Footsteps in the sea Vol 4

Chapter 72

We turned the corner of the island and then angled out until we were opposite the entrance to Mermaid Lagoon and then we turned in for the approach and the short wave radio bleeped, “Ahoy there, this is HMNZ Fleet Auxiliary and Island Defence Ship Pacific Wanderer, stop your engines and identify yourself.”

“Hullo, Martin are you in charge today, does Byron know?”

“I say again, stop your engines immediately and identify yourself.”

“No…Oh, alright then, this is Will and Charlotte, now where do you want us to moor?”

“Identify your vessel and port of registration.”

“HMCIS Undine and I haven’t a clue where we’re registered.”

“Wait one whilst I look you up in Janes Warships.” There was a pause, “Your port of registration is Auckland, can you remember that? What is the password?”

“Stop mucking about or I’ll fire a missile at you.”

“I dare you.”

I grabbed the flare pistol and fired a flare across Pacific Wanderer’s bow. “The next one goes straight up your hawsehole.”

“Pass friend and will you moor astern of us please. Captain Wellington would like to see you as soon as you can.”
“Is this to do with work because I’m still on honeymoon until tomorrow morning oh eight hundred hours.”

“No idea unless it’s the treasure you found, there’s been a bit of a fuss over that I understand, it started yesterday morning.”

“Fighting over it are they?”

“I don’t think it’s anything like that, Aurora hasn’t sent her armed shore patrol over there and the Sunderland hasn’t scrambled.”

We moored alongside the jetty stern on to the beach so that Wanderer had space if she wanted to go astern when she left and I changed out of my beach coat and bikini into my pale blue skirt and a white cotton blouse and we went up to see Byron.

“Ah, Charlotte, Will, it’s nice to have you back. Did you enjoy yourselves and have a good rest?”

“Byron, people don’t go on honeymoon to have a nice rest but we certainly enjoyed ourselves, thank you for asking.”

He smiled, “It’s been a long time since I had a honeymoon, I’d forgotten how much fun it can be.”

“Then it’s about time you took your wife away on another honeymoon. I expect Will to take me away on a honeymoon every three or four years.”

“I’ll mention it to her. Now to business.” He opened a folder and took out a sheaf of papers and a large bulky sealed package. He picked that first, “This contains documents that have been left for your signature, Will knows about them and for the most part they are to do with island business and there are one or two that you will need to read concerning the final salvage claims and your ownership of Pacific Wanderer. Nothing urgent if you are going to be busy but there are some you will need to look at. These are requests and the supporting documents that require both your signatures and they concern your Aunt Kate and her husband and Mr. and Mrs. Underwood…”

“Who?”

“Big Joe and Sarah,” Will told me.

“Oh, I’d forgotten they had a second name, I mean who knows the second name of their close friends.”

“Quite so,” said Byron. There is also Penny and Morris and Mike and Josephine,” he glanced up at me, “More friends of yours?”

“Yes, you know that, I thought you knew they wanted to live here.”

“I did but these papers make it official. There is also Leah and Giles and the documents are the formal requests for permission to live on Charlotte Island on a permanents basis. Penny took the liberty of passing them to New Zealand for clearance and Sir Wilmot Martindale has received the okay as far as New Zealand is concerned and has accordingly signed them on behalf of the New Zealand Office of Immigration and the Governor General who act in such matters on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth who is our Head of State. All that is needed is for you and Will to sign and they officially become residents of the island and soon after that, citizens of New Zealand. There is also provisional details of the places they have chosen to live and for the most part they are within the guide lines you have stipulated with the exception of Leah and Giles who have requested extra land for their proposed market garden, the erection of glasshouses, polly tunnels, barns and one or two other buildings associated with farming.”

“I know about the land, it’s an area close to where the track across the island meets the track that runs from here down to the south side. It’s where they are going to build their farmhouse and then there’s the meadow to the south of our house which is for grazing and the terraced area on the side of Devonshire Hill. I have agreed to it verbally subject to advice from the scientists who are looking at the environmental impact. I think Faye, Emma and Liz are involved in that.”

“Yes I understand and Sir Wilmot will leave the approval to you. He gave the package to Will and then took up a letter, this is a personal letter left for you by Lady Martindale and the other is also personal and is from both Sir Wilmot and Lady Martindale.”

“I’ll read mine in the cabin. Byron what about the bills for the food and drink and all the other things at the wedding reception.”

“Some has been covered by the navy, a wedding gift if you like and the remainder has already been settled by your Uncle and Aunt who claimed it was theirs as the acting mother and father of the bride.”

“I can’t have that, I’ll need to speak to them. What about the orchestra, the ushers and cooks, all the people who had to work?”

“I don’t think there are any of consequence. The cooks have said they were paid just by being invited to stay for the celebrations and that was echoed by everybody else, particularly as you had a second party laid on for the crew. The orchestra have donated their attendance as well because you have given them a chance to play for the party at Revelation Bay from which they did very well and have arranged to play a ‘gig’ every second Saturday so it appears you have launched their careers as a boyband when they leave the navy or end their contracts with the Antarctic Exploration teams.”

I looked at Will, “Do you think we can accept that, Will. They all worked so hard before, during and since the wedding?”

“I think it might upset them if we insisted on paying for things ourselves but I do agree, they did put themselves out to make sure we had a wonderful day. I think the best we can do is to write a letter thanking everybody and then, once we have the club and pub built, perhaps we can lay a special day on for them.”

“Byron?”

“They’d appreciate that and there are a few of the crews of both Aurora and Pacific Wanderer who have been making enquiries about the archaeological digs. I think they would like to volunteer to help during their make and mend days. I’ve spoken to Andy Bryant and Harry Fellows and they think that subject to vetting we would be happy to release them. Could you find places for them?”

“I bet we could, we have two major sites at present and I have a feeling we’ll find more because there does appear to have been quite a bit of activity on the island and Larry who is currently in charge over there is hopping about with excitement and is spending all his free time on the investigations. At the moment we’re not sure whether we’re investigating an Iron Age or First Millennium site. If you like I’ll get him to come over and give the men who want to volunteer a lecture on what we’ve found so far.”

“It might be an idea if both you and Larry did that together because we come to the next reason I wanted to see you. Larry has spoken to Andy and he has passed on to me that there have been other discoveries which are, it appears, confusing the date of the site even more. The discoveries concern the buried chest you discovered. In view of your recent upset when the chest was unearthed would you like to know now or prefer it was left until you are fully recovered or better still spoken to the doctor who is coming over later in the week?”

“I do need to speak to the doctor but I have rationalised why it always seems to be me that finds these odd things. I wander around more than most people and I’m naturally a curious person, well nosy really. The others that are with me tend to look for things of interest in their specialised fields where as I don’t have a specialised field so perhaps I notice little things more than they. Things like dips in the ground or bumps and mounds. I think it’s because at the back of my mind I am always looking for places where we can build houses without disrupting the natural beauty and wildlife. What have they found this time, the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments, a chunk of metal that always points south, a bracelet worn by a Yeti?”

“Better than that and probably a lot more valuable. Still want me to tell you?”

“Yes, go on, it wasn’t me who discovered it so I won’t faint.”

“In a manner of speaking it was you or at the least you that created the chain of action that led to its discovery. Below the six caskets you found inside your chest, two further flat caskets have been discovered. One contains a large gem stone set in a Celtic gold cloak broach, a necklace that Larry assures me was more than a decoration but probably a chain of office worn by a tribal leader and there are two vellum scrolls that nobody can read but Larry assures me were written in a language that is part Latin and part runes that are definitely associated with Bronze and Iron Age Britain.”

I did feel a bit dizzy but controlled it, “I’ll phone Larry, I want to know if I can wear the cloak broach as my badge of office, if I ever get an official one, and Will can have the necklace. On the other hand I might change my mind and keep the necklace and let him have the cloak broach.”

Byron nodded, “The last thing I want to mention is by way of a Captain’s reprimand. Stop firing missiles at my ship.”

“It wasn’t a missile it was a flare. I was observing naval protocol when challenged and discharging my weapons out to sea, well a safe place in the lagoon which is the same as firing them out to sea and I fired to miss.”

He chuckled, “That’s when you are at your most dangerous. I have spoken to the Deputy Assistant Chief Minister…”

“Who?”

“Penny. Normally, she told me, the duties were undertaken by Aunt Kate or Uncle Ted but, as at the time they were attending to duties on the south side of the island, she had to assume their responsibilities. She has your list of duties and appointments both state and naval and has told me you will be unavailable until Wednesday when you will be free to formally accept the Sunderland.”

“What does that mean?”

“Go up for a flip round the island for about a half hour.” He smiled at Will, “It doesn’t include you because Penny has reminded me that as is the custom internationally; under no circumstances are both heads of state allowed to fly in the same aircraft at the same time so you can have a trip on Thursday.”

“Does that mean I can fly her?” I asked.

“Not the first time, it may be dangerous. Dangerous for everybody on the ground as well as in the aircraft, I understand she is carrying bombs as well as depth charges not to mention the two fifty millimetre canons and four .303 Browning machine guns. Speak to the aircraft’s commander, I’m sure he will confirm it.”

“I’ll get Aunty Katie to cook him a cake or gingerbread men.” I picked up my shoulder bag, “I’ll take the letters but will you keep the documents here until later. I might leave them somewhere if we take them with us. We’ll be dashing about quite a bit.”

“Are you here for dinner, Victor will need to know though I suspect Penny has already spoken to him?”

“We have nothing else planned,” answered Will. “We’ll be moving into the house and shifting our personal stuff up from here and transferring the remainder of our new furniture from the cave.” He looked at me, “Dinner here?”

“Yes, if that’s okay, Byron and tomorrow as well I expect. I don’t think Auntie Kate and I will have time to get everything ready in the kitchen of our house.”

“I’ll instruct Victor to allow for it then. Penny also asked me to lend you a couple of men to help but Andy is sending the men who transferred the cargo from Pacific Wanderer into the cave to do the job. They will have the small forklift and will also remember where everything was stored. The petty officer in charge has arranged for one of the buggy low-loaders to be available for both days as well.”

We left Byron and went into the saloon, “You’d better have something to eat here, I don’t know what we have in the house, though I expect Auntie Kate will have sorted something out. How are we going to split the work?”

Will was about to answer when Garry approached, “Too late for breakfast and too early for lunch, Charlotte but I can get you something, I’m sure.”

“I’m fine, Garry but Will would probably like a half cow on toast.”

He smiled and looked at Will, “Only a half?”

“A snack will do me until dinner. I’m confused at the moment, Charlotte cooked breakfast on Undine before we started this morning, we’re having lunch or a snack here and later dinner here most probably. What would you suggest, we haven’t a lot of time?”

“Ham salad sandwiches and if I make up about a dozen, you can take the remainder with you for later.”

And that’s what we had before we went to start moving. “If you can handle the stuff in our cabin, I’ll take the cave.”

“Okay, I want to check with Penny and Auntie Kate before I start packing and I’ll have to borrow a few suitcases to carry everything. I’ll see you some time before dinner. Do you want me to take all your clothes up to the house or would you prefer to leave some here?”

“All of it. If we need to keep a change here, we can bring items back as we need them. We’ll have to evict ourselves anyway, there’s bound to be other people who will need to borrow our suite.”

It took the remainder of the morning and all the afternoon to transfer everything and I would still have a lot to sort out tomorrow but at least it was up at the house now and tomorrow, Auntie Kate and Ted could move what remained of their stuff up to the second double bedroom and Penny and Wilmot’s PA could sort out the office and Penny’s stuff. That meant we now had an extra suite and a cabin free on Pacific Wanderer. At the weekend, David and Gwyneth would be moving into their temporary portacabin suite near where their house was being built and the girls would be housed in three other suites until their places were sorted out so when Pacific Wanderer was being used for other work and earning her keep, she would have room for fare paying passengers as well as cargo. She was going back to New Zealand in ten days’ time and carrying the wedding guests I had invited who would be returning to the UK and the Sunderland was going to start her weekly trips later this week, everything was working out well and the sooner I sorted out our new residents, Joe and Morris, the better because if my devious plans went ahead as planned, we would be having more residents joining us, we still needed a plumber, a vet and Penny was going to need help with the island administration because I know she was under pressure and the girl who was handling the New Zealand government work was only here on a temporary basis and that was something else I would have to attend to as a matter of urgency.

There was a knock on the door of our private sitting room and Auntie Kate popped her head round the door, “Tea and biscuits in the kitchen, are you joining us?”

“Yes, straight away. Who’s there?”

“Ted, Penny, Carol the New Zealand girl and Gwyneth is driving up from her place and will be here in five minutes, that’s all.”

“What about Will, David and the men who were helping us?”

She grinned, “Where do you think Will and the men are? Down at the cave eating raw meat and drinking cold beer of course and David is on the ship with Mark doing a surgery for the crew and will be there for a couple of hours.”
I glanced at my watch, “It will be time to get ready for dinner soon, that’s only two and a half hours away.”

“David took his change of clothes with him, Will is coming back here in half-an-hour, there’s only us and we have two bathrooms in the double bedrooms and a shower next to Penny and Carol’s room, that’s enough.”

“The sooner I get the extra bedrooms built for the hundreds of children, the better.” I got up and we went into the kitchen.

Penny greeted me with, “We have lots I need to go over with you.”

“We’ll do it tomorrow morning before we start sorting everything else out. I need to talk to you about getting help because you are going to need it quite soon.”

“Oh, have I been leaving things or forgetting them?”

“No, in fact you’ve been doing a tremendous job, much more work than you should be doing and on top of that, the girl who’s acting as Sir Wilmot’s representative will have to return to New Zealand in the not too distant future and I have an idea about who to offer the job to.”

