From Axolotl To Zeugma

Yes, Really!

I know what you're thinking, and NO, I returned the DARPA Telepathy Helmet back in 2020, before they even noticed it was missing.  No, what I mean is that you're so thoroughly transparent.  "Conrad is making it up as he goes along, he's so transparent," in a smug tone.

     Here an aside.  HOW DO YOU KNOW!  Art?

     Here you have a someone who is entirely transparent.  In which case, how can you tell their gender, especially if all they do is breathe in a sinister fashion, hmmm?

       Okay, back on track, or as much as we ever get on track round here.  For those of you who have been keeping notes, Conrad has been watching a Belgian television series "Into The Night", an apocalyptic thriller that may not get a third series*.  It was loosely adapted from a remarkable Polish novel called "The Old Axolotl", which exists only in electronic formats, not in print, by author Jacek Dukaj.  Art!

     The background is an Earth sterilised of all living things, a cheery premise that seems ever-so-Polish.  I did wonder about the plot, and found this on Goodreads (SPOILERS IF YOU ARE POLISH):

     More recently, the BBC, that font of all that's fit to be writ, had an article on the axolotl, cautioning people that they are difficult to keep, and can live for up to 15 years.  Art!

Named after a lord of lightning.  For why?

     Right, so we've established that axolotls are a real thing.  "Zeugma?"  A whole lot less interesting, to be honest.  We have had this word up on the blog before, probably whilst ranting about Codewords.  Allow me to define it (thank you Collins Concise!): "A figure of speech in which a word is used to modify or govern two or more words although appropriate to only one".  For example, "I blew up the balloon and Pyongyang"**.  

Luxury Nork worker's accommodation 

     What makes this attract the Coincidence Hydra (whom I fear not thanks to my tungsten-steel underwear)?  Only the fact that this word had come up again in a Codeword, so I had scribbled it down in my Book Of Notes, in order to froth at the mouth against it.  "Proof or it never happened!" I hear you quibble.  Okay.  Art!

Upper port

     There you go.  Anyone who asserts that I could have gone back and created this from scratch is obviously completely unfamiliar with how lazy Your Humble Scribe is, because Not A Chance!

     So there you have it.  From A to Z.  Whom, you will recall, was a character in an episode of that obscure Sixties cult sci-fi "Starry Trex", and it Art will put down his bowl of coal -

Mister Atoz.  Yes, really.

     Which is where we came in.

Talking Of A Devastated Pyongyang ...

You may recall Your Humble Scribe mentioned the Sork 13th Special Missions Brigade last week, it being nicknamed the "Decapitation Unit" thanks to it's mission brief, which is to infiltrate into Norkland should war break out, and there to assassinate any senior Nork politicians or soldiers they can lay gunsights upon.  Art!

How to fillet fish the Sork Special Forces way!

     This unit will probably loom large in the bad dreams of VIP Norks - you know, people in charge of the tractor shed, those who have keys to the shovel storage cabin, people like that - because 1) They are Korean, they speak Korean, read Korean and write Korean, so they can pass as Korean.  2)  Doubtless they are equipped with Nork uniforms and weapons, thus being able to blend in.  3)  Even if they never set foot over the border, the Norks can't take that chance and will have to put out patrols and man checkpoints and generally slow things down.  4)  Given how centralised everything in Norkland is, getting rid of a few generals would paralyse every formation under their command.  Art!

     Conrad once speculated about a similar West German unit, which he called "Chess" for no particular reason, which would wear East German uniforms, carry Warsaw Pact weapons and commit acts of assassination and sabotage ibehind enemy lines in the event the Cold War became hot hot hot.

"Alive"

Still with the Korean theme, Conrad is re-watching said film, which is about a Sork zombie apocalypse and nothing to do with cannibalistic crash survivors.  Art!

     I've already seen it, about two years ago, so have forgotten most of the details.  Still entertaining, and I've forgotten how it ends, so we shall see, shan't we?

More Of "Tormentor"

Excuse me whilst I track down exactly where we'd gotten to on Page 44.  As you ought to recall, a police detective was paying a watchful visit to Luma, about news that positively engaged him.  

The wardens searched Miller’s cell and found a note, confessing to two other murders in South London, plus a dozen other serious assaults across the Home Counties.  Most of the writing consisted of paranoid ranting about the ghost of his last victim, how it hung around his cell, talking to him, altering appearance, waiting in ambush for it’s next appearance.  He couldn’t tolerate it any longer, not now that he knew the afterlife was real. The prospect of spending the next twenty years with a rotting monster had concentrated his mind wonderfully.

‘And that is that, I hope.  No more bother with Eric Miller.  We shall see.’

‘Oh, undoubtedly, Luma.  Gone for good.’

I wonder and I hope.  After all, I don’t want to have to revisit him if he’s dead.

 

There proved to be no comeback for Louis concerning the suicide of Eric Miller.  He hadn’t been anywhere near the man for days, and only came into contact with him for seconds on a single occasion.  Detective Oswald’s suspicions couldn’t be proven.  Dave Hargreaves’ position changed, and he came round to congratulate Louis in person.  Not only that, he mentioned Jen appearing to Angela for a moment in the presence of Louis; his past might be shadey, but Dave could put two and two together.

               More worrying still was the Reverend Sharples tracking Louis down before he sat in on one of Laura’s lectures.

               ‘Can you come over to the Science Block, to Room A3?’

               ‘Not till four thirty,’ answered Louis, his tone making it clear that he didn’t want to attend anywhere after that time.

               ‘Even better!  I’ll see you there!’ beamed the cleric, dashing off.

     Ah, now we get the forces of science and rationality making an appearance.  And people outside the circle becoming aware of what Luma is.  Tricky.

"The Crime At Black Dudley" By Margery Allingham

Conrad ought to have been making notes whilst reading this novel, as it hails from 1929 and quite a bit of what was contemporary no longer makes sense, which is only to be expected from a work 93 years old.  We have gone over fuelling a car on whisky, next up was "Boanerges", said in the context of Campion being given a brutal interrogation that involved lashing.  Art!

Albert Campion (a pseudonym, don't you know)

     Who or what is Boeanages when he/she/it is at home, I wondered?

     O I thought you'd never ask! - hang on, you didn't, I did.  Whatever.

     "Boanerges - a fiery preacher, especially one with a powerful voice."  From the Hebrew 'Bene reghesh' meaning 'Son of thunder'.

     There, glad we got that cleared up.

 

     Does that make us done?  It does?  Splendid!  Toodle pip!

*  Conrad is okay with this.

**  We may come back to this.