From A Strange Device

This is my first blog ever. I don't have any background in writing, buy my blog is a weekly short story. I decided to call it Unsettled Tales. Unsettled in the sense of each post being no specific length or genre. Each one stands on it's own unconnected to any other. If response is good, I'll continue to write. Let's dive right in with the first one:

From A Strange Device

It is strange how as time passes the memories we have can fold over upon themselves. What was once a truth can become bent and twisted into wholly new dimensions. Yet at the same time one distinct event can stand out in one’s life as a singularity, be it intensely traumatic or positive.  

It was my contention that these singular events anchored individuals via their consciousness to those dimensional points in time. I contended that if we could access another’s mind and find that point locked within the subconscious we could via new technology, use the mind as a portal to enter that dimension, or quite possibly travel in time to that location and affect reality as we know it. 

My scientific colleagues laughed at my ideas and scoffed at me. I was labelled quickly as someone who practiced pseudoscience, a mockery of the scientific method held dear by these austere individuals. It was shortly after I presented a paper on remote viewing that I was released from the university and returned back into mainstream society. 

  

I wondered, what was one such as myself to do for profit? I was quickly running short of funds and would soon be penniless with no one to turn to. Fortunately, I soon discovered that humanity had immersed itself in the new fad of spiritualism. Although I was scorned by the scientific community, those interested in spiritualism I soon found to be fascinated by my research on consciousness, and the idea of brain to brain transmission or even astral projection. I was quick to take advantage of the situation. 

People paid handsomely for my speaking engagements. It allowed me the money to travel, interview those that caught my interest, and to some extent continue my research. It was, while I was in the town of G______, after one of my presentations, that I was approached by Matthew Kenwald. He was late forties, greying slightly at the temples with an almost comical, large, bushy mustache.  However, his demeanor was nothing but serious. 

We immediately struck up a friendship, as he was intelligent and we had much in common. We found ourselves soon talking in depth, late into the night. His tale was fascinating. As a young child, his parents were killed in a horrible fire. Only he had been saved and afterwards was raised by a wealthy uncle who had recently passed. He had always had an interest in the new technologies that science was providing. He had used a portion of his new money to build a personal workshop of sorts on the estate inherited from the uncle. Tied in with his technical interests was a new attraction for spiritualism.  

He was incredibly interested in the development of an electrical transmitter of sorts which could allow an individual to tap into the consciousness of another person, perhaps even a recently deceased person. This concept would then, as I suggested, allow one to visit the points of singularity within someone else’s life. The true test would be to see if these points could be used to manipulate our physical world in some form. We agreed to form a collaboration and as my current tour was winding up, I agreed to come to his estate and stay for a prolonged period of research. 

His home was a large, old plantation property. Not far from the main house, almost hidden amongst the trees was the workshop. A low brick building with glass windows letting in the light along the sides and with a large skylight which could be opened to let in the cool evening breezes. It was deeper on the inside by about fifteen feet, as when you entered there was a set of stairs going down, almost like entering an empty manufactured water pool. He had fitted the workshop for his electrical experiments, but a medium sized area was soon easily afforded myself by simply moving about some large pieces of equipment. When my books arrived, we set up shelving.  

So began our months of research and collaboration, with many long days and late nights. Any observer would wonder what possessed these two gentlemen to do this, most of all Matthew’s housekeeper who quite often was required to deliver our meals when we did not appear on time at her set table. She would scold and chide us about our unhealthy behavior until we made promises of better manners in the future. As soon as she set out for the house again we would make fun of the old crow. I was much happier than I had been for some time. 

We began to develop the early stages of a plan, and designed a cap of sorts, made of leather but with points for electrical contact affixed inside in particular places to align with specific areas of the brain. Matthew was incredibly innovative. He had acquired a player piano at one point in the past. It sat in the corner, dust covered, but occasionally we would play songs on it as we worked. We wondered for the longest time, how we were to pass distinct electrical information to these contacts within our cap as we desired to apply patterns of information to our subject, record the result and thus further map the human consciousness. We had taken a brief break and I decided to place a roll in the piano, but no sooner had I began to pump the pedals, than Matthew, his eyes alight was grabbing my arms. 

“That’s it!” He exclaimed, “This old thing is the key we’ve been looking for!” 

I did not quite understand, but he pointed out necessary modifications here and there to the machinery and we quickly worked out how to affix our cap to the old piano, working out the necessary voltage and amperage for each contact. Eventually we had a device where we could place a patterned roll of our own design. By being seated and pumping the pedals, the roll would feed the pattern to the contacts in the cap. It was at this point our work took that next leap forward in mapping consciousness and the electrical sensations within our own minds were read by each other and we began to record our findings.  

