Mr. Darwin's Dragon

By Michael Tierney

Charles Darwin, one of Britain’s most famous and certainly most controversial scientists, has a puzzle. How is it that cultures all over the world have ancient myths of dragons? Could dragons have once lived alongside ancient man? Could dragons still exist?

Professor Nicodemus Boffin and his newly launched airship Flamel takes up Darwin’s request to search for evidence of modern dragons. The voyage takes Flamel from Britain through the Middle East and over the Himalayas to China. The search is barely begun when Flamel discovers an illicit gold mine run by Cai Yuan, a cruel Chinese warlord, and his corrupt British collaborator. Professor Boffin and his family are taken hostage in the mine which seems to be guarded by a fierce dragon. The crew of Flamel must rescue them, and together discover whether Mr. Darwin’s dragon truly exists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Tierney
• Release date: May 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463517819

Michael Tierney

Michael Tierney writes steampunk-laced alternative historical fiction stories from his Victorian home in Silicon Valley. After writing technical and scientific publications for many years, he turned his sights to more imaginative genres. Trained as a chemist, he brings an appreciation of both science and history to his stories. Visit his blog at www.airshipflamel.com.

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Acknowledgements

I want to acknowledge my ever-patient wife, Lori, who is always a great sounding board, setting me straight in many ways, especially in writing my female characters. My sons have put up with me saying things like, Do you know who first came up with that? Michael Faraday! to the extent that they threatened to buy me a t-shirt emblazoned with Warning: I love talking about Michael Faraday., and I'm a bit sad that they didn't.

To the train crews and fellow passengers of CalTrain upon which much of this book was written during my daily commute, my thanks. White noise, few distractions, and no Internet connection make for very productive writing time.

Chapter One

By all rights, Professor Nicodemus Boffin should have been asleep in his bed at the Royal Croydon Arms Hotel several floors below the Imperial Suite where Her Majesty and His Royal Highness surely rested in regal splendor. By all rights, he should be asleep beside his wife, Jane, dreaming of what was to come on the morrow. By all rights, he should be asleep, but instead he found himself walking across the wide field of Croydon Aerodrome in the deep blue light of the pre-dawn towards a collection of airships moored on the far apron.

He was really interested in only one of the airships, the one that, to the untrained eye, seemed perhaps the least impressive. She was much smaller than the RAS Norfolk, one of the large Transatlantic route airships that flew between London and the Canadian Colonies. She had an old-fashioned balcony outside her gondola unlike the sleek, well-armed warship HMAS Pegasus. Her appearance, however, belied her importance, or else why would Her Majesty be coming to launch her?

And once Her Majesty christened her, she would be named Her Majesty's Research Airship Flamel. The idea for her creation began with Lord Clarendon, a particularly enlightened man who was troubled that Britain was lagging behind other countries, particularly Germany and the United States, in technological and scientific advancements. Clarendon met monthly with a group of like-minded men for dinner and lively conversation about the latest scientific discoveries. This group styled themselves the Aether Society. They had attempted, through various official and unofficial channels, to warn the Government of this technology lag to no avail. In the end, they decided that they had sufficient means, both financially and scientifically, to organize their own institution for scientific and technological advancement. This endeavour they dubbed, for the lack of any better name, The Endeavour.

When Lord Clarendon first met with Professor Boffin at his laboratory at the University of Edinburgh, Boffin was somewhat overwhelmed at the amount that Clarendon already knew and understood about his work. Clarendon was particularly interested in his recent experience with an unusual orange mineral specimen, work that Boffin had not yet presented in a scientific forum, nor was he sure he wanted to. Ever.

Despite his trepidations, Boffin accepted Clarendon's offer of financial support from The Endeavour for his work on gaseous electrochemistry. While the experiments were still in the early stage, the endowment would enable Boffin to build larger and more elaborate apparatus to study the energetic plasmas he generated by passing galvanic currents through mixtures of gases.

