"Yeah, it probably is a cover-up. Since when do they need the National Guard cover up something that simple? Of course, with the local sheriff's department involved with the shooting the Guard might have been called in to fill in."
"If Avery is in protective custody they probably won't let him use the phone. It's worth a try, though."
"Yeah, I don't think there are a whole lot of available local forces right now. And Sing might have done something to cause a sink hole since we left. I think a trip down to check it out tomorrow is definitely in order."
When Kenny calls Avery Carlotta does her usual, though probably annoying, trick of leaning as close to the phone as she can to try and hear what is said, lacking the patience to wait to be told after the call is over.
The lobby of the motel, near the desk, offers a free continental breakfast, which includes bananas and apples.
Avery's cell phone does not ring, instead a woman's voice comes on and says, "I am sorry but the user has not activated his voice mail. Please call again later." It is a recording.
Kenny, meanwhile does get a phone call from the university lab concerning the pods dropped off before. He learns they are very interesting, a new species of plant, with odd properties. The professor does not want to say more over the phone but will tell them more in private if they wish.
First thing in the morning Kenny will head to the university to meet with the professor.
Kenny and Carlotta both make it to the university, mokey in tow.
The radio begins the morning with "Don't Worry, Be Happy," which segues into "Red, Red Wine," and then commercials for Las Vegas condos.
The campus is pretty lightly populated when the two reporters arrive. But their professor contact is in and quite excited to learn where they got the pods.
"These things are fantastic! They have all sorts of psychological potential. Though I suspect the FDA would heavily regulate their import."
Carlotta snorts at the irony of the first song.
Carlotta tries to keep the monkey relatively out of sight in her bag, hoping it won't stick its head out too often. "What sort of psychological potential? Are they some sort of hallucinogen? What sort of effects do they have? Why would the FDA regulate them? Are they dangerous?"
"I gave some to lab mice and they became very docile. In a stupor actually. I suspect, though I haven't done actual testing, that they would help people become very,... open to suggestions, pliable. There are some compounds involved that are similar to those in hops. But they aren't quite the same."
"Would plants like this grow in this part of the world? Would they affect cariovascular performance? Also, are there Latin specialists on staff here at the school?"
"No. At least I have never seen them. I don't know where they would grow. I was hoping you could tell me that."
"Possibly. It hard to say exactly what they would do. But I could see them easily being used as a sort of narcotic."
"No but we are part of a new language program database. The School Library might be able to help you there."
"Pliable...do you think it could be used to make people do anything? Even something that was against their nature?"
"I don't know exactly, but I would guess somewhere in Asia."
"They might possibly be used that way," he says to Carlotta, "But I would have to do more tests to see the exact effect. I don't suppose you could obtain more samples for me?"
Carlotta pauses a moment to think "Its probably not very likely...but we might be able to give it a try."
If the professor doesn't seem to have anything else to say, Carlotta thanks him for his time and stands up to leave. Once they are out of the office she starts trying to make her way to the school library.
The library takes a little bit of time to find but once there, the librarian is readily available. He explains that there is a computer program that the school has participated in, a language translator that will do Latin. You type in your words and it works to translate it for you. There are a few bugs in the system still, but it mostly works. As neither reporter is a student, they can use the program, but they can't save their work to the computer. They will have to either supply a flash drive or copy down any translations by hand.
Carlotta suggests one of them stay to translate the book and the other one goes and checks on things like the state of the hotel, tries to get their stuff, and checks up on Avery and the shooting crisis if possible.
Kenny volunteers to translate the books. He considers the possiblity that it is Sing's diary and that it will provide clues to his history.
He also checks the internet for items about people seeing insect-shaped flying object in the area. Kenny believes the object he saw was akin to a predator drone and that Sing might have been a spy for the Chinese.
A quick search of the internet does reveal that there were reports of strange happenings further west during the night but not insects exactly. Several local families who lived close to the truck stop were not able to be reached via the phone during the night.
Carlotta nods agreement to Kenny translating and leaves the university. She drives back to the hotel/buffet.
Kenny asks the librarian if the university has a Chinese students association or something similar or if they have pofessors of Chinese language.
Kenny asks the librarian if the university has a Chinese students association or something similar or if they have pofessors of Chinese language.
The answer is no. They don't have an extensive language department. They do have one professor who can read japanese but none that know chinese.
Carlotta nods agreement to Kenny translating and leaves the university. She drives back to the hotel/buffet.
The truck radio cheerfully blairs away. The day is sunny and bright. The drive is pleasant.
