Mara - Every way she turned, there were just more slopes. Steep and unpopulated. Crouching, she opened the rucksack. Inside was an oval shaped form. She brought one end up to her eye and fell into the interior...
March 1, 2012
Mark - Susan had drifted to the south in a giant rhino shaped suitcase. Still wearing the Sammy mask, she opened the rhino along his seam and climbed in, tugging the rope before locking the hard shell tight from the inside and the giant shape began to move pulling the rhinoceros with it. She shouted to us that was headed down under but we were already as low as a person on the earth can go. Lee and I headed North in our own balloon, hoping that no one would notice this had already happened before except that I was not part goat then. Bill was caught in a meteor storm but Bibiana and Angela informed us months before that when it came, it would not be a threat So we all rested easy knowing it was just the hardened drips of sky falling off the giant's brow. Mara was the problem here. First oriented East then West, she could not get her bearings. Every way she turned, slopes spring up around her, knocking her off balance. She crouched and opened the rucksack, not realizing her unicorn past was about to tip her over. It was up to Ria now.
March 19, 2012
Susan - I awoke startled by the dead air. I didn’t perceive the usual clanging of miniature drills hammering within my damaged eardrums. I had become so accustomed to the familiar buzz over the years caused from my addiction to sitting so close to the amps at concerts. It was too silent. I was alone. My eyes felt glued shut but I managed to pry them open and wiped away the dream crystals. I gingerly opened my lids. It was dark except for the huge looming moon in the sky lighting the surfaces of the ground causing shadows of dancing movement around me. Stars were sparkling rapidly in the heavens. I saw the frothy waves caressing the dark ominous water. I could not hear the roar of the ocean. As I surveyed myself, I notice that my body was covered in wet golden grainy sand. My body was glistening as I moved my hands through the still space. I felt like a shiny emery board. What a crazy thought. I spit out some grime from my dry mouth. As I turned my stiff neck caked with granules, I noticed splintered wood and debris surrounding me. Parts of what seemed like a rhinoceros’s head and horn was nearby. My boots were scattered amongst the mess of shells and hot air balloon parts. Slowly, I maneuvered onto my tightly stiff knees to get up and investigate. In the distance I felt the earth moving and quickly saw a herd of animals racing (crashing) towards my vision. In one second, I felt something cold touch my ankle. A large monstrous hand rose from the hushed up sea, I had no time to think or react as it kept grabbing me. I tried to scream but nothing came out. I could not speak. What was going on? I calmly eyed a large jagged piece of heavy metal and smacked the grotesque green reptilian hand protruding from the breaker. Smashing it over and over again until finally it’s hairy disfigured fingers released me and it receded back into the black undercurrent. I crouched down while shaking and gagging for breath. Now all I waited for was to be trampled by the onslaught of crazed and fantastical wildlife. The collective of hooves stopped as quickly as they started. Sweating and panting in front of me in the muddy earth, pointing to the ocean with their varied paws, I heard sounds of notes in my head. “We were trying to warn you about “IT”, “IT” came last night and destroyed our tents and crashed our carousels. And “IT” stole our music. “IT” has taken it all.”
It was then I realized “IT” had taken all the sounds. I scanned the multi colored eyes blinking in front of me. I heard the telepathic being again. “Susan, help us find our voice, help us find our music!”
I looked up at the twinkling stars. I couldn’t even recognize any of the constellations. I fell down on my weak knees with my hands clasped together before I found a smoldering stick of wood and gradually began to draw in the sand. I took out a note from my encrusted pocket. I remembered the symbol. The outline of the squirrel started to be visible in the damp grains. I got up and danced to an imaginary beat as all the animals next to me started to bang their hooves on the soil in unison. We were evoking the Blues to save us again and hoping the smoke signals would warn the others.
March 21, 2012
Mark - I fell down on my weak knees in the silence and I looked up toward the heavens waiting for an answer I sense will never come. I feel humiliated and confused. Ashamed. The root of a frozen tree is digging into my shin. I readjust. The roots. The earth. This mountain always has a black or dark brown color, due to the accumulation of organic carbon. Humus.I realize I am down on the ground, the earth. The root ---root!!! Gadzooks!--- of the word humiliation is like humus. I look up again, still perplexed but less in despair. But then I see smoke above me, far in the distance and my humiliation turns into horror and fear but then humility. I pause. I realize there is no sound. I cry out but there are only molecules of silence, deafness coming out of my mouth. The molecules fall to the ground all around me. I can see them, I can see them like smoke like particles of the mountain's black earth coming out of my mouth, echoing the patterns of the smoke in the sky over my head.
