The Hidden Man: A Phineas Starblower Adventure (Phineas Starblower Adventures) (39 page)

The take off from Stavanger had gone without a hitch. The the Discretion had soared free of the mooring lines and sped towards Denmark across mercifully clear skies. Phillips had called for best speed across the Skagerrack straits and now, three hours later, the flat patchwork of the Danish countryside unfurled a thousand feet below. In the command gondola the crew was uncharacteristically silent as they had been all morning, the glorious view below unremarked upon. Phillips realized that t
his sobriety was an unforeseen result of his insistence of bringing the officers into the mission itself. There was a feeling of frustration that he could sense in all of them. He felt it himself quite keenly, the signs of it were easy to pick out in the crew.

Up until now the mission, such as it was, had been something of a jolly romp and heroic dash across the sea to apprehend some blighters and miscreants. But with the trail suddenly going so cold and with only one faint line of inquiry left for them the crew had sobered up.

It had been Tash’s reaction perhaps an hour ago as they left the Norwegian coast that had sealed it for them all. For one brief moment the poor lass had seemed on the brink of tears as she looked out of the gondola window and, not quite casually enough, asked how long the flight to Aalborg would take from here. The slight catch in her voice and the faintest quiver in her lips had betrayed her strain and it had left an impression upon them all.

Interestingly it had been the Frenchman who reacted before all of them. Jules D’Arcey had risen to his feet and daringly taken Tash’s hand in his own and gently said. “We are making all speed Mademoiselle we will catch up to ‘zem. I...I know it...” Tash looked at him in shocked surprise and shook off his solicitous hand before leaving the bridge just a shade too rapidly for decorum.

As D’Arcey slowly resumed his station Phillips caught the haggard expression upon the man’s face. Surprised, he leaned forward to reassure the confused man. “That was well done Mr.. D’Arcey. I doubt many of us would have gotten away with it mind you. But well done Sir! You are the model of French gentility.”

D’Arcey looked at him and his haunted expression faded just a little as the Frenchman mustered his thoughts. “Oui Capitain I try, this business it is hard, Nes pas?” D’Arcey sighed heavily. “Open war between great states is one thing I understand. But this trickery, this subterfuge, I do not like it...it ez not what I entered the army for monsieur. You see?”

Phillips thought he did. “Yes far better to face your foe with sword and pistol on the open battle field than to terrorize civilians and their families, no matter their status. I share your sentiment Sir, and it is why we shall triumph. Remember the old adage Mr. D’Arcey...”

“Sir?” The man replied confused.

“Cheats never prosper, Sir. Cheats never prosper!” Jerard replied with what he intended as a friendly smile.

Instead of the expected return smile, D’Arcey’s face fell even further, if that were possible. The troubled Frenchman turned back to studying the Discretion's gauges. “Oui Captain you are likely correct.” He muttered as he tapped a stuck gauge on the status board.

Abandoning his attempt to cheer up the crew, Jerard got up and exited the bridge. Time to see how the newly minted Mr.. Starblower was getting accustomed to his role, he thought. Now
that
brought a small smile to his lips.

He found the Colonel standing in the passenger lounge being fussed over by Tash and Gopal. Evidently the task of turning a desk jockey of many years into the internationally renowned eccentric merchant-adventurer was proving a challenge for more than just Carstares.

“How's he doing?” Jerard whispered sotto vocce to Gopal. Across the room from them Tash was explaining something from a large ledger to the beleaguered man.

“Mr.. Carstares is trying hard Captain.” The manservant replied in a neutral tone. “I fear Tash may be driving him a trifle hard too soon. But I have confidence in them both.”

“Jolly good.”

“Can we help you with something Captain?” Tash’s voice brought them around to face the primly dressed woman.

“Just looking in on Mr.. Starblower here madam, and I thought to advise you we shall be over Aalborg in about thirty minutes.”

“Very good C’ptain Phillips.” Carstares said in a bright tone of voice. “Keep me informed when we are ready to land.”

“Yes Mr.. Starblower.” Phillips replied playing along with a mock serious half bow. He was rewarded with a dark look from Carstares that was entirely genuine.

