CARTER – The Cage
The Chronicles of Samuel Carter – Chapter Seven
Foreword
This is the last chapter of Part One of The Chronicles of Samuel Carter, where our main protagonist Samuel faces a final test.
Previous chapters are linked below, so you can easily navigate between them. It is recommended to read the chapters in sequence.
Paid subscribers will receive the e-book version.
I hope you enjoy The Chronicles of Samuel Carter. If you do and know anyone who would, too, please share.
Part One
1 The Call | 2 The Expedition | 3 The Chamber | 4 The Nightmare | 5 The Invitation | 6 The Staff | 7 The Cage
The Cage
They went along a passage hung with portraits of her ancestors, generation after generation, the air musty, the light dim, unmoving eyes staring back at them.
“This one looks like your brother. Adrian, is it?”
Jackie turned around. A yearning glance escaped her, resting on its likeness before all warmth in her expression was gone. “Balthasar Beaumont, our insidiously lucrative link to the Third Reich.”
“You mean, he was—”
“A Nazi? No, don’t be silly. He was a businessman. War was his business, and he was good at it. It took millions to turn these medieval ruins into the manor it is today.”
They continued walking.
“Your brother… is he—”
“He hates being a Beaumont, especially that part of our history. Even over a hundred years later, he still finds it intolerable. He does have a rather strong opinion about the world and its people.”
“Are you two close?” Samuel wondered.
Jackie frowned. “We were.”
“What happened?”
She didn’t answer right away. “He disappeared three months ago. We haven’t heard from him since.”
“He disappeared looking for the staff? You said he was in Egypt. Why didn’t you mention this before?”
“Why? What a great conversation starter: Would you like to join me on an expedition and disappear like my brother, or worse?”
“Disappeared.” Samuel’s eyes widened. “Last online three months ago! The chessboard, the bishop. Your brother? He is BlackKnight77?”
She said nothing.
“It’s him, isn’t it?”
“Alright, yes! He insisted we needed his chess partner.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t say.” Jackie shook her head. “I hoped we would find him or at least some clue, anything—”
They went on in silence until they came upon a small wooden door. Pulling it open, a gust of cold air escaped with a dusty moan, and a steep spiral stairwell gaped before them.
“What’s down there?” Samuel whispered.
“Why are you whispering?”
Samuel shrugged, nodding down the stairs.
“Family crypt. Afraid of ghosts?”
“Psh…”
She descended swiftly, her footsteps mocking him to follow.
“Wait!” Catching up with her in the shadow, he thought she looked pale, lifeless.
“The staff is inside the crypt?”
“And the dream.”
“The dream?”
“Patience.”
They came to the bottom of the stairs. Urns were mounted on marble columns on either side of the walls. Jackie went straight ahead, deeper into the crypt, taking a left turn, a right, and soon he had lost all sense of direction. The maze of corridors grew narrow; the air smelled sweet.
“These are canopic jars!” Samuel exclaimed.
“Some of my ancestors preferred the old kingdom rituals,” Jackie stopped, “We’re here.”
Soft light shone on a row of alabaster sarcophagi leading up to a heptagonal doorway. They stepped through into an antechamber, another door at the far end. A guard was sitting behind a desk, reading a newspaper. As soon as they entered, he jumped to his feet.
“Good evening, Sir–Ma’am.”
“Riley, is it?”
“Higgins, Ma’am. Riley called in sick today.”
“Right, right. Higgins. And Riley, nothing serious?”
“Oh no, some sort of bug, virus, going around.”
“Very well then. Doctor Carter and I are not to be disturbed, is that understood?”
“Understood. You are not to be disturbed unless your father calls.”
“What? No, no. Nobody. Make sure no one disturbs us, especially my father. Clear?”
“Oh, right. Crystal clear.”
She went to the door and nodded to the guard, who grabbed the wheel in the middle and turned it. Air escaped with a hiss as the door swung open, revealing a sealed inner hatch.
Jackie stepped inside the small space. “Coming?”
The guard moved towards her.
“Not you! You stay here and make sure no one disturbs us.”
“Yes, of course. Very sorry, Ma’am.” Higgins stepped back, his face the shade of the deepest scarlet red only known to those trapped in dire apologetic anguish.
“The staff is in there?” Samuel looked past Jackie.
“Everything is in here.”
“Everything…” he joined her, and the door closed. Immediately, he felt pressure in his ears mounting, hurting, intensifying. Finally, the inner hatch opened, and the pain subsided. Jackie had to duck to pass through. Following her, the hatch sealed shut. Diffuse orange light emanating from all sides gave the vast chamber a sombre glow. The air swirled like water; it was hard to breathe. The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered entirely with opaque panels. They were inside a sphere, at its centre, the dream, an immaculate, dark, brooding, oval pod.
