Re: EPISODE ONE: THE JEWEL OF SUMATRA
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2015 10:57 pm
Late morning thru early afternoon of September 20th, 1937; San Fransisco, Nation of Hollywood
Doctor Manning turns to the four pilots and replies in the affirmative that he is indeed Professor Theodore Manning and asks why they have come to see him. Very quickly the four pilots and the elder academician are in an animated conversation where the pilots tell about the Nazi's attacking the Frenchman who asked them to take the briefcase to Doctor Manning with his dying breath and show him the contents; whereupon the shaken Professor tells them what this has all been about....the Jewel of Conquest...
Doctor Manning and a fellow archeologist from France, the late Phillipe de Gaulle, had been researching ancient Sumatran cultures and had come upon the likely location of a tomb of an ancient Sumatran warrior on the island of Sipora, off the west coast of Sumatra. This warrior, one Tapatamani, had supposedly found a massive Emerald the size of a man's fist and saw it as a sign from the Gods that he had been chosen to Conquer all of the neighboring islands. He then proceeded to do so over a period of 15 years before becoming sick and deciding to have himself buried in a great tomb on the island of his birth; Sipora. Supposedly the massive Emerald; the 'Jewel of Conquest', was buried with him. Manning and de Gaulle had recently unearthed a map that they believed pinpointed the location of Tapatamani's tomb on Sipora and an expedition had been set up to go and excavate the site.
Phillipe had gone ahead of the expedition on a Clipper to set things up while the bulk of the expedition and their gear had booked passage on a Tramp Steamer freighter, the Rosetta and would cross the Pacific that way. This was the 'Rose' that was lost at sea as referenced in the Telegram. The map that showed the site of the tomb was in a water-tight safe on board the ship. When the key was shown to the Professor, he seemed to brief a lot easier as he explained that this was indeed a key to the safe.
Somehow, it seemed the Nazi's had found out about the expedition and were doing their best to ensure it did not succeed and when the confused pilots asked why they would do that; Manning angrily explained that the Nazi's seemed obsessed with any number of cultural artifacts from around the world and were surreptitiously doing their best to collect as many artifacts that they could find and deprive the world of the joy of being able to see them in museums where they belonged.
The Professor came back to the present and asked if the pilots would be interested in traveling to Sumatra and attempting to hire diving equipment and/or divers to explore the wreck of the Rosetta to retrieve the map and then use it to find the jewel and bring it back to San Fransisco to be properly displayed in a museum. When the men explained they weren't sure they would be able to convince their boss to fly their Zeppelin all the way to Sumatra as they were currently scheduled to head for Hawai'i tomorrow; Professor Manning explained that the price that some of the Museum benefactors were likely to raise for the Jewel would certainly exceed a million dollars. This certainly seemed to grab the pilots' attention and was the primary reason the next event caught everyone by surprise....
The door to Manning's office had been closed by Murdoch after the four pilots started seriously conversing with the good Professor and now it came flying off its hinges as a heavy, jack-booted foot kicked it in and three people quickly stepped into the room with guns pointed at the five men. Two of the men were easily recognizable as the thugs they encountered in the shoot out the other day and familiar Lugar pistols were clutched in their hands. The last figure was a newcomer; an athletic, Nordic-looking blonde woman with a fur-lined, leather pilot's jacket and a Mauser 'Broomhandle' pistol in her hand. She had cold blue eyes and in a heavily accented voice, she looked at Professor Manning and said; "Hand over ze key, herr Doktor".....
Doctor Manning turns to the four pilots and replies in the affirmative that he is indeed Professor Theodore Manning and asks why they have come to see him. Very quickly the four pilots and the elder academician are in an animated conversation where the pilots tell about the Nazi's attacking the Frenchman who asked them to take the briefcase to Doctor Manning with his dying breath and show him the contents; whereupon the shaken Professor tells them what this has all been about....the Jewel of Conquest...
Doctor Manning and a fellow archeologist from France, the late Phillipe de Gaulle, had been researching ancient Sumatran cultures and had come upon the likely location of a tomb of an ancient Sumatran warrior on the island of Sipora, off the west coast of Sumatra. This warrior, one Tapatamani, had supposedly found a massive Emerald the size of a man's fist and saw it as a sign from the Gods that he had been chosen to Conquer all of the neighboring islands. He then proceeded to do so over a period of 15 years before becoming sick and deciding to have himself buried in a great tomb on the island of his birth; Sipora. Supposedly the massive Emerald; the 'Jewel of Conquest', was buried with him. Manning and de Gaulle had recently unearthed a map that they believed pinpointed the location of Tapatamani's tomb on Sipora and an expedition had been set up to go and excavate the site.
Phillipe had gone ahead of the expedition on a Clipper to set things up while the bulk of the expedition and their gear had booked passage on a Tramp Steamer freighter, the Rosetta and would cross the Pacific that way. This was the 'Rose' that was lost at sea as referenced in the Telegram. The map that showed the site of the tomb was in a water-tight safe on board the ship. When the key was shown to the Professor, he seemed to brief a lot easier as he explained that this was indeed a key to the safe.
Somehow, it seemed the Nazi's had found out about the expedition and were doing their best to ensure it did not succeed and when the confused pilots asked why they would do that; Manning angrily explained that the Nazi's seemed obsessed with any number of cultural artifacts from around the world and were surreptitiously doing their best to collect as many artifacts that they could find and deprive the world of the joy of being able to see them in museums where they belonged.
The Professor came back to the present and asked if the pilots would be interested in traveling to Sumatra and attempting to hire diving equipment and/or divers to explore the wreck of the Rosetta to retrieve the map and then use it to find the jewel and bring it back to San Fransisco to be properly displayed in a museum. When the men explained they weren't sure they would be able to convince their boss to fly their Zeppelin all the way to Sumatra as they were currently scheduled to head for Hawai'i tomorrow; Professor Manning explained that the price that some of the Museum benefactors were likely to raise for the Jewel would certainly exceed a million dollars. This certainly seemed to grab the pilots' attention and was the primary reason the next event caught everyone by surprise....
The door to Manning's office had been closed by Murdoch after the four pilots started seriously conversing with the good Professor and now it came flying off its hinges as a heavy, jack-booted foot kicked it in and three people quickly stepped into the room with guns pointed at the five men. Two of the men were easily recognizable as the thugs they encountered in the shoot out the other day and familiar Lugar pistols were clutched in their hands. The last figure was a newcomer; an athletic, Nordic-looking blonde woman with a fur-lined, leather pilot's jacket and a Mauser 'Broomhandle' pistol in her hand. She had cold blue eyes and in a heavily accented voice, she looked at Professor Manning and said; "Hand over ze key, herr Doktor".....
