The Quandry Chronicles Session Zero: Dr. Singh
The Quandry Chronicles Book One: The Lost Scarab of the Aethernauts! is an illustrated pulp adventure inspired by the tabletop gaming system Space: 1889 and shot in Second Life. Narrated in sessions like a tabletop campaign, QC will post weekly on Fridays, unless I get a bit ahead of myself :)
Dr. Kanwar Singh rubbed his eyes. His vision had darkened mysteriously, accompanied by fatigue and lightheadedness. As he catalogued a range of possible medical causes for his afflictions, he leaned back from his microscope. Oh – the sun had set, that was why. He glanced at the brass clock on his cluttered desk. Some eight hours ago, it seemed. He had last eaten – lunch, surely? A glance around revealed a tea tray with the remains of breakfast. Oh well.
Another fruitless day’s research. He addressed the small brain floating in a jar of electrified liquid on a nearby shelf with a long, pained sigh. “Sekhmet dear, we are at an end. My success with you seems to have been a fluke, and every attempt to reanimate another mummy has been a dismal failure. Our electricity bill – well, I will pay it somehow, I promise. We *will* sustain your unlife, at any cost.”
A bundle of sooty linen rags mewed, rose, stretched, and padded over to him to rub its cat-shaped head against his leg. Singh reached down to idly skritch the mummified cat’s well-wrapped ears. Singh spun up a small electrostatic generator on his desk, then touched a finger to the ex-cat’s lips, with a zap and sting of a spark. The little mummy purred contentedly, filled again with the energies sustaining its reanimation.
Singh stretched, vertebrae popping. A large pile of unopened mail caught his eye, and he sighed. “No good here, I’m sure!” Bills, bills, past-due bills, death threats, a Bible wrapped in death threats – an invitation? No one invited him to anything anymore: both the successes and the failures of his research had put an end to his welcome in professional circles.
A collection of photographs of a newly-uncovered ancient Egyptian city? Of some interest, perhaps –
A covering note came unclipped and wafted down to the desk before him.
“My dear Doctor Singh:
“While we have not met, I have followed your work with the greatest interest and enthusiasm. I would beg you to be my guest at tomorrow’s reception- and when an opportunity permits, join me at a somewhat clandestine gathering in the Aeronautical Pavilion of the Crystal Palace. I am seeking experts in certain fields for an undertaking which promises to be profoundly rewarding, both intellectually and financially, and such a gathering would be incomplete without your presence.
Until tomorrow,
Yours,
E. A. Wallis Budge
Egyptian Acquisitions
The British Museum”
Singh addressed the floating cat brain: “Maybe we can keep the lights on after all!”
The Quandry Chronicles Session Zero: Dr. Singh
The Quandry Chronicles Book One: The Lost Scarab of the Aethernauts! is an illustrated pulp adventure inspired by the tabletop gaming system Space: 1889 and shot in Second Life. Narrated in sessions like a tabletop campaign, QC will post weekly on Fridays, unless I get a bit ahead of myself :)
Dr. Kanwar Singh rubbed his eyes. His vision had darkened mysteriously, accompanied by fatigue and lightheadedness. As he catalogued a range of possible medical causes for his afflictions, he leaned back from his microscope. Oh – the sun had set, that was why. He glanced at the brass clock on his cluttered desk. Some eight hours ago, it seemed. He had last eaten – lunch, surely? A glance around revealed a tea tray with the remains of breakfast. Oh well.
Another fruitless day’s research. He addressed the small brain floating in a jar of electrified liquid on a nearby shelf with a long, pained sigh. “Sekhmet dear, we are at an end. My success with you seems to have been a fluke, and every attempt to reanimate another mummy has been a dismal failure. Our electricity bill – well, I will pay it somehow, I promise. We *will* sustain your unlife, at any cost.”
A bundle of sooty linen rags mewed, rose, stretched, and padded over to him to rub its cat-shaped head against his leg. Singh reached down to idly skritch the mummified cat’s well-wrapped ears. Singh spun up a small electrostatic generator on his desk, then touched a finger to the ex-cat’s lips, with a zap and sting of a spark. The little mummy purred contentedly, filled again with the energies sustaining its reanimation.
Singh stretched, vertebrae popping. A large pile of unopened mail caught his eye, and he sighed. “No good here, I’m sure!” Bills, bills, past-due bills, death threats, a Bible wrapped in death threats – an invitation? No one invited him to anything anymore: both the successes and the failures of his research had put an end to his welcome in professional circles.
A collection of photographs of a newly-uncovered ancient Egyptian city? Of some interest, perhaps –
A covering note came unclipped and wafted down to the desk before him.
“My dear Doctor Singh:
“While we have not met, I have followed your work with the greatest interest and enthusiasm. I would beg you to be my guest at tomorrow’s reception- and when an opportunity permits, join me at a somewhat clandestine gathering in the Aeronautical Pavilion of the Crystal Palace. I am seeking experts in certain fields for an undertaking which promises to be profoundly rewarding, both intellectually and financially, and such a gathering would be incomplete without your presence.
Until tomorrow,
Yours,
E. A. Wallis Budge
Egyptian Acquisitions
The British Museum”
Singh addressed the floating cat brain: “Maybe we can keep the lights on after all!”