Breadown Service

Chapter 15: Breakdown Service

Many of the crew chose to join the pirates, and Charley convinced them this was for the best. By now the pirates were pale with the horror stories of the island; the revolution, and the terrible retribution which would follow all those recaptured.

The skeleton crew of the good ship Lottery pushed on into the Southern seas and a passage back to England.

Just how far Charley hoped to get in this old ship was never clear. Matters came to a head when one of the driving rods snapped clean in two. It was so central to the working of the engine, that everything came to a grinding halt.

"Can you not rig something up to get around it?" Natasha stood with the others in the torchlight, whilst they examined the engine.

"No, this is the main feeding rod. Without this, the main drive shaft will not function properly." Charley knew this was serious.

"Will it not go at all?" Raj wanted to know.

"For a while." Charley held the severed length of metal in his hands. "But eventually the whole damn thing would seize up. And then we are really lumbered."

"Let's go back and ask for help from the pirates?" Natasha was thinking of a way out.

"We might not make it. If we use up the last of the engine getting back there, we risk destroying the ship forever."

"Then let's do that?" said Raj.

"What happens when they find out about the lottery ticket? They might worship the Goddess here, but £200 million stirs up a lot of blasphemy."

"He's right," said Natasha, sitting on the engine. "They would turn on us, for the money."

"But, only you can get it, right?" Raj pointed out. "You have the other ticket?"

"They might not be so agreeable this time. What if they send some of my body parts back home, mailed in a box? I think the other guys from Cobol would give in and Airmail the other ticket back. I know I would."

"So we can't go forward, and we can't go back?" Natasha stood up to pace the room. "What can we do?"

"We could try repairing it?" Charley pointed out. "We had to mend old machines every day back in Cobol."

"What would it mean?" Natasha knew it was no small fete. "I mean you will need welding rods and things, right?"

"Not with a cast piece. We will have to braze it together."

"Just strap it together!" Natasha clearly had no patience with technical things.

"Once set sail across the Indian Ocean, we have to make sure we can reach the other side. You saw the faces of the pirates when we told them where we were going? They did not believe we would make it. And now, we have the proof."

"Why can we not weld the piece?" Raj wanted to know.

"Because it is a cast piece of metal. If you weld it, sure enough, it will stick, but the weld will be harder than the metal surrounding it. So it will always fail. Once we start welding it, we will end up welding every inch, and by then we will have run out of gas for the blow torch."

"What do you suggest?"

"We braze the pieces together with brass."

"Let's go for it?" said Natasha.

"The problem is," pointed out Charley, "that we need something to act as a flux. In order to make the brass flow evenly. Needless to say, we don't have any."

"What?" asked Raj, smelling defeat.

"Then what can we use in its place?" Natasha was not beaten. "What does this flux stuff actually do?"

"It helps the two joined parts flow together. Even temperatures, with even results." Charley looked around and wondered what he would do.

"You are clever Charley. Just find something which looks the same and does the same job?" Natasha was not prepared to throw her chances away on something so obscure.

"We have to be very careful on that score. I once saw a guy set himself on fire by mixing the flux up. Back in the factory in Rutland, we had a real mean bully, like Rufus. Only this asshole just threw anything in the flux. Stuff from years back. Well, no one really knew what was in it, so when an innocent body came along and began using it: wham! Up he went."

"We certainly don't want any accidents out here," said Raj. "We are so far from a hospital, what would we do?"

"Burn to death with the ship, more likely," added Natasha. "Look Charley, we can't just give in. There must be something laying about that can do the same job? What about all that stuff we brought from the island? The machines from the satellite studio?"

"Brilliant!" Charley sprang up from the floor. "There must be something attached to all that equipment?

With that, they all sprang into action.

The piles of equipment, which had been salvaged from the old broadcasting studio, were laid out across the deck. In the sunlight, they took a very close look at it.

