I try and get up but my joints dont like it.
We agree on a compromise and i roll over onto my arse like $name in Striptease holding one knee for support. back hurts but im facing [[them]] now. how long have i been sleep? how long have i been [[here]]?
something drips, concerned it might be me i [[start]]
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/g7HcCtR.png"))What a team, animal handlers mainly, some black-worlders included, some, like $name, have the characteristic drip of the recently detached but all doing their best to look attentive. More than polite? I dunno, if they've just detached then were they working while I was asleep in front of them? Try not to think about it. Just [[swell]]
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/DzXxWxB.png"))The ''Geography Hut'' my dudes.
[[swell]]
I try and get up but my joints don't like it.
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/oE11QDq.png"))"This is a story
I'm going to tell you this story now, it [[folds]] aroud like an oxbow lake which is a kink in georaphy.
a wrinkle
a fold
we will [[come]] back to that"
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/IUwpvCu.png"))
<script>$('body').removeClass().addClass('castle')</script>
|fan)[wait a bit longer, its only (weekday:) can we compromise?]
"OH God, I need a piss so bad but we cant [[compromise]] the magic my friends, the decider is about to arrive and I will not leave them waiting in the hall!" ¬ Randall Flagg
(link:"time to get up?")[(show:?fan)]
Its a preposterous, poser way to [[start]], but I need to get in the right frame of performance otherwise i can't make this convincing.
(set: $snacks to (prompt: "what are you thinking about btw?", "snacks"))
there are two lines that biscect the United States"
//I need a [[diagram]], getting up awkwardly into a slightly taller mess I lean on the lip of the blackboard behind me which creaks as stand up, scratch two lines into the surface with a piece of plastic and drop back down before my knees give completely//
The bump backdown gives me confidence somehow
"[[One]]"
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/WKezikq.png"))draw your own, [[come]] on."The first runs from the coast of Maine to Lax Vegas in Nevada where it peters out just before it hits the Californian coast, the [[second]] axis is a bit more complicated
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/DzXxWxB.png"))we will have to come back to it as we keep working.
That first run of axis 1 more or less crosses the longest way you could cut this part of that continet, and about halfway through it passes right through the southern border of Nebraska,
The southern border of Nebraska is that which is adjacent to the state of Kansas
Kansas which contains one of the two main Kansas Cities is also the location of Thulsa Doom's Mega Church, the hearth of all Reason and the home of the foil shiny god [[themselves]]
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/z2DIyxk.png"))"Dressed in shine and earthly dread and desire Thulsa Doom has a great amount attraction and a great amount of pull. A lot of pull. This pull is balanced only by other forces of meteorology, geology and physics. The [[pull]] that drags water up from the clouds in the shitmountains of Colarado to the east and down to the roots of the forests of Missouri and the eastern fringes of Arkansas."
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/XRoPJW1.png"))"The point is, this atttractor, this sits right here in the [[middle]], it has a lot of pull in this basin"//dynamically I push myself self upwards to slap the point on the board where the two scratched lines cross. exhausted for a moment I look around to buy time to catch some breath. All the techs look interested, at least they are looking, all residue of connection fluid is gone, licked up or scraped back inside. $name spits. I can still smell it, $snacks, feet and oxone, long have you been talking? the light outside is getting warmer and less blue as morning approaches something [[normal]]//
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/UJCpXrR.png"))"our story of the Stand begins in [[Maine]], which is where all stories of this kind begin. The state governmnet was testing limits, all science was [[concerned]] with this area of research.
being on the legal border of the united states with canada.
and the border of land and water along the coast line this investigation was completely [[normal]]
teams [[waded]] out in the sea
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/17skRRl.png"))deeper and [[deeper]]pulling out data, [[corrupted]] and meshed together with kelp and heads of things that came off in their hands and spread apart into lost filliments and little [[sacks]] of $snacks
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/SiwKQXQ.png"))the darker the water the sweeter the juice
and my dears they travelled darkly
the researcher teams uncovered data rich as rot
richer even
becoming desire and desease and collapsing membraines
they kept kept working
state funding demanded this
understanding the limits
understand the limits
this material is [[pulled]] back from the folds of the waves
and lines and vector and tentrils which wrapped themselves around nitrile gloves becoming puddles and then flexing with fluid and becoming tendrils and then becoming fluid and then tendrils untill brushed off by squeamish interns and being left as little nub of nothing under the cuff inking up on swet lines to the break in the skin at the raw dried cuticle from too much sanitisation gel and pulling [[deeper]] between raw threads of skin looking for moisture and entering he blood stream.
