Lucian Archives (Tracking Grace Cahill)

To: Lucian Leadership
From: Arkady Protopopov, Transportation Coordinator
Subject: Transportation Report on Grace Cahill/Request for Funds

May 7, 1983

Our operatives have been trailing Grace Cahill constantly for the past two years. In April '81 we spotted her small plane on our radar screens as she left Madagascar from a secret airstrip on the central plateau. We traced her to Tunisia, where she ditched the plane and crossed the Sahara on a camel. She resurfaced on a speedboat in the Adriatic Sea, landing in Split and heading from there by train through Eastern Europe to Leningrad. After several days of chasing Russian taxis over the canals of that city, we picked her up again in Moscow, where she boarded the Trans-Siberian Railroad headed east. She was next spotted crossing the Siberian steppes on a snowmobile. She took a helicopter over the Bering Strait to Alaska, headed south by dogsled to Kodiak, where she boarded a tanker bound for Hawaii. As of this morning, she is surfing off Oahu. I wouldn't be surprised if she took the Space Shuttle to Venus next. The woman changes modes of transportation more often than she changes clothes.

The Lucian Supply Office should be aware that in order to continue tracking Grace Cahill at this rate, our agents will need access to the following vehicles:

Light aircraft
Gliders
Helicopters
Jeeps
Snowmobiles
Horses
Camels
Dogsleds (and dogs)
Hot air balloons
Amphibious vehicles
Speedboats and water skis
Motorized surfboards
Downhill skis (and appropriate skiwear)

We are also requesting additional funding to cover unexpected expenses, such as camel food. Grace Cahill can't outlast us forever—we're Lucians, after all—but an infusion of cash would be a big help. It's all very well for the Leadership to lunch on caviar every day, but your agents in the field are suffering for want of necessities like sunscreen, boating shoes, and fashionable driving gloves. Thank you.

Harry Houdini

Early Life
Erik Weisz—who would later rename himself Harry Houdini—was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1874. When he was 4 years old, his family moved to America, and his name was written as “Ehrich Weiss” on the immigration papers.

Ehrich, called “Ehrie” or “Harry” by his friends, made his show business debut at 10, performing a trapeze act as “Ehrich, the Prince of the Air.” He later began performing magic tricks in New York’s Coney Island as Houdini. He chose the name in honor of his idol, the great French magician Robert-Houdin. Houdini found greater success performing escape acts, mainly from handcuffs and straitjackets. In Coney Island, he met his wife, Bess, who acted as his stage assistant for the rest of his career.

No one’s sure exactly why Houdini switched from magic acts to escape acts. Most people assume that it was for the money. Escape acts were much more popular than the tamer illusions. Some psychologists have suggested a subconscious urge to constantly “escape.” Others note that Houdini’s main talent was picking locks and argue that he was training to break in somewhere secret. What are you talking about?

Escapes

In 1900, Houdini toured Europe. In Moscow, he escaped from a prison van en route to Siberia. Houdini was particularly interested in learning how to break out of Russian custody. Some of his friends joked that he must have been looking for some long-lost Russian treasure! Where did you get this information? It’s true!

When he wasn’t busy fooling foreign authorities, Houdini perfected tricks like his famous milk can escape. A circular milk can was filled with water. Houdini got in, and the lid was chained down. This act evolved into Houdini’s most famous trick, the Chinese Water Torture Cell. The cell was basically a water-filled phone booth, and after being bound and handcuffed, Houdini was hung in it upside down. He always escaped and performed the trick from 1912 until his death in 1926.

Other Interests

One of the earliest pilots, Houdini was the first person to fly over Australia and land without crashing. Though he said he would be flying his plane from city to city for his next tour, he never got into it again. There has been some speculation that Houdini was looking for something on the Australian outback, which he must have found. Why he never flew again is a mystery that died with Houdini.

Death

Houdini died of a ruptured appendix on October 31, 1926. It was said that he could withstand any blow, and a Canadian university student punched him repeatedly in the stomach with no warning. Houdini’s death was no accident. That thug was paid to beat him up! No way. Why would anyone want to kill a harmless magician? He was too good at escaping. He could break in and out of anywhere. No secret was safe from him.

Houdini refused medical treatment and continued to travel, in considerable pain. He died of acute appendicitis in Detroit at age 52, though his appendix would have likely burst without the blows anyway. Yeah, right. He was buried in Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, New York.

Janus Archives: Top Janus in Hollywood.

To: Janus Leadership
From: Ruben Harvey
Re: Janus in Hollywood

Janus Annual Review
The following report should be used as a guideline when deciding which Janus to send on Clue-hunting missions.

Name: Tobey Maguire
Pros: Learned how to scale walls while filming Spider-Man
Cons: Wife is expecting their second child. Maguire will probably want to stay home. Recommendation: Place on nonactive duty

Name: Miley Cyrus
Pros: Great code-breaking skills
Cons: Lucians can pose as paparazzi and follow her everywhere.
Recommendation: Place on nonactive duty

Name: The Jonas Brothers
Pros: Work well as a team
Cons: Tight jeans make it difficult for them to move quickly.
Recommendation: Consider for mission

Name: Johnny Depp
Pros: Incredibly smart
Cons: Generally does the opposite of what we tell him. Sometimes forgets which branch he belongs to.
Recommendation: Place on nonactive duty

Tomas Archives: Surveillance Photos of Alistair Oh

Up: Alistair in Istanbul

Down: Alistair in Ankara.