The Secret Invasion of Port Isabel (5 page)

‘And now you
know why’s he’s the teacher,’ said Harry, laughing.

‘Are there
many Heat Trees?’ asked Flossy.

‘You don’t
have them in Australia, at all?’ asked Harry, surprised.

‘No. I’ve
never seen them before or even heard of them.’

‘They’re all
over, but usually grow in a reef rather than as single trees like
that one. There’s a really big reef cutting off Thompsons
Creek—that’s where I’ve been building the
Serendipity
—from
Port Isabel; a problem because it means I’ve always got to go
around. They hold back the glaciers in the North. They even grow
under the waters of the Gulf, keeping it ice-free, so they
say.’

‘How do you
keep them hot?’ she asked.

‘They just
stay hot. Reginald, do you know how?’

Reginald
slowed so Flossy and Harry could catch up. The black boar was now
well ahead of them. He had almost reached the bottom of the wide
staircase. ‘We believe the roots go deep down into the ground and
bring the heat up from there.’

‘Like our
volcanoes,’ said Flossy.

‘I suppose so,
yes. Just a little less destructive, I should think,’ said
Reginald, smiling.

They were
passing the old-looking domed structure she had noticed earlier. It
was a kind of rotunda with a railing running round. Inside was a
large brass bell suspended under a decorative roof. Flossy guessed
it was the bell that had led to all the confusion last night. Two
curious heads poked out from under the railing. They belonged to
fawns, baby deer. One had stumps that would become antlers when it
was older. They watched wide-eyed as Flossy walked past with the
others.

Sergeant Boar
reached the end of the Square and began climbing the staircase.

‘Is the Mayor
in here?’ Flossy asked, awed by the size and grandeur of the
building that towered over them and cast a long shadow.

‘Yes, this is
Town Hall. Impressive, isn’t it?’ said Harry.

‘I’ll say. It
looks old too.’

‘Very,’ said
Harry. ‘It was built by the owls too. They didn’t doing anything by
halves and they built to last.’

They followed
the black boar up the stairs. On either side were huge statues of
armoured war elephants in the heat of battle. Bronze arrows
protruded from their stone hides and their eyes were wild with
rage.

Reginald noted
Flossy’s interest. ‘My cousins,’ he said.

‘Really?’ said
Flossy, awed.

‘He’s only
joking,’ said Harry, laughing. He rested an affectionate paw on
Flossy’s shoulder, which was about as high as he could reach. ‘In
case you hadn’t noticed, Reginald’s got a sense of humour as dry as
stale bread. It takes a bit of getting used to.’

At the top of
the stairs they walked across a narrow landing and passed between
stone columns as thick as tree trunks, these held up a high
roof.

It was good to
be out of the rain. The black boar led them through the building’s
entrance, so large it even dwarfed Reginald. Huge wooden doors
carved with animal figures of all kinds hung open either side.

‘This space is
called the Hall of Greeting,’ said Harry. ‘Look up.’

Flossy looked
up. Sunlight poured through rainbow windows set into the domed
ceiling, which was higher than the
Enterprise’
s tallest mast
and wider than the ship was long. It occurred to her that the
Enterprise
would actually fit under the dome with room to
spare. Hundreds of golden wall niches housed statues of animals in
various poses: some making war, some caring for infants, some
gazing down at them with curious eyes like witnesses.

‘They tell the
story of what things were like before Port Isabel was founded,’
explained Reginald, taking the tone of a schoolteacher. ‘In those
days, the world was marked by cycles of violence. Animals killed
and ate according to their kind, even though they knew it was
immoral.’ Reginald pointed up with his trunk. ‘Notice that the wall
niches are nodes defining a double helix reaching from the floor to
the dome above.’

‘Nodes? Double
what?’ Flossy asked, turning to look around.

‘Think of
nodes as points connecting lines. The lines are parallel helices
intertwined about a common axis,’ said Reginald, elaborating.

‘Huh?’ said
Flossy.

Harry helped.
‘A helix is a spiral, helices are two. A double helix is two
spirals. Is that right, Reginald?’

‘Top of the
class, Harry.’

Flossy could
see what Reginald meant. The wall niches spiralled up from the
floor in two long lines. Instead of just hundreds of statues
scattered up the walls, they were lined up as if they were supposed
to be looked at in order; as if they told a story. She had no idea
what story, though.

Flossy was
impressed by the scale of the structure. They had nothing as large
in Australia, nor as beautifully decorated. When you lived near
volcanoes you lived with earthquakes. When you lived with
earthquakes, you quickly learned to build low buildings you could
get out of quickly. Nothing on this scale would survive the next
earthquake in Australia.

‘Wow!’ she
said, looking up at the detailed frescos adorning the dome. She
felt giddy and a little awed. ‘There are humans up there.’

‘Yes, humans
are there,’ said Reginald. ‘And notice that humans and owls are
always shown together. There are no other animals with them.’

‘Yeah, I see
what you mean. Why?’ she asked.

Reginald had
stopped in the middle of the hall, directly under the dome. Under
his feet a colourful and ornate compass rose, showing north, south,
east and west, was skilfully set into the tile floor. He turned to
face her. ‘We don’t know for sure. But the theory is that owls and
humans were the first thinking, talking animals. The rest of us
followed.’

‘But how?
Who?’ asked Flossy, fascinated. She hadn’t been taught anything
like that at school before she left Australia, or on board the
Enterprise in what passed for school.

Reginald
shrugged. ‘I’ve spent most of my life trying to answer that
question, Flossy. It was so long ago. The answers are locked up in
the ice. I just don’t know.’

Harry was
still looking up. ‘It’s something, isn’t it?’ he said, voice lost
in wonder.

Flossy turned
around, taking it all in and wondering if clouds ever formed under
the dome.

