0:00

Hello,

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gentle listener,

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and welcome to Nocturnal

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Transmissions,

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the fortnightly podcast

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that brings you dark tales,

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both old and new, performed

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by your humble

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narrator, Kristen Holland.

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Well, how long has it been since we last

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featured a story from Clark Ashton

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Smith? Too

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long is the correct answer, gentle

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listener. This episode,

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we are riffling

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back through the pages of good

0:45

old Weird Tales magazine

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in order to revisit one of his

0:51

creepy musings on

0:54

the Red Planet.

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Aptly named, gentle listener,

1:02

aptly named. Nocturnal

1:07

Transmissions is proud

1:09

to present Clark

1:13

Ashton Smith's

1:17

The Vaults

1:18

of Yo-Fumbis.

1:34

If the doctors are correct

1:37

in their prognostication, I

1:40

have only a few Martian

1:43

hours of life remaining

1:47

In those hours, I shall endeavor

1:50

to relate, as a warning to others

1:52

who might follow in our footsteps, the

1:56

singular and frightful

1:58

happenings that turn eliminated our researchers

2:01

among the ruins of Yo,

2:06

Fonders

2:09

If my story will only serve

2:11

to prevent future explorations

2:16

Telling Would

2:18

not have been in vain There

2:24

were eight others professional

2:28

archaeologists with more or less terrain

2:30

and interplanetary experience who

2:33

set forth with native guides from Ignat

2:36

commercial metropolis of Mars

2:37

to inspect that ancient

2:45

Alan octave our official

2:47

leader held his primacy by knowing

2:50

more about Martian archaeology than any

2:52

other terrestrial on the planet and Others

2:55

of the party such as William Harper

2:57

and Jonas Halgren had been

2:59

associated with him in many of his

3:01

previous researchers I

3:04

Rodney seven was more

3:07

of a newcomer Having spent

3:09

but a few months on Mars and

3:11

the greater part of my own Ultra

3:13

terrain delvings had been

3:16

confined to Venus The

3:20

Nude spongy chest today haze Spoken

3:23

the tearingly of vast deserts filled

3:26

with ever swirling sandstorms through

3:28

which we must pass to reach Yolvandas

3:31

and in spite

3:33

of our Unificent offers of payment

3:36

it had been difficult to secure guides

3:38

for the journey therefore We

3:41

were surprised as well as pleased

3:43

when we came to the ruins after Seven

3:46

hours of plodding across the

3:48

flat treeless

3:49

orange yellow desolation

3:51

to the southwest of We

3:56

held our destination for the first time

3:59

in the setting of

5:59

I

6:03

remember gasping a little in

6:05

an air that seemed to have been touched

6:08

by the irrespirable

6:11

chill of death,

6:14

and I heard the same sharp

6:16

laborious intake of breath from others

6:18

in our party.

6:21

That place is deader than an Egyptian

6:24

morgue, observed

6:26

Harper.

6:28

Certainly it is far more ancient.

6:31

Octave ascented.

6:33

According to the most reliable legends,

6:35

the Rheorists who built the Ovembus

6:37

were wiped out by the present rolling race,

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at least 40,000 years ago.

6:44

There's a story, isn't there? Set

6:47

Harper, that the last remnants

6:49

of the Oresse were destroyed by some unknown

6:52

agency, something too

6:55

horrible and… Utre,

6:58

to be mentioned even in a myth.

7:02

Of course I've heard that legend.

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Agree, Doctor.

7:07

Maybe we'll find evidence among the ruins

7:09

to prove or disprove

7:12

it. The Rheorists

7:14

may have been cleaned out by some terrible

7:16

epidemic,

7:17

such as the Yashta Bestellants,

7:20

which was a kind of green mold

7:23

that ate all the bones

7:26

of the body, starting with

7:29

the teeth.

7:32

But we needn't be afraid of getting

7:34

it.

7:35

If there are any mummies in your

7:37

numbers, the bacteria

7:40

will all be dead as their victims.

7:41

After so many cycles of planetary…

7:45

Desecration.

7:48

The sun had gone down with uncanny

7:50

swiftness, as if it had disappeared

7:53

through

7:53

some sort of prestidigitation

7:55

rather than the normal process of setting.

7:59

felt the instant chill of the blue-green

8:02

twilight, and the ether

8:04

above us was like a huge, transparent

8:07

dome of sunless

8:08

ice, shot

8:10

with a million bleak sparklings

8:13

that were the stars.

8:15

We donned the coats and

8:17

helmets of Martian fur, which

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must always be worn at night, and

8:22

going on westward of the walls,

8:24

we established our camp in their lee,

8:27

so that we might be shouted a little from

8:29

the jar, that cruel

8:31

desert wind that always blows

8:34

from the east before dawn.

8:37

Then lighting the alcohol lamps

8:39

that had been brought along for cooking purposes,

8:42

we huddled around them while the evening mail

8:44

was prepared

8:46

and eaten.

8:49

Afterward, for comfort rather than

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because of weariness, we

8:52

retired early to our sleeping bags,

8:55

and the two AA's, our guides,

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wrapped themselves in the sermons like

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folds of basaklov,

9:02

which are all the protection their

9:04

leathery skins appear to require, even

9:06

in sub-zero temperatures.

9:10

Even in my thick, double-lined

9:12

bag, I still felt the rigor

9:14

of the night air,

9:16

and I am sure it was

9:17

this, rather than anything else,

9:20

which

9:20

kept me awake for a long while, and

9:23

rendered my eventual slumber somewhat

9:26

restless and broken.

9:29

At any rate, I was not troubled by even

9:31

the least presentiment of alarm or

9:33

danger, and I should have laughed

9:36

at the idea that anything of peril

9:38

could lurk in your vombus. And

9:41

whose undreamable and stupefying

9:43

antiquities the very phantoms

9:45

of its dead must long since

9:48

fade

9:49

into nothingness.

9:52

I must have drowsed again and

9:54

again with the starts of semi-wakefulness.

9:58

At last, in

9:59

one of these,

9:59

I knew vaguely that the small

10:02

twin moons Phobos and Deimos

10:05

had risen and were making huge

10:07

and far-flung shadows with the domeless

10:10

towers. Shadows that

10:13

almost touched the glimmering,

10:16

shrouded forms of my

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companions.

