William - I held in my hands the only thing I had rescued from Susan’s rucksack; her treasured, dog-eared copy of Playgirl. I knew it must be special because she certainly spent enough time looking at it and nodding appreciatively.
I glanced up the tangled hair nest that Ria and Fish N’ Boots were scaling and back into the passenger cars. “Nope, nobody looking,” I thought to myself as I decided to take a quick peek despite Susan’s dire warning to everyone to keep their paws off.
I slowly peeled the cover back and was practically blinded!!
Damn, but this cover was a disguise for the most beautiful example of illuminated manuscript I had ever seen. There was script in an ink of a deep golden hue that overlay egg tempera illustrations of wondrous beasts, mountain vistas and people in native costume from around the world.
I quickly thumbed through the volume; my eyes were riveted, almost hypnotically to the elegant cursive, its serpentine line describing the trials of climbers on Analogue…many, many centuries of trials. My head started pounding as I realized that there were so many failures, so many tragedies….and far too many near successes. The pages were dated and I quickly realized they went far into the future. What of our success? I backtracked….I wanted to know! I caught sight of today, July 9, 2011, and suddenly the gold lines began to spool off the page. They were unraveling and disappearing after the rest of Susan’s rucksack into the Klein emptiness. I glanced at the passenger car and then at our future unwinding on slender threads. There was only one thing to do, I wedged the Haggadah behind the passenger car door, I saw the puzzled looks of my fellow climbers as I grasped onto the thread and was pulled into the emptiness.
Winding and twisting, gaining velocity, I clutched the thread which once was a word, which was once a sentence and once was our present and our future. I spun as if in a cyclone.
With a blinding crash, I hit a hard surface and spun to a stop. I opened my eyes and saw a huge pile of the gold thread, probably amounting to months or even years of writing.
“There is a reverse, I found it,” I heard a familiar voice and slowly looked around.
There, holding the Dyson™ was Cathy.
“Right here, on the back, a reverse!” she said.
July 9, 2011
 |
| Cathy's modified Dyson™ _ William Evertson |
“I was starting to worry,” she said, "you guys were gone almost ten minutes before I found the switch.”
I glanced at my watch but it wasn’t there. I vaguely remembered Mara saying time has no meaning, then chased that thought from my head.
“Cathy, I’m pretty sure we’ve been gone since…..well, a lot longer than ten minutes. There was a concert and a shoe tree…Susan was kidnapped by an owl..or maybe it was the other way around. Trains and balloons then Mark flying and contorting and…”
I paused and looked closely at the Dyson™ canister.
“Cathy,” has the canister on the Dyson™ always been this shape?”
She seemed distracted, perhaps even a bit perplexed, “You know that reverse was right next to the off/on switch all along.” Just then another voice cut in to answer my question.
“I think so, why do you ask?” Mara said from behind me, nearly scaring me right out of my boots. She lowers the moss she had been snuffling and added, “Now THIS is real"
“Eureka!!” I yell, causing Lee to drop a painting she was examining. “This explains it!” I begin examining the looped and kinked gold thread that had piled itself in front of the Dyson™. “Look at this, this has to be an O, and these dots….fallout from I’s…..look here, this is an intact O” I reached into the sewing basket and pulled out a pair of knitting needles.
Cathy watched me, shrugged and said, “Mr. Klein assured me this was no Eureka.”
July 13th, 2011
Susan - How many times can I crossover to the mountain. How many multi-dimensional lives can I exist simultaneously? Slowly, I skillfully weaved the golden letters in the air, magically looping them like a symphony of notes in the sky. I waved my hands back and forth and twitched my fingers, whirling my wrists in a circular motion. I listened to the beat in my heart and stayed in time. I could hear their wings fluttering before they finally materialized into focus. I was out of control in a crazy panic, as they positioned themselves close enough. I could feel their wings fluttering and then my amplified breathing slowed to a hush. This time I seemed to have lost so many pages, so many notes, so many serifs and so many exceptional years. They grinned as they watched me.
