Worlds of Cthulhu

by Robert M. Price

  It was at this point that Lake scribbled a hasty note and handed it to Moulton for dispatch over the wireless. The young engineering student had not been gone for more than five minutes before Fowler began calling for Lake and me to come and examine a large section of sandstone. For there in the relatively young sedimentary rock were several distinct triangular, striated prints nearly identical to those we had found in the slate samples at other sites. There were some minor differences: the new samples were smaller and the markings bore a slight curvature at the end. Lake postulated that these markings indicated that the species might be undergoing a reversion, returning to a more primitive or decadent form, although I disagreed on drawing such conclusions based on limited data. Regardless, I concurred with the note he quickly jotted and handed to Mills suggesting that our discoveries would be as important to biology as Einstein was to physics, as they would seem to indicate a remnant species surviving from a previous cycle of life prior to that currently in dominance, perhaps a billion years old.

  Lake had barely finished dispatching another radio message when Atwood diverted our attention to several of the large vertebrate fossils which showed strange wounds. These injuries seemed to fall into two categories. First, there were the skulls of which we found more than a dozen, all showing a straight, strangely smooth penetrating bore into the brain cavity. The other markings were on the long bones of the legs and consisted of straight lines perpendicular to the bone itself, effectively bisecting the bones in a single cut, though we found several examples in which the final cut was apparently preceded by multiple false starts. Neither I nor Lake could conceive of a predatory species to which we could attribute such marks.

  Another note hastily dispatched, and another call of amazement. One of the men, I cannot remember who, had found a peculiar fragment of green soapstone about six inches across and an inch and a half thick shaped like a five pointed star. The thing was curiously smooth and the angles were cleaved inwards. Carroll and I brought the thing up and into the light and placed it beneath his magnifying glass. He swore he could make out tiny dots grouped into regular patterns. As he twisted it back and forth in the light of the polar sun there arose from behind him the most peculiar of sounds: the dogs which were still harnessed to the sledge with which we had brought up the equipment, had suddenly begun whining in the most distressing manner. Trapped by their harness, the dogs’ whining turned to yelps and then growls as Carroll came in to calm them, only to be snapped at the closer he came. As he drew suddenly back, the stone slipped from Carroll’s hand and onto the ice beside the sledge. The dogs reared up from the thing in panic, growling in terror and fear. As the sledge went over on its side the dogs retreated behind it with only their whimpering to betray them.

  Lake was dispatching missives as fast as he could write them and I soon had lost count of how many we had sent. We had been in the cavern for only five hours and in that time a new world had been created. Everything we knew, everything we believed we understood about life and time and our world was about to change, and I was to be one of the agents of that change. My name would go down amongst those great minds of the past: Newton, Galileo, Agassiz, Van Leeuwenhoek, and Darwin. My life, my career, my reputation as a scientist was, for that brief and glorious instant, set amongst the stars, and brighter than I could have ever dreamed. Strange how such things can change from one instant to the next. For it was in that moment that yet another cry of discovery and wonder came up out of the cave and all of the fantastic discoveries we had made up until that point suddenly became meaningless.

  Orrendorf and Watkins, working with the electric torches, had ventured into one of the many tunnels that radiated out from the main chamber in innumerable directions. There amidst the detritus of the ages they had found something totally unexpected, but not without precedent. The preservation in amber of insects and other small animals, some millions of years old, is well documented. Similarly, it is an established fact that in the area near Yakutsk the locals have on numerous occasions recovered from the Siberian permafrost the frozen bodies of the extinct wooly mammoth. I can only imagine that some similar process led to the preservation of the three specimens that Watkins and Orrendorf had unearthed and winched to the surface. But these specimens made the mammoth look like a common zoo animal. They were barrel-shaped things not unlike some of the echinoderms but massively larger, six feet long and three to four feet at the central diameter, with five ridges running up and down the barrel. Significant amounts of damage had disfigured each end, enough that the actual organic structures located there remained a complete mystery to us.

