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the woman and it was grubby from being on the ground but its message was
clear to me. These people were holding a remembrance event for a ship I had
just seen mooring in the harbour.
    Without
speaking to anyone, I quickly made off down the hill, back to the harbour,
making my way to the building where the cruise ship was berthed. The crowd was
breaking up, and a few cars started to move. It was difficult to progress at
first but I made it back to the gate and onto the quayside. I stumbled
alongside newly berthed vessels in the space I had previously parked the
launch. Finally, I made it to the far side of the harbour, deep into its
architecture, far from the road behind me, and found the building.
    A
massive brick structure, it concealed anything kept inside. The quayside was
empty of people. I had to round a corner before finding a single wooden door. I
turned the handle and entered a stone clad corridor. Grey walls with a granite
feel to them were rippled with white streaks. They led in a straight line away
from the door. I don’t know what drove me, but I kept going, eventually turning
corners and going further in search of the Angel Rhithlun. The floor was made
of the same stone and light came from pale circles in the ceiling. I turned a
corner and found steps down. Following them led me to a dead end.
    I
stood there at the blank grey wall. It was as if I looked at it long enough, it
would change to be a through way. A voice spoke, startling me. “This way
please, sir.”
    I
turned around. It was Sue, the female crew member from the small boat. She had
changed into a fresh uniform of black skirt and white blouse with dark epaulets
on her shoulders. Her hair had been done and she was immaculately made up.
Smiling as if she had not been awake all night tending to a dying crewmate, she
was holding her right hand out. She meant me to follow her back the way I came.
I said to her, “Sue, it’s me. From the small boat earlier. Don’t you recognise
me?”
    She
blinked once but maintained her smile. “Of course I do. We met today. This way
please, sir.”
    I
took one last look at the blank wall before taking the few steps up to reach
her. Sue led me back through the single corridor I had followed. We made a few
turns. There had been no doors or alternative routes so I hadn’t memorised my
route in. However, I got the sense we were taking a different route from my
entry. Three steps upwards I had not seen before confirmed this. “Sue, where
are we going?”
    Walking
primly beside me, she smiled warmly. Her eyes sparkled in conspiracy. “To the
ship, of course. Don’t you want to see her?”
    I
stopped. Sue walked a few steps before doing the same. I said, “I’m not sure I
do.”
    “Of
course you do. But it is your decision.” Her smile was meant to reassure me.
She waited for a few moments before pulling me towards her with a gesture.
    I
took a long look behind me at the endless stone corridor. Considering I had
come so far, I decided to continue. After all, I had just been to the memorial
service for the Angel Rhithlun. Now I had to see her. I followed Sue. She took
me further along. We turned another corner and a short walk along the final
stretch astounded me where it led.
    The
stone corridor opened onto a balcony of the same grey granite streaked with
white material. It was lined with a low hand rail of the same material. We were
in a massive covered dock, seemingly carved out of this stone. In the middle of
this dock was a middle-sized cruise ship. Black lettering on the side said:
Angel Rhithlun. This was it, the ship I had seen on the sea, and followed into
this harbour. I had seen it, from the wheel of a passenger launch, enter this
building. I had been to its memorial service but it was here all along, in this
building. The ship was sitting on a series of stone struts, chiselled to the
shape of its hull. All the water had been drained. Far below me, on the floor
of the dock, two men tended to a section of