About this story
Nemo buries his dead in a coral cemetery the polyps seal for eternity, runs up a black flag with a golden N at the South Pole, and turns his spur on the warship that hunts him. Forty-six chapters carry you from a New York hotel to the maelstrom off Norway, where his lamp goes down still burning.
Who you’ll meet
Conseil, the unflappable Flemish assistant, packing at the last minute alongside a starstruck New York hotel clerk.
How it opens
For a year, ships have reported the same impossibility beneath every ocean.
It was longer than any whale, harder than iron, and faster than steam.
The Scotia brought home a triangular wound cut through steel plate.
Your newspapers have supplied diagrams, rumours, and considerable ink.
Monsieur has read six explanations and rejected each before breakfast.
Your patient assistant placed coffee beside the least credible drawing.