. Mimi and Parveen have decided to follow the Royal Swiss Guards to the Hollow Mountain. The ODA are in hot pursuit. Everything is in place for a great second section. Let’s get right to it, shall we?
Chapter 6
The airship Orphan Queen wove its way at low altitude through the dark mountains. On either side shadowy masses of rock soared into the starry sky. The front window of the craft was etched with frost, but the heater kept the cold at bay. Here and there, a scattering of lights in the blackness below indicated the presence of a town or village. Mr. Kipling was careful to avoid the inhabited areas, clinging to the edge of the mountainsides and flying as low as he dared. The treacherous crosswinds in the mountain valleys made the flying a challenge, but Mr. Kipling didn’t complain, even though his ribs were obviously sore. He bore his pain stoically.26