Captain Forsyth: A Letter

Fly me to the moon….

The ongoing letter that Henry writes to his brother Clarence, which may be about to become irrelevant!

Dear Abigail,

I regret that we are now out of heliograph contact. I hope you’ll forgive these scribbled notes as I go. We found the Glow! It’s a giant fissure in the moon’s surface that does indeed emit a glow.

We descended down this giant canyon for something in the order of 30 miles, before our ship got into difficulties. The atmosphere had increased, so the eather drive began to struggle.

In short order, Grant was fighting with his ship. We hit the wall, almost landed on a ridge, but tumbled onto a lower one where we came to rest. The pressurisation was all wrong and the hull popped a few rivets, which were easy to repair.

Incoming air was breathable, cold and damp. That was all good news. It meant we didn’t have to expend air supplies and there possibly a source of water.

Looking about there was nothing but that glow below us. This fissure clearly went a long way further down, we didn’t have any sense of the bottom. The hydrogen balloon that should have easily elevated us out here, had failed on deployment.

But again, it was repairable. We concluded repairs with a degree of confidence that we could fly out.

However, the essential diamond at the heart of the engine was shattered. How could we possibly get a replacement?

But what of this fissure? Things had got a bit mashed up with the crash. But this was just so curious and I can’t resist that kind of challenge. Besides I was still looking for Clarence.

We’d got rope and climbing gear, so started to descend, following strict climbing protocol to ensure none of plunged to our deaths.

I’d have loved to abseil down, but Wilhelm and Hartwell are less versed in mountaineering. That may have proven better in the long run. As it made us more cautious.

Slime was our first problem – and encouragement. It made grip a tab more difficult, but told us there had to water somewhere.

Day after day, we climbed down. We found edible mushrooms and thereafter the source of ‘the glow’.

It was another fungus of a different hue, that gave off a translucent effect. We’d found the source of the glow! It wasn’t strong but just the sheer volume of it was enough to create good illumination, all be it in a strange cast of light.

Wilhelm was nearly lost, when his rope crossed one these not quite mushroom type glow things and it secreted a very powerful acid. It burnt through the rope in very short order.

Wilhelm managed to grab an out crop of rock and save himself.

Another day climbing down. Now we found to answer to the question ‘is there life on Luna’, suddenly we had a cloud of batlike creatures around us. Nasty devils, with sharp teeth all over you. We were on a narrow ledge so evasion wasn’t possible.

I heard shots ring out and a couple of splats, but there were far too many for that. I grabbed a couple of them and slammed together, but to little avail.

There were too many, taking them in ones or twos wasn’t enough.

I’d been bitten to ribbons. Wilhelm had the answer as he so often does. His ‘gubber gun’ accounted for a fair many and a second shot effectively did for the rest.

Wilhelm has also rebuilt his healing device, I believe at great personal cost, which now cured me.

We continued the endless climb.

We were now aware of the need to avoid or clear the glowing fungus. An observation was made that the bat like creatures we’d swatted aside were being absorbed by the fungus at a very fast rate.

Further down we encountered some odd creatures that for all the world I would have called rats, except they looked more like insects. Size of rats, but an insect type of structure.

We continued down, it was harder going than you can imagine, there was little hope but no other option.

Eventually we came upon the wreck of the lost Russian flyer, clearly wrecked. Curiously the ship had been stripped of any machinal or electrical parts. Significantly there were abandoned rifle crates with the Remington company logo clearly on them.

We concluded from the cyclic writing that this was the lost ship of Vladimir Tereshkova of Russia. Why he should transport arms into the unknown is a matter of speculation.

However, it strikes me, with my military training, that you would only do this if you had the troops to arm them with. He has made many journeys here before.

Have the Russians discovered something of import and tried to set up a defence?

Or is there something far more to moon than we suspected?

One thing was clear, in order to gut this ship effectively, the survivors - or someone else, must have had access to food and water. We had hope!

No sooner had we settled than we were attacked! A strange giant caterpillar creature with mandibles and a gaping maul. As it advanced on us Hartwell put a bullet through it, creating a big hole and catapulting it over the side of the ledge.

I should explain that were climbing from ledge to ledge, finding place to rest, when our exertions were enough. But now it was noticeable that our path down and the ledges had been cleared of any harmful fungus.