About twenty miles from the truck stop there is a major road block. Carlotta sees numerous men in military uniforms, all of them armed. There is a tank and several large convoy trucks. There are also three state police cars and an ambulance. And they are completely filling the road, preventing any cars from passing.
Vehicles are being directed to change lanes, turn around and find alternate routes.
Carlotta decides to pull the truck over to the shoulder and try to talk to some of the men, hopefully she can convince them to give her some information.
She steps out of the truck and pretends to shyly walk up to one of the most approachable looking men. She looks up at him "Hi, I'm Shelly. My friend and I were staying at the hotel thats down the road from here before the....whatever it was." She shudders briefly "And all our stuff is still there. I was just coming back to see if we could get it. Do you know why its blocked off? Is there another road to the hotel I could take?" Carlotta tries to appear shy, innocent and slightly frightened. She tries to gently probe him, gathering as much information about the incidents, hotel and blockage as she can.
Several men approach Carlotta as she gets out of her car. They don't seem interested in talking and as she tries to open a dialogue they try escorting her back to her car. They mention things like, "Not safe," "Large holes in the road," amd "Gas leaks."
However when Carlotta mentions she had been staying at the hotel, they become very interested. One of them, wearing a uniform indicative of some rank, says, "Excuse me ma'am, but were you among those who were there last night? We've been looking for some eyewtinesses."
Carlotta gets the feeling that he is very, very interested in learning everything he can about her and what happened at the hotel.
Several men approach Carlotta as she gets out of her car. They don't seem interested in talking and as she tries to open a dialogue they try escorting her back to her car. They mention things like, "Not safe," "Large holes in the road," amd "Gas leaks."
However when Carlotta mentions she had been staying at the hotel, they become very interested. One of them, wearing a uniform indicative of some rank, says, "Excuse me ma'am, but were you among those who were there last night? We've been looking for some eyewtinesses."
Carlotta gets the feeling that he is very, very interested in learning everything he can about her and what happened at the hotel.
Carlotta sighs and puts a confused look on her face "I'm not even sure...I was there for so long and everything was all jumbled together..and scary...it was so scary." She looks up at the men with wide eyes "And people were talking all sorts of strange things about....like cannibals in the basement! And...and animals held prisoner. And the restaurant was on fire and there was this thing that flew away." She clutches at his arm "What happened? What's going on? Please tell me, I'm so scared."
Carlotta gets escorted to a large tent where she is questioned for nearly an hour.
During the time she learns, by reading between the lines and asking perceptive questions, that the military was called in during the early morning and there were casualties. She also overhears something about a "strategic air strike."
Kenny continues to grind through on the translation program.
If Carlotta isn't able to find out anything else from the men, then she asks once more about retrieving stuff from the hotel. If not then she leaves.
Kenny does continue his translation. It is troubling stuff but the more he reads, the less he can let go of it. Phrases and images start embedding themselves on his psyche.
Kenny:
Kenny has one more day in which he will be reading and studying the book.
Carlotta discovers that there is absolutely no way that she is going to be allowed back to the hotel. The men do take a list of what she has left there and she gets the feeling that she is never going to see any of her stuff again. Nevertheless, there is perhaps going to be government reimbursment for what she has lost.
After leaving the men and getting back into the truck Carlotta groans about their lost things. Next she heads back to the sheriff's office hoping she can find out something about Avery and the shooting.
After leaving the men and getting back into the truck Carlotta groans about their lost things. Next she heads back to the sheriff's office hoping she can find out something about Avery and the shooting.
If you are thinking of the sheriffs office I think you are thinking of (the only one you've been to) its on the other side of the roadblock.
Do we know where Avery is? Do we know if he's in the sheriff's office?
Do we know where Avery is? Do we know if he's in the sheriff's office?
You have no immediate clue where Avery is. (However, in a flash-forward, we see avery landing in New York where he is going to start giving major interviews to the press and talking to large, wealthy publishers about paying him for his story.)
Carlotta spends the rest of the day driving back to Washington and hunting up the local newspaper. She successfully finds it, and after some wheedling, she manages to get more than what was in the paper, though not much. There is really not much known except for what was printed.
Basically Avery claims the sheriff captured him and tied him up in his basement, where he planned on butchering and eating him. LAte in the night, Avery managed to slip his bonds, grab one of the sherrif's rifles and start out of the house. The sherrif was alerted, a gunfight ensued, but Avery escaped. Avery managed to contact the state police. When the sheriff was confronted, he holed up in his house and started a shootout with the state police. The sheriff apparently had a good sized arsenal and there were two state police wounded, three cars were shot up and a propane gas tank was blown up, setting the house on fire. The sheriff is believed to have died in the fire.
