In The Hour of The Egregore

by Devon Pitlor
I. In a borderless and hopelessly remote country Like long glimmering tentacles issuing from an unseen body hub, strings of slo !moving pilgrims, dressed as gaudy travelers, meandered one behind the other into the "bandoned Land, admiring as they passed its no embellished ruins and feeling the distant pulsations of civili#ations that had disappeared long before theirs had sprung. Each filament of pilgrims branched off, follo ing a nominal leader, in different directions. In a time here hours and days ere not counted like ours, these anderers ere performing a ritual that came ith the tha ing of the ice and the onset of spring. They ere visiting the to ering $onuments of %athan &ecker to sit at the feet of a storyteller ho, ith the first glimmer of the %orth 'tar, ould position himself under the gleaming metallic legs of &ecker(s statuary and begin a series of ceremonial recitations of the Legend of Declan and )achel!!!#ealous and fervent lovers from another era. The Legend in places as a romantic one, filled ith a sense of tragedy that that pilgrims needed to hear over and over again to revitali#e their forces. "nd the story as not al ays the same. 'ometimes Declan, the boy, as confused ith )achel, the girl. 'ometimes the story, the fable, featured the more evil characters such as The Dentist and another assassin called Tucker Plouffe. The Dentist as truly an assassin according to some accounts. &ut no, that as, according to others, Plouffe. *et in other accounts, the death of Declan and )achel, doomed lovers in all versions, as caused by stranger forces. "nd often the details became confused, herein The Dentist became Tucker Plouffe or the great munificence of %athan &ecker, architect of massive statuary in the "bandoned Land, as forgotten and he himself became an instrument of the most ab+ect evil.

"s it as a legend, each storyteller had a different version. Each had a different theme to throttle. That as part of the spring ritual in this borderless land, going to hear a different depiction and personali#ed rendering of The Legend. -nder one of the huge and patently abstract leg supports of one of %athan &ecker(s artistic creations, a huge band of pilgrims ere gathered as they did each spring. .or centuries they and their predecessors had heard the legend. In vast blocs of time, hich e might call centuries, the legend usually focused on %athan &ecker / hose name came to be pronounced in countlessly different ays over the eons that had drained a ay0. "nd in that far!a ay 1century1 the teller sat on a small piece of industrial rubble that had not yet been cleared and began his tale ith, Once upon a time there was a great artist, a sculptor of renown... &ut then as the passing nuggets of ine2orable time funneled into the future, a succeeding narrator started ith, There was then an artist great, a man kind, a person powerful, who made the famous animals them things above us now all towering... "nd immeasurable recitations later, the storyteller opened his sacramental service ith, Thenthere days blarst biggen artist in living to give came all from him to thems loving he did throt dis art himself holding det darvel carber lite... "nd finally, on this fine spring day, amidst the recked shells of a civili#ation vanished, the current storyteller began, Holan! Apiscon very very nabez, sau e in de stabtartoo grater, grater ali ba!na! ba!!

The infinite passage of moons through ever!changing skies and patchy stars in constellations so much ad+usted by Time itself had led the many inhabitants of the &orderless Land to speak a very different language than the 'tandard "merican English ith hich the core story that launched the legend began. &ut that is normal for ords and phrases as they too pass through the curtains and gate ays of time. It as as normal as the contortion and confusion of the key details. &ut even no , the core story and its characters ere essentially the same, as ere the lessons and thrills hich the story held for the pilgrims of springtime. II. 'ome core versions "s has been noted, the focal point of the legend varied ith the storyteller. The tragic love and death of Declan and )achel as by far the most e2hilarating, as tales of love never seem to fade in their grip on the human consciousness. The core details ere these, Declan &ecker as the much!loved and dreamy son of the sculptor %athan &ecker. He lived alone ith his father until the age of seventeen /for reasons al ays unclear0 until his father became both famous /for his huge, abstract statues hich began to adorn hundreds of public places in the "bandoned Land0 and rich. Then %athan managed to get remarried to a oman hose name as usually /but not al ays0 rendered as Theodora 3oulbourne, a oman ho brought a t elve year old daughter, a radiant girl named )achel, into the house. Declan and )achel, separated by five years, became little by little enchanted ith one another!!!although in some versions not unkno n, either )achel or Declan hated one another and had even tried to kill each other. &ut these versions usually came from the t isted mouths of renegade storytellers and appealed only to the very fe . The ma+ority of yearly pilgrims anted Declan and )achel to be starstruck and fall impossibly in love ith one another. They anted Declan to die at age t enty! eight and )achel to follo him to the grave, in soul!searing de+ection, at t enty!three a year later. They anted )achel to be unable to live in a orld

bereft of Declan, and they did not care /these more 4ui2otic and romantic pilgrims0 ho she died. It as the romance of the saga hich elated them, fulfilling thus a sense of deep passion hich as lacking in their lives. &ut there ere also other adaptations, 5ertain pilgrims trailed off in undulating spirals hich led to different statues under hich other story tellers emphasi#ed the evil of The Dentist and ere almost certain in their hinting that The Dentist had killed either Declan &ecker or )achel 3oulbourne or both. The Dentist as in most accounts a necromancer, a spiteful and malicious con+urer ho poured molten gold into the mouths of huge and purely mythical creatures that ere no long ago e2tinct. The Dentist had a magic tube ith a blo dart inside filled ith a potion hich could induce these huge beasts to fall pleasantly asleep for the time needed to pour gold into their mouths. &ut the dart and its tonic ere lethal to humans. The only solid detail that remained over the years as that the animals, called elephants and eighing over seven thousand kilograms, ere put asleep ith a most pleasant and alluring nepenthe and that any human in+ected ith this concoction ould pass from this life into the ne2t beset by very pleasing and agreeable sensations. .or some reason that part of the story stuck. "lso, it as usually related that The Dentist, evil as he as, en+oyed a lifelong friendship ith %athan &ecker, promoted his colossal art orks, and had killed one or maybe t o of the reputed 1lovers1 on a re4uest from someone. &ut, in all, The Dentist as evil. "nd in these recitations, he remained evil. It as never e2plained e2actly hat an elephant /a ord hich became vastly altered like all others0 as or hy it as necessary to decant precious gold into its mouth. "nother edition of the story turned on the focal point of a man kno n as Tucker Plouffe. Tucker Plouffe as called in some accounts as The $echanic. In others he as The "ssassin. In all, he as a paid killer. It as never certain ho he became ac4uainted ith the little fused family of %athan &ecker and Theodora 3oulbourne, but, despite his profession as a destroyer ho slaughtered others for his daily crust, he often became luminous as a seeker of