Susan Shulman - They Grinned as They Watched Me
He signaled to me and laughed. “Well, Susan, focus! Remember your mantra, or there will be nothing!” And then poof, they were gone once again. I stared into the layers of spaces that were left like a kaleidoscope of dreams facing me. More worlds, enticing my vision, I could almost believe I could just reach into the train through the fog and collect my text.
July 14th, 2011
Lee - I sit on the not so comfortable seat on this odd train...we are all here, it seems...even some of our duplicates are on this train. As we head toward the large opening in the mountain, my mind wanders back over the last days ? months? year ? and the strange adventures we've been on - shared and alone. Twisting my body to look out the train window, I spotted balloons in the distance...holy crap!!! Is that me floating down holding a bunch of balloons?? I wonder if that me will catch the train before it enters the tunnel? The rest of the travelers seem to be amusing themselves, as usual....and it seems there are now a few more of us than before...our numbers duplicate and multiply. There is still a deep longing inside me for answers to this curious place...the way we keep slipping from place to place and in and out of time. We can be in more than one place at a time..time has no meaning? It seems to point to a very strong anomaly occurring here....how, why, how long has this been going on? Here on this island? I believe there is some manifestation of the Baroness on the train. She may be able, if she's willing, to fill in some of the mystery of Analogue Island. One can only hope. Bill seems to have a bit of a relationship with her...she does like men...
Lee Goldberg - Just Now, So They Say
Lee - (Same time, different place) I'm hanging on as tightly as I can to these bloody balloons...I think I'm catching up to the train..I can almost see the faces looking out the window. If I can just drop down on the open car I'll be able to make it inside before it gets to the tunnel..wait...I'll be ripped!! Is that me looking out the window of the train? What's that large pink bubble hugging the side of it? letting go of a couple of the balloons drops me closer and closer to the flatbed. Just over it with seconds to spare, I let go of the other balloons and drop gingerly to the train.
Oufff....that wasn't a soft landing...now to get into the car and find the others..and that look-a-like that seems to be taking my place in there. What nerve! Does anyone realize there is an impostor in their midst?
July 15, 2011
William - I started in with the knitting needles, wishing I had paid more attention to Jane’s deft handling of the knitting arts but she was nowhere to be seen. I had to start in the middle of the golden thread pile simply because one end was in the Dyson™ and I wasn’t even sure there was another end!
As Cathy, Lee and Mara patiently watched my clumsy fingers find a rhythm they occasionally offered tips and encouragement as I tried to explain where I was going with this pile of loosely tangled prose.
“Just look at the shape of the Dyson™ - It’s Klein if I ever saw one, or could see one. It’s all inside and outside and contains everything and nothing. What’s more, one plunge into that beast and it’s Kleins all the way down, all the way around and back through the other side and here I am”
Mara blinked a couple of times, looked at Lee then back at me and said, “I think your goat is upside down.”
I looked at my hands, backed tracked with my needles, straightened the errant curl on the g and went on, “Nope…boat, it’s boat and we’re going for a ride. I think it’s time to pull ourselves together and get to the heart of the matter on these doubles.”
This time it was Lee who began the rapid blinking, “That usually spells trouble.”
“Lee,” I said, “We’ve got a train to catch and a whole lot of history to return.”
I examined the shear-line of knitted words for any leaks and shrugged, “What could possibly go wrong? Klein surfing anyone? As Mara, Lee, Cathy and I climbed into the canoe shaped construction a few of the other analogue creatures squealed, giggled and wiggled on board and we were off following the waves of Susan’s golden thread back into the Dyson™.
William Evertson - Into the Dyson
Cathy - "Ah, the Dyson™, she sighed as she relaxed into the whirling vapors of air shifting around and around her, "I'm never so comfortable as when I'm traveling in one! Look, they are bringing around the h'ordeuvres! Quick catch an Asparagus wrapped in delicate pastry, steamed to perfection! Or! the crumbly lobster cobbler and bacon-wrapped shrimp. Quick before it swirls away!"
Susan - I almost felt the words gravitating back into my hand where they belonged when all of a sudden they floated and vanished out of my grasp. Ideas were evaporating quickly. I squinted my vision through the tunnel of time forcing my sight to stretch beyond and all that I could perceive were waves of gold… slowly dissipating in the distance. In the background I heard that train whistling once again.
