back to Part Two of the Journal

Episode 76: The Light of a Hundred Suns! Episode 77: An Affair of Honor Episode 77-1/3: Back to Blighty! Episode 77-2/3: From Aphrodite to Britannia Episode 78: The Gorilla Without, or, Any Port in a Storm Episode 79: Terror from the Second Planet, Part 1 Episode 80: Terror from the Second Planet, Part 2 Episode 81: Terror from the Second Planet, Part 3 Episode 82: Terror from the Second Planet, Part 4 Episode 83: The French Mistakes Episode 84: Gorilla My Dreams Episode 85: Rumours of War, or, An Oriental Mystery! Episode 86: The Five of Wands Episode 87: Trial By Fire Episode 88: To Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory! Episode 89: Icarus or Daedalus? Episode 90: Re-entry Episode 91: Angels on High Episode 92: Women and Children First Episode 93: What Lies Below? An Interval of Peace Episode 94: A Wedding, a Baptism, and a Funeral Episode 95: Halcyon Days Episode 96: Pick a Peek at a Perky Porpoise Episode 97: Making Merry in Manaos Episode 98: Coolie Carnage! Episode 99:  The Spider Mansion Episode 100:  The Lima Exposition

Episode 76: The Light of a Hundred Suns!

July 14, 1892

  

Prompted by the insistent warnings of the American scientists, the Terrans and allies rush to the surface, and travel north for two hours across the dimly-lit, bitterly cold icecap. An Ogygisian kite is seen to be approaching, just as the Ancient One's atomic furnace explodes. The blast destroys the kite, and leaves a mile-wide lake of steaming water on the icecap. The Britons begin taking stock of the situation, and prepare for a hard trudge to the edge of the polar continent. Fortunatly, just at that moment, a steam-galley approaches -- the S.S. Tiberius, sent by the colonial authorities to find the Ancient One's palace! Her commander, the dashing Lieutenant Tolliver, had seen the explosion and ordered full speed ahead. The grateful Britons, Canadians, Martians, etc. board the ship, happy for even the cramped quarters of a warship.

After three weeks of travel, the Tiberius arrives at Syrtis Major. The Canadian Amazonians are congrratulated, the American soldier-women are given tickets to "return" to their country, the two American scientists are going to join Prof. Olsza in his work, and so forth. Miss Pemberly-Waite and Miss Baker-Smythe prepare summaries of their scientific discoveries; Mr. Bartle-Phelps writes up the thrilling story of his adventures.

  

For obscure reasons, which seem to somehow involve an explosion at the Belgian Consulate, Lieutenant Tolliver is challenged to a duel by the Belgian cultural affairs attache, Msr. Fouchard. Major Holley is to act as his second; Miss Baker-Smythe as physician in attendance; and Atherton and Bartle-Phelps will be on the lookout for sharpshooters. The duel is to take place early in the morning of August 16th, 1892.

 

Episode 77: An Affair of Honor

August 16, 1892

 

In the courtyard of an abandoned, crumbling old Martian palace in Syrtis Major, a duel takes place at dawn: Lieutenant Tolliver meets Msr. Fouchard on the field of honor, while evil Belgian plots are afoot. Fortunately, Mr. Atherton and Mr. Bartle-Phelps foil the plots, and Tolliver runs Fouchard through. However, the colonial authorities deem it prudent to order Tolliver's return to Earth, as duelling is no excuse for murder in British territory.

  

Thus Lt. Tolliver finds himself aboard a Cunard ether liner, the RMS Ruritania, for the 90 day trip to Earth; he thus accompanies Lord Holdernesse and company upon their own return home.

 

Episode 77-1/3: Back to Blighty!

November 14, 1892

  

Our stalwart British heroes return to Earth and England, and are received with some interest by the public, press, and government. Miss Baker-Smythe and Miss Pemberly-Waite continue their researches, preparing technical papers and hoping for the approval of the scientific community. Major Holley begins work on the first example of his Pneumatic Armor, with which he hopes to revolutionize modern warfare. Mr. Bartle-Phelps gives a well-received series of speeches in England and on the Continent, and writes a serialized history of the recent adventures, entitled "An Ogygisian Adventure, or the Perils at the Pole." Mr. Atherton spends a lot of time being sociable and trying to forget the money spent on his Armstrong Juggernaut.

 

Episode 77-2/3: From Aphrodite to Britannia

February 26, 1893

  

Winter's grip on London is easing ... in a few weeks the Oxford and Cambridge races will brighten the lives of Londoners. Although Society has not entirely begun to return to London, Parliament has re-gathered for the Queen's speech. A new political party, the "Labour Party", is being formed in England. The colony of New Zealand has recently decided to give its women citzens the right to vote; and naturalist Mary Kingsley is exploring West Africa. The most important bill expected to be placed before Parliament this year is the "Irish Home Rule Bill." A periodical titled "The Studio" is spreading the fashion for Art Nouveau -- and Aubrey Beardsley -- among the artists of England and the Continent. In the United States, two Clydesdale horses have set a record by pulling 48 tons on a sledge. The famous inventor Mr. Thomas Edison has just begun making motion pictures in a new studio (the "Black Maria") constructed for that purpose in West Orange, New Jersey; the first "close-up" in movie history depicts a sneeze. The rank of Chief Petty Officer has been established in the American Navy, which is launching its first true battleship, the USS Indiana (11,000 tons, 13" main guns, not commissioned till 1895). The American president, Grover Cleveland, has won re-election. Frank Lloyd Wright has produced his first significant work, Winslow House. The island of Hawai'i in the Pacific Ocean has cast off its monarchy and been declared a republic. Rudolf Diesel has perfected a new form of internal combustion engine. Anton Dvorak is living in New York City, composing his soon-to-be-popular "New World Symphony". The German inventor Borchardt has designed and is selling a self-loading magazine pistol.

  

But today, Londoners are all abuzz with the news of last night's discovery of a Giant Devil Chicken in St. James' Park, within sight of Buckingham Palace! The strange bird, a native of Venus' bogs and swamps, was spotted by Lieutenant L. Tolliver while travelling by carriage on the Mall. He dismounted, gave chase and was able to capture the beast near the Serpentine in Hyde Park, after a chase of nearly three-quarters of a mile. Lt. Tolliver took the Chicken to the nearby Explorer's Club in Pall Mall. By the morning, crowds had gathered to view the bird; Mr. Bartle-Phelps announced that it would be taken to the Zoological Gardens for study. The mystery of how the Giant Devil Chicken (v. pullus diabolicus giganticus) came to London remains unsolved.

  

A few days later, Miss Baker-Smythe and Major Holley are each sent poisoned phonographs by a man claiming to be the brother of Dr. Hans Wortmann, slain by Holley and Lt.-Col. Arbuthnot-Stout in 1890. Baker-Smythe was able to avoid the strange gas emitted by the phonograph; but Holley, and several members of the Army & Navy Club, were overcome by it. Miss Baker-Smythe is able to diagnose some of the effects of the gas as similar to the de-evolving fluid invented by Hans Wortmann. The phonographic records each carried a threat

  

Friday, March 10th: Lord Holdner is to present his report on Venus tonight, at the Royal Geographic Society (1 Savile Row). The expedition to Venus returned a few weeks ago, having spent 2 years exploring the surface of that hot, humid world -- and he alone survived. His description of the so-called "Temple of the Sun" is expected to be the highlight of the evening -- but instead, Lord Holdner is murdered by a poisonous dart fired by a Venusian lizard-man! The lizard-man flees the building, towards St. James' Park, where he is apprehended by the brave Lt. Tolliver! The lizard-man is found to be marked with a tattoo of a turtle ...