“Petra Sutherland,” Penny reminded me. “She is one of the things I need to talk to you about.”

I sat down with my ears paying attention to Penny and my eyes counting the dunking donuts on the table, “Only one each?” I asked.

“That’s it, dinner is only a couple of hours away,” responded Auntie Kate.

“We could have had a donut and a gingerbread man each, that wouldn’t spoil dinner.”

“Yes it would. One donut so eat it slowly,” insisted a totally unsympathetic Kate.

I was about to add a second spoon of sugar to my tea to make amends but the sugar bowl was whipped off the table before I had a chance. I gave up my struggle for food and decided to delete Auntie Kate from my will and returned my attention to Penny. “Go on, what about Petra.”

“She’s English but works for the New Zealand Government at New Zealand House and she’s been talking to me quite a lot over the phone when we were discussing island stuff. I think she’s very interested in coming to live here. She didn’t say it as such but is always hinting about it and she told me her bloke is interested as well and was enquiring about police work here.”

“I remember she said they might get married and have their honeymoon here but I didn’t know she was thinking about settling here permanently.”

“Well she hasn’t said anything directly but she did say that her fiancé had enquired about the possibilities in New Zealand as far as his job is concerned, he’s a sergeant in the police I think.”

“He is. When is she getting in touch with you again?”

“Sometime tomorrow, did you want to speak to her?”

“Yes please. How would you feel if she came here as the New Zealand representative, assuming that Sir Wilmot was agreeable.”

“It would be terrific, we got on very well at the house, yes I’d like it.”

“Okay. Call me when she phones or if you can’t get hold of me, get her to leave her mobile number with you.”
“I have it in case I need her for something urgent.”

We finished our tea and the others went off to have a short rest before getting ready to walk down to Wanderer for dinner but I stayed behind to speak to Auntie Kate. “How are you coping with all this upheaval, Auntie Kate?”

“Busy at the moment but a couple of days and everything will be organised and we can settle down to a near normal life, by that, I mean as normal as we are in Berkshire.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. Originally I had thought that once we moved into the house that would happen but there is so much going on. With me dashing about quite a bit and Penny very busy you aren’t getting much help and we can be sure that as the island settles down and more people arrive to live here, we will have even less time to help.”

She thought about it for a while, “Most of the people coming here will need accommodation.”

“That’s organised and the hotel will be able to cope with it and there’s going to be a restaurant and shops but a few of them will be friends and it’s inevitable that some will stay here. Even if it’s only for a few days it will be a lot of extra work for you. Then there’s your own annexe and the extra bedrooms for our children because I am determined to have three or four.”

“Which means four bedrooms and two bathrooms,” she smiled, “Because when you are older and have to wait two hours to get into your bathroom because two teenage daughters are hogging them, war will break out.”

“Dead right and there will be two teenage boys as well and though they won’t require hours of bathroom time, they will be extremely untidy and Will being a man will accept that as normal and won’t be any help.”

“You are thinking of employing help, servants?”

“We’ll have to. One to help with keeping the house clean and later, somebody to help with the cooking because there will be a need to have formal dinners, cocktail parties and perhaps the odd business meeting and somebody extra will be needed to help with waiting on table.”

She started to clear away the afternoon tea cups and plates, “Where are we going to find suitable people, there’s nobody here at the moment that will fit. Most of them have or will have second jobs as teachers, caretakers and lollipop attendants.”

“That’s the problem. We can’t expect people in New Zealand to apply for jobs like that, there’s a slight problem with commuting. Whoever does apply will be expecting a live in job or have local accommodation. We’ll have to think about it and I’ll ask the girls if they have any ideas or know somebody that can help but we’ll have to come up with something. The problem is going to get worse when the pub, restaurant and hotel open as well as the other shops, they will need staff as the population grows.”

Auntie Kate stopped clearing away and moved around the table and stood behind me and I felt her stroke my hair and then she kissed the top of my head, “Charlotte, a short while ago you were told to take things easy and here you are getting involved in more things rather than less.”

“But Auntie Kate, I love doing it, this island, the new house, you and Ted, Will all my new friends have brought me to life.”

“Yes it has. The change in you, your ambitions, your zest for life, everything about you has changed and you are a lovely, interesting and extremely lively person but you must give yourself space. Take time for yourself. Go and speak to your muse, Artemis, she’ll tell you the same and as for organising the house, that’s my job, including finding staff when we need them. Go and have your bath and prepare for dinner, wear your lovely clothes and stop worrying about me. I too have fun but being older and wiser, I know when to find help and I already have an idea and don’t ask, it’s my department.”

“Can I still go with you when you shop?”

“I shop at Wanderer, Orca, Penguin and any other stray ships that wander in and there’s always somebody that wants to come with me, Gwyneth, Penny, Carol the New Zealand girl or one of your friends.”

“That’s not fair. I have an idea though, the Sunderland is starting her regular trips soon, we’ll go to New Zealand and do some serious shopping there, I need perfume and bath things.”

“Okay, I’ll keep that trip for you, now go and get ready for tonight.”

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Footsteps in the sea Vol 4. Chap 73

Chapter 73

We had a lively dinner, everybody had turned up and the girls had instructed Larry and his girlfriend, Camilla another scientist from the labs to attend.

We discussed the island of course and Byron became quite lively when we started on the plans we had for parties on board Pacific Wanderer when she went off in a couple of weeks for her first trial as a marine exploration support ship.

“What do you mean by parties?”

“Dinners and dances, especially dances and cocktail parties with dancing, especially dancing and informal get togethers with dancing, especially dancing and more dances with dancing, especially with dancing and we’ll invite the crew to come up and join in.” I answered sweetly, “And you will be the guest of honour at the dances. You and I will start them off every evening with a jive. You only danced a waltz with me at the wedding but I understand that, it was a formal occasion and you had your position as captain of a ship to uphold.”
“First, we will not be having noisy raves on board MY ship every night. Second I can hardly be a GUEST of Honour on MY own ship and thirdly, I can’t jive.”

“We’ll teach you and David will teach you how to tango, you’ll be the envy of the crew.”

He grunted and muttered something about volunteering for active service as a tail gunner on a New Zealand submarine.

Gwyneth reassured him when she said she would dance with him at a more sedate pace and did he like the can-can?

Larry and Camilla I noticed spent a deal of time talking to Ted and Gwyneth was chatting with Auntie Kate and I found out later that Auntie Kate and Gwyneth were thinking of setting up an employment agency for the island. Camilla had volunteered to help Ted with the garden because, like Larry, she had an amateur interest in archaeology and she would be able to spot likely places for the diaries we were looking for.

I found Leah and Giles next. They were seated on the same side of a table which had three or four maps and hand-drawn diagrams spread in front of them. “Am I interrupting.”

“No, of course not, we’re just having a look at our plans for the farm.”

I sat at the corner of the table, “I’m trying to get around and speak to everybody I haven’t spent time with this last few days, trying to catch up.”

“If it helps,” said Giles, “We’ve definitely made up our minds, We want to settle here. It isn’t just the opportunity to start a farm in a beautiful place, it’s the people who are here as well and the things that are going on all the time. We’d never be bored for lack of something to do.”

“And we’d have plenty of help at the beginning,” added Leah.

“I’m not so sure about that,” I answered. Over the past three or four days I have come to realise how complicated organising everything is going to be and have come to the conclusion that I need at least three other people to handle the island’s political, admin and social affairs. I have to start thinking about the young people who are here, their marriages, their children and the infrastructure; schools, houses, hospitals, shops and everything else. When we first thought about it, there was only myself, Will, David and Gwyneth with Faye, Emma and Liz with their partners to consider. But that’s changed already, there are at least five more couples, all youngish so I’ve doubled the population by saying yes to each of them. Now as a matter of urgency I need three more and they too will be young and will want to start families and apart from Larry and Camilla I have heard there are some of the technical and scientific people on the south side who have made mention of living here.

“Each of these people will need the same infrastructure and as we grow we are going to need more people to support that infrastructure because it too will grow, the kindergarten and junior schools will need secondary schools and then there will be a demand for sixth form colleges and of course a vet, to take care of the animals of course, not the children. So the 'plenty of people to help' will soon become plenty of people who need help. Auntie Kate and Gwyneth are even planning an employment agency to find us that help, you’d better get in quick with your requests.”

“You think we should delay everything for a year?” There was disappointment in Leah’s voice.

“No, definitely not. I’m planning ahead a little especially with the need for a fully staffed, small hospital and the more advanced education but it has to be planned carefully and we will need help urgently. I mean look at the way I’ve let things slip. I know I was a bit unwell and then I had my honeymoon but I’m way behind in my work and there’s new needs coming in every day. When you start up here and as far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better, you will have all the help you need. There’s quite a few of the science lab crew who are interested and some of the navy blokes have voiced an interest and Byron and Andy have both said they can release men to help from time to time. So you will definitely be okay for the first year. Now, we have an urgent need for milk, what can we do about that?”

“I have been looking in New Zealand and I had a chat with your archaeologist, Larry and he says just let him know when and he can have milk producing cows sent over as fast as we want them. The same applies to New Zealand and I’ve also found suitable bulls. We could ship in say a half dozen head and get them producing milk, certainly enough to add to the stuff we are importing from New Zealand but shipping the cattle will take at least three weeks and after that we’ll need to give them time to settle down.”

“What about milking machines?”

“You’ve got enough,” said Leah with a grin. It only takes a pair of hands and a bucket and a couple of small coolers and pasteurisers. If we bring the cattle in from Oz or New Zealand and they are carefully checked before they leave and when they arrive here, we won’t have to worry about quarantine if the milk is for island use only. After the necessary quarantine period is over, we can organise a round up and introduce the island cattle in amongst the imported ones and then we can import milking machines. We could be self-sufficient, even produce enough to supply the science side and visiting navy ships within three or four months if all goes well.”

“When are you going back to England to settle your affairs and pack?”

“Already done most of it,” Giles answered. I’ve sold my market garden and house and Leah has three people waiting for her to leave so she’s sold her place virtually. We reckon we could be back in a month. Come to think of it, we could arrange the cattle and bring them with us on the last leg of the journey, that would save us having to employ people to do it.”

“Right, I’ll check to see about shipping on the return journey, I understand that everybody who is going back to New Zealand and the UK will be leaving soon in the Sunderland. I’ll get the dates sorted and book you forward to Heathrow with an airline and as for the return trip, you’ll have to organise the cattle and I’ll see about a suitable merchant ship if Pacific Wanderer can’t be used. I’ll brief Penny as well and she can be your contact when I’m not available, she’s proven her abilities as an organiser already. What about your financial affairs. Will you have the finances to get things going, if not I can sort out a loan?”

“We’re okay,” Giles assured me. The sale of my place and the market garden has left us in a comfortable position and the deal you’ve arranged for us here is much cheaper than it would have been if we’d tried to do something similar in England.

“When I sell my place, even if I have to wait a couple of months for the money we’ll still have plenty, even allowing for the furnishing of our house.”

“Okay. I’ll get Penny onto organising things, in the meantime, I’m not forgetting you, it’s just that…”

“You explained earlier, stop apologising. We’re grown-ups and will come running quick enough if we need you. I haven’t enquired about your post op complications and the anchovy. Is everything okay now?”

“Ssh, I’d forgotten about it but I’m sure Emma is not going to, she’ll get me back for it one day.”

I left them and went back to the table and drank some wine and thought to relax for a half hour and have a dance with Will. There was no point in jiving with him because the burgundy dress had a straight skirt and I wouldn’t be able to confuse him with yards and yards of flying skirt and petticoats. I had time to take a second sip and then Liz tapped me on the shoulder. “What time do you want picking up on Wednesday morning?”

“Picking up? Picking up for what, I’m busy tomorrow and Wednesday.”

“Picking up to go round to the Sunderland.”

“It won’t be here until after lunch, it’s going up on a test flight.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. We heard about it and heard you were sneaking off for a trip round the bay and we’re coming.”

“I’ll have to ask Peter. It’s a test flight to ensure that the work done on her over the past few days is good and he might not want passengers on board.”

“We’ve asked already. We told him you were still delicate and would need us to ensure you didn’t get into a panic, have another nervous breakdown or fits of fainting. We also told him that up in the air you tend to get homesick, miss Will and have periods of depression when deprived of the company of your close friends.”

“What did he say?” I asked grinning at her.

“He didn’t believe us about panic attacks, or being delicate and as they considered themselves as close friends, that part didn’t apply. He also said that for most of the flight you would be sitting on his lap playing with his joystick and wouldn’t have time to get lonely.”

“So he’s not taking you, why offer me a lift.”

“He is taking us because he said they had no cabin staff so we can dust things, clean and polish the brass work, bombs and depth charges, make tea and act as ballast if there was a need to jettison anything to save weight.”

“Now tell the truth.”

Liz smiled, “We can come but have to remain in the passenger seats until he says it’s safe to be shown around which we accepted even though it was unfair.”

“Why unfair?”

“You are being allowed up on the flight deck even during take-offs and landings.”

“Of course I am, it’s my wedding present. He’s going to let me take the controls when we test the guns so tell Faye to be ready to use one of the waist machine guns. I will have to make a swooping dive on a load of seaweed, open up with the nose guns and then bank and turn so that she can have a go at it with the waist gun. Then, if there’s time we are going to finish the job by using a depth charge and a bomb.”

“That sounds really, really exciting, I’ll drop you off and then go to the dig.”

I laughed, “We’re scheduled to take-off at nine am and Peter wants us on board by seven thirty so we have time to get settled before they manoeuvre out of the inlet and into the sea. I’ll let you have my video cam so you can film the take-off and try and get some good shots of Mermaid Lagoon and the ships as we go by. Pick me up at the house at six thirty, that gives us time to drive round the inlet to where the Sunderland is moored. Have you arranged to borrow a buggy?”

