The Curiosity Machine (13 page)

Yellow light illuminated the spherical interior of the mini-sub. Ruby and Sam sat in two seats at the front behind a bank of dark flat-screen panels. Gerald had
landed on top of Felicity in the only other seat, behind the Valentine twins.

Sam let out a long, slow breath. ‘Do you get the feeling those buttons are meant to be pressed in the other order?'

‘Make a note of that will you, Gerald?' Ruby said. ‘Better labelling required in the submarine docking area.'

The four of them exchanged glances, then burst into laughter of pure relief.

‘What's your story?' Gerald said to Ruby. He broke into a fair imitation of her accent. ‘I'm terribly sorry, the submarine appears to be full at the moment. Would you mind terribly waiting for the next one? Terribly?'

Ruby's cheeks flushed red. ‘I'm sorry,' she said. ‘I panicked. I saw three seats and for some reason I thought we were only allowed three people on board. I thought we might—you know—get in trouble.'

‘There's a half-dozen armed pirates trying to batter their way through a steel door to kidnap us,' Sam said. ‘I think “trouble” is a fair description of where we already are.'

Gerald ran his eyes over the interior of the sub. The cockpit consisted of a large transparent bubble that seemed to offer a view above, below and in front, but it was too dark outside to see anything. Then he had an idea. ‘How would you like to get in even more trouble?' he said.

‘Is that possible?' Ruby asked.

‘Oh sure,' Gerald said. ‘Look where we are and we haven't even been trying. I say we get this submarine working and make a break for it.'

‘Are you completely crazy?' Ruby said. ‘What is that going to achieve?'

‘We get away from the bad guys for a start,' Gerald said. ‘That has to be a good thing. And there should a radio in this tub so we can call for help.'

‘But what about my parents?' Felicity said.

A frosty silence filled the submarine's compact interior. Gerald could hear Ruby muttering but couldn't make out what she was saying. ‘As long as we're on the run, your parents will be fine,' Gerald said. ‘In fact, the best thing we can do to protect your mum and dad is to not be caught by Ursus.'

Felicity furrowed her brow. ‘How do you figure that?'

‘Because if Ursus wants me, he has to keep your parents safe. If we can disappear and remain free, we actually have the upper hand,' Gerald said.

Felicity shook her head. ‘No. We have to stay here. You have to go to him.' She reached around to grab at the hatch, her fingers scrabbling at the lock. Ruby launched from her seat and took hold of Felicity's arm, bending it back.

‘Ow!' Felicity cried. ‘You're hurting me.'

‘You need to stop and listen,' Ruby said, shoving Felicity into the seat. ‘Ursus is not going to hurt your
mum and dad. He tried to play you and now he has lost that advantage, so you can give up on any plan you had of delivering Gerald to him. It's over, and you should be thankful that Gerald even let you into this sub. I would have left you on the other side of the glass.'

Felicity clenched her jaw and glared at Ruby. ‘I knew you wouldn't understand,' she said. ‘You are so self-centred. My parents have been
kidnapped
.'

Ruby's eyes glared like a tiger about to attack. ‘Well guess what, princess. So have mine. So have Gerald's. You're not the only one with a sob story.'

Sam looked up from where he had been studying a laminated instruction card that was tethered to a joystick control. ‘So much talk. Let's just do what Gerald said and see what happens.' Before anyone could stop him, Sam pressed a large green button in the middle of the central console. A bank of floodlights mounted around the docking station flared into life, revealing the submarine was already immersed in water. Gerald's eyes grew wide as he looked beyond his feet through the transparent bubble to see twin doors retracting in the
Archer
's hull, opening to the immense darkness of the ocean below.

‘I don't think this is a good idea,' Felicity squeaked. ‘Terribly scary. Very terribly scary.'

The flat-screen panels in front of Sam flickered alive, revealing a digital compass, depth sounder, satellite map and speedometer. The docking doors juddered fully open.

Sam rested a hand on the joystick control and
wrapped his forefinger around the trigger. ‘The instructions said you just squeeze this and—'

The submarine dropped through the doors like a bowling ball through tissue paper, into a flurry of air bubbles that enveloped them like soapsuds in a washing machine. Gerald raised his head and saw the keel of the
Archer
disappear above them. But of course, the
Archer
wasn't launching into the night sky like some bizarre aquatic spaceship. They were sinking, and sinking fast.