Down further, another ledge, another stop to sleep and another giant caterpillar type creature. It attacked Wilhelm, whereon he whisks out his rapier and lances the head of the thing! He’s a scientist for heavens sake. I carry a sword as part of my uniform, but I’ve barely drawn in anger.

Down again, then there is another damaged flyer across the cavern. Playing my telescope across it I made out it’s insignia ‘The Moth’!

I’d found a trace of Clarence, my brother’s craft. Ropes led down from the craft, so there was hope.

The chasm was too wide for any thoughts of crossing.

We continued our aching descent, was no end to this chasm?

We were attacked again by another of these huge caterpillar creatures that are extremely fast and can climb the vertical surfaces with ease. I took a nasty bite, but Wilhelm has recreated his marvellous healing device and I was back to right in no time.

Following the ropes descending from the Moth, I did spy a corpse on an opposite ledge. It was too badly degraded to identify. But ropes continued down, so hope remains.

Finally, we hit a ledge that had a cave leading off it. Looking down the chasm there is a rope bridge linking to the other side of the chasm and still no sign of the bottom. Clearly there are people living here, but who and quite what they may be, we are yet to discover. The Russians and their rifles pose a big question.

Much as it would have been nice to reach the bridge it was still a long way down and off to the side, which would have involved the traversing along the chasm wall.

The cave seems like the better option. The fungus is present and provides illumination. A short way in it opens into a circular chamber. Stalactites and stalagmites abound.

We go on.

An emergency telegraph message via heliograph, to Mrs. Abigail Forsyth.

Dearest Abigail,

On return from my latest sojourn, I was confronted with the dreadful news regarding Clarence.

I can imagine that only something of the greatest import would have enticed him on such an endeavour.

Rest assured that I will be travelling to moon and beyond, if necessary, in search of him. The means I have to determine, but this I will do upon my honour.

Clarence was ever a resourceful fellow, so I will not countenance his demise. Time and distance are against me, but one has to live in hope.

I know the estate is good order and your keen mind will keep it so, you should not want.

Yours dutifully,

Henry

Later:

Dear Abigail,

I have tracked down an inventor here on Mars that has built a new design of ether ship, capable of landing on the moon. We have provisioned it with that we think necessary, no doubt will have forgotten something, but haste is of essence.

We leave for the moon shortly. The inventor is a Doctor Grant, of Colorado, USA. In my brief time there, I did hear of him, a good reputation for improving farming, but his moon craft was clearly too much for an uneducated rural populace and he relocated here, to our great good fortune.

Wilhelm are Hartwell are accompanying me. To my chagrin it belated occurs to me that I had not asked them. You might say that we are rather like those characters out of that French author’s book, Dumas. The Mouseteers, although I’m not I have the translation correct. Anyway, as they say “oil for one and once in a hall”.

I will make good on my promise. We will also follow the same path as Clarence and send regular updates on our progress via heliograph.

Yours dutifully,

Henry Forsyth

Last message:

Arrived at moon, no signs of Moth on surface heading to the dark side and the glow. Following the path of the Moth.

Interlude: Luna - A Brief History

Luna

The Earth’s nearest neighbor,circling resolutely a mere 300,000 miles away, has to date been far more elusive than the much more remote worlds of Venus and Mars.

Ethereal navigators have been put to the test merely setting their vessels down on a world with no atmosphere,and every indication is that Luna has no particular wealth or prospects to offer the ambitious Earthmen buzzing past in favor of richer worlds.

Telescopic observations from the Earth have been confirmed by firsthand examination of the facts: Luna is a barren world without atmosphere or water, trod upon for the first time by scientists wishing to unlock the doors of knowledge with Edison’s remarkable key.

Specifically, Luna is a ball of rock 2160 miles in diameter with a surface area of 14.5 million square miles, approximately equal to that of Asia. Its terrain, as can be seen from Earth, is mostly mountainous and cratered, and speculation that much of this is due to meteor impacts over time appears to be correct.

The gravity at the surface of this tiny world is only one-sixth that of the Earth, allowing for tremendous acrobatics for those willing to brave the deadly vacuum in specially adapted suits.

