Chapter 9
The large beetle who was once a human struggled down the stairs of Whitehall. Biggles was a few steps ahead but kept pace with him. It was nighttime and smuggling a large bug through security was surprisingly simple. The fact that the insectoid monstrosity had an appointment probably helped.
James Bigglesworth knew of Gregor Samsa's origins and his path to this assignation. Gregor was an overworked Prague salesman who woke up one morning to find he had become an insect. The reason and means for this happening was never discovered. His family gave an uncomfortable acceptance to his bizarre state and kept him housebound. After several weeks of awkward living in his family abode, Gregor was approached discreetly by shady intelligence agents who broke in while his family was out, then offered him a far away position in their organisation. This was the ex-salesman's way of ending his family's morbid plight.
Gregor Samsa faked his own death; this was achieved with the help of the family housekeeper, who was paid by the intelligence men for her co-operation. The Samsas, then relieved of their dark burden, felt their lives brighten up.
The agents who took Gregor away were from British Intelligence; this he didn't find out till after extraction. Ever since the outbreak of war, Gregor wanted to be a soldier in the Hapsburg army, now he was with the enemy; but they treated him with such friendliness that he felt compelled to join their side. M was a very friendly boss with a gentlemanly manner and good foreign language skills; he arranged for the Czech expatriate to learn the English language and culture.
How this giant beetle could contribute to British security was long pondered. It was M's idea that he must learn to utilise a then untapped talent: to fly and thus engage enemy aircraft in combat. No British flight school seemed to have the right mentality for this task: M dismissed all possibilities and picked out a member of the American Flying Corps to train Gregor. Waldo Pepper was the instructor for the job, he applied much daring to the role and tutored the insect man to spread his wings and fly. How to swerve, dive, levitate, hover and ascend were all mastered by the freaky fledgling as was what to do when seeing an enemy aircraft.
It was a pity this call to service came when Gregor felt a new acceptance by three American pilots, their intense joviality was intoxicating and further acceptance seemed just round the corner. Gregor did have M to thank for taking him away from a dark morbid existence in Prague.
Richard Hannay opened the door at the bottom of the stairs to greet Biggles with a smile and a handshake. The following sight of the giant insect walking down the stairs froze Richard into a stupor. Biggles seized the doorman's shirt and shook him into readiness.
"Gregor, wait here until I introduce you." Said Biggles as he dragged Richard Hannay through the door.
M was standing in the lounge with several other figures. Biggles pushed Richard into a seat, he had only recovered half his wits.
"Ladies, gentleman I present to you James Bigglesworth, a gifted pilot." Announced M. "You can all call him Biggles."
Sir Robert Morton was one of the four figures in the lounge. The others were: a tanned muscular man in safari pants and shirt; a brilliantly uniformed ship's officer covering his face with a silk domino mask; and a woman dressed all in black, even her hood over her dark hair which matched her jet coloured facial cosmetics.
"Hello." Said Biggles. "Nice to meet you all."
Captain Mors tucked away his domino mask and shook Biggles' hand while M verbalised the introductions. The man in the safari suit was referred to as Lord Greystoke, he shook hands awkwardly as if it was a strange greeting custom he was not used to; he also appeared uncomfortable in his apparel, like he wanted to tear it off and wear nothing at all. Biggles approached the woman in black, he felt he should take her hand and kiss it but something in her shaded eyes said "Don't even think about it.". She was introduced as Irma Vep, a mutual curt nod was there greeting gesture.
"Did you bring it?" Asked Sir Robert Morton.
"What he means James is." M corrected. "Is Gregor here?"
"Why yes." Answered Biggles. "He's just outside the door. I Shall introduce him now."
The pilot opened the door and bid the presence beyond to enter.
"Everyone, meet the next member of The League, Gregor Samsa." Said Biggles.
The man-sized insect figure ambulated through the doorway on all six legs then stood up and revealed its slimy abdomen and bug head.
Tarzan reached for his knife scabbard, Mors his pistol and Irma her concealed wrist blade. Shock came over all three faces; thinly veiled disgust on Morton's and concern over M's.
Mycroft yelled out a plea for all present to not draw their weapons. "Neither of you are in any danger from this individual. This is a man, his name is Gregor Samsa, he will be your ally, helper and probable savior in the mission ahead."
The three shocked League members remained stunned with their hands on undrawn weapons. An uneasy relaxation slowly came over the three as M explained Gregor's life story to them and assured them of his willingness help them and never harm them. Biggles gave his testimony to the insect man's friendly nature.
M bade all League recruits to take a seat in the lounge, while a recovered Richard Hannay turned on the projector. Gregor found furniture too awkward but settled comfortably on the floor carpet. The white screen ahead became alight with filmed war images: scenes of devastated towns; cities bombed from above and carnage in the trenches. Captain Mors turned his head away in revulsion.
"I have assembled you all here because these nasty images are on the verge of being much worse." Narrated M as the film rolled. "Already these realities captured on film are too graphic for public viewing. War's ability to horrify both soldier and civilian." He paused. " Has found new momentum that will not only swing the tide in favour of the enemy but bring a new age of fear to all countries in the future. World domination by one single power has found its seed in new artificial horrors unleashed on the Western Front."
The next scene projected on to the screen was of a fortified hill the British had entrenched themselves in.
"These hill fortifications were a military engineer's pride and joy." M continued his narration.
