The Castle in the Sea: Quest of the Sunfish 2 Page 7

  ‘I don’t think they’ve given up yet,’ Pod whispered. There had been something intent and focused about the way the guards shone their torches into every nook and cranny.

  At last they reached J207. They peered out of a dark doorway to see if there was anyone watching the door.

  ‘There’s no one on guard,’ Annalie said.

  ‘That’s stupid,’ Pod said. ‘I would have put a guard on if it was my tech.’

  Annalie didn’t care whether it was stupid or not. Escape seemed very close now, and she wasn’t about to start questioning it. ‘Maybe this is our lucky day. Let’s just figure out how we get back in.’

  Pod already had a plan. ‘I go back in the same window. You give me a boost. Then I pull you up.’

  Annalie was tired, her hand was throbbing like crazy, and her leg was killing her. It sounded good enough to her. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Let’s do it.’ The two of them stepped out of the doorway and began to hurry towards the warehouse.

  A voice rang out. ‘Hey you! Cadets! Stop there!’

  Cadet Annalie

  Pod and Annalie froze and turned around.

  A tiny red glowing light brightened and dimmed, then an officer stepped out of the darkness. He’d been sneaking a quiet cigarette, something you weren’t supposed to do on base. In the darkness, they hadn’t noticed him.

  ‘It’s well after 22:00. Why aren’t you in barracks?’

  Pod was rooted to the spot, but Annalie kept her head. She snapped to attention. Pod did his best to follow suit.

  ‘Sorry, sir,’ she said. ‘It’s my fault, sir. Forgot to pick up my laundry today. It’s got my parade kit in it and if I’m not in perfect order for parade tomorrow, my whole bunk’s going to suffer for it. And then they’ll make me suffer.’

  The officer narrowed his eyes at Annalie, then turned his attention to Pod. ‘That doesn’t explain what you’re doing out of barracks.’

  Pod could see he would have to say something. He had no idea what might or might not make a convincing lie. ‘I was hungry,’ he said.

  The officer was silent again, considering. ‘You certainly look like you need feeding up,’ he said finally. ‘What barracks are you in?’

  ‘Gold, sir,’ Annalie said crisply.

  The officer’s brows drew together into a slight frown. Was that doubt in his eyes? Had she said the wrong thing? For a long, horrible moment it seemed that they were about to be exposed as impostors. Finally the officer spoke. ‘Well, hurry up then,’ he said. ‘Get back to barracks. And next time, try and be more organised.’

  ‘Yes, sir, thank you, sir. I will, sir.’

  Annalie and Pod took off, hurrying away from the warehouse once more. It took all of Annalie’s willpower to walk without hobbling. They couldn’t afford to make the officer suspicious.

  As soon as they were out of sight, they sank down and hid. The pain in Annalie’s leg was hideous, and she wasn’t entirely sure she’d be able to get up again. They lay there, exhausted, both their hearts racing, waiting to see what would happen next. Not long afterwards, the officer strolled past, his hands in his pockets, whistling tunelessly.

  Once he was gone, Annalie spoke. ‘Let’s get out of here before someone tells him he should be looking for intruders.’

  They went back to the warehouse. This time there was nobody about. Annalie braced herself against the wall, laced her fingers together, and boosted Pod up the wall. The pressure of his foot made her hand start bleeding again, and when he climbed up on her shoulders to reach for the window she thought she’d collapse under his weight. It was very high, but Pod was both strong and determined. He slung the laundry bag up onto the window to protect them both from the remaining glass, then hauled himself up. Once inside, he dangled a spare jumpsuit out the window for Annalie, and somehow managed to pull her up the wall and into the room.

  It was just as dark as they had left it, and they hurried to the door. It was locked; this gave them a few anxious moments until Annalie discovered the door release and set them free. Then it was only a few moments more until they were through the last window and dropping into the street outside.

  Wirehead sauntered up. ‘What took you so long?’

  The Weather Man

  It was going to take some time to repair the Sunfish, so Annalie, Pod and Graham had no choice but to wait. The pirates had given them a tiny lean-to to sleep in during their stay. It was tacked onto the back of a kitchen and smelled of old cooking fat, with just one small window and a floor of cracked concrete. Two thin, stained pieces of foam rubber were the only bedding, and the room had no other furniture. The pirates themselves had nicer quarters, but as Pod explained, the nicer their quarters were, the more they’d have to pay for them.

