1884: The Gears of a Nation [PG-16]

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The architecture and ornamentation is wonderful.

That was the first thought entering Felix's mind when he stepped into the oaken doors of the structure.

Then, I wonder what those books contain... The archive of information was almost astounding to behold, its sheer size surprising him more than any technological innovation had done before. They must have put quite a sizable amount of work into this project. He was less impressed by the decor than the substance of what was present; although quite nice, it wasn't much more magnificent than what he was used to, and the books held another type of excitement for him entirely.

The folders had said that this was the largest depository of endeavour known to man, after all.

He followed the group's guide blindly, attached only on absorbing the sight of the information around him, only pulled out of his reverie by the - who was it now? - Colonel's words. Mm. Colonel Clark. As the man made his speech, he correspondingly took a quick mental note never to address the commanding officer by anything other than what had been instructed.

His gaze shifted onto his companions, imprinting their profiles into his memory. He absentmindedly saw that there were perhaps two men - or three, rather, since he was included in the count - and... two women as well; he raised his eyebrow slightly but relaxed immediately. They should probably not be a cause of concern, seeing as they were capable enough to be recruited into the British Library, and probably possessed abilities similar in strength to his, if not better ones.

"My name is Felix Hammond, sir. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." His voice was infused with a mild, almost incumbent slowness; he took his time enunciating the words. He inclined his head in respectful greeting to the man, and then to the rest of the group. "Your acquaintances, as well. I shall be glad for the opportunity to familiarize myself with all of you, and I look forward to our working together, if the opportunity arises." A slightly bow, with a small flourish of his coat-tails.

"I am William Leary. I look forward to working under your command, sir." Will spoke clearly despite the nervous thoughts rushing through his mind. In his short lifetime he had learned that if he wanted to be treated serious by authority he had to act confident with his words and with his actions. He longed to avert his gaze from the cold stare of Colonel Clark, to marvel at the wondrous library around him, but he maintained eye contact. There would be time to explore the library later. He didn't have to rush.

Before meeting his superior Will had caught a few glimpses of his fellow Englishmen and women who would become his teammates on missions. The use of women in espionage and diplomacy was not a new concept, but according to the folder he had been given one of them was a mechanic. It was unorthodox, sure, but he trusted the British Library. They would not pick an unsuitable candidate for such an important job. The men seemed regular enough, but he knew that was not the case. All five of them had been put together for a reason that would become evident soon enough.

As James gazed across the uncountable shelves of books of the British Library it confirmed to him that the Great British Empire was the pinocle of human civilization. To have amassed so much knowledge and to store it in one place, how long would it take to read all of these books, longer than a mans life span James imagined. They soon arrived at the very center of this vast maze of knowledge where a man was waiting for them, he introduced himself as Colonel Desmond Clark, their commanding officer. Colonel Clark proceeded to ask them to introduce their selves and for the first time since he had entered the building James glanced around at the other people around him, who he assumed would be members of his unit. There were two other men and two women. One of the women spoke first introducing herself as "Cecillia Ellis Atkin" she described herself as an "engineer" which James assumed was similar to his assigned role of diplomat. One of the men went next "Felix Hammond" however he didn't say what his role in the team was. Finally the other man said his name "William Leary" again hi did not say what his role on the team was. That left only James and the other woman.


"James J. Bell diplomat, sir. I am honored to have been selected for this task." He went to remove his top hat before he began to speak but it wasn't there as he was wearing the uniform he had been given. After he finished he bowed to Colonel Clark before he began to gaze around the library again.

Well, this certainly was a change of pace. Slowly, Florence scanned her surroundings. How far she had come in such a short time – after all, she had only been a lowly seamstress for so long… That was, until her invitation for training for this "British Library" came along. And now, here she was, ready to hone her true talent of language and charisma rather than the talent she had been forced into for years. Duly, she noted the four around her – so, she wasn't the only woman. Florence worked better with men (for rather obvious reasons), but at least she was better looking and obviously more composed than this little one.

