Lost Boys (Mortal Engines)
Encyclopedia
The Lost Boys are a shadowy, fictional organisation which appears in the Mortal Engines Quartet written by Philip Reeve
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of Arkangel, running engines, salvage yards, agriculture etc. Uncle was given control of a salvage yard and was in charge of the slaves working there. However, Uncle fell in love with a slave there named Anna Fang
. He gave her the best food and made sure all the hard work was kept from her. He gave her presents and planned to marry her. However, Anna Fang was secretly building an airship, on the pretext that Uncle had ordered it. She sold her presents to buy fuel and gas for her airship and one day escaped. Uncle was arrested for aiding a slave escape and banished on to the Ice Wastes with nothing.
Uncle then took up with a band of scavengers who were looting the wreck of Grimsby, a Traction City which had recently sunk into the ocean. He killed them and went to Grimsby, from where he began to rob things from passing cities. He also began to steal information from them: he had vowed that no one would keep a secret from him again. The Lost Boys were born.
come aboard, they are nearly found out and have to be much more cautious. However, when Hester storms out from Anchorage after she sees Tom and Freya kissing, Caul risks the limpet and his position as limpet Commander to warn Tom. In doing so, he breaks Uncle's main rule: don't get caught. Skewer takes control of the limpet, and soon after an order comes from Uncle in Grimsby to kidnap Tom and take him back to Grimsby. However, by this time Tom has realised who the Lost Boys are and is about to alert the city. The Boys capture him in time and escape narrowly from Anchorage.
They take Tom back to Grimsby where Uncle informs him of Hester's imprisonment by the Green Storm
. Tom and the Lost Boys agree to help free Hester and they go to Rogue's Roost where she is being held captive. However, Uncle has his own reasons for going to the Roost. He has learned that Anna Fang, the slave who led to his downfall in Arkangel, has died and that the Green Storm are attempting to turn her into a Stalker
. Uncle sends his best Lost Boys there, to try and steal her. The Boys send Tom into the building, under the pretence of rescuing Hester, as a diversion so they can plant bombs in the base. They in turn plan to use the bombs as a diversion so they can get into the laboratory where the stalker is being kept. However, Caul, who has learned that Tom is merely being used and will be killed, detonates the bombs before they are in position. The others have no choice but to go in. They reach the lab, but are easily killed by the stalker. The remnants of the Lost Boys flee back to Grimsby.
When Caul gets back to Grimsby, he is sentenced to a slow death by hanging
for ruining Uncle's plans. However, Gargle, a boy who was with Caul on Anchorage, frees him and gives him a map which shows the way to America. Caul steals a limpet and sets off for Anchorage. He gives the map to the Anchorites and they use it to find a green place in America, formerly known as the Dead Continent, where they become a static settlement.
publishes Predators Gold and spoils the Lost Boys secret (though most of it is untrue). When Caul refuses to help him, he turns to Wren Natsworthy
for help. She agrees and gives him the Tin Book in return for taking her to the outside world. However the deals goes wrong and Hester has to shoot Gargle and Remora. Fishcake however drags Wren aboard and escapes. Onboard, Wren learns that for months Lost Boys and their limpets have been disappearing. Soon they receive a message from the seemingly harmless raft city Brighton, saying that the Lost Boys parents are on board and wish to see them. However when they approach it they capture the limpet and take Wren and Fishcake as prisoners. It is soon revealed that Brighton has been having the Lost Boy limpets captured and the Lost Boys sold as slaves. Fishcake betrays the Lost Boys and gives away the position of Grimsby. As a result Brighton bombs Grimsby and scares up the last few limpets.
