In reply to Marian Holroy (msg # 83):

Maybelle certainly looked forward to exploring the ship while she was here. She wondered where exactly they were going, and wondered if the Vril might attack them.

Grimsby turns to Dash and says, "If you would be so good as to share the coded documents with me, I might attempt to decipher them. I have had a certain experience of codes in Her Majesty's service." 

In reply to Grimsby Baskerville (msg # 85):

"Of course, Grimsby." Dash acknowledged, "I simply tossed them on top of everything in my bag, when I left The Falcon, to move over here.  Shouldn't take me but a couple of minutes to retrieve them."

In reply to Denholm Hawkesbury (msg # 86):

Grimsby answers, "Thank you, I shall tackle the code texts as soon as you have time to find them."

In reply to Grimsby Baskerville (msg # 87):

"All right, then, next step." Dash says, "When last here on The Black--Talon, did you say?  Anyways, that last time was all hurry-hurry-hurry to get the bombs out of the exposition--and before that, we were sneaking around, looking for Cavor--I didn't' really, examine each room for function."

"So, other than the Captains Cabin, I did not notice how many individual cabins there are, aboard.  Now it would be nice if we could all get our own single stateroom, but I have a feeling that that's not the kind of functionality this airship is built for.  Let's hope we can find four individual cabins--not counting the Captain's Cabin--for the Ladies.  Or, if not four individuals, then two double occupancy.  The Professor--did we determine he was coming with us?--the Professor has next claim on a stateroom after the Ladies, while Connor, Grimsby and myself can always take bunks in the Troop Quarters, if we can't have our own rooms."

"I believe I mentioned that Cap'n Wander gets the Captain's digs, did I not?"

Grimsby replies "That seems fair enough, depending on the number of cabins. We need to go over the ship and determine just how many there are. However, I doubt all of us are needed to search the ship. If there is somewhere with a chair and a table or desk, I could sit and work on the codes while others searched. Even te mess table would do, though a desk --perhaps in the captain's cabin?-- would be better. I do not mean to claim to cabin for myself; Captain Wandor is welcome to it, but I hope he would not mind if I worked there until it is time for us to retire for the night."

She looked at Grimsby and Dash with a puzzled expression on her face. What were they talking about? They'd just explored the whole ship. Well, maybe not up in the balloon part--was that even possible?

"There's a table in the radio/chart room as well as several in the common area," Mercy explains to Dash and Grimsby. "Counting the captain's room, there are 8 quarters. I wouldn't go so far as to call them staterooms, but they were designed for double occupancy, so they are a bit spacious."

"I'm pretty sure we agreed that Professor Cavor was coming with us because he'd be safer."

Grimsby says, "If it will not inconvenience anyone, I will use the table in the radio/chart room, as there might turn out to be material there that would help with understanding the code. Of course, if someone needs to consult a chart or the like, I can move elsewhere temporarily."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:20, Sat 30 Mar 2019.

Marian will select a room, happily sharing as need be, and continue to familiarize herself with the ship. She wanted to help with the code, but admittedly such things were not her strong point...

Bellgrove had spent the last twenty minutes familiarizing himself with the controls. As was typical of this type of airship, there was a seat for a pilot and a second seat for a co-pilot.

The controls were partially labeled, but it was in a language he didn't know and didn't even recognize... probably Vril... if that was even a language.

The layout was fairly standard, though. There wasn't too much he could get wrong.

"Okay, I'm ready to take this ship out!" he called back to the rest of the ship. "Last chance to change your mind!"

Grimsby seats himself in the radio cabin and starts studying the coded texts. He brings out a pen and a small notebook from a pocket and begins making preliminary notes.

With the codebooks, Grimsby has not trouble deciphering some of the messages. Others seem to be a code within a code... not unlike Cockney rhyming slang or the old Thieves' Argot, as it's been called... and still gets used now and then.

So, a sentence like 'Break a loaf for mine' seems to have an obvious meaning, but seems like nonsense in context. "Break" might be short for 'break in' while 'loaf' probably means some sort of loot to be stolen.

In any case, it's rather slow going but only because he's not familiar with the code. The more he does it, though, the faster he starts to get with it.

Grimsby continues industriously translating the code as well as he can, trying to concentrate on the messages that seem likely to be of greater importance. This probably means chiefly the ones in the code within a code, though he may need to translate some of the easier ones to provide context.

