The Maharajah's Star (short story)

The Maharajah's Star, or simply Maharajah's Star, was a 2011 Newbury & Hobbes short story written by George Mann published in the charity anthology Voices from the Past and later rereleased in a more official context in Obverse Books' Team Up and The Casebook of Newbury & Hobbes.

This story marked the first appearance of Professor Angelchrist, who appeared in the same year as a major character in the NSA novel Paradox Lost.

Plot
Peter Rutherford, a member of the British government, pays a visit to Professor Angelchrist, who had worked for the secret service thirty years prior, in search of The Maharajah's Star. Angelchrist does not deny being in possession of the Star and instead quizzes Rutherford about his knowledge of the star. Rutherford goes into detail about the Maharaja who originally owned the Star, and was the only person who knew what it was, and that he had installed Clockwork warriors to protect it from thieves which worked until one day the warriors were destroyed, the Maharajah was murdered in his bed and the Star was taken. The Star had been located by British soldiers and flown back to London aboard the Empress's Gate airship, however, the rest of the Maharajah's missing treasure remained a mystery despite some items turning up on the Black Market from time to time.

In return for Rutherford's knowledge, Angelchrist recounts his first encounter with the Star in 1902 when he, Maurice Newbury, Veronica Hobbes and Charles Bainbridge traced its whereabouts to a criminal gang of smugglers and pirates who were operating in a warehouse out of the London Docks. The warehouse was fortified by a Carnivorous bird and several reanimated pygmies, but the group were able to defeat them and get to the cabinet where the Star and the other treasure was held. The group turned the treasure over to the Crown but it was agreed that Angelchrist would keep the Star in his own personal protection. When Rutherford asks about the Star's whereabouts now, Angelchrist indicated that Rutherford was holding it - the teacup which had been poured for him by Angelchrist's butler. Rutherford is initially confused but Angelchrist indicates the teacup's engraving: That which the heart treasures most cannot be measured in gold.

Angelchrist explains that the Star was worthless but served as a reminder to the Maharajah that all of his material wealth meant nothing. The true wealth of the Star was that the entire world believed it to have unimaginable value, and it kept criminals at bay as they dedicated their time to stealing the Star rather than committing other offences. As a result, Rutherford decides that the Star is better kept in Angelchrist's possession.

Characters

 * Peter Rutherford
 * Butler
 * Archibald Angelchrist

Continuity

 * Angelchrist mentions that he, Maurice Newbury, Veronica Hobbes and Charles Bainbridge were involved in far more than the matter of The Maharajah's Star. (COMIC: The Undying, et al.)
 * Angelchrist mentions that an albino count from Romania was in London devoting his time and influence to finding the Star. (PROSE: The Albino's Shadow)