by J M Bannon
Rose was disoriented and full of fear, she felt so strange and didn’t have the Rod or any artifacts save her necklace and coat. All she thought to do was run. Turning she began sprinting away.
She looked back to see several of the automatons chasing her and the rest going after Azul who hadn’t moved. When she looked ahead to see where she was running the horizon flashed.
A rumble similar to rolling thunder followed. From the horizon, an object appeared, identical to an airship but smaller. It was ironclad but acted differently in its flight. Fast and maneuverable, its flight path was agile and swooping, like a bird of prey. It flew directly over Rose’s head before circling back, it was some type of flying machine capable of operating in the aether.
From the Ironclad object, streaks of smoke were released from under its short wings. The smoke streaks flew into Gerrard’s minions that were closing in on Rose. There was an explosion. Arms and legs blew off the metal torsos, and Rose was thrown away.
As she lay on the ground on the edge of consciousness, she watched as the ship flew around firing these rocket bombs at Gerrard’s minions. She slipped into unconsciousness.
37
Friday the 6th of September, 1861
1:20 P.M Hawkin’s House, Paddington
Dolly wasn’t looking forward to the door opening. He stood next to Captain Jacob Moore before the large bronze double doors of Rose Caldwell’s home. Moore had requested that he accompany Dolly after the two had finished the debriefing at 10 Downing Street. The Government was up to speed with the Westminster tower disaster and the actual events behind the explosion. Dolly had Pavlovitch in custody, Burton in Hospital, and Caldwell missing. The day was bad and about to get worse.
He rang the door chime, and Pāora answered.
“Superintendent, the Mistress isn’t home,”
“I’m here to see Miss Violet Caldwell,” Dolly said with a formal tone.
“Please come in. May I take your hat?” asked Pāora.
Dolly took his derby off, “I’ll hold on to it. We won’t be staying too long.”
“I’ll get Miss Violet. You can have a seat in the parlor,” said Pāora as he left.
Pāora returned with Violet and Enzo.
“Superintendent Williamson, Captain Moore, it is good to see you both. Please have a seat. Pāora told me you were looking for me.” said Violet. She sat and smoothed her green crinoline skirt.
“I wish I were here under better circumstances,” said Captain Moore. Dolly knew there was something between the captain and Violet and that is why he wanted to accompany him to bring the news about Rose.
“Does this have something to do with the explosion at Parliament?” asked Enzo.
Dolly nodded, “Miss Caldwell, this morning at approximately six A.M. There was an explosion at the Parliament Clock Tower, Detective Burton, and your sister were there on police business…”
“Is she alright? Why isn’t she here?” interrupted Violet. Her eyes already beginning to water.
“We are unsure of her whereabouts or her condition. She was there as part of a confidential investigation, and from what we know from Detective Burton, she and Miss Du Moya were not in the tower when the blast occurred but somewhere in Italy where the explosion originated from.
“What do you mean you don’t know? How can you come here and say something like that it makes no sense?” said Violet in tears.
“Miss Caldwell, there were several bodies found near the explosion, but none were Rose. I hold out hope that she is alive and well somewhere else. You see what this project allowed was travel over vast distances and Detective Burton, Miss Du Moya, and Detective Caldwell traveled to a location where a criminal was apprehended,” said Dolly.
“Where is she?” asked Enzo.
“We don’t know. The equipment was destroyed, and Detective Burton only knew that they were in Rome, but we don’t know the specific location,” said Captain Moore.
“So, she could be hurt somewhere in Italy with no help. We have to go!” said Violet, she went to run out of the room.
Captain Moore grabbed her arm, “We are as concerned as you, and as soon as we can figure out the location, we will contact the authorities. Please, Violet, be assured we want to find her.”
Violet relaxed, “Please, Jacob you must help.”
“I can help, I will.”
Dolly turned to see Jimmy Lin, the Lucky Triad Gangster standing in the archway, “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Trying to help,” replied Jimmy.
“He is a guest here on the Mistress’s invitation,” said Pāora.
“Does she bloody well know who this fella is?” Dolly asked Pāora.
“Rose knows who I am, and I know who you are Superintendent. I’m not here because I want to be but because the Witch Lady said this was the safest place for me to stay while she dealt with this case of yours. I came here because I was in danger.”
“Comes with the occupation Jimmy. If you cheat and steal, then those that you cheat and steal from want to kill you,” said Dolly.
“I can take care of myself all the way up until they start killing people with magic. It isn’t just me who is in danger. I came here after a Minister of the Emperor of China was killed here in your city Superintendent. The irony is he was kind of your counterpart for the Emperor, and he was here trying to stop the Immortal Fox and some woman they call the Dowager.
“The Immortal Fox, did you just make that up?” said Dolly.
“Superintendent, that is a name I’ve heard of from my days in the East India Company,” said Captain Moore.
“See,” said Jimmy, then he pointed down the hall, “In Rose’s office is the result of some work I was able to get done for her. In it is the location she ran off to. The deal was I was to wait here, and I would be safe.”
Dolly paused. This guy was one of the nastiest crime bosses there was, and he could call on all of Chinatown to protect him. The fact he was here meant it was out of Jimmy’s league and out of that of someone without Rose’s gifts.