“Yes, there’s just four of us, Gwyneth is going to be busy with Kate.”

We had another couple of dances and a last drink and by now I was beginning to feel worn out and so were most of the others and we called it a day. “Are you and Ted going to be okay getting back to the house?” I asked.

“We were okay when you and Will were away, are you staying on Undine tonight?”

“No, we were going for a short walk to clear our heads.”

“We’ll have a hot drink ready if you’re back in a half hour, if you’re gone longer, Ted will come looking for you if you don’t phone and let us know.”

I picked up my shawl, slung my shoulder bag, then collected my husband, “Are we taking a walk or going straight back to the house?”

“We’ll have a short walk to clear our heads but we’ll have to go left towards Wanderers Reef because a few of the off-duty crew are having a barbeque and a few beers outside the cave and when I’m walking out with you, I don’t like being distracted.”

“Are we ‘Walking out?’ So soon after being married, isn’t it exciting.”

We walked slowly, our arms linked and Will helped me up onto the reef and we hopped from rock to rock until we reached the slope and clambered up and found the junction and cross track over the island. We didn’t turn right and walk up to the house but continued up the track looking at the work that was being done to the proposed club and shops area. “They’ve done a lot of work.”

“Foundations are laid, services are ready and the sections for the buildings are completed, all that’s left is erecting the earthquake and storm reinforcements, assembled the units on site, fit the log cladding and roofs and it’s done. The temporary paths will be laid after the residents have moved in and when the entire section is completed the permanent pavements and road surfaces will be done. Geoff tells me that the buildings will be ready for occupation in a little over a month, the residential sections before that.”

“We’ll have to think of names for the main tracks or roads and some of the buildings.”

He squeezed me in a little closer, “That’s your department and arranging the ceremonies and parties.”

“I’ll get onto it tomorrow. I think we ought to name the admin block and club ourselves.”

“You have ideas?”

“Yes, I’ll think about it a bit longer and we can talk about it tomorrow. What are you doing tomorrow, I’m going up to the cave to sort out the stuff we brought from England, will the navy blokes and the forklift still be available?”

“If they’re not available, I’ll see if I can borrow the forklift and low loader and me and Howard will organise something between us. I’ll be around all day because I have to liaise with Geoff about the extensions to our house and then sort out the best location for Leah and Giles’s farmyard, house, barns and the milking shed.”

“Okay,” we turned off the track and crossed the rise and then the land where Auntie Kate’s extension was to be built and went into the kitchen.

“I was just about to call out the navy patrols, scramble the Sunderland, order Pacific Wanderer to open fire with all its weapons and shout help!” exclaimed Auntie Kate.

I looked at the wall clock, “We’re only two minutes late and if we allowed for the time it took to cross the land that’s been dug up for the extension, we’re only one and a half minutes late.”

She pointed at the table, “Sit,” and poured four cups of cocoa and placed them in front of us and promptly moved the sugar bowl towards Ted and Will, “Would you like a snack?” she asked them and totally ignored me.

“Oi, what about me!”

“You can share my gingerbread man because you’re going to have to buy new bras soon if you carry on eating at your current rate and you’ll need to start wearing girdles.”

That convinced me. Basques are okay but girdles are a no-no.

Fifteen minutes later I got up, “I’m going to bed, early start tomorrow.”

The others got up as well and we walked to our bedrooms. “Aren’t you going to read me a bedtime story?” I asked Auntie Kate as they opened the door to their rooms.

“No, you won’t be going to sleep for hours yet and I’m too tired to wait up.”
I grinned and left them to their naughtiness whilst Will and I went into our rooms to sleep of course. “You can have the shower, I had a long bath before dinner and haven’t done any sweaty dancing.”

Off he went and I took off my jewellery, kicked of my shoes and stood beside the bed whilst I started the battle with the stiff hook and eye fastening at the top of the burgundy dress. I managed to get it undone and moved the zip down but it snagged on my slip so I started the war required to unsnag it without tearing off the lace it was caught on.

Will came back from the shower and I was still wriggling, muttering curses and dancing whilst I fought the zip. “That’s a very exotic dance,” he said as he walked round the bed, “What’s it called?”

“The dance of the angry zip, don’t just stand there, help me get it unsnagged.”

“I’d rather stand here and watch.”

“Will!”

He came up behind me and lifted the hem of the dress and slip and pulled them up over my stockings and knickers to my waist.

“It’s not stuck there, it’s caught in the top of my slip. I don’t need any help getting my knickers off, in fact I’m getting so mad I might leave them on all night and my bra, stockings and slip. Now bloody well help me.”

He responded by lifting the hems a little higher, let go and stood very close to me and trapped the skirt between us than took my hands away from the zip and lifted them over my head, “Keep your hands there,” and took hold of the hems again and lifted the slip and dress up to by bra where he paused for a quick fondle with one hand and then pushed the dress and slip over my head and shoulders and up to just above my elbows. “Push your elbows out a little and hold the dress there.” I did as he bid and then felt his hands reach behind me and he unhooked my bra and started caressing my breasts.

“Just you stop that and wait until I’m in my nightie and comfortable,” and as I spoke and started wriggling to get away from him, one of his hands left my breast and slid down to my tummy button and started tickling that. “Will, stop it, you’re tickling me,” and as I spoke my wriggling became more desperate and those damned sparks started radiating from the two places he was caressing and then the bloody dress started to slip down my arms and over my head.
Being an opportunist, Will allowed his hand to leave my tummy button and slip down further down to a spot between my suspender belt and knickers and then a finger was caressing the crease at the top of my labia and then became bolder and forced my thighs a little apart and began to slip further down and into the top of my vulva and pressed and then started caressing my clitoris. It gave me the chance to hop back a quarter of a pace, turn and wriggle out of his grasp but the back of my knees caught the edge of the bed and I fell backwards to land on my back with my arms still held together by my dress and my head still covered. Will had tried to stop me from falling but only succeeded in allowing himself to fall and was lying on top of me and I made the silly mistake of trying to wriggle from beneath him. “Don’t you want me to take your stockings off first?” I froze and he took this as being a no because the fingers of one hand started to gently squeeze a nipple whilst the other hand used one finger to start circling my vulva and made sure it pressed just a little on my vestibular gland and gently rubbed my clitoris as it completed the circle.
The sparks intensified and the unattended nipple joined in and as he completed the second circle of my vulva, the cheeks of my bum started to itch with the tiny sparks starting there and then the whole of my body became one enormous frenzy of desperate nerve ends. “Get this dress off me and get your dick into me because if you don’t I’m flying off and you’ll be left behind.”

He stopped for a second but that didn’t worry the sparks, they kept up their frenzied attempt to produce spontaneous combustion and didn’t even pause when he slipped my panties down my legs. They even made my knees spasm and close so he could pull them over my feet and the other hand left my breast, took a hold of my dress and slip and they were pulled off me and followed the panties over his shoulder and onto the floor. This time both my legs and arms spasamed simultaneously and folded themselves across his shoulders and waist and we flew.

We flew straight out of the bedroom window, up the slope of Devonshire Hill and then vertically until we were a hundred metres above the summit. We flew around the island diving and swooping, one moment reaching for the stars, the next heading straight down into the depths of the Pacific and on the last circuit we collided with the Hill and blew apart.

It took four or five minutes for me to reassemble and when I did manage to compose myself Will was busy undoing the clasps of my suspenders and gently slipping the stockings down and off my feet. I lay there letting him get on with it, composed but still too exhausted to help. He was still on top of me even though my legs and arms had unlocked and were laying spread across the bed but his important bit was no longer where it should be, I think it must have died in the explosion. He eased himself off me, unfastened the suspender belt and carefully threw that and the stockings on the floor roughly in the same place as my knickers, bra and dress.

“What nightie do you want me to put on you?”

“None, I’m sleeping in my skin, there’s no point in making a clean nightie all sweaty but before you ask, I’m wearing Kevlar grannie knickers so there’s to be no more mucking about.”

“What about in the morning?”

“That’s a trick question and I’m not answering it.”

He chuckled and lay down beside me, “Look there in the corner of the top window, where it’s been left open, there’s a small bubble and it’s glowing.”

I looked across, “Undine you’re grounded. I was going to tell you that Tamati is on the bridge of Pacific Wanderer and he’s probably on his own as the ship is moored. There are two or three sailors keeping watch on deck and the radio operator will be fast asleep in his cabin but I’m not telling you now because you’ve been peeking again.”

A tiny voice answered, “On his own, Ooooh,” and the tiny bubble of light vanished into the night.

Footprints in the Sea Vol 4
Chapter 74

By

Frances Penwiddy

Copyright © Frances Penwiddy 2017
The characters in this novel are fictitious and any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental

Chapter 74

When I woke up in the morning the bedroom was filled by a greenish/yellow glow of the Sun reflecting back from the dew on Devonshire Hill. It was still early and the house silent. Outside there were two or three birds singing and a pair were squabbling over something and I listened. One of the singing bird’s sounded a little like a robin and the squabbles sounded like magpies but I didn’t know they existed down here. I knew most of the birds we found in England, I had been feeding and watching them in the garden of the house since I was a child and we had loads and whilst growing up I had learned the noises and songs they made. I won first prize in a school competition when I was about eight for being able to make drawings of ‘Birds in my Garden’ and I had drawn about fifteen. I had also recorded a tape of some of their songs and remembered when I was fourteen and had my first computer I had transferred it to a disc, the drawing too was in the house somewhere, the attic probably, Mum had framed it and for a few years it had hung in her bedroom. I must try and sort them out and copy both and bring them back here.

Will was still asleep so I slipped out of bed, collected my clothes from the floor and dumped them into a chair and went into the shower. When I returned to the bedroom Will was still fast asleep so I turned on the percolator and got dressed. I had just about run out of jeans and slacks so I had to wear a just above the knee, dark blue skirt and white cotton blouse with white ankle socks and blue Nikes. Whilst I was sitting on the end of the bed tying my laces the percolator announced that hot, strong coffee was waiting but the noise of the water bubbling and hissing woke the ogre.

“What time is it?”

“About six thirty.”

“Why are you dressed and ready to go out?”

“I’m dressed and ready to get the breakfasts cooked. I told you yesterday that I had an early start.”

“Not this early, it’s still the middle of the night, come back to bed.”

“After last night! After having you tie my hands above my head. After being thrown onto the bed and having you throw yourself on me and rape me whilst I was blindfolded and helpless. I’m never, ever, ever going to sleep in the same room as you again and my first job when I get down to the lagoon is report you to the Master-at-Arms and have you arrested.”

“I don’t care. I’ll file counter charges that you kidnapped me and made me fly dangerously low, crashed me into the sea. You then endangered wildlife by speeding through the sea and making me catch fire and explode above a residential area.”

“Do you think we’ll be sent to the same prison?”

“It wouldn’t make any difference, you’d get Undine and some of her magical mates to dissolve the bars and escape.”
He started to reach for me but I jumped up. “Go and have a shower, I’ve got work to do and so have you. I suppose you want two full English breakfasts as usual.”

“Yes,” and he made a another lunge towards me but I was wearing light clothes and skipped back out of range. He grinned, “I’ll get you later.”

“You’ll be too tired. Now hurry up I want to be up at the cave before the men turn up so I can get everything sorted out and ready for them to load onto the buggy.”

As I left our rooms, Auntie Kate came out of hers and waited for me. “Good morning Auntie Kate,” I greeted and kissed her on the cheek. “Did you enjoy yourself last night?”

“Yes, it was a very pleasant evening and I caught up on all the news.”

“I didn’t mean the early part, I was enquiring about after we went to bed.”

“You just mind your own business. You’re much too young to be asking questions like that.”

I grinned, “Auntie Kate, I’m a married woman now and am able to enquire about the wellbeing of my nearest and dearest. I asked because your hair is more curly than usual and your eyes have a twinkle in them.”

“Your backside will twinkle if you’re not careful.”

“So you did have a good night?”

“Just you get on with cooking the two eggs, two sausages and two bacons for Will and whilst you’re at it, you can do the same for Ted.”

I grinned, “Okay and thanks for being frank.”

She chuckled, “What are you having?”

“Muesli, half a grapefruit if you want to share and coffee, please.”

After breakfast I opened my knapsack, took a torch from a drawer and exchanged the binoculars for my mobile, stopped to have a think and assured I had everything I needed I asked Will, “Are there any crowbars up at the cave, I’ll need to open one or two cases to make sure I have the correct ones?”

“There’s a couple of empty packing cases that have been pushed together and there are tools, hurricane lanterns, spare batteries and a couple of two-way radios on them. The crew are moving the remainder of the clothing and shop goods into their portacabin later so there will be people to help if you need them.”

“Ta. Auntie Kate, I’ll be finished before lunch I hope, are we having it here or on the ship? If it’s here I’ll try and get back early to help.”

“Here I thought but it will be a light lunch and I was going to do salmon for dinner tonight. Shall I cook all of it in case we have guests?”

“I think so, David and Gwyneth at least and I expect Penny will be back and possibly Claire.”

“Penny asked if she could mover her stuff up from the ship today, shall I tell her yes?”

I nodded, “Of course, I’ll be off now, I’ll phone if I have to leave the cave and go somewhere.” I kissed each of them and went off to work.

