The Martian Falcon (Lovecraft & Fort) (24 page)

CHAPTER 36
The Falcon and the Rock Book

The avatar of Nyarlathotep that called itself Crystalman watched as the elevator containing Lieutenant John Carter descended to the floor of the cavern in which he had his ‘drawing room’. The elevator doors opened and Carter emerged, carrying the ninth rock book.

‘Welcome, Lieutenant,’ said Crystalman.

Carter walked towards him, his face expressionless, and handed him the rock book. Crystalman examined it in the manner of an antiques collector who had been presented with a particularly attractive
objet d’art
. ‘Quaint technology,’ he mused. ‘Quite delightful, in its own way. Come.’ He beckoned Carter to follow him as he walked across the chamber to the monorail car.

‘You have done very well, Lieutenant Carter,’ he continued as the car sped through the transit tunnel, towards the chamber containing the telaug machine and the Martian Falcon.

Carter said nothing – nor did Crystalman expect him to, for in this state he was voiceless unless given a voice through the telaug. It amused him, however, to converse with his slave like this, as if the man’s sleeping consciousness were awake.

‘And for that reason, I shall allow you to witness the beginning of the end: the process that will bring about the denouement of Earth’s long history. It will be quite fascinating, I assure you. Perhaps I shall release your mind from its confinement in the moment before the end begins, so that you may see that which you have helped to unleash.’

A minute later, the monorail car swept into the chamber and slowed to a halt. Crystalman and Carter got out. Carrying the rock book, Crystalman walked across to the telaug machine and flicked a few switches. The large, asymmetrical display screen flickered to life, revealing an image of Mars.

‘The Atlan penetrays are most useful,’ said Crystalman. ‘They can produce a real-time image of any location in the world, or in the Solar System.’ He examined the ruddy-hued image of the dead planet for a moment and then smiled beneath his crystal mask. ‘Soon,’ he whispered.

He turned from the machine, walked to the centre of the chamber and placed the rock book on the floor. Then he went to the table on which the Martian Falcon stood, gently picked up the statuette and carried it towards the rock book.

When he had got to within five feet of the book, it sprang open, unfolding itself again and again by means of tiny metal hinges concealed within its mineral pages, until it had transformed itself into a single rectangle which covered an area of the floor about ten feet by eight.

‘You see, Lieutenant?’ said Crystalman over his shoulder. ‘An automatic process. At the end of the punishment, the Martians would place the rock book in the near vicinity of the Bird of Justice. The book would open out automatically into the device you see now. All that was then required was for the bird to be placed at the centre of the device, and the mind of the prisoner would be released. Normally, of course, the prisoner’s body would be nearby, waiting to receive the mind… but poor Haq ul’Suun’s body was destroyed five million years ago. There is nowhere for his mind to go.’

He lifted the Falcon and the silently-raging mind it contained and held it before his eyes. ‘I am sorry,’ he said. ‘Your freedom will be short-lived indeed. With no physical form to inhabit, you will fade from the universe, and with your dissolution, the quantum bonds which bind the breath and gaze of Azathoth will be broken. Let it be so!’

Crystalman walked onto the stone rectangle. As he did so, a pale, circular glow ignited at the centre. He walked to it and placed the Falcon there, then stepped back onto the floor of the chamber. ‘This will take some time,’ he said. ‘It has been five million years since the Falcon or the rock book were required to perform their function. They are unused to this activity…’ He glanced at the telaug screen. ‘And yet, even now Mars trembles!’

The image on the screen showed a great gathering of red-orange clouds which began to obscure the surface of Mars, as if the distant world were experiencing a planet-wide quake which cast gargantuan plumes of dust into the thin atmosphere.

‘It stirs,’ said Crystalman. ‘Already it stirs! Soon, it will emerge!’

He glanced at the Falcon, which had begun to take on the same glow that was now slowly pulsating at the centre of the rock book. His glance flew to Carter. ‘Now, Lieutenant, let us rouse you from your own slumber, so that you may gaze upon the instrument of your own destruction, and that of your world.’

He moved across to the telaug and called up Carter’s brain pattern on a small screen. His hand approached the lever that would break the machine’s influence.

‘Crystalman!’ shouted a voice.

He turned in the direction of the voice, which came from a monorail tunnel heading deeper into the cavern system beneath Long Island.

The manticore exploded from the mouth of the tunnel and skidded to a halt. On its back were Fort, Lovecraft, O’Malley and Capone.

Crystalman laughed harshly. ‘Your efforts were admirable, but you’re too late! The Falcon has been reunited with the rock book. The breath and gaze of Azathoth are stirring.’ He pointed to the telaug screen. ‘Look! See how Mars shudders with their awakening!’

