in the hour of the egregore

8/13/2019 In The Hour of The Egregore

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In The Hour of The Egregoreby Devon Pitlor

I. In a borderless and hopelessly remote country

Like long glimmering tentacles issuing from an unseen body hub, strings of

slo!moving pilgrims, dressed as gaudy travelers, meandered one behind the

other into the "bandoned Land, admiring as they passed its no embellished

ruins and feeling the distant pulsations of civili#ations that had disappeared

long before theirs had sprung. Each filament of pilgrims branched off,

folloing a nominal leader, in different directions. In a time here hours anddays ere not counted like ours, these anderers ere performing a ritual that

came ith the thaing of the ice and the onset of spring.

They ere visiting the toering $onuments of %athan &ecker to sit at the feet

of a storyteller ho, ith the first glimmer of the %orth 'tar, ould position

himself under the gleaming metallic legs of &ecker(s statuary and begin a

series of ceremonial recitations of the Legend of Declan and )achel!!!#ealous

and fervent lovers from another era. The Legend in places as a romanticone, filled ith a sense of tragedy that that pilgrims needed to hear over and

over again to revitali#e their forces. "nd the story as not alays the same.

'ometimes Declan, the boy, as confused ith )achel, the girl. 'ometimes the

story, the fable, featured the more evil characters such as The Dentist and

another assassin called Tucker Plouffe. The Dentist as truly an assassin

according to some accounts. &ut no, that as, according to others, Plouffe. *et

in other accounts, the death of Declan and )achel, doomed lovers in all

versions, as caused by stranger forces. "nd often the details became

confused, herein The Dentist became Tucker Plouffe or the great munificence

of %athan &ecker, architect of massive statuary in the "bandoned Land, as

forgotten and he himself became an instrument of the most ab+ect evil.


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"s it as a legend, each storyteller had a different version. Each had a

different theme to throttle. That as part of the spring ritual in this borderless

land going to hear a different depiction and personali#ed rendering of TheLegend.

-nder one of the huge and patently abstract leg supports of one of %athan

&ecker(s artistic creations, a huge band of pilgrims ere gathered as they did

each spring. or centuries they and their predecessors had heard the legend.

In vast blocs of time, hich e might call centuries, the legend usually focused

on %athan &ecker /hose name came to be pronounced in countlessly different

ays over the eons that had drained aay0. "nd in that far!aay 1century1

the teller sat on a small piece of industrial rubble that had not yet been clearedand began his tale ith

Once upon a time there was a great artist, a sculptor of renown...

&ut then as the passing nuggets of ine2orable time funneled into the future, a

succeeding narrator started ith

There was then an artist great, a man kind, a person powerful, who made the

famous animals them things above us now all towering...

"nd immeasurable recitations later, the storyteller opened his sacramental

service ith

Thenthere days blarst biggen artist in living to give came all from him to thems

loving he did throt dis art himself holding det darvel carber lite...

"nd finally, on this fine spring day, amidst the recked shells of a civili#ation

vanished, the current storyteller began

Holan! Apiscon very very nabez, saue in de stabtartoo grater, grater ali bana

ba!!


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The infinite passage of moons through ever!changing skies and patchy stars in

constellations so much ad+usted by Time itself had led the many inhabitants of

the &orderless Land to speak a very different language than the 'tandard"merican English ith hich the core story that launched the legend began.

&ut that is normal for ords and phrases as they too pass through the curtains

and gateays of time. It as as normal as the contortion and confusion of the

key details.

&ut even no, the core story and its characters ere essentially the same, as

ere the lessons and thrills hich the story held for the pilgrims of springtime.

II. 'ome core versions

"s has been noted, the focal point of the legend varied ith the storyteller.

The tragic love and death of Declan and )achel as by far the most

e2hilarating, as tales of love never seem to fade in their grip on the human

consciousness. The core details ere these Declan &ecker as the much!loved

and dreamy son of the sculptor %athan &ecker. He lived alone ith his father

until the age of seventeen /for reasons alays unclear0 until his father became

both famous /for his huge, abstract statues hich began to adorn hundreds ofpublic places in the "bandoned Land0 and rich. Then %athan managed to get

remarried to a oman hose name as usually /but not alays0 rendered as

Theodora 3oulbourne, a oman ho brought a telve year old daughter, a

radiant girl named )achel, into the house. Declan and )achel, separated by

five years, became little by little enchanted ith one another!!!although in

some versions not unknon, either )achel or Declan hated one another and

had even tried to kill each other. &ut these versions usually came from the

tisted mouths of renegade storytellers and appealed only to the very fe. Thema+ority of yearly pilgrims anted Declan and )achel to be starstruck and fall

impossibly in love ith one another. They anted Declan to die at age tenty!

eight and )achel to follo him to the grave, in soul!searing de+ection, at

tenty!three a year later. They anted )achel to be unable to live in a orld


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bereft of Declan, and they did not care /these more 4ui2otic and romantic

pilgrims0 ho she died. It as the romance of the saga hich elated them,

fulfilling thus a sense of deep passion hich as lacking in their lives.

&ut there ere also other adaptations 5ertain pilgrims trailed off in

undulating spirals hich led to different statues under hich other story tellers

emphasi#ed the evil of The Dentist and ere almost certain in their hinting that

The Dentist had killed either Declan &ecker or )achel 3oulbourne or both.

