The Message

Previously, Max was called to the EAD for a meeting with the current head of that organization.
Max and his crew have only been in England for a short while after being rescued from their adventures as told in my serial tale Lost at Sea.

Here is part two of the Epilogue.

Enjoy
Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed, and your water iced.
KJ

Ice and Clockwork Epilogue

A serial story from The Airship's Messdeck.

Part II
  by Kevin Jepson

Max enters his room at the Officer's Hostel and closes the door behind him. It is the same room he had before taking the old Doris north in the dead of the previous winter. He drops the folder with his orders, and the envelope from Mary, down on the desk and sits on the bed. Somebody had set a fire in the small grate so the room is just warm enough to be comfortable.

Well here we are again Max you old salt, back in the same hostel waiting to get on with another mission and just as confused as before.

He takes off his jacket and cap and tosses them onto the chair, lies back on the bed and stares at the tin ceiling. The dim watery light of a winter London day gives the room a slightly misty look.

It's as if I never left for God's sake, like all that happened was a dream or something. I half expect to see the rat ticking on the window sill.[1] But you are sitting up in Scapa Flow where I left you when we sailed out into the North Sea in the the Argo all those months ago. I wonder if yer still ticking you little clockwork bugger.

Some things had changed though. The young seaman Jones had been assigned to a cargo airship carrying supplies up to that same base at Scapa Flow, and the old pensioner had gone to his rest some months before.

Max smiles as he remembers Jones in all his finery striding off to meet Daphne for tea at Lady Formingham's London house...

Max looks over at the thick folder of paper on the desk and sighs.

Ah, Mary... Well, nothing for it, best find out what you has to say.

He gets up and pulls the envelope out of the folder. Looking at it carefully he can see that the doodle of the pelican crosses the seal of the envelope.

Clever Mary, nobody could open this without me knowing. Not that Admiral Chicheley's boys couldn't read it through the paper and all. No, if they had gotten their hands on this I would never have received it. Unless they want me to get it that is. Odd that Admiral Wilcox would give me this while telling me that I am still forbidden any contact!

Taking a letter opener from the desk he carefully opens the envelope and takes out the letter and begins to read it.
----
My Dear Maxwell
I do not know if you will ever see this.
I fear that you may be lost in that awful storm, the worry is horrible.
Gordon has been almost frantic about it too. He would send everything he has to find you if he could but there are so many lost his resources are strained to the limit.
I have sent this note by Daphne's beau, the young lad you so graciously helped to make a good impression before you left. He flies on the supply ships that bring us our regular supplies. I told him to give this to Sir James if he could and no other.
Sir James is an old friend of Gordon's and though he is constrained as much by Naval Intelligence as anybody he can be trusted to pass this along if you ever return.
On that wondrous and happy day I hope you can read this safely and know that I have not stopped thinking of you since you sailed away on that old trawler.
Your friend always.
Mary

P.S.
I know that SHE can read this but perhaps others may not, even the pelicans on the Thames can keep their secrets.
RjIj* ufnJ* mABh* aKxt* lFrv* ztey* jnfn* OtGi* wisy* wlyx* qDuy* )iIp* Fpfx* ucuv* ueIx* umrp* fDxx* orps* Awha* AqDl* yxmz* pfzx* wisH* !Eiv* uFys* sBcx* wJmA* Dwat* Ewsn* wuwD* llCk* bHpy* txvf* nMmA* BhaG* Jwuw* jtnJ* mqHc* qIBq* ljuf* nqqE* xciI* Cfz&* cUvu* Dlvd* znKx* qiBp* IpgG* Ccuv* uDlv* dznD* tFif* bFue* rxua* MEzl* jvaW* piA&* cBzB* euBc* oCJe* mBcj* Hpxq* npt+* pQAE* haoB* BmHv* /n2f* DH [2]

Max stares at the note for a long time before putting it back in the envelope and placing it carefully on the desk with the pelican doodle where he can clearly see it

Secrets indeed.

Mary what are you up to now...

Part III is here.

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[1]When the Velvet Brush was in the airdock at Portsmouth she was attacked by KARs (Kamikaze Automaton Rats) These were clockwork automatons loaded with explosives sent by an unknown assailant. The crew captured one and Madame Taxus-Hemlock converted it to be useful as a way to communicate securely between the members of the crew. You can follow the adventures of  Madame's assistant and protege Maddie Hatter in the Maddie Hatter series by Jayne Barnard where she has a clockwork bird created for her by Madame.
[2] As part of our role play we created a code system to use when communicating outside the group.
I will leave the decoding as an exercise for the reader.😉