We passed into the next stage of work, measuring test subjects from around the village, who were more than willing when receiving a bit of pay for this. At the same time our findings grew we began to develop a similar machine which could read our subjects mental patterns which we determined also had an electrical nature to them. We began with the same style mechanism, but this soon developed into a sheet of thin foil. We used a mechanical needle which traced out the subjects patterns onto the foil, which was fed from one roll to another. In this way we developed recordings of consciousness which could be stored and studied. It was fascinating work. 

We now had a method to both pass information to and from a human mind and could influence that via ourselves, a third party. This was the initial stages of research. We spent the next eight years recording, researching, studying. At the same time we performed experiments in brain to brain transmission, astral projection, extra sensory perception, and all other manner of concepts. We made trips far and wide, visiting men who called themselves fakirs, shaman, and all kind of masters of these mental techniques. I admit freely that we experimented and indulged ourselves during these trips with many chemical enhancers. We made use of cocaine, opium, laudanum, marijuana, and homemade chloral hydrate to name a few. I had some amazing peyote experiences shared with indigenous American peoples.  

  There reached a point where I realized Matthew had become an addict and I feared he might become mad as a result. This led to a lengthy setback in our work. I was able to bring him back, but it was one of my most arduous journeys. Myself and the housekeeper had to watch him in turns over this period, locking him within an empty chamber of his own house with nothing but a mattress. His screams and the discovery each day of fresh claw marks both on the walls and his own skin will forever haunt me. The old housekeeper blamed me in part and began to look at me with a glaring hatred. After this experience, Matthew was more gaunt, different and of a fragile nature. It took both of our exertions to convince the housekeeper to come around and regain the previous relationship. 

We delved deeper into our work. We could now recognize and pinpoint the singularities within peoples lives via our devices. We knew when to intervene but not exactly how to intervene. We thought the key was the drugs but didn’t realize it was only part of the necessary mechanism overall. It was the housekeeper who broke this for us one day while delivering a late lunch of sandwiches with beer. She bustled about, bristling at us both, “I don’t pretend to understand why you must ruin your health and play nonsense with all of your scientific mumbity jumbo! Why you can’t be like normal folks and just go visit a medium I don’t understand. They do the same as you without all of this scattered mess around! Then they get it out of their systems and go home and sit down to a nice supper on time!” 

We decided we did need a medium. One could breach into the consciousness in the manner we were seeking. The country was full of charlatans and deceitful scamps claiming to be able to contact dead loved ones, channel spirits, or find lost items. We had seen much in our journeys, and decided that we could design a form of electrical medium ourselves. This sounds far fetched I am sure to any reader, but Matthew ever resourceful, was able to obtain something special from a friend of his uncles, a prototype for a spirit phone. It had never worked for the father of the lightbulb, but we researched many modifications and corresponded with the gentleman until we believed we perfected the machine we desired.  

Now we had everything in place as desired and a new form of experimentation began. It was not a good idea to use the local people for this, because the very nature would lend talk and superstition within the village. We did not want the negative publicity. We therefore placed an advertisement in a distant northern newspaper and after a number of weeks began to receive visitors for periodic stays. We had learned how to place myself as a host and a subject into a trance like state with the use of a combination of drugs. Matthew, due to his addictive nature could never take my place as host.We could then, using our new devices, mentally connect into their consciousness, through our two linked, leather, electrical caps, much like a parasite host, then merge the host mind with the subject. It became like one singular brain, creating a recorded pattern, manipulated and guided by Matthew. 

As host I could see flickering images, fleeting memories and hear voices. As time went on I could pierce deeper into these minds. I experienced amazing new memories which lingered after the sessions. A man who fell from a horse, a woman assaulted in a dark alley by two vagrants when she was a young girl, a rescue from drowning, a first kiss from a now dead lover; these were but a few. It was difficult containing these false memories, and hard to become more than one person. Yet I needed to continue. We needed to make our next breakthrough. The opportunity came with the arrival of an old man. 

The old man came from the coast, responding to our advert. He was excited, he said because in his early years he had grown up in the village, although at this late stage in his life, none were left now who would recognize him. This trip was an opportunity though to revisit and recapture certain times from his youth. An exciting idea formed around him, and we could not wait to get started on our next session. Soon we had things set in place and the old man and myself had entered into our trance condition. As the electrical contacts merged my mind to his, the images began to appear in my head.  

