The Curiosity Machine (5 page)

‘Your mum is really getting into the nautical theme,' Ruby whispered in Gerald's ear.

Gerald grabbed an armful of lemonade cans from an ice bucket and handed them to his friends. ‘The only thing missing is the parrot on her shoulder,' he said.

Sam crossed to the rail and leaned out, taking in the scale of the vessel. ‘This thing is incredible,' he called back to Gerald. ‘I think there's a volleyball court next to the swimming pool, over by the outdoor café.'

‘At night it converts into a dance floor, complete with revolving mirror ball. Under a starlit sky, it is quite magnificent to see.' Gerald and Sam looked up to find that a tall man with a salt-and-pepper beard was looking down at them from the deck above. He wore crisp whites and his captain's cap seemed to carry more authority than the one worn by Vi Wilkins. The man's face held a deep tan, and crow's feet at his eyes attested to years of squinting against sun on water. He waved, then ducked back from the rail, and a moment later had descended a set of stairs and was striding towards them. ‘Mr Wilkins,
it is a pleasure to meet you at last.' The man shook Gerald's hand in a firm grip, then greeted Felicity, Sam and Ruby by name. ‘I'm Captain Cooper, but please do call me Darcey. Welcome aboard the
Archer
, Mr Wilkins. The crew is delighted to have you here at last.'

It was not a full year since Gerald had inherited his great aunt's fortune and he was still getting used to owning a whole lot of extraordinary stuff, and people actually working for him.

‘Would you like a tour of the ship?' the captain asked.

Gerald, Ruby, Sam and Felicity nodded with enthusiasm. ‘Yes, please,' Ruby said. ‘This boat is amazing.'

‘Actually, Miss Valentine, we refer to it as a ship. A boat is what brings you from the shore out to us,' Captain Cooper said.

‘Unless you arrive by helicopter,' Sam said, ‘which is, you know, way better.'

‘Quite right, Mr Valentine. The helicopter serves a dual purpose. One, it is far quicker than a boat in getting people on and off the ship. And two, it keeps Mr Fry entertained. I'm sure you have learned the importance of that.'

Gerald snuffled a laugh. ‘It is a bit like having a toddler around the place,' he said. ‘He's a lot happier when he can play with his toys.'

Captain Cooper extended an arm and guided them up the stairs. ‘I can't blame Mr Fry for that,' he said. ‘Playing with this floating toy is the most fun I can
imagine.' And then began an hour-long guided tour that took Gerald, Ruby, Felicity and Sam from the very tip of the yacht to the ocean-sweeping vista on display from the rear decks. In between, they passed every conceivable luxury that could be aboard a floating palace.

‘I've lost count,' Ruby said as they walked through yet another plush saloon, ‘how many cabins have we seen?'

‘It must be twenty,' Felicity said. She ran her fingers along the back of a couch upholstered in rich Italian silk, ‘Or thirty, maybe?'

‘I stopped keeping count after the first cinema,' Ruby said, shaking her head. ‘Or was that the games room? It's all a bit overwhelming.'

‘There are forty luxury suites and staterooms in total,' Captain Cooper said. ‘We can comfortably sleep one hundred people, not counting the twenty-five crew. It can get pretty busy at times. That's why there are two dining rooms and three pool decks. There's nothing worse than having to queue for the sauna or the massage spa.'

Ruby sucked on her teeth and gazed at the artwork on the saloon walls. ‘Yes, I can imagine that would ruin your entire day,' she said. ‘Tell me, is that an original Matisse?'

Cooper glanced at an oil painting of a bowl of frangipani flowers, a slab of yellow, white and lavender. ‘Gauguin, if I'm not mistaken,' he said. ‘From his time in
Martinique, which is of course the location of the Archer island, our ultimate destination.'

Ruby arched an eyebrow. ‘Oh, Gauguin.
Not
Matisse? How embarrassment-making for me.'

Gerald looked at Ruby and wrinkled his forehead. ‘Is everything all right?' he asked. Ruby appeared to be verging on one of her moods.

