Intellectual Intuition: Part 4

Jai was silent on the drive to the cemetery; she was definitely a woman on a mission. I really did not have any idea where we were going, until she told me we were heading towards a Ghost Town by the name of "Hellwater" . Something to do with the water in the area containing a lot of sulfur, thus the name. We drove for several hours, I knew it must be dark by the time we arrived, because we had not left till the mid-afternoon. Jai was still moving with the silent purpose, despite my chatty attempts. She led me to the cemetery, which was behind the abandon church of the town. Then all of a sudden she seemed to snap out of her silence. telling me in a confidential tone: "We have been followed, so I want you to dig while I circle back on the pursuers." The idea of digging was totally unattractive to me. I have long lacquered nails, and have not held a shovel since I was a little girl in the sandbox. Jai seemed amused at my lack of digging skills, and gave me some tips on how to use a shovel. Also I really did not want to be left alone. So I suggested I come along with her: "I know it is dark, so you can use me, I have ears like a bat!" This only provoked more giggling from her. She replied: "I brought my night vision goggles," and added sarcastically: "a girl has got to accessorize, anyway I need you here as bait." So I started digging very carefully, and slowly, you know I did not want to destroy my french tipped nails. I know it sounds girly, but I has spent a lot of time and money on my nails, I don't see men throwing money away. Ok I am wrong men throw money away all the time. Before padding off, she told she told me if I heard anything to hit the dirt. Yeah just what I wanted to hear, I am really not fond of dirt. I must say Jai knows how to move silently, I only heard her footfalls for a moment. Anyhow I was on the third shovel of dirt, like I said I was digging very carefully, when I head Jai's musical happy voice: "Good news Gwen, you do not have to dig! I just got us two volunteers." The volunteers were Mark Wells, and Joe Abbott. They were the ones that had been following us. This put both Jai and I in good spirits. There was no real danger, and I did not have to dig. We ribbed the tow about their lack of trust is us as they dug, and they muttered apologies. Anyhow it did not take long until I heard a shovel hit wood. Jai jumped into the pit and opened the coffin with Joe's help. I could smell right when the coffin was opened, it was bad. I was informed their was a skeleton in the coffin wearing an amulet. While i usually like detailed descriptions, I informed everyone to pass on describing the contents of the coffin. Jai yelled triumphantly: "Got it!" as she grabbed the amulet. I then heard Mark ask: "What is it?" Jai gave a quick and stern response: "That is none of your business! You have done nothing to gain our trust, and it is time for both of you to leave, before I arrest you!" They left. Anyhow, after they left, Jai cleaned the amulet, she knew I was not about to touch it till it was clean after being on a corpse. I traced the outline of the amulet with my index finger, it was an eight pointed star, cut out like a cookie cutter, except for the connecting lines of the points of the star, and a solid circle in the middle. It was about three inches in diameter. I asked trying to sound casual: "What color is it, you know I only wear silver jewelry?" She told me it had a silver color, but had no idea what metal it was made out of, I added; "You know a girl has got to accessorize." She laughed we were well on the way to friendship. Anyhow, after the excavation of the grave there was a lull in the action for a few days. Which gave me some needed time to try to figure out the amulet, and think about my book:"The Visual Bias in Thinking" that I am writing. I went to my favorite coffee house which is only a few blocks from my apartment. I sat outside because there was a pleasant breeze. I do not think sighted people can appreciate a breeze like blind people; I love feeling the air currents on my face and skin. Something which sighted people probably don't notice, since everything that cannot be seen doesn't exist. I was really making no progress on the amulet, try as I might, so I decided to think about my book. I had decided to write an introduction, which I decided to call "How I see the World" this was inspired by a discussion I had with my grad student: Nora. Although I still am suspicious that she is spying on me, but I needed someone to bounce some ideas off, and she had done a lot of work for me. I started explaining my thesis when she asked me that inevitable question blind people get asked: "Do you want to be able to see?" I gave my usual answer: "Not Really!", and I heard the inevitable shock and disappointment as she said "Oh" It is as a blind person I am supposed to immediately acknowledge the superiority of sight, a claim I dispute in some circumstances other senses are superior to sight, and how could I prefer blindness to sight? Well the answer