Mariah Mundi and the Ship of Fools (8 page)

Biba giggled and walked off. Mariah looked at the other tigers locked in their cages. They were all bigger than Rollo. A solitary old cat, pure white and tinged with grey, gazed at him. It seemed to plead with its eyes and looked forlorn and broken. The beast lay in its cramped cage in obvious and desperate misery. As Mariah walked by it twitched a lazy eyelid and showed its yellowed teeth.

‘That’s Eduardo – he’s a killer,’ Biba said proudly, admiring the once magnificent beast. ‘My father found him in a circus in Milan. He had eaten his wrangler – but the man had been cruel to the tiger and tigers never forget. They had wanted to kill him.’

‘So you have a man-eater in your circus?’ Mariah asked.

‘People love him. We never let him out – far too dangerous,’ Biba replied as she walked on.

Mariah looked deep into the tiger’s fireless eyes. He knew that they had never stared upon any forest of the night. He reached into his pocket and brought out the hankersniff. Mariah picked out the slices of beef in his fingers and put them in the cage.

‘
Did He who made the lamb make thee
, Eduardo?’ Mariah asked in a whisper as the tiger ate the meat and purred like a farm cat with a mouse.

‘It’s no use talking to him, Mariah. Eduardo is completely deaf,’ Biba said as she took him by the arm and pulled him away. ‘All he understands is a stick across the head.’

Mariah looked back to the tiger. Their eyes met again.

‘And you have an ostrich?’ Mariah asked.

‘And three snakes and until last year a kangaroo – but he jumped overboard and was eaten by sharks,’ she scoffed.

Mariah was amazed as the thought of an escaping kangaroo fleeted through his mind. ‘Really? By sharks?’

‘No, I was joking. He died of old age. He was a fighting kangaroo and one day didn’t want to fight any more, so we bought another –’ She stopped and looked seriously at Mariah. ‘Shall we come to the circus tonight? It’s an amazing show. I love it when the sea is rough and the acrobats fall from the trapeze. The circus is built into the stern of the ship. The wall is the hull; in some places, if you look closely you can see the rivets. You can hear the waves clattering against the sides. We’ll have to see it. There are clowns and all sorts of things. Casper will look after us.’

Mariah was dragged on by the ever more impatient Biba DeFeaux. They nodded at Mr Blake as they left the circus. He twitched his long white moustache and eyed them nervously at the same time, muttering under his breath.

Instead of taking the steam elevator, Biba and Mariah walked up the stairs at the end of the corridor. A golden carved handrail spiralled up to the next deck. Biba talked as she went ahead. It was mostly about herself and Mariah quickly realised that she was manifestly lonely.

‘I wish I had been visited in the night by a ghost,’ she said as they got to the door to Deck 6.

‘It was not as agreeable as you may think,’ he said as he was suddenly confronted with hordes of smartly dressed passengers waiting in the lobby of the Oceanic Theatre. Mariah stared at the babble of elegantly attired women with their cosmopolitan companions. One thing he found strange was that there were no children.

‘I guess there must be a luncheon matinee,’ Biba said, unaware of the man in a drab suit who had followed them up the stairs and through the door and now waited in the shadows of the overhead stairway.

‘I
T is strange that the Bureau of Antiquities should pay such attention to a few bars of gold, Captain Charity,’ the Marquis said as they stood in the empty foyer of the grand entrance hall and looked at the glass-encased tomb of gold.

‘We are here by your kind invitation, Lyon, and a million pounds is not just a few bars,’ Charity replied. He looked up to the roof of the crystal atrium seven decks above them. The dim Atlantic sun streamed down and glistened on every landing. The atrium was the heart of the ship and took light to the darkest depths of the vessel. From where he stood, Charity thought it was like an ancient basilica, a holy place of glass and steel. Each floor was linked by a balcony and a sweeping staircase, which was joined on every deck by the long corridors that ran the length of the ship. At every door stood one of the Marquis’s officers, stopping anyone from entering. ‘This is a marvel of engineering, it is a cathedral of the age.’

