Steam – Fourth Night
The fourth performance of Steam was improvised on 1/14/12.
Episode Summary
The mighty airship Victoriana floats over the frozen city of Moscow in the dead of winter. The young adventurer Benjamin Cumberbatch meets with Lady Electra Spencer, who tells him that the ship is freezing up. It has begun to make uncomfortable noises, noises that almost make it sound alive.
Colonel Solomon Fitzgerald meets with Sergei and Elena, two old friends from Russia, who are plotting to murder the Czar. They set up a meeting to discuss the plot, though the Colonel has no interest in killing more heads of state than he already has.
In the city, ship’s engineer Joshua Mew is schnockered on Russian vodka with Adelaide McKenna, who still possesses the mysterious All-Seeing Orb that she acquired in Paris. Mew is strangely insistent to Wilhemina Wyldeheart that Captain Hamwich Leon, kidnapped back in Paraguay, must be in command of the Victoriana.
Benjamin Cumberbatch, curious, takes the All-Seeing Orb from Adelaide and is immediately overcome! He sees visions of Hamwich Leon; and suddenly he too is fervent in his desire for Hamwich to return.
In the evil factory, the ringleader of the nefarious Black Cloaks interrogates Hamwich: “What is the secret of the Victoriana?” Aloof as always, Hamwich denies that it’s anything more than an airship: “It’s made of finger sandwiches!!” The Black Cloaks commence to torment Hamwich with fevered nightmares.
On the Victoriana, acting captain Rogér is aware of Benjamin’s desire to rescue Captain Leon. He reveals a prototype invention: a “jump bracelet” that will allow the wearer to jump through space. With it, Benjamin teleports back to the Paraguayan jungle, to the gates of the Black Cloaks’ lair.
Wilhemina leads her loyal crewwoman Kit through the cold winds of frigid Moscow; Wilhemina says she needs “answers.” They reach a spooky dwelling where they’re granted entrance to see a mysterious shaman. He tells Wilhemina that she will begin to have visions. Meanwhile Kit begins to glow, and they all realize that she, too, has innate magical powers.
The Colonel tells Yvette, the Amazon, that he has no interest in overthrowing the Czar of Russia—even though he owns Leto, the cyborg assassin. He wants to help his friend Sergei nonetheless. Yvette offers up a certain power of her own: she will seduce Sergei to win his favor.
In the engine room, Joshua realizes that he must ply the streets of Moscow to get needed parts for the Victoriana to fly again. Lady Electra, onetime duchess, offers herself as bankroller and negotiator with the notorious gang leader Boris.
Down in Moscow, Yvette holds Sergei effortlessly in her thrall, confident she’ll be able to derail any plot against the Russian Czar.
Just as she is putting her plan into action, though, Colonel Solomon Fitzgerald stumbles into the room with a knife in his back!
Lady Electra and Joshua Mew arrive at Boris’s hideout on the wrong side of the Moscow tracks. Electra quickly proves herself quite the negotiator and seductress, dancing gaily with the corpulent Boris and offering a chest full of gold for the parts needed to repair the Victoriana.
Colonel Fitzgerald recovers from his sudden attack with Yvette. The stowaway Jane reports to them that Elena, Sergei’s Russian accomplice, has been seen prowling through the ship.
In his Paraguayan prison, Hamwich Leon’s torturer continues to press him: “What is the secret of the Victoriana? Is it alive?” Hamwich resists him. The Black Cloaks then plumb Leon’s memories, taking him back to the day nine months prior when Leon won the Victoriana in a fateful hand of poker. Before any mysteries are resolved, however, Leon is forcefully awakened: Benjamin Cumberbatch has come to the rescue! They overpower the villains, and Benjamin quickly teleports them back to Moscow.
In the Victoriana engine room, Joshua, Lady Electra, and Adelaide complete the ship repairs and discuss their missing captain. Adelaide tries to use her All-Knowing Orb to summon him, and just then, Hamwich and Benjamin magically reappear.
Back on the ground, Wilhemina has revealed herself to be a “Blood Breather,” part of a clan rich in magical powers. She begins to have the promised visions: an ocean of blood rising and drowning around her, as a glowing Kit offers help and Joshua Mew insists that Hamwich Leon must command the Victoriana.
Adelaide detains the Russian vixen Elena who has been sneaking about.
However the insurgents will not be denied: Elena’s accomplice, Sergei, has already stolen the cyborg Leto and reprogrammed her to murder the Czar in St. Petersburg. Benjamin Cumberbatch, whose psychic powers are blossoming, has foreseen the plot.
Benjamin reveals to Joshua that Leto has been taken; without question, Joshua steers the Victoriana towards St. Petersburg. Back on the ground, Wilhemina summons a powerful wind that gives strength to the Victoriana’s sails, and to Benjamin’s powers as a seer.
As the ship picks up steam, Benjamin has one final vision of the future: Wilhemina Wyldeheart is going to die very soon… because Benjamin Cumberbatch is going to kill her!
What happened in that fateful poker game?
What is the true secret of the Victoriana? And why is Benjamin expecting Wilhemina’s death at his own hand?