As with many scientific principles, gaseous electrochemistry is both disarmingly simple and devilishly complex. When an electric current flows between two electrodes in a solution, the contents of that solution may undergo a chemical reaction. For example, the application of current to water splits it into its component elements, hydrogen and oxygen. In the case of gaseous electrochemistry, the reaction takes the form of a luminous glowing plasma.

A seemingly innocent suggestion from Lord Clarendon during that first meeting in Edinburgh prompted Boffin to test electrodes made of mineral instead of the usual metallic or graphitic materials. Boffin's mind immediately turned to the orange mineral specimen. The orange stone that had been sent to Professor Faraday for analysis at the Royal Institution those many years ago was of extreme hardness and possessed an unnatural glow, as if it were lit from within. Only after considerable effort was the secret of the orange mineral revealed—it could store an immense amount of energy. Whether Lord Clarendon's particularly astute suggestion was a chance offering, or prompted by some prior knowledge, Boffin always wondered, and was wise enough not to ask.

However, he was wise enough to attempt the experiment. After numerous trials, he was able to tame the immense energy bound up in the strange orange mineral, and to release it in a controlled fashion through the glowing plasma as an electrical current. This current could power electric motors and perhaps one day, even Mr. Swan's incandescent lamps. But the most surprising phenomenon created by the luminous matter chamber, as Boffin named it, was not the immense amount of energy it stored, but that it could also create lift, that is, buoyancy. Boffin first noticed this surprising property when one of his smaller chambers floated off the laboratory bench. Eventually the effect was studied in depth, tamed, and controlled. How it worked was still not completely understood—in as much as the mechanisms governing gravity were not known—but the effect was controllable and usable, and had not failed yet.

Even at that first meeting, Clarendon mentioned to Boffin The Endeavour's proposal to build an airship as a vessel of discovery as well as a test platform for the inventions devised by The Endeavour's scientists and engineers. The idea had languished for several years, but gained a new-found favour after Professor Boffin's discovery that the luminous matter could provide lift.

Professor Boffin suggested to Lord Clarendon that the airship be called Flamel, for the medieval alchemist Nicolas Flamel who was rumoured to have discovered the Philosophers' Stone, in hope that the name would inspire ship and crew alike to excel. Unlike one of his misguided colleagues, Boffin held no stock in the alchemical arts. However, he did find a certain respect for them, as the roots of many of the procedures and methods of chemistry stemmed from the florid and arcane descriptions found in alchemical texts.

Until the construction of Flamel began, the plasma chambers Professor Boffin constructed to study the luminous matter were small enough to sit upon—or levitate over—a laboratory bench. Building a chamber large enough to lift an airship, well, that was quite a different thing. And fear that the chambers would fail was the reason that Boffin was up hours earlier than usual.

When the Professor reached Flamel, he noted that it was not freely floating, moored by its nose to the mast, but rather sitting leaden upon the ground. While he knew that her ceremonial First Flight was reserved until after its christening, Flamel seemed forlorn and powerless, like a whale beached upon the strand. It made him doubt the ship's performance even more.

In the quiet of the pre-dawn, he could hear the clang of a hammer upon metal becoming more urgent and forceful over time. Finally, the clamor ceased, and a spanner came flying out of a hatch in the ship's envelope followed by a red-haired man wearing coveralls and cursing in a Scottish brogue, This ship will be the death of me, I swear.

Mr. Montgomery! cried Boffin, his words barely audible above those of Flamel's chief engineer. I already have doubts enough about the performance of this ship. I hope you're not making the situation worse.

Och, Professor! I'm sorry. You shouldn'a had to hear that. I'm just a wee bit frustrated with the calibration of the buoyancy gauges. Whenever I think I have one tuned in, the other one drifts off.

A difficult and tedious operation, even on the benchtop models. I don't envy your attempting to do it alone. Still, I doubt that beating upon the chambers with a spanner is likely to improve their performance.

Excuse me, Professor. You're right. I just couldn't sleep knowing that the gauges weren't behaving, so I left my cot, and came down to work on it while it was quiet.

