Phase VII:

Based on the French game Bagatelle, the early state of pinball was more a game of chance rather than particular skill. This resulted in, like most things of significant satisfaction, it being deemed an activity for outlaws in the nineteen-forties. Though the machine was considered a gambling device until the nineteen-seventies, it remains illegal in some cities within the United States to this day.

The universe bears fair resemblance to the cosmogony of a pinball machine. Within the curious apparatus, things illuminate seemingly at random as spherical forms bounce about the plane with great tumult. Oftentimes the player has no interest in the inner workings of the game at hand and even more rarely are the rules described to the pilot. The shiny things, dings and cracks are generally satisfactory enough to the viewers' more base senses to ensure the consumption of coin from each visitor.

A layer of glass between apparatus and operator prevents any onlooker from directly interfering. Able to only nudge and tilt and tap the mercury vessel throughout the chamber, the patron can see where the pinball travels and, via flipper and plunger, can make suggestion but against all efforts once the orb has landed itself in a trap, the descent back to its drain for relaunch is inevitable.

Further beyond that exists another plane which not even the pilot can see. This underworld of gear and wire without decoration is where the true magic occurs. This is the place in which microprocessors and solid state technology activate burning bulbs and signals are decoded. Insulated surfaces generate fields of their own where even smaller and more minuscule things bounce around as rule and direction becomes even more scarce. Particles collide and charge and interact with their own sorts of bumpers and dings. And yet, at an even smaller scale a new understanding is required in which things may or may not be at all in spite of flipper or coin, microprocessor or signal.

At a quantum scale, things sometimes are and at times are not. Neutrinos, or ghost particles, exist simply as a disturbance which propagates the quantum field agitated by fluctuations popping in and out of existence. Within the soup of fluctuating virtual particles, charges distinguish between several versions and symmetry allows for two versions of the same particle, one positive and one negative. In some scenarios, particles must interact with the field of space and time, creating a synthesis of all scenarios. This simultaneous interaction describes the true evolution of the physical system. When considering a structure which has reportedly shown the presence of a haunting, one must consider the nature of energy as a whole.

Dandy Chase sweeps the dust from his eyes and peers into a perilous void. He can’t seem to remember where he was last night but he does remember the pointed instruction from the oafish hotel attendant. Chase remembers the flashing red six, he remembers the orchestra of dings from the elevator, and he remembers its rapid descent.

Chase lifts himself from the checkered-tile floor of the elevator car and grips onto the lifeless steel doors. He strainfully attempts to pry them further apart and increase the possibility of comprehension of the space the compartment now rests within. The doors squeal and buckle in a cacophonous symphony to accompany huff and groan as Dandy Chase frees his view from the confines of the elevator into the darkness.

There is only void in spite of squint and strain. Chase reaches into the pocket of his overcoat to retrieve a torch of sorts to banish the dark from his immediate proximity. A series of flicks, and sparked flint ignites oil drenched wick to give clarity to the scene. Upon illumination, the walls seem to be littered with a tangled mess of vinery, dripping and pulsing with life. Dandy Chase remembers the woman in red as the detective moves toward the oddity sprawled across the structure. He can feel each step push against something not dissimilar to a membrane ready to burst, like traversing the surface of a soft-boiled egg. The ground seems to grumble with the cadence of the strange anomaly stretched across the surface, generating a haunting rhythm. Melancholy sheet music scribed by a wicked hand.

Now, at the termination of effortful strides, Chase begins acute investigation of each morbid detail amongst the writhing flora:

“Preemptive Analysis: from the smell of it, a relatively standard brick and mortar construction in the classic regard. Not wholly dissimilar to the exterior parameters of the hotel, but seemingly derived of different origin due to the pigmentation of clay from which the block has been birthed. An earthy stink like the bottom of a water well.”

As Chase begins his interrogation of the anomalous environment, a subtle squall grazes the tops of his ears inducing a light shudder from the chill.

“Initial Notation: there seems to be a sort of vegetation sprawled across the vast majority of the plane, but the expected scent of foliage has been replaced by the stench of rotting meat. Extending my lighter further to the perimeter of the central point of investigation proves the theory that this crimson kudzu continues on throughout the passageway. I can’t be certain due to the sheer murkiness of the abode, but the veiny things look to be brimming with life.”

Chase notices a sort of tapping in the distance as he continues to examine his surroundings.

“Following Notation: rhinoceros horn elixirs were first prescribed in archaic medicine. The horn, in powder form, has been seen as a cocaine-like party drug, virility enhancer and luxury item.”

The distant tapping increases in pace and intensity, now transforming into the tonality more accurately resembling the stride of a cloven ungulate. A terrible tympany drumming in the distance like the warsongs of the ill-fated Moro warriors.

“Additional Notation: at a more intimate field of view, the strange tendrils seem more like crude passageways, transporting grubby crawlers slithering down a morbid highway to infect its host. I can’t help but to consider the glassy eye of the heaving Shetland.”

Dandy Chase can’t seem to remember where he was last night, but he most certainly would have never agreed to this assignment with the knowledge that his path would lead to this uninviting space.

“Subsequent Notation: the increasing demand for coal during the Industrial Revolution resulted in the sturdy steads becoming cave dwellers. Known as pit ponies, dwarven kind of the equine, the last mine in the United States that employed these coal mining Shelties closed in 1971.”

Dandy Chase remembers the woman in red as a staccato tempo of heavy gasps pushes its way between clumsy step and is now most certainly on a trajectory toward the fixated detective.

“Supplementary Notation: the air quality has shifted to bovine and sulphur.”

Unlike the horns of a bull, which have a bone core, the excrescences of the rhinoceros are made solely of keratin, a fibrous protein. Rhino horns grow continuously, at times reaching a length upwards of two meters. In spite of the ability to replenish, this fact has not deterred the eradication of select species of rhinoceroses for the profit of poachers.

“Continued Notation: the walls are beginning to throb and palpitate in an increasingly erratic clangor.”

Chase notices his hand trembling as the glimmering flame from his lighter obscures his vision of the vile vetch. The approaching footsteps come to a climactic cadence in the detective’s immediate vicinity.

“Final Notation: there is something terribly wrong with this place.”

The acrid odor of soiled fur overwhelms Chase before the expulsion of frigid breath from round nostrils extinguishes the flame clutched in the detective’s sweaty palm.

“Conclusive Analysis: run.”