AEGIS Tales 2, page 4
part #8 of Airship Daedalus Series
As she pondered her situation Song Li realized that failure might be a blessing in disguise. Let them do the work then take it from them. Crowley, notoriously impatient, could be dealt with if a bigger payoff seemed likely. It would have to do.
“We need a new plan,” she mumbled to herself. Then loudly to the occupants of the dimly-lit meeting room, “What are you standing around for? Don’t you have something to do? Get out of here, I need to think.” Pulling out a drawer in her desk she retrieved a glass, withdrew a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey and poured two fingers. Downing it in a single gulp she poured another, leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
☐
February 1928
It had been an autumn and winter of hard work and significant change. New security measures were put in place, new plans laid and an accelerated research effort made. Felix Fogarty had been sent by AEGIS Command to Seattle in the Pacific Northwest, presumably for specialized training in field airship operations, then spent a month with Nikola Tesla. It was his considered opinion that Tesla was the better theoretician, Edison the better practical uses man. Since Tesla couldn’t stand Edison—and the reverse could be said if Edison actually remembered the man—Felix tried to be circumspect when he felt it was necessary to theorize wildly with someone smarter than he was. Tesla really understood the imagination end of inventing.
Eula Esterhaus had been promoted. She was leading AEGIS special covert operations worldwide, which meant she was flitting around the planet in an airship outfitted especially for her needs. It sported exotic new equipment, greater lift capacity, was faster with a smaller overall envelope than the larger Daedalus class ships. If everything checked out Athena just might become the flagship of a new class.
Shanghai Bureau Chief Joe Frankels had also moved up, taking over the role of Security Chief. His no nonsense approach and extensive field experience was useful, but it was his relationship with Fogarty that made it easy for Edison to accept the replacement recommendation of his exiting security officer.
Felix, with his outsized talent in languages plus practical theory in electrical circuits and mechanical design was now set to become a lynch pin of the West Orange research department and the perfect man to liaise with facilities around the world. About half of Frankel’s new job was keeping this Wonder Man safe.
☐
Fogarty clambered out of a Model A Ford followed by five burly men onto the snow covered streets of West Orange. The winter landscape had a sepia tone quality in shades of gray washed in pale amber in the twilight. They were returning from a skiing expedition to Mt. Mansfield in Vermont, which had consisted mostly of trudging through snowdrifts and periodically manhandling the car back onto the road. There were even a few minutes of ski time to be had. To a man they were exhausted and glad to be back at headquarters. Guarding the wunderkind was hard work.
For his part the subject of all this protection made his way to Frankels security office, where he dumped his bag and collapsed onto a chesterfield sofa. Joe glanced up briefly then returned to the report he was editing.
“So,” Frankels began, “mission accomplished?”
“I think so, Joe. I’ve been as visible as I could be for most of the winter. Do you think they are paying attention?”
“Count on it, son. I have reliable information in that regard. They are definitely watching.”
“So on to the next thing then, I guess.”
“Yep, time to convene a meeting of the Vagabonds.” Frankels looked up and ran his right hand over his bald pate. “”They’re gathering at Harbel Manor, and expecting you tomorrow.”
“Then it’s the overnight train to see the Rubber King.” With that Felix scooped up his haversack and was out the door.
☐
“He’s on the move again—heading for Akron.” Song Li was talking to Aleister Crowley telephonically via the transatlantic cable activated less than two years earlier. “I think this is when we make our move.”
“I’ve been more than patient up till now, Major. Waiting for AEGIS to perfect this technology was a risk worth taking, but only if your plan succeeds. If not, well...the consequences might be catastrophic. I hope, for your sake, they aren’t.”
The ominous tone left her shaken as she hung up the earpiece. It was time to set events in motion. Time to avenge herself of Felix Fogarty.
