The Chaos Code

by Justin Richards

  ‘Your father should know better,’ Aunt Jane said quietly.

  ‘He does. That’s what I’m saying,’ Matt told her.

  ‘Look,’ Robin insisted, ‘it really isn’t important whether we think Atlantis is buried under the Antarctic. It doesn’t matter what you or I or any of us believe. The point is, what does Harper believe? And what does the disc tell him? In fact …’ She stopped, sighed, leaned forward across the table, her eyes imploring Matt to listen. ‘Harper doesn’t care about the Antarctic or where Atlantis may really have been. He is only after the ancient knowledge. Control and power. We know that – we’ve seen what it can do already. It might seem incredible, but it’s happening. He’s already found some of the ancient knowledge, unravelled some of the mysteries. Whatever he’s after now, we have to get there first. Call it treasure, call it Atlantis, call it Bertram if you like. We have to get to it first.’

  ‘Bertram?’ Matt echoed. ‘Where did Bertram come from?’

  Robin look at him in exasperation. ‘I don’t know. It was just the first name that came into my head.’

  ‘Bertram.’

  ‘What about it?’

  ‘Nothing. Nice name. Boyfriend?’ Matt hazarded.

  ‘Grow up,’ she told him sharply. Then the side of her mouth twitched. ‘I’d never have a boyfriend called Bertram.’

  ‘So how do we do that?’ Jane demanded. ‘How do we get there first? Are you suggesting we go to the Antarctic?’

  ‘Assuming that it is a map of Atlantis,’ Robin said, ‘that is by no means all that’s on the disc. What Harper is after – the specific knowledge he needs to refine and complete what he already knows, may well be in the other symbols on the disc. There’s no point going anywhere until we know what we’re doing and what we have.’

  ‘So we need to decipher the disc,’ Katherine said. ‘And quickly.’

  ‘And we need help,’ Robin said. ‘I’m surprised Mephistopheles Smith hasn’t got back to us yet. If there’s one person who can take on Harper, it’s him.’

  ‘Really?’ Katherine looked surprised. ‘He must be quite a guy.’

  ‘He would be if he returned my calls,’ Robin said.

  ‘I’ll call him again,’ Aunt Jane told them. ‘If he isn’t at home or on his mobile, I’ll try his office. Though there’s probably no one there at this time of night, and anyway you have to hold for hours to get anywhere in Whitehall these days. I’ll keep at it till I get him.’

  ‘I can do that,’ Katherine told her. ‘I feel like a spare part just sitting here. You know where everything is and can help. Let me work the phones. It’s the least I can do. And I do have some experience, you know.’

  Aunt Jane led Katherine to the door. ‘You can use my office. I’ll show you where it is.’

  ‘Now we know what the disc actually shows, we’re off to a good start,’ Robin said. ‘I wish my Dad was here. If he knew what we have realised, he’d have it cracked in no time at all, I’m sure.’

  ‘He’ll be all right,’ Matt assured Robin when Katherine and Aunt Jane had gone. He reached across the table and took Robin’s hands. ‘We’ll work it out, and your friend Smith will deal with Harper. It’ll all be OK.’

  ‘Thanks,’ she said. She blinked away the moisture in her eyes and stood up. ‘Let’s get started.’

  Robin began by pulling out books she thought might be useful – books of hieroglyphs and ancient languages from every part of the world. Soon the table was almost covered, and there were stacks of books on the floor round it as well. Matt was copying the symbols from the disc. They were difficult to see against the clay and he had to angle the disc to catch the light.

  ‘Once we have a set of symbols we can work from,’ Robin told him, ‘we can start looking for matches.’

  ‘In these books?’

  ‘And others. And on the disc you found upstairs.’

  By the time Aunt Jane returned, Matt had copied almost the whole of one side of the disc, carefully making sure he got not just the shape but the measurements right for each symbol. They looked relatively simple, but it was harder than he had expected to get them right. And as he worked, he realised how tired he was – after little or no sleep for what seemed like days and the effects of jet lag as well, he could barely focus.

