Notes Of A Dead Man Sequel (Notes - #3) by Clive Cooper (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📖

About the Beasts

A man named Yang lived in the West, the land the Apes once walked, now ruled by Daevas. The Daevas practiced witchcraft and worshipped hideous gods. They might wear fancy clothes, but being beasts inside, they used humans as food, slaves and toys. People under their rule suffered.

One day, Yang could not stand this any longer, and fled into the night. He met a monk named Bumo, who served Fuxi.

Bumo said: “Fuxi is the Father Serpent, the god of metal, one who bears great wisdom. Your pain can be eased if you replace your flesh with copper, your bone with iron, your organs with clockwork, and your blood with mercury.”

Yang was reluctant, turning him down: “If I abandon my body, how can I remain a man? Such is foolish.”

Bumo sighed and said: “You may call upon the gods for help, but do not call upon the Mother Dragon.”

Yang then bade farewell to Bumo. Soon after, the Daevas came and caught him. Locking him up with livestock, they decided to eat him on a fine day. It was then that Yang called upon the gods, but none answered.

Weeping into the night, Yang heard the call of the Beast. It was the Dragon, who spoke to him: “I am Nüwa, the mother of you all.” Yang regarded it as a god, and knelt. He offered goats and pigs in the cage as sacrifices to feed the Six Beasts under the throne of the Dragon. The Dragon then said: "Good. So you shall receive my aid."

Yang thus became the Sorcerer, and herded dragons, snakes, and beasts. The Daevas could not match his power. They fled, leaving the city behind. Yang then said: "I shall be the Sorcerer King." As he finished, the Six Beasts all descended and congratulated him, and was fed with the city’s people.

Bumo heard of the event, and led his monks to fight against Yang. When Bumo saw Yang again, he found that the being no longer resembled a human, but a serpent-like creature with four eyes and a huge mouth. Bumo exclaimed: “Once struggled against the beasts, he now became a beast himself, such a shame!”

He defeated Yang at Yaluo, and drove him into Taisui. As a beast in the cage, Yang never again bathed in sunlight.

About Men

During Shi Huang Ti’s reign, all lands were united, all savages were under the emperor’s rule, and people with rare talents came from all over the world to seek audience with the emperor. The emperor of Qin hence announced to the world that: “I seek eternal life.”

Panjia came from overseas. He was of the ageless ancient people, and spoke the words of birds and animals. He talked about the reign of the Dragon and the Serpent, where the Great Tower of Jianmu led to the sky, the Paradise Garden housed all beasts, and the Kunlun Palace resided by men. With beasts locked up in the base, he built Epang Palace, where towers could reach the stars. He then wrote languages of all life into a tome and presented it to the emperor.

The emperor asked: “Can I achieve eternal life through this?”

Panjia answered: “If you can accomplish such great things, you will surely be remembered by all of your people, and live forever in their hearts.”

The emperor was enraged, and burnt the tome. Panjia sighed, and disappeared into the flames, never seen again.

Yufu came from the Shu state. He was the descendant of Cancong, a remnant of the Xia Dynasty. He talked about the Yellow Emperor, the kings Yao, Shun, and Yu, and how they managed to govern the land to prosperity through the Way of Fuxi. He first forged tens of thousands of mechanical soldiers, and then a flying ship, which sailed in the Milky Way and settled on the moon.

The emperor asked: “Can I achieve eternal life through this?”

Yufu answered: “If you replace your mortal body with machines, you may live forever.”

The emperor was not pleased. Regarding the method as heretical, he abandoned Yufu’s plans.

Xu Fu came from the West. He was a messenger of Adytum, servant of Mother Dragon. He spoke of the Sorcerer Yang, who worshipped Nüwa and the Six Beasts under her throne, and was able to defeat demons, harness beasts, and wield great power.

The emperor asked: “Can I achieve eternal life through this?”

Xu Fu answered: “Yes.”

The emperor was greatly pleased. He permitted Xu Fu’s request, who asked for five hundred children as sacrifice. Xu Fu then sacrificed to the Great Dragon. Soon after, a Beast under the Dragon’s throne came. It indeed granted the emperor eternal life and great power, saying: “You must sacrifice a person daily to show gratitude towards Mother Dragon.” The emperor answered: “I shall sacrifice a hundred daily.” The Great Beast replied: “Such is good.” The emperor then collected people from all over the land. Xu Fu saw this, and fled to the eastern seas.

Terrified of the emperor’s actions, Yufu said: “Panjia is the perfection of man; the Xia people are but descendants of the Dragons; Xu Fu, howerever, is indeed of the beasts’ kind. Seeking help not from Panjia, but from Xu Fu, a grave mistake. An eternal life but at the cost of the lives of all who walk the land, such is intolerable.”

Yufu thus led the mechanical soldiers he built and trapped the emperor in Epang Palace. He then sank the palace into the ground, and left the emperor with no escape despite his eternal life.

As the stories were finished, Liu said: “People all say that a monster dwells in this lake. Thus, I cannot return empty handed.” The being said: “You can slay this serpent.” He tossed his jade belt onto the ground, which then turned into a white serpent. Liu slew it, and saw that the serpent-man was nowhere to be found. Seeing the serpent Liu brought back, the people were all amazed, and said that it was a sign of future royalty.

