Adam and the Arkonauts (11 page)

‘Good afternoon, gentleman,' Adam heard him say. ‘I left my family at the amusement park and went for a walk. I do apologise if I've wandered into some kind of restricted area.'

The guards kept their guns trained on the Doctor and said nothing.

‘Is that the time?' he went on, glancing at his watch. ‘I really should be . . .'

The Doctor's voice trailed off. The hatch door was opening. Out of the ground emerged an old man wearing an immaculately pressed brown suit, sporting a monocle and carrying an ivory cane. He paused for a moment to impale a slug on the end of his cane.

Adam had never seen this man before, but from the Doctor's descriptions he knew exactly who he was: Professor Silus Scabellax.

He fitted the Doctor's description in every detail except one. He was wearing earmuffs. And moments later it became clear why.

The Dreadful Alarm of Buenos Sueños rang out. Adam jammed his fingers in his ears. Down in the city it was so loud it was painful. But up here it was agony. Adam tried everything to shut it out, but he was powerless. The Doctor was even closer and the force of the sound brought him to his knees. Like Adam, he buried his head in his chest, but there was no hiding from the deafening noise, which seemed to go on and on and on. All they could do was wait for it to stop.

The guards did not so much as flinch. In spite of the alarm, they continued to level their guns at the Doctor.

Just when Adam thought his head was about to explode, the noise finally abated. In the clearing, Professor Scabellax removed his earmuffs and approached the Doctor.

‘Hello again,' he said.

‘I beg your pardon,' said the Doctor, and for the first time Adam could see apprehension on his face. ‘Did you say again? I don't believe we've ever met.'

Wow
, thought Adam.
He's going to pretend he doesn't know him and hope that after ten years Scabellax has forgotten what he looks like.

‘As I was explaining to these men . . .' the Doctor went on.

Scabellax smirked.

‘What is the matter?'

‘Forgive my amusement,' said Scabellax, ‘but I doubt you got very far. For reasons that have just been demonstrated, all these guards have had their hearing surgically destroyed. They would not have heard a word you said.'

‘You destroyed their hearing?' said the Doctor sharply. For a moment his natural repugnance for such cruelty overcame his pretence of being simply a lost tourist. The Doctor was not a very good liar.

‘Only
these
guards,' said Scabellax, crushing a spider slowly and deliberately beneath one of his feet. ‘It is the simplest way to keep them alert while I conduct my sonic experiment. But the inside of my base is soundproofed, so the guards there still have their hearing intact. Only a cruel man would destroy the hearing of people when it wasn't necessary. And I'm sure nobody would say I was cruel.'

Adam watched the Doctor force himself not to argue with this glaringly false statement.

‘Ah,' said the Doctor, trying to look as stupid as he could possibly manage. ‘Well, obviously I don't know what you're talking about. As I was telling your guards, I left my family at the amusement –'

‘You've aged.'

‘I'm sorry,' said the Doctor, taken aback. ‘I don't understand what – You must be confusing me with someone else. I don't believe we've ever met.'

‘We met briefly,' said Scabellax, smiling. ‘But I am certainly very well known to at least one member of your family.'

‘I –'

‘Your wife, Doctor Forest. She has been my close companion for over ten years now. We are firm friends.'

Watching from the edge of the clearing, Adam gasped in shock. Any hope of the Doctor talking his way out of the terrible situation had disappeared.

‘How did you know I was here?' demanded the Doctor.

‘Oh, I make it my business to know things,' said Scabellax. ‘Since my sources informed me that a boat known as the
Ark of the Parabola
had docked, I've been looking forward to this meeting. If you expect to keep a low profile, Doctor, you really shouldn't sail a boat with such a well-known name. I thought of coming to see you, but then I thought, why bother? It wouldn't be long before you came to say hello.'

‘How very clever,' said the Doctor sarcastically. ‘Well, now that I'm here, you can hand over my wife and switch off the alarm.'

Professor Scabellax threw back his head and roared with laughter.

‘That, my dear Doctor, is precisely the
opposite
of what is going to happen. What is going to happen is that my guards are going to escort you down below to my base and then you are going to reveal to me the secret of animal communication that has eluded me for more than a decade.'

The Doctor was reminded of the question that had plagued him the past ten years, the question he had forbidden Adam from asking him.

‘Why did you never contact me?' he demanded. ‘Why did you never offer to exchange my wife for the secret?'

The Professor shook his head.

‘Like so many small men, you overestimate your importance, Doctor. Your discovery, clever though it was, is merely a small part in my grand plan – the scale of which will soon be revealed to you and indeed the world. I had many other things to occupy my considerable talents in the past years. And I knew that eventually you would find me. So why did I need to go to all the trouble of finding you? Besides, I've grown rather fond of your wife.'

The Doctor was silent, his face a picture of fury.

‘And of course,' added Scabellax, ‘knowing you were suffering all that time made me feel better. But now the time is ripe for you to share your little secret.'

‘I'll never reveal it to you,' said the Doctor, through clenched teeth.

‘Of course you will,' said Scabellax. ‘You do want to see your wife again, after all, don't you?'

The Doctor said nothing.

‘Unfortunately,' continued Scabellax, ‘I have to travel down to the city just now on business. But please be assured, Doctor, that I will be back soon and then I will be ready to learn.'

Still the Doctor said nothing.

‘Take him down.' Scabellax signalled to the guards and they leapt to obey him.

I should do somethin
g
, thought Adam.
Now. Before they disappear. I have to stop them.

But there was nothing he could do except watch as the guards grabbed the Doctor roughly and forced him down the hatch and into captivity. Scabellax looked on, idly killing a butterfly as he did so, and glanced at his watch. Then he, too, departed. Adam was left looking into an empty clearing. Suddenly he felt very alone.

The Doctor was gone. For the first time in his life, Adam had to decide by himself what to do next.

And he didn't have a clue.

.

CHAPTER 18

‘I want to see the Mayor.'

‘I want to play centre forward for FC Buenos Sueños,' answered the fat security guard outside the town hall. ‘Do you know what our dreams have in common, chico? Neither of them is going to happen. Now be off with you.'

‘Don't you remember me? I came here with Doctor Forest. It's very important –'

‘Important, chico. Let me tell you what is important to the Mayor: getting as many votes as possible in the election. And do you know who votes, chico?'

‘People.'

‘People over eighteen years of age. Not little chicos like you.'

‘I'm not little,' insisted Adam. ‘I'm thirteen.'

‘So in five years' time the Mayor will want to talk to you. But, until then, you can go to school or play videogames or do whatever you kids do, but make sure you get out of my face.'

Adam backed away.

He'd sneaked away from the clearing, crept out of the wood, dashed down the mountain, leapt on to a bus and rushed all the way to the town hall, certain that if he told the Mayor about the hatch, the alarm and Professor Scabellax, then he would send the police to rescue the Doctor. It had never crossed his mind that he wouldn't be able to get to see the Mayor. He was discovering that, as far as adults were concerned, children were almost invisible.

Now he was all alone in a strange city, with both his parents in the hands of an evil professor. Adam didn't know what to do next. He felt tears well up in his eyes and then roll down his cheeks. One landed with a plop in the pocket of his T-shirt and Private Mandible crawled out.

‘Make nests not war,' he signalled to Adam.

Adam didn't answer.

‘All you need is leaves,' he indicated.

Still Adam was silent. Private Mandible scrutinised Adam's face.

‘I didn't know humans could rain,' he signalled.

‘I'm not raining,' protested Adam.

‘There's water falling out of you,' the ant observed.

Normally Adam would have found this funny. But right now things were too serious for him to find anything funny. He could think of nothing to do but to head back to the
Ark of the Parabola
. He had no idea how to rescue the Doctor – or his mother. Scabellax had said that they were friends. But that couldn't be true, could it? He climbed up the gangplank of the
Ark
, telling himself that it had to be a lie.

‘Psst!'

Adam stopped and looked about him.

‘Psst!'

Adam couldn't think of an animal on board the
Ark
that had a word like ‘Psst' in its vocabulary.

‘Psst! Over here!'

A human!

‘Over here!'

The voice was coming from under the tarpaulin which covered the small lifeboat that sat on the deck.

‘Are you alone?' demanded a gruff voice.