truth, something that over the centuries became very esteemed and idoli#ed among the populations ho traveled across the verdant landscapes of the "bandoned Land to hear his part of the never ending story. These ere the main strands of this eternal fable, an anecdote that took on a life of its o n as time rolled for ard. " tale that created about itself a collective group consciousness called an egregore, born of the synergy of mass thoughtforms, and presenting itself to the collective mind as a kind of tulpa, an autonomous psychic entity hich ove the very fibers of civili#ation in the &orderless Land. It as, some said, an egregore that could become treacherous if ignored!!!and thus the spring rituals. Hearing the tale at least once each cycle as mandatory for human survival in this fara ay and unfathomable place. 'o thus the pilgrimages of spring, the recitations, the repeated interface ith the still!living ghosts of an unkno n history. III. The 1$echanic1 6n a blustery late 6ctober day in a great city laden ith all the steely re4uisite elements of crime and corruption, an e2tremely attractive and physically fit young oman named )achel 3oulbourne, slipped out of her dark blue police uniform and into a tight camisole and skin!tight blue+eans. 'he left the middle of her shapely torso bare, e2posing a seductively outturned navel, and pulled the ribbon a ay from her flo ing mane to make the hair s ing do n her back and oscillate in the ind. 'he stationed herself on a busy peripheral high ay under a sign that said 1Do not pick up hitchhikers.1 5ars sped past her, and many drivers paused to scan the eye!catching girl. &ut none stopped. 'he as obviously a hitchhiker and the sign, posted by the police, scared them off. )achel had hoped for nothing better. 6ne year out of college and si2 months out of the city(s police academy, she as more than disgruntled at her commanding officer(s assignment that she serve as a decoy prostitute. )achel 3oulbourne felt that ith her family background and education she deserved better than to trap unsuspecting +ohns on a road that had al ays been kno n

as the 7hore High ay, but her captain felt differently, and )achel had not been ith the force for long. Her aspirations of becoming some kind of famous detective or reno ned crime!buster had started to evaporate ith her assigned decoy role. &ut out of duty she accepted it. In reality, she cared very little about prostitution or its adherents. 'he as the stepdaughter of the no ! highly!trending sculptor %athan &ecker, hose colossal orks of rought iron and copper ere no starting to appear in prominent places all over the city. -nlike many stepdaughters, she loved her ne father and respected his sense of otherness. 'ince her mother had brought her to live in %athan &ecker(s loft orkshop at the age of t elve, she had been content to obsess herself ith something else. "nd it should be said right here in the story that the main thing as her ne stepbrother Declan &ecker, son of the divorced %athan. Declan as as some said 1beautiful1 and had the heat of eternal summer sunshine glimmering through his deep!pool eyes. "t age t elve, )achel had fallen immediately into an irreversible #eal for her freshly con+oined stepbrother. " passion hich Declan &ecker, her senior by five years, had never returned. *et )achel(s ardor never ceased. &ut today she as orking, and snagging +ohns as not her thing. 6bediently, )achel moved under another cautionary sign that read 1Decoy police on patrol.1 That as her. It as almost certain that she ould never be propositioned under such signs. &ut she as rong. 6r kind of. "fter about fifteen minutes of posing under the sign, a man in a bright red 8aguar hove over and rolled do n his indo and said 13et in.1 )achel did. Her recorder as turned on and she as about to make her first bust as a decoy prostitute. The thought did not enthrall her. 'he at age t enty!three as still thinking about Declan &ecker, ho as dead. 'uch as

her fi2ation, her sole mania. Her desire, born of close latitude for eleven years, had never discontinued to smolder. The man in the 8aguar introduced himself as Tucker Plouffe and as 4uick to add that it as not totally his real name, although it as. 16f course not,1 said )achel, hoping to make a bust and get the hell out of this detail. 16h, and you can turn off your radio,1 said Tucker in a bristly voice. 1I am not going to ask you for se2. .ar from it.1 1*ou kno n I(m a cop then,1 said )achel biting her lo er lip. 'he had already failed. 1*ou have cop ritten all over you. I picked you up for other reasons. Totally legal reasons. &ut I don(t ant them recorded.1 )achel s itched off the remote that she had been outfitted ith, turned in her seat to ard the driver Tucker and said, 17hat are e going to talk about91 1Declan &ecker,1 said the man. 1He(s dead.1 1*es, I kno . "nd do you kno something else9 I am hat they call a 1mechanic.1 That means a hit man. I as hired!!!and very recently!!!to kill you, )achel 3oulbourne. "nd I do not kno hy. I have killed a lot of people, but they ere mostly scum. I do not mind killing scum. &ut you are +ust a young police officer. 5ut to the chase, I need to kno hy I as contracted to aste you.1 1.or busting +ohns91 1%ot e2actly,1 said Tucker, hose real name in fact as Tucker Plouffe. He

had by no spoken long enough to )achel to reveal his rather unctuous Louisiana!5a+un accent. 1'o you(re a hired assassin,1 said )achel unruffled. 1Do you like that kind of ork91 Tucker Plouffe pulled his 8aguar off the main thoroughfare onto a small parking lot in front of a rather seedy package store. He began to e2plain something about his life that )achel did not appear to ant to hear. 1Did you kill Declan t o years ago91 she asked casually. 1%o, but I kno ho did. I +ust don(t kno hy. I(m curious like that. I as asked through a trusted contact to e2ecute him. The money as there, but unless someone is scum, unless e(ve got a mobster or a Puerto )ican last name, I don(t do that kind of ork. I as even contracted to kill a baby once and for more money than I ould be able to spend for the rest of my life. I refused that too. I refused to kill a nice kid like Declan. He lived at home ith his father and your mother. Don(t act shocked, I(ve done my research. Declan seemed to be loved by everyone. " handsome, intelligent boy. "nd then someone anted him dead. I al ays ondered hy.1 )achel shifted in her seat, assuming a critical pose of boredom. Her body language clearly said " don#t care. 17ell, to satisfy your hit!man curiosity,1 she began, 1he as killed by the elephant doctor, the guy ho tran4uili#ed the big ones at the #oo in order to mount aluminum teeth in their +a s to replace the orn!out ones. If someone doesn(t do that, the elephant dies of starvation. Did you kno that91 1%o,1 said Plouffe. 1There is a lot of stuff I don(t kno . 7hy did the elephant man kill him91 1%o idea,1 said )achel. 1"nd the cops don(t kno either. He as shot ith a double dose of halothane pro+ected from a silent blo tube +ust like they do in