10:22

All seen was locked in a

10:24

patrific stillness, and

10:26

none of the sleepers stirred.

10:29

Then as my lids were about

10:31

to close, I received an

10:33

impression of movement

10:36

in the frozen gloom, and

10:39

it seemed to me that a portion

10:41

of the foremost shadow had

10:43

detached itself, and

10:45

was crawling toward Octeth,

10:48

who lay nearer to the ruins than

10:50

we others.

10:53

Even through my heavy lethargy,

10:55

I was disturbed by a warning

10:59

of something

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unnatural, and perhaps

11:04

ominous.

11:06

I started to sit up, and even

11:08

as I moved the shadowy object, whatever

11:11

it was, drew back and

11:14

became

11:14

merged once more in the

11:16

greater shadow. Its

11:19

vanishment startled me into full wakefulness,

11:23

and yet I could not be sure

11:25

that I had actually seen the thing.

11:29

In that brief final glimpse,

11:31

it had seemed like a roughly

11:34

circular piece of cloth

11:36

or leather, dark

11:39

and crumpled and twelve or fourteen inches

11:41

in diameter,

11:42

that ran along the ground

11:44

with the coupling movement of an inchworm,

11:47

causing it to fold

11:48

and unfold in a

11:50

startling manner as

11:52

it went.

11:54

I did not go to sleep again for nearly

11:56

an hour, and if it had not been

11:58

for the extreme cold,

11:59

I should doubtless have gotten

12:02

up to investigate and make sure

12:04

whether I had really baled an object

12:06

of such bizarre

12:08

nature, or had merely

12:11

dreamt it.

12:12

But more and more I began to convince

12:15

myself that the thing was too

12:17

unlikely and fantastical to have been anything

12:19

but the figment of a dream, and

12:22

at last

12:23

I had not at all thinned light

12:25

and slumber.

12:27

The chill, demoniac sighing of the char

12:30

across the jagged walls awoke me, and

12:33

I saw that the faint moonlight had received

12:36

the hueless accession of early

12:38

dawn. We

12:40

all arose and prepared our breakfast

12:42

with fingers that grew numb in spite

12:46

of the spirit lamps.

12:49

My queer visual experience

12:51

during the night had taken on more than ever

12:54

a phantasmagoric unreality, and

12:57

I gave it no more than a passing thought and

12:59

did not speak of it to the others. We

13:02

were all eager to begin our explorations,

13:05

and shortly after sunrise

13:07

we started on a preliminary tour of examination.

13:12

Strangely, as it seemed, the two

13:14

Martians refused to accompany us,

13:17

stole it and tested her, and they

13:19

gave no explicit reason,

13:21

but evidently nothing would induce them

13:24

to enter Yovumbeth.

13:26

Whether or not they were afraid of the ruins

13:28

we were unable to determine, their

13:31

enigmatic faces with the small oblique

13:34

eyes and huge flaring nostrils

13:37

betrayed neither fear nor

13:39

any other emotion

13:40

intelligible to man. In

13:43

reply to our questions they merely said

13:46

that no A.I. had set

13:48

foot among the ruins

13:49

for ages. Apparently

13:52

there was some mysterious taboo

13:56

in connection with the place.

13:59

For equipment in that preliminary

14:02

tour, we took along only our electric

14:04

torches and a crowbar. Our

14:06

other tools and some cartridges of

14:08

high explosives, we left at our camp

14:10

to be used later if

14:12

necessary, after we had surveyed

14:14

the ground. One

14:16

or two of us owned automatics, but these

14:19

also were left behind, for

14:21

it seemed absurd to imagine

14:23

that any form of life would be

14:25

encountered among the ruins. Octif

14:29

was visibly excited as we began

14:31

our inspection and maintained

14:33

a running fire of exclamatory

14:35

equipment. The rest of us were

14:38

subdued and silent. It

14:40

was impossible to shake off

14:42

the somber awe and

14:45

wonder that fell upon us from those

14:48

megalithic stones.

14:52

We went on for some distance

14:53

among the triangular terraced buildings,

14:56

following the zigzag streets that

14:58

conformed to this peculiar architecture.

15:02

Most of the towers were more or less dilapidated,

15:05

and everywhere we saw the deep erosion

15:08

wrought by cycles of blowing wind

15:10

and sand, which, in

15:13

many cases, had worn into roundness

15:15

the sharp angles of the mighty

15:17

walls. We

15:20

entered some of the towers, but found

15:22

utter emptiness within. Whatever

15:25

they had contained in the way of furnishings

15:27

must long ago have crumbled into dust,

15:30

and the dust had been blown away by

15:32

the

15:33

searching desert gales.

15:36

At length we came to the wall

15:38

of a vast terrace, hewn from the

15:40

plateau

15:40

itself. On this

15:43

terrace the central

15:44

buildings were grouped like a sort of acropolis,

15:47

a flight of time-eaten steps designed

15:50

for longer limbs than those of men,

15:53

or even the gangling modern Martians

15:55

afforded access to the

15:57

hewn summit.

15:59

Posing weeks.

15:59

decided to defer our investigation

16:02

of the higher buildings, which, being

16:04

more exposed than the others, were doubly

16:06

ruinous and elabidated, and

16:09

in all likelihood would offer little for our

16:11

trouble. Octif

16:13

began to voice his disappointment over

16:15

our failure to find anything in the nature

16:17

of artifacts or carvings

16:20

that would throw

16:20

light on the history of Yovhombas.

16:24

Then, a little to the right of the stairway,

16:27

we perceived an entrance in the main

16:29

wall, half choked with ancient

16:31

debris.

16:33

Behind the heap of detritus we found

16:36

at the beginning

16:36

of a downward flight of

16:39

steps.

16:41

Darkness poured from the opening, noisome

16:44

and musty with primordial

16:46

stagnancies of decay, and

16:49

we could see nothing below the first

16:51

steps, which gave the appearance

16:54

of being suspended over a black gulf.