Fort unshouldered the Teleforce Projector and took aim at the rock book. ‘We’ll see about that!’ he cried.

‘Carter!’ shouted Crystalman. ‘Your needle gun. Shoot the manticore!’

Carter reached into his jacket and withdrew the weapon.

‘Capone!’ yelled Fort.

The diesel-powered gangster jumped down from the manticore as Carter took aim, and flung himself into the line of fire. The needle bounced harmlessly off his metal chest and dropped to the floor. Carter moved to the side, looking for another clear shot, but before he could do so, Capone had sprinted across the chamber, his metal feet smashing thunderously into the stone floor, and sent the detective flying against the wall. Carter slumped to the floor and lay still.

Fort took aim at the rock book and fired the Projector. The flood of incandescent energy splashed against it, making it glow even more… but it remained intact.

‘Damn it!’ shouted Fort.

‘You’ve still got it set to a wide dispersal, Charles,’ said Lovecraft. ‘Try narrowing the beam. That may do the trick.’

‘You could be right, Howard,’ said Fort as he twisted the control on the side of the Projector.

At that moment, the small bat that had been following them ever since they entered the realm of the Dero fluttered into the chamber and hovered above Carter’s needle gun, which lay on the floor near his unconscious body.

The bat exploded in a shower of darkness which instantly coalesced into the form of a black-suited man. The man reached for the needle gun, brought it up swiftly and fired at the manticore. The needle struck the beast in the face. The manticore staggered, its bat wings spreading as if in an effort to escape what had already happened.

The great beast fell onto its side, throwing off Fort, Lovecraft and O’Malley. The Projector flew from Fort’s hands and skittered across the floor.

Capone lunged for the vampire, but he was far too fast – supernaturally fast – and in another instant he was across the chamber and seizing the Projector.

‘Good evening, everyone,’ said Johnny Sanguine, who appeared beside the vampire. ‘This is Carmine, my right-hand man. We’ve been keeping an eye on you ever since Charlie and the gang came down from the surface.’ He looked down at Rusty Links, in her true form once more, lying unconscious on the floor. A thin trickle of blood issued from the puncture wound below her left eye. He shook his head. ‘Twice in one night. You gotta be more careful, hon.’

‘Sanguine,’ said Fort, dragging himself to his feet. ‘Shoot the rock book. Shatter it with the Teleforce beam. Do it now!’

‘Now why would I want to do that?’ Johnny said.

‘Haq ul’Suun’s prison is weakening. He’ll be free soon, and then so will Azathoth!’

Johnny laughed. ‘Yeah? So what?’

‘You nightwalkin’ son of a bitch!’ shouted Capone as he stamped towards him.

Johnny nodded at Carmine, and he fired the Projector at Capone.

The gangster screamed and fell to his knees. ‘Bastard! Right in the gearbox!’

This wasn’t a euphemism – not that Capone ever used them. The Teleforce beam had sliced through the complex arrangement of cogs and differentials in Capone’s pelvic region, robbing him of the ability to move his legs. He toppled onto his side, cursing.

Johnny nodded to Carmine again, and the vampire aimed the Projector at the rock book.

‘How long until the prison opens?’ asked Johnny.

‘A minute… perhaps two,’ Crystalman replied. ‘What are you doing, Mr. Sanguine?’ They all could hear the tension in his voice.

‘If Carmine here fires at the rock book, it’ll shatter, won’t it?’ said Johnny.

Crystalman hesitated. ‘No, it won’t.’

Johnny smiled. ‘Don’t kid a kidder. I know you’re lying. I’d feel it in my bones, if I had any. If the book shatters, Haq ul’Suun’s mind will stay inside the Falcon, and your daddy’s breath and gaze – or whatever the fuck you want to call that thing at the centre of Mars – will stay there, forever. That’s right, isn’t it?’

‘What do you want, Mr. Sanguine?’ asked Crystalman, the tension in his voice rising.

‘What do
I
want?’

‘Yes. You haven’t ordered your man to fire yet. That means you want something. Could it be…? Ah, yes! You want to be corporeal again, don’t you? You see… you’re not the only one who’s been keeping an eye on things.’

Johnny smiled. ‘Yeah, that’s what I want.’

‘Well, I can give it to you, if you have your man lower the weapon.’ He pointed to the telaug machine. ‘This is an analogue of the punishment machines of ancient Mars. Not only can it read minds, it can
transfer
them. This is your way back to the physical world… this is what your dreams were telling you. All you need is a body for your soul to inhabit… hers, perhaps?’ Crystalman indicated Rusty’s unconscious form. ‘It would be a fitting punishment for her, would it not… for her betrayal?’

‘Yeah,’ said Johnny, eyeing her. ‘It would.’

