[At The Bourbony Aerodrome]



Dash leans over the table and starts rooting through the papers and charts,

"Near India, huh?  India...India...here we go...waters off India..." Dash mumbles as he searches, but, just as he seems to find the chart he's looking for, he stops and looks back up at Bellgrove.

"Hey Pal, did you just say these folks had submarines?" Dash asks skeptically, "Submarines?  What, are they in league with that Nemo fellow who was in the news back when I was a child?  That Bogey-Man of the Seas?  What are they going to do to us--we're in a dirigible!" Dash gestures around the compartment.

Bellgrove shrugs, "A steam-powered harpoon?"

Taking another sip he continues, "Though, I'm not sure that it matters. Seems to me that the advantage might be that moving about under water might be an even easier way to sneak stuff about than in an airship.

"Whatever the case, the place seems to be on the verge of true independence and maybe that is why they are a target of the Vril? Promises made for aid against Britannia, et al?"

Marian nods at the strange instructions, trying her best not to grin. She didn't know she was signing up for the choir after all...No. Best to at least try to understand what these people were up to. Cracking jokes to herself every three minutes wasn't going to help. Trying her best to seem sincere, she obeys, trying to make her face a mask of calm.

Unlike Marian, Mercy was frowning at the odd instructions. She knew how to concentrate. She'd often spent intense overnight sessions building something or finishing up orders.

This seemed like a waste of time. Still, she hadn't tried this technique before... mainly because nothing got done while she was doing it.

It did sound like one those strange Eastern religious techniques. And she supposed it wasn't all that different than praying. Not that she did much of that either...

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..."

In reply to Cyrelle (msg # 954):

Since the ladies have moved to the grassy area back of the booth, Grimsby moves to keep that area under observation, though it may be harder to keep up the pretense of being an innocent sightseer while watching what is mostly a strip of grass. Still, he can reasonably simulate curiosity about what the ladies are doing with their meditation.

The Vril routine goes on for several hours. While it all seems rather silly at first, the more you do it, the more you realize that it is a way of training your mind to think differently.

You've been undergoing normal 'conditioning' all your life, which covers how to behave, how to think, how to act, how to react... Not that it's really all that radical, but it's about thinking a certain way in order to function. For example, walking down stairs requires you to change the way you walk from the way you walk on a flat surface. Once you learn the basic, you now are capable of modifying it to walk down stairs sideways or backwards or two steps at a time.

Two of the mental exercises that you go through are:

1. picturing an object in your mind and then rotating it 90-degrees left, then down, then right, then up. The point of this is to comprehend the entire shape based just on what you can see.

2. Visual picture a number of objects in your mind. You start with two brooms, for instance. Now visual 3 brooms. Keep adding another broom until you can no longer visualize all of them. The point of this one is to keep expanding you ability to visualize things. You do this several times over the course of the training.

How fascinating! Marian remarks honestly. And how long does it take to show progress with these exercises? And what kind of progress does one see come to think of it? If nothing else perhaps all of these exercises would help the next time she got writer's block...In the meantime though, interesting as it all was, she was starting to get stiff and hungry.

"It varies from individual to individual," Cyrelle replies to Marian. "Some women never master it. It isn't always a case of not having the mental or physical capacity. Some women just never quite accept the premise. Their life's conditioning simply is more than they can overcome."

"There are several stages of image rotation... ten, to be precise. You've only done stage one. The others involve actual physical objects and then we present pictures that represent the rotations. Naturally, each stage gets progressively more difficult."

"Image visualization is less detailed. One of the ways you can improve visualization is to picture dice and then playing cards. The ten card has 10 distinct pips on it. Visualizing all of them as distinct individual pips is stage five. How many more you can visualize gets you to additional stages."

"There's no set stage where you can make the transition to detect vril and then manipulate it. Different stages work for different people."

"That's all for today. You can always do these exercises on your own."

Rosabelle felt rather silly sitting and humming tunelessly. While she hit a note, she wasn't certain it was the correct one.

She became more interested as they moved on to the other exercises. Rosabelle had always been good at visualizing an object from all angles. It helped her understand how the inner workings of her clockworks fit and worked together.

When they were finished, Rosabelle rose stiffly, unused to sitting on the ground for long periods of time, and added her own sentiments to Marian's. Yes, quite interesting. Somewhat relaxing as well. I will certainly continue to practice. When should we return? she asked.

"It's up to you," Cyrelle replies. "We're here for the duration of the exposition. If you truly wish to continue, then return when it suits you."

Seeing the ladies were about to part, Grimsby prepared to follow Rosabelle and Marion from a discreet distance, until they were far enough from the Vril that it might be safe to join them.