“Please don’t do that Colonel you sound like a Mayfair dandy not our fearless Mr.. Starblower.” Tash remarked acidly, dragging him back to the task at hand.

Jerard beat a hasty retreat before Tash could assess his own performance. He wondered how the rest of the crew were adjusting to having their employer aboard at last. From now on there could be no more dowdy Robert Carstares aboard ship, only the dashing, dynamic and debonair Phineas Starblower. Jerard chuckled to himself.

***

Lance Nichols drummed his fingers on the arm rest of his command console in the Discretion's auxiliary bridge. He rarely got nervous during a flight but this trip had been a succession of frustrations and upsets thus far and it was just beginning to annoy him.

The jollop Tash had conjured up from the Starblower facility seemed to be doing a fair job on the hull patch. But just in case he had gotten Roger to stay up in the observation dome with orders to check it repeatedly for shearing or cracking as they hit cruise speed. Number two engine was bothering him still as well. It went against the grain to have one of the Discretion's main power plants running at less than full efficiency. He had a hunch that they were going to be needing all the speed the lady could grant in the course of this mission. He just knew it. Heh! You're sounding like McPherson now old man get a grip, he told himself as he stared out the view port at the rolling green fields below them.

A whistling pop startled him out of his introspection. Over by the auxiliary communications desk Leading Airshipman Adams was tuning the crystal radio and shaking his head. The headphones made him look like a over large chimp as he fiddled with the dials of the control.

“Problems Geoff?” Lance asked strolling over to the technician. Engrossed in his work Adams didn’t reply and instead jumped when Nichols gently touched his shoulder. As the man hastily took off the headset Nichols repeated his question.

“Not as such Sir, just a bit of signal noise on the line I can’t get rid of. Its not been quite right since the lightning belted us.”

“Something shorted out you think? Or about too? A surge like that could have done all sorts of stuff to the valve array I suppose.”

Adams sat back and relaxed a bit. “Not really as much as folks might suppose Sir, the hull sent the charge around and out of the ship. Now, the high voltage passing by might have left a bit of a charge in some of the ferrous systems. That could be what's causing the interference I think. Not actual damage to anything major.”

“Did the bridge unit do this at all?”

“No Sir, just this one here which is why I’m curious.”

An uncharitable thought crossed Nichol’s mind. “Do you recall right before we left London I had ordered the new lads to re-caulk the insulation under this desk Mr.. Adams? Did you check their work? I hate to sound accusing but are we sure they didn’t knock something while they worked do you think?”

“I hadn’t thought to check that Sir, I’ll get on to it. But I doubt there is anything they could have done that would cause a line-interference fault like this. Not by itself that is.”

“Let me know if you come up with anything Geoff. Just as long as you're sure the unit’s not going to fail on us anytime soon.” Wearily Nichols returned to his seat. Another thing to put on the repair schedule, he thought. We might as well just go right back to Beardmore’s and have a refit at this rate. For now he made a note of Adams' discovery and listed the faulty transceiver as ‘under repair’ in his day log.

“Uh, Mr.. Nichols, Sir?” Adams voice queried.

“Yes Geoff? What have you got.”

“I was going to try to send a test message out, just to listen to the line noise as it transmitted, but there’s something wrong here, I think you’d best see.”

Crossing rapidly back to the radio station Lance eyed the orderly console with a critical eye, nothing looked out of place at a glance. “What is it Mr. Adams?”

Leading Airshipman Adams opened the side of the Morse transmitter’s paper locker. The neat spool of inch wide paper was essentially a copy of whatever was transmitted through the station for log purposes. It all looked normal to Lance so he directed an annoyed glance at the man to make his point.

“Here Sir look at the paper.” The man offered. The edge of the paper was slightly ragged and torn off from the spool. “This unit has been used and the copy paper removed.”

“Since Annie made up that keyboard thing of his its been a long time since we needed this unit. Who knows when the paper was last changed.” Lance began annoyed at the triviality.

“With respect Sir, I know. I watched Beardmore’s men change out all the spools before we left Inchinnan. Who’s been here using the Morse unit since then? Not Annie for sure.”

