Resonator: New Lovecraftian Tales From Beyond Read online

  “Listen to me! The waves from that thing are waking a thousand sleeping senses in us; senses which we inherit from aeons of evolution from the state of detached electrons to the state of organic humanity. I have seen the truth, and I intend to show it to you. Do you wonder how it will seem? I will tell you.” Here Tillinghast seated himself directly opposite me, blowing out his candle and staring hideously into my eyes. “Your existing sense-organs—ears first, I think—will pick up many of the impressions, for they are closely connected with the dormant organs. Then there will be others. You have heard of the pineal gland? I laugh at the shallow endocrinologist, fellow-dupe and fellow-parvenu of the Freudian. That gland is the great sense organ of organs—I have found out. It is like sight in the end, and transmits visual pictures to the brain. If you are normal, that is the way you ought to get most of it... I mean get most of the evidence from beyond.”

  I looked about the immense attic room with the sloping south wall, dimly lit by rays which the every day eye cannot see. The far corners were all shadows and the whole place took on a hazy unreality which obscured its nature and invited the imagination to symbolism and phantasm. During the interval that Tillinghast was long silent I fancied myself in some vast incredible temple of long-dead gods; some vague edifice of innumerable black stone columns reaching up from a floor of damp slabs to a cloudy height beyond the range of my vision. The picture was very vivid for a while, but gradually gave way to a more horrible conception; that of utter, absolute solitude in infinite, sightless, soundless space. There seemed to be a void, and nothing more, and I felt a childish fear which prompted me to draw from my hip pocket the revolver I carried after dark since the night I was held up in East Providence. Then from the farthermost regions of remoteness, the sound softly glided into existence. It was infinitely faint, subtly vibrant, and unmistakably musical, but held a quality of surpassing wildness which made its impact feel like a delicate torture of my whole body. I felt sensations like those one feels when accidentally scratching ground glass. Simultaneously there developed something like a cold draught, which apparently swept past me from the direction of the distant sound. As I waited breathlessly I perceived that both sound and wind were increasing; the effect being to give me an odd notion of myself as tied to a pair of rails in the path of a gigantic approaching locomotive. I began to speak to Tillinghast, and as I did so all the unusual impressions abruptly vanished. I saw only the man, the glowing machines, and the dim apartment. Tillinghast was grinning repulsively at the revolver which I had almost unconsciously drawn, but from his expression I was sure he had seen and heard as much as I, if not a great deal more. I whispered what I had experienced and he bade me to remain as quiet and receptive as possible.

  “Don’t move,” he cautioned, “for in these rays we are able to be seen as well as to see. I told you the servants left, but I didn’t tell you how. It was that thick-witted house-keeper—she turned on the lights downstairs after I had warned her not to, and the wires picked up sympathetic vibrations. It must have been frightful—I could hear the screams up here in spite of all I was seeing and hearing from another direction, and later it was rather awful to find those empty heaps of clothes around the house. Mrs. Updike’s clothes were close to the front hall switch—that’s how I know she did it. It got them all. But so long as we don’t move we’re fairly safe. Remember we’re dealing with a hideous world in which we are practically helpless... Keep still!”

  The combined shock of the revelation and of the abrupt command gave me a kind of paralysis, and in my terror my mind again opened to the impressions coming from what Tillinghast called “beyond.” I was now in a vortex of sound and motion, with confused pictures before my eyes. I saw the blurred outlines of the room, but from some point in space there seemed to be pouring a seething column of unrecognizable shapes or clouds, penetrating the solid roof at a point ahead and to the right of me. Then I glimpsed the temple-like effect again, but this time the pillars reached up into an aerial ocean of light, which sent down one blinding beam along the path of the cloudy column I had seen before. After that the scene was almost wholly kaleidoscopic, and in the jumble of sights, sounds, and unidentified sense-impressions I felt that I was about to dissolve or in some way lose the solid form. One definite flash I shall always remember. I seemed for an instant to behold a patch of strange night sky filled with shining, revolving spheres, and as it receded I saw that the glowing suns formed a constellation or galaxy of settled shape; this shape being the distorted face of Crawford Tillinghast. At another time I felt the huge animate things brushing past me and occasionally walking or drifting through my supposedly solid body, and thought I saw Tillinghast look at them as though his better trained senses could catch them visually. I recalled what he had said of the pineal gland, and wondered what he saw with this preternatural eye.

