Imperial Bureau of Cultural Oversight
Confidential Dossier: Subject 44-Δ
Name: Thomas L. Black
Occupation: Writer of speculative fictions, journalist (former)
Age: 55
Domicile: 1127 Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, Imperial Protectorate
Origin and Background
Subject is the surviving son of Irish immigrants. Father operated a brassworks until destroyed in the Great Earthquake (1906). Family never recovered economically; subject raised among ruins of the Mission District. Noteworthy: subject exhibits unusual mechanical aptitude (documented sketches of steam-driven typewriters, unlicensed printing presses, and automata).
Subject began career as pamphleteer for dockworkers. Records confirm circulation of satirical tracts (1912–1918) ridiculing both American corporate barons and occupying officers. Surveillance indicated wide popularity among stevedores, machinists, and lower-rank Imperial soldiers. Imperial Prefecture ordered publications suppressed (Directive 1921).
Current Activities
Transitioned to fiction in 1923. Principal work, The Velvet Conspiracy, has acquired troubling readership across Protectorate. Ostensibly a “steampunk romance,” but analysis shows clear allegory: Imperial airship fleet mirrored by “velvet dirigibles,” secret police by “iron clerks,” cabaret courtesans functioning as coded symbols for dissident agents.
Despite censorship, book circulates in both sanctioned Japanese editions (heavily redacted) and unauthorized English manuscripts. Subject rumored to read chapters aloud in North Beach salons, where officers and local elites gather. These salons encourage fraternization, opium consumption, and unregulated debate. Subject is charismatic, skilled raconteur.
Personality Assessment
• Appearance: Tall, slightly stooped; velvet waistcoat, silver-headed cane, smoked spectacles. Often in company of musicians, failed actors, or women of ambiguous loyalties.
• Disposition: Courteous but evasive under questioning. Capable of humor even when confronted. Demonstrates loyalty to San Francisco above all nations.
• Influence: Considerable. Especially admired by foreign intellectuals, visiting German engineers, and disaffected youth of mixed heritage.
Threat Analysis
Subject employs fiction as cover for subversion. Investigators note that The Velvet Conspiracy’s heroine is modeled after a known informant, suggesting dangerous access to Imperial intelligence networks. Possible sympathies with underground resistance factions (unproven).
Surveillance reports (April–June 1925): Subject hosted gatherings where pneumatic-tube schematics were discussed openly; conversation intercepted included references to sabotage of fuel depots. Subject did not intervene.
Recommendation
Maintain continuous observation. Censor future publications heavily. Consider covert recruitment, as subject’s influence might be redirected toward Imperial loyalty. If recruitment fails, neutralization should remain an option.
Filed: Office of Cultural Oversight, San Francisco Prefecture
Stamped: Eyes of the Empire See All
Read the whole story in the novel “The Velvet Conspiracy” available now on Amazon.
