General McClellan was firm.
The General thanked him for the offer, but he needed no personal tours from Forsyth.
The civilians sniffing around the Crystal Device and waiting in the courtyard for the inevitable geyser were firm.
They thanked him for the offer but they needed no help from Professor Wilhelm investigating the Crystal Machine or any other weird phenomena in Fort McMurray.
Hartwell’s farewells to the Martians he had formed such a tight bond with brought many sincere expressions of friendship and hopes for a quick and positive outcome for the unfortunate Forsyth.
All three heroes were put aboard the Quicksilver, one of the three steam airships that had brought the general and his entourage to Fort McMurray, and the ship lifted into the sky heading toward Moerus Lacus, first stop on the journey to Syrtis Major and a possible court martial for Forsyth.
The Heroes were confined to the Officer’s Quarters and all weapons and devices except Forsyth's sidearm were put in stowage until the ship was well underway, at which point Forsyth, Harwtell and Wilhelm were allowed the freedom of the deck.
Forsyth was sure he saw a flash of light reflected off some object far in the distance but approximately at the same altitude as the Quicksilver but could not see what has caused it. He alerted the officer of the watch, who humoured the Captain but was unable to confirm the sighting.
The heroes were invited to dine with the captain and a couple of his officers. During dinner, Wilhelm began pressing the captain for the return of his weird science equipment but the captain was firm, saying that he had his orders. Wilhelm then decided on the odd tactic of questioning the captains authority, going so far as to demand who issued his orders and hinting broadly that he, Wilhelm, had friends in high places and resources with which to make life difficult for the captain.
This stratagem was entirely successful inasmuch as it caused the captain to leave the table abruptly and have dinner in his cabin alone, and to order a secure watch on the room containing the heroes' gear with instructions to let no one have access without in-person orders from the captain.
The heroes decide to keep watches of their own, and at the end of the second watch, Wilhelm discovered everyone except those bunking in the officers quarters to be in a deep sleep from which no amount of shaking would rouse them.
Pausing only to pull the sleeping guard away from the door of the room with their gear in, and to arm themselves, the three gallants crept up on deck where they were just in time to see Beltower and LeBlanc in some sort of tandem harness leaping over the gunwale!
Realizing the ship was slowing, Forsyth volunteered himself as stoker to replenish the boiler. The engineer and relief trimsman were not asleep and so were able to perform their vital jobs, but the helmsman was out for the count and the ship was circling slowly. Suddenly there was a loud bang, the ship tilted violently to port and the engine was silent.
The engineer raced to the engine room and discovered that the cylinders of the steam engine had two large holes melted in them, and that the pistons themselves were scored beyond repair. The engine was scrap metal.
Not only that, but ultra-bright flares had been attached to every available vertical surface with some sort of gumme-like substance and ignited. The ship was lit brightly from bow to stern.
Now, off in the distance, the heroes could hear the drone of gasoline engines. Sure enough, a familiar Zeppelin, the Samthandschuh pulled alongside after a few minutes. A face was visible in the control gondola in the light of the damnable flares - Count Oberluft!. He exchanged pleasantries with Forsyth and offered to give him a ride to the German authorities, which Forsyth declined. The count then bid the heroes goodbye, saying that they would see his "rocket motor" in action now, and the airship pulled away into the night.
Suddenly a bright flare was spotted, illuminating the Samthandschuh, and closing on the Quicksilver with impressive speed.
A rocket! Fired from the "rocket motor" that swine Oberluft was at pains to brag about!
Orders were given to the trimsman to lose 30 feet of altitude as quickly as possible, which was done, and the rocket streaked overhead, missing the Quicksilver by scant feet!
Barely had this narrow escape been pulled off than a second flare was streaking toward the redoubtable Quicksilver. Frantic orders were called to the trimsman who manfully tried to pull off another rapid loss of altitude, but could not before the rocket slammed into the bow of our heroes vessel, exploding violently!
The trimsman was again ordered to lose more altitude, and Forsyth single-handedly fired a shot from the portside Hotchkiss rotating cannon - a hit! Not enough to seriously hurt the d____ed Hun, but some superficial damage was dealt in retaliation for the rocket.
Another rocket was fired, which narrowly missed the Quicksilver, and Fire was returned from the bow-mounted light cannon, scoring another hit of inconsequential damage. More rockets were loosed, but all missed.
The Samthandschuh faded into the martian night, and the heroes, with the help of the two remaining crew crash-landed the Quicksilver with remarkably little damage to speak of. The compass house was smashed to matchwood, and the oversized lower rudders were shredded, but the hull remained viable.
The heroes kept watch though the night, and as morning broke the crew began to wake. The heroes discussed the matter and decided it was obvious the food not consumed in the officers quarters was doped in some fashion, most likely by LeBlanc and/or Beltower, each of whom had either boarded the ship by means not unlike those available to Wilhelm1 or that they had stowed away and picked their moment to act.
The two saboteurs were in the wind, the heroes having been far too busy during the crisis last night to have kept track of how they escaped or where they went. It was decided that the most likely scenario was the same method used by The Brotherhood to escape during the final battle against the Red Sands menace2.
options were discussed, and it was decided to attempt to drift the Quicksilver with the wind. The heroes felt they could do better, and Wilhelm was able to concoct a strong glue from the magazine of his "goober gun" with which to glue together bedsheets to form small sails and boat-hooks to form short booms.
An opportune breeze was blowing, and so over the next day and a half the Quicksilver was navigated at nap-of-earth3 to the nearest segment of the Moerus Lacus-Shastapsh canal, where she was grounded and passage on a barge for the three heroes and Jones was arranged. Forsyth promised to send back help for the Quicksilver, and the heroes were once again on their way.
Midway through their trip the barge was accosted by canal pirates and a desperate fight broke out in which fully half the crew were killed and Hartwell injured. Fortunately the heroes and the crew were able to beat off the attack, with the pirates being reduced to jumping in the canal to swim for it in some cases.
And so it was that the barge with the battered heroes on board, docked a Moerus Lacus, to the admiring cheers of the Martian dockside workers once word got around, confounding the military detachment sent to conduct them to the legation where they would be kept under light house arrest until General McClellan came to pick them up.
The story of their bravery on the barge would race along the canal and likely be all over Syrtis Major before that happened4.
- Teleportation↑
- As told here in episode 35↑
- ie nap-of-mars↑
- and would be subject to distortion by Ground Cleanser elements working to discredit all Earthmen↑
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