curosity killed the tyrannosaur? (mystical part 1) (museum quest part 8)

i have a bit of an embarrassing... no wrong word... humiliating... mmmm no still too light a word... shameful admission to make...

i screwed up BIG time!!!

Location: Lake Manapouri

Baskets Left: 3...

i can confirm 3 for sure!

so for the past little while i've been on a job for my boss ms. rhonwyn. to be honest i hadn't been taking it too seriously...

i'm supposed to get rid of three old maori flax baskets... artifacts you might say... but in her instructions ms. rhonwyn doesn't say how i'm supposed to do that. instead she uses a bunch of maori words and phrases i have no clue how to read...

okay that's just an excuse. she did tell me to buy some maori books (and even provided me with money to do so) and do some research. instead i brushed that off cause the task seemed so easy, and more to the point. i've been travelling all over the country to get rid of these...

it seemed easy enough. take the baskets to all these places ms. rhonwyn had written down, something would happen. she didn't say what. just that it'd happen.

the whole time i'm supposed to be watching for something chasing me. apart from some noise in the otago musuem's basement the night this whole cross new zealand quest started i've seen NO sign at all of pursuit.

again ms. rhonwyn said as long as i followed the directions, and hit every place on the list i'd be okay...

yeah simple right...

well only one problem... the numero uno rule: don't open the baskets... easy right!

not when you have a brain as small as mine... okay that's enabling kicking in... will power as small as mine. my brain knew better...

so i'd just finished exploring doubtful sound, and no change in the baskets. i was starting to wonder if anything was ever going to happen with them.

as i made my way back to the car at pearl harbour (a very key factor in what happened... i think!) along the shore of lake manapouri i found my curiosity wandering more and more to the baskets...

so i pulled one of them out... you know just to look at it. or so that's what i told myself anyway.

looking at it, the basket didn't seem like too much. i certainly didn't see how i was going to get rid of it without trying...

why was ms. rhonwyn making such a big fuss about these anyway? what harm could come from some dusty old pouch? i mean apart from really well preserved dinosaur eggs no harm can come from fossils... and some of us dinosaurs are pretty scary when you think about it...

i found my free hand wander up to the basket. the only reason, i was going to sneak a peek.

what was the worst that could happen? it's not like ms. rhonwyn would find out...

so it came as a HUGE surprise that the instant i parted the opening of the basket just a smidgen i was bombarded with a really really REALLY bright, and kinda tingly, light.

lights not the right word for it people of the web wide world. it was a sort of essence or almost presence. like a blanket of fog, mixed with static electricity, and an encyclopaedia...

i tried to close the basket, but where it had been soft and flexible a moment ago it was now steel hard. i couldn't shut it even if i wanted too!

the basket turned up to full blast... the odd thing is i could feel whatever was coming out of the basket literally pierce right through me. i'm not being poetic here either. for a few brief moments i could feel EVERY nerve, muscle, tendon, organ, and bone in my body... i had no idea i was so make shiftily put together... that's evolution for you though i guess... totally random, and boy i could feel it for a second!

i could also swear that for a moment i knew a lot more than i normally did... i can't say for sure now, but i do remember bits and pieces... the true art of defeating ones enemy by destroying them in body soul and spirit, the total accumulation of humanities suffering and pain, and the pure dread and horror that encompasses everyone when they exit this realm after death and pass the veil into the next emanation...

yeah a little freaky indeed! just be thankful it doesn't flash up in your sleep like it has been mine!!!

than as abruptly as it started the glow died, and the basket sealed.

my body still tingled all over, and i felt really dizzy. i slowly moved all my limbs and digits. they all felt stingy. like the time i'd stuck my fork into a hair drier (don't ask...).

just as i was calming down, all my various bits and pieces undamaged, a loud noise nearly scarred me out of my skin!

a ship's horn... i wheeled around to behold a most unearthly sight... a fleet of ships... not boats, but ships suddenly floated atop lake manapouri...

i shock my head a couple times thinking i must be day dreaming or hallucinating. my head still was buzzing from... well whatever had just happened.

yet the warships remained. all they did was manoeuvre a little bit. what the duce was going on?!?

it occurred to me at that moment this is what pearl harbour USA must have looked like 60 years ago... what was it doing here though?

