The Whale's Song (Book 1)

Chapter Seventeen. An unfinished novel.

Doctor Henry Jakle chanted softly to himself. His lips smacking against his almost toothless gums as he murmured the words to a popular hit song. The chorus repeated itself over and over again, and Doctor Jakle found it easy to remember, and useful for when he wanted to concentrate on his work. His life's work. A work of his life. A biography.

The papers were set out before him, stacks of various faded pieces. The oldest, the yellow dried ones were in a pile furthest from him. They had been completed and contained the chapters of his birth. The newer ones lay in equal stacks around him. In front of him sat a fresh piece of paper. Ink dripped from the mechanical quill pen in his hand.

The page was empty. Waiting to be filled. But with what? He had neared the end of his book, but his life was still going. What else was there to write?

A noise awoke him from his soft singing. It was a clang of something. Damn. Someone was in the chapel again. Probably one of the young children who had no respect for private property. The chapel may not have belong to him, it technically belonged to the ship, but it had been his idea. The chapel would have completely belonged to him, no one else would have known about it and he could have had absolutely peace and quiet to work on his novels, had it not been for his damn lawyer.

Jakle muttered angrily to himself as he stretched, found his glasses, pulled his dressing gown to his body and stumbled from his cubbyhole. It was a secret room hidden behind the murals on the wall behind the alter.

His lawyer, a man who saw only money in things. The only beauty in the world was cash. So he sold the idea to BICCLE and they had installed the chapel in the Whale's Song. Bah. It was a disaster. Inner Chapel of Lots of Space? How could a person have space if it was a tourist destination?

Cursing his way up the secret passageway, Jakle pulled the lever on the inside of the wall that activated the secret door. It swung open soundlessly and he emerged, waving his cane above his head and hollering loudly.