Here's what I promised...

I promised the return of a villain from yesteryear, reborn as an avenger of Justice...and now I shall deliver!

A little background: the main character, Dr. Zachariah Schull (pronounced 'skull'), has been adapted from a minor villain in the old "Wild Wild West" TV show. I found him such an interesting character that I told the Lady Di, right then and there, that I had to find a way to bring him back.

So here it is, part one of "The Return of Dr. Schull". Enjoy!

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The Return of Dr. Schull
By A. A. Castro

1874.
“So we play out the final scene here. You don’t believe you can arrest me, do you? Yes, I have lost…but you’ve lost too! I can still bring death to all of us here!”

The two United States Marshalls stood at the railing, staring down at the twisted and bloated wreck of a man who’d just snarled those words at them. Dr. Zachariah Schull, scientist, inventor, sculptor, engineer, ventriloquist, puppeteer and murderer was the quarry that they had both been chasing for the better part of two years, a chase that had led them from the waterfronts of San Francisco to the plains of Texas to an underground maze under New Orleans and finally to Dr. Schull’s underwater lair in New York’s East River.

The slightly older one said “If what he says is true, those boilers…when the water hits them…”

“Exactly!” cried the doctor, “It will be a marvelous explosion…my own personal Armageddon, gentlemen, but you’re invited…”

“NOW!” cried the younger Marshall, as he threw a small black device at Dr. Schull. The two lawmen threw themselves to the floor as the device exploded, shredding the steam pipes and wrenching an agonized scream of pain, anger and frustration from their quarry.

Both men ran down the stairs, trying to reach the door to the hidden elevator before the lair collapsed and the river reclaimed its’ own. Stumbling thru the darkness and wreckage, coughing and almost retching from the smoke and debris falling around them, they found and activated it. They made it to the surface and ran out of the abandoned old warehouse building just as it collapsed into the river. Suddenly, the water shot up in a mighty tower and the ground shook with multiple explosions as the few people around on a Sunday morning in that neighborhood screamed and fled in panic!

After a few minutes, the two lawmen looked at each other. The older one said “I think we can stamp ‘closed’ on Dr. Schull’s file, finally.” The younger lawman looked thoughtfully at the river for a few seconds and replied “Yes…I suppose you’re right, Artie. No man could have survived that.”

2004.

She was the President and CEO of Schuyler Enterprises, founded as a small-arms manufacturer in the 1890’s and now grown to a multi-billion-dollar multinational corporation that was involved in everything from genetic engineering and alternative power research to developing sophisticated satellite laser-guidance systems. She was tall, handsome and athletic with blonde hair and piercing green eyes that ran in the Schuyler family. She was incalculably wealthy, her advice and counsel was sought by companies and governments alike, she was on the cover of magazines ranging from Time to Le Monde to Caretas. But Angelina Schuyler was not a happy woman.

For all the success that she’d achieved, her fiercest desire was still unmet. She knew that “Schuyler” was not her family name. It was changed in 1875 from “Schull”, to try and wash away the shame brought upon it by one man, her great-great-grandfather. Zachariah Schull had been a genius, a mathematical and engineering prodigy who was also a talented sculptor and who even dabbled in puppeteering! He disappeared in 1874 when his laboratory under New York’s East River was destroyed after a pitched battle with two U.S. Marshalls who had pursued him and thwarted his plans for over two years.

Dr. Schull had been accused and convicted of a murder he didn’t commit. With the evidence that would have set him free destroyed and a rapidly approaching appointment with the hangman, he had escaped from prison in San Francisco and embarked on a plan for revenge against a Supreme Court that had denied him justice.

He came close to succeeding, killing two Supreme Court Justices while using a children’s puppet show as his cover. President Ulysses Grant himself ordered his top two United States Marshalls to track down and bring Schull to justice. It was a manhunt that was avidly reported by newspapers to millions of anxious readers around the world.

Angelina Schuyler knew the truth, however. Her great-great-grandfather was a genius who had been betrayed by his own government, his name falsely accused and his scientific achievements stolen or ignored. But it was a truth she couldn’t prove and would probably never be able to, even with his journal, a book that had been delivered to her the day before by an investigator she had hired.

The journal also included something else: a detailed plan of his East River lab, complete with schematic diagrams for a suspended-animation hyperbaric container that he intended to use as a last-resort escape device. It was revolutionary, still years ahead of anything modern medicine had produced, a treasure trove of patents that could open new areas of medical research. The land had passed from the Schull family to the Schuyler family and from there to the corporation, untouched and undeveloped since the initial desultory efforts to find Dr. Schull’s remains. If he’d actually built it and if it had survived, she could mount a search operation and cover it up as a minor riverside development project for a property that had lain fallow for many years. Angelina might not be able to clear her great-great-grandfather’s name, but perhaps she could discover something that would overshadow his false guilt…

1874.

The explosion had ripped apart the steam pipes that he used to animate and control his puppets. The steam had scalded his hands and face, but he was still able to activate the elevator platform. It quickly lowered him, hidden from view thru the central column, down to his last resort even as the river’s water rushed into his laboratory and destroyed his life’s work.

Why had God denied him his Justice? Yes, he was a murderer but what of it? Hadn’t he been murdered once already by a corrupt government and faithless friends? How much longer would he have to struggle and fight before his name would finally be cleared?

He could hear the two government agents as they ran down the stairs. They thought he was dead…good, let them continue thinking that. The smoke and flames had conspired with the escaping steam to hide him from their eyes. Once he entered his special chamber, his last resort, he would be safe from the collapsing structure around him and would sleep undisturbed by the world until a better tomorrow finally arrived.

Suddenly, he felt and heard the lift cables snap above him! With a sickening lurch, the platform dropped precipitously as Schull screamed “No, not like this! Not like this!” Unexpectedly, the platform hit the bottom – the cable had broken less than ten feet from the bottom of the shaft! Laughing, crying, coughing from the smoke, Schull dragged himself from the platform, unlocked the large metal door in front of him and entered his special chamber.

Quickly, he closed the door. He checked the levels of various gases and liquids that fed by rubber tubes into an opaque, sarcophagus-shaped container in the middle of the room. With a satisfied smile, he lifted the lid and climbed into the container. He lay down, pressed a sequence of buttons by his left hand, and sighed in contentment as the lid automatically closed. He
breathed deeply of the gases filling the container and slept…

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Coming soon in Part Two of "The Return of Dr. Schull"...a rescue, a revival, and a purpose discovered!