Cressida’s Moon (Empire of the Sky 1) A Steam and Spells Steampunk Christmas Adventure by Mikala Ash

Author:Mikala Ash [Ash, Mikala]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BIN 011011-03582
Published: 2023-11-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Kidnapped

The days leading up to that fateful full moon of the third of December, were ones of intense anticipation and frenzied preparations. The centre of our operations boasted walls covered in photographs of the departed with artists’ impressions of the men and women suspected of causing their deaths. One wall was lined with telegraph receivers, and a small army of clerks ready to collate the information from the observatories and military stations as it was received.

It was a military operation, and everyone was exceedingly professional. The only sense that we were dealing with something outside the bounds of human experience was in the sessions we sat in on with astronomers and biologists who went over the descriptions of the goblins, trying to divine their abilities and weaknesses.

While the high government officials, hosted by Lord Cressy, visited and held secret meetings, a new class of technocrats seemed to arise. Open discussions were arranged where groups of men and women, technicians and scientists were encouraged to think about the origins, nature, and intentions of the moon people. Of particular concern was the capabilities of their science, and most importantly their possible weaponry, for a race that can fly back and forth from the moon must possess advanced armaments.

As to their origins, it was the consensus that the moon itself, being airless and waterless could not give rise to life, let alone an advanced species as happened on Earth. Thus, the red planet Mars, named after the God of War, was chosen as the likely origin.

As to their intent, what could goblin-like creatures want with human cadavers? Food was the first notion, but with only five a month their diet would have been sparse indeed. Minerals and salts contained in the human body perhaps fed a deficiency. The idea that the moon people, the Lunarians as they were christened, were possessing human bodies to infiltrate human societies, with the intention of causing political and social unrest became the consensus view. I shivered at that prospect, as did Marjorie.

Do you mean one of those horrid creatures may be walking about in my body?

At least your body will be preserved, I told her, hoping that would lessen her disgust.

I suppose. It still gives me the willies!

Though they were stealing too few bodies to make an army, a small insurgent force to steal our secrets and plan sabotage was a chilling one, particularly after the recent Prussian attack on London.

Agent Clayton allayed our fears that the person sitting next to us may be a Lunarian wearing a corpse for a disguise. “We have performed background checks on everyone here, as well as medical examinations upon recruitment. Rest assured we are all human in Lord Cressy’s estate.”

Once the notion of animated corpses was introduced it was inevitable that all sorts of supernatural hypotheses were enthusiastically bandied about. Jacob and I overheard two of the science personnel whispering over lunch about Agents Clayton and Cressy practising black magic and witchcraft. Jacob and I listened with interest and

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