16:58

Throwing his torch beam into the abyss,

17:01

Octif began to descend the

17:03

stairs.

17:04

His eager voice called

17:07

us to follow.

17:08

At the bottom of the high, awkward

17:11

steps,

17:12

we found ourselves in a long and

17:14

roomy vault, like a subterranean

17:17

hallway. Its floor

17:20

was deep with siftings of immemorial

17:22

dust. The air was singularly

17:25

heavy, as if the leaves

17:27

of an ancient atmosphere less

17:30

tenuous

17:30

than that of Mars today had

17:33

settled down and remained in

17:35

its stagnant darkness.

17:38

It was harder to breathe than the outer

17:40

air. It was filled

17:42

with

17:43

unknown effluvia,

17:46

and the light dust rose before

17:49

us every step, diffusing

17:51

a faintness of bygone

17:53

corruption,

17:55

like the dust of

17:57

powdered mummies.

18:00

At the end of the vault, before a straight

18:03

and lofty doorway, our torches

18:05

revealed an immense shallow urn

18:08

or pan, supported

18:10

on short cube-shaped legs and

18:13

wrought from a dull, blackish-green

18:16

material. In

18:18

its bottom we perceived a deposit

18:20

of dark and cinder-like fragments,

18:24

which gave off a slight but

18:26

disagreeable pungence, like

18:29

the phantom of some more

18:31

powerful odor.

18:34

Octave bending over the rim began

18:36

to cough and sneeze as he inhaled it.

18:39

Oh, that stuff! Whatever

18:41

it was must have been a pretty strong fumigant,

18:44

he observed.

18:46

The people of Yovombus may have used

18:48

it to disinfect the vaults.

18:52

The doorway beyond the shallow urn

18:54

admitted us to a larger chamber, whose

18:57

floor was

18:58

comparatively free of dust.

19:01

We found that the dark stone

19:03

beneath our feet was marked off in

19:05

multiforme, geometric

19:07

patterns, traced with okra

19:10

sore, amid which,

19:12

as in Egyptian cartouches, hieroglyphs

19:15

and highly formalized drawings

19:18

were enclosed.

19:20

We could make little from most of them, but

19:23

the figures in many

19:24

were doubtless designed to represent

19:27

the Yorhys themselves.

19:29

Like the Aes, they were tall and

19:32

angular, with great bellows

19:34

like chests. The

19:36

ears and nostrils, as far as

19:38

we could judge, were not so huge

19:40

and flaring as those of the modern Martians.

19:44

All of these Yorhys were depicted

19:46

as being nude, but

19:49

in one of the cartouches done enough. Far

19:51

haster styled than the others, we

19:53

perceived two figures whose high

19:56

conical craniums were wrapped

19:59

in

19:59

what seemed to be a sort of

20:02

turban,

20:04

which they were about to remove

20:08

or adjust. The

20:10

artist seemed to have laid a peculiar

20:13

emphasis on the odd

20:15

gesture with which the sinuous four-jointed

20:17

fingers were plucking at those

20:20

head-dresses, and the

20:22

whole posture was unexplainably

20:27

contorted.

20:30

From the second vault, passages

20:33

ramified in all directions, leading

20:35

to a veritable warren of catacombs.

20:38

Here, enormous pot-bellied urns

20:41

of the same material as an fumigating

20:43

pan, but taller than a man's

20:45

head and fitted with angular-handled

20:48

stoppers, were ranged in

20:50

solemn rows along the walls, leaving

20:53

scant room for two of us to walk abreast.

20:57

When we succeeded in removing

20:59

one of the huge stoppers, we saw

21:01

that the jar was filled to the

21:03

rim with ashes and charred

21:06

fragments of bone.

21:09

Doubtless as is still the Martian

21:12

custom, the yorhys had stored

21:14

the cremated remains of whole families

21:17

in single urns.

21:21

An octave became silent as we went

21:24

on, and a sort of meditative

21:27

awe seemed to replace his former

21:29

excitement.

21:31

We others, I think, were utterly weighed

21:33

down to a man by the solid gloom

21:36

of a

21:37

concept defying antiquity

21:41

into which it seemed that we were going,

21:43

father and father,

21:45

at every step.

21:48

The shadows fluttered before

21:50

us like the monstrous and misshapen wings

21:53

of phantom bats. There

21:55

was nothing anywhere but the atom-like

21:58

dust of ages.

21:59

and the jars that

22:02

held the ashes of a long, extinct

22:04

people. But clinging

22:07

to a high roof in one of the farther vaults,

22:10

I saw a dark and corrugated patch

22:13

of circular form, like

22:16

a withered fungus.

22:19

It was impossible to reach the thing,

22:21

and we went on after peering at it with

22:24

many futile conjectures.

22:27

Oddly enough, I failed to remember

22:29

at that moment the crumpled,

22:32

shadowy object I had seen,

22:35

or dreamt of,

22:37

the night before.

22:40

I have no idea how far we

22:42

had gone when we came to the last vault, but

22:45

it seemed that we had been wandering for

22:47

ages in that forgotten underworld.

22:51

The air was growing fowler and

22:53

more irrespirable, with a thick,

22:55

sodden quality, as if

22:57

from a sediment of material

23:00

rottenness. And we

23:03

had about decided to turn back. Then,

23:06

without warning at the end of a long,

23:09

erred-lined catacomb, we

23:11

found ourselves confronted

23:14

by a blank wall.

23:18

Here,

23:19

we came upon one of the strangest

23:21

and most mystifying of

23:23

our discoveries.

23:26

A mummified and incredibly

23:29

desiccated figure,

23:30

standing erect against the

23:32

wall. It was more

23:35

than seven feet in height of

23:37

a

23:38

brown, bitumenous color, and

23:40

was wholly nude except for a sort

23:43

of black cowl that covered

23:45

the upper head and drooped down

23:48

at the sides in wrinkled folds.

23:52

From the size and general

23:54

contour it was

23:55

plainly one of the ancient yoris,

23:57

perhaps the sole member of this world.

