The Night of the Triffids

  The sun was now well above the horizon. Or rather, the feeble excuse that passed for the sun in these darkened times. Once more it reminded me of a disc of orange foil. It hung there indifferently, as if merely pasted to the sky. We were in for another gloomy day and, despite its being June, it felt distinctly chilly. Whatever was filtering out most of the light up there so many miles above my head was doing an equally efficient job of blocking the sun's heat. Day by day the air felt more and more wintry.

  Perhaps what Mr Hartlow had told me just before he died had been right. Maybe this was the beginning of the end. One prophesied by so many of the world's religions: the onset of the end of the world would begin with a supernatural darkness.

  Without light there would be no photosynthesis. Plant life would die. Without plants herbivores would die. Soon the food chain would be shattered, link by link.

  These thoughts worked a shiver through my bones, chilling me more than the cold air.

  I stood leaning forward, my elbows on the guard rail, gazing from the tumbling wake in the rust-coloured sea to the horizon, searching for the first rounded humps of the Isle of Wight. At that moment my greatest pleasure would be simply to walk along the harbour wall into town. See familiar faces. Hear the voices of the children in the schoolyard. I even imagined settling into a comfortable armchair at home where I'd tell my parents and sisters what had happened to me. I pictured their wide-eyed faces as they drank in every word of my adventures. All this followed by a cathartic night on the town with Mitch Mitchell. As I gazed dreamily homeward, I sensed a figure standing behind me.

  'Oh, Kerris. Sorry, I didn't notice you there.'

  'I didn't mean to disturb you.'

  'I was just looking for a first glimpse of home.'

  'See anything?'

  'Not yet.'

  'We must get you some boots. You can't stand out here in your socks, it's freezing.'

  'I hadn't noticed,' I said, not altogether truthfully. It was actually damn cold. 'Be ready for a big reception committee.' I nodded toward the horizon. 'I wouldn't be surprised if the whole population doesn't turn out to greet you.' I smiled. 'It's not every day a ship full of Americans steams in.'

  'I'll be ready with the movie camera.' She grinned. 'I'll catch that handsome profile of yours as we dock.'

  'Handsome? What, a lens-cracking phizog like mine? Hardly.'

  'You'll be too busy looking out for your wife on the quayside.'

  'No. Not me. I'm not married.'

  'Oh,' Kerris said. Then she turned to look forward, her long hair fluttering back in the breeze. 'Gabe's right. We're really moving today. Skipper's in a hurry to get you safely home.'

  'You're sure that he's radioed ahead on the frequency I gave you?'

  'Of course. They were relieved to hear that you were safe, I can tell you.'

  'I'm only sorry I can't say the same for my passenger.'

  There was a pause, filled only with the hiss of the ship's wake.

  'You saved the girl,' Kerris said at length, fixing me with those green eyes of hers. 'You'll return a hero.'

  'I don't feel like a hero.' I shook my head. 'In fact, I feel bloody sick about what happened to Hinkman.'

  'Well, be ready with a speech when you get home. Those folk on your island consider you to be some kind of hero already.'

  'That's probably an accident of birth, rather than any qualities of my own.'

  Kerris pulled back her hair from her face as the wind blew it into a rippling mass that now shone red in the sombre half-light. 'David. You're either very modest - almost insufferably modest - or there's some great family secret.'

  I leaned forward, elbows on the guard rail, watching the foam at the bow. 'No big family secret. My father is, I suppose, when all's said and done, seen as some kind of demigod at home.'

  'And you kinda feel that great things are expected of you?'

  'Sort of

  'And it rankles?'

  'Not really.' I smiled at her. 'My father's a great father and my family don't expect me to be Bill Masen mark two. But there are public expectations.'

  'Maybe you won't disappoint them.'

  'Kerris, so far my only significant achievement has been to crash two of the island's aircraft in two days. So even if I am expected to step into a giant's shoes, it looks like my feet just aren't damned big enough.'

  I turned to lean back against the rail, noticing for the first time how white Kerris's teeth were, framed by those full lips. 'That wasn't supposed to sound too self-pitying, by the way. And your family - do they pass muster?'

