The Creeping Kelp by William Meikle & Wayne Miller

Author:William Meikle & Wayne Miller
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781937128159
Publisher: Dark Regions Press
Published: 2011-08-02T04:00:00+00:00

July 23rd - In the Air

* * *

He tried to talk to Suzie in the chopper, but the noise, even through ear-mufflers was almost deafening. That, plus the fact that his leg started to throb in time with the chug of the rotors meant that this was not going to be a pleasant journey. But she needed him, and he was coming to a growing realisation that he also needed her.

And once this situation is over, I mean to tell her so.

He might even have tried to tell her there and then, but even as the chopper took to the air and banked over the smoking carnage in Weymouth Harbour, she already had the papers she’d brought opened in her lap.

She saw him looking.

“Try to get some rest,” she shouted. “I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be a while before we get another chance.”

For the first half an hour he tried, but every time he closed his eyes his mind filled with pictures of flame and burning flesh and his head still echoed with the sound of screams and gunfire. After a time he came to believe he could taste burning flesh at the back of his throat. That, and the nausea building in his gut from the rocking and the vibration, made him wish he’d stayed back in the warm bed at the fort.

Then Suzie looked over at him and smiled, and all other thoughts slipped away.

I’ve fallen for her.

It came as a surprise. They’d been working together for a while now and always treated each other more as brother and sister than potential lovers. He’d always had a feeling of distance from her, as if she liked to keep not just him, but everybody at arm’s length. There had been more touching and hugging in the past few hours than there had been in the last few years.

Not that I’m complaining.

For a while he lost himself in fantasies of dinner and drinks and what might happen later. But even there the kelp intruded, forcing the screeching Tekeli Li wail into his skull in an ear-worm that couldn’t be stilled, couldn’t be turned down. Finally he gave up and sat up straight, reading along with Suzie as she perused some of her research notes. Once again he was quickly lost in the past, but this time, some way further back than World War Two.

From the journal of Father Fernando. 16th August 1535

After all my pondering, deliberations, and misgivings, the time has finally come. My new charge has arrived from the New World in the hold of the Santa Angelo and it has been brought to the castle. The Inquisitor General has tasked me with discovering the true nature of the abomination, to make a full and careful examination and ascertain what manner of Inquisition might be made of it. It is a great honour, and one I will fulfil with all the diligence the good Lord hands to me.

There is a certain doubt in my mind. A cloud

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