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A Short Chapter Summary
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CHAPTER ONE - A MEDIUM RARE
Joe bumps into Sarah in the Library and help her carry a pile of thick books to her Aunt's house. There he meets Sarah's Aunt Fifi, former Paris dancer and now a medium who has a highly unreliable Indian Chief as a spirit guide. Over a drink and biscuits Aunt Fifi suddenly goes off into a trance - and the adventures begin.
CHAPTER TWO - A VISITOR FROM THE OTHER SIDE
Sarah and Joe meet Alphonse Hadrian, brother-in-law of the Emperor Hadrian and the real architect of Hadrian's Wall. He is supposed to take them to Ancient Britain to see the Wall but they wind up somewhere that looks very much like Ancient China, where they face a band of wild nomad warriors who have broken through the Great Fence of China; something somewhere has gone very wrong.
CHAPTER THREE - THE GREAT FENCE OF CHINA
Rescued and then taken prisoner by the Chinese, Sarah, Joe and Hadrian are taken to meet a kindly mandarin who tells them about the Fence, the constant warfare with the Khan of the people over the fence and introduces them to some delicious Chinese tea. Alphonse offers to build a good strong wall and Sarah suggests they talk to the Khan - which the mandarin agrees is a good idea because otherwise he will have to execute them. This is a shock but so is their experience of seeing the night sky tear open to reveal a chaos of planets and galaxies seemingly spinning out of control. It seems that this is happening a lot on the Other Side.
CHAPTER FOUR - ACROSS THE FENCE
Hadrian manages to summon up a trance cloud and get them to the other side of the Fence where they meet the Warriors of the Steppes and the Great Khan himself, and are made very welcome by everyone - except the sinister Shaman, a fearsome figure who puts the willies up everyone.
CHAPTER FIVE - THE SHAMAN
Ordered by the Khan to remove his horrible mask, the Shaman turns out to be a weedy unpleasant little man who has certainly got it in for the visitors. However, the Khan is impressed with Chinese tea and their ideas for a wall. They are made welcome and given a tent to stay in - and once again the skies open up to reveal terrible anarchy in space. Still, they have had a good reception and feel that they can perhaps see some way out of their predicament. That night they are kidnapped by the Shaman as part of a dastardly plot to kill the Khan and his Chiefs and put the Shaman at the head of the Warriors of the Steppes and lead them in a great war with China. All seems hopeless but Joe is able to travel in a small cloud that Hadrian creates in a shaky trance - where is he to go for help?
CHAPTER SIX - HADRIAN'S CHINESE WALL
The cloud takes Joe to the Khan and he is able to get help to rescue Sarah and Alphonse Hadrian - and a very exciting time Joe has on the night time expedition with the Warriors of the Khan's Guard. The rescue is successful - but the Shaman is missing. A trap is set for him and his plotting is revealed to the Council of Chiefs - and to everyone's surprise the Shaman escapes in a red cloud, very like the white one that Hadrian and the Red Indian Chief use for travelling on the Other Side. Hadrian is now able to sell his idea of a nice new (and expensive) wall to the Khan and the Chinese (so he gets paid twice). Joe and Sarah are made very welcome by the Khan's guards and are taught to ride - but they both get very homesick. Then a white cloud arrives - with a tall Red Indian Chief and Aunt Fifi in it to take them home again. All is well - and the whole adventure has only taken half an hour, according to Aunt Fifi's clock.
CHAPTER SEVEN - SPACE IN THE PARK AND TEA ON THE PATIO
Joe meets Sarah and her little brother in the park to talk over the adventure - and then space opens up all round them. Oddly, no-one else notices. Joe also finds out he has been invited to tea with Aunt Fifi again in a day or two. Despite some misgivings he agrees to go - and once again he and Sarah find themselves off on another adventure. This time the Chief, a very impressive looking man indeed, who talks rather oddly, takes them to meet one of the Great Explorers. Unfortunately things go wrong as soon as they arrive on the Other Side and find themselves hovering over an empty ocean.
CHAPTER EIGHT - A VOYAGE TO OBLIVION
While Joe and Sarah wind up on a galleon, the oddly named Nemesis, the Chief falls in the sea and disappears. On their own again they meet the crew - and straight away something seems to be very wrong. The crew are the strangest collection of the mad, desperate and odd, and the captain, known either as Leif the Lucky or Lief the Liability, depending on who is talking about him, is determined to prove that the world is flat. Once again, the heavens open up to show all infinity in chaos and to top it all, the children have to sleep in hammocks.
