Chapter 10 The Anomaly

The anomaly came at six forty-four in the morning of the second of June, and the tide went down to minus two point one metres below chart datum, and the tide table said the tide would go to minus two point seven, and the model said the tide would go to minus one point nine, and the datum said the tide would go to minus one point nine, and the ledger said the tide would go to minus one point eight, and the drawing said the tide would go to minus one point eight, and the water went to minus two point one, and the water did not go to minus two point seven, and the water went below the model, and the water went below the datum, and the water went below the ledger, and the water went below the drawing, and the water went to the bottom of the range that nobody had written down. Tamar was in the cottage when the tone came in, at sixty-eight hertz, a full ten below where it had been, and the second tone at one hundred and thirty-six, and the interval held, and the amplitude was at ninety-two decibels, and she had never heard anything that loud in the water, and she called Ruan, and Ruan did not answer, and she called Lowri, and Lowri did not answer, and she called Ellerby, and Ellerby answered, and Ellerby said that the model was running a range of minus one point nine, and Ellerby said that the observation was an anomaly, and Ellerby said that anomalies happened, and Ellerby said that she should file it, and Ellerby said that she should keep the array running, and Ellerby said that the consent schedule was fixed, and Ellerby said that the datum correction was in the observations section, and Ellerby said that the observations section would be read by nobody, and Ellerby said that the scheme would go ahead. She put the headphones off and went out to the yard, and the bay was flat, and the flat was exposed, and out past the narrows, the line of stones was in the air, and the stones were wet, and the stones were the colour of wet stone, and the ninth step was where the narrows was, and the first step was where the churchyard was, and between them, on the flat, the contour of the town was there, and the contour was the shape of the town, and the town was Ashenholt, and Ashenholt was on the drawing, and Ashenholt was on the ledger, and Ashenholt was not on the chart, and the contour was in the air, and the air was still, and the sun was coming up, and the light was on the water, and the water was out. She got in the car and drove to the harbour. Ruan was there, with the boat, and the boat was at the dock, and the dock was dry, and the engine was off, and he stood at the rail with his hands in his pockets, and he did not say anything, and he did not look at her, and she got in the boat and he turned the engine over and it took on the first try, and he put the boat in the water, and the water was low, and the boat hung in the air, and he motored out, and the channel was dry in places, and the sounder did not work, and they went out at the speed of a man walking, and out past the narrows, the steps were there, and the steps were in the air, and the water was out, and the flat was dry, and the church was there, and the church was the shape of a church, and the tower was there, and the tower was the shape of a tower, and the bell was in the tower, and the bell was the shape of a bell, and the bell did not ring. She did not hear the bell. She heard the water going out, in the ditches, in the hollows, in the gutters of the town, and the water was going down, and the water was going down, and the water was going down, and the church was dry, and the churchyard was dry, and the first step was dry, and the second step was dry, and the third step was dry, and the fourth step was dry, and the fifth step was dry, and the sixth step was dry, and the seventh step was dry, and the eighth step was dry, and the ninth step was where the narrows was, and the narrows was where the datum was, and the datum was where the child had stood, and the child had not remembered. "There's people out there," Ruan said. "Where." "Out there. On the flat. Walking." "Who." "I don't know. I can't see them. I can see the walk. I can see the walk, and I can't see the walkers." "How many." "Nine." "Nine." "Nine. One on each step." Tamar looked out of the boat. The flat was dry, and the air was still, and the sun was up, and the church was there, and the tower was there, and the bell was in the tower, and the bell did not ring, and out on the flat, there was no one, and there was no one, and there was no one, and there was a walk, and the walk was the shape of a walk, and the walk was the datum, and the datum was the walk, and the walk was up. "They're walking," Ruan said. "Who's walking." "Nobody. The walk is walking." "The walk can't walk." "The walk is walking." "Ruan, who's walking." "I don't know. I've seen it before. My grandfather saw it. He saw it in forty-four. He saw it in eighty-four. He saw it in two thousand and two, on a small ebb, at the churchyard, and he said it was the walk, and he said it was walking, and he said he didn't know who was walking it, and he said he'd never seen anybody walking it, and he said he'd never wanted to see anybody walking it." "Have you." "No." "Have you seen anybody on the steps, ever." "Once. In ninety-three. A child. Nine years old. Walking up, from the churchyard, to the narrows. Alone. In the morning. At low water. She was carrying nothing. She was going up. She came down. She did not speak. She went home. She did not speak again, until the spring of eighty-four, when she wrote the datum down, in green ink, in the ledger, in a hand smaller than any of the others, and she did not remember the walk, and the walk was up, and the direction was up." "Ruan. That child was Deveril." "That child was Deveril." Tamar looked at the flat. The walk was there. The walk was walking. Nobody was walking it. The bell was in the tower. The bell did not ring. The water was out. The air was still. The sun was up. She did not get out of the boat. She got in the car, at the harbour, and she drove home, and she sat at the table, and she looked at the graphs, and she looked at the wall, and she looked at the