  'They do. But they're kinda difficult to keep track of.'

  'A big family?'

  'I guess so.'

  'A chap I know, Mitch Mitchell, has eight brothers and two sisters. I don't know how he remembers all their birthdays.' I grinned. 'Or even all their names, come to that.'

  'Your buddy Mitch has got it easy.'

  'You've got more?'

  'Hmm.' She nodded at me, smiling. 'At the last count, one hundred and fifteen brothers and exactly one hundred and twenty sisters.'

  I laughed out loud, then waited for the joke's punchline. Then I saw this wasn't a leg-pull. 'Crikey.'

  'And you thought Mitch had his hands full.' She smiled and touched my chin. 'If that jaw of yours drops any further it's going to dent the deck. Now…' She leaned forward over the rail, her hair streaming back in the breeze. 'Any sign of that island yet?'

  Then a minor revelation struck me. In isolation, societies evolve quite differently from one another. We had the Mother Houses. New York boasted families of more than two hundred children - just how that was achieved goodness knew. But one thing I did know: all our minds would have to broaden to an astonishing degree. We would have to embrace the philosophy of vive la difference. Or be faced with the birth of some potentially dangerous prejudices.

  Even as I wondered how this shipload of Americans would handle the culture shock of encountering our homely community on the Isle of Wight, my eyes strayed to the dim sun. It was only then that I saw there was now something else wrong with it. Something very wrong indeed.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CONTRETEMPS

  'DAVID? What's wrong?'

  I shot Kerris such a savage look that she recoiled. 'It's the ship,' I snapped. 'It's going the wrong bloody way!'

  'How do you mean, the wrong way? We're taking you home.'

  'No, you're not, damn it… how could I have not noticed?'

  'David-'

  'The thing's been staring me in the face for the last twenty minutes.'

  'David.' Kerris shook her head in confusion. 'I don't understand what-'

  'Look at the sun.' Shaking with anger, I pointed at the bloody red disc there in the sky.

  'What about the sun? I don't see-'

  'No, I didn't see either.' I took a breath. 'Look, Kerris. It's before midday. The sun's still rising. But it's rising over the stern - behind the ship! It should be rising in front of it. That means we're heading west - not east!'

  'I don't understand. We're supposed to be-'

  'Supposed to be taking me home.' I shot a grim glance at the bridge. 'But it looks as if there's been a change of plan.'

  'David?'

  'I'm going to talk to Captain Bligh or whatever his name is!'

  Furious at being taken for a sap I strode up to the bridge.

  'Good morning to you, Mr Masen.' Captain Sharpstone stood there with his hands behind his back. His gaze was not on me but the red horizon. 'Slept well, I trust.' Then he turned to an officer behind him. 'Take her up to eighteen knots, Mr Lehman.'

  'Captain Sharpstone,' I began. 'What's happening?'

  'We're making a damn good speed, Mr Masen. That's what's happening.'

  'Yes, but in the wrong direction.'

  'There's nothing mistaken about our direction.'

  'West?'

  'North-west, Mr Masen.'

  'But why? You're supposed to be taking me home to the Isle of Wight.' r />
  'Change of plan, sir.'

  'But why the hurry? Couldn't you take me home first?'

  'Orders, Mr Masen.'

  'But you couldn't have been more than a dozen hours away from the island. Why not-'

  'When your commander issues an order, Mr Masen, you obey it, don't you? I have my orders from the highest authority to turn this ship round on its tail and make all speed for my home port. I have no option but to obey them. Or did you have me pegged as some kind of mutineer, sir?'

  'Perhaps if you were to radio your HQ and explain the position? If you're running short of supplies my community would happily-'

  'Mr Masen. It may be acceptable in your profession to question a commanding officer's orders but in mine it is construed as insubordination. And therefore unacceptable.' He regarded me from beneath those fierce eyebrows. 'I don't doubt that arrangements will be made to return you safely home to your family as soon as is practicable. In the meantime, however, our course is north-west.'

  'New York?'

  In lieu of an answer he gazed steadily through the bridge windows.

  I felt fingers touch my sleeve. Kerris indicated with a tilt of her head that I should leave the captain.

