The Lonely Whelk (3 page)

The floor came up quickly to meet her when
she fell. “Owww.” she groaned, pushing herself up with her arms.
“This is not going to be easy.”

Holland looked up. Her coffin and the one
next to her were just a bit too far apart from one another to use
as supports. Then she noticed a cane lying on the floor. She
dragged her nearly useless body over to the cane and grabbed onto
it.

“
Hawkings?” she called
again. There was still no answer.

Using the cane and edge of her coffin as
support, she slowly dragged herself to her feet. A wash of tingles
flew down her legs and into her feet. She groaned.

“
I don’t know whether to
complain or giggle,” she muttered. “Ow. It tickles.” She took two
thundering steps and a slow smile washed over her face. It felt
good – very good – to walk. Her smile broadened. It felt even
better to smile.

The more steps she took, the better she
felt. The tingling sensation in her legs had nearly disappeared by
the time she was halfway down the room; now it simply felt as
though she had bricks attached to the bottom of her legs. She began
to walk a bit faster, still feeling as though her feet pounded
against the floor with the weight of a dozen giant madgrey
beavers.

A wash of nostalgia filled her mind and her
nose as she exited the coffin room and entered the hallway. She had
spent many years operating this ship until they had put her into
stasis. It was strange that so many people she had known back home
were either extremely old or dead. The nostalgia that had suddenly
washed over rapidly dissipated, and an overwhelming fear took its
place.

“
Hawkings?” she called.
Where was he?

She headed towards the bridge. She imagined
him sitting there, passing the time by eating cookies and drinking
tea, deflecting the occasional asteroid that managed to
coincidentally cross paths with the ship. Maybe he had played
bridge with Lady Mastin, Captain Abrams, and Jacobs before they
died. Played bridge on the bridge. She chuckled, and then frowned
angrily. These rapid emotional swings were going to become
unbearable.

The bridge door was shut. She keyed her
passcode into the door. It slid open as smoothly as the day she had
first set foot on board. The vast expanse of darkness spread out
before her, the skies spotted only by the lights of distant stars.
She loved to look out this window, but was surprised by the
temperature of the room. It was quite cold.

“
Hawkings?” she said,
hobbling forward towards the Commander’s Chair.

There sat Hawkings, his head tilted forward
so that his chin touched his chest. He looked asleep.

“
Hawkings?” Holland reached
out to touch his hand, which clutched a small piece of paper. It
was cold. He was dead.

Maxwell woke as sunlight filtered in through
the door to his lair, which he had left open the night before. He
wondered if Mr. Oliphant had called the police yet as he shivered
in his damp feather blankets. He checked his watch. It was almost
time; there were only two more minutes remaining.

A pigeon landed on the top of the
playground. He could hear it scratching around. It cooed. The next
pigeon that landed on his castle was going to be dinner – or
possibly breakfast. That would show all the other pigeons not to
mess with him – not to mess with Maxwell Dippings! On the other
hand, the last time he had roasted pigeon, he had also managed to
attract three coyotes, so perhaps allowing the birds to use his
roof as a restroom was the safer option.

He looked at his watch. One more minute.
Patience was a skill. Patience was important. Patience had to be
developed and nurtured and honed. Patience was his strength – and
his patience would be John’s downfall.

He glanced at his watch.

“
Hello, Maddy,” he said,
smiling. She always arrived right on time. Maddy – the woman of
impeccable taste and impeccable timing. “I hope you’re doing well
this morning. Let me just gather my things.”

“
His Things” consisted of
one leather satchel, three perfectly engineered wooden pencils, two
little black notebooks of questionable content, and one snarly
black wig. These were the only things needed to enact his plan. He
glanced up at her as she stepped down into his lair. The morning
sun shone through the doorway and wrapped around her figure, making
her look like an angel.

“
You also need a way to get
into the building without getting kicked out,” Maddy pointed
out.

