“A haunted shipwreck? That sounds completely reasonable, Doctor Beaker,” Mike Mercury said, raising his eyebrow and taking another sip of his morning coffee.
Doctor Beaker paid no attention to the heavy irony in Mike’s tone. He nodded absentmindedly and consulted his paper, “Er now let me see,” he mused, “Ah yes, here it is. The report is the third of its kind to appear in as many weeks. There is a definite pattern to these, er, so-called ghost sightings.”
Professor Popkiss stroked his chin thoughtfully, “You know, Mike, Beaker could have a point. I don’t put much hold in such things, but it does seem like a pretty unlikely coincidence for three independent reports to have such similar details.”
Mike sighed, “Alright, let me see.”
“See?” Beaker asked, “See what?”
“The report, Beaker,” Mike replied patiently, holding out his hand.
“Oh! Yes, quite,” Beaker answered and passed the paper to him.
“Hmm… Yeah…” Mike said after he’d studied the text, “I guess it is kinda strange. Lights in the portholes, thumping noises. Maybe we ought to take Supercar down there and investigate.”
“I was thinking the same thing myself,” Popkiss said, nodding in agreement, “Although I’m sure Jimmy will be sorry to miss an intriguing mystery like this.”
Mike laughed, “Yeah, but think of the fun that he and Mitch will be having with Bill. Poor guy, I hope Mitch isn’t causing too much trouble. Anyway, we’ll make our way to the wreck site after breakfast. Then we’ll see about these so-called ‘ghosts’ of the deep.”
Before long, Supercar was soaring majestically through the bright morning sky, heading for a point in the middle of the Caribbean.
“This is the area, Mike – You can take her down now,” Popkiss advised.
“Right, Professor. Stand by to submerge!”
Mike pitched Supercar into a gentle descent towards the shimmering blue ocean below.
The streamlined nose of the craft sliced through the surface of the water, carving a path for the rest of Supercar to follow.
The marvellous machine continued to dive into the murky depths as the clear view scanner showed a crystal-clear image of what lay ahead. Soon, Mike spotted the unmistakable outline of a ship’s bow looming ahead.
“There it is!” he called, “Let’s take a closer look.”
Easing back on the motors, Mike brought Supercar alongside the wreck, passing it slowly at a distance of twenty feet. As Supercar passed the bow, the three men saw the name HMS Grade painted on the side.
“Any idea why she sank, Doctor?” Mike asked.
“An official inquiry never proved anything conclusively. The entire crew survived the sinking, except for one man – Charlie Grant.”
“And folks reckon that it’s Grant’s ghost that’s haunting the wreck, isn’t that so?”
Professor Popkiss chimed in, “People often jump to highly illogical conclusions after such strange events, Mike. So far there’s no concrete evidence to suggest any form of unusual activity down here.”
“You might want to rethink that, Professor,” Mike said quietly, “Because unless I’m much mistaken, there’s a light in that porthole there. And I’m nearly certain I saw the outline of a figure moving around inside. We came to investigate, so let’s investigate.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
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