The Marquis put his hand on Charity’s shoulder as if to steady himself as he also looked up. ‘I wanted it to be an experience and not just a journey. The air is cleaned and warmed, the water purified, and there is every technique to refresh the
body. That was my desire – a pleasure-dome of the ocean, greater than that of Kublai Khan. Imagine it, to cross the Atlantic in three days, to join continents – what price will people pay for such a luxurious venture?’

‘In that you have succeeded,’ Charity replied as he checked the case that covered the gold.

The Marquis looked about him to see if they could be overheard and changed the conversation. ‘Do you think the information about a robbery is true?’ he asked quietly.

‘If there are thieves, where would they take it? We are at sea. Who would be able to do such a thing and not be noticed?’ Charity asked.

‘I fear the plot may be greater than you think,’ the Marquis said cautiously. ‘I didn’t say last night for fear of being overheard, but I have had grave … correspondence.’ The Marquis stuttered his words and took out his handkerchief and wiped his brow. ‘I am being held to ransom. A letter was in my room. Pinned to the wall. I am to deliver a million pounds in bullion or the
Triton
will be sunk.’

‘And you have this letter?’ Charity asked.

‘It is here in my pocket. It is clear in its demands. I have to place the gold in a lifeboat at midnight tomorrow, fifteen hundred miles off the coast of Nova Scotia. The
Triton
is to sail on. If I do so, then my ship will be safe. If not, a bomb on board will take us all to the bottom of the ocean.’

‘Do you have any idea who could have sent it to you?’ Charity replied as he stepped closer to the Marquis.

DeFeaux rummaged in his pocket and handed Charity the neatly folded letter. ‘There is nothing of consequence about the letter, but I know it is not a hoax. It also says that to prove their intent they will have your assistant, Mariah Mundi, killed.’

Charity took the letter. It was handwritten on a piece of
vellum paper. He held it to the light. It carried the familiar watermark of Claridges Hotel in London.

Charity read the words written in fine black ink:

‘I think they leave us without any doubt, Charity,’ DeFeaux said, his concern etched in the lines on his brow.

‘I would have said it was a hoax, had there not been three attempts on Mariah’s life,’ Charity replied.

‘Three?’ asked the Marquis.

‘Someone shot Lorenzo’s son by mistake, an assassin tried to kill us both, and when I went to Suite 395 I found this.’ He held up a vial with grains of purple crystals stuck to the side. ‘I found the dust on the inside door handle and on the telephone. It is
Lyzerjid ergotium
, a powerful hallucinogen.’

‘Poisoned?’ asked the Marquis.

‘Mariah was taken to the side of the ship. I have a witness who says that a woman was with him just before he was on the gangplank. He was meant to jump – but he was too strong willed to give in without a fight.’

‘Then you believe that this ransom note is true and a saboteur will try to sink the
Triton
?’ the Marquis asked.

‘You have a thousand passengers and not enough lifeboats. I counted them yesterday,’ Charity said.

The Marquis looked to the carpet. ‘Lorenzo Zane said they would blight the look of the ship – and that the
Triton
would never sink. We have enough for six, perhaps seven hundred people.’

‘And the rest will be left to the sea?’ Charity asked.

‘We will have to do what the ransomer wants. I cannot see the ship destroyed,’ he replied.

‘Or people die?’ asked Charity.

‘There will always be people, Captain Charity – but the
Tri
ton
is unique.’ He muttered slowly as he thought of the consequences.

‘Then we shall have to stop this before anyone is lost,’ Charity replied as Captain Tharakan stormed down the cascading staircase from the deck above.

‘It cannot be true,’ he said loudly as Ellerby followed at a polite distance behind. ‘The ship cannot be held to ransom like this.’

‘I took the liberty of informing the Captain by letter and inviting him here,’ the Marquis said to Charity as Tharakan stood by them.

