The Septimus Wave

This is a sequel to The Yellow "M", and deals with Olrik's past with Septimus.

In London, several months after the outcome of the case of the Yellow Mark, four admirers of Professor Septimus - Lieutenant McFarlane, Lady Rowana, banker Oscar Balley and Professor Evangely - are preparing to continue his work in secret. Colonel Olrik found refuge in the Chinese establishment of Miss Lilly Sing, where only morphine injections allow him to forget the torments that subjected him to Septimus. In his panic attacks he sees doctor Septimus demanding the return of his Guinea Pig. The return of Olrik. In the Centaur Club, Captain Francis Blake of MI5 is warned by his deputy Millovitch from the Home Office that a new mad man has been spotted wandering around at the unused hangars at King's Cross station, which were used by major Blanks team of secret agents during the last war. Blake and Millovitch go there and while the police encircle the individual, it is struck by an electric shock. Meanwhile, in a house in Newham, professor Philip Mortimer puts the current in his laboratory. There he rebuilt the invention of Septimus, the Telecephaloscope. He hopes to master it to put it at the service of psychiatry. His faithful servant, Nasir, disapproves of Blakes research. After the professor left, the machine activates on its own while Nasir is in the laboratory and Nasir sees a disturbing shape emerge.

The next day, Blake is furious to learn the nature of Mortimer's research. But busy with another matter, he askes the professor to accompany him to the interrogation of the first mad man found near King's Cross. They discover that he escaped from Bedlam Hospice where Major Banks and his men are cared for. The mad man begins to recite a litany. Mortimer recognizes the words as the litanies of Septimus' victims. Afterwards, in the street, Blake and Mortimer become victims of attempted murder by a car driver whose lifeless body was found surrounded by arcs before catching fire. Plagued by a bad feeling, Mortimer returned to his laboratory. Here Nasir tells him about the disturbing shape that he saw emerging underneath the machine. He saw Septimus' spectrum coming out of the Telecephaloscope. Meanwhile, Professor Septimus, brought back by the Telecephaloscope, quietly walks through Bloomsbury in search of his guinea pig. At Miss Sing, Mr Kim Ku-Dum, former interrogator of the Yellow Army, hypnotizes Olrik to help him break free of his demons. Olrik then sees a crowd of Septimus demanding his return and he sees Professor Mortimer reactivating Telecephaloscope. Buoyed by these visions, Olrik tries to escape but Miss Sing is waiting outside to present him to lieutenant McFarlane.

At Bedlam Hospice, Blake and Mortimer discover that Major Blanks and his team are immersed in a frenzy as they prepare for enemy attack. Blanks tells them he sent two of his men to the abandoned hangars near King's Cross to find a mysterious machine. Just when Blake and Mortimer decide to leave, Major Blanks and his men fall to their knees and start reciting the litany of Septimus. Blake decides to explore the basement of the abandoned warehouses near King’s Cross in search of the machine. He and his men discover a metal door. After opening it they find a huge cave with a giant unknown craft resembling a spaceship. Inside, Blake finds himself in the British Museum reading room. There are only two things that give away that it is not real. There is a giant glass column in the center and all the books that surround him are copies of the book ‘The Mega Wave’ by Septimus. After touching one of the books he gets an electric shock and falls on the floor. The British Museum has vanished and now there is only the glass column. In there, Blake sees some kind of scuba diver watching him, attached to the ship with wires and tubes.

At the same moment, Mortimer is in a taxi on his way to Lady Rowana who invited him to attend a private party of four admirers of Septimus. He discovers that they too have rebuilt a Telecephaloscope. Then the admirers show they have recovered Olrik as a guinea pig. Knowing their evil intentions, Mortimer damages the machine before being knocked out. Meanwhile, Oscar Balley arrives, late for the party. He has had some troubles outside and he tells the rest to take a look out of the window. A horde of Septimus marches outside the warehouse looking for Olrik, their guinea pig. Oscar has been touched by one of the Septimus outside. Shortly after that he disappears in a cloud of thick smoke and Septimus appears in his place. In their cell, Olrik and Mortimer decide to ally temporarily to be able to escape, but Lady Rowana releases them to show them the whole situation. The professor makes the assumption that there is another mega wave generator that stimulated the Telecephaloscope and that the image of Septimus, kept in memory, wants to replicate indefinitely. The horde of Septimus breaks through the door and they manage to escape via the sewers. Mortimer takes Olrik to his lab in hopes of finding a way to end the phenomenon.

At 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister tells Captain Blake that the mysterious craft, Orpheus, was discovered by Major Blanks team during the last war and that its existence is kept secret in order to be studied by scientists. Without orders or against-orders of his superiors, Blake decides to destroy the Orpheus and gets inside with explosives. In the laboratory professor Mortimer uses the Telecephaloscope on Olrik to give him control over the mega wave, and therefore over the source of the Septimus copies. Via the Mega Wave Olrik enters the spaceship and orders Colonel Blake and his men to leave. The diver tries to get control over the situation amd keeps saying the word ’Asylum’. Olrik manages to resist the orders of the mysterious diver and triggers the explosion. The Orpheus ship explodes and disappears in a column of light. A few days later, Blake and Mortimer discuss their adventure while Olrik, who hasn’t recovered from his experience, finds himself interned in Bedlam Hospice with Major Blanks and his team. All repeat the same word as the diver: 'Asylum.'