NOTICE FROM THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE COORDINATION AND PROJECTS OPERATION COMMAND OFFICE

SPC-1981 is currently active. At all times, an agent is to watch SPC-1981 for insights on future Selachian Aggression Events. Information collected on these events is to be input into the GLACON unit present in the viewing room. All personnel assigned to watch SPC-1981 must possess a SRI1 of at least 14.0, in order to prevent excessive expenditure of Centre resources. Agents who have previously been assigned to watch SPC-1981 and reacted violently are not to be reassigned to SPC-1981 duty unless possessing an SRI of at least 25.0. Agents who have reacted violently upon repeated assignments are to be permanently reassigned from SPC-1981. The GLACON unit will notify attending personnel immediately if agents display physiological signs of agitation and relieve them of their shift.

In the event of the reappearance of entity ONYX POET, a priority BETA-RED report is to be made to the CICAPOCO immediately; If entity ONYX POET is confirmed to possess Selachian attributes, a priority OMEGA-BROWN report is to be made instead. Engagement with entity ONYX POET should be avoided in either case; if no Selachian attributes are present, personnel are to attempt to contact ONYX POET as it may provide useful intelligence.

Still frames from SPC-1981. Note the presence of ONYX POET

Project #: SPC-1981

Selachian Pugnātorial Capabilities: SPC-1981 possesses no direct capacity for direct combat with Selachian entities. Instead, it is used to predict the future appearance of Selachian Entities. Centre forces are to be mobilized to future Selachian Incursion Sites when applicable. In addition, the entity or entities contained in SPC-1981 have on occasion provided unorthodox yet effective SPC methods.

Project Components: SPC-1981 consists of a standard Telcan tape. "RONALD REGAN SHARKED UP WHILE TALKING" (sic) has been written on the adhesive sticker in felt tip pen. SPC-1981 also includes one unit of a prototype GLACON-class supercomputer equipped with an experimental historical and predictive AI package designed to coordinate proper responses to future events without breaking causality.

SPC-1981 appears to be a home video recording of deceased Academy Award actor Ronald Reagan delivering his acceptance speech for his 1964 film The Fishers to the Academy of Filmographic Arts and Sciences (AFAS), at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA, on 4/5/1965. However, at 1 minute and 10 seconds, the speech begins to deviate heavily, eventually resembling no known speech ever made by Reagan. Upon rewinding SPC-1981 and initiating playback, Reagan will deliver an entirely new speech, often radically different from the ones previously observed. Topics have included praise of Selachian entities, the consumption of raw fish, and communism.

The speeches delivered by Reagan are mostly incoherent, lacking any sort of underlying thematic structure and largely being composed of nonsensical anecdotes and parables. However, every speech includes at least one reference to a future event that Reagan could not possibly have known about, such as the 1975 New England Selachian Attacks, the result of the 2016 American election, or █████ ██████████. Roughly 90% of these references involve Selachian entities. For this reason, a prototype GLACON-class supercomputer has been allocated for analyzing the speeches produced by SPC-1981. At least one (1) human personnel must supervise playback of SPC-1981 and input data into the GLACON system.

Beginning at approximately 5 minutes, Selachian attributes begin to appear haphazardly upon Reagan. Attributes appear to vary between different playbacks of the tape. No known order has been established for the appearance of Selachian attributes. Fins, gills, teeth, and [REDACTED] have all been observed. Reagan also appears to suffer from bites out of his skin and bruises that appear to be the size of a human fist. Despite suffering from transformations that would render an ordinary person unable to speak, Reagan will continue to deliver his speech until the end of the the Telcan tape at 20:00. Personnel are to note that to date SPC-1981 has provided actionable intelligence on over ██████ incidents, and must resist the urge to engage in combat with Reagan despite his increasingly Selachian attributes.

Entity ONYX POET appears in roughly 1 out of 6 playbacks of SPC-1981, replacing a member of Academy Staff. ONYX POET appears to mime punching motions. Entity ONYX POET has not reappeared since the events of █/█/12.

Acquisition Summary: SPC-1981 was found in 1981 by a member of Great American Watchmen, an association of individuals dedicated to the preservation of fine arts and cultural purity, and immediately turned over to the Centre on basis of "moral turpitude". Further investigation of the GAW library revealed an additional Telcan tape containing the remainder of Reagan's speech; however, this tape displayed no anomalous effects. The membership of the Great American Watchmen, when questioned, refused to admit any involvement in the creation of SPC-1981 and could not describe how they came to be in possession of it. They were administered a Class-A amnestics and released.

Ronald Reagan, then directing his 1981 blockbuster Evil Empire, was questioned about his involvement in SPC-1981, but showed neither prescience of Selachian attacks nor any Selachian features. As such, there was no need to subject him to any amnestic regimen2.

Unfortunately, no reliable methods of duplicating SPC-1981 have been found, and as such only 72 playbacks of SPC-1981 can be done in one day.

Deployment Record: