The Raggedy Man's Revenge

Extracts from the Personal Diary of Dr Belinda Durham

Sunday 6^th August:

We’ve bound the Shoggoth to go back to whence it came, and it is off to Silbury Hill. All we have to do is make sure it can get back in there without any problems. We think it will take more than two days travelling, so we’re aiming to get to the Hill first to check there are no problems at the very end.

Tuesday 8^th August:

We’re back at Avebury with climbing gear. The forecast is to be fine but with overnight rain. We headed for St John and Jules’s van, via the Henge Shope for St John to pick up money that they owned him and then left him with Jules. He’ll join us later at Silbury Hill. Eliza’s getting these cryptic phone calls about an MI13 mole and ‘Yuggoth intervention’. It makes everything sound more and more like a clichéd thriller.

We got the bronze slab up from the bottom of the shaft in Silbury Hill. I really didn’t like it. Not only did it feel really creepy, but there was an awful smell of something decomposing and I kept catching glimpses of things skittering around at the corner of my eye that were gone as soon as I turned to see them properly. We couldn’t get a phone signal there either, so I was only too keen to volunteer to drive to find a phone-box. They’ve still got the traditional red ones in this historic area.

Eliza’s MI13 contact ‘Jack’, says there’s no record at MI13 of anything happening at Silbury since 2004, only a note to leave the area totally alone. So that’s a complete cover-up of what’s happened over that last year, which is a bit scary. What else are they going to deny? So far, they’ve been very helpful to us (and we have been to them, even before we, or certainly I, realised what was going on), but maybe they won’t always support us. I’d keep them from knowing about all of my friends and relations so that I have someone to run to if I ever fall out with MI13. All in the best tradition of fictional spy thrillers!

After the phone call, we went back to the Hill. Adam and I stayed on it while St John, Eliza and Barbara went to look around. St John had his dowsing kit with his and thought he might be able to find the Shoggoth.

It got dark but I had a good view of what happened next, although at a distance. Mist started flowing down the low hill opposite Silbury Hill towards the marshy ground around the river. There was lightning, out of nowhere, and then a gunshot, then more lightning and another shot. Then, the headlights of a car on the road past the Hill showed it was trying to dodge someone, who was hit and thrown through the air. There were screams, which stopped. Other cars drove past and the police and an ambulance arrived shortly after.

We met up with Eliza and Barbara in the car-park and they explained about the insects with ray-guns that they’d encountered (the lightning and gunshots), that had made St John run away madly (the traffic accident). The insects must be trying to prevent the Shoggoth getting back home. After arguing about what to do with the plaque, we eventually put it back at the bottom of the shaft since the Shoggoth won’t be along until tomorrow night. Barbara left to tell Jules what had happened and to take her to St John in hospital.

Wednesday 9^th August:

Dawn was supposed to be at 4:42. The mist that had filled the valley cleared rapidly. We went to a Little Chef for breakfast and then to a motel to sleep. St John was well enough to be discharged at midday and Barbara took him and Jules home. We phoned MI13 to try to find out more about the insects – yuggoths? – and ‘Amanda’ said that their weapons are lethal and that they like to spend daytime in shelter on high ground – like the top of the rise opposite the Hill, which the maps said was called Wadon Hill.

More practically, ‘Amanda’ was willing to send Andy Price to help us again. We arranged to meet him at the Red Lion, perhaps not the best place, since it now had the notoriety of a gang-land hit in its car-park, but I guess no one would recognise him or us as connected with it.

We went to Wadon Hill via the hippy’s caravan. St John had recovered from his physical injuries remarkably well but there was a bit of an atmosphere between Jules and him. I’m not surprised since she’s hardly over her awful ordeal and now he is leaving her on own and ending up in hospital. If we didn’t need him so badly I’d encourage him to stay at home.

We had the idea that St John could dowse for the insect things, and tried that out on the remains of the one that Eliza had killed. It was dissolving away rapidly but St John managed to detect a characteristic feeling from it. We walked up Wadon Hill and he picked up similar ‘vibes’ from water cisterns on it. I left for the Red Lion to pick up Andy. While I was away, the others found a machine with an unknown function hidden outside on the hillside. Maybe it generated the mist?

I explained what we’d found to Andy (namely underground water-tanks with an unknown number of ray-gun wielding insects) and he got the same thoughtful look he’d had when we were planning to assassinate Rodriguez. It’s the sort of expression I’d like to see on an electrician, plumber or research student, but is really disconcerting on someone you know is planning efficient death.