  So it was a relief when Aunt Jane said: ‘You know, it’s well after midnight. We’ve all had rather a long day, and I think we’d do better to get some sleep and carry on in the morning when we’re more awake and with it.’

  ‘I think you’re right,’ Matt agreed.

  ‘I’m sure I am. I’ve shown Katherine where she can sleep, and she tells me she got a message to Mr Smith. He’ll be here in the morning. So that’s another reason why we all need to be on our toes.’

  ‘I’ll carry on for a bit,’ Robin said.

  Matt thought his aunt would insist. But, as so often before, she let Robin have her own way. The girl might be the daughter of Aunt Jane’s employer, but Matt was surprised. Adults were usually pretty insistent about children’s bedtimes. Except Dad – who never seemed to notice the time. His mind was wandering, he realised, which was another sign he was tired.

  ‘Matt?’ Aunt Jane was saying.

  ‘You’re right. I’d like to finish this side of the disc,’ he told her. ‘There’s only one symbol left after this one. But you go ahead – I’ll see you back at the cottage in a bit.’

  She gave him one of those ‘I don’t agree but I’m not going to bother to argue’ looks and sighed. ‘Don’t be too long.’

  ‘Ten minutes,’ he promised. ‘I’ll be back in half an hour at the most. Really.’

  He was on the final symbol when he realised Robin was standing next to him. ‘You’re doing well,’ she said.

  ‘Thanks. Nearly finished.’

  ‘Before you came through the telly in our room at Harper’s pyramid, Dad mentioned he’d made some notes that might be useful. He didn’t want to take them to Harper’s – I don’t think he trusted the man even before we left. So I’m going to see if I can find them. You all right, or do you want me to wait for you?’

  ‘Almost done. I’ll let myself out and see you in the morning.’

  She put her hand on his shoulder. ‘Good night then. I’ll see you soon.’

  ‘Don’t stay up too late,’ he told her. He watched her all the way to the door, before returning his attention to the final symbol.

  Matt’s pillow was hard and unyielding. And someone had turned the light on. Was it morning already? And why was he sitting down?

  He sat up abruptly, wide awake now. He was still in the library, one hand resting over the clay disc – he was lucky he hadn’t squashed it flat. The paper he had been copying the symbols onto was in front of him, but now a squiggly line led from the last symbol he had been drawing across the paper. He’d fallen asleep while drawing. How stupid was that?

  His watch told him it was nearly half past one. He’d been asleep for over an hour – and Aunt Jane would be livid. Actually, he thought as he stretched and stood up, she was probably already asleep and hadn’t realised he wasn’t back yet. Robin too, as she’d obviously not returned to the library.

  There was a noise. A loud throbbing, like an engine. Probably that was what had woken him up. It was a sound he knew – a helicopter. Was Smith on his way already? But it was receding into the distance. It certainly wasn’t coming to the house. Soon it had faded and gone.

  Matt rubbed out the rogue line across the paper with the eraser on the end of the pencil. He picked up the disc to take it with him, but then changed his mind and put it down again. He might sleep for hours, and someone else could be working on it in the meantime. He left the disc in plain sight on the table and made his bleary way to the door.

  The main lights were out in the corridor, but the lamps over the pictures were still lit. Sepia-toned faces stared out at him from old photographs. He smiled and nodded at them as he went past Robin’s ancestors – girls with the same distinctive dark hair and
facial features. All of them beautiful, he thought. But all of them had grown old and wrinkled and grey. He spared a little wave for the portrait on the table half way down the corridor – the fair-haired lady with green eyes. Elizabeth Venture, he remembered the name plate said, though there wasn’t enough light to read it now.

  The hallway was almost in darkness. The only light was coming from somewhere upstairs. It was a strange light – more of a glow. But flickering, like a bulb was about to go. And, Matt thought as he reached the front door, there was a strange smell. He hadn’t noticed that before. Someone cooking?

  Well, if someone wanted a midnight snack, that was nothing to do with him. Though now he came to think about it, Matt was feeling a bit hungry. Best to get back to Aunt Jane’s cottage and find something to eat there. It was strange, but it didn’t really smell like food. Burnt toast, maybe.

