ep14 - the letters from Mount Kailash

Total solitude. Quiet submarines. Stillness onboard MS Svalbard. Bizzare letters from an author. Is this the calm before the storm?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Hey there. This is Jaran. I'm the facility manager at the Deep Earth Anomaly Department. Located on the coastal strip in East Antarctica. I'm signing in for yet another cold shift. The Iron Sphere that is what we believe was the comet to begin with, which is actually an iron sphere. I woke up from the sound from it, from the very ground this facility rests on, began to shake and crumble. And I think time space got warped because I could see myself running through the corridor, most likely from another day because he I mean I wore different clothes than I than I had on. And then the main entrance flung open. Snow came gushing in like water on a sinking ship. All lights went out, replaced by the red sheen from the emergency lights. Alarms went off. I mean it was an ordeal. I was certain that our last moments had arrived when all of a sudden Joshua came running out from his laboratory with something in his hands the size of a suitcase. And as he ran past me, he he gave a nod and he grinned. Then he ran out into the blizzard, into the sphere, and then a green light flashed before it all disappeared. I mean the sound it made sounded like a sigh. Then things got back to normal and uh I had to put Thomas into uh the life machine, bringing him back from the edge of death. His hand had been fused with the pencil, or the pencil had stabbed him, I'm not sure. There was no blood, I mean it all looked quite natural, like the pencil belonged there. Ingrid though. Ingrid had a different opinion, so she stuck a needle into Thomas, who then went out like a candle before she removed the pencil. He woke up from the anaesthesia from the pain, I think, because he he he was screaming then. He fell back to sleep again. But yeah, I'm I'm I'm still not sure what happened, and I'm not sure what happened to Joshua. I mean however, I as we had put everything in in the facility back into its place, I noticed an old picture hanging on the cork board. It was a picture of Joshua on a beach, smiling from ear to ear, holding a fish. You know what I mean? A fish. And Joshua is a man of mystery, but he he's not hundreds of years old, let me tell you that for a fact, so I'm not sure what to think, you know. Did he did he travel back in time? Or did he travel into the future? Did he die? I mean w what happened to him? Could it be that the photo was one of his father or something, but it it did look too much like good old Joshua. So I'm not sure. I tried reaching out to the submarine also beneath us to to inform them of what had happened and to ask them if if they had felt anything and also maybe get an update on the eight towers on the ocean floor, but all I got in return was static. You know, no song, no chatter, no nothing. Just static. Then I tried to reach MS Svalbach to see if they had any news for me, but the result was the same, you know, nothing more than a digital blizzard. And Thomas is also not being himself, he he locked himself into his study and he won't come out, so Ingrid is still doing her work, but no dancing, no singing, no joking, and yeah. So Joshua is gone. Frederick is gone. I cannot reach anybody and cannot receive anything either. The full on Arctic experience. I mean This is pure solitude. So I haven't slept at all since last night as I've been trying to repair the radio. I read all the manuals. Um I read about radio waves, uh, I read about transverse waves, uh long it look longitudinal waves, whatever it's called, surface waves, electromagnetic waves, microwaves, infrared waves, visible light waves, ultraviolet waves, X-ray waves, ocean waves, every wave there is, I read about it. Radio is still dead. It made me wonder though, if if the tiny alien entities, you know, blip and blop, if they could surf on microwaves. I hope they're still around. I I haven't seen them in a while. But yeah, my point is I couldn't repair the radio. My my skills are simply not skilled enough. So I'm I'm left with only one option available, which is to wait. I have to wait until something happens. You know, that is the only thing to do. And when something happens, that something will hopefully teach me something about what is happening. Also the mysterious daytime working beat didn't do much of my work today. Nothing. Which didn't help me at all trying to figure out who it is, but uh it was good to be occupied by work. And after I had finished, I I sat down in my favorite chair in the common room to to read the first novel again by Himari Takahashi. I haven't read his work in in since I got that strange letter from him. It's been a long time, and that letter was a bit of a surprise and weird, let me tell you. You know, I I've been a fan of Himari Takahashi and his books for years, um, ever since I read Tides from Times. This is a titan of a book, you know. I read it in a single day, you know. I was I was hooked. Anyways, I