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Time and the Serpent.
Introduction.
Arkham. Spring 1921.
"Man has always been slave to time. Throughout the ages man has learned to control so many aspects of his environment, though still the elusive minutes flow unhindered by any interference. It is understandable, then, why man is so entirely obsessed with time and its perpetual passing. Science has torn down so many of the boundaries presented by nature, but the long siege against the fortress of time has, currently, been unsuccessful; and many believe that time will always remain unconquerable. But I say to you today that there will indeed come a time when man will no longer be the slave of time, but will use its awesome power to his own ends, a tool like any other tool. I also believe that this day is soon at hand…"
~Professor Garret M. Rhodes
(addressing his last class at Miskatonic University) 1921*****
Charles' mansion. Late autumn 1921.
Attempting to distance her thoughts from the happenings of the past several weeks, the young student wandered through the home of her esteemed friend. It was only three months ago that she was involved in the strange 'Bishop' affair and the normalcy of Doc's home was beginning to calm her fears finally allowing her some peaceful nights sleep.
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It was on one of these occasions walking through the house she came upon her benefactor's library. Pawning over the large books and magazines she was amused to find one of her favourite books. Although her father in Maine denied his daughter was interested in such things, her fancy for math and science led her quite naturally to love science fiction, and upon the shelf sat 'The Time Machine' by H.G. Wells. |
| Penny |
Removing the book from its snug place, she carried it to the overstuffed chair that sat near the middle of the large room. As she made herself comfortable it was then she realized that the winter chill was quite strong in the room and she removed herself to the kitchen where the cook stove created the necessary warmth she now sought.
She began to read and when she got to the first meaty passage of the book she re-reads it trying and decipher its cryptic meaning. "`Clearly,' the Time Traveller proceeded, `any real body must have extension in FOUR directions: it must have Length, Breadth, Thickness, and--Duration. But through a natural infirmity of the flesh, which I will explain to you in a moment, we incline to overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions, three that we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time. There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between the former three dimensions and the latter, because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives.'"
'A Fourth dimension' she mused to herself. 'How extraordinary.'
****
The Doc's office. 1030, Monday, 1st December 1921.
The head of the scientific departments of the Miskatonic University calls upon Doc. He is expressing his concern about lack of communication from head of the Physics department, Professor Garret. Mr. Rhodes. Mr. Rhodes was given a sort of a sabbatical year to pursue some theories of his, dealing with dimensions and properties of time. Mr. Rhodes was given funds to set up a laboratory in Boston, but one month ago, all contact with Professor Rhodes stopped. All of the University's attempts of re-establishing contact have come to no avail. The University has, therefore, decided to send a small group to the city of Boston to discover the condition of the school's top physics instructor. Stuart Slade is the University's first choice, because of his reputation as an investigator and his relations to the University. The School cannot offer much in the way of money, though its representative will assure the investigators that the favor will be remembered and repaid in any way possible.
Doc thanks the head for the visit and says that he will give his answer tomorrow whether he will accept the commission. The head of the scientific Departments accepts this.
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Later in the afternoon Doc makes a visit to the home of Professor Rhodes. His small house is just outside Arkham. Mr. Rhodes is a bachelor and the house is locked and empty. Doc makes a crude attempt to pick the lock, but fails. Doc enters the house through a broken cellar window at the back of the house. Inside the cottage everything appears to be in a state of storage. The furniture is covered with cloth, the decorations and paintings have been removed, and the place is currently unheated, making the residence very cold.
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Searching through the house turns up very little in the ways of clues. In Rhodes' study there is a large filing cabinet. In it is a complete library of Rhodes' published works. Most are mundane and Doc spend two hours uncovering three papers that has been published in the past year, consecutively, in a little known science journal, the Macomb Physics Digest (When Charles hears this, he is appalled to learn that a professor at the Miskatonic university wrote for such a distasteful magazine). Doc discovers nothing else. It may be worth however, that Rhodes' library contains the complete works of H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Rudyard Kipling. Doc steals the magazines, which he reads at home later that night. It includes essays on witchcraft and American Indian burial mounds, for example. Rhodes', three contributions to the "Digest" all deal with the possibility of time travel. He is very adamant about the possibility, declaring that it is only a matter of time before man can travel through the aeons. Each piece is basically the same. An excerpt from one of these articles |  |
| Excerpt from Macomb Physics |
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Next morning Doc makes a call to Charles, requesting his and Penny's presence at his office ASAP.
"Sure Doc. Penny? Well she's doing just fine. Ask her? I'll do that. An hour from now? Very well..." Gently Charles Cochroft puts down the phone, his finger resting on the receiver for several moments more as he ponders Doc Slade's phone call. His eyes wander over the cluttered desk before him, roaming the stacks of research that is base of his current project. A sheet of paper catches his eye. Moving away from the phone and around the desk, he finds his old leather, swivel chair and sinks into it with a sigh. He reaches for the mug of coffee steaming away before him and raises it to his lips. It is still very hot and he only takes a small sip. Again the sheet of paper catches his eye. Leaning slightly forward, he manages to reach it and pulls it closer. Smiling, he raises it to eye level for inspection. It is Penny's work and what a wonderful help hasn't she been. He would never have made it so far, so quickly in this project had it not been for her linguistic genius.