the #oo.1 Plouffe as becoming annoyed at the young girl(s seeming lack of interest in the assassination of someone he kne through his research she had adored above all things on Earth. His cunning sense of character +udgment told him )achel as hiding something. &ut didn(t everyone9 "nd indeed she as. 1'omething tells me you kno all about elephant tranks,1 Plouffe said. 1&ut I can see no that you are not going to tell me anything.1 1I told you about bull "frican elephants needing ne teeth.1 1*eah, big ne s.1 1"nd the tran4uili#er, halothane. It is supposed to be very gentle and even comforting. %o one needs a :;,<<< pound elephant all fired up before it goes off to sleep. They say it(s the same for humans. *ou can read in the ne spapers that Declan died ith a smile on his face.1 1I read that. " very pleasant death. "nd one that as reserved for you too.1 7ith this Plouffe pulled a teak tube from a console bet een their seats. 1.ull of tran4uili#er. I could have blo n a dart into you as you stood on the road.1 1&ut you didn(t,1 said )achel, distractedly. Plouffe could definitely see she as burying something vital. )achel continued, 17hy are you so interested in your victims, any ay91 Plouffe clicked his tongue in his cheek and said something about his curiosity, about ho he never liked doing hat he did in the first place, about not kno ing ho to use a blo tube, about not killing 1nice1 people. In short, he as in4uisitive. Then he said something rather enigmatic, 1*ou kno the #oo dental guy is probably not going to do it again.1

1"m I special to elephant dentists91 said )achel. 1%o idea. That guy, 8osh =olan, as friends ith Declan(s father. Did you kno that91 1*ep, I as a cop in training. I kne a fe things.1 1&ut not ho paid for Declan to be sent into the ne2t orld or ho is paying for you to follo him.1 )achel grasped the door handle and got out of Plouffe(s car. 1%ope,1 she said in parting. 1I have tried for over a year to forget Declan. I loved him. *ou, of course, kne that. " year of trying to ash my brain free of him.1 1*ou(ve failed too,1 said Plouffe. 1*ou kno that, and I kno that.1 )achel alked slo ly back to the main high ay, saying nothing. In truth, Tucker Plouffe of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana as motivated far more by ra curiosity than by any sort of sudden translation to humanitarianism. He had al ays tried to understand people despite his ac4uired profession. He had refused to kill Declan a year before, and no he as re+ecting the hatchet +ob on )achel. He ondered +ust hy that, as a cop and as one fraught ith an une2plained and undying passion for Declan &ecker, she had failed to 4uestion him. $oreover, he marveled at hy a #oo dentist and close friend of the famous sculptor %athan &ecker ould have taken the +ob, hich he kne he had. It had all been too clean. 8osh =olan had never been suspected, but Plouffe(s contacts said other ise, and )achel 3oulbourne had more than confirmed that. There is a hole underground community of silent souls that kno the #oo dentist did it, he thought. )achel is part of that. 'o is her mother and stepfather. The story lurked like a phosphorescent cra fish under a tablet of $ississippi slate.

7ith a curiosity even more pi4ued than ever before, Plouffe drove off into the evening mist. 6ctober as becoming %ovember, and %ovember promised to be harsh. Life as harsh, thought Plouffe. Halothane isn(t. &ut he as playing the detective any ay, and for hat reason9 His avocation, murdering people, demanded a certain distance. Plouffe had lost his. He as investigating something that he kne he did not need to scrutini#e. 'omeone some here is going to e2terminate that cop!girl soon, he kne . I +ust onder hy. "nd hy above all other things doesn(t she care9 He decided to use his multiple associates and bracket together something about the no !famous artist ho had lost a son, but ho nonetheless continued to grace the city and other locales ith huge elded statutes that essentially meant nothing e2cept to baffled tourists ho looked up on them ith a e and eventually felt compelled to praise them!!!even though not really anyone kne , perhaps even the artist, hat they ere really about. I>. The detective ork of a 1mechanic.1 In the days that ensued, Tucker Plouffe learned very little about %athan &ecker. 7hat he did learn as that &ecker, no 4uite ell off, had illingly ac4uiesced to allo ing his t enty!seven year old son to live in his sumptuous loft and 1help1 ith his statuary. He also learned that Declan had been very bad at it and ostensibly had no visible artistic talent. Declan(s stepmother, Theordora, al ays reclusive and utterly silent to a fault, had not been bothered in the slightest that Declan, ho some said could have been a movie star if he had orked at it, stayed mostly at home and hung about his father. "nother thing Plouffe learned as that 8osh =olan, the #oo dentist, had suffered a nervous breakdo n and as no in a sanatorium not talking to anyone. The killing, hich as notorious in the demi!monde, had apparently done him in. 6r at least that as the thought. $urdering the young man had driven him over the proverbial edge.

"nd hat about Declan9 6ther than the salient fact that everyone in the city seemed to adore him and anted to share his bed, he harbored very little interest in his stepsister. It as all one ay. 'he orshipped him, but it as not reciprocal. 6ther than that, it as a dead end trail. "nother glo ing cra fish under a muddy rock. "t age t enty!five, Declan, ho as promoted by everyone to be some kind of Person of the *ear, simply receded and became a part of his father(s life. "nd that asn(t much. It involved dissolving himself into a do nto n loft and remaining mostly out of sight. %ot a normal modus for a young man of Declan?s imputed charisma. Tucker Plouffe as a mediocrity and he kne it. 7hat he didn(t kno as e2actly hy in his murderous profile he as pursuing this line of in4uiry. 'elf! e2amination had never been a viable part of his hit!man profile. It as counterproductive, Tucker kne . "nother thing that Tucker Plouffe discovered in his subterranean investigations as that %athan &ecker had al ays the intention of sending his often reclusive and under!motivated son on a cruise. " cruise some here. To some e2otic island. To a seaside desert. To a seaside mountain. This as something that %athan did not accomplish, of course. Declan died too soon. &ut then Plouffe learned that the senior &ecker had himself taken several tours out of state, tours hich ere not cruises, but visits to some anonymous entity near 'cottsdale, "ri#ona. "nd the trace ended there. The cra fish cra led even farther under its mossy stone. There as something about a promise. The promise of a cruise. 'ome confusing nonsense as hidden in that. "nd Plouffe did not kno hat. That bothered him, yet he couldn(t say hy.