Suddenly the scene was of an explosion which destroyed a good portion of the hill. Wooden supports smashed into splinters; barbed wire flew up into the air taking snared body parts with it; other pieces of severed human limbs were spotted flying into the air. Filming had continued as the erupted mass of earth settled. The trenches underneath the explosion were no longer there, the walls had closed in on each other in an instant, effectively burying their occupants.
Similar explosions hit the remainder of the hill. All viewers could tell that it was being hit by powerful artillery. What was left of the hill after the assault was a mass of bloodied dirt with limbs sticking out. A side movement by the camera revealed not big guns, but highly mobile tanks at the enemy held ground below.
"Yes, those are German tanks." Said M. "They have finally built their own, they're far more powerful and mobile than anything we have got. They destroyed the hill."
Next scene showed, from a distance, a British trench being stormed by enemy troops that seemed to have an overly white complexion and some with a strange gait. When Greystoke observed the advance he recognized in some the posture and ambulation of apes. Machine guns and rifles fired into the oncoming mass but the casualties taken by the attackers were only marginal. The enemy flooded into the trench. All League recruits looked at each other, all knowing the fate of the British soldiers.
"This is another major horror the enemy has unleashed in the trenches." M announced.
Five minutes later the film showed the attacking wave of pale figures leave the position in unison and return to their former lines. A wave of properly uniformed German soldiers then moved into the pre-taken trench.
"That trench was soon taken back with a British counter-attack." Narrated M. "Our cameraman joined them. He shot these scenes of carnage."
Piles and rows of dead soldiers pervaded the trench. Some had their limbs pulled off; some had claw marks on their skin, that is where it wasn't ripped from the torso; others had bite marks or were pounded into an unsightly mass of flesh and bone.
"None of these attackers have ever been taken dead or alive." Continued M. "However deserters have done sketches from their tormenting memories."
Such a sketch appeared on the screen, it was of a monstrous looking biped that was barely human. The figures facial organs were totally misaligned the teeth pointy and sharp; the hand had been replaced by large claws that had both thick digits and lethal talons. The strength of this creature was well conveyed in the drawing of the muscular body that stood with a simian like gait.
"These are the monstrosities that attack our soldiers en-mass." Said M. "These and the tanks are products of a powerful science division working for the German Military. It's called Unit 11. What I want this League to do is find this Unit 11 and stop it."
All League recruits looked at each other in stunned silence.
Biggles questioned M. "You mean we have to sneak into Germany and find it."
"No!" Replied M. "It's not in Germany. Our observations have revealed another type of war machine."
A new image appeared on the screen; to all but Mors it was a simple Zeppelin.
"These Zeppelins have been traveling in and out of Germany, but they fly south, they've been seen over Africa. As far as we know they have not been used for bombing runs; yet they are much bigger and faster than normal airships. What they're doing is hauling these new scientific monstrosities from their place of construction to the Western Front. Unit 11 is somewhere down south. What I need you to do is get into Captain Mors airship, the Luftpirat, and follow one of these sky giants back home."
"Then put an end to this horror." Added Sir Robert.
Captain Mors stood up. "Everyone is welcome in my ship. But these new zeppelins do look different. I would have to see one in flight before I could say positively that I could follow it."
"That's fine Captain." Said M. "An innovation to help you in this endeavor is being developed. I will explain what it is later."
Irma Vep stood up. "What can you tell us about this Unit 11?" She asked in accented English.
At a signal from M, Richard Hannay operated the slide projector. A photo of a German with intense engaging eyes appeared on the screen.
"This is the head scientist of Unit 11." Narrated M. "His accomplishments before the war are brilliant. It looks like his war time achievements are doubly astounding. He is known as Dr. Totenkopf.
"Unit 11 employs many scientists on site from Germany and elsewhere, most of the latter against their will. There have been noted kidnappings of choice scientists in the past months.
"Dr. Rossum from Bohemia."
Richard Hannay changed the slides with each name to show an image of the said person.
"Cuthbert Calculus from Belgium.
"Jorge Vargas from Spain.
"Dr. Kraft from Denmark and many others. The last one I mentioned was anticipated. Kraft invented the Excelsior, also known as the Himmelskibet (Heaven ship) it flew its crew to Mars and back. Such a brilliant man would be quite useful to Totenkopf. So I sent an agent to watch over him."
"It was Ashenden wasn't it?" Asked Sir Robert.
"Yes it was. He has since disappeared. These are some of the photos he sent us."
The first Ashenden slide showed Dr. Kraft at a science conference. Next slide was the Danish inventor by the huge propeller of the Excelsior. A candid photo of the man walking into his stately home followed, then one taken at the same spot it was of a blonde woman sizing up the house. She was noting every aspect of the street in the following slide.
Irma Vep recognized the behavior as that of a thief planning a heist.
The next photo showed the woman staring straight at the camera as if she spotted it.
"This woman has been identified as Fraulein Doktor, she is a notorious agent of German Intelligence. It looks like she has been assigned to Unit 11, doing forced extractions.
"This was the last photo taken by Ashenden. He sent me these pictures on the day of this photo then we lost all communication, nor could we find him. Kraft disappeared two days later."
Gregor Samsa gave a sad sigh.
Lord Greystoke stood up. "If we are to follow these sky giants we must know where one is."
"That is where the next slide comes in." Said M indicating a photo of a big armoured tank.
"I have anticipated the next kidnapping, a sky giant should be there to carry the target off." Continued M. "It is the inventor of this Great War Tank. He is soon to be on his way from Paris to the Front to test it. They will try to take him while he travels by motorbike; he is American."
The last slide was of the American inventor and he looked like a teenager.
"His name is Tom Swift."