#51 "The Second Descent of Professor Lidenbrock" In Color! February 2, 2012

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"The Second Descent of Professor Lidenbrock"

Part 2 of 2

He couldn't believe it! Even his own nephew and his lovely wife, both of whom he hadn't seen since their wedding were there! The Professor was furious! His nephew ambled over to the Professor, and re-sheathing his samurai sword onto his back, explained the situation to the Professor. He told the tale about how after their wedding, he needed a little extra cash, and what better opportunity than here, at the center of the Earth! It was an untapped market, with possibilities of tourism, hotel management as well as the restaurant sector; heck, he was even starting to get into the contracting business! The Professor was stunned to learn that his very own nephew, who was reluctant to even come on the previous adventure had made a life for himself down here. He had opened a restaurant, complete with an aquarium filled with the wildlife of the subterranean sea. The only problem his nephew had encountered was that the native, giant ape-like creatures were, in fact, cannibalistic and would occasionally eat the brains of his customers. But, the beasts proved to be handy around the kitchen and the nephews insurance rates down here couldn't be beat, so the occasional dead tourist did nothing to dissuade him from killing the beasts and serving them in his new restaurants. He merely employed the beasts in the restaurant and when one acted out, he would simply pull out the beasts eyes and serve them to the more adventurous diners. He would then mount the heads on the wall of the dining room both as art, and to serve as a warning to the other employed beasts. The tourists didn't seem to mind, because this was, after all, the center of the Earth. The rules of terra-firma did not necessarily apply down here, and the Professors nephew, advertising only in the Deep Internet had a clientele that was hungry for adventure and curiosities that might be frowned upon on the sunnier side of the world. The tourists The Professor was stunned. He reported back to base camp, calling the mission a failure and fired the team on the spot, giving each man, woman, and child bus fare home (His nephew had an agreement with the Fung-Wah Bus Company with Center to New York direct busses every hour on the hour). 

The Professor took a little nap, and when he woke up, he felt a little better. In fact, he wasn't mad at his nephew anymore. Sure, he had wanted to come down here to the center, figure out how and why this subterranean race of beasts lived here instead of the surface of the Earth with the rest of the human race and either help them integrate into polite society or subjugate them and put them in zoos. Either way, the Professor thought he was going to be a hero. Instead, he found that he was too late, and his nephew had beat him to the punch, and if he was going to become famous, he would have to explore new lands, for his nephew had already exploited the center of the Earth so much that it was now but a commodity of the rich and famous; a playground for those who have seen and done everything the surface of the Earth has to offer. During his nap, he had had a dream in which he gave up the exploration and the fame seeking and became a regular guy, doing regular things. When he awoke, he was so comforted by the thought of the dream that he went straight to his nephew and asked him to employ him. He didn't want a partnership or a cut of the overall profits from his nephews new subterranean empire, he simply wanted a job doing something that would give him time to pursue his other hobbies; mainly bird watching and plant identification. His nephew put him to work right away in the dining room of the restaurant. The Professor changed his name to Doug and began his new life as a waiter. He would now forever be known as the Waiter at the Center of the Earth.

#51 "The Second Descent of Professor Lidenbrock" February 2, 2012

(Click on the Image to Make it Large!)

"The Second Descent of Professor Lidenbrock"

Part 1 of 2

This time, he was prepared. After the initial relatively unsuccessful descent, the Professor decided that this time, he would be more patient, gather a team, and complete the mission. With his pesky nephew out of the picture, the Professor compiled a team of gifted geologists, Coast Guard Captains, ex-Marines, and a couple of mercenaries whom he didn't fully trust, but were cheap and willing to go on the mission no questions asked. On June 21st, the team assembled at the rendezvous near the mountain of Snæfellsjökull on the far western coast of Iceland, where by the failing light of the summer equinox, the team descended into the mountain. For this was the passageway to the Center of the Earth. 

The Professor had embarked on this journey some ten years prior with only his nephew Axel, and their trusty guide, Hans. Their journey was cut short after multiple problems with rafts and the pesky underworld lightning, not to mention the hare-brained experiment with the gun cotton. Now the Professor was wealthy beyond his wildest dreams after selling both the book and movie rights of the adventure for a pretty penny, and going on the lecture circuit almost full time. But this lifestyle was boring him. He longed for the feeling that the original adventure had ignited in him. He could still remember the feeling, but only as a fleeting memory; that feeling of having something no one else in the world had. The feeling of truly discovering something new, to be the first pair of human eyes to witness an event. Of course, he hadn't been the first pair of eyes to journey to the center of the earth, but he had been the first to publish his findings and prove that it could be done. He knew, that in a strange way, everyone was an explorer and an adventurer, since the only time one can actually experience an event of this magnitude is to see with ones own eyes. This experience to them feels as though they are the first person in world to witness the event since it is only in their mind that they can see and comprehend the event. The Professor had written multiple papers on this theory of consciousness and now he was back at the open mouth of Earth, ready for his crowning achievement. 

Because of his prior experience with this adventure, the Professor made it to the subterranean sea in no time, avoiding all of the pratfalls that had hindered the previous mission. He was on a fast track to find the one thing that had brought him and his team of experts here in the first place: the giant ape-like man who he and his nephew had left behind and undisturbed. The team crossed the sea faster than even the Coast Guard captains had thought possible, and came upon the land with the herds of Mastodons and giant mushrooms. The team set to work setting up a base camp and securing the area, just in case this ape-like man had more than a couple of friends. These ape-like men were, after all, over 12 feet tall and ugly as the day is long. Who knows what they would be capable of in large numbers? The team had to be prepared for anything. However, nothing could prepare them for what they encountered the next day.

 The team was split up into two separate divisions, one to hang back and protect the camp, and one to explore the vast system of caves that lined the inland sea that seemed to stretch on for an eternity. The Professor himself headed up the exploration division, as he was the only one of the entire team who had any experience in this subterranean world. After a short hike into the caves, the Professor was stopped dead in his tracks, and what he saw before him defied anything he had ever expected to find in this desolate, seemingly uninhabited environment. Stretching out in front of him and his team were what seemed like hundreds of people, but not the giant ape-like people he had expected to see. Instead, he and the team were witnessing Regular People, like the ones milling around shopping malls and driving on highways high above them on the Earth's surface. 

To Be Continued...