September 11th, 1933 -
Reginald also provides you with reports from two of the trips survivors. The rest either did not give any accounts or were too disturbed to do so.
A handwritten note from Dr. Abbot. Pabodie did not give any more information than what was found in the summary report of the expanded overview of the Expedition. However, I did ask him why he was not going on the second trip which states as one of its primary objectives visiting the first site. He Stated:
“I will never go back. Ever. Nothing in the world could persuade me to set foot down there again—and I cannot explain in any way that you would understand. Oh, the poor, poor men, my friends, the fools. . . . It is not a place for us. Mankind was not made for such a place.”
A handwritten note from Dr. Abbot. McTghe was a bit more forthcoming but no less ominous when I recently interviewed him:
"The Mountains of Madness. That’s what Dyer called them. I guess they call them the Miskatonic Mountains now. Incredible things—God in Heaven! Like hallucinations—they reached up so high, impossible peaks and spires. And evil. They looked evil. I think they were.
Professor Lake . . . all of us . . . we were so excited. You should have heard Lake, talking so fast, I could hardly keep up. Those things he found—like weird kelp, or big starfish—millions of years old, and he wanted to take them apart to see what was inside. He went on, and on, wilder and wilder. You should have heard the things he said! Crazy stuff. Most of it made no sense. I think, by the end, they were all going mad"
He would speak no more of the trip itself but did speak of the return trip:
"Danforth’s the one I felt sorry for. Not that I ever liked him much, the snotty bastard. But God! How he cried! Screams and moans, and curses in weird languages.. . . We had to tie him down, all the way through the pack ice. I thought the crew would murder him so they could get some sleep.
Mountains of Madness. Yeah—and they got one victim good, at least. You heard they put him in a rest home. He needed a lot of rest.”
I was unable to interview Danforth or locate Dyer to obtain their perspectives on the matter.
September 11th, 1933 -
The note contains a package from Reginald, "My friends. I am sorry I could not join you on this journey. I believe that the information contained within, when cross referenced against the current manifest or perhaps discussed with Moore can assist you. Good luck and safe travels should you still decide to undertake this endeavor".
Meeley pass the note to her reporter contact, for him to publish the content.
She dedicates to make sure her plane is on the ship, and prepare for the travel.
Finding the others and showing them the note she found under her door. Did the rest of you get something like this?
She would also show it to Moore and Starkweather.
"I did indeed," a frustrated Stanley answers Phoebe. "Perhaps we've put Sothcott's back up against the wall and he's lashing out. I kept my note this time, in case I was the only one to get it, but the writer is clearly quite deranged, a delusional psychopath, or whatever the people in your profession call them. As if mountains, mountains of all things, could somehow end the world and drive people to madness. If a person wants people to listen, they certainly better provide facts and data, not vagueries and superstition."
Keeping her features neutral as he rants, not like that is even in the top 10 that she has heard. Facts would be better. I am going to take this to Moore and let him know.
Arnault pulls a similar slip of paper from his breast pocket, " I hafe vone too. "
" If zere is time, I vould like to go to zee New York Herald Tribune to see Zee reporter Villiam Hawkes. He vas gifen information on expeditions to zee south by Sothcott about a month ago. Perhaps he knows somezink about zee man, or a vay to contact him. "
Arnault packs his cold weather gear and archaeological dig equipment onto the boat, then sets out to purchase a handgun.
Meeley smiles at Arnault.
"Great idea, we must go see him!"
September 11th, 1933 -
The five of you stop by Moore's room and learn her is on the ship taking care of a thousand last minute details before your group sets sail.
The five of you are able to hop in a cab. Once you arrive at the port, the security guards wave you in, they know your faces now.
You find Moore on the ship and present to him the notes that you discovered.
He shakes his head, "I need to put security detail at the hotel as well it seems. I received a similar note. Ignore it. There is certainly someone trying to dissuade us from this trip and it is not going to work. Starkweather agrees with my assessment".
Meeley smiles at Arnault.
"Great idea, we must go see him!"
" I'm happy to ignore zee note, as long as zey stop comink vonce vee set sail. Vee just received a package from Reginald. He has sent some information he gathered on zee 1930s expedition as vell as some personal accounts from two of zee members. "
" It seems Reginald believes somevone from zee 1930s expedition is behind zee attacks on Christopher and Commander Douglas. I don't know if it vill turn out to be right, but it might be vorth checking zis. Reginald suggests comparing zee manifests of zee crews. Could vee see zee updated manifest? "
September 11th, 1933 -
Moore's eyebrows raise, "I was under the impression that Reginald would be joining us. Here is the roster for this Expedition. It has not been updated for a few days so some of you may not see your names listed yet.
