UNDERCOVER on the TITANIC (book 1)

Part 35 - Cabin

'Um,' Denny mumbled, 'I seem to have mislaid the key to my cabin. I don't suppose you could assist me?'

'It would be my considerable pleasure to do so,' Mr McIntyre replied.  'I will escort you to the head steward. He will be able to let you into your stateroom.'

We all said goodbye to Isambard and Mr Hurn and Mr McIntyre led us to a stairwell via the turbine room.

There were an incredible number of stairs and a lot of floors which Mr McIntyre insisted we call decks. He also pointed out that the walls were called bulkheads on ships. We started out climbing painted steel steps that were little more than ladders. Further up, the stairs were wider and covered with plain carpeting and the higher we climbed the more elaborate and richer the decor became. 

When we reached E Deck, Mr McIntyre took us to what he called a "lift" which turned out to be a new looking, but oddly old fashioned, cage-like elevator with scissoring doors. A brass plate above the door read OTIS.  Inside it had a sofa and a driver who moved a handle to raise or lower the elevator. I had never seen an elevator with its own chauffer and a place to sit down.

G Deck looked a lot more like a luxury hotel with corridors and doorways at regular intervals. The stair cases were richly carpeted with curved wooden balustrades and gleaming brass rails. Every wall and corner was filled with hand carved rich wooden panels and scroll work. Everything looked new and clean.

We passed a few people wearing smart but old fashioned looking clothes. They stared at us and I felt oddly embarrassed. We found the Head Steward who recognized 'Sir Saint Denny' but when Denny asked about getting some food he suggested that we should get dressed, as dinner would be announced soon by the bugler. Denny then had to admit that he had forgotten his cabin number and had also mislaid his key. 

The Head Steward smiled benignly as he reassured Denny that this was a common problem which he would rectify immediately. He produced a large metal key with a heavy plaque attached and led us to a door in a long corridor. Denny opened the door as he thanked the steward and we stepped into a luxurious apartment. We looked around astonished at the lavish furnishings. The walls were covered with flowery patterned wall paper, ornately carved wooden panelling and heavy drapes. 

The furniture seemed to be exclusively of polished mahogany, oak and teak. Everything looked brand-new but old fashioned as if we were on a very elaborate movie set. We could even smell fresh varnish and polish under the pervasive smell of tobacco smoke. One of the walls had a window, a porthole, that looked out onto a dismal grey sea. Denny sank into one of the overstuffed armchairs with a sigh and closed his eyes.

'Denny,' I gasped, 'you can't go to sleep now. You gotta tell us what happened.'

He opened one eye. 'Why?' he asked with a sardonic grin. 'I was having a good time until you showed up. How did you get here?'

'Uh, we saw this suspicious guy hanging around the school and wanted to warn you,' I said. 'His name is Kozak and he is on the ship too. We saw him in Boiler Room 1.'

'We followed you into the electric bookcase and found ourselves here,' Miguel added.

'Don't blame me,' Licia said. 'I was just following these two clowns. Now, where are we? And when can we go back?'

Denny sighed, opened the other eye and gestured for us to take seats. 'I really can't tell you how you got here, but we are on the Royal Mail Steamer Olympic which I think is on the way to New York.'

'How did we get onto a ship?' Licia snapped incredulously.

'You will have to ask Lee Zhang about that. I was merely doing some research about steam engines and this came up. I punched in a question about the RMS Olympic expecting to get some answers from the computer but suddenly I found myself in a dark tunnel. I groped around until Mr McIntyre found me and told me that he recognized me. Apparently I was . . . am Sir Archie Saint Denny who was not only an eccentric millionaire with a penchant for roaming around in the bowels of steam ships but also a major shareholder in the White Star shipping line which owns the ship. 

Mr McIntyre insisted on showing me around and I was having fun until you showed up.' 

'But everything looks weird,' Miguel said. 'I never saw anything like it.'

'That's because it's a British ship. The Brits do things differently.'

'Okay,' Licia said glumly. 'How do we get back outta here?' Denny looked at his watch. 

'About two hours from now, we have to be at the same place we arrived. I think that's the set-up.'

'How does it work?' I asked. 'Is it an illusion? It's very realistic.'

'Is it teleportation?' Miguel asked. 'Just like science fiction.'

Denny shrugged apologetically. 'You'll have to ask Dr Lee Zhang. I am not authorized to talk about it.    Anyway, I am not really sure how it works.'

'But how can he get something like this into Silverwood School?' I asked sceptically.

'The miracle of modern computing,' Denny grinned. 'And Dr Zhang can indulge his fantasies. He is filthy rich having just pulled off one of the biggest IPO's in Canadian history.'

'What's an IPO?' Miguel asked. 'Oh, that's an acronym for Initial Public Offering. He offered shares in his company, WongTime Photonics, to the public and people bought millions of them.'

Licia was about to say something when there was a sudden rush of air as if a giant was slurping the dregs of his milk shake. A door in the corner of the room opened suddenly and a girl with long blond hair was staring at us with large blue eyes. She was wearing an ankle length blue dress and a green ribbon in her long hair. 

 Licia stared back. 'Don't tell me. Your name is Alice.'

❘❘ ❘❘❘ ❘❘❘❘❘❙ ❙❙ ❙❙ ❙❘❘❘❘ ❘❘❘❘ ❘❘