Frankensteam

The Real Enemy

I looked at my watch and saw that it was now after 3:00 in the morning. I suddenly realized how tired I was and decided to return to my stateroom and catch at least a few hours or shuteye before the breakfast call. "Perhaps you'd better spend the night in my stateroom," I suggested to Atom, "you might wake Dr. Moss and Urania if you entered their stateroom at this hour."

"Thanks Mr. Peng." Atom said. "That's a good idea, besides I don't have the key to their stateroom anyway."

We made our way back to my stateroom though the dimly lit hallways. The ship's lighting had been turned down for the evening, and it was quiet in the levels of the ship beneath the main deck. I inserted my key in the lock and opened the door only to find two gentlemen sitting there waiting for me.

One of them was taller than the other, he was clean shaven and wore a deerstalker hat on his head. The shorter man was wearing a bowler hat, he had a well trimmed mustache and ruddy side burns.

"I'm sorry to disturb you sir," the taller man said, as he rose with an outstretched hand, "but a recent turn of events has made it necessary."

"Who are you?" I asked, "and how did you get into my stateroom?"

"Skeleton key," he said, holding up the device for me to view. "My name is Sherlock Holmes, and this gentlemen is my close friend and assistant Dr. Watson," he motioned to the other gentlemen who also rose and extended me his hand.

After exchanging greetings and handshakes with my two uninvited guests, I inquired the nature of their business. "So what does the famous detective want with me?"

The detective turned to face Atom. He bent down to look the boy in the face. "Amazing, though I do see a bit of makeup has been applied. I assume this is the automaton created by the late Dr. Moss."

"Yes it is, I mean he is," I replied.

"This is the machine you told me about?" Dr. Watson muttered.

"He's not just a machine." I said, correcting the doctor, "He's a sentient mechanical being."

"What is you name son?" the doctor asked Atom.

"Atom, sir." The boy replied to the doctor, meekly.

"Amazing." Watson answered. "I shouldn't have doubted you Holmes, but the story was just too fantastic."

"How did you know about Atom?" I asked. "He was hidden inside of a locked metal casket in Dr. Moss's estate. We ourselves discovered him just weeks ago."

"That is a bit of a story," Holmes said, as he started to reach inside his coat pocket, "Er, do you mind if I smoke my pipe?"

"No, but please allow me to open the port holes so it doesn't get to stuffy in here." I replied.

"Allow me." The doctor replied as he operated the locking levers on the two windows in my stateroom.

Holmes extracted a long stemmed pipe and a pouch containing shag tobacco. He carefully filled the bowl of the pipe and manged to lite it using a single match. After taking a long drag and holding the smoke in his lungs for a few seconds, he exhaled it slowly. "That helps set my mind in the proper mood," he explained.

Normally I abhor the stench of tobacco, but the blend that the detective favored did have a rather nice aroma to it, and so long as it was diluted by some fresh air from the outside I found that not only could I tolerate it, I rather enjoyed the sensation. "Please go ahead with your story, sir." I said.

"As far as I know the exploits of a certain James Moriarty haven't been reported on in the American newspapers, so you may not have heard of the gentlemen." Holmes started, "Suffice to say he is one of the most ruthless underworld character in all of the British Empire. What makes him so dangerous is not just his connections in the underworld, nor his total lack of morals, but his extremely high IQ and quickness of thought. He is as sharp as a tack, and will make use of any advantage that comes his way. No new invention, concept, or idea is beyond his grasp. I'm sure after having been up on deck this evening you believe that Captain Nemo is once again prowling the depths in the Nautilus. I happen to know for certain that the former prince is now six feet under having exhaled his last breath some years ago. The remains of his submarine boat were until very recently hidden in an underwater cave somewhere in the Caribbean, but are right now in the hands of Moriarty."

"That does answer one nagging question that's been in the back of my mind since I saw the Nautilus with my own eyes this evening." I said.

"Several months ago I was hired by a Doctor Pegasus Moss to investigate the nature of several mysterious events that had happened to him." The detective continued, "the old man was an inventor, he explained to me that he was on the verge of a break though that would change life on this planet for the better beyond everyone's dreams. Dr. Pegasus showed me some of his notes and a few prototypes. His reason for hiring me was that he had received several threatening letters demanding that he turn his work over to a certain syndicate or face a horrible death. I examined the letters and concluded that they were certainly written by the professor. For several weeks I lay in ambush trying to protect my client, however I was outsmarted by my foe. The police ruled Moss's death as from natural causes, however doctor Watson here was able to conclude that he had been poisoned by a very unique compound that mimicked heart failure. I still haven't yet been able to determine the means by which the poison was introduced into my client. I was certain that Moriarty would return after my client was buried to search the estate for the doctor's secrets, so I maintained a guard around the place until his heir showed up to take possession of the property."

"Excuse me for interrupting," Dr. Watson interjected, "but why wasn't I with you during this case?"

"You were occupied otherwise my good fellow," Holmes replied, "you were handling the affairs of the widow York over on the east end, and you did a wonderful job on that case, I couldn't have handled it any better myself!"

"Oh yes that one," Watson said under his breath, "The search for a lost cat!"

"Precisely!" Holmes replied, "You know all about my allergies to cat dander, I would have been quite useless to our client. Fortunately you do not suffer from such an affliction!"

"I would have thought that we would have been in danger during our stay," I replied laughing a bit after the exchange between the detective and the doctor, "surely such a ruthless man would have gone to great lengths to secure the secrets that my friend's father had hidden in his workshop."

