He shook his head. “Nope. It has to be detonated by extreme heat or a small explosion. That’s what the detonators are for. We’re safe. Relatively speaking.”
Safe? With a pile of modelling clay that could blow up four houses or two very big holes, sandwiched in between the wall and some very ugly metal plates? The ship lurched again and Sarina stumbled against Nathan.
“I think that’s your answer about the tides. We’d better get the kids to settle down and make sure the buckets are distributed. And you should sit down and stare at something fixed. Try to breathe and settle your tummy.”
Settle her tummy? Had he lost his mind? She gave Nathan a look of despair. “My tummy won’t be settled until we’re all released. But why would the Captain want to blow up his own ship?”
Nathan frowned. “That’s a really good point.” He brightened. “Why don’t we ask him?”
“Are you mad? We just walk up to him and tell him his ship is wired to blow us all up?”
Nathan whipped around to look at her and held his finger up to his mouth. “Shhhh!”
She lowered her voice. “Oops. Sorry. But I really do think you’re mad.” Sarina spotted Rona’s puzzled look from across the hold. “We’d better have a chat with Rona.”
They joined Rona and sat down. Lena had wandered off and was playing with her phone. “That thing must have a super-ultra-whizzbang battery,” Nathan said, giving Lena’s phone an envious look from afar. “She’s been messing with that ever since she got here. My Dad’s always complaining about having to charge his.”
Rona nodded. “She said the Professor gave it to her to play with. It used to be Agent Blanchard’s.”
Nathan started. “THAT phone! Now I know—”
Sarina stopped him with her hand on his arm. “Don’t we have some rather explosive news to share with Rona? And a stupid idea to discuss?”
Nathan went red. “Ah yes. Well it’s like this. Sarina found parts of this hold stuffed with enough plastic explosive to sink the ship at least twice, and she wondered why the Captain would want to sink his own ship. I said we should ask him. What do you think?”
Rona’s jaw had fallen open. Sarina could see she was trying to speak, but her eyes were flicking around trying to make sense of what Nathan had just said. “I ... I ...”
She was saved from answering by another sudden lurch of the ship, and anyone standing lost their balance and stumbled to the floor. Some of the kids screamed, and others shrieked the kind of nervous laughter that could be heard from a fairground ghost train ride.
Rona had managed to hang onto the wheels of her wheelchair and waited for Sarina and Nathan to pick themselves back up. Some of the older kids had already moved to soothe the younger and more tearful ones. “This entire scenario seems to go from one nightmare to the next. Honestly ... I don’t know what to think. If it were me, I’d say the Captain is rather possessive of his ship. Why would he want to sink it?”
“For a lot of money?” Nathan said.
They looked at each other, and held on tight as another shudder moved through the freighter.
“But why would he put it where he knows we might find it?” Sarina screwed her face up and thought. She looked around at the scared, tear-stained faces. For their sake she had to pull herself together, and drew in an involuntary breath as she straightened. Who would put something so nasty in with a room full of kids they were hiding?
She slapped her head. “I’m so stupid!”
The other two looked at her, nonplussed.
“The reason he didn’t put it where we would find it, is because he didn’t put it here. Someone else put it here because they wanted to hide it from him, and they knew he wouldn’t look here. They probably gambled that if we found it, we wouldn’t know what it was ...” she trailed off and looked at Nathan. “Actually—”
“How did I know what it was?” He grinned. “The smell. Remember that tour of the explosives factory I went on ages ago? They told me years ago terrorists started using C4 plastic explosive, and so the governments passed new laws that required a special smell be added to all plastic explosive, so it would be hard to smuggle.”
“C4?” Rona looked confused. “Didn’t you say it was PE4?”
“Same thing. C4 is its common name, but it’s actually the American name for it. And theirs is white. PE4 is made here, and it’s an off-white colour.” He rubbed his temple. “That’s another good point actually. What would a Russian Captain be doing with PE4? Surely if it was his, he’d use SEMTEX, which is from the Czech republic I think—and it’s red. As far as I know, PE4 is only available to the British Military ...” he stopped and looked at them both.