  No sooner had the things reached the surface than the dogs exploded into a frenzy, pulling at the harness and dragging the sledge forward, snarling and barking. Fearing that the dogs would damage the specimens, Lake ordered Carroll and me to take the poor animals back to camp and properly secure them. I almost protested but instead grabbed the harness and spent the next twenty minutes forcing the team back to the camp, narrowly avoiding their snapping jaws and gnashing teeth all the way. Back at camp I read Lake’s latest note as Moulton transmitted it and I was greatly disturbed by his references to the Elder Things mentioned in the Necronomicon. I had taken Professor Wilmarth’s class at Miskatonic, the one he taught on the shadowy things hinted at by Alhazard and Prinn. I knew what the legends told, of the things that seeped out of the dark spaces between the stars and came to the Earth in the primordial past. That Lake linked these things with such demon-haunted lore made me shudder, and I retreated to my tent in order to find and review the notes that I had taken during Wilmarth’s lectures. Lake’s speculations had made me feel my old notes might come in handy, as indeed they now had. I found them readily, but any attempt to review them was interrupted by yet another flourish of discovery and a summons to return to the cave. I shoved the sheaf of notes inside my parka and returned to the cavern. This time it was Mills, Boudreau and Fowler’s turn in the spotlight. The three working deeper into the cavern had found a cluster of thirteen more of the same barrel-shaped growths mixed with dozens of the strange soapstone stars. Eight of these specimens were completely intact and one showed only minimal damage, while the others all showed the same curious kind of damage: the removal or near removal of the organic structures at either end. Lake sent an expansive and detailed description along with some speculation concerning their origin with reference once more to the Necronomicon, Cthulhu and Professor Wilmarth.

  I pause here in my relation of events to reveal once more that our team was perpetrating a deception on Pabodie and Dyer. For no sooner had Lake finished his cursory description of the creatures than Dyer was clamoring for a plane to reunite the expedition at the cave site. Lake responded that a rising gale had come down off the mountains, grounding the four planes in his possession. Dyer and Pabodie would have to use the plane left with Sherman on Ross Island. Of course there was no such storm, but Lake had just bought us more time to establish our sole propriety over these amazing fossils.

  Without the dogs, it took us more than an hour to move the specimens back to camp, but the nine students and mechanics accomplished it without incident. We laid out the specimens on the hard ice next to the tent in which Lake had arranged a table and tools to carry out a more detailed examination. Half the team gathered into this tent while the other half set about tenting the planes and building a corral to contain the dogs that had grown increasingly distressed over the biological samples and could not be trusted in the confines of the camp. Unwilling to sacrifice one of the intact specimens, we chose the one that was less damaged toward both ends and slightly crushed in the main body allowing us easy access to the interior cavity. Our examination was detailed and we took copious notes and made regular transmissions of our findings on the specimen. I have access to none of these at the moment, but I will do my best to recall what details I can and relate them here.

  As I have said, the main body was about six feet in length and capped on both ends
with similar but significantly different structures not unlike those of several species of starfish. The torso was barrel-shaped and comprised of a dark grey material that reminded me of the exocarp of some citrus fruits, very tough but at the same time very flexible. The torso was radially symmetrical, specifically pentaradial and consisting of five vertically-oriented segments joined together by five sets of ridged furrows. Hidden within each of the furrows with an apex near the equator was a complex framework of tubular rods arranged not unlike a folding fan and supporting a highly vascularized membrane with a serrated edge. The suggestion that these five structures were some sort of wings and that the creature either flew in the air or swam under water was obvious, although when I suggested that the structure was similar to that of some leaves, particularly those of palm trees, one of the men suggested the use of these structures in something akin to photosynthesis, a distinct possibility. Also around the equator of the barrel, but this time in the center of each segment, was a single stalk approximately three inches in diameter at the base. After six inches the stalk split into five branches, each of which continued on for about eight inches before splitting once more into five tapering tendrils giving each stalk twenty-five tendrils with a reach of about three feet.

  On the top of the torso was a bulging ring with five sets of heavy plates covering a series of fleshy flaps and diaphragms joined together in an accordion-like structure which we all readily agreed was analogous to the respiration structures used by spiders and known as book lungs. Seated on top of this were five yellowish wedged-shaped organs arranged not unlike a massive inverted starfish more than five feet across. The upper surface of this head was covered with numerous three-inch long wiry bristles or setae of a variety of colors. At the end of each wedge was a flexible yellow tube crowned with a sphere covered in a yellowish membrane which rolled back to reveal a glassy globular eye with a deep red iris. Between each of the eyed wedges, another slightly longer type of organ sprouted. Red in color, these five fleshy tubes were about two inches in diameter and ended in a sack-like swelling divided into five equal sections. Pressure on the neck of this structure forced the sack to open into a bell-shaped orifice lined with sharp white chelae that probably functioned as teeth in this mouth analogue. In the center, where all the various components of the head originated, was a five-lobed slit or diaphragm that was most probably some sort of entry point for a secondary respiratory system. Manipulation of the various components revealed a high degree of flexibility. In fact, it was quite easy to fold the five mouths and eyes up onto the setae and then close the five arms over them, forming what was likely an impenetrable mass.