 

Episode 78: The Gorilla Without, or, Any Port in a Storm

March 11, 1893

  

The next day Miss Pemberly-Waite recounts her adventures for a solicitor named Flenser, or rather for the benefit of his anonymous client. That evening, with Lt. Tolliver in hospital, recovering from the mauling he received at the hands (and jaws) of the lizard-man, our stalwart heroes gather to ponder their next course of action. Examining the facts of the case, they conclude that Hans Vortmann's brother is probably behind the Devil-Chicken, Lizard-man, Victrola, and Electro-phant attacks. A course of investigation is laid out.

  

Upon the following day, Miss Baker-Smythe, hoping to investigate the nature of the Devil-Chicken, visits the Zoological Society Garden in Regent Park, where she discovers the bird to have been ... um, abducted during the night! A watchman, found somehow mysteriously dazed and insensible, is awakened with the help of Miss Baker-Smythe's pharmaceutical knowledge, and describes a woman with long, flowing black hair as being one of the felons. Mr. Bartle-Phelps, arriving on the scene, uses his keenly-tuned hunter's skills to determine that a man -- and a woman -- escorted the Devil Chicken between them to a waiting carriage, sometime in the wee morning hours.

  

Miss Pemberly-Waite brings Lt. Tolliver back from St. Bartholomew's Hospital, placing him in a room at Holderness House on Park Lane.

  

Mr. Atherton, meanwhile, has been attempting to discover the fates and whereabouts of the remaining survivors of the Holdner Venusian Expedition. Of the three remaining members, two are apparently in England: Professor Milo Trimmer, a specialist in Venusian biology, resident at York; and Mr. Dennis Culverton, residing in London. Atherton makes contact with Culverton, who summons him to his home ...

 

Episode 79: Terror from the Second Planet, Part 1

March 1893

  

So far undocumented.

 

Episode 80: Terror from the Second Planet, Part 2

March 1893

  

So far undocumented.

 

Episode 81: Terror from the Second Planet, Part 3

March 1893

  

So far undocumented.

 

Episode 82: Terror from the Second Planet, Part 4

March 1893

  

So far undocumented.

 

Episode 83: The French Mistakes

April 1893

  

So far undocumented.

 

Episode 84: Gorilla My Dreams

April 1893

  

So far undocumented.

 

Episode 85: Rumours of War, or, An Oriental Mystery!

June 16, 1894

 

In the year that has passed since the last episode, some events of note have occured:

  

• The Irish Home Rule Bill was rejected by the House of Lords.

• The Japanese defeated China in a short war around Port Arthur (November 1893 - February 1894), at the end of which Japan took possession of Korea, Taiwan, and some other territories. Other nations took advantage of China's weakened state to establish more cantonments and treaty ports, as well.

• The Mauser firearms company begins sales of its own automatic pistol, to compete with the Borchardt.

• Anarchists have assassinated President Carnot of France.

• Commandant Esterhazy writes (in April 1894) the famous bordereau which reveals French military secrets to the Germans, and which will later be used as evidence against Captain Dreyfus.

• Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi develops a practical etheric signalling apparatus, producing and detecting Hertzian waves over short distances (a few kilometers).

• The Tower Bridge opens in London.

• A bulletproof vest is demonstrated to the British army in London by a German inventor, Dowe.

• Major military powers are experimenting with high-explosive shells, containing compounds such and lyddite and melinite; these still have a tendency to burst upon firing however.

  

Chun Li, a Chinese martial-artist converted to Christianity, arrives in England at the home of Miss Pemberly-Waite. He bears a message from her father, warning of plots and danger in China, fomented by various members of the Imperial court (notably Ling Fu Shan). As Commander Tolliver has been given command of the armed flyer HMS Elizabeth, she departs for China on the 18th, along with Chun Li. Other passengers aboard the Elizabeth include the American journalist Miss. Tennessee Morris; and the reknowned Major L. Holley of the Bengal Artillery.

  

Puzzled by the fragments of coal sent to her by her father, Miss Pemberly-Waite eventually determines them to be contaminated with a Venusian microbe of some sort -- a plague which gradually destroys the lifting power of liftwood!

  

During the voyage, news reaches the Squadron that an anarchist has killed President Carnot of France. The assassination was carried out in Lyon.

  

The British Aeronaval Squadron arrives at the China Station on July 5th. A meeting is immediately held by the Allied commanders, to consider their course of action. At the Hotel Metropole, an attempt is made on Miss Pemberly-Waite's life that afternoon; a Russian troublemaker Vladimiroff is suspected of complicity (having disguised himself as an English missionary), and is tracked to the "Twisted Whale" warehouse on the waterfront.

 

 

Episode 86: The Five of Wands

July 5 - 6, 1894

  

Our heroes break into the Twisted Whale, finding a few Chinese workers destroying shipping crates; also present are several dacoit guards, who fight fiercely (and perhaps as if drugged). The dacoits are slain, and one of the laborers is taken away, along with some shipping labels from the crates; the adventurers do not wish to explain how the battle came to be.

  

Upon later examination, the papers show many shipments from Western companies -- Mauser, Westinghouse, Mannlicher, Edison, Armstrong, United States Steel -- to China over the last six months or so. Most of these shipments were repacked at the Twisted Whale warehouse and sent onwards to T'ien-Chin (later known as Tientsin, now Tianjin).

  

In the meantime, however, the decision is made to rig the flyer "Elizabeth" as a kite (due to several members of her crew having Martian experience), and to send it down the coast for an investigation of the broken telegraph lines. Tragically, Mrs. Phipps is kidnapped by unknown persons from her hotel room, and another guest of the hotel is found murdered!

  

The efforts of the settlement police, and especially the sub rosa efforts of Chung Li, determine that Miss Phipps was taken away in a salt-wagon, along the road to T'ien-Chin. A detachment of the Settlement Mounted Constabulary (an irregular unit, mostly made up of Westerners with prior military experience) sets out to rescue her; our heroes accompany them.

  

At an unremarkable country villa halfway to T'ien-Chin early in the morning of the 6th, the wagon is discovered, and Mrs. Phipps rescued from a group of dacoits. The only one of her captors to survive is a Manchu, apparently the villa's keeper; he provides the disturbing fact that many other kidnapped persons have been moved by Ling Fu Shan's minions to Peking.

  

An attempt on Chung Li's life leads our heroes to the Taku home of Chin Fu, an old martial arts master who has been blackmailed into killing Miss Pemberly-Waite. He fails, filled with bullets by her friends; but declares his attack was not personal, but rather forced on him by Ling Fu Shan.

  

Reports are circulating in the press: "All the foreigners, including 400 soldiers, women and children, who held out at the Peking legations, till ammunition and food were exhausted, have been reported to have been killed." The truth of these reports is not too clear.