"I was on the verge of tossing this lot over the side," said Charley, as they walked around the piles of wires; switches; circuit boards, and electric junk.

"What are we looking for?" Natasha joined in the search.

"Anything with a funny-looking colour about it." Charley held up a piece of equipment from the guts of a large machine. "Anything like this!"

"It just looks like mould?" Raj could hardly believe his eyes. "Is that it?"

"That's the very stuff we are looking for."

"But that's tiny," added Natasha. "How much of this stuff do we need?"

"About a pound," Charley cupped his hands together to show, that they had to be filled with the magic mixture.

"We will have starved to death by then!" Raj threw up his hands in despair.

"Charley are you serious?" asked Natasha. "Just how long do you think it will take us to find that much?"

"There is plenty if you look inside the machines. See here? There's plenty coating the inside of the heat sinks." He scrapped a piece off, and let it drop into a plastic cup. "Let's go for it. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can be out of this mess."

Slowly and with mixed emotions, they combed through the pile of junk. Everyone had a cup or container to collect their share, and the day wore on.

"I've had enough," declared Natasha, as she sat on a box and stared out to sea. "I could be sipping Bloody Maries on the beach right now."

"The people who ran the island, could not think much of you," said Raj examining the contents of his cup. "To go off and leave you there like that?"

"You have a point there bud."

"By now they must be wondering what has happened to you?"

"The mercenaries will be back on the island by now. With or without the fireball. They will be angrier to see what's become of their precious satellite porno station." She kicked a piece of equipment at her feet.

"We have searched everything we have here Charley. Why do we not bring out the large computer from the hold?" Raj took a crowbar and was about to go below.

"Wait a minute," said Natasha standing up. "You mean to say we still have the computers from the studio?"

"Yes, we brought everything on board. We thought they were too important to leave behind. At the time we did not know why, but now we do."

"Hey Charley, you know what this means?"

"More scavenging?"

"No, we might get the damn thing going."

"You have to be kidding me?"

"No, seriously. I know how to get the computers up and running. When I saw all that stuff in the studio, I thought you guys had trashed it. Never thinking that I was looking at the stuff from the mixing desks." Natasha was smiling and animated now, and clearly, a plan was about to be hatched.

"Then what's this stuff here?"

"Just the studio equipment for mixing the film and sound. The main receiving parts are in the computers themselves. What they call the servers."

"And they are down below?" Charley could see what she was getting at.

"We have never touched them," added Raj. "What will that mean? Broadcasting an SOS message?"

"Hell no!" Natasha ran off to the store's room below. "If we transmit, they will pick us up. Then they can triangulate our signal, and find us. What we want, is to be able to find out what's going on."

"Why?" Raj was doubtful about making contact with the outside world.

"We can find out what they know about us. We must have made the headlines by now." Charley remembered the newsmen back in London, they seemed interested enough then.

"Do we want more bad news?" said Raj.

"We only have to have one good guy on our side, and we can get this story heard."

"I can contact my agent," said Natasha. "He must have some decent work for me by now?"

So whilst Natasha searched through the computer equipment, Charley carried on his mission to find the flux. They all worked until the light went, and even then they managed to rig some lamps on deck so Charley could gather together what he had harvested. Slowly and with great care, Charley prepared the shaft for brazing.

They had laid the pieces out and prepared a small bed of charcoal around the two lengths of steel. Charcoal was thankfully abundant on the island, as the guards enjoyed barbecues. Slowly but surely the fire was lit. The gas torch was brought forward and in the setting sun of the evening, Charley pasted the flux around the wound and began to melt the brass onto it.

They had found strips of brass around the ship, as it was so old, brass was still used to finish off instruments. As the darkness descended, and the heat of the fire grew more in intensity, everyone waited. After almost an hour of slavishly making sure the brass was flowing in the flame of the gas torch, Charley stood up and assessed the situation.

"It's no good."