‘We must search the ship and the passengers,’ Tharakan gabbled loudly. ‘You must have some idea who is responsible.’

‘We must tell no one. There would be panic,’ Charity replied. ‘If we are to search the ship then it must be done secretly. As for the passengers, they are to be watched.’

‘But what about the gold?’ Tharakan asked as he looked at the bullion behind the glass dome.

‘It is to be put on a lifeboat and cast adrift just as they want. It cannot be left to chance,’ Charity said.

Tharakan gasped with disbelief. ‘You cannot just give away all this gold. It cannot happen. They are pirates,’ he protested.

‘And what if the bomb explodes? You only have enough lifeboats for seven hundred people. Will you allow the rest to die and the crew as well?’ Charity asked Tharakan, staring him in the eye.

‘But they will be able to hold every ship in the world to ransom. It will not be safe to put to sea. Do you not understand that money and gold is transported from country to country by
ship? It is the way in which the world works. Giving in to these people will mean they could do this again and again.’

‘The
Triton
is unique. I cannot see my ship go to the bottom of the ocean,’ the Marquis intervened.

‘I will not allow this. I am the captain!’ Tharakan screamed as if he chastised two children. ‘The gold will stay on the ship and we will find the saboteur.’

‘As soon as the saboteur knows you are on to them, what is to stop them from exploding the bomb and blowing up the ship? Whatever is to be done has to be in secret. It is the only way,’ Charity said, trying to reason with Tharakan. ‘Nothing must seem to be different. We have until midnight tonight. Then we have to take the gold from the ship.’

Tharakan thought for a moment. ‘Marquis,’ he said urgently, ‘you must reconsider. If we give in to these people it could have consequences for the whole world.’

‘And if I don’t it will have consequences for my ship, Captain Tharakan.’ The Marquis spoke as if these were the last words he would ever say.

‘I cannot agree. I will instruct my men to search the ship. The bomb has to be somewhere,’ Tharakan said.

‘If you mention that there is a bomb then the news will be out,’ Charity said. ‘I suggest you tell them it is contraband. Something hidden of great value. I’m sure that the Marquis will reward whoever finds it. Make sure, Captain, that when it is found, no one touches the device.’

‘But what will such a thing look like?’ the Marquis asked.

‘It will most likely be a travelling case placed somewhere below the water line,’ Charity said. ‘There cannot be many places that are suitable and yet secret enough for the bomb not to be found. I too will search and will report to the bridge before dinner tonight.’

‘You go alone?’ asked the Marquis.

‘I think it would be best if you all carried on as normal. If I cannot find the device by tonight then Captain Tharakan can have his men search the ship,’ Charity replied as Ellerby listened eagerly.

‘We cannot have a civilian wandering all over the ship, Captain,’ Ellerby said to Tharakan. ‘I will send one of my men with him.’

‘It would only be right, Charity. The crew would wonder why a guest was below deck. This way it could be said that you are being given a guided tour.’

Charity thought for a moment as he considered what Ellerby had said.

‘My assistant, Mr Sachnasun, will be able to help you, Captain Charity. He knows every part of the ship,’ Ellerby said.

‘Very well,’ Charity replied. ‘Have him meet me in one hour by the saloon. In the meantime, Tharakan, I suggest you get your men to start loading the gold into a lifeboat.’

He could see Tharakan bristle with rage as the gold braid shuddered on his black tunic.

‘I don’t like giving gold to criminals and murderers, Captain Charity,’ Tharakan said as he picked at the thread on the sleeve of his jacket.

‘You have no choice, Captain,’ Ellerby said, quite out of place. ‘But if Sachnasun helps him search the ship then we may not have to give the gold away.’

Tharakan did not seem to be appeased by what his assistant had said. He looked at the man with a sneer. It was as if Tharakan had to obey Ellerby without question. Charity noticed the look of insistence on Ellerby’s face, and he thought it not right.