Dolly nodded, “Well if your Rose’s guest that is between you to. I’ll see what I can dig up on your fox and dog…”
“Dowager,” said Jimmy.
“Dowager, but first we all need Rose home safe. You more than most,” said Dolly to Jimmy.
“Show me these documents, sir I may be able to make something of them,” said Captain Moore.
“This way,” said Jimmy walking towards Rose’s office.
* * *
1:40 P.M Hawkin’s House, Paddington
Jimmy sorted through the piles and grabbed the map and the summary that DeMorgan had prepared. He was used to looking at DeMorgan’s work and quickly found the papers.
“Here is the summary,” when he handed it to the naval officer the man had a stern look on his face.
“Tell me what you know of the Immortal Fox,” said Captain Moore.
“What do you want to know?” said Jimmy with a quizzical look.
“I’m deadly serious, don’t be flippant and be honest if you are just using that name to send the police off on a snipe hunt,” said Captain Moore.
Jimmy could see the man was serious.
“Do you know who I am?” asked Jimmy.
“Some bloody criminal I suppose,” said the Captain.
“I could have you, or Williamson killed before the clock struck midnight. I don’t say that to threaten you but to let you know how serious I am. I fear no man. Yet here I am scared enough to be hiding out with the witch. I saw what this Dowager can do. The Witch Lady confirmed it was metaphysical and I don’t want it to happen to me,” said Jimmy.
“The Immortal Fox, why did you use that name?” asked Captain Moore.
“This Minister fellow, a friend I help from time to time, he was just killed by this Dowager. Before he died, he told me that the Immortal Fox was in league with her and looking to take over the crime world by wiping out the cops and criminals who stood in their way. Why do yo
u care?” asked Jimmy.
“I’ll send you a time and place for us to meet. I have some people who know this name and how serious this can be. If the Immortal Fox is in London, then everything they say about him is true. Don’t speak of this with anyone else,” said Captain Moore.
* * *
2:00 P.M Hawkin’s House, Paddington
“These coordinates are just what we need Superintendent. Multiple locations including the Rome Nexus,” said Moore as he came out of the office.
Dolly made his way from the parlor into the foyer where Captain Moore was just passing the stairs making his way to the front door.
“We should get to the Admiralty and get men to all of the locations immediately,” said Captain Moore, handing Dolly the map and papers.
Dolly looked at it and couldn’t make heads or tails, but the Captain seemed enthused.
Dolly looked past Captain Moore to Jimmy Lin who was just exiting the office, “Mr. Lin, you came up with this?”
“Not me, but some of my employees; I believe in having command of the numbers in my operations. Those skills were just what the Witch Lady needed,” said Jimmy.
“Violet, rest assured we will be sending the full force of the Empire to these locations and will return your sister to you. Once I have news I will return,” said the Captain.
There was another ring of the door chime.
Pāora turned and went to the door to see who was calling.
Dolly and the Captain were a few steps behind Pāora making their way out.
“Miss Du Moya is not taking visitors,” said Pāora to the caller.
Dolly’s interest was piqued. Who would be looking for Angelica and know she was here. He turned and moved to see past the broad shoulders of the Māori.
He wasn’t in his traditional robes, but the face was unmistakable, the aquiline features. Dolly grabbed the edge of the door to open it further and assure the visitor saw him.
“Guild Master Saint-Yves, what a surprise to see you on the stoop of Detective Caldwell,” said Dolly.
* * *
The Aether
Rose awoke to a rumble. As she got her bearings, she assumed it must be the engine of the ship she was on. The sound was unlike that of steam-driven craft, more like the sound of a furnace. She was in a bunk of some kind and in the distance, she could hear voices. As her faculties came to her, she noticed that the ship had a modern feel, she assumed it had to be the flying ship that attacked them in the aether.
Rose sat up on the edge of the bunk moving the privacy curtain aside. The cabin was small. There was the bunk she was in, the one above her and a small cupboard. Her jacket and belt hung on hooks across from the bed to the right of the door. She assumed she wasn’t a captive as they left her equipment in the room with her. The cramped space was cluttered with books and objects; some recognizable and some strange. Like a collision of a library, a woman’s vanity table and a cabinet of curiosities. One object caught her eye, and she picked it up. A leather notebook. She scrutinized the cover; it seemed older, but it she was sure she had seen it before. Rose opened the book, untying the leather thong that bound the book shut. It was her first notebook. The one she had started back in Chester when she first began researching the occult. It was unmistakable; filled with her writing and sketches. What was it doing here?
She checked the door, and it was unlocked. Peeking around the bulkhead, she saw the tiny stateroom was inside another cramped space filled with a complicated maze of equipment. Tubes and pipes ran this way and that. To the left was where the thrum of the engine came from. There was a mix of equipment that included a glass bubble with gases in it similar to the one used in the Nexus gate.
“Welcome aboard the Ouroboros” came a woman’s voice.
