“What has this to do with elixirs of longevity, bees and such, you may ask? On the surface, nothing, and were it not for the avarice of one of our bearers, I would have never deduced the connection myself.
“We had set up camp a short way from the site. Persano, who serves as a personal guard, and I moved our tent some distance farther yet, as is my wont. The desert night was deathly quiet until I was awakened by a horrendous buzzing—the sound of an army of locusts or bees, the air literally vibrating from the beat of their wings. The noise was far deeper and more resonant than that of any insect I have ever heard before. Persano and I stayed where we were, straining our eyes for a glimpse of what was transpiring at the camp. Unfortunately we could see nothing but a shimmering in the night sky.
“As Ra began his journey we were able to see only too clearly what had happened in the night. The camp had been razed; no trace of life remained. Examination of one of the pillars showed that someone—one of the bearers, no doubt; my men are unquestionably loyal—had pried loose one of the star-stones. It lay in the sand not a dozen yards from where he’d removed it. Of the man—or any of his companions—there was no sign, save for rather ominous reddish stains that dried onto the sands.
“We returned to England, bearing the three objects that Persano showed you. It is quite plain that the cylinder is no less than a device for communication across the gulf of Time and Space. Equally clear is that the stone or the proximity of the stone interferes with the transmission. What do you make of it, Mr. Holmes?”
My friend stared for a minute at our guest, and it seemed to me that there was some silent struggle taking place between these two great minds, almost as though they were peering into each other’s thoughts. Finally Holmes spoke.
“You are a brilliant man, Doctor. Your deductions seem to be correct on all counts. I suspect that this object is a communication device of some sort, obviously created by a science far beyond ours. From your description of events I can conclude only that it transmits a signal of some sort through the ether, a signal that is answered by something in a rather alarming fashion. There must be some properties to the stone that interfere with this signal, and judging from the events you have related, it would seem more than prudent to keep the stone in proximity to the cylinder at all times.”
“My thoughts exactly, Mr. Holmes.” Nikola’s large dark eyes fairly gleamed with excitement. “My theory is that whatever beings answered this signal took our bearers, not as a matter of malice, but likely from scientific curiosity. That the terrified and ignorant fools may have struggled or attempted to attack them explains the traces of blood we found. Imagine, if you will, the benefit of conversing with these beings, of learning their science, which is obviously so far in advance of ours. If the vast gulfs of space mean nothing to them, is it not reasonable to suppose that they have found means to turn aside the threats of time and death?”
“I suppose nothing, Doctor,” Holmes said sharply. “I draw conclusions based on logical inferences; to do anything less is anathema to my methods. It may well be as you say, that whatever visited your camp came from somewhere other than our earth. But to ascertain the motives of something that is by definition alien is another matter entirely. Still, the prospect of establishing communication with another sentient race is an intriguing one. What do you suggest?”
Nikola smiled—not a pleasant thing to see. There was no warmth or humor in the expression; it was more akin to an automaton aping human emotion. “I have a relatively secluded building in Limehouse that will be perfect for our experiment. My intent is to summon these ‘ethernauts,’ as I must call them, and then to effect a dialogue. It’s clear that there will be no little danger, but it seems that whatever forces these beings use to traverse the gulfs are nullified when the stone is placed against the cylinder; therefore, we will be able to quickly terminate the interview if we’re unable to make ourselves understood.
“Mr. Holmes, you possess a remarkable ability to deduce meaning from the most opaque of clues. I’m asking you to employ this skill in an attempt to communicate with beings from another world!”
Since such talk was the sort of madness one might expect from a pair of opium eaters stumbling and pointing at their hallucinations, to see my friend nodding in assent seemed the height of madness until I reflected on the sight of that strange worm turning its dead features toward us in its vial. Nikola handed Holmes a card with the address of where our experiment was to take place, and left us to confer.
“A most unusual man,” Holmes murmured. “I should expect we will hear a good deal more of him and his celestial friend over the years. Watson, this should be a most interesting game. I needn’t point out that the stakes are rather high . . .”
We sent our driver off, having no idea how long we would be at Nikola’s warehouse. From the looks of it, the doctor was as versed in matters of thrift as he was the sciences. A more unprepossessing structure could hardly be imagined, even in the slums of Limehouse. The building was a wood frame that looked to have collapsed and been rebuilt numerous times. Soot-smudged and grim, it stood in back of a row of ramshackle houses packed with Chinese laborers.
My friend Burke writes little vignettes today that laud the charms and quaint customs of this district and its peoples. I wish to assure my readers that his fond memories lend this deplorable slum an aura that it in fact has never possessed.
We heard the faint tap of a cane’s ferrule just moments before Persano appeared. “Gentlemen, my apologies for the subterfuge. As my employer no doubt explained, in matters where the prize may be eternal life, some manners must be laid aside.”
Holmes nodded grimly and indicated that Persano should lead the way. The warehouse door was sealed with a massive padlock, for which he produced a large key.
“The doctor used to conduct his experiments here. In an impoverished neighborhood there is no shortage of volunteers—”
“And where is Nikola?”
“He’ll be joining us very shortly. Here we are!”
The room still contained a good deal of scientific apparatus, including long tables covered with beakers and tanks, most of which were now empty. A few of the tanks still held evidence of Nikola’s vocation of vivisection. The spiders and toads of gargantuan size were bad enough, but I also saw only too clearly what Persano had meant by “volunteers.” What atrocities had been performed on these poor people is best left unsaid; my most fervid hope is that his work was confined to experimentation on the deceased and not the living.
A lone table stood off to one side of the room, on which the star-stone and metal cylinder sat. Behind the table stood a curious representation of the human form, wrought cunningly from metal. A clockwork man! If these uncanny items were what the doctor had left behind, what sort of madness and marvels must his laboratory have contained when fully operational?
I glanced at Holmes and there was a look of alarm on his face. Persano was idly examining some of the equipment on one of the tables. Holmes signaled for me to be silent and nodded toward the door by which we had entered.
His cryptic gestures became quite clear as, with a grinding of metal, the clockwork man came to “life.” There was no sign of the puppeteer who pulled the electrical strings of this grotesque marionette, but its purpose was all too clear. With a deft motion it grasped the star-stone and removed it from the cylinder.
“Watson, Persano! Out of here as you value your lives!” Holmes’s shout startled us both as we stared at the mechanical man, who had now again assumed lifeless rigidity. Holmes grabbed my arm, pulling me along. Persano started to follow us and then stopped and shouted, “Cowards! They will be here soon, the ethernauts; they can grant us eternal life!”