  Still grinding my teeth, I followed her below to the passengers' saloon where, I'm sorry to say, she had to listen to my views on the captain's orders. All of them, in the considerable heat of the moment, were well and truly peppered with some very basic English slang.

  ***

  What do you do in such a situation? When you find that instead of being taken home you are to be carried away to a foreign land? Stage a one-man mutiny?

  Hardly.

  Nevertheless, I paced the deck for the better part of that day, scowling at anyone who caught my glance. Kerris, Gabriel, Dek, and the oriental girl Kim So were sympathetic. They also acknowledged that the captain had his orders. Captain Sharpstone, however strict, was fair. After lunching on a beefsteak of eye-popping dimensions I was invited to compose a message to my HQ.

  With a twinge of homesickness I wrote that I was well, that there had been a change of plan, that I should return in the not too distant future. After that, there was little to do but make the most of the voyage.

  Soon I became so accustomed to the background thrumm of the engines that I no longer noticed them. My first full day ended with the sun, now no more than a brick-red splotch, fizzling out into the ocean.

  In new boots I took a turn around the deck with Kerris. We didn't brave the cold night air long before returning to the cosy saloon where Gabriel sat at a table, writing up notes, while Rory idly picked at his banjo's strings. I played cards with Kerris for a quiet hour or so, oblivious to a surprise that awaited me just around the next corner.

  At a little after nine, Kim So entered, a smile on her face. At first I half suspected some practical joke. She shot quick little glances back over her shoulder. The movements set her thick, lustrous plait swinging.

  She looked at each of us in turn, smiling yet more broadly, then:

  'May I introduce a new guest to everyone?'

  Kim So turned and held out her hand to someone out of sight.

  Tentatively, a girl of fifteen or so appeared in the doorway. A broad smile lit her face, while her eyes darted from person to person. When she saw me, the smile became a vivacious grin. She pointed with a finger, laughed, then called out: 'Bang-bang man! Bang-bang man!'

  How my wild child of the island had changed.

  I hadn't recognized her. The dark dandelion clock of her hair had been tastefully cut. She'd bathed and put on new clothes. The transformation astonished as much as it delighted me. Kim So nodded encouragingly to the girl before turning to us again, smiling proudly. 'Everyone. I would like you to meet Christina.'

  The once-wild child patted her own face. 'Kiss-Tina. Kiss-tina.'

  'Chris-tina,' Kim repeated slowly. 'Chris-tina.'

  'Kiss-tina!'

  Kim smiled at us. 'Well, we're getting there. If not by giant strides then by baby steps.'

  Kim had spent a night and a day gaining the confidence of the girl. She told us how readily Christina had taken to the shower, and to changing into new clothes. Kim added that in infancy Christina must have been raised in civilized surroundings since washing her face and brushing her teeth and hair weren't alien to her. Now she'd bounced back into society with a vengeance. In a matter of hours she was touching furniture, pictures, articles of clothing and striving to remember what they were called.

  I too felt a surge of something very much like pride as Christina ran round the saloon looking at everything with childlike curiosity.

  'Chair… table. Table!' She rapped the table with her knuckles in triumph. 'Table. Sit. Eat. Aunt Sue there.' Pointing at one end of the table, she mimed pulling something out of her mouth. 'Huff-huff… Ayah!' She wafted a hand in front of her face while coughing.

  Kerris looked at me. 'I take it Aunt Sue smoked like a chimney.'

  'Maxie - gerrunder… gerrunder… Maxie naughty.' Now she mimed a dog with his paws on the table.

  Rory looked at Christina. 'She'll be able to speak properly? I mean, her vocabulary won't be restricted permanently like this?'

  'She's learning at a hell of rate. This is one smart kid.'

  Suddenly Christina put her finger in her mouth to make popping sounds. Then she mimed pouring drink from an imaginary bottle. When she spoke again it was in a surprisingly deep voice, like a man's, with what to my ears sounded like a Scottish accent. 'To another year of life… God save the King.'

  'Good Lord.' Gabriel shook his head, admiringly. 'I've heard of a photographic memory; I figure she has a phonographic memory.'