When I arrived at the cave, there was a reasonable amount of light inside but I noticed that four brackets for hurricane or Tilley lamps had been fixed to the walls so I lit four hurricanes, hung them up and went over to the workbench and took an extra hurricane lamp and a crowbar to the passage where I had the house packing cases stored and started checking them. There were ten in all and contained the pictures and framed photos I had stolen from the house in Beaconsfield, my sound system and about half my discs. There were extra storage jars and pots and pans for the kitchen, cutlery and a good quality 12 settings dining set, a desktop computer, printer and a load of pens and notebooks. There was one missing though, most of its contents were diaries, A4 printer paper and ink cartridges. I curse quietly and shone the torch down the passage thinking that perhaps it may have been left further down. I couldn’t see it and it was a nuisance because the one thing we were definitely going to need were the telephone directories. I lit the hurricane lamp and walked down the passage towards the bend with no luck but as I had come this far I went slowly around the bend half expecting to see a dragon curled up and fast asleep.

The packing case wasn’t to be seen and I know I had labelled it when I first checked the cases so I walked a little further and began to get nervous and when I thought I had reached about as far as my voice would still carry up to the entrance if I had to scream for help, I stopped and switched on the torch and shone it around but there was still no sign of the missing case. I was sure nobody would have brought it down this far anyway and was about to turn round and go back when my movement made the beam of the torch flick back and forth and there right at the end of its range I caught a glimpse of something white. I walked forward and as the light grew brighter I saw stack upon stack of paper, it was as far as I could tell packs of A4 printer paper and for a moment I thought I had discovered the nineteenth century diaries but it couldn’t have been them. The diaries would have been bound and anyway, in those days Britain used the Imperial rather than Din paper sizes and there would certainly not have been computer printer paper. Book or newspaper stock perhaps but hardly in A4 and unless somebody was going to set up a printing works, which was extremely unlikely, this was something from the twentieth or twenty-first centuries.

I walked on and when I was about five metres from the stacks I realized it wasn’t paper. They contained something white packed in neat polythene wrappers and as I reached them I prodded one and it dented slightly and revealed that the contents were powder, white powder and definitely not flour or lime wash. My blood started to chill and I felt the hairs on the back of my head stiffen. I’d seen pictures of packages like this and they had contained heroin or cocaine. I switched off the torch and looked around using the light from the hurricane lamp half expecting to see a leering drug smuggler with a machine gun but there was nobody nor were there any cries of alarm. Feeling a little bolder I started to count them but gave up after counting ten high. There was a lot, an enormous amount and if they all contained heroin or whatever, millions of pounds worth if the tabloids were to be believed. Then I noticed that behind them were more packages, this time longer and a little thicker. I walked around the drugs and shone the torch on one of these and saw the $ sign and nearly dropped the torch.

I moved closer and looked at the rows of packages, there were US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars, Sterling, Euros, Rupees, Yen and assorted South American currencies. Some of the notes were new, others obviously used and the two types seemed to be stacked in separate plastic wrappers with the unused notes marked with a black cross on the surface. I stepped back and took a deep breath and then another. There were more of these bundles than there were of the drugs and a large number of the notes were high value bills. Two that I recognized were one hundred dollar bills and fifty pound notes, there must have been millions of pounds sitting there.
I looked around again and then crept away and giggled to myself after about four paces, I was walking on tip toe on a packed sand and earth surface. I could have run and nobody would have heard me and for a moment I felt panic rising. I stopped, took a few deep breaths and looked back at the piles. I was doing something I hoped never to do again for as long as I lived, I was walking away from millions, possibly billions of pounds worth of banknotes and hard drugs and I hadn’t even opened a packet of fivers and helped myself. I trotted back to the corner and then slowed to a walk as I reached the packing cases, the mystery of my missing crate shelved for future investigation, after all, if need be, I could steal fifty quid and buy fresh paper. Then it occurred to me that those piles had been covered in cobwebs and dust that had fallen down from the roof of the cave and had been there a long time. If I factored in that the drugs and money put together pointed at a highly illegal operation, then no owner was ever going to come forward and claim them and I was not only the only person present or engaged in searching and add that to my being the joint owner of the land it was discovered on, then I was very rich. I would share with Will of course because I loved him on second thoughts, if I stashed it all in a bank, it would finance the island’s development for a good few years. I turned the hurricane lamp out and left it with the torch on the packing cases and went up to the cave where the men had just turned up and were getting their gear ready. “Is the phone signal okay outside the cave?” I asked a seaman.

“It’s okay in here as well, we’ve connected up a hub just outside the cave.”

“I’ll go outside, I’ve been working on my house stuff down in the passage and need a breath of air, it’s stale down there.”

He nodded and carried on with whatever he was going with an adjustable spanner. I went outside and dialled; “Will, it’s Charlie are you alone?”

“With Geoff Roman.”

“Excuse yourself and move out of whisper range.” I waited and then, “Okay, what’s wrong?” whispered Will.

“Nothing wrong yet but I’ve found something. Can you come up to the cave as rapidly as possible!”

“Are you okay, not hurt or anything?”

“I’m fine but need you as quickly as you can get here.” I heard him call to Geoff, “Geoff, I have to see Charlotte urgently, are we finished for the moment. Fine, I’ll be up at the cave.”

He took six minutes and as he ran up to me I held my finger to my lips and took his hand, “Don’t say anything yet, just come with me.”

I led him through the cave and down the tunnel and stopped at our packing cases, “Light the hurricane lamp, we’ll need it,” I asked and switched on the torch and started off again.

“Where are we going, have you found a way up to the cave we found in the inlet.”

“No, it’s not that far, just a bit round the bend, now hush, we can still be heard in the cave.”

We walked a little further and then I switched the torch on and seconds later the beam fell on the packets of drugs, “What’s that, paper?”

“No, I think it’s cocaine or heroin but it’s not that which is important, it’s what’s behind it.” I took his arm and led him past the piles of drugs and then stopped and shone the torch on the stacks of currency. “That!” I pointed, “Go and have a closer look, here, take the torch and you can count it.”

I walked with him and when he was close enough to recognise the contents of the packets his mouth dropped open. “Good Lord!”

“One hundred US dollar bills, thousand Euros, Fifty pound notes, Indian, Mexican, Yen, you name it, it’s there. Most of it seems brand new but a lot is used. How much?” I took my phone out and pushed the calculator app, “Here, go on count it.”

He took the phone and started moving packets, lifting them, turning them over and repeating himself on another stack and went through several before giving up and started counting the number of packets in each pile, the numbers of piles and entered the figures and he opened one packet of hundred dollar bills, slit the band off and looked at the notes, held one up to the hurricane lamp then checked the numbers through the packet and did the same with a second bundle and again with a package containing British twenty pound notes and then entered those figures and stared, “Charlie there’s nearly sixty million pounds worth assuming the packages all contain notes of the same denomination and that’s only the new notes. I can’t count the used notes because I can’t be sure they contain notes of the same currency or denomination but allowing for averages the whole lot is about a hundred million.”

I nodded, trying to stay calm, “Is that enough to finish the building works on the island?”

“Which island, Charlotte, Great Britain, Long Island?” He laughed, “Yes and have a fair bit of change.”

“We’ll have to burn the drugs, we can’t bury it or tip it in the sea because it’ll contaminate everything and I know it has very little value for use as a legal pain killer.”

“We can’t burn it, the smoke will send everybody crazy. We’ll hand it to the Kiwi authorities, they’ll have a method.”

I nodded. “Good but the money is ours right? It’s on our land, in our own sovereign state and it’s obviously the work of the ungodly.”

“Laundering I expect. The unused notes are changed in small amounts so the numbers are spread about, it’s probably done in several countries hence the variety of nationalities and converted into used currency notes. That’s the basics, it’s a little more sophisticated than that but if the new notes are the result of a bank raid or similar crime, then we can’t claim it or use it because you can be sure the numbers are recorded at the banks it was stolen from but we will get a reward.” He looked at it again and shook his head, “If I had to make a guess, I’d say it was drug money that was moved out of the various countries for laundering and hidden here so it should all come to us.”

“But why was it left here? What other drug traffickers know about our island?”

“None, I would guess it was the same mob who tried to get hold of Pacific Wanderer. Come to think of it, it does fit and would explain why Pacific Wanderer was so far south of the course she should have been taking when she was hit by the storm.”

“But why would they risk having passengers on board when they were on a drug run?”

“The cave was probably a store house and exchange. Pacific Wanderer could put in using the excuse they had lost fresh water and needed to replace it or something like that and then those members of the crew who were employed by the gang would come ashore to lay on the water supply and at the same time drop of used currency and take a supply of drugs and then continue on the journey. Nothing much would have been thought of it because you can be sure they would have concocted a good story and if they restricted their activities to once or twice every year, it wouldn’t really show up on the radar. She was known by the authorities in the ports she used and as long as she made sure the drugs and money were hidden well away from the cargo the chances of discovery were slim. Again, if they only used a ship about four times and were never discovered they would switch to another ship, shipping line and different ports and routes. Their only limitation would be having to make calls at our island. They were a relatively small outfit, that the authorities did know so the massive amounts the big cartels had to shift wasn’t in their sphere. They were apparently satisfied with moving smaller amounts about. Still, just looking at this pile of money gives you an idea of what they were making and the profits gained by the big drug cartels makes this look like petty cash.”

I sighed, “And how many people would that pile of white powder kill? How many lives would be destroyed? How many promising, bright eyed university students would end their lives in misery and degradation?” I had to wipe my eyes and my mind pictured Penny and what she might have become if she hadn’t made that decision to knock on my door those months ago. “Will.”

He came to me immediately and wrapped his strong arms around me and caressed my hair, “Let it out, Charlie, let it out and go on living that dream you have for a perfect world. Go on trying and even if you have only saved ten lives by finding those drugs, when we go to New Zealand again, you can look at ten young teenagers and feel proud that you may be looking at the ten lives you saved.”

Tears ran down my cheeks and I looked up at him, looked into his lovely eyes and smiled, “We’ll adopt them.”

I pulled myself together and looked back at the drugs and shuddered, “What are we going to
do with it Will, we can’t just leave it here?”

“Come on, let’s go back or the men in the cave will come looking for us. I’ll speak to Andy on the radio.”

We went back to the cave and Will had a quick word with the petty officer in charge who nodded, called the two men with the forklift and took them down to my crates and we went outside with a walkie-talkie. Will switched it to Aurora’s channel and called her bridge; “Is Captain Bryant about, it’s Commander Devonshire?” There was a pause and then Will spoke again, “Andy, this is Will. Charlotte has discovered a whole stash of what is either heroin or cocaine in the tunnel leading off the cave…No, it was past the bend and nobody has been down that far before and by the amount of dust on the packages it’s been there for a good few months, a year or two possibly…We’ll wait outside the cave entrance…Fine.” He switched off, he’s coming straight over with a petty officer and two men from the shore patrol. Ten minutes he promised.”

We had to jump out of the way as the buggy truck went past and I heard my crates being loaded and then it came out, “Ten crates, and a hurricane lamp Mrs. Devonshire, is that the lot?”

I took the hurricane lamp, “This belongs to the cave but the rest is for my house. Will you tell Kate that I said to leave it on the porch for now and I’ll unpack later.”

“Get back here as fast as you can, there will probably be another urgent load,” instructed Will and with a nod the driver and men went off for their short trip, coffee and gingerbread men.

I sat down on a grassy bank, “Let’s rest a bit.”

“You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine Will honestly. Today’s find hasn’t unsettled me like the treasure did, I was just upset by seeing that pile of drugs and what they would have done if they’d reached their intended destination.” My phone rang, it was Auntie Kate, “I’ve asked the men to take the cases round to the back and put them outside the kitchen door. If you unpack them in the sitting room we’ll have dust, sand and packing all over the place.”

“Okay, whatever suits you, a lot of the stuff is for the kitchen anyway. I don’t think I’ll be back in time to help you with the lunch though.”
“That’s okay, the girls and their boys have invited themselves so I will need help with dinner.”

“Okay, I’ll take the rest of the day off and I should be back with Will for a quick lunch.” I barely had time to end the call when it buzzed again and this time it was Byron. “Will you have time to speak to Tamati later? He’s requested a private interview with you.”

“Yes, is there something wrong?”

“No, I don’t think so. When I said I needed to know why he had made the request because you were a busy woman, he simply said he’d met a girl from the labs on the south side who knows you and he needed to speak to you about her because he hasn’t seen her on the island before.”

“A girl from the labs?”

“He said she helped on the dig.”

The penny dropped and I had to think on the run, “Yes, yes, I know who he means. Yes I’ll speak to him but if it’s the security you’re worried about Byron, I can vouch for her.”

“That’s good enough. He’s in his cabin having a rest at the moment, he was on duty until six am and hasn’t had a lot of sleep, I’ll tell him when he surfaces for his lunch.”

I closed the phone and stood up, “I won’t be a second, I want to see if Undine’s in her pool, I need to have a few words with her.”

“Tamati?” he asked grinning.

“Yes and don’t say a word to anybody, not even Auntie Kate.”

“My lips are sealed and I’ll leave you to sort out Undine and go down and sort out the petty officer and men who are protecting the lower end of the tunnel before the bend, I told him nobody was to be allowed past him until he’s had a word with Andy.”

Will went back to the cave and I heard him call out to the leading seaman in charge, “Captain Bryant is coming up with a few shore patrol men, tell him he’ll find me at the lower end of the tunnel with your Petty Officer, please.”

I found the path to the waterfall and stood on the banks of Undine’s Pool. For a short while I remained silent as I remembered that first day Will and I had landed on the island and gone exploring and found this waterfall and the pool and then only a few days ago when we had made love and Undine had taken us deep into the pool and swam with us. I think the five most important places on Charlotte Island were here, Pacific Wanderer, the Butterfly Glade, Revelation Bay and of course my new house. Between them they could tell the story of these most recent months of my life. The image in the ships boutique mirror of the real Charlie Broughton, the footprints in the sea and now, the real Mrs Charlie Devonshire; “Undine,” I called softly, “Stop hiding, I want a word with you, now!”

