Airship Hunters (27 page)

The doctor moved right to the point of their meeting: “Gentlemen, I have been given access to your voluminous reports on your very intriguing assignment. You have provided me some fascinating reading. Based on my examination of those documents, I should like to ask you some questions. You may answer with what you have discovered or deduced. Or my question may lead you to areas you have not yet considered. The ultimate goal of this exercise is to help you in understanding what you have faced in recent months.”

“Understood,” Valiantine said. Cabot nodded.

“Excellent. Let us begin.” Yarrow steepled his fingers and touched them to his lips, then placed his hands in his lap. “What was the point of this conspiracy involving Major Wellington, Assistant Director Gallows, and Barnaby Scarborough?”

Valiantine said, “Their short-term goal appeared to be the assassination of President McKinley.”

“And the long-term goal?”

“Based on things said by the Trio, as I call them, I believe they wanted to overthrow the existing government,” the lieutenant said. “Or at least gain control of it through the agents they had in place through various agencies, in the way that Major Wellington and Gallows had taken over their roles.”

“What do you mean, ‘had taken over their roles’?”

Cabot spoke up: “Those men were imposters, sir. They more or less admitted that to us.”

“More or less? And the men they replaced? Where are they?”

Cabot shook his head. “We don’t know. We’ve found no clues even to when they may have been replaced. None of the men had any other family, and both lived alone.”

“Hm.” Yarrow briefly steepled his fingers again. “So, an effort to take control of the government. Not an invasion?”

“Not in the sense that we usually think of a military invasion,” Valiantine said.

“And yet, your reports mention uniformed soldiers.”

“Yes.”

“Still,” Yarrow said, “you report seeing fewer than one hundred at a time. This hardly sounds like an invasion.”

“However,” Cabot interjected, “besides the soldiers we actually saw, there were many men employed in the manufacturing floor of the outpost where we last encountered Awanai and the Trio. And a sailing ship or steamship comparable to the size of the airship that exploded would need a crew of at least one or two hundred men. Simply because we did not see large numbers doesn’t mean they weren’t present. And some may still be at large.”

Yarrow appeared to consider. “What about this other group that seemed to be in conflict with this army led by the... ah, Trio? Are they still at large as well?”

Cabot nodded. “We can only assume so.”

“Yet no sightings of either faction have been reported since the airship was destroyed?”

“No.”

“Why are these two groups in conflict? Who do you think they represent? And do both have the ability to build these flying ships?”

Cabot glanced at Valiantine. The latter said, “We don’t know. We simply didn’t witness enough or learn enough about the conflict to know much about the cause of their fight.”

Cabot added, “We thought there were at least two ships. But we only ever saw one at a time. There have been no sightings reported since the wreck, so perhaps only one ever existed. And perhaps that other faction—the one challenging the Trio—was trying to capture the information for building a flying machine.”

The doctor leaned forward. “Many ‘perhaps.’”

Valiantine said, “As to the place these armies call home—again, we can only guess.”

“The Trio spoke of
their world
,” Cabot said. “I have seen utterly fantastic dime novels about travels to other planets, but I cannot accept that these men have come to our world from the moon or Mars. I can only surmise they are from another country or use ‘our world’ to mean another hemisphere.”

“Indeed,” the lieutenant added, “their uniforms looked somewhat Prussian.”

Cabot said, “Perhaps ‘our world’ simply means there is some awkwardness in translating their language to English, and they aren’t proficient with idioms. And it’s quite possible the two groups come from the same country, but are opposing factions in some sort of civil war.”

Yarrow tilted his head. “But the plate found in the wreckage of the ship said something about ‘America,’ did it not?”

Valiantine nodded. “Which is all the more confusing, but it at least suggests their home is in the New World, not Europe. Whatever their origin, it must be a country with advanced engineering capabilities. That would shorten the list.”

Cabot said, “Unless Edgar Allan Poe and John Symmes were right, and a civilization has developed within the hollow Earth.”

Dr. Yarrow stared at the Treasury agent. “Do you suppose that is possible, Mr. Cabot?”

Cabot’s neck reddened. “No, I’m sorry. A moment of whimsy broke through my frustration at having witnessed so much but still knowing so little. I do apologize, it was completely inappropriate.”

“Since you mention Mr. Poe, perhaps it is his Imp of the Perverse making itself known.” Yarrow smiled.

Cabot attempted to smile in return. “Yes, you may be correct.”

Valiantine cleared his throat. He caught Cabot watching him as he picked minute bits of lint from the sofa’s embroidery. He moved his hands to his lap.

Dr. Yarrow spoke again. “It may be that we need some whimsy, gentlemen. In reading your reports, I’ve learned you were engaged in situations that exerted great stress upon your minds. You were in danger of losing your careers. You were, physically and mentally, in harm’s way.”

He gestured toward a wall. “Did you notice the botanical prints? A friend gave them to me years ago. But their purpose is not merely decorative. The bud opens up into the completely blooming flower. But the flower will not fully blossom until conditions are proper for it to do so.”

Yarrow held up an index finger. “The mind is much like a flower. It is like a bud, closed about some mystery or problem, like the enigmas of this flying vessel you gentlemen are dealing with. You have worked hard, risked life and limb, and still have no satisfactory answers. The mind seeks order, and the order your minds seek regarding this airborne ship is closure. Only when these mysteries are resolved will you have closure, and then your minds will blossom again, free from worry.”

The doctor smiled at his guests. “So, if levity will promote flowers over the mental weeds of confusion and frustration, then let us laugh.” He chuckled in an artificial way that made the Aero-Marshals glance at one another.

“Dr. Yarrow,” Cabot said, “since you are a neutral party reading our reports, what do you make of the situation as we have described it?”

