Marina liked the boy’s voice. It had a sing-song quality, going up and down like the waves. She wondered where he was from. Not Hampstead, anyway.
A small round light flashed amber. ‘Weather forecast,’ Jones muttered. He pulled the earmuffs back on to his head and listened intently, writing something down in his notebook.
Apart from listening out for the Admiralty-issued weather forecasts, Jones explained that the machine could send and receive messages.
‘Like telegrams?’ Marina said.
‘In what way?’ he asked, suspiciously.
Well, there he had her. She had no clue how telegrams worked. Jones could have told her they were delivered by pixies and she’d be none the wiser. Well, perhaps the pixies could deliver a message now. She gave Jones a nudge in the ribs.
‘Let’s send a message to Miss Smith!’
13
‘Miss Smith?’ He looked completely unimpressed. ‘Who’s she?’
‘You must know! She’s the secretary to the First Sea Lord himself.’ Marina was going to say that they had travelled down on the train to Portsmouth together and that they had become great friends and that she had called Marina ‘dear heart’, but she remembered her promise not to tell anyone of their meeting and stopped herself just in time. In any case, Jones was giving her a look that implied that he didn’t believe a word she was saying. ‘I’ve heard that it’s Miss Smith who sends all of the communiqués. I’ve heard that she’s very good at her job, even though there are plenty of men in the navy who don’t think that women should do more than make their tea.’
‘A woman? Working at the Admiralty?’ Jones pulled a face. ‘Who did you hear that from?’
‘Maybe I could just send her a message?’ Marina said, rather than answering. She reached forward and flicked one of the switches.
‘Don’t touch that!’ Jones snatched her hand away. ‘Sorry,’ he apologized. ‘It’s just that the machine is very delicate. You have to be very careful. That’s the switch that lets me listen out for other ships. So there are no collisions.’
‘Collisions? But the sea is so huge! How can boats sail into each other?’
‘And you the daughter of Commander Denham,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Boats can’t just sail about wherever they fancy. There’s such a thing as a shipping lane.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Like a path or a road. On the sea. And the ships have to use them.’
Marina laughed. ‘How can you have a road of water?’
Jones looked offended. ‘Think what you like. It’s the truth.’
Just at that moment, the machine started chattering and a tongue of white paper emerged from a narrow opening. Jones tore the paper off and was about to stamp it.
‘Could I do that?’ Marina asked.
Jones shrugged. ‘Fine. Then put it in that metal basket up there.’
She felt very pleased with herself as she took the heavy brass stamp, pressed it into a red inkpad and then pressed it down on the paper. It left the date. But what had been printed on the paper made no sense. Did Jones not realize?
‘What do those squiggles mean?’
‘Your father is sending a coded message and that graph shows the strength of the signal on that channel there.’ He tapped a green light. ‘Your father likes to check every four hours that the message being sent out into the water is strong.’
‘A message? Into the water? But who could hear a message in the water?’
Jones’s cheeks turned pink. ‘Sound waves can travel through the water – quicker than through the air. And if the Commander wants to send a message, who am I to disagree? He must have a reason. He must think someone can hear it.’
‘But what does it say?’
Jones looked at her suspiciously. ‘I couldn’t tell you. Even if I knew. That signal is being transmitted in a code that’s not in my code book.’
Jones pulled the earmuffs back on to his head and unclipped one of the small metal pegs, fixing it to another key on the board. ‘That’s a merchant vessel heading out from the Hanseatic coast,’ he said. ‘Nothing we need to worry about for now.’
‘Would you let me listen?’ Marina asked. ‘I promise I’ll be careful. And I won’t touch anything. I’ll just listen for a moment.’
Jones looked unsure. Marina pulled a mock pleading face. And, just like Edward, Jones gave in. ‘But not for long.’
Marina carefully put the funny earmuffs over her ears. All sound was blurred, like when she had slipped under the water in the bath at home. Instead, she could hear her own breathing and it sounded like waves. She sighed. That wasn’t very interesting. Was that all she was going to hear – herself ? She looked at Jones, who was staring intently at one of the dials. He tapped it with his fingers. ‘Do I look funny?’ she asked. But she couldn’t gauge the volume of her voice and she must have been shouting, because Jones put his finger to his lips and shook his head, vehemently. ‘Whoops,’ she mouthed.
Marina stared at the dials in front of her. If only Miss Smith could send the Sea Witch a message right now. Perhaps she might ask all shipping to look out for her dear friend Marina Denham, with whom she had been hoping to travel back to London, but who had gone missing on the docks at Portsmouth. No. It would be better if Miss Smith sent a message in a code that only Marina could understand, that she would be able to answer without consulting the code books on Jones’s shelf. That would make her father realize what an important member of the crew she was. If only she could hear a message that was just for her.
Marina closed her eyes and crossed her fingers. She willed Miss Smith to contact
