TheStarsAreRight:HerlNote1
REDLAND JACK
Late at night on the train trip into the interior of Russia, Redland notices that Father Patrick is still awake and seems to be studying something intently. Jack approaches him tentatively. "Hello. I'm not disturbing you, am I?"
FATHER HERLIHY
"Why, no, Mr. Jack, you are not. I was merely studying the Vespers," says Father Herlihy in a tone reminiscent of Father Mulcahy from the TV show MASH: innocent and cheerful, yet VERY slightly sanctimonious.
REDLAND JACK
Redland looks like he's about to say something, hesitates, and then changes his mind.
"Ah. Good. I don't have anything important in mind, I just realized that, though we've been traveling together for a couple of weeks, we'd never really had the chance to talk. Now, of course, that may have been by design, in which case, I'm hindering your plans. Or it may be due to the fact that I've been flailing around like an idiot ever since you've joined us. Regardless, I just wanted to get your opinion on things, if that's alright," he says, rather vaguely.
FATHER HERLIHY
"My good fellow, I was afraid you didn't like me since I am a Man of the Cloth, and you are apparently an atheist. I have nothing against you!" says Father Herlihy in a surprised but perfectly pleasant and genuine tone, closing his book and sitting up. "Please, let us speak. I understand that you recently tried to kill yourself ... I didn't want to pry, and I don't want to pry now, but ... would you consider discussing THAT with me, to start?"
REDLAND JACK
Jack's demeanor relaxes.
"You have nothing against me? That just means you don't know me well enough." Redland smiles, "As for my religious beliefs, well, it would be fair to say that I was an atheist. Now? With what's happened? I guess it's hard to say. Maybe I'll just punt and call myself an agnostic." For whatever reason, Redland seems to be in better spirits than you have ever seen him.
"And as for me not liking you... well, while being a Man of the Cloth is certainly a black, black mark against you, you also seem to be a scholar, so I'll overlook it!"
Aware that Father Patrick doesn't know him too well (and being aware that his rather deadpan delivery can be difficult to parse), Redland is careful to make sure that Patrick knows he is kidding.
"Now, on the matter of my trying to, uh, off myself, I'm not sure if you recall (events from that night being rather muddled), but I bartered to the Outsider my, er, not so much memories of the event, but my feelings. As such, it is almost as if the event happened to another person ... or like it was a dream. With that caveat, if you're still interested, I could tell you how I think things may have happened."
FATHER HERLIHY
Father Herlihy leans forward and seems genuinely interested, candid, and appreciative. "Yes, please, tell me."
REDLAND JACK
"I'm not sure how much you know about me... Heck, at this point, I'm not sure how much I know about myself. Anyhow, I haven't always been this sad sack wretch you've been seeing since you've met me. I mean, normally I'm the epitome of wit and charm. Oh, and humility, mustn't forget that one...
"As I'm sure you're aware, a few weeks back, I suffered an ... event ... that seems to have damaged my memory in some fashion as well as causing my health to take a bit of a nose-dive. Since then, I seem to be having a bit more trouble focusing ... thinking. That this isn't getting better and might continue to get worse, well, you might be able to understand, that for a guy like me, this is pretty high on the list of worst things imaginable."
He seems to be straining, somewhat, to remain cheerful.
"Simple as that, I suppose. At least, I imagine that was the primary impetus behind my decision. The other things seem a bit more ephemeral, and I have a hard time believing that I would take such a long-term 'solution' based on something short-term. Briefly, though, the other things that may have weighed on my mind, would be general feelings of uselessness, the potential end of the world, my ongoing plan to be complicit in the deaths of millions of people, the loss of my job, preoccupation with a girl I left behind, and the constant feeling of sorrow and anger I feel assaulting me from 'the land'. Clearly some of those things are (or should be) more significant than others. I may have forgotten a couple of items on the list," he says wryly, "but, of course, that's what I do now."
FATHER HERLIHY
"Why is 'the land' assaulting you?"
REDLAND JACK
"Well, I have a few hypotheses on this:
"1) The land isn't assaulting me. I'm projecting something that isn't there ... seeking an external explanation for an internal issue. "2) I possess some particular quality the land doesn't like. Maybe I'm too lacking in reverence or faith. Perhaps it doesn't like anyone from the U.K. Who knows why 'the land' does what it does? (Heck, I barely believe in 'the land'). "3) I have a connection to the Dark Pharaoh. It might view that as too alien or perhaps too 'evil' to tolerate.
"These seem most likely to me, though it could certainly be something else entirely."
FATHER HERLIHY
"From what I know, isn't #3 the most likely? I doubt #1is right. And #3 may be the reason for #2."
REDLAND JACK
"Hmmm. I appreciate you dismissing #1 out of hand, though I'd probably, at least, entertain it. I would agree that #3 seems more likely than #2, or at least more likely than the examples I gave in #2. And, as you say, #3 could be considered a subset (or cause of) #2."
FATHER HERLIHY
"And who is this 'Dark Pharaoh'? Has he other names?"
REDLAND JACK
I've heard that the Dark Pharaoh is just one facet of a larger entity. Maybe like The Father is one facet of the Holy Trinity? Dale calls him 'Old 1000 Names'. I'm given to understand that 'The Beast' (titular fellow of the Brotherhood of the Beast) is another, less pleasant facet. I'm told that the Dark Pharaoh's main interest is in being entertained. What constitutes entertainment for him is unclear to me, though it seems likely that he prefers chaos to order. Of course, that's not surprising, since chaos does tend to be considerably more exciting than order.
"I use the pronoun 'he' to describe him, but that is almost assuredly improper anthropomorphism.
