   Gemini Explorer
2009-06-26 . chapter 1This is good,if a trifle disjointed. It was a leap from Charles in London vanishing to the others on the Plateau.
But I am glad that the group of explorers included my favorite girl from the show, Finn. (Insert Happy Smilie here.) Wink...
I convert words to images in my mind, and am trying to see M&R's embrace. He had one hand behind her neck. Okay, good going there, John! But his other hand is around her stomach, instead of her back or hips. ? I'm having trouble picturing that, and I have had my arms around girls in as many ways as I can think of. Usually, if I can reach and play with her stomach, her butt is out of reach of that arm, or the position is a little contorted. Just a thought.
The sound of "semi-automatic weapons" is not distinct to the 21st Century. The first successful autoloading (semi-auto) pistol was produced by Mauser from 1896 until the 1930's. Winston Churchill, in fact, had one in hand during the British cavalry charge at Omdurman in the Sudan in 1898! He fired all ten shots in the magazine, and claimed three kills and one possible, one doubtful. See his book, "My Early Life", well worth seeking out.
On the TV show, Malone and Roxton often carried Colt .45 autoloading pistols. These were adopted by the US Army in 1911, and served as the official US military handgun until replaced by the Beretta M-9 in 1985. They have also enjoyed wide commercial sales since the Spring of 1912. Dieter, the German pilot who knew Marguerite, had a Luger, adopted by Switzerland in 1900, and by the German Army in 1908. The German Navy adopted a slightly different version in 1904! Maxim and Vickers machineguns (fully automatic, of course) were in use from the 1890's. John Thompson's famous submachinegun dates from 1921, but was preceded by the German Bergmann, from 1918. In fact, I have Finn carrying a 9mm Bergmann (which she captured from some slavers) in one of my own Fics. Rapid-fire weapons are hardly new. Semi-auto pistols would not be unusual on the Plateau. John and Ned wore them, many days, those Colt .45's. What WOULD be unusual would be others firing them rapidly. That would mean new people on the Plateau.
Also, keep in mind that a skilled shooter can fire a double-action revolver even faster than many semi-auto pistols will cycle. But most hold just six shots. Autoloading pistols typically carry from seven to 16 shots. They are also faster to reload, if spare cartridge magazines are carried.
I think you mean for FULL auto fire to be heard, bursts of it. (The mass media doesn't know full auto from semi-auto weapons. Those are just editorial buzzwords that they use to frighten people, as when they misuse the term, "assault rifle" when it really isn't applicable to the arm involved in some news story.)
There ARE true full-auto (machinegun-like) pistols, like the Mauser Schnellfeuer Modell of 1932, or the Beretta M-93R. However, they dump their magazine contents in about two seconds in full-auto mode, and climb badly off target. The Czech Skorpion and the Russian Stetchkin provide shoulder stocks that can be used if desired, and that helps, I'm told.
I think your issue can be solved by having long strings of shots that would exceed the capacity of Roxton's .45, and make it obvious that more than one pistol is being fired. Many 9mm pistols hold 15-16 cartridges. (Have, since the Browning Model of 1935 appeared on the market. It takes 13 shots, 14, if you use Canadian-made magazines.) All you'd need to do is to have that volume of fire coming from more than one pistol, and the explorers would know that it isn't Roxton shooting. And the only other pistol they know of on the Plateau that holds seven or more cartridges is Malone's .45, and he is with Vee and Finn! (Malone also sometimes used a .38 Webley Mk. IV. I think this was the same revolver that Summerlee dropped when he fell into the ravine. And Roxton also had a pair of Webley MK VI .455 revolvers, with white handles, worn in shoulder holsters. But he'd have to reload after firing six shots from each of these.)
I hope that this has interested you, and was helpful. I realize that the average Fic writer knows next to nothing about firearms. You aren't alone! I have written comercially for years about guns, and am familiar with most common types, and have fired many. This has been of great help in writing my own Fics, on other boards. If I can help in selecting specific guns for your characters, please feel free to ask. I have a profile on this board. Just PM me. No cost to you, if you don't need vast amounts of material.
All said, I enjoyed the story, and will probably read all of it. Please accept my thanks for including Finn,and for not making her look like a teenaged jerk, as some Fic writers have.
She was 22 when she left New Amazonia, and was no fool. She and Marg. actually have some serious background similarities that I think would have made them close friends, in time.
Post again soon. I want to see where this is leading. And ask Marguerite how John was actually holding her. Have her tell Finnykins, then send Finn over here to show me how to hold her that way. (insert winking Smilie here.)
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