S17 (Conclusion): For the Good of Humanity!
6 Dec, 8pm: Dr. Cope may have been left behind at the planes, but he wasn’t working on them. His thoughts were still stuck in the landing descent when the visions swept thru the cabin and his mind. (Sanity failure: -6 points: Bout-of-Madness/Survival mode) “Yes, yes. The city murals. The story unfolding. World calamity! Those fools!” Robert clandestinely began gathering supplies before he slipped away. Stockpiling for his own survival, “Weapons, water, alcohol, pemmican. Damn, no cigars!” More visions flashed thru his thoughts, soon to realize, “The Elders are trying to stop the calamity. We humans are interfering! Those fools! The machine must be preserved. The tower is the key.” Robert trudged thru the snow toward the tower.
Following their trail was easy. He entered the same corner
of the tower and began to climb up the slippery slope. Easier once he saw the rope
they left behind. The murals were but a distraction; he knew the story. He
paused at the landing of discarded parkas, “Fools. Remove your leather armor.
Who cares if it’s hot.” When he reached the domed chamber with the map on the
floor, he had to pause to look. “Proof of plate tectonics and continental
drift.” He waved his hand over the hole in the floor feeling the pulsing, rising
heat. “The machine breathes. Still time to stop the fools.”
He entered the pentagonal chamber full of crystals and
began hearing voices…Dr. Lake! “What’s he trying to say?! Speak up!” Are you
warning me?” Robert leaned in to hear better. When he brushed against a
crystal, he sensed a subtle energy transfer that tickled his fingertips. He
began to understand the voice, when…”Boom!” A rifle report echoed from above.
He rushed toward the sound with his own rifle ready.
Acacia recoiled at the blast, not realizing it was a
rifle shot. She felt something splatter on her cheek at the same time she saw
Johann collapse. She clasped her hands to her face to scream when she realized half
his head was missing, “AAAGH!” She screamed louder when she felt her fingers
wet with blood and gore. At the same time, Albert dropped his camera in fright,
while Willard quickly raised his hands in surrender to Wilbur, “Don’t shoot
honky. I’m on your side.” As for Dr. Orendorf? He rushed to Johann’s side
thinking he could save him. Till he saw the German had lost his mind…literally.
“What?! Why?!”
Wilbur chambered another round as he didn’t realize his success,
“Didn’t you hear him?! Trying to steal the alien weaponry. For his Führer and
the Glory of the Reich. I had to stop him to save the world.”
Acacia sobbed as she wiped tears to admit, “He…he was here to exploit. I heard
him say the Führer would be pleased.” And that’s when
all heard noise from below. Except Wilbur too focused on his kill. Oskar hid.
Robert could hear them talking. He lowered his parka hood
and removed his breathing mask to steady his aim as he peered around the corner.
To see someone dead! A frightened Acacia backed against the wall, Albert with a
pistol drawn but at his side, Willard with his hands up and Oskar missing,
while Wilbur held a smoking rifle. HE had killed the doctor! Robert steadied
his aim and fired. Wilbur collapsed unconscious with a major wound. Oskar came
out of hiding to rush to his newest patient, kicking the rifle out of his reach
first. Only then did Robert comprehend, “I thought THAT was you dead. Who is
that lying dead? Dr. Meyer? Leave Wilbur alone; let him bleed out. He’s here to awaken the
god and end the world.” Oskar ignored the threat, “Are you crazy?!”
Willard made the mistake of lowering his hands to
explain, “We just want to rescue Mr. Starkweather and Charles.” The movement
refocused Robert as he raised his rifle barrel, “No one move. NO ONE touch
anything. No switches, buttons, levers. We’ll go see if James was put into the machine
itself.” Simultaneous replies, “Put into the machine?!”
Wilbur woke to the sight of Oskar knelling over him. He
saw Robert holding a rifle, “Did you get it?! The Elder who shot me with its
ray-gun? I told you I’d come for you if there was trouble at the plane. I’m
glad to see you responded to my gunshot. The German was planning to take over the
world. I stopped him. Did you take care of Hermann and Maxwell back at the
planes?”
Oskar slung Wilbur’s rifle over his own shoulder as he
nudged against Albert, “I added a mild sedative to his treatment. If you’ll
please help Wilbur come with us.” They climbed one more level to the repeated
instructions, “Don’t touch anything.” Which was difficult to avoid considering
white-leafed vines covered everything. They edged around the scattered rubble on the floor from the
damaged pentagonal chambers, as howling winds outside the tower buffeted them. [Botany]
Wilbur finally took time to become a scientist as he stared at the white/fleshy
strange plants: no sunlight so no photosynthesis. Fungi?
