One Year, 25 Books: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Captain Nemo sailed away...

First off: A league equals 3 nautical miles.

I have wasted precious time by not reading this quite sooner. I did remember that "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea," the movie, was a bit alarming and unappealing to me as a wee girl because of the visions imprinted in my mind of those giant squids and the behemoths under the ocean, I thought, what a fright to be close to it with just the glass to separate man and beast, what if it broke? But this is quite a must read. Very educational although some events written here are inconceivable. That said, the voyages of the Nautilus, that fantastic submarine with Captain Nemo at the helm is a treat of a lifetime for our adventurous inner teenager.

Book:

Professor Pierre Aronnax, a curious, well mannered and enterprising biologist who heads the Les Jardin de Plantes in the Museum of Natural History in Paris is commissioned to investigate a sea creature being hunted in many oceans known as the "Narwhal.” Tales of this “beast" became taller and taller as men related it to the next one and so on; though it was discovered early on that this behemoth is none other than the formidable and wonderful submarine itself, the "Nautilus."

Prof. Aronnax with his companions Conseil, his assistant and Ned Land, a blood-thirsty harpooner first embark at the ship called the Abraham Lincoln for the hunt of the famed Narwhal. A battle takes place between the Lincoln and the "Narwhal" wherein the former gets discomfited and the three men find themselves captured by Captain Nemo inside what they have known to be a monster whale but was in fact, a submarine. Seen as enemy combatants at first, they were informed that they could choose to be executed or be treated as guests inside the vessel where they will explore the depths of the ocean, learn about marine wildlife but with the caveat of never going back to live in terra firma. For the moment, the men chose to stay. 

Their expedition takes them to very many parts of the earth’s hydrographic realm such as the Asiatic seas, the Artic and  Antarctic, Vigo Bay in Spain where treasures are found in sunken galleons, the Sagrasso Sea where there’s a higher concentration of salt compared to the other seas, the Red Sea, the same one which Moses parted, the Atlantic where they trace that mythical fallen continent Atlantis. On to spend harrowing days at the South Pole, interesting events at the Indian Ocean and even on the shores of Papua, New Guinea.  Indeed it’s quite the voyage around the world, underwater. The marine species are very vividly described here, like the zoophytes, various fishes, mollusks, crustaceans and cetaceans/whales,  all manner of corals, fucus or that seaweed with thick leathery stalks and the episode with "Bouguer’s Cuttlefish” is the one that gave me nightmares as a child though today, the case isn’t the same. Only this, I will not look at the cuttlefish the same way again. 

Transparent in this book is Verne’s fascination with the various phenomena of the sea, like  the phosphorescence,  a.k.a. St. Elmo’s fire wherein a bright translucent plasma is created by a discharge from a pointed object in a strong electrical field in the atmosphere caused by thunder and lightning storms. Navigational and nautical terms too are abundant, the Nautilus sub which was a very modern and self-sustaining vessel harnessing energy from the electrolytes of the sea has made me wonder if Verne may not have been a time traveler himself, being privy to something very advanced for the time frame when he wrote this book. I have read that many submarine makers have gleaned from and took notes from this book when making new ones in these modern times, fictitious it may be.

Just read the book why don’t you? Your sense of adventure will be awakened, encourage your children, loved ones to read it and their imagination will delve into the ocean depths. Because of it, now more than ever I have the desire to be friends with the sea, something I both fear and am awed by. 

Last, allusions overflow about this mysterious underwater genius named Captain Nemo, from anime/manga, Disney movies, TV shows, rock bands and that Sarah Brightman song and that is telltale of the mystique of this book. There is more from Jules Verne about Capt. Nemo in "The Mysterious Island," and I'm looking forward to that. El Capitan himself is left as a conundrum even after the book ends, much like his fate. Was he a madman? An executioner or a brilliant scientist that the world needed? We shall see, in my view there can never be enough spinoffs about him and I wished, this book didn't end. 

Clark Kent and the Blue Police Box

In Reddit, there is a writing prompt for any one who is willing to take a gander at making up stories. I responded to one where the scenario begins with the Earth being attacked by aliens and Clark Kent who needs to change to Superman finds a blue box in the middle of the street. Most Sci-Fi dabblers know what the blue box is and who it's inhabitant is and certainly, everybody knows who Superman is, the rest however goes like this:

Clark Kent entered the Blue Police Box and met a man dressed as a magician with very particular eyebrows. He noticed a round panel with a column at the center and though it was bigger on the inside, he was not confounded by it as he figured, what ever he entered into was not terrestrial. The old man was friendly and didn’t seem surprised when he saw Clark. His eyes fixed on the “S” at the center of Clark’s chest and said.

“Peace.” The old man said with a notable Scottish accent. “You come in peace! so do I, I’m the Doctor.”

Clark looked at him quizzically and while he wondered how the “Doctor” was able to figure out the meaning of the S in his own planet Krypton, he also sensed that the old man was not hostile.

“Quickly, I need to change.” Clark said.

“Upstairs to the right and 2 lefts.” The Doctor said.

