Secrets of the Dragon Tomb

by Patrick Samphire

“So he’s been trying to find a dragon tomb on his own?” I said. Despite myself, I was being drawn into the story. “Using this secret map?”

  “With the intention of selling the discoveries to whoever would pay the most. Part of my job was watching what he was doing and who he was meeting. He’d started receiving secret visitors late at night. At least one of them was a French agent. You understand what that means? He would’ve sold the discoveries to the Emperor Napoleon. Neither Earth nor Mars can afford to put more power into that madman’s hands.”

  “But Sir Titus couldn’t decode it,” I said. “That’s the whole point, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe. But he’d been working on it for years. I didn’t know how close he was.”

  And wasn’t that convenient? I paced the floor, my footsteps swallowed by the thick rug. “Why didn’t you destroy the map?” I said. “Or steal it? Unless you really wanted it for yourself.”

  “I won’t deny that British Mars would like what’s in the dragon tomb, but that’s not the main reason. Sir Titus would have copies. He’s not a stupid man.”

  “So you made a duplicate,” I said. “And then you came to us. You brought those men with you.”

  Freddie sighed. “I never meant to. I’d heard about your father’s water abacus. I thought I could use it to decode the map, and if I could do it before Sir Titus, British Mars would be able to open the tomb. The discoveries would benefit everyone.”

  “So how’s that turning out?” I said.

  He ducked his head. “I made a mistake. Somehow, they were onto me.”

  “A mistake?” I spat. “You got Mama, Papa, and Jane kidnapped. You nearly got Putty and Olivia killed. You destroyed our house and Papa’s inventions.” I kicked the writing desk. “God, Freddie. Was it really that important?”

  “Yes!” He pushed himself off the bed and grabbed my shoulder. “The technology used by the people who built the dragon tombs was far more advanced than anything we have. Those aren’t just toys in there. There are terrifying weapons. We can’t allow them to fall into French hands. The Emperor Napoleon has turned his eyes toward Mars. If we give him the means, he will invade.”

  “Then you should have asked!” I snapped, pulling myself free from his grip. “The government should have asked. Papa would have helped.”

  “Sir Titus still has friends in high places. He still has influence and wealth. We couldn’t risk it. If he’d found out—”

  “If he’d found out,” I said bitterly, “it would’ve been no worse than the mess you’ve managed to make.”

  I stalked back to the window. The tempo of the engines increased, and the airship picked up speed. I watched as we curved out over the city, avoiding the spreading plumes of smoke and steam from the vast manufactories in the north of the city.

  Freddie in the British-Martian Intelligence Service. It was a joke.

  “Edward,” Freddie said urgently, “you mustn’t tell anyone of this.”

  I nodded grimly, still not looking back at him. “I promised, didn’t I? I’ll keep my word.”

  “We should change into some clean clothes,” Freddie said. “I’m not happy leaving the girls alone for too long.”

  * * *

  Freddie had done a good job of picking out clothes for me. The breeches, waistcoat, and jacket fit perfectly. The sleeves of my shirt were a bit long, but I pulled them up under my jacket to hide them. He’d even managed to find a pair of shoes that were my exact size.

  He’d done even better with Olivia. When she came out of her cabin half an hour later, she was already blushing. She was wearing a gown exactly the same color as her eyes, and it was far tighter than anything I’d ever seen her wear. Even Freddie seemed surprised. He gaped at her. I had to nudge him to break his trance.

  “I, ah, trust you were able to find something that suited? The storekeeper assured me the gowns were the height of fashion in both Tharsis City and London. Um.”

  Olivia blushed even more deeply.

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Putty pushed her way past Olivia. “Are we going to stand in the doorway all day long?” Putty was wearing the exact same thing as me. I hid a grin.

  “Ah, quite,” Freddie managed. He was still staring at Olivia. For once, I thought, he wasn’t putting on the impression of imbecility. I was used to men making fools of themselves over Jane, or even Mama, if they were men of a certain age, but I’d never seen it happen with Olivia, and by the looks of it, neither had she. A shy smile spread across her face.

