by Ben Yallop
A body lay, discarded and broken, at the edge of a pit in the depths of the Rivenrok Complex. Torn and bloody, it looked as though a thousand knives had ripped at the flesh. A single rat sniffed at it, unsure whether it was safe to begin to gnaw at the bones. As the rat scurried over the lifeless body it disturbed a piece of torn and bloodied cloth on the back of the head. As it did so a piece of crystal glittered, lodged deep within the skull of the hapless victim. The rat sniffed again, interested at the smell of blood, but suddenly wary. Then, just as the rat was about to begin its feast a finger twitched and the rat lifted into the air as though picked up by an invisible hand. It was thrown away with a squeak. Aleksy felt his presence envelop him and his anger burned more fiercely than ever.
Appendix
Extracts from the diary of Adam Hain relevant to the events of The Circle Line
Entry 3
On the assumption that you, Sam, will read this I must tell you what I know about the origin of your name. Of course, through meeting you in our adventures I became aware of the name Sam Hain and so when I was struggling to fit myself into normal society here, the surname Hain came naturally to me. It was the only one I knew! I tried a couple of first names but when I came across the story of Adam and Eve I felt that Adam would suit me well, being a man with no ancestors. I find that Adam Hain is an anagram of I am Hadan. When did I have that idea? I am not sure. But the genius of the name Sam Hain delights me even now and I enjoy the circularity of it all. Samhain means literally summer's end, which can be taken to mean the end of the period of light and the beginning of the period of darkness, the dark half of the year. The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that it is a festival celebrated by the ancient Celts, marking the beginning of winter and of the New Year according to their calendar.
According to Celtic lore, Samhain was a time when the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead become thinner, allowing spirits and other supernatural entities to pass between the worlds to socialize with humans. Does that sound familiar? You may know this day as Halloween, the very day that we met.
I have also uncovered some reference to a festival called Sânziene. I mention it here because it is another time, at the summer solstice, when the barrier between worlds is said to thin, just as with Samhain. Strange things and magics are said to happen on Sânziene night and men are told not to walk alone. If there is a thinning of the barrier between worlds at certain times then that is good advice!
Entry 8
I came across more evidence of the Riven's incursion today. My time at the library leads me to countless myths, stories and events which cannot be explained by the people here. The past is littered with it all. If only I could find some sort of pattern, or a reference that would allow me to find my way home. But perhaps I have been here too long already. As much as I miss my old friend Weewalk my place is here, with Sam. I must keep him safe, and give him a happy childhood, before that which will come to pass begins. One day I will tell him all this, if it does not drive me mad first. I will record my findings in this journal in the hope that it will, some day, be of use to him...
Entry 15
I read today of a disappearance at a site called Stonehenge. Men cannot fathom how the stones came to be here. They cannot see the lines. Apparently, a group of people disappeared from the site during a strange storm. How many of these unexplained events and urban myths are true?
Entry 17
Telekinesis. A rudimentary form of presence. Some men can apparently do limited things such as bend spoons. They must be absorbing energy from lines without realising just as Weewalk suggested. It must be that you, Sam, will absorb some of that same energy whilst in this house. Strange but I do not feel that I am. It must be that some do and some don’t.
Entry 19
Men call it hysterical strength. It is the moment when presence is awakened. The most frequent stories I can find are about people lifting cars into the air, following accidents, to rescue those trapped underneath. The flow of a body chemical called adrenaline seems to flood these people causing them to be able to do things which are superhuman. In 1982 a woman called Angela Cavallo lifted the full weight of a car high enough and long enough that others could drag her son out from beneath it. Sometimes it can manifest itself in another way – the beserker. When this happens rage combines with the presence and the man goes mad and cannot be subdued. The strength of the truly mad man with presence is something to fear.
Entry 23
There is a fascination with supposed mythical and undiscovered creatures. Men even have a name for the study of it – cryptozoology. There have been famous sightings of 'Bigfoot' as they call him and his cousins the 'Yeti'. Men have found footprints that seem impossibly large. It seems Squatch is leading them a merry dance and if I ever see him again I will tell him of the intrigue he has caused. If I thought I could track him myself I might be able to find one of the lines he uses but I fear I would never manage it. There is a well known if not widely believed film of Bigfoot taken in 1967.
Entry 31
Egyptians. Aztecs. Mayans. Where did these people find the advances that made their civilisations great? Who were the gods that the Egyptians so revered? Someone from a future Mu? It seems likely. There was an ancient group of peoples in the country of Peru, the Inca. They created stone buildings with an ability that men have not been able to replicate, fitting stones together with absolute precision so that massive temples were built with no mortar to seal the gaps between blocks. Presence must be involved in the setting of those stones.
