Surviving Bow Street

As transcribed by Bellatrix S. Bracken from an Edison cylinder found among the effects of Prof. Nareth E. Nishi, presumably recorded on the afternoon of 22 August:

For better or for worse, the dreaded confrontation with Mayor Sprocket and Bow Street is done. They came late yesterday, as I was taking the evening air just outside the Museum. Sprocket, accompanied by some nervous gentleman name of Steinbeck [pause] his first name eludes me. Again, I was asked to yield the device. Again, I asked that the issue be discussed beforehand, calmly and rationally, and that such discussion might best be undertaken at the Abney Park laboratory, then still barred to by the magistrate's order and seal. At this juncture, the Mayor grew greatly agitated. We walked the distance west to Abney Park, and once there, I was again ordered to hand over the device, and all my requests for explanation and discussion were summarily swept aside. Finally, I confessed to Sprocket and the inspector that my device was only a counterfeit, a clever copy of Eliot's made from the schematic I found at Sunrise. At first, he refused to believe me. He instructed Steinbeck to restrain Miss Paine and myself [pause] to shoot us if we made to enter the laboratory! I do not exaggerate! I fear I was not at my most articulate, as his manner had so angered me. While we waited outside, he once again, presumably, examined the device. At this point, I should say, that Mr. Steinbeck confessed he would not have handled the matter with such unwarranted force, that he would have preferred to listen to what I had to say, to hear me out. Shortly thereafter, Sprocket exited the lab and announced that these girls — his words — were not involved, that we were to be released as he had determined we were not involved. Indeed! He also said that he had learnt the location of the genuine device [pause; cough] He seemed confused as to whether the model at Abney Park represented the whole or a single element of the Sunrise contraption, and I suspect the man had not even made to review the evidence at his disposal. He and Steinbeck then proceeded towards the railway, and Mr. Commodore's factory, though I had not at any point mentioned Luciean's name in connextion with the counterfeit, choosing, rather, to let the men believe I had built it alone. [long pause] I was so angry. So furious. To be traeted with such disrespect, to have my life and Miss Paine's threatened at gunpoint, then to be summarily dismissed, still with no explanation and certainly no apology. When I tried to demand an accounting of his behaviour, I was told by Sprocket that I was in no position to make demands, and that he was aware I hailed from the Colonies, that he was not burdened with such liberal notions of justice or some such twaddle. I assume this is a reference to my previous residence in a mirror-image America, which Sprocket believes is the America of his world and time.

I was outraged and disgusted, that Bow Street seems to have no genuine interest in solving this mystery, but only in exerting brute force towards its own ends, an agenda I can only guess at.

Mr. Commodore was questioned immediately after me, and he confessed he had made the device. Sprocket was apparently reluctant to believe he had been duped, but Mr. Commodore provided him with a copy for Bow Street, at which point the Mayor took his leave. I gather his attitude was somewhat less [pause] We remained at Commodore's factory by the stockyards until sometime after dawn. There was another visit by the reincarnated Lucius Sin, and perhaps this is the strangest part of that awful evening. He has returned to us as a great mechanical thing, an iron automaton fully twenty feet tall, if Miss Paine does not overestimate, and I can not begin to guess what dark sciences and arts lay behind that survival of the grave. But, I confess, I rejoice at the presence of the man, despite his role in Miss Paine's death, and in spite of my earlier comments. Having him near, to my surprise, was almost as great a comfort as if Capt. Susenko was among us again.

Oh, the Beck child also found me while I was at the factory. A meeting with Loki Eliot and his gang has been arranged, though I know not yet when nor where.

Well, regardless, I have my laboratory again, and everything seems to be in order here. There is no evidence it was even searched and nothing was removed, not even my copy of the device. From here on, I shall trust in my own investigations and not in those of Bow Street, for these men seem inept, at best. I shall steer clear of them, as much as I may, though I suspect they watch my movements still.