Connor had at least examined the engines even if he didn't pay particular attention to the fuel, but the fuel gauges did say 600 gallons in 2 300-gallon tanks... on for each engine.

The barrels are 30 gallon barrels, so 20 barrels will fill up the tanks once they are empty. It isn't recommended mixing the fuels. If you want a reserve, though, another 20 barrels should probably be purchased.

These are available. The seller would rather sell all of his stock and put money in his pocket immediately rather than have to wait a week or even a month to sell it in smaller batches.

At 1 pence per gallon, that will cost 1,200 pence (don't ask me how many pounds sterling or dollars that would be--I'm already asleep as I write this).

Now comes the hard part: getting it delivered. It's not making arrangements--it's getting the actual delivery in a timely fashion. You find one carter named Ripley Wong who claims his whole family will help move all 40 gallons to your ship in his cart, which only holds 5 barrels at a time. He'll do this for just 10 pounds.

In reply to GM StarMaster (msg # 684):

Until 15 February 1971 the Penney Sterling -- "Pence" appears to be the plural form -- was 1/240 of a Pound Sterling ... that'd be ... uh ... 5 Pounds.

Connor's eyebrows shot up when he heard Wong quote a figure of ten pounds to move all the barrels. "Daylight robbery, that," the big cat muttered privately to his companions, "But it's not exactly like we've got a long line of volunteers. I can probably carry one or two on my shoulders, as I'm much stronger than the average bloke, but this lot would take forever to do that way.

Sort of a local custom to haggle, but ultimately up to you two. I'll give him his ten quid if he won't budge....More than my men at the works make in a week, but as I say, not swimming in options at present, and a cart will speed things up."



OOC Note-Bearing in mind that 15 pounds would be a hecukva lot of money today 'cause of inflation. Comes to about £1350, or approximately $1700. I'd weedle down the cart jobber if it was me, 'cause 10 quid is 10x more than a skilled professional makes in a week in these times (£20 or £30 per year was about average for working class people).

Don't forget about shillings. 12 pence to the shilling, 20 shillings in a pound. Then we've got sorts of other coins like thrupenny bits, ha'pennies, farthings, florins, crowns, guineas, and sovreigns...Yes, I'm way too interested in old British money....

Purely a little personal experience, but I collect vintage Hornby clockwork trains, and often as not they'll have their original prices written on the boxes in pencil, like this:12/4, which is 12 shillings and fourpence. Common goods often had their prices quoted in shillings and pence only, so you had to do a bit of mental arithmetic to figure out the total. Anyway, back to point, one engine and its tender, as they were sold separately, came out to 1 pound, 10 shillings, and five pence. They're from about 1950, but even so with inflation that comes to about $100, which is what I paid for them in 2022 dollars, so definitely not a cheap toy back then...
This message was last edited by the player at 06:59, Sat 18 June 2022.

You sort of get the impression that Wong was hoping you didn't know what the value of his service was, or perhaps he hoped your were a bit more desperate (or gullible) than you seemed.

You have no problem haggling him down to 5 quid. He won't go any lower though because he has a large family to provide for as well as he seems to have some integrity.

In reply to Connor Holmes (msg # 686):

Minor point: 12.4 is 12 shillings and 4 pence, not 6 pence. I assume this was just a slip of the keyboard.
Incidentally, I spent a summer in England in 1970, when Britain was still on the old system, so I had to learn it for day-to-day shopping, which helps me remember it.

In reply to Grimsby Baskerville (msg # 688):

Right you are, I'm so used to saying sixpence I wrote it down instead of fourpence. Went back and made an edit

Never been myself, though I certainly would like to visit one day. Know it was a big to-do when the UK went to decimal currency or "new pence", though some of the old nicknames have survived, such as the "bob" 1 shilling or 5p today.

Main thing I have to worry about is the exchange rate these days, as the pound is stronger than the dollar, which makes things interesting when I go acquiring things from across the pond.

In reply to Denholm Hawkesbury (msg # 683):

Yeah, with different slang.

In reply to Connor Holmes (msg # 689):

The pound basically collapsed vs. the dollar when I was in Britain in 1976, which meant I actually had more money than I expected. The current rate is much closer to the dollar than it has been. I used to do a rough comparison by multiplying pound prices by 2 to get dollar prices, but now they are much closer to 1:1 which is all right with me.