☐
Aboard the night train
Felix, carrying two leather blueprint cases, and his cadre of guards made their way to Hoboken Station where they boarded a train bound for Akron. One guard settled in with Fogarty in one compartment and two men each occupied the adjacent spaces.
Song Li was in mufti, having shed the distinctive black uniform of the Silver Star in favor of the pajama-like clothes and quilted jacket of a Chinese peasant. She had braided her hair to resemble the Qing Dynasty queue mostly worn by men and with a round skull cap covering the rest of her head. Sitting two cars forward, she watched her nemesis as he boarded. With a nod, a dozen other members of the Order paired off and moved to other coaches, waiting for the train to get underway. Each man had his orders: recover the blueprints, kill Fogarty and all the other AEGIS operatives. She consulted her Ball Railroad Chronometer pocket watch. Less than two hours, she thought. He had escaped alive once before to her regret. She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
Once underway the train finally cleared the metropolitan area and settled into a rhythm of rail song punctuated with the occasion staccato of crossing points as it rolled westward through Allentown, Hershey, and toward Harrisburg. Dark, rural landscapes occasionally illuminated by a streetlight in some hamlet, slipped by as they headed west and then eventually to their destination.
In Harrisburg they stopped to take on coal and water and several passengers disembarked to stretch their legs or buy a hot dog from a vendor hoping for a late evening sale. A few new passengers boarded when the conductor called all aboard and once again the train got underway.
☐
West Orange
Precisely on schedule, a Captain of the Silver Star dropped his hand and more than a hundred troops stormed the laboratory, workshop and home of Thomas Edison, almost completely overrunning AEGIS Headquarters, spreading destruction wherever they went and death whenever they could. Joe Frankels was routed from his office with a flurry of automatic weapons fire. He fell while streaking across the garden and lay still, face down in the snow covered grass. It was over in moments. Components were swiftly disassembled by Silver Star technicians and spirited away, the fallen AEGIS agents left where they dropped. It took less than fifteen minutes and when they were gone little of technical value remained behind.
☐
Aboard the night train
Felix was bored. He had completed two crosswords and eaten the three hot dogs his traveling companion returned with, getting mustard on his tie, much to his annoyance. Rising, he stuck his head into the companionway and, seeing nothing in either direction, sighed deeply and sat back down.
“Why don’t you get some shuteye, Ed. Looks like a quiet night.”
“Yeah, but no thanks. Better you should do. Busy times coming.”
“Not the least bit sleepy. Maybe I’ll look at the blueprints again.” He opened one of the cases pulling out a couple of sheets of plans. Spreading one across his knees he began tracing a line with his finger. There was a tap on the compartment door.
“Tickets, please.” A conductor held his ticket punch in his left hand.
Ed started to reach into his jacket while Fogarty set the plans to one side but the conductor swung a pistol with his right hand and fired two shots point blank into Ed’s chest. Felix kicked at the gun, leaped to his feet and delivered a powerful blow to the man’s solar plexus, shoving him into the companionway. He jumped back as gunfire erupted from both ends of the car.
Slapping off the light switch, he grabbed the cases and began climbing out the window to escape to the roof of the car. His long arms easily reached the walkway frame and he hoisted himself upward, barely clearing the compartment as Song Li stepped over the inert form of the bodyguard.
“Get him,” she screamed to her henchmen clogging the doorway. “He’s on the roof. And get the plans. Don’t wait for me!”
The train hadn’t yet reached full speed and was barely past the outskirts of town. Fogarty dashed across the car arriving at the front just as a Silver Star operative poked his head up for a look. Not even slowing down, he delivered a solid size-twelve right to the bridge of his nose, sending him to his death and smoky dissolution beneath the train. Smudge and grit belched from the locomotive stack as he moved forward. Song Li had gained the rooftop as well and with her flashlight and MP18 machine gun trained on her quarry she yelled out, “Give it up, Fogarty. You’ve got no help. All five of your men are dead and I have ten more men with me. Hand over the blueprints and I’ll let you go: For old time’s sake.” She had no intention of honoring that promise.