I think we may have been tortured by the same demon, Chief. Let me give you a hand and we'll solve this problem in no time.

Chief Engineer Malcolm Montgomery normally needed no one's assistance, as he had helped design half the systems on the ship. As airships went, he was one of the acknowledged experts, and Boffin was lucky to have him on Flamel. Whatever inducement Lord Clarendon had made to him to hire him onto Flamel's crew Montgomery never let on.

As they worked, the two men talked of the day to come. Although they were separated by their ranks—Boffin as the Expedition Commander was technically Montgomery's superior—Boffin made it a point that while ranks were an accepted means of running a military ship, they were not an analogy for social precedence.

Professor, have you ever met Her Majesty?

Me? Why would you think that I would have ever met her?

Well, you're a well-respected Professor. Perhaps you would have met her at a scientific gathering, or at an evening at Lord Clarendon's.

Boffin laughed, No, I don't think Victoria has ever graced one of the Royal Institution's lectures, not even one of Professor Faraday's famous Christmas Lectures. Albert has, on occasion, I have heard, but I have never crossed paths with His Royal Highness either. They do both have an avid interest in science and the mechanical arts, and it's a good thing too, or else we might be without an airship otherwise.

"Do you mean to say that Flamel was paid for by Her Majesty?"

"In a matter of speaking, Chief. The Aether Society provided the funds that got her built, but if that were the end of it, she'd be a privately owned airship. Only with the Queen's intervention was Flamel nominally made a part of the Airship Service. Her Majesty's Research Airship Flamel, she is to be christened today. And her orders state, 'On special detached duty', meaning that we are on an indefinite voyage of discovery unless and until the Government needs Flamel's services for other duties."

Other duties, Professor? And what might they be?

I'm afraid I couldn't tell you, Chief, the professor paused, even if I knew. I daresay we'll be summoned if needed.

Privately, Boffin was a bit uncomfortable with the means that Lord Clarendon had drafted Flamel and her crew into government service, even as Clarendon assured him that it would happen rarely. Boffin had joined The Endeavour in the assumption that Flamel would be on a voyage of discovery, not performing errands for the government. When he had asked Clarendon about it, he was less than forthcoming. "No need to worry, Professor. Flamel is a part of the Airship Service in name only. I don't expect she will ever be tasked with much other than exploration and discovery. Being assigned to the Airship Services does give Flamel access to Airship Service facilities and logistics around the world, which is quite a valuable benefit."

"And if Flamel is called up by the government? What kind of mission would we be undertaking?"

"Extraordinary duties, Professor. Extraordinary duties that utilize the advanced capabilities found aboard Flamel. I'm afraid I can say no more."

The professor thought to himself that Lord Clarendon's explanation answered nothing.

Chapter Two

With Boffin's assistance, Montgomery completed the calibration of the luminous matter chambers with more efficiency and less aggravation. They tested their work by adjusting Flamel's buoyancy just enough that its keel raised off the ground a couple of inches—not enough that anyone would consider it launched, but enough to tell the two men that their ship would indeed fly properly later that day.

Boffin walked purposefully across the airfield with his back towards the rising sun which turned the envelopes of the moored airships to gold.

When Boffin reached his hotel, his wife Jane was already dressed. She had obviously given up waiting for him and had started her breakfast.

Nicodemus! Where did you go so early? Have you been down at the airship? Jane recognized her husband's worry that all go well at Flamel's launching.

And it's a good thing too. Chief Montgomery was on the verge of beating her into a pile of scrap with a large spanner.

"Now you know as well as I do that Chief Montgomery is the best airship engineer available. You are lucky to have him on Flamel's crew."

Yes, he's skilled with his hands, and understands the ship's systems innately. I just wish he kept his temper in check. Really, Jane, you should have seen his frustration about a simple calibration.

Jane smiled. I seem to remember a certain professor becoming quite cross over the exact same problem.

