Look to the Future Part Four: February 12-13, 1926

February 12, 1926 Evening

Several members of the group spend some time on various personal projects.

Judge Putnam and Johnny

At the judge’s request, Johnny finds an appliance repair shop and drives the judge over there. The judge talks to the proprietor about making an adapter for the drone power supply, only to discover that the proprietor has one on hand. Apparently, several other people have been in the market for the same thing. The proprietor charges the judge a nominal fee for both the adaptor and silence, and tells him that plugging in “whatever it is” probably won’t blow a fuse or burn the building down. The judge returns to the safe house to charge up the drone, monitoring the adapter earnestly.

Mikhail and Vivian

Mikhail and Vivian separately decide to go to the Boston Public Library to do research. Mikhail learns more than he was expecting about quantum physics, as well as the Justman Equation—a formula that can stabilize timelines. Vivian learns more about the Ouroboros symbol, including that a gold ring featuring that symbol was one of the nine treasures of the Black Pharaoh and originally belonged to his high priest.

Ron

Ron called Vince, looking for information on the caretaker and permission to start a mob war with the Irish Mafia in Boston. He didn’t get very far, but he resolved not to let, “The letter of the law,” stop him from having fun.

Ron also visited Stephen Clark to get a look at the painting that Mikhail told him about. Ron was disturbed to see himself, apparently dead, strapped to a table with two men standing over him and Carl Stanford looking on. Ron also noticed that Mr. Stanford was sort of transparent—like a ghost. Stephen told him that the painting was finished, and that the transparency was not an accident.

Stephen also showed Ron a portrait he had done the night before of Dr. Black. Dr. Black was in a room with a lot of machinery and seemed to be about to throw a very large knife switch. He had a strange symbol on his head.

The Pesky Symbol that Keeps Showing Up Everywhere...

Johnny

After dropping the judge off at the safe house, Johnny decided to tail Bryan Slim. He first located the house that Slim and some of the Turks were using, then watched as Slim was driven away from the house in a Rolls Royce Phantom (fun fact $17,200 MSRP in 1920s dollars!). Johnny tailed Slim as he was driven north, out of the city and along the MA coast. Slim was eventually chauffeured to an old-style house in the coastal town of Kingsport, where he met with an old man. The old man had a strange symbol on his gate.

Johnny only heard part of the conversation, but he was fairly certain they were talking about “magic stuff.” Later, when he related the conversation to the group at the safe house, he realized that it was very likely that the old man and Bryan Slim were talking about Carl Stanford. Johnny is now convinced that Mr. Stanford likely won’t be dead for much longer.

Mikhail

Mikhail telephoned Angie to arrange for getting James out of Bellevue. He sent a courier down with the paperwork and asked Angie to take James to Stephen’s New Hampshire home. Angie agreed.

Sharing Information

Everyone got back to the safe house after their errands to kibitz about what they had learned. Ron warned Dr. Black about the painting he had seen and drew a crude representation of the symbol he had seen on the painted Dr. Black’s forehead. Johnny noted that the symbol was identical to the one on the old man’s gate, and that also he had an almost overwhelming compulsion to open the gate. The group was disturbed by this.

At this point, Ron tried to leave the house because he had “something to do.” Suspicious that this something had to do with visiting additional pain upon Aengus and his friends, members of the group intervened—especially Johnny, Dr. Black, and Vivian. Johnny gave Ron an ultimatum and Ron, briefly cowed, decides to stay in for the night.

The judge safely unplugged the drone charger and everyone in the house went to bed.

Saturday, February 13, 1926

The house gets an early-morning visit from the caretaker, who sasses Ron, thereby delighting everyone else. The caretaker brings sandwiches for later (from the North End), gives over a letter that was mailed to the judge, and tells Johnny about some nice Greek places to go eat.

The caretaker finds a letter that was written by Dr. Black and left on the crate of bootleg beer. The letter is a polite request to acquire some additional medical supplies, just in case. Ron had found the note and added some colorful Italian phrases at the end of it, meant to needle the caretaker and get him pissed off at Dr. Black. The caretaker is merely amused, while the doctor is embarrassed. Vivian recognizes Ron’s handwriting on the note and calls him out, earning him another verbal beating from the caretaker.

Ron, at this point thoroughly pissed off with the caretaker making fun of him, tries to intimidate him, but fails badly. Surprisingly, a fight does not break out.

Kane asks the caretaker if there’s a range where he can practice with his newly acquired gun. The caretaker writes down an address before leaving.

Morning Preparations

Johnny, Judge Putnam, and Kane Eastman go to the gun range. Johnny dazzles them all with his gun play. Judge Putnam manages to not jam his firearm this time, so that’s a bonus! 

