The Avengers: The Journey Back

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Extraordinary.

To have that impact,

he must have weighed 10 tons.

Or be travelling 100 miles an hour.

-Roller skates?

-I don't think he was wearing any.

Maybe he was practicing his ski jump.

Launched himself over there...

-...flewthrough the air...

-Forgot to apply his brakes.

No explanation at all.

Whatever it was, it was very nasty.

.

I'm Cynthia Wentworth-Howe,

top-hush secretary.

-How do you do?

-Top-hush?

assistants come in four grades.

Confiidential,

secret, most-secret and top-hush.

You've reached the top of your profession.

Not quite.

My ambition is to achieve

the special category of button-lip.

The pinnacle of secrecy.

Not a syllable passed on before being

vetted, examined, coded, and cleared.

But to business.

I must assist you in any way I can.

Good.

Let's start with the man who got plastered.

We assistants don't approve of levity.

The gentleman in question

was Dr. Charles Grey.

a.D, mem. of Royal Institution, C.B.E.

R.I.P.

Dr. Charles Grey was a brilliant

and respected scientist.

In electronic development for the Ministry.

His work was specialised...

...and of a highly secret nature.

Electric fans?

Pardon?

This diagram is of an electric fan.

Specialised and highly secret?

We better look in the safe.

What?

Dr. Grey's safe.

We'd like to look at his papers.

-His secret papers?

-You have the right idea.

You'll have to sign a chit.

In triplicate.

The three-headed bureaucrat.

Grey wasn't killed for the plans

of a fiiendishly new electric fan.

Still warm.

Be warned, if you take any papers...

...there'll be a dispensation from security.

No need to bother.

That's a neat trick.

Burn the inside of a safe...

...while it's locked on the outside.

What were the papers?

I suppose they were the details

of Project 90.

-Pardon?

-Project 90.

Sounds more interesting.

I've no idea what it was.

It was abandoned months ago.

They overspent their budget

with no results.

-They?

-This was the team.

They were based

at Risely Dale Research Centre.

It's been closed down, too.

You recognise Dr. Grey, of course.

That's Dr. Creswell, Mr. Mankin,

Mr. Jubert, and poor Mr. Bryant.

He fell out of a window last week.

-Badly hurt?

-Mortally. The twelfth floor.

That leaves Mankin, Creswell, and Jubert.

That has a fiine Gallic ring to it.

and your French is impeccable.

au revoir.

Don't forget to return the key.

Mr. Jubert.

You missed lunch again.

You should eat something.

Call the generator room.

Tell them there's something wrong

with their power supply.

Did you get the generator room?

Miss Clarke?

-What happened?

-I was hoping you could tell me.

I'm not sure.

I came out to use the phone and...

...there was someone here.

a man, I think.

and a sound.

-a strange sort of sound.

-Strange. How?

What kind of sound?

It was... Weird.

Like that.

.

You don't happen to be carrying

a large brandy, do you?

I'm travelling light. What happened?

You all right?

It happened like...

I haven't the faintest idea.

It was something to do with a door.

No, doors that bite back.

It was a car door.

It was around here.

a blue van.

and it bit you.

I went to open the rear door...

...and then bingo, a galaxy of stars.

Then oblivion.

You think someone came up behind you?

I'm sure they didn't.

I remember there was a very odd noise.

-What kind of noise?

-Very odd. It's hard to describe.

-Like that?

-Yes, like that.

Maurice Jubert's secretary heard it, too.

The late Maurice Jubert.

He's dead.

It seems we're on the right track.

That's about all.

Could it have been a woman,

whoever attacked you?

Make-up.

Odd, greasy sort of make-up.

We're dealing with a slippery customer.

Dr. Creswell.

Very nice to see you.

This is the gentleman I came to see.

allow me. My name is Steed.

The Ministry told you we were coming.

That's right.

But I wasn't expecting...

Mrs. Peel is at times a bit impetuous.

Do you always greet visitors at gunpoint?

Good heavens, no.

I was out shooting rabbits and I didn't...

Please, don't apologise.

Very glad to contact you.

You were in charge of Project 90.

-absorbing project.

-You mean you know about it?

-Couldn't understand why it was cancelled.

-You have friends at the Ministry.

Does that mean that the project

is going to be reopened?

Not here. Let's discuss it later.

at your home? You live near, I believe?

-about a quarter...

-How about a cup of tea?

Maybe even a drink?

-I suppose so.

-Good man.

Mrs. Peel will join us later.

She wants to have a thorough look around.

This is a pleasant spot. and very

conveniently close to the research centre.

I didn't think

there was much point in moving.

I must say that retirement doesn't have

any of the terrors that I expected.

Why did you retire early?

I didn't have a choice, did I?

-Project 90 getting the chop.

-More or less.

-Naturally I disagreed with the decision.

-Naturally.

We could do with a few breakthroughs

in that fiield.

Exactly. High-frequency electronics

has tremendous potential.

-Sherry?

-High-frequency electronics?

-The americans poured millions into it.

-Of course they have.

We were well-established.

We were developing ultrahigh frequencies

when the team went dotty.

-Dotty?

-Broadcast power.

-Broadcast power.

-I was against the idea from the start.

It just isn't feasible

Broadcasting electricity by radio wave?

But you were the director.

at fiirst it seemed harmless enough.

You know, simple bench tests.

Before I knew it, they built generators.

Used funds allocated for other work.

-Everything got out of hand.

-Then the Ministry closed you down?

Years of work,

thrown away on a senseless pipe dream.

The project ruined by one man.

One man?

The fool who started us on broadcast

power. James Mankin.

.

Remarkable.

astonishing.

Some kind of natural phenomenon.

Natural?

a fiireball.

a cloud of static electricity.

-Some sort of freak phenomenon.

-It could be possible.

I won't detain you any longer.

Thank you very much for the drink.

Don't worry, I'll fiind my way out.

-Find anything?

-I heard something a moment ago.

-a sort of crackling sound.

-You should've seen the fiireworks.

-I'll tell you later.

-Look. Just there.

-a hand print.

-Preserved in make-up.

When do you think you'll get

your fiirst bite?

Never, if you keep on talking.

Terribly sorry.

I forgot you are a top-hush girl.

Do you know,

it's quite surprising to fiind you doing this?

It's nice to get away from people

once in a while.

I'm not people, I'm Ministry business.

My day off.

-May I make a suggestion?

-What?

I would say a flaming Kestrel fly

for these waters.

I prefer a red Coachman .

-You're a fiishing man then?

-at least a stretch on the test.

I caught a 10-pound salmon last week.

-Really? Where?

-Bond street.

I was walking by a hotel,

it fell from a window into my arms.

Was in contretemps with his chef,

a volatile fellow.

But he had no aim with a salmon.

Of course, I threw it back.

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