Do any of you agree with Reginald's sentiment? Do you think a member of the Miskatonic Expedition is behind our troubles? If so, why?"
Team Leaders
James Starkweather UK Explorer, guide, lecturer
William Moore USA Geologist and organizer
Guides
Peter Sykes CAN Arctic guide
Nils Sorensen NOR Arctic guide, mountaineer
Gunnar Sorensen NOR Arctic guide, mountaineer
Science Crew
Willard Griffith USA Geologist, Cornell University
Charlie Porter USA Assistant to Griffith
Morehouse Bryce USA Paleontologist, Univ. of California
Timothy Cartier USA Assistant to Bryce
Charles Myers USA Archaeologist, Univ. of Chicago
Avery Giles USA Assistant to Myers
Pierce Albemarle USA Meteorologist, Oberlin College
Douglas Orgelfinger USA Assistant to Albemarle
Samuel Winslow USA General aide, studying glaciology
Camp Crew
Tomás Lopez USA Worker
Hidalgo Cruz ARG Worker
Maurice Cole CAN Worker
Christopher St. Claire USA Worker
Seamus MacHale USA Worker
Mickey Gallagher Ireland Worker
David Packard USA Team boss, camp security
Richard Greene USA Physician
Phoebe Barrett USA Nurse
Clergy
Father Fergus Garrity USA
Writers
Christopher St. Claire USA Writer
Thomas A. Greenwood USA Writer
Technicians
Louis Laroche CAN Radio tech/operator/electrician
Albert Gilmore USA Drill tech
Michael O’Doul USA Drill tech
Sled Teams
Gregor Pulasky POL Sled team chief
Enke Fiskarson NOR Dog wrangler
Olav Snåbjorn NOR Dog wrangler
34 Dogs – 3 Teams
Pilots/Mechanics
Douglas Halperin USA Pilot
Ralph DeWitt USA Pilot
Lawrence Longfellow USA Engineer/mechanic
Alan “Colt” Huston USA Engineer/mechanic
Stanley Chastain USA Engineer
Patrick Miles USA Technician/mechanic
Gabrielle, Scottish-built in 1913.
Gabrielle crew
Americans and Europeans numbering 47
Captained by Henry Vredenburgh.
"Can I get a copy of the roster?"
It is possible that the person is part of this expedition. But currently we do not know if they are or not.
"Can I get a copy of the roster?"
Moore shrugs, "I do not have an extra copy of this one but you can take it as I am drafting a new one today my dear".
He considers Phoebe's statement, "If that is the case then they must have changed their appearance. I would think I would recognize any of the survivors as I met them before and after they returned".
Meeley thanks him, and manually add the names that are missing from it, to have a full manifest.
"I doubt that any survivors of the first expedition would be in any condition to undertake all this sabotage effectively and anonymously," says Stanley. "That said, it's possible that one of them might feels strongly enough about this expedition to have hired a man like Sothcott to interfere." He pauses a moment to scratch at a spot on his neck. "What I don't understand, though, is if there's something truly dangerous down there, besides the weather, why they wouldn't make the facts plain to everyone so that preparations might be made. Clearly someone was convinced of that. I, for one, don't like being treated like an idiot child incapable of understanding."
September 11th, 1933 -
"Exactly! That is the sentiment I agree with wholeheartedly Mr. Chastain", Moore exclaims.
"If you need nothing else from me, I have duties and I am sure you all do as well. We leave in a few days, we must make the most of that time that is left. If Seamus cannot settle this Sothcott matter, he should be able to deflect us from further scrutiny that we may leave as scheduled".
Arnault nods along with Stanley's words.
" It is definitely veird, zee vay zis person is going about dissuading us from zee expedition, but by zee account of McTighe, Danforth had gone quite mad. Perhaps he is behind all zis. "
Glancing at the manifest Arnault asks " Is zere a list of zee ships crew? Zat could be a vay in to zee expedition zat could avoid a certain level of scrutiny. "
Unable to think of anything better to do or suggest Pheobe agrees with the others.
Alphonso considers as well and finally says to the reporterand follows along
September 11th, 1933 -
A comparison of the lists reveals nothing. Whether that is a sigh of relief or a source of further frustration, none of the Investigator's show it on their faces nor does Professor Moore.