 

 

Episode 87: Trial By Fire

July 7, 1894

  

On the morning of July 7th the "Elizabeth" departs Taku, bound for Shanghai and Foochow; the journey to Shanghai is expected to take about 3 days, and to Foochow another day. A dozen American marines, commanded by a sergeant, are put aboard to protect the vessel (they cannot yet take part in offensive actions against Chinese forces).

  

On July 9th, General Nieh, commanding the Imperial troops at Tientsin, is killed in combat; there are reports that he deliberately led a hopeless attack.

  

Arriving at Foochow on the 10th of July, a number of European gunboats and cargo ships are seen at the river mouth; also, there are signs of an attack on the telegraph station, near the shore. Upon landing, our heroes learn that a half-dozen pirate junks attacked the station on the night of the 5th, killed several of the staff, and cut the submarine cables! The pirates tried to drag the cables away into the ocean, but dawn came before they got too far. Western gunboats sank 4 of the 6 junks.

  

One of the cables has been retrieved, and is expected to be back in service the next day (July 11th); it is the Eastern Telegraph Company line south to Hong Kong. The "Elizabeth" is to remain overnight at Foochow, to transmit her cargo of war dispatches if the line is truly working in the morning.

  

However, after midnight, a force of a dozen or so Boxers land -- via large kites! -- on the deck of the Elizabeth by stealth, and attempt to destroy the vessel. They are unable to force their way to the bridge, and Captain Tolliver finds and pitches overboard the infernal device they had placed aboard. One of them is made prisoner, and is forced to tell what he knows (he was recruited in Foochow, at a secret Boxer temple in the town, a week or so ago).

  

In the morning of July 11th, the engineer of the Elizabeth informs the captain that the liftwood is losing its efficacy faster than before. Miss Pemberly-Waite does some calculations that indicate the vessel has at most four days before it cannot remain above even the ocean surface. The submarine cable to Hong Kong is put back in service at dawn, also, after Herculean efforts by the employees of the telegraph companies. Several encrypted messages are received for Western diplomats and commanders at Taku and Tientsin (and in Peking, for that matter); along with more general news.

 

One news item of note: the German "East Asia Brigade" was warned of the Liftwood Rot menace in time to avoid coaling in Turkey, and has returned to Germany for the moment. French infantry and artillery units are sailing up the Chinese coast, bound for Taku; in fact they passed by Foochow on the 7th. Forces from India should reach China about July 27th. The United States government has joined the hostilities against China as of the 10th; many of the coded messages are for the American ships and troops in China.

 

Episode 88: To Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory!

July 11th-13th, 1894

  

The Elizabeth travels back to Taku, propelled by the strong southern winds, and arrives just after sunset. They learn that Vice-Admiral Seymour has rejoined his squadron afloat, leaving Captain Bayly as senior British naval officer at the coast. Brigadier-General Dorward is now in overall command of the British forces; he and the other national commanders (now including the Americans) are planning for the final attack on Tientsin early on the 13th. Russia, Japan, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Britain (including the colonies), Belgium and Siam are all contributing troops. The French contingent is much enlarged today by the arrival at Taku of the troops from Indochina (3 battalions of infantry, and 2 mountain gun batteries)

  

Also, the Chinese "jail keeper" captured on the 6th has informed the Allies that he -- and probably all of Ling Fu Shan's minions -- have strict orders to slay their captives rather than let them escape or be rescued. He knows that there is a place in the "native" city of Tientsin where the hostages are kept; with the help of an engineer, Herbert Hoover, a cistern within Tientsin is chosen as the likeliest location of Ling Fu Shan's "prison".

  

During the 12th, the newly-arrived French forces are moved inland to join with the forces facing Tientsin; and the American Marines are now allowed to take full part in the attack, as well. When the Japanese forces are approached for information, they offer troops (led by Lt. Fujima) and an intelligence agent (nicknamed Toukon). Also, the British commanders learn (in the coded dispatches brought by the Elizabeth from Foochow) that the orbital heliograph station "Harbinger" went suddenly silent on the 10th. The British government is "beginning an immediate investigation", probably involving the aether battleship Duke of York.

  

Thus early in the morning of the 13th, nearly a hundred Japanese troops, Toukon, Major Holley in his Pneumatic Suit, and all of the other heroes are silently (more or less) lowered into a back street of Tientsin by the Elizabeth. The cistern building is easily located and broken into; the Boxer guards quickly slaughtered, and the prisoners freed; but Ling Fu Shan has a deathtrap prepared! Plus, tens of thousands of Boxer troops are now alerted to our heroes presence in the middle of the town! And, one of the rescued prisoners is Prof. Olsza, who was forced to construct a small aether drive for the chinese; another, an Italian scientist, provided them with the design for an enormous Heat Ray, which focuses the power of the sun's rays. Note also that the orbital heliograph station is already equipped with a set of mirrors nearly one hundred feet in diameter, capable (in Olsza's words) of "creating a beam of ravening energy which can tear a battleship to atoms!" Note also that the heliograph is in the Earth's shadow from 7:30 am to 8:30 am, China coastal time.

  

Major Holley, in the Pneumatic Suit, begins a brave attempt to clear the blocked drain leading from the cistern to the river outside the walls ...

  

The rescued prisoners are: Professor Olsza, Dr. Oritanno (an Italian expert on optics), Mr. Ericsson (an American inventor famous for creating automata), Prof. Suirigaku (a Japanese armaments designer), and Dr. Lenoire (a French physicist). Each of them has one or more loved ones in the clutches of Ling Fu Shan!

 

Episode 89: Icarus or Daedalus?

July 13th, 1894

  

After Major Holley clears the drain from the cistern to the river, rushing water carries him down to the drain's outlet. Forcing his way through the bars, he wades onto the embankment, under the guns of the Boxers. His companions arrive soon after, leaving the Japanese troops to cover their departure.

  

By 4 a.m., our Intrepid Heroes and the rescued hostages are deposited by a couple of Austrian junks onto the wharves of the European settlement. After sending the ill and wounded to a hospital, they travel to General Dorward's headquarters nearby, and inform him of the threat posed to the Duke of York and indeed, to all interplanetary travel, by Ling Fu Shan's schemes. He re-emphasizes to Captain Tolliver the orders given earliar by Admiral Seymour -- foil the Chinese plots, and put an end to the evil governor.

  

Over the next few hours, a spacecraft is jury-rigged from an Italian observation ballon, two Siebe-Gorman diving suits (and parts of a third), parts from a distillery, several large lead-acid batteries, some liftwood from the Elizabeth, and a breadboarded aether drive. Just after dawn, the balloon lifts rapidly off, carrying Major Holley and Coung Li in Impervious Suits; Miss Pemberley-Waite and Captain Tolliver in modified Mk 5 diving suits, and Miss Morris and Mr. Phipps in a sort of "melange" suit. Upon reaching 25,000 feet altitude, they engage the aether drive, and quickly enter the vacuum of space (where the balloon's envelope immediately bursts). Traveling around the planet and up to the heliograph station's altitude takes half an hour or so; the station is briefly sighted just as it slips into the Earth's shadow.

 

Sadly, debris from the Duke of York is floating about the station. Coming up behind the station, the adventurers enter an air lock, and begin the crude, bloody task of re-taking the station. Nearly 20 Boxers are aboard, having been brought up 3 or 4 days ago by a Chinese zeppelin. Captain Tolliver is badly wounded, as is Miss Pemberley-Waite; but the hostages are freed before the Boxers can destroy them.

