Sam nodded. 'I guess so. But that's not going to leave much in the way of reserves…' He gave a tired smile. 'Reminds me of the old army joke. If your bed sheets are too short, cut some off the top and sew it to the bottom… only it isn't a joke any longer. To all intents and purposes that's what we're doing.'
Gabriel looked at me. 'Maybe we can negotiate some form of Lease-Lend with David's people? We could certainly use-'
'Gabriel… sorry.' Sam held up a hand for quiet. 'Did anyone hear that?'
We looked at each other and shook our heads.
Sam walked to the guard rail. The way his head suddenly jutted forward told me he'd seen something awry. 'Michael's down… he's flat out on the deck.'
I followed Sam along the interconnecting gangplanks from riverboat to barge, then to the next barge. In front of us, at a lower level, was the big platform of the raft. The pilot lay flat on his back in the sunlight, his arms flung out straight to either side of him. The envelope containing Sam's report lay beside him.
A babble of voices rose around me. Confusion. Anger. Concern.
People began to surge forward to help their fallen comrade. But my old schooling from years ago came back to me.
If you find someone collapsed on the ground, stay back. Look round carefully. Then carefully examine the patient's face and neck for tell-tale signs…
I did. And I saw them.
'Wait!' I yelled as men pushed by me, ready to run down the gangplank to the deck of the raft. 'I said wait!' I pushed myself forward, blocking the way.
A thickset man said, 'Move yourself, buddy. Can't you see he's ill?'
'No!' With an effort I pushed the man back. 'Stay there. Don't you see what's on the side of his neck?' I touched my own neck, just below the ear. 'There's a red mark.'
'So?'
'Don't you recognize it?' I shouted, desperate to avoid further loss of life. 'It's a triffid sting.'
'Triffid sting? Buddy, you've got to be out of your mind. Do you see any triffids out here?'
I looked round. I saw what I'd seen when I'd arrived here. A motley collection of vessels, a few flying boats; a drowned church. Apart from that nothing but a vast lake glittering somewhere between grey and silver in that dulled sunlight.
'So?' The man's face flushed with anger. 'Do you see any damned triffids?'
'Believe me, that's a triffid sting.'
Sam gave me a puzzled look. 'David. I'm sorry, you must be mistaken. Now, we've got to help the guy.'
'He's dead; you can see he-'
'Move it, buddy.' It was understandable. The thickset man wanted to help his friend. It was also fatal.
Grunting, he pushed me back against the guard rail. A moment later he ran across the deck to the fallen man. Before he'd even reached him the lake alongside the raft swirled and rippled as if hungry fish were feeding just below the surface. Simultaneously I heard a swishing sound.
I don't think I actually saw them. In retrospect I told myself that I did see the blur of something long and very slender.
The thickset man groaned. His hand shot up to his forehead. Then it was over. He spun round and his knees buckled. Then he slumped forward at the edge of the raft, one arm swinging down so that his fingertips reached the water.
'Now stay back!' I thundered at the surprised men. 'Get right back into the workshop.' I chivvied the men back until they were through the door. They'd be safe these, behind the timber walls.
Sam shook his head, dumbfounded. At last he took a steadying breath. 'What was that?'
'He was brought down by a triffid sting,' I told him.
'But out here? In the middle of all this water? I… I mean, do you see any triffids?'
I recalled the triffid raft of logs and driftwood held together by turf on which I'd crash landed. I looked out over the water but I saw nothing even remotely resembling it.
I shrugged, deeply puzzled. 'Believe me, Sam. There's a triffid here. Somewhere. Only I just don't see it, for some reason.'
Gabriel moved forward, his great height giving him the ability to look down into the water from our otherwise restricted vantage point. In his low tones he said, 'I know where they are.'
'Where?'
'In the water.'
Sam stood on an upturned pail to look down into the lake, still wary of another attack. 'No, Gabe,' he said at last. 'I don't see them. Where are they?'
'Under the water… you see, it's all a question of mutation.'
'Say what?'
'Mutation. Those monsters are changing at a hell of a rate. They walk, they kill, they communicate with their buddies. They "see" by using a kind of sonar.'
Sam stammered. 'Now… now you're telling me these filthy plants can actually swim?'
'No, not swim,' Gabriel murmured, almost as if he was afraid the triffids would overhear. 'An entirely new species… an aquatic species. What I'd taken to be common waterweed out there in the lake must be the upper fronds of the triffids.'
'That clears up the mystery of the depot crew, I suppose. They were picked off by those new water triffids.'
'Not picked off one by one,' I told him. 'It was a planned attack. They killed all the depot crew in the space of a few moments.'
'An ambush?'
Gabriel nodded. 'I reckon David's right. Those triffids kept the depot crew under surveillance, then chose a time when the entire crew were exposed to attack.'
'Shoot.' Sam shook his head. 'We've got to get word of this to Central HQ fast. Why… these plants might already be on the march underwater, up rivers and streams right into the middle of our towns. Damn the things.'
Gabriel looked out. 'But first things first. If anyone goes out there, they're going to be killed before they get anywhere near the flying boats.'