before i could think on this any further a loud buzzing sound filled the air. looking around my jaw dropped again. the horizon was filling with a swarm of things... not small insect things... airplanes... WARplanes!!!

as they cleared the mountains across manapouri they cruised along the surface of the lake. heading straight for...

you guessed it... the boats!

next thing i knew deafening bangs and pows blanketed my ears... as guns fired and things exploded all over the lake!

it was just like a movie, and to be honest in hindsight it was one of the coolest things i've ever seen! at the time it was terrifying!!! why is it i'm always wishing things were more like the movies?!?

as the planes and boats tried to kill each other all i wanted to do was get out of there!

quickly the tide of battle favoured the planes, as boat after boat were destroyed... sort of like watching a life size game of battleship... only it's not funny when you sink a battleship unlike on the commercial!!!

i bolted as the closest ship shattered into hundreds of pieces...

the only problem i could hear planes over head. they were following ME!!!

i jumped in the car, and started driving as fast as i could... i didn't even do up my seat belt.

as i sped along suddenly loud noises surrounded the car. i let out a... uh not scream... a er battle cry... yeah that's it! a battle cry when i saw in my rear view the planes swooping down at me unleashing their machine guns at me...

the bullets were ever drawing closer, as the pilots refined their aim... i couldn't get hit... this was a rental car!

it occurred to me with my peanut brain the only reason it was this easy for them was i was going close to their speed. if i wasn't going that fast i'd be a harder target!!!

i hit the brakes...

and was rewarded as the planes buzzed over me.

i resumed pouring on the gas. if i could just stay behind them they couldn't shot at me anymore!

as i drove past the sign for pearl harbour the planes just vanished... POOF! into thin air. as though they hadn't been there at all!

i once again slammed on the breaks... and let out a sigh of relief.

jittery from all that had happened in just the last 5 minutes... that's right just 5! i got out of the car for a quick wind down.

i'd made it 3 pacing laps when suddenly my "cell" phone began to ring...

"TRAUMADOR!!!" bellowed a familiar voice before i'd said anything...

"you stupid stupid dinosaur!!!" ms. rhonwyn's voice was mighty cross. "we're picking up the effects of mystic gradient on nearly every satellite in the southern hemisphere!"

i didn't say anything.

"the most important thing. the one thing i tell you twenty times NOT to do, and you do it anyway!!!" she roared causing me to flinch. "do you have any idea what you've done?!?"

i waited hoping she'd calm down. she didn't. "answer me!"

i timidly answered. "opened a basket."

"you didn't open a basket," her voice was frustrated. "you opened one of the kete o te wananga."

i remained silent.

"traumador did you do any research?" she demanded.

"no," i admitted.

"i'm furious with you," she warned me. "but we don't have time to deal with this right now. we picked up a huge discharge of mystic gradient energy here all the way in australia, and if we picked it up than whatever entered this plain of existence definitely picked up that discharge too, and will be bee lining it right to you."

"what's going on ms. rhonwyn?" i pleaded. "i opened the key o tea wong whats you call it, and suddenly their was a naval war going on on lake manapouri."

"okay," ms. rhonwyn sounded like she was ready to give up on... well on me. "listen and listen carefully. we don't have much time. through this phoneline i'll get contaminated too."

"contaminated?" i fearfully repeated.

"traumador, when i said those 'baskets' contained new zealand's spiritual and mystic fabric i wasn't exaggerating," ms. rhonwyn explained. "by opening one in close proximity, as a a undisciplined medium, you unleashed pure unchanneled mystic gradient radiation on yourself and the surrounding area."

"radiation?" i anxiously repeated again.

"yes traumador," ms. rhonwyn. "due to it's dangerous and unstable nature its not talked about with the public, but you're getting a crash course today assuming you survive it."

i couldn't believe my ears. was i dying?!? "what did i expose myself to?" i whispered in disbelief.

"well you've heard of magic," ms. rhonwyn explained. "despite what you've heard about it, magic is a lot more scientific than you'd think. humanities earlier cultures and societies before harnessing more difficult, but safer and stabler forms of energy tapped into what we now call mystic gradient radiation. magic, but it is a plausible quantifiable substance. just much more random, anarchic, and dangerous than other radiation forms we know."