“What?” Sometimes he was sooo frustrating.
He shrugged. “I dunno. But I’d bet Sarina is right. The Captain had nothing to do with it.” He looked at Sarina. “And I think if we bring it to his attention, it might just earn us some brownie points.”
The ship rumbled and pitched, but this time they held on.
“You’d better go and get him quickly,” Rona said. “I don’t think I would survive that crane in these conditions, besides”—she looked around the room—“these poor little ones need me here.”
“Right. I’ll get on to it.” He started to leave, but Sarina caught his elbow.
“Hey. Wait for me. And let me do the talking. This time I promise to make him listen.”
Nathan gave her a strange look as they made their way to the metal staircase. “How?”
She managed a quick smile. “You’ll see.”
~ 27 ~
A Gamble
The freighter bumped and groaned loudly as they were marched up to the Captain’s office. No sneak peek outside this time, Sarina realised. She was desperate for some fixed point on the horizon to look at—but nonetheless she managed to keep her stomach from taking over. Not that there was anything left in it. She was running on adrenaline now, and hoped she had enough left to confront Captain Ilia.
And then before she knew it, they were in front of him. This time he was seated behind a well-worn wooden desk covered in papers. He didn’t look happy. Sarina swallowed. What had she done? A thirteen year-old girl negotiating with a seasoned Russian pirate? Then the images of the kids down in the hold flashed through her mind, and she remembered the plastic explosive and its distinctive smell, which still lingered on her fingers. She steeled herself.
The man looked them up and down. “Why you trouble me? Ship already have enough trouble. Now speak.”
Sarina came forward. “Sir, I have discovered something I really think you should see for yourself.”
Captain Ilia’s bared his teeth in a lurid grin. “More lies? Customer tell me your friend is giving them machine today.”
Nathan and Sarina exchanged a hasty glance. The Professor didn’t have the collider. What was going on?
Sarina took a deep breath and looked the Captain in his bloodshot eyes. “Your kids—you said I was like your daughter, Petra?”
The Captain motioned for her to continue, without taking his eyes off her.
She thought again of all the children down in the belly of the ship, at risk of being blown to smithereens.
“Do you know when she is telling you the truth?”
Captain Ilia laughed. “But of course. Papa know daughter’s tricks. Always. But I don’t have time for game. What you discover?”
“Captain Ilia, have your family—your children—ever visited your ship?”
The man’s chest puffed up. “Of course. Ilia work hard to be Kapitan. Was deck boy to begin. All children want to see my ship.”
“Will they come on board again any time soon?”
Nathan shot a quick glance at Sarina. She ignored him.
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. Why I tell you?”
She leaned forward. “Because I’d suggest you tell them to avoid their next visit.”
The Captain frowned, his face reddening. He thumped the desk. “What—”
“They wou
ld be in great danger.”
The bulky man stood and opened his mouth to speak. Sarina held up her hand to stop him. “Captain Ilia. Am I telling the truth?”
He stared at her for a long time. She could hear her heart beating fast.
“Prove it.”
She reached in her pocket and pulled out the putty-like ball of explosive. She placed it on the desk in front of him, being careful to exaggerate her care. “Captain Ilia, there are kilograms of this stuff packed into our hold. And we don’t believe a true Captain like you would have put it there. Do you know what it is?”
He picked up the ball of plastic explosive and sniffed it, while looking Sarina in the eye. His eyes widened. He rattled off a string of loud commands in Russian and several men appeared in the room. He walked around in front of his desk and put his finger under her chin. She held his gaze. He leaned his face into hers. “My mother had saying: ‘The egg does not teach hen’. You think you are clever with me. Show me where you find this.” He flicked a finger at one of the men, who grabbed her roughly, while another did the same to Nathan, and together they were dragged off, followed by the Captain.
