Chapter
26
Ongs
Hat
Humans may or may
not have cosmic significance, and if they do, it will be by hitching a ride on
the objective centrality of knowledge in the cosmic scheme of things. -David Deutsch
If you think this Universe is bad, you should
see some of the others. – Philip K. Dick
A thing can be true and still be desperate
folly. – Richard Adams
Barry was holding that dog-eared copy of
VALIS, as he spoke to Marie, waving it idly to accent his words. He probably didn’t realize he was doing so. They were seated on the terrace sipping their
morning coffee. The mountains reared high
and the valley sank low beyond the steep drop.
Though Marie could not see the river below, she could heaar its waters
moving in their course.
“You’re from Jersey,” Barry observed. “Have you ever heard of Ongs Hat in the Pine
Barrens?”
“Sure, my granddad, gave me a book a long
time ago, The Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey, I think it was
called. Used to be a busy little social
hub. Some guy named Ong, what? threw his hat up in the air, and it got stuck
in a tree, and viola … the town becomes known as Ongs Hat. Right?”
“Yep.”
“That and my grandfather had friends in
that area, he was always visiting them.”
Barry raised his eyes in mild surprise as
he heard this. “Interesting. Okay, then, have you heard about the alleged
Travel Cult that allegedly flourished there in the late seventies through the
mid-eighties?”
She shook her head, “No.” Marie took another sip of coffee and listened
with patience. She loved to hear Barry
talk. He was her favorite Wonderlander,
as the group referred to themselves. They
shared so much in common. He was born
and raised in Philly, so they were both children of the Delaware Valley. He was nearly her age. That’s probably why they had sent him to
Paris to get her.
“Well, it’s an interesting tale to be sure. Of course, the guy who first popularized it
later claimed he made it all up, as sort of a meta-game. Since then, others have stepped forward to
counter that saying that they had been there.
We have our own reasons to accept the tale.”
“Okay, what’s it about?” Marie asked, now
curious.
“The story goes that a Sufi mystic bought
some property in Ongs Hat to set up an ashram.
Somehow or other, some MWI physicists from Princeton, students of
Everett’s hooked up with the mystic.
Psychedelic drugs, tantric sex, and some sort of primitive quantum
biofeedback system were involved, and a device they called the Egg. It is claimed that combining these things,
certain members of the ashram were able to travel to a nearby alternate or
parallel in our lingo, universe.”
Marie’s eyes flickered as a memory was
triggered by his words, but she said nothing and allowed Barry to continue.
“Allegedly, they set up some sort of hippy
commune in this uninhabited world. Geographically
it was exactly like the one they had left … they found themselves deep in the
Pine Barrens in this world. The only
signs of civilization were abandoned temples built by some sort of
hyper-intelligent lemurs that, again, allegedly had gone universe hoping
themselves. Mankind had never evolved in
this world.
So, missions went back and forth. But they could only get stuff to go to Earth
2, as they called it, nothing back from there.”
“Of course, the story goes they jumped off
from Earth 2 to even other universes. It
was in one of those that they met up with folks who told them about this
book.” He raised the copy of VALIS. “These mysterious Multiverse travelers that
the Ongs Hat Cult met gave them this copy.
It is the only nonconscious thing that we know of, that has been able to
enter our world. Stan wants you to have
it by the way.” He handed her the book
once again. She took with extra care.
“He thinks you should read it. In fact, he thinks you should make it your
first barter priority. So, I guess, it’s
kind of an order.” He smiled when he
said it. “In fact, he has quite a
reading list for you.”
He opened up the folder he had on the table
and carefully removed some very old Xeroxed papers stapled together. “This is the Incunabula Catalog. It is allegedly the first iteration of the
hoax. It briefly describes the Ashram
and its activities, and lists books and articles which the proprietor of the
catalog claimed would allow certain individuals to follow their methods. Most of the books involved are fairly common,
a few are quite rare and arcane, and a couple of them don’t seem to exist in
our universe.”
He handed her the catalog. Another flash of memory.
“Holy Fuck!” Marie exclaimed. “I’ve seen this before.”
“That’s not too surprising, the cover is
based on artwork from John Dee’s Monas Heiroglyphica, you probably have seen
that somewhere,” Barry explained.
“No.
I’ve seen this. The Incunabula
Catalog. After my grandfather died I
helped my dad clear out my grandparent’s house, because it sold almost
immediately. We were in a terrible
hurry, and just ditched so much stuff, so many cherished memories in the
dumpster, and I mean that literally. I
was cleaning out my grandfather’s work shop, which was as much a mad scientist’s
lab filled with electronics equipment, sine wave meters, books and papers. I distinctly remember seeing this.” She held up the flimsy old Xeroxes. “I remember thinking how cool it was. I was still in my twenties, and had no idea
what any of it meant. I pitched it.”
Barry’s eyes opened wide. “Wait, you’re telling me, that your
grandfather, on your father’s side, Lawrence Brabant, had a copy of the Incunabula? Jesus, that’s new.”
“I’m happy to surprise you,” Marie smiled
broadly. “Then you’re going to like this
part. He took me there.”
Now his jaw dropped and his mouth hung open
in shock.
“It was 1986, I had just dropped out of
college for my first time … out of University of Maryland to be exact. I had a pretty bad drug habit, and wanted to
spend a week by myself camping and hiking in the Pine Barrens. Pop-Pop Brabant said he knew the perfect
place for me to camp. On the way there,
he drove through roads of white sand, and mud puddles, I remember being afraid
we were going to get stuck, but that never concerned him. He showed me many of his favorite spots. At one point in the drive, we passed a small
area of campers, shacks, tents and an old barn, which had evidently been there
some time. The people there, who were
outside, all waved and shouted, “Hey, Larry.” to him. I asked him who they were and how he knew
them. He told me they were his friends
from Princeton.” She finished in
triumphant satisfaction.
She could see that she had just blown Barry
Allen’s mind.
“Jesus Christ! Oh my God!
Then, you’re the first Marie Brabant in the five hundred or so universes
we know of and communicate with, with a Marie Brabant who’s had an actual
connection to the Ongs Hat Travel Cult.
Wait to the other Wonderlanders hear about his! It’s amazing”
Marie smiled again. She felt special. She also realized she was falling for Barry
Allen.
copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt
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