She was probably just catching her breath. He’d go and check on her in a minute, but before then he wanted to take a closer look at the blue shelf and its surroundings.

He climbed several steps to a platform that ran along the perimeter of the vessel, and looked around. Anouk was nowhere to be seen. He called her name, but there was no reply.

Martin peered up.

The rubbish, he guessed, would probably be pushed into the shaft by a device at the top, a deck and a half higher up.

The shaft! The water in the well!

In his mind he saw Anouk’s detailed drawing.

Given how curved the ship’s hull was here, at least a third of the bottom of the tube must be over the raging Atlantic. As soon as the shaft was full, all you had to do was open the floor and the waste would tumble into the sea.

From his vantage point at the bottom of the blue shelf he couldn’t figure out what equipment would be needed to accomplish this. He was wandering around the vessel, wondering whether to climb the ladder, when he discovered a door. It was head-high, presumably a staff entrance for cleaning or servicing inside.

Martin put his hand on the door which was secured by a lever that reminded him of the closing mechanism of an aeroplane door. He was rattling it when he suddenly felt an intense quaking beneath his feet, accompanied by a bloodcurdling crunching sound.

I thought the blue shelf wasn’t in service.

The vessel appeared to have come to life and it felt as if something inside was moving.

Martin was even more startled by a movement behind him.

‘Elena?’

He’d assumed the shadow on the vessel and the draught on his neck was from the doctor, finally catching up after overcoming her exhaustion; but he hadn’t reckoned on this thin, faceless figure standing in the gloom, its head wrapped in a hoodie. He recognised who it was even though they’d met only once. The person was holding a bucket.

Martin was about to call out their name when the figure leaped forwards and hit him on the side of the head with an object that looked like a laptop but felt like a brick when the edge thundered against his temple.

59

Unlike the headaches that had recently assaulted him like a raiding party, the pain from this blow was of a different quality. In the first instance it felt unbearable, but then, after Martin had collapsed to the floor, it subsided considerably more quickly.