The Dentist as in most accounts a necromancer, a spiteful and malicious

con+urer ho poured molten gold into the mouths of huge and purely mythical

creatures that ere no long ago e2tinct. The Dentist had a magic tube ith a

blo dart inside filled ith a potion hich could induce these huge beasts tofall pleasantly asleep for the time needed to pour gold into their mouths. &ut

the dart and its tonic ere lethal to humans. The only solid detail that

remained over the years as that the animals, called elephants and eighing

over seven thousand kilograms, ere put asleep ith a most pleasant and

alluring nepenthe and that any human in+ected ith this concoction ould

pass from this life into the ne2t beset by very pleasing and agreeable

sensations. or some reason that part of the story stuck. "lso, it as usually

related that The Dentist, evil as he as, en+oyed a lifelong friendship ith%athan &ecker, promoted his colossal artorks, and had killed one or maybe

to of the reputed 1lovers1 on a re4uest from someone. &ut, in all, The

Dentist as evil. "nd in these recitations, he remained evil. It as never

e2plained e2actly hat an elephant /a ord hich became vastly altered like

all others0 as or hy it as necessary to decant precious gold into its mouth.

"nother edition of the story turned on the focal point of a man knon as

Tucker Plouffe. Tucker Plouffe as called in some accounts as The $echanic.

In others he as The "ssassin. In all, he as a paid killer. It as never certainho he became ac4uainted ith the little fused family of %athan &ecker and

Theodora 3oulbourne, but, despite his profession as a destroyer ho

slaughtered others for his daily crust, he often became luminous as a seeker of


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truth, something that over the centuries became very esteemed and idoli#ed

among the populations ho traveled across the verdant landscapes of the

"bandoned Land to hear his part of the never ending story.

These ere the main strands of this eternal fable, an anecdote that took on a

life of its on as time rolled forard. " tale that created about itself a

collective group consciousness called an egregore, born of the synergy of mass

thoughtforms, and presenting itself to the collective mind as a kind of tulpa,an

autonomous psychic entity hich ove the very fibers of civili#ation in the

&orderless Land. It as, some said, an egregore that could become

treacherous if ignored!!!and thus the spring rituals. Hearing the tale at least

once each cycle as mandatory for human survival in this faraay andunfathomable place. 'o thus the pilgrimages of spring, the recitations, the

repeated interface ith the still!living ghosts of an unknon history.

III. The 1$echanic1

6n a blustery late 6ctober day in a great city laden ith all the steely re4uisite

elements of crime and corruption, an e2tremely attractive and physically fit

young oman named )achel 3oulbourne, slipped out of her dark blue police

uniform and into a tight camisole and skin!tight blue+eans. 'he left the middleof her shapely torso bare, e2posing a seductively outturned navel, and pulled

the ribbon aay from her floing mane to make the hair sing don her back

and oscillate in the ind. 'he stationed herself on a busy peripheral highay

under a sign that said 1Do not pick up hitchhikers.1 5ars sped past her, and

many drivers paused to scan the eye!catching girl. &ut none stopped. 'he as

obviously a hitchhiker and the sign, posted by the police, scared them off.

)achel had hoped for nothing better. 6ne year out of college and si2 monthsout of the city(s police academy, she as more than disgruntled at her

commanding officer(s assignment that she serve as a decoy prostitute. )achel

3oulbourne felt that ith her family background and education she deserved

better than to trap unsuspecting +ohns on a road that had alays been knon


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as the 7hore Highay, but her captain felt differently, and )achel had not

been ith the force for long. Her aspirations of becoming some kind of famous

detective or renoned crime!buster had started to evaporate ith her assigneddecoy role. &ut out of duty she accepted it. In reality, she cared very little

about prostitution or its adherents. 'he as the stepdaughter of the no!

highly!trending sculptor %athan &ecker, hose colossal orks of rought iron

and copper ere no starting to appear in prominent places all over the city.

-nlike many stepdaughters, she loved her ne father and respected his sense

of otherness. 'ince her mother had brought her to live in %athan &ecker(s loft

orkshop at the age of telve, she had been content to obsess herself ith

something else. "nd it should be said right here in the story that the mainthing as her ne stepbrother Declan &ecker, son of the divorced %athan.

Declan as as some said 1beautiful1 and had the heat of eternal summer

sunshine glimmering through his deep!pool eyes. "t age telve, )achel had

fallen immediately into an irreversible #eal for her freshly con+oined

stepbrother. " passion hich Declan &ecker, her senior by five years, had

never returned. *et )achel(s ardor never ceased.

&ut today she as orking, and snagging +ohns as not her thing.6bediently, )achel moved under another cautionary sign that read 1Decoy

police on patrol.1 That as her. It as almost certain that she ould never be

propositioned under such signs.

&ut she as rong. 6r kind of.

"fter about fifteen minutes of posing under the sign, a man in a bright red

8aguar hove over and rolled don his indo and said 13et in.1

)achel did. Her recorder as turned on and she as about to make her first

bust as a decoy prostitute. The thought did not enthrall her. 'he at age

tenty!three as still thinking about Declan &ecker, ho as dead. 'uch as


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her fi2ation, her sole mania. Her desire, born of close latitude for eleven years,

had never discontinued to smolder.

The man in the 8aguar introduced himself as Tucker Plouffe and as 4uick to

add that it as not totally his real name, although it as.

16f course not,1 said )achel, hoping to make a bust and get the hell out of this

detail.

16h, and you can turn off your radio,1 said Tucker in a bristly voice. 1I am

not going to ask you for se2. ar from it.1

1*ou knon I(m a cop then,1 said )achel biting her loer lip. 'he hadalready failed.

1*ou have cop ritten all over you. I picked you up for other reasons. Totally

legal reasons. &ut I don(t ant them recorded.1

)achel sitched off the remote that she had been outfitted ith, turned in her

seat toard the driver Tucker and said 17hat are e going to talk about91

1Declan &ecker,1 said the man.

