Re: Adventure 1: The Iceman Cometh
In reply to Grimsby H. Baskerville (msg # 646):
"Now, everyone, please," Joseph interrupts with a smile and a jovial tone, "As Aubrey, here, has pointed out--while a case for assault on Senor Fidalgo could probably be made against this Doctor Solar, nobody appears to be anxious to pursue such ends. And while we can sit here and ascribe nefarious motives to Doctor Solar, the fact is, until we can find the fellow and make our own assessments of him, we really do not know what happened."
"We have been assuming that Senor Fidalgo, for whatever reason, was the intended target of this freezing device of Doctor Solar's. What if he wasn't? What if Senor Fidalgo was struck by the effects of the device completely by accident? If, as Aubrey and myself believe, Doctor Solar is not a Spanish Citizen, might he not have panicked and done the same thing--fled the scene, abandoning Senor Fidalgo, because he feared legal repercussion?"
"The acts of a cowardly cad, I agree, but not the actions of some dark Mad Scientist, intent on freezing the world, as the Penney Dreadfuls would have us believe. What say we reserve judgement on the fellow until we have met him, eh? Let Aubrey speak with him about his device, Man of Science to Man of Science--find out why anyone would create such a thing, and inquire if the attack on Senor Fidalgo was accidental, or a poorly considered test of the device."
"Remember that we are not any kind of agents of the Spanish legal system--nor does Spain have a Criminal Bounty system similar to the one in the American Western Territories. While what we did with that Road Bandit was justifiable as 'self-defense', any kind of 'apprehension' of Doctor Solar will be a different thing, indeed."
"Let us just agree to find the man and meet with him, for now. We can put off any judgements of him until we've met him. Agreed?"