Unobtainium 1: Kate on a Hot Tin Roof Read online

  ‘I do, sir, and it is as disquieting as the young lady’s miraculous health.’

  Charles frowned. ‘Please, continue.’

  ‘We got a name from Cooper. Kate’s mother was named Helen Brighton and, on searching our files, we discovered the name. A known prostitute, I am sorry to say, even though she was barely eighteen. She was known to frequent the Strand and Catherine Street.’ Charles gave a wince; he knew the kind of girl who plied her trade there and they were among the lowest of their unfortunate breed. ‘She was reported missing by a “friend” and we later found a body which matched her description in the Old Deer Park out near Kew.’

  ‘And also quite near to Cooper’s residence.’

  ‘Indeed, sir. At the time, the doctor who performed the autopsy believed that she had been with child soon before her death and may have died giving birth, but he could not be sure.’

  Charles gave a nod. ‘Cooper said Kate’s mother died giving birth, though I’d wager he did little to save her and planned to do away with her had she survived. I am not hearing anything disquieting, Inspector.’

  ‘Well, it’s the timing, sir. Helen Brighton’s body was found, no more than a day and a half old, in January of nineteen-fourteen. She herself was not eighteen.’

  Charles looked at Kate, now the picture of health and apparently in her mid-teenage years. ‘She’s… five!’

  ‘Chronologically,’ Wilberforce stated. ‘She was born five and a half years ago, but her physical and mental development are that of someone of fifteen or sixteen. Many animals reach maturity far more quickly than humans do and you said yourself that Cooper had somehow melded her with lower animals. Her remarkable healing ability may also allow her to grow at an accelerated rate without developmental abnormalities.’

  ‘Well, that just settles the matter,’ Charles said, almost a growl. ‘My intention, gentlemen, is to take Kate to my family’s estate in Scotland. There is a small reactor there, my grandfather’s original experimental design, which can supply her with the radiation she needs, and I will be able to provide her with the education she lacks. Further, I intend to apply for guardianship.’

  ‘She may be needed to give evidence in her father’s trial,’ Franklin commented, ‘which would mean her returning to London. Aside from that, I see no problem.’

  ‘You are being most generous to the girl,’ Wilberforce added. ‘I know that you have good doctors in Ullapool to tend to the mine workers, so she should be in good hands if required.’

  Charles gave a nod. ‘And you, Kate, would you accept my offer of a home?’

  ‘I go to live with Sharles?’

  ‘On my father’s estate. There would be me at least some of the time, my father, my step-mother and her daughter, my grandmother, and the servants, of course. You can learn more words, and proper manners. There is a lot of open space you can walk in, if you wish.’

  Kate smiled broadly and then schooled her face into a more gentlewomanly expression. ‘I would be most pleased to accep’ your grace-us offer.’

  King’s Cross Station, Camden.

  Kate was in awe. The huge, wrought-iron roof of the station stood over her head and the vast, streamlined forms of several large locomotives stood on the tracks around her, hissing and steaming. She did not appear in the least bit scared of this wonder; her eyes were wide as she looked around at all the metal and brick.

  Charles was also in awe, and more frightened. The awe stemmed from the sight of Kate in one of the dresses Antonia had procured for her. It was a little on the old-fashioned side being wide of skirt with lots of folds and a lace over-skirt, but the bodice fitted her perfectly showing off her trim form while covering everything right up to the high collar. Victorian fashions were still very much in vogue for the gentlewoman, even if some more liberal garments were becoming appropriate even for the most genteel. Charles had always been pleased when bustles finally appeared to have died out entirely at the end of the last century.

  The fear was due to what Antonia was telling him. ‘We went through the various fastenings and the application of her corset. She seems to understand fully what is required. I must say that the girl seems to absorb and retain information at a remarkable rate. Her vocabulary has increased quite markedly in the few days she has spent in the hospital. However, it is likely that she will require some assistance in dressing tomorrow morning.’

