Friday, December 3, 1926. This is when it all went down, to quote Brad Doctorow. The previous day had been akin to a fog-shrouded limbo. The previous day had also led to a new acquaintance, Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleridge, an antiques dealer from Albany who had ventured to Martin's Beach in search of cheap antiques to refurbish and sell to wealthy New Yorkers. Meanwhile, Frank Cannon remained in Arkham, and attempts to reach Frank over the telephone had only resulted in curt replies, and not Frank Cannon's usual relaxed banter. Was this a cause for concern?
Then there were still all the questions surrounding the S/S Ladylove and the striking longshoremen. Sean Murphy, the union leader in charge of the strike, could really not answer as to why the Ladylove was to unload its cargo without any help of the local longshoremen. Further investigations by Brad Doctorow seemed to indicate that there were one or two fishy things about the process underlying the decision of the Massachusetts Harbor Authority, but there was no firm evidence to be had.
Further conversations with Vernon Wells at the U.S. Post Office in Martin's Beach revealed that Vernon had been kept up by what he assumed were people grunting and carrying heavy items up to the railway station, but a chat with the station master did not reveal any freight being stored at the station. So, what was going on? It was decided to grasp the initiative and take a peek at the S/S Ladylove at dawn next morning while the longshoremen created a raucous tumult on the pier next to the ship. Brendan O'Malley would row Doctorow, Lovecraft and Coleridge up to the Ladylove, and a rope ladder would be used to scale the ship.
That frightful Friday was as foggy as it had been during the preceding days, and the pervading chill made the investigators shiver, despite several layers of warm clothing. Lockwood and Coleridge were dressed in heavy overalls, while Doctorow had donned the clothing of what he supposed was a local dock hand, making him look like a Hollywood approximation of a New England fisherman. Brendan O'Malley was waiting for the investigators outside the Wavecrest Hotel, and his rowboat was tied up at a nearby dock. O'Malley was an expert oarsman, and they glided quietly towards the Ladylove, while the loud noise of twenty or so yelling and booing longshoremen was heard all over the pier and its surroundings. There was a very soft bump when they reached the Ladylove, but that was the only sound to be heard above the shouts of the longshoremen. What the investigators did not realize was that several pairs of beady, alien, eyes were following their progress from just above the waterline.
Bessie Coleridge
Bill Lockwood was first up the ladder, but fog and sea water had made the rope ladder treacherously slippy. He lost his footing and crashed back into the rowboat, and the sound alerted one of the weird deck hands of the Ladylove. Lockwood made over the railing and flopped onto the deck of the Ladylove, only to be met by a furious attack from a flailing, kicking and screaming sailor of obscure and possibly inbred ethnic origin. Bessie Coleridge decided to throw her blackjack at the sailor, but missed in a most spectacular way, with the blackjack hitting Lockwood instead. She instead decided to try her luck at the ladder, climbing up with much bravado to help Lockwood. Doctorow followed suite, but as he turned around and looked down into the rowboat, he saw a nerve-chilling sight: an abominable aquatic beast had reached up from the sea, grabbing the unsuspecting Brendan O'Malley by his shoulders and dragging him into the depths. O'Malley's terrified cries were drenched by churning water, water that soon turned red from O'Malley's blood and entrails. Doctorow's screams added to the general cacophony, and a wild fight erupted on deck. Bill Lockwood's boxing skills came in handy, but this was not a mere fist fight: guns were soon pulled out of their holsters, and several shots were fired in the dense fog.
Lockwood hadn't realized what kind of alien horror Doctorow had seen devouring O'Malley, but both Bessie Coleridge and Bill Lockwood were about to find out. Was this the same beast or yet another? The abomination reached out for Lockwood, towering above him. Lockwood realized in a moment of mind-blasting biological insight that this was a female member of the species, and the assumption may have been confirmed when the creature hissed "kiss me" at Lockwood, baring fangs, claws, and otherworldly appendages. The beast inflicted grievous wounds on Lockwood as the beast gnawed on him, while Coleridge and Lockwood himself emptied round after round into the remarkably resilient aquatic abomination. However, a couple of well-placed rounds almost disintegrated the upper body of the fish-creature, covering Lockwood in a mix of reeking fish-like viscera and his very own blood.
Finally, Doctorow and Coleridge managed to overpower the strange captain of the Ladylove, and then the longshoremen swarmed up onto the deck. The remaining crew members surrendered as the Kingsport police arrived at the scene. But there was yet more horror to be discovered as the intrepid investigators ventured below deck. The hold turned out to be filled with the valued possessions of passengers from doomed vessels! The crew of the Ladylove seemed to have been part of some piracy venture, luring ships onto the unforgiving New England cliffs so that they could steal their cargoes. Only God knows what happened to the innocent passengers! Lockwood kept several pieces of strange, almost non-human, jewelry of a kind not even Bessie had seen before. The rest of the foul cargo was left for the police.
Guilberto Aziz?
No comments:
Post a Comment