Andy started handing out guns in the car-park, fairly discreetly but even so I thought this was unnecessarily risky. I’d never used a gun before so he gave me a 7.65 automatic, which I made sure to give back to him at the end of the day’s events. He also muttered about needing petrol, and siphoned some out into a petrol-can. We drove back to Wadon Hill where he handed out guns all round. St John made the surprising announcement that he’d been in the OTC at school. Maybe he is from an aristocratic background after all, but I’m surprised he admitted such a thing, even under these circumstances.

Andy organised us into two teams, one for anything that left each water-tank after he and Adam push the cover off each and drop a petrol bomb in. Let’s hope there are no hikers around. The first one went quite well. Adam pushed the lid off easily, Andy’s bomb killed all but one of the insects (I think) and the others killed it easily. I was in the team covering the second bunker, along with (I think Belinda; it is incredible how after even a short time the memory of even such dramatic events fades!). Adam found it difficult to get the lid off, and two of the insects were out almost before the petrol bomb was dropped let along exploded. Not surprisingly, since I’d never used a gun before, I didn’t managed to shoot accurately, and ended up trying to punch or kick one of the insects. I managed to injure it, but got hurt myself as well. The other one flew overhead and did something that looked, incredibly, like the effects of a spell to make skin blister like burning.

It was dicey for a time but eventually we began to get the upper hand and Andy finally finished them off. We’d never have contemplated doing something like this on our own. Amazingly, no-one came to see what all the flames, smoke and gun-shots were about. I guess MI13 must have had something to do with that because it was very hard to miss! My left arm ended up quite badly injured, although Adam was able to make it much better. It still really needed proper medical attention, only we didn’t have time that night until after the Shoggoth was home.

We found some very interesting things on the remains of the insects. As well as their ray guns (for want of a better word) the ‘magician’ had a flat, pale yellow stone on a belt, and a scroll in a tube. There seemed to be light in the stone and when it became dark it was obvious that it was glowing faintly. The scroll showed a network of straight lines, obviously the ley lines in this region, and had symbols on some points. Glastonbury, Avebury, Stonehenge and Wells were marked with symbols; there was a trilithon symbol at Stonehenge and an 8-point star just under Avebury that was probably Silbury Hill.

However, our real job was to make sure the Shoggoth got home safely. We’d got rid of the insects that were trying to stop it reaching the Hill so now we only had to make sure that the seal was away from the shaft for long enough to let it return and not so long that anything else came out. We went back to the Hill, took the seal away and then tried to leave someone to watch inside the dome with others watching for its arrival outside.

I tried to stay inside the dome, but after a short time I was convinced that something terrible was crawling up the shaft towards me. It was undermining all the excavations and would make the whole hill collapse in on itself. I rushed out – and all the fear drained away. Part of it was because the others reassured me, but it was also the fresh summer night, the stars and the, well, just a healthier atmosphere than in the shadowed dome. And it wasn’t just me who was affected by the atmosphere in the dome, either. Everyone who tried to stay inside it became convinced that nameless horrors were crawling up to the surface.

Eventually, Barbara saw the Shoggoth making its way to the hill. St John and I stayed where we could keep it in sight while the others took the seal well away. We saw it go into the dome and then went back in ourselves. There was a terrible smell, and a pile of skin and clothes left at the top. Someone had to put the seal back over the hole at the bottom of the shaft to stop it coming out again and St John was the only one who was fit enough for the job. He took the seal down and put it in place, almost being grabbed by the Shoggoth at the end. We pulled him back up, using the mountaineering ropes, harness and a pulley.

Thursday 10^th August:

Once we got back to MI13, we found out more about what exactly the insects were. They are call Fungi from Yuggoth or Mi-Go. Their Gods are Nyarlathotep, Shub-Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth. They come to Earth for minerals and like high, cold places, like the Welsh hills. They do not like company but don’t mind sunlight. They are most like Earth fungi but with a weird physiology. They do not show up in photos and can perform astounding surgical feats like putting human brains in tubes with communication systems and then taking them into space! They use technology – almost the only Mythos creatures to do so.

So, the end of an eventful few weeks! Encountering the Shoggoth and an organisation like MI13 has given me a completely different perspective on the news and current affairs, as well as a new interpretation of some archaeological remains. I’d guess that this is the sort of organisation where once you are ‘in’, it is difficult to resign. I think I’m OK with that. After all, it’s the same as being an archaeologist; that’s something I’ll never give up, either.