Scott led Betty to what was obviously a door on the side of the airship. Scott reached out, and tentatively tried the door handle. It was locked. "Figures," Scott said. He reached inside his coat pocket, and withdrew the ornate key they had discovered inside the wooden box. He placed the key delicately inside the lock and twisted it. They heard a "thunk" of gears and metal shifting. Scott withdrew the key, replaced it in his pocket, and once more tried the door handle. This time, the door opened smoothly.
Scott stood aside, motioning for Betty to enter the Aurora. "Ladies first," he said breezily.
Betty gingerly stepped over the threshold, and into the ship's interior. It was fairly dark, but she was able to see enough to make her heart skip a beat. The inside of the airship was incredible. It was clearly fashioned by a master craftsman. Victorian-age gilding and carving decorated the walls. A coiling staircase was just off to one side, a table with some chairs over there, and over towards the front was the impressive windowscreen. Placed somewhat back from the window was a large blue globe, with a small locking mechanism attached to its top.
Betty approached the globe, and stood before it. "Scott, this is amazing!" she breathed.
Scott tiptoed up beside her. "I know what you mean. It's like a museum piece."
Betty turned to face Scott. "I could really see Phileas Fogg flying this airship around the world in 80 days."
"Well, I think Passepartout would probably have done most of the actual 'flying' of the ship, Betty," Scott replied.
Betty turned back to look out the window. "Well, whoever it was, they'd've had a glorious view."
Scott paused to look at Betty. She looked positively beautiful, standing amongst the Victorian finery, a bright and intense smile on her face. "I know the feeling," Scott murmured quietly.
Betty blinked, and slid her eyes towards Scott. Scott quickly recovered, giving Betty his usual million-dollar smile. "Did I tell you about the time I flew an airplane for a shipping company in the Pacific? Ran into a real nice guy by the name of Jake Cut..."
"It seems to me I've heard that desperate non sequitir once before, Scott Sherwood," Betty said, in her playfully scolding voice. "Why don't you enjoy the view out the window, while I explore a bit more of this airship?"
Scott nodded. "I hear ya."
Betty started walking towards the rear compartments of the Aurora. "And don't touch anything!" she called back as she left the main room.
Scott waited until she was out of sight, then immediately touched the blue globe with his index finger. "Of course I won't, Betty."
Scott looked around the main room. He strolled quietly, examining the various controls and fixtures of the craft. He paused when he came upon a gleaming gold panel, which was affixed to the wall just to the left of the blue globe as Scott faced the front window. There was a round indentation set into the center of the panel's surface. The indentation was surrounded by several switches and dials. The gold panel seemed to have been a late addition to the wall, since it didn't seem to fit in exactly right with the rest of the controls. It felt out of place, even to Scott, who had never been inside the craft before.
Scott looked around the room, making sure Betty wasn't coming back yet. He dug into another coat pocket, and produced the small crystal sphere that had also been inside the wooden box they had discovered. Scott looked at the pyramid embedded inside the sphere. "Guess we know what the 'A' stands for," he said quietly. He tossed the sphere up in the air and caught it nonchalantly. He then pressed it firmly into the round indentation in the center of the gold panel. "Well, whaddayaknow, it fits perfectly," Scott said, chuckling.
Scott paused, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did after about one minute, he sighed. "Time to work your magic, Scott Sherwood," he told himself. He pressed one of the buttons on the panel. Again, nothing happened. He pressed several more buttons, turned some levers, and twisted some dials. Finally, something started to happen. The crystal sphere sank deeper into the panel, and began to spin wildly. A light from within illuminated the sphere, causing Scott to blink his eyes. A high pitched whine began to emanate from somewhere underneath the floor, and the entire craft began to tremble. Not a violent tremble, but one that felt somehow comfortable.
"Scott Sherwood!" Betty yelled out as she hurried forward from down a hallway. "What have you done?"
"What makes you assume it was me?" Scott asked, innocently.
