The Sea in Flames

 

Chapter 16

THE SEA IN FLAMES

 

In another part of the world, since the earliest hours of the morning the airport was overcrowded with irate passengers who were waiting to go to varying destinations. Everyone was going away on holiday and no one was willing to make a change in their plans for anything or anybody. Freed from the daily monotony, the people had discovered an unusual vitality. They weren’t going to put up with anything, however small it was!

The faces of the passengers arriving at the airport turned hostile on seeing the fog, which wasn’t a good omen for the airport staff. The tension in the airport had been hotting up with the increasing number of delays and cancellations that had accumulated. The ground staff and travel agencies were receiving a flood of complaints. The aerated tourists blamed everybody except the bad weather. They said if they didn’t leave soon they wanted their money back.

The airport manager and the head of his air traffic control were getting desperate in an office that overlooked the departure area. The chaos below them wasn’t going to be solved without help. “We already have too many planes ready and waiting for take-off when you give the order,” said the manager, “We’re losing control.”

“We can ask God to change the weather, but that’s about all. You know the rules,” commented the traffic controller.

“But we’ve got the departure area filling up fast. In a few hours there will be no room to squeeze in any more people, and then we’re in serious trouble.”

The traffic controller’s mobile rang. His face changed as he listened. “We’ve got the go-ahead!”

“Great. Which plane is the first in line?” asked the manager.

“The one going to the Lake District.”

“A longer flight would be a better option,” said the manager.

“There’s a flight to Fire Fish Island.”

“OK. Put that first on the list.”

 

 “Thank God we’re off. The passengers were getting restless to put it mildly, you know what these package holiday-makers are like, demanding this and that. Mind you, if you ask me, we are taking off in a sea of fog. They must be desperate up in the tower,” said the pilot.

The plane slowly taxied to the take-off point. The pilot gave full throttle to the engines until the plane trembled, released the break, accelerated, and the plane began to rise.

In the control tower the supervisor said to an anxious new employee, “That’s the first one gone, now the second one can take-off. In a few minutes we are going to get arrivals. I don’t want any more delays. The airport has to keep going.”

“And what if there’s an accident due to the bad weather!” his assistant asked.

“Nothing will happen. Headlines in newspapers for a few days and nothing else. People expect it with so many flights in the air at any one time. It’s no surprise. And don’t worry, there’ll always be more tourists to take their places. Tourism isn’t going to go out of fashion,” declared his supervisor, knowing he shouldn’t have.

The two men watching from the office down below, stayed until the second plane had taken off.  The tourists were happy to be on the move and nobody complained about the lack of visibility, so it was safe for them to return their respective offices.

 

To compensate for the delay, the cabin crew treated the passengers on their way to the Fire Fish Island especially attentively, with sweets, food, drink, blankets, pillows, and an old film. They were on holiday. Nothing was going to spoil their fun.

Trapped in the plane that was taking them from a modern continent to a tropical island, the passengers didn’t have a care in the world. The weather was changing all the time and after four hours the island was just visible through the gaps in the clouds. One of the passengers wasn’t very happy about what he saw and took out his extraordinarily powerful binoculars. There was something in the sea that upset him. He called the stewardess, and offering her the binoculars asked, “What’s that under the sea?”

The stewardess took a look through the binoculars and said discretely, “I don’t see anything, Sir,” returned his binoculars, and went to speak to the captain.

“Captain, there’s something in the sea near the island.”

The captain took out his binoculars and focused them where the hostess had indicated. “I don’t know what that can be. Tell the passengers it’s time to fasten their seatbelts. It’s probably nothing of great importance, but we have to fly over it and I don’t want any passengers injured. Secure all moveable objects.”

The hostess left the cabin and gave the orders to the other cabin crew without giving them an explanation. The ‘NO SMOKING’ and ‘FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT’ signs were lit up. The man who had called the hostess about the strange occurrence in the sea didn’t take his eyes off the window to see what was going on down below.

 

The interior of the plane was lit up with a peculiar orangey-red colour. The pilot saw an enormous flame coming towards him followed by tremendous waves. No one had time to either scream or pray.

The plane fell flat on its belly on the surface of the sea a short distance from the island, but remained afloat.

The islanders in their little boats didn’t take long in arriving, having heard and seen the smoke and the plane going into the sea.

Filo and Curro saw the emergency door opening and helped some of the passengers slide down the escape chutes into the waiting boats. It wasn’t long before they were being taken to the island without too much hysteria.

When most had been seen to, Filo and Curro clambered up the chute to see if anybody was still in need of help, their little boat waiting below. There was still just one passenger on board, with blood marks on his clothes, collecting his belongings. He must have been helping the people and the crew get off. The plane was beginning to fill with water. They went to the pilot’s cabin and opened the door. The pilots were still strapped in their seats unconscious, so Filo called the passenger to help rescue the captain and the co-pilot. The plane was beginning to sink. The three together dragged the pilots to the emergency exit and slid down the chute with them.

The engine on Filo’s boat was ready, waiting to go. As it was moving away from the sinking plane the strange passenger said to Filo, “Take a look at the nose of the plane. What do you see?”

Filo looked, as the stranger had suggested. “It looks as if it’s been blackened by smoke.”

“Thank you. What’s your name?”

“I’m Filo, and this is my grandson, Curro.”

“I’m Doctor Doom, very pleased to meet you and your grandson.”

