Fourteen

Captain Haddock rose bright and early. He checked in on the bridge and called in on Bill the Cook in the kitchens before wandering back down to the comms room. He opened the door and took stock of the scene ahead of him. Tintin had the computer, and was tapping at the keyboard, his head down and his face serious. Sparky, on the other hand, was lolling back in his chair wearing the headphones that connected him to the radio receiver. On the table, spread out between them, was a mountain of paper covered in writing.

"I brought coffee," the Captain declared. "I figured you two would need it by now." He winked as he set the cups down on the table.

"Careful," Tintin murmured as he swept the papers up and tried to organise them neatly. "Thanks," he added.

"How'd you get on? Did anyone answer your message?" The Captain took a seat and grinned at the teenager.

Tintin held out the papers. "Take a look for yourself."

The Captain couldn't hide his laughter. "Is that all?" he asked sarcastically. "And did you find out the name of the ship?"

"Nope, we still have no clue."

One thing Tintin did know, was that there were a lot of ships that began with the letters 'CIT'. Every city in the world had a ship named after it, so there were thousands of ships that started "City of…" And that wasn't counting the ships named after historical cities, battles and people. All night, as the answers had poured in, he'd been logging them in the computerised shipping records, trying to figure out which one could be in distress. If there was one in distress then it was hard to find: each company that had answered the call had supplied the coordinates of their ships and had noted that every one of them was still afloat and doing well.

"Fat lot of progress you've made!" the Captain said gleefully. "I told you this was mad! You don't even know the name of" –

"There it is!" Sparky suddenly sprang from his relaxed position and straightened up. He scribbled something down and handed it over to Tintin with a grin. "We've got it! She's the Cithara."

Tintin checked the information Sparky had handed him. "The John Kingsby Navigation Company to Polar research ship Aurora. S.S. Cithara in distress. 70°45' North, 19°12' West."

"That's it," the Captain agreed. "There's your answer: she's the Cithara and she's owned by the John Kingsby Company."

Tintin bent back over the computer and quickly entered the name of the ship. After a few seconds he frowned and entered the name of the company.

"What are you looking for now?" the Captain asked, amused. "Her tonnage? Her captain's age? What they had for breakfast?"

"The Cithara doesn't exist," Tintin said triumphantly.

"That's impossible!" the Captain exclaimed.

"It's true," Tintin said. "Look for yourself." He turned the computer's monitor around to face the Captain. "The Cithara doesn't exist, and neither does the John Kingsby Navigation Company. The names don't appear in the shipping register anywhere. Someone sent us a fake S.O.S."

"A fake S.O.S.?" the Captain said. He sat down again, stunned. "A fake S.O.S." He frowned as his mind started to join the dots. "Could the Peary have sent out that call to delay us?" he wondered. "No," he said a second later, dismissing it at once, "there's no way a sailor would have done that. No sailor could ever do something like that."

"A sailor?" Tintin said. "No. Probably not. You guys are far too superstitious to tempt fate in such a big way. But what about the expedition's sponsors? The Hearst-Faber company?"

The Captain brought his fist down on the table hard enough to spill the untouched coffee and frighten the life out of Snowy, who had been dozing peacefully underneath. "Billions of blue blistering barnacles!" he roared angrily. "That bunch of… of pirates! They'll need a flaming distress signal when I get a hold of them!" He stood up and pointed at Sparky, who gulped and tried to look as though he was invisible. Nobody liked Captain Haddock in a high dudgeon: he was nigh on impossible to control or calm down. "Send this out," he raged. "Polar research ship Aurora to bogus John Kingsby Company… er, let's see…" He scratched his beard and glanced quickly at Tintin, who looked rather bemused. He mentally erased the profanity-leaden rant he had prepared in his head and started again. "Deeply shocked by subterfuge… No, that's not strong enough… er… Gangsters! Yeah, that's it! Gangsters! Twisters! Traitors! Woodlice! Turncoats! Shipwreckers! Mountbanks! Moujiks! Yours, Captain Haddock."

"Ok, Captain, you've made your point," Tintin said. He hooked his hand into the Captain's arm and dragged him away. "Let's go and calm down now."

"Good luck, kid," Sparky muttered.

"And add 'rhizopods and ectoplasms'!"

"Come on, Captain! We have to turn and take up the chase again!"

"Helmsman ahoy!" the Captain roared, hurrying ahead of Tintin and heading straight up to the bridge. "Wheel hard a starboard!"

"What?" The First Mate stared at him in surprise.

