Chapter 1.5 - All

The burning remains of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's engine number 271 lay scattered across the bottom of Johnson Canyon. Pockets of smoldering coal and burning railway cars are strewn across the steep slope leading to the dry creek bed. The sounds of the injured and dying passengers fill the air along with a strange buzzing noise, the night sky is clear but moonless; away from the patches of flame the darkness at the canyon bottom is absolute.

***

George Treble‘s eyes slowly flicker open, his body aches everywhere and he finds it difficult to breath. It is as if a great weight is slowly squeezing the life from him. The large bandit lies on top of him. Close by he can hear voices speaking in a foreign tongue.

"Wir müssen den Fall für den Arzt zu finden." The one voice hisses.

"Vielleicht, wenn der Kapitän nicht so ein Durcheinander gemacht hätte." Says another.

"Ja."

A single gunshot rings out across the canyon.

Footsteps get closer and closer as another gunshot echoes through the canyon.

***

A short distance away and on a ledge directly above Mr. Treble, Nathaniel Preston returns to consciousness, he feels remarkable well if slightly confused about his location. Below him the wreckage of the train lies scattered and burning, a handful of men are picking their way through the scene slowly, carefully. They’re clearly looking for something, a single shot rings out and they turn to look in its direction before resuming their search.


***

Donovan Pearson awakens with a start as a pistol is discharge out not far from his location. He’s sore but not excessively so, all things considered and beneath Is laying beneath something substantial but even with the nearby fire light he’s uncertain just what it is. Heavy planks, metal straps, perhaps the floor or roof of one of the carriages the bodies of one of the bandits is close by, his neck twisted terribly a large chunk of metal protruding from his skull. Someone starts walking across the structure above him.

***

Napoleon Cuauhtemoc opens his eyes and beholds the glory that is the Milky Way laid out above him a glowing river of stars stretching from horizon to horizon in an uninterrupted display of cosmic majesty. Wait, no it is interrupted; something large floats in front of the luminous ribbon in the sky. A shot rings out near by bringing is attentions back to the Earth. He's laying flat on his back atop a rocky outcrop near the top of the canyon, he has no idea how he got here or for that matter how he'll get down.

***
Harris Darrington awakens in a shallow puddle of water, the darkness around him is almost impenetrable. Perhaps 20 yards away a small fire burns. His body aches worse than that time he fell off his father’s prize Arabian at the Hudson Valley Equestrian Park four seasons ago. There’s a soft groan not far to his left. A gunshot rings out in the darkness some distance away.

The man snorts a little as George struggles to get out from underneath him. His pistol is still in its holster under his jacket. Looking at the large bandit George notices that one of his scatter guns is still in its holster. A few yards away George notices the woman who was holding the bag, she’s a tangle of blonde hair, skirt cloth and petticoats.

***
Gathering his wits about him Napoléon finds his pistol and looks down upon the burning wreckage below. He can see at half dozen or so groups of men wandering about seemingly searching for something. They appear to be in uniforms of some kind and from his vantage point he can see a larger group of six or more individuals.

***
Patting himself down quietly Donovan can not find his own weapon, looking over at the dead bandit he notices that the man has a long barrel Colt Navy revolver jammed in his belt along with 2 spare cylinders that appear loaded. Of the professor there is no sign but looking the other way he does see the nervous little man’s leather valise.***
Nathaniel is on a rocky protrusion jutting out of a scree slope spilling out from a gap in the canyon wall. He realizes that any attempt to move will result in a lot of loose rock crashing down the slope.

He blinks for a moment looking at the wreckage, the amount of energy required. Nathaniel can not even begin to wrap his head around what kind of weapon could do something like this.

***
Harris draws his weapon and looks in the direction of the noise. He see’s a black skirts, white petticoats and a long tangle of hair.

Looking about Nathaniel spots a lever action shotgun about 5 feet away sticking barrel down in the loose rocks of the slope, he also spots a bit lower than his is, caught in a scrubby bush a large rectangular object he thinks could be his portfolio.

He thinks upon closer observation that some of the people clumped up near the middle of the wreckage could be prisoners. Four of them are standing and three are on their knees.
It’s hard for Donovan to tell which bandit this is because of the piece of iron protruding from his face but he thinks it might be the fellow who had the shotgun to the french girl. The weapon is indeed loaded, caps appear intact and the ball ends look pristine. The weapon is a single action so he will have to pull the hammer back manually between shots, this will make a very distinct noise.

Sliding across the ground he makes a small amount of noise as he goes for the bag and whispers the professors name. The footsteps above him stop.

"Hast du das gehört?" A voice asks, there’s a clatter of stone near by.

"Ja, ich glaube, da ist jemand in der Nähe."
Sounds as though he’s sleeping, he snorts a little as you take the scatter gun.

He looks about quickly and spots the older of the two Southern gentlemen about 10 feet away, he still has his pepper box clutched in his right hand but given the terrible angle of his neck he is quite dead.

The woman he does not recognize, she’s blonde, quite pretty but has a nasty gash on her forehead that’s trickling blood all down across her face. Still held in her right hand is a carpet bag full of money.Moving over to the woman he spots a man with a rifle wandering through the wreckage, he appears to be in a uniform of sorts and is definitely looking for someone or something. The woman is sheltered behind a rock from the man with the weapon. When he starts to sort out the tangle of hair, skirts and petticoats Harris figures out he has not one but two women, Ruby and one of the French women. Ruby appears fine, the French woman has a curved hunk of copper wedged between the ribs of her corset and into her chest. Harris can’t tell how bad the wound is, she’s still breathing but the white of her blouse is slowly turning red.

***

Somewhere across the wreck a voice calls out.

"Senden des Professors und der Erbin an das Luftschiff."

From their perches up high Napoleon and George watch as two people from the middle of the wreck suddenly fly up into the sky and vanish into the darkness.

There’s a pair of loud screams that disappear into the heavens, one is definitely male and the other is definitely female.