>. The life and death of Declan &ecker Tucker Plouffe, still playing the detective rather than the 1mechanic1 of death, as able through a ne spaper contact to procure several glossy shots of Declan &ecker taken shortly before his death. He also came across, 4uite by accident, Declan(s high school yearbook, here the young eighteen year old(s face beamed out from a gallery of less than lustrous contenders for accountable and remunerative adulthood. There as indeed something fresh and vital about Declan. Handsome as a ord did not 4uite capture it. There as a sense of both intense life and impending tragedy, something almost ineffable, a look...perhaps an out ard ga#e....that Plouffe had seen only precious fe times before. The school boy...a senior...no ithin nine years of his pending demise seemed to be full of a secret!!!a secret combining the disparate elements of both boundless optimism and gloomy despair. *earbook photos, Plouffe kne , could reveal such things and often did. Plouffe continued to e2amine the other photographs, hich ranged from age t elve to his death +ust shy of his t enty!eighth birthday. There as a sense of hidden energy that penetrated them...an egregore in the making perhaps, although Plouffe ould himself die /and of old age0 ithout ever kno ing hat an egregore as, but in his o n thoughts he constructed its eerie meaning in other, more familiar, terms. "nd then there ere other matters. .irst, hy had %athan &ecker and his charming ife Theodora not engaged in some prolonged and public breast! beating, some mournful sho of de+ection and bitter misery9 'econd, hy had the city police dismissed the case after only a t o!month investigation9 'o many people seemed to kno that 8osh =olan, the dentist, had done it ith his blo gun and elephant tran4uili#er!!!this obviously to include )achel 3oulbourne. 7hy had the case been dropped so 4uickly9 7hy had the #oo dentist never been charged and had been allo ed to slip a ay into near oblivion in a state mental repository9 Third, hy as )achel so blas@ about

both Declan?s untimely death and the fact that someone had scheduled her for something akin to the same fate9 )achel, no a bona fide police officer, might have been conducting her o n private and continuing investigation of the case, but Plouffe?s intuition!!!the si2th sense of a formal assassin!!!told him other ise. Then there as the 4uestion of %athan &ecker. &y the time of Declan?s death, five nearby cities had commissioned him in one ay or another to erect his atrocious statuary /so thought Plouffe0 in their public s4uares and in front of civic architecture. &ecker as gro ing rich, no problem ith that. &ut hy had he undertaken so many trips to a dusty little desert to n in "ri#ona!!!a state hich ostensibly sho ed no palpable interest in his odd erections and undecipherable creations. .ucking art, thought Plouffe. %o one understands it. They +ust follo a cro d or some dim itted critic. &ut the "ri#ona trips remained a piece of the unsolved mystery hich Tucker Plouffe had decided to lay out like a flayed mackerel in front of himself to let it glisten in the moonlight of doubt. 'elf!doubt above all. "nd that as the final unkno n that confronted the hit man. He did not kno himself ell enough to ans er it. The 4uestion as, of course, hy as he so interested9 7as it to atone for his mode of living over the past decade9 6r as there something else9 &ut stop, he told himself. 'elf!scrutiny as not his style. Plouffe?s investigation continued, therefore, ith a kind of vehemence, a fury born of 3od!kno s! hat, a vain fren#y that ould, totally unbekno nst to him, gain him a place in the legend that someday in some place ould be told and retold and form the moral foundation of a future civili#ation. &ut retold only by certain griots, those having a penchant for renegade and mostly unauthori#ed versions of something that as very imperative to a vaporous civili#ation that Plouffe ould never live long enough to kno .

In reality, )achel 3oulbourne as indeed ithholding something, a family secret, and rather commonplace one too!!!although it alloped her to the core to think of it. It as a secret that she had both learned and s orn to silence at age fifteen hen it had finally been made kno n to her. "t t o private clinics in ruthlessly confidential ' it#erland, it had been confirmed by medical e2perts, ho actually kne ho to keep secrets, that the incandescent and promising boy of her most profound dreams had a congenital defect...an inoperable brain tumor in the parietal lobe of his cranium that as one!hundred percent certain to cause him to die before reaching age thirty. The confirmation of this abnormality as absolute, and there as no remedy. %o treatment nor medication as possible, but the better ne s as that Declan ould not suffer much. He ould, said the esteemed doctors, simply fade little by little from consciousness and die suddenly hen the gro th s elled to bursting si#e and ruptured, spreading its lethal to2in throughout his brain. Declan at age seventeen, in hale health, had, of course, been informed. 'ome of the small and seemingly inconsistencies in his actions and thoughts ere already reflecting the onset of hat as guaranteed to be his early death. " slightly rong movement of the eyes. " sudden and ine2plicable stiffening of the +a . "n inappropriate but hardly noticeable tongue thrust. Ho )achel took this ne s as governed by the rules of the .amily &ecker, hich preached above all unyielding stoicism in the face of their son?s undeniable destiny. Declan as going to die. That as all. He kne it. His father and stepmother kne it. "nd no )achel kne it. It ould not be posted to the orld. Through great and indescribable suffering, )achel managed, as instructed, to maintain her calm, although during the interval bet een her fifteenth and t enty!third year, hen the medical prophecy became authentic, )achel refused to date boys of any age and composed, it is said in the legend, over four thousand pages of lamentations, eulogies, and soul!searching poetry to alleviate her undisplayed pain. These ritings,