is simple. I was born blind. This means blindness is normal for me. Most people that go blind during or after their teenage years seem to me to be sighted people that cannot see, some do make the transition. So if I was given sight I would be a blind person that could see. I would have to figure out what visual sensation meant. An example would be distant things are said to appear smaller than they really are, except if they really are small. I would have to translate this into other sense experience I am familiar with, I would not be familiar with how to use sight, responses would not be automatic for me. I think this is why sighted people are so astounded when they talk to someone born blind who has no conception of sight, they seem to think we see black all the time. I tell them: "I see what your foot sees in your shoe, just as it is normal for your foot to not have visual sensation, so it is normal for me not to have any visual sensation." Anyhow, I decided to use the title: "How I See the World", instead of using another term for "see', you know Why should I give up the language. I may be blind interloper in the sighted world, but I am not backing down. At least made some progress on the book, since I did not make any on the amulet. And I was getting scared I had a premonition my life would depend on me being able to use the amulet. I mean I did not even know if it was charged. Anyhow, it did not take long, only a couple of days after my excursion to the coffee house, we got a call from Richard Chen. Jai picked me up, and took me to her office at the Police Station. We had decided the intimidation of meeting in a Police Station would give us the advantage. It was the case that Chen and his associates were still holding out on us, and already knew the location where the Cult of Tsathoggua was excavating for the Shaggoth. Chen had sent out Mark and Joe to investigate, and they had not returned. So they still did not trust us. After a sharp exchange,of words, Chen got to the point: "I need someone to find out what happened to them." So he thought of us. Well there was really no one else he could turn to. This is when I got an inspiration on how to charge the amulet. So I told him: "Since you have broken trust with us, we will only help if you swear on the amulet to grant us three future favors" I said it more firmly than I felt, when Richard tried to negotiate, I was ready. This is when Jai jumped in: "Take it or leave it, no negotiations." He took the deal, and gave us directions to the site the Cult was digging for the Shaggoth in the California desert. We decided not to involve the police, when I say we (Jai and Me) I mean Yog Sothoth decided. The reason why we were given this mission was because the Old Ones wanted to keep their existence a secret. Anyhow, Jai took me shopping, to some sort of police supply store. I never knew such places existed. Where my new outfit was tactical pants, tactical shirt, a tactical jacket, and boots that were also tactical. I never knew that tactical was like a clothing line, you know like evening dresses,and swimwear. She also got me a "Sam Brow belt" which is sort of like Batman's utility belt. After I was properly outfitted, we went back to Jai's house. This is where she added a gun, and a flashlight to my utility belt. I actually know how to use a gun (learned during another adventure), but I told her I had no need for either one, especially the flashlight. I was informed that I was just a pack mule, they were extras for her. The flashlight brought up some thoughts like I said I am a philosopher so always my theories are always close to consciousness. Thoughts how dependent sighted people are on light. To me it always seemed a downer to be so dependent on light. I mean most sighted children are scared of the dark, and I have noticed most adults never really outgrow that fear. If you do not believe me place a sighted person is total darkness and watch the panic attack. I think the reason for this is children are never really taught how to get over their fear of the dark, instead of they are just taught to keep it to themselves. If you really wanted to get over a fear of the dark, would you not teach how to move around safely, and do things in the dark. You know there are such techniques, but of course no one has asked my advice. It seems like this fear of the dark is some sort of psychotic part of sighted people, I mean look how much literature, films, etc. are built around this fear. I guess when everyone has the same fear, it is not a phobia. I mean like horror movies. Anyhow, the flashlight was heavy another downer. Anyhow, Jai had me sleep oner at her house the night before we left for the site, probably because she wanted to hurry me up, she has made lots of comments on how long it takes me to get ready. We left in the late morning, and drove until late afternoon to reach the site. We had to walk some distance to get to where Jai could observe and scout the position. She told me she saw the car Chen had described as belonging to Joe Abbott, next to