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/1izGYni.png"))[[pop]]like a [[lip]]like a [[tendon]]pop
and they began [[working]] in [[compounds]]tearing apart things from one layer and splicing them with another
pumping fluid in different directions
feeding gasses into pore
pushing everything through
[[minor]] [[revolations]]assemmblages of people and instruments connected to others none of which knew exactly the whole lay of what they were doing and yet somehow still [[working]] the ocasional mistep bt nothing to be woriied about nothing that could not be laughted about acfterwarss clawed hands still [[working]] all this material [[swirned]] and forcedworking together
but apart
different parts different machines
a few clutches
they were [[fillig]] great resevoirs of [[mateirals]] and $snackstrucks carrying anisters stacked twenty deep
deep under concrete poshed curvesd ceiling to withingstand pressure from above deep filled with [[mateirals]], $snacks, data and growths
sumps and canisters [[swirned]] blackly
but the study of [[limits]]...
... nessecitates two directions
it rerequires two points of view and
one of those
must be from the far side looking [[back]]
and so there was the event, the
birth of captain tripps
//back
my voice had been running for so long it was distorting
artifacts had developed along my vocal cords.
still hunched over with one foot under backside and chin on oposite knee throat bashing top of thigh
looking in front now i open my eyes again i see the scatterng of flem and lump sacs of dead tissue that come out with all those words
the audeince of marine techs and auxillary coders with bumbags full of feed and the dark stares of the black-world regionals are too polite to react as i panic reach for some of the expired protein within reach to [[stuff]] back somehow, the slight sting on my [[fingers]] as thinner than thin skin mets the mild solvent of my own bodily fluid
there's not much shame to be had from this kind of thing of accidentally misusing an orafice, we are technical workers here and professionals afterall so it normal to ocasionally mis-patch but im still fragile so feel embarrissed.
the lumps stay on the worn, filthy, used-to-be-green-now-mostly-black industrial carpet. Still at that point between shit and eggs.
I try and pull myself together and return to the narative they audience came to hear//
"I'm going to tell you about the [[event]]"
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/rjiZGHr.png"))[[back]] where? into mouth? into the scarred void under my lowest right rib that used to hold an interface for gastric expansion back when I was still active and not here lecturing the new greens? maybe I meant to stick it in the clear map pocket on the top left thigh now pulled toward my chest?
auto induction of the gag reflex is a returning fad at the fascility whether for actual research or other less legitimate means as engineers (usually engineers) explore what can be done by interupting the usual gastric-incubation rythms, pulling material out prior to its natural resolution and interfering with it in some way before putting it [[back]] in the same system.
As even the lowest grades here have the diagnostic mucus added to modified nail beds to speed up constant and mundane testing of fuel richness you'd ve stupid to stick you fingers down your throat without gloves. Stories return to the locker rooms year after year, growing more grusome with each years additions about some intern to burnt out a whole hand's worth on a dare.
the story normally ends with them losing the whole hand (unlikely), or with some acid-thriving yeast making home in the ruined symbiotic graft after proper care is neglected, snaking up tendons and eventually fruitin biolently out of the poor unfortunate's forarms in a powdery burst of white fury (equally unlikely).
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/odI8bna.png"))The ''event''
The event is the [[birth]] of Captain Tripps
A great crabbing cloud of cancer that was wrought out of the sea with the mind of nothing, and desiring only wonder and [[accelerations]]
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/0g9vldY.png"))birth seems like an appropriate way to talk about the [[event]] but it leaves a lot hanging
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/0Uzujue.png"))a misaligning of parts, a misdirection of growth
everything began to strain on the other side of the limit
people died, a lot of people [[died]]
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/hDOd3co.png"))
some people ran, and in doing so, dragged that fold with them in their wake
running bloody and clutching their loved ones they fled
some south
some west
but with the steel walls of Canada to the north and the now Gnashing seas of the Atlantic to the east their options were limited to one [[quadrent]] of escapeAnd at this moment, sensing the wiff of plague on the air,
at this moment steps Randall Flagg
With black magic and promises, Randall offers those hopeless infected still driving on away from home, a way to [[keep]] living.
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/1fkYAqA.png"))Randall says come to Nevada, the desert will protect you.
The plague will die on the sand
we can coat you in silica and draw it out
the desert where anything can be built is a [[sandbox]] of desires
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/DVKG02r.png"))So with black magic gripping the dashboard through their windscreens, these peopledrive on dripping [[venom]] in their sweat
spreading illness in their wake like chemtrails
cutting the country in half in the [[thro]] of frantic desire to reach the man Flagg
But 22 hurs into this bloom flecked odyssey,
this wave [[hits]] the southern lip of Nebraska
pop
the line is [[kinked]] out of joint
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/IUwpvCu.png"))the charasmatic pull of [[more]] more magic
all the wetness of the plague Trips
the seaborn froth of formlessness, tearing things apart and pumping them full of uncontrollable growth
rot and fluid
a miscegenation of accelerants and putrescence
fungus and $snacks
bile and algae
Captain Trips riding the vector of panic, on the backs of bodies pulled by desire to the magician in Las Vegas
then POP
the [[line]] is kinked out of joint
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/IUwpvCu.png"))//I'm sweating, still sitting crossed and worn on the dirty floor.
the audience of techs, low ratings and green watch me with clear eyes of those have not seen so much yet
how young are these people? hard to tell, the body changes so much.