Just at that moment the plane, now some distance from the boat, suddenly heaved, and the sea swallowed it whole to join the other wrecks.

“I’ve booked a room in an hotel here, but I should very much like to see my wounds, and have a good think, in the home of one of the locals if possible,” said the doctor.

“If you like, I’ll take you to my house. My daughter will look after you.”

 

Liana was opened�"mouthed on seeing the doctor enter her house. It was as if a television idol had passed through the screen into her living-room. Doctor Doom was a challenge for any woman, being tall with very long legs, dark haired, and dark eyed, with looks that hardly ever revealed his true feelings.

“I hope my presence here is not putting you out, but I asked your father if I could stay here till my wounds are healed.”

“You’re not putting me out at all,” Liana replied, thinking how recently she had had another injured foreigner in her house.

“I brought him from the plane that crashed into the sea,” said Filo.

“I’ve got a cut from metal in my right arm and I feel rather weak from loss of blood. I need to rest and let the wound heal,” added the doctor.

“I’ll look after your arm. It’s not so long ago we had another casualty in the house,” said Liana, going towards the room where Irving had stayed . She made the bed and put a jug of water and a glass on the bedside table. “Let’s have a look at this cut. Take off your shirt, please, I’m going to clean you up.”

Dr Doom realised that Liana was in charge by the tone of her voice, and did as he was asked. Besides, he was exhausted from having to keep the passengers calm while they were being rescued. Liana saw the cut in his right arm near the elbow, it had happened when the plane hit the water, and there was no way of knowing in such chaos, the exact moment that it happened. What he did know was that it was something sharp, probably broken metal. Holding a magnifying glass in one hand Liana was looking for bits of glass or metal with the other, like a professional. Satisfied that there was nothing extraneous there and that she only had the cut to deal with, Liana cleaned and disinfected the wound and wrapped a clean bandage round it. Seeing that the man was almost asleep Liana and Filo washed the blood from his body and placed him gently in the bed. He slept straight away.

Father and daughter were talking in the dining room, “Who is he? Why have you brought him here instead of taking him to the hospital or the hotel?” Liana asked.

“He asked me to. He must have his own reasons why he doesn’t want to show up at the hotel yet,” Filo answered.

“Are there any dead?”

“Everyone has been saved. Later the plane sank into the sea,” Filo said without adding anything about the possible smoke stains on the nose of the plane. “I’m going to the hotel to inform them that the doctor is safe in my house. Don’t take your eyes off him and don’t close the door.”

“When are you coming back?” Liana asked.

“I don’t know. It all depends on the situation at the hotel with the rescued passengers. The captain and the co-pilot are in hospital. As I now have my normal timetable all haywire, it’s better that you don’t count on my being here at any specific hour. Curro, you’re coming with me. Your mother can manage the doctor on her own.”

Liana, once by herself, sat in the living-room to sew with the television on while the doctor slept. Images of the accident were shown on the television screen with some of the survivors being interviewed, but nobody knew the whys or wherefores of the accident. The two pilots were kept out of sight and from the press somewhere deep inside the hospital walls. Every time the doctor moved in the bed, Liana went to see him. She was more than happy to have such a handsome man in her care. He was sweating profusely so she dabbed his face with icy water. He spoke with a posh accent so she didn’t understand him very well, nevertheless, she tried to explain that he was safe and sound. He soon went back to sleep and she returned to the living-room. Much later on she found him half awake and made him have some soup.

 

It was night-time when Filo and Curro returned home. The first thing Filo did was to go and see the man he had brought home. The doctor was lying back against many pillows, reading a book, the injured arm stretched out resting on the bed. Filo smiled at him on seeing him in a healthier state than when he and Curro had left. “Are you already better?”

“Not altogether, but I do feel a lot better. With a little bit of help, I could probably get up. We’ll see. How are the rest of the passengers?”

“Very well. The pilots have recovered consciousness but they aren’t allowed to leave the hospital. I went to see the others and I found them in high spirits. They inquired about you and I told them you were well.”

“Has anything been said about the possible causes of the accident?” asked the doctor.

“Not that I know of, Doctor,” replied Filo.

“Did the passengers tell you anything?”

“No, Doctor.”

“Do you remember the state of the nose of the aeroplane?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Aren’t you surprised that the nose was covered in smoke?” asked the doctor.

“This island is the home of the sacred fire fish, that’s why I can believe it.”

Doctor Doom smiled, “Do you believe that such a fish exists?”

“Why not, Doctor?”

“Oh, no special reason, it was just a question, that’s all.”

“If you like, as soon as you are well enough, I’ll show you the temple dedicated to the fish and you’ll be able to judge for yourself whether the fish exists or not.”

“Thank you, Filo. I’m not up to any more conversation, if you don’t mind. So I’ll talk to you about it some other time.”

“See you later, Doctor.”

The doctor went over in his mind everything that had brought him to this place. A phone call from Irving’s friend who had informed him about the pieces of burnt wood. The photos of the carved floor and the hieroglyphics had appealed to the doctor’s curiosity. Irving’s friend had suggested that it would be better if the doctor went to the island instead of himself, as he was tied up with a different project. The friend suspected that Irving was in danger. The doctor had no connection with anybody in the drama so far, so his presence on the island would attract no attention from the people involved.

The doctor had simply booked a package tour. Destiny or bad luck had tried to impede the plane’s arrival.