Earth Victoriana: On Track

[Thevshi]

Dee could feel the concussive force of the blast as it struck her telekinetic dome, blasting the psychic energy construct apart as it did so.  Luckily, the dome took the brunt of the explosion, but so to a degree did Dee's mind.  As the dome was blasted apart, Dee staggered backward and collapsed onto the ground, the remaining force of the blast washing over her as it sent dust and small debris flying about.

 

When the dust settled, she could faintly hear Annie and Ulysses speaking through some ringing in her ears.  Pushing herself up, the Englishwoman looked back over at the ruins of the robot, and the crater its explosion had caused.  Reaching up with one hand towards her face, Dee brushed aside some blood from a faint nosebleed as she climbed back up to her feet.

 

"It was a good thing we dealt with that up here."  She stated, looking again at the destruction.  "Could have been a lot worse."

[Supercape]

GM

 

Annie Key chewed her lip. It was not easy for her to witness the destruction of many months labour, all apparently fruitless. 

 

"So ends the dream" she said, bitter. "India must bear another scar. I hope you can make good on your bargain, psychic" she told Synapse, the anger never completely leaving her voice. 

 

Now it shall be built! Ever forward, cog and wheel and piston and spark! ground the voice of Industry in Ulysses head. It was not exactly joyful, more of a determined satisfaction to the mental voice. 

 

Ulysses could feel the build up of something around him, something tugging him, pulling him, back to Earth - his earth, to be precise. 

[Exaccus]

"Oop!" says ulysses as he runs over to synapse and Annie "All aboard who's coming aboard!" he chimes quite merrily as he extends his hands out, the success of his mission having relieved some of the immense pressure bearing down on his very will he was in a far less dour mood

 

"This might be a bumpy ride."  he however has the wisdom to warn them. "Last time this occurred we were dropped right ontop of one of your bombs..." he says rather reproachfully before turning to synapse "OH! What about bob? will we be able to retrieve him later?"

[Thevshi]

Dee glanced over at Annie, noting the other woman's despair in the destruction of her creation.  While the young Englishwoman could somewhat understand the feeling, there still was the fact that the automaton had been designed to cause destruction and likely death.  But, there was still the possibility that Annie might indeed turn a new leaf, as the saying went.  "I will keep my word."  She replied.  "You just remember my warnings." 

 

But then Ulysses came over, indicating that they apparently were about to be drawn back home.  Dee wasted no time in grabbing one of the extended hands.  Although she had been pulled over the first time without actually touching Ulysses, it certainly was best not to take chances.  "You heard him!"  She stated to Annie, before she remembered Bob as well, just as Ulysses brought him up.  She did not like that he was being left behind, but he had still been in the hospital when they had set out to search for the Thuggee and Annie.  "We will find a way back for him, I promise."

[Supercape]

GM

 

With a less explosive pop, and a faint whistle, Annie, Ulysses and Synapse felt the suck off dimensions, and the pull of their home Dimension, Annie had to cling on tightly, perhaps a little more tightly than was required, to the muscular arm of Ulysses. For whilst Ulysses and Synapse journeyed back, as if bouncing back from taught elastic, for Annie it was a journey that stretched the elastic. 

 

And then, there they were, back in Bob's Bangers, without Bob, and with a lot of soot and smoke and a few surprised Firemen gawping at the three of them. 

 

"Is this it?" asked Annie. "Looks rainy..."

[Thevshi]

Dee felt the pull reminiscent of their arrival in this dimension. Whatever this force was that had some connection to Ulysses, she was not at all certain she liked it, as it sent Ulysses back to where it had drawn him from. She just happened to be fortunate enough to have been nearby so he could make sure she and Annie came along to. Of course Bob was not so fortunate.

Looking about at the ruins of Bob's Bangers, the young Englishwoman gave the firemen a small smile. "Afternoon, I will need to speak with Dr. Rost, a government physicist who should be outside." She stated with as much authority as she could muster.

She then glanced back at Annie. "Yes, welcome to winter in Dover."

[Exaccus]

Ulysses found himself back where he'd begun, all in all not a bad ending to a unexpected journey and boy did he like that book; turning to regard annie as she clung to him like a spooked cat he gently tries to snap her out of it. "End of the line; Welcome to Earth prime." he says softly as he leads her out of the shop and after synapse, intending to put his two pence into affairs like any good meddling old man in his position would, careful not to drag annie into anything or get in the way of the firemen as they set about their work.

 

<Wonder how bobs holding up....>

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Whats going on? What happened? I demand to know everything!"

 

Dr Rost stormed into Bobs Bangers, nervous and anxious. Her hair was all over the place. She looked even more thin and haggard than normal. She would have been a stunning woman, given a week at a health and beauty spar. As it was, her hair looked like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards. She was smoking furiously, and her eyes were bloodshot and wild. 

 

"There was a paradimensional disturbance! With some...after effects..." she said, looking at the smoke and fire damage of Bobs bangers and the minor injuries of the customers. 

 

"Who are you?" she asked Ulysses. "Where did you come from?"

 

Her words almost tripped over themselves in her hurry to ask a thousand questions whilst looking at her computer and gadget readings. 

[Thevshi]

Dee gave a small sigh at Dr. Rost's excitable entrance.  The woman was rather high strung, but this was not at all the place to start talking about what had just happened.  "I will give a full report doctor."  The Englishwoman replied with a small nod in greeting as she grasped Rost's upper arm and pulled her back toward the exit and waiving for Ulysses and Annie to follow.  "But this is really not the place to be taking in the open about such things.  It will be an bloody interesting report, but rest assured, the disturbances we were here to investigate are over."

[Exaccus]

"I'm Ulysses; I come from Manchester." he answers a bit dumbly, taken entirely off guard by the bedraggled woman and her mile a Minuit mouth "who're you, what happened to your hair?" unable to stop himself, though synapse's intervention might have spared him the brunt of the wrath for asking such uncouth questions.

 

"Oh boy is it ever a tall tale and it ain't wrapped up quite yet either." he grumbles to himself more than anyone, but still loudly enough to be heard "gotta go back fer Bob too; blast it all."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Got to go back to Bob? What on earth are you talking about?" said Dr Rost, so agitated she threw her cigarette away angrily into a firemans mug of tea (by awkward chance). 

 

And so the debriefing occurred. Frankenbolts, gently fizzing and sparking away, drove Annie Key, Ulysses, Synapse, and Dr Rost back to London. All the while, Dr Rost, squirming and fidgeting, high as a kite on caffeine and nicotine, quizzed them about this, that, and the other. She would not be happy until she knew the type of moustache the brave Captain Singh sported. Her fingers tapped over her laptop, taking copious and quite probably disorganised notes of everything. Dr Rost was a clever women, no doubt, but she was so anxious and agitated her thoughts and manners were losing coherence, making her more brusque than normal. 

 

Annie Key kept largely silent, sullen and defiant, snapping with blistering shouts when pushed. To this, Dr Rost wisely backed down. 

 

And so it was that the great Indian railway was completed, free from explosives, free from thundering steam powered robots. The Thuggee cult, without the focus of Annie Key, continued to be a dark and dangerous force, but without the expertise to stop the railroad. The spirit of Industry was well and truly satisfied. 

 

And on the road back to London, Dr Rost got a call, a call that mentioned both Ulysses and Annie. 

 

"It appears there may be an opening at the ministry...if you are interested..." she said to the pair. 

 

~ Fin ~