  

There is no sign of the Chinese zeppelin ...

 

Episode 90: Re-entry

July 13th, 1894

  

The staff of the heliograph station begin the process of repairing the mirrors; and within half a day contact is re-established with London. Great interest is shown in the contents of a magazine dedicated to inventions: the February 1894 issue of Science and Invention.

  

An aether tug, the Goliath, quickly arrives with Marines, doctors, and the like; the prisoners, and our heroes, return to Earth aboard the same vessel, arriving mid-day at the Greenwich naval field.

  

After a quick brush-up, the adventurers are taken in carriages to London. On the way, they read the day's newspaper accounts (morning papers of July 14th) of the loss of the Duke of York. Arriving at the War Office on Pall Mall, they enter to find themselves being presented to the War Cabinet: Mr. Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Secretary of State for War, a genial Scotsman apparently interested in the heroes' success; Earl Spencer, the First Lord of the Admiralty, with a long, red beard; Admiral Sir Frederick Richards, First Sea Lord; the Duke of Cambridge, commander-in-chief of the Army; and numerous other great men of the Empire, and their attaches, secretaries, adjutants, and orderly officers.

  

After briefing the War Cabinet on the progress of the war in China, the menace presented by Ling Fu Shan, and the plans for an Allied expedition to relieve Peking, our heroes wait while discussions occur. Admiral Richards remarks (in regards to the heat ray attack on the Duke of York, and the submarine behemoth), "... the whole British fleet has been morally scrapped and labeled obsolete at the moment when it was at the zenith of its efficiency and equal to practically all the other navies of the solar system combined." To which Earl Spencer replies, "More ships, but ships of all sizes; it is squadrons we need in space, not just aether-battleships. The Duke of York was lost on a mission fit for a sloop; and large numbers of aerial fliers can make short work of this Oriental behemoth." The Duke of Cambridge, entirely unable to comprehend technical matters, does contribute, "There is a time for everything, and the time for change is when you can no longer help it." Later, Campbell-Bannerman remarks that, "We must strongly request that our allies refrain from methods of barbarism; the Japanese, Russians, and Germans are set on breaking China by terror."

  

The cabinet provides Commander Tolliver with dispatches for General Gaselee, and informs him that he is to return in the morning to China, charged again with bringing Ling Fu Shan to justice, or at least to an end. Our heroes are congratulated, and sent over to the Grosvenor Hotel for a well-deserved rest -- although some of them rush about London gathering equipment.

  

On the morning of July 15th, the Goliath lifts off from Greenwich again, now bearing weapons of war, specialists for the armies in China, and the adventurers. A Japanese diplomat is also aboard the aether tug, bearing a copy of the newly-signed treaty which ends special consular status for Britain in Japan.

  

After a quick jaunt through space, the Goliath depostis two Armstrong steam juggernauts, a velocipede gun-carrier, a French canon automobile, two aerial scout fliers, two personal conveyors, some supplies, and several dozen people quickly on the ground at Tientsin; it rapidly returns to space, to avoid the "liftwood rot". The adventurers quickly are taken to meet General Gaselee and the other Allied commanders; there is much discussion of the Chinese submarine behemoth. Miss Pemberly-Waite sets up her ether-detectors in an attempt to locate Ling Fu Shan.

  

The city of Tientsin has been looted and burned by the Allies; bodies still lie in the streets, and the river is choked with corpses. Some 750 Allied soldiers were lost in the attack; thousands of Chinese were killed. The weather is intolerably hot and dusty.

  

During the next day (July 16th) Commander Tolliver organizes his crews for the scout fliers; Miss Pemberly-Waite locates an aether signal coming from near Peking; and plans are made to bring hope to the besieged legations. At sunset, the two scout-fliers take off, bearing Major Holley in a suit of Pneumatic Armor, along with the adventurers, and half a dozen or so sailors; all bound for Peking!

  

Episode 91: Angels on High

July 17th, 1894

  

Just after midnight, the two scout fliers descending into the Legation district of Peking, to a joyous reception. After reassuring the besieged  inhabitants that at least two scout flier-loads of women and children would be rescued, one of the fliers proceeded towards the Ming Palace, some twenty miles northwest of Peking. There, the adventurers destroyed a large zeppelin-hangar by dropping kerosene bottles with burning wicks onto it. The hangar seems to have been the place where the Submarine Dreadnought was seen by some of Ling Fu Shan's minions.

  

Further etheric waves were detected emanating from the Kinghan Mountains, further to the northwest -- these mountains separate China from Mongolia; the Gobi Desert lies beyond them. The trip of 150 miles took about 8 hours; in the morning the flier found itself among river gorges and forested cliffs. A hidden cave was detected and attacked; it proved to be a secret airship-lair for Ling Fu Shan's forces; many of those forces seem to be dressed as troops of the Imperial household guards, well-trained and equipped. They were supported by mechanical scorpions, a most fearsome beast. The zeppelin "Moon of Retribution" arrives, but the superior agility of the scout flier soon makes the zeppelin a helpless hulk. The flier attempts to tow the zeppelin back towards Peking, but the damage done to the Chinese airship during the capture causes it to descend steadily. Eventually, the British set it afire within sight of Peking.

  

The scout flier again descends to the Legations, just after midnight, with a couple of prisoners aboard.

  

Episode 92: Women and Children First

July 18th, 1894

  

Arriving again on the grounds of the British Mission, Commander Tolliver begins ferrying more of the Europeans out to the advancing Allied forces. Women, children and the wounded are given priority. Most of the ferry flights are undertaken at night, when there is less chance of being shot down by the Chinese; in theory, all 600 or so of the Europeans could be removed in four or five days. However, the defenders will not agree to leave the thousands of Chinese Christians within the Legations behind to face the Boxers; and removing all of them would take over a month.

  

The Scout Flier crew reports on the 27th that a number of European captives are being held within the Forbidden City -- they have been seen signalling to the flier. A rescue mission is mounted on the 30th, as the New Moon makes it unlikely a scout flier will be seen in the sky. However, the captives are revealed to be the bait for a trap by Ling Fu Shan -- a cannon is hidden within the compound housing them, and Chinese troops are present in numbers! Despite all these problems, and a terrifying Scorpion Automaton, the captives are all rescued.

  

Episode 93: What Lies Below?

August 4th, 1894

  

Rumours have been reaching the Legations in Peking of secret tunnels being mined under the defensive lines. By a combination of scientific acumen and courage, two of these tunnels are destroyed by Our Heroes; but one remains. By August 12th, the Allied relief force is but fourteen miles from Peking; but the Chinese begin a great final assault on the legations (and on the Peitang Cathedral). A terrific thunderstorm breaks over the city that same night, making flights by the Scout Fliers difficult.

  

The secret tunnel dug by the Chinese is used by some of Li Fu Shan's men to release a strange, narcotic vapor near the northwest corner of the British Legation. A number of Chinese troops in gas masks emerge; but Major Holley in his Pneumatic Suit is easily able to deal with them.

