THE TERROR OF LOSTMAN 5
And that's as far as I've gotten I have a few pictures left from that trip to Deer Isle, and some more ideas. This little project has taken about a week of work over quite a few months. Storyline spoiler is below. Some day I may finish, but, until then
Beware the Terror of Lostman 5!
SPOILER - BEWARE
The Beast attacks and Jasper is dragged down into the depths. Dr. Eden flees in terror, towing his companion's empty kayak behind him. Returning to Deer Isle, he decides to investigate further. As he looks into the history of the Lostman 5, he finds evidence of malfeasance by the Nukeyoular Regulatory Commission in the early days of the Atomic Age, when barrels of radioactive waste were dropped into the depth off of the reef. The barrels began leaking their poisonous contents, with the result that bizarre mutations have begun to appear in the local sea life around the reef.
Shaken by his discoveries, Dr. Eden retreats to a smokey dockside bar, where he meets a mysterious beauty who induces him to tell all. There follow several harrowing near-death episodes which convince Dr. Eden that someone is trying to stop his investigations by any means possible. We find out, though Dr. Eden is still in the dark, that the "accidents" are orchestrated by a fanatic ex-regulator, the sinister Dr. Winsome Malafaque, who really wants to exploit the gigantic crustacean and corner the market on lobster salad. Dr. Malafaque is none other than the mysterious woman in the bar. She had noticed during her studies of the effects of radioactivity on sea life that gigantism was a common response of crustaceans to high doses of radiation and had actually engineered the illegal dump with the hope of developing a race of giant lobsters that she could then exploit in her mad scheme.
Avoiding death by inches, Dr. Eden is able to retreat to a local oceanographic laboratory and to develop a very powerful shell softener, which he hopes to administer with a harpoon gun mounted on the bow of a lobster boat. He recruits the "boys" on the dock, Red, Peleg and Billy, to take him out to the reef. Unbeknownst to them all, Dr. Malafaque has stowed away to try and prevent Dr. Eden from carrying out his plan. The boys chum the water with tuna heads to draw the Beast out. The creature arises from the sea, giving out its weird and terrifying ululation. Dr. Eden takes aim, Dr. Malafaque leaps out and pushes Red, one of the boys, into the water as she rushes onto the foredeck in an attempt to stop the poison from being administered. Red grips the side of the boat, but is dragged out of the arms of his friends as the try to save him from the horrid fate. In the meantime, Dr. Eden swings the harpoon gun around and fires, inadvertently striking Dr. Malafaque in the midriff. She is carried out of the boat and pinned to the side of the Beast, which has finished off Red and is coming back for dessert. The lobster begins to porpoise out of the water in agony as the corpse of Dr. Malafaque waves grotesquely with each leap. With a final shudder, the Beast sinks into the depths, where we see its outer shell dissolve, leaving nothing but 20 tons of delicious meat, with the skeleton of Dr. Malafaque pinned to it like a bizzare garnish.
Peleg, Billy and Dr. Eden turn the boat back to Deer Isle, filled with sadness over the death of their friend, but great relief over the demise of the Beast. As the closing credits roll, the camera returns to the corpse of the monster and focuses on the mass of eggs on its back that begin to glow and throb as we fade out...
Shaken by his discoveries, Dr. Eden retreats to a smokey dockside bar, where he meets a mysterious beauty who induces him to tell all. There follow several harrowing near-death episodes which convince Dr. Eden that someone is trying to stop his investigations by any means possible. We find out, though Dr. Eden is still in the dark, that the "accidents" are orchestrated by a fanatic ex-regulator, the sinister Dr. Winsome Malafaque, who really wants to exploit the gigantic crustacean and corner the market on lobster salad. Dr. Malafaque is none other than the mysterious woman in the bar. She had noticed during her studies of the effects of radioactivity on sea life that gigantism was a common response of crustaceans to high doses of radiation and had actually engineered the illegal dump with the hope of developing a race of giant lobsters that she could then exploit in her mad scheme.
Avoiding death by inches, Dr. Eden is able to retreat to a local oceanographic laboratory and to develop a very powerful shell softener, which he hopes to administer with a harpoon gun mounted on the bow of a lobster boat. He recruits the "boys" on the dock, Red, Peleg and Billy, to take him out to the reef. Unbeknownst to them all, Dr. Malafaque has stowed away to try and prevent Dr. Eden from carrying out his plan. The boys chum the water with tuna heads to draw the Beast out. The creature arises from the sea, giving out its weird and terrifying ululation. Dr. Eden takes aim, Dr. Malafaque leaps out and pushes Red, one of the boys, into the water as she rushes onto the foredeck in an attempt to stop the poison from being administered. Red grips the side of the boat, but is dragged out of the arms of his friends as the try to save him from the horrid fate. In the meantime, Dr. Eden swings the harpoon gun around and fires, inadvertently striking Dr. Malafaque in the midriff. She is carried out of the boat and pinned to the side of the Beast, which has finished off Red and is coming back for dessert. The lobster begins to porpoise out of the water in agony as the corpse of Dr. Malafaque waves grotesquely with each leap. With a final shudder, the Beast sinks into the depths, where we see its outer shell dissolve, leaving nothing but 20 tons of delicious meat, with the skeleton of Dr. Malafaque pinned to it like a bizzare garnish.
Peleg, Billy and Dr. Eden turn the boat back to Deer Isle, filled with sadness over the death of their friend, but great relief over the demise of the Beast. As the closing credits roll, the camera returns to the corpse of the monster and focuses on the mass of eggs on its back that begin to glow and throb as we fade out...
If only Maine Yankee was still open......
ReplyDeleteI started your writing, with all good intentions really. I am a New Englander myself, but my comprehension of your stroy completely broke down and I gave up after just a few pages because I can;t follow the speech of the fisherman. I know you want the dialogue to sound real and thus needs some good accents, but I think toning it down and makind it a bit more decodeable would be helpful. I abandoned the story, though I am very impressed with your medium and creativity here, because I couldn;t follow the stroy. Is there a way to keep the accent but allow more readers (like me) to get the gist of what the characters are saying?
ReplyDeleteDeb:
ReplyDeleteThe impenetrability of the dialect is the whole point! Almost no one in Maine still talks like (loike) that any more, but I remember visiting Maine in the 1950s and not understanding a word that was said. I was copying the spellings (and the equally incomprehensible phrases from a 19th century book about New England stories. Many of the attempts to imitate dialect written in the 19th century are very difficult to follow. Maybe I'll put translations at the bottom!
LOL! I think that would be helpful for those of us unfamiliar with 19th century Maine accents!
ReplyDelete