The only thing going up was the volume of the screams that were filling the submarine to bursting point.

‘What's happening?!'

‘Do something!'

‘Sam! Drive this stupid thing!'

Sam grasped the joystick with both hands and pulled the trigger again. The submarine shuddered and twin engines whirred into action from behind. The sub was wrapped in darkness, with only the pale green glow of the screens providing any illumination from inside.

‘Okay, you can all calm down now,' Sam said as he jiggered the controls. ‘If years of computer games have taught me anything, it's how to manage a joystick.' He scanned the screens and nodded confidently. ‘We're heading due east, about two hundred metres below the surface and steady at that level. There's plenty of space under us so we're not going to hit anything.' He smiled and nodded again. ‘This is pretty cool, actually.'

‘When you say plenty of space beneath us,' Ruby
said, ‘how much are we talking?'

Sam pointed to a gauge on the screen. ‘According to this, more than five thousand metres.'

There was a moment of silent contemplation, then Ruby and Felicity chorused at the top of their voices: ‘Five kilometres!'

‘Yeah?' Sam said. ‘What about it?'

‘Are you saying we're floating in a glass ball and there's five thousand metres of nothing between our feet and the ocean floor?' Ruby said. ‘What happens if we run out of power before we find land, or help? Won't we sink to the bottom?'

‘We won't sink to the bottom,' Sam said.

Felicity breathed out and placed her hand across the base of her throat. ‘That's good to know,' she said.

‘Of course we won't sink to the bottom,' Sam said. ‘The water pressure will crush us to the size of a tin can before we even get close to the bottom.'

Gerald wriggled around, trying to get comfortable on Felicity's lap. He shrugged his backpack from his shoulders and dumped it behind him. ‘It's creepy not being able to see anything,' he said. All around them was a black wash. ‘Are there some lights or something that you can switch on?'

Sam picked up the instruction card and scanned the controls. ‘This thing is designed so any junior billionaire can drive it. I'll try this.' He moved a hand to a panel of switches by his left knee. ‘It should be this one.' Sam
flicked the switch. A ring of spotlights that ran around the circumference of the sub flared alive, just in time to show the gaping jaws of an enormous shark surging out of the inky darkness straight at them.

Again, the sub filled with screams.

‘Shark!'

‘Enormous shark!'

‘Do something!'

Sam's eyes bulged white as he leaned on the joystick and sent the submarine diving to the right. The gunmetal grey of the shark's tail swept past to the left, a silent slither of efficiency in motion, kissing the glass as it went. Gerald spun around, trying to see behind them but the monster had disappeared into the black shroud of night. He suddenly felt very tiny, and very cold.

‘Maybe it would be better if we turned the lights off,' Sam said. He moved his hand towards the switch.

‘Don't!' Felicity said. ‘I'd rather see what's coming.'

Fish darted in and out of the light from the tiny submarine, curious at the unexpected visitor. ‘Is that an octopus?' Ruby asked as a translucent flash zipped through the periphery of the light, leaving behind a stream of tiny bubbles. A school of silver fish shot across their path. Then, as slow and unstoppable as an oil tanker, another colossal shark hove into view. Its mouth hung open as if it was tasting the water. A nest of teeth inside looked like a box of shattered light bulbs. With a simple sweep of its tail, the beast changed direction, maintaining
a prehistoric eye on the four occupants of the submarine.

Gerald, Felicity, Sam and Ruby watched in awe as nature's perfect hunting machine cruised along beside them.

‘Do you think it can see us?' Felicity asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

‘We're lit up like a Christmas tree,' Sam said. ‘A short-sighted goldfish could see us from a mile away.'

Ruby pressed the palm of her hand flat against the inside of the glass. ‘Isn't it beautiful?' she said, her eyes peeled in wonder.

‘Only to another shark,' Sam said, ‘and only then if that other shark hadn't been out of the house for a really long time.'

A moment later the creature rounded off to the side, and was gone.

‘Look, this is all very amazing but I can't imagine this toy submarine is designed to cross the Pacific,' Felicity said. ‘We need to contact someone so they can send help.'

