Topic: dnd oakley street prev next
dnd oakley street > Oakley Street Part Five
the outskirts of Paris
The group are travelling on the bus with the zombis, Doctor Hannah, Enri, Bernard, and the housekeeper, who is the only member of Bonnewille’s staff who has not been targeted by his disturbing experiments. The mood on the bus is sombre, as is to be expected, but after everything that the group has seen, it is a relief to be in the company of other trusted and knowledgable people.
Cassandra feels calm enough to open a conversation with Hannah, which helps to lift the spirits of everyone, even the zombis who are close enough to hear. “What have you been doing since we saw you last at Oxford?” she asks, kindly.
“I’ve been instructing students in Paris on reading the Alethiometer without access to the books,” begins Doctor Hannah, some nervousness clearly still present in her voice. “That’s occupied most of my time, until my superior in Oakley Street rallied me quickly to meet you at the Bonneville Mansion.”
“It is a pleasure to see you again, as always,” replies Cassandra, politely. “Please tell me, is it possible for Oakley Street to access the Paris alethiometer?”
“Possible, but not easily. The Paris alethiometer is closely observed, as would be anyone wanting to read it,” says Hannah, seriously. “We must save the Paris alethiometer for our time of greatest need.”
Dahlia changes the subject back to Hannah’s teaching. “How are your students progressing?” she asks.
“Some of them, quite well. It is a difficult subject, and without the books, students can have wildly different readings for the same symbols. But I see three or four of them maybe taking the study further.”
Dahlia is intrigued. “Can the readings ever be objective? For instance, if a general wanted to learn the outcome of a battle.”
Hannah interjects, “The alethiometer cannot tell the future. It can only tell us what is currently true.”
The mood on the bus is sombre once again.
Cassandra, eager to keep the conversation going, asks “Are your students all known allies of Oakley Street?”
“Of course,” replies Hannah. “I would not risk my life by teaching people whom I did not trust.”
The bus pulls up outside of a large house. It looks like it was a school at one time. The name chiselled into the stone arch above the gate is ‘Filles du Chêne’, which John helpfully translates as “Er, girls’ something.”
Enri, quiet up until this point, steps in with a more accurate translation, “The Girls of the Oak. It was a girls’ school, before being put to use as a hospital for the victims of Bonneville’s craft.” Enri’s use of the word ‘craft’ is disconcerting to say the least; perhaps it is a good thing that he has not spoken until now.
The bus pulls up at the pupil’s entrance. John takes a lead in helping the zombis out of the bus, possibly to put distance between himself and Enri.
It is clear that the hospital used to be a school until very recently. The group are led through a corridor, past several makeshift wards which clearly used to be classrooms. Some still have the teachers’ names on plaques attached to the doors, which must have proven too difficult to remove when the building was being repurposed quickly. The sudden emptiness, despite the number of people in the building, comes as a shock to everyone as they pass. Those severed from their daemons seem a world away from the building’s previous occupants.
Hannah quickly leads them through the corridor towards what may have been, or rather still is the stagg dining room. “We don’t have privacy for long; the nurses will start arriving soon for lunch.”
The group take a selection of food from the canteen buffet; Cassandra avoiding meat, as she is a vegetarian, and Dahlia, with her nut allergy, having a difficult time avoiding nuts, because there are none. “What will happen to the zombis?” asks Dahlia, as soon as she is seated with her food.
“We do not believe that the connection can be restored,” Hannah informs Dahlia, gravely. “All we can do for the time being is to make them comfortable. Give them some quality of life.”
Cassandra, aiming to be constructive, asks, “Is our primary goal still to find the missing fourth alethiometer?”
“Yes, that remains your top priority,” replies Hannah, seemingly content that Cassandra is eager to help. “But do ask for our resources if you believe that we can help with wider Oakley Street business.”
“Do you know where Bonneville may have gone?” asks Cassandra of Hannah, hopefully.
“He is not my concern,” replies Hannah, with a similar attitude towards Bonneville to that which Cassandra has seen many times in the past few hours.
“It is strange that you dismiss him so quickly; he might lead us straight to the alethiometer!” exclaims Cassandra.
Before Hannah has a chance to reply, Enri breaks into the conversation. “Gerard and I are the same age, we went to school together. It is strange that he wasn’t privately educated, given his status.”