Meeley calls her editor who calls the editor of Hawkes who works at the New York Herald Tribune and is able to set up a meeting for that afternoon.
You meet with Hawkes at a restaurant downtown. These reporters seem to love to eat. The booth he selected is small so a few of you need to sit on chairs to fit at the table. He grins, "Sorry, I did not know there would be so many of you. Josephine Stanton, William Hawkes. My friends call me Bill. Before you start calling me that let's discuss why you wanted to meet with me?"
Stanley feels conspicuously in the way sitting on one of the chairs huddled up against the edge of the booth. "About a month ago," he starts, wanting to get to the point in an efficient manner, but winds up trailing off as he tries to scootch his chair even closer to the booth and duck forward to help a waitress pass by through the rather clogged aisle.
"Sorry," he says, sitting back up and adjusting his glasses with one hand and rubbing his knee where he rather uncomfortably pressed it into the side of the booth with the other. "About a month ago you published a piece about upcoming Antarctic expeditions. We were rather hoping that you could help us get in contact with one of your sources." He leaves it there with the vaguery, hoping that perhaps one of his more socially inclined colleagues will handle the more delicate specifics of what they actually want now that the subject has been broached.
Meeley continues.
"We are going with the Starkweather Moore expedition, and love to have information about the last one, so to have more background material."
September 11th, 1933 - Afternoon -
Hawkes smiles, "If you're on that Expedition then there's a bunch of stuff I'd like to know. Tell ya' what, you give me a good interview here and now I'll get you what you want? Sound like a deal?"
"A deal it is!"
"That's fine with me as well," Stanley agrees, nodding. "I'm all for a little quid pro quo if it helps move things along smoothly and efficiently."
At least it's not a live interview, he thinks to himself. I can handle this.
Arnault frowns, folding his arms, imagining the questions they're about to have to answer.
I hope zis doesn't get zee expedition into more trouble...
To late now. That is what I get for letting my mind wonder. Nodding along with the others.
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Alphonso considers everything and at the end any word for Goldman Sachs is another word on a new customers ears
I agree, however, I expect your information to be both credible and important. With this expectation, why don't you talk first.
September 11th, 1933 - Afternoon -
Hawkes looks at Alphonso, "Then if you all get up and walk away I got nothing? No dice. First how about you tell me what your experience has been like as a woman with a mostly male crew Phoebe then you Stanley can tell me what your role is and how you think the weather will effect the equipment".
Taking a breath as her spine goes ridged. How about we trade back and forth? We answer some questions and then you do. Does that sound fair?
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"I agree that sounds like the best way to ensure that neither side gets left out in the cold, so to speak," Stanley agrees with Phoebe, nodding. "I'll go first, though, as a sign of good faith." He takes a moment to push his glasses back up his nose before continuing.
"To a certain extent cold weather is actually quite good for electrical systems," he begins. "So a lot of the cutting edge equipment that we're bringing down should be okay, radios and the like. The types of equipment that tend to have a hard time in the cold are the purely mechanical systems, especially ones that make use of hydraulic fluid which can freeze if the temperature gets down too low. Even liquid-free systems run into trouble when you start having temperature drops that chill metals to the point where their coefficients of thermal expansion start causing non-negligible changes in lengths. Take your aircraft control linkages, for example. They're finely calibrated to make sure that you've got a constant force-to-delta ratio no matter how you move the stick. This makes sure that even at extreme yaws or pitches that you don't have to risk snapping the control stick off in your hands in order to, say, pull out of a nose dive. Now in the extreme cold, see, all of these control linkages shrink just a little bit which has two main effects. The first is a lot of extra stress on the joints, which are usually put together at or around room temperature, and that extra stress makes the already embrittled metals all the more likely to snap under use. The second is it skews the lengths of the pieces until it puts the center of control off-balance. So now you're looking at requiring more force on the stick to turn left than it takes to turn right, or to pull up versus down..."
Over the next ten minutes or so, Stanley will blithely explain as many of the nuances of thermodynamics as he can think of with regards to technical and electrical systems, and how his experience with the intricacies of the designs of these systems should help to combat these problems in the field by anticipating them and taking appropriate steps.
September 11th, 1933 - Afternoon -
Hawkes scribbles like crazy as Stanley elaborates. "A bit too technical but I'll bring it to my editor and see what we can do with it. Now who is it you are looking to find? Go ahead Phoebe and give me your impressions thus far as part of the crew".
Arnault cuts in before Phoebe can answer.
