Fathom Page #3

- No, that's no use.

- The proprietor always has a passkey.

- Thanks. I'll remember that.

By the way, didn't your group

take off for Perpignan last night?

That's right. I was just getting in

some last-minute practicing.

Greetings, love.

I took the shortcut...

up the trellis and through the window.

You'd better take the same way

out again, and quick. I'm blown.

- "Blown"? - Isn't that the

expression you agents use?

Oh, yes, of course. - The only reason they

let me out was to lead them to Campbell.

- How do you know that P

- Merriwether thinks I work for him.

- What's more, they already have me

half framed for murder. - Whose murder?

A young fellow I found in the villa.

His head bashed in.

- They have a picture of me bending over

him. - Fathom, did they search you?

I'll put it this way,

my next jumpsuit won't have a zipper.

- It fits. It fits perfectly.

- What fits?

What I heard ten minutes ago.

Listen to this playback. Tape recording

via bug from Merriwether's villa.

The bee in your bonnet

worked perfectly.

- I'm glad something worked perfectly.

- The first voices you hear...

will be Jo-May Soon

and the Trivers family.

Ow! Ow, Daddy! Daddy!

- What was that? - The Trivers kids

with a severe case of sunburn.

They must've come back from the beach

just after you and Merriwether left.

- Shh. Listen.

Hello? Yes?

- Oh, never mind. - Mr. Trivers, take

shrieking children elsewhere, please.

Come on, sweeties.

Auntie Jo-May has to talk on the blower.

Come on, up we go.

Come on, up.

Up we go.

- There we are.

- Repeat, please.

- Doesn't sound like much.

- Shh, shh. Wait.

- Something up, dearie?

- Yes. Stunning development.

Cable is intercepted in London.

Cable addressed to Dr. Vlak.

He is invited

to come here at once.

Object:
To authenticate Fire Dragon.

This is something we didn't count on.

Who sent for him?

It's surprise, and yet not surprise.

Of course, you don't know

about him. I'll fill you in.

Dr. Vlak is a nuclear scientist.

- Don't you see how it all adds up?

- In words of one syllable-uh-uh.

You will. Listen to the rest

of the tape. I'll take it back a bit.

This is something we didn't count on.

- Who sent for him?

- It's surprise, and yet not surprise.

Sergei Serapkin.

- Then it wash? The girl?

- No. It was Serapkin who lured us away...

when the young man was due

to arrive with the Fire Dragon.

He killed the young man, not the girl

with parachute. -

That's why they searched you. They really

thought you'd killed him and taken it.

- But it was this Serapkin fellow.

- And his credentials fit.

Sergei Serapkin,

one-time street peddler,

now a peddler

in the unobtainable.

A millionaire middle man

for anything in short supply.

- In the '40s, penicillin; In the '50s,

gold. - And in the '60s, atomic: Devices.

He's got the button,

and they know it too.

He's aboard his yacht. We're racing Mr.

Merriwether, so we'd better move fast.

I'm moving fast,

all right, to Perpignan.

- Jolly lucky we have one piece of

equipment they lack. - Oh, no, you don't.

I wouldn't set foot on board that yacht

if I had the U.S. Marines as escort.

We have something

much more effective.

This should display it well.

Oh, I forgot to add,

Sergei Serapkin,

also world's champion bird chaser.

Jo-May to Headquarters.

Most urgent.

Do you read me?

Jo-May to Headquarters.

Answer, please.

Do you read me?

10-May to Headquarters. Answer, please.

Headquarters here.

I read you.

Parachute girl and young man

depart in boat.

It's curious, no? So soon after we

received word of intercepted cable.

Relax, Jo-May.

I'll handle it.

Right. Here's where

we part company.

The boat is anchored

around the next point.

- You think he'll take the bait?

- You're too modest. He'll bite on you.

Now let's run over it again.

I vamp my way aboard, start fire,

and drive rat from the sinking ship,

keeping fingers crossed that the rat

takes the Fire Dragon with him.

You can bet on it.

He's planning to sell it for millions.

He won't leave that behind.

Here's your fire starter.

- The, uh, left one's the bang-bang, right?

- Correct.

It's triggered automatically

when you take it off.

- Drop it in any ventilator. Thirty

seconds later... - Yes, yes, I know.

Thirty seconds later-pow.

Hop aboard your pleasure barge.

Mind your step.

Fathom, love?

You're a real killer.

I wish you hadn't said that,

Timothy. So is he.

- Strange. A pirate ship?

- You address its captain.

It's beautiful.

In the presence of real beauty,

it must take second place.

How charming.

- May I come aboard?

- But obviously.

You are expected.

I must've overlooked

my invitation.

Serapkin's secret.

He expects the unexpected.

Mehmed.

Yes, master?

We will not be disturbed

for 20 minutes.

Wait.

Perhaps...

half an hour.

Shall we leave this chill

and go to my cabin?

Lovely hothouse

you have here, Mr. Serapkin.

If I were an orchid,

I'd be blooming.

You find the heat too great?

Hardly regulation for tropic waters.

I suffer from

an unfortunate malady.

My body temperature

is ten degrees below normal.

In the presence of beauty,

it drops even further.

Thank you.

But how does a guy

breathe in here?

Please.

I'm very sensitive to drafts.

I wish I'd known.

I brought my own oxygen tanks.

Serapkin provides oxygen...

warm oxygen.

Purified and inducted

from the engine room...

at a rate of

three cubic meters a second.

No companion of Serapkin's

ever caught pneumonia.

We will commence.

Oh.

Why, Mr. Serapkin, I'll bet you

could run a mile in three minutes.

There is nothing

more precious than time.

My family comes from Circassia,

and we have an ancient saying:

"Each hour is a wound,

the last one fatal."

Where I come from, we have

a little ancient saying of our own:

"Men on the make can go jump

in the lake."

This coyness bores me.

My companions are not selected

for their skill at chess.

"Companions" 7

You were not sent here by

the concierge of the Hotel Solymar?

Oh, I see what you mean.

lam sorry, but I'm not

one of your... playmates.

It is Sergei Serapkin

who must apologize.

Please sit down, Miss, uh...

Harvill. Fathom Harvill. Uh...

And please don't ask me

howl got the name Fathom.

Let me guess.

Your father wanted

a very tall son,

or you were named

after wealthy relatives,

or as a child,

you were very deep.

Two out of three.

That's not bad.

lam appalled at my crudeness

and bad manners.

Serapkin will make amends.

Now, let me see.

Oh, yes.

Earrings.

just the thing.

Black pearls for plastic.

A fair exchange, huh?

- Oh, I couldn't.

- But I insist.

Serapkin is quite aware

enchanting women do not find him Apollo.

Really, I'm just

a mariner who lost her way.

Intriguing.

A lost mariner for whom

black pearls are not sufficient.

Does she sail

for richer treasure?

What have you got to offer?

You are a pirate.

But then, so am I.

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