1He(s dead.1

1*es, I kno. "nd do you kno something else9 I am hat they call a

1mechanic.1 That means a hit man. I as hired!!!and very recently!!!to kill

you, )achel 3oulbourne. "nd I do not kno hy. I have killed a lot of people,

but they ere mostly scum. I do not mind killing scum. &ut you are +ust a

young police officer. 5ut to the chase, I need to kno hy I as contracted to

aste you.1

1or busting +ohns91

1%ot e2actly,1 said Tucker, hose real name in fact as Tucker Plouffe. He


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had by no spoken long enough to )achel to reveal his rather unctuous

Louisiana!5a+un accent.

1'o you(re a hired assassin,1 said )achel unruffled. 1Do you like that kind of

ork91

Tucker Plouffe pulled his 8aguar off the main thoroughfare onto a small

parking lot in front of a rather seedy package store. He began to e2plain

something about his life that )achel did not appear to ant to hear.

1Did you kill Declan to years ago91 she asked casually.

1%o, but I kno ho did. I +ust don(t kno hy. I(m curious like that. I asasked through a trusted contact to e2ecute him. The money as there, but

unless someone is scum, unless e(ve got a mobster or a Puerto )ican last

name, I don(t do that kind of ork. I as even contracted to kill a baby once

and for more money than I ould be able to spend for the rest of my life. I

refused that too. I refused to kill a nice kid like Declan. He lived at home ith

his father and your mother. Don(t act shocked, I(ve done my research. Declan

seemed to be loved by everyone. " handsome, intelligent boy. "nd then

someone anted him dead. I alays ondered hy.1

)achel shifted in her seat, assuming a critical pose of boredom. Her body

language clearly said" don#t care. 17ell, to satisfy your hit!man curiosity,1

she began, 1he as killed by the elephant doctor, the guy ho tran4uili#ed the

big ones at the #oo in order to mount aluminum teeth in their +as to replace

the orn!out ones. If someone doesn(t do that, the elephant dies of starvation.

Did you kno that91

1%o,1 said Plouffe. 1There is a lot of stuff I don(t kno. 7hy did the elephantman kill him91

1%o idea,1 said )achel. 1"nd the cops don(t kno either. He as shot ith a

double dose of halothane pro+ected from a silent blo tube +ust like they do in


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the #oo.1

Plouffe as becoming annoyed at the young girl(s seeming lack of interest inthe assassination of someone he kne through his research she had adored

above all things on Earth. His cunning sense of character +udgment told him

)achel as hiding something. &ut didn(t everyone9

"nd indeed she as.

1'omething tells me you kno all about elephant tranks,1 Plouffe said. 1&ut I

can see no that you are not going to tell me anything.1

1I told you about bull "frican elephants needing ne teeth.1

1*eah, big nes.1

1"nd the tran4uili#er, halothane. It is supposed to be very gentle and even

comforting. %o one needs a :;,


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1"m I special to elephant dentists91 said )achel.

1%o idea. That guy, 8osh =olan, as friends ith Declan(s father. Did youkno that91

1*ep, I as a cop in training. I kne a fe things.1

1&ut not ho paid for Declan to be sent into the ne2t orld or ho is paying

for you to follo him.1

)achel grasped the door handle and got out of Plouffe(s car. 1%ope,1 she said

in parting. 1I have tried for over a year to forget Declan. I loved him. *ou, ofcourse, kne that. " year of trying to ash my brain free of him.1

1*ou(ve failed too,1 said Plouffe. 1*ou kno that, and I kno that.1

)achel alked sloly back to the main highay, saying nothing.

In truth, Tucker Plouffe of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana as motivated far

more by ra curiosity than by any sort of sudden translation to

humanitarianism. He had alays tried to understand people despite his

ac4uired profession. He had refused to kill Declan a year before, and no he

as re+ecting the hatchet +ob on )achel. He ondered +ust hy that, as a cop

and as one fraught ith an une2plained and undying passion for Declan

&ecker, she had failed to 4uestion him. $oreover, he marveled at hy a #oo

dentist and close friend of the famous sculptor %athan &ecker ould have

taken the +ob, hich he kne he had. It had all been too clean. 8osh =olan

had never been suspected, but Plouffe(s contacts said otherise, and )achel

3oulbourne had more than confirmed that. There is a hole underground

community of silent souls that kno the #oo dentist did it, he thought. )achelis part of that. 'o is her mother and stepfather. The story lurked like a

phosphorescent crafish under a tablet of $ississippi slate.


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7ith a curiosity even more pi4ued than ever before, Plouffe drove off into the

evening mist. 6ctober as becoming %ovember, and %ovember promised to

be harsh. Life as harsh, thought Plouffe. Halothane isn(t.

&ut he as playing the detective anyay, and for hat reason9 His avocation,

murdering people, demanded a certain distance. Plouffe had lost his. He as

investigating something that he kne he did not need to scrutini#e. 'omeone

somehere is going to e2terminate that cop!girl soon, he kne. I +ust onder

hy. "nd hy above all other things doesn(t she care9

He decided to use his multiple associates and bracket together something about

the no!famous artist ho had lost a son, but ho nonetheless continued tograce the city and other locales ith huge elded statutes that essentially

meant nothing e2cept to baffled tourists ho looked up on them ith ae and

eventually felt compelled to praise them!!!even though not really anyone kne,

perhaps even the artist, hat they ere really about.

I>. The detective ork of a 1mechanic.1

In the days that ensued, Tucker Plouffe learned very little about %athan

&ecker. 7hat he did learn as that &ecker, no 4uite ell off, had illinglyac4uiesced to alloing his tenty!seven year old son to live in his sumptuous

loft and 1help1 ith his statuary. He also learned that Declan had been very

bad at it and ostensibly had no visible artistic talent. Declan(s stepmother,

Theordora, alays reclusive and utterly silent to a fault, had not been bothered

in the slightest that Declan, ho some said could have been a movie star if he

had orked at it, stayed mostly at home and hung about his father.