Entry 35
Aha, success today. I found the origin of the ship, the USS Cyclops. It was referenced in a history book. Sometime after 4 March 1918 it sailed into the area men know as the Bermuda Triangle and vanished without trace. 306 passengers and crew vanished with it. Those poor men must have thought they had steered into hell when they smashed through that dark cavern into a nest of wendigo. Interestingly, the sister ships of the Cyclops, the Proteus and the Nereus vanished in the North Atlantic during the Second World War.
There are plenty of newspaper headlines about the USS Cyclops.
“More Ships Hunt For Missing Cyclops”, New York Times, 16 April 1918
“Fate Of Ship Baffles”, Washington Post, 16 April 1918.
The same book tells of another disappearance. In 1915, during the First World War, 250 soldiers and 19 officers vanished from a battlefield in a place called Dardanelles. They were seen to enter a stand of trees when a strange cloud descended upon them. Shortly after the cloud lifted into the sky and the men were never seen again. I wonder which of the Riven caused that horror.
Entry 42
The rolling rocks of Death Valley are the subject of some mystery. Despite scientific analysis men have yet to discover how such enormous stones seem to move independently across the flat plain called 'Racetrack Playa'. Apparently two geologists called Jim McAllister and Allen Agnew were mapping the rock in the area in 1948 when they came across the tracks. The best theory I found relates to the forming of ice under the rocks which are then driven forward by strong winds! Vallalar would be amused to know that his training ground has caused such fascination!
Entry 46
The stories of werewolves are well known. Garoul, as we know them, have appeared again and again in human history. Interestingly, the folklore seems to point towards werewolves as men who can either change their shape at will, or to whom it happens involuntarily during the full moon. It’s right that the garoul have always been more active during that phase of the moon but they cannot change back into men. Of course, there is a theory in Mu that they were men once but have, over generations, morphed into something beastlike.
Less well known are animals such as the Sitecah, Nandi and Ropen although I did find some references. It seems that a group of Sitecah giants were wiped out by Native Americans. Mummified skeletons were found in a cave in 1911. There is a theory that their name refers to their diet. Of course, it is a M
urian word. As for Nandi, again there seems to be some blurring over the name. They are here called Nandi Bears and are thought to take their name from the Nandi people of Western Kenya. Information is even more scant about the Ropen which are said to be mythical flying beasts which perhaps live in Papua New Guinea.
Funnily enough, as I was searching for these ‘mythical’ creatures I found a reference to our friend Hödekin. It seems he has quite the following in Germany!
Entry 48
I decided to look at some children's books today and what a surprise. There are endless examples here contained within what men amusingly call fairy stories. I found a dozen books about mermaids and, looking further, it seems that legends of such beings date back almost as long as man has known of the sea. Men seem to think there are two sorts of 'mermaid'. The beautiful benevolent woman and the dangerous menacing siren who lures men to their deaths. This is an interesting development. So far as I am aware the Nommo have always been peaceable. Jēran's wife was certainly both pretty and kind. Perhaps in my own future they will be the subject of some change which will lead them to hunt men. I discovered in one book that a tribe in an African country called Mali have spent more time with the Nommo than any other. It is claimed that, before a man called Galileo theorised that the planets revolve around the sun and that Saturn had rings, the Dogon tribe had gathered this information from the Nommo who apparently arrived in some kind of aircraft which created fire and thunder.
Entry 55
Vallalar, the old rogue. I have discovered a story about him. He is described as a saint who on 30th January 1874, after lecturing on the ‘nature of the powers that lie beyond us and move us’ disappeared forever from a locked room. I bet that impressed the audience! He must have had the entrance to a line within his chambers. Clever!
Entry 57
I think I have found the location of a line. There is so much to learn about this world that I feel it impossible to find a path through all the information, but I think I have found a line. I thought it existed in Mu, but it is here. The Island of the Pelicans (Isla de los Alcatraces in Spanish) off the coast of modern day San Francisco was long feared and believed to be cursed by the native Indians who lived in the area before white men arrived. They said that the island was the haunt of evil spirits and contained a portal to another dimension. The island is now known as Alcatraz and is the site of a notorious prison. I think this is a place that Weewalk and I visited in the past. It seems that the cell 14D might hold the line. A prisoner was apparently murdered within the locked cell by a figure with glowing red eyes. Jak perhaps? I will do more research on him.
Entry 64
Hmmm, Jak has been making a nuisance of himself it seems. He was spotted in Victorian England and had already fashioned himself the nickname of ‘Spring-heeled Jack’. He was seen frequently in 1837 and occasionally in subsequent years all over England. But the trail goes cold in about 1904. Much is made of the great leaps he could make, his clawed hands and glowing red eyes. It was often said that he looked like the devil. I wonder how far back in time Jak has visited. Is he the devil himself? Here a quote
‘This here is Satan, we might say the devil, but that ain't right, and gennelfolks don't like such words. He is now commonly called 'Spring-heeled Jack’
What to make of that? Either way there is a great amount of material written about him, much of it in well respected newspapers. The Times was one paper which reported one of his early attacks on a woman named Jane Alsop. The headline on 2 March 1838 was “The Late Outrage At Old Ford”. This may be as close as men have come to one of the Riven.