23:59

race whose body had remained

24:02

intact. We

24:04

all felt an inexpressible thrill

24:07

at the sheer age of this shriveled

24:10

thing, which in the dry

24:12

air of the vault had endured through

24:15

all the historic and geologic

24:18

vicissitudes of the planet, to

24:20

provide a visible link

24:22

with lost cycles.

24:26

Then as we peered closer

24:28

with our torches, we saw why

24:31

the mummy had maintained an upright

24:33

position. At ankles,

24:36

knees, waist, shoulders, and neck

24:38

it was shackled to the wall by heavy

24:41

metal bands, so deeply

24:43

eaten and in brown with a sort of rust

24:46

that we had failed to distinguish them at

24:48

first

24:49

sight in the shadow. A

24:52

strange cowl on the head,

24:54

when

24:54

closely astuddied, continued

24:57

to baffle us.

24:59

It was covered with a fine mould-like

25:02

pile, unclean

25:04

and

25:05

dusty as ancient cobwebs.

25:08

Something about it, I

25:11

know not what,

25:13

was abhorrent

25:16

and

25:19

revolting.

25:23

I chose, this is a real fight.

25:26

Ejaculated Octave as he thrust

25:28

his

25:28

torch into the mummified face, where

25:32

shadows moved like living things

25:34

in the pit-deep hollows of the eyes,

25:37

and the huge triple nostrils

25:40

and wide ears that flared upward

25:42

beneath the cowl. Still

25:45

lifting the torch he put out his free

25:47

hand and touched the body very

25:49

lightly.

25:51

The tentative, as the touch had been, the

25:53

lower part of the barrel-like torso,

25:56

the legs, the hands, and forearms,

25:59

all seemed to be.

25:59

to dissolve into powder,

26:02

leaving the head and upper body

26:04

and arms still

26:05

hanging in their metal fetters. The

26:09

progress of decay had been clearly

26:11

unequal, for the remnant's

26:14

portions gave no sign of disintegration.

26:18

Octave cried out in dismay, and

26:20

then began to cough and sneeze as

26:22

the cloud of brown powder floating

26:25

with airy lightness

26:26

enveloped him.

26:28

We others all stepped back to avoid

26:30

the powder. Then, above

26:33

the spreading cloud, I saw

26:35

an unbelievable thing. The

26:39

black cowl on the mummy's head

26:41

began

26:42

to curl

26:44

and twitch upward at the corners.

26:47

It writhed with a verminous

26:50

motion.

26:52

It fell from the withered cranium,

26:55

seeming to fold and unfold convulsively

26:57

in mid-air as it fell. Then it

27:00

dropped on the bare head of Octave,

27:03

who in his disconcertment of the crumbling

27:05

of the mummy had remained standing

27:07

close to the wall. At

27:10

that instant, in a start of profound

27:12

terror, I remembered

27:14

the thing that had inched

27:17

itself from the shadows of Yofondas

27:19

in the light of the twin moons, and

27:22

had drawn back like a figment of slumber

27:25

at my first waking movement.

27:28

Cleaving closely as a titan's cloth,

27:31

the thing enfolded Octave's

27:33

hair and brow and eyes, and

27:35

he shrieked wildly with incoherent

27:38

pleas for help, and tore with

27:40

frantic fingers at the cowl, but

27:42

failed to loosen it.

27:45

Then his cries began to mount

27:47

in a mad crescendo of agony,

27:50

as if beneath some instrument

27:52

of infernal torture, and

27:54

he danced, capered blindly about

27:56

the vault, eluding us with strange

27:59

celerity as

29:59

driven corpse. Thrusting

30:04

our torches before us into the lurching,

30:06

fleeing shadows, we raced along

30:08

between rows of mighty urns. The

30:11

screaming had died away in sepulchral

30:13

silence, but

30:15

far off we heard the light and muffled

30:18

thought of running feet.

30:21

We followed in headlong pursuit, but

30:23

gasping painfully in the vitiate

30:25

and myasmal air, we were soon compelled

30:28

to slacken our pace without coming

30:30

in sight of octave.

30:33

Very faintly and farther

30:35

away than ever, like the tomb-swallowed

30:38

steps

30:38

of a phantom, we heard

30:40

his vanishing footfalls. Then

30:44

they ceased,

30:46

and we heard nothing

30:47

except our own convulsive breathing and the

30:49

blood that throbbed

30:52

in our temple veins like steadily

30:54

beaten drums of alarm.

30:58

We went on, dividing our party

31:00

into three contingents when we came to a triple

31:03

branching of the caverns. Harper

31:05

and Halgren and I took the middle passage, and

31:08

after we had gone on for an endless interval

31:10

without finding any trace of octave, Anne

31:13

had threaded our way through recesses

31:15

piled to the roof with colossal urns

31:18

that must have held the ashes of a hundred

31:20

generations. We came out

31:22

in the large chamber with the geometric

31:25

floor designs.

31:27

Here very shortly we were joined by the

31:29

others, who had likewise failed

31:32

to locate our

31:33

missing leader.

31:35

It would be useless to detail our

31:37

renewed and hour-long search of

31:39

the myriad vaults, many of which we

31:42

had not hitherto explored. All

31:45

were empty as far as any signs of life

31:47

were concerned. I remember

31:49

passing once more through the vault in which

31:51

I had seen the dark, rounded patch

31:54

on the ceiling, and

31:56

noting with a shudder that

31:59

the patch was empty.

32:01

It

32:05

was a miracle that we did not lose ourselves

32:07

in that underworld maze, but at

32:09

last we

32:10

came back again to the final catacomb

32:13

in which we had found the shackled mummy.

32:16

We heard a measured and recurrent

32:18

clanger as we neared the place, a

32:21

most alarming and

32:22

mystifying sound under the circumstances.

32:26

It was like the hammering of ghouls

32:29

on some forgotten mausoleum.

32:32

When we drew nearer, the beams of our

32:34

torches revealed a sight that was no

32:36

less unexplainable than

32:38

unexpected.

