by Ryan Notch
“So here’s the theory. CollinAlthaus explained to me that wherever a creature like this is from, whatever It’s made of, It has to follow at least some of the same laws of physics we do. One in particular is that two objects can’t exist in the same place at the same time. Now there are exceptions to even that rule, but according to his articles this Thing shouldn’t be one of them. It might be able to pass through the Earth, but if It ran into another being made of the same stuff as itself It would theoretically bump right into it.
“And the exclusion rule doesn’t just apply to two pieces of matter, but to two pieces of information. The signal it sent to the radio telescope, the one that we unknowingly converted into the dark sounds that hurt everyone, is made of the same math as this thing. The Dark Thing has been using it as a beacon, to try and find me. But it could also be used as a shield. A network of thousands of satellites and computers all over the planet relaying the signal around could block it.”
Father Mason gave him a look like he was either being silly or half mad.
“And just where are we going to get a network like that,” he asked.
“We already have that network. The internet is global, and some estimates suggest there are over 600 million computers connected to it. Best of all, sending information around is free. And I plan to send it around any way I can. I’ll send it as files to storage units. Post it encoded into pictures on Facebook and Photobucket. Send it as attachments in emails full of random words so it will slip past Spam filters. People will get the emails and not know what they are so delete them, or eventually their web providers will catch on and bounce them back. But it won’t matter, no one needs to open it or look at it and even bouncing it is helpful, all that matters is that it keeps moving!
“You see Father,” continued Shaw with a gleam in his eyes. “The world wide web will be exactly that, a web. A web to trap the spider. And I’ll program it to deploy slow, so the Thing will see it coming. It’ll have a few moments to decide whether it wants to be trapped inside the Earth or outside it. I’m betting everything that it’ll flee.”
The old priest nodded his thoughtful understanding, though looked troubled at his thoughts.
“But Shaw,” he said. “This information is poisonous, isn’t it? Won’t spreading it around be just as dangerous as the demon itself?”
“Yes,” Shaw nodded. “And this is important. I have to change the signal just enough so that it is no longer dangerous, but not so much that it isn’t still made of the same math of the creature. I thought the mathematics to do this would be beyond my intelligence, despite all my studies. But I found a shortcut. In his letters to me, Collin Althaus had mentioned a certain program that intends to use four-dimensional math to generate music. I managed to use my contacts to find an illegal beta copy of it. Once I had that, I didn’t need to master the math, I just had to reverse engineer the program.
“You see Father, it will be like changing the words of the song while keeping the same tune. The same math.”
“And just what words will you use in this singing program,” he asked Shaw with a smile.
Shaw told him, and when the priest heard the truth of it he bowed his head solemnly.
“So how much longer until it’s ready,” Father Mason asked after a while.
“A few days, maybe more. It’s hard to tell with these things.”
“Do you think you’ll have that much time?”
“I pray I will,” said Shaw, surprised at his own choice of words. He didn’t have any real reason to suspect he was running out of time, but felt a constant threat creeping up on him just the same. He felt like something bad was going to happen soon. And that if he did have time to finish the machine, he wouldn’t be around to dedicate his life to maintaining it.
And so it would sit here in this lonely cave, running its instructions over and over as best it could for as long as it could. Like the prayer wheels Father Mason had told him about, enveloping the world with their delicate blessing. In many ways it was a twin to the bricked up and rotten computer at the university, which had night by night tried to damn that same world.
Shaw’s machine would be a candle keeping out the dark of the universe.
That is, he thought. If it works.
Chapter 30
********************
What Jack found in the kitchen of his apartment was as depressing as it was expected. The pure water dispenser in the kitchen knocked over, the contents spilled out onto the floor and evaporated or soaked through the cracks. He looked down on it like a man looking down on a grave, completely silent. They’d found his door unlocked just as Terra had found hers, making him suspect someone had the master key from the landlord. Someone who knew what to look for.
Collin.
“There’s still some in the jug,” said Terra from behind him. She held a taser in her hand now, traded from her purse for the mirrored shiv.
“I know,” said Jack absently. He was trying to calculate exactly how much water was left in there. It was too hard to figure in cups, so he thought about it in terms of his morning coffee. He guessed it would cover about one and a half pots. He tried to remember if he had ever heard what the minimum amount of water a human can survive on was, but he couldn’t. He was so thirsty already. And he didn’t have to look in the fridge to know there were exactly two bottles of beer, half a loaf of bread, some borderline bad lunchmeat, and an assortment of condiments. Jack generally ate out for every meal, and didn’t like to make the place too long-term inviting for the women he brought home from the clubs.
Jack opened the fridge and took out a beer. He felt emotionally finished. Tired. He walked over to his couch and sat down painfully, his sore muscles straining even at this. He anger and determination from just a few minutes ago seemed to have dissipated with the adrenaline, leaving him with nothing in its place.
Fuck it, he thought. Fuck-It.