Entry 67
There was a story in the news today about a number of strange sinkholes appearing across the planet. They are almost perfectly spherical and the ground opens up without warning. This sounds like someone is carelessly opening lines underground. The newspaper said that a large one had appeared in China. I wonder whether it was near the entrance to Shambala. It seems that men in ancient Tibet came across a line and were able to enter it. Their ancient texts describe a 'hidden kingdom' which led to the legend of a lost valley called Shangri-La. It seems they even travelled as far as somewhere they called the Palace of Kalapa and very ancient illustrations show that they saw aircraft. The ancient Tibetans predicted that in time the inhabitants of Shambala would gain great powers such as telepathy and the ability to travel great distances at great speed. Is this presence or did they simply move forward in time to find miraculous technological innovations which men today find ordinary. One important thing to note is the date I found. The Tibetan texts predict the world will end in the year 2425.
Entry 72
The Great Fire of London. September 1666. I know with certainty how that came about. Indeed, I feel I must accept some responsibility for leading Ferus to that bakery on Pudding Lane. There is a great deal written about the event (including by a man called Samuel Pepys, I wonder whether this wasn't my Sam peeping?) but interestingly, not often reported, is that the men of the time believed the fire to be a great conspiracy by some foreign power. There were rumours and reports of suspicious men throwing ‘fireballs’ into homes.
Entry 75
I have found some evidence that Tarak means ‘protector’ and ‘rune’ means secret thus his full title would seem to be ‘Protector of the Enduring Secret’. How apt. I wonder what the secret can be.
Entry 77
It seems that more people than I would have expected are sensitive to the location of lines. There are widespread stories of ghosts and people have monitored changes in temperature, the appearance of orbs, static electricity and magnetism, all phenomena caused by the friction generated where our two worlds rub together. Some have even heard the hum that lines create. It’s been heard in Bristol in the 1970s and particularly in Taos, New Mexico.
Entry 81
I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the fiction literature out there. It’s so full of references to the Riven that is has become clichéd. I cannot seem to find a fictional reference to a magician that does not wear a black cloak. This must surely be because of things that have actually happened in the past and it has become a stereotype. I wonder what Ferus would say if he knew he was the father of all these stories, that every fictional dark magician is a product of his actions!
Entry 84
At the Tavern Kya told us that a woman called Eusapia had helped her to find us. I have found mention of an Italian woman who displayed what men call ‘telekinetic’ powers. Her name was Eusapia Palladino. She lived from 1854 to 1918. She said that a great store of ancient and lost knowledge is held in India or Tibet, passed down from people in a world called Atlantis or Lemuria. I wonder what this can be?
I also found mention of another woman called Ninel Kulagina, apparently a housewife who, during the Cold War, was the subject of some study by Soviet scientists. It is said that she could separate an egg yolk from the white using her mind. Did Vallalar not teach Sam the same thing?
Entry 88
Weewalk knew all about the Montauk project and explained it to you, Sam, so I will not repeat it all here. Even now the name of that place fills me with gloom. There is plenty of material available. I’m afraid that you must do your own research into the events there. But one thing I will mention is the chair for I think that might be important in some way. It is said that a chair was found or created in which one could sit and receive new mental abilities and prescience powers. A prototype duplicate was apparently put in a facility on the River Thames. I have heard that the Riven King sits upon a most unusual throne. I wonder....
I will say something about the ‘Montauk Monster’ as it was known. The body of this beast was washed ashore in July 2008. From the photographs I cannot identify it but it must be from Mu. It was called the 'Hound of Bonacville' before the 'Montauk Monster' name became more widely adopted.
Entry 90
I read of a sad event today. I had wondered whether those green children had ever been found. Kya told us that she had ar
rived in Suun-t-Marten village just after their disappearance. It seems that they did arrive in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, sometime in the 12th Century. The men there could not understand their language but eventually the children began to adjust to their new life and learn the same dialect. It seems it was not long before the young boy died. How sad. The girl was given the name Agnes and lived out her years there but was always a foreigner and was never really accepted by the villagers. Their images still appear on the village sign today. Their strange appearance also gave rise to a famous story of the Babes in the Wood. Some men have since put forward the theory that they came from another subterranean or extraterrestrial world. The children were able to explain that they came from somewhere that is recorded as St Martin's Land
Entry 93
Men seem to be aware only vaguely of Yonaguni and the pyramid that now lies beneath the waters of Japan. It was ‘discovered’ in 1987 but men have not been able to ascertain whether it is natural or manmade. For me it is simply another line I know of but will never get to use. The door to Atlantis.
Entry 94
Aha, I recognise this quote ‘The forthcoming end of the world will be hastened by the construction of underground railways burrowing into infernal regions and thereby disturbing the Devil’. Reverend Dr. John Cumming in 1860. How right he was!