  They were taking the sleeper train to Edinburgh and then transferring to another service to continue on to Ullapool. When they would rise in the morning for breakfast before their arrival in Edinburgh the only person available to provide Kate with any assistance she might need would be Charles.

  ‘Your confidence in my abilities surely does not extend to ladies’ clothing, Mrs Wooster,’ Charles said. He was aware that he sounded a little whining and he knew he was blushing. David, standing nearby, was trying very hard not to appear too amused.

  Antonia rolled her eyes. ‘You have seen her in nothing but a shift, and in less when you discovered her. She can manage her own bloomers and bodice, but the corset is hard to manage alone. She knows not to make it too tight, but a helping hand would make this easier for her. Be a gentleman, Charles, or a detached scientist if that makes it easier.’

  ‘I’ll do my best. To be quite frank, that worries me less than our reception at Rhidorroch. Georgina is likely to be less than thrilled.’

  Antonia gave a less than ladylike grunt of disgust. ‘Just remember that your step-mother is in no position to cast even the smallest of pebbles, Charles. Besides, I am quite sure that Lilian will love Kate.’

  ‘Oh, I believe your assessment to be quite accurate. If only because it will annoy her daughter-in-law.’

  Great Northern Railway Line.

  There was some moon in the sky, but there were clouds and now that the sun had gone Charles had suggested closing the blinds, but Kate had requested that he leave them open. She sat at the window of Charles’s berth looking out into the near darkness while he read a book.

  ‘You can actually see something out there?’ Charles asked.

  ‘Yes. Not as good as day, but I see.’

  ‘Eyes of a cat,’ Charles mused.

  ‘I hear good too.’ She paused, frowning. ‘I have good hearing too,’ she amended.

  ‘And a good mind. Your English is improving in leaps and bounds.’

  She flashed him a fanged grin. ‘Don’t know leap or bound.’

  ‘Different words for jumping.’

  ‘I heard at the station too. Sharles not… hurt himself to help me dress.’

  ‘I will not, my dear. I will be a little embarrassed. Embarrassment will not hurt me, especially in this case. Mrs Wooster had the right of it. It is a gentleman’s duty to assist a lady in whatever manner she may require.’

  ‘I am not a lady. Not like Antonia.’

  ‘A lady, my dear Kate, is a woman who behaves like a lady, whether they come from the right family or not. It is also a woman who others treat as a lady, and I intend to do that very thing with you. I will assist you should you require it. Do not be afraid to ask, even though I blush like a schoolboy.’

  She giggled. ‘Who is Georgina?’

  Charles’s face straightened. ‘You and I have something in common. Neither of us ever knew our mothers. Mine, Elisabeth, died giving birth to me, as your mother died giving birth to you. Some years later my father remarried. Georgina is my step-mother. You will, of course, be calling her Lady Barstow-Hall. My father is Alexander, Sir Barstow-Hall. He accepted the knighthood my grandfather never would.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Ah, well, when I said a lady was a woman who acted like one, I neglected to mention that a Lady is also the husband of a knight. It is an honour bestowed on someone by the King. My father is, properly, Sir Barstow-Hall so my step-mother is, properly, Lady Barstow-Hall.’

  Kate peered at him, yellow eyes intent. ‘But she not act like a lady?’

  Charles peered back. ‘I believe, Kate
, that you are a very perceptive young woman. I also believe that I should let you make your own mind up about Georgina.’

  Kate gave a nod. ‘I will. Then I will not say. Father did not like me saying what I think. I am good at that too.’

  ‘Beautiful, perceptive, and wise beyond your years. Lilian really will like you.’

  20th April.

  Kate ate breakfast in the dining car very carefully. The thought occurred to Charles that the girl had almost certainly learned to use a knife and fork in the last few days; she was uneasy with the implements and even a little unsure of the food. He had never thought to question what she had been eating for the last few years, but she ate with the air of someone who wanted to bolt down her food and was controlling herself. The black pudding on the plate was particularly perplexing for her. Charles had never liked the stuff, primarily because when he was a child the family cook had always managed to turn it into something akin to shotgun wadding. Kate poked at it, cut off a small piece to try, and then her eyes widened and she tucked into the rest of it with gusto. Charles quietly moved his own slices to Kate’s plate, grinning as he did so.

