Ship of Dreams by Brian Lumley Read Free Book Online Page A

circumstances. But four times a day everything is downhill …” He paused and smiled as if to say, “there you have it.”
    “Good!” cried Eldin when it became apparent that Limnar had said his all. “Excellent! Clear as bloody mud!”
    Hero looked deep into the captain’s eyes but found no trace of humor there. Since Dass was obviously sincere, the fault must lie elsewhere. “Would you like to
say all of that again?” he invited. “Only—could you possibly put it some other way?”
    “One we can understand,” Eldin added.
    Dass sighed. “The sky-island has a built-in tilt,” he said. “Not a big one, but a tilt nevertheless. We call it the Tilt. It travels clockwise and completes a circuit every six hours. Therefore, four times a day you can cycle downhill, right across the city if you wish.”
    “Hmm,” mused Hero. “Yes, I’d noticed that.”
    “Eh?” said Eldin, mouth agape. “Noticed what? How come you always notice things after the fact?”
    “The bikes,” Hero answered. “Lots of bikes, but all going in one direction. And none of them have pedals!”
    “Of course not,” said Dass. “By the time you’ve spent an hour or two in any one place, it’s usually time to ride the Tilt home again! Why pedal when in a couple of hours you can freewheel? Anyway, don’t worry about it. After we’ve had a look at the Museum you’ll be able to experience the Tilt for yourselves. Kuranes’ manor house is on the other side of the city, so we’ll have to bike it.”
    “His manor house?” queried Eldin. “Not a palace?”
    Dass grinned in a manner the adventurers were becoming used to. “No,” he shook his head. “Oh, he’s King, right enough, but he styles himself Lord. Lord of Ooth-Nargai, Celephais, and the sky around Serannian. He was once a waking-worlder, remember? Old habits die hard.”
    The adventurers stared at each other for a moment, then Hero turned back to Dass. “It’s a funny old place, your Serannian,” he said. “But tell me, Limnar, what makes you think we’d be interest in … a museum, did you say?”
    “ The Museum, yes. Follow me.” He led them down an alley to the sea wall, then pointed across the
cloudbank sea to where a great circular structure was perched on a promontory at the eastern extreme of the sky-island. Beneath the circular building the rock was a shallow crust less than fifty feet thick, and beneath that—nothing.
    Eldin frowned. “Captain Dass,” he said, reverting to the formal, “that seems a damned strange place to build a museum. Why, it looks ready to break off and fall into the sky!”
    “ The Museum,” Dass insisted. “Oh, it’s safe enough. Indeed, that’s the whole idea—safety. There’s only one way into the Museum, you see, and that’s along the causeway over the neck of the promontory. One way in and one way out. Thieves think twice before they tackle the Museum. That’s why I thought you’d like to see it. Give your imagination something to work on. Take your minds off your interview with Kuranes. Oh, yes, the Museum would be a hard place to crack, all right—but the Curator, impossible!”
    “Yes, well, you’ve lost me again,” said Hero. “I mean, we’re talking about a museum … all right,” he quickly held up his hands, “ the Museum—a place of mummies and bones and books and—”
    “Gems and jewels and precious stones,” said Dass. “And golden figurines, ivory statues, jade miniatures; and priceless antiques, works of art and—”
    “Whoa!” cried Eldin. “Hold on a minute. All of that? In there?” And he leaned on the sea wall and nodded his head toward the building on the promontory. Dass grinned as he noticed the gleam in the older adventurer’s eye. In Hero’s eyes, too.
    “Jewels?” said the younger man in a dry voice. “Gold?”
    “That’s right,” said Dass. “I guessed you’d be interested.
Come on then. It’s closer than it looks. A ten-minute walk, that’s all …”
     
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