There was a ripple a metre from where I was standing and I saw the tiny figure of Undine clinging to a rock, “Hullo, Charlotte.”

“I’ll give you hullo, Just what did you get up to last night? There was a silence and I saw frowns, smiles and expressions of uncertainty chase each other across her face. “I am in trouble with the captain of the ship and have been told to act as councillor to a senior member of the crew and will be severely disciplined if I fail. I have a mind to send a request to Artemis, a request demanding the banishment of you from my island. Banished for life which in your case probably means for ever!”

“No! No! Oh please Charlotte, don’t do that, please, please.” She swam a few strokes to where there was a sand and pebble beach, stood and waded out of the pool and the little cow was wearing an ankle length silk gown that the water had turned nearly transparent and clung to her body. I never realised how beautiful she was, a classically beautiful face framed by long raven hair above a near perfect body showing clearly though the transparency of the gown. Even the dark hue of her areola on two pert breasts and nipples that clearly showed the cool temperature of the pool’s water and the small dark triangle of her pubic hair could be seen as she walked up the pebbles and grass to stand at my feet.

“Please, Charlotte,” and as she spoke, she started to grow and I watched astonished as she rapidly matched my height perfectly and took my hands in hers, “Please.”

She was stunning and there wasn’t a man in the world who would be able to resist her, take her in his arms and hold her tight, caress her and keep her close to him for ever. “Did you go to Tamati like that last night!”

“No, no, of course not. I brushed my hair and took this old gown off and…and…well I…”

“Undine? Tell me, and I hope that ‘the old gown’ was replaced by something else?”

She looked guilty now and I felt her squeeze my hands, “Please forgive me, please say it’s okay…”

“Undine stop running around the rocks, tell me!”

“Well I borrowed your pretty pink skirt and blouse, and I wore the white fluffy petticoat that you dance in and the long heeled white shoes, not your best dancing shoes, the others that you wear in your office and house,” she added hurriedly, “These ones,” and in front of me, the clingy, wet gown vanished and the clothes she had ‘borrowed’ appeared and there was no question, they were definitely mine. The only difference to the way she was wearing them was that the top two buttons of the blouse weren’t fastened, where as I only left one undone. She waited nervously, “I wanted to look as beautiful as you when you are dressing to make Will want to hold you in his arms.”

“And they fitted?”

“Not at first, I am thinner than you so I peeked at you when you bathed or changed and altered myself to your measurements. I had to keep checking but I practised every night until I got it exactly right. I’m not allowed to change my face so I couldn’t look like you but…Oh Charlotte I hope you don’t mind, I borrowed your face paints and lip colour sticks but kept my own hair. Look,” and quite brazenly she lifted the hem of my skirt and then my soft white petticoat and half turned, lifted them a little higher and revealed that she was wearing my knickers and she pointed at the little half-moon birthmark I had on my left buttock just below my hip. I copied this as well.” She let the skirt and petticoat drop and stood looking at me waiting for the anger to break.

“Are you saying that your body is an exact replica of mine? That my body is as beautiful as the one you have?”

I saw the look of relief on her face and she undid the third and fourth button of my blouse, pulled it open and lifted my bra, “Exactly I think, see,” and she pointed at her nipples, exactly the same as yours when you are cold or when Will kisses them and look here at the darker circle of the aureole around them, the same colour but I did have a little trouble with getting the irregular shape exactly right. At first I tried to make them into perfect circles but it didn’t work, they didn’t look natural and when I made them the same as mine, that didn’t look so good so I copied yours and it was perfect. I don’t know why you use these bra things, they seem quite unnecessary really and terrible things to put on, so fiddly.”

“They stop things bouncing about when you’re being active and help to support them,” I answered without thinking. “Make the clothes disappear again and show me all of your body.”

She did as I asked and there wasn’t a hint of embarrassment at my somewhat unusual request and slowly turned around, “Did I get it right?”

I studied her closely even down to the pubic hair and the shape and size of the tummy button, feet and toes and the small dimples behind the knees. I was a little surprised, I knew I looked good but this good! Not a little surprised I felt vanity grow in my brain, I began to understand why the sailors cheered me when I danced or the wind caught my loose skirts and lifted them or when I lost my clothes when swimming and then suspicion replaced vanity; “Did you, Penelopeia or Artemis influence my body when I began changing from male to female?”

“No, that is not allowed and it’s outside Artemis’s skills but I can’t be sure. Penelopeia did let something slip, she told me that Artemis had spoken to Hermaphrodite when the strange things began happening to you and she believed that Hermaphrodite spoke to Aphrodite.”

“That explains why a male body could be made to look so totally female and a beautiful female at that.”

“Not really because there are limits to what even gods and goddesses can do. We cannot add things once an infant is birthed, all that Aphrodite would have influenced was what was already there. She could only work on the one ovary but couldn’t make a second or make a womb but was able to influence the formation of your places that are needed for loving a man and I believe she made slight changes to your face, but only small ones, you were already pretty, even when you were a man.”

I nodded, “Put the clothes back on in case somebody comes by.” She made a light stroke down her body and the clothes reappeared. “It wouldn’t matter if somebody appeared, they wouldn’t be able to see me.”

“I’m not prepared to take that chance. When are you going to return my clothes?”

“Oh these are only images. The real clothes are back in your house. I can’t magic clothes when I appear before another human, I can only wear my own clothes or borrow some real clothes or wear none at all. I can only magic clothes when I appear before you.”

“Now explain why you copied my body when you went to see Tamati.” I should have berated her, torn her off the longest strip possible, threatened her with the anger of Artemis but how can you vent anger on somebody who has just demonstrated how beautiful you are and flattered you by making a duplicate of your body to make herself beautiful?

She wiped away any remaining anger with her answer. “I wanted to look as beautiful to Tamati as you do to Will. I have listened to what other men have said to Will about you and to his replies, he is so deeply in love with you. He tells the other men that you are as beautiful inside as you are outside and are so exciting to live with. I want to be like that.”

I saw tears forming in her eyes, “Undine, I didn’t know sprites could feel human emotions?”

“Not often but when we fall in love with a human we develop human emotions and when he has loved me, I will gain a soul and be a human and that, more than anything in the heavens, is what I want.”

“You will lose your immortality and only live a human life spam if you allow that to happen.”

She sighed and gave me such a lovely smile, “Oh Charlotte isn’t it better to live a human lifespan with love than to live forever without it!”

I couldn’t argue against her philosophy so I got back to the business in hand. “Now tell me what happened, how did you manage to appear in front of Tamati on the bridge of the ship without raising the alarm?”

She was about to speak but a look of alarm came on her face, “Somebody is coming, they won’t be able to see me but will think it strange that you are speaking without another being present. Call me to you again and I will tell you.” She shrank down to her tiny imp size and ran softly over the grass and dived into the pool.

Is that the end of discoveries in the tunnel or did Charlotte find something else? The next chapter may reveal all or perhaps not if something else crops up to distract everybody.
Footprints in the Sea Volume 4 is available on Amazon Kindle and may be ordered through the Top Hat link in the right hand column of this page. Which earns a small commission for the site.

Happy New Year everybody with health, happiness and prosperity.
Frances.

Chapter 75

I heard the sound of somebody forcing their way through the underbrush and shrubs and a petty officer from the shore patrol appeared a little further up the track, closer to the waterfall. He glanced around quickly, spotted me, “Ah there you are, Marm.” He started to make his way down to me and I glanced quickly at the pool. Undine had vanished and the ripples from where she had entered the pool had all but dissipated. “Is everything okay?” he asked when he joined me.

“Yes, fine thank you, PO, I was just having a quiet break away from all the bustle and excitement in the cave.”

“I’m sorry I’ve disturbed you but Commander Devonshire was a little concerned and asked me to check to see if you were okay. I can understand you’re wanting to escape from the cave, I felt like screaming when I saw the pile of drugs and money.”

“Scream with terror or joy?”

“He smiled. Neither, I wanted to scream with envy when I saw the money and pure hatred when I saw the drugs. I had a niece who got hooked on crack and I remember what she went through to get off it.”

“She’s okay now?”

He nodded, “Been clean for nearly four years and back to the bright kid she was before she got hooked. Doesn’t stop me from hating the bastards, if you’ll excuse my language, who were responsible for getting her on the stuff. I did a tour on an Oz frigate a couple of years back as part of the mutual defence plan and we were in the Indian Ocean watching for drug ships and pirates and I swear if we’d found one I would have opened up on them and killed the lot with or without the Captain’s permission.”

“We are of a like mind, PO.”

“Yea, I love you for what you did to the lot that attacked you a few months back. There’s not a man on any of our ships that wouldn’t throw himself on a grenade if one ever landed near you. Excuse me for being familiar, Marm but I had to say something.”

I smiled, “That’s a lovely thing to know. There is one thing you can do; stop calling me Marm, you’re a petty officer and petty officers are allowed to call me Charlotte, officers can call me Charlie and Will can call me Darling, Gorgeous or anything else nice.”

“I’ll remember next time…” his radio bleeped, “I’m with Commander Charlotte now, everthings fine…wait one,” he turned to me, “Commander Devonshire wants you to join him, but he says to stay here if you need to?”
“No, I’ll come back with you.

“I’ll lead,” I offered, “There’s a clear path.” When we came out onto the grassy slope in front of the cave the leading seaman came out and immediately slung up a crisp salute. “He’s only doing that because you’re here, I’ve told everybody not to salute when I’m not in uniform but they still do, I think they like to see me curtsy.”

He laughed, “I’ll tell the shore patrol lads not to salute unless there’s an officer about.”

“Yes, do that except when I’m coming aboard Aurora and there’s a side party. I’ll curtsy really low if I’m in civvies and salute fast enough to slice my hat in half when I’m in uniform.”

He laughed again and we went into the cave.

“Hullo Uncle Will,” I greeted him. Uncle Captain,” I added and for a moment I was tempted to stand on tip toe and kiss them both on the cheek.

“You were gone a long time, I was worried,” Will explained.

“Sorry but I needed to think for a while.”

“You’ve done it again, Charlotte, “Found more worries to occupy the minds of my crew,” said Andy walking round the pile of drugs to stand and stare at the packets of money.

“Take a packet and share it with them,” I offered and winked at the petty officer behind his back. “It will help to make up for the extra work and worry.”

“I’m sure it would but this lot, drugs and money are being locked in Aurora’s strong room until I have a chance to speak to Auckland.”

“It’s mine, you can’t just go pinching stuff from my island.”

For a moment he took me seriously. “This money may be counterfeit or stolen property and the drugs are most definitely internationally banned substances.”

“Okay, you have permission,” I grinned, “I’m still an officer in the RN and the Empress of the island and I give permission on both mine and the Prime Minister’s behalf.” I stopped fooling and became serious, “Shouldn’t you wait until somebody from the drug agency gets here and we’ll need a forensic team because there might be evidence we could contaminate.”

“That’s a bit of a problem but we do have forensic people over in the labs who, by chance, happen to be working on some of the stuff you discovered a few days ago.”

“This is more important surely. Apart from the seriousness of the find, there’s a question of having to mount a round-the-clock guard over it. Tell them to leave the other stuff and get over to this side until New Zealand can get somebody here. Whilst we’re at it can’t we cancel the Sunderland’s other jobs and get her to fly straight to New Zealand and pick up the people we need. They could be here in a couple of days, three perhaps.”

He nodded. “PO, this stays top secret until I’ve spoken to Auckland and I want you and your men on the job. One of you at the bend in the tunnel the other,” he turned and looked up to the other end of the tunnel, “What’s up there, do either of you know.”

“We think it exits on a ledge at the inlet I told you about but we are only guessing.”

“Could you and the PO go up there and see because we may need to mount a guard up there?”

“I’ll go,” I said, “I have nothing special on this afternoon but Will has a lot of urgent work to attend to. It’s an easy climb and I’ve already explored quite a bit up there and know my way around.”

He looked doubtfully at Will. “Let her go, Andy, Charlotte knows the island and that inlet and I wouldn’t agree unless I was certain of her safety and if the PO is with her I would be.”

Andy turned to the PO, “Is your side arm loaded?”

“Yes sir, full magazine.”

He nodded, “Charlotte if you meet a dangerous animal or any other situation where you and the PO may be at risk, will you agree to accede command to him and follow his orders.”

“Of course I would. I’ll just be a civilian guide but he has to call me Charlotte or Charlie, not Marm.”
Andy smiled, “Got that, PO?”

“Yes sir.”

“Take a torch each. PO keep your radio switched on. If you find anywhere where there’s been a rock fall or there’s a lot of water leaking through, come back here and don’t try to force your way through.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”

I took a torch and slipped my backpack on, “Come on, PO, I’ve a first aid kit in here and some chocolate and lemonade as well as compass and maps.”

He held out his hand, “I’ll carry that if you want.”

“Certainly not, my makeup repair kit is in there as well. You carry the gun.”

We started off, I kept the hurricane lamp and let the PO lead with his torch. As we walked I noticed a gentle rise and if it stayed at the same rate of climb it wasn’t going to lead to the ledge because Will had estimated that the height of the ledge was something over forty metres above sea level and our cave only twenty and the tunnel rising at this rate would come out much lower, about ten metres or so. “How far have we come, PO?” I asked.

“Not more than thirty metres.”

“Do you play cricket?”

He looked puzzled, “Yes, what makes you ask?”

“Could you pace out a cricket pitch?”

“Ah, yes, yes I see, you want me to measure our distance travelled?”

“If you would because I think I saw a wall, a natural wall of rock right at the extremes of your torch so the tunnel either turns or comes to a dead end.” He held the torch up to shine down the tunnel and faintly we saw the light glisten on points of shiny rock or lava deposits, You’re right.” He moved the torch to the left but he hadn’t gone far before the light was too weak to follow the wall and simply revealed a continuation of the darkness.

