🔭Cryptic Scriptic

Another chapter in outer space mystery

Every episode of Storymaze = writing ideas or writing-in-progress; something creative I’m excited to share; a highlight from my comic book writing; and a quote that’s worth a think.

I’m very thankful for your reading and spending time here with me and my words.

On the almost eve of Christmas Eve, whether you celebrate or not, I wish you Good Tidings and Great Cheer. 🎅🎄

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Photo by NASA on Unsplash

In our last Storymaze, we opened with the first chapter of “Something To Watch Over Us” — a fictional take on the “In Search Of…” style programs I loved as a kid. Like those, the “mission” here is to enjoy some time exploring the weird, disturbing and unanswered. (Perfect for the holidays, am I right?) Here’s Part 2, starting with a recap of our characters…

INVESTIGATOR/HOST — A Leonard Nimoy like guide into the unknown
KARL — An investigative researcher 
ANDREA - Leader of the Skyfire Project
COLONEL - A liaison for Space Force
WV GRANT - A preacher with a foreboding sense of doom

INT. CRYPTIC INVESTIGATIVE OFFICES – DAY

SFX: Click-clack keyboards, Jacob's Ladder crackle, police scanner, 3D printer.

KARL: They sent up the latest Samsung phone, with a telephoto lens and AI image enhancement. This achieved a remarkable and unusual vantage point. And some rather extraordinary visual detail.

INT. THAILAND CYBERCAFE – DAY

SFX: Low level Thai voices; clattering of diner dishes; video game sounds.

ANDREA: When they followed that GPS signal and got their phone back, they posted their video to YouTube. They did it for the bragging rights. I watched it with an eye for something they wouldn't know to look for...

SFX: SONAR/RADAR "PING" closing in on target.

ANDREA: There. Look. See it? That object on a very peculiar orbit between the earth and the moon. That's the X-37B.

INT. SPACE FORCE HANGER – DAY

SFX: Indeterminate air traffic control chatter and high- speed whooshing aircraft.

COLONEL: No. Comment.

INT. CRYPTIC INVESTIGATIVE OFFICES – DAY

SFX: Click-clack keyboards, Jacob's Ladder crackle, police scanner, 3D printer.

KARL: The X-37B is a classified Air Force project — now reassigned to Space Force — that has been in orbit 600 days. Drone or manned, no one knows. Its mission is classified SCI: sensitive compartmented information.

INT. THAILAND CYBERCAFE – DAY

SFX: Low level Thai voices; clattering of diner dishes; video game sounds.

ANDREA: That spacecraft is positioned in just the right way to defend against — or meet with — anything that might come from the direction of the moon. This is exactly what Skyfire was created to raise public awareness about!

This is where some of the theories of W.V. Grant come into play.

INT. CRYPTIC INVESTIGATIVE OFFICES – DAY

SFX: Click-clack keyboards, Jacob's Ladder crackle, police scanner, 3D printer.

KARL: W.V. Grant's book, Men From The Moon In America, is an unusual publication, even in the annals of ufology. It begins with an analysis of the events of November 3rd, 1957, in Levelland Texas: strange lights in the sky and stalled vehicles.

It concludes with a portent that the actual devil lives in the moon.

Look for Part 3 after Christmas!

For me, one of the hidden treasures in the classic TV series The Twilight Zone has always been “Night of the Meek.” Through the portal of Rod Serling’s “dimension of imagination” we follow a broken-down department store Santa, mysteriously given a chance at redemption. You might want to think of it as the original “The Santa Clause.” (If you don’t know what The Twilight Zone is…you can think of it as the original Black Mirror.)

I don’t know if it gets regular — or any — rotation in the usual “24 Hours of Twilight Zone” marathons that typically fill one channel or other during the holiday season. (In the Storymaze wander-wonder…what programming genius made that connection in the first place?) The fact it only exists as a kinescope — a film recording of the television broadcast itself that gives it an odd, janky look — may also account for it being passed over or overlooked. (Especially compared to the crisp black-and-white cinematography of most of the anthology series.)

The magical Art Carney plays the downtrodden St. Nick wannabe, and trades in his comedy chops for a dramatic turn that’s quite compelling. He’s on another downward turn in this excerpt, but rather than “woe is me” he sees the season as one where we should hope for better…especially for those who have the least.

Mr. Serling hand might be a bit heavy on the keyboard in this one. But it’s still a warm and wonderful tribute to Christmas spirit. Find a Xmas tree it’s under, you won’t be disappointed.

Comic books have (or had?) a quirky tradition of “the Christmas issue” wherein heroes would have to rescue Santa, or villains would indulge in a Grinchmas-style heart enlargement — if only for 22 pages.

While Terror, Inc. had only a short run of mayhem, we did manage to cross over into the holiday season. I wasn’t going to let the moment pass, and so seized on the opportunity with utter abandon for a twisted version of O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.” Except in this “Gift of the Maggia” (Marvel’s dodge for getting around the term “Mafia”), the titular mercenary is charged with delivering a final holiday message to the family of an executed mob informant.

Here, the dead man’s son has been kidnapped by the crime family, and it’s up to Terror to set things right. And alight.

Terror’s talent is for stealing body parts, along with their abilities and the emotions of the original owner — so this isn’t exactly “It’s A Wonderful Life.” But it does have its heart in the right place — or someone’s heart, given the bogeyman’s very particular set of skills. It actually ends on something of a touching note — there are cookies and milk, even. After you get past a stocking full of burning, butchery and revenge.

Anyway — be of good fear! I mean, cheer! 😜

“Life is no straight and easy corridor along which we travel free and unhampered, but a maze of passages, through which we must seek our way, lost and confused, now and again checked in a blind alley.

But always, if we have faith, a door will open for us, not perhaps one that we ourselves would ever have thought of, but one that will ultimately prove good for us.” — A.J. Cronin

Amazing Times

I’m D.G. Chichester. If that looks pretentious, feel free to just call me “Dan.”

I earned my storytelling cred writing comic book titles like Daredevil, Terror Inc., Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD and Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, along with digital widgets in the world wide web of advertising. I like weird tales, so if things here bend that way — now you know why!

Folks seem to like the comic book adventures I’ve written, so if you haven’t checked one out — please do. Many are now available in fab collected editions.

For the eager moments between newsletters…

@dgchichester — 280 characters from the Twitterverse

@dgchichester — images via Instagramland