July 19, 2011
Jane - Across the universe, via the deep blue sea, Angela heard a strange and mournful cry. She ran down to the ledge overlooking the sea in her golden slippers and saw something bright, pink, shiny and glowing with whiskers. It cried "minha querida Angela!! Save-me!" So Angela took her silver cape from her pocket and threw it into the air while she sang, "I am the walrus."
She saw the pink walrus leap for the cape and disappear into the water. Suddenly a rainbow appeared and in the distance, Angela saw the walrus again and heard him singing "obrigada mia angela mia verdadeiro amiga" - his song was so sweet and beautiful that a tear rolled down Angela's eye but she was smiling .. because she knew the walrus was using a very bad walrus to Portuguese translator ...
July 23, 2011
William - We steered through the first of a series of rapids, the Time Stream roiling and angry as it washed over a jumble of impediments and hindrances’ but with a few coordinated strokes we found the main channel. The gold threads and segments of words leading us back as surely as a trail of breadcrumbs. Channels merged and we now seemed part of a vast ocean, the horizon an unbroken line to the front of us. In some ways it seemed reminiscent of the long sea voyage that first brought us to Analogue, yet I knew we were within the embrace of it’s mystery.
Cathy passed a variety of snacks around for which we were all grateful since food preparation is often forgotten in the quest for elevation. Several of the squirrels rubbed their muzzles’ and smacked their lips rather loudly as they munched on the asparagus crepes.
Looking over the side, Lee said, “Is it my imagination or is the ocean getting rather thick?”
And indeed it was; the Susan Thread was tangling with others; their origins unknown and yet vaguely familiar. There were patterns of letters, symbols and signs common to complex thoughts and emotion; some threads vibrating in the water, making the most beguiling symphonies.
The monkeys began chattering nervously as we suddenly realized we had actually reached the horizon.
Teetering on the edge we cautiously peered down when Mara said, “shouldn’t we start rocking the boat?”
William Evertson - Into the Dyson
But before we could debate the issue one of the Blues dropped the nut he was clutching and we watched it roll forward, shifting the balance.
July 24, 2011
Susan - They started to return home. My beautiful golden serifs arrived faster, with tremendous speed rolling back in time in mass confusion. I stopped drawing and bolted to catch the scripts as they waved into my dimension and pluck them back into the Haggadah box case quickly before they evaporated though me and left forever. I attempted to reach and grasp the letters into my mind as I snatched some ascenders and descenders as they flew by with my stretched fingers. Words and notes seemed to be escaping while more were briskly arriving squeezing though the brilliantly lit crack below the front door to find me.
There was dazzling blue light pulsating and creeping through the spaces. Then I heard the blues. A guitar riff. I recognized the notes paying homage to Muddy Waters ”Catfish Blues”. “Yes, how I loved that fish song!” I smiled and spoke in a hurry as I remembered hearing Muddy at the Penelope club, but I never met Jimi. I jumped up in a panic since I recently discovered who could play like Hendrix and I shivered with fear. It was the riff from Voodoo Child, and I knew I was in trouble.
Susan Shulman - Watch Out for BillyRay
Billy Ray had arrived with the letters through the NASA space elevator. I pressed the down button quickly before his vision adjusted and stumbled on the most hidden secret of Mount Analogue and Tale Of The Blues!
July 25, 2011
Lee - It was impossible to rock the boat as it seemed to be mired in thick syrup, under which I thought I saw waffles? The sky was no longer a sky and things began whirling around us. Susan had found something that got her extremely excited and motioned for Bill to come closer for a look. It really looked like she had found some sort of trap door in the bottom of the ship. I thought being on a ship meant we would be on our way home. Now, I think another adventure is afoot...ahhh Analogue...such an interesting place....
Lee Goldberg - Water Turns to Syrup
Mara - It felt like déjà vu all over again.
July 26, 2011
Mark - Up in the sky Sammy's eye opened wide. 13.73 billion years old- that's oldest thing in the universe when all 10 to the 1 with 100 zeroes. The peredam fell out and was hurling toward the mountain.