‘Then have your man put down the weapon,’ said Crystalman, glancing at the telaug’s main display, ‘and we can discuss this further.’

‘And what happens then?’ said Fort. ‘Azathoth’ll be all over this planet like bad acne, and you’ll be destroyed along with the rest of us, Sanguine!’

‘Not if Crystalman takes me with him to one of those other Earths he mentioned.’

‘Ah!’ said Crystalman. ‘So, you want to accompany me when I depart this world? Clever! That, too, is possible. So come! Lower the weapon, and we’ll get you safely installed in Miss Links’s body while the breath of Azathoth makes the journey to Earth.’

‘How do I know you’ll keep your end of the deal?’ asked Sanguine.

‘The alternative is to destroy the book and remain a ghost forever… a shadow of your former self, shall we say? Besides, I like you, Mr. Sanguine. I’d be very happy to take you along. I can give you entire worlds to control, if that’s what you desire.’

Johnny nodded. ‘All right. Carmine, lower the weapon.’

‘Hey boss,’ said Carmine. ‘What about me? I mean…’

‘Just lower the damned weapon!’

Crystalman laughed suddenly and pointed to the rock book and the Martian Falcon. The glow enveloping both had ceased. ‘Your time is up!’

‘You idiot, Sanguine,’ said Fort. ‘He’s been playing for time, stringing you along like the sap you are! Now it’s too late to stop him.’

‘You’re quite right, Mr. Fort,’ said Crystalman, pointing to the display, which showed vast tendrils of black cloud belching from the aeon-dead volcanoes of Mars. ‘The quantum bonds have been broken. The breath and gaze of Azathoth are free and heading for Earth!’

CHAPTER 37
Haq ul’Suun

‘Wait,’ said Johnny. ‘Our deal still stands, right? You’re still gonna get me into that bitch’s body and take me with you when you skip the planet… right?’

‘Wrong, Mr. Sanguine,’ Crystalman replied icily. ‘The telaug machine
is
capable of that, but I have no intention of granting your request. I needed to stall you for long enough to allow the rock book to perform its function… and now that it has… well, that’s just the hand you’ve been dealt. You will be annihilated along with everything else on the planet.’

‘You goddamned son of a bitch,’ said Johnny. ‘Carmine, shoot him.’

‘What?’ said Carmine.

‘You heard me. Shoot the bastard!’

‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ said Crystalman.

‘Oh yeah?’ said Johnny. ‘Listen, popsicle-head, if I’m gonna be destroyed, then I’m taking you with me. Carmine!
Do it!
’

Carmine fired the Teleforce Projector. The beam cut Crystalman in half. His upper torso and legs fell to the floor in twitching lumps. But if Johnny Sanguine was expecting to see blood, he was sorely disappointed.

Instead, a column of bright green light shot up from the ruin of Crystalman’s body, while the mouth behind the mask cackled. ‘Did you think it would be that easy? I am an avatar of Nyarlathotep! And do you know what Nyarlathotep looks like?
Behold!
’

Something stepped out of the column of green light. Something that could never have existed in any sane and ordered universe.

Something that was nightmare itself.

It was at least thirty feet tall, and stood upon three tentacle-like, prehensile legs. Its thick, cylindrical torso was covered with cilia that writhed and twitched revoltingly, while from its massive shoulders there sprouted, in place of a head, a single tentacle which whipped back and forth.

‘Lord God preserve and protect us!’ cried O’Malley.

The head-tentacle snapped around in his direction, as if it were the thing’s primary organ of sense. The tentacle reached down towards him, and O’Malley shut his eyes and whispered a final prayer.

But the thing stopped, just as it was about to seize him… and then it turned towards the Martian Falcon.

The statuette had split down the middle, its two halves lying side by side on the smooth surface of the rock book. And from it, a thick black mist had begun to issue; a miasmal vapour that grew thicker with each passing moment.

Gradually, the black mist began to form itself into a vaguely humanoid shape: long-limbed and slender. The last parts of it to coalesce were the head and face… and when they did, the thing wore an expression of such rage and hatred that Fort, Lovecraft and O’Malley turned away in uttermost terror.

‘Holy shit,’ said Capone from across the chamber. ‘This ain’t good.’

‘Haq ul’Suun,’ said Johnny in awe. ‘It’s the spirit of Haq ul’Suun!’

At the base of Nyarlathotep’s head-tentacle, a mouth opened vertically and uttered an ear-splitting screech.

‘Good night, all,’ said Johnny, and promptly vanished.

‘Boss?’ said Carmine, then: ‘Fuck it – I’m outta here, too!’ He dropped the Teleforce Projector, transformed himself back into the bat and flitted out of the cavern as fast as his wings would carry him.