"Because I know you all too well, you meddling...meddler!" Betty replied angrily as she approached Scott. She looked at the panel. "Didn't I tell you not to touch anything?"
"Betty, since when have I ever done anything you told me to do?"
Betty stared at Scott angrily. Scott knew better than to press her further on the matter with that look in her eyes.
"Well," Scott explained, "I got kinda bored waiting for you, so I looked around, found this panel, saw that there was this round opening, put two and two together, and knew that our little crytsal ball just had to go in there. So I put it in. And pressed some buttons. And fiddled with some other controls. I guess. Um....sorry?"
Betty shook her head, and looked closer at the gold panel. "How do we get it to stop?" she asked herself, out loud.
Before Scott could reply, he and Betty were blinded by a sudden flash of brilliant light which seemed to envelope and invade the entire craft. It lasted only a split second, but it was so intense that once it was gone, it took Scott and Betty a few moments to notice that the trembling and the noise had also stopped. Scott looked at the panel, and saw that the crystal sphere had dimmed, and now was silently sliding back to the front of the panel. Betty noticed it too, and before Scott could touch the sphere, Betty snatched it from the panel.
"Oh, no you don't, Scott," she said huffily. "From now on, I'm going to hold onto this, thank you very much."
"You're welcome," Scott answered humbly.
"And I think it's about time we got ourselves out of here," Betty continued. "Let's go. Do notanything on the way out. Do you understand?"
Scott nodded, as he followed her to the door. They exited the airship, and Scott locked the door behind them. "Here", he said, handing her the key. "Better keep these, too."
Betty took the keys, and placed them and the crytsal sphere inside her purse. "Thank you."
They hurriedly left the airship's room, and closed that door as well. They proceeded down the hallway, and arrived at the entrance room of the Brittania Wing. They halted as they entered the room.
"Uh, Betty? Where did all the stuff go?"
Betty looked around the room. "I don't know. I'm sure this is where we came in."
"Maybe they had a garage sale while we were back in the airship," Scott suggested.
Betty shook her head. "Well, whatever happened, let's just get out of here. I think we've seen all we need to see. Let's go back to Pittsburgh and work on those Verne scripts like we were supposed to all along."
They headed for the exit. "Ok. Hey, at least we found out that Phileas Fogg and all the rest of that were for real, right?"
Betty paused, her hand on the door handle. "You know, Scott, I don't know. Everything seemed real back there. But maybe, I don't know, a bit too real? I'm not so sure, now."
"What do you mean, Betty?"
"Well, maybe someone just created all this stuff, just as, well, maybe just as some sort of wax museum display of Sherlock Holmes, or Flash Gordon, or something like that."
"Betty! Don't tell me you're starting to doubt! What about that sphere of ours, with all that blinding light? What was that?"
Betty shook her head again. "I'm not sure. But I think I'm going to need some stronger evidence to convince me that there was ever a 'real' Phileas Fogg. Come on, let's go home." Betty twisted the door handle, and pulled it open...
....and walked out into bright, warm sunshine.
"Um, Betty? This building was attached to the main building...wasn't it?"
Betty looked around, noticing the distinct lack of snow on the ground, the pleasant summer breeze in the air, and the complete and utter look of surprise on the gentleman standing in front of them.
"Oh!" the young man said, snapping to attention. "I'm sorry, sir, ma'am. I wasn't aware anyone was inside the building today."
Scott was the first to recover. "That's OK, son. We're just reporters. We'll see ourselves out. Thanks for your help!"
Scott led Betty away from the young man. Betty stared back at the stranger as she was led away by Scott. "Scott," she said, quietly, "why is that man wearing a Civil War uniform?"
Scott replied, "I'm not sure, Betty." He stopped walking as they reached the main street. He and Betty stood and looked in awe. A troop of Union Civil War soldiers marched past them in formation, while several horse-and-carriages clip-clopped their way down another side street. "But I think it's because we're in the middle of the Civil War, Betty..."
Where the Air is Rarified
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