Chapter 10: November 1st

[Mr. Handy]

"While physics is my speciality," says Alexander, "I also know quite a bit about chemistry. These books look more like they're about alchemy to me, though,"

OOC,Occult roll (5% base skill) about the books: 0

[HoneyDog]

Isolde,The books are indeed about alchemy, and are likely very rare and expensive. Isolde has heard that the Hermes Trismegistus is particularly held in esteem for its rumoured mysteries.

[aine]

“I think you are right, Alexander.” Isolde says as she looks carefully along the books. “Look! Hermes Trismegistis this book is incredibly rare and valuable; what a collection! I’ve read about some of these but never seen them before. This one is about the mysteries of alchemy; Very occult and not really science at all; how strange a collection for a doctor to have.”

[Snapper]

Crozier:

"Why on earth do I feel like I've taken a punch to the gut?" Crozier pats his stomach gingerly. "This is starting to remind me of Hong Kong in '71. Except on that visit, I also wound up with a tattoo I couldn't explain." He starts checking his hands and wrists for recent, surprise tattoos.

[HoneyDog]

Blessing crosses to the small cabinet near the shelves. Finding it locked, he fiddles about with Vandorff’s keys until he finds the one he needs. He opens it, and brings out two hypodermic needles, and eight vials of clear liquid. Two are marked ‘morphine’, but the other six are marked differently:

“30”
“400-500”
“1500”
“100000+?”
“millions? prehuman”
“the beginning?”

[Philulhu]

Vic looked from the needles to Dr Blessing. ”Those labels,” she said. “They suggest that those injections will send someone back through time! That’s impossible!”

OOC,In years to come, Vic will read a book by a Mr Wells who posits that a machine will enable a man to shift temporally. But she hasn’t read the book [u]yet[/u], she won’t be making that mistake again... ;)

[HoneyDog]

"I know it's fantastic, but It would begin to explain though what Miss Bayldon has been saying" says Blessing, looking closely at the vials. "She's under hypnosis, so she cannot be lying."

[Mr. Handy]

"Not literal travel through time," says Alexander, "though that is an intriguing thought. Rather I think this drug allows someone to access ancestral memories back approximately how many years are on the labels. The 30 must be what caused Miss Bayldon to experience her mother's memories. I wouldn't want to experiment with using these, but it may help to analyse them. If we can find out how the drug is made, we can learn how to counteract it."

[Snapper]

Crozier:

The Captain slowly gathers his battered wits, while rubbing his bruised stomach.

"Ancestral memories? Do such exist? How astounding, I have never heard such a thing. I should not wish to recall my mother giving birth to me, nor for that matter ... Ah..." His voice trails off, thoughts unspoken, but the Captain blushes.

[Philulhu]

Vic rolled her eyes. ”Childbirth is a natural thing, Captain Crozier,” she said. “Or so I’m told, anyway.” She blushed slightly too.

[Mephistophilis]

'Has Doctor Vandorff recorded what doses he has given Miss Bayldon?' asks Harry. 'I don't think I even know what 'the beginning' would mean, God's creation of the universe?'

[Philulhu]

”Well, that might be a matter of debate, Mr Brown,” said Vic, carefully. ”Miss Bayldon’s description of people dressed in skins and speaking unintelligibly, coupled with the description on the vials suggests a pre-historic era that may be at odds with teachings of the Bible...”

“Nevertheless, whenever it was, it was certainly a long time ago. I wonder what Dr Vandorff hoped to achieve in his experiments with her?”

[Mr. Handy]

"The last three of these have question marks," says Alexander, "so that's only Vandorff's hypothesis about how far back the memories go. Obviously there would be no way to measure the time, and Vandorff is also unreliable to say the least. He is more suited to be an inmate here than a doctor."

[Snapper]

Crozier:

The Captain looks distinctly uncomfortable. He says to Vic, "It's not the memory of my birth that worries me most..."

[HoneyDog]

“Where does this door go?” asks Melody, pointing to the door next to the fireplace. She tries the knob – it is locked.

“Up into the tower, I would presume” says Blessing.

He crosses over, finds the appropriate key, and unlocks the door.

A narrow, dimly-lit staircase leads upwards. Blessing takes a candle and lights it, and proceeds upwards.

At the top of the stairs is a landing, adjacent to what looks like a cell with a tiny barred window. The door is padlocked. On the landing a small rickety table holds two bundles of paper.

[Philulhu]

Vic had followed Dr Blessing up the stairs. She looked cautiously through the cell window to see what lay beyond.

[Mr. Handy]

Alexander also climbs the stairs and takes a closer look at the bundles of papers.

[aine]

“I don’t think you need worry too much, Captain. I’m quite sure it would have been far too dark to see anything.” Isolde says cryptically as she too climbs the stairs and enters the top room, looking about her.

[Snapper]

Crozier:

The Captain weaves up the stairs, still vaguely woozy and rather uncomfortable with his current train of thought. To Isolde he says, "Actually, I was thinking more of one of those horrid Greek tragedies we are made to study as midshipmen. Sophocles' work, 'Oedipus Rex.' May not be part of a respectable young lady's syllabus."

"Can't remember a single word of classic Greek neither."

[HoneyDog]

Blessing and Melody also join Vic at the cell window. Melody gasps and Blessing cries out, dropping the candle.

Vic,Roll SAN. If you fail, 1d4 SAN loss. Just roll for now, I'll fill in the details after.

OOC,All who look into the cell must roll SAN.