SYNOPSIS
Guest Stars: Tracy Scoggins
Screenplay by Gavin Scott
Edited by Yvann Thibaudeau
Directed by Pierre de Lespinois
Location of Aurora: Paris
Prologue: Sir Archibald, a well-dressed English gentleman, is walking down a Parisian street at night. He is stopped by some men who demand that he provide them with plans for the security arrangements for the forthcoming visit by Queen Victoria. One of the men pulls out a pin on a metal globe. Suddenly, a corkscrew spike comes through a wall of a building next to the globe. The men grab Sir Archibald and force him onto the end of the corkscrew.
Struggling playwright Jules Verne is saving the playbill from his most recent play that closed after one performance. His friend and fellow artist Felix Nader joins him. Jules wonders if he should continue to write when none of his plays have been open for longer than three days. The two young men go to a cafe for a jug of wine to commiserate on the plight of the artist. Afterwards when Jules returns to his cold dark garret, he takes a moment to hang the playbill from his closed play and opens a window. A moment later, Jules hears a strange sound. Suddenly light pours through his window and a figure walks in through the opening.
After tossing Jules around a bit, Phileas Fogg demands to know why Jules wants to kill the Queen of England and why he designed a machine whose soul purpose is to eviscerate her. When Jules says he doesn't know what he is talking about, Phileas shoves one of Jules' drawings in his face. Jules claims that he hasn't designed anything, that it is a doodle. Phileas counters that Jules wouldn't say that if he had seen the man killed last night by the machine. Phileas throws a hard punch at the frightened Jules, knocks him out, and then carries him across a plank onto the dirigible Aurora that is hovering outside the window.
As a cloaked figure on horseback rides through the streets, vibrations come from under the surface. .Rebecca Fogg stops at the site of the murder, sheds her cloak and lowers herself into the sewer opening. Suddenly there is a strong vibration and she sees a machine with a giant corkscrew coming towards her through the sewers. She lifts herself to safety with only moments to spare.
When Jules revives, he finds himself tied to a chair in the Aurora. Passepartout is hovering in front of him with a cup of tea. Phileas is at the wheel of the dirigible. Hearing Jules' voice, he orders Passepartout to take the wheel and proceeds to interrogate the frightened Jules. Phileas says that Jules has a deranged mind. He accuses Jules of joining a conspiracy to assassinate the Queen. When Jules says he is innocent, Phileas replies that he has never met an innocent man in his life. Jules says if they are so worried about the Queen's safety, then they should cancel the planned meeting, but Phileas says the Queen believes the meeting is essential to peace. When Jules says change the meeting location, Phileas replies that the envoy who was killed had a list of alternate meeting places. Jules admits that he thinks he knows how the mole works and that he can do a drawing of a device that could detect the sonic vibrations from the mole. Phileas releases him and demands Jules produce the drawing, which the young man does. Jules explains that the device when vibrated will release sulfuric acid which can set fire to a fuse of a rocket or such. He suggests that they put them in the sewers. Passepartout reviews the plan, and says it should work and that he can produce a number of them.
After they land at the British Embassy, Jules and Passepartout are in the lab. Passepartout is intrigued with Jules' idea. A little while later after making the detection devices, Passepartout and Jules are in the sewers and begin placing the detectors. Above ground, Phileas and a French intelligence officer are setting up the rockets which will be released if the detectors work. Rebecca joins them, and Phileas and she discuss the mole detectors. They do not notice that an advisor, Henri Bellmain, who works with the Emperor, steals the paper with the detector drawing form the French intelligence officer's pack.
While Jules waits for Passepartout to return to the location of the last detector, the mole breaks through the street where he waits and stops in front of him. A Frenchwoman gets out of the device, gun in hand, and greets Jules by name. Then she forces him to get into the mole with her. Phileas and Passepartout arrive just in time to see what appears to be a compliant Jules entering the mole and disappearing beneath the street.
Inside the mole, Jules is strapped to a seat in the front. The lady captain demands that he tell her where he has placed the detectors. If he won't tell, she promises to send the full vibrations of the mole through Verne's seat.
On the Aurora, Phileas is angry that Jules made a fool of him. Passepartout is not so certain that he is a traitor. After Phileas leaves, Passepartout finds a mock up of a device that Jules had made and he recognizes it as something important.
On the mole, the lady captain is interrogating Jules. She explains that she belongs to a secret aristocratic society that has guided the fate of Europe for hundreds of years. They are currently trying to save Europe from democracy. She claims that they want only the wise and good to rule, not those who merely stir up the masses. She says that Jules' genius should be rewarded. She adds that they are there to kidnap the Queen in order to put France and England at odds for many years. Jules smiles as though he agrees with her ideas. Shortly afterwards, he marks on their maps where the devices are located in the sewers. There is one gap that he says is caused by a difficulty they had with the sewers. The mole goes to move through the gap.
Bellmain is leaving the dinner after he turns on a signaling globe. Rebecca and Phileas are both present and on the lookout for problems. As the mole passes through the supposed gap, a detector works and a rocket is released. Phileas and Rebecca evacuate the guests just in time.
On the Aurora, Phileas tells Passepartout that they need many more detectors as the Queen and the Emperor have gone to the Emperor's hunting lodge in the country. He admits to Passepartout that he has wronged Jules by thinking the young man was a traitor. Passepartout shows him a model of a device that might save Jules' life. Phileas asks simply what he can do to help.
The next day, the Aurora hovers over the hunting lodge. The mole is also on the grounds, the captain having deduced that they would continue the meeting outside the city. The meeting is progressing when Belmain turns on the signaling device and leaves the room. Rebecca becomes suspicious and picks up the briefcase the man left behind. She discovers the signaling device inside and chases after Bellmain with the device. She and Bellmain fight. She tosses the homing device to the man just as the mole surfaces and skewers him. Meanwhile, Phileas and Passepartout have activated the damping device that Passepartout has built form Jules' model and the mole stops moving.
Phileas is lowered to the ground and makes his way into the mole. He takes care of the the bad guys remaining inside, as Rebecca short circuits the machine from the outside. He releases Jules. When Rebecca enters the mole, she introduces herself to Jules and says they must be on first name basis since they are fighting on the same side.
Rebecca and Phileas take a battered Jules back to the Aurora. The Queen and the Emperor arrive and thank them for their help. The team then flies away on the Aurora.
