“
– hell?”
Nick’s word echoed into the pitch
black cavernous space around him. He
froze, letting his heart calm down from the adrenaline induced surge. Only his eyes moved and they didn’t supply
much information to his brain. He
couldn’t see a thing. There was total
absence of light. He swallowed.
“Derek
..? You here?”
“Yes.”
The
voice came from somewhere off to his right.
Nick turned toward it.
“What
the hell happened to us?”
“I’m
not sure. Do you have a flashlight on
you?”
“I’m
like the Boy Scouts. Always prepared.”
Nick
dug the pencil slim flashlight from the pocket of his jeans and switched it on,
narrowing his eyes and flinching at the sudden brightness, even though the
slender beam wasn’t that bright.
It
swept over barrels and casks, sacks, crates and chests, then came to rest on
Derek. He looked utterly stunned. Nick’s stomach turned over. He didn’t like to see his Precept totally
out of his depth, at a loss for words, and shocked rigid.
“Derek
..?”
Derek
shook himself, literally. “I’m fine.”
“No,
you’re not. But, whatever this is, we
can find a way thru it.”
The
reply stunned Nick. “I don’t think we
can, not alone.”
“What
d’you mean?”
“We
wanted to see the Santa Theresa. More
than that, we wanted to know why she haunts this stretch of ocean. Now we’ll have the chance to see and to
know, up close and very personal. We’re
on board .. and a hundred years in the past.”
*****
Nick
sat down suddenly on a barrel. “That’s crazy,”
he muttered in total disbelief.
Derek
couldn’t offer any words of sympathy or support. He was still reeling from the discovery.
“Look
at our surroundings,” he invited. “Do
they look modern to you? That noise you
hear? It’s creaking. The ship’s timbers.”
Nick
couldn’t argue with that. “But .. how?” he demanded. “We were on the Shamrock in two thousand
one. How did we get to be on the Santa
Theresa in nineteen oh one?”
The
question diverted Derek’s mind from the circumstances and gave it something
positive to do.
“Well
.. the boat shuddered, as if it had hit something. I don’t believe it did. I
believe something – all this – hit
us. We were drifting on the current and
it was taking us out to sea. Obviously,
we drifted into the Santa Theresa’s path.
It probably materialized just as it hit us. Did you feel a .. a ripping, tearing sensation? Like .. the inside of your head was trying
to burst out thru your ears?”
Nick
nodded. “I felt disoriented, sick.”
“The two dimensions met, very briefly,
and .. I think exchanged something.
Some of this ship was left on the Shamrock. We were taken in its place.”
He shrugged slightly, almost apologetically. “As I said before, there must be balance.”
Nick
let out a measured breath as his head got a grip on this. “Okay.
I can go with that. What did you
mean about we can’t find a way thru this, not alone?”
“Nick,
we are a hundred years in the past on a ship which, in ten days, is going to
sink during a violent storm. We have no
way of getting a message to Alex and the others. We won’t even be reported as missing until seven, eight o’clock
tonight a hundred years from now. Yes,
we could make our way up to the deck and jump overboard, swim for shore. Maybe even mail ourselves a letter warning
us not to investigate, but none of that will get us home. All it will do is get us to safety and
provide us with the opportunity to live out the remainder of our lives
here. What we have to do is stay on
board, and pray Alex can figure it out.
She is the only one who can help us.
She will have Rachel and Peri to help her, but, for now, we are on our
own. We cannot make the situation be
right for exchanging us back. It has to
come from .. the future.”
“And
.. if they can’t figure it out?”
“Then,
maybe, the skeleton you found is mine.
Or yours.”
Nick
stared at him. Derek shrugged again.
“Alex
is smart. They are all smart. I’m sure they’ll figure it out; at least
they’ll work out what’s happened to us and where we are.”
“And
when we are.”
“Exactly. As for getting us home ... Even I do not know how to do that.”
“Maybe
Peri can do something. Make a rift or
something like that.”
“There’s
no evil here. It’s just an unfortunate
coincidence we were in the wrong place at the right time.” Derek slowly sat down on a wooden
chest. “That vision I had. An old ship.”
“What
about it?”
“You’re
lucky that you don’t have them.
Visions,” Derek explained.
“Sometimes, they show events as they happen but they are always
fragmented. Often, they show the past,
and they can be a more or less useful tool in determining the truth. And that is what I believed I saw. A quick glimpse into the past. I was wrong. Sometimes, the visions are a warning of the future. I should’ve heeded this one. I saw an old ship .. and here we are on a
old ship.”
“You
weren’t to know,” Nick remarked. “How
could you possibly have interpreted that as a warning we were gonna end up
here?”
“I
could have thought about it some more instead of just dismissing it,” Derek
commented.
“And
what use is blaming yourself now?” Nick challenged. “It won’t change anything, it won’t get us home, it doesn’t
help. Get over it. We’ve got bigger problems to occupy us.”
“What
could be bigger than this?” Derek inquired.
“Survival. We’re two guys from the next century way
outta place an’ time. We can’t exactly
go up to someone an’ ask for food an’ water.
We can’t interact with any of the crew.
I may be former Navy but I can’t fit in here. You know even less about how this ship operates. We can’t pretend we’re meant to be here,
even as stowaways. Our clothes are all
wrong. Plus .. we know the future. We know that, in six days, a storm’s gonna
hit an’, four days after that, she’s going down. We can’t change the past, Derek, so we have to find a way to
survive it.” He twitched. “An’ pray Alex can get her act together
before the end comes.”
*****
On
the deck above Derek and Nick, and in a cabin at the other end of the
barkentine, Captain John Marriott said “Come!” in response to the knock on his
door. He was pacing, his stern face
more stern than usual. His thick, bushy
eyebrows came together in a ferocious frown as his First Officer came thru the
doorway and saluted.
“Sir.”
“Report,
Mr Delacroix! What is the reason for
that collision?”
Paul
Delacroix swallowed. “We have
investigated, sir, and .. there is nothing there. I have questioned the lookouts and have been told the sea was
empty of obstructions. Mr Farnham, the
navigator, and I have examined the charts and we are well clear of the
rocks. There is a goodly depth below
the keel, sir, and – ”
“So
what in God’s name did we hit?”
The
younger man hesitated then shook his head.
“The only explanation, Captain, is .. a sea creature.”
John
Marriott’s eyes narrowed. “We do not
mean a sea monster, I trust.”
“No,
sir. It’s a little early in the season
but it is possible that it was a whale or some other large creature either just
surfacing or diving. As the lookouts
saw nothing, I am inclined to say it is the former.”
The
Captain grunted, his lips pursing.
“Damage?”
“The
First Mate and I have examined the hull, sir, and there appears to be none
whatsoever.”
“You’re
saying we were lucky.”
“Yes,
sir.”
“What
of our passengers?”
Paul
Delacroix hesitated. “I did not inquire,
sir.”
Marriott
nodded. “Wise man. Carry on, Mr Delacroix.”
“Yes,
sir.”
The
First Officer saluted again and left quickly, thinking he’d gotten off
well. It could’ve been a lot worse.
Nate
Tucker, the First Mate, was loitering by the steep steps to the upper
deck. “Well?”
“No
punishments. So long as there’s no
damage, he’s content.”
“I’m
glad about that. The lads did their
job. They’re not at fault. What did you tell him?”
“That
they saw nothing. That is was probably
a whale.”
Nate
nodded. “I’ll pass it on. Best to keep the lies together.”
Paul
sighed. “What else could I have said,
Nate? That they did see something?
Something which wasn’t really there?
A ghost ship? And a vessel like
none of us have ever seen before? By
the time they did see it, we couldn’t have avoided it. It literally appeared out of nowhere they
said, right in front of the bow. The
Captain wouldn’t believe that. He
would’ve ordered them flogged.”
“It’s
an omen, sir,” Nate said darkly. “You
mark my words. What with the accursed
cargo we have on board .. it’s a warning that we are not doing God’s work.”
“That’s
as may be, Mr Mate, but we have our orders.
I will have an orderly ship. Is
that clear?”
“Aye,
sir. But you heed this in turn – no
good will come of any of it. This is
just the beginning. And it’s going to
get a lot worse.”