some sort of truck. There did not seem to be any activity around the mine entrance, whatever was happening was happening inside. We ate some nutrition bars, Jai told me it was best to eat lite before going into action, and she was right. I was glad when she decided that we were going in, the waiting around was way worse than doing something, not that I was anxious to meet a Shaggoth. I was scared. I mean, you know back when I was young it was not the blind princess that went to fight the monster, in my version of fairy stories the princess was always blind, but the troubadour knight. After vanquishing the monster the knight would take the blind princess (me) to his castle, where we would live in emotional excess of passion. This was not going like the fairy tale. We entered the mine as it got dark, that is what Jai said. It smelled like dirt. We did not have to go very far when we came upon a vertical mine shaft that had only recently been dug. There was a ladder or at least rungs so we could climb down, Jai of course had brought rope. Jai scouted it, then I went down. Jai then went back up the shaft. I did not have to ask why, I knew she was planting dynamite to collapse the shaft. I tried to make some jokes to break the tension, we were both scared, but they fell flat. You know like dynamite the ultimate accessory. While I was waiting for Jai I took stock of the new tunnel. It was considerably different than the human dug mine we had entered. The tunnel floor was made of some kind of wavy rock, I guess when you move like a starfish this is the preferred type of floor. I knew by the echos that the tunnel was about twice as high as wide. I would estimate it at about ten by twenty feet. Yes, my echo location works great in closed spaces. I walked over to the walls they were made out of the same kind of rock as the floor, except they were polished smooth, except for some carvings; bas reliefs. I ran my hands over the walls the carvings seemed to have the shape of the Elder race. This tunnel was not built by humans. That is why the wavy floors and weird dimensions. Jai finally joined me in the new tunnel. "This is one spooky hole!" I agreed and asked her about the wall cravings. She gave me some description, confirming that the carvings were representations of the Elder Race, not the detailed descriptions I that I get from Jordan, When you are blind you also become a connoisseur of descriptions. Jai's descriptions were more like a view in candlelight than the track lighting descriptions I get from Jordan. I guess it was fitting under the circumstances, also I hope I got that visual analogy right, a challenge, but one I am up for. Jai then asked me: "Which way do we go, I cannot make any sense of this oddly twisty tunnel?" The tunnel led in two direction. I walked around and sniffed the odd smelling air. It had a faint unpleasant odor, that I could not place, but it added to the fear and tension. I ran my hands over the cravings, but they gave me no clue. What did give me the clue was the slight tilt of the floor, I knew without question that we had to go down. Jai seemed surprised that I could detect such a slight incline, so much for the old myth that blind people have trouble with balance. We started down. I was holding Jai's arm more so we would not get separated, my blind senses work really well in tunnels. Jai was right the tunnel had no right angle, but an odd twist, with other tunnels appearing with no order. At least order that a human mind would understand, but I did notice something interesting whenever a new tunnel appeared the tilt in the floor was altered, I guess the elder race uses there starfish feet for directions. So it was easy for me to deep us going downwards. Jai was also marking the way with stickers or something so we could get out fast. I was really hoping we would use the marked path, both of us were getting more scared. the further we went the dread increased, like a physical force. We both felt it, I am sure if we were not together either one of us alone would have turned back. We encouraged each other. If strong emotion binds people together it was working with us. The last fork we took had a steep decent, at the bottom we found Mark and Joe bound, and gagged. Jai removed their gags. They were both urging us to untie them, but I told them: "You are going to have to swear on the amulet to grant us three future favors." Jai added: "Or we leave you here!" They agreed and swore the oaths with alacrity. I heard Jai's knife click open as she cut the ropes. This is when we first heard the sound. It was the sound of something rolling towards us. I knew instantly it was the Shaggoth. The members of the Cult had waited to lure us in, they wanted us all together before releasing the Shaggoth to destroy us. They wanted everyone dead. I dont't know who saw it first, but Jai spoke first. She described it as a black translucent ball with flickers of different colored lights in a black background, around seven feet in diameter, rolling towards us. As it rolled towards us its metamorphic