Navigational Difficulties

ETHER FLYERS used for commerce Venus generally take advantage of the atmospheres of those worlds to get from orbit to surface. Both liftwood and hydrogen help make the vessel “lighter than air,” letting it settle to the surface or rise to orbit using the atmosphere as a buoyancy medium. Luna, however, has no air to be lighter than, rendering liftwood and hydrogen useless. The only alternative for getting to its surface is to use the ether propeller, a device whose speeds are measured in millions of miles per day, to navigate the delicate distance between orbit an surface.

Obviously, the typical ether propeller is hardly sensitive enough for such precise maneuvers, and only the very best pilots will even attempt a landing on a vacuum world like Luna.

Earthmen on Luna

LUNA WAS first visited by Sir William Otterbein, in an ether flyer designed by himself and his Italian assistant, Luigi Piachetti, and financed by his estates and by industrialists in London wishing to find cheap sources of iron ore.

Otterbein managed to land his flyer in Mare Imbrium without significant damage. He and his assistant then set out to establish that Luna does suffer from “Moonquakes,” that the surface, at least in the so-called “seas,” is very dusty and difficult to traverse, that the surface gravity is quite low, and that there is no atmosphere.

After his return trip, analysis of samples found them almost barren of useful materials, and Otterbein’s industrial backers pulled their support out from under him. He never returned to Luna.

Others have, however, including Brian Masterly of Great Britain, the Davis brothers of Philadelphia, and Vladimir Tereshkova of Russia. The latter made a total of five trips to Luna for the Czar, the final one (from which he never returned) in 1887.

All the scientific data gathered have confirmed suspicions that Luna is of little value. No permanent facilities exist on Luna, and by 1889,visits there are extremely infrequent.

The Glow

RUMORS ABOUT hidden treasures, great wealth in diamonds, and indeed the existence of so-called Selenites, or Moonmen, have passed between space mariners for years. To date, none of them have been borne out despite several visits to Luna over the last two decades. Still, such rumors die hard, and many people persist in their belief that there is more to Earth’s Moon than meets the eye.

“The glow” is a particular event which many explorers and ether pilots claim to have witnessed on the far side of Luna. They claim that, if one is in the right position, a faint glow can be seen on a particular part of the far side. The glow is barely a pinprick as seen with the unaided eye, but telescopic observers claim the glow area may actually be anything up to a mile across. Its greenish-white light has never been scientifically examined.

Rumor has it that the Russians have more information about the glow, but, frankly, they aren’t talking.

It is also rumored that Vladimir Tereshkova was investigating the glow on his fateful trip of 1887.

The text of this post is taken from the original Space 1889 rulebook, Copyright by Frank Chadwick, now published by Heliograph.

No challenge to asserted rights is intended by reproducing this extract.

Episode 61: Bad News in Syrtis Major

[p Upon returning to Syrtis Major Forsyth was met by a Colonial Office official who let slip that his brother had apparently taken it upon himself to join an expedition to Luna¹ and that contact with the expedition had been lost and the ship was feared lost with all hands!

Forsyth was understandably taken aback by this news, that had been reported in The Syrtis Major Times-Courant by none other than Phoebe Carter-Lloyd.

Hartwell and Wilhelm rallied around their stricken friend and vowed to do all in their power to assemble a resue mission. No-one spoke of what all must have felt; that this could be a mission to recover the remains of the expedition members.

A major problem with exploring the Moon is that it has no atmosphere. An aethership uses lighter-than-air gas in an inflatable dirigible envelope to land gently and to take off, as approach with an operating aether propeller would be suicidal due to the extremely high speeds produced.

For reasons not understood, liftwood does not function on Luna either.

So why go there?

For many years, scientists have been perplexed and fascinated by an odd display, called "The Glow" that can be seen illuminating the edge of the Moon under certain circumstances, and speculation as to its nature has fueled interest by foolhardy explorers using questionable "cutting edge" technologies to visit Earth's satellite. As of yet, none have returned to tell of their adventures.

Other than that, the Moon seems nothing more or less than a lifeless ball of rock, and since other, more accommodating worlds² are available for exploration, tourism and resource and mineral exploitation, Luna has been seen as an object best seen through a telescope or gazed at from a punt on the Cam with one's sweetheart.

It seemed that Forsyth's brother had joined his fate to one of those crackpot inventors of a ship, the Moth, with "cutting edge technology".

The team were at something of a loss, for the Moon was around 100 day's journey from Mars, and when they got there they had no way of making a landing.