The passage leading up narrowed. Cold. Humid. Clammy.
More crystals that seemed to whisper to each individual: Wilbur heard Johann’s
German accent; Robert heard his best friend and professor, Dr. Lake; Oskar
heard his father.
The next landing was even more damaged than the last. A
gray light from above pulsed but was not reflected in these crystals, broken and black. Lifeless. Despite the opening to the outside, all could hear
the rhythmic “Woosh, woosh, woosh” as if the thrumming of an engine. Which
delighted Robert, “The machine! Still running.”
And that’s when Wilbur noticed the strange plant tendrils
dipped into bags hanging at intervals. Like a greenhouse where the Elders cared
for the plants. Wilbur got Albert to edge toward a bag for closer [Chemistry] inspection,
“I wonder what they feed them?” Mistake. Wilbur touched a leaf: electrical
shock. Every synapse in his body fired at once. To the others, he was having a seizure.
For Wilbur: it was if he’d plugged his brain into a computer and was getting an
enormous download. German accent version.
[The Elders built this as a god-trap. This is a giant
machine to imprison a god held below. Currently asleep. But if the machine
fails, it will awake and destroy the world. Every human mind will be consumed. Earthquakes
have damaged the machine. You MUST keep the machine operating. It needs living
matter. Sentient. Human neural matter is better than animal. But all wither and
die and must be replaced. It must be preserved at all cost. It must be
replenished.]
The others tried to talk to Wilbur but he was
unresponsive. Catatonic. “Doc, I think your drugs kicked in.” But Wilbur was in
an internal struggle. Alien thoughts skewed by the German accent. Could he
trust the mental images? Was Johann invading his thoughts? Robert cursed, “He
touched the machine! I told you, no-one touches the machine.”
Once again, Albert helped support Wilbur as they
continued. Up thru a tangle of vines, till the path became clearer and void of
the crystals. Willard led the procession till he stopped in his tracks, “Holy
Mary, sweet Mother of God!” Acacia released an unholy scream. Albert stood as a
twin to Wilbur: both catatonic.
Before them: a 30ft column of skulls. A mixture of
animals (walrus, penguin, polar bear, dinosaur, human). The unescapable
realization: eye-level before them was the face of James Starkweather. His eyes
blinking in a possible Morse-code, his mouth opening and closing without
sounds. Sound was provided by the witnesses expressing utter horror. As they
also recognized Charles Myers; also without torso. All Sanity ‘left the
building.’ Acacia slowly approached James as she sobbed, “You stupid fool.”
Willard looked at Robert, “THIS is your machine?!”
Acacia began tugging at Robert’s forearm, “For the love of God, PLEASE put him out of his misery.” But the Paleontologist brushed her off, “I said no-one messes with the machine. It must remain operating to save humanity.” Oskar kind of concurred, “If we cut him down, he dies.” Acacia implored, “That’s a good thing.” And that’s when a splorping sound caught their attention. A brownish/greyish ooze slid over and around the skull tower, leaving a slimy trail in its wake as it seemed to flow over each face and skull tending to their care.
Shoggoth eyes… https://twitter.com/i/status/1184141226540355584
Multiple eyes appeared across its surface. Those who had
read Pym’s journal realized it was a Shoggoth! Those not already insane, had
another opportunity.
Acacia pulled out her own small-caliber pistol and fired
3 rounds into James’ face. The Shoggoth eyes quickly plinked out of sight. The
Tower itself began to rumble. And Wilbur was just as suddenly caught-up in a
storm of visions… overlapping flashes of other times and places. Much like the
visions as the plane flew thru the sweeping tower beacon: a jungle with no
tower, pre-history of the planet forming, the cities growing and expanding in dimension
and complexity, the tower rising, something malevolent being pulled down from the
heavens, imprisoned and asleep, but now becoming aware. Everything coming apart
only to coalesce back into shape. A glimpse into the future?
Robert (who lost another 4 sanity points despite his
already Indefinite Insanity) raised his rifle and snap-fired at Acacia. Miss.
Wilbur mentally returned to the land of the living, “Golgotha: the place of
skulls from the bible. We must restore order. We must replace James. We need live
brain matter.” Chaos. Willard pointed his rifle at Robert, “Put it down.” He
didn’t count on Acacia reacting as she returned fire at Cope. Missed. Oskar unslung
his rifle and pointed it at Acacia then the others, “Everyone calm down!”
