CARTER [P3C7] – The Great Nothing

The Chronicles of Samuel Carter – Part III: Chapter Seven

This is Part Three of the Chronicles of Samuel Carter. If you would like to start at the beginning, please find Part One linked below.

The Chronicles of Samuel Carter

And now for the conclusion…

Part III – Chapter Seven: The Great Nothing

Samuel stepped between the pillars of the Dendur temple, carrying Thorne’s limp body in his arms, a low magnetic hum, a static whisper, and he was back inside the floating pyramid, the inner sanctum, most sacred of places, a scent of incense, whispers of a thousand souls, footsteps long past, echoing from stone walls seeped in scripture, basked in hallowed orange. The empty throne loomed silent in the shadows.

Bellatrix was there, the Professor and Bazi next to her.

“No. No. NO.” Bellatrix kneeled, her eyes darting from the wound to Samuel and again to Thorne. “This isn’t happening. You hear me? You can’t die, not like this. I’m going to cut off your balls if you die on me now. You hear?”

“Is zat…?” the professor pointed at the scarab. “Hatnefer’s amulet?”

“Yes, Beaumont was after it in New York just now. Thorne got there first,” explained Samuel.

Adrian and Jackie emerged from one of the four shafts.

“The Weasel is gone, no trace of him…” Adrian started, and then he saw Thorne.

“This is your fault!” Bellatrix turned to Jackie.

“I can bring him back,” Samuel said quickly, his voice shaking. “This place, it’s connected, I can feel it…I have to try.”

Before anyone could object, Samuel placed the scarab on Thorne’s chest and put his hands on it, and with a flash, they were both gone.

* * *

“Sam?” Thorne stood at the bow of a barque, gliding through a dark ocean of sand.

“Theodore! Get away from there,” Samuel cried out.

Thundering steps echoed from the aft-most part of the ship.

“Where are we? I think I saw a hippo earlier.” Thorne tried to move but found himself rooted. “Huh, look at that. My feet are made of wood.”

“No, they are not. It’s Maat. She’s about to judge you, and she’ll be angry when she finds out about the scarab.”

“Maat…” it slowly dawned on Thorne. “This…this is—”

“Yes, the afterlife. We can’t stay here. We need to jump!”

“Jump? Wait, isn’t that worse? What about that…that soul-eating snake?”

“We’ll be long gone before Apep shows up.”

The footsteps stopped.

“Who dares to trespass on the Boat of a Million Years?” the voice of Taweret bellowed.

Thorne stared, mouth wide open. Samuel turned around, averting his gaze.

“Forgive us. We’re not worthy of your judgement, oh mighty Maat,” said Samuel with downcast eyes.

“Maat? What are you talking about? No one ever mistook me for that judgmental, feather-haired stickler.”

“You’re not Maat?”

“What are you? Dead and deaf?”

“Technically, we’re not dead yet. We’re merely…visiting,” Samuel looked up into the large, soft eyes of the hippo-headed goddess.

“What’s this?” She pointed at the heart scarab around Thorne’s neck. “You’re trying to cheat your way into the afterlife?”

“No, no, honestly, I only thought I could convince Maat to let my friend here go this once. It’s not his time. —Take me instead,” Samuel offered.

“I’m not taking anyone anywhere,” Taweret towered over them, eyeing them for a moment, then, with a grunt, made a gesture, and the barque stopped. “I see you. Why are you here?”

Thorne looked at Taweret and stammered, “M-me?”

“Not you, fool. The Ancient One.” Taweret leaned closer, touching Samuel’s forehead with her lion paw, channelling all that had transpired since Samuel was first possessed and brought back to life until the moment Beaumont spoke the words from the lost pages of the Book of Thoth, absorbing the darkness deep under the Mountain of Enlightenment.

“What have you done?” hissed Taweret. “That darkness…it will not stop until all light is devoured.”

“That…that hasn’t happened,” said Samuel, puzzled.

“You’ve unleashed the Talha Ka Ran. The Great Nothing, devouring everything.”

“We, uh, didn’t mean to?” said Thorne.

“Silence, mortal,” said Taweret, shaking her enormous head.

“Send us back. I can stop Beaumont. I can save everyone. You have to send us back,” pleaded Samuel.

“Sending you back is what you should fear most. It is you he seeks. It is you he’ll devour. I cannot interfere with your judgement,” Taweret paused, pointing at the scarab. “This. Its power brought you here. Give it to me,” she demanded.

“Yes, yes, of course. Here!” Thorne dropped the amulet into Taweret’s paw.

The barge jerked forward and sped up, faster and faster, wave after wave, dunes crashed against its bow, starless skies above, torn by streaks of cosmic claws, and in its spectral glow, rising from the sands, out of the darkness came Apep, head beset with two black holes, looming high above, snaking its way towards them.

Taweret crushed the amulet into dust, releasing what was trapped inside, a spark, a glimmer, hovering, flickering, and she spoke. “What was split asunder shall be whole once more.”