“
That’s true,” he said,
looking up at her. “But we’ll get the key from the Globe. You and I
both know that John always hides one outside.” He smiled at her and
held out an apple. “Are you hungry?”

She shook her head.

“
No? I’ll just have this
for my breakfast then, won’t I?”

He scrambled out from under the playground
and then turned and offered a hand. Maddy took it.

“
Thanks,” she said
pleasantly.

He smiled and replied, “Oh don’t worry. I
know my lair is hard to get in and out of.”

The sun was shining brightly, if low in the
sky, and Maxwell could tell it was going to be a warm and probably
humid day.

“
Humidity makes my hair
frizz,” Maddy grumbled.

He laughed, appreciating how she always
seemed to be able to read his mind. “What are you talking about?
Your hair always looks wonderful, Maddy! The humidity won’t have
any effect on your beautiful face.” He climbed over the low wall
and began to cut through the trees towards the big park where
everyone ran and walked and had picnics.

“
So the plan for today is,”
he began, glancing over his shoulder to see if he was being
followed, “to meet with Perla and then acquire a key to the Globe
so we can sneak in after closing. That way there won’t be any
people around.”

“
The Globe doesn’t have a
closing time. People are there all day!” Maddy said.

Maxwell paused to look at her, and
frowned.

“
What do you mean, it
doesn’t close?” He laughed, and then said, “All government offices
close, my dear.”

A runner going the opposite direction gave
him an odd look as he flew by. Maxwell ignored him.

“
What will we do when we
get inside?” Maddy twirled around as they walked down the sidewalk,
making her skirts spin out in all directions around her. Maxwell
could never figure out how he had been so lucky to have her as his
best friend.

“
Well, the idea is that
Perla is going to create a distraction to allow us to sneak
upstairs.” Maxwell grinned and held out his elbow so Maddy could
link hers with his. “Once we succeed, my dear, we will have
everything we need to be happy.”

And the strange man walked cheerfully
through the park, enjoying the warm day and green trees.

Kaia’s mind was spinning. The
confidentiality agreement had turned out to have a lot of pictures
and sections which didn’t apply to her, but she still felt
overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of information that had entered
her head in the last two hours. Now, John was skipping down a
flight of stairs in front of her, shouting, “Keep up, Kaia-kee!”
She wasn’t sure when he had started adding “kee” to the end of her
name, but it did have a ring to it.

She followed him into a large room filled
with screens. From here, she could see anything that was happening
in the building. It was impossible to watch them all at once, so
she looked away, focusing instead on two men standing in front of
her.

“
It’s mine,” John was
saying. “I leave them there so I don’t have to carry
keys.”

He stood looking down at a very thin, very
short man with a very sharp looking nose. Kaia wondered if it was
sharp enough to slice bread. On his left arm dripped a large tattoo
of a clock, and other patterned tattoos wrapped around his neck,
colours fading out from black to nearly the same brown as his skin.
One small, silver key was nearly engulfed by his massive hand; his
hands seemed oddly large for his arms.

“
I’m changing the locks,”
the man said, “and this will not happen again. I have found over
twenty-five keys hidden around this building. If that’s not an
invitation for thieves and terrorists, then I don’t know what is.
If you hide another key outside this building, I will find it. And
then I will find it again. And I will continue to change the locks
and throw away your keys. And then you will be fired.”

John turned on his sad face. “But… but… how
am I supposed to work extra hours? How am I supposed to get into
the lab when I lose my keys? How am I supposed to live my
dream?”

The man ignored John’s whining and turned to
Kaia. “And you are?”

“
Kaia,” she replied,
holding out her hand. “The new intern.”

“
I’m Rock, new head of
security here at the Globe. And in case you were wondering, it is
strictly against policy to hide keys around the
premises.”

“
I understand, sir,” she
replied.

He turned back to John. “You should take
lessons from her.”

