said Hitch. ‘He’ll be glad to see you. I told him I was bringing you in.’ He beckoned Ruby to follow him. ‘Looks like you might be here a while; seems like you’re in demand today kid.’
They headed off in the direction of the blue corridor, passing doors in varying shades of cyan until they got to the one he was looking for. Hitch knocked, but didn’t wait for an answer.
Blacker was sitting in a large round room, its ceiling curved, its floor flat glass, and under the glass the room continued its curve. Blacker flicked a switch and the sphere they stood in was suddenly covered in coastal maps, and now they were inside a giant sea globe.
‘Hey there Ruby, nice to see you again. I thought you were going to Department 7 first?’ said Blacker looking at Hitch.
‘He’s late,’ said Hitch.
Ruby looked at Hitch. ‘You mean I could be at swim practice after all?’
‘I was told to get you here by three thirty. I can’t help it if people don’t show when they say they’re going to show,’ said Hitch.
‘Well, no matter, early or late,’ said Blacker. ‘I’m glad you’re here – we got a lot to do and I sure could use your brain.’
Hitch walked to the door. ‘See you in a while kid. Be smart.’ He left the room.
Blacker pushed a chair in her direction and Ruby sat down. ‘Here, have a jelly donut, it’ll help you think,’ he said, handing her a fat sugar-dusted donut. ‘So they fill you in on what’s going on?’
‘Nuh uh,’ said Ruby.
‘OK, so let me,’ he said. ‘I have been looking into the mayday call those fishermen sent out last night. They claim to have made several attempts to contact the coastguard and when their distress signal was not answered, they tried to get the attention of another boat. This vessel, however, did not come to their aid, although they insist it must have seen their predicament.’
‘What did this boat look like?’ asked Ruby.
‘Strange and old-fashioned is what they said, though they didn’t get to see it up close.’
‘So where exactly was the fishing boat when they called in to the coastguard?’
‘Exactly here.’ Blacker pointed to the wall, and an expanse of sea not so far from the Sibling Islands on the north side. There was a little red light illuminated, indicating the tiny fishing vessel. Another light, this one green, represented the boat the fishermen had tried to make contact with; not so far away, but to the east side of the islands.
For the next two hours Blacker and Ruby worked together, reading out co-ordinates and marking them with lights. By the end they had almost thirty markers glowing on the glass walls around them, showing the locations of cargo boats that had drifted off course, other boats that had sent out unanswered mayday calls and rough locations for sightings of strange marine life activity. They covered quite an area and it wasn’t clear what it really meant, though there was a clustering in the deep waters half a mile from the Sibling Islands.
‘What’s out there?’ asked Ruby.
‘Not a whole lot,’ said Blacker. ‘Cargo ships sail close, but not directly into those waters; they always travel to the west side of the islands. The ocean is deep on the east side, but there are too many rocks just under the surface to be safe for very large shipping. The currents can be dangerous for recreational sailing – you need to know what you’re doing.’
Ruby did know – she had heard people talking about it all her life. Beware the Sibling tides – it was one of those old sayings people handed down to their children. The point was that it was not a good idea to go out there unless you really knew what you were up to. The waters were dangerous and there were outlandish tales spanning the centuries, of people mysteriously going missing – all greatly exaggerated no doubt, but nonetheless true, at least in essence.
‘What about the actual Sibling Islands? Aren’t they kinda worth a visit?’ suggested Ruby. ‘I mean don’t people head out there to see them? I’m sure my parents are passing nearby on this yacht tour they’re on, learning about history and stuff.’
Blacker licked the donut sugar off his fingers; it was getting all over the keyboard. ‘I guess if you have the inclination to go and stare at two giant rocks sticking straight up out of the ocean – very few tourists bother to go that far, your parents excepted, I guess. It takes a long time to get there and you can’t land or anything and you certainly can’t swim. Sure, they’re sort of impressive to look at, but they don’t usually attract a lot of sightseers. It’s geologists who are interested and marine life experts; as I said, the water goes very deep and there’s a lot of unusual species of fish. Apart from that it’s pretty dangerous out there; plenty of ships used to get wrecked in olden times.’
They both sat and stared at the maps now dotted with red, green, pink, yellow and violet lights, all representing a different type of disturbance or unusual occurrence.
The telephone rang and Blacker picked up. ‘OK, I’ll send her over.’ He put the receiver down.
‘Do you think you can make it to Department 7? It’s in the violet zone, room 324 if you’re going by numbers.’
‘I reckon I’ll find it,’ said Ruby.
‘You sure?’ said Blacker, getting to his feet. ‘You want me to walk you?’
‘That’s OK,’ said Ruby. ‘I’m good at finding my way.’
She was pretty sure she knew where she was going, but even if she hadn’t had a clue, she would have said she did. The truth was, Ruby wanted to stop by somewhere.
She could have just turned left down the corridor the way she had come, but what would be the fun in that? She was a slave to her curiosity as Mrs Digby so often observed. ‘Curiosity will be the death of you young lady.’
This prophecy had almost been borne out just a matter of weeks ago – Ruby was lucky to be alive and she knew it, but it hadn’t changed a thing. She was as big a snoop as ever. So instead of turning left out of the door, she turned right.
It took some time, but after what seemed like miles of passageway and a zillion closed doors, she finally reached one she recognised. It was bright orange and it was the Spectrum gadget room.
She looked at the Bradley Baker rescue watch, tapped the exact time into the keypad and the door clicked open. The code had not been changed.
Ruby had been told not to take anything without proper permission. That meant filling out a form – in triplicate – and getting it signed by the correct authority. But the person in charge, what’s-his-name (she had never actually met him), wasn’t in Spectrum today and when was she going to get the opportunity again?
As she walked past them, the display cases and glass drawers all lit up and Ruby moved past the rows of low glass counters, slowly eyeing their contents. She was looking for something in particular, something she had seen on her first visit to Spectrum. It was in the section devoted to gadgets for use in the ocean.
The Breathing Buckle.
To be used underwater. Slip buckle off belt,
place
