Posted by Bowen Cates on 4/11/2008, 4:58 pm, in reply to "Chapter 27"
24.207.121.197
Chapter 28: Which, Before Reading, You May Wish To Procure Some Method Of Alleviating Severe Tension.
What happened next was so fast, and so unexpected that no one was aware of it, until it was too late.
Greg lunged forward through the air, past the guards, and knocked Moriarty away from the lever, just as Silvers shot his ionizer right into the intern’s chest.
Theodore watched in silent horror as the rosy-cheeked scientist spiraled through the air, glowing green, and skidded across the laboratory a few inches before coming to a stop in a heap of his own limbs.
So surreal was this vision that Theodore half expected him to jump suddenly to his feet, whip off his lab coat to reveal a Superman costume, and commence to launch an unstoppable barrage of fancy footwork on Moriarty and his cronies.
But all he did was lie there, and all Theodore did was stare, finally his throat gave way.
“GREG! GREG!” He didn’t know what else to do. When 1800 Holmes had been wounded Theodore had been able to go back for him, but this time he was suspended with the Victorian in an enormous tank, and utterly unable to do anything to help his compatriot.
“GREG!”
Visions of his fall and the green light that had started this whole chain off events flooded his mind, and for a moment, he could feel it, searing his flesh and blinding him, but when Fenwick had shot him, the weapon had been set to the highest setting, or so 2103 Holmes had surmised from the burns on Theodore’s hands.
But that had to be stun, it had to be, Greg would be fine.
Theodore felt a hand grab his shoulder. “Mr. Trent.”
“Mr. Holmes! We have to do something! We have to do something now! He was only stunned right? Please, we have to get out of here!”
1800 Holmes shook his head “I am afraid that the beam was abominably close to his rib cage, his only hope is immediate medical attention and sadly that is something, we, none of us, including you Mr. Trent, are able to supply him with at present.”
“NO! GREG! HOLD ON, PLEASE!”
Holmes took hold of his shoulder again “Mr. Trent, there is nothing you can do, we must focus all our energies on our escape, then, and only then, will it be within our power to assist Mr. Bamfield, do you understand?”
The detective’s expression was one of kind pleading, his grey eyes sparkling sadly out from his austere features, communicating as best they could that their master knew only too well the pain of losing someone dear to you.
Pulling his hands away from the barrier to which they had been pressed in desperation, Theodore nodded, Holmes was right, there was no point in trying to do things out of order and it was equally pointless to get emotional, it only slowed them down.
Theodore turned his gaze back to his injured friend only to see that Moriarty had once again taken center stage, his cronies wreathed around him like the dancers of some disjointed ballroom minuet.
Without a word, his face red, his nostrils flaring with indignant disgust, he reached his hand up to the side of the tank and pulled, with all his might, on the lever Greg had tried in vain to protect.
The mechanism crashed into its open position, and a gurgling sound erupted from the bottom of the biosphere.
The master criminal turned to his two green-tinted prisoners; “Goodbye Holmes, do tell your brother hello for me.”
He laughed, his eyes dancing in not at all the same way as his rival’s.
Theodore had but a moment to observe the scene around him as his death loomed upon the horizon:
Deidre’s helpless expression, Wiggins, as he strained at his invisible boundaries, going slowly mad with inactivity, Tennyson, looking just plain scared out of his wits for his friends, Powell, as he pretended not to notice in his own selfish dejection.
Lestrade was still holding 2103 Holmes tight in her arms; the detective’s remonstrances completely whittled away, exhaustion getting the better of his already spent energies, and Greg, lying motionless on the floor, dead before even breathing his last breath.
But as Theodore finished wallowing in how guilty he felt for being the cause all of this, slowly bringing himself back down to his current and hopeless situation, he began to notice that his feet felt rather wet.
Looking down, it was obvious that there was not much time to save themselves - if that were even possible - his ankles were now submerged and his knees would soon follow.
A strong pair of hands took hold of him once more and turned him sharply to face their owner.
“Mr. Trent.” Holmes addressed him, a determined look in his now sharp, attentive eyes, “we have run out of time, and you must listen very carefully.”