“
Could keypads be
installed, sir?” Kaia asked. “Then each individual could have a
code, which could be removed at any time.”

Rock stood up a little straighter, but was
still significantly shorter than John. “It would need to be
approved and funded by Mr. Drake, but that would be an excellent
improvement to security around here.”

John scowled. “I am good at hiding my keys.
People can’t find them. I think you’re overreacting.”

Rock’s face remained stern. “You are the
head of eight departments in a high-level government facility,
which hosts numerous secrets, billion-dollar pieces of equipment,
and the most brilliant minds of the millennium, none of which we
want stolen. I think you can learn to keep track of a key.”

Scowl deepening, John spun around to face
Quin, whom Kaia had not noticed standing in the corner of the room.
“I need my key. And I need it where it always is.”

Quin flipped through a magazine titled
The Art of Pruning.
A small smile flickered across his face.
“No. You’re on your own.”

“
Come on! You hired this
guy! You can tell him what to do! Tell him to let me hide my
key!”

“
He’s head of security, not
me.” Quin shrugged. “And if I were, I wouldn’t let you hide a key
either.”

“
Gremlins and Petersburg!”
John exclaimed. “You two are impossible. I’ll find a way, I tell
you!” He shook his finger at Rock. “You just wait!”

“
Go ahead and try, Mr.
John,” Rock replied. “But I believe Mr. Drake instructed you to
resolve this issue, did he not? If you are unable to comply with
the new regulations, I will have your key revoked.”

Quin smirked again, and flipped a page. Kaia
thought she could make out a picture of a bush in the shape of a
teakettle. “Can we go now?” Quin asked. “I have work to do.”

“
I’m not speaking to you
right now,” said John. He turned and stomped from the
room.

Kaia looked back and forth from Quin to
John.

“
He’ll be fine in about ten
minutes,” Quin said. “I think he enjoys having little tantrums
every so often.”

“
Oh, I’m not worried about
him,” said Rock. He held open his other hand. “I’m more worried
about these other twenty-six keys I found hidden around the
property.”

“
Twenty-six!” Kaia said
with surprise. “I thought this office hired the most intelligent
people in the world.”

Quin nodded. “They do.”

“
I think we should upgrade
to iris scan technology,” Rock said. “Everyone in town probably has
a key to this building by now.”

“
I agree,” Quin nodded. He
turned to Kaia. “You should probably follow John. But don’t get too
close, or he might start throwing things.”

“
Yes, sir!” Kaia agreed,
and ran after John.

Clyde lay quietly in his bed, waiting for
his alarm to go off. This was his favourite part of the day – the
morning, as the sun was rising. He liked to quietly count from one
to one thousand, stretching his mind to become in tune with time as
it slowly ticked by. Nine-hundred and one. Nine-hundred and
two.

The shades covering his window opened with a
loud snap. The sun poured into his room, as if a dam had broken.
Clyde groaned softly.

“
Good morning, sleepyhead,”
his mother declared. He could see her curls silhouetted in the
morning light. “The Globe called this morning.”

“
What?” Clyde exclaimed. He
sat up abruptly and looked at the clock. The alarm hadn’t gone off.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“
Wake up my baby?” She
stepped forward, smiling, and reached out to smooth down his hair.
“You looked so peaceful! Just like when you were a toddler! I
couldn’t have.”

“
What did they want?” he
asked, swinging his legs over the side of his bed.

“
They want you to interview
for a guard position.”

Clyde’s jaw and mouth formed an oddly-shaped
‘O,’ and his eyebrows nearly leaped from his forehead. “When?”

She glanced at her watch. “Oh, in about
forty-five minutes.”

Taking a deep breath, Clyde closed his eyes
and counted to five. Frustration threatened to overflow; his mind
scrambled to find anything from Ivanna the Bard to help him control
his tongue. Under his breath he whispered, “Speak only what you
wish to be heard, for once spoken, words cannot be unsaid.”