32:40

A human figure, with its back

32:42

toward us and the head concealed

32:45

by a swollen black object

32:47

that had the size and form of a sofa

32:50

cushion, was standing near

32:52

the remains of the mummy and was striking

32:54

at the wall with a pointed metal

32:57

bar. How

32:59

long Octave had been there and where

33:01

he had found the bar we could not know,

33:04

but the blank wall

33:06

had crumbled away beneath his furious

33:08

brows, leaving on the

33:10

floor a pile of comet-like

33:13

fragments and

33:15

a small narrow door

33:18

of the same ambiguous material

33:20

as the cinerary urns and the fumigating

33:22

pan

33:24

had been laid

33:25

bare.

33:28

Amazed, uncertain, inexpressibly

33:31

bewildered, we were all incapable

33:34

of action or volition in that moment. The

33:37

whole business was too fantastic

33:39

and too horrifying,

33:43

and it was plain that Octave had been overcome

33:46

by some sort of

33:47

madness.

33:49

I, for one, felt the violent

33:52

upsurge of sudden nausea

33:53

when I had identified

33:55

the loathsomely bloated thing

33:58

that clung to a

33:59

Octave's head, and drooped

34:02

in obscene tumescence

34:03

on his neck.

34:07

I did not dare to surmise the causation

34:10

of its...

34:13

...bloating.

34:16

Before any of us could recover

34:18

our faculties, Octave flung aside

34:20

the metal bar and began to fumble

34:22

for something in the wall. It

34:25

must have been a hidden spring. Though

34:29

how he could have known its location or

34:31

existence is beyond all legitimate

34:33

conjecture. With a

34:35

dull, hideous grating, the uncovered

34:38

door swung inward, thick

34:40

and ponderous as a mausoleum slab,

34:44

leaving an aperture from which the Nether

34:46

Midnight seemed to well like a flood

34:49

of eon-buried

34:51

foulness.

34:54

Somehow, at that instant, our

34:56

electric torches appeared to flicker

34:58

and grow dim, and we

35:00

all breathed a

35:01

suffocating fetter, like

35:04

a draft from inner worlds

35:07

of immemorial

35:08

putrescence. Octave

35:12

had turned toward us now, and

35:14

he stood

35:15

in an idle posture

35:17

before the open door, like

35:19

one who was finished some ordained

35:22

task.

35:24

I was the first of our party to throw

35:26

off the paralyzing spell, and pulling

35:28

out a clasp knife, the only semblance

35:31

of a weapon which I carried. I

35:33

ran over to him. He moved

35:36

back, but not quickly enough to evade me, when

35:39

I stabbed with the four-inch blade

35:41

at the

35:41

black, tergescent mass

35:44

that enveloped his whole upper head

35:46

and hung down upon

35:48

his eyes.

35:50

What the thing was, I

35:51

should prefer not to imagine,

35:53

if it were possible to

35:56

imagine. It was

35:58

as formless as a

35:59

great.

35:59

sluck, with neither head

36:02

nor tail nor apparent organs,

36:04

an unclean,

36:07

puffy,

36:07

leathery thing, covered

36:10

with that fine, mold-like fur

36:13

of

36:13

which I have spoken.

36:15

The knife tore into it as through

36:17

rotten parchment, making a

36:20

long gash,

36:20

and the

36:22

horror appeared to collapse like

36:24

a broken bladder. Out

36:27

of it there gushed a sickening torrent

36:29

of human blood, mingled

36:31

with

36:31

dark, affiliated masses

36:34

that may have been half-dissolved

36:36

here,

36:38

and floating gelatinous

36:40

lumps like molten

36:43

bone and

36:46

shreds of a curdy white

36:49

substance.

36:52

At the same time,

36:53

Octave began to stagger and

36:55

went down at full length on the floor.

36:59

Disturbed by his fall, the

37:01

mummy dust arose about

37:03

him in a curling cloud,

37:06

beneath which

37:07

he lay mortally

37:10

still.

37:13

Conquering my revulsion and choking

37:16

with the dust, I bent over him and tore

37:18

the flaccid, oozing horror

37:21

from his head.

37:23

It came with unexpected

37:25

ease, as if I had removed

37:28

a limp rag,

37:31

but I wished to God that I had

37:33

let it remain. Beneath,

37:36

there was no longer a human

37:39

cranium, for all

37:41

had been eaten away, even to the eyeball

37:43

of the brows, and the half-devoured

37:46

brain

37:47

was laid bare

37:50

as I lifted the cowl-like

37:52

object. I

37:55

dropped the unnameable

37:57

thing from fingers

37:59

that I had. had grown suddenly, nerveless,

38:03

and it turned over as it fell,

38:05

revealing on the nether side many

38:08

rows of pinkish

38:09

suckers arranged

38:11

in circles about a pallet

38:14

disk that was covered

38:16

with nerve-like filaments,

38:19

suggesting a sort of...

38:22

plexus.

38:25

My companions had pressed forward

38:27

behind me, but for

38:28

an appreciable interval

38:29

no one spoke.

38:34

How long do you suppose he has been

38:37

dead?

38:39

It was Halgren who whispered the

38:42

awful question which we

38:44

had all been

38:45

asking ourselves.

38:47

Apparently no one felt able or

38:50

willing to answer it, and we could

38:52

only stare in horrible,

38:54

timeless fascination.

38:57

Adactive.

39:00

At length I made an effort to

39:02

avert my gaze, and turning

39:04

at random I saw the remnants

39:07

of the shackled mummy, and

39:09

noted for the first time with

39:12

mechanical, unreal horror,

39:16

the half-eaten condition of

39:18

the withered head. From

39:23

this my gaze was diverted to

39:25

the newly opened door

39:26

at one side, without

39:29

perceiving for a moment what had drawn

39:31

my attention. Then

39:33

startled I beheld

39:34

beneath my torch, far

39:37

down beyond the door,

39:38

as if in some nether

39:40

pit, receiving,

39:43

multitudinous, worm-like

39:44

movement

39:46

of crawling shadows.

39:51

They seemed to boil up in the darkness,

39:54

and then over the broad threshold

39:57

of the vault, they poured the verminous

39:59

fad- a man-guard of a countless

40:02

army,

40:03

things that were kindred to the monstrous

40:05

diabolic leech I

40:07

adored from octaves eaten ne'er'd. Some

40:11

were thin and flat like writhing,

40:13

jubbling discs of cloth or leather,

40:17

and others were more

40:18

or less poddy and crawled

40:21

with gluttonous lowness.

