Through Glass Darkly: Episode Two Read Online Free

one of the best views across the city imaginable from here,’ came Fraser’s equally cordial reply. ‘Oh and Ashton, good idea!’
    This raised a smile from the Captain and a bit of chuckle from both Jenkins and Hughes.
    At this the Captain gave the order that sent us back up into the bluebird skies where I began the manoeuvre to turn the ship around and head back to the park. As I did this he absently started to check on the various engineering consoles around the bridge to confirm the good operation of the ship, hesitating momentarily as the deep golden sunlight spilled in through the windows to bathe the often austere glass and polished metalwork of the bridge in its gentle warmth.
    After enjoying the sight of the city below in the warm afternoon light, he slowly turned back to the ships instruments, occasionally issuing instructions to Jenkins, Hughes and myself about our course, speed or elevation, before eventually settling back into the Captain’s chair.
    Sailing through the afternoon sunlight reminded me of the shakedown cruise we’d completed over Portugal sailing up the Tagus River that divided the old city of Lisbon, before heading northwards to the Pyrenees for our high altitude tests.
    We’d seen many beautiful sights as we’d traversed America and the Atlantic, but the trip up the river still stood out in my memory. The azure sky framing the pale buildings of the historic city, while the sunlight flickered and danced on the waters of the wide river below. The buildings were unmistakeably taller in Manhattan, but the combination of sky, sun and sea was equally lovely.
    I was lost in the moment, when Jenkins unexpectedly asked the Captain if it would be alright to ask me a few questions about my rather busy day now that we were underway.
     
    ‘I have no objection at all Mr Jenkins,’ replied the Captain. ‘In fact I’d quite like to hear some of the details was well. If Mr Hall has no objection?’
    ‘None at all Captain,’ I was happy to reply.
    Over the next ten minutes or so, as we sailed back to Central Park, Agent Jenkins asked first about what had happened with the first creature, and in particular to explain the rumour he’d heard that once we’d brought it down, it had appeared to be part human.
    I answered his questions, firstly explaining how Riley had been injured when the creature tried to get away, but how Shelby has saved the day by planting a couple of shots squarely into its back, knocking it over and in the process impaling it on a long shard of toughened glass. I then explained how as a consequence of Shelby’s work I had enough time to join him in putting several more shots into the creature as it got back up, which resulted in the thing first crashing through an interior window before falling to the warehouse floor two stories below.
    I had to confess my own confusion and uncertainty at discovering what appeared to be Ariel’s face hidden beneath the creatures carapace armour.
     
    ‘Surely you don’t think this monstrous thing could actually contain some trace of your former crewman?’ Jenkins asked almost incredulous.
    ‘I honestly don’t know,’ I had to concede. ‘But there are some things about its behaviour that have been odd from the start. It always seems to prefer to run rather than attack. Even when I was defencelessly hanging from the warehouse roof, it didn’t attack, it just stood and observed, which I’ve never seen one of these creatures do before.
    ‘Compare the oddly peaceful behaviour of that gruesome looking creature with the violent and aggressive behaviour of the second creature, which looks exactly like one of our crewmen . . . and suddenly anything seems possible.’
    I pulled no punches with my account of our encounter with the second creature either.
     
    ‘It was the scopes I made for the search teams that were the cause of the problem,’ I admitted earnestly. ‘While they allowed the men to see the creature, the field of vision through