“You're right Geoff! It does look like somebody’s been fiddling with this unit.” Lance Nichol’s face visibly paled at his next thought, D'Arcey was right! Somehow the villains must have gotten a man on the inside of his crew! If someone sent a message regarding the Discretion’s progress it would explain why they never caught up with the kidnappers at Stavanger.

“You alright sir?” Adams asked staring intently at Nichols.

“This is a puzzling development Mr.. Adams. I hope its just some tom-fool trying to send out messages to his lady friend but given the seriousness of our current voyage I doubt it.”

Nichols considered for a moment. Nobody was above suspicion in a crime he recalled, but some folks were certainly more likely than others as well. Adams here had not exactly been with the crew for long either... “Put it back as you found it Adams and say nothing for now lets watch and see if our message sender will try again.”

Adams looked a little uncomfortable at the pronouncement. But nodded and mumbled, “Very good Sir” by way of acknowledgment as he turned back to his work on the radio.

Nichols sat back down in his chair and considered. Fully a third of the ship's crew were new in one sense or another. Then there was that suspicion that there might even be a stowaway. The Captain had raised that idea twice before now. The first time in London when they were looking into the original accident, and again the other day. But such an individual could hardly have remained hidden during the intensive maintenance that they had undergone at Beardmore’s.

Good grief, Beardmore’s!
Nearly the whole crew had been off the ship during that episode supposedly to get out of the way of the engineers. But if ever there was a time to smuggle somebody on board that would have been it. Or...or even last night when they left the remaining refueling work to the Norwegian field crew and staff of the Starblower research factory.

This was too much for him to deal with alone, the Captain and Miss Tash needed to be told. But, without any concrete evidence, this was just useless supposition on his part. Damn that Colonel Carstares and his speculation of a set up! Who was he supposed to trust with this information without looking like a fool if it turned out to be nothing? Making a decision he toggled the speaking grill's switch.

“Airshipman J. Landover to auxiliary control.” He declared.

A split second later the ex-gunnery Sargent's voice replied smartly through the brass speaking grill. “On my way Sah!”

The ex-soldier brothers had been with the Discretion as long as he, Daniel and Archie had. If there was some blaggard loose aboard this ship Lance knew who he wanted to deal with them...

***

“Aalborg 2 miles ahead Captain.” Fred Randal called out at last breaking the moody silence of the Bridge.

“Very good Mr.. Randal.” Phillips began, easing himself in his chair at the news. It would be good to stretch one’s legs again soon at the very least. “Mr.. Jones what are the odds there is a working radio receiver in such a place? Can we arrive with the Barony pre-warned to receive their illustrious visitor you think?”

“I can but try on the more common channels Sir. I speak very little Danish mind you.” Jones replied.

“Not a problem Sir, either they can receive us or not; if so, the chance of an English speaker being available will be high. Make the call Mr.. Jones we want to make a dramatic impression.”

Jones picked up his microphone and thought for a moment. “Barony of Aalborg, this is the airship Soul of Discretion. Requesting directions to land in your fair city. Mr.. Phineas Starblower is here to see the Baron. Over...”

The radio speaker grill remained silent for a long moment so Jones repeated his hail... still without response. “Looks like we’re out of luck Captain. I can have a go in what Danish I can remember, but I’ll have to make it simpler.”

“Try it again Sir.” Jerard commanded “I think we’re due some luck.”

But before Mr.. Jones could toggle the switch on the microphone the radio came to life. “... of -Discretion. This – is - Aalborg. Apologies - my - assistant - knows - small - English. Can - you - repeat - request. Slowly - please?”

Jones smiled to Phillips and repeated: “Barony of Aalborg, this is the Soul of Discretion requesting directions to land in your fair city. Mr. Phineas Starblower is here to see the Baron. Over..”

“Mr. - Phineas -Starblower? I - have - not - you - on - my - schedule - Sir - Can....” the voice fell silent mid sentence.

Mr.. Jones looked at Jerard and shrugged.

Then a moment later: “Mr. - Starblower? Please - land - on - the - west - field - of - Aalborghus - Slot - ground - crew - will - await - you. Welcome - to - the - Barony - of - Aalborg.”

“Told you we were due some luck!” Phillips cried clapping his hands. “Any idea where this
Aalborghus Slot
lies Fred?” he added.