  Below the torso there were analogous counterparts to the components of the head, but their function was dissimilar. While the bulging ring was present, there was no suggestion of any gills, and the short, stout eye-tipped wedges were replaced with four foot long muscular legs devoid of the prismatic setae but tipped with a fleshy triangle approximately eight inches long and six inches wide at the far end. This fin or foot was quickly recognized as the source of the strange triangular impressions we had been collecting throughout the expedition. As with the head, between each leg was a red colored fleshy tube, but when these were opened the dangerously sharp chelae were missing. In the center of this lower arrangement were five closely packed muscular tubes that were somewhat reminiscent of an anemone or sea squirt. That these were the terminal end of the secondary respiratory system that began at the other end I had no doubt.

  Following our external assessment, we began what could only be described as a crude dissection as none of the tools in our possession were adequate to the task of cutting the leathery integument which prevailed throughout the body. Initial explorations were hampered by the still frozen state of the thing, but as the heat of the tent penetrated the body, there was a thaw and an organic fluid possessed of a pungent and offensive odor began to flow from the various wounds. It was not blood as we know it for it was thick and bright green, almost luminescent, perhaps based around hemocyanin as in some invertebrates, rather than hemoglobin, but there was no doubt that it served the same purpose. As the stench escaped from the tent the dogs, far off in their corral, caught wind of it and began howling and barking in the most savage manner.

  The radial symmetry of the external components continued throughout the internal organs to such an extent that one could almost say the five divisions of the creature created a sort of multiple redundancy, for it was rare that any of the systems from one division interacted directly with the other. The five mouths led to five distinct stomachs and then down to the five fleshy tubes found between the lower appendages. The five-lobed diaphragm in the head led to five distinct vascularized and muscular chambers and then to the cluster of tubules hidden in the base of the thing. That the creature maintained both these strange lungs and the book lungs suggested that it was amphibious. That both lungs and gills were linked to the wings in a manner that seemed excessive only supported the theory that the wings served some other purpose than flight. In the respiratory system, near the head there were five distinct organs that seemed to comprise a complex labyrinth of tubes and valves. Atwood suggested that it was similar in construct to some musical instruments such as the trumpet or the organ, and may have been associated with vocalizations. That a form of syllable-based articulation could be derived from such a construct seemed unlikely, and a language of clicks, whistles and notes, not unlike the sounds made by dolphins and whales, seemed more likely. The musculature of the creature was a hybrid, with vast, thick bundles of fibers attached to the rigid structures of the leathery skeleton, but also present were bladders and compartments similar to those found in echinoderms and annelids.

  It appeared that any sort of specialization within the body itself had failed to occur and the five sections not only seemed to have remained distinct but also consisted of redundant, perhaps even independent, sets of physiology. Only the nervous system had achieved any sort of integration. The brain was five-lobed and complexly folded much like a human brain. Something comparable to a large nerve fiber ran from what appeared to be the optical center to each of the eyes branching on its way into a myriad of smaller fibers and integrating the strange multi-colored, wiry bristles into the nervous system. That these minute structures were some sort of sensory apparatus was clear, but its exact analog to any one of the human senses escaped us. Trailing down from the proper brain was a thick neural chord that quickly divided into five branches that worked their way into the five sections. These neural chords had distinct ganglial centers scattered throughout the section, one near the wings, another near the equatorial tentacles, and yet another near the lower appendages.