  Nothing came for free on Dasto Puri. The room they’d been given, the medical treatment Annalie received for her cut hand and sprained ankle, the food they ate in the communal mess hall, even the biscuits they got for Graham—all of it was being added to their bill. ‘The less we eat,’ Pod warned, ‘the less we’ll owe.’ But the Kangs, it turned out, kept a rather good communal table, and they couldn’t help eating enthusiastically almost every time they went in there.

  Annalie did her best to hold Wirehead to the deal they’d made. The way she saw it, he’d promised to fix the boat, find Dan Gari, and help them search for Will and Essie. The first two things could wait, but the search for the others could not.

  ‘I’ll put the word out about your friends,’ Wirehead said, not with any great enthusiasm. ‘If they’re out there, someone will find them.’

  ‘But can’t you organise a search party? Send someone out? We’d be happy to go ourselves if you’d just lend us a boat.’

  ‘Lend you a boat? Do you know what my people have to do to earn a boat?’ he said, offended. ‘We don’t lend our boats to anyone.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Annalie said, ‘I just really need to find them.’

  ‘I said I’ll put the word out,’ Wirehead said. ‘That’s the best I can do.’ He paused. ‘So, did you still want to see Dan Gari?’

  A Kang guard escorted them up the narrow path that led up from the town, and switchbacked up the cliff to the top of the island. This path, they would later discover, continued on around the island’s high circumference and led to the lookout posts and defensive emplacements dotted around the cliffs, protecting every approach. Looming above it all, on the highest part of the island, was a tower, sturdily constructed in a military sort of way. The top of the tower was all windows, like the top of a lighthouse, ringed by a metal catwalk. The windows were reflective, so it was impossible to see inside, but the roof above it bristled with instrumentation of every kind.

  ‘What do you suppose that is?’ Pod asked.

  Their Kang escort spoke up. ‘That’s the Weather Man’s crib. Most of us have never even been inside it.’

  They reached the foot of the tower. The Kang pressed a buzzer; a camera swivelled; they were examined; the door beeped and the Kang opened it.

  ‘The Weather Man’s waiting,’ he said.

  Annalie and Pod stepped inside; the Kang didn’t follow. He took up a position outside the door, standing guard, and let the door swing shut again.

  ‘Enough security?’ Annalie whispered.

  ‘Pirates,’ Pod replied, also in a whisper. ‘Paranoid.’

  They were at the base of a circular staircase. There was nowhere to go but up, so they went up. Doors opened off the staircase as they climbed; all were closed and secured with electronic locks. When they reached the top of the staircase, they were confronted with yet another door. Annalie pressed the buzzer. Another camera focused on them, there was a definite pause, and then this door, too, opened.

  They stepped into a room as wide as the tower itself. It was entirely walled with windows, but the glass had been darkened to reduce the glare, so the room had a twilight look. In the centre of the room was a huge console stacked to the ceiling with screens and readouts, instruments and displays. The am
ount of information on display was dizzying, all of it updating and changing and refreshing every moment. It seemed hard to believe any one person could keep track of this much data, and yet the console only had a single chair in front of it. All these readouts were the responsibility of one man.

  That man was standing awkwardly behind his chair, looking as if he rarely had visitors and didn’t know what to do with himself. He was pale, with a round belly and a bald head. He had none of the swagger of most Kangs, who liked to dress up in fancy waistcoats and jaunty hats and purple kerchiefs. This man wore baggy green shorts, plastic sandals, and a huge shapeless T-shirt with the name of a pre-Flood vid about a space war on it. The look on his face was too blank to be hostile, but it was not exactly welcoming either.

  ‘I heard you’ve been looking for me,’ he said.

  ‘Are you Dan Gari?’

  He nodded.

  Annalie wouldn’t have recognised him from the photograph Essie had found, but then this man had the kind of indistinct face you’d forget within five minutes of meeting him. ‘My name’s Annalie Wallace. I’m Spinner’s daughter.’

