The Tempest. A Short Story.

It was Sunday, June 7, and the battered M/S Cormoran sailed into Havana harbor. Captain Feargal Sharkey realized that repairs had to be made, and no questions asked, so he made for the mechanical shop of a certain Ricardo Villamonte, and old contact and fence. Villamonte did not not mind tensing to the Cormoran, especially if dollars were involved, and he told Sharkey that the Cormoran would be ready on Monday. The intrepid investigators were now the exhausted investigators, and there were wounds to tend to. Also, the fate of Irwin Bowers was a cause of great concern, and the investigators were increasingly convinced that something truly dreadful had happened. 

However, Mackie and Howard felt somewhat rested after a surprisingly good night's sleep: no night terrors, no spasms, no strange sounds in the middle of the night, just solid sleep. They went to check on the Cormoran before heading to the St. Agnes hospital with a sample of the mysterious egg-like things they had found in the ancient chest in the wreck of the Santa Ana. Mackie had carefully sliced off a sample and exposed it to Karen, but the hen was not impressed in any way. Mackie and Howard did leave for Villamonte's shop, and as they were gathering some personal items from the Cormoran they were approached by a young man, or possibly an older child. The youngster introduced himself with a New York accent, stating that his name was Felix Jeremiah, and adding that he was looking for a Henry Chester. Both Mackie and Howard were dumbfounded. What was youngster doing here looking for their disappeared friend? This required further inquiry, and they proceeded to the Bristol Hotel for refreshments despite Mackie being more than  a little wary of the young man, and taunting him incessantly. Once they were comfortably seated at the bar, Felix surprised everyone by ordering a whisky and soda. The waiter demanded some proof of age, and it turned out that Felix really wasn't a young man at all, despite his youthful looks.

Felix Jeremiah

Felix story was quite checkered, but he had clearly known Henry Chester. He finally convinced Mackie and Howard to let him join the MacNamara Expedition, if only as a tryout. He was told to report at Villamonte's shop on Monday morning. Mackie and Howard spent the rest of the Sunday at the St. Agnes Hospital as a lab technician analyzed the egg sample. It turned out that the lab technician couldn't properly identify the sample at all, but also that it was quite inert.

The Cormoran left Havana just after 9 am, and the seas seemed favorable. Captain Sharkey set course due west, and the intrepid adventurers relaxed on or below deck. After a couple of hours, Captain Sharkey noticed two things: there seemed to be a storm on the horizon, and the fuel gauge was showing a precariously low amount of fuel. Was the the fuel tank leaking, or was there some other issue? Captain Sharkey told the intrepid adventurers that he would be changing course to the small fishing village of Punto Aquirre, where he hoped to be able to repair or refuel the Cormoran.

Punto Aguirre was sighted just after 4.30 pm, and the village looked quite quaint in the distance. A lanky dog could be seen crossing the street, but as the adventurers came closer to Punto Aguirre, they could not help notice the entire village, including the church and the Faro Navidad lighthouse, seemed quite deserted. It might have been that the villagers had sought refuge from the approaching storm, but the situation still seemed a bit weird.  

Faro Navidad

Meanwhile, the winds preceding the storm was already making sizeable ways, and securing the Cormoran to the jetty at Punto Aguirre was rather difficult. Lake, MacNamara and Jeremiah ventured ashore, and the village was indeed deserted. Yet, Lake, MacNamara and Jeremiah could not shake off the feeling that they were being watched. There also seemed to be traces of fighting and struggling in several of the buildings, but as they were looking trough the village, they heard the engine of the Cormoran roar into life. The three compatriots rushed back along the jetty, but it only seemed as if Feargal Sharkey was taking the precaution to arrange for a storm anchor to avoid smashing his vessel against the jetty in the increasingly bad weather. Back on board the Cormoran, Jules Pollack was starting to feel both worried and a bit queasy. He managed to jump from the Cormoran to the jetty just before it was too late as Captain Sharkey pulled out to sea. This left Captain Sharkey on the Cormoran together with Johnny and Dorothy Gale, a worried Moira Baker, and Franz Alter, who was missing his mother quite a bit.

The four compatriots continued searching through Punto Aguirre, and they were examining the church and its surroundings when they saw a dark figure dash across the main village street. A wild chase proceeded in between gusts of wind and the first rain drops, but the compatriots eventually cornered a disheveled and insane-looking elderly individual in a clergyman's robes. The person seemed terrified, and almost entirely incoherent as he babbled:    

-        "They came. Just like that showed up... they have a healthy appetite. The young go first. The young! The young! All sizes. So small! So big...  They took them all... the tower! The tower with the all-seeing eye. -        Deep caverns, deep under the all-seeing eye...

-        You! It is you! You have something they have wanted for a long time. A very long time...t hey watched the undersea boat for soooooooo long. How funny (insane laughter). We are just bait! Like worms, we are like worms. Or breadcrumbs. Wormy bread…. I have seen God, and he is dead..."

Mackie was getting quite wet from the rain, and she seemed rather unhappy as she looked at Howard Lake and Felix Jeremiah: "Fuck. We might as well go up to the fucking lighthouse." 

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