Into the Lair of Le-Roosh by Ged Maybury

Author:Ged Maybury
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: airships, danger and adventure, steampunk, retro science fiction, mad scientist
Publisher: Ged Maybury
Published: 2019-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

WHATEVER THIS PLACE had once been, it was still quite sumptuous. An extensive residence, perhaps, if not an actual palace. Perhaps Victor Vicario the seventh had walked these very halls, entertained his guests or studied his plants. The bubble forest nearby must have been quite a treasure trove for a man like him.

And as if anticipating his thoughts, Madame Cure Ray led them up a long stair and into a high-domed greenhouse filled with fabulous plants, quite a few of them being miniature bubble trees. These hung upwards on slender stems, their hydrogen-filled canopies gleaming many shades of green, blue-green and yellow. One notable one was purple. Most featured a cluster of shiny limp leaves hanging near the top – the plants clearly relying entirely on the uplift of their hydrogen for support, the very opposite of everything Rod thought of as a tree.

But what perplexed Rod was that he could see, merely by looking upwards, that the sun was shining directly onto the murky glass above. To his mind this was impossible. He was inside the solid core of a skyland!

“This is Miss Mayflower...” said their host right then, and up from a cluster of strange shrubs stood a willowy woman of middle years. She blinked at the newcomers as she flicked soil from her fingers. Madame Cure Ray continued proudly, “...who probably knows more about the bubble forest than any man alive.”

“Do not light any matches,” was the first thing Miss Mayflower said, and not very pleasantly either. “And who are these people, Marie?”

“Just some guests of mine, no need to be concerned.”

“He’s got a gun.”

“Indeed,” said Madame soothingly, as a mother might, “and we shall take him away at once.”

They retreated back down the stairs.

“Don’t mind her, she’s very protective.”

“I noticed,” replied Rod politely.

Their next stop was a laboratory. Three women were in there, each dressed in stained leather aprons, and they were meticulously tinkering with a complex of glass tubes and flasks. In one place a beam of light shone through a flask, and wiring went to the device directly opposite it.

The ladies glanced up. “Is this the one?” asked the shortest of them, peering intently at Rodney.

“Margaret,” said Madame quickly, “Mind your manners.”

“Manners are the instruments by which we were oppressed,” answered the woman tersely, “I’ll choose if and when I shall employ them!”

Madame chose to ignore this. She led Rod and Romarny around, gestured and explained the function of some of the devices. “We’ve done a lot in here. The girls have been very productive. You see, left alone for long enough, anyone with a well developed brain will eventually unravel all mysteries.” They had by then returned to the three scientists. “Have you got it to work yet?” asked Madame.

“We have an impurity,” answered one of them, staring meaningfully at Rodney, “But we shall soon have it removed.”

“Good. Let me know how it goes.”

As they went out, Madame explained. “Margaret is quite the metallurgist. This is not her usual corner, but sometimes one must create new means of assaying, and chemistry is often the key.

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