"I said 'do it'!" the Captain thundered. Behind his back, Tintin went up on tiptoes and mouthed 'Just do it!' and gave the Mate two thumbs up. The Mate shrugged and started to turn the ship while the Captain stormed to the controls and put in a call to the engine room.

"Engine room? You receiving me? We're going after the Peary again. … No, I don't want to explain, just increase our speed at once!"

"Increase our speed?" Tintin could hear the outraged squeak of the head engineer clearly. "But Captain, it's impossible! We're going all out as it is!"

"I don't care how it's done! Just do it! We have to go faster!" The Captain slammed the phone down and glowered at the horizon.

"Maybe we can do something to make ourselves lighter?" Tintin suggested.

"If I thought it would help, I would toss you overboard in a heartbeat," the Captain snapped. He pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Sorry. I'm just bloody annoyed right now. A fake S.O.S… the pirates!" He leaned against the rail and Tintin joined him, his chin in his hands and his elbows on the metal. "You know," the Captain continued, "if it wasn't for you we'd still be going south. So what twigged you on? What first aroused your suspicion?" He turned to look at Tintin.

Tintin's eyes were closed. His hands slipped and he almost hit the metal rail face first. He snorted back awake and looked around, bewildered.

"You alright?" the Captain asked, alarmed.

"I think I fell asleep," Tintin replied, surprised. He stifled a yawn.

"I'm not flaming surprised: you've been up all night, and yesterday wasn't exactly relaxing in the first place! Go and get some sleep now."

"You're right," Tintin agreed, "I'll go and lie down for an hour or so. But if anything important happens, come and get me," he warned.

"Alright. You just go and have a good rest."

"Ok. Come on, Snowy." Tintin made his way down the metal stairs. Snowy followed cautiously. The steps were awkward for the dog to get down from, and he slipped and fell for the last three rungs. Looking very displeased, he followed Tintin back to their cabin.

x

Back in his cabin, Tintin quickly took Snowy's thermal gear off. When he sat down to remove his own boots, though, realised how tired he truly was. He untied them and toed them off, and decided that he didn't really care enough to undress himself. He just lay down and pulled the blankets up as Snowy made himself comfortable. Lulled by the warmth of the bedding and the dog's body heat, and the gentle rocking of the ship, he finally started to doze off.

So when knocking started at the door, he opened his eyes and groaned. "Yes?" he called, his tone indicating his unhappiness.

"Open the door," the Captain called back, "it's urgent!"

Tintin sighed, got up, and quickly unlocked the door. "What's wrong?" he asked as he pulled it open. The Captain, he saw, was in a state of near-panic.

"Read this," he said, thrusting a piece of paper at Tintin. "It's a Morse-code message we just intercepted from the Peary, the sneaky so-and-sos."

"S.S. Peary to Hearst-Faber, Sao Rico. Success. Meteor in sight," Tintin read. "Well I'll be damned."

"That's it!" the Captain declared. "They've beaten us: we're finished." He sat down on the bed heavily, accidentally sitting on Snowy who yelped and snapped at the Captain's butt. The Captain jumped up quickly with a cry of alarm.

"No," Tintin said firmly. "We're not finished yet."

"Oh, give it up, lad!"

"No! The seaplane. Have the seaplane made ready."

The Captain stared at him for a second before a huge grin spread across his face. "You little genius!" He grabbed Tintin's face, a hand on each cheek, and kissed him rapturously on the forehead. "You sneaky little genius!"

"And tell Captain King we're leaving at once," Tintin added as the Captain ran off. He shook his head and started to put his shoes back on. He thought he might be able to get a bit of shut-eye on the plane, but he was feeling wide awake now. By the time he was out of his cabin and running for the plane, the thought of sleep was completely gone from his head. Now, it was about the chase. They had to get to the meteor first. A small knot of determination and indignation had grown in his stomach: the Peary and the Hearst-Faber company had used all the dirty tricks they could think of – and they were really dirty tricks. They couldn't be allowed to win: it was a matter of principal. Nobody that rotten and despicable should be allowed to win. It went against every bone in his body.

Sometimes, nice guys don't win. But other times, they put on a burst of speed and everyone else has to eat their dust.

This was one of those times.

The Captain was waiting with a few of the crewmates. Captain King was already in the plane, warming up the engine and readying the controls. Tintin quickly bent down and snapped Snowy's collar onto the dog's neck. It was already attached to the lead, which he tossed to Captain Haddock. "Will you keep him here?" Tintin asked.

"Of course."

"Good. Settle down, Snowy. Don't be silly." At his feet, Snowy was starting to whine and cry. The dog jumped up and tried to climb up Tintin's leg. "I'll be back soon," Tintin said crossly as he clambered up onto the struts and into the cockpit.

