The Martian Falcon (Lovecraft & Fort)

by Alan K Baker

  ‘Sanguine,’ said Fort, dragging himself to his feet. ‘Shoot the rock book. Shatter it with the Teleforce beam. Do it now!’

  ‘Now why would I want to do that?’ Johnny said.

  ‘Haq ul’Suun’s prison is weakening. He’ll be free soon, and then so will Azathoth!’

  Johnny laughed. ‘Yeah? So what?’

  ‘You nightwalkin’ son of a bitch!’ shouted Capone as he stamped towards him.

  Johnny nodded at Carmine, and he fired the Projector at Capone.

  The gangster screamed and fell to his knees. ‘Bastard! Right in the gearbox!’

  This wasn’t a euphemism – not that Capone ever used them. The Teleforce beam had sliced through the complex arrangement of cogs and differentials in Capone’s pelvic region, robbing him of the ability to move his legs. He toppled onto his side, cursing.

  Johnny nodded to Carmine again, and the vampire aimed the Projector at the rock book.

  ‘How long until the prison opens?’ asked Johnny.

  ‘A minute… perhaps two,’ Crystalman replied. ‘What are you doing, Mr. Sanguine?’ They all could hear the tension in his voice.

  ‘If Carmine here fires at the rock book, it’ll shatter, won’t it?’ said Johnny.

  Crystalman hesitated. ‘No, it won’t.’

  Johnny smiled. ‘Don’t kid a kidder. I know you’re lying. I’d feel it in my bones, if I had any. If the book shatters, Haq ul’Suun’s mind will stay inside the Falcon, and your daddy’s breath and gaze – or whatever the fuck you want to call that thing at the centre of Mars – will stay there, forever. That’s right, isn’t it?’

  ‘What do you want, Mr. Sanguine?’ asked Crystalman, the tension in his voice rising.

  ‘What do I want?’

  ‘Yes. You haven’t ordered your man to fire yet. That means you want something. Could it be…? Ah, yes! You want to be corporeal again, don’t you? You see… you’re not the only one who’s been keeping an eye on things.’

  Johnny smiled. ‘Yeah, that’s what I want.’

  ‘Well, I can give it to you, if you have your man lower the weapon.’ He pointed to the telaug machine. ‘This is an analogue of the punishment machines of ancient Mars. Not only can it read minds, it can transfer them. This is your way back to the physical world… this is what your dreams were telling you. All you need is a body for your soul to inhabit… hers, perhaps?’ Crystalman indicated Rusty’s unconscious form. ‘It would be a fitting punishment for her, would it not… for her betrayal?’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Johnny, eyeing her. ‘It would.’

  ‘Then have your man put down the weapon,’ said Crystalman, glancing at the telaug’s main display, ‘and we can discuss this further.’

  ‘And what happens then?’ said Fort. ‘Azathoth’ll be all over this planet like bad acne, and you’ll be destroyed along with the rest of us, Sanguine!’

  ‘Not if Crystalman takes me with him to one of those other Earths he mentioned.’

  ‘Ah!’ said Crystalman. ‘So, you want to accompany me when I depart this world? Clever! That, too, is possible. So come! Lower the weapon, and we’ll get you safely installed in Miss Links’s body while the breath of Azathoth makes the journey to Earth.’

  ‘How do I know you’ll keep your end of the deal?’ asked Sanguine.

  ‘The alternative is to destroy the book and remain a ghost forever… a shadow of your former self, shall we say? Besides, I like you, Mr. Sanguine. I’d be very happy to take you along. I can give you entire worlds to control, if that’s what you desire.’

  Johnny nodded. ‘All right. Carmine, lower the weapon.’

  ‘Hey boss,’ said Carmine. ‘What about me? I mean…’

  ‘Just lower the damned weapon!’

  Crystalman laughed suddenly and pointed to the rock book and the Martian Falcon. The glow enveloping both had ceased. ‘Your time is up!’

  ‘You idiot, Sanguine,’ said Fort. ‘He’s been playing for time, stringing you along like the sap you are! Now it’s too late to stop him.’

  ‘You’re quite right, Mr. Fort,’ said Crystalman, pointing to the display, which showed vast tendrils of black cloud belching from the aeon-dead volcanoes of Mars. ‘The quantum bonds have been broken. The breath and gaze of Azathoth are free and heading for Earth!’