cryptic and unreadable e2cept to a fe cloistered scholars of the distant future, also became part of the legend and its resultant egregore. &ut these things happened at time that could not even be fathomed at the instant of their throbbing composition. "nd )achel, trampled like a inter pansy in the muddy sno , continued life, university studies and became, as e have seen, a rather indifferent police officer for reasons that she could never clearly define even in her long and renching ritten orations. 'he loved Declan, and self! scrutiny as not her style either. >I. The case of %athan &ecker 6ne of the non!family secrets that Plouffe accidentally discovered as that %athan &ecker, a no eminent sculptor, had been making plans for some years to send his son on a cruise. It as never decided +ust to here this cruise ould be, and this as made more difficult to determine by the fact that Declan had evinced absolutely no interest in going any here on the planet. Declan, too, had become stoic. His o n fate ould remain his o n. He ould stay at home and live out hatever remained of his condemned life in the company of his father, stepmother and stepsister!!! ho, it should be noted, annoyed him until the very end. The tall tree of love had never spread its all! embracing boughs over Declan, and the kno ledge of his o n pending and inescapable fate made affection ith any female a palpable absurdity. His father had, ho ever, in his inimitable otherness bought Declan the fre4uent company of many pricey and lu2urious prostitutes in brothels inaccessible to those not possessed of ade4uate funds or the kno !ho re4uired to find such establishments. It as &ecker senior?s design that his handsome son should not die ithout kno ing the intimacy of a oman. 6r a cruise. &ut on the latter account, Declan remained as ever disinterested. %o mention of tropic harbors or undulating ships at sea ever roused him. 'till %athan talked endlessly of a cruise until one day he ceased this line of reasoning and took a trip to a tiny, dustblo n to n in southern "ri#ona. "nd

no one ever found out hy!!!at least not until time immeasurable had passed and the same cryptic scholars ho had unraveled the doleful language of )achel?s cri!du!coeur homages dislodged the fact, and then the reason for this +ourney became a material and strangely practical part of the legend. The to n as called "ndresville, and it as as obscure as its prosaic name. In searching it out, Plouffe not only found that it as omitted on certain high ay maps but very difficult to find even hen the route as occasionally marked. Totally out of place in his habitual business suit, Plouffe had kicked around the gas stations and ramshackle convenience stores of "ndresville ith little success, aroused the suspicious of the scant band of locals ho loitered on the less than thirty!yard long main street, and learned very little. %o one had any notion of ho %athan &ecker as, hat he looked like, hat sort of art ork he did or hy he should be there. 6ne drunk in a lean!to saloon had even told Plouffe after a fe gratis drinks that "ndresville as a ghost to n and had no reason to be on a map or attract anyone for that matter. The to n, dusty and dry, concealed nothing...or did it9 A*es,B said another hiskey!ravaged native on the day before Plouffe drove a ay forever. AThis to n could be the start of a cruise.B &efore Plouffe could get any amplification of this enigmatic statement, the man plunged himself deeper into the bottle he as consuming in gulps and vanished into the kind of stone all barricade of impenetrability that branded the stragglers ho inhabited this dismal corner of sagebrush and cactus. "nd so for at least one unnamed tenant of the asteland, there as in "ndresville the promise of a cruise. "nd hat in the fuck did that mean9 thought Plouffe, as he drove a ay. The cra fish as still under its rock ledge. %o mysteries had been unraveled. >II. The cruise

The legend so oft!repeated in the murky generations hich follo ed never mentioned the ord cruise, and the arcane ritings dealing ith the death of both Declan &ecker and his ould!be devotee, )achel 3oulbourne, never mentioned the ord either. Instead, the storytellers insisted that the no erased and therefore non!e2istent to n of "ndresville as a door ay to Aimmortality.B Immortality had al ays become part of the oral legend. It fueled the churning egregore hich arose from the tight compact of the many listeners. "nd others, not taken in by the necessity to hear a legend repeated each spring under the rusting monuments of some artist ho had once lived in the "bandoned Lands, found out over the course of many years hat as located in the no !mythical "ri#ona atering hole. 3eneration by generation they began to act on it. It ould, in effect, become their contribution to the egregore hich governed the hole of their sphere. %athan &ecker, of course, kne hat it as centuries before. It as a bricked! up 5old 7ar missile silo and fallout shelter hich generated its o n po er source and as called an AinstitutionB by some. Inconspicuous and virtually unkno n beneath the unforgiving sands of the "ri#ona desert, it as filled ith huge 4uantities of li4uid nitrogen and insulated in such a ay as to preserve this element ell under its boiling point of CC.:; degrees Delvin. 3uessably, it housed a certain restricted 4uantity of dead human corpses and as in fact one of a small number of cryonics institutes, obscured and maintained by the most secretive of societies, organi#ations hich safeguarded their covert stockpile of cadavers in the then!vain hope that by free#ing them, they could and ould be resuscitated by the miraculously optimistic technology of future generations able to cure the ailments hich had destroyed these prominent souls and revive them from the dead into the faceless da n of some ne era of enlightenment in the anticipated cyclone of unrestrained scientific progress.

The cryonics institute of "ndresville, having no particular public presence or name, had never given much thought, ho ever, to the utility of such revivals or hether future eras ould have any need hatever to bring back relics from ages that they ere sure to deem as primitive and even prehistorically barbaric. "nd for most of the optimistically fro#en corpses, this as true. 3enerations succeeded and the rocks and gravel of a derelict desert ould eradicate most all traces of the subterranean institute, and very fe of the glacial dead ould ever see either the benevolent hand of enhanced science nor the daylight of any manifestation hatsoever of a future orld. &ut because of )achel and her incessant riting and because of %athan and his enigmatic statuary, a legend took form!!!a fairy story and its egregore, its thoughtform, hich in time became the mainspring of a ne civili#ation, so compelling and real as this autonomous psychic entity born of the synergy of collective thought bedecked ith fervent evolutionary aspiration, as such has al ays been the ont of mankind. "nd so, in his otherness, %athan &ecker became rather suddenly convinced in the goals and ambitions of this nearly invisible and nameless cryonics society. 7ith the assent of his family, he arranged to have Declan?s body placed in an everlasting vat of li4uid nitrogen in hopes of his revival in a more progressive future time. This as no the promised cruise. " cruise only for the very privileged into a da##ling and startlingly e2traordinary, if not over helming, future. It as an idea that only an artist of %athan?s odd bent ould consent to, and Declan readily agreed ith his father that it might be an Aadventure,B certainly something better than a +ourney by ship to some overheated tropical atoll about hich he shared no interest. &ut one problem posed itself. It as conveyed to both %athan and Declan by a private courier from the last ' iss clinic Declan had visited. &y the time