"Indeed." Holmes replied. " Moriarty isn't stupid, he intended to allow you to discover the documents and prototypes yourselves, then take them from you later on. It was only your desire to return back to America sooner that he had expected that saved you from a visit by the professor, however he quickly made other arrangements."

"The railway accident!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, that was definitely Moriarty's handiwork, or at least the work of one of his hired thugs," Holmes replied. "I was on the train with you, and as soon as the engineer discovered the damaged track and stopped his charge in time, Watson and I were scouting the grounds around the train looking for the hoodlums that intended to raid it. Just as Atom here repaired the tracks, something that Moriarty hadn't counted on, I had cold conked the would be attackers. I then had to make great haste to reboard the train which hadn't been hardly delayed at all."

"So the appearance of the 'sea monster' was yet another attempt to hijack us?"

"I don't doubt it for a second," Holmes replied. "Atom may have scared them off for now, but they will be back."

"Am I what this Moriarty is after?" The boy asked.

"Actually the technology that makes you possible is what the professor ultimately wants." Holmes said, "Though I'm certain that there are other inventions, or ideas buried in the late doctor's laboratory notes that would make equally prized plums to my foe."

"We need to inform Dr. Edsel Moss about this." I ejaculated.

"That can wait until the morning," Holmes said. "Doctor Watson and I will meet you for breakfast. We've been invited to the captain's table, please meet us there for the late seating."

With that the famous detective and his friend got up and left my compartment. I allowed a few moments for the air to clear some more before closing the port holes, and then made up my berth for what remained of the night. "I'll just set down in one of the chairs and power down for a few hours" Atom replied, closing his eyes.

I quickly got into my pajamas and under the covers. Despite the thoughts rapidly flowing through my mind I managed to fall asleep rather quickly, though I did have some most disturbing dreams.


The morning sun's first rays tickled my face and awakened me. Despite my lack of sleep I quickly washed and dressed myself. I wanted to get over to my friend's stateroom quickly before they left for breakfast. Atom followed me into the hallway, he'd awakened himself without any assistance from me. I knocked on my friend's door, which was quickly opened by Urania. She saw the automaton standing behind me and reached out an arm to grab him. "Where have you been all night!" she exclaimed, "You must be 'hungry'. She sat Atom down on her bed and presented him with one of the lead lined canisters. The boy opened his chest panel and carefully refueled himself with the unstable elemental fluid. After draining the canister he crushed it into a compact lead ball, and dropped it into the waste basked. "It should be safe like that," he said.

"We've been invited to the captain's table for breakfast," I remarked, "Second sitting."

"That's good." Urania sighed, "I didn't think father was going to make it out of the shower in time for the first sitting anyway." She grabbed a tall tumbler from the table and filled it with water from the sink, and then handed it to Atom, "You probably need to replenish your water supply as well, don't you?" The boy nodded his head as he accepted the glass and slowly drank from it.

"More?" Urania asked.

"Yes please." Atom said, accepting a second helping.

My friend stepped out of the bathroom wearing only his robe. Urania turned around so her back was towards the beds, "You can dress father, I'm not looking."

I laughed a bit as my friend quickly dressed. He then walked back towards the mirror to comb his hair and trim his mustache. "I didn't receive any invite from the captain." Dr. Moss said.

"It wasn't directly from him." I said, "but rather though a third party, someone of some notable fame whom you've probably heard of."

I kept Edsel in suspense as we made our way towards the dinning room. When we reached the captain's table, we found four empty chairs, two on either side of the table, and two more near the table's head. Holmes and Watson took seats directly across from Dr. Moss and myself, Atom and Urania took places on either side of the captain's place at the head of the table.

"Why Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" Edsel replied, "My father mailed me your photo a few weeks before he died, he told me that he planed to hire you for some secret reason."

The two men shook hands from across the table. We all then sat down as the breakfast tea had just arrived. I lifted the kettle and poured tea for the captain, Holmes, Watson, Edsel and myself. Urania waved a 'no thanks' toward me and poured herself a glass of milk.

"So what brings the famous sleuth onto my ship?" the captain asked, "Just a pleasure trip, or business?"

"Unfortunately this isn't a holiday trip," Holmes said, "I rather fear that your ship may be in some danger, and that the younger Dr. Moss is the target."

Holmes quickly explained to the captain and my friend what he had revealed to me during the night. "I'll post some guards around the cargo hold where the doctor's luggage is stored," the captain exclaimed, and I can also post some guards in the corridor leading to your staterooms."

"That would be a prudent idea, I suppose," Holmes replied, "as we really don't know if the professor has men on board this ship, or even if he himself is on board. Still, the fact that the Nautilus was following us last night leads me to believe that he doesn't have a presence on this ship."

"Is the Drake still escorting us?" I asked.

"Good question." Holmes replied.

The captain pulled his pocket watch out from his vest pocket and looked at the time.

"She's still along side us for now." he replied. "She was supposed to turn off on patrol at 0900 hours, but I'll report your story to her captain over the semaphore at once, perhaps he'll ask to have his orders changed."

The captain got up and walked over to a speaking tube mounted on the wall behind him. He pressed a button to signal the bridge, and then spoke to his second in command.

"I've asked my number 2 to relay the information to the Drake at once." He said.


Well it appears that this story has become a bit of a crossover. I do tend to do that from time to time! I won't be relisting it as such however, for I have this feeling that it will become a mishmash of other 'borrowed' characters rather soon!