  CHAPTER 37

  Haq ul’Suun

  ‘Wait,’ said Johnny. ‘Our deal still stands, right? You’re still gonna get me into that bitch’s body and take me with you when you skip the planet… right?’

  ‘Wrong, Mr. Sanguine,’ Crystalman replied icily. ‘The telaug machine is capable of that, but I have no intention of granting your request. I needed to stall you for long enough to allow the rock book to perform its function… and now that it has… well, that’s just the hand you’ve been dealt. You will be annihilated along with everything else on the planet.’

  ‘You goddamned son of a bitch,’ said Johnny. ‘Carmine, shoot him.’

  ‘What?’ said Carmine.

  ‘You heard me. Shoot the bastard!’

  ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ said Crystalman.

  ‘Oh yeah?’ said Johnny. ‘Listen, popsicle-head, if I’m gonna be destroyed, then I’m taking you with me. Carmine! Do it!’

  Carmine fired the Teleforce Projector. The beam cut Crystalman in half. His upper torso and legs fell to the floor in twitching lumps. But if Johnny Sanguine was expecting to see blood, he was sorely disappointed.

  Instead, a column of bright green light shot up from the ruin of Crystalman’s body, while the mouth behind the mask cackled. ‘Did you think it would be that easy? I am an avatar of Nyarlathotep! And do you know what Nyarlathotep looks like? Behold!’

  Something stepped out of the column of green light. Something that could never have existed in any sane and ordered universe.

  Something that was nightmare itself.

  It was at least thirty feet tall, and stood upon three tentacle-like, prehensile legs. Its thick, cylindrical torso was covered with cilia that writhed and twitched revoltingly, while from its massive shoulders there sprouted, in place of a head, a single tentacle which whipped back and forth.

  ‘Lord God preserve and protect us!’ cried O’Malley.

  The head-tentacle snapped around in his direction, as if it were the thing’s primary organ of sense. The tentacle reached down towards him, and O’Malley shut his eyes and whispered a final prayer.

  But the thing stopped, just as it was about to seize him… and then it turned towards the Martian Falcon.

  The statuette had split down the middle, its two halves lying side by side on the smooth surface of the rock book. And from it, a thick black mist had begun to issue; a miasmal vapour that grew thicker with each passing moment.

  Gradually, the black mist began to form itself into a vaguely humanoid shape: long-limbed and slender. The last parts of it to coalesce were the head and face… and when they did, the thing wore an expression of such rage and hatred that Fort, Lovecraft and O’Malley turned away in uttermost terror.

  ‘Holy shit,’ said Capone from across the chamber. ‘This ain’t good.’

  ‘Haq ul’Suun,’ said Johnny in awe. ‘It’s the spirit of Haq ul’Suun!’

  At the base of Nyarlathotep’s head-tentacle, a mouth opened vertically and uttered an ear-splitting screech.

  ‘Good night, all,’ said Johnny, and promptly vanished.

  ‘Boss?’ said Carmine, then: ‘Fuck it – I’m outta here, too!’ He dropped the Teleforce Projector, transformed himself back into the bat and flitted out of the cavern as fast as his wings would carry him.

  ‘That’s more than just a spirit,’ said Fort. ‘Even an alien spirit. We’ve got to get out of here.’

  Nyarlathotep and the spirit of Haq ul’Suun regarded each other, squaring up like two prize fighters.

&
nbsp; Lovecraft glanced at the still-unconscious Rusty and hurried over to her. He had lost her clothes a while ago and muttered: ‘My apologies, madam,’ as he picked up her naked body. ‘This evening really is full of firsts,’ he added to himself.

  ‘Cormack,’ said Fort as he hurried across the chamber. ‘You grab Capone, I’ll see to Carter.’ He knelt down beside the detective and slapped his face several times. ‘John. John! Wake up!’

  Carter groaned incoherently as Fort put his arms under his armpits and dragged him towards the monorail car in which Crystalman and Carter had travelled from the main cavern.

  O’Malley tried to do the same with Capone, but could barely budge him an inch. ‘Jesus!’ he wheezed. ‘This fecker weighs more than my car!’

