Gathering Clouds by James Field - HTML preview

Chapter Five

Grey

Fred, chief engineer, pumped oil from his can and whistled a merry tune. The ship's engines had been idle for days now, and with nothing better to do, he passed time by pampering the machines with a little light maintenance. But his cherished engine room was far from silent and he wore ear protectors to dampen the sound. Generators roared, supplying the icebreaker with electric life.

Without reason, the generators stopped. Fred lifted his ear protectors and looked up in surprise. A sudden deafening screech surprised him even more, and he dropped the ear protectors back in place. Then all the lights blacked out and his stomach and head spun so violently he thought he was having a stroke. He stumbled against the railings and held on for support, but a vicious jerk toppled him over, sending him tumbling into a deep pit beneath the engine.

Leroy had been standing beside the engine's main control panel when the generator stopped. He dropped the barbell he'd been lifting and listened. The screech made him scowl, the dizzy nausea made him sway, and the violent jerk threw him headlong to the floor. Only his rolled up woollen hat saved his skull from cracking. He lay still and listened. The room was so silent he could hear his eyelids open and close; and the room was so dark it made no difference.

'What's happened Fred?' he called, fumbling to his feet while rubbing the back of his head.

Even the emergency lights hadn't come on, but Leroy knew his way around and felt his way to the desk. He found a cigarette lighter, flicked it into life, and gazed around in the meagre light. Everything looked normal enough. With one hand rubbing his sore head, he plodded across to the generator, pressed the start button, and wondered why nothing happened.

'Where are you, Fred? What's going on here?' he called. He made his way to a small emergency generator and pressed the start button, but nothing happened there either. He decided the batteries must be flat, all of them, everywhere.

The emergency generator was also equipped with a cord-start. Leroy primed the carburettor and tugged on the cord until he found the point of compression. He let the cord retract, then yanked it out. The motor spun, coughed, and chugged into life, re-establishing light and sound.

Throwing a few switches, Leroy diverted power to the main generator's starter. He pressed the generator's start button and grunted with satisfaction as the old vibration rumbled back into existence. Taking a few minutes to confirm everything worked normally, he stopped the small emergency generator and went in search of Fred.

~*~

In terrified awe, Dennis stumbled from the Land Rover and hobbled back to the container-laboratory. The world beyond the ship was gone, and all that remained was a formless grey shadow. The world had no substance, no colour, and no depth. It reminded him of a ship in a bottle, the glass stained with smoke and age, with the icebreaker and himself on the inside looking out.

Margery lay on the floor with her hands covering her head. Dennis bent down and she reached up and hung around his neck.

'Dennis,' she sobbed. 'What's happening?'

'Something terrible, Margery. Are you hurt?'

'I'm so scared, Dennis. There was a power failure, and a dreadful noise, and a jolt, and I felt so dizzy I thought I was going to die. I thought the iceberg had fallen over us.'

Dennis nodded. 'If only it was that simple, Margery, if only it was that simple.' He stroked her hair and waited until her breathing calmed. 'Come on my precious dove. Get up from the floor. I want you to be brave and come outside.'

Dennis led the way and held the door for Margery. She took one glance and covered her eyes. Her shoulders shook as she cried with fear, and Dennis drew her in close. After a while, she breathed deeply and lowered her hands.

'This is a living nightmare,' she said, holding Dennis' arm for comfort. 'Have you any idea?'

Dennis shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. 'I was calling Trevor on the zip-linq when it happened. I don't even know if he heard me. My experience was the same as yours, Margery, and I'm as mystified as you.'

A door squeaked open further along the deck and Captain Adam's ashen head peeked out. His bulging eyes stole a panicked glance over the ship's side, then he beckoned the two scientists. 'Come on in,' he called. 'We're meeting in the mess room.' With a final glance at the grey distorted world, he disappeared back inside.

'Dennis,' said Margery, her voice almost a whisper. 'We didn't administer the antidote.'

'No, Margery, we didn't. I think it's too late now. What the devil has happened here?'

They crept to the railing and peered over the edge. The sea was inky black, like a bottomless cave.

'Psst,' said somebody behind them.

The scientists snapped their heads around.

'Mother, Father, is anybody about?'

'Russell,' said Margery, 'you're always sneaking up on us. One day you're going to frighten the life out of us–what's left of it.' She glanced back along the deck. 'No. Nobody about. Come on out both of you and give me a hug.'

Dennis hurried them all into the container-laboratory. Trevor and Russell sat side by side on the settee and folded their arms on the table.

'You two look terrible,' said Russell, bright and cheerful as always. 'You're not worried about all this, are you?'

'Please tell me,' pleaded Margery with her hands in prayer. 'Please tell me you understand what's happening here. This whole trip has been worse than a nightmare.'

Trevor shook his head. 'We can only guess, Mother. At the moment we can only guess.'