Declan?s tumor ballooned to lethal si#e, it ould burst and thereby destroy most of the soft tissue of his brain. He ould therefore be revived...if revival ere indeed possible...as a lumpen vegetable, not orthy of a ne start. 'omething had to be done before. "nd so it as. >III. 8osh =olan, 1The Dentist1 'o great as the fresh and innocent optimism and immutable belief of the no ! mystical artist %athan &ecker, hose faith in the glimmering chimera of cryonics had blossomed so idely that it perfumed and into2icated everyone ho came in contact ith the sculptor ith the rich and indestructibly aromatic scent of undying hope in a second chance at life in a better orld after a brief but gratifying cruise through uncharted eons to come, that it fell upon his childhood friend, a rather impressionable menagerie animal manager named 8osh =olan, ho to some as kno n as both a veterinarian and a dentist!!!neither of hich totally suited his profession!!to merge into a seeming risk!free and totally logical plan to use the same chemicals he employed to anestheti#e elephants to 4uietly remove %athan(s forlorn son, Declan, from this orld and start him on his voyage to the ne2t ithout much thought of repercussion or conse4uence. "nd so it as ith both )achel 3oulbourne and her ever!doting mother Theodora, ho both fell under the spell of pledged immortality accorded to Declan if his removal could be achieved and his body preserved before the atrocious tumor had destroyed the symmetrical beauty and idely!admired magnitude of his brain. 5ryonics became, thus, a palpable reality rather than a vaporous speculation, and the veracity of the cruise in time took on the vivid hue of absolute truth. In short, plans ere laid and secrets ere kept. " circle, hich included not only Declan, his father and the illing assassin =olan but also )achel and her mother, as summarily closed. The matter as decided. 8osh =olan kne and respected his role, that of an agent of unconditional and un4uestionable

immortality. Declan(s immortality. .or years =olan in his role as 1dentist1 had crept into the 4uarters of #oo elephants ith his dart tube, put them into a painless sleep and filled their aging mouths ith aluminum teeth to prolong their e2hibitory e2istence for an adoring public in hatever city(s #oological gardens they inhabited!!!for elephants, like legends and their resultant egregores, become the property of an adoring public, and there as no calling nobler than giving these beasts a chance of living a fe year longer instead of dying of harsh starvation from orn a ay teeth. The same nepenthe that soothed the suffering toothless beasts into temporary slumber ould transport a dying boy into a ne life in a orld that could only be envisaged in the most glo ing of imagined mental vignettes. =olan, inebriated by the contagious confidence of %athan &ecker, fancied himself a hero!!!and this right up until the moment that he atched the final light in Declan &ecker(s eyes flicker out like the e2tinguished flame of a celebratory lantern at festival(s end. "fter that point, sadly, the Dentist(s optimism ilted and finally ithered altogether as he received ne s of Declan(s remains being surreptitiously taken to a place under the "ri#ona desert and congealed at temperatures approaching absolute #ero. 'uffering from the pangs of recrimination, %athan &ecker(s accomplice in cruise!planning, plunged into a despair so deep in its guilt!laden melancholy as to send the Dentist into an asylum for the rest of his life, an asylum here he spent his remaining fe years staring hollo !eyed at the vacant alls, the empty orbs of his demented eyes rolling about in a self! inflicted madness from hich there as no escape. &ut the legend never recorded this part. In the legend, the Dentist became an emblem of true and lasting friendship, the bringer of benevolent and holehearted kindness to a beleaguered family, a deliverer endo ed ith the boldness to act upon conviction!!!and thus a hero. &ut some versions, as e have seen, also cast him as a villainous and malicious

assassin. It depended on the teller as al ays. "nd of tellers there ere more than legion. "s the legend as retold, the Dentist as never forgotten. His crass aluminum teeth transmogrified into first diamonds then molten gold. "nd though no lasting representations of his elephants ere ever preserved after the e2tinction of the latter, these huge and e2otic life forms themselves became one of the pinnacles of the oft!told tale, ape2es as it ere of the beauty and passion of a lost era. The golden toothed elephants, like the Dentist, ere never e2cluded. The egregore of the saga ould not have permitted that. The tulpa of truth and momentous magnitude hung about these mammoths, like the $echanic, the Love!'truck 'tepsister, the $onumental "rtist and the hugely tantric Declan, himself marched off triumphantly into the oral future of the human race. It took on a vitality of its o n and the vaguest fragrance of the scent of this pungent tale, if tossed into anyone(s grave, ould have easily outlived the substance of their Earthly ashes. 'uch is the stuff of mankind(s legends. IE. The passing of )achel 3oulbourne "s if sleep alking through the corridors of a frigid dream, )achel, bereft of all hope of companionship, marriage and childbearing in this world transitioned through four years of college and si2 months of police academy and thence into a uniform the meaning of hich as usually lost on her raped, ravaged and ransomed soul. 'he had bonded ith Declan(s imputed charm ith every fiber of her being, and life simply became a chore for her until... -ntil the day shortly follo ing her mother(s burial in the cold earth of a somber graveyard in their unnamed northern city, hen %athan &ecker, ho had e2hausted his fortune in the preservation of his son(s remains, confided in )achel that he had al ays kno n of her passion for Declan and had....unbekno nst to anyone....acted accordingly. He had, )achel learned

much to her barely restrained glee, arranged for her interment alongside of Declan in a vat of li4uid nitrogen, so great as his love for his son and his abiding belief in the resuscitative po ers of generations unborn. He had, in effect, invested his last cent into this final venture, and suffering no from a defective heart valve, ould soon +oin )achel(s mother in the ground, hile )achel ould!!!he kne !!!rea aken and unite ith his beloved son in an assured and un4uestioned future paradise. Like )omeo and 8uliet, he reasoned, they ould die almost together at nearly the same age. "nd they ould d ell together at the end of their 1cruise1 for as long as a future society could keep them animated. He disclosed all this to an astonished )achel hile still in mourning for Theodora, ho had only the promise of moldy soil in her unseen future. It as in the once!happy family room of the house )achel had lived in since age t elve. )achel as in uniform and earing a police!issued pistol on her side hen she learned the ne s. 'uch as the un4ualified munificence and undying conviction of the aging stepfather that )achel, biting suddenly her bottom lip and feeling the sudden paro2ysm of compunction and shame, could not bring herself to tell the old man the thing that he should have, could have noticed during the eleven years of her residence in his family!!!the oft!hidden fact that Declan &ecker had never sho n the slightest interest or attraction to his young and ardent stepsister. %o, )achel could not tell him. It ould spoil the plan. 'he anted to die any ay, and the future as, after all, assured ith cryonics. The only missing element as the desired affection hich Declan had never evinced to ard her. This factor, ho ever, as never spoken or preserved in the legend. )achel became over the ensuing eons e2actly hat %athan felt her to be the day he informed her of his arrangements. The greatest love story in history as in its nuclear form, and it could only gro vaster from there. "nd it did. To proportions unfathomable.