  'I dare say,' began Kerris thoughtfully, 'if you're suddenly left alone at the age of four or five those early memories of home and family are going to be etched so deeply you're never going to lose them.'

  Gabriel nodded. 'Poor kid. What she went through I don't ever want to know.'

  'So far, she won't sleep in a bunk,' Kim told us. 'She pulls off the blankets to make a kind of nest in the corner of a cabin. But, as you can see, she's in good spirits. She's lively, intelligent.'

  Beaming, Christina moved from person to person, patting them on the arms and head while repeating, 'Hello… hello… hello…'

  When she reached me she pointed again, then repeated the words she'd said when she first walked into the room. 'Bang-bang man.'

  'So you're the bang-bang man?' Kerris said, amused.

  I nodded, still smiling at Christina, and still marvelling at her transformation. 'She's remembering when I startled her with a gun. I took a pot-shot at a triffid that came too close for comfort. The noise scared the stuffing out of her.'

  'Well, no harm done,' Kerris observed. 'She's taken to you again.' Her smile broadened as she looked at me. 'Bang-bang man.'

  Suddenly Christina bolted from the room.

  My smile faded. 'Maybe you spoke too soon, Kerris.'

  'Don't worry,' Kim reassured. 'This is all new for Christina. It's bound to get a bit much for her at times.'

  I'd supposed that Christina had retreated to her nest of blankets in her cabin. Yet she returned a moment later, glowing with pride.

  'Saved it,' she told me, then held up the briefcase in both hands. 'Saved it… you… you!'

  She pushed the briefcase towards me.

  'You want me to save it for you?' I shrugged, puzzled. 'But it's yours, Christina.'

  'You it,' she insisted. 'You it!'

  I shook my head. 'Sorry, Christina. I don't understand.'

  'You… it!'

  I looked round at the others helplessly. They shook their heads, puzzled too.

  'Ah! Ah! Ah!' The sound came gutturally from deep in her larynx. More like a bark than a human sound. 'Ah! Ah!'

  Suddenly she snatched up a piece of paper on which Gabriel had been writing. Then, moving it from side to side against her face, almost as if she were wiping her eyes with it, she chanted, 'You it! You it! You it!'


  'Oh… you mean read it!'

  A look of triumph blazed in her eyes. Nodding vigorously, she said excitedly, 'Read it. Read it.'

  'All right.' I smiled. 'I understand, Christina.'

  She sat down close beside me on the upholstered seat, hugging her knees in a delighted childlike way while she watched me unbuckle the clasps of the case.

  The briefcase with its scars and stains - even what seemed to be animal teeth marks - looked like it could have told of its own adventures down through the years. For reasons best known to Christina she'd guarded it carefully ever since she'd been forced to fend for herself as a little girl. With something like reverence I opened the case. Then, one by one, I removed the contents, laying them carefully on the table in front of me. A small Bible. Opening the cover, I read what was inscribed there. 'Presented to Christina Jane Schofield on the occasion of her Christening. From her loving Aunt, Susan Tourraine.'

  Eagerly Christina watched me setting out her treasures.

  'One doll,' I said, placing the doll beside the Bible.

  'Becker,' said Christina, touching the doll's face.

  Then came a lump wrapped in paper that I initially took to be a stone. But: 'Bread - very dry, very stale bread. Probably years old.'

  Then came a few items of clothes for a little girl of around four or five. A sense of inevitability began to creep over me. I realized I would find clues here to the girl's past. For a moment I didn't want to continue with this ritual with Christina watching me.

  Christina touched a cotton garment. 'Bl-owzer.' She thought for a moment, then corrected herself. 'Blouse.' Memory was returning. I could see it in the sudden distant look in her eye. 'Naughty dog, Max… plant bit him.' Her air of animation deserted her. She sat still. 'Plant bit him. Max in ground.'

  An atmosphere settled over the room. I think everyone there looking at that bundle of belongings had started to supply their own mental scenario about what had happened to Christina those long years ago. I saw a little girl running through a darkened forest clutching the briefcase into which someone had placed a few basic items. A chunk of bread, never eaten; a Bible that she could not read but that would remind her of happier times. Should she survive, that was.