bell, and she picked up the phone, and she called Ellerby. "Ellerby, I need to see you." "I'm at the office. Come in." "I can't come in. I need to speak to you now." "Then speak." "Ellerby, I have to tell you something." "Tell me." "The datum is wrong by one point nine metres. The model is wrong by one point nine metres. The consent is invalid. The report is invalid. The scheme is not viable. The scheme has never been viable. The scheme was never viable. The scheme is going ahead. The scheme is going ahead, because I'm going to put the datum in the observations section, and I'm going to put the report in the report, and I'm going to file it, and I'm going to sign it, and I'm going to sign the baseline, and the baseline is wrong, and the model is wrong, and the datum is wrong, and the consent is wrong, and the scheme is wrong, and I'm going to sign it anyway." "There you are," Ellerby said. "There you are, Tamar. That's the job. That's what you do. You sign the baseline, and the baseline goes on the drive, and the drive goes to the Authority, and the Authority writes the report, and the report goes to the ministers, and the ministers approve the scheme, and the scheme goes ahead, and the barrage is built, and the barrage works, and the power comes in, and the grid is fed, and the tide is managed, and the water is controlled, and the bay is tamed, and the town is safe, and the flat is dry, and the church is under the barrage, and the bell is under the barrage, and the bell is under the barrage, and the bell stops ringing, and nobody hears it, and nobody misses it." "Ellerby." "Yes." "I'm not going to sign it." "No. You're not." "I'm going to put the datum in the report." "No. You're not." "I am." "Then you're going to walk up the steps." "I'm not going to walk up the steps." "Then you can't put the datum in the report." "I can." "You can't. The datum is the walk. The walk is the steps. The steps are up. You can't put the walk in the report without walking it. You can't put the datum in the report without walking it. You can't put the report in the report without walking it." "Then I'm walking it." There was a pause. "Tamar. Nobody walks the steps. Nobody's walked them since the child. Nobody's walked them since eighty-four. If you walk them, you don't come back. If you come back, you don't remember. If you don't remember, you can't put the datum in the report. If you can't put the datum in the report, the scheme goes ahead. If the scheme goes ahead, the barrage is built. If the barrage is built, the bell is under the barrage. If the bell is under the barrage, the bell stops ringing. If the bell stops ringing, nobody hears it. If nobody hears it, nobody knows. If nobody knows, the walk is up. If the walk is up, the datum is up. If the datum is up, the report is up. If the report is up, the scheme is up. If the scheme is up, the barrage is built." "Ellerby, what are you telling me." "I'm telling you, whatever you do, the barrage is built. That's the whole of it. That's the trick. That's how it's worked. That's how it works. You walk the steps, or you don't walk the steps, or you put the datum in the report, or you put the datum in the observations section, or you sign the baseline, or you don't sign the baseline, and in every case, the barrage is built, and the bell is under it, and the bell stops ringing, and nobody hears it, and nobody misses it, and the walk is up, and the datum is up, and the report is up, and the scheme is up, and the scheme is up, and the scheme is up." She hung up. She sat at the table with the phone in her hand, and she looked at the graphs, and she looked at the wall, and she looked at the bell, and she put the phone down, and she got up, and she went to the hall, and she lifted the sheet off the bell, and she looked at the crack, and she looked at the ring, and she put the sheet back, and she went out to the yard, and she sat on the step, and she looked at the bay, and the water was coming in, and the flat was going under, and the church was going under, and the tower was going under, and the bell was going under, and the bell was ringing, and she could not hear it, and she could hear the water, and the water was going in, and the walk was going under, and the datum was going under, and the report was going under, and the scheme was going ahead, and the scheme was going ahead, and the scheme was going ahead. She got up and went into the cottage, and she made tea, and she did not drink it, and she sat at the table, and she opened the ledger, and she looked at the green ink, and she did not write anything, and she looked at the graph, and she looked at the numbers, and she did the arithmetic, and the arithmetic said that the next Long Ebb was in eighteen months, and the arithmetic said that the tide would go to minus two point seven, and the arithmetic said that the model would say the tide would go to minus one point nine, and the arithmetic said that the datum would say the tide would go to minus one point nine, and the arithmetic said that the ledger would say the tide would go to minus one point eight, and the arithmetic said that the drawing would say the tide would go to minus one point eight, and the arithmetic said that the water would go to minus two point seven, and the arithmetic said that the water would go below the model, and the arithmetic said that the bell would ring, and the arithmetic said that the bell would ring at seventy-eight hertz, and the arithmetic said that the bell would ring at one minute and twelve seconds, and the arithmetic said that the bell would ring for three days, and the arithmetic said that the bell would ring, and the arithmetic said that the scheme would go ahead, and the arithmetic said that the barrage would be built, and the arithmetic said that the bell would be under the barrage, and the arithmetic said that the bell would stop ringing, and the arithmetic said that nobody would hear it, and the arithmetic said that nobody would miss it, and the arithmetic said that the walk would be up, and the arithmetic said that the datum would be up, and the arithmetic said that the report would be up, and the arithmetic said that the scheme would be up. ---