  

Imperial regulars armed with modern carbines poured into the streets nearby the next day, reinforcing the Boxers. In the evening's dim light the defenders saw a modern gun being mounted high up on the Forbidden City wall for the first time. The gun, a 2" quick-firing Krupp, does more damage in ten minutes than all the enemy's smooth-bores have achieved in five weeks; it is fortunately silenced by the defenders' small arms. Another underground mine is found at the Peitang Cathedral.

  

All of the defenders were at the barricades, under heavy and deafening fire (including rockets). A great final assault by the Chinese, along the Jade River, was repulsed at the cost of the Pneumatic Suit. Any further attacks might well have carried the Legations; but the Chinese retreat, and the distant sound of the Relief Expedition's guns can be heard.

  

By mid-day on the 14th, Allied troops enter Peking. The final casualty toll in the Legations: 66 Europeans killed, 150 wounded (no count was made of the number of Christian Chinese killed).

  

The next day, American forces batter their way into the Forbidden City, but are ordered to pull back by General Gaselee. The Emperor, Dowager Empress, and the Court are discovered to have fled. Japanese troops reach the Peitang this day also.

  

As military operations continue, pursuing and punishing the Boxers, Peking is looted by the Allied armies. For the next several months, Chinese cities are captured, and (if resisting) burned by the Allies. Large numbers of officials and leading Boxers are executed. A new military commander, Field Marshal von Waldersee, arrives in October. By September of 1895, a peace treaty is signed; while not part of the peace treaty, the Allies insist as a preliminary that various Imperial officials must be punished for their part in the Rebellion.

  

Thus, among the officials executed in early 1895 was the Governor of Honan Province, Ling Fu Shan. The Empress Dowager decreed that he should be crushed by an elephant, under an iron plate; but there are some who say that the man crushed in Peking was not in fact Ling Fu Shan ...

  

Commander Tolliver is eventually awarded the Distinguished Service Order, and the China Medal (with clasps for Relief of Pekin and Defense of Legations -- a combination of clasps which only he and the crews of his Scout Flyers share!).

  

An Interval of Peace

summer 1894 - winter 1896

 

• In South Africa, the British annex territory connecting Cape Colony with Natal.
• Summer, 1894: a bubonic plague epidemic breaks out in China, and kills tens of thousands of persons over the next several years. French and Japanese bacteriologists identify the plague bacterium this year, also.
• Sir Oliver Lodge and Dr Alexander Muirhead claim to have sent a 'wireless' signal between two Oxford buildings. Sir Oliver develops a more efficient way of picking up these electo-magnetic signals using the 'Branley coherer'.

  

Our intrepid travelers returned to London after the siege in China. Arriving in October of 1894, they relax into a lovely holiday season.

  

• October 15th, 1894: A French intelligence officer, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, is accused of treason. By December he has been convicted and sent to Devil's Island.

  

Miss Tennessee Morris and Mr. And Mrs. Phipps return to the United States to delve into the underworld of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Miss Morris’ clear expertise in the Oriental mindset brings her praise from readers and editors alike.

  

• November 2, 1894: Czar Alexander III of Russia dies; he is succeeded by his son Nicholas II.

  

Coung Li returns to London with the Permberley-Waites. He continues his duties in protecting Miss Pemberley-Waite and is known to help her in her workshop from time to time. The Honorable Mr. Forrest Pemberley-Waite returns to China in early 1895 and has promised to send back any word that he might hear about Ling Fu Shan.

  

• February 14, 1895: Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest" is first performed for the public at the St. James' Theatre in London.
• March, 1895: Italian forces advance into Ethiopia.
• April 6th, 1895: Oscar Wilde is arrested after losing his libel suit against the Marquess of Queensbury.
• April 17th, 1895: China agrees to the Treaty of Shimonoseki, recognizing the independence of Korea, ceding Taiwan and other islands to Japan and opens further ports to Western traders.

  

Miss Baker-Smythe continues with her researches into the properties of liftwood and the Venusian liftwood plague. Can it be killed? Can it be reproduced?

  

Commander Tolliver rests up a bit and fully recovers from his wounds. Praise from the Hon. Mr. Pemberley-Waite and other members of the diplomatic missions brings him great rewards in fame and opportunities to travel to places with plumbing; and in 1895, a promotion to the rank of Captain.

  

Mr. and Mrs. Pemberley-Waite returned to London with Miss Pemberley-Waite and the other junior Pemberley-Waites. Any number of balls and parties followed their return. In September 1895, to Mrs. Pemberley-Waite’s obvious relief ("at last!" she tells her friends), Violet’s engagement to a Captain Thomas Oliver Young, RN, (Tolly to his friends) a dashing airship captain and only son of the aging Admiral Horatio Young (ret, 1877). All the PCs were invited to the wedding (November 11, 1895) and attended as were able, along with the Olszas, and various friends of the families in the Naval and diplomatic service.

  

After a brief honeymoon in Paris (where a puzzled husband might remark on how often the constables comment about the positive state of the sewers since his wife's last visit), Mrs. Young retires to her workshop to continue her work on Hertzian communicators. Her new connections allow her to gain the assistance of the HMS Celeste in orbit around Mercury in some of her ethereal communication experiments. Admiral Young is also able to secure for her the services of his old Master Chief Petty Officer, Henry Dobbs, who is a naval expert in steam and ether engine mechanics.

 

• Summer, 1895: Wilhelm Roentgen invents the first successful X-ray machine.

• August 19th, 1895: John Wesley Hardin is shot in the back and killed by a policeman in El Paso.

• Summer, 1895: insurrection breaks out in Cuba after promised reforms fail to materialize.

  

Mr. Jonas Atherton has spent the past two years on an engineering project on Ganymede. By the end of 1895, he is on his way back to Earth by way of Mars. He arrives on Mars February 17, 1896 and awaits the arrival of the passenger liner Pristine, due March 15 on her regular run between London and Syrtis Major, for his trip back to Earth.

  

Major Holley, having shown the true efficacy of his suit begins production of a few under contract with the Army. After seeing some service in the Chitral campaign, in November of 1895 he heads off to Africa to wrestle hippos and test a few new gadgets he has added to the Holley Pneumatic Suit. (Ladies rejoice: the Holley Suit – so wholesome for Britain’s best! Major Holley attests, "I have never been able to do anything unwholesome in this suit.") Mr. Bartle-Phelps accompanies Holley on his trip. In the summer and fall of 1896, Holley is serving as an intelligence-officer under General Sir Reginald Wingate, as part of General Kitchener's expedition against the Mahdists; and is still with that force, headed for the Sudan, at the start of 1897. Also serving (very irregularly) in Kitchener's expedition: Brigadier-General Sir Harry Flashman, VC, KCB, KCIE, KLH. 

 

• December 7, 1895: Italian forces are defeated by the Ethiopians at Amba Alagi.

• December 28th, 1895: the Lumiere brothers reveal their Cinematograph, projecting moving pictures in the basement of a Parisian cafe.

• December 29, 1895: the abortive Jameson Raid is launched, in an attempt to foment a revolution in the Transvaal against the Boer government. By January 2nd of 1896, Dr. Jameson is in jail.

• February 11th, 1896: Oscar Wilde's play "Salome" is first presented to the public in Paris.

• March 12th, 1896: the British begin the reconquest of the Sudan.

• April 6th, 1896: the opening ceremonies of the first modern Olympic games, held in Athens.