"nother thing Plouffe learned as that 8osh =olan, the #oo dentist, had

suffered a nervous breakdon and as no in a sanatorium not talking toanyone. The killing, hich as notorious in the demi!monde, had apparently

done him in. 6r at least that as the thought. $urdering the young man had

driven him over the proverbial edge.


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"nd hat about Declan9

6ther than the salient fact that everyone in the city seemed to adore him andanted to share his bed, he harbored very little interest in his stepsister. It as

all one ay. 'he orshipped him, but it as not reciprocal. 6ther than that, it

as a dead end trail. "nother gloing crafish under a muddy rock.

"t age tenty!five, Declan, ho as promoted by everyone to be some kind of

Person of the *ear, simply receded and became a part of his father(s life. "nd

that asn(t much. It involved dissolving himself into a donton loft and

remaining mostly out of sight. %ot a normal modus for a young man of

Declan?s imputed charisma.

Tucker Plouffe as a mediocrity and he kne it. 7hat he didn(t kno as

e2actly hy in his murderous profile he as pursuing this line of in4uiry. 'elf!

e2amination had never been a viable part of his hit!man profile. It as

counterproductive, Tucker kne.

"nother thing that Tucker Plouffe discovered in his subterranean

investigations as that %athan &ecker had alays the intention of sending his

often reclusive and under!motivated son on a cruise. " cruise somehere. To

some e2otic island. To a seaside desert. To a seaside mountain. This as

something that %athan did not accomplish, of course. Declan died too soon.

&ut then Plouffe learned that the senior &ecker had himself taken several tours

out of state, tours hich ere not cruises, but visits to some anonymous entity

near 'cottsdale, "ri#ona. "nd the trace ended there. The crafish craled

even farther under its mossy stone.

There as something about a promise. The promise of a cruise. 'ome

confusing nonsense as hidden in that.

"nd Plouffe did not kno hat. That bothered him, yet he couldn(t say hy.


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>. The life and death of Declan &ecker

Tucker Plouffe, still playing the detective rather than the 1mechanic1 of death,as able through a nespaper contact to procure several glossy shots of Declan

&ecker taken shortly before his death. He also came across, 4uite by accident,

Declan(s high school yearbook, here the young eighteen year old(s face

beamed out from a gallery of less than lustrous contenders for accountable and

remunerative adulthood. There as indeed something fresh and vital about

Declan. Handsome as a ord did not 4uite capture it. There as a sense of

both intense life and impending tragedy, something almost ineffable, a

look...perhaps an outard ga#e....that Plouffe had seen only precious fe timesbefore. The school boy...a senior...no ithin nine years of his pending demise

seemed to be full of a secret!!!a secret combining the disparate elements of

both boundless optimism and gloomy despair. *earbook photos, Plouffe kne,

could reveal such things and often did.

Plouffe continued to e2amine the other photographs, hich ranged from age

telve to his death +ust shy of his tenty!eighth birthday. There as a sense of

hidden energy that penetrated them...an egregore in the making perhaps,

although Plouffe ould himself die /and of old age0 ithout ever knoing hatan egregore as, but in his on thoughts he constructed its eerie meaning in

other, more familiar, terms.

"nd then there ere other matters. irst, hy had %athan &ecker and his

charming ife Theodora not engaged in some prolonged and public breast!

beating, some mournful sho of de+ection and bitter misery9 'econd, hy had

the city police dismissed the case after only a to!month investigation9 'o

many people seemed to kno that 8osh =olan, the dentist, had done it ith hisblogun and elephant tran4uili#er!!!this obviously to include )achel

3oulbourne. 7hy had the case been dropped so 4uickly9 7hy had the #oo

dentist never been charged and had been alloed to slip aay into near

oblivion in a state mental repository9 Third, hy as )achel so blas@ about


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both Declan?s untimely death and the fact that someone had scheduled her for

something akin to the same fate9 )achel, no a bona fide police officer, might

have been conducting her on private and continuing investigation of the case,but Plouffe?s intuition!!!the si2th sense of a formal assassin!!!told him

otherise.

Then there as the 4uestion of %athan &ecker. &y the time of Declan?s death,

five nearby cities had commissioned him in one ay or another to erect his

atrocious statuary /so thought Plouffe0 in their public s4uares and in front of

civic architecture. &ecker as groing rich, no problem ith that. &ut hy

had he undertaken so many trips to a dusty little desert ton in "ri#ona!!!a

state hich ostensibly shoed no palpable interest in his odd erections andundecipherable creations. ucking art, thought Plouffe. %o one understands

it. They +ust follo a crod or some dimitted critic. &ut the "ri#ona trips

remained a piece of the unsolved mystery hich Tucker Plouffe had decided to

lay out like a flayed mackerel in front of himself to let it glisten in the

moonlight of doubt. 'elf!doubt above all.

"nd that as the final unknon that confronted the hit man. He did not kno

himself ell enough to anser it. The 4uestion as, of course, hy as he sointerested9 7as it to atone for his mode of living over the past decade9 6r

as there something else9 &ut stop, he told himself. 'elf!scrutiny as not his

style.

Plouffe?s investigation continued, therefore, ith a kind of vehemence, a fury

born of 3od!knos!hat, a vain fren#y that ould, totally unbeknonst to

him, gain him a place in the legend that someday in some place ould be told

and retold and form the moral foundation of a future civili#ation.

&ut retold only by certaingriots, those having a penchant for renegade and

mostly unauthori#ed versions of something that as very imperative to a

vaporous civili#ation that Plouffe ould never live long enough to kno.


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In reality, )achel 3oulbourne as indeed ithholding something a family

secret, and rather commonplace one too!!!although it alloped her to the core

to think of it. It as a secret that she had both learned and sorn to silence atage fifteen hen it had finally been made knon to her.