  Burnt.

  And as Matt turned slowly back towards the flickering light upstairs, the phone began to ring.

  ‘Hello?’ Matt said cautiously. This time of night it must be important. Perhaps it was the elusive Mephistopheles Smith.

  ‘Matt – is that you? Thank God!’ It was Aunt Jane.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Matt said quickly. ‘I dozed off. I–’

  She wasn’t listening. She was talking over him – urgent and loud, and it took a moment for him to decipher what she’d said: ‘What’s going on there? I can see flames. It looks like the whole house is on fire.’

  He almost dropped the phone. ‘I think the whole house is on fire.’ His mouth was suddenly dry. The flickering upstairs was growing more intense by the second. ‘I’ll get Robin and Katherine. You call 999.’ He hung up, and ran for the stairs, taking them two at a time and shouting at the top of his voice.

  The reply came from behind him: ‘What’s all the noise? Who was on the phone?’

  Robin was standing in the doorway to her father’s study, looking up at Matt in surprise.

  ‘The house is on fire,’ Matt told her. ‘Hadn’t you noticed?’

  ‘You obviously hadn’t,’ she told him. ‘There are alarms, sprinklers, why aren’t they working?’

  He ran back down the stairs. ‘Who cares. Aunt Jane’s calling the fire brigade. Let’s get out of here.’

  Robin hesitated. ‘Just a minute.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Something I want,’ she shouted as she ran to the corridor down to the library.

  ‘Don’t be stupid.’

  She was already running back along the corridor when Matt got to the front door. ‘Where’s Katherine?’

  Matt stopped dead. Smoke was rolling down the stairs behind him. He could hear the crackle of the fire upstairs. ‘We have to find her,’ he said. ‘Which room’s she in?’

  ‘How should I know?’

  ‘It’s your house. Where are the bedrooms?’

  Robin took a deep breath. ‘You get out. I’ll find her.’

  ‘No way.’ Matt grabbed her hand. ‘Come on.’ And together they plunged into the smoke.

  It was clearer at the top of the stairs. The first room they tried was empty, the bed unmade. When they came out, the far end of the corridor was full of flames.

  ‘If she’s the other side of that, we’ll never get to her,’ Matt said. ‘Katherine!’ he yelled. ‘Fire! Get out now!’

  The next room Robin tried was also empty. They could feel the heat of the fire when they came out again.

  ‘We’ll have to go back,’ Robin said.

  Matt couldn’t disagree. His face was uncomfortably hot. In the distance he could hear sirens. Leave it to the professionals, there was nothing else they could do. They ran back to the stairs.

  But before they got there, a raging ball of flame erupted from a doorway and blasted across in front of them. The carpet caught fire immediately – a wall of red and orange.

  ‘Now what?’ Matt yelled.

  There was fire both sides of them. He clutched at Robin, who was staring into the flames, held her tight.

  ‘Look,’ she said.

  The flames were moving. Not just flickering and burning randomly like a fire. Moving. As Matt watched, a whole section of the fire seemed to gather itself together, concentrated into a single red and orange shape. A figure stepping out of the flames. Like a man on fire.

  Burning feet sent sparks flying from the carpet, left a trail of flame behind them as the figure lurched down the corridor. Arms reached out, smoke rising from clutching fingers of flame. The head and body were a mass of fire. And behind it, another figure was struggling into life. And another.

  Matt turned and found the same thing happening behind them. Figures of flame detaching themselves from the fire and stalking towards Matt and Robin. The walls blackened as they came.

  ‘In here!’ Robin dragged Matt through a door, slamming it behind them.

  ‘Like that’ll help,’ he said. ‘Where now?’ There were no windows. Only what looked like a built-in wardrobe. ‘You think we can hide from them?’

  But it wasn’t a wardrobe. The door led out onto the upper gallery of the library. Behind them, they could hear the roar of the fire as it engulfed the door from the corridor. They raced across the gallery and clattered down the spiral staircase.

