Forsyth's paranoia over the visiting Germans raged all night, as did Phipps intemperate passions for Miss Carter-Lloyd. Hartwell slept like a log, though his hangover would rage all the next morning.
The next day, Forsyth circumlocutiously attempted to broach the subject of getting a personal tour of the German airship which was making preparations to leave, and was somewhat taken aback when Count Oberluft cheerfully agreed. Forsyth's joy was short-lived however. Count Oberluft immediately requested a reciprocal tour of the undercroft labyrinth for his adjutant Major Wilhelm.
What could he do but agree? Two guards were detailed to cover the enigmatic, half-buried Crystal Device under a tarpaulin and then stand guard over the entrance to that chamber, and Corporal Jones was ordered to escort the Major while he toured the undercroft.
Phipps and the slightly disheveled Hartwell were given a tour, and when they reached the problematical cylinder in the tail, asked what it was for. The Count explained that it was a new kind of engine, a rocket, designed to allow ghe airship to escape ambushes from Martian sky pirates and privateers1. He went on to explain how it worked using a compressor to activate the charge, and showed them the compressor. He also sadly admitted that it was mis-aligned and the airship would only fly in large circles, defeating the purpose as an escape method.
One of the team spotted the Cairo Munitions trademark etched into the cylinder, and Forsyth remarked that the device showed the usual high quality German engineering. The Count waved this away and told him the device had been manufactured by an American company, Cairo Munitions.
As the team were disembarking, a trooper ran up and said that there had been trouble in the undercroft, and that Major Wilhelm had saved three British soldiers and passed out.
Doctor Phipps ran to the scene and found all the British men unconscious, the Major barely awake. It looked like the effects of being gassed, and the Major haltingly confirmed this suspicion. Phipps worked fast and was able to stabilize all his patients. The Major recovered quickly. The witnesses eagerly proclaimed the Major a hero, dragging out the unconscious soldiers as he himself came close to passing out.
Major Wilhelm waved away this praise, and soon was able to stand, at which point he rejoined his ship. Within a quarter of an hour the airship slipped his moorings and flew off towards Moerus Lacus.
Not long after the departure of the Germans, a dust cloud was seen rising from the distance in the direction of the Shastapsh border. Telescopic examination from the Heliograph tower showed about a dozen Ruummet Breehr drawing large wagons along the road to Shastapsh towards the fort, and some of the men suggested it might be a caravan. Caravans often traveled between Shastapsh and the remote cities of the Crown Colony, when the bellicosity between those two entities was cooled to the required levels.
The heraldry displayed on the howdahs and carts identified the caravan as one that had called at the fort in previous times, so Forsyth was somewhat relieved and he decided to offer the hospitality of the fort on the grounds that morale would be improved in the ranks, and intelligence on the Shastapsh situation might be had.
The caravan arrived and the wagons arrayed themselves around the fort courtyard as best they could.The wagons were soon opened to become a bazaar offering all manner of goods and services and the courtyard soon swarmed with off-duty troops looking for souvenirs and other offerings. Indeed, Forsyth, Phipps and Hartwell noted that the two carts that were obviously “hospitality suites” were doing what might be referred to in hushed tones as a stiff trade, and there were some dark looks from some of the men toward those who were not adverse to fraternizing with Martian women.
An opulently dressed Martian made himself known to Forsyth, introduced by his translator/factotum as Wagonmaster Pr’een, and invited the officers to a feast that evening. As the Wagonmaster spoke a mysterious female, completely concealed in a hooded garment and veiled, and attended by a small entourage wandered out into the courtyard on some errand. The translator offered that this was the Lady Pashnamaramundi, a noblewoman who was journeying to Moerus Lacus. Rumour had it she was betrothed to the head of one of the merchant families.
Dinner was an opulent affair, featuring many of the luxury foodstuffs the caravan was hauling as trade goods. Phipps was suspicious, but he managed to surreptitiously test the food and found it harmless. Forsyth asked the quartermaster to negotiate for some of the spiced meat, and the Wagonmaster was pleased to exchange half the caravan’s stock of meats, fruits and nuts for a promissory note redeemable in Moerus Lacus.