Kenny tries to chat up students and staff during is work breaks. He asks if any of them ever ate at Sing's buffet, stayed in the hotel or have heard anything about the recent news there.
All of the students and faculty have eaten at the buffet. None of them ever spent the night there. They only know what was in the news.
Meanwhile, Kenny runs across a special recipe in the book. It calls for Puri pods and human flesh but the claim is that it will create a "hunger for the feast of life," within the consumer. The feast of life is a euphenism used elsewhere in the book for the idea that cannibalism makes the eater stronger and wiser.
After gathering as much information as possible Carlotta returns to the library and shares what she has learned with Kenny.
Kenny has one more day of studying. Does Carlotta want to do anything on this day, or just she just want to bum around the hotel watching TV?
Carlotta opts to go out and find any club or bar scene she can and try to listen in and see if anyone is talking about anything that could be helpful, as well as trying to befriend any of the locals.
When Kenny is done studying he heads over to the hotel to tell Carlotta of his findings. This assumes that nothing unusual happens on the way there. If all goes according to plan then Kenny will accompany Carlotta when she goes out. He will also try to locate any card games and play a few hands if he can.
Carlotta hears all sorts of rumors. A lot of people are pretty convinced that the military is doing something near the truck stop. Near noon, a series of loud booms echoes across the town. They are soon followed by a second series of booms. Everyone heads outside to look but there is nothing anywhere to be seen. Whatever the explosions were, they were enough to rattle the windows and far enough away to not be seen.
Kenny meanwhile finishes translating the very disturbing book about how to eat people. As he continues to make the translations, the computer screen constantly flickers and at times Kenny can see the face of the old woman he cut open laughing at him from within the monitor. It costs him 2 points of sanity to complete the translation of the book. His Mythos skill also goes up by 1 points (lowering his maxium sanity by one). In addition he learns that there are two spells copied in the margins of the book. One is called Speak with Meat. It allows the caster to talk to a corpse, asking it questions. The second spell is called Steel the Flesh. The notes claim it makes the flesh near impervious to harm. Kenny thinks he can learn to casts both spells if he spends another week or two in study.
Again, to be clear...
Kenny's Current Sanity is 60.
Kenny's maximum sanity is 97.
Kenny's Cthulhu Mythos skill is 2.
Kenny can spend 1d3 weeks and learn two spells that he could then cast at will (more or less).
Kenny will practice the spells he read in the book. He tells himself that they are some kind of code or mnemonic device that he Chinese intelligence agents or saboteurs use. If he can come to understand them they perhaps he can use them to hack into Chinese national computer servers. The picture of the old woman? That is just his mind playing tricks on him. It's only because his eyes are tired from staring at a comnputer screen. It's nothing more than that.
If the hotel has a bar then Kenny goes for a drink after telling Carlotta about what he learned.
Carlotta listens with interest and sometimes horror to Kenny's informatin and shares everything she has learned. "Well, I guess we pretty thoroughly know what happened now. I mean...the buffet was mixing cannibal pods with human meat and causing the bloodlust in the truckers...I guess all we have to do know is figure out what happened with the sheriff and how he's involved in all this."
As Kenny goes back, almost obsessively to his book, he has no time for writing an article. This leaves Carlotta to deal with Mr Rogers who calls, wanting to know if they have anything for him. Kenny is not going to be doing any writing. Is Carlotta up to the task of ghost writing an article?
Meanwhile rumors circulate around Washington that the air-force dropped bombs on the area of the truck-stop/buffet. The air-force denies this and says there appeared to be some sort of rupture in the underground gas tanks. That section of the highway is not reopened and the further rumors make it clear that it is never going to be reopened in the same spot as there is a huge crater in the ground and the highway is in pieces (Carlotta gets this from a student whose brother has a friend who drove his dune-buggy out there.)
Does the hotel have any computers with internet access? If so, Kenny visits some conspiracy theory "news" sites and e-mails some friends in the conspiracy-community to see what he can find out about the truckstop explosion. He also searches for stories on the sheriff shooting at the state police.
Does the hotel have any computers with internet access? If so, Kenny visits some conspiracy theory "news" sites and e-mails some friends in the conspiracy-community to see what he can find out about the truckstop explosion. He also searches for stories on the sheriff shooting at the state police.
I thought Kenny was busy trying to learn spells.
In his free time, Kenny can use the internet access at the university to research. The explosion has not made the news, other than a few small stories which blame the destruction of the hotel on "underground mine collapses." The sherriff shooting is all over the place. AVery has been on several talkshows and the "cannibal sheriff" has quickly moved into the realm of internet lore. The coroner that handles that is on the other side of the divide, though there are off course routes around the hole in the highway.