VI THE LONG VERSION
Wednesday 13th February 1923
Language barrier? It’s a little before five o’clock when we walk through the front entrance of the university. Not having a speaker of Bulgarian between us, Ludwig clears his throat and shouts at the receptionist in accented English: D-E-P-A-R-T-M-E-N-T OF L-I-N-G-U-I-S-T-I-C-S, clearly exaggerating each letter. He smiled at her inanely, waiting for a response. The receptionist looked at Ludwig’s companions and spoke to them in fluent English – “Is there something wrong with your friend?” Pierre takes over the conversation and tells her we wish to speak with Professor Academician Chedenka, but first we need to engage a translator and to this end could she possibly point us in the direction of the linguistics department.
Translator: For the generous imbursement of 125 dinar, professor of languages, Igor Paracanarchekov, graciously offers us his multilingual services to translate into Bulgarian and leads us to Chedenka. Entering the front office of the antiquities department, we are greeted by a white-haired man wearing gold-rimmed spectacles. As soon as we begin to speak it becomes obvious this is Professor Chedenka and he demonstrates an excellent command of German and French. Our translator it seems is superfluous to needs—but with 125 dinar in his pocket he doesn’t seem to mind.
Let’s talk dead people: Chedenka surmises we must be the visitors that Dr Jordanov told him to expect over the telephone. We affirm and waste no time in telling Chedenka why we’re here. We recount the sad detail surrounding the deaths of his predecessor, Dr Mateev, and of Mateev’s assistant, Raynor Isaev. Chedenka is familiar with their respective fates. As we converse, it is noticeable how Chedenka repeatedly holds his head and winces in discomfort now and again. When asked about this he confesses that he is a sufferer of chronic headaches. Ludwig asks Chedenka, “Do you believe in the supernatural? We know that the previous incumbents of this office possessed a carved head known as the Dzhudzheta Idol. We believe the idol to be cursed and it led to the downfall of both Mateev and Isaev. The onset of headaches is just the beginning of its dreadful influence over the minds of men”.
False pretences: Chedenka admits to knowing which item we’re talking about. He found it in this very office when he took over the department following Raynor Isaev’s death. He had it moved to secure storage here at the university. But now Chedenka begins to eye us with suspicion. He wants to know where this conversation is going; who are we really and what do we want? In a moment of inspiration Letty produces the export license we secured from the Bureau of National Treasures in neighbouring Serbia. Chedenka is impressed; "So, you’re genuine actors in the procurement of national antiquities eh?” We smile at the professor in unison and perpetuate the lie—of course we are! And such items belong on public display; they shouldn’t be collecting dust in a storage cupboard. We could relive him of his burden. Chedenka falls silent and cogitates for a few moments and then invites us to follow him down to the workshop archives.
Chaos: As we walk the corridors, we try to gauge Chedenka’s mood. Could we perhaps convince him to part ways with the ‘cursed’ idol? At the far end of a long corridor lined with museum-quality suits of armour, we reach a door from behind which emanates the sound of disturbing commotion. Chedenka pushes the door open and we all gape at the chaotic scene within the workshop. Lying amid sparkling splinters of glass, scattered across the floor, are the bodies of three university employees. One has been decapitated, blood still spurting from the neck of the twitching corpse; of the other two, there is no knowing whether they’re unconscious or dead. Three intruders, wearing leather cowls and facemasks of tanned human skin are in the act of escaping the room via a rope hanging out of an open window. One villain is already disappearing through the window. Cartwright is convinced the villain was holding some sort of statuette or idol in hand.
Into the fray: Chedenka faints to the floor. Pierre and Mika move back to allow Cartwright and Letty to rush into the room. Ludwig stops still; tucked inside his jacket, the Mims Sahis begins to warm and throb. Ludwig’s gaze is drawn toward a small object on the floor, dimly glowing red, lying in the far corner of the workshop amongst the glass shards of broken cabinets. The two remaining villains in the room level weapons at us. The first brandishes a double-barrelled shotgun; the second wields a Mauser pistol in one hand and clutches a grenade in the other.
Boom! One villain unloads his shotgun at Letty but misses wildly. Letty fires her pistol at the villain holding the grenade. Struck by the bullet, the villain reels and inadvertently drops the grenade as he staggers backward. The grenade rolls into the centre of the room triggering a desperate scramble for cover. The grenade explodes but by some miracle nobody is badly hurt. With ears ringing and acrid smoke and debris still clearing, Cartwright breaks cover and dashes directly to the window, cutting a path by slashing with his sword-cane at a villain along the way. The workshop is on the upper floor. Down in the street Cartwright watches the escaped villain getting into a car that speeds away. The car reminds Cartwright of the one he saw last night in his visions through his stolen eye. Two more shadowy figures in cowls and masks emerge from hiding and step into the streetlight, intent on climbing into a waiting truck. Aware of an enemy moving behind him in the room, Cartwright whirls round and runs the Mauser-wielding villain through.
Oh crap! Ludwig, with an up-rush of madness, draws the Mims Sahis and charges toward the shotgun-wielding villain. Ludwig cuts the enemy deeply and Cartwright then finishes him. Letty and Pierre, having moved to the window, begin firing at the truck in the street. To their dismay, a tarpaulin covering the rear of the truck is hauled back to reveal two more enemies mounting a machinegun on the truck’s flatbed. Before anyone can mouth the words “Oh crap!” everyone is forced to throw themselves to the floor as the window space and wall are peppered with heavy calibre fire.
Here comes the cavalry: As the sound of firing stops we look out again to witness a car careening into the street. The car screeches to a halt across the path of the villains’ truck to block its egress. A man leaps out of the car, draws a pistol, and using his vehicle for cover, begins shooting at the truck’s cabin. Machinegun fire starts up again, destroying the mysterious hero’s car as he leaps clear. The hero’s car proves no impediment to the truck’s escape. The truck simply shunts the car aside and crashes into several other parked vehicles too as it veers away. Machinegun fire continues until the truck rounds a corner and disappears from view. The street scene is one of utter carnage. Parked vehicles are dented, smashed and riddled with bullet holes—including the car we borrowed from Jordanov. Just as we wonder how we’re going to explain the damage to Jordanov—his car explodes.
Our Mysterious Hero: We brush ourselves down and check out the mess in the workshop. In taking the villains’ weapons, and their cowls and masks for potential disguises, we are appalled to discover that our enemies are abominations—skin and body parts stitched together, each like a Frankenstein’s monster. Chedenka is dead. Ludwig diagnoses the professor’s cause of death as an aneurysm rupture. One of the workshop employees however is still breathing, although there is significant blunt trauma to the back of his head. Ludwig turns his attention to the object that caught his eye earlier in the fracas. It is a ruby pendant on a gold chain. Ludwig slips the chain over his head and tucks the pendant beneath his shirt. Outside we hear the ringing sound of approaching police bells. We make our way downstairs and into the street to be confronted by the mysterious hero—none other than Major Christova.
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