  She’d hoped he might smile or look a bit more friendly at the mention of Spinner’s name. Instead, he frowned. ‘Is that supposed to mean something to me?’

  ‘You must remember Spinner. Ned Wallace? You worked together, a long time ago.’

  ‘You want something from me,’ Gari said. ‘What is it?’

  Anxiety was beginning to seep into Annalie’s mind, making it hard to think clearly. ‘Help,’ Annalie said. ‘Information.’

  ‘About the weather?’

  ‘About Spinner,’ Annalie said, starting to become frustrated. ‘Has he been in contact with you? Has he been here?’

  ‘I don’t think I have anything to say to you on that subject,’ Gari said.

  ‘But he left me your name and address. You were on a list.’

  ‘A list?’ Gari said, looking alarmed. ‘What list?’

  ‘I think you know what list,’ Annalie said.

  Gari reached for his console and pressed a button. ‘Hey, you, whatever your name is, can you come up here, please? You shouldn’t have let these people in.’

  Annalie realised she and Pod were about to get thrown out—or worse. ‘No wait, please—’

  ‘You could be Admiralty spies for all I know,’ Dan Gari said.

  ‘I’m not a spy!’ Annalie cried. ‘I’m Annalie Wallace!’

  Pod spoke for the first time. ‘She can prove it.’

  ‘How?’ Gari said suspiciously.

  ‘We’ve got Graham. Spinner’s parrot. You must remember him.’

  Gari frowned, then said, ‘Show me.’

  The guard took Pod back down to the town. Pod soon returned with Graham on his shoulder.

  ‘Graham,’ Pod said. ‘Do you remember this man?’

  Graham fluttered to the back of Gari’s chair and peered into the man’s face. ‘Danny Boy?’ he enquired after a moment.

  Gari’s eyebrows went up slowly.

  ‘Hair gone,’ Graham said. ‘You got fat.’

  ‘Manners, Graham!’ Annalie said.

  Graham rarked. ‘Too old for manners.’

  There was a moment of silence. Then Gari said, ‘I always wondered how Spinner put up with you.’

  ‘Graham charming boy,’ Graham said, and fluffed himself up.

  Gari turned to Annalie. ‘You look more like her than him,’ he said, in an abrupt sort of way.

  ‘So you do remember Spinner?’

  ‘Course I do,’ Gari said. ‘But I’m not going to talk about him to just anyone. I had to be sure.’

  ‘You couldn’t tell just by looking at me?’

  ‘They could’ve found someone who looked right. Coached you about what to say.’

  ‘Who could?’

  ‘The Admiralty, of course. So, this list . . . does it really exist?’

  Annalie nodded. ‘Spinner left it for me—it was in code. You’re on it, and so are Sola Prentice, Ganaman Kiveshalan and Sujana Kieferdottar.’

  ‘He didn’t tell me he’d done that,’ Gari said fretfully.

  ‘You’ve spoken to him?’ Annalie asked eagerly.

  ‘Oh yes,’ Gari said. ‘He was here.’

  ‘Really? When?’

  ‘A few weeks ago.’

  ‘Is he still here?’ Annalie asked.

  ‘No. He couldn’t stay here.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘With the Admiralty on his tail? They wouldn’t tolerate it.’ By ‘they’ he clearly meant the Kang Brotherhood. Annalie thought it was interesting he didn’t say ‘we’. ‘Anyway, he didn’t want to stay. He’s going to see all the others.’

  Annalie looked at Pod with pleasure and relief. ‘So we are on the right track,’ she said. Back on Little Lang Lang, Uncle Art had suggested that the voyage to the Moon Islands had just been a ruse and that Spinner might never have actually left Dux. Now they knew for certain he really was here—somewhere. ‘So he was coming to see you?’ she asked. ‘What did he come here for?’

  ‘To figure out what to do, of course.’

  ‘You mean, what to do with the stolen research?’

  Gari looked at her suspiciously. ‘It was our research. I’m not sure it’s stealing if you created it in the first place.’ He caught himself. ‘What do you know about that?’

  ‘We know you were researching the Collodius Process, but you began to worry the work was going to be used for the wrong reasons.’

