The Iron Man [Serial]

Ship Mates

The grappling line hooked Tower Bridge's north bascule. "It's time, Miss Honey," Alpha said.

Honey nodded. She looked to the end of the rope held in Alpha's hand, then stooped to remove her oxfords. She quickly laced the pair together then hung them over her neck. Honey took the rope from Alpha and pulled herself up to stand upon the fin wall in her stocking feet.

Alpha spoke a blessing, "May Athena make you unwearying and spare you from Triton's waves."

"Be safe, Honey," I said.

She turned her head and smiled at me with closed lips. "Be Dangerous," she said. Honey swung clear of the wall and climbed. I looked on, fearing her limbs might give over the distance, which must have been nearly 30 feet. She shimmied steadily up the rope, keeping it tight between her feet as she moved her hands, and then holding fast with her hands as she repositioned her feet.

Alpha spoke into the voice-tube. "We have one passenger aweigh. Bring the boat around."

I kept watch on Honey. When she came close to the hook itself, I saw her hesitate. She reached for one strut and then another. Honey reached one hand to the bridge's structure, then the other. She moved one foot, and then finally she was on the underside of Tower Bridge, hugging the structure, with head bowed forward.

The Narcís was in motion, and I turned aftward to keep the bridge in sight. Honey waved and then made a gesture toward the grappling hook. I saw movement in my periphery: Alpha signaled her to toss the hook.

"What of Murphy?"

"He'll dive," Alpha said. Slowly he turned toward me, "he can do it."

"And the hook-" Honey had loosed it from the bridge.

"I've got a thread on it." I saw this was true. Alpha manually reeled a bit of string. Of course, lashing the thick rope directly to the submarine boat while the other end was on the movable bascule could have caused damage should one or the other move.

A horn sounded. A black steamcab stopped mid-bridge. Honey was almost to the roadway. Though I could not hear, she must have called out, as Sugar looked down in Honey's direction as soon as she appeared at the edge of the bridge. "Oh, thanks be!" I sighed, seeing Sugar and Honey  together.

"Below. Fetch a catchpole," Alpha said.

I wished to see if Murphy found a way down, but assuming the pole was to rescue him, I complied. When I returned, Alpha was unzipping his boots. Another two moments and he'd stepped out of them. He reached toward his ankles and pulled zippers along the outside of each pants leg.

I looked up, as Alpha's pants fell, and saw Murphy drop his sitar case to the river. I heard another zip beside me. Alpha, dressed only in silk and cotton small clothes, tapped the cover of the voice-tube against the pipe. "Two in the drink. Full stop."

Murphy dove as shrill whistles sounded from the river's edge.

"Listen," Alpha said, "I'm going to give you orders. If you understand everything, you say 'aye aye', if you do not, you say 'repeat'. Do not make me repeat."

"Aye aye?"

"Your job is to get us out of the water. Ghat will have sent Sina to help get us inside. Use this rope. Look. And your pole."

"Aye aye."

"The voice-tube and all hatches need to be screwed shut. Tight. Clockwise. You'll be last down."

"Aye aye."

Alpha climbed over the aft section of wall, then jumped from the top of the boat and broke the water with a shallow dive. I kept my eyes on him as he came back to the surface, pulling himself through the water with angular strokes of his arms.

I watched, waiting. I had lost track of Murphy when Alpha made me look at the rope, and for a moment I considered he had never come up. I saw Alpha's head of black hair and the near-transparent white cloth on his shoulders against the murky water of the Thames. I followed his path and saw Murphy moving away from him, head only just above the water, left arm reaching for his sitar.

Finally, Murphy had his sitar and Alpha had him, and they were moving toward the boat. I readied the coil of thin rope. As they neared, I swung the coil and then released. It was not as on target as I would have liked, but Alpha used a foot to pass it to his hand. He pulled. I pulled.

They reached the hull, and Alpha pushed Murphy up head of him. I used the pole to reach for him. He tried to push his damned sitar to me, but Alpha smacked his thigh. The sitar slid back toward the water, where Alpha fastened it to a length of the rope.

A hatch opened near my feet and Sina looked up, just as Murphy reached the fin. He patted my arm, but said nothing more, as he climbed down to Sina. I couldn't spare time to speak or follow his movement.

I extended the pole again, but Alpha waved it away, using the rope to pull himself up. He was practically naked in his wet underclothes, and leaned on my shoulder to steady himself as he stepped into the fin.

I shut the aft hatch after Alpha descended. I closed the voice-tube. I pushed all the dunnage into the mid-ship wetroom. I descended and sealed the hatch above me.

I took Alpha's leathers and followed the trail of water into a corridor made all the more close for the curtain dividing the space. On the near side I found a wooden bench strewn with damp white and black clothes. Along the wall was a row of wash chambers. Just one was closed, and from it I heard sounds of water and Arabic voices. I supposed they shared to conserve water...as men do aboard ship.