A Sherlock Holmes- Professor Challenger crossover
By Robin Rowles
I was not surprised at Holmes’s response. Holmes often remarked that after eliminating the impossible, whatever remained, however improbable, must be the truth. I was there not surprised when Holmes calmly accepted Sir James’s idea that the intruder had transgressed the laws of physics and simply walked through a solid wall. However, it was the formidable figure of Challenger who scorned this theory. Sir James quickly excused himself and tried to pretend he wasn’t running away from an argument. Lestrade followed him on the pretext of collecting his notebook from Sir James’s office.
The debate sizzled throughout the half hour journey back to Baker Street, then rekindled into open argument in the sitting room. However, the verbal fight wasn’t between Sherlock Holmes and Challenger, it was between Mycroft Holmes and Challenger. Two physical giants with giant brains at loggerheads, truly a Clash of the Titans.
The row was interrupted by our housekeeper Mrs Hudson arriving with the tea-tray. The housekeeper instantly took in the scene, and handing me the tea-tray, proceeded to separate the antagonists, telling them to sit quietly, each at different ends of the Chesterfield sofa. Had the situation not been so serious, it might have been comical, Mycroft Holmes, who occasionally was the British Government, and Professor Challenger, the pioneer of science, sat like massive bookends. The springs of the old Chesterfield creaked in protest at their combined weight. Mrs Hudson poured the tea and thus restored peace and harmony to 221B Baker Street.
During this little interlude, Holmes had been verbally outlining points about the case, and I made a point of jotting these down. To my mind, there were several key questions. Assuming somebody had walked through the wall, how was it done? And what was the point of the explosion? And was the explosion cause or effect? So many questions. Holmes answered them without my asking, as usual.
‘To answer your questions, Watson, somebody did walk through the wall.’ At this point Challenger stirred and Mycroft half turned. The settee creaked ominously. Holmes raised a finger to quell the interruption that Challenger and Mycroft were brewing. After a few seconds, each subsided back into his corner, neither wishing to lose face. Holmes continued. ‘The trick was done by temporarily displacing the structure of the wall, down to the very particles of matter itself. ‘. Challenger muttered something about atoms and this time would not be suppressed. However, Holmes raised his index finger, which had the effect of silencing Challenger. Doubtless this had rarely happened before and would probably would never happen again. Holmes spoke. ‘I know what they’re called, Professor. Let’s keep things simple. Now, where was I? Ah yes. The explosion was both cause and after effect. You might say it opened the door and closed it again. The experiments were smashed to cover the fact that something was taken. It’s quite a well-known ruse among burglars. You have questions, Professor?’.
Holmes had seen Challenger’s cautious hand and I noted the scientist was waiting to be invited to speak. It was a temporary phenomenon but was the giant of science learning manners? Challenger gathered his thoughts then spoke. ‘But what was stolen then?’. Holmes leaned back in his chair and lit his pipe. Having achieved this goal, the detective spoke. That’s what Sir James will tell us, hopefully tomorrow. I left a note with Tovey, asking Sir James to make a complete inventory of everything in that room. It’ll take a few hours but if I’m right, we’ll hear about tea-time tomorrow night’. I smiled. Some people made wild guesses, others careful estimates, but Holmes’s predictions were uncannily accurate. ‘The lesser of two evils’, I proffered this observation. Holmes nodded.
‘Yes, poor Sir James will have to explain this to the Faculty Governors. It’s not the first time that experiments have come to grief’.
The next day brought fresh news in the form of Sir James who was bearing a small cardboard box. Over coffee, Sir James displayed its contents. It resembled a Swan and Edison electric light bulb, except there was a small hexagonal prism at the end. Challenger came in at that point and immediately started explaining its use. As far as I understand Challenger’s explanation, it was a focussing coil for a device he called a ‘Particle Dispersion Field’ generator, or PDF for short. To cut a wearisome explanation short, the device displaced particles of matter, creating an aperture. The explosion was the exchange of mass to kinetic energy into heat, then back to mass as the particle field collapsed and the atoms reunited in their original position. The field only lasted a few seconds, but this was sufficient to allow the operator of the device to pass through solid structures. Thus the mystery of walking through walls was solved. The question was, why? Holmes interjected.
‘If whoever has this device, how are they using it without the focussing coil?’. Sir James answered this. ‘They’re not, Mr Holmes. Somehow this was left behind in the debris in the experiment store. Without this component, the PDF is useless.’
Just then, Mrs Hudson knocked at entered with a telegram from Lestrade. It was short and to the point. ‘Explosion at Bond Street Jewellers. Figure seen walking through wall. Suspect same as Imperial College incident.’ Holmes turned to Sir James and Challenger, who for once, was speechless. ‘I would suggest, gentlemen, that the owner of this device has made or obtained a replacement’, Holmes opined. This was terrible news. The investigation was back to square one. Holmes left the worst to the last. ‘And by now, whoever it is, knows we’re on their trail’. He scribbled a reply to Lestrade, telling him to put every police division on alert and sent a second telegram to Mycroft summarising this setback. Another council of war was being prepared and I foresaw a long day, and possibly a long night ahead…
La gazette du 221 B 