Susan - .....thinking how do I get out of this one......I see the smoke forming the letters... H o p e.....and rising into the sky! Where is Mark!! He would know!
March 24, 2012
William - The note meteors that Susan dropped continued to rain down on us as we sought shelter in one of the many caves dotting the North Slope. Fish and I hoped the weight of the notes wouldn’t collapse the ladder we had placed over the last crevasse otherwise our retreat was cut off and we would have to commit to this unexplored route. My train of thought was interrupted by Fish who seemed to have an uncanny knack for minds reading of late. Or it could just be coincidence, but it was hard for me to concentrate this high up.
“William, this route has been explored. Zeno of Elea tried it about 450 BC."
“Fish, how would you possibly know that?”
“The blackboard here in the back of the cave; it could only have been left by him. See!!... it has one of the paradoxes of motion diagramed.”
Then Fish went on to describe why we may never overtake the summit from this direction.
“Before you can get there, you must get halfway there. Before you can get halfway there, you must get a quarter of the way there. Before traveling a quarter, you must travel one-eighth; before an eighth, one-sixteenth; and so on.”
I wasn’t sure what to believe except there was a blackboard.
William Evertson Fish at the Blackboard
April 12, 2012
William - Suddenly Fish stopped in mid sentence which was something that rarely occurred once he warmed to his favorite paradoxes.
“Do you hear that?”, he said in his best stage whisper.
I strained to listen but the patter of the final barrage of meteor notes drowned any chance of hearing.
Fish persisted, “I swear I hear something; like a hunmmm or a murmur…..” Suddenly he dropped his chalk, picked up his walking stick and began to make his way deeper in the cave. Follow me, William, I know what it is.”
I grabbed both of our rucksacks, grumbling because the lazy fellow was always forgetting gear.
Suddenly, after a several hundred meters I picked up on what he was hearing and quickened my pace.
We burst into a large cavern and Fish called out, “Mrs. Ria Vanden Eynde, is that you?”
The serene figure sat lotus position facing a blank wall. Slowly the figure’s head turned and she said, “Bloody Hell.”
William Evertson Fish and Lotus
April 14, 2012
Susan - The aroma of breathtaking pine permeated my nostrils. I fluttered my lashes; it was so intoxicating I became disoriented. I heard the soft movement of branches in the wind. SOUND…. was it possible. Could I hear again? Patches of the sky seemed so blue and glazed with millions of green leaves superimposed upon each other. Thin rays of blinding sunshine beamed down in spirals. I must now be in the jungle. Hibiscus and roses were caressing and surrounding me. I took one bloom gingerly into my palm and breathed its lingering perfume. I was so excited to have discovered a magical garden. I looked between the tall trees and saw the mountain. I must be close to the others. As I started to walk, I realized my legs would not move. I looked downs and saw my body intertwined with the plants and the ground, and as I looked up, huge eyes were staring down at me.
Susan Shulman Forest People
I immediately recalled Zeno's arguments and his first examples of a method of proof called reductio ad absurdum, literally meaning to reduce to the absurd. Why was I thinking of this, and how did I even know about ZENO. I screamed as I tried to RUN……………..
Mara - The last I recalled was crouching over the rucksack, and a sensation of falling.... this simultaneous with the "Whomp" of an apparent landing... my eyes, however, refused to open. The scent around me was similar to the fatwood used to jump start fires in the old stove.
June 9, 2012
Susan - Seems like years since I have communicated with anyone on the mountain. It has been empty except for the transit of Venus transcending the sun behind me. Her pastel shadows caressing the sand and sparkling along the waves of the azure water. I see fantastical visions around me. Natural beauty and the sound of music penetrating my soul. I am suspended in this new alignment of my life. Have they burrowed so deep inside the caves? Where is everyone? Are they hiding from the unknown? I hear buzzing of bees and what seems like purring. Am I imagining this reality? Maybe I am in the wrong year. What year is it? Is it 2012 or 243 years ago, or have a transported to the future…. where is everyone!
Susan Shulman - Seems Like Years
June 19, 2012
Lee - The stream is clear as glass. It's illuminated by the bluish light that shines from the walls of the caves. A self-contained world under the mountain had become my home for many months now since I left the others on the beach..my fascination never seemed to be what was on top of the mountain but the mysteries that were beneath the surface. The monkeys had been not only my guides but had provided quite comfortable accommodations for me while I've been exploring the many chambers inside Mt. Analogue.
