Entry 6: A letter

Hey everyone,
It's pretty late and I've had a long day at the lab. But I wanted to post this last letter from the first batch. It gives a little more insight into that starfish-man Thom has been talking about.

And here's the text (with Thom's corrections edited out):

"Dear Barnes,

The old typewriter is back today. Lowercase g is still off, but I guess I can deal with that.

I got a better look at the Asterapomp in last night’s journey. Before he was smoky, phantasmal. But now I can see him with good clarity.  When I asked him about this, he said something about synchronizing his pattern more in line with my time and space dimensions.

He’s a starfish-man, Barnes. That’s as close as I can come to it. The mosaic scales covering his body look like starfish ossicles. Those four fat tentacles on the bottom are clearly starfish arms now. As are the wizard-hats on top. The wriggling things I saw inside it are tube-feet. I don’t know if this makes him less or more bizarre.

I’ll admit right now I know almost nothing about my host who has been leading me through this nocturnal phantasmagoria. The Asterapomp’s appearance raises some intriguing questions. He is echinoderm, but there are obvious human elements to his anatomy. The five faces set around his center, for one. The overall features are quite human-- particularly the noses. But, I don’t know, they seem more like someone’s impression of what a human face looks like rather than actual human features. And those strange gecko eyes. The mouths clearly do not have even remotely hominid mandibles holding them up. The way they move, they seem more like teeth-shaped plates embedded in the body wall- specially modified dermal ossicles, perhaps?

His five hands have thumbs on both sides like Clarke’s Overlords. The fingers are jointed, but they do not seem like human hands. I have the distinct impression they are starfish that have been modified into hands. Perhaps for my comfort?

I have not been able to get much of his history out of him. He is quite evasive on the matter. It is clear from his name-- like psychopomp- that he is meant to be a bridge.  He did say that there are other beings that I will meet soon. Beings like him, but not like me. More like his echinoderm half, perhaps? Am I going to met gigantic starfish?

On occasion I have seen him bearing a staff that resembles a Khakkhara or sistrum. He would jangle it lightly as he walked, the sound of which apparently caused other beings at the hub-station to move out of his way. Is it a staff of office? Or is it’s resemblance to the Buddhist monk’s instrument more than coincidental. I thought perhaps it was a control key to open the world-gates, but I have witnessed him opening them when he did not have this instrument.

 I’ve noticed that it bears decorations that resemble the Bubble-Comets. I have also seen representations of these creatures in frescoes around the hub stations. They are clearly important to the Asteroideans in some way. As incubation vessels, perhaps? I recall seeing a few embryonic starfish inside the “ghosts” at Boston Corner. But the Comet’s seem to be more important than just brood chambers.

Also, I finally got around to drawing some of those ships I saw in my dream where I went to the gate-hub. I’ve included them on the back of this sketch of the Asterapomp. My meager sketches don’t do the real ships justice at all, but at least they’ll hopefully give you some idea of the bizarre diversity of interplanetary vehicles and visitors that came to the hub.

I anticipate more dream journeys tonight. I’ll send you another letter with my findings.

 Thomas

P.S. I’ve finished the Schenectady Stockade piece. Though, I’d like your opinion on the accuracy of the British soldiers. Do you know where I can find a good portrait of Colonel John Bradstreet?

P.P.S. I tracked down that book on the Pavilion Lake microbialites. It’s checked out now, but I’ll grab it as soon as it’s back in."

Also, I noticed this interesting little doodle on the back of the last page:

Make of that what you will.

There are still several more packets of letters to go through. I'll upload some more stuff soon once I get a free moment.