Babel : Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution (9780063021440)

There was a brief silence. This was, they all had to admit, rather good logic; or at least, it was not immediately evident this was nonsense.

‘Fine.’ Ramy had begun pacing back and forth across the small stretch of wooden floorboards that weren’t covered with blood. ‘Oh, heavens – Allah forgive us.’ He rubbed at his eyes. ‘Fine, yes, that could work. Suppose we keep this a secret until we’re back in London. What then?’

‘Easy,’ said Victoire. ‘We’ll say he died during the journey. During his sleep, perhaps. Only we can’t have the ship’s doctor coming to do an autopsy, because the risk of contamination is too great. We’ll ask for a coffin, which we’ll stuff a bunch of – I don’t know, books rolled up in clothes – and then we’ll carry it off and get rid of it.’

‘That’s insane,’ said Letty. ‘That’s absolutely insane.’

‘Do you have a better idea?’ Victoire inquired.

Letty was silent for a moment. Robin was absolutely sure she would insist they turn themselves in, but then she threw up her hands and said, ‘We could just tip him overboard in broad daylight, say he accidentally drowned, and then they’ll all have seen him die so we won’t seem suspicious—’

‘Oh, and that’s not suspicious?’ asked Ramy. ‘We’ll just drag this bloody corpse up above deck, pretend it’s walking on its own, and then hurl it into the waves where anyone can see that gaping hole where his heart should be? That’s how we prove our innocence? Have some creativity, Letty, we’ve got to play this right—’

At last Robin found his tongue. ‘No. No, this is mad, I can’t let – You all can’t—’ He kept tripping over his words. He took a deep breath, stilled his tongue. ‘I did this. I’ll tell the captain, I’ll turn myself in, and that’s it.’

Ramy scoffed. ‘Well, that’s out of the question.’

‘Don’t be an idiot,’ said Robin. ‘You’ll be implicated if—’

‘We’re all implicated regardless,’ said Victoire. ‘We’re all foreigners returning from a foreign country on a ship with a dead white man.’ This statement excluded Letty, but no one corrected her. ‘There is no world in which you go to prison and the rest of us walk free. You see this, right? Either we protect you, or we damn ourselves.’

‘That’s right,’ Ramy said firmly. ‘And none of us are letting you go to prison, Birdie. We’ll all keep our silence, all right?’

Only Letty hadn’t spoken. Victoire nudged her. ‘Letty?’

Letty had turned so pale she matched the bloodless corpse on the floor. ‘I . . . yes. All right.’

‘You can go, Letty,’ said Robin. ‘You don’t have to hear—’

‘No, I want to be here,’ said Letty. ‘I want to know what happens next. I can’t just let you all . . . No.’ She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, then reopened her eyes and announced very slowly, as if she’d just come to the decision, ‘I’m in this. With you. All of you.’

‘Good,’ Ramy said briskly. He wiped his hands on his trousers, then resumed his pacing. ‘Now, here’s what I’m thinking. We aren’t supposed to be on this packet. We were originally scheduled to return on the fourth, remember? No one’s expecting us back before then, which means nobody will be looking for him when we disembark.’

‘Right.’ Victoire nodded, then picked up his train of thought. It was quite frightening, watching the two of them. They grew more confident as they spoke. It was as if they were simply collaborating on a group translation, playing off each other’s brilliance. ‘It’s clear the easiest way to get caught is for someone to glimpse the body. So our first priority, as I said, should be to get rid of it as soon as possible – as soon as it’s dark outside. Then, for the rest of the voyage, we’ll tell everyone he’s ill. No one’s more afraid of foreign diseases than sailors, isn’t that right? The moment we let slip that he’s down with something that they might catch, I guarantee you no one will approach that door for weeks. Which means all we’ve got to worry about is getting him into the water.’

‘Well, and cleaning up all this blood,’ said Ramy.

Madness, Robin thought. This was madness, and he couldn’t understand why no one was laughing, why everyone seemed to be very seriously contemplating the idea of dragging their professor’s body up two flights of stairs and hurling it into the sea. They were all past the point of incredulity. The shock had worn off, and the surreal had become the practical. They were speaking not in terms of ethics, but of logistics, and this made Robin feel as if they’d stepped into an upside-down world where nothing made sense, and no one had a single problem with it but him.

‘Robin?’ Ramy asked.

Robin blinked. They were all looking at him with very concerned expressions. He gathered this was not the first time he’d been addressed. ‘I’m sorry – what?’

‘What do you think?’ Victoire asked gently. ‘We’re going to drop him overboard, all right?’