Birdlip’s Return

Birdlip’s long aerial circuit ends when the failing dirigible reaches London and its pilot is freed to travel farther.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Pilot in the Clouds

A Strange Pilot A skeletal voyager Birdlip’s dirigible passes over London with its skeletal pilot lashed to the wheel. The sight leaves witnesses with an image of a craft that seems both doomed and purposeful. A continuing journey The pilot’s course through the skies continues for years. His voyage becomes a mystery to scientists and a prophetic symbol to Shiloh, even though neither can fully explain what Birdlip seeks.

An Engine Failing

A Return Draws Near Keeble’s warning Keeble believes Birdlip’s perpetual-motion engine is declining and that its homing tendency may bring the dirigible back toward Hampstead. The craft may not survive the landing. A forecast becomes urgent Later sightings confirm that the dirigible is losing altitude and moving toward London. Its arrival is no longer merely an astronomical curiosity; it may be a crash, a scientific prize, or a battleground.

A Pilot Freed

A Journey Begins Again Release from the wheel When the Homunculus reaches Birdlip, the pilot loosens the cords that have bound him to the dirigible’s wheel. The long-frozen voyage gives way to a new possibility. A shared destination The Homunculus joins Birdlip inside the alien spacecraft. Birdlip departs Earth as a willing traveler, while his failing dirigible collapses on the Heath and disappears under the crowd.

1870, during the first London sighting

During St. Ives’s meeting with Keeble in London

The climax, after the Homunculus reaches the gondola