First point of order was this "Colonial Clark" who was clearly in charge. He was who she cared about, he was who would further her when it came right down to it – but it was obviously to see that impressing him would be a hard task. He was cold, distant, and severe; Florence would have to pull out all the stops for him, but that was a task for another day. At the comment about dying for the Queen, Florence let out an inward smile. She couldn't say she'd do that, exactly, but she'd get as close to dying as she could if that's what it took. After her new boss spoke, the people around her began to introduce themselves – in order, Cecilia the dumpy little engineer, Felix the seemingly slow looker, William the unreadable, and James the… other diplomat? Strange, that was what her folder said. She'd be more than enough for the job, she knew – but she supposed it wouldn't hurt to have the male approach and the female approach. Just in case.

At long last, Florence let out her polite smile reserved for customers and spoke for herself. "Miss Florence Collins, at your service. I am also a diplomat, as it would seem." She sent a glance towards James briefly, trying to analyze him a bit more. The two would be working together, obviously, and it would be beneficial for her to learn exactly who she was going to be relying on for the job ahead of her. Being the last one to introduce herself, Florence then turned back to Colonial Clark, trying to show her rapt attention. This wasn't time for chatter, after all – they had a job to do.

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Having revived his orders to be at the Hounslow-Heathrow Airfield before 9 in the morning of the next day, James decided that the best course of action would be to stock up on supplies for the mission. As they would be heading to Germany, maybe a new overcoat, hat and gloves would be in order to stave off the cold. It would also be wise to read up before the journey, it was a shame that Colonel Clark had not said where in Germany they would be heading as it would help in his background reading. Other supplies that he needed but didn't already have were food and ink, which he had almost ran out of. Leaving the British Library James took a second to get his bearings and then headed eastwards to Islington which was where the nearest market was located.


After shopping at Islington for an hour and a half James made his way to the hotel it seemed odd to have been instructed to stay in a hotel when he lived in London already but as the motorcarrige would be arriving at the hotel to collect them it was best he stay at the hotel. On the walk there he pondered on the room arrangements, he hoped that as there were an odd number of them he would be the one who got a room to himself as he could not stand one bit the idea of having to share his sleeping quarters with someone else.


(OOC: will work on this some more as it is not finished yet. It seems awfully quiet here with it being so close to the deadline. Mizan could you please let me know what the sleeping arrangements are.)

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(OOC: I did a quick internet search, planes weren't around in 1884 - how are we meant to catch flights to Germany?)

Having spent a lot of time visiting London with his father as a child, as well as a few expeditions of his own, Will wasn't alarmed by the hustle and bustle of the city streets. He had been given a relatively large sum of money to use as he saw fit, but Will had little in mind that he wanted to buy. All the clothes he needed were packed in his suitcase, and if he needed any more he could simply spend his allowance when the party arrived in Germany. Instead, he spent his time familiarizing himself with the streets of London (particularly those around the British Library building) and eating a meal at a tavern. Although the patrons of the pub were mostly lower-class workers, Will would have felt a little embarrassed dining at a high class restaurant without a date.

In the evening he returned to the hotel room. He had bought a book filled with empty pages and Lewis Waterman's recent invention, the fountain pen. His time in the British Library would no doubt be exciting, so he decided to keep a record of it. He would only be taking his first mission once, so if he was ever to publish memoirs what better place to start from than here?

When he arrived at the hotel lobby he met the two diplomats, and the female engineer (whose name he remembered as being Cecilia). That left only the commando to show up. From what he could gather, the three had not been waiting long. He spoke a quiet "good evening" but otherwise remained silent. There was already conversation taking place, so he stood and listened to the others talk about their backgrounds. He was weary. After about five minutes or so, when the commando still had not arrived at the lobby, he excused himself from the group and retrieved his room key from behind the service desk. He was in room 14.

Eliminator Jr. said:

(OOC: I did a quick internet search, planes weren't around in 1884 - how are we meant to catch flights to Germany?)

Click to expand...

Two words. Steampunk Dirigible. ;D
In fact, commercial planes were only popularised during the 1920s in America, if memory serves. Anyway, the only things in this 1884 which defy logic is the steampunk tech. Dirigibles aren't even meant to be this advanced yet and external combustion engines were never popular.

Also, I'm still waiting for everyone else to post~