The small sphere the shape of a scarab, brightened and shot straight at Samuel’s chest. It spread across his runes in a race of silver, a thousand needles pricking every pore of his skin, pain and pleasure, a concoction of euphoria, exhilarating and terrifying. Tears flowed down his restored face, and one by one, the runes receded, gone from his arms and legs. Only the mark on his chest remained, the circle complete. Dumbfounded, Thorne stared at Samuel, who looked at his hands and touched his face in disbelief.

“What happened to I cannot interfere?” asked Thorne sheepishly.

Taweret shrugged and inhaled, filling her lungs, cheeks all puffed out, held her breath for an instant, winked and exhaled. Her breath, wet as the Nile, a forceful gale, carried them away, her words echoing in their minds.

When light meets light, when darkness is reborn, then shall your hearts be weighed, then shall you be judged.

* * *

The pyramid had appeared seven days ago, seven days that had turned into seven years for Samuel and the rest hunting Beaumont and his lackeys. When they arrived on that first night, the military had already fenced off the area, but since they were so close to the magnetic field, it was easy for Samuel to transport everyone inside.

Inside, they found a nexus of tunnels and shafts connecting to X-Points everywhere. From X-Point to X-Point they jumped, each day getting closer, each day another year passed inside the realm Taweret had called the Great Nothing, where time did not exist, where Beaumont sought his Transference, absorb that immeasurable power and birth it back into the world.

On the seventh day, the pyramid started to move, much to the shock of the military, unable to penetrate the object, let alone keep it from approaching Giza. Experts agreed no weapons would prove effective. A highly advanced magnetic force field, no doubt of alien origin, enveloped the construct, not only protecting it but also effectively causing it to levitate, a theory that remained widely disputed by the brightest minds demanding proof, something they would never get, certainty in the face of inexplicable reality, and the world remained unaware of what transpired within.

When Samuel and Thorne tumbled back onto the floor of the inner sanctum inside the pyramid, Beaumont was towering before Adrian, a web of wavering black behind him. The High Priest and Nadine, tentacles coming out their backs, connected to Beaumont, advanced on the Professor and Bellatrix, daggers drawn. Professor von Traunstein twirled his moustache before pulling a button from his sleeve, which promptly turned into an explosive shuriken.

“Professor!” Bellatrix trilled. “Oh, I’ll definitely need one of those.”

“Miss Thorne, it will be my pleasure to have you fully equipped after this little… Scharmützel,” he winked.

Bellatrix grinned and pulled her curved titanium blades as they descended upon their foes, Bazi charging ahead.

“So good of you to join us, Samuel,” Beaumont snarled, focussing his attention from Adrian to Samuel. “And I suppose I should thank you for bringing me Thorne. Where is that scarab you stole? I shall enjoy killing you – again.”

“Yeah, you’re welcome to try…Tentacleman,” Thorne spat.

“I shall absorb all,” Beaumont seemed to expand, grow darker.

“Father! Enough! Stop this madness,” Jackie stepped between Samuel and her father.

“Jackie, watch out!” Adrian cried.

Beaumont’s tendrils, like lances, shot forward, piercing Adrian’s chest and lifting him into the air. He howled, then fell silent. Eyes black, he turned to Jackie.

“Come, join us,” Adrian’s voice was calm, face contorted.

“Oh, Adrian.” Jackie craned her head, eyes fixed on her dying brother.

Hands clenched into fists, she let out a piercing scream as she released a torrent of white energy. Strands of light and darkness entwined, she drifted into the open arms of her speared brother, a last embrace, a last kiss, then Adrian writhed in the light’s grip and disappeared into the black vortex, the black hole that once was his father.

“He always was the weak one,” Beaumont sneered.

“He loved me!” Jackie shouted in torment.

“Jaqueline, my daughter, you did well. Transference is inevitable,” Beaumont spread his arms wide, and countless tentacles sprouted forth and filled the sanctum.

The High Priest staggered, impaled by a stray fat tentacle. His whole body shivered and quivered, and his face changed, shifted between a myriad of souls trapped inside, until Erich’s face emerged.

“Erich?” the professor gasped.

“Thomas… help… me…” said a voice that sounded like the man he once knew, the man he once loved.

The professor hesitated, and a piercing pain shot through his spine. Erich – the priest – had impaled him with his sacrificial dagger.

“Nooo! Professor!” Bellatrix screamed, adrenaline spiked, muscles flexed, one strike, tentacles severed between Nadine and Beaumont, Nadine’s eyes went blank, blades sank into Nadine’s chest in a frenzy, and Bellatrix kicked her down a shaft and bounded in one leap towards the professor as he collapsed to the ground. She sneered at the vile abomination, half Erich, half High Priest, equally deserving of all her fury.

A tear snaked down her bloodied cheek. Eyes narrowed. Steel flashed. The tentacled priest laughed, a gurgled laugh that turned into a wet cough. One last surprised look and his head slid from his shoulders.

Bellatrix collapsed next to the professor, cradling his head.

“It’s OK, you’re going to be OK, Professor. Only a small scarmuzzle, remember?”

He coughed and smiled. “They never stood a chance.” He winced. “I think this is as far as I go. —Here.”