  “So,” Putty said enthusiastically. “Do we get to see it?”

  Freddie blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

  “The map,” Putty said. “The one you stole from Sir Titus.”

  “Copied.”

  “Whatever. Can we see it?”

  Freddie glanced around, as though he thought someone might be watching. The door leading to the corridor was firmly closed and latched.

  With a nod, he summoned us over. He reached into his sleeve and drew out a rolled sheet of paper. We crowded around the table as he smoothed it out. The map showed a steep valley with several towers of rock. To one side, a symbol had been drawn.

  “That symbol on its own always means ‘dragon tomb,’” Freddie said, pointing to it. “It’s unmistakable.”

  Across the top of the sheet, Freddie had copied several lines of symbols and pictures in a neat hand.

  “What are those?” Olivia asked, her finger trailing across the symbols.

  “Ah!” Freddie said. “Well noticed. They’re called ideograms.”

  I squinted. “I’ve read about them.”

  Freddie looked up at me. “I’m impressed. Not many people study the Ancient Martian civilization. Where did you read about ideograms?”

  I coughed, suddenly remembering and wishing I’d kept my mouth shut. “In Thrilling Martian Tales,” I mumbled.

  “Edward gets everything he knows from Thrilling Martian Tales,” Putty said.

  “Oh, that’s not fair!” Olivia said, her lips twitching. “He also reads Unlikely Adventure Stories.”

  “The point is,” I said, “they’re what the Ancient Martian tyrants used to write their commandments and their, um, death warrants and…” Now that I thought about it, Thrilling Martian Tales had been a bit thin on the details. “Anyway, they’re a language,” I finished.

  “Almost,” Freddie said, smiling. “But it’s a little more complicated than that. They’re not the kind of writing we’re used to. The symbols and pictures are called ideograms because each one stands for a particular idea. That stork”—he pointed to a weird drawing of a bird standing on one leg in the middle of the first line—“means balance, or the equal flow of energy in and out. The cloud next to it represents abstract thought. And so on. When you put them together, the ideograms act a little like a sentence.”

  “But you know what the ideograms mean?” I said. “Why can’t you read it?”

  “It’s not that easy. The ideograms don’t mean the same when they’re together as when they’re on their own. They interact with each other to give information, and you have to know how they interact to find out what has been written.”

  “And you don’t.”

  “No.” Freddie scratched at his temple. “Think of it this way. Just because you know all the letters of the alphabet, that doesn’t mean you can understand a word you’ve never seen before. It’s even worse if you don’t even know what language it’s in. The word might be in English or French or German or Spanish, except when you’re dealing with ideograms, it’s as if there are ten thousand languages and you have no clue as to which one is being used. That’s why you need a key.”

  “What kind of key?” I asked.

  Freddie straightened. “A key is just a set of symbols that give us a hint as to how to read the ideograms.”

  “And there’s no key?”

  Freddie slapped his hand on the table. “No. And there’s always a key! Without one, it’s completely meaningless. It would take us a hundr
ed years to try every key we’ve discovered, and even then it might be written using a key we’ve never come across before. Someone didn’t want us to be able to read this.”

  “But with Papa’s water abacus…” Putty said, eyes lighting up.

  “Exactly! The abacus is a powerful computational device capable of running hundreds of calculations each minute. It could complete every possible combination using every key.”

  And in about eleven days, Sir Titus would have a new abacus. Then he wouldn’t need our family anymore.

  Olivia bent over the map, frowning. “Why do we need to translate anything? Can’t we just find a valley that matches what’s shown on the map?”

  “Unfortunately not,” Freddie said. “The Lunae Planum around the Martian Nile is riddled with narrow valleys like that. There are hundreds of them, and the map is almost two thousand years old. Even on the Lunae Planum, where it scarcely rains, the valleys have changed shape. It would be impossible to find the right valley simply from the map.”

  “I don’t know why everyone’s making such a fuss,” Putty said. “We’ll simply rescue Mama and Papa—and Jane, I suppose, if we must. Then we’ll find the tomb. There is no need to worry, Cousin Freddie.” She patted his arm. “I’m really rather good at this kind of thing.”