Yarrow looked at his fingers before returning his gaze to his guests. “Like you, I am puzzled. By several things. For example, the likeness of the man named Carnavon to this strange person, Awanai.”

“He was a mean, wicked creature.” Valiantine’s anger was obvious.

Cabot said, “The Trio suggested—obliquely—that they weren’t simply imposters, but were related to the men they replaced in some way. Like... opposite sides of the same coin.”

Yarrow’s eyebrows rose. “Doppelgangers? Doubles?”

“Yes, that’s it! Awanai was much more direct in stating Carnavon was his counterpart. Apparently Awanai developed the secret for the ship’s ability to fly. He said Carnavon was on track to do the same. That’s why Awanai murdered him.”

“Ah. And did this have something to do with the coins?”

“No,” Cabot said. “The coins simply seem to confuse everything further.”

Yarrow leaned forward. This position, paired with the bat-eared shape of his chair, emphasized an appearance of the doctor looming over his guests. “How so?”

“Apparently the Trio’s men aboard the airship used these coins while trading with at least three families in Kansas. Their minting remains a mystery—they are not U.S. coins, but perhaps they are badly designed counterfeits, for whatever reason.” Cabot frowned. “Their design was bad enough that lawful authorities noticed them. I was initially brought into the airship mystery by investigating these coins.”

“You were sent by the man posing as Gallows, correct?” Yarrow asked.

“Yes.”

“But why?” Yarrow sat back. “If he was part of the conspiracy, why have it investigated?”

“Part of the Trio’s camouflage.”

“Ah. Please continue about the coins. They disappeared, I believe?”

“They seem to have been stolen.”

“By whom?”

“Possibly they were recovered by the airship crew,” Valiantine said.

“Possibly?”

“We think it’s very likely they were removed by the faction opposing the airship army. Whoever stole them must have had mechanical techniques that allowed them to do so without leaving any sign of such.”

Cabot added, “We think the opposing force used the stolen coins in Louisville.”

“Allegedly finding them by the canal?” the doctor asked.

“Yes.”

“To what purpose?”

Valiantine sighed. “Apparently to draw the airship faction into a trap. To perhaps gain the secrets to flying or to board the airship.”

“Or,” Cabot said, then he paused. “Or to capture a berserker.”

Yarrow’s fingers again formed a steeple. “You mean the monster?”

“It ties back to the coins,” Cabot said. “We have surmised the cows—or perhaps there was only one cow, bartered multiple times—the cow was a sort of experiment. It produced milk that carried some quality or ingredient that caused the children to change into murderous beasts. After seeing the martial posturing of the airship agents, I can only surmise they were attempting to create some sort of berserker warrior—and exploited innocent children for this vile purpose.”

“My goodness,” Yarrow said. He dropped his hands to the arms of his chair.

“I think the one I shot in Louisville was Sam Brecker. He had tried to escape his captors. That’s why we found victims there from both factions: he didn’t want to return to the airship, and he didn’t want to be captured by their enemies. He killed whoever tried to catch him. And the airship crew didn’t want him found by anyone else.”

“Hm.” Yarrow stared at Cabot. “That all sounds... horrific.”

Valiantine said, “We think Awanai was behind that mischief as well as making the ship fly.”

“I see. And this flying—it was tied to the vapors?”

“Yes,” the lieutenant said. “Apparently it was connected in some fashion to the meteorite Carnavon was working with.”

“The vapor or gas had some deleterious effects, yes?”

“Certainly it affected our perceptions,” Valiantine said. “And apparently those of the people on the ship.”

Yarrow tapped the arms of the chair with his fingers. “You wrote that the principals—the Trio—seemed almost lethargic when they were aboard.”

“Yes, and the soldiers did not respond in the sharp manner one would expect from military troops,” the lieutenant said. “It probably helped save our lives and allow us to escape.”

Cabot added, “It was like they were woozy... you might say they were drugged, as by doses of laudanum. Always they had someone playing music. This seemed so very odd, but we decided the music must have helped them keep their mental faculties engaged despite the effects of the vapor.”

Yarrow nodded and rested his chin on the points of his fingers. “And the food the gentleman in Indiana mentioned—Perklee?”

“Just as excessive drink may lead to inebriated hedonism, apparently continual exposure to the vapor—the vox—can do something very similar.”

“How strange.” The doctor combed his fingers through his muttonchops. “Did the vapor contribute to the decomposition of the coins?”

Cabot had completely regained his composure and he spoke with confidence: “We thought that was a possibility.”

“One of the Trio said all their metals suffered during the trip to our country—our ‘world,’ he called it,” Valiantine said. “He may have meant the flying vapor corroded the coins and other metals during the trip. Again, it was another of their statements we’ve had to make guesses about.”

Dr. Yarrow considered silently a few moments. He stood and walked to the unshuttered window. “Gentlemen, your descriptions of the singular events you have experienced match all that you have written in your reports, which I have perused with great interest.” As the doctor spoke, he closed one of the window’s shutters, so that light poured into the room only through half the window. He returned to his seat and asked, “What is your opinion about the threat to our nation? Is another flying ship at large?”

Valiantine answered: “We saw only one ship at a time—and not in such a way to identify any distinguishing characteristics to know whether we saw the same one each time or sighted more than one. Since there have been no sightings since the crash, it’s likely only one ship ever was on the loose.”

He raised a finger. “However, a second ship may be hiding out since the crash, or may have left the country to avoid stirring further uproar.”

“Also,” Cabot said, “we know the faction representing the airship had agents placed in roles of authority within the government. We know the Trio—barring other evidence yet to be found—are dead. But other agents, other doppelgangers may yet be in place, working unsuspected. So the threat remains.”