Meanwhile Tom, Hester, Caul and Freya go to Grimsby to rescue Wren only to find Grimsby has been bombed by and is mostly in wreckage. The bigger boys got into fights and killed each other, leaving only the newly kidnapped Lost Boys and Girls alive. Uncle is now an old man and is delighted to see Caul, however he is angered to find girls are now in Grimsby, including Freya and Hester. Through the conversation it becomes evident that Gargle has been deceiving Uncle all this time, taking advantage of Uncle's old age, addled mind and short-sightedness to take change the manner of the Lost Boys' operations (for example by letting girls into Grimsby by telling Uncle they were boys, since Uncle cannot distinguish boys from girls with his short-sighted eyes). Caul pretends to be on Uncle's side as Uncle is old and needs help. However, Uncle soon comes out and attacks them with a gun. He shoots at a what he thinks is Freya, which is really a television screen with her face on it. As a result a mass of televisions fall down on Uncle, crushing him. Freya and Caul take the surviving children back to Anchorage and adopt them while Tom and Hester go after Wren. Eventually Grimsby rusts in and is flooded with water.
When Brighton is attacked by the Green Storm
, Hester gives a trapped Lost Boy a key. The Lost Boys free themselves from their cages and Fishcake jumps overboard and smiwns to shore to escape the Lost Boys vengeance. The Lost Boys sail away on Brighton.
Fishcake and the Stalker Fang find a large number of limpets, which are now being used by the Lost Boys to run tours for tourists to 'see the city from underneath' for money. However, they have been spotted by a Lost Boy named Brittlestar and his gang, who regard Fishcake as a traitor as he told Nabisco Shkin (from the last book) where to find Grimsby, which led to the capture of many Lost Boys. However, the Stalker Fang kills them all and she and Fishcake escape on a limpet, the Spider Baby. The remaining Lost Boys in Brighton are not mentioned after that.
Philip Reeve
Philip Reeve is a British author and illustrator. He presently lives on Dartmoor with his wife Sarah and their son Samuel.-Biography:...
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Beginnings of the Lost Boys
The leader of the Lost Boys is a man called Stilton Kael, known to the boys as Uncle. The Kael Family was a wealthy and powerful family on the Traction CityTraction City
In Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet, Traction Cities are vast metropolises built on tiers that are capable of moving on gigantic wheels and caterpillar tracks. These cities hunt smaller cities which in turn hunt towns which in turn hunt villages and static settlements...
of Arkangel, running engines, salvage yards, agriculture etc. Uncle was given control of a salvage yard and was in charge of the slaves working there. However, Uncle fell in love with a slave there named Anna Fang
Anna Fang
Anna Fang is a character in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet. Her name may be derived from the German "anfang" meaning beginning.-Mortal Engines:Anna is introduced as a friendly Asian aviator who helps Tom Natsworthy and Hester Shaw escape slavery...
. He gave her the best food and made sure all the hard work was kept from her. He gave her presents and planned to marry her. However, Anna Fang was secretly building an airship, on the pretext that Uncle had ordered it. She sold her presents to buy fuel and gas for her airship and one day escaped. Uncle was arrested for aiding a slave escape and banished on to the Ice Wastes with nothing.
Uncle then took up with a band of scavengers who were looting the wreck of Grimsby, a Traction City which had recently sunk into the ocean. He killed them and went to Grimsby, from where he began to rob things from passing cities. He also began to steal information from them: he had vowed that no one would keep a secret from him again. The Lost Boys were born.
