13
An Interesting Hypothesis
“That’s an interesting hypothesis,” mused Maddy. “However, since the theory of general relativity describes gravitation as the curvature of spacetime by matter and energy, a quantization of gravity must therefore imply quantization of spacetime geometry.”
“Really.” Edwin’s head was hurting, and they’d only been walking for two and a half minutes.
“The conceptual complications arise from the nature of the gravitational interaction,” continued Maddy. “Especially the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass, which permits one to represent gravity as a property of spacetime itself, rather than as a field propagating in a passive spacetime background. Furthermore…”
“How about some Latin grammar?” suggested Edwin, who was getting a little tired of advanced physics.
“Why not?” Maddy nodded. “Let’s do verb conjugations. Or if you’d prefer noun cases, we could do nominative, genitive, vocative or…”
“Or how about we just give it a rest for a bit?” Edwin halted and put a hand to his forehead.
“Oh.” Maddy looked disappointed. “Weren’t you enjoying it?”
“Of course I was.” Edwin forced a smile. “But I’m not sure I can handle this much fun. Besides, we should be heading back.”
“So soon?” Maddy shook her head. “But we’ve only just started.”
“I said five minutes.” Edwin pointed at his wristwatch. “We’ve been gone three already.”
“Just thirty seconds more,” pleaded Maddy. “Then we’ll go back to the hall.”
“Thirty seconds,” agreed Edwin, against his better judgement. “So which way now?”
The corridor branched in front of them.
Maddy stroked her chin. “I reckon the right hand passage goes back to the entrance. Which means we should go left if we want to explore more of the manor.”
Maddy skipped off down the left hand corridor. Edwin followed, keeping one eye on his wristwatch.
The left hand corridor seemed even darker than the others. There was a stark chill in the air, and Edwin regretted not wearing any leggings.
But it wasn’t just the drop in temperature that made Edwin shiver. He had a strange feeling, an uncomfortable feeling that made the hairs on the back of his neck bristle. It might have been an effect of the electric storm outside, but to Edwin it felt as though he was being watched.
And then he realised why.
A line of paintings hung on the passage wall, portraits of people wearing old-fashioned costumes, staring at him with eyes that seemed somehow alive.
Maddy also noticed the paintings, and stopped to examine them.
“Who do you think all these people were?” said Edwin. “Professor Schrunkopf’s relatives?”
“Of course not,” snapped Maddy, as though offended by the suggestion. “The Schrunkopf Institute only acquired the house this year. These people lived here centuries ago.”
“The paintings are well preserved.” Edwin inspected the nearest canvas. It was a portrait of a woman, and Edwin realised there was something familiar about her.
“Hey Maddy, look over here. This woman’s got your hair.”
“My hair?” Maddy touched the top of her head. “She can’t have, it’s still there.”
“I don’t mean like that.” Edwin grabbed Maddy’s arm and dragged her closer to the painting. “Her hair’s green, look. Perhaps you’re related.”
“Don’t be silly.” Maddy pulled away from Edwin. “Green hair is more common than you think.”
Edwin doubted that. But then it wasn’t just the colour of the woman’s hair that resembled Maddy. Her face was similar, with a snub nose and bright blue eyes.
Edwin moved to the next painting, which was a boy who also resembled Maddy. He checked more portraits, and found two girls and two boys sharing the same features. There was also a man. He had fair hair and a moustache, but his dimpled chin looked very familiar.
“They could be your ancestors.” Edwin turned back to Maddy. “Your family might have lived here all those years ago.”
Maddy was staring at the portrait of the woman, and her large blue eyes were moistening.
“Did you hear me?” Edwin tapped her shoulder. “I said your family…”
“It’s just coincidence.” Maddy recoiled from the painting. “How do we know the paintings are a faithful depiction of the subjects? In those days it was fashionable for artists to portray an idealised version of people rather than an accurate physiognomic study.”
“I knew that,” said Edwin, though he wasn’t entirely sure what it meant. “But…”
When he looked round again, Maddy had disappeared. A rumble of thunder sounded, and Edwin felt suddenly alone. He glanced back at the paintings, and could have sworn he saw their eyes swivel.
Then, as the rumble faded, he heard a voice echoing down the corridor.
“Come here,” called Maddy. “I’ve found something much more interesting than paintings.”
Edwin tore himself away from the paintings and then hurried down the corridor to where Maddy stood waiting.
“What is it?” he asked expectantly.
“This.” Maddy stood aside to reveal…
“A door?” Edwin couldn’t hide his disappointment. “Doors aren’t interesting.”