“It’s either an easy curve or possibly a kink. Do you want to go on?”

“We’ve come this far, let’s at least go up and take a look. If it is the end of the tunnel we’ll have to turn back but if it does turn we can take a look. If this rate of climb remains the same this tunnel doesn’t lead to the ledge it needs to increase quite a bit and we might come to a place where we’d have to start climbing up a steep slope.” I looked back to where the money piles were, “I can just see the lights the others are using but not what they’re illuminating so we’d better warn them because if Will looks this way and can’t see our lights, he’s going to come up here looking for me.”

He chuckled, “Doesn’t he trust you?”

“No. He’s not worrying about me going off with another man, he’s scared I might fall down a hole and feint when I discover an iron age android phone .”

He called and got Will and spoke briefly, listened for a moment and looked at me with a grin, “He said not to turn over any big rocks.”

“Tell him not to worry, I’ve lost interest in gems and gold, I’m looking for uranium and dinosaur eggs now.”

We carried on for a while following a gentle curve and then the tunnel curved again back to its original course and after a few hundred metres suddenly grew wider and then opened up into another cave. We walked forward carefully, the PO shining the torch on the roof to make sure there were no rocks likely to fall and I held the hurricane lamp above my head. The light just about illuminated the wall to our right but there was nothing remarkable other than most of it was similar to that which was in the cave and along the tunnel but further on there was more black and very uneven rock and the floor was similar, the black rocks in places reaching the roof to form thick wide pillars. “PO shine the torch over there to the right, the section where all the black stuff is.”

He did so and moved the torch up and down a little and further in and the deeper we went the higher and more consistent the black rocks were until they touched the roof and there the roof itself showed large areas of black. “It looks as if that side was part of a lava tunnel but back here its petered out. In places it almost forms a wall separating that part of the cave from the tunnel.”

The PO shone the torch further to the left, “Look, the further in the blacker the ceiling becomes. I reckon that this was once a lava tunnel and came into the cave and then changed direction and there’s probably a continuation of the tunnel over there in the top left corner.”

He shone the torch but the beam, though it revealed black walls, was not strong enough to detect a tunnel because if there was one, it would almost certainly be the route the lava took on its way out of Devonshire Hill. “Listen,” I placed by hand on his arm and cocked my head, “Can you hear it?”

“Just. It sounds like running water.”

“There must be a waterfall or fast stream over there by the far wall. Is it safe to go over do you think?”

“I’ll go first”

“Okay but take it slowly and shine the torch on the floor.” We walked diagonally across towards the corner and here the floor was covered in dust and sand like the lower end of the tunnel but there were large lumps of jagged lava rock everywhere and there was much more black lava sand on the ground. We reached the far side and there was indeed a fairly fast flowing narrow stream and when we shone the torch down it was tumbling over a series of lava rocks but when it reached the corner it vanished. “Where’s it gone, underground?”

“Looks like it. It hasn’t gone up the tunnel or turned the corner unless it did so underground.” We walked slowly until we reached the spot where the water vanished, “There,” he said pointing, down in the corner, you can just see the route it’s taken off to the right and under the cave floor.”

“Do you think the floor is safe or is it likely to collapse if we stand on it?”

“Safe without much doubt. If you look at the flow, it’s fast and fairly smooth as it goes underground . It might flood this area a little if there was a heavy rainfall but there’s at least two meters of rock and lava between the surface of the river and the floor which makes it strong enough.”

“What then, shall we go on?”

“Up to you but I’ll call Will and let him know what we’ve found.” Whilst he spoke I borrowed the torch and shone the torch along the wall and noticed a number of places where there were pinpoints of reflected light. One was close and stuck on the end of a small piece of lava that protruded from the wall. I studied it for a moment before taking out my knife and chipped it off. The PO stopped speaking, answered a couple of questions and handed me the Radio, “Will want’s a word.”

“Will, what do you think, should we go a little further or come back.”

“Does the tunnel look dry?”

“Yes, the walls are black and I can’t see if there’s seepage or not but where we’re standing the floor is about two metres thick and the stuff on the floor of the tunnel is much the same as where you are. It’s like fine dust or sand, a little darker but it is bone dry. The slope is much steeper but I can’t see evidence of wall or roof falls. I don’t think we can be much more than five or six hundred metres from the ledge cave. The river was veering off to the right when if vanished undergrown so I think this must be the source of the waterfall we saw before we turned at the bottom of the inlet.” I looked at the PO, “How far do you think we’ve travelled since we left Will and the others?”

His lips moved a little and then he said, “Something over a thousand metres but if we allow for the curve and then having to cut diagonally across this cave, probably about nine fifty further west and one fifty to the south.”

“Will, we are over a thousand meters out and looking at the rise in the floor and the direction it’s taken, I think the tunnel must come out onto or close to the ledge and from what I can remember from the maps, we can’t be much more than five or six hundred meters from it. Do you remember, we discussed it and we reckoned that we could walk from the top of Devonshire Hill to our house in an hour or two if we went cross-country.”

“Okay, Charlie but stop if the floor or walls seem wet or a bit shaky and get back here. Let me speak to Val again.”

“Val? I thought your name was Pee-oh,” I said handing him the phone.

He gave me a sickly grin and then listened to Will. “I’ll make sure she’s safe and if anything looks dodgy, we’ll get back. Fine, I’ll call as soon as we decide to return or we reach the ledge which should only take thirty minutes or less.”
“I wish you hadn’t said that,” I said as we started off again, “Now you’ve told him it will only take thirty minutes we’re going to meet a dragon and have to hang around until St. George turns up to slay it. I think I’ll touch up my makeup just in case.”

“You’d probably sweet talk it into giving us a ride back.”

“I always loved reading stories with a dragon in them when I was a child. I still hope that I’ll meet one and try and make it give me a ride on its back. Now what’s all this business about Val or should I call you Valentino?”

“Don’t start that, I had enough trouble when I first joined the navy. It’s Valentine actually, my mother read too many Barbara Cartland novels.”

“And the lads in your mess pulled your leg a bit?”

“Until I pointed out I was bigger than most of them and showed them my fists then they started calling me Val and fortunately it stuck.”

I looked him up and down, “Wise choice, you don’t really look like a Valentino but you might get away with Valentine. Do you take advantage of your name in February and dash around kissing the girls.”

He chuckled, “I would if I could but most of the girls I know can run faster than me.”

“Stop a minute, turn your torch off.” I lifted the hurricane lamp and turn the wick down. He turned the torch off and looked at me, “Something wrong?”

“Don’t you notice it? We can see each other reasonably well. I looked ahead, “Yes look. Just up there, there’s a slight kink in the tunnel an S bend and the tunnel is narrower and well defined, there’s daylight coming in.”

“So there is. He looked around and turned the torch on again and shone it up to where the roof curved down a little to join the left wall, “I can hear water coming from up there.”

I walked over to the wall which was still dark volcanic rock and put my ear to it, “You’re right, it sounds like another stream but it’s higher than the tunnel.” I looked ahead towards the S bend, “The tunnel rises quite steeply at that end, the entrance to the cave must be just beyond the bend because I remember there was the sound of water when Will and I first found the cave. It sounded as if there was a stream running alongside the wall and there were signs that the goats were using it as a watering hole from time to time. Coincidentally there’s a small waterfall and that tumbles down past the ledge, perhaps about two or three metres from the ledge and then becomes a mini rapids and joins the inlet on the far side of the path that Will and I used to climb up to the ledge.

We made our way up to the cave and as we entered I pointed, “There’s the ledge, this is definitely the place because the cave entrance is wide but not very high and Will had to duck his head a couple of times when we came in. When we looked up, it was a bit like the cave down at the lagoon, the roof lifts very rapidly inside the entrance.” We made our way diagonally across to the cave mouth and like Will, Val had to duck a couple of times.

Val studied the hill and the land around the inlet, “From this side it would just about qualify as a mountain but the slopes on the other side, what I’ve seen of them, would demote it to a hill.”

We stood for a few minutes whilst Val studied the slope and the animal tracks, “It’s an easy climb for the most part.”
I pointed off to the right, “The path on the right is the shortest, there are a couple of places where extra care is needed but Will and I didn’t have any trouble getting up there a few days ago. The path that starts on the other side of the cave wanders about all over the place and we think the goats where simply moving from one good grazing site to the next and not bothered by how long it took to get to the top. Up at the top there’s two obvious ways down on the other side and they are easy, not nearly as steep as this and one goes down to the land that was terraced and the other I think goes down to the glade I discovered where the butterflies live and that’s only five minutes from the lagoon cave. We can go back that way if you prefer, it will probably be quicker than going back through the tunnel.”

“I’ll have to check with the captain or Will first. I need to check-in anyway.”

We returned to the cave and he went in whilst I stayed outside and spent the time looking around to see if there were any places to build houses because this was quite a nice spot. When he came out he nodded, “I spoke to Will and he said okay but told me to remind you to go easy.”

I nodded, “He adds that to every message he sends to me. Come on, I’m getting hungry.”

“You lead if you’ve used this track before,” Val said stepping in behind me. I led the way up the path Will and I had taken and as soon as we reached the spot where the climb evened out to a gentle slope I pointed, “Look down there, the top row of the solar panels and further forward and a bit lower the end of the terraced sections and I counted three terraces but it was the lower one that looked as if it had been worked long after the upper two. Did you know we have found an earlier settlement over by Goats Cove?”

“I heard about it, yes. Probably First Millennium AD?”

“As far as we can tell from the digging we’ve done so far but there are two roundhouses which suggest it may have been earlier. From the look of the terraces I’d say they were cut by those people but the lower one was reworked by the people who built the house Will and I have had rebuilt.” I stood looking down paying particular attention to the lower terrace but after a few minutes shook my head, “No luck.”

“What are you looking for?”

“Well I discovered a letter the woman who was marooned here wrote. She said they were leaving the island because her husband had injured himself and couldn’t do heavy work any longer, that was around the late Nineteenth to early Twentieth Century and Larry the bloke in charge of the dig reckons she was an educated women and had probably kept a diary which may have been hidden somewhere on the island and we’re looking for it.”

“What would it have looked like?”

“A crate or casket I expect because they were here a long time and even if she kept one diary for each year, there would still be a lot of them and it would have needed a large casket and if it was lined with lead or some nonferrous metal they could still be in good condition and would probably be a record of their life on the island. We’re hoping it might give us clues as to how the cattle, sheep and goats got here in the first place and the plants and trees because it’s very unusual to see so many trees and mammals on a desert island in the Pacific so far from other land.”

“I’ll get the information around the ship, the lads would love a treasure hunt when they’re having a day off.”

“Tell them if they discover anything that they must not, under any circumstances try to open it or even dig it out of the ground but to let the captain or first lieutenant know and if they can’t do that, to come and tell you. I’ll give a thousand dollars reward regardless of what’s in the casket and if there’s something of great value they’ll get at least twenty five percent probably a lot more of its value.”

He chuckled, “There will be teams of them going on searches. I’ll even take a team myself.”

“Try and stop them until we’ve given them a lecture on what to look for and where the best places might be but anyway tell them not to go round digging trenches everywhere or they could destroy a lot of priceless history. I’ve spoken to the captain and he’s arranging for a series of lectures soon but it is important that they don’t go around bulldozing, digging or blowing holes in anything.”

“I will and don’t worry, they’re a good bunch and if I tell them it’s a request from you, they’ll be extra careful.”

“Thanks.”

We started to walk up the rise towards the trees at the top of the hill and came across a couple of radar domes one of which was turning slowly. “What are they, radar? I know they were putting one up here and an uplink for the internet and telephones?”

“The moving one is the radar dish and the one pointing into the sky is the Uplink for the telephones.”

“We won’t be fried by the radio signals will we.”

“No they’re too tall and focused too high and the row of yellow markers are where the signal cables and the power supply for the dishes are buried. The large boxes at the base conceal all the other equipment and the hut is where there are a few spare parts and tools for maintenance. The rectangular box standing on its own is the main cable set up ready for laying the electrical supply and cable service to the various areas. It’s going to be fenced off when the job’s finished to prevent people fooling with them.”

We stopped and looked around and I spotted a slight mound. “Get them to fence that off if you can. I think it’s probably the spot where a beacon stood and we will want to excavate that sometime soon.” I turned back to look at the radar dishes and aerials and then back to the mound. “We have probably one of the oldest forms of signalling standing right next to the most modern, it’s virtually a museum to mankind’s desire to communicate with each other.”

“All you need is a conch shell, a couple of signal flags and a semaphore arm and you’d have a complete set.”

“Come in handy if the high tech stuff broke down as well.” I pointed, “That’s the way down towards the track that cuts across the island and then on to Revelation Bay and Goats Cove,” and I turned “And that path leads down towards the cave and it looks as if it branches off when it gets to the trees so I think that’s the path that leads to our house.”

We started making our way down but I stopped, “Hang on a minute,” and I shook the shoulder straps of my backpack off and took out the compass and map case and started taking a few bearings and making notes, “This is for the maps until a proper survey is done. I have a set of charts and air photos that the AWAC took so they’ll do for the time being.”

“Familiar with a prismatic compass, I’m impressed.”

I smiled, “Good with navy charts as well, I learned that when I used to go scuba diving and the skipper of the trawler taught me the basics of conning a small trawler and how to use the stars for navigation. Nobody has taught me how to use a sextant and chronometer though. If I could get the hang of them I could ask to be promoted to rear admiral and take charge of a carrier battle group.”

“Probably make a decent job of it. I’ll teach you how to use a sextant and navigate by stars if you wish. Where did you learn cartography?”