"Why?" asked Raj as they all looked at the cooling metal joints. "It looks OK to me?"

"The brass isn't flowing. See here? It's just sitting in a blob. Once this shaft starts turning, it will snap like a twig." He threw down the oily rag he had been wiping his face with and looked out to sea. "However, I do not intend to die at sea. Come on, we must be able to find something just like the flux, that will do the same job."

"The only stuff that looks anything like it, is that slime Natasha puts on her face at night. You know, to make her look younger?" Raj was close to panic, as he too had no intention of dying out here.

"Let's take a look at it?"

Down in the heat of the hold, they found Natasha fiddling with a circuit board, and looking earnestly at the computer. A screwdriver grasped between her teeth. "How's it going, guys?" She dropped the screwdriver to let it fall into her hand. "Can we set off yet?"

"No," said Charley. "Bad news I'm afraid. But there is good news on the way."

"How?" Natasha turned from the machine she was resurrecting. "If the damn shaft didn't weld together, what next?"

"We need an alternative to the flux, and Raj here says you use the stuff every night?"

"Flux? Are you kidding me?"

"That beauty cream you put on your face, to take away wrinkles? If we mix it with a bit of charcoal, it might work?"

"Man, if it will get us off this rusty can, go for it!"

With that, the beauty cream was brought forward. Carefully Charley prepared the cream, mixing it with other ingredients, and pasted it onto the shaft. Once again they lit the fire and applied the gas torch. The brass flowed smoothly and the fire burnt with a blue and green flame. At the end of the operation, Charley switched off the torch and grinned at the others. "Perfect."

They let the shaft cool down and in the first light of morning, they re-attached it to the engine. The sound of the throbbing machine brought the heart back into the ship, and they set sail feeling very pleased with themselves.

Natasha had worked all night and finally had something to show for it. Exhausted by their efforts, they all made it onto the deck to watch the Television screen. She had rigged the satellite dish on the mast and after a few minutes of fiddling, a fuzzy picture appeared on the screen.

"What channel is this?" Charley wanted to know, as they relaxed with cups of coffee, to see the show.

"Some free news channel, I think." Natasha had no real idea of what they were receiving and typed on the personal computer to see if she could influence things in any way. "I'm not sure what sort of signal they get down in this hemisphere? I don't even know if they are on the same satellites as we are."

"How can one small machine, so high up in the heavens influence this machine?" Raj shook his head, at the marvel of it all. "Back home we could get very few programmes. Although we received the ones emanating from this machinery back on the island." He scowled at Natasha, as the memories of the porno channel came back.

"Why are you guys so hung up on a little sex?"

"It is not just sex! What you were doing was beyond human decency."

"Sit down and enjoy the show."

"Something's coming through!" an excited voice from the crowd, called all their attention to the screen. "Yes, look!"

As if by magic, the signal which was beamed thousands of miles around the globe, finally came to rest on a little ship, bobbing on the ocean. They waited for the important messages this wonder would bring from the outside, almost a dream world now.

"It's the news!" cried Natasha, happy she had been so accurate in her plotting.

"It's the news, right enough," said Charley, getting to his feet. "It's the news from back home. In Rutland!"

Charley gasped open-mouthed as the news broadcast brought Rutland back home to him, all the way out here. The dancing figures, formed around some sort of story, and painfully, the truth came out.

"Christ they are all ruined!"

The news story went on to explain what had happened to his fellow lottery winners back home. The adventures and exploits had been the toast of the news channel, as well as the rest of the world. So it was with little regret they brought the news that the men had finally wasted all their winnings on a foolish scheme to buy a factory in China.

"What happened to it?" asked Natasha.

"It didn't exist," replied Charley. "The land was contaminated with nuclear waste. I tried to tell them. Christ, what have they done?"

The news story went on, to tell of how the men had all crawled back to work at Cobol.