  Suddenly I myself became possessed of a kind of augmented sight. Over and above the luminous and shadowy chaos arose a picture which, though vague, held the elements of consistency and permanence. It was indeed somewhat familiar, for the unusual part was superimposed upon the usual terrestrial scene much as a cinema view may be thrown upon the painted curtain of a theater. I saw the attic laboratory, the electrical machine, and the unsightly form of Tillinghast opposite me; but of all the space unoccupied by familiar objects not one particle was vacant. Indescribable shapes both alive and otherwise were mixed in disgusting disarray, and close to every known thing were whole worlds of alien, unknown entities. It likewise seemed that all the known things entered into the composition of other unknown things and vice versa. Foremost among the living objects were inky, jellyfish monstrosities which flabbily quivered in harmony with the vibrations from the machine. They were present in loathsome profusion, and I saw to my horror that they overlapped; that they were semi-fluid and capable of passing through one another and through what we know as solids. These things were never still, but seemed ever floating about with some malignant purpose. Sometimes they appeared to devour one another, the attacker launching itself at its victim and instantaneously obliterating the latter from sight. Shudderingly I felt that I knew what had obliterated the unfortunate servants, and could not exclude the thing from my mind as I strove to observe other properties of the newly visible world that lies unseen around us. But Tillinghast had been watching me and was speaking.

  “You see them? You see them? You see the things that float and flop about you and through you every moment of your life? You see the creatures that form what men call the pure air and the blue sky? Have I not succeeded in breaking down the barrier; have I not shown you worlds that no other living men have seen?” I heard his scream through the horrible chaos, and looked at the wild face thrust so offensively close to mine. His eyes were pits of flame, and they glared at me with what I now saw was overwhelming hatred. The machine droned detestably.

  “You think those floundering things wiped out the servants? Fool, they are harmless! But the servants are gone, aren’t they? You tried to stop me; you discouraged me when I needed every drop of encouragement I could get; you were afraid of the cosmic truth, you damned coward, but now I’ve got you! What swept up the servants? What made them scream so loud?... Don’t know, eh! You’ll know soon enough. Look at me—listen to what I say—do you suppose there are really any such things as time and magnitude? Do you fancy there are such things as form or matter? I tell you, I have struck depths that your little brain can’t picture. I have seen beyond the bounds of infinity and drawn down demons from the stars... I have harnessed the shadows that stride from world to world to sow death and madness... Space belongs to me, do you hear? Things are hunting me now—the things that devour and dissolve—but I know how to elude them. It is you they will get, as they got the servants... Stirring, dear sir? I told you it was dangerous to move, I have saved you so far by telling you to keep still—saved you to see more sights and to listen to me. If you had moved, they would have been at you long ago. Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you. They didn
’t hurt the servants—it was the seeing that made the poor devils scream so. My pets are not pretty, for they come out of places where aesthetic standards are—very different. Disintegration is quite painless, I assure you—but I want you to see them. I almost saw them, but I knew how to stop. You are curious? I always knew you were no scientist. Trembling, eh. Trembling with anxiety to see the ultimate things I have discovered. Why don’t you move, then? Tired? Well, don’t worry, my friend, for they are coming... Look, look, curse you, look... it’s just over your left shoulder...”

  What remains to be told is very brief, and may be familiar to you from the newspaper accounts. The police heard a shot in the old Tillinghast house and found us there—Tillinghast dead and me unconscious. They arrested me because the revolver was in my hand, but released me in three hours, after they found it was apoplexy which had finished Tillinghast and saw that my shot had been directed at the noxious machine which now lay hopelessly shattered on the laboratory floor. I did not tell very much of what I had seen, for I feared the coroner would be skeptical; but from the evasive outline I did give, the doctor told me that I had undoubtedly been hypnotized by the vindictive and homicidal madman.