Throughout the dinner feast, off-duty other ranks were fraternizing, either buying from the armourer, or the jeweler, or from the hostesses.
Forsyth, Phipps, Hartwell and the Wagonmaster conferred via Pr’een’s translator and ad a fine time, but all good things must come to an end and eventually the dinner party was over, the various caravan emporia shuttered and dark, and the fort settled down into a more-or-less routing night watch.
It was shortly after this that Phipps was informed that Private Shaw, blackmailer and Black Marketeer, had escaped his confinement. A quick examination showed that the manacles used to secure him had likely been opened with a key. In any event, Shaw was at large.
A search of the immediate area showed Shaw had likely fled into the undercroft and so a search party consisting of Phipps, Hartwell, Forsyth and two other ranks was formed and, after Phipps had tested the cellars and found them to be absent any “gas” or “Phipps Syndrome” residues, an exploration of the labyrinthine undercroft began.
Many strange effects were experienced while exploring the passages. Corridors seemed to stretch on for hundreds of yards and sensation of the passage of time did not seem to match that shown on the Officers’ watches.
They exploration continued down another seemingly endless corridor, until the team emerged into a cavern containing the mummified body of a soldier in the disintegrating remains of a British uniform. The body was positively identified as private Shaw’s, somehow aged beyond reason. Then, Phipps added even more consternation by announcing that the man had been killed. His throat had been cut, quite savagely!
Two passages lay beyond the body.
Deciding to explore further in hopes of revealing the assassin, the party entered the left-hand corridor which seemed to be very long. One of the privates said he thought it was odd that the tunnel was upside-down, but no-one else was experiencing that. Forsyth called a halt after a while and ordered everyone to return, but no matter how long they walked the cavern containing Shaw’s body was not reached. Discussing matters among themselves, the Heroes decided they might as well return to the original direction as clearly there was some sort of strange spacial effect in force.
This was done, and after another interminable walk they emerged back into Shaw’s mausoleum from the other passageway, but now they were a man short. The private who was complaining of being upside-down was no longer in the party. Calling out provoked no answering cry, so it was decided to attempt to return to the surface.
It was fairly simple to backtrack, though distances involved were again deceptive.
The explorers carefully carried the body out of the deadly labyrinth and back to the relative sanity of the fort environs - except several hours seemed to have passed, and it was late in the night. Time was decidedly out of joint under the fort.
Forsyth set a guard with strict instructions for high vigilance for attacks from the depths of the undercroft and to permit no-one in without his express permission.
The next day the Caravan made ready and left, and Forsyth decided on a second foray into the undercroft. He organize a small party consisting of himself, Phipps, Hartwell and a couple of privates for bearers and once more they set out, his time investigating one of the other routes. Once again they experienced deceptive perception of distance and time, but this time they found themselves in a large hall-like space, well=lit from two ranks of windows, on on the right, one on the left.
Peering through one of the left-side windows revealed a daylight scene, viewed from an elevated position as if from a tower. The view was of an extensive mud flat, and the smell of the breeze was rife with moisture and the slight rot of the marine littoral.
The view from a right-side window was from a similar perspective, but showed an ocean under heavy swell. The air was redolent of salbleeper.
Shaken by these visions, the party nervously checked their watches. One of the privates leaned agains a wall, let out a muttered oath and looked at his hand, then collapsed, stone dead! The explorers were aghast at this turn of events. Clearly there was an extremely efficient assassin loose in the caverns and corridors of the undercroft!
No amount of searching would turn up the method to kill the soldier so, gathering up his corpse and making sure to keep well clear of the walls the party hurried back to the ramp to the upper world and sanity, where they anxiously checked the passage of time and discovered a discrepancy of a couple of hours between their watches and those of the garrison officers.
- A jab at the British Crown Colony, which pays the Red Captains to perform such legalised piracy under letters or marque signed by The Governor↑
