story Chapter 1

[Butchern]

Derry greeted each person with a big smile behind his snow white beard.

On 8/24/2022 at 1:12 AM, Sir Lazeabout said:

Whatever are you working on today? Do not spare me a single detail, I beg you!"

Derry laughed. "I am, sadly, grading papers. It has been some time since I have been in the laboratory. I have too many papers to grade and far too many young faculty to wrangle."

 

According to the sign beside his door, Derry was the Chair of the Chemistry department.

 

"And we had to add an additional section of Introduction to Chemistry at the last minute, so I am teaching it now as well. The grind never ends." He didn't look too put out by the additional assignment. In fact, when he mentioned being back in the classroom, his eyes twinkled with delight.

On 8/23/2022 at 8:09 PM, matt_s said:

All that to simply ask if you have come across anything strange recently?

Derry gave Coupard an incredulous look as he listened to Coupard's explanation. It was surely the same look that many a student had received as they professed some half-baked excuse to their professor.

 

He pressed his lips together as though he might say something, but then nodded, paused, and said, "Actually, I had some lab assistants in my office just this afternoon complaining about failed experiments. They were demonstrating for their students, but before they added the sample to the test tube, a reaction began. Naturally, they suspected a contaminant, but after using several test tubes, the reaction still occurred. Something appeared to be acting as a catalyst, but we could not think what. Maybe it was something in the cleaning supplies, contaminant in the glass. Who knows? Cosmic radiation perhaps. Moreover, and inexplicably, there appeared to be a rhythm to the effect, the intensity of the reaction increasing suddenly every second or two, before immediately decreasing. They had never seen anything like it, and neither had I. If it hadn't happened in two separate lab courses, I don't think I would have believed it."

He paused again and then said, "What really happened in your lab? What are you working on?"

[Sir Lazeabout]

"Ah!" Malcolm says mysteriously. "I'm afraid that is a secret - you see, Professor Coupard is assisting me with developing my latest trick! I don't suppose you have happened to catch one of my shows? Here, let me give you a free ticket to the next one, as a small apology for any unexpected bother our activities might have caused you..."

 

He produces a ticket with a flourish and hands it to Derry.

[DogTheGoblin]

Stone had kept his tongue. A grimace tightening on his face at the attempts to dupe the fellow scientist, a superior given the sign. 

There a mention of cosmic radiation that lingered with Martin. Is that somethings that's possible? Something from the Heavens interfering with things on Earth? He didn't like the idea. Nor did hearing that others around the campus have been experiencing the same phenomenon. The reporter rubbed his chin as he mused over the information in his head. 

"Was it only this afternoon that these strange reactions started happening?" Stone asked, not reading the room that an attempt to con the man was underway. He paused, a question obviously sitting on his tongue that wanted to follow straight along, only to be stopped by hesitation. "And was there any mention of a large black bird?"

 

  

[matt_s]

Coupard will respond to the chair's observations,

 

Hmm, a periodic reaction is not so strange in chemistry. After all there are those famous "clock" reactions where you mix a few chemicals in a beaker and the color oscillates from one to the next periodically until it slows down and then stops. Still, curious, quite curious. Cosmic radiation, now that's a peculiar theory. In order to interact with the sample, it must have a wavelength sufficient for that purpose, but in order to penetrate the walls of this building - and these buildings are built like bunkers with all this blasted brick - such a wavelength is precluded entirely. At least, that is what conventional wisdom tells us, and I will readily confess that my knowledge of physics is becoming rapidly out of date. That Schrodinger paper, about wave functions, that came out recently went entirely over my head for example. Newton and Lagrange, that's more my style, har!

 

 

 

 

[Butchern]

On 8/26/2022 at 3:31 AM, Sir Lazeabout said:

"Ah!" Malcolm says mysteriously. "I'm afraid that is a secret - you see, Professor Coupard is assisting me with developing my latest trick! I don't suppose you have happened to catch one of my shows? Here, let me give you a free ticket to the next one, as a small apology for any unexpected bother our activities might have caused you..."

Derry looked nonplussed as he took the ticket. "Thank you. I'm sure it is an amazing show if a geologist is involved."

 

On 8/26/2022 at 11:35 AM, DogTheGoblin said:

"Was it only this afternoon that these strange reactions started happening?" Stone asked, not reading the room that an attempt to con the man was underway. He paused, a question obviously sitting on his tongue that wanted to follow straight along, only to be stopped by hesitation. "And was there any mention of a large black bird?"

"This is the first I've heard of it," Derry said. "You could schedule some time in the archives in the library basement to research if such a thing has been recorded before." When asked about the bird, he said, "No. No bird. A part of the magic trick, no doubt? We haven't seen the bird." He sounded like a parent who was growing tired of dealing with a dishonest child.