  The horror of the corset had not been nearly as bad as Charles had thought it would be. Kate was already dressed in thick stockings, a thin, cotton chemise, and a pair of cotton bloomers when she knocked on the connecting door. He was dimly aware that the design of the latter garment still had a split crotch, but there was nothing visible and, as Antonia had said, he had seen her in less. He focussed on that and not the way the chemise actually seemed to make her moderately large breasts more erotic.

  That task was made simpler by having to concentrate on what he could only describe as some form of Chinese puzzle: the laces on the short corset. Kate explained what had to be done, but it still took a good five minutes to get all the tensions right so that the pressure was even all the way down, not too tight, but tight enough. There had been a movement in the latter part of the old century against tight lacing. Wasp waists had been the expression of beauty in a woman, but the tight corsets had resulted in organ damage, fractured ribs, and the tendency to faint. Kate would have had the considerable advantage of having that sort of figure without having to be placed in strict bondage to achieve it.

  Still, Charles had had to comment that ‘There has to be a better way to do this’ when they were finally finished.

  Their surroundings continued to fascinate Kate. It seemed to Charles the most natural thing possible: the girl had seen little more than the inside of her cell for five years and was, obviously, keen to see what was outside it. As they finished breakfast, they were getting closer to Edinburgh and the landscape was changing from the wild Scottish lowland scenery to a more urban form.

  Kate savoured the last mouthful of eggs and black pudding, swallowed, and asked, ‘Are we now at your home?’

  ‘Not yet. We are barely half of the way there, in fact. This is Edinburgh, the jewel of Scotland. Here we change trains to another, slightly smaller one, which will take us to Ullapool. We should be there not long after midday and I have arranged for us to be met there to continue on by road to Rhidorroch.’

  ‘Rhidorroch,’ Kate said, rolling the sound around in her mouth like more of the black pudding. ‘I like it. It is a name you can taste.’

  ‘It’s from Scottish Gaelic, An Ruigh Dhorcha. It’s a deer estate, with lots of land around the hall.’

  ‘Lots of land?’ Kate asked, her eyes widening.

  ‘Lots.’

  Ullapool, Ross-shire.

  The town of Ullapool had once been a fairly sleepy harbour for fishing boats and with something of a reputation for local music. Then Hunter Hall had discovered the telltale signs of Unobtainium in the rocks around the town and everything had changed. For several decades the scenery around the town had been marred by the huge lift derricks required to lower men into the mines, but they had modernised to fully electric lifts, powered by an Unobtainium reactor, in 1910 and it was once again possible to see the beauty of the surrounding countryside from the town itself.

  Hodges was waiting on the platform when they arrived, ready to collect their bags. He was a man in his mid-twenties, quite handsome in his chauffer’s uniform with a peaked cap. He did his best not to look excessively surprised at the woman disembarking with Charles, taller than either of them and strikingly beautiful. Hodges was not used to seeing Master Charles with a woman, unless it was a married friend’s wife. The girl’s eyes just put the icing on the cake.

  ‘Hodges, this is Kate,’ Charles said, handing a single case over to the chauffer. ‘Kate, Hodges is the family chauffer. That means that he drives our cars for us.’

  ‘Pleased to make your acquaintance,’ Kate said, bobbing a curtsey.

  ‘There’s no need to be doing that for me, Miss,’ Hodges said. ‘I’m just a servant, though I thank you for the honour.’ He had something of an accent, but not a local one; Charles’s father had found him in London, just out of the Army.

  ‘Kate is a… special case,’ Charles said. ‘I’ll be briefing the staff later, but you’re to treat her as a guest. However, save your curtsies for the family, Kate. Did Mrs Wooster teach you that?’

  ‘Yes. She said it was correct for a gentleman or a lady when I met them. I not worked out how to tell yet.’