*****
“What
should we do?” Nick asked. “Stay in
here? Take our chances outside?”
“For
now, I think we should stay here.”
Derek glanced around. “We appear
to be in some kind of storeroom which is fortunate. There are supplies we can steal.
One thing is for sure, we must have food and water. A half cup of coffee and a couple of
sandwiches are not going to last me the next ten days.” He looked over his shoulder, smiling
quickly. “And you are in real trouble.”
Nick
grinned too, appreciating the effort at humor.
“Okay, we stay put for now but we can’t stay in here forever. We – or one of us – have got to recce the
location. Know what’s where, the places
to hide up and where to avoid going at all costs. Someone’s gonna come in here eventually if it’s a storeroom. We should have a back up already planned.”
“When
would be the best time for that?” Derek inquired.
“When
it’s dark.” Nick paced back and sat
down. “The battery in this flashlight
isn’t gonna last forever. We should try
an’ find a lantern.”
“A
storeroom should have everything we need,” Derek remarked. “I’ll look and then we can conserve
energy.” He studied his companion. “Why don’t you try to get some rest,
Nick? Sleep for a while if you
can. You were up early this morning and
you’ll be working late tonight.”
Nick
wanted to protest but he knew Derek was right.
“Okay,” he reluctantly agreed, handing over the flashlight then reaching
for his gun as well.
“No. I’ll be fine,” Derek said. “If I should get captured, you’ll be without
a weapon when you come to rescue me.”
“That
isn’t a problem,” Nick replied steadily.
“You’re
the expert. I am not inexperienced when
it comes to firearms,” Derek shrugged, “but, in this kind of situation, I
prefer to rely on my wits first. You
keep it.”
“You’re
sure?”
“Positive.”
Nick
had to accept that too. He shifted a
few barrels away from the hull, just far enough to provide enough space for a
man to lay flat, then did exactly that.
Within a few minutes, he was asleep.
Derek considered it a good idea and moved some more barrels and chests. It wasn’t enough to instantly alert anyone
and the containers gave solid cover.
They wouldn’t protect them against an organized search being made but
they would be enough when someone came in simply for supplies. Derek didn’t plan on sleeping while Nick was
out for the count. Someone had to keep
watch and he was the only other guy there.
However, he might need a bolt hole in a hurry, and now he had one.
Shelter
taken care of, Derek turned his attention to finding a lantern, and some food
and water. The first crate he opened
appeared to contain cargo. Bolts of
cloth. The second, surprisingly,
contained rifles. So did the third and
fourth. He gave up and opened one of
the sacks. Biscuits.
Ah
well, he mused, at least it’s food.
The
second sack held flour which was not much use, but the third was full of strips
of dried meat. Trying one, he
discovered it was beef. Derek opened
one of the chests. China, packed in
straw.
We
can be civilized, he thought. Biscuits
and dried beef, and we can eat it from china plates as well.
Checking
the barrels, Derek found one which had already been opened. He lifted the lid. Beer. The fumes rose up
and he blinked. Beer would keep longer
than water which would become brackish after a while.
But,
as yet, he’d found no lanterns or lamp oil.
And the flashlight was noticeably dimmer than it had been. One thing was guaranteed, there would be no
replacement batteries on board. Derek
resumed his search with more urgency.
It was difficult. Searching quickly
meant making noise. Noise was the one
thing he didn’t want to make. He
shifted crates as quietly as he could, wincing at every thump and bang.
At
last, he found a lantern. In the same
crate were candles. Derek had a box of
matches in his pocket so he hurriedly rammed a candle onto the spike in the
lantern’s base, lit the wick and closed the panel, and then he switched off the
flashlight. Reasoning that two lanterns
were better than one, he lit a second candle and put that in another
lantern. There was a metal hook in the
ceiling, and a metal hook on the top of the lantern. Derek hung one and set the other down on the floor.
The
deck wasn’t pitching all that much. It
was more rolling gently. Derek sat down
again, one ear pricked for sounds of approaching footsteps or voices, and
thought about what he knew of old sailing ships.