"t to private clinics in ruthlessly confidential 'it#erland, it had been

confirmed by medical e2perts, ho actually kne ho to keep secrets, that the

incandescent and promising boy of her most profound dreams had a congenital

defect...an inoperable brain tumor in the parietal lobe of his cranium that as

one!hundred percent certain to cause him to die before reaching age thirty.

The confirmation of this abnormality as absolute, and there as no remedy.

%o treatment nor medication as possible, but the better nes as that Declanould not suffer much. He ould, said the esteemed doctors, simply fade little

by little from consciousness and die suddenly hen the groth selled to

bursting si#e and ruptured, spreading its lethal to2in throughout his brain.

Declan at age seventeen, in hale health, had, of course, been informed. 'ome of

the small and seemingly inconsistencies in his actions and thoughts ere

already reflecting the onset of hat as guaranteed to be his early death. "

slightly rong movement of the eyes. " sudden and ine2plicable stiffening ofthe +a. "n inappropriate but hardly noticeable tongue thrust.

Ho )achel took this nes as governed by the rules of the amily &ecker,

hich preached above all unyielding stoicism in the face of their son?s

undeniable destiny. Declan as going to die. That as all. He kne it. His

father and stepmother kne it. "nd no )achel kne it. It ould not be

posted to the orld. Through great and indescribable suffering, )achel

managed, as instructed, to maintain her calm, although during the interval

beteen her fifteenth and tenty!third year, hen the medical prophecybecame authentic, )achel refused to date boys of any age and composed, it is

said in the legend, over four thousand pages of lamentations, eulogies, and

soul!searching poetry to alleviate her undisplayed pain. These ritings,


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cryptic and unreadable e2cept to a fe cloistered scholars of the distant future,

also became part of the legend and its resultant egregore. &ut these things

happened at time that could not even be fathomed at the instant of theirthrobbing composition. "nd )achel, trampled like a inter pansy in the

muddy sno, continued life, university studies and became, as e have seen, a

rather indifferent police officer for reasons that she could never clearly define

even in her long and renching ritten orations. 'he loved Declan, and self!

scrutiny as not her style either.

>I. The case of %athan &ecker

6ne of the non!family secrets that Plouffe accidentally discovered as that%athan &ecker, a no eminent sculptor, had been making plans for some years

to send his son on a cruise. It as never decided +ust to here this cruise

ould be, and this as made more difficult to determine by the fact that

Declan had evinced absolutely no interest in going anyhere on the planet.

Declan, too, had become stoic. His on fate ould remain his on. He ould

stay at home and live out hatever remained of his condemned life in the

company of his father, stepmother and stepsister!!!ho, it should be noted,

annoyed him until the very end. The tall tree of love had never spread its all!embracing boughs over Declan, and the knoledge of his on pending and

inescapable fate made affection ith any female a palpable absurdity. His

father had, hoever, in his inimitable otherness bought Declan the fre4uent

company of many pricey and lu2urious prostitutes in brothels inaccessible to

those not possessed of ade4uate funds or the kno!ho re4uired to find such

establishments. It as &ecker senior?s design that his handsome son should

not die ithout knoing the intimacy of a oman. 6r a cruise. &ut on the

latter account, Declan remained as ever disinterested. %o mention of tropic

harbors or undulating ships at sea ever roused him.

'till %athan talked endlessly of a cruise until one day he ceased this line of

reasoning and took a trip to a tiny, dustblon ton in southern "ri#ona. "nd


17/32

no one ever found out hy!!!at least not until time immeasurable had passed

and the same cryptic scholars ho had unraveled the doleful language of

)achel?s criducoeur homages dislodged the fact, and then the reason for this+ourney became a material and strangely practical part of the legend.

The ton as called "ndresville, and it as as obscure as its prosaic name. In

searching it out, Plouffe not only found that it as omitted on certain highay

maps but very difficult to find even hen the route as occasionally marked.

Totally out of place in his habitual business suit, Plouffe had kicked around the

gas stations and ramshackle convenience stores of "ndresville ith little

success, aroused the suspicious of the scant band of locals ho loitered on theless than thirty!yard long main street, and learned very little. %o one had any

notion of ho %athan &ecker as, hat he looked like, hat sort of artork he

did or hy he should be there. 6ne drunk in a lean!to saloon had even told

Plouffe after a fe gratis drinks that "ndresville as a ghost ton and had no

reason to be on a map or attract anyone for that matter. The ton, dusty and

dry, concealed nothing...or did it9

A*es,B said another hiskey!ravaged native on the day before Plouffe drove

aay forever. AThis ton could be the start of a cruise.B &efore Plouffe couldget any amplification of this enigmatic statement, the man plunged himself

deeper into the bottle he as consuming in gulps and vanished into the kind of

stoneall barricade of impenetrability that branded the stragglers ho

inhabited this dismal corner of sagebrush and cactus.

"nd so for at least one unnamed tenant of the asteland, there as in

"ndresville the promise of a cruise. "nd hat in the fuck did that mean9

thought Plouffe, as he drove aay. The crafish as still under its rock ledge.%o mysteries had been unraveled.

>II. The cruise


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The legend so oft!repeated in the murky generations hich folloed never

mentioned the ord cruise, and the arcane ritings dealing ith the death of

both Declan &ecker and his ould!be devotee, )achel 3oulbourne, nevermentioned the ord either. Instead, the storytellers insisted that the no

erased and therefore non!e2istent ton of "ndresville as a dooray to

Aimmortality.B Immortality had alays become part of the oral legend. It

fueled the churning egregore hich arose from the tight compact of the many

listeners.

"nd others, not taken in by the necessity to hear a legend repeated each spring

under the rusting monuments of some artist ho had once lived in the

"bandoned Lands, found out over the course of many years hat as locatedin the no!mythical "ri#ona atering hole. 3eneration by generation they

began to act on it. It ould, in effect, become their contribution to the

egregore hich governed the hole of their sphere.

