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A League Is Formed

Page history last edited by Michael 12 years, 6 months ago

back to Terror of the Seas

 

Our Heroes are reunited in Egypt, at Mena House across the Nile from Cairo. Miss Worthington tells the story of her six days at sea in a lifeboat, north of Cyprus, in the Cilician Sea -- a strait about fifty miles wide. Mrs. Cullin relates her captivity at the hands of the pirates, who used a very large submarine to transport their prisoners. In light of the text of the "letter from 1969", many revelations come to light (see Amazing Pulp Tales of the Future for more information), and the party forms a league dedicated to secrecy and opposed to the schemes of Msr. Boulle, the Germans, the "Hubologists" and anyone else who might propel the world to destruction!

 

The available information about Pierre Boulle, his companies, history, and plans, can be found here .

 

Albert Richter, accompanied by a pair of impressive guards, finds the League at Mena House, and tries to get information from us -- mostly about what the German "expeditions" are up to. It's obvious he's not primarily a journalist, but his actual affiliations are not yet made clear.

 

The league decides to travel by ship to Tunis, as one of the German expeditions was supposed to be at Carthage, or looking at Carthaginian ruins, or some such thing. Our heroes take passage on a coastal freighter, and by the 25th of September, 1933 arrive at Tunis, taking rooms at the Hotel Majestic. In the harbor is the German destroyer Mowe, plus Italian warships, French ships, and the Dutch gunboat Fyllan and tender Henrik Gerner as well. Aboard the Mowe, the Germans are doing some kind of work on the deck and hull under and behind canvas screens ...

 

The league visits several restuarants and bars that first night in Tunis; Mrs. Cullin gets friendly with a German military engineer, Oblt. Frederick Ditter. Members of the mysterious "rock crystal bracelet" group seen in Istanbul are seen here, also; also more of the strangely-tattooed men.

 

The next day, there is news in the papers that two Americans were murdered during the night. A fairly new steamship is now tied up on the other side of the same pier to which the Mowe is moored, presumably having arrived between midnight and breakfast. The mysterious freighter Carabas, registered in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, a French territoire d'outre-mer , seems clearly to be a piratical "R ship" owned by Msr. Boulle. The freighter even has light weapons openly mounted under canvas on the deckhouse, as well as a makeshift aircraft catapult is mounted on the bow.

 

Trips to Carthage by train and car produce nothing dramatic; the German expedition there seems to be at least as innocent as the one at Ephesus was. In the evening, after Our Heroes return from trips to Carthage, a glimpse at the harbor reveals a small amphibian aircraft, and two autogyros of advanced design being loaded onto the Mowe. The league decides to take a closer look, and strolls down to the docks.

 

However, as we approach the pier, a massive gunbattle ensues! Members of the "rock crystal" group open fire on an armed party of Italian "San Marco Battalion" naval infantry, who are driving by; the Italians, the Germans, and the freighter crew all return fire (more or less, it's dark and confusing) at the "rock crystal" men. Major DeLacy heads towards a closer vantage point to observe the fight, and sees a strange portal opened -- probably deliberately -- by the "rock crystal" men. Meanwhile, some of the attackers are fleeing the heavy fire of the Germans, etc.; and one of the Italian "San Marco" soldiers also blunders into Our Heroes in an alley.

 

Mr. Davis is injured by the Italian solder, but the league is more concerned by the "rock crystal" cars careening and shooting towards them. One of the cars is in fact being driven by a monkey who amazingly enough also causes some sort of strange green beam or ray to lance out towards our heroes -- fortunately, missing them!

 

Vinnie, Lenny, and most of the league kill (or somehow dispel, based on the strange flash as it disappeared) the monkey and its compatriots; Miss Worthington sees to Mr. Davis's injury. A very quick search of the cars finds three of the "rock crystal" bracelets, not much else of use. The increasingly heavy fire of the Germans and steamship crew convinces our heroes to depart before every policeman south of Marseilles shows up!

 

Fortunately, the shells fired by the Germans either kill the cultists creating the portal, or somehow destroy the portal itself -- it dims and disappears. Major DeLacy was able, however, to glimpse an ancient urban scene through the portal, with a ziggurat in the middle!

 

Wednesday, 27 September 1933

 

Mrs. Cullin and Professor Enwright look into buying aircraft locally; nothing at all suitable is available. However, Mrs. Cullin and Mr. McCracken are able to obtain the services of a small plane and pilot, and fly over the ruins of Carthage, and around Tunis in general, seeking clues.

 

The league decides to approach the "strangely tattooed" men, but are contacted by Mr. Richter again before doing so! He agrees to introduce the league to Madhu, who brings them down a stairway to an old room far below the surface, and tells them quite a surprising amount about his organization -- the Eternal Light -- Coptic Christians dedicated to guarding holy sites in Egypt, and combatting the "rock crystal" men, who he calls the Sect, an ancient loosely organized collection of fanatics dedicated to the worship of some foul force or entity. Mr. Richter also confesses to being an operative of a similar group within the Roman Catholic Church; and says there are Muslim, Orthodox, and other such groups secretly fighting the Sect and evil schemes around the world. Neither Richter nor Madhu have ever heard of Xenu, the deity of the Hubologists (the league's knowledge of the Hubologists is admittedly muddled).

 

After much discussion, the league decides to go to wherever the Mowe is headed. The German ship hopefully won't be able to leave Tunis for a couple of days, due to the investigation of the waterfront battle. 

 

On to Hamilcar's Refuge

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