“What have you learned?” Anna asked.
“I’m useless throwing things-” Lamb started to say.
“By useless,” Feldman interrupted, “he means that he does not always hit the target, but there isn’t a baseball team that wouldn’t want Dr. Lamb here.”
“I’m also pretty good at golf,” Lamb added with grin, “but I was no sap before this adventure.”
“These skills are all well and good,” O’Malley said, “but I don’t expect that you will have much use for them in academia.”
“About that,” Feldman said awkwardly. “The trustees have not met to deliberate your case yet. Apparently several are unavailable until September, so you are going to be in limbo for a while longer. You’re both welcome to stay here as long as you like, but eventually you will need to get back to your own lives-” He left the sentence hanging.
“I have been considering my options,” Anna said. “This experience has renewed my interest in field work. My position with Reister University was only temporary until Dr. McMahon returns from Australia anyway. What about you?” She turned to Lamb.
“Well,” he said, “It appears that I could give up medicine for a career as a sharpshooter or ball player.” He thought for a moment and a smile bloomed, “I could get a pilot’s license! Flyboys need good eyesight, and mine is amazing now!”
“Your gifts would also enable you to be an excellent surgeon,” O’Malley said. “As for me, the Church has continued my assignment here for the time being.”
“There is another option,” Feldman said. The three turned to him with suspicion. “I told you that I had retained Mr. Cophen to investigate matters such as the Longborough affair. The trust fund provided financing for such activities.”
“At the recommendation of a financial advisor who is aware of the fund and its purpose, we established the Longborough Foundation for Ethnographic Research. Under the guise of an academic institution, the Foundation can actively address the ‘unexplainable events’ that the fund was initially established to deal with, and I would like you three to take over for Mr. Cophen.”
“So you’re suggesting that we come to work for this Longborough Foundation as occult investigators,” Lamb said in a tone that was both surprised and intrigued.
“That is correct,” Feldman replied. “The Foundation would provide you with an appropriate salary and accommodations, as well as acquire whatever resources and equipment you might need.”
“How often do these kind of events occur?” Anna asked.
“More often that you would think,” O’Malley said. He considered for a moment, and then said, “I am part of a holy order dedicated to fighting these supernatural phenomena. The Order of Saint Dionysius the Aeropagite, who is the patron saint of protection from the devil, by the way, has been fighting this battle for centuries. Vatican politics are threatening the activities of the Order. This foundation would be able to carry on that holy work, perhaps even with the Church’s blessing and support.”
“Even so,” Lamb interjected, “you can’t predict when the supernatural will impose itself on the real world. How will we know when we are needed? And what will be do in the meantime?”
“I have a network of like-minded associates throughout the world,” Feldman said, “who are on the lookout for unexplainable phenomena. They will report such things to me.”
“And the Church has the greatest reach on the planet,” O’Malley added. “Reports of incursions by the devil and his minions are received by the Order every day. They could channel those reports to us as well.”
“You seem to already know about all this,” Anna said. “How is that?”
“I mentioned the situation in Rome to Dr. Feldman in passing. I contacted him when I arrived in New York and you failed to meet my boat,” O’Malley said.
“I was already aware of the Order,” Feldman continued, “and made some discrete inquiries of my own. Since your return, Father O’Malley has been acting as an official go-between with Vatican representatives, whom he has been meeting with in Boston.”
“So you’ve been keeping this from us,” Lamb said. “When did you intend to tell Anna and I about your plans?”
“I was waiting to hear from Father O’Malley,” Feldman replied. “I trust all went well.”
“Archbishop Szamosközy was not able to commit to funding,” O’Malley replied, “but agreed that channeling activities to the Foundation, and therefore removing them from direct Vatican involvement, would ensure that the goals of the Order continued to be pursued.”
“This sounds like a setup,” Lamb said.
“I have been thinking about this direction for some time,” Feldman said. “With the appearance of the three of you, and with the abilities you now possess, it seems like the time to act is now. What do you say?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joab Stieglitz was born and raised in Warren, New Jersey. He is an Application Consultant for a software company. He has also worked as a software trainer, a network engineer, a project manager, and a technical writer over his 30-year career. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
Joab is an avid tabletop RPG player and game master of horror, espionage, fantasy, and science fiction genres, including Savage Worlds (Mars, Deadlands, Agents of Oblivion, Apocalypse Prevention Inc, Herald: Tesla and Lovecraft, Thrilling Tales, and others), Call of Cthulhu, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Pugmire, and Pathfinder.
Joab channeled his role-playing experiences in the Utgarda Series, which are pulp adventure novels with Lovecraftian influences set in the 1920’s.
You can follow Joab on Twitter @JoabStieglitz, on Facebook, and on his blog: joabstieglitz.com.
The Old Man’s Request
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Book One of the Utgarda Series
Fifty years ago, a group of college friends dabbled in the occult and released a malign presence on the world. Now, on his deathbed, the last of the students, now a trustee of Reister University enlists the aid of three newcomers to banish the thing they summoned.
Russian anthropologist Anna Rykov, doctor Harry Lamb, and Father Sean O’Malley are all indebted the ailing trustee for their positions. Together, they pursue the knowledge and resources needed to perform the ritual.
Hampered by the old man’s greedy son, the wizened director of the university library, and a private investigator with a troubled past, can they perform the ritual and banish the entity?
The Old Man’s Request is a pulp adventure set in the 1920s, and the first book in the Utgarda Series.
Available in paperback and ebook formats, and as an Audible audiobook
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The Missing Medium
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Book Two of the Utgarda Series
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While Father Sean O’Malley is summoned to Rome to discuss the “Longborough Affair” with his superiors, Russian anthropologist Anna Rykov and Doctor Harold Lamb travel to New York City where they encounter merchants, mobsters and madmen in pursuit of the spirit medium who advised their mentor shortly before the start of the whole adventure.
The Missing Medium is a pulp adventure set in the 1920s, and the second book in the Utgarda Series.
Available in paperback and ebook formats, and as an Audible audiobook
The Other Realm Page 18