Cassandra leans forwards.
“He was seventeen when he went on a trip to London. Then, when he came back he was never the same. He had a crazed look to him. Something changed.”
“Gerard’s mother always hated his father,” contributes Hannah, despite vowing that Bonneville was not her concern. “His father always regretted marrying into the family. You see, in the Bonneville family, women as well as men keep the family name.”
“They both had lovers,” continue Enri, as though he and Hannah have together told this story before. “It was not unusual in the family, where marriages are not made to celebrate a true connection. But it hurt his masculinity.”
“They lost their first baby before Gerard was born, which did not lead to a happy home,” adds Hannah.
“All sorts of problems, then,” remarks Cassandra. There is not reply.
Ethel breaks the silence by addressing Hannah. “Please tell us about the history of the fourth alethiometer,” she asks.
“The fourth alethiometer has been in the Bonneville family for one hundred years, much of its two or three hundred year life. A deal was done to acquire it; we do not know what was on the reverse side of the deal.” After a pause, Hannah takes the cue to continue the conversation. “The three official alethiometers are large, each about the size of a dining room table. We do not know why the fourth alethiometer, the Bonneville alethiometer, was made much smaller, about this size of a large pocket watch.”
“It is agreed, then, we need to find Gerard.”
Cassandra, Dahlia and Ethel, having finished their lunch, stand and go to the reception desk to speak to the matron. “Do you know where Bonneville might be found?” asks Cassandra, politely.
“There are a couple of cafes and a gentleman’s club, but there are lots of shady people around there,” she replies, thoughtfully.
Ethel attempts to focus her, almost snapping, “Where would he go to at a time like this?”
“Oh, the gentleman’s club,” she replies, rolling her eyes as she mentions the name and writes down its central Paris address. Cassandra deduces, from the matron’s tone when she mentions it, that the gentleman’s club referred to is actually something much more sordid, a strip club, most likely. She clearly does not think highly of the place.
Dahlia interjects. “Is there any chance of him going abroad?”
“Maybe,” replies the matron. “Who knows.” The matron makes arrangements for a car to take the group first to the gentleman’s club in Paris, as this is where Bonneville is most likely to be found.
The party gather again in the dining room. The lunchtime rush has passed, but a few nurses and doctors are still eating, so the group huddle into a corner and speak in hushed tones. “We must get into the club,” says Cassandra. “Let’s dress up John and Tom in some smart suits, there must be some in the mortuary.”
“And I could speak to the ladies at the club?” asks Dahlia.
“Yes, of course,” says Cassandra, excited at her plan now coming together. “We’ll send Dahlia in as a model in a skimpy outfit. Sorry,” gesturing to Ethel, “Ethel is too proper.” Ethel smiles.
The car sent for by the matron arrives, and the group depart inside it. Their arrival at the club, as a mixed group of five, arriving in public view, is an unusual sight and attracts attention. Most visitors to the club arrive discreetly, many wearing long coats with the collars turned up like fictional private detectives.
They would not have attracted quite so much attention, if it were not for the fact that alongside Tom and John, who do their best to look shady, Dahlia is looking uncomfortable, wearing a short skirt and a low cut blouse. She splits from the group and goes to the back entrance of the club to attempt to gain entry as a dancer. Cassandra and Ethel split from the group to sit in a late night cafe across the street from the club, in order to keep an eye on proceedings.
Dahlia is quickly turned away from the backstage entrance because there is “No room for amateurs in this establishment,” and she returns to John and Tom. Tom walks up to the bouncer, who is standing at a lectern which holds the guest list, illuminated by a smart brass lamp.
“Are you on the guest list, sir?” asks the bouncer, already expecting the answer to be negative. Most of his visitors are, after all, regulars. Like Bonneville.
“Yes, Alfredo le Grenie,” Tom reads from the list. “And,” having managed to choose a name with ‘Venir accompagné’ next to it, “My guest this evening, Abelard.”
The bouncer’s expression changes, almost imperceivibly, to one of less amusement. He cannot recall having seen Le Grenie’s face, and therefore has no grounds to refuse entry to these two strange men. He lifts the velvet rope, admitting Tom, followed by John, before replacing it.
