Recurring Nightmares
At 7:30pm on the cold frosty night of January 31st 1873 the Society for the Betterment of Mankind met with Lady Temperance Patience saying that she was going to talk about the betterment of the poor in the East End, but it had come to her attention today that her friend Lady Evangelina Drysdale had been murdered. She wanted the society to see if she could find the killer so that they could learn that this sort of thing was wrong and the perpetrator punished. Miss Fogarty recognised Lady Drysdale was a brilliant young Aetheric engineer.
Just as she bent down a dark figure in the balcony fired a rifle at her, missing her head by a foot. Captain Rupert Eddington and Lieutenant Roger Day chased after the dark figure, but lost him in the streets. The figure was cloaked in black and about 5'8". On their way back they searched the area around where the gunman had been based and Captain Eddington found a rifle that he later took to Scotland Yard where he reported the attempt on Lady Patience's life.
Meanwhile Archdeacon Abbott comforted the sobbing Lady Patience who revealed she had had a death threat that morning. The Archdeacon and a timid you clerk (George Symthington) took Lady Patience home where the Abbott was treated to a sherry whilst Lady Patience was given a tonic. Eventually Mr Smythington was also allowed a sherry, but somewhat begrudgingly by the butler. Lady Patience produced a note written in blood saying "YOU WILL DIE TONIGHT". Captain Eddington, Lieutenant Day and Miss Annie Fogarty arrived and the gentlemen were also treated to sherry. They asked Lady Patience why she had not reported it and said she couldn't possibly conceive why anyone would want to kill her - it probably was just a practical joke. Captain Eddington asked about the project she was doing in the East End. It seems she was trying to create quality housing for the poor there. Her lawyers Smeade, Smeade and Smedley were still looking for a suitable property to knock down and build. After that she became tired and went to bed. Lieutenant Day took Miss Fogarty home. When George Smythington got home he found the dock workers union leader Harvey Morris on his doorstep. Harvey asked if he'd seen a drinking pal of George's by the name of Albert Pearson as the company was going to sack him. George hadn't seen him for about a week. When he entered he saw that his slippers were muddy from the sleepwalk during the nightmare he'd had the night before.
Next morning Captain Eddington was surprised to see his childhood friend Rosalyn Rathe arrived. After he quickly dressed he went to greet Rosalyn. She told him that she'd come to ask a favour of him. She wanted him to accompany her and her children to an archaeological dig in a couple of weeks when their governess had a day off. Her husband would not take her as he did not approve of her frivolous obsession with ancient artefacts. After she left he went to find Inspector Kenway and was told that he had gone to the Home Office. After waiting in the snow for a while he found the Inspector who was in a bad mood. A Home Office special department had taken the case of Lady Drysdale from him as they suspected that it was an attempt by the Prussians to steal our Aetheric technology. Lady Drysdale had been killed by several large scratches across her chest. The Inspector probably thought was made by a pitchfork. Two prostitutes said that they had seen a monster head down that alley, but he thought them unreliable witnesses. Additionally they found some broken glass by her body with Aether in it. After Captain Eddington had seen the body, the Inspector let him borrow a piece of the glass. The Captain sent a note to the Archdeacon in Lambeth Palace.
Archdeacon Abbott went to see Lord Drysdale that morning to bring comfort to the grieving husband (and incidentally grill him for information). His wife had gone to the theatre alone to a private box and was to wait at the back of the Theatre to be picked up by her carriage. The carriage had been delayed and had got there to find his wife already dead. Lord Drysdale had gone to Whiteleys last night. Lord Drysdale showed Archdeacon Abbott her lab which was neat tidy, well organised and above all had no threatening notes.
Annie Fogarty was told by her Guardian Professor Havelock to avoid being in close contact with Lieutenant Day and to avoid all such unseemly activity. So after seeing the snow she went off to throw snowballs at the students before retiring to the lab. The good Lieutenant spent the day in the library and Mr Symthington spent the day at work. The docks seemed to be a hive of activity as a strike seemed to be looking.
Captain Eddington met with Archdeacon Abbott later that morning and they decided they needed to see Annie Fogarty who had experience with Aetheric Engineering. They found her in her lab at Imperial and she looked at the glassware. She detected that it not only had contained Aether but had glue on the outside. Captain Eddington said he would go and find the prostitutes that night and talk to them.