Nicodemus sat and allowed his wife to pour his tea. He knew she was right. She was always right when it concerned emotions and relationships. He felt he was always two steps behind her understanding of people.

Has Jonathan come in yet? He's been looking forward to this day for months.

He'll be in for breakfast shortly, said Jane, just as the door opened and a dark-haired boy entered.

Good morning, Mother, Father, he said in a tone rather too serious and humourless for a teenaged boy on the day his father's airship is to be launched by the Queen.

"Jonathan, today's the day you've been waiting for! The christening of Flamel!"

The boy frowned in thought. "Flamel is a fine ship, Father, but she's no match for the Demon's Scourge, Captain MacNee's ship."

Boffin had hoped that his son had forgotten about their encounter with the airpirates. Hoped, but really, did not expect him to. The exploits of Captain MacNee were likely the most exciting events of his young life, and he would not soon forget them. Worse, thought Boffin, was that MacNee had filled his head with ideas of the adventurous pirate life.

"Yes, well, I'm sure Captain MacNee will stay far away from today's festivities. It's not as if there will be no security detail protecting her Majesty. Besides, I've heard that Captain MacNee's ship has not been sighted for quite some time. So, will you then admit that in Demon's Scourge's absence, Flamel will be the finest ship at the aerodrome?"

"Yes, Father, she will. Even though she's smaller than Demon's Scourge and has almost no weapons."

I thank you for your consideration, Jonathan, said Boffin as he rolled his eyes towards his wife.

Chapter Three

At the appointed time, the ceremony began. The cloudless sky meant that the ship would be visible all through its First Flight. The flags and pennants that ringed the viewing platform flapped languidly. A crowd stood before the platform; only the invited guests were seated. Jane and Jonathan waited patiently, standing directly in front of the podium. Jane scanned the dignitaries on the platform. She recognized Lord Clarendon, and the Queen and Prince Albert, of course, but the others were unknown to her. Some of the men wore the blue uniform of the Airship Service; others wore formal black frock coats. She supposed they were members of the Aether Society. Lord Clarendon began his speech, welcoming Her Majesty and His Royal Highness. (Their Royal Personages would not be making public remarks themselves, their mere presence being enough of a contribution.) Clarendon pledged both ship and crew would be ever loyal to Queen, Country, and Empire, and would endeavour to discover new scientific knowledge for the benefit thereof.

Boffin heard all this somewhat muffled from the interior of Flamel's gondola; he had left his wife and son alone in the audience. Flamel would be fully manned for First Flight, and as Expedition Commander, he felt he should be aboard. A smattering of polite applause from the assembled dignitaries, well-wishers, and airship aficionados standing before the viewing platform signaled Boffin that Clarendon's speech had ended, and that the christening was approaching.

In the audience, Jane smiled nervously. She had not a doubt that the launching would proceed without trouble, but she was nervous because she knew that Nicodemus would be pacing inside the ship needlessly worrying that he had forgotten some tiny technical detail that would doom the launch.

Jane did not initially notice a young woman, perhaps aged twenty or so, who was making her way through the crowd towards her. She moved somewhat quickly, offering pardons to those whom she slipped by too closely or jostled. Jane finally noticed her only because of her bright red hair which although well groomed, seemed to be trying to escape the bonds of her coiffure. Jane's hair was sometimes called auburn by her maid when trying to make it sound exotic, but it was no match for the colour of this young woman's hair which reminded her of copper and iron oxide and flame, depending on how the sunlight struck it. She thought she would like to hear Nicodemus's characterization; he was so much more knowledgeable than her in descriptive chemistry.

Jane was somewhat surprised when she realized the woman was coming towards her specifically. Mrs. Boffin? she inquired,

Yes?

The woman held out her gloved hand. "Please forgive me. Lady Elizabeth Clarendon. I am so glad to meet you. My father has told me so much about your husband, and Flamel, of course."

Jane Boffin was confused, Lady? she thought to herself. Father? she said out loud.

"Oh, I am sorry. My father is Lord Clarendon."