  11

  Interesting Facts About Rocks

  The airship flew north throughout the day, its powerful propellers pushing hard through the air.

  The day was clear, and only a few thin, high clouds broke up the blue sky. Above us, the vast balloon blocked the sunlight. Below, the farmlands around Ophir gave way to wilderness. Trees and undergrowth tangled and pushed up, as though they were fighting to get to the sun. Whip-vines lashed hundreds of yards into the air, trying to snare the shadow of the passing airship. Faint roars, cries, and bellows drifted up, and sometimes whole areas of vegetation shook and bent, as though great battles were being fought out of sight. The wilderness was so big and untamed, it was frightening. Looking at it roll past, mile after mile, was like being hypnotized. I shivered. I was glad to be so high above it all.

  In the middle of the afternoon, we passed over the first of a series of crater-shaped, eye-blue lakes, seething with birdlife. Olivia and Freddie joined Putty and me at the rail of the viewing deck.

  “I’ve never traveled so far from civilization,” Olivia said, gazing at the deep water far below. “It seems … lonely.”

  “It is,” Freddie said. “I spent some time on an expedition into the wilderness. Down there, you might be on a world upon which mankind has never set foot. There’s only the wild. But come.” He straightened. “The airships are safe, and we’ll be in Lunae City by tomorrow.” He took Olivia’s arm and escorted her to the deck chairs at the rear of the viewing deck. “Perhaps we should have some tea? I’m exhausted.”

  Putty and I stayed at the rail, watching the landscape slip by beneath us. What would happen when we reached Lunae City? I hadn’t paid much attention when my teachers talked about Lunae Planum and the Ancient Martian civilization. History and geography books were boring. My magazines were far more exciting. Now I had no idea what to expect.

  We were flying over one of the larger lakes—I guessed it was about a mile wide—when several big, winged shapes launched themselves from the jagged cliffs surrounding it and flapped their way up toward the airship.

  Putty leaned out through the railings to peer down at the shapes. “Pterodactyls.”

  I grabbed the back of her jacket.

  “Immature ones,” a voice said behind us. I jumped and almost lost my grip on Putty’s jacket. Dr. Blood stood at my shoulder. I pulled Putty back through the railings and stepped away. I felt nervous with Dr. Blood standing so close behind me.

  “I understand young pterodactyls have taken to following the airships in this part of the world,” the small geologist said. “The cooks throw the leftover scraps from meals overboard as we fly, and the pterodactyls snap them up as they fall. You will see it after dinner. It is considered a fine entertainment among the passengers, although, of course, the diet is not good for the beasts themselves. I fear it can only hasten their tragic extinction.”

  “We’d better get back to my cousin and my sister,” I said, gesturing toward Freddie and Olivia, who were talking quietly together. I stepped past Dr. Blood, dragging Putty after me.

  There weren’t many passengers on the viewing deck. Four men stood by one rail, talking. One of them turned away from his friends to watch Putty and me as we made our way over to Freddie and Olivia. I quickly looked away. I didn’t like the way he was staring at us. I’d spent the morning worrying about Sir Titus. What if he’d had someone watching the airship terminal? They could have followed us on board. We were too exposed out here.

  “Your cousin,” the geologist said, scurrying after us. “Of course. You both showed so much interest in my collection of rocks.” He looked around as we reached Freddie and Olivia. “Only, I am not sure I wish to set them out here.” He threw a glance at the group of men clustered by the rail. “Some of the rocks are quite valuable, you know. Very rare.”

  “I really don’t think anyone is going to steal your rocks,” I said.

  Dr. Blood peered up at me through his thick eyebrows, his forehead furrowing. “You are not a collector, I take it, young man. In any case, what if they were to roll off the edge of the deck? It would be most unfortunate if the airship were forced to land to retrieve them. Strange beasts stalk the wildlands, and even the plants are deadly.” He shivered. “I would not like to find myself down there.”

  One of the men by the rail was still watching us.

  “You’re right,” I said. “Let’s go inside. The wind’s getting a bit chilly, and you’ll be able to lay your rocks out on a table.”