“I find your offer generous and, forgive me, unbelievable. Wo ningyuan xian si.”
“So you speak Mandarin? Very talented. You’d rather die first? Nizi bian. Suit yourself.”
As her finger closed on the trigger the train lurched as it slowed to make the turn to cross the Susquehanna River on the Rockville Bridge. Felix fell forward, losing his grip on the cases. Song Li’s shot went wide but the blueprints slid off the car onto the tracks below. Immediately three Silver Star agents tumbled after them, their glow lamps at full power racing back to recover the containers. Song Li sent a triumphant smile Fogarty’s way as he regained his footing. The air warmed slightly as the effect from the river arose to engulf the train.
“I win this time. You lose.” She pulled the trigger, bullets barked from the barrel and the wonder man Felix Fogarty tumbled off the train and into the embrace of the river below.
☐
March 1928
Among his rank and file followers Aleister Crowley’s home in the bucolic English countryside was simply know as Chateau Crow. Unless invited, or commanded, no one dropped in to this estate. Despite its impressive exterior demeanor, inside, the owner’s obsession with the occult, off-world technology and the paranormal was manifest. It was from his collection of objects and artifacts he drew not only inspiration, but considerable personal power as well.
Major Li had been commanded to appear for an audience and she waited nervously to be summoned in one of what she imagined must be a dozen antechambers. She checked her uniform tunic and adjusted her cap emblazoned with the star emblem of Crowley’s Astrum Argentum forces. An aide consulted a clock near the door and nodded. Taking a hard swallow, Li walked into the next room.
“Major Li, welcome to my home. Congratulations on the success of your recent mission. I believe it will be a great boon to my efforts.” His smile was less than reassuring.
“Thank you, sir. It was just as we planned, with a minimum of losses.”
“Yes, quite. Four dead. A trifling relative to our other encounters with AEGIS and easily replaced.”
“Is there news regarding the project?”
“Mm, yes. The blueprints are quite thorough. Our chief scientist was very enthusiastic, but did warn it would take at least two years to build the new device. That actually puts us ahead of the project timeline before the unpleasantness in Shanghai. Very fortuitous, and a clever idea. Which brings me to you.”
“Yes sir?” Her skin crawled with fear and a misty sheen of sweat broke out on her upper lip.
“Your involvement in this project is complete. You’ll be needing a new assignment. And that will require your promotion to Colonel. Come, let’s take a look at the dossier for your expedition to Isla de Muerte Silenciosa. It’s a small place, really. Just a dot on the globe, but rumor has it the Golden Panther of the Incas is hidden somewhere there. Your mission is to find it and return it here to me. Maria Blutig will transport you and your command to South America where you will create a base of operations in Ecuador in the charming, if poverty-stricken coastal village of Esmeraldas. You have earned some time off. Use it wisely and report for embarkation Monday April second at our aerodrome in Farnsworth.”
“Thank you, sir. By the way what does the name mean?”
“The Island of Silent Death.”
“I see. Well, again thank you. I won’t disappoint you, sir.”
“I’ve no doubt about that,” he replied dryly. “I’m sure you wouldn’t want to risk such an outcome.”
☐
April 1928
The campsite was a gorgeous meadow alive with bees buzzing industriously among the early wildflowers nestled in a nearly inaccessible valley in the Adirondack mountains. Sitting around the campfire were the members of the Vagabonds. Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone were devotees of camping, which is how their group nickname came about. Edison enjoyed it as well, when done in the style to which they were accustomed, which included staff, an entourage of vehicles carrying linens, china, silver, four poster beds and canvas tents the size of modest houses.
“I’ve been thinking about what we saw in West Orange.” Firestone said.
“Yes,” Ford chimed in. “So sorry about your house and grounds. Seeing that enemy agent dissolve into smoke was quite unnerving.”
