Mariah Mundi and the Ship of Fools (19 page)

‘Stop!’ he shouted as he set off after Vikash, his words swallowed by the din of the brass band. No one heard him. Biba gave chase.

‘What is it Mariah? What have you seen?’ she said as she ran after him, her long fur coat trailing on the deck.

‘The rope, stop turning the rope!’ he screamed again as he pushed against the crowds.

There was a sudden and sharp crack. It was as if a beam of oak had smashed in two. The people near to the winch began to scream as it spun faster. It was out of control. The weight of the balloon pulled against the rope, drawing out more and more.

‘Grab the rope,’ Vikash shouted as a crewman was knocked over the side of the deck by the flailing capstan.

Two passengers rushed forward just as the final yard of rope was pulled from the winch. They took hold and were lifted in the air.

Biba began to scream. ‘No! No, Father, no!’

He could not hear her words so far away.

As the balloon broke free of the ship it went higher into the sky until the rope dragged along the deck like the pendulum of a large clock. The two men hanging on were now joined by other passengers who frantically tried to hold the balloon. Biba could see her father waving his hands as if to signal the distress.

Casper Vikash took hold of her and tried to turn her away.

‘They will be safe,’ he said over and over as she fought with him to see what was happening to the balloon.

Mariah ran the length of the deck towards the men holding tightly to the rope. As it reached the front of the ship, one man twisted the rope around the railings. It held fast. The balloon steadied and then, as if it were a hot knife, the rope cut through the railing and slipped from the ship.

Mariah could hear Biba screaming for her father. The mooring rope dangled over the sea, just out of reach of the passengers who frantically tried to seize it. A man in a camel coat leapt from the deck. He took hold of the rope, held fast and then began to climb.

The balloon went higher and higher, carried by the wind. The man began to scream, his words faint as he went further away. Then suddenly he let go of his grip. He fell to the sea and disappeared beneath the water. The crowds screamed. Women covered their faces.

Mariah looked on. He turned to see Biba. Vikash was holding her back. She held out her hand towards the Montgolfier. It was as if she reached out to touch her father one last time. She sobbed as the balloon drifted towards the west. It spun around and around as it was pushed westwards, trapped in an invisible vortex.

Everyone on the deck of the
Triton
stood and watched silently until the balloon was out of sight. The
Bicameralist
had gone at great speed beyond the horizon. A pillar of cloud could be seen far to the west as the
Ketos
billowed steam from its engines.

Biba gripped the wooden deck rail and screamed for her father. When she could see the Montgolfier no more she went silent, gulped her breath and then fell to the deck.

I
N the panic that followed, no one noticed Mariah Mundi as he edged his way through the crowds towards the winching capstan. Vikash carried Biba DeFeaux to Deck 13. She was limp and silent, her eyes were open but she was unable to move. He had told Mariah that the shock of losing her parents had caused her to faint. Mariah had waited purposefully and allowed the frightened passengers to get in his way. The crowds had thronged the walkways, hoping for a glimpse of the lost balloon that had taken the Marquis, his wife and Captain Tharakan over the horizon. Mariah stood by the brass capstan, and when he looked inside he could see the severed strands of rope. The cogs that held the device were broken and three brass bolts lay on the deck. He bent down and, without letting anyone see, picked them up and slipped them into his pocket. He glanced at the last bolt in his hand and noticed that it had been cut through.

‘What do you have there?’ asked Lorenzo Zane as he stepped from the crowd unexpectedly.

Mariah panicked. ‘Nothing …’

‘I saw you pick something from the deck – what is it?’ Zane
insisted angrily as he took hold of Mariah’s clenched hand and squeezed until Mariah winced with pain.

‘A bolt – I found it on the floor – nothing else,’ Mariah said as he tried to pull away from the man.

‘Then let me see. If the capstan has failed I need to know.’ Zane opened Mariah’s hand and snatched the bolt. He studied it carefully as he sniffed and then took a magnifying glass from his pocket. He examined the bolt closely. ‘Nothing of consequence. It has fractured under the stress. I advised DeFeaux he would be foolish to use the Mongolfier, but he wouldn’t listen.’

‘What will happen to them?’ Mariah asked.

‘With the wind in the right direction I would presume they will get to America. There is enough fuel in the Montgolfier to keep them afloat for two days. I made it myself,’ Zane said as he tried to change his face to a smile. ‘I will signal to the
Bicamer
alist
to search for them and if they go down into the sea, then hopefully they shall be rescued.’

‘And what about the ship now that Captain Tharakan has gone?’ asked Mariah.

‘I shall make Ellerby captain. It is only right,’ Zane said, then paused as he looked into Mariah’s eyes. ‘And you, Mariah. What a journey you have had. It appears to have been steeped in trouble.’

‘I have to see Captain Charity – I believe he was injured by the bomb,’ Mariah replied as he stepped away from the man.

‘Ah, the bomb … Someone tried to blow up my ship. How inconvenient,’ Zane replied just as Ellerby came to him. ‘Mr Ellerby, I was just getting to know all about Mariah Mundi. And I was just saying that with Captain Tharakan indisposed, you would have to take his place.’