As Marian, Rosabelle and Mercy re-enter the tent and then exit the booth, they see another woman standing just outside the booth looking at the booth with obvious curiosity.

She looks a bit familiar...

"Isn't that..." Mercy begins in a whisper, not wanting to be rude, "Maybelle Diggory? You know, that actress who's been the talk of London society?"

"Don't look at me that way! I may not hang around with society folks, but they sometimes come to me for my inventions. I only saw Maybelle twice. Even I was impressed with her talent."

[At The Bourbony Aerodrome]





"Maybe...but that doesn't fit with the image I've built in my mind about these Vril thugs we've been chasing.  These guys are takers, not helpers." Dash says in a thoughtful tone, "I suppose, if what the ladies are saying about the Women Vril is true, the operation in Lakshadweep could be one of the Women's more subtle plots, but why would either Vril faction send the cargo of Cavorite there?  What purpose does it..."

Dash pauses with a puzzled frown on his face,

"Say, did we ever find out just what was so important about Cavorite?  I mean, for myself, I've just been thinking about it as the valuable property of Lord Kentigern and Professor Cavor--nothing much beyond that it was theirs and so it should be returned."

"And remember, Cavor said that the Vril, here on Bourbony, were at him to help them build that diabolical bomb--could Cavorite be some new kind of natural explosive, do you think?"

Marian squints at the woman in wonder. I've never seen her but I know her reputation. Come on, let's introduce ourselves shall we? It seems silly not to given the opportunity! She approaches the woman with a broad smile. Aren't you Miss Diggory? I'm Marian Holroy, the author, though I'm sure you've never read anything of mine. I couldn't resist saying hello to the toast of London herself! These are my friends, Miss Rosabelle Descant Tinker-Plumist and Miss Mercy Kincaid. She gestures to her friends.

This message was deleted by the player at 02:01, Tue 15 Jan 2019.

In reply to Marian Holroy (msg # 969):

Maybelle turned around at that and replied with a"Oh, yes, I am. It's a pleasure to meet you all." She smiled.

In reply to Maybelle Diggory (msg # 971):

Since it would be natural for him to recognize the famous Maybelle Diggory, Grimsby hastened over to join the ladies and bowed deeply to Maybelle, saying, "The renowned Miss Diggory! I hope I may venture to make your acquaintance without a formal introduction. I am Grimsby Baskerville of Her Britannic Majesty's Colonial Office. These ladies can vouch for my bona fides."

"The honor is mine, Miss Diggory," Mercy manages to speak up. "My full name is Mercedes but everyone just calls me Mercy."

"I've seen you on stage a few times. You were marvelous!"

She'd never been one to go crazy over celebrities, but then she'd never really met one before. Clearly Marian was in the same social class as Maybelle... well, sort of. It was at least possible they might have crossed paths at some point. Neither of them were likely to have crossed paths with Mercy in her business, though.

Still, here they were in Bourbony, on a bizarre quest and rescue mission.

"We were here to rescue a kidnapped professor... and attend the Queen's Exposition. What brings you here?"

"I'm performing in a play here. The Vampire by James Robinson Planche. " Maybelle replied. "And thank you. I find your mission quite interesting."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:29, Tue 15 Jan 2019.

In reply to Grimsby Baskerville (msg # 972):

Maybelle laughed lightly. "I do believe I've heard of you, sir. Yes, these ladies have already introduced themselves to me., so you needn't worry."

"Oh, I've heard of that!" Mercy replies. "Well, more about the controversy. Are you doing the version set in Scotland or the one set in Hungary?"

"Are you playing the lead?"

She had a vague notion that actors and actresses sometimes preferred to play supporting characters because they were more interesting or challenging roles. Also, sometimes an actor got too old for a particular part but they were too talented to not be cast in a supporting roll.

"Nemo may be fiction, but submarines are all too real," Connor responds to Dash. "Your Confederate navy had a submarine called The Hunley, named, I believe, after its inventor. It actually sunk a ship during the war."

"Lesser known submarines include the Turtle, the Alligator, and the Intelligent Whale."

"Then there's the Fenian Ram. It was the only truly functional submarine until the current spate of modern inventions. It was stolen by the Fenian Brotherhood because they couldn't pay for it; it's now in service in the Republic of Ireland."

In reply to Mercy Kincaid (msg # 976):

"The one set in Hungary." Maybelle replied. "And yes, I do play Lady Margaret."

Oh that would be nerve wracking for me! Marian shakes her head. Writing is lovely because you can produce something and not be around when people receive it. I can be at home in my housecoat eating strawberries and not caring what people think. But to be so involved... she shudders. No thank you. Not to mention I would assuredly forget my lines. Inwardly she thinks with a small bit of pride, At least my acting would be passable. I've already fooled two Vril agents with it after all.