We received a telegram summoning us to earth on HMS Meritorious to meet James Peterson at Buckingham Palace. We landed at the West India space port on the Isle of Dogs where a royal carriage awaited us and from there taken to Buckingham palace where we met Peterson and shown into a room where the Prime minister was waiting. After introductions we were lead through a secret door and down some stairs to a steel door beyond which was the Buckingham palace treasury which was filled with paintings, jewellery and other treasures. Queen Victoria was wheeled from the darkness in a wheelchair.
She spoke with us briefly then retired. Sir Peterson told us she had been unwell for decades and was dying, but was being kept alive by the holy grail which was actually an ancient Martian artefact which was discovered in England hundreds of years ago and dated from Seldon II’s reign. The Grail had been stolen and we were to find and recover it. We were shown a massive hole and tunnel in an adjoining chamber. A machine had burrowed in, people from the machine attacked the guards, took the Grail and left. We were told Moriarty was to join is to help recover the grail.
Moriarty had access to a superior burrowing machine for us to use to pursue which was currently in Hidelburg, Germany. We were flown there on a steamship and dropped off outside Hidelburg at a private estate. Moriarty lead us to the mansion house and were introduced to Guedel Heinkel von Donersmarck who we found in an outbuilding. We were shown what he called a mole machine and were told it was ready for drilling to commence.
We boarded and were given a tour. We were then given special suits and earplugs to wear due to the noise and heat when the mole was in operation. I found a suitcase in the control room which seemed to upset Moriarty. Maxfield broke into it and found a pair of retractable pistols which he threw out of a hatch while the mole was tunnelling.
After some while drilling the mole suddenly dropped through a void and stopped. Moriarty reported it had broken into a cavern and taken some damage in the drop. I went outside with Donersmarck to inspect the damage. The cavern walls were unusually smooth and looked to have been melted. At the end of the cavern was a rockfall which looked to have something buried beneath. I investigated and found a skeleton buried. I found a stone arrowhead buried in the ribcage and a hexagonal pendant of black metal with flecks of green paint round its neck. The skeleton was humanoid but not human.
We commenced repairs but had to rush the completion when earth tremors got progressively worse. While outside Donersmarck had warned me that there was an armoury in the mole and I passed the warning to the others when we got back inside. The mole was fired back up and we continued. Maxfield took the opportunity to jam the lock to the armoury. After some further time the mole lurched and dropped again before landing on something that gave. We were moved by an outside force for a short distance before the mole stopped abruptly. The temperature started to rise and Moriarty announced we had broken through into magma and were stuck on a rock outcrop.
After some discussion, Moriarty and Tarquin went outside with dynamite to blast us clear. I cut the lock off the armoury where the dynamite was stored. We were turned out to be stuck between two rock pillars. The suits we were wearing offered enough protection for them to work outside for long enough to place the dynamite. The fuse was lit and we were blasted free. After we got underway again Maxfield threw all the weapons from the armoury out of the hatch.
After another period of tunnelling the mole suddenly hit something hard. Moriarty said there was something metallic outside and we had reached our destination. The mole chewed away for ten minutes before breaking through and dropping a great distance before coming to a stop. We ventured outside and found the mole was on top of a pile of bones and decaying corpses. Tarquin thought they were human except for having irregular skulls. Donersmarck stayed to affect repairs while the rest of us went to explore.
As we walked towards the exit of the cavern I saw two figures enter the cavern in front of us dragging a heavy bag. Peering through my binoculars I could see they were dressed in animal skins and were armed with spears. When they saw us they dropped the bag and fled. Inside the bag we found an unconscious young man. He had the same unusual skull as the corpses.
Tarquin treated him and he regained consciousness. He spoke English and said he had been captured by the cultists of Lor while hunting mammoth and was to be placed on the Ossuary as a sacrifice. There had been a cult of Light but it had been destroyed by the cult of Lor. His name was Prospro and he suggested we spoke to Dato who was a wise woman.
He lead us to another huge cavern he called the cavern of Phjar. High above was a point of bright light. There were two platau's rising from the cavern floor. One was the ruins of the city of Phjar and the other the stronghold of the cult of Lor. We could see a river flowing through the cavern and herds of miniature mammoths about 6ft tall roaming the cavern floor. There were stone domes scattered round the cavern which Prospro said were from the cult of Light. We examined one and found it had a number of curved triangular panels with the remains of painted clay tablets. They seemed to be marking the passage of time and had references to the cult of Light. There were also basic educational information on some of the tablets.
After continuing a while, Tarquin suddenly floated up into the air about 30ft then hovered there. Tarquin felt he was inside a bubble of some sort as he could feel something if he stretched his arms. He tied rope to his backpack, pushed the rope out of the bubble then climbed down. Miraculously the backpack was held in the bubble and he descended safely.
