Purdue tapped his fingers in order against the doorframe for a moment to think. It was better, he reckoned, to play open cards with the adorable, plump Lily who thought the world of him. “Um, Lily, did I summon this guest? Am I losing my marbles?”
Suddenly it was all clear to Lily, and she laughed sweetly. “No! Gosh, no, Mr. Purdue, you did not know about this at all. Don’t fret, you’ve not lost your mind yet.”
Relieved, Purdue sighed, “Thank God!” and laughed with her. “Who is it?”
“I don’t know his name, sir, but apparently he offered to assist with your next expedition.” she said timidly.
“Free of charge?” he jested.
Lily chuckled, “I certainly hope so, sir.”
“Thank you, Lily,” he said and disappeared before she could answer. Lily smiled in the midday breeze that blew in through the open window by the fridges and freezers where she was packing rations. Softly she said, “It is grand to have you back, my good man.”
As Purdue passed his labs, he felt nostalgic, but hopeful. Descending below the ground floor of his main hallway, he skipped down the concrete stairwell. It led to the sub-basement where the laboratories lay dark and quiet. Purdue felt a twinge of misplaced fury for the audacity of Joseph Karsten to have claimed his home to violate his privacy, to seek out his patented technology and his forensic research as if it was only there at the ready for his scrutiny.
He did not bother with the large, strong ceiling lights, only switching on the main light at the entrance of the small corridor. Walking past the dark squares of the laboratory door glass, he reminisced about the golden days before things got nasty, political, and dangerous. Inside he could still imagine hearing his freelance anthropologists, scientists, and interns chatting, arguing about compounds and theories to the tune of running servers and intercoolers. It made him smile, even though his heart ached for those days to return. Now that he was deemed a criminal by most and his reputation was not favorable to use on resumes anymore, he felt that getting elite scientists to work for him was an act in futility.
“It will take time, old boy,” he told himself. “Just be patient, for God’s sake.”
His tall frame sauntered to the left corridor, the sinking concrete ramp feeling sturdy under his feet. It was concrete poured many ages ago by masons long gone. It was home, and it made him feel a great sense of belonging, more than ever before.
As he strolled past the inconspicuous door of a storeroom his heart quickened pace and a tingle crawled down his back into his legs. Purdue smiled as he passed the old iron door that blended into the wall by color and texture, knocking twice on it as he went. Finally, the musty smell of the sub-basement’s sunken cellar struck his nostrils. It cheered Purdue a great deal to dwell alone down here again, but he hurried to retrieve the bottle of Crimean wine from the 1930s to share with his party.
Charles kept the cellar relatively spotless, the bottles dusted and turned, but other than that Purdue had instructed the diligent butler to leave the rest of the chamber as it was. After all, it could not be a decent wine cellar if it did not look just a wee bit abandoned and dilapidated. For his brief reminiscence of pleasant things, Purdue had to pay, by the rules of the cruel Universe, and soon his thoughts crept in another direction.
The wall of the cellar resembled the walls of the oubliette where he was kept by the tyrannical bitch from the Black Sun before she herself came to a fitting end. Much as he reminded himself that that dreadful chapter in his life was closed, he could not help but feel the walls closing in on him.
“No, no, it is not real,” he whispered. “It’s just your mind recognizing your traumatic experiences in the form of a phobia.”
Still, Purdue felt unable to move as his eyes lied to him. With the bottle in his hand and the open door lying just ahead of him, he felt the hopelessness grip his soul. Trapped in place, Purdue could not take a single step and his heart throbbed rapidly in its fight against his mind. “My God, what is this?” he shrieked, holding his brow with his free hand.
Everything closed in on him, no matter how he fought the images with his clear sense of reality and psychology. Groaning, he closed his eyes in a desperate attempt to convince his psyche that he was not back in the oubliette. Suddenly a hand gripped him tightly and jerked at his arm, scaring Purdue into a sober terror. Instantly his eyes snapped open and his mind cleared.
“Jesus, Purdue, we thought you had been swallowed up by a portal or something,” Nina said, still holding his wrist.
“Oh my God, Nina!” he cried, stretching his light blue eyes wide open to make sure that he stayed in reality. “I don’t know what just happened to me. I… I–I s-saw the oubliette… Christ! I’m losing my mind!”
He fell against Nina and she wrapped her arms around him as he panted hysterically. She took the bottle from him and placed it on the table behind her, not moving an inch from where she cradled Purdue’s thin and battered physique. “It’s alright, Purdue,” she whispered. “I know that feeling all too well. Phobias are usually born from one traumatic experience. That’s all we need to lose our minds, believe me. Just know that it’s the trauma of your ordeal and not your sanity crumbling. As long as you remember that, you’ll be fine.”
“Is this how you feel every time we shove you into a confined space for our own gain?” he asked softly, gasping for air next to Nina’s ear.
“Aye,” she admitted. “But don’t make it sound so cruel. Before Deep Sea One and the submarine, I would completely lose my marbles every time I was forced to be in a cramped space. Since working with you and Sam,” she smiled and pushed him away slightly to look him in the eye, “I’ve been forced to confront my claustrophobia so many times, having to face it or get everyone killed, that in essence you two maniacs have helped me cope better with it.”
Purdue looked around and felt the panic subside. He took a deep breath and ran a caring hand over Nina’s head, curling her locks in his fingers. “What would I do without you, Dr. Gould?”
“Well, for one thing, you’d be leaving your expedition party in solemn wait for ages,” she coaxed. “So, let us not keep everyone waiting.”
“Everyone?” he asked curiously.
“Yes, your guest arrived a few minutes ago with Charles,” she smiled.
“Does he have a gun?” he teased.
“I’m not sure,” Nina played. “He might just. At least then our preparations will not be boring.”
Sam called down to them from the side of the laboratories. “Come on,” Nina winked, “let’s get back up there before they think we’re up to something lewd.”
“Are you sure that would be a bad thing?” Purdue flirted.
“Hey!” Sam called from the first corridor. “Am I to expect some, uh, grape-stomping going on down there?”
“Trust Sam to make normal references sound dirty.” Purdue sighed in amusement while Nina chuckled. “You’ll change your tune old boy,” Purdue shouted. “Once you taste my Ayu-Dag Cahors you’ll be begging for more.”
Nina raised an eyebrow and gave Purdue a suspicious look. “Okay, that time you made it dirty.”
Purdue looked ahead proudly as he started up to the first corridor. “I know.”
When they joined Sam, the three of them walked back up to the hallway stairs to reach the ground floor. Purdue hated that they were both so secretive about his guest. Even his own butler withheld this from him, which made him feel like a frail child. He could not help but feel slightly patronized, but knowing Sam and Nina, he realized they simply wanted to surprise him. And Purdue was spot-on, as always.