He opened the beer and traded the knife for the remote, putting his feet up and turning on the TV. He was a bit surprised to see it still worked. He flipped it to BBC America, something comforting to remind him of home. It was a rerun of The Office. Not the American one, the original. Jack had seen it, he’d seen all of them. He had the DVDs. It got weird after awhile not to hear people with your same accent. He’d give anything to be in a London pub right now. It all seemed to far away.
Terra stood staring at him, as if waiting for something.
Say something, he thought angrily. Deliberately not looking back at her. Please ask me what we’re supposed to do now. Give me an excuse to tell you how fucked up this all is, and how fucked we are for being in the middle of it.
Jack leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He thought he could hear far off the strange voice of the spider he had dreamt of earlier.
I should have left you, he thought at Terra. It would have been better for both of us. I could have checked on you from outside of here, could have got help.
After a moment he felt Terra sit on the couch next to him. Felt her close her hand around his. It was warm and steady.
“Do you have any aspirin I could get you,” she asked after a little while.
“Yeah actually,” Jack said opening his eyes. He figured that was about the best idea he’d heard all day. “In the bathroom cabinet.”
Terra walked away and returned in a few moments with a double dose of the pills. Jack washed them down with the beer and Terra sat back down next to him.
“It’s funny about the TV,” Terra said. “I thought it wouldn’t work, like the phones and internet.”
Jack hadn’t thought about the internet, but she was right. It was kind of funny.
“Jack...thanks for coming to find me. Thanks for not leaving me,” she said with a kind of shrug.
Jack felt a wave of shame at what he had thought before. He grabbed her arms, harder than he intended to.
“Of course I didn’t leave you,” he said. “Don’t be silly. And we’re getting out of here, no problem.
”
Terra nodded and hugged him.
“Ok, well here’s what I was thinking,” she said. “We need supplies and a way out of the building, or maybe to find a phone that works. That means searching the apartments. And also checking the front and back door again...”
Jack nodded absently. His mind was racing for alternatives from those two absolutely terrible options. If Seth caught them trying to get to the front door he assumed it would mean a painful death. If they ran into more monsters prowling the apartments, it was pretty much the same thing. Since the top two floors both faced inward to the courtyard with their windows and balcony, the only possible exists were the two doors.
“What about the roof,” he said hopefully. “We go out onto my balconies, climb onto the roof, and jump to the next building.”
Terra was shaking her head. “The next building is too far to jump. Too far by a wide margin.”
“Ok yeah,” Jack said. “But we could just stand up there and shout for help then.”
“That overhang from the roof over the balconies goes pretty far. If we slip while attempting it, we’ll fall to our deaths.”
“We’re going to need some rope then,” said Jack.
“Do you have any rope,” asked Terra with a smile.
“No, you?”
She shook her head. “I guess I’ll go get my bed sheets.”
Two hours later Jack was hanging by one of those sheets, wondering both at the stupidity of the idea and whether Terra’s claims of a girl scout knot tying merit badge were true. Climbers made it look so easy. You just jumped from the cliff wall to the overhang above. Only when he tried it, he’d ended up finding out that not only was the overhang too far away for a real grab, but it was also sharp edged and slippery. He found himself grasping it by one hand for about two seconds, then slipping to be caught by the worlds sketchiest safety rope. Hanging there he wondered if he had been the first one in history to pray for a high thread count while falling. It had been a tense moment, even if it was only 15 feet or so.
“Can you climb back up,” called down Terra from above.
He started to do exactly that, and stopped almost immediately after. Gasping in pain he realized that climbing apparently uses muscles that in some way relied on intact ribs, which he was short a few. Not to mention that his right palm was bloody and the sheets weren’t easy to grip to begin with.
“No,” he called back up in defeat. “No, I can’t climb back up.”
“Oh....”
Jack, slowly spinning on the rope, looked up at the stars. Breathing the fresh air, looking out at the courtyard with its gurgling fountain, it was easy to maintain the illusion of freedom. It was almost peaceful. Getting down to the courtyard would be easy, but the two entryways just led out to the hallways. He could see the fountain glimmering in the moonlight, but everything else was just impressions and outlines. Most of the lights were out.
When was the last time I really looked down there, he wondered. Alex’s party? Lights must have been put out since then. No surprise...
Something crossed a patch of light, something moving down there. He saw glimpses of it moving in the shadows, followed by a loud grinding noise that echoed up the walls. Then another a few seconds later. He was dead quiet, wondering how well hidden he was up there dangling. Terra he knew was thinking the same thing.
I’m surprised she doesn’t have night vision goggles, he thought. Of course she did turn out to have some decent flashlights, one of which was in his pocket. But it wouldn’t be much use at this range, and he was afraid it would only make him more visible.
After a minute or so Terra called down softly, “I could try and pull you up?”
“No,” Jack said back. Terra was no doubt stronger than most women, but he didn’t think it was gonna happen. “Help me swing over to the second floor balcony. It’s Mrs. Cunningham’s. I’ll knock on the sliding glass door, or break it if I have to.”