  A mass of flame crashed out across the gallery above them, ripping into the bookcases and setting them ablaze.

  Down the corridor again. The lights over the pictures were still on, but everything was misty from the smoke. They charged along, Robin leading the way, Matt barely registering that the portrait was gone from the side table.

  And out into the hall again. The stairs were on fire. A trail of flame led down and across the hall to the front door. As they watched, the door blistered and smoked. A curl of flame from the wood panelling. Then suddenly the whole door was a raging mass of orange and yellow. A section of the fire seemed to coalesce, and an orangered figure stepped out of the inferno and into the hallway in front of them, as if it was stepping through the door from outside. But it was made of fire – a blazing, raging mass of flame in roughly the shape of a man.

  After it, came another. The door was almost gone already, and Matt could see the darkness beyond. Blue flashing lights. Faint shapes of figures running forward.

  More fire demons coming down the stairs.

  Matt and Robin huddled together in the middle of the hall, as walking walls of flames closed in around them.

  Then suddenly, Matt was cold – freezing cold. And wet. He staggered back as the water from the firemen’s hoses outside ripped through the burning door and splashed over him and Robin. He was laughing, yelling with delight as the water scythed through the fire creatures by the door. The figures collapsed into pools of fire, dwindling and dying as the water splashed over them.

  The creatures on the stairs hesitated. Water from the hoses was running across the hall floor. A jet of water dowsed the bottom of the staircase, sending up steam instead of smoke. Matt was almost jumping for joy.

  But Robin wasn’t. She held Matt’s arm tight, pulling him back. ‘We need to get to the main circuit boards and stuff for the fire alarms – through there.’ She was pointing to a door on the other side of the hall.

  ‘Why?’ They could get out now. ‘Let’s get out of here!’

  ‘Water,’ she said.

  Matt didn’t need to ask her what she meant. He could see it now. The water from the hoses was running across the hall floor. Pooling at the foot of the stairs. rising up into the shape of a figure. In the doorway in front of them, the jets from the hoses seemed to stop. Water was still pouring in, but now it seemed to be filling huge, crudely shaped moulds, building massive figures of water that sloshed across the floor towards Matt and Robin.

  ‘At least they can’t burn us,’ Matt said.

  ‘They don’t need to,’ Robin told him.

  Wet figures reached out for them from all directions.

  A hand closed on Matt’s face, and it was like his head had been stuck in a bucket of water. He choked a
nd coughed. His vision blurred. He felt himself sinking deep, deep into the water …

  Drowning.

  Chapter 16

  Robin’s shoulder crashed into Matt’s chest, sending him staggering. His head emerged from the bubble of water, breaking out. He was gasping and retching. Behind him, water splashed to the floor, the surface tension broken.

  ‘Can’t you swim?’ Robin yelled. ‘It’s water, not fire. We can get through!’ She was thrashing out at the creature that was trying to hold her. It was like she was fighting a mirror – Matt could see Robin’s face reflected in the drops and drips and curves of the thing as it fought back. Her arm was encased in water, her whole body being sucked in.

  Matt grabbed the nearest thing – the small table with the phone on it. The phone clattered to the floor. He slammed the table into the side of the creature holding Robin. The creature exploded into a million droplets, raining down. Robin flicked her wet hair out of her eyes.

  Together they ran at the water creatures between them and the door into the main part of the house.

  Shoulders down, they smacked into the wet wall – like diving into the swimming pool. One of the creatures shattered like wet glass. The other managed to stay intact, but Robin and Matt were through it, landing in a soaking tumble on the floor.

  Robin was up at once, heaving the door open, racing through. Her feet slapped on the floor. Matt was close behind her.

  The main electrical board was in a cupboard in a small storeroom off the corridor beyond. Matt could see at once that something was wrong – the cover was cracked open and wires had been pulled out.

  ‘This was deliberate,’ he said.

  ‘Thank you, Einstein.’ Robin’s fingers were a blur as she sorted through the mess, pulling at wires and twisting their ends together.