Captain Nemo_ The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius - Kevin J Anderson [194]
“I don’t know if your Captain Hatteras was close to discovering a Northwest Passage. All I know is that we found this vessel here. Perhaps it isn’t the answer you had hoped for . . . but it is finally an answer.”
Caroline fixed her gaze on Nemo for a long moment, avoiding the sunken hulk of Captain Hatteras’s exploration ship. “It is an answer I wish I had known years ago. Then our situation . . . might have been different.”
“Things can still be different,” Nemo said, taking her hand again.
“Yes,” she answered with a long slow sigh, a gentle smile touching the corners of her mouth. “Things can finally be different . . . between us.”
The past, for both of them, now lay at a safe distance -- not forgotten, but no longer a wall.
Epilogue
MOBILIS IN MOBILI
Paris, 1874
After the war, Jules Verne and his family settled into their new summer house at Amiens, but he still made regular trips to Paris to meet with his publisher. He was a famous writer, after all, and in much demand.
Verne dined with Hetzel at a well-known restaurant not far from the Louvre. Each man ordered roast herbed quail with potato-cheese soufflé and shared an expensive bottle of wine. Verne was happy to let his publisher pay for the extravagance, and he savored every bite. Though the author had plenty of money, he could not bring himself to be such a spendthrift. His father, now two years in his grave, would never have approved. . . .
After the grueling siege had been lifted from Paris and the Peace of Frankfurt ended the Franco-Prussian War, life began its painful journey back to normalcy. Following a few abortive starts, Hetzel got his publishing company running again -- and Jules Verne continued to be the star performer.
Around the World in Eighty Days was a smash hit, Verne’s most popular “Extraordinary Voyage” so far. He was now considered an international celebrity, badgered for interviews and opinions on numerous subjects. At first the accolades had been amusing, and the bearded author had reveled in his fame . . . but now he felt bothered by it all. He wanted nothing more than quiet time to continue his writing.
He produced A Floating City (written on board his yacht while patrolling the coast for Prussian warships) and Measuring a Meridian. Like clockwork, Verne’s novels once again came out from Hetzel, first serialized in the childrens’ magazine, then in bound volumes for the holidays. Indeed, life in France had returned to normal. . . .
After their fine meal, the two men returned to Hetzel’s courtyard offices on rue Jacob and spent an hour scrutinizing the galleys of a forthcoming story, the first installment in The Fur Country. But Hetzel was not quite as enthusiastic about the work as he’d been in previous times. “I am sorry to say this, Jules,” the publisher ventured, “but we need to think ahead and consider perhaps a little more . . . variety in your subject matter.”
“Variety?” Verne’s mind raced. “In every extraordinary voyage I have explored different subjects and different places --”
“Yes, and with quite some success,” Hetzel added, looking down his large nose as if it were an insurmountable obstacle. He gave his author a paternal smile. “But of late I have noticed a certain, shall we say, sameness to these journeys. What will you do when the Earth has been completely mapped?”
“There will always be places to explore, always new adventures to tell.” Verne gave his publisher a stubborn frown, careful to add just the right amount of indignation to his voice. Now that Nemo was indeed gone, he would have to create his own adventures, think up his own ideas. But Verne’s imagination was up to the task; after all, he had exercised it enough. He pursed his lips. “What, exactly, did you have in mind?”
Hetzel