I look back over my spotted shoulder at the blackboard behind and look for something to ground myself.
theres almost nothing there, ever lacking in creativity the board is naked other than the large slanted X I had marked what feels like years ago, the two lines.
I trace from the upper right hand termination down toward the centre with a jesture//
this is where we have travelled
//I point to the lower left termination with a awkward digit//
this is where the magician began the pull of death dressed up as life, drawing rotten convoy of families full of infetion and fear
//i gesture clumsily, desribing the whole axis from the lowe right to the upper left with lethargic grace//
this is what we are talking about now, this whole line is something else, its an event line, an [[unaccounted]] for, uncharted variable that flips everything once it gets close.
//I paused for effect/to regain breath//
the charasmatic shining magic of [[Thulsa]] Doom pulls the handshake off course
not a concious actor, no dog in the race
Thulsa Doom's Mega Church, a dope ranch and a healing party
and the energy of plague and wonder hits a spin
in the [[prarie]] of potential, the basin south of Nebraska
the vortex starts
a new lie of flight straight out fromthe shitmountain of colarado, the dark forest of Missouri
a new dimension
pop
the big [[unaccounted]]
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/FSbwb30.png"))you could say this is [[praxis]]
a terrible wrinkle
but it opens a door
the capillary wave [[underfoot]].
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/SHhRXAN.png"))//My ears feel hot, painfully aware of being looked at, not enough protein to recover from all this, when did I last eat anything for me? Emotions slosh and lightheadedness brings a recolection of a quote while the geography hut apears to sway [[underfoot]]//
"you know how some sound sounds wet? in the studio they talk about water all the time, the wet part of the mix all muddy. `[...]` wetness is the vector, Malaria needs it, all plagues need it. its like what machines are made of!`[...]` Kansas seems dry, but thats because the rhizome grass sucks up all the rain and the colarado mountains pull away all the clouds. There is a beach in all that prarie, you just have to learn how to see it, it isn's just cow punchers and ride-on lawnmowers, theres a revolution grinding away as slow as Dawson Encephalitis and sure as you like. we are here, dead centre of the capillary wave with our feet on the seabed." Captain Tripps
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/ScP5pmy.png"))//back in myself somehow, younger eyes on me,
a crumpled, they know this story but came to came to hear it said anyway, the re-assurance of knowing an external history to go with a preent way of life//
So this is the story of how we arrived here, how the school was founded and how we survive.
driven mad with plague fear and magic hope of life headed for Nevada for salvation because hitting the proximity of that uncounted attractor Thulsa [[Doom]].
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/E3aTmms.png"))(colour: "green")[A snake-cult mega-church where members proved their devotion handling each other, exstatic with visions of mottled scales and sidewinder tracks and high as clouds on the rattler milk. numb with joy and salve.
quiet and off the track in the dry split of the kansas secret beach, Thulsa Doom's ranch of good health, not a dog in the race.
and then they pull in a pack of senseless running scared
the convoy of ex-biohazard engineers and cleanup crews and algae techs and their children run ragged from the the north east whipped by unleashed sea plague and maddly drawn by the magical suggestions of some evil vegas magic as part of Randall Flagg's plan to do [[god]] knows what.]
details of the actually singularity are to varied and unstable to map into language
plague-sick&magic-drove sea-techs met communist serpent nest of love magic in a collision at the speed of a fully laden family car.
sickness and unravelling dna and venom and still drying kelp and digestive systems repurposed as bio-reactors with reburners and micro-animal birthing tracts.
fingers thrust into cactus that grip while the flowers throw up pure sugar into the grass to be dried out and mixed into fuel.
The sun burns black for weeks while Thulsa Doom uses all available power to how the reaction within the zone, bordered by mountains and forests the power it takes to pull a skid into a spin.
//i look up at the [[audeince]]
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/Qu99yQ9.png"))this is the end of the class, there are animals that need tending coming in from the valley and they can't be left waiting. The sea-duct needs bodies to work on compound digestion and samping if you find yourself with a team.
//$name and the green techs file out, nodding as they do and I crawl back under the map table to sleep next to the passive heating element.//
(enchant: ?page, (text-colour: black) + (background: white))
I wake up stiff on the floor of the geography hut, folks already assembled around mostly sitting on the floor or standing all in overalls marked with rank. I push my glases onto my face with one hand, bits of rubber stuck to the palm of the other from the rubber mat I used as a bed.
This is going [[swell]]
(set: $name to (prompt: "Your name, please:", "Uma Breakdown"))
(enchant: ?page, (background: "http://i.imgur.com/fOFabAE.png"))
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