40:24

What they had found two feet on

40:27

in the sealed, eternal midnight,

40:30

I do not know,

40:31

and I pray that I never

40:34

shall know. I

40:37

sprang back and away from them, electrified

40:39

with terror, sickened with loathing,

40:41

and the black army

40:44

inched itself

40:45

unendingly

40:45

with nightmare swiftness

40:48

from the unsealed abyss, like

40:51

the nauseous vomit

40:52

of horror-sated hells.

40:56

As it poured toward us,

40:57

burying octaves' body from sight

41:00

and a writhing wave, I saw

41:02

a stir of life from the seemingly

41:05

dead thing I had cast aside, and

41:08

saw the loathly struggle which it

41:10

made to right itself and join

41:13

the others.

41:16

But neither I nor my companions could

41:18

endure to look longer. We turned

41:20

and ran between the mighty rows of

41:22

urns with the

41:23

slithering mass of demon-leeches

41:26

close upon us, and scattered

41:28

in blind panic when we came to the

41:30

first division of

41:31

the Haunt.

41:32

Heedless of each other or of anything

41:35

but the urgency of flight, we

41:37

plunged into the ramifying

41:38

passages at random. Firingly,

41:42

I heard someone stumble and go

41:44

down with a curse that

41:47

mounted to an insane shrieking,

41:50

but

41:50

I knew that if I halted and went

41:52

back, it would be only to invite

41:55

the same painful dome

41:57

that had overtaken the Hindmost.

41:59

of our party.

42:02

Still clutching the electric torch and

42:04

my open clasp knife, I ran along

42:06

a minor passage which I seemed to

42:09

remember would conduct with more

42:11

or less directness upon the large

42:13

outer vaults with the painted floor. Here

42:17

I found myself

42:17

alone, the others had kept

42:20

to the main catacombs, and I heard

42:22

far off a muffled babble of

42:24

mad cries, as if

42:26

several of them had been seized by

42:29

their pursuers. It

42:31

seemed

42:32

that I must have been mistaken about the

42:34

direction of the passage, for

42:36

it turned and twisted in an unfamiliar

42:39

manner with many intersections,

42:42

and I soon found that I was lost

42:44

in the black labyrinth, where

42:46

the dust had lain unstirred

42:48

by living

42:49

feet for inestimable

42:52

generations.

42:55

The cinnuary warren had grown

42:57

still once more, and

42:59

I heard my own frenzied panting,

43:02

loud and sturterous as that of a titan

43:04

in the dead

43:05

silence.

43:07

Suddenly, as I went on, my torch

43:10

disclosed a human figure coming

43:12

toward me in the gloom.

43:14

Before I could master

43:16

my startlement,

43:17

the figure had passed me,

43:19

with long, machine-like strides,

43:23

as if returning to the inner vaults.

43:27

I think it was Harper, since

43:29

the heightened

43:29

builds were about right for him,

43:32

but I am not altogether sure,

43:36

for the eyes and upper head

43:38

were muffled by a dark,

43:41

inflated

43:41

cowl,

43:44

and the pale lips were

43:46

locked, as if in a silence

43:49

of tatanic torture,

43:52

or

43:55

death.

43:58

Whoever he was, he had dropped his

43:59

torch and he was running blindfold

44:02

in utter darkness beneath

44:04

the emulsion of that

44:07

unearthly vampirism

44:10

to seek the very fountainhead

44:13

of the unloosed horror.

44:16

I knew that he was beyond human

44:18

help, and I

44:21

did not even dream of trying

44:23

to stop him.

44:27

Trembling violently, I

44:29

resumed my flight and was

44:32

passed by two more of our party,

44:34

stalking by with mechanical

44:36

swiftness and sureness and

44:39

cald with those satanic

44:43

leeches.

44:46

The others must have returned by way of the main

44:48

passages, for I did not

44:50

meet them.

44:53

And I was never

44:55

to see them again.

45:01

The remainder of my flight is a blur

45:03

of pandemonium terror. Once

45:07

more, after thinking that I was near the outer

45:09

cavern, I found myself astray and

45:12

fled through a ranged eternity of

45:14

monstrous urns in vaults

45:16

that must have extended for unknown

45:19

distance beyond our explorations. It

45:22

seemed that I had gone on for years,

45:25

and my lungs were choking with the

45:28

eon-dead air, and

45:30

my legs were ready to

45:31

crumble beneath me

45:33

when I saw far off

45:35

a

45:37

tiny point

45:39

of blessed daylight.

45:42

I ran toward it, with all the terrors

45:44

of the alien darkness crowding

45:47

behind me,

45:47

and the cursed shadows

45:50

flittering before, and

45:52

saw that

45:53

the vault ended in a low, ruinous

45:55

entrance, littered by rubble

45:58

on which there fell an arc. of

46:00

thin

46:01

sunshine.

46:04

It was another entrance than the one

46:06

by which

46:06

we had penetrated this lethal

46:10

underworld.

46:12

I was within a dozen feet of the opening

46:15

when, without sound or other intimation,

46:17

something dropped upon my

46:20

head from the roof above, blinding

46:23

me instantly and closing

46:25

upon me like a tautened

46:26

net. My

46:28

brow and scalp at the same time

46:31

were shot through with a million needle-like

46:33

pangs, a manifold

46:36

ever-growing agony that seemed

46:38

to pierce the very bone and

46:40

converge from all sides upon

46:42

my innermost brain. The

46:46

terror and suffering of that

46:48

moment were worse than ought which the

46:50

hills of earthly madness

46:52

or delirium could ever contain.

46:56

I felt the foul,

46:59

vampiric clutch of

47:01

an atrocious death,

47:04

that of

47:08

more than

47:10

death.