“The house and grounds can be rebuilt. The personnel cannot,” Edison replied.
“Tragic. Simply tragic. How many were lost? Including the men on the train?”
“None, actually Mr. Ford.” All eyes turned in surprise at the voice of Security Chief Joe Frankel. “Four men wounded and lots of bruises but we didn’t lose a single operative.”
The three men had jumped to their feet and were slapping Frankels on the back, shaking his hand and staring in disbelief.
Firestone was the first to regain his voice.
“How is this possible? We went to the funerals. You, and young Fogarty, too.”
“Have a seat, gentlemen, I will explain everything.”
☐
February 1928
Aboard the night train
It was damnably risky to be sure but Felix got his feet pointed down and his arms crossed on his chest just as he plunged into the frigid waters of the river. He very nearly inhaled a lung full of water as the icy grip shocked his system but he managed to pull the inflator on his hidden air bladder and it worked as advertised, floating him to the surface. Three boats with shuttered searchlights scanning the surface raced toward him the moment he was spotted. When he had been plucked from the water he shrugged off his coat and the newly-developed bullet-proof vest and wrapped himself in the proffered blankets. With his teeth chattering he stuttered out a question.
“How’d it go?”
“Fine here, sir. Let’s get you to shore, you can ask Ed yourself about the rest.”
“Never mind, head for the debarkation point. This operation can still be blown up.”
“Yes sir.” The man at the helm signaled to the other boats and each one headed in a different direction as planned.
On board the train Ed and the other AEGIS bodyguards waited until the porter passed among them and gave them the all clear. Regaining their feet, they dusted themselves off and left the train when it stopped at a freight siding a few miles beyond the bridge. They scattered as planned.
☐
West Orange, New Jersey
When the last of the Silver Star agents had retreated from the scene Joe tentatively lifted his head. Without arising he softly whistled.
“It’s all over, Boss.” Someone shouted. “They’re gone. But the West Orange Fire Brigade is on the way. I can hear the bells.”
“Okay fellas, let’s go.” Frankels was on his feet now and yelling out instructions. “We have a lot to do, and not much time to do it.”
☐
April 1928
Adirondack campsite
“You’re telling us this was some elaborate charade?” Edison was slack-jawed at what he was hearing.
“More than that, sir, it was a complete reordering of our security system. Dr. Starr, myself and Eula began the initial planning when Felix was still recovering from his gunshot wound in Shanghai. Given the scope and complexity of the project Crowley was financing, we knew it would only be a matter of time before he made an effort to restart the project. Since he didn’t have much left, and he wouldn’t want to start over, the logical conclusion was he would mount an armed effort to steal back the technology.”
“I still don’t understand.” Firestone scratched head. “Edison’s workshop was destroyed and all the important work taken. Glenmont Manor was half destroyed by fire. Nothing has happened since then. We’re only just beginning to clean up and rebuild.”
“Yes, the near loss of Mr. Edison’s home was unfortunate, but everything else went exactly as we hoped. Nothing taken from the workshop had any practical value, it was just an elaborate Tinker Toy setup designed to look like important work was being done. Mr. Ford, you accidentally sending our worker skyward was a theatrical bonus that helped close the deal. We suspected the janitor and when he managed to electrocute himself it had us worried. We thought we had lost our ability to feed misleading information. Then we got an intelligence report from our contact inside their operation that Major Song Li was in charge of Silver Star efforts. From there we let her anger at Fogarty blind her.”
“What about the blueprints. Felix spent weeks working on those, even after he returned from China.”
“The plans are fake. And by that I mean he spent a lot of effort creating plans that will require lots of time and resources to put together. And when they are done it will make lots of important sounding noises without doing anything useful at all. Felix was quite proud of himself on that score. He said everything in the diagram is critical to making everything busy. His complications all feed a circular loop that randomly selects a circuit to burn out. At their core the diagrams are for a perpetual minor failure machine.”