Ruby fixed Gerald with an even stare. ‘Well, you can understand my mortification. Misidentifying an original French masterpiece on the wall of a super-yacht the size of a small European country. I mean, that's the type of thing someone like me would never do, what with my spending so much time wallowing up to my armpits in cash and diamonds. Quite the
faux pas
, wouldn't you agree?' She tilted her head and waited for Gerald to answer. Gerald was relieved when Felicity leapt in with a question for Captain Cooper.

‘We're going through the Panama Canal, aren't we?' Felicity asked. ‘Is that terribly far from the Galapagos Islands, Captain?'

Gerald's relief swiftly evaporated. He glared at Felicity. ‘Again with this?' he said. What was Felicity's fascination with finding the perpetual motion machine? He turned to Captain Cooper. ‘You'll have to forgive Ruby and Felicity,' he said. ‘They both seem to be fighting off a case of the weirds. Maybe we should just explore on our own for a bit.'

The captain smiled and set his cap on his head.
‘Naturally,' he said. ‘There is a lot to take in the first time around. There are seven storeys for the passengers and each level is decorated with a colour of the rainbow, from red to violet. If you can find the central stairwell, that will help you navigate. You could always use the elevator, but the staircase is particularly grand. Now, we'll be raising anchor very soon and getting underway for the Panama Canal, so I best see to preparations.' He touched a finger to the brim of his cap in salute and left them to it.

Gerald rolled his eyes at Ruby, who responded with a ‘What's it to you?' expression.

Sam tugged at Gerald's shirtsleeve. ‘She's in a mood. Ignore her,' he said. ‘Help me find my cabin. I want to get changed and try out one of those swimming pools. Then I plan on eating a cheeseburger the size of a football and lying in the sun like a beached whale for the rest of the afternoon.'

Gerald and Sam walked towards the central staircase, leaving Ruby and Felicity to glare after them. Gerald had no idea why Ruby had suddenly turned narky, or why Felicity was so fixated on the perpetual motion machine. At least with Sam he knew where he stood: keep him fed and entertained, and life was very simple indeed.

A pod of silver-grey dolphins took turns spearing through the
Archer's
bow wave in bursts of aimless joy, exalting in
the simple pleasure of being. It was much the same story around the lower pool deck: young and old splashed and laughed in the water in an impromptu game of pool volleyball. An overly ambitious serve from Sam that sent the ball soaring over the rail and into the great beyond brought the game to a premature end.

Gerald and Sam climbed from the water and grabbed some towels, then flopped onto sun lounges on either side of Felicity, who was reading a magazine and working on her tan.

‘You pair are certainly full of energy,' she said, licking the tip of a forefinger and flipping pages. ‘Take care not to drip on me. I've just reapplied sunscreen.'

An evil glint sparked in Sam's eyes. He picked up a tumbler of iced water from a table by Felicity's elbow. ‘What would happen if I accidentally dripped this on you?' he asked.

Felicity lowered her copy of
Oi!
magazine and tipped her sunglasses along the bridge of her nose. She looked first at Sam and then at the glass that he held above her bare belly. ‘Sam,' she said, ‘do you have any idea of the pain that will be inflicted on you if—'

‘Oh, so much talking,' Sam said. Then he emptied the entire glass over Felicity's stomach. Her shrieks turned heads the length of the pool deck. She launched herself from the sun lounge. Sam tossed the empty tumbler to Gerald and bolted towards the far end of the pool, with Felicity on his tail like a rabid hound. Gerald was
about to put the tumbler back on the table when a young waitress materialised and plucked it from his fingers.

‘May I get you another?' she asked.

Gerald looked up into a disarming smile and a pair of intense blue eyes, and was instantly flustered. He had always found talking with girls a challenge—talking to pretty women while he was shirtless and wearing a towel around his waist doubly so. ‘Um, no. Actually, yes. No. Please?' Gerald could sense his brain disconnecting from his mouth and abandoning him. ‘Water,' he declared, finally, like someone who had just stumbled out of the Sahara. ‘I mean, yes. Some water. Please.'