Adam backed away towards the gangplank. ‘Depends.'

‘Does this boat still belong to Doctor Forest?'

Adam gulped. ‘Might do.'

‘Depends? Might do? Am I ever going to get a straight answer out of you, boy?'

‘Don't know.' Adam was poised to run.

The tarpaulin was flung back.

‘Excellent. A bit of deception never did anybody any harm,' said an old man, popping up from the lifeboat. ‘Adam Forest, you might just be worthy to be my grandson.'

‘Grandad!'

Adam had never seen his grandfather before, but he knew straight away it was him. He didn't know how. He just knew.

‘Not so loud! And don't call me Grandad. It makes me feel old.'

‘But you are my grandad, aren't you?'

‘Grandad be damned,' said Adam's grandad. ‘My name is Calico Jack. But you can call me Jack.'

‘Don't you mean Calico Jack Forest?' persisted Adam.

Calico Jack looked mystified.

‘Forest must be your surname,' Adam pointed out. ‘It's my surname and it's my father's surname so it must be yours.'

‘Surname?' hissed Calico Jack. ‘I haven't had one of those in years. Surnames help with records and I've never been a fan of records. Records help the police.'

‘What are you doing here?' Adam asked. ‘The Doctor said you were in jail.'

‘I'll be back there if you don't stop yapping so loud,' said Calico Jack, looking around anxiously. ‘Keep your voice down.'

‘Back there?'

‘I had a bit of a disagreement with the authorities about the length of my sentence.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘They sentenced me to five years but I felt I only deserved one. So I took matters into my own hands.'

‘You broke out?'

‘Let's say I decided to serve the rest of my sentence in the community.'

Adam's mouth gaped. His grandad was also an escaped convict.

‘What were you in prison for?' he asked.

‘You've got more questions than the police,' said Calico Jack gruffly. ‘I've never been a fan of questions. Soon as someone starts asking you questions, the next thing you know they're drawing conclusions. And some of us have spent more time than we care to remember in prisons because of juries drawing conclusions.'

‘The wrong conclusions?' said Adam hopefully.

‘Well, not always,' Calico Jack conceded. ‘But it's hard to see them as the right conclusions when you're being led down to the cells.'

The old man shook his head.

Adam hesitated.

‘Don't worry, young 'un,' said Calico Jack, sensing his doubt. ‘I won't keep you harbouring a prisoner longer than necessary. I know your dad wouldn't want me hanging around, inviting trouble.' Calico Jack experienced a sudden change of mood and paused to rub a tear from his eye. ‘Even though I've finally decided to go straight, and it might be then that an old man needs the help of his family.'

‘But you can't be going straight,' Adam said. ‘You've just broken out of jail.'

‘Breaking out of jail was my final crime. But now I'm definitely retired and determined to spend the rest of my life devoting myself to good works. But before I get down to that, there's some information I picked up in prison about a fellow called Scabellax which I think your father will want to know.'

‘You're too late!' said Adam angrily. ‘Scabellax captured him earlier today.'

‘What?' roared Calico Jack, jumping out of the lifeboat with a remarkably sprightly leap for someone of his age. ‘Why didn't you tell me before?'

‘Before what?' Adam protested.

‘When did he catch him? Where? How? Where's he taken him?' demanded his grandfather.

‘I thought you didn't like questions.'

‘Don't get smart with me, young whippersnapper. We need to get your father back.'

‘Shhh,' said Adam. ‘Nobody is supposed to know he's my father. He makes me call him “Doctor” when we're not out at sea. He says it's for my own safety.'

‘Can't be too careful,' agreed Calico Jack. ‘Now, I only just got here so you'll have to tell me what's been going on. But before you do – if the Doctor doesn't think it's wise to reveal your relationship, then perhaps we'd better keep ours a secret too. And don't be surprised if we run into people and I give them a different name to Calico Jack.'

‘You mean lie to them?'

‘Lie is a very strong term, Adam,' said Calico Jack. ‘There's the truth and then there's a lie and there's a large space in between.'

‘What's in the space in between?' asked Adam.

‘Creativity,' Calico Jack explained. ‘Some people need only one name and some people need more. I'm one of the ones who need more. I've got lots of names. In Asia, I am Gregor Ivan Petrovich. In Australia, I'm Brad Outback. In Antarctica, I'm Thor Normquisterson.'