'Good point.' Sam stroked his jaw. 'Very good point. So how do we reach the planes?'
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
NECESSITY'S CHILD
A ten-minute search provided the materials. Crowded though we were into the workshop, with Sam at the door keeping watch for any more unpleasant surprises, I set to work. I fashioned a helmet from galvanized mesh. I'd have preferred welded seams but settled for strong twine. This, laced in and out of the mesh, held the sections together into a box shape, open at the bottom. A little trimming with wire-cutters ensured a close fit around the shoulders. The search had also revealed an ancient pair of leather flying gauntlets. Hardened with age, they'd do the job. To protect my eyes I found some flying goggles. Covering the rest of my body was a leather flying jacket, while over that I wore a poncho cut from a sheet of very stout canvas. I completed the mongrel outfit with sections of canvas tied around my legs like a horseman's chaps. Fetching it wasn't. But it should work.
I asked for and was given a bowie knife by one of the surviving pilots. I tucked this into my boot top; for additional weaponry I chose a hand axe.
Thus armoured I went to the workshop door. Outside, all appeared calm. However, as we'd worked something had happened to the body of the thickset man who'd pushed by me.
I stared at the empty deck boards. The body had been there ten minutes ago. Now it had vanished. But there was no time to dwell on that. We needed to get this group of men and women onto the aircraft, then take them safely back to camp. Somewhat gingerly I stepped through the doorway, then walked to the gangplank. My makeshift anti-triffid suit was, I hoped, adequate, but I knew only too well it was untested. I kept my lips pressed shut. If a stinger hit the helmet there was still a chance that droplets of poison would spray into my face. However, at least my eyes were well protected by the flying goggles.
Looking and listening all the time I moved down the gangplank onto the broad deck of the raft. It bobbed slightly beneath my feet, setting up a sucking sound under the timbers.
One glance at the pilot told me that he was dead. The flame-red mark still burned on his neck where the sting had found him. I planned to pull the flying boat alongside the raft by its mooring lines, then climb aboard to start the engine
s so they'd be warmed sufficiently for take-off. What was more, if I brought the flank of the machine hard against the edge of the raft, leaving no gap through which the aquatic triffid could strike from the water, then people could safely board.
I'd begun the strenuous job of pulling on the rope, drawing the massive flying boat slowly, slowly towards me, when I felt the first strike. A stinger cracked against my chest. I prayed that the canvas would be thick enough. Another stinger struck the helmet. I flinched at the fine spray of venom on my bare skin. My lips stayed firmly closed as the venom began to itch and burn on the exposed flesh. As the poison wasn't lethal unless it was injected through the skin and into the bloodstream by the hypodermic-like hairs on the sting, a rinse with water would cure it - once I'd completed the task at hand, that was.
More stingers lashed out from the beneath the lake. Now I saw the water ripple as they broke the surface. A series of whiplike blows struck my gloves, arms and helmet.
You're starting to lose your aim, I thought. Your frustration's getting the better of you.
So I told myself. However, then I noticed the stingers that apparently missed had fallen just beyond me. Yet somehow, I found, they were getting tangled around my legs.
I told myself that these aquatic triffids were simply getting themselves into a snarl-up. But presently the stings began to pull against my legs. A moment after that they were taut as guitar strings, vibrating so much that droplets of water flew from them.
I stopped hauling on the mooring line because I realized that the pull the triffids were exerting had become fierce. Looking down at my legs I saw that perhaps a dozen stingers had wrapped around each limb. This was no accident. Those stings were prehensile. The strength behind their pull was enormous and at that moment I realized they were attempting to drag me into the water.
So that accounted for the disappearance of the thickset man as well as that of the depot crew. Killed, then hauled into the water where they'd become triffid food.
Quickly releasing the mooring line, I tried to snap the stings. No good. Far too tough. Now I had a clear vision of myself being dragged struggling into the lake. I could almost feel the water closing over my head. They'd pull me down. Drown me. Then they'd start feeding.
Cursing under my breath, I pulled out the knife. The bowie blade flashed. Thankfully, it sliced through sting after sting. As soon as I was free I redoubled my efforts.
'I thought you could do with a hand.'
I glanced sideways. 'Gabriel?'
He grinned through the wire-mesh helmet, his eyes obscured behind goggles. 'Here,' he said, 'don't keep all that rope to yourself.'
Now the task became a little easier. We pulled the flying boat alongside the raft. With only a foot or so of clearance between propellers and deck boards I saw that I couldn't risk starting the engines after all. At least now, though, the bulk of the flying boat would provide a barrier against triffid stings. In a few moments we'd boarded the people from the workshop.
Soon the flying boat, along with its sister aircraft, had taken off, leaving the vessels below to the care of the water triffids.
***
The rest of the day was taken up with the routine of going back and forth between camp and floating depot. One of the pilots collected a small floatplane and headed south on the four-hour journey to Central HQ. Beside him on the seat was the envelope containing Sam's report, his warning about the water triffids and a request for fresh orders.
The rest of the pilots and myself ferried tents, food, ammunition and aviation fuel from the depot back to camp.