‘It is already done,’ Ellerby gloated his reply. ‘Do you have any orders for the crew?’

‘I think we need to double the guard around the engine
room. With a saboteur on board we cannot be too careful,’ Zane said.

‘Is there something wrong with the ship?’ Mariah asked.

‘Why should you ask such a question?’ said Ellerby as he pushed Mariah back.

‘From the skyship I noticed that the rudder was hard to starboard to keep the ship straight and that only one engine was pushing out steam,’ Mariah replied.

‘And all this from such a young lad,’ said Zane. ‘We were testing the engine and had to turn off the power. It is restored again. You must be the same age as my own son. He is no more than sixteen and would never have noticed such a thing.’

‘I sailed at school. On the Thames. We had a small steam cruiser,’ Mariah replied.

‘Then you must be from the Chiswick Colonial School if I am not mistaken?’ asked Zane.

‘I am,’ replied Mariah. ‘Do you know of it?’

Zane didn’t answer, but turned to Ellerby. ‘I think we should give Mariah a tour of the engine room. He is obviously quite bright and we may be interested in what he knows.’

There was something about the way in which Lorenzo Zane spoke that made Mariah feel uncomfortable. He stared at Mariah for too long, as if he was examining him for some fault. His eyes were sharp, like a hawk’s. Mariah had never seen a man with such vivid green eyes. They were the colour of spring grass after thunder.

‘That can be arranged, Sir Lorenzo,’ replied Ellerby. ‘If that is what you wish.’

Zane nodded that it was what he wanted. He turned to Mariah.

‘You would like that, wouldn’t you?’ he asked.

Mariah felt he had to agree. The two men stood before him. They would not let him go until he complied with their wishes.

‘I need to see Captain Charity – he has been injured,’ Mariah said. ‘I will be free in the afternoon.’

‘Of course you will be free,’ Zane laughed. ‘This is a ship, you have nowhere to go – not unless you want to jump in another lifeboat … Mr Ellerby will collect you from Deck 13.’

With that both men walked away in deep conversation. Mariah watched as they pushed their way through the crowds towards the bridge of the ship. He decided not to go straight to Deck 13 but instead found a windless place overlooking the rear deck and looked out to sea. He watched the waves created by the whirring of the steam engines. They were just as he had seen from the skyship, just the same. Zane had lied to him. The engine was still not working.

Mariah walked once around the entire deck. He heard the passengers talking as they promenaded, linked together in gossiping of the loss of Captain Tharakan. It was his greatest love to watch people as they went about their lives, but now he could sense an edge of fear. They spoke of bombs and rescues and the loss of the Montgolfier. He heard a man in a striped suit telling another that in his opinion the ship was cursed and they would never reach America. He said it was the vengeance of Poseidon, the god of the sea, for the
Triton
being able to sail so quickly across the ocean. Mariah stole upon another conversation in which a woman with a pug face insisted that she would sleep in her life jacket or else she would be drowned in her slumber.

Whatever it was, Mariah could now sense a growing anxiety amongst his fellow travellers. Together, they were trapped on board with not enough lifeboats to save everyone.

By the door of the Saloon Theatre was a poster. Mariah read the words: THE SS TRITON – THE UNSINKABLE – NEVER FEARS THE STORM. It showed the ship crashing through a great storm and those inside drinking and eating as if they were on a millpond. He smiled to himself as he opened the
door and went inside. The Saloon Theatre was empty. He walked to the steam elevator, went inside, took his card and slotted it into the aperture.

The lift rattled upwards. It was slower than usual, as if the power was not as great. And then Mariah noticed that the lights inside the ship had dimmed. They were not glaring as bright as they had been the day before. He realised something was wrong with the power of the ship. It was as if it were a leviathan of the sea that was slowly dying.

The elevator stopped at Deck 13 and the doors opened automatically. There was a fresh smell to the air. The flowers that were brought each day from the cold storage room far below had just arrived. He stepped outside and there, on the round table in the vast entrance room, was a vase of pure white lilies. Their red stamens stuck out like tongues of fire. Everything here seemed to be crisp and clean.

Mariah called out for Vikash, but no one came. He walked through the rooms and along the passageway that ran the length of the top of the ship until he reached the door of his own room. Before going inside he had the desire to see Biba once more. Mariah turned and took several paces back to her door. He knocked gently and turned the handle. Biba was on the bed, wrapped in her fur coat. She looked like a Viking girl ready for burial. She was sleeping.

Closing the door, he made his way back down the corridor until he got to his room. The door opened for him. Charity stood there, his hair pushed back, his eye badly bruised from the blast.

‘I wondered where you had got to,’ said Charity. ‘I hear we have had another accident.’

Mariah reached into his pocket and pulled out the two bolts and handed them to Charity. ‘It looks as if they have been cut through. The capstan had been sabotaged.’

Charity looked at the bolts. Mariah wondered why he hadn’t mentioned him leaving the ship. He wanted to ask him but felt it best that he should keep silent.