"They have all gone back, Back to exactly where they started. Poor old Dave." Charley could imagine what the atmosphere would be like in the factory right now. "They had all that wealth, and now they are back in the very same place they tried to escape."

"I would shoot myself," said Raj in disgust.

"They haven't got the guts to do that. Or they Can't." Charley watched in horror as the cruel story unfolded before them. Even then the Brit never let up on them. Revealing more news of their extra-marital romps around Amspwell.

"So what happens to all your money Charley?" asked Natasha.

"I never invested in it, so as far as I know, it's still there."

"And the lottery ticket?" Raj pointed to the hold where the drive shaft of the guillotine still held the ticket in its icy grip.

"They will still pay out. The other half of the ticket is in a safety deposit box back in my London bank." Charley sat down and wondered what sort of world they were living in now. "What the hell will I do when I get back home?"

"You still have your money?" Natasha switched over the bad news of the satellite dish. "You will be all right?"

"Yes. But what about my friends? We went through so much, how can I just leave them there?"

"When we get back, you can sort them out." Natasha found a cartoon on the children's channel.

"Maybe it was done to them?'

"What do you mean?" said Raj.

"Maybe it was done to them, by the same people that left me on that bloody island?"

"Yeah, think about that?" said Natasha. "Like I once said, you don't mess with these people. They are all-powerful. Boy, you guys must have rubbed them up the wrong way. What the hell did you do?"

"We came from the working class. That was our crime. Seems the world does not like its heroes rough and honest. They would never allow us to enjoy that money in peace. It was never ours."

"But you must have won it fair and square?" pointed out Raj.

"Maybe. It was a real fluke. A freak. A real twist of nature. There was something else going on in that factory, I can see that now. What they were doing back on that island was all linked. You know, we had a good working record. Up until the day they decided to impose quality control on us. Then it all went bad."

"So what happened to you?" asked Raj.

"Luck. We won the lottery and got out in time. But if we had not, we would be up a very queer street now. If I had not followed the old guillotine out here, I would never have revealed the truth that they had moved the whole operation out here. What they were doing on that island was a mirror image of what we were doing back in Rutland."

"Why?" asked Raj in disbelief. "The certainly was no quality control back there!"

"I don't know. But it was big. For someone to go to all this trouble, there must be a lot at stake."

"When you are in the world of big finance, people will do anything to make a buck." Natasha watched the screen idly, as memories of home drifted past. "They have stamped on bigger people than you lottery winners. All I can suggest is, that you must have messed up their operation."

"How? We didn't do anything?"

"Winning that money must have been embarrassing for them. If they were working a scam with your factory, the last thing they wanted was bad publicity from you guys. Think about it? They set up a deadbeat factory to swindle money out of some sap, then out of the blue, you cowboys get your ugly mugs plastered all over the TV screen. You are lucky not to be sleeping with the fish down there." She pointed to the depths of the lapping waves.

"Yes, why did they not kill us all?" wondered Charley. "Maybe a few bodies would have attracted even more bad publicity?"

"There is a bigger problem here Charley" Natasha sat in front of them now. "Do you seriously think these people are going to let you come back into their lives? You are a threat now."

"Yes, you are right," mused Charley.

"So what can we do?" Raj still wanted to get back to a world which was capable of beaming pictures all around the planet. "We have come so far, we cannot just give up? Will they stop you from claiming your ticket?"

"They could." Charley searched for an answer. "The minute I step into the head office of the Euro lottery, they might be there waiting for me? Like Jack Ruby?"

"Who is he?" asked Raj.

"The guy who shot Lee Harvey Oswald," added Natasha. "Remember, Oswald was mixed up in a big conspiracy too. All he had to do, was play the game, and go along with the programme. My advice to you Charley, is to make a plea bargain with these guys?'

"How? I don't even know where they are?"

"I bet the Euro lottery does? And I bet they will come running, once you step through that door." As Natasha spoke, they all sat on the boat, chugging gently across the ocean.