“Boss. Get out the water.” Said Romney. “Please?”
Victoria took another step into the water. She was but a few paces into the lake but already the water was up to her knees. Romney looked and saw the centre of the lake was steaming hotly now, green bubbles rising and bursting on the surface as if the lake itself was boiling. Yet the water seemed to be cold. It was however he knew unusually deep. One of his scans had revealed that but nothing else.
“Boss. You need to get out.” Said the demon in desperation but Victoria took another step forward, her eyes now clouded and lost to her. “Okay.” said the demon. I didn’t want to have to do this but you leave me no choice,” The demon paused and Victoria began to step even further into the bubbling green water.
“COMMAND: CAESAR” said Romney, and Victoria stopped instantly, her eyes springing open. “Move out of the water Victoria.” Said the demon and Victoria obeyed immediately, moving out of the lake and up the bank.
“I’m sorry boss.” He said, “There are codes you have you don’t know about. This one gives the owner complete control over you.” Victoria said nothing, nor showed any recognition of what she had been told. “Move back into the woods five hundred yards.” He said and Victoria began to march away from the lake, followed by a completely bemused Hawthorne who could hear none of the conversation at all.
‘COMMAND: CAESAR.” Said Romney and Victoria slumped forward as if she were a puppet that had had its strings cut. Hawthorne grabbed hold of her and lowered her to the ground.
“Are there any other control codes you know about that I don’t” she said in her mind and Romney tutted.
‘None that are important.” He said, “Though for now if I were you I would avoid that pond altogether. Neither I nor Hawthorne here saw a thing, yet quite clearly you did.”
“Are you alright my dear?” Asked Hawthorne. ‘I can fetch help if you need it.” To the authors surprise she almost leapt to her feet.
“I am fine.” She said defiantly, “Though I need time to reflect upon these events. I think I shall return to my residence.” She said, and began to stride back towards the road, the writer in tow, struggling to keep up with her fierce pace.
***
“Fairies.” She said in exasperation, ‘Hundreds of them.” She paused, considering what she had seen earlier. “Thousands probably.” It was late. She had sat pondering the events of the day for hours and now it was dark and late.
“Nothing.” Said Romney, “Neither I nor Hawthorne saw a damned thing.”
“Will you stop saying that you saw nothing?” She said in exasperation.
“Well nothing is what I saw.” Shouted back Romney, “Not a thing.”
“Bizarre.” She said, sitting back in her chair in the drawing room. From the kitchen came the sound of Mister Tibbs exterminating yet another mouse. He had so far proved to be ruthlessly efficient on the rodent front. “And did you have to give the cat dual laser cannons?” She sighed.
“Thought it would be entertaining for the cat.” He said, sniffing loudly. “Besides. We don’t want mice do we?”
“I suppose not.” She said, but her mind was not on it. She was considering the events that had occurred during her trip to the lake. ‘Now let us go through this logically. If we can rid ourselves of the impossibilities of the facts, then the answer, no matter how ridiculous, will be before us.”
“Basically true.” Said Romney. “Rudimentary I imagine.”
“So. In essence I saw thousands of fairies and nearly ended up drowning myself but Hawthorne and yourself saw nothing.”
‘Correct.”
“The two young girls saw fairies on two different occasions but their parents or police saw nothing. All the scans you ran revealed nothing unusual at all.”
“Equally correct.”
Victoria sat thinking. She was immobile for ten minutes and then suddenly sat up.
“The parents of the girls went to investigate the lake after their children had said they saw the fairies there.”
“Yes.” said Romney. “So?”
“Did the mother go with them?”
“I don’t know.” Said the demon carefully, careful not to interrupt her train of thought.
“I will ring Hawthorne.” She said, reaching for the telephonic device.
Several minutes later she placed the handset back on the receiver and sat back in the chair.
“So she didn’t go.” Said Romney, “Just the father.”
“Yes.”
“It’s women isn’t it?” She said, almost whispering.
“Yes. It looks that way, boss.” Said Romney. “At least it isn’t personal.” He chuckled.
“So three questions then. What is it, what does it want, and how do we get rid of it?”
“Last one’s the important one.” Said Romney, “I’m easy on the other two.”
“Mister Wilkinson.” She suddenly said out loud.
‘The property man you bought the house from.” Said Romney.
“Yes. And amateur astronomer. He was talking to me about shooting stars but I stopped him.” She picked up the telephonic device again and spoke to the remote operator. Shortly after a tired sounding Mister Wilkinson could be heard on the line.
“Mister Wilkinson.” Said Victoria, “I am terribly sorry to disturb you at this late hour but I have a small query you may be able to assist me with.”
“Very well.” He grumbled down the other end of the line, “But make it quick. You have made me rise from my bed.”
“Apologies sir.” Groveled Victoria, “It is with regards to shooting stars you mentioned to me you saw perhaps several months ago.”
“Ah yes.” Said Wilkinson, his voice brightening considerably now that it appeared that the conversation would encompass his hobby. “More like a meteor really. It was a very bright light indeed.”
“What colour was it?” Asked Victoria abruptly.