47:14

I believed that I dropped the torch, but

47:16

the fingers of my right hand had

47:19

still retained the open

47:21

knife. Instinctively,

47:23

since I was hardly capable of conscious

47:26

volition, I raised the knife and

47:28

slashed blindly again and

47:31

again, many times that the thing

47:33

that had fastened its deadly faults upon

47:35

me. The blade

47:37

must have gone through and through

47:39

the clinging monstrosity to gash

47:42

my own flesh in a score of places,

47:45

but I did not feel the pain of those

47:47

wounds in the million-thropping

47:49

torments that possessed me. At

47:52

last

47:52

I saw light

47:54

and saw that a black strip loosened

47:57

from above my eyes and dripping

47:59

with my eyes. My old blood was hanging

48:02

down my cheek. It

48:04

writhed a little, even as it hung,

48:07

and I ripped it away and ripped the

48:09

other remnants of the thing tatter by

48:11

oozing bloody tatter from

48:14

off my brow and head.

48:16

Then I staggered

48:18

toward the entrance,

48:20

and the one light turned to

48:22

a far-receding dancing

48:25

flame before me. And

48:28

I lurched and fell

48:29

outside the cavern,

48:32

a flame that

48:36

fled like the last

48:38

star of creation above

48:41

the yawning, sliding chaos

48:43

and oblivion,

48:48

into which I

48:52

descended.

49:03

I am told that my unconsciousness

49:05

was of brief duration.

49:09

I came to myself with

49:12

the cryptic faces of the two

49:14

Martian guides bending over

49:16

me. My

49:19

head was full of

49:21

lancinating pains, and

49:24

half-remembered terrors

49:27

closed upon my mind like

49:29

the shadows of

49:31

mustering harpies.

49:38

I rolled over and

49:40

looked back toward the cavern

49:42

mouth from which the Martians, after

49:45

finding me, had seemingly

49:47

dragged

49:47

me for some little distance.

49:51

The mouth was under the terraced

49:53

angle of an outer

49:55

building,

49:57

and within sight of our camp.

50:01

I stared at the black opening

50:04

with hideous fascination and

50:08

described a shadowy stirring

50:11

in the glow,

50:13

the writhing, verminous

50:16

movement of

50:17

things that

50:20

pressed forward from the darkness but

50:24

did not emerge

50:26

into the light.

50:30

Outless they could not endure the

50:32

sun,

50:32

those creatures

50:35

of ultramundane

50:37

night

50:38

and cycle-sealed

50:43

corruption.

50:49

It was then that

50:51

the ultimate horror, the

50:54

beginning madness, came

50:57

upon me.

51:00

Amid my crawling revulsion,

51:04

my nausea-prompted desire to

51:06

flee from the seething cavern-mouth,

51:10

there rose an abhorrently

51:12

conflicting impulse

51:16

to return, to

51:19

thread my backward way

51:21

through all the catacombs, as

51:23

the others had done, to go

51:26

down

51:27

where never men

51:29

safe lay. The

51:32

inconceivably doomed and accursed

51:35

had ever gone.

51:38

To seek

51:39

beneath that damnable

51:41

compulsion, a

51:43

netherworld that human

51:45

thought could never picture.

51:50

There was a black

51:53

light, a

51:55

soundless calling

51:58

in the vaults of my brain.

53:59

Oh, my story.

54:04

I've tried to tell it fully

54:06

and coherently,

54:08

at

54:10

a cost of it would

54:12

be unimaginable to the same.

54:15

To tell

54:17

it before the madness falls

54:20

upon me again.

54:23

As it will very

54:25

soon.

54:28

As it is, doing.

54:30

Now.

54:38

Yes,

54:39

I have told my story. And

54:43

you have written it on, haven't

54:45

you?

54:47

Now, I

54:51

must go back to your numbers. Back

54:54

across the desert and down

54:56

through all the catacombs,

54:57

fast revolts

55:00

beneath. Something

55:03

is in my brain that

55:10

commands me and

55:14

will

55:16

direct me. I tell you. Must.

55:25

Go.

55:35

Postscript.

55:36

As

55:38

an intern in the Territorial Hospital at Ignare,

55:42

I had charge of the singular case of Rodney Severn,

55:44

the once surviving member of the Octave Expedition

55:47

to Yauvombus, and took down

55:49

the above story from his dictation.

55:53

Severn had been brought to the hospital by the

55:55

Martian guides of the expedition. He

55:58

was suffering from horribly lacerated and

55:59

inflamed condition of the scalp and brow,

56:02

and was wildly delirious part of the time,

56:05

and had to be held down in his bed during recurrent

56:07

seizures of a mania whose violence was

56:10

doubly inexplicable in view of his extreme

56:13

debility. The lacerations,

56:16

as will have been learned from the story, were

56:19

mainly self-inflicted. They

56:21

were mingled with numerous small round

56:23

wounds, easily distinguished

56:26

from the knife slashes and arranged

56:28

in regular circles, through

56:29

which an unknown poison

56:32

had been injected into Svern's

56:34

scalp. The causation

56:36

of these wounds was difficult to explain,

56:39

unless one

56:40

were to believe that Svern's story were true,

56:43

and was no mere figment of his

56:45

illness.

56:47

Speaking for myself in the

56:49

light of what afterward occurred,

56:53

I feel that I have no other resource than to

56:56

believe it.

56:58

There are strange things on

57:00

the Red Planet, and I can

57:02

only second the wish that was expressed

57:05

by the doomed archaeologist in

57:07

regard to future explorations.

57:12

The night after he had finished telling

57:14

me his story,

57:15

while another doctor than myself was

57:17

supposedly on duty, Svern

57:20

managed to escape from the hospital,

57:23

doubtless in one of the seizures

57:25

at which I have hinted. A

57:27

most astonishing thing, for

57:30

he had seemed weaker than ever after

57:32

the long strain of his terrible

57:34

narrative, and his demise

57:38

had been hourly expected. More

57:41

astonishing still, his bare

57:44

footsteps were found in the desert,

57:46

going toward Yovombas

57:50

till they vanished in the path of a

57:52

light and sandstorm.

57:55

But no trace of Svern himself has

57:57

yet been found.

57:59

The

58:21

thoughts

58:21

of you from

58:23

this by Clark

58:26

Ashton Smith. This

58:29

tale appears in the Collected

58:31

Fantasies of Clark Ashton

58:34

Smith, Volume 3.

58:36

A vintage

58:37

from Atlantis.