%athan &ecker, of course, kne hat it as centuries before. It as a bricked!

up 5old 7ar missile silo and fallout shelter hich generated its on poer

source and as called an AinstitutionB by some. Inconspicuous and virtually

unknon beneath the unforgiving sands of the "ri#ona desert, it as filledith huge 4uantities of li4uid nitrogen and insulated in such a ay as to

preserve this element ell under its boiling point of CC.:; degrees elvin.

3uessably, it housed a certain restricted 4uantity of dead human corpses and

as in fact one of a small number of cryonics institutes, obscured and

maintained by the most secretive of societies, organi#ations hich safeguarded

their covert stockpile of cadavers in the then!vain hope that by free#ing them,

they could and ould be resuscitated by the miraculously optimistic

technology of future generations able to cure the ailments hich had destroyed

these prominent souls and revive them from the dead into the faceless dan ofsome ne era of enlightenment in the anticipated cyclone of unrestrained

scientific progress.


19/32

The cryonics institute of "ndresville, having no particular public presence or

name, had never given much thought, hoever, to the utility of such revivals or

hether future eras ould have any need hatever to bring back relics fromages that they ere sure to deem as primitive and even prehistorically

barbaric.

"nd for most of the optimistically fro#en corpses, this as true. 3enerations

succeeded and the rocks and gravel of a derelict desert ould eradicate most

all traces of the subterranean institute, and very fe of the glacial dead ould

ever see either the benevolent hand of enhanced science nor the daylight of any

manifestation hatsoever of a future orld.

&ut because of )achel and her incessant riting and because of %athan and his

enigmatic statuary, a legend took form!!!a fairy story and its egregore, its

thoughtform, hich in time became the mainspring of a ne civili#ation, so

compelling and real as this autonomous psychic entity born of the synergy of

collective thought bedecked ith fervent evolutionary aspiration, as such has

alays been the ont of mankind.

"nd so, in his otherness, %athan &ecker became rather suddenly convinced in

the goals and ambitions of this nearly invisible and nameless cryonics society.

7ith the assent of his family, he arranged to have Declan?s body placed in an

everlasting vat of li4uid nitrogen in hopes of his revival in a more progressive

future time. This as no the promised cruise. " cruise only for the very

privileged into a da##ling and startlingly e2traordinary, if not overhelming,

future. It as an idea that only an artist of %athan?s odd bent ould consent

to, and Declan readily agreed ith his father that it might be an Aadventure,B

certainly something better than a +ourney by ship to some overheated tropicalatoll about hich he shared no interest.

&ut one problem posed itself. It as conveyed to both %athan and Declan by a

private courier from the last 'iss clinic Declan had visited. &y the time


20/32

Declan?s tumor ballooned to lethal si#e, it ould burst and thereby destroy

most of the soft tissue of his brain. He ould therefore be revived...if revival

ere indeed possible...as a lumpen vegetable, not orthy of a ne start.'omething had to be done before. "nd so it as.

>III. 8osh =olan, 1The Dentist1

'o great as the fresh and innocent optimism and immutable belief of the no!

mystical artist %athan &ecker, hose faith in the glimmering chimera of

cryonics had blossomed so idely that it perfumed and into2icated everyone

ho came in contact ith the sculptor ith the rich and indestructibly

aromatic scent of undying hope in a second chance at life in a better orldafter a brief but gratifying cruise through uncharted eons to come, that it fell

upon his childhood friend, a rather impressionable menagerie animal manager

named 8osh =olan, ho to some as knon as both a veterinarian and a

dentist!!!neither of hich totally suited his profession!!to merge into a seeming

risk!free and totally logical plan to use the same chemicals he employed to

anestheti#e elephants to 4uietly remove %athan(s forlorn son, Declan, from

this orld and start him on his voyage to the ne2t ithout much thought of

repercussion or conse4uence."nd so it as ith both )achel 3oulbourne and her ever!doting mother

Theodora, ho both fell under the spell of pledged immortality accorded to

Declan if his removal could be achieved and his body preserved before the

atrocious tumor had destroyed the symmetrical beauty and idely!admired

magnitude of his brain. 5ryonics became, thus, a palpable reality rather than

a vaporous speculation, and the veracity of the cruise in time took on the vivid

hue of absolute truth.

In short, plans ere laid and secrets ere kept. " circle, hich included not

only Declan, his father and the illing assassin =olan but also )achel and her

mother, as summarily closed. The matter as decided. 8osh =olan kne and

respected his role that of an agent of unconditional and un4uestionable


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immortality. Declan(s immortality.

or years =olan in his role as 1dentist1 had crept into the 4uarters of #ooelephants ith his dart tube, put them into a painless sleep and filled their

aging mouths ith aluminum teeth to prolong their e2hibitory e2istence for an

adoring public in hatever city(s #oological gardens they inhabited!!!for

elephants, like legends and their resultant egregores, become the property of

an adoring public, and there as no calling nobler than giving these beasts a

chance of living a fe year longer instead of dying of harsh starvation from

orn aay teeth. The same nepenthe that soothed the suffering toothless

beasts into temporary slumber ould transport a dying boy into a ne life in a

orld that could only be envisaged in the most gloing of imagined mentalvignettes. =olan, inebriated by the contagious confidence of %athan &ecker,

fancied himself a hero!!!and this right up until the moment that he atched the

final light in Declan &ecker(s eyes flicker out like the e2tinguished flame of a

celebratory lantern at festival(s end.

"fter that point, sadly, the Dentist(s optimism ilted and finally ithered

altogether as he received nes of Declan(s remains being surreptitiously taken

to a place under the "ri#ona desert and congealed at temperaturesapproaching absolute #ero. 'uffering from the pangs of recrimination, %athan

&ecker(s accomplice in cruise!planning, plunged into a despair so deep in its

guilt!laden melancholy as to send the Dentist into an asylum for the rest of his

life, an asylum here he spent his remaining fe years staring hollo!eyed at

the vacant alls, the empty orbs of his demented eyes rolling about in a self!

inflicted madness from hich there as no escape.