“Hey!” says Dahlia, to Tom.
“She’s with me too.”
“This is highly irregular,” says the bouncer, but deciding that the most peasable solution is to agree with this strangely demanding guest, lifts the velvet rope a second time to admit Dahlia. Cassandra and Ethel watch all of this from the late night cafe, noting the time that the three enter.
Once inside the establishment, Dahlia quickly slips backstage, out of view of the gentleman guests who are beginning to suspect that something is awry.
“You’re really determined to work in this dump, huh?” asks the lady who had refused her access access at the stage door.
“I’m looking for Gerard Bonneville, actually,” says Dahlia. The look on the lady’s face changes from amused, to deadly serious.
She ushers Dahlia into one of the smaller dressing rooms to speak privately. “Be careful around that man. What are you getting yourself into? Listen, don’t work from him privately. He offers girls employment, and, well, the newer girls don’t know to turn him down.”
Dahlia is not entirely surprised, given what she already knows of Gerard. “So you’ve encountered him before?”
“Let’s just say that everyone here has had an interesting moment with that man,” the girl replies, not wanting to get too deeply into the topic. “But I did see him this evening, with that hyena daemon of his. Like he was about to come in here. He had a deranged look on his face, I was glad he walked straight on by.”
“Thank you,” says Dahlia. “Take this,” offering some francs in payment.
The lady pushes Dahlia’s hands away. “That’s not necessary. Whatever you’re wrapped up in, get out of it.”
Dahlia smiles and nods politely, getting up to rejoin Tom and John in the saloon.
At the cafe across the street, Cassandra and Ethel have finished their drinks and ordered a dessert each, to go. They pick up their neatly boxed desserts and, coordinating with each other to distract the bouncer, both slip past him unexpectedly; first Ethel, and then Cassandra. By the time he has followed them into the club, Cassandra and Ethel are brandishing their lemon meringue pies as weapons, threatening anyone who steps close enough with a sizeable dry cleaning bill.
Seeing that there is no danger, Ethel lowers her pie and says to the entire, newly reformed party, “Now that we are all here, why don’t we sit down and watch the show?” And so, the party all sit at a round table near the stage, enjoying the kicks and flicks of the ladies whom Dahlia had met earlier.
The group travel on the bus with the zombis, Doctor Hannah and other Oakley Street members. They talk at length about the fourth alethiometer, which is believed to be in the possession of the Bonneville family.
Once they arrive at the hospital, they help to escort the zombis indoors, then make plans to catch up with Gerard. The housekeeper tells them that Gerard may have gone to a certain gentleman’s club in Paris. The party assume new identities, with Dahlia as a dancer in the show, in order to access the club. John and Tom covertly read the guest list and quote names from it to gain admission.
Dahlia learns from the dancers backstage that Bonneville was at the club this evening, but has already left. As there is no immediate danger, and the show is about to begin, Ethel suggests that they stay and watch. At the end of the first part of the show, Cassandra leads the party out, to continue the search for Bonneville and the alethiometer.
At the conclusion of the first act, Cassandra rises from the table, and in a voice that sounds like it has just been awoken from a comfortable sleep, says “Shall we be leaving, then?”
Reluctantly, the group follow her outside into the bright Parisian night. They are followed out of the gentleman’s club by a young man who does not seem to fit in perfectly with the club’s clientele. Once out of sight of the club entrance, he catches up to them. “Excuse me,” he says to the party, who stop in their tracks and turn to face them, “You wouldn’t happen to know the way to Oakley Street, would you?”
“Of course, but for that, you need to be in London,” replies Cassandra, sternly. She is keeping a slight distance, as if she is not yet ready to trust this man.
“The name’s Thom,” he says, not so much holding out a hand as grabbing Cassandra’s hand and shaking it violently. “Fancy bumping into you lot here?” he says.
Cassandra is still slightly perplexed, but her guard drops. “Welcome to the party,” she says, dryly. “Now, we all need somewhere to stay tonight. I understand there’s a posh house in the city currently vacant,” referring to the Bonneville mansion, whose owner is the very person the party are trying to find, and whose staff are in hospital at the owner’s doing. Dahlia, in particular, is nervous about staying in such a tainted house, but even the servant’s quarters would offer a degree of luxury that the party have not experienced in the recent travels on Cassandra’s working narrowboat, Marchestra.