By
the middle nineteenth century, ships were starting to be powered by steam
engines. This one didn’t appear to be
that modern, even though she was built fairly recently. She was a sailing ship, a working vessel. Nick had said she hauled goods up and down
the West Coast. Derek regarded the
contents of the storeroom again.
This
cannot be the cargo, he thought. Rifles
and a few bolts of cloth? There is not
enough of it. The main cargo must be
down in the hold. This must be .. for the ship’s crew.
And
she isn’t moving very fast. It is a
beautiful day. Hardly a breeze. But, don’t forget, that day is a hundred
years in the future. Of course, maybe
the conditions matched exactly which is another reason why we managed to ..
cross into the past. In which case, a
sailing ship with no wind to drive her thru the water would have to rely on the
current. The sightings begin at Morro
Bay and end at Lopez Point which is .. seventy miles north. Seventy miles in eleven days is just over
six miles a day. So .. by the time Alex
can act in our .. mysterious disappearance .. we’ll already be at least six
miles north, maybe even twelve, and the distance will be growing all the
time. She has to figure it out so she
can keep pace with us, shadow us a hundred years from now.
The
more he thought about it, the more stunned he was. Nowhere in Legacy history had anyone ever done what he and Nick
had managed to do by accident – become trapped in a haunting. There had been members who had experienced
hauntings – he and Alex had done exactly that in Hidden Valley – but they
hadn’t been there. They had simply watched scenes from the
past. There had been Legacy members who
had been trapped in mysterious objects – Rachel, once, had become caught up in
a painting. But to physically shift
thru time .. this was a first. And,
while Derek didn’t watch much television, he was aware of the sci fi rules of
‘temporal mechanics’. It was tricky
stuff. One wrong move now could alter
the future beyond any recognition. Nick
was right. They had to avoid interacting
with anyone in this time, and they had to survive the storm. It was possible that the storm which sank –
or would sink – the Santa Theresa had enough energy in it to put him and Nick
back where they belonged. Derek glanced
at his watch and sighed. It was only
five o’clock. They hadn’t even been
reported as missing yet. They wouldn’t,
not for another century.
*****
Nick
woke after several more hours and found his Precept munching on dried beef and
biscuits. Derek had found a metal cup
from somewhere and had filled it with beer.
“All
we need now is the pack of cards,” Nick remarked as he stretched. “We could have a regular party. Anyone come in?”
“No. There’s been no sounds at all, apart from the
creaking,” Derek replied, his voice a little distant. “It’s rather hypnotic after a while, especially if you watch the
lantern swaying at the same time.”
“It’ll
be sundown fairly soon. I’ll eat and ..
make a move.”
“Nick,
be careful out there. We cannot harm
these people and, similarly, we cannot allow them to harm us. I know, you’ve been trained to move silently
and without being seen. It has never
been so crucial as it is right now.”
Nick
nodded. “Aye, skipper.”
Derek
held out the cup. “It isn’t bad. Better than the water would’ve tasted.”
“Probably
the captain’s private stock.” Nick
sipped it. “Pretty strong brew. How much of this have you had?”
“Just
one cup. The biscuits are very dry and
the beef is very salty.”
Nick
sat down on a chest next to his Precept.
“Had any more ideas?”
“Not
really. As usual, the members of the
San Francisco Legacy house break new ground.
I think we may have to go to the wire on this one.”
Nick’s
head turned sharply toward the door.
“Someone’s com – ”
The
door opened. Both men froze. A man came in, halted quickly, and looked
around. His gaze traveled to the
lantern on the ceiling and then to the lantern on the floor. He frowned and slowly backed out again,
without ever coming farther into the room, and he closed the door behind him.
Nick
frowned. “Why didn’t he say something?”
“Maybe
he didn’t see us,” Derek murmured. “The
lantern isn’t bright and we are more
in shadow than out of it.”
“We’re
not exactly hiding. All he had to do
was look. You think maybe he did see us an’ he’s gone to raise the
alarm?”
“That’s
more likely. Fill your pockets with
food,” Derek instructed briskly. “That
way, if we can’t get back immediately, we can last for a while someplace else.”