The fire hich burned for centuries fueling the 3reat Legend as )achel. Her consent to a painless death at age t enty!three so that she could +oin Declan ho ould still be t enty!eight in an idyllic and miraculous orld, here the e24uisite ould become the commonplace and the sublime a perennial flo er in the garden of life. %ot the $echanic, not the Dentist, not the 'culptor, not the Prehistoric &easts but )achel as at the a2is of mankind(s most enduring and nourishing fable!!!the ellspring of a civili#ation that could not be imagined by any contemporary of either )achel or %athan. Her death as only a foot!stone ashed over by the gentle aters of the brook of time hich she so passionately needed to cross. "nd so )achel kne . 'he kne that day hen 4uestioned by Plouffe that her stepfather had arranged for her death!!!her straightfor ard and abrupt death. &y the tran4uili#er halothane if possible. It grieved her that Tucker Plouffe had not used his blo tube. It grieved her that after standing on the side of the 7hore High ay for over an hour another assassin had not come by. It saddened her that she as still alive and not yet beneath the "ri#ona desert. The Dentist as out of the picture no . "nd Plouffe had refused the +ob, turning from hit!man to anna!be detective. 7ho ould do the +ob9 )achel vo ed that the year ould not pass ith her still breathing. 'he ould do it herself. The arrangements had been made. "ll that as needed as her lifeless remains. &ut as it turned out, it as Plouffe ho did it, or sort of. In a phone call, )achel asked him to meet her ith the promise of telling him all the details he anted. 1I(ll let you kno ho ants me dead and hy,1 she gasped over the phone. Plouffe consented and picked her up in his 8aguar at a predetermined location not far from here he had first met her. 'he as earing her police uniform and badge. 'he as carrying her nine millimeter police!issued pistol. 1I(m not killing you,1 said Plouffe firmly.

1*es, you are,1 said )achel. 7ithout prologue, she dre her gun from its holster. Plouffe, ho had heard and disbelieved the story, noted that the gun as fresh, slick ith oil and apparently unused. The holster, ho ever, as tatty and orn. The livid and bleeding soul has orn the body bare from the inside out, he thought, fashioning a crude metaphor for the seemingly maniac police girl. &ut before he could ruminate more poetic images, )achel pushed the barrel to his temple and said something garbled to the effect that it as either him or her. In self!preservation it became her. Plouffe still had =olan(s old loaded blo tube under the car seat, a gift from the no !dead %athan &ecker. 6n )achel(s unflinching command, he ithdre it and used it as instructed. His action, his presence, his persona as unbelievable even to himself!!!and as such he passed into the legend and became an evil force in the egregore that arose ith each telling of the rich parable of hich he no became an element. He dumped her body in a vacant lot right here she had charged him to. " dead female cop, complete ith sidearm, uniform, badge and above!all ID tag. Then he sped out of the state forever. $any years later under a ne identity in a place here no one thought to look for him, he died!!!mostly of old age. His last thoughts ere of )achel(s strange tale. 15ryonics,1 he murmured as he passed from this orld into hatever follo s. E. 5onclusion, The " akening The momentous hour of the egregore finally struck, and the apparition!!!the tulpa!!!arose, great and horrible, benevolent, ise or violent as the occasion demanded. It as the collective ill of a civili#ation enraptured ith its unkno n and shado y origins, a civili#ation that pri#ed the intense value of human emotion

above all other values and had come to raise the core reason for its very e2istence on a story that had developed into an immense e2pression of hat it meant to be human and at the ape2 of social maturity in an era that had met and solved most of the other pressing problems of survival. Its technology, shrouded as the property of only a fe , had elevated the species to a giddy summit here strapping happiness reigned alongside of mandatory mystery. The apparition made itself mostly unseen, but had it been visible, it ould have presented itself as inchoate and formless as the numberless thoughtforms hich had given it birth in the collective recollection of something momentous from a past that no one person could ever conceive individually. It embodied the entire spirit of mankind from the earliest combinations of one celled creatures through centuries of strife, error and slo progress. Thus it as good. Thus it as holy. Thus it was mankind!!!everyman in his purest form. It hovered no above the pri#e of its being, the restored and repaired corpus of hat as no considered the essential keystone of its e2cellence. "nd this as Declan &ecker...revitali#ed...re!invigorated ith the vril!!!the life force!!!!itself. The orld of mankind, represented in a single fluid and formlessly nebulous mass s irled over the place here Declan as no stored, guarding, as it ere, its trophy to share ith all sentient creatures of its o n making. It as the da n of the ne2t transformation. The acme of evolution. The much anticipated end point of a biological +ourney that had been launched so many epochs ago in a past that Declan and the other lofty figures of his legend embodied. "nd all as good. The egregore as happy. Declan &ecker, for his part, came into full consciousness feeling fresh!skinned and filled ith some primal but ineffable force. He kne not to e2pect e2planations from an evolution that he could not fathom. His father and the anonymous cryonics society had prepared him ell. 1&e ready for anything,1 they said. Declan as.