  ‘You’ll get the hang of it.’

  ‘Pardon, sir,’ Hodges asked, ‘but is the young lady foreign? I’ve never seen eyes like that and her accent is… different.’

  ‘She was born in Richmond, Hodges, but I doubt you’ll find anyone like her anywhere else in the world. Come, let us be on our way.’

  The drive always took longer than Charles liked. The old Bentley was not swift and it took its time getting up hills. Kate’s delight at their surroundings seemed to make light of the journey, however.

  ‘Has she never seen hills before, sir?’ Hodges asked from the front seat.

  ‘No, Hodges. Kate has been kept in the dark, locked up, for her entire life. This is the first trip she has ever had which did not involve the back of an ambulance.’

  Hodges was silent for a second. ‘Sir, I assume she’s not a criminal, so why would someone do that to her?’

  ‘Father,’ Kate said, ‘was making me special.’

  ‘Her father?’

  ‘Yes, Hodges,’ Charles interrupted, ‘and Kate is rather more sanguine about the entire affair than I appear to be. Perhaps we could discuss something else.’

  ‘Right you are, sir. The weather is due to be fine this week.’

  Charles burst into a fit of laughter. ‘Good. Very good.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Kate said, looking bewildered. ‘Why is that funny?’

  Rhidorroch.

  Rhidorroch Hall was a three-storey, two-winged building in the Georgian style. Hunter Hall had had the entire thing constructed when he bought the park. Charles occupied the east wing when he was at home, along with his grandmother and the laboratory, which took up a substantial amount of space.

  There was, however, plenty of room for a few spare rooms and with Kate installed in one of them, Charles went down to talk to his father. He had seen Alexander and Georgina watching from the upper floor of the west wing and Alicia peeking out from another window, but none of them had come down. Lilian would wait for later to see the newcomer, Charles was sure of that.

  Alexander was in the drawing room when Charles found him, standing before the fireplace. Georgina was sitting in one of the large chairs nearby. Alexander was not an especially tall man but was approaching sixty fairly gracefully though his hair had gone fully grey in his forties. He had the Hall looks, as did Charles. Neither of them would be classed as handsome, but they could hold their own against the majority with their heads held high. Charles had never really cared about his looks, while his father did. That presented primarily in his father having his hair cut at the best barber he could afford, and he could afford a very good barber, once a month when he went to London. They both had hazel eyes, fairly t
hin lips, noses which tended to a slight bulb, and a small cleft to their chins. Charles’s face was thinner; age was starting to tell around Alexander’s cheeks.

  Georgina was another matter. Over twenty years Alexander’s junior, she was only four years older than Charles and still quite beautiful. A blonde, she kept her long hair tightly bound into a bun almost all the time as she thought the style made her look respectable. She had blue eyes, but with a hint of green to them, and pale skin. Her figure was still trim. She hated Antonia Wooster because they both followed the same archetype, but Antonia was streets ahead of her, but worse, Antonia really did not care that she was attractive, while Georgina had staked her future on it.

  ‘Bringing home strays now, son?’ Alexander asked by way of a welcome.

  ‘Her name is Kate. Her father used her as an experimental subject and her body is infused with Unobtainium two-six-two. She requires approximately weekly exposure to enough radiation to cause severe ill-health or death, otherwise she will die.’

  ‘But why bring her here?’ Georgina put in.

  Alexander gave a sigh. Georgina probably assumed this was because Alexander had realised the reason and thought it unfortunately appropriate. Charles knew that the answer would have been obvious to anyone and that Alexander was constantly disappointed in his second wife’s lack of perception. ‘Because this house runs on a reactor and she can have easy access to it at any time. What do you plan to do with her? Is it even possible to infuse someone with Unobtainium?’

  ‘It should have killed her, but there she is. As to what I want to do, I want to discover a way to remove the metal from her system. Beyond that, she needs to learn. Mrs Morton can teach her proper manners, sufficient to function in society at least. She is a very amenable girl, but uneducated. She seems to learn quickly so the task should not be too onerous.’