"the material world as you and me know it is simple an interplay of radiation forms," ms. rhonwyn continued. "well the radiations modern scientists work with, and society today concerns itself with are all native to our 4 dimensional reality. however modern string theory has begun to unfold far more dimensions in the universe than these 4. it is from this outer dimensional-scape that mystic radiation bleeds into our reality..."

"it normally lies latent under the surface of our reality, but given the proper conduit... a trained mind of say a shaman or such spiritual individual, or a catylst object such as one of the baskets you carry... this energy is triggered into activating in our reality. as this radiation is part of a different world... it allows aspects of that reality to manifest in our existence. because where they come from is governed by far different rules of nature these manifestations have strange and often intangible effects on our world," ms. rhonwyn tried to inform me.

i didn't follow any of it. not only was it above my limited head, but i was still fixated on her implying i was going to die!

"do i have mystic cancer?" i found myself ask, using the only words i got from her complicated explanation.

"i didn't mean to scare you unjustly traumador," ms. rhonwyn finally had a little sympathy in her voice. "i won't lie to you though. exposure to that much mystic gradient has led to fatality in all non-mediums in the past. not through disease though. rather mystic related incidents."

"like i said truamador, this radiation basically causes 'magical' things to happen. your naval battle was a manifestation of these energies that was probably triggered by your proximity to pearl harbour," she stated. "you've just saturated yourself with a life time's worth of the stuff, and to be honest that will have a long term effect."

i still couldn't speak due to terror...

"traumador you are currently a mystic conduit, and to be honest you probably aren't going to loss it for the rest of your life," she told me flat out.

"what does that mean?" i fearfully asked.

"you will be sensitive to mystic hotspots and manifestations. you will encounter any mystic entities and organisms wandering through the background of our reality. lastly you'll possibly loss your anchoring on this 4 dimensional reality, and become lost in the mystic realm..." her voice grew sad. she tried to sound hopeful. "at the same time you're the first dinosaur that we know of being exposed. maybe it will have a different effect on you."

there was a voice from off the phone. again there was someone on the other side like when she'd first called me and started this whole quest debacle.

"traum i need to wrap this up quick," she said stressed. "you're still a live wire of excess MGR... that's short of mystic gradient radiation. it's seeping through this phone connection. again i can't risk your level of contamination."

"here is exactly what you need to do," ms. rhonwyn was urgent. "the atua... that's maori for god or deity... that is more than likely after the baskets will definitely know where you are now. you have to get out of the fiordland as fast as possible. by the looks of our satellite's readings, your car is as saturated as you... lose it! it'll throw your pursuer off for a while, and let you bleed off some of your excess MGR."

"i don't have time to explain things too you. get some maori research material, and look up exactly what the kete o te wananga are," she ordered. "based on what we've seen you were exposed to the kete tuateau. don't ask it'll make sense once you look it up."

"above all else traum don't stop from now on unless you have too," ms. rhonwyn's voice had a deadly edge. "your body will absorb the mystic energy so that though you'll probably forever be saturated with it, at least you won't ooze it after a day or so. meaning if you keep on the move it'll be harder for mystic entities to track you."

"since i hope you now see not following my directions has huge consequences listen to this carefully. from now on it is vital that you do not allow a single one of those baskets to fall into a mystic entities hands!"

"how do i get rid of them safely than?" i asked earnestly.

"the sites you are travelling to are mystic hotspots of new zealand, due to either their location or the artifacts they contain. when exposed to the right energy level the baskets will dissolve back into the ether of the mystic background..."

the outside voice said something urgently to ms. rhonwyn. "good luck, traumador i have to go now!" the phone hung up...

i still had a million questions... but i guess i'd messed up big enough today i didn't deserve any more anwsers...

okay so basically from what i understood: magic is radiation. this radiation is what makes weird mystic things like ghosts and scary undead things come to life. i'm now a magnet for these same scary things, and will see a lot more of them...

like i said people of the web wide world i screwed up big time!!!

Meanwhile in Invercargill...

man oh man did i screw up... for indeed ms. rhonwyn was not the only one to notice my blunder. from downtown invercargill another interested party in the baskets suddenly began speeding towards the fiordland...

worst of all i couldn't leave the fiordland until i visited the last location on my list in the region. a visit that was going to take me another whole day!!!

to be continued...