  Capone slid open a panel in his stomach and flipped a lever. With a loud click, his pelvis and legs detached. ‘How about now?’

  O’Malley tried again. ‘Better,’ he said as he began to drag Capone’s head and torso across the floor.

  Lovecraft placed Rusty in the monorail car and then rushed back to help O’Malley with Capone, while Fort heaved Carter into the vehicle. He turned as Nyarlathotep screamed again, and watched in horrified awe as the dark spirit of Haq ul’Suun forced itself into the entity’s mouth.

  ‘It shouldn’t be able to do that,’ he said, more to himself than anyone else, as he threw himself into the driver’s seat and slammed the control lever forward. ‘Nyarlathotep is a Great Old One. What the hell is that thing?’

  The car sped out of the cavern to the sound of Nyarlathotep’s screams.

  A minute later, it emerged from the tunnel into the main cavern. By this time, Carter had come to, and Rusty was also stirring. She opened her eyes and looked at Lovecraft. ‘Don’t tell me… you lost my clothes.’

  ‘I’m most dreadfully sorry,’ Lovecraft replied.

  ‘Forget it. At least we’re alive.’

  Yeah, thought Fort. Until Azathoth arrives.

  ‘What the hell’s going on?’ said Carter. ‘Charlie? Where am I?’

  ‘No time to explain, John,’ said Fort as he helped him from the car. ‘We have to get out of here.’

  ‘Where’s here? Last thing I remember, I was at the stationhouse, about to head home for some shuteye…’

  ‘We’re under Crystalman’s house on Long Island,’ Fort said as he pushed Carter towards the elevator leading to the surface.

  Behind them, Lovecraft, O’Malley and Rusty were dragging Capone’s upper torso across the floor. ‘Nice view,’ said Capone, winking at Rusty.

  ‘Shut it, bucket brain,’ she said.

  The floor of the cavern began to tremble as they reached the elevator and crammed themselves inside. ‘Is that an earthquake?’ said Carter as Fort punched the button for the surface and the doors slid shut.

  ‘Might as well be,’ Fort replied. ‘I hope this thing holds up long enough to get us out of here.’

  ‘What’s the point, Charlie?’ said O’Malley. ‘Crystalman’s won. In a few hours, we’ll all be dead – every living thing on Earth. What’s the difference if we die down here or up there?’

  ‘The spirit of Haq ul’Suun is going head to head with Nyarlathotep, and it looks like he’s winning,’ Fort replied. ‘A ghost against a Great Old One? Should be no contest, so Haq ul’Suun’s got something up his sleeve. I don’t know what it is, but…’

  ‘But what, Charles?’ asked Lovecraft.

  Fort didn’t answer.

  The elevator doors opened onto a corridor. ‘Come on,’ said Rusty. ‘This leads to the entrance hall.’

  They dragged Capone after her, along the corridor, through the entrance hall and out through the front door. ‘We need a car,’ said Fort, glancing around. He spotted the large garage at the side of the house. ‘John, get in there and hotwire us some wheels.’

  ‘Leave it to me,’ said Carter. He ran to the garage and disappeared inside.

  Seconds later, a large Duesenberg convertible emerged with the top down and Carter at the wheel. The others dragged Capone into the car and Carter floored the gas pedal.

  Another few seconds and they had gained the edge of the estate. ‘Stop the car, John,’ said Fort. ‘I want to see this.’

  ‘See what?’ asked Carter, bringing the Duesenberg to a halt.

  ‘I don’t know, but like you said, it felt like an earthquake down there, so something’s going to happen.’

  Something did indeed happen.

  Crystalman’s mansion was instantly vaporised by a column of blue-green light that erupted from the ground, accompanied by a cacophonous shriek that made them grimace and cover their ears. The column hurtled into the sky and was lost amongst the stars.

  Silence fell.

  ‘Charlie,’ said Carter. ‘Now do you want to tell me what the hell just happened?’

  CHAPTER 38

  Lovecraft and Fort

  STRANGE ACTIVITY ON MARS

  __________

  ASTRONOMERS REPORT MYSTERIOUS DARK CLOUD EMERGING FROM THE RED PLANET

  POSSIBLE SIGN OF THE

  ANCIENT MARTIAN CIVILIZATION

  DR. TESLA REPORTS DISPERSAL OF THE CLOUD

  Dr. Nikola Tesla has stated that the strange dark cloud which astronomers reported issuing from the volcanoes on Mars last night appears to have dispersed.