Lee Goldberg Dressed for Dinner
Right now, I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to leave this place. It seems that the time slits (warps) that exist above also exist below. After awhile I seem to have lost all sense of time....and I thought I was confused before....
July 14, 2012
Mara - Lee has been exploring underground, Mark has split his time hunkered down in hut 27 and making tentative moves back to the world "as we know it", Bibiana has her hands full with kidlets, William is dripping sweat framing art while Susan bucks some broncos. Ria has abandoned herself to flying lessons. I was taking Big Blue to the barber... for some reason he demanded a buzz cut today. So off we go to the Port o' Monkeys looking for the monkey in a fez. There must be a reason for this madness....
1951 Children's book - illustrator unknown
Just when I feel so lost, I am found.
Mara Thompson Mountain of Lost
July 19, 2012
Susan - I must have fallen off the rhino. Was I really riding one, or is this illusion. But I am still in this dark cave. Life is strange. I see a flash of imagery and then what I believe to be reality disappears again. I had the strangest vision. I was remembering walking along St. Catherine Street with my mom. She had just bought me my new fluffy winger coat and fur muff. It was chic. I ran beside her trying to keep up with her quick pace. My hair was bouncing along as I felt I was flying in my dream, I was adorned with fish talisman. Was this real or am I still dreaming. Where are the climbers?
Susan Shulman Adorned with a Fish Talisman
July 25, 2012
William - Fish was either gasping for breath or trying to speak with words that for once were failing him. I too was at a loss for words because my eyes were clearly deceiving me as the figure’s head swiveled and came into view. While the figure was clad in our companion’s kit this was not Ria but a magnificent blue fox. I recognized the Belgian’s rucksack nearby and the fox was wearing the citrine necklace I had seen her wearing during the Mulka celebration.
Speaking in her Flemish tinged English the fox repeated, “Bloody Hell, It took you two long enough; your attention spans aren’t much better than the monkeys on the beach.“
“Don’t bloody hell us”, Fish interrupted, “what have you done with the Belgian?”
Fox looked quizzically at Fish and I. “I have no idea who you are talking about, my name is William, William Fox and I’ve waited here with news from Mara. Mara says to tell you it’s time for your monkey buzz cut fez thing. Now if you’ll follow me we’ll head back down to the Port O’Monkeys because there’s a game afoot.”
The fox darted past us and paused at the cave’s entrance and looked back over his (or her) shoulder. “Hurry up”.
Speaking in her Flemish tinged English the fox repeated, “Bloody Hell, It took you two long enough; your attention spans aren’t much better than the monkeys on the beach.“
“Don’t bloody hell us”, Fish interrupted, “what have you done with the Belgian?”
Fox looked quizzically at Fish and I. “I have no idea who you are talking about, my name is William, William Fox and I’ve waited here with news from Mara. Mara says to tell you it’s time for your monkey buzz cut fez thing. Now if you’ll follow me we’ll head back down to the Port O’Monkeys because there’s a game afoot.”
The fox darted past us and paused at the cave’s entrance and looked back over his (or her) shoulder. “Hurry up”.
William Evertson Analogue Fox
Susan - Thinking I just saw that sly fox WIlliam! I must have really bumped my head!
William - Fish stared at me for a long time. It was very disconcerting because, of course, he never blinks, then finally said, "You're not going to trust a talking fox, are you?"
Mark - There was a very heavy creature of some kind standing on my chest. I could feel it's pointy toenails or something digging into my throat and sternum. I could feel the pressure of at least two feet concentrated over my chest cavity but I could not make out what sort of shadowy critter this was above me obscuring my view of the ceiling. I would have been scared to death but my complete exhaustion allowed nothing but recognition that something out of the ordinary was in progress. And when I say out of the ordinary I mean for this place.
July 28
Susan - I am calm meditating amongst the beauty in my ocean of the BLUES. The rhythm of the water is caressing my cool skin as I listen to CROSSROADS. I know that if I stay underwater much longer I will not feel like making the transformation back to the mountain. I forget how I long for the sea and how the symphony of music encompassed my soul and envelopes me in peace.
The intense full moon is glistening down upon the sparkling water. I think I see the shadow of a blue fox gazing down at me. I detected muffled sounds vibrating through the layers of the waves and a paw was splashing my world. The fish around me started to panic at the movement from above. I flicked my tail and thought, “Ok, foxy, you better get ready cause here I come!”
The intense full moon is glistening down upon the sparkling water. I think I see the shadow of a blue fox gazing down at me. I detected muffled sounds vibrating through the layers of the waves and a paw was splashing my world. The fish around me started to panic at the movement from above. I flicked my tail and thought, “Ok, foxy, you better get ready cause here I come!”
