View Single Post
Old 12-09-2009, 03:00 PM   #890
Legate of Amon Lanc
A Voice That Gainsayeth
 
Legate of Amon Lanc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: In that far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 7,431
Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.
Expedition Journal - Day 6 Entry

The place we have entered was large in size, far larger than any of the other spaces we have passed through this far. Its walls have been of the same volcanic rock as everywhere else, yet there was something definitely unnatural about its almost hexagonal shape. Even though the stone walls were uneven, the geometry was striking. It was our glaciologist who later pointed out that such symmetry could hardly have been achieved by natural geological processes. But even if it were not for this affirmation, we could not have ignored what we saw on the northern wall - with its archway opening hewn in the black stone and with faded, yet curiously vivid graffito above it.

I can hardly describe our feelings as we beheld this subterranean wonder of the icy waste. Even with the most unusual events of the previous days in mind we would not have expected to find anything of this kind in this forgotten ice-sealed place.

The glyptic image atop of the wall was the most curious to our eyes, for it without any doubt bore witness to the presence of sentient beings in this complex, at least perhaps once upon a time when it has been formed. But what was it? Our palaeomathematician seemed particularly curious about it and he was the first one to start examining it. If it came down to its artistic value, it was crude at most, yet clear enough as to what it represented - a long mountain range stretching beneath the starry sky. The stars were represented in the form of small-diameter holes, distinguishible enough from the rest of the irregularities in the stone. But none of us had recognised what our palaeomathematician probably did already by that time and we saw nothing more to the glyph than an expression of some ancient art.

We have been in shock from the discovery, but still our main objective lay in front of us - and so we decided to finish our purpose in this underground labyrinth of volcanic rock, even though our minds have been mostly distracted by the thought of that peculiar graven image. We passed beneath its archway and went on. There was another crossing awaiting us nearby, and it was there where we have decided to rest, at least for a while. It must have been also at that time when our mathematician had decided to slip away to look once more at the curious carving.

None of us saw him leaving and I cannot explain how came we did not see his flashlight, but the fact is that after several minutes we heard his cry from the corridor through which we just came. Running to the place we found him lying beneath the archway with his arm almost torn off and blood dripping from his neck. He was still holding his notebook, now stained with blood, but we could still make out the last words he hastily noted before his death, no doubt relating to the mysterious carving:


No mistake. Resembles distinctly the constellations of Northern hemisphere, though some major differences. Ursa Major completely missing - why? Instead quizzical triangle made of 15 dots - equilateral. Why 15? Is also a hexagonal number - room - any connection? Is atomic number of phosphorus. In Hebrew 10-5 forbidden to write, forms the name of God. What other uses of 15 -

Apparently whichever conclusions our palaeomathematician might have reached have been interrupted before he could make them.

LIVING MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION:

Boromir88 - senior assistant to a professor of glaciology
Loslote - rich funder's spoiled daughter
Morsul - federal grants lawyer
Brinn - polar bear biologist
Nogrod - old palaeoecologist with is own theory of climate change
sally - the original initiator of the expedition
Thinlómien - whale expert
Nerwen - mechanic
Bes - room/store manager
Shasta - sled-dog handler

GONE:
Roa - survival guide - died on blood loss from Werewolf attack on Day 2 (left game, innocent)
Mnemosyne - field medic - shot by the survival guide on Day 2 (Werewolf)
Inziladun - meteorologist - killed by Werewolves on Night 3 (innocent)
tromkehra - cook/bartender - left aboard the ship on Day 3 (left game, innocent)
Nienna - navigator - shot on her way back to the ship on Day 3 (innocent)
Greenie - senior assitant to important scientists in the company, killed by Werewolf on Night 4 (innocent)
Pitchwife - marine biologist - unambiguously executed by the expedition on Day 4 (Werewolf)
Eomer of the Rohirrim - sea pilot - murdered in the icy darkness on Night 5 (innocent)
wilwa - crewmember - executed in the underground cavern on Day 5 (innocent)
Macalaure - palaeomathematician - killed while performing his palaeomathematic operations on Night 6 (innocent)

Day 6 has started. Night folks, stop PMing. All people, start discussing. You know how it goes.
__________________
"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories
Legate of Amon Lanc is offline   Reply With Quote