&ut the legend never recorded this part.

In the legend, the Dentist became an emblem of true and lasting friendship, the

bringer of benevolent and holehearted kindness to a beleaguered family, a

deliverer endoed ith the boldness to act upon conviction!!!and thus a hero.

&ut some versions, as e have seen, also cast him as a villainous and malicious


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much to her barely restrained glee, arranged for her interment alongside of

Declan in a vat of li4uid nitrogen, so great as his love for his son and his

abiding belief in the resuscitative poers of generations unborn.

He had, in effect, invested his last cent into this final venture, and suffering

no from a defective heart valve, ould soon +oin )achel(s mother in the

ground, hile )achel ould!!!he kne!!!reaaken and unite ith his beloved

son in an assured and un4uestioned future paradise. Like )omeo and 8uliet,

he reasoned, they ould die almost together at nearly the same age. "nd they

ould dell together at the end of their 1cruise1 for as long as a future society

could keep them animated.

He disclosed all this to an astonished )achel hile still in mourning for

Theodora, ho had only the promise of moldy soil in her unseen future. It as

in the once!happy family room of the house )achel had lived in since age

telve. )achel as in uniform and earing a police!issued pistol on her side

hen she learned the nes. 'uch as the un4ualified munificence and

undying conviction of the aging stepfather that )achel, biting suddenly her

bottom lip and feeling the sudden paro2ysm of compunction and shame, could

not bring herself to tell the old man the thing that he should have, could havenoticed during the eleven years of her residence in his family!!!the oft!hidden

fact that Declan &ecker had never shon the slightest interest or attraction to

his young and ardent stepsister.

%o, )achel could not tell him. It ould spoil the plan. 'he anted to die

anyay, and the future as, after all, assured ith cryonics. The only missing

element as the desired affection hich Declan had never evinced toard her.

This factor, hoever, as never spoken or preserved in the legend. )achelbecame over the ensuing eons e2actly hat %athan felt her to be the day he

informed her of his arrangements. The greatest love story in history as in its

nuclear form, and it could only gro vaster from there. "nd it did. To

proportions unfathomable.


24/32

The fire hich burned for centuries fueling the 3reat Legend as )achel. Her

consent to a painless death at age tenty!three so that she could +oin Declanho ould still be tenty!eight in an idyllic and miraculous orld, here the

e24uisite ould become the commonplace and the sublime a perennial floer

in the garden of life. %ot the $echanic, not the Dentist, not the 'culptor, not

the Prehistoric &easts but )achel as at the a2is of mankind(s most enduring

and nourishing fable!!!the ellspring of a civili#ation that could not be

imagined by any contemporary of either )achel or %athan. Her death as only

a foot!stone ashed over by the gentle aters of the brook of time hich she so

passionately needed to cross.

"nd so )achel kne. 'he kne that day hen 4uestioned by Plouffe that her

stepfather had arranged for her death!!!her straightforard and abrupt death.

&y the tran4uili#er halothane if possible. It grieved her that Tucker Plouffe

had not used his blo tube. It grieved her that after standing on the side of the

7hore Highay for over an hour another assassin had not come by. It

saddened her that she as still alive and not yet beneath the "ri#ona desert.

The Dentist as out of the picture no. "nd Plouffe had refused the +ob,

turning from hit!man to anna!be detective. 7ho ould do the +ob9 )achelvoed that the year ould not pass ith her still breathing. 'he ould do it

herself. The arrangements had been made. "ll that as needed as her

lifeless remains.

&ut as it turned out, it as Plouffe ho did it, or sort of. In a phone call,

)achel asked him to meet her ith the promise of telling him all the details he

anted. 1I(ll let you kno ho ants me dead and hy,1 she gasped over the

phone. Plouffe consented and picked her up in his 8aguar at a predeterminedlocation not far from here he had first met her. 'he as earing her police

uniform and badge. 'he as carrying her nine millimeter police!issued pistol.

1I(m not killing you,1 said Plouffe firmly.


25/32

1*es, you are,1 said )achel.

7ithout prologue, she dre her gun from its holster. Plouffe, ho had heardand disbelieved the story, noted that the gun as fresh, slick ith oil and

apparently unused. The holster, hoever, as tatty and orn. The livid and

bleeding soul has orn the body bare from the inside out, he thought,

fashioning a crude metaphor for the seemingly maniac police girl. &ut before

he could ruminate more poetic images, )achel pushed the barrel to his temple

and said something garbled to the effect that it as either him or her.

In self!preservation it became her. Plouffe still had =olan(s old loaded blo

tube under the car seat, a gift from the no!dead %athan &ecker. 6n )achel(s

unflinching command, he ithdre it and used it as instructed. His action, his

presence, his persona as unbelievable even to himself!!!and as such he passed

into the legend and became an evil force in the egregore that arose ith each

telling of the rich parable of hich he no became an element.

He dumped her body in a vacant lot right here she had charged him to. "

dead female cop, complete ith sidearm, uniform, badge and above!all ID tag.

Then he sped out of the state forever. $any years later under a ne identity in

a place here no one thought to look for him, he died!!!mostly of old age. His

last thoughts ere of )achel(s strange tale. 15ryonics,1 he murmured as he

passed from this orld into hatever follos.

. 5onclusion The "akening

The momentous hour of the egregore finally struck, and the apparition!!!the

tulpa!!!arose, great and horrible, benevolent, ise or violent as the occasion

demanded.