Organisation and Methods
The Lost Boys are young boys between the ages of 8 and about 20, kidnapped from various Traction Cities. They are then taken Grimsby where they are trained in a place called the Burglarium, until they are considered skilful enough to go their first mission. The boys are sent in groups depending on the size of the mission, usually in twos or threes when robbing ordinary cities. They use limpets, a kind of submarine, to travel to their host city where they clamp, hidden underneath it. The Boys then board the city stealthily and begin to take peoples' possessions, stowing them in their limpets' hold. Once the hold is full or after a set period of time, the Boys detach the limpet from the city and sail back to Grimsby. The Lost boys are built on a hierarchical system, with the oldest and most experienced Boys at the top, getting the best rooms, limpets etc. while the trainees or the Boys who have broken the rules at the bottom.Technology
The most used piece of technology by the Lost Boys is the Crab-Cam, which is basically a remote controlled camera on legs. They are used by the Boys to spy on cities in order to know when it is safe to start burgling. The limpets used by the Boys to travel in are like giant submarines used as control rooms by the Boys when on a mission. The limpets also contain Message-Fish, mechanical fishes installed with Stalker brains, which are used to take messages and reports between a limpet and Grimsby over long distances.Predator's Gold
The Lost Boys first appear in Predator's Gold when they are robbing the Traction City, Anchorage. Three boys, Caul, Skewer and Gargle, are burgling the almost deserted city, whose inhabitants suspect ghosts are haunting it. When Tom Natsworthy and Hester ShawHester Shaw
Hester Shaw is a fictional character from Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet who has terrible facial scarring, due to an attack from Thaddeus Valentine when Hester was a child.-Personality:...
come aboard, they are nearly found out and have to be much more cautious. However, when Hester storms out from Anchorage after she sees Tom and Freya kissing, Caul risks the limpet and his position as limpet Commander to warn Tom. In doing so, he breaks Uncle's main rule: don't get caught. Skewer takes control of the limpet, and soon after an order comes from Uncle in Grimsby to kidnap Tom and take him back to Grimsby. However, by this time Tom has realised who the Lost Boys are and is about to alert the city. The Boys capture him in time and escape narrowly from Anchorage.
They take Tom back to Grimsby where Uncle informs him of Hester's imprisonment by the Green Storm
Green Storm
In Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet, the Green Storm is a fanatical splinter group of the Anti-Traction League, which ends up in control of the League...
. Tom and the Lost Boys agree to help free Hester and they go to Rogue's Roost where she is being held captive. However, Uncle has his own reasons for going to the Roost. He has learned that Anna Fang, the slave who led to his downfall in Arkangel, has died and that the Green Storm are attempting to turn her into a Stalker
Stalker (Philip Reeve)
The Stalkers are a type of combatants mentioned in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines, Predator's Gold, Infernal Devices and A Darkling Plain. They are also known as the Resurrected Men. The Stalkers were built by the Nomadic Empires that battled each other across the volcano maze of what was once...
. Uncle sends his best Lost Boys there, to try and steal her. The Boys send Tom into the building, under the pretence of rescuing Hester, as a diversion so they can plant bombs in the base. They in turn plan to use the bombs as a diversion so they can get into the laboratory where the stalker is being kept. However, Caul, who has learned that Tom is merely being used and will be killed, detonates the bombs before they are in position. The others have no choice but to go in. They reach the lab, but are easily killed by the stalker. The remnants of the Lost Boys flee back to Grimsby.
When Caul gets back to Grimsby, he is sentenced to a slow death by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
for ruining Uncle's plans. However, Gargle, a boy who was with Caul on Anchorage, frees him and gives him a map which shows the way to America. Caul steals a limpet and sets off for Anchorage. He gives the map to the Anchorites and they use it to find a green place in America, formerly known as the Dead Continent, where they become a static settlement.
Infernal Devices
Caul, the former Lost Boy, has settled in Anchorage-in-Vineland though he is viewed as strange by the other citizens. Gargle, his former crewmate, is still a Lost Boy and sails to Anchorage in search of the Tin Book with two other Lost Boys, Fishcake and Remora, a girl. Gargle reveals that he has more power than Uncle does now, and has removed the meaner boys who always used to surround Uncle and has also started taking girls as well as boys. It is also revealed that the Lost Boys secret was ruined when Nimrod PennyroyalNimrod Pennyroyal
Nimrod Pennyroyal is a recurring character in the Mortal Engines Quartet, written by Philip Reeve. He is first introduced in Predator's Gold and remains a major character for the rest of the series....