‘That’s more than just a spirit,’ said Fort. ‘Even an
alien
spirit. We’ve got to get out of here.’

Nyarlathotep and the spirit of Haq ul’Suun regarded each other, squaring up like two prize fighters.

Lovecraft glanced at the still-unconscious Rusty and hurried over to her. He had lost her clothes a while ago and muttered: ‘My apologies, madam,’ as he picked up her naked body. ‘This evening really is full of firsts,’ he added to himself.

‘Cormack,’ said Fort as he hurried across the chamber. ‘You grab Capone, I’ll see to Carter.’ He knelt down beside the detective and slapped his face several times. ‘John. John! Wake up!’

Carter groaned incoherently as Fort put his arms under his armpits and dragged him towards the monorail car in which Crystalman and Carter had travelled from the main cavern.

O’Malley tried to do the same with Capone, but could barely budge him an inch. ‘Jesus!’ he wheezed. ‘This fecker weighs more than my car!’

Capone slid open a panel in his stomach and flipped a lever. With a loud click, his pelvis and legs detached. ‘How about now?’

O’Malley tried again. ‘Better,’ he said as he began to drag Capone’s head and torso across the floor.

Lovecraft placed Rusty in the monorail car and then rushed back to help O’Malley with Capone, while Fort heaved Carter into the vehicle. He turned as Nyarlathotep screamed again, and watched in horrified awe as the dark spirit of Haq ul’Suun forced itself into the entity’s mouth.

‘It shouldn’t be able to do that,’ he said, more to himself than anyone else, as he threw himself into the driver’s seat and slammed the control lever forward. ‘Nyarlathotep is a Great Old One. What the hell
is
that thing?’

The car sped out of the cavern to the sound of Nyarlathotep’s screams.

A minute later, it emerged from the tunnel into the main cavern. By this time, Carter had come to, and Rusty was also stirring. She opened her eyes and looked at Lovecraft. ‘Don’t tell me… you lost my clothes.’

‘I’m most dreadfully sorry,’ Lovecraft replied.

‘Forget it. At least we’re alive.’

Yeah
, thought Fort.
Until Azathoth arrives
.

‘What the hell’s going on?’ said Carter. ‘Charlie? Where am I?’

‘No time to explain, John,’ said Fort as he helped him from the car. ‘We have to get out of here.’

‘Where’s
here
? Last thing I remember, I was at the stationhouse, about to head home for some shuteye…’

‘We’re under Crystalman’s house on Long Island,’ Fort said as he pushed Carter towards the elevator leading to the surface.

Behind them, Lovecraft, O’Malley and Rusty were dragging Capone’s upper torso across the floor. ‘Nice view,’ said Capone, winking at Rusty.

‘Shut it, bucket brain,’ she said.

The floor of the cavern began to tremble as they reached the elevator and crammed themselves inside. ‘Is that an earthquake?’ said Carter as Fort punched the button for the surface and the doors slid shut.

‘Might as well be,’ Fort replied. ‘I hope this thing holds up long enough to get us out of here.’

‘What’s the point, Charlie?’ said O’Malley. ‘Crystalman’s won. In a few hours, we’ll all be dead – every living thing on Earth. What’s the difference if we die down here or up there?’

‘The spirit of Haq ul’Suun is going head to head with Nyarlathotep, and it looks like he’s winning,’ Fort replied. ‘A ghost against a Great Old One? Should be no contest, so Haq ul’Suun’s got something up his sleeve. I don’t know what it is, but…’

‘But what, Charles?’ asked Lovecraft.

Fort didn’t answer.

The elevator doors opened onto a corridor. ‘Come on,’ said Rusty. ‘This leads to the entrance hall.’

They dragged Capone after her, along the corridor, through the entrance hall and out through the front door. ‘We need a car,’ said Fort, glancing around. He spotted the large garage at the side of the house. ‘John, get in there and hotwire us some wheels.’

‘Leave it to me,’ said Carter. He ran to the garage and disappeared inside.

Seconds later, a large Duesenberg convertible emerged with the top down and Carter at the wheel. The others dragged Capone into the car and Carter floored the gas pedal.

Another few seconds and they had gained the edge of the estate. ‘Stop the car, John,’ said Fort. ‘I want to see this.’

‘See what?’ asked Carter, bringing the Duesenberg to a halt.

‘I don’t know, but like you said, it felt like an earthquake down there, so
something’s
going to happen.’

Something did indeed happen.

Crystalman’s mansion was instantly vaporised by a column of blue-green light that erupted from the ground, accompanied by a cacophonous shriek that made them grimace and cover their ears. The column hurtled into the sky and was lost amongst the stars.

Silence fell.

‘Charlie,’ said Carter. ‘Now do you want to tell me what the hell just happened?’