“Well that is the unusual thing.” He said, “Normally they are white. Red sometimes but that is unusual in itself. This was neither.”
“It was green wasn’t it?” She asked.
“Yes. Dark green. Very strange.”
“Thank you Mister Wilkinson” she said, “And apologies for waking you at this hour.”
“Well if I can be of any further assistance than please do not hesitate to ask. My telescope is at your disposal if required.”
“Thank you.” Smiled Victoria, “Good night.”
“It was a comet.” Said Romney.
“Looks that way.” Said Victoria. “Now we need to decide what to do next.”
***
Victoria removed the welding goggles and placed them on the table that held the telephonic device. Consulting the notepad she kept by the side of it she dialed a number and waited. Having spoken to a manservant eventually Hawthorne came onto the line.
“Good morning Miss Neaves.” He said, “I take it you are ready to proceed?”
“I am.” Said Victoria, “Though there is a complication.”
“Nothing that cannot be overcome I am sure” said the author confidently.
“I need you to furnish a portable steam pump and hose up at the lake. I shall need it drained.”
“Quite a task.” Said Hawthorne, “It will probably take a day at least to empty it.”
“If you feed the hose across the hill and down over the road the water will eventually flow down to the river, so that should not be a major consideration.”
“Indeed. Well I will be about it then. I shall go and see the officer in charge at the fire station. I am sure he will be accommodating.”
“Excellent.” Said Victoria, “Though just one small precaution when installing the pump.”
“And what is that?”
“Ensure it is only men who install it. Do not let any women anywhere near that lake.”
“Why ever not?”
“I think that whatever it is in the lake only affects women.”
“That explains
a few things.” Sighed Hawthorne and after a few pleasantries he was gone about his task.
Victoria picked up the goggles and leaving the room made her way across the hall and then down into the cellar, closing the heavily lead lined double doors behind her as she entered.
The room now bore no resemblance to the wine cellar that she told the estate agent it was going to be. A steam driven forge covered the far wall, workbenches and racks of tools on the other walls. A small tuning fork vibrated soundlessly on the desk and she glanced at it as she walked past it, noting the readout on the dial.
“Is that the research into the EMP field that the assassins used?” Asked Romney casually.
“That’s it.” She said, “Nearly cracked it. Just need to go up a frequency or so when I get time.”
She walked across to the small circular device that was currently held in a large vice by its rim. The metal was circular but was only one half of the construction, which when placed together would resemble a football in both size and shape. Currently however the half that she held in the vice had several trailing wires jutting from it.
“This it then?” Said Romney and Victoria grunted a reply.
“Yes.” She opened a small package that had been delivered that morning and took a small piece of flat metal and examined it carefully. Tutting she reached into a pocket and pulled out an eye glass to read the writing on it, so small was it. She made out the letters ‘RTM” on the metal and took the eyeglass from her eye and placed it back in her pocket. “Quite powerful” she muttered, placing the welding goggles back on and picking up a small welding device leaned inside the sphere. There was a hissing sound and she reached over it, placing the metal plate inside it. “Radius ninety feet. Spheroid blast area.”
“Quite a humdinger than.” Said Romney and Victoria smiled.
“Yes. Very much a humdinger.”
She continued working for another hour and then retired to the drawing room at eleven for a cup of tea to discover the telephonic device had a message left on it which when played was from Hawthorne, informing her that the pump had been installed without incident and it was underway with emptying the lake. The firemen had told her it would be approximately midday tomorrow before it was done though.
“So what’s the plan?” Asked Romey. Victoria got the distinct impression that the demon was looking upon the small device she was constructing with more than a hint of suspicion.
“Nothing too fancy.” She laughed, “I was going to just drop this on its head really.” Said Victoria, stifling the urge to laugh louder. It was rare that she found something that made the demon uneasy, but this device definitely did. “Though I think it would be much more interesting to go and have a look at whatever is at the bottom of that lake first.”
“True.” sniffed the demon, alerting Victoria to the fact that he was more than aware of her attempts to prevent herself from laughing. “Best have a look first. Problem is how do you get anywhere near it?”
“I could always send you.” Smiled Victoria.
“No way boss.” Said Romney, “This corporeal stuff is more trouble than it's worth. Gives me migraines it does.”
“It was a bad back the other day.” Said Victoria under her breath, well aware that the demon would hear her perfectly.
“How is it generating the hallucinations?” Asked Victoria. “That’s the thing.”
“Why fairies though?” Asked Romney.
“It must have picked it from Elizabeth or Margaret’s head and decided to run with it I imagine.” She said. “So is it using a low level psychic field perhaps? How about ultrasound frequencies modulated to be just at the edge of hearing thresholds.”
“Sounds complex.” Said Romney, “What about air-borne?” Victoria paused, tea cup in hand.
“Gas.” she smiled, “You breathe it in.”
“Coded to females only somehow.” Said the demon, “How long is it that you can hold your breath for again?”
“Indefinitely.” Smiled Victoria. “I think we have the basics of a plan.”
“I think we do.” Said Romney, a smile in his voice, “I think we do.”