Dennis gazed at his sons with admiration. 'I wish I felt as fresh as you boys look,' he said.

'Yeah,' said Russell, 'we saw you had a rough time in the storm, but we didn't feel a thing in the Cloud, nothing bothers the Cloud.'

'What about that jolt when all this happened?' asked Dennis. 'And that ghastly screeching sound? Your mother found it very upsetting.'

'We heard a “pop”,' said Trevor, 'that's all. We've heard it before and it's about the only clue we have.'

'Did you hear me calling on the Zip-Linq?' asked Dennis.

'Yes, just before all Hell broke loose.'

'I was about to let you know we'd found an antidote for the pink water and wanted picking up–Oh Lord. The antidote... My brain drug…'

Dennis dashed into the laboratory. He knew the antidote was safe in a stainless-steel thermos, but he wasn't so sure about his brain drug. A quick inspection calmed his fears and he returned with a smile.

'The jolt can't have been as bad as we imagine,' he said. 'Both the antidote and my brain drug have survived.'

'Stop smiling you stupid man,' said Margery. 'The antidote and your brain drug are irrelevant–how do you suppose we're going to get of this, this…'

The container door burst open and Timmy flew in, slamming the door behind him. 'Oh,' he said, as he saw the two new people.

Margery jumped up and put her arm around Timmy's shoulder. 'Don't be frightened,' she said. 'These are our two sons I told you about, Trevor and Russell.'

Trevor snatched Aidme from the air and placed it on his lap.

'I am frightened,' stammered Timmy, gazing at his feet. 'Fred is dead.'

'What? How?'

'I don't know. Uncle Adam is scared shitless and he told me to fetch you. Nobody else dares going outside, but I had to make sure you were all right.'

'Well thank you, Timmy,' said Margery, 'you're such a good boy at heart. We're badly shaken, no worse. But what's this terrible news you bring us, how did Fred die?'

'Leroy said he fell and bashed his skull open. Are we all going to die?'

Margery gazed at her sons. 'Trevor and Russell don't seem particularly troubled.'

Avoiding their eyes, Timmy nodded in their direction. 'Where've they come from?'

Russell climbed to his feet and shook Timmy's hand. 'That's a corker of a black eye you've got there,' he said. 'I've had a few of those myself but none as impressive as yours.'

Timmy turned his bruised side away.

Russell rested his hand on Timmy's shoulder. 'Come and sit next to me, tell me all about it, was it a door or a fist?'

'We can discuss Timmy's problem later,' said Margery. 'At the moment, we have a far more acute problem.'

Timmy let Russell guide him to the table, where they both sat, side by side.

'But how did they get here?' asked Timmy, still preferring to look a t Margery.

'They work a kind of magic,' said Margery. 'They're a bit different from the rest of us. Let's just say they floated here on a cloud.'

Timmy lifted his one good eye towards the brothers. They sat, one on each side of him. Trevor's features were stern and intelligent. Russell's were easy-going and chummy.

'Can't they just float us all away again?' asked Timmy.

'That's exactly what we were discussing when you came in,' said Margery.

A hush fell over the group. Everyone exchanged glances. Some eyes showed worry, some eyes asked questions, and all eyes were tainted with a shade of fear.

'Trevor will find a way out of this,' said Russell, breaking the spell. 'Trevor always finds a way.'

'Well, for the moment,' said Margery, unconvinced by Russell's optimism, 'I think we should all find our way to the icebreaker's mess room.'

Trevor leant forward. 'Hang on, Mother,' he said. 'We can't just "turn up", the Cloud has to be kept secret.'

'And what do you plan to do, young man, sit up there in your Cloud until all this blows over? Oh no. You got us into this, now you can get us out.'

'I say, Margery,' said Dennis. 'That was a bit hard on the boy. We made our own decision to accept this assignment, it's not his fault.'

'Thank you, Dennis, just like you to take the children's side.'

'I'm twenty three,' said Trevor, 'and Russell is eighteen–not exactly children.'

'Well you know what I mean, stop being argumentative. Have you tried flying away from here, to see if this is local?'

Trevor's face twisted and he shook his head.

'What does that mean?' asked Margery.

'I don't know how to put it, Mother. The world isn't there any more–not as we know it. I daren't try to fly anywhere.'

Margery eyes opened with shock. 'So you understand as little as the rest of us?'

'A fraction more, maybe. I can only make guesses, nothing concrete.'

'Well, since you're stuck here with the rest of us, you'll have to make your presence known and explain to everyone what's going on here.'

'Mother, I don't know what's going on here.'

'You know more than the rest of us.'

'I can't explain, I only have a wild guess.'

'What?' demanded Margery. 'What do you guess?'

'Mother, I… Well, Mother, I suspect we're caught in a time warp. How can I explain that to anyone?'

End of this sample.

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