Apparently the heat in Singapore has gotten to everyone (including the GM!) as you're all sitting or standing around discussing currency... mostly how much you have (or don't have in some cases).

The coconut oil is delivered to the ship whereupon a new problem crops up: where do you store it? You can't just dump it into the main fuel tanks as it may not mix well with whatever is already in there. Of course, that's when Dash is advised that the ship normally runs on something called hydrazine.

In short order, it's decided to just load the barrels onto the ship, and then run lines from the barrels to the fuel lines to the engines when it becomes necessary. There'll be plenty of time to work on that while you're in flight.


Any more sightseeing to be done?

Any additional gear to be acquired?

I am back from Britain and ready to depart Singapore as soon as the rest of the party is ready to go.

In reply to GM StarMaster (msg # 692):

     "Oh, yeah!  Mango-Hypo-Scene ... I came across that word, myself, when I was looking into the engines, as we were crossing the Indian Ocean..."

     Dash shrugs his shoulders,

     "But my education is in Mechanical Engineering, not Chemistry.  The engines appeared to be operating on the same principles as a regular Diesel-type engine ... well, mostly.  So, I just assumed that that Mono-Whatsit-Zene was just some kind of special high-benzene formula of regular diesel fuel..."

     Wide-eyed, Dash looks back-and-forth between Rosebelle and Connor,

     "Isn't it...?"

Connor was personally looking forward to getting a bite to eat now that they had acquired all the fuel the airship would need, but his thoughts of tasty dim-sum and a bit of grocery shopping were brought crashing down to Earth by Dash's question.

"Mono-hydrazine, you mean?" The felinioid murred with raised eyebrows, "Volatile stuff, hydrazine, bloody toxic too. The Prussians and the Yanks are fooling around with it in limited quantities for munitions propellant purposes, as it's a stable long term fuel that burns fiercely, Babcock and Wilcox have started using some in an experimental steam plant to scavenge oxygen out of the system to improve efficiency and reduce wear in the steam circuit.

Quite frankly, why you would want to use something so....hazardous to your health...as a fuel for an internal combustion engine raises quite a few red flags to me. I would hazard an educated guess it may have something to do with the Vrill's interest in cavorite and space matters, as one of the fringe theoretical uses of hydrazine is fuel for a space vessel."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:07, Tue 12 July 2022.

"There are a few devices on their engines that I couldn't quite fathom what their purpose was, but it may have something to do with the fuel," Rosabelle says. "That sort of thing isn't really my area of expertise. I work with small-scale mechanical devices... gears and such."

"I think they use some sort of cadmium additive to stabilize the monohydrazine."

Marian does her best to immerse herself in the local sights, taking copious notes, trying all manner of food and even purchasing several trinkets and mementos to take back home. She is quite the tourist, but her genuine enthusiasm and friendliness makes her a likable one, at least. Her favorite possession she purchases (if possible) is a scarlet paper and bamboo parasol to keep the sun off her already freckled skin. She's already been using it constantly.

Grimsby takes the opportunity to indulge a taste for curry he acquired in India and buys a handy throwable dagger, just in case.

In reply to Marian Holroy (msg # 697):

Maybelle has no need of anything more, and returns to the ship with the others.

Marian soon realizes that, while there are at least a dozen interesting sights, there are a dozen or more that are 'under construction'. From this, and comments the variety of people make, the British are developing Singapore as rapidly as they can because it's become a trading crossroad of southeast Asia.

It's definitely a busy place--thousands of people moving about, doing business, cooking, eating, buying and selling, yelling, arguing, fighting... for the most part, there doesn't seem to be any sign of a police force... until a sight starts and then one or two constables come out of the woodwork to break up the fight before it turns lethal... or haul away the body and the killer if they are too late.

Her impression is that it's just organized chaos, but slowly she starts to see the underlying culture. Oddly, she doesn't spot any children stealing food or any adult shoplifters. That's not to say that there isn't an occasional 'thief' that runs by a stall, grabs something and keeps on running. While that's followed by yelling and cursing, most of the time it turns out to be family or some prankster that everyone knows. It's almost like a game sometimes.


Before long, everyone is back at the ship which has surprisingly remained undamaged. Turns out there are three youths (mid-teens) that have been guarding the ship. They have not been doing it because they expect to get paid (though that would be nice) but because it was 'the right thing to do' just in case. There names are Tamal, Vidris and Skuli. They are the local 'boys club'--a sort of gang for the Good Guys.