They made their way back to the hold, stopping on occasion to steady themselves from the bumping and rolling, though Sarina noticed all the crew moved with the motion and adjusted their stance, whereas she and Nathan were forced to grab hold of a railing , door handle, or each other to prevent themselves falling over.
Back in the hold, at the Captain’s gesture, she led the party of men across to the corner where she had found the first plate. She saw Rona watching them as they walked through the kids, who scrambled away and observed from a distance.
Captain Ilia beckoned one of his men to come forward, and a tall man with a blond crewcut stepped over to the plate and peered into the gap. He pulled away more of the plastic explosive, sniffed it, and turned to the Captain with a nod. The Captain said something in Russian, to which the man answered, “Da.” He then reached up and placed his fingers behind the plate. He seemed to be wiggling around for something, then his hand emerged clutching a narrow cylinder trailing wires. The wires appeared to run back up to the top of the plate. The blond man pulled a pair of pliers from a tool bag on his belt Sarina hadn’t noticed before, and snipped the wires. He spoke to the Captain in a tone that sounded like a question.
“Da,” Captain Ilia said, then he stared at Sarina. She flushed. “There is more?” She pointed over to the other side of the hold. The Captain jerked his head at the other men and they left to investigate the other plate. The Captain, Sarina and Nathan watched from a distance as the tall man once again felt around behind the protruding metal, and pulled something out. From a distance and in the dim light it was hard to discern what it was, but Sarina had no doubt it was an identical cousin to the detonator he had already cut away next to them.
The men returned, and there was a lengthy conversation between the Captain and several others. At the end, he gave them a brief nod, and motioned them away, then turned back to Sarina and Nathan. “Men will search ship for more explosive. Some return here to check more, and remove detonators. Children move to new area when is safe.” He reached over and placed his large hands on Sarina’s shoulders. She flinched. “Is okay. You brave girl, like my Petra. You speak truth, but this is problem for me now. Big problem. For sailor to have own ship sabotaged is worst crime. This is very big problem. But also”—he hesitated, and for the first time she saw a nervous fatherly smile flick across his face—“to make possibility of big explosion next to young children is ... not correct behaviours.” He released her shoulders and stood back. “Men make ship safe and I will make thinking hat. You will please join me in little while. Maybe you help with plan. Maybe we talk to friend with weapon.”
He grinned at them both and strode off. This time the door at the top of the stairs remained open, with one man stood guard.
Nathan let out a huge breath. “Cripes, Sarina! That was well-played.”
She managed a weak smile and steadied herself against the wall as the freighter lurched. “May I please have a bucket? Quickly?”
~ 28 ~
A Startling Conclusion
“The Dish” Observatory, New South Wales, Australia
“Hey TJ—did you get my message?” Dr. Ashley Green looked at the screen which showed her video call across to Professor ‘TJ’ Thomas at the Australian Astronomical Observatory in Coonabarabran. The figure on the screen waved and pointed to his ears, before getting up and disappearing from view. “Great,” she muttered, “he can’t hear me.” She took another sip of coffee—the last couple of days had been long ones. TJ returned with a headset and boom microphone, and slipped them on as he sat back down. “Don’t you have a good sound system on your state-of-the-art equipment over there,” she said and smirked at him.
His expression was serious and he spoke very softly. “Actually we do. A very good one. Which was exactly why I fetched these. We don’t want everyone to be overhearing this now do we.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the other employees behind him going about their business. “There’s been so many leaks and dumb media reports that I’m having a hard time trusting anyone right now. Except you of course.” He beamed at her briefly before assuming his serious face again. “How about you? Can you put your ’phones on?”
She nodded, and pulled a set out from the drawer in her desk and put them on, adjusting the volume a little as she did so. “There’s no one else here right now. But still—you agree with my deductions then?”