“You’re
coming with me?”
“If
he has gone to raise the alarm, I’d
be better off with you than here on my own.”
Nick
crammed biscuits and strips of dried beef into the pockets of his jeans. His jacket was in the Range Rover, his
sweater was on the Shamrock. It was
going to be a cold night.
“Let’s
go,” he muttered, heading for the door.
*****
By
the angle and curve of the hull in the storeroom, Nick knew it was near the bow
of the Santa Theresa. He’d made a guess
that they were on the lower deck, and he was proved right. Below was the hold. Above was the main deck, and then the upper
deck. He’d seen this already, on the
seabed to the north. Yet, what was so
strange was that this deck was so empty.
There were benches and tables and no one sitting at them. In fact, the lower deck was totally
deserted.
The
four masts, great thick columns, pierced the ceiling and the floor. Capstans were dotted around like huge wooden
mushrooms. There were hatches leading
down to the hold but they were all closed.
Not only closed, they had sandbags weighting them down.
“Look,”
Derek whispered as they crept past one of the masts. Its base was ringed with more sandbags. All tightly packed, overlapping.
“Is that normal?”
Nick
shrugged and shook his head. “Only
times I’ve ever seen ships like this, they were in a museum, and they didn’t
have those. It could be completely
normal to have them there while the ship’s at sea.” He gestured. “If the hull
should get holed, maybe .. they use these to plug the leak or slow it
down.” He looked around, peering into
the darkness the fading flashlight couldn’t penetrate. There were no portholes down here as this
deck was at or below the waterline.
“Why is it empty?” he asked quietly.
“There should be a hundred men down here.”
“This
could work to our advantage,” Derek pointed out. “Are there any rooms, cabins, on this level?”
“Maybe
down the stern.” Nick set off. “A whole deck unoccupied ... It makes no sense. Everyone’s up there,” he said, jerking a thumb at the ceiling, “all
squashed together with the cannon, the officers an’ NCOs. Why do that?”
“I
don’t know,” Derek replied. “And, to a
large degree, it is not our immediate concern.
We have plenty of time to discover the answers. For now, we need to find a new hiding
place.”
“Right.”
*****
The
man bent and whispered into Nate Tucker’s whiskery ear. Nate frowned.
“Say
that again,” he requested.
The
sailor repeated it. Nate slowly nodded.
“How
much of the officers’ beer did you steal while you were down there, Jonas?”
“None,
Mr Mate! I swear to God, I went into
the storeroom and two lanterns were lit.
One was hanging from the ceiling hook, all nice an’ dandy, an’ the other
was set to the floor. I didn’t
stay. I came straight to find you.”
“Swear
to God, huh ..? You’re not making this
up to cover your lies?”
“No,
Mr Mate. I’m not. I wish I was. I could use a tankard of ale right about now to settle my
stomach.”
Nate
grunted and hauled himself to his feet.
“I guess that means I have to go down there myself and check to see if
you’re telling me the honest truth.”
“I
tell you, I ain’t lying!”
“We’ll
see. You can come with me.”
The
sailor swallowed, his face growing pale.
“I don’t like going down there.”
“None
of us do but Ol’ Iron Britches wants his beer.
Someone has to fetch it for him.”
He took a firm hold of the man’s collar. “Let’s go.”
*****
Nick
eased open a door and Derek shone the flashlight quickly around the
interior.
“What’s
this?”
“Looks
like a cabin for an NCO. No
portholes. Small. Narrow rack. Maybe the Third Mate,” Nick replied with a shrug.
“But
unoccupied. A solid door. We’ll use this. What’s in here?” Derek
pushed open the door to the next room.
“Oh, it looks like .. the medical bay.
Nick, go back, get one of the lanterns.
If you have time, bring more candles.
If not, we’ll make raiding parties as and when we need to.”
“Yes,
boss.”
Nick
was gone at a fast walk, back the way they’d come. Derek entered the cabin and stared around at the miserable
austerity. There was absolutely nothing
in the way of home comforts, or any comfort.