In reply to Grimsby Baskerville (msg # 96):

After the first hour, Dash brings Grimsby a cup of tea.  After setting the mug down, Dash pauses a moment to watch over Grimsby's shoulder as the Brit works on decoding the various notes and papers.  Dashes eyes are crossing within moments.

"Um, I say..." Dash says quietly, with just a trace of humor in his voice, "Shouldn't you play that Red Jack on the Black Queen?"

Dash quickly withdraws before the menace of the glare that Grimsby gives him...

Once Dash retreats, Grimsby shrugs and returns to his decoding. He does gratefully sip the tea, being careful not to spill any on his notes or the original papers.

For the time being Marian will start writing notes in her notebook. It was rare she had such an uninterrupted moment of peace and she decided she'd best write a few details for her book before she forgot them.

At this time of year, the winds are predominantly from the south and west, so the Black Talon has a tailwind the whole way.

The ship's normal cruising speed is around 45 miles an hour, but the tailwind adds 10 to that. At that speed, you'll reach Lakshadweep in about 48 hours.


In that sense, airship travel is strange, though not unlike steamship travel or train travel, both of which are continuous. It'll need someone in the pilot's chair constantly, so probably four 6-hour shifts will work best.

Bellgrove is clearly taking the first shift, and Mercy will take the second.


Meanwhile, Grimsby works at cracking the code and decoding the journals. After the first 24 hours, he's managed to decode many references to 'the Doctor', 'the Other Doctor', 'the Professor', 'the Colonel', and Captain Hammer. There are also mention of 'the League' and 'the Consortium', as well as something called 'wonderflonium'... apparently referred to as 'stuff' as well. Grimsby isn't sure if that's supposed to the actual name of a substance or a made up name for encoding purposes. While he decodes a lot of it, it's still in oblique references. It makes sense if you know what is being referred to; unfortunately, Grimsby doesn't.

An example: 'The professor took the stuff over to the chamber with the brothers for the next phase.'

The only other reference he decodes is mention of Bali Ha'I.

There is apparently some sort of rivalry among several of these people which will be resolved once one of them gets the 'C-stuff'.

Grimsby reports his findings to the others and says, "I wonder if the "stuff" is the material the Vril were trying to seize on that Scottish estate when some of us were able to prevent their plot."

Maybelle settled into her room, and placed her bag on the floor. She had never been in an airship before, much less slept in one, so this was sure to be fascinating.

"Didn't you say there were two 'stuffs' mentioned?" Mercy asked for clarification.

"The first one is this wonderflonium, right? And then there's 'C-stuff'. That does sound like the 'C' stands for cavorite... or, since it's capitalized, Cavor... as in 'Cavor's stuff'."

"The whole point of these codewords is that an outsider wouldn't know what was being referenced. Fortunately for us, we're not total outsiders--we know some of their secrets already!"

Grimsby says "You have a very good point about the two materials, Miss Kincaid. I believe you are right in thinking the "c-stuff" is Cavorite. We know something of its properties, but I wish we knew more of the 'wonderflonium.'" 

In reply to Grimsby Baskerville (msg # 104):

Dash sticks his head in through the door out to the companionway,

"Didn't the Professor, when he first told us about this, say that 'Cavorite' was what Lord Kentigern was inaccurately calling the ore they were mining--but that it was a tiny element in the ore, a rare earth metal, that the Professor said he wanted to call 'Wonderflonium', that was producing the actual effect they wanted?  Just saying..."

Dash then pulled his head back though the door--only to stick it back in a second later.

"And let me add, as a person raised in a Family Business environment, that the name 'Wonderflonium' is brilliantly fantastic!  It's the kind of name that the unwashed masses go crazy for when it gets slapped on all kinds of products--'Now with new Wonderflonium!'  By God, the masses just eat that stuff up, I tell you.  Well, toodles."

Marian will make herself comfortable during the trip, finishing up her notes and generally exploring. At one point though she will get bored, only half following the codes. Wonderflonium was a silly and magnificent name, but when it came to such substances she was at a loss. Instead she finds Maybelle, and Rosabelle if she is interested, and asks if they would like to play a game of cards.

In reply to Denholm Hawkesbury (msg # 105):

Grimsby replies "Thank you for that reminder, Mr. Hawksbury. Given that wonderflonium is in Cavorite, it may well be that the Vril have been discussing the best method of extracting the wonderflonium from the "C-stuff." I will review the messages to see whether I can confirm that idea."
He spends much of the voyage continuing to work on interpreting the coded messages.

In reply to Marian Holroy (msg # 106):

Maybelle nodded. "Yes, I would very much like to."