flesh produced eyes at at the top of the sphere only to be reabsorbed before they reached the floor, only for more eyes to emerge at the top. It had an acrid smell. I heard Joe and Mark throwing up. Jai was right about eating light before action. I have noticed when I get into crisis or scary situations an odd calm comes over me, as if the world slows down. I knew I had to gain control of the monster. I fingered the amulet, the oaths Mark and Joe had sworn had increased the charge of the amulet. I could feel its power. I traced the outlines with my left index finger , and then it happened, I made psychic contact with the Shaggoth. Yes, it was disgusting, and revolting. The Shaggoth seemed to have only two emotions: hate and fear. I slumped to the ground, I knew what I had to do. I had to take control of the beast. I had to becoming the homunculus int the Shaggoth's limited mind. The term "homunculus" is a term philosophy borrowed from alchemy. It denotes the little man in the head that tries to check or restrain our emotions. I was the eye in the cyclone or the hub of a wildly rotating unbalanced wheel. I succeeded in stopping it, I had become the little woman in the metaphorical head of the Shaggoth. I again traced the the outlines of the amulet with my left index finger, while visualizing the shape of the eight pointed star. I visualized the star as hovering over the the cyclonic mental form of the Shaggoth with me as the center of the star. Then I mentally brought down the star on the swirling emotions of the Shaggoth. Like a cookie cutter into dough. This divided the swirling mass into parts contained in each of the triangles that made up the star. Dividing the cyclone was the only way to control the mass. Each triangle was a swirling cyclone of fear and hate, but easier to control than one big cyclone. The raw emotions battered against the walls of the star, straining my mental energies. I knew I was going to have to hold this mental image or we were all dead. While I was doing this, two members of the Cult approached from the opposite side of the Shaggoth. The Shaggoth had stopped about ten feet from our position. Jai was holding me in a sitting position. She whispered to me: "Gwen are you alright?" I nodded and told her to get the us out as fast as she could, and that they would have to carry me. She did. As Jai got us moving the big test of my power over the Shaggoth came. The members of the Cult had some sort of a magical prod they used to control the Shaggoth. I was now part of the Shaggoth the hub in its wildly swirling emotions. I felt the terrible burning pain the prod caused, as the Cult members tried to get the Shaggoth to attack us. Fear was overcoming my barriers overriding my control. I almost panicked since I too felt the fear of the beast. What rescued us was mixed with the fear of the prod was also hate of the prod and those that used the prod. I reinforce the hate the Shaggoth felt of the prod and its possessors. I turned the fear into hate, it was surprisingly easy. As the feeling of hate took control of the Shaggoth it attacked the Cult members. It enveloped them with its metamorphic flesh, its body fluids dissolved their bodies, bubbling their flesh and bones out of existence. This did give me a brief and much needed break. Jai had Mark and Joe carrying me, and moving through the tunnel complex as fast as she could manage. It did not take long for the Shaggoth to digest the Cult members, and again I had to maintain the mental image that controlled it. Now that it had eaten it was more powerful, again forming itself into a huge sphere, and hate now ruled the Shaggoth. It hated us and wanted to destroy us. It started rolling towards us. I could not stop it, but did slow it down. Its hatred of humans was boundless. At first I succeeded in slowing it down to a crawl.the fight was draining my energy quickly. I had no sense of time, or how far we had traveled. My control was slipping fast, it was picking up speed. I did what I could. I felt a rope harness being attached to me, and being lifted up. I guessed we were at the vertical shaft, my last thought was Jai really does know how to accessorize if you are going to a was. And I was glad she did. Somewhere in the vertical shaft the Shaggoth slipped my control, and I passed out. The next thing I remember was a large ground shaking explosion. I came to lying on the ground with Jai cradling my head in her lap, in a panicked voice she was asking: "Gwen are you alright? Please come back, wake up please." I actually felt a lot better, the Shaggoth was out of my head, there was fresh air in my nose and mouth, I replied weakly: "Yes I am!" She hurriedly told me it had been touch and go with the race to get out before the Shaggoth could climb the shaft out, and that everyone was safe. I smiled weakly. In an emotion filled voice she told me: "Gweny you did it, you saved us all." I corrected her: "No Jai, we did it!" Needless to say we were friends. We collapsed into each others arms crying and laughing till the emotion drained away.