Main Story: Chapter Two - The Foretelling

Gee, it's been a very productive couple of days.

Here is the next chapter:

The Deep Ones Project
By David John Reichen

Chapter Two - The Foretelling

After laying to rest my parents spirits' in their watery abyss, we return home. I ask my companion into the study so that we can talk together in reasonable comfort and privacy and ask, "So, exactly what do I call you anyway?"

"Hey You, works for me," he replies.

I chuckle at his response, knowing fully well that he was just making a joke and continue my questioning, "No. I mean what is your name? None of the news reports that I know of actually calls you by any sort of name."

"That's because I only give it out on a need to know basis."

"And of course," I interrupt, "I don't need to know."

"I think you do by now," he says and then takes out an ID badge. The badge looks impressive: a government type seal, big letters along the top spelling out National Security Agency with the guys pictures and name below it, Chancy, Lief."You can call me Lief."

"Ouch. It's no wonder you don't go around bragging about your name."

"My parents have a very sick humor."

"And do you really work for the crypto spooks?"

"Yes, I do work with the Agency, not for them. I'm an independent agent. My speciality is in ancient scripts from the Alemanic region of Europe."

"So how did you end up working with mom and dad anyway. Their field was biology not ciphers or am I missing something?"

"You would be surprised how similar the code of life is to other types of codes."


After a while, the conversation draws to a close and I make my way upstairs to bed. "I'm so tired that I could sleep forever," I comment, as I ascend the stairs.

Just then, a high, squeaky voice calls out the following refrain, which makes the hairs on the back of my neck stiffen:

" That is not dead, which can eternal lie.
In strange eons, even death itself may die.

Cthulhu sumbers in his palace beneath the sea.
Dreaming of the monent he shall be free! "

I turn around so quickly that I almost fall down the stairs. I could have sworn that I was alone but sure enough, there is Lief, standing at the foot of the stairs, cackling in mirth. "Thanks a lot, man! I'll probably have a nightmare now," I gruff.

"You're welcome. If you do, I am here if you need me," he replies, stepping into the Living Room, where he will be sleeping on the sofa, leaving me to wonder what he exactly meant by that.


I lay down on my bed, close my eyes and drift into the land of sleep:

A cocoon lies on a table, a surgical platform maybe. Barely noticeable within it is a hominoid shape. Tubes snake in and around the body moving liquids of unknown origin into and out of the reclined figure.

The chest moves up and down, as if it is breathing, but there cannot possibly be any breathable air in such an
environment; however, breath it does. Some thick a viscous fluid moves through the nose and flaps arrayed at the neck and abdomen.

The beat of a sluggish heart can be heard in the background. Its pace quickens. An area where the head is becomes transparent. A face is reveled, a face very familiar to the dreamer yet subtly different. His own!

The viewpoint changes abruptly. The dreamer is now looking out through the pod into the room. He desperately claws his way out of the confined space and sits up. He coughs violently, clearing the mucousy substance that he has been breathing for an unknown amount of time.

He begins to wake but not instantly. During the transition, he has one final vision to take with him into the waking world.

He sees the girl of his finest dreams. As she beckons, the colors change, unnoticed details become apparent, she looks similar to his own dream image.


I wake up screaming in terror of what I had just dreamed. I have the feeling that I have experienced this type of dream many times before. This time it is different, much more realer. What frightens me the most is that this time, unlike all of the other times, I REMEMBER!

Scary monsters and super peeps
The more you dream, the less you sleep.
Life as you know it has gone away
Unbound, unwound, who's here to stay.
{Nobody's Real, by Powerman 5000, from Tonight the Stars Revolt}

Main Story: Chapter One - Burial at Sea

The Deep Ones Project
By David John Reichen

There are things best left unknown. Had I paid attention to such a statement I would have been able to live a long and boring life; however, I have been cursed with curiosity. Here is my tale:

Chapter One - Burial at Sea

I don't know why I never told you.
I don't know why I never tried.
When we shed these bitter skins again,
all of the reasons come life.

But now it's over.
{Prelude 3.0, by Slipknot, from Subliminal Verses Vol. 3}

As the song begins to play, lightening and thunder begins to play outside the car we are riding in. It starts to rain, perfect weather to match my mood on this saddest day of my life. As we make our way down the dreary road, I reflect on what I know of the other person siting beside me, steering the car through most of the puddles.

All I know of him is what I could glean from the news. My parents did not talk to me of him or what they were working on. These are the few facts that I do know:

My parents and he were doing research at the Miskatonic University, here in Arkham, Mass. My parents ran a lab specializing in Evolutionary Biology. He, on the other hand, was working in the Advanced Computational Research Complex.

They started a Frankensteinian experiment, producing a mouse that could survive underwater. Why they would have done such a thing is a mystery to me but I dearly wish that they wouldn't have. The religiously inclined freaked out and claimed that it was an affront to God's Creation and staged protest after protest. The most prevalent signs had this slogan, "Don't mess with the G-Nome!"

After a few days of protests, it happened. There was a fire in one of the computer labs, my parents work area was wreaked, melted slag and glass everywhere. My parents and their partner in crime, for everyone considered them criminals against humanity by then, disappeared and I was left to wonder where they took off to.




Last week, he shows up just as news that my parents have been finally found breaks. They were found about a half of a mile offshore, dead, inside the wreckage of their car. Their bodies partially eaten away but with enough bits and pieces on them so that they could be identified. The car and its grizzly contents never made it to shore. A huge wave washed it all overboard. It was decided to leave it where it sank, which explains why we are on our way to the docks for a burial at sea ceremony.

As we pull into the parking lot, we spot a few protesters lined up at dockside waving their signs which have the usual circle and slash marking with a Gnome in the center. "I hear the price of garden gnomes are at an all-time high now," my companion remarks, tring to get a smile out of me. It didn't work, I frown back at him instead.

We get out of the car and make our way to the water's edge. He passes the reef to me that he took out of the trunk of the car and carried with him. I take the reef from him and throw it into the water and it slowly sinks below the surface. I try to hold back the cascading surge of sadness but it is to no avail, I collapse to my knees and cry. He crouches beside me and hugs me, trying to give me what little comfort anyone alive can.


I don't know why you never asked me.
I don't know why you never cared.
When we hide these little sins again,
all the reasons have to die.

But now it's over.

NO!!!!
{Prelude 3.0, by Slipknot, from Subliminal Verses Vol. 3}

Prodution Notes : Music is done!

Music is done, Yippy!

That's right, I went from tring to figure out the basic rhythms to a competed song.

I used my trusty old Amiga 2000 to do all of the instrumental parts. I used Sonic Drum Kit to test out the percussion tracks. I then switched over to using OctaMED SoundStudio. I had to split up the drum kits instrument bank into separate sounds. Once the percussion tracks were re-layed, I added the base and chord line. As an added touch, I put in a kettle drum track to give the song an old time Warner Bros spooky music effect that they used in their cartoons.

I then used Audacity, running on the Windows machine, to recorded the music from the Amiga and dubbed in the vocals.

So far, I have gotten good reviews of the result at work. People are humming to it everywhere, it's contagious!

I will be uploading the mod file for OctaMED and the finished mp3 onto AmiNET soon.

You can read futher details in my Prez Sez acticle in the April 2005 issue of the Northwest Amiga Journal. follow the link from NAG's website:Northwest Amiga Group

I still need to complete the video part of the project but at least I know how much animation I need to squeeze between scenes.

I am also doing the story for the main project and will be posting the chapters when they are completed.