“I was working on some cartographic programs for a land development firm once and one of their draughtsman showed me the basic stuff so I’d understand a bit more of what they needed and what the programmes they were using were weak on. I learned quite a bit more as I worked. It’s a good education working to improve and safeguard computer programmes because you have to learn and read up on all sorts of skills. The downside is when you really get into something, you have to stop because you switch to a completely knew subject. One minute you’re going hammer and tongs on mineralogy and then a couple of months later, working on systems for calculating feeding programmes for livestock. I’ll have to go back to that soon when Will and I adopt loads of children. At the moment I don’t even know how often to change a nappy.”

“I think the baby lets you know.”

“They probably do. Come on, do you want to go to my house, Auntie Kate may still have some lunch left.”

“I’d better get back to the cave but you go home if you wish and I’ll let Will know.”

“No, I’ll come with you, it’s a bit quicker to the cave and I’m starving. I just hope somebody thought to take some sandwiches there for the men and they left some for us.”

When we arrived back at the cave we saw Will and Andy standing outside and the low loader buggy appeared carrying what I presume was the money and drugs concealed under a tarpaulin. I asked Andy, “Why the tarpaulin?”

“Secrecy, for the moment I want as few people as possible to see that stuff and New Zealand has asked me to keep it under wraps until it can be sent to them for investigation.”

“Bloody cheek, I won’t even get the chance to count it.”

Will chuckled, “Never mind. If it’s not counterfeit or stolen property and nobody steps forward to claim it, we’ll get it back.”

“And if somebody does claim it?”

“They will be the bosses of the cartel responsible for the entire drug operation and we’ll get a reward that will probably equal the value of the money as soon as they are arrested.”

“That’s okay then, if it passes through New Zealand banks and into our account, we won’t have to bother with laundering it. They can have the drugs for free. Andy, that tarpaulin is a waste of time because you’ll need to take it off to unload the buggy lorry.”

“Nope, the stuff is on pallets and we’ll lift it onto Aurora and forklift the pallets straight into the strong room.”

“He thinks of everything,” I complained to Will. “If I’m no longer needed up here I want to go back home and have lunch, how long will you be?”

“Ten minutes. Now the stuff is on Aurora we don’t need a guard on the tunnel so we can get back to normal.”

“I’m not so sure of that but I’ll tell you later.” I turned to Val, “Did they save a few sandwiches for you, if not come back with us and we’ll share ours, Auntie Kate always prepares extra.”

“No, I’m fine thanks they wouldn’t have dared not to save me something.”

“I’ll see you later today at the naming of the tunnel ceremony. I’m going to call it Valentine’s Tunnel because of the heroic manner in which you frightened off all the dragons and kept me safe.”

He nodded and smiled, “I had to scare ‘em off so you were free to keep me safe.”

Andy interrupted the banter, “That’s it Will, all done.”

“We’ll shove off then, I still have unfinished business with Geoff Roman, what about you Charlie?”

“I’ll go back to Pacific Wanderer after lunch and draw up the day’s discoveries on the chart. Andy do you want me to send the master copy over to you or shall I send it down to the south side?”

“Me first because we’re likely to need it before they do and I’ll make copies and send the master copy down to Orca. Don’t forget Tamati is waiting to speak to you.”

“I’ll see him as soon as I’ve finished the maps then I can take my time getting ready to play hostess at my first dinner party.”

I will post another one or two chapters but will have to end there or I’ll upset Amazon but for those of you who want to read on, see the paragraph below for guidance on how to buy the complete volume. This I can tell you, Charlotte has ambitions to gain a private pilot’s licence and there may be danger approaching the island from South America.

Footprints in the Sea Volume 4 is available on Amazon Kindle and may be ordered through the Top Hat link in the right hand column of this page. Doing it that way earns a small commission for the site.

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Footsteps in the Sea Vol 4 - Chapter 76

by Francespenwiddy

Chapter 76

It took less time than I thought to finish my overlay for the maps and I went onto the bridge looking for Byron but he was down in the engine room discussing upgrades and propeller glands but Tamati was there. “Tamati, I thought you were on duty tonight?”

“Split watch. I’m doing nine until eleven then Martin takes over and I’m back on at six till eight. I’m standing in for the captain at the moment whilst he’s down with the chief engineer.”

“Do you still want the private meeting with me?”

“Yes please. I need your advice with regard to a young lady from the science side. I’ve never seen her before but she did mention that she knew you.”

“Okay, I do know her. Her name is a bit unusual, Undine, the same as our new boat, still these days a lot of parents are giving their children unusual names, sort of reverting to the good-old-days. When the captain is back, come down to my cabin but you do realise I can’t tell you anything confidential about her unless of course she agrees.”

“Yes I realise that but well, I must admit, I’m very attracted to her but as I’m in the navy and I do need the Captain’s permission to marry and things like that, well I,” he became a little flustered, “I don’t mean I am going to marry her, well it’s a bit soon, I’ve only spoken to her once and that was only for about twenty minutes but well, I do like her but I think I ought to speak to somebody before I start asking her for dates, you know, just in case I…”

It was time I helped him out, “Just in case she doesn’t have the necessary security clearance to be allowed to become close friends with an officer engaged on secret work?”

“Yes, something like that…huh? Is our work here secret? I didn’t realise that , the captain has never mentioned it.”

“It’s top secret, the captain isn’t allowed to mention it. I only know because I’m a commander and directly involved but it has something to do with the strange things that I’ve been doing and some of the discoveries I’ve made so don’t go talking to anyone else,” I had my fingers crossed when I said it and it was partly the truth but I couldn’t very well come out with all the truth and tell him that Undine was a water sprite until I’d sounded him out.

“Of course not, but there is one thing I should tell you, Undine said something a little unusual.”

“Go on.”

“She said she knew I was quarter Maori and that Maori people are very spiritual and I too had a strong spiritual essence in my personality.”

“Nothing unusual about that, some people are very spiritual, some not.”

“But how did she know it, I mean she must have done some research on me and that’s a little bit suspicious. She saw the surprise in my eyes because that’s when she told me she knew you.”

“Nothing unusual about that either, we’ve all been guilty of it. She’s been over here two or three times and probably saw you and thought you were handsome and looked kind which you are. In fact you’re very kind, that’s why you promised to let me have a go on a Sterling sub machine gun. Once she’s taken a fancy to you she probably asked a few friends if they knew anything about you and when she’d found out enough, decided she wanted to meet you. That’s something else people often do when they want to meet somebody they think may be a bit special. Anyway, come down to my cabin when Byron gets back.”

When I walked into my cabin Undine was sitting on a straight backed chair with a lightly padded back, seat and arm rests. She was wearing my two inches above the knee baby blue skirt suit and a white cotton blouse with two inch white block heels. Her legs were pressed together, her back straight and her arms were folded under her breasts with the fingers of her left hand tapping lightly on her right elbow. There was the suggestion of a frown around her eyes and her lips were just a touch pursed. The frown vanished and the lips relaxed as I entered but her arms remained under her breasts and the fingers continued tapping. “You saw him? You spoke to Tamati?” her eyes became a little dreamy, “Isn’t it just the most beautiful name in the world, all the worlds.”

This one is definitely in love and judging by the way Tamati was speaking of her, he was experiencing the same feelings, both of them accurately speared by the same Cupid’s arrow and locked together on its shaft. “Yes, I’ve spoken to him. Now where were we when you rushed off earlier today?”

“You wanted me to explain how I managed to get on board Pacific Wanderer without raising the alarm.”

“Go on then, I know they only keep an anchor watch but there were still men about.”

“I swam from the pool, down the rapids and into the lagoon and then I swam to the jetty, climbed up the bank and ran along the jetty to the ship and managed to fly just high enough to get onto the deck and then I flew up to the saloon deck and once I was in the saloon I ran to here and changed into my human form and got dressed in your clothes. When I was ready and everything seemed quiet I went back to the saloon and up the stairs to the bridge and spoke to Tamati. I asked him if he knew where you were.”

“Nobody saw you?”

She shook her head, “No and if anybody had come along, I would have made myself invisible. What did he say, does he like me?”

“Yes and he wants to see you again and that’s all I am going to tell you because from here on, it’s up to you and Tamati. I don’t know how you do things in sprite land but humans usually prefer to get to know each other before they make lifelong commitments.”

She frowned a little, “I don’t know very much either. I did go out with an air sprite once, his name is Oberon but he was a sort of leader, a king I think you call them and I didn’t really want to be a queen so I stopped seeing him.”

“Was he angry?”

“No, we don’t get angry about things like that, we just go off and find somebody else to be friends with. It wouldn’t have worked anyway, Oberon was an air sprite and I’m a water sprite and we both liked being what we were and neither of us really wanted to change.”

“Why? Are you so different that it never works if you marry a different sprite?”

“Oh yes, lots of sprites or fairies marry other sorts of sprites but it was just that Oberon and I didn’t want to change.

“I’ve been out with forest sprites who live in trees, water sprites like me and other air sprites and twice with flower sprites and we have good fun but I always knew that one day I would find a human and I did so want a soul so I never got serious. When we marry a different type of sprite one of us has to change to become the same type of sprite as the other. If we don’t then we can’t always be together. Air sprites are unable to fly under water, their wings don’t work when they are wet and they have to swim by paddling with their hands. Water sprites like me can’t fly very far. I could fly as high as three times where your head is but then I would have to stop and rest and tree sprites can’t fly at all or swim under the sea like me but they have very slim hands and long fingers and toes and can run and jump enormous distances and if they want to, they can stand on a single leaf and even leap from one tree to another. If we want to marry a human then we have to sacrifice our immortality as you know so we must always be very serious about things when we fall in love.”

“You certainly sound serious at the moment. Now Tamati is coming down to speak to me soon so you had better vanish.”

“Can’t I stay and speak to him.”

“No, you can speak to him this evening. I’ve already told you I am not going to interfere other than to arrange things so that you can be alone together.”

“Can I borrow these clothes, the colour is so pretty, it’s like love-in-the-mist?”

“Yes but wear a lighter shade of lipstick and eye shadow and you can borrow my pearl earrings and necklace and one of my thin gold bracelets. Have you had your ears pierced?”

“What does that mean?”

“Had little holes made in the bottom of your ears so you can wear earrings.”

“Oh yes, we all do that so we can wear parts of little flower blossoms in our ears.”

“Do you want me to tell him you are a sprite?”

“What do you think?”

“I think you should wait a little longer until he gets to know you and if he really falls in love, he won’t care much what you were if you tell him you’re changing into a human. If you want to hide here, go into my bedroom and find something soft to lay on and sleep in a wardrobe just in case he wants to use my bathroom.”

She got up and gave me a hug, “Thank you for helping us,” and went straight into the bedroom and I heard her open a wardrobe door. I gave her a few minutes and followed her and peeked in. My clothes were hung over a wardrobe door and the panties and bra hung over the skirt with the shoes on the floor directly beneath them. To somebody going through to the bathroom nothing would seem amiss. I closed the door and went and sat in the armchair and waited for Tamati thinking about what I could or should tell him. This acting as a go between for two lovers from different worlds was going to present a lot of problems even if the two worlds were intertwined with each other or for that matter, figments of my imagination. I’d be glad when Randolph got here though I was beginning to have doubts as to whether even he could explain what was going on. Still, it was a unique and very nice experience and if I played my cards right, not only would I be helping a couple in love I might be able to get Undine to go and find the dolphin I had swam with when I had my operation. There was another spin off; Undine had modelled her body on mine and I had been able to see the whole of me, moving, breathing and speaking. It was better than watching it on a video because it was life size and I had even been able to see the dimples at the back of my knees and the little birthmark on my bum and that was nice as well, I might allow my vanity to run riot and touch it up with body paint and enhance it with little stars and planets. After all, if I was going crazy, I might as well try and enjoy the experience.

My thoughts were interrupted by a quiet tap on the door and I opened it and Tamati was standing there. We was wearing his best summer uniform, meticulously ironed shirt with the lonely single stripe of a sub-lieutenant, neatly pressed shorts and spotless socks and highly polished shoes and a cap under his arm. He was definitely a nice looking man and he had gone to great lengths to tame his black hair. The natural curls which spent most of their time trying to escape from under his cap when he was working was now neatly combed though I suspected it wouldn’t be long before they reverted to their normal unruly chaos. “I hope it’s not an inconvenient time Marm…”

“Tamati, this is an informal meeting not a disciplinary hearing so don’t start that Marm business. Now come on in and sit down.” I opened the door wide and followed him waiting to see if he would pick one of the arm chairs or the chair Undine had sat in. He picked Undine’s chair and sat, bolt upright, his cap placed on the small desk and his hands folded in his lap a thumb nervously stroking the web between the index finger and thumb of his other hand. “I’ve had a word with Undine and she is going to visit you this evening after you are relieved from the bridge. I suggest you go for a walk along the beach where you will have some privacy but still be visible. That way you can get to know a little about each other and at the same time not cause comment by vanishing into the bushes.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“I know, neither would Undine expect it but I am just making sure you understand. I do know that Undine is a little old fashioned and would prefer to be courted in a conservative manner and she has told me she likes you so remember, you are an officer and gentleman and will be expected to act as such.”

“Of course, I understand that, she doesn’t strike me as being flighty and I will treat her with respect.”

“Good. Now about her past; I met her in England, she was lodging in a house in my village and when it was suggested that the New Zealand government would like to use part of my house to accommodate visiting dignitaries and that parts could also be used as a temporary office for security guards I was able to persuade the High Commission to employ her in a clerical capacity. She was efficient and was offered a post with the New Zealand Antarctic team now based here on the island and that is where she currently works. Her security status is fine and there’s no reason why there should be any objections to your meeting her socially. She has had a good education and is interested in archaeology, marine biology, dancing, swimming but is a shy girl so take things easy when you first start talking. Oh yes, she’s an orphan and was orphaned at a very young age, her mother and father were fishing folk who operated an inshore fishing boat and died when their boat was sunk in a storm off the Cornish coast so she knows little about them. She was brought up in an orphanage and is very bright and has had a very good education so I think you are well matched and that is as much as I am prepared to tell you.”