  ‘We had no doubt they were going to use it for the wrong reasons,’ Gari said. ‘There was no other reason for doing the research they had us doing. They wanted to build the device again.’

  ‘But why?’ Annalie asked.

  ‘They didn’t tell us why. Maybe they were hoping to work out a way to reverse it, maybe they wanted to engineer another flood event. We didn’t know, they wouldn’t tell us. That information was even more top secret than the work we were doing.’

  ‘Surely they must have told you something,’ Annalie said.

  ‘You don’t know much about military organisations, do you, little lady?’ Gari said patronisingly. ‘They tell you what they think you need to know and no more. So we were in the dark about their motives. All we had to go on was the direction of the work. And they were definitely pushing us towards the rebuild stage.’

  ‘Is that what you stole?’ Annalie asked. ‘Plans to rebuild the device?’

  ‘The device is the least of it,’ Gari said, sounding increasingly grand as he warmed to the story. ‘The device is just a gadget. The hardware, that was Spinner’s part. But the device is nothing without all the other elements: the precise chemical formula to change the way water disperses. The correct atmospheric level for deployment. The weather modelling that tells you where it’s going to go. Not to mention all the other modelling that tracked every other variable: the heat in the atmosphere, the effect of increased weather volatility on rainfall, where the water used to be, where it is now, how it behaves under these new conditions, what’s been going on in the forty years since the last event.’

  ‘What has been going on?’ Annalie asked.

  ‘You have to understand, the Collodius Process didn’t just cause a flood. It changed everything. It changed rain. It changed clouds. We’re still trying to work out how all of it fits together now—the wind, the currents, everything that makes weather. And you can’t do that without data. Reams of data. Mountains of data. And we don’t have that data, because not even the Admiralty can keep track of the whole world.’

  ‘It looks like you’re collecting a lot of data,’ Annalie observed.

  ‘I am,’ he said, glancing with pride and affection at his readouts. ‘The Kangs think all this is for them.’ He smirked, then realised what he’d said. ‘A lot of it is for them of course. I make sure they’ve got better information about weather and the oceans than the Admiralty. Trust me, the Admiralty’s got no one who’s better at this than me. And thanks to my Kang brothers, I�
�ve got all the best tech too. But forecasting the weather for pirates doesn’t require an array like this.’

  ‘What is it for?’ Annalie asked.

  ‘The work, of course,’ Gari said. ‘The Collodius Process. I’m still tracking it. Still tracing the effects. It’s still flowing through the system, and we have to study it. It’s the only way we’ll ever really know what they did to our world.’

  ‘But who are you doing the research for?’ Annalie asked.

  ‘For? What do you mean?’

  ‘You’re not doing it for the Kangs. And I presume you don’t want to share it with the Admiralty.’

  ‘And get thrown in prison for the rest of my life? And that’s the best-case scenario. Not a chance.’

  ‘Then who is it for?’

  Gari paused, his grandiose tone faltering. ‘For my colleagues, I suppose. For the dead. For the future.’ He paused again. ‘That’s why he was here—Spinner. To talk about what we do next. Fifteen years ago we took a stand, and we’ve been living with the consequences ever since. Back then we all agreed to stay away from each other, for safety’s sake. But now they’ve found Spinner, he’s worried we’re all in danger—and the research is too.’

  ‘Do you agree with him?’ Annalie asked, worried. ‘Are you in danger?’

  ‘Spinner’s got a world of trouble after him, and some of the others are hanging in the wind. But I should be okay. I’ve got an island full of pirates to protect me. As long as the Kangs think I’m worth more to them here than I would be if they handed me over for a reward, then I’m safe.’

  ‘Bet the Admiralty pays a good reward,’ Pod observed.

  ‘Good weather information is worth its weight in gold,’ Gari said stiffly, ‘and it’s the gift that keeps on giving. They can only sell me to the Admiralty once, but they’ll always need someone to tell them about the weather.’ But even Gari himself didn’t seem convinced. ‘If something does happen to me, I can destroy all the key data to prevent it falling into the wrong hands. But it won’t happen. I’ve got my data in a very secure location. I hope Spinner has too.’