&ut his lips ere dry, and he became gradually a are that he had been speaking for a long time. "s his eyes gre sharper, he sa that he had been reading from something that looked like a commonplace book hovering over here he lay. 7ords continued to issue from his lips long after his mind as s ept clear of any ha#e that still clouded it. He heard his o n ords, "t was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of $ight, it was the season of %arkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. It as the first line of a book he had 1recently1 forced himself to read because someone told him it as important. Then he remembered hat it as. 5harles Dickens, " Tale of T o 5ities, ritten in :F;G. The dryness of his mouth told him he had been reading aloud for some time. He did not kno hy. Then the idea burst into his mind. His hosts needed to hear his English. He did not kno ho he kne this, but it as further revealed to him!!! telepathically no doubt!!!that although those ho had retrieved him from the vale of death had en+oyed ample opportunities to read the language of his times, they did not kno ho to pronounce it. "nd he had been reading for a long time. They had learned. 'uddenly, Declan became a are that the information as not reaching him telepathically /as he ould have liked to have thought0 but rather orally. 'ome eddy of s irling mass located above him as speaking. He remained silent and listened for its ords, 1Long ago e found all the ritten records of your era and learned to read them. &ut e did not kno the sounds behind the symbols. *ou have helped us ith that. 7e no can speak to you in "merican.1

1English,1 said Declan, some hat annoyed. 1That is hat e call it.1 1*es, "merican English. *ou have read many of its greatest creations to us. It is, perhaps, time to stop.1 'ome here to his right behind a veil composed mostly of hat looked like hardened sunlight as another voice reading, Happy families are all alike& every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Declan suddenly recogni#ed the line before he identified the voice. It as the opening of Leo Tolstoy(s classic "nna Darenina, published in translation in :FCC. 1'he too has no read enough,1 said the detached voice in a perfectly inflected "merican tone. 1The 3oddess of -nconditional Love. 'he has read the entire body of her orations to us as ell. They are at the foundation of hat allo s us to be real. They comprise the bedrock, the underpinning of ho and hat e are.1 1The goddess91 said Declan. 1'he read hat9 %o you(ve got her started on "nna Darenina91 He paused for a moment, remembered the ords of his father and his cryonics mentors and said at length 1Dind of cool. I mean in a literary ay.1 1*es, the 3oddess,1 continued the voice. 1*our 3oddess. 7e have re! animated her too. 'he ill be ith you for close to an eternity, as long as the e2cellence of our orld endures. )achel 3oulbourne.1 1Her91 sco led Declan, not concealing his sudden annoyance. 1Did you bring her back ith her nifty nine millimeter police issue 3lock and her smart uniform91 1It is time no for the great reunion,1 roared the voice in a ba ling,

sepulchral tone that almost startled the blas@ Declan. "nd so he and )achel got up from hat appeared to both of them as very ordinary beds of the "merican H:st 5entury. They eakly shook hands for some reason. " limp reunion to be sure. " certain cynicism shimmered briefly in Declan(s diamond!cold eyes that refracted the light variously like poorly polished river stones. 1%ice to see you, sis,1 he said. 1%ice to see you too, Declan.1 1I ould have thought they ould have fro#en your mother and sent her along to keep me company. Theodora could never keep her hands off me, that is, hen you or Dad eren(t looking.1 1$y mother liked you9...I mean in that ay91 )achel, like Declan, as clothed in some indescribable fabric, and like Declan she seemed fresh and full of unaccustomed vigor. but it didn(t matter much to either of them here they ere or hat e2actly they ere earing. 1&itch al ays anted me. I had to give in sometimes. I as +ust a kid. 7asn(t my favorite thing to do, but oh ell.1 )achel ga#ed on the ob+ect of her boundless affection as if she had +ust seen him yesterday!!!and, in effect, it had been a sort of yesterday as far as the couple ere concerned. 'he felt a sudden repugnance at hearing his confession. The thought of Declan and her mother nauseated her to the point of instant retaliation. 1"nd your father...nice man...dead, I suppose, of his drinking. I mean his pose as that all great artists need to drink. "nd he did his share. I suppose you don(t kno that. His big statues, that +unk he elded together and passed off on the municipalities, came from the bottle. I suppose youIre a are91 )achel

as surprised at her o n tone and cynicism. 'he had suddenly turned mean inside. It as as if she had s allo ed the hard pit of a once!s eet fruit. 1$y father as a drinker9 'hut your lying mouth. I don(t kno about that. He as a great artist. His orks ere every here in the city.1 1*eah, as long as he remained sober enough to forge them together. &ut that as pretty much of a rarity, eh Dec91 1'top it,1 said Declan. 1He sent us both here!!! herever this is!!!to be together, and you kno hat9 I have no idea hat year this is or ho is president...1 1Last I remember it as that black guy hose name I forget,1 snapped )achel. 1I never really cared. Did you91 1%o,1 said Declan, eyeing his stepsister ith the same disdain he al ays had. 1Do you91 1%ot really,1 replied )achel. 16ne president resembles another in my vie . 7ho cares91 1%ot me.1 17e never did much care about anything,1 continued )achel. 1"nd no all of a sudden, I seem to care less. *ou(re pretty, but your eyes are like old fisted sno balls!!!cold.1 1"nd you are pretty too, but you kno damn ell that I never cared for you. I as never going to fuck a t elve!year old. That is hat you anted then.1 1'o you fucked my mother.1 16ut of necessity.1 1" lot of bullshit. I never kne . *ou and your artsy!fartsy father...1

1Leave my father out of this. 7ho in the shit kno s here e are9 There are big blobs here ho like to hear us read Dostoevsky or hatever.1 1The future,1 said )achel. 1I don(t like it. "nd all at once, I don(t like you.1 )achel as certain that she as feeling the ords she said. In her head they echoed true like the crisp voices of spirit sentries in the canyons they guarded. 1The feeling has al ays been mutual. *ou are no goddess.1 1%ever intended to be. I loved you. &ut I can see that it as mislaid. *ou seem no , hatever this no is, to be a real prick.1 1"nd you seem like a teenage slut. The one you used to or anted to be.1 7ithout arning, the churning apparition of the future(s collective egregore, the tulpa, reappeared. 1There is vast and ine2pressible trouble,1 it said. 17e must terminate something. 'riots, storytellers. are under every arch. They cannot be denied. This has to end.1 "nd so it did. Declan and )achel ere comfortably put back into inanimation. They never finished their argument or arrived at any conclusions. They never ould. 7here and ho they ould ake up as only a con+ecture in a society that had vainly depended on them. "nd far too much. Live as long as e may, but e ill never live long enough to become the gods e think e should be. JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ Devon Pitlor 8anuary, H<:K

LMNLMNLMNLMN