The waitress's smile warmed further. She was in her early twenties and had the air of someone intent on not missing a single interesting moment that life might send her way. ‘I'm Irene,' she said. ‘You must be Mr Wilkins.'

Gerald's face flushed a bright red. ‘I guess,' he mumbled. ‘Though I tend to think of Mr Wilkins as being my dad. You can call me Gerald, if you like.'

There was a moment's awkward silence that Gerald rushed to fill. ‘So, um, what do you do, Irene?' In his mind, Gerald slapped himself hard in the face.
What was he thinking?
He sounded like the Queen on a visit to a nursing home.

Irene's smile didn't falter. ‘I work for you,' she said. ‘I waitress and look after the water sports whenever we're at anchor. Sailing, jet skis, tobogganing—that sort of thing.'

Gerald's cheeks turned a deeper shade. ‘I'm sorry,' he said, but he did not know why. ‘I hope you don't have to work too hard.'

‘It's not so bad,' Irene said, shifting her drinks tray onto her other hand and wiping the tabletop with a cloth. ‘I mean, the hours are long and the pay's not brilliant but you get to work, well'—she waved a hand at the expanse of turquoise water beneath a cloudless sky—‘the view from the office is pretty good. Let me get that water for you.'

Gerald stood clumsily, hemmed in between the sun lounge and the table. His towel almost gave way and he grabbed at the waistband. ‘That's all right,' he fumbled. ‘I don't really want one. Look, have you seen a girl? Fourteen years old. Short blonde hair?'

‘Oh, you mean Ruby? I took her a pot of tea a moment ago. She's in the library, reading.'

It was a glorious tropical afternoon as the
Archer
cut its way across the Pacific: not a cloud to be seen, the air fresh and fragrant, and a happy crew on hand to serve up anything a person might desire. So why was Ruby closeted away in the ship's library? Gerald wandered somewhat lost down a corridor, trying to remember if he was on the third deck or the second, when he bumped into a young woman coming out of a cabin.

‘I'm so sorry,' he said. ‘I didn't see you—Irene?' He jolted at the sight of the young waitress he had left behind moments before on the pool deck. ‘How did you get in front of me?'

The woman looked blankly at Gerald for a moment. Then an expression of ‘I've been down this road too many times before' crossed her face. ‘You must be thinking of my sister,' she said.

‘Irene is your sister?' Gerald said. ‘But you look exactly the same as her.'

The woman smiled the same thousand-watt smile. Once again, Gerald was acutely aware he was shirtless and wearing a towel around his middle. ‘We're twins,' she said. ‘My name's Ella. We both work here.' She paused a moment. ‘For you. We both work for you.'

‘Twins? You really look alike. Like, really alike.' Gerald stopped and pursed his lips. ‘I guess you've probably been told that before.'

Ella's smile broadened. ‘Only a few million times. But that's all right; you're the boss so you can look as shocked as you like.'

Gerald had to fight an overwhelming desire to flee. The role of employer unnerved him. ‘Um, could you tell me where the library is?' he asked.

Soon Gerald was climbing the sweeping circular staircase. He passed a hydrotherapy spa (out of which came a sound like a side of beef being pummelled into submission), a saloon large enough to host a party of a hundred people but without a soul to be seen, and he finally found his way into the ship's library. The room was lined floor to ceiling with glass-fronted bookcases and a vast repository of volumes of all sizes. Sitting
cross-legged in a comfy armchair with her head immersed in a large leather-bound book was Ruby.

‘I thought you were going to work on your tan?' Gerald said, perching on the armrest by Ruby's elbow. ‘It's too nice out there to be locked away inside.'

Ruby's eyes flicked up to Gerald, then back to the page. ‘I just felt like having some alone time,' she said.

Gerald waited for her to say something else, but the only thing coming from Ruby was a vibe of deep indifference to Gerald's presence. ‘Do you want to catch a movie tonight,' he asked, trying to kick-start the conversation. ‘There's a couple of thousand to pick from in the cinema.'

Ruby turned a page. ‘Maybe,' she said.