Mark Gatiss - The Vesuvius Club

«Mr Box!» gasped Charlie. «Look!»

I noticed in that moment that the glass panel was no longer where Bowler had left it. It was being screwed back into place from within the sphere. His slender frame squashed visibly, Venus lay crouched inside, grinning madly.

He raised his hand and smiled. The crazy fool was waving at us.

Then there came a strange ratcheting sound and the sphere rolled forward like a billiard ball, vanishing into the great bronze pipe.

Despite the noise and the heat and approaching thugs it felt suddenly as if a great hush had descended.

«We’ve failed,» I said quietly.

CHARLIE grabbed me by the shoulder. «We’re not beaten yet, sir! The fella in the hut knows where that pipe leads. There must be some way to stop the bomb.»

I nodded quickly. «You’re right.»

We clattered back up the spiral staircase, picking off the last few zombies lumbering towards us as we did so, and threw open the door of the observation room. Bowler was still there, poring over reams of documents and plans.

«Betrayed!» he groaned, hammering his fist at his forehead. His hair hung in a great black slap over his pale forehead. «Betrayed at every turn! To think I could have trusted that monster!»

I pulled him round. «There’s still time to make amends, Bowler. The bomb has been launched. Where is it heading?»

He shook his head mournfully. «Into the belly of the volcano. There is a weakness in the crust. The bomb will blast it away and the magma will erupt!»

«How do we stop it?»

The undertaker put his head in his hands. «We cannot. We shall die in the flames. Die at any moment!»

Not what we wanted to hear, naturally.

«There must be a way!» I thundered, grabbing him by the lapels. «Think, man. You know everything about this blasted scheme!»

«Yes! And we were clever! We allowed for every eventuality.»

Charlie came over and sifted through the blueprints. «What sort of eventuality? What could go wrong?»

I nodded furiously. «You’re right, Charlie. We will sabotage one of the fail-safes.»

Bowler looked at me as if I were mad and then smiled. «There… there may be something in what you say. There is a junction. I knew it was dangerous but the rock-formation made it unavoidable. It’s where the steam shaft crosses the bond pipe. The two chutes join for a moment and then continue on their way.»

«And is there any way of closing off the junction?»

Bowler dashed to the wall where a screen of some kind indicated where the bomb had got to.

«Yes! If I repair some of the damage I managed to inflict, I can control it from here.»

He sucked at his knuckles anxiously. «The bomb has reached this level.» He jabbed his finger at the curious display. «The junction is some way below.»

«Then there’s still time.»

Bowler was practically gnawing his fist. «But if we close the pipe and trap Venus there, the bomb will still explode. It will be close enough to cause an eruption!»

It was my turn to ponder. I looked quickly at the plans and then at the display. «And if you shut off the steam-pipe, what then?»

He shrugged. «The steam-pressure will build.»

«Dangerously?»

«Of course. The system is designed as a safety valve. If the pressure is not released…»

«That’s it!» I cried delightedly. «Bowler, close the hatch on the steam pipe.»

«But why?»

«Just do it!»

He dragged Venus’s great leather chair to the console and began furiously punching at buttons and pulling levers. Then he dropped beneath the display and began frantically rewiring the machinery. For a few anxious minutes he fiddled and pulled at the complex copper circuitry, swore several oaths and then, with a great cry, sat back. A coloured disc slid into place on the display before us.

«It’s done! The steam pressure is building.»

«Now, tell me when Venus and the bomb are almost at the junction. How accurate is this thing?»

«Pretty accurate.» He rubbed his hands and licked his dry lips. «Level Eight. Achieved. Level Nine…»

«He must be boiling alive inside that thing,» said Charlie.

I nodded. «Just what he’d intended for you. He doesn’t give a damn now. He must see this thing through.»

«Achieved,» continued Bowler. «Level Ten… approaching junction…»

«Prepare to open the hatch!» I cried.

«Level Ten achieved!»

«Open it!»

The disc slid out of its housing, revealing blank space. «It’s done,» said Bowler simply.

«What is?» queried Charlie.

I held up my hand. «Wait, wait…»

From deep beneath us we heard it. A deep, booming, clattering roar. The floor of the room began to shake with massive violence.

«What… exactly have we done?» said Charlie.

«Projected a huge body of steam at the sphere, Charlie! If I’m right then»

«Then it should be forced right back up!»

«Exactly!»

The three of us stood there in an agony of suspense as the hut and the great chamber itself trembled. I glanced over at Charlie. His face was white and he had sunk his teeth into his lower lip. Bowler was smoothing his hair down in a repeated gesture as though comforting himself. If, if we got out of this insane situation, how were we to escape? There would be seven of us all told, including the captives. My thoughts raced back to the lift-shafts and the men who had sabotaged them. Of course! The chains had been severed but the iron rungs set into the wall must survive. It would be a hell of a climb but it was surely our only chance.

I was yanked back to the present when a tremendous, shattering roar came from the chamber beyond. Charlie, Bowler and I raced out of the hut and looked down. The great brass sphere had come tearing back through the bronze pipe, shredding its end in the process and slamming into the walls of the cavern. Its impact fractured a number of the huge iron pipes and steam began to flood the chamber.

«We did it!» cried Charlie.

«Yes — we’ve brought the bomb back. To us!»

The undertaker looked worried. «The bomb won’t go off now, the steam pressure is still building. The pipes are ruptured.»

«But there’ll be no eruption?»

«Not as Venus planned, no. But the explosion could still damage the magma shell higher up. There’s no time to be lost!»

«First we have to free Mrs Knight and the professors.»

«What?» wailed Bowler. «To hell with them! We have to get out!»

I trained the rifle on the reluctant mortician. «You have much to make up for, Mr Bowler. I suggest you get down those stairs and help them. Forthwith.»

With a scowl, he ran pell-mell down the stairway, Charlie and I close behind. As we picked our way across the floor, I glanced over to where the sphere lay embedded in the wall, crushed like a spoiled fruit, the glass panel shattered. Hanging half out of it was the body of Venus; his scarlet robes plastered to his body like a shroud, his once-beautiful face set in a crazed rictus grin, the sinews exposed red raw by the heat that had boiled away his flesh. His eyeballs goggled at us in a macabre, steam-palled death-stare.

«Come on!» I urged. I turned my attentions to the captives in their chairs and was at once confronted by the not-too-dissimilar features of the unfortunate Mrs Knight.

«Are you all right?» I enquired. She merely groaned in reply. Charlie was already hacking away her restraints. Despite their weakness, Verdigris and Sash were able to make some sense of the situation and once free pulled themselves up the gantries towards the next level. I helped support Mrs Knight, who had been more recently stupefied and Charlie and Bowler carried the crippled Quibble between them. The old man groaned pitiably as we clattered up the steps towards the next level.