Everyone, even Cassandra, feels slightly nervous to be staying at such a lavish, yet empty, address, but come morning, they are all well rested. Over breakfast, pieced together from non-perishable items in the servant’s pantry, Dalia suggests that they visit the university to search for Bonneville.
Cassandra agrees; “Even if we don’t find him there, someone will lead us to him.”
Having reached the university, Tom walks straight up to the reception desk and asks for the department of Experimental Theology.
“And your business here?” asks the receptionist, uneasy at his confident mention of the subject.
“I travelled from Oxford to visit the department,” says Tom.
“Which college?” asks the receptionist, with a stern gaze that Tom fails to comprehend.
“Jordan,” says Tom, convincingly enough that the receptionist hands him a map with directions to the department.
Thom, stepping up to the reception desk, asks for directions to the student common room, which are gladly provided to him by the receptionist.
The party split up; Thom leads Cassandra and John to the student common room. Tom, Ethel and Dahlia use the map to find their own way to the department.
Tom enters the lab without knocking, immediately asking the technician there “Do you speak English? We are looking for Gerard Bonenville.”
The lab technician is irritated, slightly by the question of his linguistic knowledge, but much more at Tom’s mention of the name ‘Gerard Bonneville’. “Really? That man, who comes in here and steals research papers? Why would you want to find him?”
Dahlia interjects, a shocked expression on her face. “Stealing papers? On what topics?”
“Topics on the edge of legality,” the technician replies. “Not morality, but on the edge of blasphemy.” An academic, distracted from his work in the laboratory by the mention of the Bonneville name, walks over to greet the group of strangers. “May I introduce Monsieur Cyrille Mignard, one of our fellows.”
“Good day, gentlemen, lady.” The academic shakes each of their hands in turn. “Gerard Bonneville has been a menace to our department, stealing papers, terrorising and abusing staff and students. It is a very great shame that the security of the university do nothing.”
So far, none of the combined party of six have heard a good word said about Gerard Bonneville.
Thom explains on the way to the common room, “Students will know what’s up, just offer them some alcohol and they’ll talk.” They stop at a small bottle shop. Thom buys four bottles of the cheapest red wine he can find. Cassandra, who has some experience of enjoying red wine, picks up two rather more palatable bottles.
They both reach the common room. Cassandra simply walks in, makes wide, confident steps to the other side of the room, without acknowledging any of the students present. She takes the most comfortable chair, which also gives her a view of the room, and pours herself a glass of wine. None of the students speak to her.
Thom opens one of his bottles, drawing the attention of a group of students.
“Starting a bit early, aren’t we?” says one of the students, in English.
“My colleague and I have some time in hand, we are merely enjoying ourselves -” this is not the image portrayed by Cass “- You are most welcome to join us.”
The student is almost offended at the suggestion. “There is far better wine in Paris,” he says.
Thom walks over to Cassandra and makes her an offer, “Please may I swap two bottles of my wine for one of yours?”
“Take it,” says Cassandra handing Thom the unopened bottle. Thom takes it have to the table of students.
“This is better,” says the student who criticised Thom’s first bottle, and they all enjoy a glass. Information begins to flow. “There’s a scientist offering work to students, but what noone is saying is, that people don’t come back.”
Cassandra, with he view of the room, watches the whole scene. She nods to Thom; the student is giving a true account. Cassandra then goes back to her own bottle of wine.
Suddenly, there is an explosion. Cassandra, John and Thom know instinctively that it probably has something to do with the other half of the party. Thom grabs a student by the shoulders and shouts “Where is the nearest airship station?”
A member of the university staff waks in and says calmly, in French, “There is no need to evacuate.” Then, addressing Thom, “Please sir, unhand the student.”
John translates for Thom, who lets the student go. To make amends for his wrongdoing, Thom hands the student the remainder of the wine. The university offical, with help from the quite shaken student, and John for translation, direct the group to the airship station.
Cassandra, John and Thom step out of the student common room into the corridor, where they bump into Dahlia, Ethel and Tom, rushing away from the Depertment of Experimental Theology. Together, all six of them start walking quickly towards the airship station.