On his way home Lieutenant Day heard a stomping sound and saw people screaming and running from something. That something was a giant 15 foot tall Aether Steam powered robot. People were fleeing from it, but Lieutenant Day decided to follow it as it headed down to the docks. Mr Smythington was heading from work to the pub when he saw the robot head for the docks, smashing through the gates. Both noted the Robot was leaving no marks in the snow. Lieutenant Day tried to hit it unsuccessfully with his sword as it headed to the Engineering office. The engineers inside fled and George Smythington spotted the Giant Robot was going for the GWR Aetheric engineer Frederick Rocastle. George stepped in the way of the Robot, pushing Frederick into the river and narrowly avoided the Robot's arm smashing over his head. The Robot followed Frederick into the river, but smashed its arm down into the river rather than attacking the engineer. After having done that the Robot headed off with Lieutenant Day following it.
It arrived at some poor housing where it smashed the door open and then disappeared. Lieutenant Day then found a confused landlady (Mrs Trelawney) who after mentioning that he worked in the docks and getting a bribe of suitable proportions for the door showed the Lieutenant Albert's room. The room was a mess but had many unintelligable scribbles and several books (Alice in Wonderland, Dante's Inferno, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Origin of the Species, Frankenstein, and the Steam Man of the Prairies). The Lieutenant took the books with and went to find Mr Smythington in the pub. He was going to go and look for Albert in the Opium Den he usually frequented, but the Lieutenant instead took him in a Hackney Carriage to Annie Fogarty's house. There, after some disapproval of the Professor, they related the tale of the events around the dock. The Professor did not entirely believe the tale, but said he would visit Freddie on the next day and hear it from his own lips. Mr Smythington then declared the Lieutenant and he were heading off to an Opium den.
At the Opium den the proprietor told them he remembered Albert being there last Wednesday. After being suitably bribed by Lieutenant Day he told them three Oriental Gentleman had befriended him and taken the unconscious Albert away in a Hackney Carriage (he remembered its number was 97). They found the driver who told them he had taken them all to 57 Old Kent Road.
Next day after everyone went to Church (some unwillingly - Annie) the Professor and Annie headed off to see Frederick Rocastle. He was clearly shaken up and had swallowed half of the Thames, but he confirmed the story that the others had related the night before. He mentioned that not only had he got wet but that his jacket was ruined. It seemed the back was covered in something. Annie inspected it and noted that it was the same horse glue in a ring shape, meaning that the object had been placed on his back.
George Smythington went to find Harvey Morris and found him in a pub discussing the Company's latest plan (Giant Robots) to keep the brethren in order. George took Harvey aside and bought him several drinks. Harvey told him that it was "one of you" who had done this and that he needed to concentrate on finding Albert. He then said several things and told George that he would not understand them now.
Captain Eddington had managed to borrow the rest of the smashed glass from the Inspector and gave them to Archdeacon Abbott and Lieutenant Day went round to find Annie Fogarty. She and the Professor came back and Annie examined the object and worked out it was some kind of Aether filled target that had been glued to the victim's back. She ensured that neither the Professor of her had anything on their backs.
The others found George and they decided to try and find Albert and scout out 57 Old Kent Road. Archdeacon Abbott attracted the attention of several urchins as he questioned a coster girl and then the lady next door. It appears that the Orientals had moved in there about a week ago. They decided to wait for Captain Eddington and attack the home later in the evening.
On the second try the Captain and the Lieutenant kicked the door and dispatched the three Orientals who were wielding Nunchuks. In the cellar they found Albert Pearson stripped to the waist and tied to a machine. Everyone but Lieutenant Day noticed that Albert had a Woad tattoo strongly showing on his right arm. The machine had two chambers - one with Aether that fed into a headset and one that a maroon liquid fed into from 6 tubes that moved across with a clockwork mechanism. This liquid fed into Albert's arm through a capillary tube and a needle. Annie took a sample of the liquid and the helmet with her as the others carried Albert Pearson with them out of the slums.
When Annie got home she found that her Guardian, Sir Reginald Havelock, had nearly been eaten by a T-Rex, but that it had dissappeared before it reached him.