  I wish I could believe that doctor. It would help my shaky nerves if I could dismiss what I now have to think of the air and the sky about and above me. I never feel alone or comfortable, and a hideous sense of pursuit sometimes comes chillingly on me when I am weary. What prevents me from believing the doctor is one simple fact—that the police never found the bodies of those servants whom they say Crawford Tillinghast murdered.

  IPO

  Darrin Brightman

  Investor’s Business Daily, May 4, 2015

  IPO Calendar: Market Remains Slow with Three IPOs

  A sluggish quarter continues as three companies are scheduled to begin trading this week, seeking about $875M.

  The largest IPO planned this week is optical research firm Resonation (NYSE: RESO). Resonation plans to raise $435 million by offering 21.75 million shares at a price range of 19 to 21. A promising contract with Siemens AG makes Resonation an attractive buy.

  MarketWatch, May 14, 2015

  Resonation Initial Public Offering Struggles as Contract Talks Waver

  NEW YORK (MarketWatch)—Resonation, Inc. (NYSE: RESO) launched its IPO to much fanfare last week, hot on the heels of an announcement that the optics research firm was negotiating a contract with medical device manufacturer Siemens AG (OTC: SI). The initial share price of $20 more than doubled to $43.57 before Siemens spokesman Robert Jamison announced a suspension of talks on Friday afternoon. “The technology is promising,” said Jamison, “but needs further development before Siemens will be ready to invest in it.”

  At market close today, Resonation had plummeted to $5.37.

  Washington Post, August 4, 2016

  New Technology to Replace Airport X-Ray Scanners

  The Transportation Security Administration today announced acquisition of a new, radiation-free technology to replace the ubiquitous x-ray scanners at airports around the country.

  TSA Director Joseph A. Gutierrez says, “After months of negotiation, we have executed a contract for scanners using this new visualization technology. While the amount of radiation travelers are exposed to is small, we recognize that frequent travelers and TSA agents alike have concerns about repeated exposure. The new scanners from Resonation will be safer for all.”

  Gutierrez went on to explain the energy savings expected from the new scanners. “While Resonation’s scanners use more power when in operation than traditional X-ray technology, they need only be in operation for about one and a half seconds per passenger. The scanner takes multiple snapshots as the passenger moves through the scanning field. Overall, we expect a 50% reduction in power usage with this new technology.”

  MarketWatch, August 4, 2016

  Resonation Stock Price Skyrockets

  NEW YORK (MarketWatch) —Resonation, Inc. (RESO) stockholders who held on following the company’s disastrous IPO got their reward today. Shares climbed over 360 points, ending the day at $375.15, on the announcement that the Transportation Security Administration has signed a $2.7B contract with the firm to supply imaging technology.

  “Of course we are thrilled,” said Resonation CEO Lucinda Tillinghast, “as well as vindicated.”

  Ms. Tillinghast explained that not only was the company vindicated in the eyes of shareholders, but also the value of her great-uncle’s life’s work was proven. “Great-uncle Crawford died of a heart attack during a demonstration of an early prototype,” Tillinghast explained. “A colleague of his who was present at the time destroyed the original machine, and claimed Crawford had gone insane and tried to kill him.” The truth did not come out until years later. “My father learned that this colleague had stolen a number of Crawford’s journals, no doubt wanting to develop the technology for himself. Fortunately, the final ledgers necessary to understand the work were stored in a locked safe, and never left the family. It’s been my own life’s work to recreate and modernize this important technology and bring it to market, fulfilling Great-Uncle Crawford’s vision.”

  Resonation’s ResoViz scanners will be manufactured at a new facility under construction in Detroit, Michigan. The factory will employ two hundred workers at salaries well above area median. The first scanners are expected to appear in major airports in twelve to fourteen months.

  Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan issued a statement welcoming Resonation. “We are thrilled to be Resonation’s new home. It is a new day for Detroit’s industrial sector.”

  Detroit Free Press, March 7, 2017

  Industrial Accident Kills Twenty; Several Missing

  DETROIT—A factory at the I-94 Industrial Park closed this afternoon following an explosion and ensuing fire that claimed the lives of at least twenty employees. An investigation into the cause of the explosion is underway.

  “Our thoughts are with our extended Resonation family in this dark hour,” said Resonation CEO Lucinda Tillinghast. “We are working closely with police and OSHA investigators to determine the cause of this horrible tragedy, and promise complete transparency.”

  Tillinghast went on to promise full pay to employees while the facility is closed for the investigation and repairs.

  In a separate statement, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan extended his condolences to the loved ones of the dead and missing, and praised Tillinghast’s commitment to her employees and Detroit.

  Detroit Free Press, April 15, 2017

  Resonation Victim of Industrial Sabotage

  DETROIT—Investigators concluded that last month’s explosion at Resonation, which is believed to have killed 27, was the result of industrial sabotage.

  Lead investigator Jeanine Streeter issued the following statement:

  “Cause of explosion has been determined to be damage to a plasma generator. Security footage captures an employee in the act of striking the machinery with a sledgehammer, with clear intent of causing damage. Three employees attempted to restrain the saboteur, but were unsuccessful. Employee was identified as Lamarre Howard, grandson of Phillip Howard, the former colleague of Crawford Tillinghast.”

  CEO Lucinda Tillinghast was unavailable for comment. Human Resources Director James McLaughlin explained that Resonation was unaware that Howard was related to the man who tried to steal Resonator technology, and that Howard had no reported disciplinary problems. “I can only imagine he was upset that a Tillinghast had succeeded where his grandfather failed,” said McLaughlin.

  Employees speaking on condition of anonymity said only that Howard was quiet and hardworking.

  USA Today, August 25, 2017

  ResoViz Scanners Begin Shipping

  DETROIT—The first ResoViz scanners have shipped to the Transportation Security Administration for final testing, Resonation CEO Lucinda Tillinghast announced today.

  “We are thrilled to see this technology about to be deployed not only nationally, but worldwide,” said Tillin
ghast. “We are in discussions with several European and Asian countries about bringing the ResoViz Scanner to their airports as well, and have begun discussions with several medical device manufacturers seeking ways to expand the peaceful uses of this amazing imaging technology.”

  Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan commented, “Detroit is overjoyed to have such a successful new industry at home on I-94. Resonation’s expansion will employ another four hundred, many in high-wage research positions, and is attracting related industries to I-94.”

  Optical fiber manufacturer Corning and microchip manufacturer Intel are among the companies acquiring space at I-94 to produce specialized components for Resonation. An additional two to three hundred high-tech jobs are expected.

  Oregonian, October 29, 2017

  New Scanners to Speed Lines at PDX

  PORTLAND, OR—Travelers passing through Portland International Airport’s international terminal are the lucky first in the nation to try out the ResoViz scanners.

  “The ResoViz scanner uses no radiation, and is much more sensitive in detecting particular substances,” said Transportation Security Administration director Joseph A. Gutierrez. “Not only is risk reduced to our employees and frequent travelers, but the opportunity for terrorists to smuggle weapons, including plastic bullets and ceramic blades not detectable by conventional X-rays, onto our airplanes is virtually eliminated.

  “As an added bonus, passengers do not need to empty their pockets, take off their shoes, or remove belts with the ResoViz.” Gutierrez paused. “Well, if they have their pockets jammed full, they may need to pull some things out,” he laughed, “but most folks won’t have to.”

  Portland will serve as a test case and training facility for the next two months, where TSA agents can get firsthand experience with the ResoViz scanners and actual in-use power consumption can be monitored. Scanners will be rolled out nationwide after the holiday travel season.