The rack, or bunk, was over a desk, and the mattress was thin and lumpy,
filled with straw. The bedding was one
folded blanket. There was no
pillow. The desk was clear – no ink was
in the inkwell, and there were no charts, no books, no journal or ship’s
log. It was small. With Nick and Derek both standing in here,
there was no room to turn around.
Still, despite being a depressingly dismal living area, it was patently
unoccupied. No one was likely to
stumble in at the end of a long day and be surprised that someone was sleeping
in his bed.
There
was a crude, four legged stool and Derek sat down, discovered that one leg was
decidedly shorter than the other three and the stool had a ferocious wobble,
and switched off the flashlight to conserve the battery.
If
we had known there was even a chance
of this happening, we would have been a lot more prepared, he reflected. Extra batteries, for one thing. A bigger flashlight. A change of clothes. Supposing Alex can get us back at the proper
time, whenever that is, we are both going to smell pretty rank. If she can’t, it won’t matter. There again, if I had paid more attention to the vision, we would have known. This is
my fault, despite what Nick says. It
cannot be his, Nick doesn’t have visions.
So .. why is this deck so empty? It doesn’t make sense. Up there, there is light and warmth, the
ship’s company all cramped together. Down
here .. darkness, cold, and a lot of empty space.
Derek
heard the rumble of voices from above, the muted tramp of feet. He heard the ship’s timbers creaking and,
very faintly, the fluttering snap of a sail.
Then he sat very still. There
was a soft moaning sound, and that had come from beneath his feet.
Nick
grabbed the lantern from the floor and decided, after one look at it, that the
candle would last long enough and that he could come back later for more
candles. Even if the door was locked in
the interim, he could pop it. He shut
the door behind him, and, closing the shutter on the lantern to leave a narrow
gap, he set off back along the deck.
Suddenly,
a hatch just ahead was opened, light spilled down in a big square, and feet
began to clatter down the steps.
Cursing under his breath, Nick looked round, started to cross to the
other side of the deck then flattened against the mast, closing the shutter on
the lantern completely.
Two
men went past him, heading toward the storeroom. Nick waited for a moment, then eased away, creeping silently down
the deck toward the stern, opening the shutter so the candle gave just a
glimmer of light.
Nate
Tucker scratched his head then his chin.
“What
did I tell you?” the sailor demanded, sounding vindicated.
“You
said two lanterns. I can only see one.”
“There
were two! An’ one’s still here.”
“Maybe they took it with them.”
“Ah,
okay, now we’re getting somewhere.
Who’s they?”
“Stowaways.”
Nate
angled his head. “We ain’t stopped
nowhere for stowaways to get on board.”
“Then
... ” Jonas swallowed. “Maybe it’s ... ” He pointed at the floor.
“Maybe
it is,” Nate conceded. “Let’s go
check.”
The
sailor shook his head. “No, sir! I ain’t going down there!”
“I
ain’t going down there either! We’ll
check the hatches. See if anything’s
been disturbed.” Nate pushed the other
man ahead of him. “If they have, I’ll
have to report it, an’ then all hell’s gonna break loose.”
The
sailor had stopped just outside the storeroom entrance. He pointed down the deck, his hand
shaking. Nate Tucker, frowning, looked
toward the stern. A thin glimmer of
light was gliding away from them.
“The
hatches,” he urged.
“Mr
Mate – ” Jonas sounded wretched.
“Quicker
we check, quicker we can get the hell out.
Right?”
At
the sound of voices, Nick closed the shutter and completed the rest of the
journey by touch and memory. He eased
into the cabin and quickly shut the door.
“Don’t
say anything,” he warned Derek in a whisper.
“We got company.”
They
waited in a tense silence for several stretched minutes, then they heard the
very distinctive sound of a hatch closing with a thump. Nick opened the shutter on the lantern
again.
“Like
we thought. He raised the alarm. I think they think we’re stowaways.”
Derek
nodded slowly. “And I think there’s
more going on here than we know.
There’s something down there, in the hold.”
“Well,
yeah, there would be,” Nick agreed.
“The cargo – ”
“It’s
alive,” Derek cut in.