“They are,” countered Maddy. “Let’s open it.”
Edwin shook his head. “We don’t know what’s behind it.”
Maddy nodded. “That’s what makes it interesting.”
“But we’ve used up our extra thirty seconds.” Edwin tapped his wristwatch.
“So thirty seconds more won’t make much of a difference.” Maddy grasped the rusty door knob.
“Maddy, no…”
Edwin’s protests were drowned by the groan of rusty hinges. And before he could utter another word of protest, Maddy was dragging him through the opened doorway.
Edwin found himself in a gloomy chamber lit by a pair of wall-mounted candles. This room was even colder than the corridor, and there was a pungent odour that reminded him of…
“Mothballs.” Edwin froze. “Madame Voltaria.”
“Maybe it’s her bedroom,” pondered Maddy. “Look, here’s a dressing table.”
Edwin looked where Maddy pointed, and sure enough there was a dressing table. It was a bit like the one his mother had, except instead of hair curlers, cotton buds and tweezers, it had spark plugs, clumps of steel wool, and a pair of wire cutters lying on it.
“That’s some heavy duty cosmetic accessories,” observed Maddy. “Wonder if she moisturises with paint stripper?”
“Maybe this isn’t her bedroom,” pondered Edwin. “I don’t see a bed.”
Maddy pointed again. “But there’s a wardrobe, look.”
Through the gloom Edwin could discern an upright rectangular shape. It looked too narrow for a wardrobe, and was tapered at the top and bottom. It might not have been a wardrobe, but it reminded Edwin of something. If only he could think what.
“And what’s that over there?” Maddy gestured at something next to the odd shaped wardrobe. It was about the size and shape of a fridge, but had knobs and dials on the top.
Edwin’s curiosity got the better of his nerves, and he walked over to study the fridge shaped object.
“Looks like some sort of power unit. There’s a connecting cable from a socket in the wall.”
“Here’s another.” Maddy took hold of a second cable coming out of the machine. “And it goes into the wardrobe. I wonder what it’s doing.”
“Be careful,” warned Edwin. “It might be dangerous.”
But Maddy had already tugged the second cable. There was a crackling noise, and she staggered backwards into Edwin.
“Are you OK?” Edwin held on to Maddy, fearing she might have had an electric shock.
She certainly looked shocked; her lips hung open, and her magnified blue eyes were wider than ever. She pointed at the wardrobe, and murmured softly.
“It’s opening…”
Edwin looked at the wardrobe, and realised Maddy’s shock was not the result of an electric current.
The wardrobe door was opening, emitting a harsh pulsing light. And it was only then that Edwin realised what that odd shaped wardrobe reminded him of.
“A coffin,” he breathed. “It’s a coffin!”
Edwin’s instinct was to run, but he stood frozen in terror as a figure emerged from the coffin.
It was Madame Voltaria, and she looked even stranger than before. Sparks crackled from the pins on her head, and her eyes flashed like a car’s hazard warning lights.
“I think she might have blown a fuse.” Recovering from her shock, Maddy pushed Edwin towards the door. “Either that, or she doesn’t like having her beauty sleep interrupted. Let’s not wait to find out.”
Maddy bundled Edwin out of the room, slamming the door shut behind them.
“Follow me,” she cried, running off down the corridor.
“But that’s not the way we came.” Edwin stood in front of the bedroom door. “It would be safer to head back to the hall.”
There was a splintering crash, and a bony hand smashed through the door to grab Edwin’s shoulder.
He felt a stabbing electric shock from those bony fingers, but managed to twist free from Voltaria’s grasp before haring after Maddy. He rounded a corner and found his friend standing in the middle of the corridor.
“Didn’t you hear me?” he gasped. “It would be better to head back to the hall. We don’t know where this corridor goes.”
“We do now.” Maddy gestured at the wall ahead of them. “Nowhere. It’s a dead end.”
There was another splintering crash from behind them. Edwin wheeled round to see Madame Voltaria had burst through the door and was advancing on them.
“Perhaps we should surrender.” Edwin turned back to Maddy. “Maybe she’ll… Maddy?”
Maddy had vanished.
Voltaria glided closer to Edwin. She clasped her silver disc pendant with one hand, and reached out to him with the other. Sparks flashed from the tips of her outstretched fingers, and her eyes throbbed with fiery fury.
Edwin closed his eyes, bracing himself for the searing pain that was to follow.
Then fingers closed around his arm, and Edwin screamed as he felt himself falling backwards…