Jane suddenly understood, and nodded, Please excuse my confusion. I didn't realize that his Lordship had children.

Just the one. Just me, Lady Elizabeth said matter-of-factly. I'm not surprised that my father has never mentioned me. He tends to separate family matters from his work. But I did want to meet you, Mrs. Boffin. My father speaks very highly of the professor.

I'm sure my husband will be pleased to know that, Your Ladyship.

Oh, please, call me Elizabeth. It seems somewhat silly to give me a title just because of who my father is. Wait until I do something on my own, then I'll demand to be addressed as 'Her Ladyship'. Jane and Elizabeth chatted casually during lulls in the proceedings. Jane introduced Jonathan to Elizabeth, but that morning's surly attitude continued. Elizabeth was kind enough not to be offended, which was as much as Jane could ask for.

The viewing platform was situated so that Flamel's nose was conveniently positioned directly behind Her Majesty. Nearby, a large bottle of champagne hung from a line attached to the platform's canopy. Her Majesty and His Royal Highness rose, and Prince Albert handed Victoria the thick glass bottle. Despite her diminutive stature, she energetically heaved the bottle towards the nose of the airship.

Here it comes! squealed Elizabeth.

Jane was entranced in seeing Victoria and Albert for the first time. Their likenesses were well known, of course, but seeing them in real life, moving and talking, only a short distance from her, was marvelous, she thought. Despite the rapt attention Jane gave the events on the viewing platform, she had an inkling, a glimmering in the corner of her eye, not even consciously at first, of something odd, something unexpected, something that was out of place. The vision slowly gelled after a few seconds. She turned to her left and saw a short man in a dark frock coat lift a pistol and aim it towards Victoria.

He has a gun! cried Jane, as the crowd watched the champagne bottle swing along its arc towards Flamel's bow. The man, momentarily startled to be found out by a woman's voice, hesitated just long enough for the man next to him to grab the pistol and force its aim upward. As he did, the pistol fired, the bullet flying over Her Majesty's head and shattering the bottle of champagne just as it collided with Flamel's nose.

Jane looked over at the man who had expertly brought the shooter to the ground and wrested the pistol from his hand. Through all the commotion, she realized that she knew him.

Mr. Mungo? she said somewhat in a daze to her husband's laboratory assistant.

The man looked up at her, Baptism by fire, I'd say, Mrs. Boffin.

Lord Clarendon thought that a little extra security might be in order for the occasion. He asked me to look out for anything out of the ordinary. I had my eye on this one for some time.

Mungo pulled the man to his feet as two uniformed constables reached them in the center of the crowd. On the platform, there was great commotion. As most everyone had been watching the swing of the champagne bottle, they did not realize what was transpiring in the crowd. The news spread quickly, however, and Lord Clarendon motioned down to the constables to bring the man forward. As they did, Mungo realized that the man was short, but struggled with unusual strength as if driven by a great need to accomplish his goal. His clothes were well-made, but old and rather worn. Most unexpectedly, the man was Chinese.

The two constables marched the man, struggling all the way, to the base of the viewing platform. Clarendon was about to question the man, when a functionary pushed him aside and a high-pitched but strident voice behind him said, If I may, Lord Clarendon…

He turned and stepped back as Victoria brought her considerable wrath to bear.

What is your business here? How dare you attempt to disrupt these proceedings!

I am not concerned with these proceedings. My aim is to seek justice for my countrymen. To strike back at your glorious Empire which has enslaved so many of my people, and brought our once powerful country to ruin.

If, I may presume from your countenance, you are speaking about the Oriental Colonies, you are mistaken, sir. Britain took over those lands only after finding them in utter disarray, without a proper government and on the verge of economic chaos. The well-being of the average Chinaman has only improved since the establishment of the Oriental Colonies.

The man interrupted the Queen, an affront that was almost as shocking as the prior events, The well-being of my countrymen has only decreased due to the Empire's stripping of our wealth and resources. Your corrupt occupying army is colluding to steal away my country's treasure. Colonial Office officials are illegally shipping gold out of China. Despite the man's vehemence, he spoke with the refined accent of an Oxbridge education, not the broken accented English expected.