"Good luck," the Captain called. Then the glass cover slid into place and the seat beneath Tintin started to thrum as the engine started and the propellers started to whirr. In a few minutes the plane shot forward and they experienced that split second of panic before it started to climb in to the clear, blue sky.

Tintin sat back with a happy sigh and watched the water fall away below them.

"You got the flag, right?" Captain King said.

Tintin swore loudly.

x

They landed a few minutes later, smoothly touching down in the water beside the Aurora. Even from this distance, Tintin could see Snowy capering in delight. The dog was jumping up and down and wagging his tail. Even through the thick Plexiglas Tintin could hear the high-pitched, excited barks. The Captain, on the other hand, was leaning against the raid, one eyebrow raised and an amused smile playing on his lips, with the flag in his hand.

The plane cruised over and raised the cockpit cover. "Forget something?" the Captain called.

"Yes."

"Of course you did."

Tintin scrambled out onto the wing and took the proffered flag. "Thanks. No, Snowy! Get down!"

"Oh, give him a break: he hasn't seen you in all of five seconds."

"He gets separation anxiety."

"Take him with you, will you? He's bloody annoying."

"Fine." The Captain passed Snowy up and Tintin tucked him under one arm, juggling the flag to stop everything from falling into the icy water beneath.

"Good luck. Again," the Captain said as Tintin retreated to the cockpit.

"Thanks. Again," Tintin replied.

x

After three hours Tintin noticed a change in the waters underneath him. He watched the rippling green-blue surface, wondering what had changed. Something felt odd; peculiar. Suddenly, it hit him what was different and he leaned forward and tapped Captain King on the shoulder. "Have you noticed?" he said. "There's no icebergs down there."

"I'm not surprised," King replied. He pointed to the horizon. "I don't think they're clouds ahead. I'd say we're near the meteor now. Keep an eye out for the Peary. With any luck, we'll have caught them on the hop."

Tintin scrabbled under his seat for the binoculars. He found them and looked through them, training them on the distant billows of cloud on the horizon. "That's it!" he said excitedly. "That's the meteor!" He grabbed the radio and buzzed back to the Aurora. "Tintin to Aurora, come in, please! We can see the meteorite!"

The radio crackled before Captain Haddock's voice cut in. "Really? Do you mean that? Don't mess with us now: we've got the champagne ready!"

"I can see it!" Tintin repeated happily.

There was a loud, static-y cheer over the receiver and the sound of a cork popping from a bottle. The Captain's voice rose over the din. "What's it like?"

"Um, it's like an island, I think, but it's sloping down towards the west. There's something… Great snakes! I can see a ship: the Peary has beaten us to it."

The din on the other end of the radio quietened down as the Captain shouted for everyone to shut up. "Say again," he asked. "Did you just say the Peary is already there? That they've beaten us?"

Tintin readjusted the focus on the binoculars. "Yes," he said at last. "It's the Peary. I'm certain of it. It's right next to the meteor and it's not sailing: it can't be any other ship."

There was a heavy sigh from the Captain, and Phostle was muttering something indistinct in the background. "I suppose you can already see their flag flying on the meteor?" the Captain asked quietly.

"Flag?" Tintin said blankly. "Oh, right! Flag! Er, no; no I can't."

The cheer went up again, but at this stage everyone was already onto their second glass of champagne (the first was the celebratory one, the second to soften the blow of their loss) and they were probably just cheering for the sake of it. The Captain shushed them quickly. "There's still a chance!" he shouted.

"Maybe," Tintin said doubtfully.

"There's always a chance! Hope is the greatest gift!"

"Um."

"What's 'um'?"

"They're lowering a boat…"

"Then stop them!" the Captain roared. "Go on, my son! You can do it!"

"Ok. Ok. I have a plan. It's a million to one chance," Tintin said with a grin, "but I think it might work…"

Author's Note: For some reason, and without any forward planning, this whole story has become an homage to Terry Prattchet. 'Hope is the greatest gift' comes from the book Going Postal, in which the Patrician messes with people's heads in a most amusing way, and 'It's a million to one chance, but it might just work' comes from Guards! Guards!, in which Sargent Colon ends up on a roof wearing a blindfold while hopping on one leg trying to shoot a dragon in the voonerables. Instead of fighting against the Prattchet-isms and direct quotes, I'm just going to go with it because they all seem to fit in nicely.

'Go on, my son!' is an English shout of support and encouragement, and doesn't relate to anything else.