***
Noon the next day found Victoria clambering across the roof carrying the device she had constructed in a small bag. As she approached the chimney pot she reached up and touched something and the small skimmer appeared. Victoria reached underneath the craft and pulled down a small chute. She carefully inserted the round object into the space and closed the chute slowly.
“Making me nervous that thing.” Said Romney, a definite edge of tension in his voice.
“It is fine.” She smiled and opening the entrance hatch to the craft climbed aboard and pulled it shut behind her. “The detonation sequence is quite rigorous.”
“Psychic link?” He asked tentatively.
“No.”
“Primed via steam data cloud access?”
“No.”
“It explodes on impact doesn’t it?” He said and Victoria laughed.
“Yes.”
“Wow.” said Romney. “Let’s hope we don’t have a bumpy flight.”
“It is only five minutes away.” Sighed Victoria as the controls lit and she began to move the skimmer away from the roof and climb slightly higher above the tree level. Romney remained silent as they headed north towards Denwick Beauchamp, the altimeter showing they were at an altitude of ninety feet. The craft was a small one designed for speed and stealth, and altitude was something that it wasn’t really built for. The design brief, Victoria knew, had a ceiling of two hundred feet on the craft, though she knew for certain that she had on several occasions in the past had it much higher than that. Today however, ninety feet was more than enough.
The map on the dashboard illuminated that they were over the village now, and so Victoria turned the ship slightly, heading northeast over the forest and the lake.
“One minute.” She said.
“Okay.” Romney replied, sounding surprisingly nervous. “I suggest we stay this high once over the drained lake. We need to have a look at what’s down there.”
“Well we need to get lower to release the bomb.” Said Victoria, “Ninety feet is too high. We may miss.”
“Depends upon what we are aiming at.” Said Romney ominously as through the cockpit window they saw a clearing slide into view, the top edge of it a deep muddy hole where once the lake had been and no doubt would be again once the rain started to fill it up again. For now however it was a dark brown smudge on the land, but that was all they could see. Victoria pressed a button on the instruments in front of her and they heard a small clunk from under the ship as a telescope descended from the body of the ship, the view on it appearing on a brass plate surrounded window on the dashboard.
“Zoom by two.” Said Victoria and she took hold of a small brass toggle which rotated the telescope in whichever direction she required as she pressed it with her thumb. The display clouded and the focused again, and now they saw the empty pond. Thick dark mud lay below them, yet that was all they could see.
“Nearer.” Said Romney and Victoria gave the command and the telescope clouded again before focusing in much closer this time.
“There.” Said Romney as a small green object came into view. It looked small but Victoria zoomed out a little with the thumb switch for greater accuracy this time and the object looked to be approximately six feet across. It was circular and dark green in colour, but pulsing somehow, dark green one second and then a lighter shade the next. Its surface was completely seamless and unblemished, but many small spikes stuck out from it.
“It looks like a giant seed case you see on a conker.” Laughed Romney.
“Only its glowing.” Said Victoria.
“Pulsating.” Said Romney and she nodded in agreement.
“I will take us down to fifty feet.” Said Victoria. “that should be sufficient.” Victoria pulled down on the control stick and the craft slowly and carefully descended, Victoria watching the dial as the gr
ound became closer. As the dial read fifty feet she stopped the ship’s descent.
“That should be close enough. I will just get us directly over the object below.”
“As long as it’s within twenty feet I doubt if it will matter.” Said Romney, “Once you release it get us out of the way sharpish.”
“No problem.” Said Victoria through clenched teeth as the craft moved backwards and forwards until it was directly over the spherical green spiked object below. “That should do it.” She said.
“Aren’t you curious what it is?” Asked Romney.
‘Not really.” Said Victoria.
Romney sighed deeply. “Well It can’t be that clever really.” He said, “No fairies.”
“I am holding my breath.” Said Victoria, smiling. “I have been since we left the house.”
“Ah.”
“Yes.” There was a final lurch as the ship moved slightly sideways. “Right then. That’s it. I have programmed this button on the dashboard so that when I press it it moves us very rapidly fifty yards west.”
“Best belt yourself in then.” Said Romney. “G force will be significant.”
“Done.” she smiled and raising her hand pressed the button to release the bomb.
Several things happened at once, though she was not aware of all of them straight away. The bomb dropped and the skimmer shot west, coming to an abrupt halt at the far end of the pond was the first thing that happened. The other thing that didn’t happen was any explosion of any kind.
“It didn’t go off.” Said Victoria.
“Replay it on the screen’ said Romney and she pressed a switch on the metal plate and the screen changed to show under the ship and the bomb being released. The picture showed trails of steam from the recording Babbage device as the bomb fell towards the round green object. At the last moment however the green object rolled in the mud and the bomb missed it completely, falling instead into the deep brown mud of the bed of the pond where it now lay unmoving.
“It dodged it.” Said Victoria in disbelief as she moved the ship back over the pond, her thumb moving them over too as she did so. “Forty feet.” She said, and removed her outer garment to reveal her black fabric jumpsuit that shined almost as if it was made of metal and not just cloth.
The Complete Adventures of Victoria Neaves & Romney Page 11