 

On 8/26/2022 at 3:31 PM, matt_s said:

"Hmm, a periodic reaction is not so strange in chemistry . . . such a wavelength is precluded entirely . . . conventional wisdom tells us . . ."

"Thank you for the explanation. It was fascinating. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a mountain of papers to grade. Good luck with your trick."

He stood up to formally say goodbye to the investigators.

"Ladies. Gentlemen."

[DogTheGoblin]

Stone rubbed his chin once more as the chairman quite forwardly answered. Just as he considered earlier, it seemed to be a mere coincidence. So why did the feeling that the three are connected still lingered? 

Either way, it was clear the chairman had enough of the group, bowing his head to the chairman akin to a student freshly berated by the headmaster. He kept quiet, even with an attempt to elegantly apologise for the waste of his time felt like it would make the matter worse. No, best to just leave him alone. Instead he spoke to the group. "I might take up that offer of the library, see if there is any mentions of what we saw today. Can't imagine they'll have any slots open today, but I'll put my name forward. What were you guys thinking of doing next?" 

[matt_s]

After the chairman left, Coupard shook his head grimly but tried to keep a positive face for the group.

 

Well, I do not think I will be getting any favors from the Chemistry Department anytime soon. But so it goes, a quick lesson in the pernicious nature of attempted deceptions that may cost me dearly, but not for now at least.

 

He sighed and looked around. We still learned something of that strange rock's nature and its almost reality warping abilities. But nothing of immediate use unfortunately. Now, we must decide where upon the hot iron to strike. We were explicitly told to find Ramirez, and that is my suggestion for our next course. Naturally though, I shall put the question to the group consensus.

[Sir Lazeabout]

Malcolm's moustaches droop a little from his failure to slip the truth past the professor. It's so much easier to fool a crowd who has paid money to be fooled...

 

"I concur," he says, rather more meekly than usual. "Let us seek out this Ramirez."

[Caystodd]

Livingston waited until they standing outside the building to speak.

 

"I concur as well," she said. "Let me have a look at that card that her name was written on. Maybe I can identify it. I've seen plenty of contact cards, here at the College and at the hospitals. It might give us a place to start."

[LaChupa]

"Lo tengo aqui." Maria said, mostly to herself.

 

She rummaged through her large handbag and produced the name card that had been left to them by Abraham Broder. She looked at the small information card as she handed it over to Livingston. The name Stephanie Ramirez was printed on the top.

 

"Quien eres, Estephania Ramirez."

[Caystodd]

Maria took the card, looked at it, and turned it over in her fingers.

 

"Hard to say much. There isn't much here. But I have seen more than a few patient cards and student cards, here at the college and at the hospital. I wonder . . ."

 

She turned the card over again and turned so she could see it in the full light of the sun.

[Butchern]

As Livingston turned the sheet over and over in her hand, she noticed that the bottom left corner of the sheet had been clipped so it would sit in a drawer with a beveled bottom. Livingston had seen that before, but where?

 

And then it hit her in a flash. This was almost certainly a patient card from the South Carolina Hospital for the Insane. She had seen these a few times before with transfer patients. The nurses used to comment on the oddity of the card. The Asylum was about twenty miles north west of Charleston on the road up to Columbia.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Butchern (see edit history)

[matt_s]

Patient or student card, I think we will either find Stephanie herself or people who know her at the place that card was issued. I, as you likely have deduced by now, have little aptitude for intrigue, but perhaps Livingston has some sway, personal or professional, in such a place? We could also check the library, but the card to me at least seems a more direct lead,

Coupard comments. Given how this day is going, I rather doubt to find anything ordinary wherever we go. But if we do need to go somewhere, I suppose my Ford is more or less up to the task.

Edited August 31, 2022 by matt_s (see edit history)

[LaChupa]

"Dr. Livingston also has a car," Maria said. "We could meet up in an hour. The trip should only take about an hour. We can be home by dinner."

[Butchern]

The South Carolina state hospital, one of the oldest hospitals for the mentally ill in America, was tucked away in a tree-covered neighborhood about twenty miles north and west of Charleston, just off the highway. It took just a little over an hour to make the drive up from Charleston.

 

The first view of the hospital for the investigators came from the drive. The building out from was a newly-constructed brick institution, surrounded by lawns and topped by a clock tower. From the outside, it looked pleasant. The building that loomed up behind it was the original structure that was built 70 year earlier. It also appeared to be in good repair, but it was accompanied by an overwhelming air of melancholy. It's massive columns were no longer white, and all around the building the swamp was slowly creeping up the sides.

 

Livingston had called ahead to confirm that Stephanie Ramirez was a patient there (they would not give any additional information over the phone) and to let them know they were coming. An attractive young nurse dressed very smartly in all white was waiting on the front porch as they pulled up.