In the meantime, Vivian, Ron, and Mikhail go back to the Boston Public Library to look up additional information on the Black Pharaoh and Nephrem-Ka. They turn up bupkiss.

As 1:00 pm approaches, the group takes several cars over to the Look to the Future building. Ron takes point, watching the entrance from a nearby coffee shop, while the others mingle with the crowd and go inside.

Look to the Future

There’s more than a hundred people here, some of whom the group has seen before in other locations.

A young woman, her eyes wide, walks up to Dr. Black and says, “Dr. Black! It’s an honor to meet you!”

Dr. Black is completely befuddled by this. As he attempts to stammer out a response, a heavily accented voice from behind him says, “It is Meester Bleck, actually!”

This breaks the ice enough for some of the group to introduce themselves to the fabled Lostalus Black, a pleasant-looking Turkish man in a fez. Lostalus welcomes them all to Look to the Future. He engages in small talk with some of the group.

The Charming Lostalus Black

• He and Johnny bond over being from the Mediterranean and having to change their names (or have them changed for them) to better fit in with American society. On a hunch, Johnny makes the Voorish Sign, which causes Lostalus to take a step back and smile. Lostalus tells Johnny he’s full of surprises. Johnny tells Lostalus that, “if someone’s going to the future, I want to be that someone.” Lostalus agrees.
• He then introduces himself to Vivian, saying that he happened to see her play in a conservatory in New York over Christmas. Vivian is taken aback, but is delighted. She is, however, confused when Lostalus asks her about, “your companion? You know? The beeg man with the theek brow?”

It is time for the meeting to begin. Bryan Slim introduces Lostalus Black. Lostalus says a few words about the future before leading the entire assembly in the strange chant mentioned in Rothschild’s letter. Most of the group either mime the words or don’t say anything, though they feel the air slowly energizing all around them.

About an hour into the chanting, Mikhail becomes somehow aware that the timestream is about to be changed in his area. He begins to concentrate on the Justman Equation, just as everyone from his group winks out of existence.

Sweet Caroline (Bam bam bam!)

Kane, Johnny, Judge Putnam, Dr. Black, and Vivian all appear, disoriented, in an alleyway at night. After Dr. Black evacuates his stomach on the pavement, the group heads toward the lights and noise of the nearest street. They see strangely dressed people and bubble-like cars. Everyone is cheering and singing and honking horns.

The group is derided as “hipsters” by some passersby, only for Judge Putnam to tip his hat politely. This wins him much acclaim.

The group eventually discovers that they are in Boston, there are actual bars, and they are open! And people are drinking in the street! Truly, the future is a wondrous time. The group abandons Vivian to go get drinks. There is some confusion about the man at the door “seeing their identification,” but the man realizes that Judge Putnam is old, and that tonight’s a party, so it’s fine.

They go up to the bar, where they attempt to order drinks. Due to an error on the GM’s part, the bartender believes the group’s money is counterfeit and has the bouncer escort them outside. The group leaves without too much of a fuss.

In the meantime, Vivian has located a discarded section of the Boston Globe and is paging through it. She learns that today is October 28, 2018, that the Red Sox are due to play the fifth game in the world series, and that New England has recently suffered hurricane damage. She is utterly bewildered by all of this new information.

It is at this moment that the group snaps back to their proper timeline, to the relief of Mikhail.

A Glimpse of the Terrifying Future

The Aftermath

The group is very badly disturbed by their recent trip through time. In a moment of clarity, Dr. Black realizes that the metal door behind the stage looks identical to the one in one of Stephen Clark’s paintings. Mikhail and Johnny have a heated conversation, where Johnny tries to figure out how Mikhail resisted being sent into the future. Mikhail tries to explain to Johnny about the Justman Equation.

Meanwhile, onstage, several of the Turkish guards appear from nowhere, pushing carts filled with future goods. The crowd goes berserk. The group, however, having had enough of these events, all leave. They collect Ron and return to the safe house.

A Final Conversation

After the group gets home and gets their bearings, the following is discussed.

• That Mikhail’s equation will be extremely useful in preventing Lostalus’ time shenanigans.
• That, while Lostalus may have seen Vivian perform, he can’t have seen Ron, because Ron doesn’t go to the conservatory with Viv.
• That, according to Kane, the spell used to send people into the future is a powerful ritual, and that Lostalus is using the psychic energy from a very large group of people to power it. Fortunately, this means that this isn’t something he can just trivially cast.
• That Stephen somehow has intimate knowledge of future events.
• That there are answers behind that stage door.
• That the future must be good if the Red Sox win the World Series at least one more time.
• That Judge Putnam is a Sox fan, despite living in New York.
• That, as Dr. Black wisely said, “the future is entirely filled with hooligans!”