*****
Nate
Tucker had a miserably small cabin and he shared it with one of the
cannon. His watch was during the
day. The Third Mate had the night watch
and, on this tour, slept in Nate’s cabin when the First Mate was on duty
instead of in his own, smaller cabin on the deck below. Nate knew he should be asleep right now
because it was late, nearing midnight.
On the deck outside his door, the crew slept soundly, or maybe not so
soundly, in the hammocks slung from hooks in the ceiling. There were snores and muttering; he could
hear them faintly. Nate wished he could
sleep. But he couldn’t. He had too much to think about and it played
on his mind as midnight came and went, and the small hours grew larger. The ship’s bell was sounded on time, marking
the hour. The Santa Theresa crept north
on the current, all her sail flat and hanging limp. Still Nate couldn’t sleep.
Dawn light began to peep around the cover of the porthole. He got heavily to his feet and opened the
door.
Paul
Delacroix’s cabin was on the starboard side and next to the Captain’s
cabin. Nate knocked as softly as he
could. He didn’t want to disturb Ol’
Iron Britches. Strictly, Nate should
have gone to the Third Officer, who would’ve reported it to the Second Officer
who would’ve taken it to Paul who, if it warranted it, would’ve brought it to
the attention of Captain Marriott. Nate
thought it was too important and too potentially explosive to go up the chain
of command so he went direct.
Paul
opened the door, blinking sleepily.
“What is it, Mr Mate?”
Nate
gestured with his head. “I need to
speak with you, sir,” he said in scarcely a whisper.
“Now?” Paul exclaimed softly.
“Aye,
sir. It can’t wait.”
Paul
nodded. “I’ll meet you by the main
hatch. Five minutes.”
Five
minutes later, Paul hurried up, rapidly buttoning his uniform coat. Nate glanced all around. The main deck was making sounds like it was
waking up.
“What’s
so damned important that you came straight to me?” Paul demanded.
“Last
night, Jonas and I had reason to go below.
Jonas had been ordered down to the for’ard port storeroom and he found
two lanterns lit in there. When I went
back with him, one was there, the other was gone. He thought maybe it was stowaways, but it can’t be. We both know that.”
“My
God ...” Paul went pale. “Did you check the hatches? If one of them’s gotten out – ”
“We
did. Nothing’s been disturbed. It can’t be them. But that isn’t all, sir.”
Paul
Delacroix shook his head. “What else
can there be, Mr Mate?”
“You
think I find this easy?” Nate hissed, his eyes blazing with
insubordination. “I don’t.
I’ve been awake all night, sir, thinking about this, trying to figure it
out, an’ I can’t. The only thing which
is making sense right about now ... ”
He paused. “You remember what
happened yesterday? The collision which
wasn’t?”
“Of
course.”
“You
remember what the lookouts said they saw?”
“Yes. How is this relevant?” Paul asked quietly.
“Last
night. Jonas saw it first, then I saw it too. A lantern.”
“You said one was missing from the store. There are no stowaways. The hatches haven’t been disturbed. Have you considered that it could have been
one of the crew down there for .. some purpose?”
“Sir,
you know that, unless specifically ordered to go down there,” Nate challenged,
“the lower deck is out of bounds to everyone, and for a damn good reason.”
“Even
so, Mr Mate – ”
“No,
sir. They know it’s dangerous to go
down to the lower deck. They’re scared
of what’s in the hold, and I don’t blame them for that. None of the crew were down there. How do I know? I did a head count while Jonas guarded the hatch. No one came up and everyone who should’ve
been upstairs was.” He leaned in
closer. “I told you, it was an omen.”
“Superstition.”
“No,
sir. I got proof. I saw it with my own eyes.”
Paul
stared at him. “Then .. maybe you
imagined it.”
“Both
of us?”
“You
were tired, end of a long day and one not without incident. What exactly did you see?”
Nate
shrugged. “I wasn’t tired, sir, not
then. I’m tired now, but I wasn’t last night. What did I see? A lantern. Moving down
the deck, toward the stern.” He paused,
swallowing. The words didn’t want to
come out. “I warned you, sir. The collision was only the start. No one was carrying that lantern. It was just floating along on its own. This ship is haunted! We’ve got ghosts on board!”