‘Antarctica?'

‘Got on the wrong boat by mistake when I was leaving Buenos Aires in a hurry. Was stranded for six months with only penguins for company. They are dull creatures – spend the whole day sitting there with eggs on their feet.'

‘That's because if they let them touch the ground for even a minute the egg would freeze and the chick would die,' said Adam.

‘I'm sure they'd have told me that if I could speak penguin.'

‘I'm sure they would,' said Adam. ‘They're very chatty.'

Calico Jack gave Adam a hard stare. ‘What are you talking about?'

‘They were concerned about herring stocks,' explained Adam. ‘I told them about global warming.'

‘Just my luck,' groaned Calico Jack. ‘Finally get to meet my grandson and he turns out to be a gibbering idiot.'

‘I'm not a gibbering idiot,' said Adam. ‘Well, at least I don't think I am. What does “gibbering” mean?'

‘I'm too old for this,' said Jack, ignoring the question, as was his habit. ‘I remember your father was interested in some kind of nonsense about talking to animals. But I thought better of him than to expect he'd make his son believe the same crackpot ideas.'

‘It's not –' Adam began. But he was interrupted by a chattering from behind. Simia had just discovered that the Doctor had not returned with Adam and wanted to know why. She stormed up to him and tugged hard at his arm.

‘Where is he?' she demanded. ‘What have you done with him?'

Adam was immediately on the defensive.

‘It wasn't my fault! He walked into a trap!'

‘A trap. What were you doing leading him into a trap?'

‘I didn't. We were in the wood and –'

‘A wood?' This made Simia angrier. ‘You went into a wood without me? Me, Simia, who can climb a tree faster than you can run down the street. I could have warned you.'

‘We didn't know –'

‘Woah! What's going on here?' interjected his grandad, who had been watching, though obviously not understanding, the exchange with open-mouthed amazement.

Simia looked at him and then at Adam. Adam realised he'd broken the Doctor's golden rule and revealed his ability to communicate with animals. He didn't know what to do: should he trust his grandfather? For the first time the Doctor wasn't there to tell him what to do. He was going to have to make up his own mind.

‘Are you really talking to him?' said his grandfather.

‘Simia's a her,' Adam explained.

‘Let's not split hairs, Adam,' said Calico Jack. ‘You were talking to a monkey. What was he – I mean, she – saying? Did she want a banana?'

‘Not exactly,' said Adam.

‘Well, what exactly, then?'

‘Actually,' said Adam awkwardly, ‘she was giving me a telling-off.'

‘Nothing at all about bananas?'

Adam shook his head. Calico Jack was lost in thought for a moment. Then he started chuckling.

‘You know, Adam, this opens up an awful lot of possibilities.'

‘Does it?'

‘A good criminal could make a lot of money if he could talk to animals.'

‘But you said you were retired.'

‘Did I? I thought I said I was taking a vacation.'

‘You said you were going straight,' said Adam firmly. ‘I remember.'

‘Overrated thing, memory,' muttered Calico Jack, ‘as I remember pointing out to the last witness to pick me out of an identity parade. I . . . ugh!'

‘Ugh?' said Adam.

‘Damned ants everywhere,' said Adam's grandfather, raising his boot.

‘Stop!' Adam shouted.

‘What for?'

‘You're about to step on the Special Ant Service.'

Calico Jack was incredulous. ‘Ants! You can talk to ants too!'

‘Communicate,' Adam corrected him, and he bent down. General Lepti marched on to his hand.

‘General Lepti and the Special Ant Service returning to base!' signalled the ant.

‘Any casualties?' asked Adam anxiously.

‘A couple of minor thorax injuries and a punctured abdomen. The two enemies were last seen jumping into a pond.'

‘Thank you, General,' said Adam.

‘Permission to go below deck and eat some leaves,' requested General Lepti.

‘Permission granted!'

At a command from their chief, the platoon of army ants disappeared below deck. Having witnessed the exchange with the ant, Adam's grandfather's mouth dropped even wider than before.

‘Lucky thing I didn't stamp on your friends,' he said finally.