But then they learned of Dr Cyrus Grant, formerly of Arizona, lately somewhat down on his luck after word of his new Aether Propeller had gotten around the farmer and rancher community he had served so well with his contraptions, and having decided that he did not need that sort of grief from ingrates, and in possession of a fully functional aethership equipped with the Grant Propeller, now resident in Syrtis Major - albeit in a rather rundown district.

Grant's aether propeller was, it was claimed, capable of close approach and landing on Luna, although why anyone would want to visit that benighted place Grant couldn't say. The Grant Propeller's chief attraction was that it was capable of interplanetary flight at a distinctly higher speed than an Edison model.

When the team visited Grant he was receptive, but informed them regretfully that his ship was grounded for want of a diamond core, a vital component of the Grant Propeller.

Wilhelm got some details and was surprised to find out that gem-quality was not required,though the size of crystal required was not inconsiderable. He assured Grant that he would be able to source such a stone³ and all that was left was to provision the expedition.

Grant's machine proved every bit as capable as its inventor had claimed, and though the journey was by turns tedious and a source of d___able frustration and worry for Forsyth, eventually the Grant Flyer approached the Moon and Grant began to demonstrate the aerobatic ⁴ qualities of his aether propeller were not exaggerations or bravado.

Searching the surface with a powerful searchlight showed no evidence of a crash, but it was not long before the heroes saw The Glow, and hey steered the ship toward it, where they discovered a massive chasm in the crust of the Moon.

Hypothesizing that this would have been where Clarence's attention would have been drawn, the team directed Grant to descend into the chasm.

The team were amazed to discover that there was light of a sort coming from the walls each side of them. Some creature or plant, perhaps, was emitting a low level greenish glow that was getting brighter as they dropped into the depths of the chasm.

It seemed they had solved the mystery of The Glow.

Suddenly Grant announced they were descending rather more quickly than he could account for - or control! He suspected that there was air in the chasm, which was disrupting the working of his aether propeller, and quickly deployed the gas buoyancy envelope, but it was too late and the ship crashed onto a large ledge on the starboard side cliff wall.

After picking themselves up, the adventurers made an assay of their ship's condition, which was not good.

The gasbag had been ruptured, which would require a repair if they were ever to lift off again since the presence of an atmosphere - confirmed now - meant the aether propeller would not work. There were some small rents in the hull, which would be easy to fix if a short trip - say back to Earth - were contemplated. Worse of all, the diamond crystal had shattered and would have to be replaced.

The most immediate problem was food and water, and after a discussion it was decided that climbing down seemed the only logical choice. No-one was coming to rescue them, after all, and Clarence might very well be alive somewhere down there.

Gathering as much food and water as they could carry, and some basic climbing gear that they had brought along, the team began to descend the dizzying drop, so deep they could not make out the bottom despite the presence of ample light now their eyes had adjusted.

The climb down was a fearful, days-long affair.

During the descent the team discovered two kinds of mushrooms that were edible, if unpleasant-tasting, and one that contained acidic juice when Hartwell's safety rope was eaten through.

They were harassed by various strange fauna including giant caterpillar-like animals and swarms of bat-like creatures. It was during one such attack that they discovered that the "Lunar Bats" could be repelled by the acid fungus, though the risk to their own human skin was considerable.

After a few days the team came across the wreck of an aethership, but it was not that of Clarence Forsyth. It had been stripped of everything, including the interior furnishings, which was suggestive.

Further down, the team were able to see with the aid of binoculars the wreck of the Moth on a ledge on the other side of the chasm. No movement was visible, and it was impossible to cross the vast distance separating the team from the wreck, so they continued downward.

On perhaps the 12th day, having descended around 10 miles into the Lunar interior, the team came to the entrance to a cave. In the distance ahead of hem hey could see a primitive rope bridge connecting their side of the canyon to the other, but each end appeared to lead to caves in the sheer walls rather than a ledge.

Forsyth reasoned that if he were to reach the wreck of the Moth he would need to cross that bridge, and that to do that he would need to find the cave it was anchored to.

So the team entered the cave in front of them.

1. The Moon↑
2. the reader may interpret much hyperbole here, and opine that the term "more accommodating" is doing some heavy lifting↑
3. if from nowhere else, there might be a suitable gem in his collection from Bordobaar, currently languishing in a vault in Lloyd's of Syrtis Major↑
4. selenobatic?↑