  “An admirable suggestion, young man,” Dr. Blood said. “Admirable!”

  Freddie offered his hand to Olivia to draw her out of her chair. “Lead the way, cousin!” he said heartily to me. “Always wanted to see a bunch of rocks.”

  The men by the rail had stopped talking, and every one of them was watching us go.

  “Did you see the newspaper this morning, Mr. Winchester?” Dr. Blood said to Freddie as we reached the grand salon. “Terrible news.”

  “The newspaper?” Freddie said, opening the door and allowing Olivia and Putty through. “Good Lord, no! All that news and whatnot. Can’t keep my eyes open through it.”

  “Look!” Putty said, ignoring both of them. “They have photon emission globes!” Three chandeliers hung from the ceiling of the grand salon, but instead of candles, they each held half a dozen brightly glowing balls the size of my fist. “I saw some of them in a photonic mechanician’s shop. They are so amazing!”

  “Today’s news was not trivial,” Dr. Blood said, talking over Putty.

  Putty glared at him.

  “Tell me later,” I said, laying a hand on Putty’s shoulder.

  We made our way to an unoccupied table opposite the counter. An immaculately dressed automatic waiter moved smoothly through the salon on its well-oiled machinery, taking orders.

  “What do you mean?” Freddie said, frowning at Dr. Blood.

  “The Tharsis Times reports that South America has surrendered to the Emperor Napoleon,” Dr. Blood said. “His forces have overwhelmed their brave resistance at last. It will not be long before Britain herself feels the full fury and might of the French Empire. And worse. Bonaparte is building vast shipyards at Pittsburgh in his American colony of Pennsylvania. It will not be long before they are able to turn out ships.”

  “Does that matter?” I asked. “Napoleon already has a large enough fleet.” The British fleet had been shattered at Trafalgar eleven years ago and had never recovered. If the emperor hadn’t been fighting in Europe and America, he could have captured Britain right then.

  “But those ships are not for Britain,” Dr. Blood said. “Pittsburgh is the location of North America’s only dragon path terminus. The ships are intended fo
r a future invasion of Mars.”

  For a moment, there was silence as we all imagined Napoleon’s ships appearing in the sky above Mars.

  “But do not fear!” Dr. Blood exclaimed. “The Times also reports that the Martian governments are constructing gun platforms that will float in the void around the dragon paths. Any ship that attempts to make the passage will be utterly destroyed. The monster may build as many ships as he wishes, but he may send them only one at a time past our guns.”

  The dragon paths were vast currents of air that twisted through the void between Mars and Earth. While Mars-ships traveled along the currents at great speed, the dragon paths were only wide enough for ships to travel in single file. If the Martian governments were able to deploy gun platforms, every Mars-ship that passed would be subject to withering fire.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Freddie said. “The emperor is no fool. He has a crafty mind and a genius for strategy. If he’s building ships, he’s confident that they will reach their destination.”

  “Poppycock!” Dr. Blood said. “He cannot fly his ships through the void, nor can he create a dragon path where none exists. Mars shall not bow to his ambition!” He sat back, arms folded, looking smug.

  Putty leaned across the low table. “Have you traveled by dragon path, Dr. Blood?”

  “I?” Dr. Blood looked offended. “Indeed not! The dragon paths are a curse!”

  Olivia blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

  “The dragon paths have allowed Earth’s parasites to come swarming over the bones of the once great Martian civilization, despoiling it and looting its treasures. Now the Emperor Napoleon threatens a new swarm of parasites. We shall not allow it. I shall not allow it.”

  “All our families come from Earth,” Freddie said carefully. “Including yours, I suspect.”

  The small man sniffed. “I have become a true Martian, as we all must. Mars is our mother now.”

  Freddie settled back, hiding a smile. “I’m sure you are right.”

  “But we have forgotten our purpose here!” Dr. Blood reached into his overcoat and brought out three small pieces of stone, which he laid on the table in a line. “Sandstone!” he said triumphantly. “All of them, even though it might seem hard to believe.”