I might say that despite your ill manners, you sound unusually well-spoken for an Asiatic. I believe you yourself have benefitted from an English education.

My brother and I were stolen from our family and brought to Britain as a demonstration, to show that even 'Asiatics' can be educated.

Apparently not entirely successfully, sniffed the Queen. Not sufficiently to know when to stay in your station and not to disrupt the proceedings today to which you were not invited.

"Just like the British were not invited into my country. If you will not listen to the pleas of my people, I am forced to take more drastic measures.

A gasp arose from the assembled.

Well, then, I am lucky your aim was poor, sir. You are not the first to try to assassinate me, and like the others, you have failed. Victoria turned her back on the man. The meaning of the gesture was clear; the constables pushed the struggling man away towards the waiting Black Maria.

Lord Clarendon said, "Your Majesty, perhaps the tour of Flamel can wait until a later time, considering the day's events.

Nonsense! she replied imperiously. I am not affected in the least. But Lord Clarendon, that woman who raised the alarm. I should like to meet her."

"Of course, Your Majesty. As it turns out, she is the wife of Professor Boffin, Flamel's Expedition Commander."

Very well, then I should like to meet them both. Clarendon motioned to Mr. Mungo to bring Mrs. Boffin and Jonathan aboard.

Flamel's control car was small and given the requirement to leave extra space for the Queen that decorum dictates, the bridge crew was particularly cramped together.

"Welcome aboard Your Majesty's Research Airship Flamel, said Lord Clarendon, slightly changing the actual name of the ship to reflect whom he was addressing. As you know, Your Majesty, Flamel is a ship of discovery, equipped with the most advanced technology available, and will be continuously refitted as technology improves."

And may I meet the captain and the professor?

Of course, Your Majesty. May I present Captain John Warner, a very experienced airship captain who earned his commission during the Air War.

Earned? Not purchased?

No, mum, said the captain before Clarendon could reply. I began my service as an ordinary seaman in the Royal Navy and transferred to the Air Service when they were calling up airmen. There was such a shortage of volunteers that I made my way up the ranks.

Captain Warner is being somewhat modest, Your Majesty.

Victoria glared at Lord Clarendon. "I am well aware of Captain Warner's actions over Hannover while serving on the airship Draco. I approved his Distinguished Flying Cross myself. But I did not know your prior history, Captain. I trust you will put your experience to good use commanding Flamel."

Warner seemed to suddenly realize that he was addressing the Queen, blanched, and said quietly, Yes, mum.

"And this is Professor Nicodemus Boffin, Your Majesty, the Expedition Commander, and the inventor of the luminous matter chambers that power Flamel."

And provide its lift, if I am not mistaken, Professor Boffin.

Yes, that is correct, Your Majesty.

"My husband and I have kept a keen eye on Flamel's construction. We have been quite impressed in the capabilities that it has incorporated. And, I may say, quite impressed with the generous amounts from the Treasury to install them."

"I assure you, Your Majesty, that we have only sought to build an efficient, sturdy, and capable airship. The Air Service required Flamel to incorporate some specialized equipment not specifically needed in a vessel of discovery."

Her Majesty looked at him with a brief expression that showed that she was not fully convinced, then suddenly pivoted, and looked behind and to the right of the professor. Lord Clarendon stepped in and said, And this, Your Majesty, is Mrs. Boffin.

More impressive than your being the professor's spouse, my dear, is the service you provided for me today in noticing that vile man with the gun. I believe it was your cry that alerted the constables.

Jane curtseyed and blushed at the same time. Thank you, Your Majesty. I am happy to have been of service.

Of service? You may well have saved my life! Although Victoria is often portrayed as dour and humourless during public appearances, the public did not see her in her private and family life when she was much more animated. It was a sign of her gratitude to Jane that she let her public demeanour slip even momentarily. "Although