It as the collective ill of a civili#ation enraptured ith its unknon and

shadoy origins, a civili#ation that pri#ed the intense value of human emotion


26/32

above all other values and had come to raise the core reason for its very

e2istence on a story that had developed into an immense e2pression of hat it

meant to be human and at the ape2 of social maturity in an era that had metand solved most of the other pressing problems of survival. Its technology,

shrouded as the property of only a fe, had elevated the species to a giddy

summit here strapping happiness reigned alongside of mandatory mystery.

The apparition made itself mostly unseen, but had it been visible, it ould have

presented itself as inchoate and formless as the numberless thoughtforms

hich had given it birth in the collective recollection of something momentous

from a past that no one person could ever conceive individually. It embodied

the entire spirit of mankind from the earliest combinations of one celledcreatures through centuries of strife, error and slo progress. Thus it as

good. Thus it as holy. Thus it was mankind!!!everyman in his purest form.

It hovered no above the pri#e of its being the restored and repaired corpus of

hat as no considered the essential keystone of its e2cellence. "nd this as

Declan &ecker...revitali#ed...re!invigorated ith the vril!!!the life force!!!!itself.

The orld of mankind, represented in a single fluid and formlessly nebulous

mass sirled over the place here Declan as no stored, guarding, as it ere,

its trophy to share ith all sentient creatures of its on making.

It as the dan of the ne2t transformation. The acme of evolution. The much

anticipated end point of a biological +ourney that had been launched so many

epochs ago in a past that Declan and the other lofty figures of his legend

embodied.

"nd all as good. The egregore as happy.

Declan &ecker, for his part, came into full consciousness feeling fresh!skinnedand filled ith some primal but ineffable force. He kne not to e2pect

e2planations from an evolution that he could not fathom. His father and the

anonymous cryonics society had prepared him ell. 1&e ready for anything,1

they said. Declan as.


27/32

&ut his lips ere dry, and he became gradually aare that he had been

speaking for a long time. "s his eyes gre sharper, he sa that he had beenreading from something that looked like a commonplace book hovering over

here he lay. 7ords continued to issue from his lips long after his mind as

sept clear of any ha#e that still clouded it. He heard his on ords

"t was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was

the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it

was the season of $ight, it was the season of %arkness, it was the spring of hope,

it was the winter of despair.

It as the first line of a book he had 1recently1 forced himself to read because

someone told him it as important. Then he remembered hat it as.

5harles Dickens, " Tale of To 5ities, ritten in :F;G. The dryness of his

mouth told him he had been reading aloud for some time. He did not kno

hy.

Then the idea burst into his mind. His hosts needed to hear his English. He

did not kno ho he kne this, but it as further revealed to him!!!

telepathically no doubt!!!that although those ho had retrieved him from thevale of death had en+oyed ample opportunities to read the language of his

times, they did not kno ho to pronounce it. "nd he had been reading for a

long time. They had learned.

'uddenly, Declan became aare that the information as not reaching him

telepathically /as he ould have liked to have thought0 but rather orally. 'ome

eddy of sirling mass located above him as speaking. He remained silent and

listened for its ords

1Long ago e found all the ritten records of your era and learned to read

them. &ut e did not kno the sounds behind the symbols. *ou have helped us

ith that. 7e no can speak to you in "merican.1


28/32


29/32


30/32

as surprised at her on tone and cynicism. 'he had suddenly turned mean

inside. It as as if she had salloed the hard pit of a once!seet fruit.

1$y father as a drinker9 'hut your lying mouth. I don(t kno about that.

He as a great artist. His orks ere everyhere in the city.1

1*eah, as long as he remained sober enough to forge them together. &ut that

as pretty much of a rarity, eh Dec91

1'top it,1 said Declan. 1He sent us both here!!!herever this is!!!to be

together, and you kno hat9 I have no idea hat year this is or ho is

president...1

1Last I remember it as that black guy hose name I forget,1 snapped

)achel. 1I never really cared. Did you91

1%o,1 said Declan, eyeing his stepsister ith the same disdain he alays had.

1Do you91

1%ot really,1 replied )achel. 16ne president resembles another in my vie.

7ho cares91

1%ot me.1

17e never did much care about anything,1 continued )achel. 1"nd no all of

a sudden, I seem to care less. *ou(re pretty, but your eyes are like old fisted

snoballs!!!cold.1

1"nd you are pretty too, but you kno damn ell that I never cared for you. I

as never going to fuck a telve!year old. That is hat you anted then.1

1'o you fucked my mother.1

16ut of necessity.1

1" lot of bullshit. I never kne. *ou and your artsy!fartsy father...1


31/32

1Leave my father out of this. 7ho in the shit knos here e are9 There are

big blobs here ho like to hear us read Dostoevsky or hatever.11The future,1 said )achel. 1I don(t like it. "nd all at once, I don(t like you.1

)achel as certain that she as feeling the ords she said. In her head they

echoed true like the crisp voices of spirit sentries in the canyons they guarded.

1The feeling has alays been mutual. *ou are no goddess.1

1%ever intended to be. I loved you. &ut I can see that it as mislaid. *ou

seem no, hatever this no is, to be a real prick.1

1"nd you seem like a teenage slut. The one you used to or anted to be.1

7ithout arning, the churning apparition of the future(s collective egregore,

the tulpa, reappeared.

1There is vast and ine2pressible trouble,1 it said. 17e must terminate

something. 'riots, storytellers. are under every arch. They cannot be denied.

This has to end.1

"nd so it did.

Declan and )achel ere comfortably put back into inanimation. They never

finished their argument or arrived at any conclusions. They never ould.

7here and ho they ould ake up as only a con+ecture in a society that

had vainly depended on them. "nd far too much.

Live as long as e may, but e ill never live long enough to become the gods

e think e should be.JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

Devon Pitlor 8anuary,


32/32

MNMNMNMN

in the hour of the egregore

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