• Summer, 1896: Marconi comes to London and registers his patent on wireless telegraphy. He demonstrated transmission and reception on Salisbury plain using an aerial developed by the Russian Prof. Alexander Popoff; Captain H. B. Jackson was present along with the chief engineer of the General Post Office and also representatives of the British Army.

• July 22nd, 1896: Princess Maud, daughter of the Prince of Wales, marries Prince Carl of Denmark at Buckingham Palace.

• August 17th, 1896: gold is discovered at Bonanza Creek, Klondike, Yukon Territory, sparking a gold rush.

• August 27th, 1896: Britain and Zanzibar are at war for 38 minutes this morning.

  

In September 1896, Governor Joseph Arbuthnot-Stout returns from Mercury so that his wife can attend her ailing father's bedside. Arbuthnot-Stout is known to comment that he is there to "attend the old boy’s funeral." Mrs. Arbuthnot-Stout also attends the International Womens' Congress in Paris.

 

September 20, 1896 the Youngs have a baby. The Arbuthnot-Stouts stand as godparents at the baptism of Horatio Forrest Edward Young on November 3rd, 1896. Arbuthnot-Stout's father-in-law (General Sykes-Chiffingdon) dies in late December. "Best Christmas gift I ever got!" The Governor quickly hops a ship to Mercury after that, his wife having determined to stay with her mother during this trying time -- and to become more active in the suffragism movement.

 

• October 28th, 1896: the Italian protectorate of Ethiopia is cancelled.

• November, 1896: the Brazilian government begins a military campaign against the mystical-monarchist-communist followers of Antonio Conselheiro. He leads a city of some 30,000 former slaves, escaped peasants, and other members of the lowest classes, in the semi-arid parts of the Bahia province. The first three attacks on the Conselhistas (November 21st; January 6th and March 6th of 1897) are repulsed by the spear-, axe-, and machete-armed rebels.

• November 3rd, 1896: William McKinley, an Ohio Republican, is elected President of the United States (will be sworn into office next March). His opponent was William Jennings Bryan

  

Captain Young is assigned to the HMS Georgiana in orbit around Mars and takes ship for Mars on the Pristine Boxing Day (December 26th) 1896. Word is sent ahead by heliograph telling of the imminent arrival of Capt. T. Oliver Young. On his arrival, March 15, he is shot dead in broad daylight by a Belgian from the consulate – M. Fouchard.

 

 

The Rescue of Mrs. Young

 

Episode 94: A Wedding, a Baptism, and a Funeral

March 15, 1897

 

The unprovoked attack on Capt. Young causes much consternation:

 

• “Captain Young sounds nothing like Captain Tolliver, is Fouchard daft?” 

• “I believe they read Captain T. Oliver Young, sir” 

• “Well, and why did he want to shoot Captain Tolliver? It’s all very uncivilized.”

  

The Hon. Mr. Pemberley-Waite and Admiral Young are incensed. Pemberley-Waite returns immediately to London. Editorials call for Britain to end the guarantee of Belgian neutrality or to go directly to war with the perfidious Belgians.

 

Native Martians working in the British consulate overhear that Captain Young was the husband of that "Pemberley-Waite woman who was here a few years ago. The blonde lady-scientist, wasn’t she?" The news that this was the husband of the golden-haired red woman: bringer of fire, destroyer of cities, bare-handed killer of 1,000 Martians, she who renders the worm still in the earth, queen of the Hill Martians, avenger of the purple fire, eater of the ancient one, etc., sparks riots which last into May. Martians tear down the Belgian consulate buildings in Syrtis Major and massacre the inhabitants.

 

The Governor-General, seeking to quell the riots, sends the body back to Earth, since the Martians refuse to have it buried there ("What is this nonsense about it turning into an ice worm?") and aren't really thrilled at the thought of having it floating in space around their planet. The Pristine sets out (without fully loading its regular cargo) to Earth with the body. Mr. Atherton embarks on March 17 with a large number of Britons who want to escape the rioting. He is shocked to discover in the course of the journey that this dead fellow was actually the husband of Miss Pemberley-Waite!

 

The Governor-General of Syrtis Major has to variously promise to bring back Mrs. Young, or to prevent her from ever returning, to quell the riots. Notes in dispatches request more detail about Mrs. Young's travels on Mars.

 

• April-May, 1897: Greece and Turkey fight a brief war.

• May 19th, 1897: Oscar Wilde is released from prison.

 

The Queen speaks sternly to the Belgian foreign minister, Baron Solvyns. Belgium falls over itself to apologize. It is arranged that Admiral and Mrs. Young will go to Belgium to receive a formal apology after the funeral. The funeral occurs on June 6th, one day after the Pristine arrives back in London. Characters present include Mrs. Young, her father-in-law Admiral Young, Coung Li, Mr. Atherton, Lord Holdernesse, Miss Baker-Smythe, and Captain Tolliver.

 

On June 15, 1897 the Youngs board the Olsza's private air yacht the Gryphon. Professor Olsza and his daughter come along as friends to Violet. Professor Olsza looks forward to showing off the improvements in speed he has been able to achieve with a few modifications to the engines. Mr. and Mrs. Pemberley-Waite and a few more diplomats follow in the aerial flier Hildegarde. En route, the Gryphon disappears into clear skies over Belgium. Further diplomatic mayhem ensues. Some very strongly worded editorials appear in the London dailies.

 

Belgium commits all resources to finding the Gryphon (or the bodies of the passengers and crew).

 

June 18: a disconsolate Coung Li, monitoring his mistress' equipment along with Master Chief Dobbs, hears the tap-tap-tap of Morse code. He gets the partial message "ADM AND MRS YOUNG ... KIDNAPPED ... EN ROUTE TO MANAOS ... TORGO." "Where the bloody hell is Manaos, Torgo?" asks the Chief. Mr. Pemberley-Waite promises Coung Li a raise. "Well, done, old chap."

 

June 19: HMS Celeste sends back the text of the full message from the Mercury orbit – what a feat of engineering! "SEND HELP ADM AND MRS YOUNG ON GRYPHON KIDNAPPED EN ROUTE TO MANAOS BEWARE TORGO". Governor Arbuthnot-Stout, as a post-script, demands to know what is going on with those Belgies.

 

June 20: Mr. Pemberley-Waite receives assurances that everything possible will be done; messages to that effect are sent to the Admiralty. Mr. Pemberley-Waite requests the services of Captain Tolliver by name. Coung Li, Master Chief Dobbs, and the communications equipment are put at Tolliver’s disposal. Lord Holdernesse sends a note around to Pemberley-Waite offering any and all assistance. The Foreign Office suggests the services of Mr. Jonathan Verzeiger as being a useful person for delicate investigations. Pemberley-Waite agrees to hire Verzeiger. Tolliver calls around to Mr. Atherton to ask if he’ll come along.

 

The Government is able to secure berths for the group on the private aerial flier Halcyon, owned and captained by Jules Franck, an American. The Halcyon is headed to Lima, Peru with some of Franck’s friends, but Franck is happy to take the party to Georgetown, the capital of British Guiana, if it means that the British Crown will pay for fuel. With 20 cabins, the Halcyon has ample room for everyone and their equipment.