With all secured, the ship is ready to lift off. With the load of coconut oil, it's a little tricky for Bellgrove to get it airborne safely, but, fortunately, there aren't really a lot of tall structures to worry about.

It's an amazing sight to look down and see a thousand people waving goodbye to you.

Grimsby offers the helpful watch-lads a handful of coppers of whatever else he deems culturally appropriate. He then climbs aboard the airship and goes forward to observe the departure.

In reply to GM StarMaster (msg # 700):

Maybelle found the departure enjoyable. It was a nice sight, if you liked heights.

In the end, Connor had to settle for an evening dinner "to-go" from one of the local eateries after wrapping up the rest of the errands he had to run, chief of which was topping up the galley's stores so his companions and himself wouldn't be going hungry between now and the airship's next port of call.

Connor likewise gave the helpful watch boys a few coins for their trouble after stowing all the groceries and other uds and suds before helping with the launch. With the airship aloft and everything running smoothly in the engine room, there wasn't too much for him to do, so the tiger 'oid slinked back down to the mess to tuck into his doggy-bag (catty bag?) of goodies, picking a seat by one of the portholes so he could look at the view while he plated out the dishes he'd bought and got to work with a pair of chopsticks.

While the landscape rolling along beneath the airship like a great tapestried carpet was somethimg he never tired of, as he munched on a plate of spicy chicken named for some military figure or other along with some fried rice Connor found his thoughts turning toward Bali Hai and the possibility of staring down his old tormentor Dr. Mordu..

Before he could stop himself, a low, vicious sounding growl rumbled in his chest and throat at the thought, the claws in his fingertips and toes flexed out before he caught himself, his ears flicking backward and a frown creasing his feline brow. Hatred was too light a word for what he felt about that man, but going in fangs bared in a blind rage wasn't going to help, despite the overwhelming urge to do exactly that.

Taking a long slow breath to restore some measure of calm, Connor poured himself a cup of green tea and continued with his supper, letting the memories come instead of forcing them away, perhaps there was something useful he might recall? Besides, he was hungry dash it all!

Mercy, too, stood at one of the windows and waved at all the people below that were waving at the ship. They were scattered all over the city, and she couldn't help wondering just how many of them had visited the ship just to see it up close.

"I'm surprised there's even an entry in the Baedeker's for Bali Ha'i," she comments to the others once they're well away from the city.

"Does anyone have any additional information about it? If not, what's going to be our approach? Do we want to put in at Franceville on Efate to get the lay of the land, so to speak? Or should we avoid the Pandemonium altogether?"

"Do we want to get permission from the local Chief before trying to visit Bali Ha'i?"

She wasn't the world traveler that some of the other crew were, so she wasn't really sure what international protocols were.

Grimsby explained, "As I understand it, and I must say the situation is obscure, the surrounding islands are presently under the jurisdiction of an Anglo-French Joint Naval Commission established a few years ago. However, its powers are very limited; British subjects -- chiefly from Australia -- are supposedly answerable to the British members of the Commission, while French citizens are answerable to the French members of the commission. The native people are still supposedly ruled by their traditional leaders according to local custom. I must confess I am entirely ignorant of any administration having power over citizens of other nations such as the United States or Ireland.
Such European administration as exists is probably confined to the major islands -- I doubt there is any non-native government in Bali Hai, a fact which may suit the Vril admirably. Unlike the other places we have pursued them, it is very unlikely there are capable local authorities who will be our allies."

In reply to Grimsby Baskerville (msg # 705):

     Dash nods in agreement with Grimsby's assessment.

     "Furthermore," Dash adds, "given how we've seen the Vril operate, even if there is such an administrating organization on Bali Hai, the Vril have probably suborned it.  My family's trading company has seen that many time -- not just here in Asia, but even in some European ports -- the best way to get away with doing whatever you want to do, is to simply have the locals in your pocket."

In reply to Denholm Hawkesbury (msg # 706):

"So we might end up in trouble if we were to go there." Maybelle noted.

Grimsby comments drily, "Well, ending up in trouble will hardly be a new experience for us, but we may have to rely more on our own abilities to get us out of trouble this time. Fortunately, we include some quite capable individuals."