I could see memories from within the village clearly, such as giving flowers to a pretty girl outside a local shop, drinking with friends at the pub, and hikes through the nearby woods long ago. It was the memory of the pub that interested me the most. I began to project myself as distinct as I could within the scene. I could smell the odors, and hear the sounds of conversation and mugs hitting the tables. I forced control over my manifested self and found a seat alone at a table in the corner. Next to the table, on the floor, gone unnoticed was a shard of glass. Someone most likely had broken a mug and this had been missed, against the wall in the cleanup. I focused hard, bent down and picked it up, placing it on the table. This was a new feat for me in these sessions. This influence on objects had always been one of our goals however. 

I picked it up again and began to use it on the edge of the windowsill. I carved my initials, as deep as I could, along with the current date in my time. It took much more will power than usual to maintain the connection to this point, but it helped that I was already familiar with the locale in the future. When I was finished, I simply let the memory fade away into others, much as all our other sessions had gone. Eventually, our trance broken, both of us awoke and after a rest the old man left. I began to compare thoughts on the event with Matthew. 

I described what I thought I had accomplished. He told me, that my trance state had seemed deeper, my heart rate slower, but my breathing more accelerated at times. He said my hand had raised as if performing an action, which we assumed was the act of carving into the windowsill. It was getting on towards evening, and after a brief rest we decided to head into the village for supper at the pub. Besides, It had been ages since we had eaten a meal out. A good ploughman’s meal would do us well. 

The local pub was much as it had been for decades. It remained in one family and the very sameness of it held its appeal within the locale. We entered into a scene of comfort with a roaring fire. We placed our orders and headed to the table I specified in the back corner. You can imagine our delight and excitement to discover the outline of my own initials and the date in that same windowsill, under a few coats of white paint! I could not help but continue running my fingers across this, tracing it out over and over. We celebrated, long into the night drinking heavily with this great success and finally stumbling home late in the night, staggering through the door and into bed. 

I fell into the heavy sleep of inebriation. Still though, it would seem I could dream as I began to hear in my sleep a voice calling my name. It was as if from far away and I began to look for it. Walking as if in a grey fog. It called to me, moving from one place to another. It was as if I was lost in a murky swamp. I was getting closer though. Strange shapes slipped and slithered past me, too dark to see. It called again off to my right and I turned following the voice until I could see a form taking shape through the fog. 

I can not begin to describe the look of this nightmarish creature. So unnatural and twisted, this thing could not have existed upon the face of the earth. The unnumbered limbs, the tail and unbelievable horns all turning, moving in a psychedelic fashion as the monsters yellowed teeth gnashed in a grotesque and lipless smile. Those many bulging eyes that blinked in unison, with the empty blackness of the vastness of space echoed within them. I raised my arms, blocking the view with my hands, stumbling backwards. This thing could not be real. 

“Oh yes.” It slathered, “I am very real. I owe you a debt of gratitude and came forth to express my thanks to you. I think this is the time. Your research has impressed me and I am glad I could lend my influence where I could. I’ve been here for some time, waiting here in this corner of your mind, but now I will be having it all. The entirety.” 

“What are you, creature?” 

“I am named as many things throughout the earth time. I am Abdiel and Manuval. I am Yalocan Tumulu and Pitkis. I am thousands and I am one. I am all and I am none. I am a slave but I am your master! I have walked and crawled the legions of time. I echo through dimensions. I live within the spaces and crawl upon the walls. I have waited an eternity for one such as you to set me free.” 

“You are a nightmare! A product of my own imagination and I drive you from me!” 

It laughed, a laugh everywhere both in and out. “Foolish and silly scientist! I am in control now and you are inside my cage. You are the possessed and I the possessor. Do you not remember those nights with your ailing friend? Drug addled, screaming in the night? Thinking blindly that you were helping him? I found him first. I found him walking as a an astral shade as his body lay in a bed. I slipped back into the body with himself and took hold. He returned to you a wreck. A wreck with me inside hatching my plan. At the earliest opportunity I latched onto you as well when you next linked. I fed my plans into the Matthew and watched as you lapped up ideas and built my devices. Both of you my unwitting slaves! Tonight you brought my plan to fruition. Now I will play more with my men of science, my two puppets! You have handed me the keys to your kingdom. I will open the portals now to your physical realm, wherever and whenever I desire. I will invite the others of my kind! I am indeed a nightmare and I will devour the world!”