“What is this place?”
“Do you know what an X-Point is?”
“Like an electron diffusion region?”
“Exactly. This artefact was here long before my ancestors built all this. Can you feel the pull?”
Samuel nodded. He could even see vibrations in the air, intensifying at the centre.
“The magnetic field here…” he started, “connects to the magnetic field of the sun,” they both said simultaneously.
His face went pink; he had an erection.
“Increased oxygen uptake is another effect we can see in action,” she grinned.
“Uh, sorry, is it safe?” Samuel linked his hands piously before his belt.
“Safe? Oh, Sam. When was it ever safe to change the world?” Jackie was standing next to the pod.
“Whatever is inside this… this cage, what makes you think anything good will come of it? Don’t you feel it?” Samuel pleaded.
“Good. Bad. It’s all the same, Sam,” Jackie said, her eyes narrow. A transparent column rose from the floor on her command. She picked up the staff contained inside.
“Your Holy Grail. Take it.” She held the staff out towards him.
His right hand grabbed tight. Sparks of white light arced from its tip towards the pod, pulsating, flowing across its surface into the ground. He could not let go. Watching the trail of light pass through the panels, he gasped. Bones. Countless shattered human remains, illuminated for a moment, then obscured again. She saw his face and laughed.
“Say hello to my husband,” Jackie pointed at his feet, a skull staring back at him from underneath.
“Every change requires sacrifice, Sam. Ever wondered why you could open the altar… why you could use the staff? Ancient DNA, Sam. A lock we were never able to pick until now.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The energy you absorbed… this pod holds the counterpart of what is inside you, both trapped, waiting, wanting, whispering… I will set you free. I will absorb all. I will be—”
“You are insane.”
“And here I thought you liked me,” Jackie shrugged, faced the pod, and began to chant.
Talha Ka Ran Bara’da Kan.
The words echoed throughout the sphere, resonating within him. The humming from his dream emanated from the pod. The light pulsated faster, ever faster, the sound rising to a crescendo.
“Adrian,” Jackie breathed, her eyes closed.
A muted beam of blinding white light shot forth from the pod. Jackie was gone. Samuel stood still and listened, eyes a bristling white. Silence. Gently touching the pod, he spoke.
“Soon, my love. Soon we will be together again. Together we will bring light to their world.”
![CARTER [P2C1] – Hellstone Lake](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1300,h_650,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a90c020-9e5e-4b95-b2f0-237914a87d40_1920x1080.jpeg)
The Chronicles of Samuel Carter – Part Two
Part One is only the beginning of Samuel’s journey, a Prologue. Samuel Carter will return.
What happened to Jackie and her brother Adrian? Is Samuel still Samuel, and more importantly, what’s up with Rooster?
Samuel’s next adventure will lead him to Germany in his quest to unravel the mystery of the cage, a race against time and his new passenger.
What did you think of the Chronicles thus far? Let me know in the comments below!
Additional Reading related to the Chronicles
To serialize or not to serialize
Now that CARTER Part One has concluded, what do you prefer? Get Part Two (~10k words) at once or chapter by chapter each week? Also, please comment below about your experience reading Part One.
TFTD Community
Thank you for reading, and to all new subscribers, welcome and thank you for joining! Please leave a comment and say Hi in the chat or on Discord, or drop me a line via email. I am always happy to hear from you.
If you liked reading this, feel free to click the ❤️ button on this post, so more people can discover it on Substack. 🙏
Share Tales from the Defrag. You'll get credit for new subscribers when you use the referral link below or the “Share” button on any post. Simply send the link in a text or email, or share it on social media with friends.
You'll receive special benefits when more friends use your referral link to subscribe (free or paid).
Get a 1-month comp for 3 referrals
Get a 3-month comp for 5 referrals
Get a 6-month comp for 25 referrals
Fantastic, Alexander. What a climax to part 1! What on earth is going on? Where did Jackie go? Why did Alexander say what he said at the end? The intrigue remains, along with the lacing of some great humour, the moment with the bumbling, obsequious guard especially. (I had the start of The Sandman flicker through my head thinking of a guard guarding something below a house.)
"her footsteps mocking him to follow" was a great line, love this notion.
Well, hurry up with Part 2 then! 😆
So fun, enjoying very much.
Als nächstes geht es nach Deutschland? Supergeil!
Also, love the under the radar Monty Python reference.