Of Lakes, Mysteries and the Odd Lunatic

Chapter XVIII: In which Lawrence in on the waters of the lake once again

Chapter XVIII

In which Lawrence in on the waters of the lake once again

 

Once more Lawrence found himself upon a boat in the middle of lake Enderslew. Like the last time, he was piloting the vessel, but on this occasion the lake was not a broiling, surging mass that threatened to overturn the boat. Right now, the lake was a windless, motionless mass, with the only break upon the surface coming from the boat and the odd buoy that was tilting in the light current that drew water out towards the river.

As Lawrence neared Withering point, he slowed down the engines to a crawl, careful not to get too close so as not to scratch the boat. It was a rental after all. Once the boat was close enough to the point, he reversed the engines so as to stop the boat completely, then cut them.

“Lars! Drop the anchor, please,” Lawrence called. He had brought several of the patients that came with him on the fishing trip previously as he had found them to be trustworthy and capable upon a boat.

Withering Point itself was a tall, bleached white irregular pillar of stone that rose up from the lake like the trunk of a dead tree. It got slightly narrower near the top, but it’s pinnacle was rounded and wide. Green slime had collected around it’s base, and there were several black-green lines of mould that showed the present and passed waterlines.

There were many theories as to the origin of Withering Point, the scientific reason being the weathering of a large island that once occupied the middle of the lake. Popular theories, however, have the tendency to overshadow scientific ones. Some of these included a lake-worm turned to stone by an ancient magician, the statue of a mythical witch, and an ancient totem of a lost civilization.

Lawrence stepped onto the ladder that lead from the small bridge to the main deck. There, Mason was busy pulling a white one-piece coverall over his shoulders. He did up the buttons at the front and tightened the ties around his ankles and wrists.

“Thank-you for doing this, Mason,” Lawrence said as he readied the outer suit.

“Well, I’ll be sure to find a little extra in my paycheck this month, I’m sure.”

“Mason, if we find this machine, you can have a bonus to shame all other bonuses.”

“Quite, sir.”

Ten minutes later, Lawrence, Lars and another patient were lifting the heavy diving helmet onto Mason’s shoulders. Lars fastened each of the heavy bolts that connected the helmet to the rest of the suit with a wrench. Lawrence checked the suit over for anything that was missed, tightening and pulling things here and there.

Once Lawrence was satisfied, he stood up and looked through the grated window of the helmet and Mason’s face inside. He made a thumbs-up and put a questioning look on his face, and Mason replied by stiffly moving his arm to be parallel to the ground and making a vague thumbs-up sign back as it was difficult to use any fine motor skills with the thick gloves that he was wearing.

“Begin pumping!” ordered Lawrence. The two pumping teams that had worked on the illegal lightning experiment the other day were also upon the boat, putting their skills to a somewhat safer use. However, diving in those days was a risky business, with many a tale of divers drowned in the depths.

Lawrence made the final adjustments to the helmet, and stood back. He went to the bridge and went over to a radio console. Pressing a button, he spoke into the microphone on the console.

“Mason? Can you hear me? Mason?”

The reply that came back was muffled and laced with static, but still intelligible.

“Yes...mrppphhhh...I can hear you.” Mason’s helmet was fitted with an internal radio to enable communication between himself and the boat.

“Mason, could you turn on your lamp?”

“Lamp is on, sir...mrphhhchhh.”

Lawrence walked over to the window at the front of the bridge and looked Mason, who himself was looking up at the bridge. On the side of his helmet was affixed an electric torch encased in a waterproof container, and currently it was emitting a faint beam of light. Lawrence was not worried, however, as the torch always needed a bit of time to warm up, and the light would appear much brighter in the murky depths of the lake. He walked back over to the console.

“Albright, you can leave the lamp on; you’ll be diving very soon and it’ll only have to start up again if you turn it off now.”

“chhhhh...Fine, sir.”

Lawrence stepped out onto the catwalk stairs that lead down to the deck and called out to Lars.

“He’s diving now, Lars. Make sure the ladder is ready.” All the patients who were crewing the boat, as well at the boat’s owner, had been briefed on the proceedings of a dive so as to be as efficient as possible once on the water.

“The ladder is ready, Lawrence!” Lars called.

“Thank-you! I’ll tell him he can start,” Lawrence replied. He darted back over to the radio console. “Okay, Mason. You can go down now. Remember, the Machine will be quite close to the point. Good luck.”

“I don’t think I’ll...pchhhrrrchhhh...-eding that luck, sir. I’m sure I’ll be fine..mrphhh.”

Well, we can only hope, thought Lawrence.