“Thank you. I’m really happy you were able to fix things so we could meet. What do you think I should give her as a little gift? Something that says I like her and would like to meet and get to know her.”

That caught me on the back foot. I had no idea at all what sprites did for hobbies, did she appreciate flowers, chocolates, jewellery, clothes, come to think of it, I couldn’t even suggest a place for him to take her whilst they were on the island. We had the saloon here on Wanderer and the club at Revelation Bay and perhaps a dinner party at my house but other than that, it was country walks, exploring the beaches and perhaps little trips in our cruiser or even one of the lifeboats. There was one thing that a girl, any girl would always appreciate and that was perfume. “I think that you should have a word with my Auntie Kate and ask her to suggest a perfume or something of that nature. Something relatively inexpensive as it’s a first date, something that might suggest how pleased you are that a beautiful girl has agreed to go out with you.”

“Yes, yes, thank you, I’ll do that.”

“Undine will be here in my cabin at eleven this evening and if you want to go somewhere quiet and there are too many people about on the beach, then I suggest you go up to the observation bridge or onto the private part of the promenade deck at the rear of the passenger cabins. That way you can move about without having to pass through the saloon.” I stood up, “Right you need to go and see Auntie Kate about a small gift and I have other people to see. Remember, Tamati, I have brought you two together so anything that happens will be down to me. I will expect you to remember ‘Officer and Gentleman’ whilst you are with Undine. She knows very little about human relationships, courtship and love because she has been in an orphanage for most of her life, until she was eighteen in fact and may want to experiment. You are a year older than she but more worldly so if she does try to experiment I am relying on you to guide her, not take advantage. You must act in a manner that would make your Maori ancestors proud of you.”

He stood up and I saw him stiffen and push his shoulders back, “Officer and Gentleman, I promise, Charlotte but would it be correct if, when we parted this evening, I kissed her goodnight.”

“One kiss, perhaps two would be correct but if she gets a little clingy that will be your test. You must ease her away without offending her, make some excuse if you need to, and arrange for a subsequent date.”

“I want to win her heart, I’ll do nothing to stop that from happening.” He placed his cap on his head and saluted, “Thank you for your time, Commander,” and left.

I phoned Auntie Kate as soon as his footfalls faded, she was the one person I knew who was able to cope with unusual girls and would make sure that Tamati would buy a suitable gift. I Picked up my shoulder bag and opened the door to the bedroom, “You can come out now, Tamati has left and he will be calling for you soon after eleven this evening.”

The door to the wardrobe opened and the tiny figure grew until she was my height. “What did he say? Does he still like me? Did he smile when you mentioned my name?”

“You’ll have to ask him yourself this evening but try and be a little more subtle, let him ask the questions. You can encourage him a little by linking your arm under his when you go off for a walk and later, if he places his arm around your waist or shoulder, you can snuggle up a little.”

“Oh I do hope he does, I’d love to snuggle up with him.”

“Just make sure that’s all you do and if he kisses you goodnight, don’t throw yourself at him. Be nice and warm with him but no more. You will need to speak to Artemis or Penelopeia, they will explain how you should act and if Artemis heard me speaking to him which I hope she did, she will tell you how I explained your presence here on the island. Are you staying here or going home?”

“I have to go home and straighten my place up a little, I was too excited this morning to make my bed properly and I also need to see a friend of mine who knows some dolphin people, she can arrange for you to meet one. I must speak to Artemis as well.”

“Okay and ask Penelopeia to help you with your makeup this evening. You had better leave the clothes where they are and you can change here and have everything you need close by. Now I have urgent things to be getting on with so I’ll leave you here but don’t forget to close the door when you leave.”

I left the cabin and went back to the bridge, “Commander Charlotte on the bridge, captain,” called the coxswain who was standing at the wheel, why I don’t know, we weren’t moving or likely to be so until early next week. “Watch yer helm dam yer eyes, cox’n.”

“Engines stopped, speed zero, course if we get under way three five nine magnetic, Marm.”

“Come to two nine five when we get under way and aim for the gap. If you put us on the reef you’ll be decorating the yard arm.” I answered and went over to speak quietly to Byron. “I’ve spoken to Undine and Tamati and there’s a budding romance on the ship. Do you approve or could it be a problem?”

“Auckland isn’t bothered, neither of them are doing restricted or top secret work, so yes, I approve as things stand.”

“He still has to ask permission though?”

“Might be a bit old fashioned but the forces work like that. The officer commanding a ship or unit is to all intents and purposes acting as a parent as well as a commanding officer, especially where the more junior members of the crew are concerned. If and when he comes to me, I will need to consider his rank, pay and prospects and decide whether or not he is able to support a wife and family and even then, should I have doubts I would refer them to the fleet commander or dockyard admiral and eventually to the naval authorities for their ruling.”

I nodded, it did make sense and to all intents and purposes it ensured that young sailors weren’t swept of their feet in an exotic port by a whirlwind romance when they were separated from the mothers, fathers and older siblings who would normally be the expected ones to advise them. “Do they tell the parents or guardians that they’ve asked permission to marry?”

“Yes, twice. The naval authorities advise the parents that a request has been made and invite their opinion and I would write personally and tell them what I thought.”

“What’s the oldest sailor you’ve had to do that to?”

He grinned, “He was a stoker on an inshore patrol vessel and got a little too romantic with an island girl when we were on a courtesy visit to French Polynesia. At the time he was forty nine and I refused him permission and advised him to appeal to the admiral. A week later he withdrew his request because he discovered the girl was a tattoo artist who moonlit as a dancing girl and prostitute and was trying to work a ticket for permission to live in New Zealand.”

I had to laugh, “I should imagine that happens quite a bit.”

He nodded, “From time to time, those type of girls are sailor magnates. If they do get away with it they usually vanish after a couple of months and take up their chosen vocation in a New Zealand town or try their luck in Australia.”

“Did you know that Will married me without asking permission?”

“Your case might be different. You are both Commanders, outrank the ship’s captain and own the ship if he was attached to Pacific Wanderer. Do you want me to have New Zealand annul the marriage?”

“I don’t think you can because a registrar was present and we did sign the register. But I’ll bear it in mind if an occasion arises when he won’t let me have my own way over something. Returning to Tamati, I’ve arranged for them to meet each other tonight on board. She’s going to wait in my cabin has had the rules explained to her and so has he, is that okay or could it cause a problem?”

“No that’s fine as long as they don’t remain in the cabin or make a display of themselves.”

“They won’t, I’ve suggested they go for a walk along the beach or go up to the viewing bridge and look at the moon but no hanky-panky.”

He laughed, “They don’t have a chance of hanky-panky with you watching over them.”

“And Auntie Kate and Gwyneth Evans, not to mention the other girls and Philips and CPO Mark. I’m going home to help get ready for this evening’s dinner party, I take it you won’t be coming this time?”

“No, I’ll do a night watch this evening and give Martin and Tamati a night off.”

“Do you always have to have an officer on the bridge?”

“No, we can use a CPO but Victor has enough to do with keeping the crew fed and Mark must always be available in case we have an immediate medical emergency but the chief in the engine room stands a trick or two when he can be spared.”

“I’ll do a watch for you if you need. There are times when affairs of state can be put to one side and I’m sure Will would. It’s not as if we’re under way and at sea getting ready for a naval engagement.”

“It would be useful. As long as I was in my cabin and only a few steps from the bridge. I’ll have a word with Andy and see what he has to say.”

“Right, I’m off and I’ll be at the house if the North Koreans invade.” I glanced at the compass as I passed the helm, “Keep her steady on those revs and bearing, Cox’n.”

“Revs for zero knots, helm amidships, course stationary with the sharp end pointed at three five nine, aye-aye, Commander.”

When I arrived back at the house Auntie Kate was preparing a salad and Gwyneth was mixing a salad dressing. “What do you want me to do?”

“My laundry for starters,” said Gwyneth, the ironing not the washing.”

“Make a pot of tea for seven, that’s Gwyneth, David, Penny, Clair, Ted, myself and you. Will is out somewhere with Geoff Roman and they will probably stick their noses in if they get a whiff of the homemade doughnuts on the dresser.”

“I’ll hide the doughnuts.”

“No you won’t because knowing you only half will make it to the cupboard. We can have one each with the tea.”

“Okay and after we’ve had tea I want to pop up to Butterfly Glade for twenty minutes and then I’ll come back and lay the table. How many are there for dinner?”

Auntie Kate paused and counted, lost count and started again, gave up and told me who was on the list, “You, Will, me and Ted, Gwyneth, David, Emma and Faye with their boyfriends, Penny, Morris, that’s it, twelve.”

“Faye is a definite is she?”

“So she said and Liz is working late and won’t be back in time so she’s having hers at the Revelation club.”

“Tamati is coming up soon…”

“He’s already been and gone and I let him have a small bottle of perfume. He liked it and wanted a large bottle but I told him that was too extravagant on a sub-lieutenant’s pay and anyway, if his girl didn’t like it, it was wasted money.”

“Who is she,” asked Gwyneth.

“You mustn’t tell anybody just yet until after Artemis and I can be sure it’s a serious thing but it’s Undine.”

“Undine!” Auntie Katie stopped her work and looked at me, ” Undine the water sprite, can he see her?”

“Be a funny sort of date if he couldn’t. Yes he met her last night and they fell in love. She made herself human and the same size as me but with her own face and this evening they are going for a walk and get to know a little about each other.”

“Is that wise?” Gwyneth asked. “We aren’t sure if she really exists.”

“She exists all right and she’s really fallen for him. I’m going up to see Artemis and bring her up to date but if anybody asks, just tell them she’s a friend of mine from England and she works as an assistant in the New Zealand laboratories over the other side of the island.”

The both shook their heads, “She does know that if she makes love to a human and marries him, she’ll lose her powers and immortality?” asked Gwyneth.

“I’m glad you asked me that, because when I mentioned it she said she knew and then said something I thought was really lovely; she said she would rather live a normal human life span and know love than live forever without it. Apparently it’s not uncommon for sprites of both sexes to marry mortals.”

“Yes but, what will she look like, how will she act?”

“Same as any other girl of her age but with a bit to catch up on, like me I suppose. She’s certainly very beautiful,” I grinned at them, “She said when she made herself change through magic, she used me as the model and then she made her clothes invisible and I saw what I look like except for the colour of her hair, eyes and a different face, which she isn’t allowed to change. I want to make sure she knows her own mind though, that’s why I want to see Penelopeia and Artemis and then I’ll have to speak to Tamati and explain it all to him.”

“He’ll think you are out of your mind when you do that,” said Auntie Kate.

“I don’t think so. Undine told me she could see that his Maori blood made him more susceptible to the existence of a parallel world peopled by gods, goddesses and other spirits and it might scare him a bit but she thinks he can adjust to the idea especially when it’s explained that when they marry and make love, she will become human and lose her fairy type powers.” I sat down on a chair, “I’ll be glad when I see Randolph and just hope he can explain it to me.”

“Auntie Kate took hold of my hand, “And if he can’t?”

“I’ll ask him to find a doctor who can, or a shaman, witch doctor, priest and if he can’t do that I’ll just have to accept that something has happened to me that gives me these strange dreams and that has led to me discovering all the things on the island that I have and perhaps even the sexual identity crisis I went through is connected in some way, though I doubt that.”

“And me,” said Auntie Kate. “I saw that in you when you were a young child and I’ve told you that.”

“And you’re a sensible, practical person as well,” added Gwyneth. “You joke about things, and take chances that other people wouldn’t but despite your light-heartedness and determination to have fun in your life, there is a very intelligent side to you and you do have the ability to draw people close and make them join in. Remember we’ve seen these visions as you call them and as far as I’m concerned and I know the others are of a like mind, they were real enough. The other thing to remember is that good things have happened to you, not bad and you are sharing it with us. If anybody must have that kind of help from this other world, then there’s nobody on this island who is better suited than you. I believe in life after death anyway so I don’t need a lot of convincing and nobody has been able to prove that to me I just believe in it, our bodies die and our spirit goes on to another place, a nice place.”

“Me too,” said Auntie Kate, “And I often find myself talking to Mo and your mother and father and I’m sure they are really happy the way things are turning out for you.”

I got up and poured the water into the pot, “I just hope I never have to meet an evil spirit, I’m not sure I could handle that. Perhaps I should keep a posy of garlic flowers in my bag, just in case.”

“They won’t be able to touch you with all the influence you have with the gods.”

I grinned and poured the tea, “It hasn’t stopped either if Faye confirms what I think I may have discovered today.”

“What’s that,” asked Auntie Kate, “A stone age tablet with hundreds of long lost recipes for making cures, warding off evil spirits and making nasty people turn into slithering snakes with warts all over them.”

“Better than that but you’ll have to wait until I’ve spoken to Faye, but it’s good and we’ll have to keep it a secret.”

“Not another load of buried treasure?” said Gwyneth.

“I’m not saying because it may be nothing and all I’ve done is get my physics and natural history wrong. I have to get up to the glade, I shan’t be long. Perhaps I’ll meet the people who may have the answers, on the other hand, I’m not so sure I want the answers just yet.”

I will be posting another chapter but that will have to be the last. For those of you who want to read on, Footprints in the Sea Volume 4 is available on Amazon Kindle and may be ordered through the Top Hat link in the right hand column of this page. Doing it that way earns a small commission for the site.

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