publishes Predators Gold and spoils the Lost Boys secret (though most of it is untrue). When Caul refuses to help him, he turns to Wren Natsworthy
Wren Natsworthy
Wren Natsworthy is a character from Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet, appearing in the last two books.-Family and friends:Her father is Tom Natsworthy and her mother is Hester Shaw and by the end of A Darkling Plain, she has become engaged to Theo Ngoni. Her best friend is Tildy Smew, a girl...
for help. She agrees and gives him the Tin Book in return for taking her to the outside world. However the deals goes wrong and Hester has to shoot Gargle and Remora. Fishcake however drags Wren aboard and escapes. Onboard, Wren learns that for months Lost Boys and their limpets have been disappearing. Soon they receive a message from the seemingly harmless raft city Brighton, saying that the Lost Boys parents are on board and wish to see them. However when they approach it they capture the limpet and take Wren and Fishcake as prisoners. It is soon revealed that Brighton has been having the Lost Boy limpets captured and the Lost Boys sold as slaves. Fishcake betrays the Lost Boys and gives away the position of Grimsby. As a result Brighton bombs Grimsby and scares up the last few limpets.
Meanwhile Tom, Hester, Caul and Freya go to Grimsby to rescue Wren only to find Grimsby has been bombed by and is mostly in wreckage. The bigger boys got into fights and killed each other, leaving only the newly kidnapped Lost Boys and Girls alive. Uncle is now an old man and is delighted to see Caul, however he is angered to find girls are now in Grimsby, including Freya and Hester. Through the conversation it becomes evident that Gargle has been deceiving Uncle all this time, taking advantage of Uncle's old age, addled mind and short-sightedness to take change the manner of the Lost Boys' operations (for example by letting girls into Grimsby by telling Uncle they were boys, since Uncle cannot distinguish boys from girls with his short-sighted eyes). Caul pretends to be on Uncle's side as Uncle is old and needs help. However, Uncle soon comes out and attacks them with a gun. He shoots at a what he thinks is Freya, which is really a television screen with her face on it. As a result a mass of televisions fall down on Uncle, crushing him. Freya and Caul take the surviving children back to Anchorage and adopt them while Tom and Hester go after Wren. Eventually Grimsby rusts in and is flooded with water.
When Brighton is attacked by the Green Storm
Green Storm
In Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet, the Green Storm is a fanatical splinter group of the Anti-Traction League, which ends up in control of the League...
, Hester gives a trapped Lost Boy a key. The Lost Boys free themselves from their cages and Fishcake jumps overboard and smiwns to shore to escape the Lost Boys vengeance. The Lost Boys sail away on Brighton.
A Darkling Plain
When the ex-Lost Boy Fishcake and the Stalkerised Anna Fang are searching for transport to Erdene Tzah, they go to Brighton to steal a limpet. There it is discovered that the Lost Boys have taken over the upper and lower tiers of Brighton (although the middle tiers are practically untouched) and have formed gangs consisting of captured inhabitants of Brighton and other Lost Boys. The Lost Boys' brainwashing from their time with Uncle has not worn off, so they are now more psychotic and some have become frantic in their attempts to reunite with Grimsby and Uncle (not knowing that both are destroyed)to the point that something as small as a hat becomes a vital clue to Uncle for them. Crab-cams are often used by the Lost Boys to spy on each other (and sometimes try to destroy the crab-cams of others) and the non-enslaved populace have grown used to their presence. The city still is a holiday location for people who want to have an adventure by meeting 'real pirates' and for artists who believe they can somehow gain inspiration from the city.Fishcake and the Stalker Fang find a large number of limpets, which are now being used by the Lost Boys to run tours for tourists to 'see the city from underneath' for money. However, they have been spotted by a Lost Boy named Brittlestar and his gang, who regard Fishcake as a traitor as he told Nabisco Shkin (from the last book) where to find Grimsby, which led to the capture of many Lost Boys. However, the Stalker Fang kills them all and she and Fishcake escape on a limpet, the Spider Baby. The remaining Lost Boys in Brighton are not mentioned after that.