When Pascale Auber is forced out of the airship of the evil Dr. Simpelstur, she finds herself rescued by a handsome Ruritanian diplomat, Theo von Hentzau. Pascale soon realizes that Theo is hiding something - something to do with the evil doctor, th...
With sincere apologies to Messrs. Marconi, Maxwell, and Hertz. . . . but especially Mr. Marconi!
"I thought you said we were the only people aboard?"
Miss Silverstar seemed to have few words to spare as she steered the ship. "We are," she said simply. "My uncle is angry that his ship has disappeared from the capital. And I'm concerned that he figured things out so quickly. We will have to hurry."
"But we are in an airship! You cannot mean to tell me that there is a prodigiously-long wire connecting that telegraph to the ground!"
Miss Silverstar raised an eyebrow, an amused expression passing over her otherwise concerned countenance. "Of course not. Don't be silly. It is a wireless telegraph."
It was a moment before Blaise realised that his jaw had not literally hit the floor of the airship's bridge. His brain was spinning; he knew one could send a message a short distance based purely on induction, but he could not imagine that it would be practical for an airship. That left only one option, at the very edge of modern research in his own area of specialty - "But surely no-one has yet solved the problem of using aetheric waves for communication!"
Miss Silverstar shrugged. "You would know better than I. There's a bank of zinc-graphite batteries and some funny water-filled jars behind the dashboard and funny thing that makes a fat, loud spark." Almost proudly, she added, "My uncle built it. The ship can both send and receive, and he has a number of stations in the city, as well."
"But I thought he was a medical doctor!" Blaise complained, "And you mean to tell me he's built a practical radiotelegraph? Using a spark cap to create the waves and – and Leyden jars and a coil of wire to tune the bloody thing?"
"Apologize for using such barbaric language in my presence! You're just jealous that you didn't do it first."
"I am not! My research is in the propagation of light through interplanetary space, although I hardly have time to do any research anyhow as I have to teach mathematics to uneducated freshers!"
"You're definitely jealous, Dr. Auber."
"I am not!" Blaise retorted. After a pause, he asked, "Do you mind if I open up the panel and take a look at the circuitry? I bet your uncle -"
"You certainly may not! If he stops messaging, that means he thinks he knows where we're going, and is on his way to find us. I would like to know when that happens so that I might have an idea of how much time we have."
"Oh." Blaise said. "I suppose that makes sense."
"It does, Dr. Auber," Miss Silverstar said. She paused as well, then, looking straight ahead as though she thought the airship might encounter an obstacle, she said, "Or, since I'm in the process of rescuing you from durance vile, may I call you Blaise?"
"I – well, of course, Miss Silverstar!"
Her cupid's-bow lips formed a slight smile. "Mandy," she corrected.
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Please do not attempt to build a spark gap transmitter - yes, even if you use a modern commercial capacitor in place of the Leyden jars (please don't use Leyden jars, either. Leyden jars are dangerous). Spark gap transmitters generate a lot of noise across much of the electromagnetic spectrum, and as such are illegal to operate in most of the world. They are also easy to track - you will be found, and you will be in trouble.
