The party was met at Syrtis Major by Mr Ottway, the Colonial Office functionary in charge of such matters, who led them along the bank, pointing out the shipyards, palace and other notable sights, across the bridge and into the British Quarter, and left them at the Explorer's Club with plans to meet for afternoon tea and a "chin-wag".
Wilhelm and Waldmont settled into their Explorer Club digs, and after being obliged to agree to giving an evening talk about their adventures so far, re-joined Ottway for tea in the Lyons Tea House - and very nice it was too. Ottway gave the two adventurers many useful pointers about conducting themselves in Martian Society (which was to say British Society on Mars of course). Ottway at one point became entranced and frothed extravagant praise for one flying vessel and its captain, on Captain Burnaby.
It didn't take the players long to find trouble. The next day they were lounging in a local hostelry, enjoying a fine Bhutan Tea, when they overheard two villainous Canal Martians plotting sabotage of the most mutinous stripe against the shipyard and the new aerial cruiser being built there. Mention was made of "our Red Devil allies" too. Clearly there were terrestrial traitors involved!
It was perhaps unfortunate that this was the point at which the two plotters spotted their eavesdropping observers and made a break for it. Waldmont gave chase but lost them in the crowd. Wilhelm and Waldmont attempted to find Ottway to sound the alarm, but he was busy and could not be disturbed. Clearly, this was a situation in which any true blooded Englishman would take the reins of destiny. Waldmont and Wilhelm were up to the task and not willing to be found wanting!
First port of call was the shipyard, there to warn the powers-that-be of the danger. However, the manager of the shipyard housing the new British aerial ship was quite dismissive and found tales of Martian perfidy to be risible. He grudgingly gave Wilhelm and Waldmont the run of the facility - with suitable safety warnings - but would not lift a finger to increase what he claimed were already adequate defenses.
After touring the shipyard, Wilhelm and Waldmont made their way to the address they had overheard one of the dastardly Martians mention, and found it to be the supposedly unused fourth floor of an ancient Martian tenement, a square building with a central courtyard and a spiral ramp giving access to the living quarters.
Waldmont used his almost legendary powers of stealth to approach the open window of the fourth floor apartment, discovering it to be full of Martian scum, plotting for all they were worth over some sort of large chart or map. They were speaking loudly enough for the master linguist to hear their plan to attack the shipyards with the aid of their "Red Devil" allies.
Realizing that the general Martian traffic on the street and in the courtyard offered no risk of being denounced Wilhelm decided to join Waldmont at the window. Indeed, the Martian pedestrians seemed to be ignoring him despite his eccentric headgear.
Once at the window it was clear action was required, and the two Earthmen leaped into action, bursting into the room and firing their weapons. They were met by return fire from black powder flintlock pistols, with one of the plotters breaking away to the window where he first destroyed the large drawing in a flash of fire, downed some sort of liquid from a small vial and then defenestrated himself.
The firefight was short and brutal, with wounds taken and give on both sides. By the end of it all but one Martian was either dead or fled. Wilhelm in particular suffered grievous wounds but was able to deploy his wondrous healing machine before he passed out.
It was perhaps the shock of the fierceness of the combat that distracted the intrepid pair and made them omit the precaution of securing the dead plotter who had leaped from the window, but this, they reflected later, had been an error in judgment. Who knows what the Martian had in his pockets?
They conducted their prisoner to the nearest police station, whereupon they began interrogating him. Unfortunately there was another lapse in judgement and Waldmont freed the prisoner, who - with nothing to lose - attacked so savagely that Waldmont was forced to defend himself with a machete, killing the Martian plotter.
Unfortunately, only the aftermath of this was witnessed by anyone, and the story soon raced like wildfire through not only the Martian community but also through polite British Society on Mars, with the result that both Wilhelm and Waldmont found themselves ostracised. It was a very poor show on many levels, but some useful information amongst the insults was recovered from the Martian before the violence had ended all communication for good.
Deciding that they now had nothing to lose themselves, Waldmont and Wilhelm attempted a recce of the Inn in which the aforementioned Red Devil Allies - none other than a cadre of disaffected Irishmen belonging to the Fenian conspiracy - were ensconced and plotting their own villainy!
Wilhelm came up with the idea of using a tethered liftwood bundle as an improvised miniature airship to allow Waldmont and him access to the inn's upper floor where the Fenians had set up a perimeter and presumably had something cooking.
This plan was wildly successful, and Waldmont and Wilhelm were able to effect entry at a time when no Fenians were in attendance. They discovered that the entire floor had been converted into a workshop, and that there were a number of liftwood-fitted one-man gliders were being built and fitted out to carry two 100 lb incendiary bombs apiece!
Wilhelm used his specialized knowledge and skills to sabotage the gliders' bomb release mechanisms, such that the gliders would appear normal but would be unable to shed their payload on command.
Then, enlisting the help of the Red Captain Burnaby, famous privateer and adventurer, they ambushed the Fenians as they flew over the shipyard, detonating the bombs with expert marksmanship. The sight of this spectacular aerial battle helped the tale of the heroic Englishmen, who had cleverly presented themselves as brutal thugs so as to throw off suspicion of the terrorists responsible for a most deadly plan but had actually bravely helped Captain Burnaby execute his brilliant plan to destroy the threat.
So on the one hand, less glory than they perhaps deserved, but on the other a complete rehabilitation of their tattered reputation and a very narrow escape from devastating scandal and social ruin.
No comments:
Post a Comment