CHAPTER NINE - A MONSTER FROM THE DEEP
They manage to figure put how to use the hammocks and are rudely awoken when the ship literally hits Japan. America seems to have gone missing, which is a surprise, but the locals make the crew welcome and all seems well - until the Shaman makes a reappearance with a band of cut-throats and threatens the crew and the villagers with suffering unless the children help him to go through to another world. Not having much of a clue what he is on about, they are locked up with Sakowa, a member of the crew of the Nemesis, and also the Lord of the Village. They are all able to escape and rescue both the villagers and the rest of the crew who have been locked up on the ship. The Chief and Aunt Fifi make an appearance and they all set off to deal with the Shaman and his men the next day - but are attacked by a water monster under the control of the Shaman. Chief Thunder Head deals with the problem and in the process finds a use for his last barrel of firewater. Once again, they return to Aunt Fifi's house safe and sound - but with lots of unanswered questions. Joe is off on holiday the next week and is rather sorry that he won't be seeing Aunt Fifi and Sarah again for a fortnight. Or will he?
CHAPTER TEN - STRANGE SIGNS AT THE SEASIDE
Before he goes on holiday Joe meets up with Sarah and they talk over their adventures - and wonder just what is going on. Where did America go? Just what is happening when they go on their adventures? Then Joe is off on holiday - and straight away strange wriggly signs seem to appear all over the place. Still, Joe enjoys himself - and then runs into Sarah and Aunt Fifi. It turns out Aunt Fifi has decided to take a holiday too and has taken Sarah along with her. Joe has a great time with them; they visit the Pier to find a fancy dress event in progress to raise money for charity. They run into Chief Thunder Head again - and this time learn a bit more about the Chief who it turns out was once in show business himself - and doesn't think that he is dead after all.
CHAPTER ELEVEN - STARRING THE CHIEF!
Aunt Fifi takes them to see the End of the Pier Show - and Thunder Head goes along. A hapless magician, Jolly Whizz, makes a terrible hash of his act, and the Chief accidentally materialises on stage to bring the performance to an end in chaos and laughter. The Chief and Aunt Fifi help the magician out to make his act a lot better - and they discover Thunder Head was once a star of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. While the Chief can't explain the strange signs they have been seeing everywhere, he and Aunt Fifi do a great job on the stage act of Jolly and he becomes a great success and Joe and Sarah have a great holiday.
CHAPTER TWELVE - THE OTHER SIDE
With the holiday over the weather changes and Sarah and Joe are more than willing to escape rain and decorating by visiting the Other Side with Aunt Fifi who is intent on discovering what is going on. They find themselves on the Other Side with the Chief and his wife, Leaping Elk (who talks perfectly normally) travelling across a great prairie. The Chief has decided that they better consult another resident of the Other Side, a scientist. They all ride to the wooded foothills where he lives and on the way see the Totem Pole that Thunder Head carved to the memory of his own spirit guide, Chang, who makes a surprise appearance to warn them all of a terrible danger.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - THE MAN OF SCIENCE
They meet the scientist, who seems to have some considerable problems himself, suffering from serious accidents usually involving explosions. He shows them his latest invention, a spaceship and its engine, the Tidpiddle Drive, both built out of scrap and junk. He is able to explain some of the things that are going on but says that only a journey in his improbable spaceship will solve everything. No-one seems terribly keen on the idea, as the first two versions of the ship were completely destroyed in large explosions. While they wait for the candle-powered engine to warm up, they sleep out under stars - until the Shaman makes an appearance, with a number of oddly- shaped robots, and kidnaps Aunt Fifi and Sarah and steals the space ship.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - THE RETURN OF AN OLD FIEND
Using a flask of muddy water from the Mystic Lake of Spotted Creek, the Chief is able to find out what has been going on since Aunt Fifi and Sarah have been captured. The Shaman reveals that he has discovered the secrets of the scientist's space ship and is intent on using it to visit a lost Earth in another dimension, once the scene of terrible destruction. On the moon of that blasted Earth they see a vast pyramid, full of robots like those that accompany the Shaman, and where the secrets that the Shaman seeks are hidden.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - A RESCUE MISSION IS PREPARED