As Clark ascended with acceleration, he noticed he was somewhat slower than his usual speed of light, but given the urgency, he brushed it aside and changed to his super hero outfit with only one thing in mind. When he got out of the box he would battle the aliens fast before it was all too late. He did notice however a slight hesitation within himself and felt as though someone was watching, as he turned around, he saw a stone statue of an angel looking serene. He blinked once and noticed this thing came closer though he wasn’t sure. As he blinked one more time it was indeed right at this face and showed it’s fangs ready to attack but with quick reflexes he obliterates the creature with the lasers in his eyes. As the smoke settled around the rubble of a Weeping Angel ,The Doctor entered the room yelling, “Don’t bli!! Oh," he said, "so much for that heap of stone."

“What is this place, what was that and who are you?” Asked Clark.

“I’m The Doctor and you are in my home/space craft/ hobby room/concert stage/time machine, that was a Weeping Angel, etc. etc. Why are you in a funny outfit?” The Doctor asked.

“I’m Superman. Did you bring the aliens here? Is this why Earth is under attack?”

“Firstly, the TARDIS may be a space ship with infinite dimensions inside and yes, the artifacts chamber or museum may harbor monsters and such but I assure you, they are dead and stuffed, a taxidermist from Newcastle had a hand in that. Secondly, no, I did not bring the aliens here. Thirdly, Earth is always under attack anyway, if not by aliens from other planets, just amongst themselves, and fourthly, how super?”

Superman found himself sitting on the stairs of the TARDIS and felt a slight drain of energy and began to have doubts about The Doctor.

“Then why did the statue try to attack me?” He asked.

“That is a mystery to me too,” the Doctor approached the center and pushed some buttons on the console. “According to my calculations, a disturbance is arising from the 3rd level chamber below with a type of an unidentified radiation. Wait a minute, it’s the Artifact Chamber,” it’s seems..”

Both The Doctor and Superman look to the left and four silver metallic robots walking in military cadence mechanically vocalizing “Delete! Delete!” repeatedly, came charging towards them.

“Cybermen!” shouted The Doctor. As the Cybermen take aim at both of them, Superman lets out a massive breath and forms a dense layer of ice which buffers the laser fire. While the lasers missed them narrowly, fireworks and explosions erupt inside the TARDIS, beams topple over and crashing all around. At the sight of the second wave of lasers from the organic robots, Superman turned to a solar flare of energy and zoomed into the Cybermen like a meteor. A loud sound and boom fills the TARDIS and the Cybermen fall on the floor mangled in a heap of metal mess.

Under the pile of metal, Superman emerges looking weak and discomfited. Though the Cybermen were destroyed, it appears Superman felt depleted.

“Somehow, the creatures from the Artifact Chamber are coming to life in your presence.” The Doctor spoke as he read the calculations on the console. “Where are you from? because clearly, you aren’t human. Are you alright? it’s as if..”

The Doctor catches Superman as he falls from his attempt to stand. Superman was very weak, out of breath and even his garment was torn. He has spent a great amount of energy with the solar flare and though he has healed because of this many times before, it would take a long amount of time and he continued to feel drained

“Yes, but I also feel as though I am losing my powers.” Superman mutters with a feeble voice. “What is in this ship? where are you from?” As he remembered his beloved humans being attacked by formidable alien beings, a pang of sadness comes over because for the first time he felt he might not be able to do anything to help them.

“Well, let me see, I had a distress signal around the southern constellation of Corvus, about 26.7 light years from Earth to a planet that orbits around a red dwarf star, ah..ah.. the LHS 2520, yes, that’s right. It was a band of Daleks which assimilated to the element of the planet, the planet Krypton, I believe it was.” The Doctor’s eyes grew larger and fearful as he looked at Superman. "Of course, you, you are a Kryptonian; that’s why everything that’s lifeless in this ship is reacting to you, somehow the TARDIS and elements on board must have accumulated a minute form of energy from Krypton and with your presence, they are regenerating, in a sense! but you, the energy is being taken away from you because you are a.. so, you are dying...”

Just as the Doctor finished speaking, a sinister presence emerged from the corner south end of the TARDIS and entered the upper dome with a familiar mortiferous electronic voice, “Exterminate!, Exterminate!” it was a Dalek, with the exoskeleton made of Krypton, glowing in bright green! The Dalek fires lasers indiscriminately destroying what’s left of the TARDIS. Superman feels the radiation coming from the Kryptonite Dalek and lays down with increased shallow respiration, his arms reaching across as if to make a stand but to no use, as the lasers continue to fire, more damage is incurred in the ship, a beam descends toward the Doctor and hits him mightily. As he falls down he reaches for the time rotor on the control bridge, and pulls the lever down, hoping that the TARDIS will understand what he is trying to do just as it did a few times before. And then blackness…

Moments later or ago, the sound of the TARDIS appearing is heard. Inside the blue box The Doctor stands straight facing the door unscathed and whole with the TARDIS intact. As it swings open, he sees a bespectacled tall man with the letter “S” on his chest about to enter.

“Stop!” he yells in that thick Scottish accent. "What ever you do, don’t come in here. Go somewhere else to change and deal with the the aliens yourself, you can handle it obviously, with your laser eyes and your solar body, it’s just the Sontarons, knock them at the back of their head or, appeal to them on their “military" side and they’ll love you. But just please, don’t come in here, go and find another box in which to change.”