‘But what?’ asked Mark. ‘What were they trying to make?’
‘Only Dr Shelley can answer that.’
‘I think we should get away from this place right now,’ said Linda. ‘Let’s not bother looking for Dr Shelley any more. Let’s just get the hell out of here.’ There was an edge of desperation in her voice that Paul found disturbing. He reached over and patted her hand.
Alex sniggered at her. ‘And just how are we gonna do that? It’s a long swim to Scotland from here.’
Linda gave him a cold look. ‘There are lifeboats. Several of them. I saw them when we first arrived.’
‘But we’d be right back where we started,’ pointed out Rochelle. ‘I don’t fancy being adrift in a little boat again. At least here we’re warm and dry and have got lots of food and drink. And toilets.’
‘Their boats are much bigger than ours was. They’re enclosed and they’ve probably got motors too. And we can take plenty of supplies with us.’ She turned to Paul. ‘What do you think?’
‘It’s worth considering,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘If we can’t find Shelley by late afternoon perhaps we should just get in one of the boats and get out of here. I don’t like the idea of spending another night on the platform. “Charlie” might get restless again.’
‘Do you know how to launch a lifeboat?’ asked Chris doubtfully.
‘No,’ he admitted. ‘In fact I think I’ll go check one of them out right now. Its just occurred to me they might contain emergency radio beacons. It’s possible we could send out a distress signal. Anyone want to come with me?’ He got to his feet.
‘I will,’ said Mark, rising too. ‘I could do with some fresh air.’.
‘Yeah, you two hot-shots go have fun,’ said Alex. ‘I’ll stay here and guard the women.’
‘Huh. And who’s going to guard us from you?'1 asked Linda, only half-jokingly.
Alex contrived to look pained. ‘I’m a very misunderstood person. It’s the story of my life.’
‘You’d better watch out your life story doesn’t come to an abrupt end,’ said Chris coldly.
He gave her an unpleasant leer. ‘Tough talk, baby. You shouldn’t speak that way to the guy who docs you such big favours. You owe me, kid, and don’t forget it.’
‘I owcyou? Like hell I do.’ Her face began to redden with anger. ‘You got paid a hundred times over, you bastard…’
‘Hey, let’s get on with it,’ said Mark hurriedly and headed towards the door. Puzzled, Paul followed him. Once outside in the corridor he asked Mark what it had all been about. Mark said he had no idea. Paul knew he was lying but didn’t pursue the matter. He presumed it had something to do with Chris and Alex coming out of the same room together last night. Whatever was going on meant trouble ahead, simply because it involved Alex, but he didn’t have the time to be worried abut it now.
When they emerged onto the catwalk they were surprised to see that the weather had deteriorated badly since their arrival the day before. There was now a strong wind blowing and a sizeable swell. They both stared worriedly at the grey, heaving sea. ‘I’m not sure I fancy going boating in that sea,’ said Mark finally.
‘Me neither,’ said Paul. ‘But maybe conditions will have improved by tonight.’
But when they reached the first of the lifeboats they realised it wouldn’t matter if the weather improved or not. The hull of the boat had been smashed in.
There were five other large lifeboats suspended from various sections of the platform and, as Paul and Mark suspected, they too had been similarly sabotaged.
‘We’re trapped here,’ said Mark as they surveyed the sixth and final boat. It had several gaping holes in its side. ‘Aren’t we?’.
Paul picked up the remains of the shattered radio beacon. It had been the same with the other boats — all the beacons had been destroyed. He sighed. ‘We’re trapped all right. Someone on this rig enjoys our company so much they don’t want us to leave.’ He threw the pieces of the transmitter back into the boat. ‘But we’re going to beat them. Somehow.’
Mark shook his head. ‘I don’t think so,’ he said bleakly. ‘I don’t think any of us are going to get off this rig alive.’
Six
Paul and Mark decided not to go and tell the others about their grim discovery just yet — the bad news could wait until later — instead they resumed the search for Dr Shelley on Level Two. They spent over an hour without result and then Paul suggested they go and have another look at the TV monitoring centre they’d investigated briefly the previous night.
For a time Paul fiddled with the camera controls, cutting from camera to camera around the platform in the hope that they might spot Shelley, or anyone, on one of the eight monitors but all they got were views of deserted corridors and labs.
By accident they found themselves, finally, watching the other four who had obviously left the kitchen and were in one of the several recreational rooms on the bottom level. The three women were playing cards in a desultory fashion while Alex sat in front of a TV set sorting through a pile of video cassettes.
‘Gives you a feeling of power, doesn’t it, being able to watch someone without them knowing it,’ said Mark, staring at the screen.
‘I guess so,’ said Paul. ‘I just wish there was some kind of “erase” button we could press that would get rid of Alex.’
‘You hate his guts, don’t you?’
‘Sure. Don’t you too?’
‘If there was a Guinness Book of Shits he’d be Number One,’ said Mark, ‘I wish we’d never got involved with him.’
‘Yeah, it was a big mistake all right,’ agreed Paul. ‘Only Linda had the smarts to see through him from the beginning. She warned me against getting mixed up with him but I didn’t listen to her.’ ‘He wants Linda. You realise that, I hope,’ said Mark calmly.
Paul nodded. ‘Yeah. And if he ever so much as touches her I’ll kill him.’
‘You mean that, don’t you?’ said Mark. He sounded impressed.
Paul looked at him with embarrassment. ‘Sounds like something out of a bad movie, but yes, I do mean it.’
‘I wish I had your guts. But I’m weak. I’ve always been weak but now I’m weaker than ever.’
‘Hey, come on Mark. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re not weak.’
‘Oh yes I am.’ He gave a bitter laugh. ‘And you don’t know the half of it.’ He grimaced suddenly and grabbed the console with both hands to steady himself.
‘You okay?’ asked Paul, alarmed.
‘Yes,’ said Mark shakily, ‘just a dizzy spell. I’ll be fine.’ ‘You should really see a doctor when we get home. I think there’s something wrong with you.’
He laughed again. ‘You can say that again. But don’t worry. I know what it is. I can handle it. But don’t ask me to explain. There’s nothing you can do to help. Okay?’ ‘Okay,’ said Paul reluctantly. ‘At least you’re looking better today than you were yesterday. You looked awful.’
‘I feel better. And I’ve stopped seeing things too. For a time there I thought I was going crazy.’
Paul frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You remember I told you about the stuff I found in the overalls up on the crane. The black slime?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Wei, I never finished telling you the whole story. It moved, Paul. It poured out of one of the sleeves, ran across the floor of the cabin and went out through an air vent in the back. It actually crawled up the back wall of the cabin to reach the vent, like a kind of liquid worm…’