Rose turned to her right to see down the hall several figures, including Azul standing on a small pilot’s bridge. There stood a young lady in trousers and a short leather jacket, red scarf and black hair done up, but a bit unkept. Her feet in a wide stance extending her hand out to shake.
Rose took her hand and shook it, “What happened? How did I get here? Where is Gerrard?” Rose spat out the string of questions as she steadied herself against the bulkhead still lightheaded.
“Rose, you really should rest you took quite the spill when they attacked Gerrard,” said Azul. He was hunched over to not hit his head on the low ceiling of the bridge.
“Sorry about that these rockets just aren’t what they are cracked up to be when it comes to accuracy,” said the woman.
“Do I know you? You seem familiar,” said Rose.
“I’ve known you my whole life Auntie, Doctor Rose Caldwell-Moore, your niece — Rosie!”
“You are Rosie. Violet’s Daughter, but grown up and you're here in — in the aether to pick me up? How long have I been— is this a dream?” Rose pulled up her sleeve and looked to her forearm. Her tattoos looked normal. She wondered if she had just imagined being outside in the aether protected by these glyphs.
“Careful, or we will have a displacement interaction,” said a young man with a German accent piloting the ship.
Rose looked out the front windscreen to see the infinite expanse of the aether and the cascading fields of energy moving through space. The raw energy of creation whipped wildly around them.
“A what?” asked Rose.
“A displacement reaction; it is a challenge to your wits when you face the inconsistencies of time and space within the aether. You see we are in-between time and space here and that makes it possible for us to interact outside the bounds of a specific reality. Think of almost like an allergy,” said the German pilot.
"What? Who are you?" asked Rose. Her brow furrowed.
“Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, a pleasure to meet you, Madame, I do love your work,” he said with a quick glance away from the instrument panel giving Rose a toothy smile. He was a thin man with thinning but wild hair and a shadow of a mustache starting to form above his upper lip.
“Max here is a genius in the physical and metaphysical sciences. He designed the Ouroboros with me,” said Rosie.
But you're in your twenties?” asked Rose.
“Twenty-one to be exact but here in the aether the rules are different, or should I say we are figuring out the rules,” said Rosie.
“Yes, now that you have broken the bounds of our home universe and are in the aether, you will have instances like this where what you experience is inconsistent with a linear timeline,” said Max.
Rose slid to the floor sitting. Her head was throbbing when she awoke, but now she was even more confused, “I must have hit my head so hard that I’m dreaming this. Maybe I never followed Azul into the aether, I could be asleep in my bed at Hawkin’s House.”
“Good Sister I assure you we are beyond the mortal realm. You were wounded when Doctor Caldwell-Moore fought off Gerrard and his Army of the Damned,” said Azul.
“You killed him?” Rose said with horror.
“No, he escaped through a portal,” said Max.
“Caiaphas, he is dead, or did I imagine that?” asked Rose.
“Oh no, he is very dead Sister,” said Azul.
“I don’t feel so good I, I… why aren’t you discombobulated like me?” said Rose to Azul.
“I suppose it's my condition, my spirit is protected in the gemulet. Now the physical confines I cannot say the same,” Azul held up his arm to show the corrosion that had taken effect in the aether.
“I suggest more bedrest. No one knows how exposure to the aether effects the human anatomy. Since you’re the only person we know to ever be exposed and survive I hope you don’t mind if we take some notes and measurements,” said Max.
“Enough Max! I have to be careful what I say, Auntie. It's best you hold off and rest. When we get to the realm of the Planes Warden, they will answer all your questions. They’ve been expecting you."
* * *
The Three Pony Pub, London, England
Jimmy entered the Three Pony Pub,
there were only a few patrons, and all looked him up and down as he entered. The comely barmaid looked at him then went back to pouring ale.
His eyes went to his men positioned around the pub. He already had two of his men inside to makes sure it was safe. With his enemies at large and unknown to him, his security was his top priority. Without knowing why, he needed to meet Moore and his mates, his first thought was this was an ambush.
He saw Captain Moore. The Captain was out of uniform. He came from a corner booth where there were two other men, “Mr. Lin I have some gentlemen I would like you to meet.”
“Mr. Lin, let me introduce you to Mr. Boyle, and Mr. Clark,” said Moore when he returned to the corner booth with Jimmy.
“Gentleman,” said Jimmy he didn’t extend his hand. He kept his gloved hands clasped in front of him. Ready to reach inside his expensive overcoat and draw his pistol if needed.
A fourth man came from the bar and set down five pints on the table.
“And this is Mr. Wood,” said Captain Moore.
“You said you had information to discuss,” said Jimmy.
“When you uttered the moniker - the Immortal Fox, my skin crawled. You see sir, the four of us have encountered his pirates and know what he is capable of,” said Moore.
“We were certain the Fox was dead,” said Mr. Clark.
“The four of us were stationed together and charged with the task of breaking the back of the Immortal Fox King and his organization. We were confident that we had ended his reign of terror.” said Captain Moore.
“What do you know of this Dowager?” asked Jimmy.
“That one is new to us,” said Mr. Wood.
“She is an enchantress; the widow of a crime lord and she is seeking revenge upon my comrades. I have information she is consorting with the Fox,” said Jimmy.