  There had been hope that the dissection would shed light on the origin of this species, but if anything the examination raised more questions. The radiate structure and the hydrostatic skeleton suggested a marine origin, but the wings and musculature implied some sort of aerial influence, both of which seemed contrary to certain characteristics that were distinctively vegetative in origin. That this organism had evolved in complete opposition to all other life on Earth, and had achieved such a level of development prior to the Pre- Cambrian period flabbergasted Lake, and once more he fell back on that ancient mythology and drew a name from Olaus Wormius’ Greek translation of the Necronomicon. In his radio message to Pabodie he called this strange new species “The Elder Ones” but this was a rough translation of the name used in the Necronomicon. But he could have used another name, the name Wilmarth had said meant “Progenitors” and that, according to Wilmarth, Alhazred had dared to write only once. It was the name used in the ancient languages, which was not their true name but the apellation used only by the most faithful of servants, that protoplasmic servitor race Alhazred called shoggoths and the batrachian sub-humanoid Deep Ones. That name had been the Q’Hrell.

  Lake finished his dissection around 0200 on January 24th. He went outside and stared at the specimens that were laid out on
the ice. The constant sun had acted on the bodies eliminating some of the rigidity associated with being frozen, but as the air temperature was well below that of freezing, Lake had no fear of any sort of decomposition. Still, in a token attempt to prevent the stench of the things from filling up the camp and enraging the dogs, Lake ordered them covered with a tarp weighed down with ice blocks. At 0400 Lake signed off and took the time to lie to Pabodie and Dyer, telling them that the storm was still blowing and flight was impossible. Immediately after that, Lake and Atwood crawled into their tent and went to sleep. Given the activity of the last twenty four hours the entire expedition followed suit and I, tired of the faces of my fellow team members, climbed into one of the airplanes and pulled the hatch closed behind me, noting the time on my watch as 0430.

  It wasn’t long before I was deeply asleep and dreaming. I have always had the most vivid of dreams, and this one was no different. I was in the lab proctoring a class of students through a review of various aquatic microorganisms. We began with a selection of centric diatoms, reviewing various species and noting the radial symmetries of their frustules. I wrote the word RADIAL horizontally on the chalkboard. With the next set of slides we examined the water flea daphnia and made special reference to their ability to reproduce both parthenogenetically and sexually. As I said these things I wrote the word PARTHENOGENETIC vertically on the chalkboard, using the R in Radial as in a crossword puzzle. I then moved the class on to examining samples of the photosynthetic cyanobacteria Nostoc, which when exposed to rain has an unusual capability of swelling up to conspicuous proportions, earning it the name “star jelly” or “the rot of the stars.” Once again I wrote on the chalkboard, this time using the existing P to spell out PHOTOSYNTHETIC. As I did this I heard a dog barking outside. I asked one of the students to close the window before realizing that there was no window to close. We moved on to another slide, this one of a tardigrade, or water bear, an eight-limbed creature that feeds on a variety of other aquatic species including algae, bacteria and even other aquatic animals. The tardigrades are notable for being cryptobiotic, able to enter into an ametabolic state in response to unfavorable environmental conditions. As I wrote out CRYPTOBIOTIC using the C in PHOTOSYNTHETIC, the barking dog found friends and the sound filled up the room. The last slide was that of a lichen, a symbiotic composite of a fungus and an algae. As I wrote out SYMBIOTIC, using the B in CRYPTOBIOTIC, I had to scream to make myself heard over the dogs. I was telling the students something important, something about the five words I had written on the board. These words were important, more important than the dogs barking. They were so loud, those dogs, they made it hard to think about what I was saying, but I knew it was important. Radial. Parthenogenetic. Photosynthetic. Symbiotic. Cryptobiotic. Five words. Five characteristics of what? The Elder Things that Wilmarth had dared to name the Q’Hrell? Their morphology was radial, and the wings certainly could have been capable of photosynthesis. Many species reproduced parthenogentically; why not the Elder Things? The strange body structure, the independent, unintegrated systems implied a kind of symbiosis. It all fit except for one word. The dogs were howling now, screaming, yelping in fear and agony. Cryptobiotic meant what exactly? The ability to assume an ametabolic state in response to unfavorable environmental conditions, indefinitely until conditions improved. What conditions? I damned those dogs. What conditions? Toxins, yes. Anoxia, yes. Anhydric, yes. Cold…yes! For how long?, I asked myself. Indefinitely. What did that mean? A year? A decade? A century? A thousand years? A million? The cave had been sealed up more than thirty million years ago. Could an organism enter into a cryptobiotic state and remain that way for thirty million years? It was impossible; it was madness to think such things. The dogs went silent and where they left off I began.