“She has a dog.”
“A poodle,” said Jack indignantly. “Ready?”
Terra did her best to lend momentum to the pendulum from the top, with Jack adding most of the power from the bottom. Not that he had far to swing, with the sheet-rope hanging over his own balcony rail. After only a moment he was able to reach and grab the rail with his legs, pulling himself over. He slipped out of the sling and dropped down onto her porch.
The apartment was pitch dark, despite it being fairly early evening. Jack took the flashlight out of his pocket and shined it through the glass door. The apartment inside appeared empty. He knocked on the door, softly at first then louder.
I look like a bloody prowler out here, he thought. She’ll probably call the police...Oh no, wait no phones. Well this is America so even though she’s an old lady she probably has a 44 Magnum to shoot me with.
After knocking for a while Jack gave up and tried the door. It slid open, unlocked. No surprise, he certainly never bothered to lock his. An inward facing balcony wasn’t much of a target for thieves.
“Mrs. Cunningham,” he called quietly. No response.
“Mitzy,” he called, trying to remember if that was the right name of the dog.
He slipped into the apartment, sliding the door closed behind him. The place was immaculately kept. The couch was still under plastic, glinting in the beam of the flashlight. The old TV was encased in a large cabinet, pictures on top of it. He half expected to find a rotary phone, but shining the flashlight on the end table next to the couch he found a cordless one. He picked it up and wasn’t surprised to find no dial tone. He clicked the cradle button a few times, to see if he could get through to an operator while he looked around.
Despite the clean look of this place, he thought. It’s definitely got that old people smell.
Or, maybe that wasn’t the smell. He took a deeper inhalation through his nose. It was worse than that, some undercurrent of rot seeping through the apartments other smells. The more he was aware of it, the worse it got.
It’s like someone rubbed potpourri in an open wound, then cleaned it out with ammonia. Jesus, what is that?
HUP!
Jack jumped at the sound, almost dropping the phone. It had come from the bedroom. He shined the light in the direction of the hall leading to it.
HUP
HUP
He stared in the direction of it, wide eyed. It was a breathy, thumpy noise. Loud. He couldn’t make it out, his mind raced through every noise he’d ever heard to try and find a match.
HUP
HUP
It sounded almost like someone having rough sex.
HUP
HUP
She’s got to be over sixty...
HUP
HUP
But I guess it could be...
HUP
HUP
Except it sounds like just one person...not even a person really...
HUP!
HUP!
Maybe someone is hurting her...
HUP!
HUP!
HUP!
Maybe I should try and help...
HUP!
HUP!
HUP!
Is it getting closer?! No, fuck this.
Jack quickly but quietly put down the phone, which had been pressed to his frozen cheek. He moved to the door not taking his eyes off the direction of the sound. He tried not to stumble over anything invisible behind him. The smell of ammonia seemed to be getting stronger.
HUP!
HUP!
He unlocked the door and yanked it open, only to have it jarringly stopped by the chain. He quickly closed it again and fumblingly opened the chain, opening the door a second time and practically jumping into the hall.
He shut it quickly and spun at the sound of someone behind him. He jerked back his fist to punch her in the face, stopping himself only barely as he saw it was Terra.
“Woa, Jack!”
“Sorry,” he said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hall. “Lets get away from t
here.”
“What is it,” she asked. “Was Mrs. Cunningham there?”
“No,” said Jack, feeling like he was lying though he wasn’t sure whether he was or not. “She wasn’t home.”
Jack pulled her towards the stairs and started heading up back to his apartment. Terra pulled back, stopping him.
“Jack, we should check the doors...”
He tried to think of the reason why this was completely ridiculous, a reason he felt pretty sure was obvious. But he just couldn’t seem to find it.
“Fine,” he said. “But I need to grab something from my apartment first.”
Chapter 31
********************
Jack and Terra were walking down the front stairs, careful not to make too much noise. Jack still had the knife, but now had the addition of his trusty cricket bat. They made their way silently, more than half expecting a guard at the rear exit as there had been at the front. As the base of the stairs come into view it became apparent that there was no guard, and indeed was no longer a need for one. Because there effectively was no more rear exit.
Terra approached the spectacle, Jack following close behind. Though clearly repulsive, he knew he had to get a closer look. The door had been grown over, with tentacles that looked like much larger versions of what he had seen earlier in the pipes. There were several, forming an almost complete barrier to the solid wood door, the largest of which was about as thick around as his legs. In a way they looked more like knobby tree roots than tentacles. But the flesh covering them and bits of hair sticking out proved them to be more animal than plant. Clearly the same type of thing they’d found in the drain earlier, only much larger. It was pretty apparent to him now what the bulges in the apartment walls were from.
“I don’t think we can cut through them,” said Jack, giving voice to his thoughts.
“No, you can tell by those knuckles that there’s bone inside,” she replied.
“How could this happen...”
“I think it has to be an intelligent design. Look at how they are much smaller where they come out of the walls here, then grow larger to cross the door.”
