Sky Pirates

Chapter 21

Lord Parker Greene stood in the plaza. His companions left him without explanation. The environment felt like those colonies he'd visited before, allowing him to feel comfortable and safe in his surroundings, despite the heads staring down at him from their tall poles. He turned his face toward the sky, letting the sun warm his face and the pleasant breeze off the ocean cool his body. The weather, the location, this little village all felt like perfection.

He'd traveled the world. So much of it was in chaos. Britain was always the exception to that. Somehow, the Queen and her people at home had kept the British Isles calm, comfortable, and safe. It was the rest of the world, the outlying colonies, both of Her Majesty and other European monarchs, that were in dire straits and chaos. Fighting and border wars kept the general populace of the world fearful, both of invaders and of horrible local dictators. Those heads on stakes were a reminder to Parker Greene of what the world had become. Those with power, whether that power was granted or usurped, would put your head at the end of a pole if you didn't do as they told you.

Yet, here, on this little group of islands, all seemed calm and comfortable. He thought of the people he had seen over the past twenty-four hours, since he'd been off the Balsa Robin. None of them carried weapons, at least not in any outward display. There had been no violence or fighting. He contemplated his walk through the vendors and their stalls... yes, there had been ale and even rum available. And, while he hadn't noticed anyone in a state of drunken debauchery, some of the men and women around the rum stall had been imbibing and enjoying what was being sold.

He pictured in his mind the female dwarf companions who had walked him to this spot. Each of them, while dressed in bizarre bodiced getups with leather and feathers in places the ladies in his native England might find offensive, sported colorful rings like the one Phineas Silas, the dwarf who had tended to him on the Balsa Robin, had worn. He was now more curious than before about what type of device those rings were: what they were, how they worked, and so on.

"Lord Greene, I presume?"

Parker turned slowly toward the voice that addressed him. There, standing less than a foot from him, was Headmaster Peter Swoonry. Greene wondered how all of these men from college had found their way to these four small islands in the middle of the ocean—how they were all working together on this project of Admiral Baki Frogs. "Hello, Mr. Swoonry."

"Oh, you're an adult now, and a Lord." The older man puffed out his chest. "Very impressive, even if it was because of your late brother."

"Sir, I will kindly thank you to refrain from pronouncing Cecil dead. He got away from you and your kind. He knows the world better than any man living. He could be anywhere."

"Quite right, quite right," Peter Swoonry repeated. "Let's begin again, shall we?" Swoonry held out his soft hand to Parker. "Please, call me Peter."

Parker didn't take the man's hand. He wanted to remark how much Peter looked like Dickens' Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist: Big belly, red nose, soft features. Instead, he nodded and bent slightly at the waist. "As you wish, Peter."

The older man ignored the rebuff. "I'm to show you the final option. I have to tell you, the Admiral has never to my knowledge done this before, shown the new arrival all the outcomes before asking the question. You should feel honored."

Parker didn't feel honored. He was growing tired of being traipsed around the islands. He wanted to know what the question was. And, he wanted a hint as to what the "correct" answer might be. He had to survive all of this, figure out more fully what was going on, and then find a way to stop it, and, of course, escape. There was a great deal to figure out and plan.

"Please, Parker, walk with me."

The men went right up the great stone stairs of the Magistrate's home.

"You are the Magistrate?" Parker couldn't hold back the chuckle that bubbled from his throat.

Peter Swoonry led the way, and together they walked the full length of the mansion's balustrade porch, turned, and entered through a door, not a formal entrance, but rather a servant's access. They walked downward; they continued down for many, many flights.

"Where are we..." six-hundred paces. Parker was a little breathless; the air grew cooler. Occasionally, a wall was damp.

"Just follow," said Peter.

If Parker wanted to kill the man, it would be easy here. They were alone in this isolated stairwell. No one would hear or even know of the deed for some time. Yet, once again, curiosity about the outcome was stronger than his desire to dominate the situation. And, so he simply followed the headmaster-turned-Magistrate as they descended deeper and deeper into the earth.

Finally, they reached the bottom, and walked forward through a tunnel. There was no light at all. Parker Greene instinctively raised his hands out in front of himself to keep from bumping into anything in the utter darkness. All the while, he'd begun counting his paces.

The Magistrate took Parker's arm and guided him; he'd returned, emotionally, back to college, receiving help once more from the house master. After a hundred paces, Parker's eyes adjusted to the dark and he was able to make out the walls next to him and the open, unending blackness ahead of him.

A dim light appeared at a great distance.

After one-thousand paces, the men arrived at what seemed to be a dead end, yet the light that had called to them shone more brightly. As Parker inspected the lamp he could not discover the fuel source that kept it bright. It was not gas, nor wax candle. Instead, several strands of wire burned within a glass globe. Of course, everyone had heard of Humphry Davy's electric light, but no one had discovered a way to keep it lit without the filament burning out. Yet, here was a light that seemed to run by electricity, and yet, continued to burn and burn.

They stood at the electric globe for some time in silence. Peter turned a knob on the wall below the light and they began to ascend, as if by magic. There was no sound. He could see no pulleys or ropes. The floor they stood upon simply lifted them higher and higher into the darkness above. 

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