  Using the ‘Teslascope’, a device he designed and constructed at his laboratory in Colorado Springs, he observed the phenomenon from start to finish, and has concluded that it was most likely the result of seismic activity deep within the planet.

  ‘I observed the cloud passing across the face of Mars for approximately seventeen minutes,’ he stated, ‘after which it became more and more diffuse and finally faded completely from view. My opinion is that it has dispersed into the interplanetary æther, and poses no threat to Earth.’

  When asked whether it might somehow be related to the mysterious transmission which he recently received from the Red Planet, Dr. Tesla refused to comment.

  Fort read the newspaper report and then passed the paper to Lovecraft. They were sitting in a booth in the drugstore on the corner of Clinton Street and Atlantic Avenue, along with Rusty Links and Cormack O’Malley.

  ‘We gonna get any zombies in here today, fellas?’ asked Hans from the kitchen.

  ‘Not today, Hans,’ Fort replied as he looked at the menu.

  ‘Well, Charles,’ said Lovecraft as he finished reading the report. ‘It looks like the Earth is safe from the attentions of Azathoth, although I’m still not sure how.’

  ‘The clue was in Haq ul’Suun’s power,’ Fort replied. ‘Five million years ago, when he opened the portal to the space between dimensions, he was in momentary contact with the breath and gaze of Azathoth. The same quantum bond that kept Azathoth’s awareness imprisoned at the centre of Mars imbued the Martian’s spirit with the Great Old One’s power – or at least a tiny fraction of its power. That was what allowed his spirit to go up against Nyarlathotep on equal terms.’

  ‘Know that for a fact, do you, Charlie?’ asked O’Malley.

  Fort smiled. ‘No, not really, but when you’ve been in this game as long as I have, you can make educated guesses.’ He tapped the newspaper with his index finger. ‘Nyarlathotep did win: Azathoth’s awareness was released from Mars… but we’re all still here, and Tesla reports that the darkness that emerged from the planet has dissipated harmlessly into space, following the destruction of Crystalman’s house by that column of light.’

  ‘What the hell was that?’ asked Rusty.

  ‘Nyarlathotep leaving our dimension, or being forced to leave by Haq ul’Suun,’ Fort replied. ‘Nyarlathotep is the offspring of Azathoth; the bond between them must be even more powerful than the quantum bond… so with Nyarlathotep gone from this dimension, there was nothing to anchor Azathoth’s awareness here. It was drawn back in
to the space between dimensions, where it belongs.’

  ‘And with the Great Old One’s awareness gone,’ added Lovecraft, ‘the crew of Rocketship X-M should now be free of their nightmares. Their sanity is no longer under threat.’

  Fort nodded. ‘Haq ul’Suun must have been aware of Crystalman’s plans from the beginning, and refused to allow the Earth to die in the same way as Mars had all those millions of years ago. He took the chance to atone for his hubris.’

  ‘Speaking of atonement,’ said O’Malley, ‘that little bastard Johnny Sanguine got away scot-free after all his mischief. I still can’t believe I was taken in by the little gobshite.’

  ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself, Cormack,’ said Fort with a smile. ‘You weren’t completely taken in – just enough to set us all on the right track to winding up this caper. Although,’ he added with a frown, ‘it was more by luck than judgement that we came through.’

  ‘I suppose so,’ O’Malley nodded. ‘So… what now?’

  ‘Well, John Carter bought everything we told him, which is just as well since it’s the truth, and he was there. I’m kind of glad he wasn’t responsible for his actions – I do quite like the guy. Capone’s off the hook and is shopping around for a new pair of legs. And Howard and I are off the hook, too.’ He looked at Rusty. ‘As for you… you helped us out a lot under Long Island. But you still murdered Sanguine, and I’m willing to bet you murdered that archivist at the NCPE, Aldous Bradlee. I suppose it’s too much to ask that you turn yourself in.’

  ‘Way too much,’ Rusty replied. ‘No prison can hold me, Mr. Fort, and you don’t have what it takes to bring me in, so why don’t you just drop the subject, huh?’

  Fort shook his head. ‘You’re bad news, sister.’