Sergeant Boar
snorted impatiently and stamped a trotter, which clattered off the
dome above. He stood by a set of tall doors to their right. These
were plated with golden metal and set into the curving wall of the
hall. Identical doors were at the rear and to the left of where
they stood.

Reginald led
Flossy and Harry across the floor towards the black boar.

Harry’s voice
dropped to a whisper so that Flossy had to tip her head to hear:
‘This way leads to the Hall of Deliberation; the Mayor’s formal
audience chamber,’ he said.

_{CHAPTER 5}

_{THE HALL OF DELIBERATION}

Sergeant Boar thumped
on the heavy doors with his snout. They ponderously swung aside,
revealing gorilla guards with long spears resting against the wall
within easy reach. One of the gorillas was nursing an injured arm
in a sling. Flossy recognised him as the one she had tricked into
falling through the roof, and later, off the downpipe. She hung her
head as she walked past, embarrassed.

Reginald
paused before the gorilla with the sling. ‘Thank you for helping me
down the stairs last night, sergeant. I’m sorry to have caused so
much trouble.’ The gorilla nodded in acknowledgement but frowned
when he noticed Flossy.

‘Sorry,’ she
mouthed, pensively.

The Hall of
Deliberation stretched before her. It was every bit as impressive,
and daunting, as the Hall of Greeting. Rows of stone columns either
side of a wide isle held up a high ceiling. The columns were
ornately decorated with figures of animals at play. Unlit torches
were set in iron rings attached to each face of each column. The
vaulted ceiling was a patchwork of diamond-shaped panels,
alternating between the colour of cream and earthy ochre.

The far end of
the hall was crowded with animals of all species, many she didn’t
recognise. All of them watched her and murmured to one another as
she walked towards them, Harry on one side, Reginald on the other.
Their expressions were a mixture of fear, anger and curiosity.
These animals had never before seen a human. Flossy felt extremely
conspicuous and a little nervous about what would be expected of
her. She was glad to be with Reginald and Harry.

Finally, they
reached the end of the great hall. The animals were thickest here
and parted to allow them through, hooves and claws clattering
noisily on the hard, tile floor. Reginald went first, then Harry.
Flossy adjusted her damp, poorly fitting clothes and followed. Her
cold feet were splattered with mud, but nobody seemed to wear shoes
here. Her hair was a mess. She was glad she had thought of tying it
back with her mother’s ribbon.

Sitting
magnificently on a raised dais was a lion, the Mayor. It was the
same lion who had confronted her last night before Larry whisked
her away and led her to safety across the rooftops of the town.

He was much
more impressive by light of day. He looked regal, more like a king
than a mayor. He wore a crimson cape tied with a golden cord
decorated with tassels. His mane was burnt-orange and neatly
arranged. His eyes were proud and wise.

The Mayor was
in conference with official looking animals and didn’t appear to
have noticed their rather obvious arrival. Surely, nobody could
fail to notice an animal as large as Reginald. Perhaps the Mayor
had noticed, but had more important matters to deal with first.

Above the
Mayor was a huge, round and brightly lit stained glass window
depicting monkeys leaping between banana palms laden with bananas.
Sunlight angled down through the window and decorated the dais with
a beautiful rainbow of shifting colours.

The chattering
animals filled the gap behind as the three friends waited side by
side to be addressed by the Mayor. Flossy stood tall and hoped she
looked presentable enough as human-kind’s first ambassador to Port
Isabel in hundreds of years. She would hate to cause offence.

Harry had
removed his sunglasses and held them in one paw. He used the other
to scruff up the wet fur between his ears.

Over Harry’s
shoulder, a horse was watching. She wondered if it was the horse
named Stanley that Harry had mentioned; the one who had carried him
off against his will in the mistaken belief he needed rescuing from
pirates; that she, Flossy, was a pirate. Mud splatter was on his
nose and an animal was hanging from his neck—probably the sloth
named Sally.

When noticed,
the dapple-grey horse pawed the floor with one hoof, shook his head
and whinnied. Flossy smiled and nodded a greeting. He was probably
of good sort of horse.

She thought of
Larry Monkey and his big, pink ears. He had seemed so sad when he
left the café. She wondered what had happened to his parents. She
wondered what had happened to hers and whether she would ever see
them again. Soon, she would be with Harry on the
Serendipity
. If anyone could find them, he could. He seemed
like an extremely resourceful and capable animal and she really
liked him. She reached out and squeezed his paw. He squeezed back
without turning.

When the Mayor
spoke everyone in the hall fell instantly silent.

‘Reginald,
it’s good to see you again. You continue in fame as one of Port
Isabel’s greatest citizens. Your service as schoolmaster and
curator of the Museum of Ancient Antiquities has earned you the
enduring respect and admiration of all the people.’

‘Thank you, Mr
Mayor. It has been my pleasure to serve,’ Reginald graciously
replied.

‘How we wish
we were meeting under happier circumstances. We deeply regret the
loss of your precious museum, our museum, and Port Isabel East
Junior School. You have our commitment that both will be rebuilt as
a matter of priority.’

The Mayor
smiled beneficently at Reginald, who bowed his head in
gratitude.

Flossy noticed
the Mayor didn’t use the word
I
, but instead used
we
and
us
. This had the effect of reminding everyone he was
speaking for Port Isabel as a whole, adding even more authority to
his considerably foreboding presence.

‘Last night
you urged restraint upon us and tried to make us see reason. But we
didn’t listen. We had decided that the human was a pirate and that
she was hiding with others in the museum. You rightly argued the
presumption of innocence and the dispensation of justice by means
of judge and jury but we ignored your sagacious advice and took
matters into our own hands. We are ashamed and embarrassed by what
happened and we beg your forgiveness.’