‘Tell me Mariah,’ Charity said, and Mariah knew what words would come next. ‘What happened on the other ship?’

Mariah sat in the armchair with a sigh. It was as if he was back at school and had to explain away some misdemeanour. He looked up at Charity and began to tell him everything. The words came easily as he spoke of Cartaphilus and how they had escaped from the ship. Mariah talked for half an hour and Charity listened intently, never interrupting, and making a note in his mind of everything Mariah had said.

‘What’s more,’ Mariah said, ‘when I travelled back on the skyship I could see that only one engine of the
Triton
was working and I noticed just now that the lights in the elevator were on half power.’

‘I fear we will not reach America,’ Charity said. ‘This ship is doomed.’

‘I heard a man say that on the deck. He insisted that it is cursed,’ Mariah replied as his mind raced.

‘Is is not a curse that will take it to destruction but someone who does not wish the
Triton
to win the Great Race,’ Charity replied. ‘Though the gold is no longer with us there is still a prize to the person who wins and many gamblers have already placed bets. This event will make some people very rich. It is in their interest for the
Triton
to lose. The only way they can be sure of this is if the ship is at the bottom of the Atlantic.’

‘I think Zane is lying,’ Mariah said.

‘That is obvious,’ Charity replied. ‘I don’t think that the
Tri
ton
would have been capable of winning the race even if both engines had been working. The Marquis expressed this to me last night.’

‘And now he is lost in the sky,’ Mariah replied.

‘Conveniently,’ Charity added. ‘With the Marquis and Captain Tharakan out of the way it leaves Lorenzo Zane in charge of the ship.’

‘He appointed Ellerby as captain. He told me on deck,’ Mariah replied.

As they talked on, neither heard the rumbling of the dumb waiter in the corridor outside. It rattled from the butler’s larder on the deck below and then stopped quietly. The small doors opened and Shanjing stepped out.

He was confident and silent with his step. He listened to Charity talking to Mariah. He smiled to himself and twisted his long rat-tail moustache in his fingers. Within a few paces he was at Biba’s door. He slowly turned the handle and stepped inside just as Vikash came from his study.

Vikash knocked on the door of the room and then went in. Biba was asleep on the bed. He shook her gently.

‘Biba, you must wake soon – it will not be good for you to sleep so long,’ he said softly. She opened her eyes and looked at him. Vikash could see that she didn’t want to speak. ‘I think you should eat something. I will have the butler bring some soup.’

Biba nodded and pleaded with her eyes for any news of her parents.

‘Still no word,’ he said as he turned to leave. ‘I will be back in the hour with some food – rest until then.’

He closed the door behind him and Biba was once again in darkness. She felt alone, more so than she had ever felt before. Now her father was not there, she had no one. All attachment to her mother had left her that day on the ice at Jacobshavn. She had closed her heart and mind to her. Biba knew that her mother felt more for Lorenzo Zane than she did for her father. That was obvious. Her mother changed when in Zane’s company. She would laugh and smile, a demeanour which was absent when alone with the Marquis.

Biba pulled the fur coat around her and tried to wake up. She was caught in a world between sleeping and waking. It allowed her to dream with her eyes wide open. She looked about the cabin. It was drained of colour by the lack of light. It reminded Biba of her heart.

It was as if her bed and the warmth of the fur coat wouldn’t let her sit up. She lay for a while listening to the sounds of the ship and the sea beyond. Biba wondered about her parents – if they were still alive. She knew she could not give up hope for her father.

The door of her small dressing room opened slightly. Biba heard the handle click. At first she thought it was the movement of the ship and she rested gently, half asleep, half awake. The door opened further. A light footstep touched the wooden floor. Then another. It was more of a dance than someone walking to her. Biba lay still, hoping the sounds were in a dream and that she was alone, but some ancient instinct within her told Biba that someone was near. All was silent. The room was dark.

In the half-light, Biba opened her eyes. She searched the room for some trace of who was there. She could see nothing. The door to the dressing room swung gently with a tremor of motion. Biba relaxed back into the covers of the bed and pulled her fur coat tighter about herself.

‘You did well to escape from the ship,’ a voice said, as if from inside her own head. ‘Don’t scream – we are old friends.’ Biba couldn’t move. Fingers of fear gripped her to the bed. She looked about her to see who it was who spoke. ‘I would like you to come with me – I have much to tell you.’

She felt a word come to mind.

‘Shanjing?’ she asked in a whisper.

‘That is one of my many names,’ he replied as he stepped from the shadows so he could be seen in the gloom.

‘Why are you here?’ she said as she gripped tightly to the coat.

‘I need your help,’ Shanjing said. He pulled a knife from the belt around his narrow waist. ‘Just a token from you as proof. A lock of hair, a fingernail – something more perhaps? I need you to come with me. I have a secret place on the ship.’

The door opened suddenly. Mariah stood in the corridor. He looked at Biba.

‘I heard you talking to someone. Vikash came and told us you were sleeping. I was just passing,’ he said as he looked about the room.