58:40

You'll also find the seed

58:42

from the Sepulchre, which we featured

58:44

in Episode 95 of the podcast, in

58:48

this particular collection. The

58:51

estate of Clark Ashton Smith

58:53

recommends the Collected

58:55

Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith

58:58

series of anthologies as

59:00

the premier source for those

59:02

seeking Mr. Ashton

59:05

Smith's work. Unless

59:08

you have a big fat pile of weird

59:10

tales magazines collecting dust

59:12

in your basement, of course.

59:15

So it's either a trip down

59:17

the dark stairs, or

59:20

a visit to Amazon, I suppose. Whichever

59:24

suits you best.

59:26

Speaking of trips down

59:30

the dark stairs, have

59:33

you watched Mike Flanagan's

59:35

latest television offering, The Fall

59:39

of

59:39

the House of Usher?

59:41

Yet.

59:43

Mike Flanagan is, of course, the mind

59:45

behind the haunting of Hill

59:48

House and Midnight

59:50

Mass television series,

59:52

as well as the feature film adaptation

59:55

of

59:55

Stephen King's Doctor

59:57

Sleep. In

59:59

this is...

59:59

latest presentation, he

1:00:02

takes an assortment of tales by

1:00:04

none other than wonderful old

1:00:07

Edgar Allan Poe himself,

1:00:10

and combines them in reimagined

1:00:14

form to create an overarching

1:00:16

tale, illuminating the

1:00:19

sad demise of the

1:00:21

titular

1:00:24

Asher family.

1:00:27

Now you may not love

1:00:29

every episode, but we think

1:00:31

you'll most certainly enjoy

1:00:34

the experience as a whole.

1:00:36

He has such fun with the

1:00:39

classic tales he adapts, and

1:00:41

delivers a conclusion

1:00:43

that is most

1:00:46

satisfying

1:00:47

for those with a

1:00:49

horror bin.

1:00:52

Oh, and did I mention

1:00:55

that Luke Skywalker is in it? Well,

1:00:58

he is, in a

1:01:00

manner. What

1:01:02

more reason could you need

1:01:04

for watching

1:01:06

than that?

1:01:08

Mike Flanagan's The

1:01:10

Fall of the House of Asher,

1:01:13

nocturnal transmissions.

1:01:23

You know, it's been ever such a long

1:01:25

time since we featured a tale from

1:01:27

Mr. Poe on the podcast. I'm

1:01:30

going to jot that down on the to-do list.

1:01:33

Tell you what, if you

1:01:36

have a favorite tale from the

1:01:38

master of the macabre, get

1:01:41

in touch and suggest it. We're

1:01:44

easily swayed.

1:01:46

You

1:01:48

know, obvious

1:01:49

if your favorite tale

1:01:51

happens to be the telltale heart,

1:01:53

the cask of a montalado, the raven,

1:01:56

the pit and the pendulum, the mask

1:01:58

of the red death, and the

1:01:59

The Berenice or the

1:02:02

Black Cat? I'm

1:02:04

happy to say that we've already presented

1:02:06

those ones to you. So

1:02:09

if you want to hear one of those, just

1:02:12

pop onto the featured authors

1:02:14

section of our website.

1:02:16

Find

1:02:16

Edgar Allan Poe and

1:02:18

you'll see a list of precisely

1:02:21

which episodes you

1:02:23

need to

1:02:26

dig up.

1:02:32

You have been listening

1:02:34

to a transmission from Nocturnal

1:02:38

Transmissions. Before

1:02:41

we leave you, we wish to extend our

1:02:43

thanks to the beloved Patreon

1:02:46

patrons who make this

1:02:48

show possible. Just

1:02:51

whose ranks we have

1:02:53

two significant new

1:02:55

additions. Tessa

1:02:58

Wright, who has just recently

1:03:01

adopted the mantle of

1:03:02

Acolyte.

1:03:03

Welcome Tessa

1:03:05

and wait for

1:03:07

it.

1:03:09

Former Acolyte

1:03:11

Amanda Moore, who is now

1:03:14

an esteemed co-ord.

1:03:20

Amanda, you

1:03:22

cheeky devil. Look

1:03:24

what you've done.

1:03:26

Thank you for your

1:03:28

magnificent support. You

1:03:31

are a true believer, my

1:03:33

dear. And on

1:03:35

that note, what better time

1:03:38

than now to extend our thanks

1:03:40

to the entire Pantheon of

1:03:44

true believers. Trusting

1:03:49

cohorts, Daniel

1:03:52

Kamiankowski, Mudkip,

1:03:56

Rebekah Gates, Thomas

1:03:58

Arvin, Brea-

1:03:59

Allen, Wildy,

1:04:03

Azoran Warrens, Fabled

1:04:05

Words, Bools with

1:04:08

Knee, The Traveler, Alexis

1:04:11

Nolasco, Wayne Prince,

1:04:14

Tippi Polo, Rachel

1:04:17

Brown,

1:04:18

Adam, Alex Brouess,

1:04:21

Arnie Frank. Shhh!

1:04:25

Just listen.

1:04:27

Evan Dooley, J.B.,

1:04:30

Kel Wheeldon, Sam

1:04:33

Hankins, Hisu,

1:04:35

Alicia Townsend, Daniel

1:04:38

Clanton, Robert Troy

1:04:40

Hampton Peterson, and...

1:04:45

Amanda

1:04:47

Moore. All

1:04:52

non-public domain stories are featured

1:04:54

with the permission of the authors. All

1:04:57

voices and production are concocted

1:04:59

by Kristen Holland.

1:05:04

Until next time, as always,

1:05:09

watch the skies,

1:05:12

fear the dark,

1:05:16

and don't trust anyone,

1:05:22

especially

1:05:23

yourself.

1:05:28

Good night, gentlemen. I

1:05:41

see you with

1:05:44

a dolly. Sometimes

1:05:50

we'll change the night today.

1:05:53

Shadows

1:05:57

will only change the

1:05:59

way we hide. When

1:06:02

spring across

1:06:05

the air it lasting

1:06:22

Just a cold day at night It

1:06:25

still

1:06:25

it now