Despite the traumas of the day it felt good to be flying again. I relished the feel of the joystick in my hands, the comforting familiarity of routinely checking the gyrocompass and altimeter, trimming the mixture control. And the sound of four engines running sweetly was sheer music to my ears.
As I made the return trip with the plane almost full to bursting with much-needed supplies, I looked out of the windows at the setting sun casting long shadows across the ground three thousand feet below me and I sang under my breath.
It occurred to me then, flying solo as I was, that I could have ditched those supplies and swung the plane's nose east. The fuel tanks were full and by mid-afternoon, local time, of the next day I could have been gliding that plane down to land in an Isle of Wight bay. But I knew I wouldn't do that. And it wasn't entirely a question of loyalty to Sam Dymes and his people. No. I had made other plans. But for the moment I would have to keep them to myself.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
A LITTLE FORWARD PLANNING
WORK. And more hard work. That was what filled my day following the trip to the floating depot that lay as eerily as a ghost ship out there on the lake. Helping to clear the incinerated remains of accommodation huts, I found myself breathing dust and eating soot. What made this mess more appalling were the human remains lying like blackened sticks in the debris. It wasn't long before I had a handkerchief tied across the lower half of my face to avoid inhaling the worst of the debris.
At least now we saw progress. Anti-triffid squads had made short work of the plants that had surged in through the broken fences. The fences themselves had been repaired. There were minor miracles, too, for which everyone was sincerely grateful. An apprentice mechanic had been pulled alive from a well where he'd bolted once the shooting had started. Later that morning a pair of women in protective suits had limped in through the triffid groves. These were survivors from an outlying observation post, which had been surprised by the enemy before the attack.
With the return of order to the camp - the setting-up of tents, the provision of open-air kitchens - our prospects seemed so much better. Things looked brighter still with the return of two of the big four-engine flying boats that had left at first light.
A squad of heavily armed men and women disembarked on on a jetty. I counted fifty of them. They unloaded kitbags from the plane, along with boxes of ammunition. For the rest of the day the flying boats shuttled back and forth between the camp and Central HQ.
At a well-earned lunch break I washed myself thoroughly, marvelling at how the water running off my body had become inky black from the ash. Then I sat down to the now-customary fish-and-triffid stew.
Gabriel joined me. 'Reinforcements have arrived,' he announced as he broke bread into his bowl. 'Crack troops. So that should tell us HQ have something up their sleeve.'
'Such as?'
'Sam received sealed orders from the Marines' commanding officer about twenty minutes ago. He's going to hold a meeting this afternoon.' He looked at me. 'You're invited, by the way.'
I spooned some of the spicy food into my mouth. 'Will there be any more reinforcements? I mean, fifty's a start but we lost more men than that.'
'Manpower's overstretched as it is. The rest of the Marines have their hands full with counter-insurgency operations down in the Florida Everglades. And the air force and gunboats are working non-stop to keep a bunch of pirates out of our waters down in the Gulf of Mexico. That's before HQ even begin to think about taking on Torrence.'
Once more my mind went back to my home island. More than ever it seemed a peaceful out-of-the-way spot, untroubled for years by either triffid or human enemies. It seemed to me that the Foresters had their backs to the wall. Bandits, pirates, even run-of-the-mill poachers seemed to be threatening every border.
'And the sad thing is,' Gabriel said, 'we're not talking about swaggering brigands here. We've noticed that whenever there's a bad harvest or a hard winter raids on our own communities triple - whether it's to rustle cattle or steal a couple of sacks of potatoes. The truth is that those people who are raiding us are simply ordinary folk like ourselves who are driven by the threat - and the reality - of starvation. After all, if your child is dying of hunger do you just sit back when your neighbours have a full larder? You do something about it, right?'
'Who are these people?'
'Often we don't know. The only thing we're sure of is that they hav
e nothing to do with Torrence. They seem to be small independent settlements, scratching a living - a pretty meagre living - up in the highlands.' He shrugged. 'When times get hard for them they come down and make life hard for us.'
'Surely something can be done about them?'
'We've expended a lot of fuel and pilot time trying to spot them from the air. But even if we do find their settlements the idea of bombing hungry families sticks in my craw.'
'No, I mean start talking to them. When times are bad give them food.'
'Give them food? Would that be a kind of welfare programme? Or like paying protection money to the Mafia?'
'If you give them enough to stop them starving then you'd take away their reason for raiding Forester settlements.'
'Good point, David. But we've tried that. When it comes down to it everyone views everyone else with mutual suspicion. It's like Ryder Chee and his family. We've lived cheek by jowl with those people for the last twenty years, as near as dammit. But when they came visiting two days ago that was the first time we've exchanged so much as a word with them.'
'They've taken the first step,' I said. 'They brought medical supplies.'
'And I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their assistance.'
'Gabriel, I'm sure-'
'And I'm sure that one of the reasons those guys came here, strolling through the triffids like they're no more venomous than cherry trees, was to indulge in some self-satisfied gloating.' His eyes had a hard glint to them. 'But my guess is that once we normalize our situation here we won't see hide nor hair of Ryder Chee or his clan again.'