 

During the ensuing investigation in London, some facts come to light:

 

• Miss Baker-Smythe finds some plants in Torgo's quarters. In interviewing some botanists she knows, she finds that he is an "importer" for many scientists.

• Captain Tolliver meets with Baron Solvyns (the Belgian foreign minister); apparently the accounts of a massacre on Mars were overstated by the press (surely not).

• Count Schouvaloff tells Tolliver that Torgo had done some satisfactory work for his brother while in Panama, which is why the Count recommended him to Olsza.

• Coung Li notices that all of the Olszas' notebooks are missing. He deduces that the Olsza Engine actually moves the whole ship entirely into the aether!

 

Tuesday, June 22nd: the Diamond Jubilee begins in London; 50,000 troops from every part of the Empire, heads of state from all over the Earth and Mars, and almost all the aristocracy of Britain take part in a procession honoring Queen Victoria. For the next week or so, many grand entertainments and displays take place in and around London.

 

Wednesday, June 23rd: Mr. Atherton travels to Edinburgh, to speak with the wife of Angus MacKenzie, a skilled aetherics engineer. She reveals that he is in Manaos, working for a German firm of agriculturalists (presumably rubber planters, but one never knows), on a project not apparently connected to his knowledge of the aether.

 

Thursday, June 24th: Mr. Atherton returns to London; that evening he and some other members of Lord Holdernesse's expedition have a scuffle at the docks near Wapping Street.

 

Saturday, June 26th: the aerial flier Halcyon departs from the Greenwich landing-ground, bound for British Guiana. That same day, during the international naval review at Spithead, Charles Parsons' turbine-powered boat Turbinia romps through the anchored fleets with breathtaking speed (34 knots) and agility in a dramatic demonstration of technology.

 

NPCs mentioned:

 

• Count Schouvaloff is the Russian Foreign Minister in London.

• Baron Solvyns is the Belgian Foreign Minister in London.

• Master Chief Henry Dobbs served with Adm. Young before the admiral retired. Dobbs is considered one of the Navy’s best ether and steam engineers.

• Torgo is a mysterious character of some native persuasion. He is around five feet tall, has black hair, brown eyes, and a swarthy complexion. He is the Olsza’s lab assistant.

• Admiral Horatio Young, RN, Ret. is Mrs. Young’s father-in-law. He is an elderly man (he retired in 1877) and a doting grandfather to young Horatio.

• Angus Mackenzie is an ethericist and engineer working in South America for some biologists named Graebel. Mr. Mackenzie has a rather unpleasant wife.

 

On the Gryphon:

 

• Adm. Horatio Young

• Mrs. Young

• Mrs. Parker, a nurse, and baby Young

• Miss Catherine Olsza

• Professor Olsza

• Sir Reginald Chadworth, a diplomat in Her Majesty’s service

• Adm. Steven Harper, a representative of the Royal Navy

 

Investigations reveal:

 

• Count Schouvaloff’s brother hired Torgo to do some work in Panama, which is why the Count suggested Torgo to the Olszas.

• Torgo is a South American of some native flavor and is helpful in acquiring unusual plants.

• Baron Solvyns reveals that the press accounts of a massacre on Mars may be a bit overstated and hints that it is likely that M. Fouchard may still be alive.

 

Episode 95: Halcyon Days

 

NPCs mentioned:

 

The crew of the Halcyon:

 

• Capt. Jules Franck, Owner

• First Mate John Lipton

• Second Mate Fred Simpson

• Engineer Ian Maguire

 

Friends of Capt. Franck:

 

• Mr. Karl Danzig of Danzig Gumme & Rubber, Berlin & Bombay

• Mr. Dieter Kragen of Kragen Hydromotiv, Hamburg

• Mr. Bart O’Shea, O’Shea Import & Export, Dublin

• Mr. Peter Weber, Pinkerton Security, New York

• Mr. Jason Gold of Gold & Sons, Ltd., Corpus Christi

• Mr. Robert Jenkins of Winchester Co., San Francisco

• Mr. Albert Hoover of Hoover Engines and Steam, Chicago

• Mr. Robert McHenry of MacTavish, McKinley & McHenry Machine, Edinburgh

 

Investigations reveal:

 

• Robert McHenry, an engineer and partner of MacTavish, McKinley, & McHenry Machine Co. (3M Machine) who the party met on the Halcyon, is the actual employer of Angus Mackenzie. The Graebels have a five year extendable contract with 3M Machine for Mackenzie’s services. The contract was initially proposed in late 1892 and finalized in early 1893. Mackenzie and the Graebels have been abroad since April 1893. As far as McHenry knows, the Graebels have Mackenzie working on machinery that will allow them to grow plants in the ether. (McHenry: “Can’t be done, of course, but some people just won’t be swayed from trying a thing. A fool and his money, you know…”)

• After Georgetown, the Halcyon is bound for Caracas, Venezuela to pick up Mr. Gold’s brother, Perseus, and then for Lima for a demonstration by a new armaments company.

 

Episode 96: Pick a Peek at a Perky Porpoise

July 2, 1897

  

During the trans-Atlantic voyage on the Halcyon, there is some suspicion of Captain Franck and his friends. They claim to be visiting Lima to sell armaments, and will be picking up another passenger in Caracas, Venezuela (thus not passing over Manaos).

 

On the 2nd of July, our heroes land at Georgetown, taking rooms at the Meridian Hotel on Main Street. Passage to Manaos aboard the steamer SS Mariposa is arranged, with the ship departing on July 4th. The Governor invites the party for dinner the first night in the colony; much interest is taken in the discoveries by "Pip" Barnes, a local aerial flier. Mr. Barnes believes that aetheric-magnetic disturbances centered on Manaos have been spreading out since mid-June, and soon will reach the coast.

 

After returning to their rooms in the evening, our heroes discover that their possessions have been rifled -- with much hullabaloo and excitement most of the burglars are apprehended. They claim to have been hired by "Hans" two days ago (June 30th) ... warnings about the strange aether disturbances are wired back to Britain.

 

NPCs mentioned:

 

• James “Pip” Barnes is an aerial pilot of some skill and daring.

• Mr. Hans is a mysterious German who ordered a burglary of the rooms of the people off the Halcyon. He was looking for machine plans.

• Francoise is the very friendly proprietor of the Perky Porpoise Pub.

• Capt. Enrique Escobar is the captain of the liner Mariposa, the ship upon which the Georgetown governor’s office has secured berths for the party.

• Mr. Inacio Ramirez is a middle aged businessman and regular passenger on the Mariposa. He mistakes Capt. Tolliver’s stateroom for his own.

• Mr. Escobar owns and runs Hotel Isabella.

• Mr. Doyle is the party’s contact in Manaos and holds their line of credit through the Admiralty.

 

Investigations reveal:

 

• Pip Barnes describes an area of ethereal disturbance (diameter roughly 1200 mi.) that is centered around Manaos. There are anecdotes of minor disturbances for some months. The field grew abruptly stronger June 14, and has been growing steadily larger since then.

• There is no sign of Mr. Hans at the Perky Porpoise.

• Capt. Escobar recommends the Hotel Isabella in Manaos. He also offers the services of his cousin, Jesus Escobar, should the party need the services of a riverboat captain.

• The portable ether detector (not the monstrous Hertzian Communicator) points north.