Susan Shulman I Am Calm
July 3, 2012
Lee - It seems like years since I entered the caves from the beach. Of course, with all the time warps down here it could be just minutes , or it could be many years in the future - or- the past. Here - there is no sense of time. Every chamber is a different experience. I've tried to record them in my field notes as best I could. Now, I find myself in a chamber of monkeys. They certainly know how to have fun..party all the time....I wonder what happened to the others on the surface..are they still on the island?
Lee Goldberg Chamber of Monkeys
There seems to be a very bright light at the end of this chamber...and..there is a very large and well dressed fox sitting on a rock reading a book...I wonder what that means.................
Mark - It seems like eons since I backed into the caves from the elevator. Of course, with all the time warps above and below me each floor could be minutes, days or years ahead or behind the previous one. But here on the elevator- there is no sense of time. Every floor is a different experience which I've tried to record in my field notes as best I could ever since Lee passed in the balloon. Now, I find myself in a chamber of ghostly figures with clocks on their faces and long tails. They certainly know how to remain elusive, moving all the time....I see the others on the surface of the clock faces and see them moving through time on the island as I watch the curly tails wind and unwind.
There seems to be a very bright light ahead that calls the elevator up and down...and..there is a fox in an old fashioned uniform that looks like Christopher, our train conductor sitting on a stool spinning a bicycle wheel. I wonder what that means.................
August 8, 2012
Lee - I made my way toward the bright light at the end of the tunnel. I would finally go back above ground...silly me! it seems to be another cavernous passage to...who know where? As I entered the new chamber I realized it was very different than most of the others that I'd encountered....this one has enormous crystals everywhere...it also seems to have been inhabited at some point, tho now there are but ruins left...much just rubble..as usual the only life are the monkeys every where. How do I climb my way out of this one? I do see some paths that look a bit confusing but may lead to another portal. If it would only pop me back to the beach; or at least somewhere where the others might be.
Lee Goldberg New Chamber
August 9, 2012
Mara - We reached the door of the barber shop, I knocked. Silence. We looked at each other, checked the store hours, and knocked again. Blue wandered to the side of the building and disappeared around the corner.
Then I see the note. There is a message taped to the door that says, "Hut 26 attachment unavailable, please go back and find it."
August 10, 2012
Susan - I was swimming so close to the beach so I could now peek at those slanted grey eyes leering down at me form the shore. The startled fox jumped as the flares of light exploded in the darkness behind him. The sparks seemed to be coming out of a monumental black shape that towered up endlessly into the sparkling sky. I had never seen something so black and lifeless in my world. This could not be natural. There were pastel lights shining off and on as it zoomed up the horizon in seconds. The fox sprang up on his hind legs jumping to try to eat the blinking dots floating near us. I waded up closer to the shore with my harp strapped to my waist. The current of the waves were automatically strumming the chords in sequence: A7, D7, A7, D7, E 7 oh ya, the beginning of Born in Chicago. I was lost for a moment until I saw two men-like shapes up on a overhanging cliff. Their silhouette blinked from the lights of in the sky. I couldn’t quite make them out except one man creature seemed to have a fish head. The lights intensified for what seemed a few seconds and what I saw sent fish shivers down my fins. “Fish ‘n Boots” He’s alive!
Mara - "Blue! Blue!" I went looking for him around the back of the shop. Under the shade of a tree stood two men or blue foxes - depending on how you viewed it. The one closest to me had on green pants and red vest, the other in jeans and a sweatshirt. Blue was feeding a deer in the background. "Hello, ummm I'm looking for Hut 26?" I stammered a bit uncertainly.
Lee Goldberg Two Blue Foxes
August 11, 2012
Susan - I placed my Steampunk goggles over my strained eyes that were dripping down my cheeks with tears from squinting. It was difficult to make out the creatures on the cliff that were peeking through the blinking lights surrounding the ominous black obelisk. I couldn’t be certain. I touched my brass frames with my gloved hands. Yes, what a treasure these were. I found them years ago on one of those sunken shipwrecks off the coast. So many unusual treasures were buried amongst the algae. I remember swimming around the broken wooden figureheads. They were all so strange. There seemed to be three of them. One had a squirrel like body, another looked like a goat-like creature standing on 2 legs and the third carved totem appeared to be a woman. My instinct told me they each were sculpted to protect the vessel. “Well, that didn’t seem to work out well” I laughed. “How can you protect yourself from what you can’t see?”
Susan Shulman Sunken Treasure
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