He pressed a button into her hand and whispered something into her ear. She shook her head, relented, and agreed with a wordless nod, and the professor’s hand fell from hers. Bazi whined and nuzzled his master’s face.

“Bellatrix!” Thorne shouted and pointed behind her. Kneeling next to the professor, she rose. With one fluid stroke, she cut the tentacle reaching for her in half without looking, her eyes fixed on Thorne, and in that instant, a bond formed between them. She saw him, his wrath. He saw her, her fury, and they moved as one. Back to back, they hacked and slashed at the darkness that spread around them, hydra-like for every tentacle they cut, and still, they fought, relentless and in the centre, Jackie hovered before her father, merging, her light fading.

Samuel had stood and watched in horror. His passenger stirred, broke his stupor, and he reached for Jackie’s hand.

“Yeeesss! Join us, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. All will be one,” Beaumont growled, and tentacles swarmed around Jackie and Samuel.

“Talha Ka Ran,” began Samuel.

“Bara’da Kan,” rasped Beaumont. “We are past that point, Doctor Carter. You were doomed the moment you led Erich to your offspring. Locked away for aeons, yet you abandoned it again. You’re a worse father than I am.”

“You were there, you read the pages…” Samuel remembered what Taweret had shown him.

“Yes, the lost pages of the Book of Thoth. Look around you. The writing is on the wall, literally,” Beaumont cackled.

Samuel glanced at the hieroglyphs engraved along the walls. It was too late. Beaumont had won. He had released the alien energy that had killed Erich and his men, had absorbed it and now would absorb the last missing pieces, Mother and Father.

“Why did you want the scarab?” asked Samuel in an attempt to stall.

“Insurance. But now that you’re all here, I don’t need it. I can’t fail! We’ll be one, and darkness shall be reborn,” Beaumont’s words wormed their way inside his mind, and there they festered.

“You really thought of everything, everything but…” Samuel stopped.

“But what? In a moment, you will know true power, little Doctor. Power absolute!” Beaumont rose higher, suffocating all light.

Jackie was almost fully engulfed in black soot. Bellatrix and Thorne were cornered. Bazi barked and jumped at Beaumont, biting at his feet, only to be kicked against the wall with a yelp, tumbling to the ground.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have done that,” Samuel grabbed Jackie’s hand and tried to pull her towards him. The black substance spread onto his hand and crawled up his arm, hissing, slithering.

“Let go,” Jackie whispered.

He now understood, as did the energy within him. Taweret’s gift. When light meets light. He let go. Jackie vanished, and Beaumont laughed triumphantly. The vortex sputtered as the two lovers, brother and sister, were united.

Tentacles became erratic, thrashing wildly about, and Bellatrix would have been impaled had Theodore not pushed her out of the way. A tentacle resembling the smirking face of the Weasel lifted Thorne and flung him across the room, crashing against stone, bones cracking. Bellatrix cried out and sliced the slimy worm into little pieces.

In that moment of chaos, of confusion, Samuel’s passenger erupted from his prison, streamed forth in all its might and flooded the chamber with brilliant light. Beaumont screamed and dissolved, limb by limb, sucked into the Great Nothing.

* * *

At the same time, all the whole world saw was an inverse pyramid hovering above the Cheops pyramid, a perfect mirror image, a mirage, a rare case of mass hypnosis, a miracle. And then it disappeared. One moment, it was there, and the next, it was gone without a trace, as if it had never happened.

* * *

Samuel, in his kimono, was having a pretzel for breakfast, Bazi on his lap begging for a morsel when Bellatrix called.

“How’s London treating you?” asked Bellatrix.

“Can’t complain. Thorne giving you any trouble?”

“Naw, he’s behaving,” said Bellatrix.

Samuel could hear her grin.

“Listen,” she continued. “The SIS is putting together a team for an expedition—”

“No way. No! Forget it.”

“Come on, Sam. No tunnels. I promise.”

* * *

It had been a year since the Giza incident without a sign of his passenger, yet in his dreams, he found himself back on that barque, falling into endless darkness, and as he was falling, he’d look up at Taweret far above, mouthing a warning, and he’d wake to the same words.

They are coming.

* * *

Far out in the desert, a young boy stumbled upon a woman’s face in the sand, skin covered in runes. Curious, he stepped closer.

Eyes opened, as black as the night.

Carter will return…

---

The End

I had the words “They are coming” written long ago. It was, for all intents and purposes, the original ending of Carter’s Origin Story. The many scene jumps in this last chapter were not part of it. What do you make of those “after-credit scenes”, Marvel-style, for those who stay until the very end?

Yes, Carter will return. We still don’t know what’s up with Rooster. Or why Bazi likes Brezn. Well, ok, Bazi will just about eat anything, I guess. But more importantly, things have been set in motion. That energy they released doesn't just disappear. Impulserhaltungssatz¹ as Professor von Traunstein would say. What did he say to Bellatrix? Will she be able to talk Samuel into another expedition? And who is that mystery woman in the sands?

Did you enjoy The Chronicles of Samuel Carter? Leave a comment below and let me know.

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