Leaning back in his chair, he inspects the document for a couple of minutes, before lowering it to his lap. His thoughts wander to the phone call of a couple of minutes ago. Minutes pass, before the sound of voices, snaps Charles out of his daydream. "Penny...", he whispers softly to himself. As he rises, he picks up the mug of coffee and heads towards the kitchen. There he finds Nel and Penny, busy making breakfast. He is relieved to see that Penny is already presentable. "Penny, I have just received a call from Doc Slade a couple of minutes ago" Briefly he relates to Penny the conversation between himself and Doc Slade. "...so will you be joining me at Doc Slade's? We can leave straight after breakfast if you decide to come.", he says as he butters up a piece of toast.
"Really?" she responds with a voice that breaks slightly at the mention of Doc. Pushing away her fears she nods. "It would be lovely to see him again."
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Doc adds to his supplies that he keeps in his chest in his car. He found himself short a few items during the last adventure. Doc has fresh coffee and tea, along with biscuits and muffins ready for the others when they arrive.
*****
The Doc's office. 1000, Tuesday, 2nd December 1921.
"Dear friends and companions, the reason why I have summoned you is that I believe that we may face a mysterious case again. My intuition says that we are dealing with evil forces again. I received a visit from MU yesterday." Charles raises an eyebrow. "A professor, Garret M. Rhodes, are missing."
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"Mr. Rhodes", Charles says, "I know him. He is missing you say. I haven't heard, I have my own problems to struggle with, you all know", Charles smile waggishly. "You know him?" Doc asks. "Yes, he grew up just outside Boston, He excelled in his early studies and went to attend M.U. where he studied physics. His college career was one of outstanding achievements and he stayed at M.U. to teach upon completion of his graduate studies. He soon excelled to become head of the physics department, and a man respected by both his students and fellow faculty alike. He wrote and published a vast amount of papers, the most celebrated dealing with the dimension of time. His theories were debated quite heatedly and critics viewed his work, while interesting and innovative, to be 'far-fetched' and rooted in the pulp writings of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. Still, most academics see Rhodes as a creative and thoughtful contemporary, if a tad eccentric." "I 'visited' his home yesterday and found the complete works of Verne and Wells." |
| Stuart 'Doc' Slade |
Charles lifts his eyebrow again, "Visited? - I haven't close relations to Rhodes, but I perceive him as an anxious and longing to delve further into his eh, special theories. I recall now that M.U. gave him a leave for a year to concentrate on his studies. I can't remember to have heard about him lately."
"Well, and now he is missing, or more correctly, he hasn't given a lifesign for a while. M.U. asked to travel to Boston to investigate."
"I see." Charles says.
Penny asks, "but why do you believe that he has been exposed to 'evil', as you said?"
"Maybe, it because that I expect Bishop to turn up every minute, and every thing suspicious is his doing. No I honestly can give you a reasonable answer. It's just a feeling, but in any case, I want you to come along. We could all need to be away from this town, with all the bad memories."
"I can agree with you there, Doc, and I love to see Boston again." Penny looks at Charles with a pleading look.
Doc gets a strange feeling, as they were father and daughter, as Charles answers, "Sure, you say something. This is maybe what we all need after our dreadful experiences and all that therapy with Dr. Manzano. You know, he keeps asking me about my relationship with my mother all the time. Oh yeah, she was a saint." Charles lightens up, "Maybe we could have some fun to, while we are in Boston?"
Penny clasps her hands in pure delight, "Yes."
Charles laughs heartily over Penny's childish response.
Doc says, "Sure will have some fun too. Some more biscuits and tea?"
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Doc has stayed behind to prepare the journey while Doc and Charles goes to the University. There they speak to the assistant professor of Rhodes. He tells them that Rhodes set up his laboratory in an abandoned meat-packing facility. The facility had been closed after failing a number of health inspections and a buyer for the riverside property can't not be readily found; so instead, one building had been leased to the Miskatonic University for Rhodes and the rest of the grounds remain an empty tax write off. After a few months Rhodes returned briefly to Miskatonic University. While he was there he spoke little to his former associates and spent long hours in research at the school's library
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The assistant doesn't know which books Rhodes read. Charles and Penny look up the Chief Librarian, Dr Henry Armitage, but even if he remembers Rhodes, he doesn't know which books Rhodes read. He had unlimited access to all the restricted books though. Armitage explains that there is a restricted collection of books that are not open to the public, and not even to the students of the University. At a direct question, Armitage confirms that this collection also include books of the occult nature. As Penny and Charles are too leave, Dr. Armitage remembers that he read about Dr. Rhodes in the newspaper lately. Looking it up, they find the article without much trouble |  |
| Article in the Gazette, October the 26th |
Please read the next chapter, or go back to the table of contents.