“Not a thing.” She smiled. It was coquettish and endearing, but practiced rather than real. She wanted him to become endeared to her. “I like music but never had a good ear for it. It sounded so melancholy yet beautiful. Do you know what the song was about?”
“The English translation meant, The World is Ending.” He paused to let the words sink in and then continued. “Written during the Great Depression and rise of Fascism in his native Hungary, Seress used it to emphasize the despair of the people and ended in a quiet prayer about people's sins. Incidentally, a poet by the name of László Jávor later wrote his own lyrics to the song, titled Szomorú Vasárnap, or Sad Sunday in which the protagonist wants to commit suicide following his lover's death.”
Her sweet smile contorted at the new information. “So why was it playing in the background?”
“I don’t have a clue. The Aurora Australis which are common this far south cause high altitude ionization and wreak havoc on electrical and radio waves. For some reason, the frequency of that sound appears to render it undistorted.”
“But why would anyone on an Antarctic research station want to listen to such gloomy music on repeat?”
Sam laughed. “Funny you should mention that.”
“Why?”
“During the Second World War an Urban Legend developed that people would listen to the song and then commit suicide. In Great Britain, the BBC became so concerned the song would affect the morale of the people during the war effort that the song became banned.”
“So, people listened to the song and then killed themselves?”
“Yeah, most of them just jumped to their deaths. Of course, it was during one of humanity’s darker hours, so perhaps there was always going to be a higher than average statistic of suicides. They just coincided with the release of such a dreary song.” Sam shrugged his shoulders and then looked at the ship’s railing. “Still. You can’t help deny it’s a hell of a coincidence, isn’t it?”
She shook her head. “You think everyone jumped ship because they listened to a stupid song?”
“No.” Sam laughed and opened the door to the deck. “I have no idea where everyone’s gone, but I intend to find out.”
“Where are you going?”
“To the bridge of course — to get some answers.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sam walked into the bridge of the Antarctic Solace. He noticed the broken door lock splintered in pieces on the floor. Otherwise the inside appeared perfectly normal. He looked at Alexis. She had a slight grin on her face — so she had broken in to get answers.
At the main navigation station he found the compass pointed correctly to the north. He switched on the Navionics computer. An image of the Antarctic Solace superimposed in the calm waters of the Weddell Sea appeared a moment later.
“There you go,” he said.
She stared blankly at it. “I don’t know what to say.”
“It wasn’t there a few days ago, was it?” he asked.
“No, it definitely wasn’t.”
Sam pressed the icon for the ship’s log. It came up instantly. The ship had left Argentina ten days ago. It traveled at an average speed of fifteen knots for the first two of those days. Then the ship and any information about it disappeared from the log until it reappeared in the system at 0830 — the same time he noted the storm had passed.
“That’s strange. It appears the ship’s log shares your apparent amnesia.”
She smiled. It was genuine. No longer coquettish or practiced. It took him by surprise — it made her even more beautiful than he’d first thought. “I told you I wasn’t crazy! Now do you believe me?”
“Sure, but I still don’t have any idea what’s going on here.” He turned the marine radio on and switched to channel 16. “Maria Helena, this is Sam Reilly aboard the Antarctic Solace. How do you read me?”
“Loud and clear.” He recognized Matthew’s voice over the clear radio. “Did you find out what’s happened?”
“No. It would appear the crew and passengers have all disappeared.”
“Everyone?”
“All except for one passenger. I’ll bring her across shortly and we’ll work out our next move.”
Sam placed the radio’s microphone back in its cradle and walked towards the broken door.
“I don’t know, maybe you were right with your first theory.”
“What theory was that?”
“That everyone on board listened to Rezső Seress’s stupid Hungarian suicide song and simultaneously decided to jump ship.”
She laughed. “You can’t possibly believe…”
“I’m kidding. There’ll be a perfectly reasonable explanation soon enough. Elise will get the CCTV results and it will all make sense.”
He walked through the door.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To see if Elise can tell me where you’ve been for the past eight days.”
Chapter Fourteen
Alexis followed Sam through the door. She could hear the soft sound of feet on steel stairs where a young woman was running to meet them. Sam stopped in front of her at the top step and let the person come to him.
The woman stopped five short of the top step. She had an exquisitely beautiful face, framed by a plain gray beanie with the intricate plaits of her dark hair only just visible hanging through its edges, and a pair of impenetrable aviator sunglasses. Her complexion was golden and she guessed came from a mixed ancestry, most likely somewhere between the Mediterranean and Asia. She wore a light blue turtleneck that showed the muscular curves of her lithe and athletic figure and dark blue denim pants that rested over black zip-up military boots. She either didn’t feel the cold or hadn’t bothered to put her ski jacket on before leaving the warmth of the internal section of the cruise ship.
Sam had described her as nerdy!
Alexis felt an instant pang of guilt at her jealousy of the younger woman who was already in Sam’s life. It was irrational and she found herself hoping the woman was too young for him. Alexis had always detested the emotion. It was the worst of them all and poorly placed given her present situation — the last thing she needed or wanted in her life was another man.
A slight pang of guilt tugged at her as she realized that his description of Elise as the most intelligent nerd he’d ever met was replaced by the image of a young and stunningly attractive woman.
The woman was breathing fast like she’d been running hard. She then smiled at Sam. Alexis thought it was coy and teasing. “You’re going to want to see what the CCTV shows.”
“You had some luck with the security tapes?” Sam asked.
“Sure did!” She grinned. “You’re not going to like it, though.”
Sam looked at Alexis. “Elise, meet Alexis — she’s been stranded here on her own after she woke up to find instead of missing the boat, she was the only one who managed to catch it.”
Elise ignored the poor play on words and looked at Alexis. “Pleased to meet you. I bet you’ve had a pretty shitty week.”
Alexis smiled politely. “You have no idea.”
“What did you find on the tapes?” Sam asked.
“You know that stupid song you made me listen to?” Elise said.
“The Hungarian Suicide Song?”
Elise lifted her sunglasses as though she wanted to better see his face in response to the news. “That’s the one.”
“Let me guess, the Antarctic Solace was playing the song over its loud speakers?” Sam asked.
“That’s right.” Elise smiled condescendingly; her bright purple eyes glowed like the Devil. “And then, immediately after it played, everyone casually jumped overboard.”