The scientist reveals he has a spare drive and that the Nemesis can be fitted with it. Joe suggests the Khan's guards might be able to take on the robots and while the scientist tries to find the spare engine, Joe and the Chief visit the Khan to see if they can obtain his help. They are successful - despite the efforts of the Khan's guards to have a bit of fun at the Chief's expense by tricking him into riding a wild horse. The Chief has the last laugh - he has a remarkable power over horses and tames the animal.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - FIREWORKS IN THE STARS
With the Guards they visit Japan to see if the crew of the Nemesis will agree to help them - to Leaping Elk's surprise, they welcome the prospect of a cruise to oblivion in the stars, which is after all what they were trying to do in the first place. At the last minute they find a hitch in that they haven't a clue where they are supposed to be heading for, but Thunder Head is able to discover the answer and they are off. Fuelled by Short John's cake, Thunder Head is also able to establish contact with Aunt Fifi and find out what has been happening since they have been in the pyramid.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - BREAKFAST AND ANCIENT SECRETS INSIDE THE PYRAMID
Inside the Pyramid, Sarah and Aunt Fifi have seen some incredible sights and have been told at last what the Shaman is planning to do - release an ancient monster born in the very beginnings of the universe and which has terrible powers of destruction. It has been released once before, long ago, by the creatures who had built the robots, and it bought terror to countless Earths in different dimensions before it was at last imprisoned again in many places throughout time and space. In myths and legends the stories about the monster have survived and the Shaman intends to release it so he can rule all space and time. However, first he needs to know where its head is imprisoned.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - NEMESIS
In the Pyramid the Shaman and his prisoners are exhausted, still not having discovered the secret the Shaman seeks. Sarah and Aunt Fifi have managed to get a big dinner and some rest - but the Chief has been able to contact her and tell her that help is on its way. The next morning, despite all Aunt Fifi can do to delay things, the Shaman at last discovers where the head of the monster has been imprisoned - thanks to Sarah, unfortunately; it turns out it is held in place by Blackpool Tower. Aunt Fifi manages to escape from the robots with Sarah and they take refuge in a small room. Sarah learns something about how the robots are switched off but it looks as if all is up with them as the robots try to break down the door.
CHAPTER NINETEEN - HERE COMES THE CAVALRY!
Then the Nemesis arrives at the Pyramid and the medieval warriors of the Khan's Guards, assisted by a an absent-minded scientist, a Red Indian and his wife, an incomprehensible Russian and a couple of Japanese, one in full Samurai armour, race to the rescue of Aunt Fifi and Sarah, taking on the might of thousands of the Shaman's robots. Bows and arrows and Sarah's knowledge that the robot's ears are off-switches help - but Joe and Sarah also discover an old computer that helps them turn off the robots in droves by ordering them to scratch their ears. At the very last minute, the robots are turned off - but the Shaman escapes, determined to make for Blackpool, release the ancient monster and bring destruction to Earth. They all dash back to the Nemesis, which has been saved from destruction by Short John, the former master gunner of the Mersey Ferry, and set off for Blackpool.
CHAPTER TWENTY - RAGNAROK!
They are too late - Blackpool is buried under a huge red cloud and as the Chief, Joe, Sarah, Aunt Fifi, the Guards and the crew of the Nemesis make their way to the Tower they realise that the Shaman has already released the creature, which is gradually waking and already causing chaos - especially to a special concert in the Tower Ballroom given by the Lancashire Symphony Orchestra and Choir before the Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress and invited guests who are now a captive audience for the reappearance of a terrifying ancient legend. Once again, Chang makes a suggestion and the Chief rapidly puts a plan into action. He and Leaping Elk take the lead parts in an impromptu performance of the Song of Hiawatha assisted by the crew and guards, while the orchestra and choir put on the performance of their lives and Aunt Fifi makes her final appearance on stage in a dance so graceful that, with the music, it gradually puts the monster to sleep again. The Shaman, last seen on the monster's head trying to wake it up and then falling towards the vast yawning cavern of its mouth, disappears and all returns to normal. There is still a week of the holidays to go, with the promise of fine weather, Aunt Fifi is off on holiday to Japan and Sarah and Joe look forward to enjoying a bit of peace and quiet in the park. But then, Thunder Head has said he might pay them a visit sometime . . . |
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