 |
| Weird Tales 1938.02, Margaret Brundage. |
Opening Statement:
Horrible beyond conception was the change which had taken place in my best friend, Crawford Tillinghast.What in Brown Jenkin's Name..?
When the narrator visits a vengeful scientist, something in the air tells him that all is not well. Additionally the servants are missing.Synopsis:
The narrator’s friend, Crawford Tillinghast, invites him over to see a new device which awakens men’s “buried” senses (derived from the pineal gland). When the machine is activated, they see many shadowy creatures all around them. Tillinghast notes that they are in danger if they move and are seen. It turns out that Tillinghast’s servants had been eaten by these other-dimensional creatures. With one of the creatures approaching the narrator from behind, he fires his gun and destroys the sense-enhancing machine. Tillinghast dies, and the servants are never found.Essential Saltes:
"You think those floundering things wiped out the servants? Fool, they are harmless! But the servants are gone, aren't they? You tried to stop me; you discouraged me when I needed every drop of encouragement I could get; you were afraid of the cosmic truth, you damned coward, but now I've got you! What swept up the servants? What made them scream so loud?... Don't know, eh! You'll know soon enough. Look at me - listen to what I say - do you suppose there are really any such things as time and magnitude? Do you fancy there are such things as form or matter? I tell you, I have struck depths that your little brain can't picture. I have seen beyond the bounds of infinity and drawn down demons from the stars... I have harnessed the shadows that stride from world to world to sow death and madness... Space belongs to me, do you hear?
"Things are hunting me now - the things that devour and dissolve - but I know how to elude them. It is you they will get, as they got the servants... Stirring, dear sir? I told you it was dangerous to move, I have saved you so far by telling you to keep still - saved you to see more sights and to listen to me. If you had moved, they would have been at you long ago. Don't worry, they won't hurt you. They didn't hurt the servants - it was the seeing that made the poor devils scream so. My pets are not pretty, for they come out of places where aesthetic standards are - very different. Disintegration is quite painless, I assure you -- but I want you to see them. I almost saw them, but I knew how to stop.
"You are curious? I always knew you were no scientist. Trembling, eh. Trembling with anxiety to see the ultimate things I have discovered. Why don't you move, then? Tired? Well, don't worry, my friend, for they are coming...
"Look, look, curse you, look... it's just over your left shoulder..."From Dr. Armitage's Notes:
- Like the earlier "Beyond the Wall of Sleep", this tale hinges on a mind-expanding device.
- Invisible, somewhat incorporeal creatures. This concept would not really be used again very much after "The Unnamable" (although "The Shadow Out of Time" does includes some un-identified invisible horrors).
The Horrible Conclusion:
I never feel alone or comfortable, and a hideous sense of pursuit sometimes comes chillingly on me when I am weary. What prevents me from believing the doctor is one simple fact - that the police never found the bodies of those servants whom they say Crawford Tillinghast murdered.Read it here.
Follow'd by "Nyarlathotep".