‘So all will be done as you like, my dear Lyon,’ Charity said to the Marquis as he turned to walk away. ‘But I insist that no one should know of what we do – too many lives depend on it.’

‘You trust a civilian?’ Tharakan raged when Charity had gone.

‘He is more than that,’ the Marquis replied.

‘The Bureau of Antiquities? The answer to every problem in life?’ Tharakan scorned.

‘Trouble,’ muttered Ellerby under his breath.

‘It’s not for you to say, Mr Ellerby. I invited Captain Charity and The Bureau of Antiquities to protect the gold. After all – it is my ship and you both work for me.’

Charity listened from behind the closed door and smiled. ‘Divide and conquer,’ he whispered to himself as he walked the long passageway.

An hour later he was waiting by the door to the saloon. Mr Sachnasun was late. Charity looked at the dial of his fob watch. Inside the saloon he could hear the dancers rehearsing for the night-time performance, clumping on the stage in their iron tipped shoes as they stomped out another song. Passengers came and went, using the saloon as a short cut from the walking deck to the panoramic dining room.

‘Captain Charity?’ a man asked as he tapped him on the shoulder.

Charity turned. There was a man in full naval uniform. He was tall, wide and had a face that looked as though it had been chiselled from ice.

‘Mr Sachnasun?’ Charity asked, taken aback by the aspect of the man.

‘Indeed. Mr Ellerby has told me what I am to do.’

There was something about the man’s accent that seemed strange and yet familiar. His deep blue eyes peered from a hooded brow like those of an eagle. Flecks of pure white hair stuck out from under a black cap that was pulled tightly to one side.

‘Then you will lead and I will follow,’ Charity said as he gestured for the man to walk on.

‘It is an unusual task, no?’ Sachnasun asked. As they got into the steam elevator he pulled out his crew ticket and slipped it into the slot below the floor levels. He saw Charity look at what he had done. ‘It is for the crew only. So that the passengers cannot get below the decks.’

‘Does everyone have such a device?’ Charity asked.

‘Only if they are an officer. The only people you will see above deck are stewards and officers. The rest of the crew live and sleep below, in the gloom.’ Sachnasun laughed as he spoke.

‘Like prisoners?’ Charity asked.

‘Only of their poverty and lack of learning, Captain Charity. They all seem to be happy with their situation in life. Beware – it is a hot place. The Zane Generator burns with such heat that if we stay too long in one place it will boil the sea around the ship.’

‘If I am not mistaken you are from Greenland?’ Charity asked.

‘You are the first man to notice. I often get mistaken for a Dane or an American.’ He laughed again.

‘More than that, I would say that you came first from Iceland – in fact from the town of Arborg?’ Charity asked as Sachnasun nodded in agreement. ‘Then I would say that at the age of fourteen you went to live in Greenland – Jacobshavn?’

‘Indeed you are a clever man, Captain Charity. It is if I am an open book and you are reading my pages. You will be telling me what I had for breakfast, indeed.’ Sachnasun patted Charity on the back with his gigantic hands.

‘It is easy when you know the differences in people’s voices. I own a large hotel and we get people from all over the world. Perhaps you have heard of it – the Prince Regent?’

Sachnasun laughed as the elevator slipped quickly below the decks and into a world of darkness. ‘I have never heard of such a place. I worked on building this ship and now I travel upon it.
Mister Zane trained me in navigation and many other things. Otherwise I would still be at Jacobshavn.’

‘I am sure that someone of your wit would have not been contained by the ice for too long,’ Charity replied as the steam elevator stopped at the bottom of the shaft.

‘Indeed, perhaps that would be true. But I have a lot to thank Lorenzo Zane for. He commands my loyalty.’ Sachnasun reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a long carbide lamp. ‘This is for you,’ he said as he handed it to Charity and twisted the ring on his middle finger.

The ring burst into a thick beam of light that shone from a narrow crystal tip. It brightly illuminated the dim, dungeon-like corridor that led from the elevator away into the darkness.