The Titanic Enigma by Tom West Read Free Book Online Page B

a miscellany of objects. They saw a woman’s hairbrush and a shattered mirror.
Against the wall leaned a rusted grille – ornate swirls of brass and steel interlinking to form the shapes of flowers and birds. About halfway along they saw what they thought was a section
of bulkhead that had been thrust out into the corridor, but as they drew close they realized it was actually a large metal box about two yards square attached to the wall by clamps. The lid was
heavily corroded, and as they approached chunks of rust fell away. On the floor, they could see a few tiny fragments of rope, an axe head, the wood of the handle gone entirely. Next to this, a hose
reel lay on its side. Some of it had been paid out and long sections had crumbled to dust.
    ‘An emergency equipment station,’ Kate remarked. ‘This stuff must have fallen from the base of the box.’
    Lou noticed a crumpled metal cylinder lying against the wall. ‘A fire extinguisher,’ he said, excitement in his voice. ‘One of the classic copper ones. It was beautiful . . .
once. It must have leaked and then the pressure crushed it.’
    There came a crackling sound from the box on the wall. Its corroded bottom edge gave way, and with a rush a white object slithered out of the container, fell through the water and landed on the
floor with a dull thud.
    Kate was the closest to the object, realized what it was and screamed.
    ‘Christ!’ Lou hissed and took a step forward, saw what had fallen from the box, and recoiled.
    On the floor lay a heap of bleached bones. The legs had broken at the knees, but the spine was largely intact. The skull lay on its side. They could see one hollow eye socket. The jaw lay slack
where the lower joint had fragmented. They could just make out, around the neck of the skeleton, a silver chain and a crucifix.
    Lou crouched down to get a closer look. ‘This is amazing,’ he said.
    ‘How’ve the bones survived?’ Kate asked.
    The box must have been sealed and only recently corroded so badly the water got inside.’
    ‘What were they doing in there, for God’s sake?’
    Lou stood up and shrugged his shoulders. ‘No idea. Well, actually, one. They must have locked themselves in the box thinking they would be rescued.’
    ‘But that’s ridiculous!’
    ‘People do ridiculous things in extreme peril,’ Derham said.
    ‘Where were you?’ Lou said, half to himself as he stared at the figure of Christ on the silver cross.
    They turned away and carried on along the corridor. The floor was surprisingly solid; some of the metal was clear of silt and slime. The corridor opened out and the walls fell away to reveal an
astonishing sight. They had reached the remains of the Grand Staircase.
    It looked like a cave, a gaping hole that fell into the abject darkness of the ship’s interior. The roof was supported by eight steel columns. These were covered with rust. Great
stalactites hung from the ceiling. The floor sloped perilously towards the massive hole where once the magnificent staircase had stood. The view up the staircase had been considered one of the most
spectacular aboard the ship. Now, nothing was left but a dark, slime-covered pit.
    They edged as close as they dared to the opening, the light from their helmets swallowed up entirely in the chasm that fell away at least thirty yards into darkness.
    Looking up, Lou let out a whistle. The other two followed his gaze and they could see a vast crystal chandelier hanging directly over the centre of the hole. It was mangled and twisted and at
least a third of the original crystal had broken away from the structure. It looked like a postmodern sculpture awaiting the day the microbes and simple chemistry would overwhelm the metal holding
it aloft. On that day, it would plunge through the total darkness unobserved, unlamented and shatter into a thousand pieces deep in the belly of the ship.
    ‘This way,’ Derham said, breaking the reverie of the two scientists. They could see