"He's not very popular in this circle. My association with him, while not making ..."
He breaks off what he's saying.
"You may have noticed that I'm a bit of an outsider with this crew. A lot of my decisions, and maybe just my personality, facilitate this, but the Dark Pharaoh connection probably plays the strongest part of all."
FATHER HERLIHY
Father Herlihy looks concerned. "I do not understand the nature of your connexion with this Dark Pharaoh. Do you owe it allegiance? And how did you come into contact with this being?"
REDLAND JACK
"Like everything else, this resides in the hole in my memory. However, from what I've been able to piece together, I made a simple trade for information. I had a list of things I could trade that I wrote up and discussed with Carl and some of the others who were with me at the time.
"I came into contact with the Dark Pharaoh when we were traveling, uh, maybe to free the Principle of Aspiration. The Dark Pharaoh wanted to make a deal with the King of Life, but was refused. I had feared that if we refused to make a deal with him, the Pharaoh would go try to make a deal with the King of the Body. Since Auda is crazy and untrustworthy, I didn't want that to happen. While we were in Tibet, I snuck off from the rest of the group and fled to Canada where I made the deal with the Dark Pharaoh."
FATHER HERLIHY
"You don't remember it, though .... what do you remember"? Father Herlihy looks intent and bends forward a bit, his black slicked hair gleaming, his pale hands steepled together.
REDLAND JACK
"Hmmm. I definitely recall the 'information' that he gave me, if that interests you at all.."
FATHER HERLIHY
"Information. Yes, I should like to know about that information, Mr. Jack."
REDLAND JACK
"The information came in the form of a vision. (As a side note, I think this may be why I recall it when I've forgotten other events surrounding it). The vision showed me several things regarding the Pentheus Corporation."
He pauses.
"Er, have you heard much about Pentheus? I've talked about it so many times, that I begin to fear that everyone is thoroughly sick of it. I don't want to bore you if it's old hat."
FATHER HERLIHY
"I know very little about it as a corporation. I know that Pentheus in Greek means 'sufferer' as I study Ancient Greek. He was King of Thebes, in mythology, when Dionysos came to Thebes; Pentheus tried to block the worship of Dionysos and suffered horribly for it. Euripides in the fifth century BC wrote a marvelous play on this myth, called 'The Bacchae.' I wrote a paper on it once. That's all I know."
REDLAND JACK
"It probably wouldn't shock you to learn that Dionysus is not one of my favorite gods... and I much prefer Sophocles to Euripides, but I guess that's neither here nor there.
"Briefly, on the Pentheus Corp.: They are based out of New York, though they are looking to expand (in particular to London). When New World Industries (a group specializing in 'mystic' stuff, though I think more inclined towards 'technological mysticism') broke up, a bunch of the important scientist-types ended up working for Pentheus, which is how they were able to so quickly figure out how to do certain things.
"The Pentheus plan, as far as I can piece together from the Dark Pharaoh vision, talking to them, viewing a 'field test' of theirs, and the projections Carl, Henrik, and Co. calculated at the 'Oracle' in Tibet (keeping in mind that some of this is second-hand to me and that my memory is shaky on some others) is/unfolds as follows:
"1) The rate of Outsider incursions is going to increase rapidly towards the end of this year.
"2) If unchecked, the world will be destroyed.
"3) Using certain 'scientific' principles, the Outsiders can be contained within certain boundaries.
"4) 'They' will have to voluntarily agree to these boundaries.
"5) This containment will be achieved through negotiation with certain Outsiders.
"6) Pentheus's side of the negotiation will involve the deaths of huge numbers of people.
"7) Pentheus estimates that their plan will result in the deaths of 5-10% of all people on earth.
"8) The Dark Pharaoh believes this will be more around the lines of 30%.
"9) The places where the Outsiders will be contained will result in the irreversible contamination of the land in that area.
"10) Pentheus's strategy is to use the initial negotiation to buy time. They are developing weapons that they expect to use to defeat the Outsiders. These weapons will not be ready for some time, so they will allow the Outsiders to eat limited numbers of people while they secretly develop the means to defeat them.
"11) According to the Dark Pharaoh's vision, the people who will be sacrificed will be (generally) volunteers. At first, it will largely be involuntary in the use of 'undesirables'. Next there will be some sort of involuntary lottery (note: the Pentheus people will be exempt from this lottery). As time goes by, people will volunteer, and the involuntary mechanisms will no longer be used.
"12) After being selected, members will have tattoos placed on them that will keep them from fleeing the 'killing fields'.
"13) Pentheus will not seek to take political control.
"14) Due to the nature of Outsiders, people will disperse to smaller communities, as concentrations of people are dangerous.
"15) Pentheus will fail. It is unclear what goes wrong, but most likely they either fail to develop the weapons in a sufficient time frame or due to 'language' difficulties, there is a failure to accurately communicate in the initial negotiations.
"16) Although Pentheus fails, the plan ultimately leads to success. A group of dissidents discovers how to fake the tattoos and they manage to do something to defeat the Outsiders.
"17) This entire process takes about 20 years.
"18) Although the short term costs of the project are enormous, in the long run it leads to a new golden age.
"Now, insofar as I am the greatest proponent of Pentheus, I have felt that it is my obligation to attempt to investigate them whenever possible to make sure they are as legitimate as they appear. To this point, I have not yet discovered them doing anything underhanded. That is to say, they are doing some things that are dicey, but they are upfront about it.
"If you're interested in the results of the field test (it involved the containment of an Outsider), I'd recommend talking to Henrik as he had a good view of the whole thing. Carl was there as well, but he distanced himself from the venture..."
{The conversation continues, but the remainder is unrecorded.}