‘Here's an idea,' Ruby said, spinning around to face the back seat. ‘Why don't you phone your friend Ursus and ask him. You seem to have his number. Or even better, why not go straight to the top and call Mason Green?'

Felicity stared at Ruby through narrowed eyes.

‘Be fair,' Sam said. ‘It's not Felicity's fault.'

Ruby almost knocked the headrest from her seat as she swung around to face her brother. ‘Not her fault?
This whole situation is entirely her fault.'

‘But Ursus abducted her parents,' Gerald said.

‘So she goes to the police,' Ruby said. ‘Then we wouldn't be stuck like sitting ducks for a band of Mason Green's pirates to come calling. The police could have told us to cancel the trip, or laid a trap. Or something. Anything. But now all of our parents have been kidnapped and we're stuck in a giant glass ping-pong ball in the middle of the bloody ocean.' Ruby stared hard into Felicity's eyes. ‘Or is that just me being self-centred?'

Felicity blinked, then buried her face in Gerald's shoulder.

Ruby's expression did not change. ‘Terrific,' she said.

Gerald hated to admit it, but he agreed with every word Ruby had said. He checked his watch. ‘The sun should be coming up soon. It's probably safe to head to the surface. The
Archer
should be long gone. We can radio for help.'

‘What if the
Archer
isn't gone?' Sam said. ‘What if Ursus is still up there looking for us?'

‘If we see the bottom of the yacht, we won't surface,' Gerald said. ‘But we can't stay down here forever. We really don't have any other option.'

Sam pulled back on the joystick and the sub started to climb. The water around them began to lighten, as if colours were being injected into a monochrome world. Finally, in a flurry of bubbles and wash, the submarine broke through the surface. A low bank of clouds on the
eastern horizon was orange-pink as the dawn sun peeked above the waterline. There was no sign of the
Archer
.

‘Good job, Sam,' Ruby said. ‘Maybe your video-game addiction isn't such a bad thing after all.'

‘And we haven't even seen a zombie yet,' Sam said. ‘That's when I'll really shine.'

Felicity sniffed and wiped the wetness from her eyes. ‘You honestly think there are zombies?' She looked as if she had just woken from a bad dream.

‘Oh sure,' Sam said. ‘The remote islands of the Pacific seldom visited by the living are ripe stomping grounds for your undead.'

‘Unless the hordes of the undead suddenly learn to swim, I don't think we have much to worry about,' Ruby said. ‘In case you haven't noticed, we don't seem to be within a million miles of any dry land. Maybe we should give the radio a try.' The swell gently raised and lowered them in a pendulous sweep. ‘And hurry up about it,' Ruby continued. ‘I'm feeling seasick.'

‘If you're going to be sick, open up a hatch and do it outside,' Felicity said in a soft voice. ‘I find the smell of vomit terribly—'

‘Sick-making?' Ruby said. She flashed an angry look towards the back seat. ‘If I'm going to throw up I'll do it in Gerald's backpack. I don't want to attract sharks.'

Gerald blanched at the thought of his backpack being used as a sick bag. He glanced down through the glass bottom of the submarine. ‘I don't think you need to
worry about attracting sharks,' he said. Fingers of early morning light probed the upper layers of the ocean, and deep beneath the sub a dozen grey ghosts cruised in and out of sight.

‘Do you know what they say when there's a lot of sharks swimming close together like that?' Sam said.

‘That you're near land?' Felicity replied, a little hopefully.

‘No, that they'll tear out your throat and feast on your entrails,' Sam said. ‘Your shark is actually very like your zombie in that regard.'

Ruby clipped her brother over the back of his head. ‘Radio,' she said. ‘And make it sharp.'

Sam pressed some menu buttons on the display panel until a box marked COMMS lit up on the screen. ‘This must be it,' he said. He touched the square and a list of items dropped down, including one marked RADIO. ‘Let's give it a try,' he said. A soft crackle sounded from speakers set into the front console. He picked up a microphone and thumbed the button. ‘Uh-hello?' Sam began. ‘Can anyone hear me? We need help. Pirates attacked our ship and now we're stuck in shark-infested waters somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.' He released the button and waited.