He was whispering, Theodore didn’t understand, what was he saying? This was as mysterious to him as the tapping had been earlier -
‘Oh my god’ he realized ‘the tapping, the Morse Code, how could I forget?’
“Mr. Trent, I have but a moment in which to relate this to you, so please do not interrupt me. Our plan is about to be set in to action, in a moment young Miss Deidre is about to attempt to stop the water flow. At which point she will be inconvenienced by Mr. Silvers who is closest to her, when that happens she will have the opportunity to borrow from him, certain items of deadly importance.
“You and I must then take a very deep breath and swim to the bottom of this rapidly filling death trap, put our hands over our heads and stay far to either side as well as we can. Now, we will not make our escape the instant we are free, that would be impossible with my other self and the young intern in such condition as they are.”
Theodore’s shins were now underwater.
“We will instead, make our way directly to the room in which you and the others were kept earlier, there Mr. Tennyson will have the opportunity to restart the compudroid version of my dear friend and associate. Watson the second will then take charge of both Mr. Bamfield and my future self who I hope, we will have been able to take with us.
At this point you, Mr. Trent, and Miss Deidre will take advantage of the vent in the ceiling three quarters down the hallway, which I was fortunate enough to observe during a moment of consciousness as I was conducted out to this lovely aquarium.
You will need Watson’s assistance briefly to create an opening large enough and to lift you inside, but once those steps have been completed you will then make your way outside, where you will contact New Scotland Yard with the communicator Deidre has just taken from Mr. Silvers which will only work outdoors unless voice recondition is used.”
Theodore almost screamed as he swung - with great difficulty - around to see Deidre in the hands of Silvers who was indeed forcing her back into her house seat.
“Le’ go of me ya great oaf!” she ordered, kicking and flailing her arms.
Moriarty chuckled, “do attempt to keep the children under control, Mr. Silvers.”
“Righ’ you are Boss, righ’ you are” the goon apologized to his gloating employer.
Theodore’s waist was now almost completely underwater, so many questions were whizzing around inside his head, he didn’t understand, how were they getting out of here in the first place?
The water level was getting higher and higher, and Theodore was conscious of the fact that the entire group was holding their breath, waiting for some pivotal moment.
Holmes took hold of Theodore once more, “one more point of importance, Mr. Trent. I had been informed by the compudroid Watson prior to my incarceration, that this tank cannot be penetrated from a direct hit to the outside. The martial it is constructed of is domed to prevent escape or kidnapping of its subjects, therefore, the only way it can be broken into is from above.
It is far too complex with all it’s pressurized gadgets beneath and there is a great deal of danger in that for us and our liberators, as a further point even the roof of this place is ionizer resistant. As a result of this we will have no choice but to effect a cave-in of the ceiling in hopes that it will break through. Therefore I must ask that you follow my earlier instructions to the letter.”
During this whole, completely dumbfounding speech, 1800 Holmes had been more breathing then talking, keeping his voice as low as he possibly could, by now Theodore could hardly move, his shoulders were almost beneath water level.
“But Mr. Holmes, what are we waiting for?”
“The tank must be full enough of water to slow the path of the debris in order to stop us from being crushed, we must have time to escape before the larger debris settles and there is a possibility of us being trapped. You will compress yourself against the wall, do not move until you feel my tug at your sleeve, I will alert you, as I am able to hold my breath for much longer then the probability is in favor of your being able to.”
Theodore was now standing on his toes, teetering on the spot, the tank was wider here and so was not filling up as fast and yet he knew they did not have much time.
“Do you understand Mr. Trent?”
“Yes sir.” He nodded once.
Holmes smiled at him for the smallest moment before replying “I would recommend that you begin to make your way to your side of the tank now Mr. Trent, conserve your energy as best you can, but keep your head above water as long as is possible.”
Theodore had just reached the other side when something terrifying occurred to him “But Mr. Holmes.” he half mouthed, as the detective was now quite a bit farther away but close enough to see his lips. “You’re still sick how are you - ”
But before he could finish his sentence a familiar voice screamed through the air,
“Silvers! You idiot! Stop her! Stop her!”
Message Thread:
« Back to thread