The small head-and-shouldered figure on the screen nodded. “Yep. Quite surprising—shocking really.” TJ held his voice low. “Can only mean one thing—maybe two things if you’re really out there. But it doesn’t matter which one is true, because either one of them will totally put the cat among the pigeons. There’s gonna be a lot of finger pointing.”
She nodded. “And a whole planet of very scared and angry people. But the information has to be shared, no matter what. I’m guessing we go straight to the top of SSERVI, and maybe the President.” She heard TJ’s sharp intake of breath.
“No loyalty to our own PM, eh?”—he held up his hand when he saw her start to defend herself—“It’s okay, Ash, I’m with you 100%. This needs to get to the people who can manage the fallout from it as cleanly as possible.”
She rubbed her eyebrow. “What did you mean when you said it could mean two things?”
TJ leaned in close—silly really, she thought, since the mike on the headset didn’t get any closer. A human habit nevertheless. He spoke very quietly. “To have conclusively pinpointed an exact date and time—to the second—that this happened, and in the absence of any other cosmological events of any significance, means it had to have been a human-caused event, yes?”
She nodded.
He smiled. “Don’t take this the wrong way. There will be those—and I’m not one of them—who will say it was caused by aliens.”
She almost spat out her coffee.
“But you see what I mean? The most probable cause is us. Mankind. Maybe some new military weapon in space; maybe they’ve finally invented tractor-beams and some idiot pointed it at the moon—but the thing is, the public won’t be logical. They’ll be emotional. That’s why I agree with you. It’s gotta go to the top and quickly, before the TV start broadcasting images of little green men hiding on the dark side of the moon, and there are riots in the streets. And if they don’t know who—or what—has caused it, then they’ll start reeling in all the oddball projects and going through them with a fine-toothed comb.”
Ashley hadn’t seen that angle. She’d taken the matter-of-fact scientific approach to the startling conclusion from her recent triangulation of all known data: the changes in the moon’s orbit had not been gradual—analogue—but had begun with a sudden and dramatic shift, one that all the data agreed occurred to the precise nano-second. Weird, but undeniable, and she had stared at the data long and hard before she sent it to TJ with her messa
ge. What could do such a thing? Most of the rest of the world was concerned about the changes in the orbit, now thought to be accelerating, and there were endless debates on TV about the changes to climate, the emergency procedures being developed—and the public were being urged to stay calm. The moon would settle, they were being told. A temporary thing, politicians across the world had said.
But she’d been curious to track backwards, not forwards. When they found the cause, they would be able to make more accurate predictions about the moon’s behaviour and stimulate rational dialogue.
But now she wasn’t so sure she wanted to know the truth. If some part of the human race had invented a weapon that could move the moon? She shuddered.
“Ashley?” TJ looked concerned. “Are you alright?”
She nodded and pulled herself together. She was a scientist, not a psychologist. Now all she could do was hope the human race could save itself. “Yes. I’m fine. Makes man-made climate-change look like a non-event, doesn’t it? Now, how do we get hold of the President on a secure line?”
She couldn’t believe she’d heard herself say that last sentence.
~ 29 ~
A Lot To Talk About
Several hours had passed before the Captain had returned to ask Sarina, Nathan and Rona to his meeting room. Before leaving, Sarina had organised a brief huddle with the kids, and she’d announced the Captain was opening up some new areas of the ship for them to explore. The looks of relief on their faces, as they greeted the news with cheers and whoops of joy, felt like a weight off her shoulders. She warned them they had to be accompanied by a crew member wherever they went, and they might be asked not to go in certain areas. Once she’d done that, she’d felt comfortable enough to follow the Captain upstairs.
Comfortable enough. She was wondering about that when she was forced to grab a rail to stop herself toppling backwards into Nathan behind her when the ship yawed suddenly.
The Dreamer Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set Vol I - III: A Sci-Fi Parallel Universe Adventure (The Dreamer Chronicles - Science Fiction For Kids And Adults) Page 78