We finally arrived at a small plateau. There was a staircase winding upwards and a village on the top. We were approached by three women, one who introduced herself as Dato, the eldest. When we described our mole machine she said there was something similar in the cult of law’s pyramid temple which she called the machine of Lor.
Lean-Luc talked about trade and they said they had had shiny pebbles they could trade, then produced enormous gemstones and gold. We rested then returned to our mole to get some dynamite to aid us in our assault on the cult of Lor. We then headed to the plateau of Lor. We could see a stockade on top of the plateau surrounding the temple and a narrow path winding upwards.
We crept round until we saw two guards in front of a gate. Jean-Luc took aim with his rifle and killed them both. We saw two more creep forward so Jean-Luc opened fire again, killing one and wounding the other. He then fired again, killing him was he started crawling away. We then made our way up the path.
The pyramid was made of a black material with green veins, and had a rounded top. There were spears sticking through the stockade. Moriarty threw some dynamite, blowing a gap in the stockade. He threw some more, destroying more of the stockade and several of their huts. The cultists quickly surrendered.
We made our way to the pyramid but there was no obvious way in. Maxfield touched the pyramid and the black surface started creeping up his arm giving a sensation of cold. He pulled his arm back quickly and the black retreated. It seemed to react to body heat. Moriarty deduced there was intelligence in the patterns of the pyramid and thought they were spelling the word human in some ancient language. He thought it would allow intelligent people to pass. I thought he was speaking rubbish, but as it looked like it might be possible to push our way in we decided to try.
Maxfield allowed the pyramid to engulf him and I followed. We found ourselves inside the pyramid. The others followed us. In the centre of the chamber was a circle of gleaming silver. As Maxfield approached his hair stood on end. When Tarquins binoculars were placed on the silver disk it shot upwards and there was a flash and some sparks. After some seconds the silver disk descended and the binoculars had been cut cleanly in half. Experimentation proved the cut was across the exact centre of the disk.
Tarquin stepped on, standing to the edge and shot upwards flashing past an arc of blue light before finding himself in another chamber. The desiccated remains of two giant insect creatures were on the floor. Moriarty then Maxfield followed him. There were six side chambers. Three were dark, one had a nasty smell, one had a green light and one was full of pillars. There were some very large tracks leading into two of the dark rooms. The followed one set of tracks. As they entered the chamber it lit up revealing coffins made of crystal with insects inside. There was also a hum of static electricity.
They followed the tracks into the other chamber which lit with green light as they entered. There were three windows through which magma could be seen far below. The Holy grail was on a pillar surrounded by a bubble of energy. A large automation was also in the room and when they entered, it animated and started talking in an unknown language.
They backed out of the room and after some discussion decided the energy round the Grail would need to be shorted out before it could be safely removed. They shouted down that they needed something metal and I went up with my sword cane.
The pillar holding the Grail had conduits running into it. I disconnected a conduit and the automaton moved to the pillar and reconnected it. While it was doing so, Tarquin charged it and tried to push it into the energy bubble. It was very heavy but toppled slightly and its head touched the sphere. Purple energy flashed, the automaton screamed and then crashed to the floor. Tarquin tried grabbing the Grail but the energy sphere reformed, burning him and forcing him to pull back.
I started disconnecting the conduits but when all were disconnected the energy remained. I found some ancillary controls in the room with the insect coffins. When I pulled out a cable the temperature started rising and with a cloud of steam and the coffins started opening. I pulled out the rest of the conduits quickly and the energy round the Grail vanished. I grabbed it quickly and stuffed it in my backpack. The others were busy trying to drag the automaton to the lift shaft while I had been doing this. Assuming there would be insects emerging from the coffins shortly I shouted to them to follow quickly and descended.
We fled the temple. The light in the roof of the cave was flickering and the earth was shaking. The path started collapsing as we descended and Maxfield fell from the path. We climbed across the gap and descended to the floor of the cavern. Maxfield had broken his leg so Tarquin picked him up and carried him as we set off quickly towards the mole machine.
As we neared the machine the ground started breaking up and steam erupted from the cracks. We dodged round the cracks and made it to the mole machine. We got inside but the floor collapsed beneath us and the mole machine dropped into magma. Moriarty and Donersmark leapt to the controls, started up the mole and started tunnelling out.
I gave the grail to Maxfield who drank from it. With a cry of pain his leg was healed. He then hid it in his backpack assuming Moriarty would try to steal it from mine. After many hours tunnelling we finally made it back to the surface where we emerged in Hyde park. We were escorted to Buckingham palace to meet Sir Peterson and the Prime minister. The Prince of Wales then came in. In a few days we were to be knighted at the palace. The ceremony dragged on a bit but I got the gong and got to stay in the palace another night before we were all shipped off back to Mars.