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| Mara Thompson - Peradam |
I was writing down the locations of the various huts. If you have lots of data points, it can help summarising them into just a few values, for example, by taking averages. It can also help to give an idea of the range of your data. For example, the average height the hits on both sides of the dividing lines got to was 4.5 metres, but ranged from 7.1 metres to 35 metres.
However, summarizing all your data points into a few numbers like this risks losing useful information - like the vital fact that the height was massively influenced by the amount of space. A less drastic way of summarizing the information is to average together those points that you think show the same effect. For example, if you repeat the same test several times on the same person, you could use their average score. In my case, because I concluded that the squirrel size didn’t make much of a difference, I plotted lines showing the height for levels of space and for different creatures, averaged over the 3 owl sizes.
Mara - Leaning over the side of the boat I reached into the syrupy stew to snag at a loopy letter. Like al dente spaghetti a lower case "h" was adhered to my palm. Pulling from my rucksack the other letter to put them together, they spelled "Sh". "Hunmmm, that could mean one of three things," I said absently. "Sheep, bookbinding sheet or shillings."
I felt the boat rock and I looked up in time to see that a squirrel had made a neat dive after his escaped nut and continued in a slide right off the deck and into the drink. Almost as he hit the water he rebounded and he landed on my head. "Oh, you're wet!" I exclaimed. "Then ohhhhh, we're going over the edge!! Hang on!"
Lee - Just as the boat was tipping at the edge, Susan grabbed the lever and pulled open the trap door..."hurry we don't have much time," she yelled as she slipped through dragging along a large white owl and a couple cute green creatures...no time to think of what might be beyond that opening we all jumped through the opening into the darkness. Monkeys and squirrels bringing up the rear. Down and down we slid; it felt like a ride at an amusement park, but I had a feeling this is quite different..............
Lee Goldberg - The Trapdoor
July 31, 2011
Susan - First a red line appeared dropping down from the middle of the transparent ceiling above me. An innocently looking string was tantalizing my vision under what looked like a sky of waves. I watched the twine swaying back and forth, all the while keeping an eye on the front door, capturing more words before they escaped.
“Billy Ray, I hope you don’t hurt yourself when you hit your bottom” I laughed as I could still hear the elevator wheels grinding. I knew it was only temporarily and probably a matter of time before I would encounter him again. My eyes were darting back and forth between looking up and in front of me at the entrance. My hands took over before I could think logically and grabbed the flying cord. In one second a cornucopia of creatures started to pour by my head, or was it into my head. Tied and embedded into the bright rope were brilliantly blue toned squirrels chattering, green monkeys howling, white owls squawking with their wings flapping wildly and a group of the most unusual people screaming hysterically as they tumbled in front of my vision. The noise was blaring, starting to sound like a million cicadas singing. The vibration from the cacophony caused a crack in the floor that started to spread like an earthquake lesion and before I could grasp what was occurring, they all plunged past me. Feathers, fur and noise zoomed by me through the huge hole.
I moved gingerly to the other side of the room and urgently rang the bronze cupola bell for Brother William.
August 1, 2011
William - “The witch is ringing the bell again, William.”
“Don’t call her that! Besides you’re a fine one to be speaking of devilry,” I said to the large fish who sat beside the stream idly splashing the water with his feet.
“That’s what they’re calling her,” replied Fish.
“Who’s they?” I said as I pulled tight the knot on the binding, nodded a blessing to the latest volume.
“Downstream, upstream, ask anyone along the riverbank, they’re all whispering the same thing,” the fish said as he watched a small boat of lively creatures disappear over the falls.
“That was strange, did you see that, William?”
I looked over at him, glanced at the stream but didn’t see anything beyond the gentle murmurings’ of the water.
“Come along Fish, lets go see what has Susan chiming so furiously.”
The monk and the fish began trudging up the trail to the tower.
Mark - As Lee and I trudged breathless up the zigzagging mountain path, she pointed out a new sign along one of the offshoots that seemingly appeared out of no where--leading to a "long cut" to Hut 8 where we had just come from below--"It says something about devilry" I responded, "that's spooky." "No it doesn't," she replied, "its a typo. it's crossed out. it says 'Delivery.'" Upon closer examination I could see she was right.
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