 

Episode 97: Making Merry in Manaos

July 4, 1897

 

The Mariposa departs the morning of July 4th; at a speed of 12 knots the vessel will arrive in Manaos after nearly 6 days, in the evening of the 10th ...

 

NPCs mentioned:

 

• Mr. George Herbert is the vicar at St. George’s Anglican Church.

• Tomaas is the pistolero hired to protect Mr. Verzeiger.

• Prof. Nicolas Borowitz is a zoologist in the pay of a Russian patron, to whom he occasionally sends new and exotic animals.

• Wu Ching runs the only Chinese laundry in Manaos.

• Martim and Josué are brothers who take easy offence to insults to their sister, Maria.

 

Investigations reveal:

 

• Professor Melchior Graebel is a zoologist, and while he certainly has rubber (who doesn’t?) it is not his main line of revenue. His most recent papers have been about snakes and spiders.

• Nicholas Borowitz knows Graebel and where to find his lab. At some point Borowitz and Graebel had some sort of falling out that may have been family related.

• It is not known where the Graebel labs and land are located. No one in town has ever been to visit. When Mackenzie comes into town for supplies every two months he comes on foot (and therefore presumably from the north/northeast, since the south and west are cut off by the Amazon and Negro rivers) with his train of coolies. They carry all supplies and machinery with them out into the jungle. Mackenzie is due in Manaos soon. He is known to get all sorts of random supplies: Swiss watchmakers’ supplies, copper tubing from Germany, even an ether propeller.

• No coolies have ever left the service of Torgo alive.

• Ramirez owed a favor to Torgo, who cured Ramirez’ only daughter of some sort of disease five years ago. The sign of Torgo is the spider.

 

Episode 98: Coolie Carnage!

July 12, 1897

 

Our Heroes decide to make the trek to Spider Mansion, deep in the jungle. It's a four day trek, usually; but they have young Borowitz to guide them.  After a day or so of gathering supplies, and hiring coolies, the adventurers depart northwards from Manaos.  Tomaas Carniero joins us, as he is sworn to avenge Mr. Verzeiger's death.

 

The expedition consists of:

 

• Lord Holdernesse

• Miss Baker-Smythe

• Tomaas Carniero

• Captain Tolliver

• Jonas Atherton

• Nicholas Borowitz

• Chief Dobbs

• Robin Hale

• Coung Li

• 14 coolies

  

On the second day, an anaconda drops on the unfortunate Borowitz, but it is turned into dinner. Borowitz suffers some injuries, and is carried from that point on in a litter. That night, he vanishes mysteriously from the camp, replaced by a heavy golden idol depicting a leopard.

 

The next day, Atherton feels unhealthy and a bit "off". In the night, he too disappears, replaced by a young native boy and a (live, real) leopard. The young boy seems unsurprised, and reveals casually in conversation that morning that the coolies work for Torgo! The coolies, apparently listening, instantly attack -- they seem to be skilled fighters! A short and bloody battle ensues, resulting in the deaths of most of the coolies, and some injuries among the expedition members. Coung Li proves to be a whirling Dervish of Oriental destruction. The leopard defends the young native boy, and kills several of the coolies.

  

Thus, the party is led by the boy to his village nearby. The chieftain is Ator, the Leopard King (as hinted at by Mrs. Young's ether transmissions). He is some sort of "puma whisperer" or something -- leopards protect and help the villagers. Torgo is their enemy -- he has similar powers, but (ab-)uses them for Evil. Borowitz and Atherton are in the village, having been abducted to jazz up the first reel be healed of their wounds.

  

Ator and his villagers have been unable to destroy the Spider Mansion, since Torgo keeps many men with modern weapons within a walled compound. They know there is some type of secret exit, but not where it leads. Perhaps to the Aether, where coolies are tending plants? Anyhow, unknown. Some visits by aerial fliers were noted by the villagers within the year.

 

Ator will send some of his warriors and jaguars to assist Our Heroes in entering the compound and putting an end to the menace posed by Torgo. The compound is about a day's travel from the village.

 

Episode 99:  The Spider Mansion

18 July, 1897

 

Having crept towards the Spider Mansion under cover of darkness, Our Heroes and some of the leopard warriors sneak into the compound via a hole in the fence. Within a minute or two, guard-spiders begin leaping onto the group, biting and spinning their webs! Gunfire erupts, drawing the attention of Torgo's human guards. After suppressing the first wave of guards and spiders, the group sees two aerial fliers:   the missing Gryphon, and an apparent duplicate, named Wyvern! A group of scientists is seen to scramble into the Wyvern, which departs before Our Heroes can prevent its departure. Fire, riot, and spiders spread across the compound; Coung Li locates Mrs. Young and the other hostages in a workshop. After a brief search of the hacienda (neither Torgo nor the Graebels are present), the party boards the Gryphon and takes off. Pausing only to land at Ator's village to recover the Portable Ether Detector and other supplies, the Gryphon pursues the Wyvern into the west. The Wyvern's destination is probably Lima, Peru -- a trip of about 1300 miles, which will take two days at the 30 mph top speed of the Gryphon in atmosphere.

 

Among the hostages and captive scientists is Angus MacKenzie.

 

Episode 100:  The Lima Exposition

20 July, 1897

 

The party asks Mrs. Young and Mr. MacKenzie about the capabilities of the Gryphon and Wyvern, and about the plans of Torgo and the Graebels. It seems both ships can somehow transfer themselves entirely into an etheric dimension, disappearing entirely from sight; and within the ether they can move quite rapidly.

 

Arriving in Lima, the party is surprised by signs of a massive fair or festival -- an International Armaments Exposition, in fact. The rescue of the Admirals and Mrs. Young by Lord Holdernesse is of course quite a interesting item of news. The complicity of Torgo and the Graebels in the piracy and kidnapping is widely reported. The Admirals and Mrs. Young return to England aboard the Gryphon.

 

By Saturday the 24th, Our Heroes are able to visit the Exposition, and gawk at the many strange weapons and vehicles presented. There is no sign of the Wyvern, Torgo or the Graebels in public; however, Nicholas Borowitz appears unexpectedly at the party's hotel rooms and says that Torgo has indeed come to Lima. Apparently Torgo has a small aerial flier, the Harpy; young Borowitz stowed away aboard that vessel. 

 

On the 25th, Our Heroes notice many posters and handbills promoting a sort of robotic gladiatorial combat, to take place next weekend. The "Manaus Manufacturing Company" will present a titanic spider-automaton; the "Western Wind Company", from China, a titanic scorpion! Neither robot will be publicly displayed nor described in detail before the combat.

 

Coung Li prowls the streets of Lima's Chinatown, seeking information about the "Western Wind."

 

26 July, 1897:  Our Heroes visit the Western Wind Company and meet with Lo Fat, who seems to be in charge. After some unsatisfactory answers, he signals for an attack! Mr. Atherton is quickly knocked out, but Mr. Carniero, Coung Li, and Captain Tolliver quickly deal with the Chinese martial artists. However, a wave of small automated spiders hustled forward, and Our Heroes rush outside. Many passers-by are injured by the automatons, but fortunately the machines are destroyed by the women of a nearby shooting contest. The party expects to be attacked that night, but ... nothing happens.

 

Onward to Part Four of the Journal