Wilbur revealed, “We missed it. There is a room below
where the Elders prepared the heads. We must go there.” Oskar showed off his
own insanity as he calmly offered, “I will sacrifice myself.” Robert smiled as
Wilbur nodded at the reasonable offer. Acacia could only shudder in revolt as
she watched the Shoggoth return to crawl over James’ face as if trying to
repair the damage.
One floor below, thru a different pentagonal chamber, they
came upon the room. White-leaf vines hung from holes in the ceiling. A single pentagonal
block altar occupied the center of the room. Its top at a 45-degree angle as if
offering an easier access. A tub was placed in front of the altar.
And that’s when Robert raised his rifle, aimed, and shot
Acacia in the back, “Sorry doc; here’s our sacrifice.” Except his aim … headshot
instant death. Wilbur screamed, “I said LIVING brain matter!” When Oskar dove
for cover, Robert swung the rifle at Willard, “Either I shoot you or you willingly
get up on that table.” Willard stood his ground, “You fucking cracker!” He
calmly raised his own rifle…Robert fired first: a major chest wound but Willard
was alive and breathing.
Albert lost it. He released Wilbur (who crumbled to the floor)
and drew his own pistol. Another miss. Robert touched his bleeding ear, “Don’t
you see?! I’m trying to fix the machine.” Wilbur knew what his compatriot was doing, as he reached into his jacket and found the flaregun. Close range,
at Albert’s feet, can’t miss. But he did. The flaring slug ricocheted off
Albert’s gut and into the ceiling, catching a few plant fronds on fire. Enough
distraction that Willard got off his own shot…Robert crumpled to the ground
dead. Oskar came to Willard’s side to heal his wounds. Wilbur screamed, “What
are you doing?! Put him on the table.” Willard gritted his teeth in reply, “Get
your own white ass up there.”
Wilbur complied, scrambling on his knees away from Albert
then to his feet then onto the table. It was like he was instantly sucked onto the
table as his body went numb and the table leveled. No-one knew how the thing
worked. So, all were shocked when another Shoggoth blob oozed from the tub at
the foot of the table. It flowed over the paralyzed Wilbur. Numb, unable to
move. But he could speak…screaming at the top of his lungs till his mouth and
lungs were no more. Reduced to his brain, brain-stem, and spinal cord. A fully preserved
central-nervous system. An audience of dropped jaws.
Willard [Sanity 94; -7 points: Insane] grabbed Oskar’s
arm, “You know what we have to do. We can’t let those things in the tower out
of here.” And that’s when 3 Elders appeared. One awkwardly waddled over to the table
and collected Wilbur's remains which it placed in a bowl (top half of a human skull)
before turning to go up to the skull tower.
As Albert dropped his rifle in submission, Oskar pulled
out his pointy-talky sign he’d written in Elder-script. The 2 remaining Elders
began fluting back and form. They pointed to Willard then the table.
Submission. Griffith accepted his fate and dug out a bottle of Russian vodka, “I
was saving this to celebrate our success.” Oskar offered condolences, “I was
hoping one sacrifice was enough. It was a pleasure knowing you.”
The table scene was repeated. Willard held out longer
before his screams echoed thru the room. Another bowl was carried up the ramp.
Oskar was pointed at next; so, he gifted Willards items and his own Elder stone
and flash of Scotch to Albert. “I can only hope they leave one of us to warn
mankind.”
But that was not to be. Five new heads were installed on
skull tower.
EPILOGUE
Tremors cracked the river ice. The Germans (Hermann and Maxwell)
pulled pistols on the Americans as they hijacked the Enderby. Doug
pulled his own pistol on Gil, “Sorry girl but I can’t trust you.” He tied her
up before climbing into the rickety Bell and took off. Leaving Gil
Maskill to seek refuge in the tower. Where she became a 6th new head
added to the tower.
The Germans flew back over the city and thru the gap in
the Mountains to then turn toward a secret nearby German cache camp. Where they
refueled and resupplied and rested for their return flight to their support ship.
But they didn’t expect Doug to escape and follow them.
And land near their cache camp. Such that, in the middle of the night, he
killed the Germans in their sleep. He slept soundly. And in the morning, rose
to fly back to the S&M support ship, Gabrielle. If only he’d
properly warmed the engines. They froze up in flight. He crashed on a desolate
stretch of ice. Another lost soul on Antarctica.
As Dr. Cope's body fell to the ground, from the pocket of the parka he wore, a piece of paper fluttered to the ground and landed just shy of the rifle resting beside his corpse. A letter, written to Professor Lake's wife. Three words, "I was right!"
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