I then read all of his work after that. I loved every page of every book before I decided to to reach out for him. Or to him. And now the reason I reached out is because in his books the protagonist is often finding himself or herself longing for winter, wishing they could live in a forever winterland. So I wrote to him, I was presenting myself saying that I could that if it could be of any interest, you know, this facility would be open to visit. You know, you can even call it a home, I said. And I'm I'm not a stalker, let me just say that for the record. I just I just think everybody should have every available opportunity to pursue their dreams, you know. But yeah, to my surprise, after a few months, I I got a letter back from Himari Takahashi. I I have it in my drawer. Let me uh let me read it to you. Somewhere. Yeah. It's it's quite bizarre, uh let me tell you. Alright. It goes like this. It starts off nice, isn't it? Let me this is what it says. Let me begin by thanking you for the lovely letter. I am glad the world of my novels can come alive in other people's realities and not just my own. You are also correct that the fact that I am very much fond of winter I'm sorry, you are also correct in the fact that I am very much fond of winter. Something about the stillness when one is surrounded by snow that cannot be replicated anywhere else. I bought a sensory deprivation tank to replicate the feeling, but nothing I did came close. So thank you for the very kind offer, and I expect that I might take you up on it someday. Right now, however, I am finding myself by the Twin Lakes of Mount Kailash. As one would expect, it's nothing like one would expect. Now that is the start of his letter. It's very educated, very sane, very ordinary and kind. He writes pretty good, you know. He's a writer after all. But then I got another letter, which was sounding a bit more frantic, you know, and and all the letters are written two or three times, you know, like he made every letter thicker. It's in the same bunk, let me see. Alright. It just starts off, it's weird. Okay. He's he he says, or he writes, the beams are loud. So loud. I haven't been able to sleep for centuries. Time is time is time, is time is time, is nothing but a sham. Sham mirrors to reflect the lies of dynasties. No, there are no real voices than the voices of truth found only here. I am in the center of all beings, in the center of Satya, withhold no things of matter and of no substance. I mean, this is where things took a turn for the weirder. I mean, listen to this. Liberate the liberated from liberation. Free the free from freedom. Kailash, my goddess, I humbly bow. My flesh is torn and bound by none. Eyes I will pluck, and the freedom of sight in is a seat in the high tower throne, room on the top of earth where effigies of spirits burn and frot at the mouth of blind belief, so to us we shall dive in the moon. O moon, take me into your womb and release us from strains and from vile dreams of awakening. O my goddess and god, kings and foes all alike, O moon, O sun, O Saturnalia, to you I bow, I sing. There's no punctuation, it just writes on and on. And then it just stops in the middle of a word, so. Yeah. I received a letter with a newsletter back when they still came, where his disappearance was announced, so I think this is one of the last things he wrote. Anyway, my point is, his books are great. You know, I recommend them to everyone. But yeah, being alone here is strange and after all this time having had other staying around. You know, still of course Thomas and Ingrid are still here, they're just out of play for a bit. I I think things will find a way back to normality, even if that normality is different from the previous one, you know. Every major change is is preceded by a moment of unrest, you know. So I'll I'll I'll embrace the calm for a bit and uh keep the doors open to Joshua if he comes back. I'll keep the mirrors cleaned for when Frederick shows up again and uh hot coffee in the pot for when Thomas is feeling good again, you know. That's what I can do. However, I have to check on Alexander Voss, you know, the captain on MS Svalbach. The submarine is a bit more difficult to visit, but MS Svalbach should be possible. I've done it before and I'll do it again. I might even meet the sirens this time and uh then I can ask them if they want to join my band. You know, I I can't let those voices go unnoticed. It's it's too good. Maybe too good for my songs. Their tonal qualities are extremely good. So yeah, that's that's my next mission. After the most important ones of all at the moment, which is sleep. You know, I have to sleep. I I've been staying up for days on end to make sure everything and everyone stays safe. So if I stay up longer, things will begin to be unsafe. You know, a mind without sleep, it's it's like a fish without water, or ice without coal, or flames without heat, or a deep earth anomaly department without uh ingrid So yeah. Mission numero Uno is sleep. Right, so yeah, this is Jara signing off with yet another cold shift.