" Vee are lookink for vone of your sources on a previous article, Mr Sothcott unt vee vould like to know who he is connected too. Perhaps anozer expedition? "
Stanley gives the reporter a blank look for a moment when he asks who it was they were looking for. He'd gotten so engrossed in his details and explanations that he'd temporarily lost sight of the reasons he was talking about it in the first place. It had just been a while since he'd been able to fully engross himself in discussing something so perfectly in his wheelhouse. Fortunately, his colleagues are more alert.
"Exactly that, Professor Arnault, thank you," he says nodding and snapping his fingers once. "To elaborate, I was able to find some minor details about him from the state department, but upon seeing that you had used him as a source we were hoping that you could perhaps provide a deeper insight."
Smiling at Stanley and returning his nod grateful for the chance to collect her thoughts.
Turing her attention to the reporter, I thought we agreed on trading back and forth? I do believe it is your turn. But I can answer you question. We will be getting two questions though when I am done. Glancing around at everyone, That certainly seems fair.
In all honesty it has not been as bad as I thought it would be. Though since I am a part of the medical staff I imagine they are playing a little nicer than they normally would.
Tapping her chin before continuing, Lets see. I was given complete privacy for my medical exam, as it should be. Though I do not feel terribly set apart from the crew. The most issues I have have was Mr. Starkweather but he has had some bad experiences in the past so his reluctance was more than understandable. We have moved past that and we will be able to work peacefully together.
I would say that any interactions you had "off-stage" were neutral. The on-stage struggles should be the focus of your reply... :-)
September 11th, 1933 - Afternoon -
"I remember Sothcott. He actually reached out to me as I have been following these Antarctic trips for a few years now even before I was a reporter.
He was interested in what I knew about upcoming trips as well as past trips. A pretty nice guy though that German accent is a bit tough to understand at times.
He informed me that there were Europeans interested in traveling to the continent in addition to the American EXpeditions that are currently racing to get there. I get the sense that he did not want me to make that public as, after my article, I never heard from him again.
He seemed most interested in the trip being arranged by the Lexington's, in fact when he asked me about it, I was not even aware one was being put together by Lexington! In many ways, he seemed more well informed about things then I was. I did not publish anything about the Lexington Expedition because it was denied when I reached out to their people for comments".
He pauses, "Right, Starkweather. He is a pretty interesting character what experiences has he had that you think lead him to be reluctant Phoebe?"
"Do you mean reluctant concerning me on this voyage or the voyage itself?"
September 11th, 1933 - Afternoon -
Hawkes grins, "How about both?"
Stanley relaxes a bit as the conversation steers away to the experiences of others. It gives him some time to mull over the information provided just now from Hawkes.
Ah, this is starting to make a bit more sense, he thinks as he slightly tunes out of the conversation at hand, eyes wandering to the ceiling. I suspect this Sothcott is affiliated with that European expedition, and has been trying to sabotage all the American ventures by playing them off each other. It has to be common knowledge in the world adventurer circuit that Starkweather and Lexington don't get along, right? What better way to get both trips grounded than to kill a major player of one and allow it to be tacitly blamed on the other? I'll have to make sure to bring this up to the others when we're back in private. I still don't quite get where the notes come in, though. Trying to hedge his bets, perhaps? Maybe hope he can get enough people to bail to bring the endeavor down? I wonder if any of the Lexington expedition have gotten any. Something else to look into when we're done here.
His attention wanders back to the present, and he realizes that he has no idea what's being talked about right now, and tries to pick it back up without looking too lost.
Smiling back at Hawks, "Greedy." Crossing her arms as she continues, "Mr. Starkweather was concerned that I, as a woman, would not be up to challenge of this voyage. I have since proved him wrong. Like I said we are now able to work together. His concerns were for my safety. But I will be surrounded by a large collection of very competent people. All I have to do is keep them in good health, which is what I am on this voyage for."
Waving a hand in the air and her tone clearly stats the next part she has to say should be self-evident. "And as far as I am aware he has no reservations about this voyage. This is something he is very driven to see though to the end."
September 11th, 1933 - Afternoon -
"Starkweather is something of a mystery man to be sure. His alliance with Professor Moore seems odd to say the least. How did the two come together and how do they interact with one another?
Ah one more, this one for all of you. What led you to want to be part of an Expedition to such a dangerous place? Especially considering how many people have died before?"
"Following the news."
Meeley winks at him.
A moment of insanity. Loneliness. Shrugging, "It is an oputunitty to do something I have never done before. And I have always wanted to travel."