Lutwidge Writings

== Letter to Ryan 1 ==
April 17, 1952
Warden Yarn Co.
___ Park Ave.
New York, NY
To Whom It May Concern:
After having made numerous previous inquiries by tele-
phone, and receiving no adequate response, apparently I
have to spell it out in writing.
    My organization accepted a contract to provide con-
struction materials and other supplies for your unspeci-
fied project in the North Atlantic. We cheerfully agreed
to some most peculiar conditions regarding confidential-
ity and consented to form partnerships with your organi-
zation. In exchange, we were promised long-term contracts,
as well as control and, eventually, full ownership of
several lucrative New York real estate properties.
    We are most dismayed to discover that our contracts
have been cut off in recent months without valid explana-
tion. Raw materials, purchased upfront by our organiza-
tion, rust and rot at our docks as we await contact
regarding delivery. We find ourselves most vexed by this
utter lack of response; not in the least because we have
exposed ourselves to undue risk in the implementation of
your particular demands.
    We have grown increasingly suspicious that your organi-
zation has used ours as a "shield" to obfuscate your
actual purposes. Perhaps your intent is to prevent the
government from ascertaining the true nature of your
unspecified project in the North Atlantic (op. cit.,
Q.E.D). We do not intend, as the popular parlance has it,
to be left "holding the bag."
    We fully expect you to come through in your obliga-
tions; or failing that, to offer us a sizable cash
settlement to compensate us for this ongoing frustration.
:::::::With increasing pique,
::::::::::O.O.L
::::::::Orrin Oscar Lutwidge
== Letter to Ryan 2 ==
June 22, 1954
Page 2 (of 2)
IN SHORT, Mr. R. (if that IS WHO YOU ARE). I have deduced
who you are and what you are up to. Others will, soon -
all too soon. Despite your best efforts - a trail remains.
It is only a matter of connecting the dots. If you would
like to KEEP your secret. I would advise that
you contact me. Others are already finding the clues —
putting the pieces together.
   This irksome French heiress and various agencies of the
United States gov't. are moving in closer. Inch by inch,
they encroach upon the center of the secret. It is my
choice now. I could assist them - or I could cast chimerical 
glamours to lead them astray. (I have already taken it
upon myself to destroy hard evidence of the
city's existence and to introduce false evidence to
confound & confuse these unworthies.) It is my understanding 
that you sought to gather the brightest and the best
under your banner: yet you have left this very brightest
mind alone in the shadows.
   I advise you. kind sir: test not my patience. You
should reward your faithful servant, lest you taste his
wrath.
   I await the coordinates of RAPTURE.
Lutwidge never got the coords???
:DID HE EVER FIND IT????
:::::::With mounting impatience:
:::::::::O.O.L.
== I.O.O.P Pamphlet ==
===Title Page===
THE
INTERNATIONAL
ORDER
OF THE PAWNS
________
An Introduction for New Members
[The motto reads "Agere, Auferre, Audere", Latin for "To Act, To Carry Off, To Dare"]
:::FIRST EDITION
::::1956
===Page 1===
To the Pawns:
In this world, a grand game is being
played. Its moves are secret, its
strategems complex. You have been con-
tacted because your have witnessed the
patterns that lie beneath the surface of
things. Unlike the blinkered herd, you
have recognized the secret sequence of
the squares! Thus, you have achieved the
First Degree. To achieve victory, one
must first recognize that the game's
afoot!
The White King (in his Ivory Tower) has
challenged us to play his covert game, to
find his hidden castle. But the game is
both intricate and global. The Queen
cannot be everywhere at once, alas; so
you must advance the agenda.
You may be asked to go anywhere -- to
participate in actions that seem, at first
blush, baffling. Your mind may be
strained to the breaking point by puzzles,
paradoxes & provocations. But if you
persevere -- if you prove your pluck and
probity -- if you aid us in uncovering the
hidden whilst luring the Unworthy off our
Trail of Truth -- then knowledge will be
granted unto you in a matter of degrees.
Dare, my pawns! Dare to accomplish
what few dream. But dare most of all
to be silent!
:With respect and admiration,
::your Red Queen:
:::O.O.L
==Letter to the Red Pawn==
June 17, 1958
My dear Red Pawn:
    Your assistance in the matter of the French-
woman was much appreciated; you replicated the hand
of her father with much skill, and your efforts to
plant the documents in the Gobi Desert enabled me
to be "in two places at once," as it were. 
However, I must urge you to stop harassing her
immediately. I am given to understand that a
letter, apparently on my letterhead and in my hand,
was sent to the Frenchwoman on May 23. Its contents
echoed thoughts that I had previously expressed to
you, but it showed my our hand in a clumsy and
unnecessarily provocative manner -- and revealed
matters which I had repeatedly told you were of a
confidential nature (e.g. The Bellman's Chart).
  I suspect that you have taken it upon yourself to
continue the game.
  Understand quite clearly, sir: The operation has
been a success, and I have already taken steps to
eliminate all the forgeries we provided our quarry.
Now, possibly because of this idiotic note of May
23, the Frenchwoman has hired Private Investigators
to dog my steps -- even as I prepare for the next
and final steps in my own quest for True Rapture.
Please -- your involvement must not be discovered,
and the game is at and end.
::::::Yours, quite piquantly:
::::::::O.O.L.
:::::::("which is me,"
::::::::INDEED!)
==Letter to the Grey Pawn==
TO: GREY PAWN
FROM: RED QUEEN
DATE: Sept. 1958
Re: Red Pawn / "Baskerville" Project
Grey Pawn:
Please know that your repeated (endlessly repeated)
warnings about the Red Pawn have not gone unheeded. Neither
have we failed to note the unkind aspersions that you have
cast upon the mental well-being of your Red Queen.
Unfortunately, the Red Pawn remains a vital component of
our "Baskerville" Project. We must ensure that all genuine
evidence is hopelessly intertwined with hokum (e.g.,
Atlantis, ghost legends, psychical phenomena, et cetera).
In the past, Mr. Lynch has appeared to be a useful idiot -
a "true believer" in occult forces. We now suspect that the
crafty Pawn may have other goals - namely, he seeks to find
ways to extract profit from the secret of "True Rapture."
If I seem to be gulled by the Red Pawn, know that truths
may lurk in unexpected places. In compiling his latest col-
lection of supernatural lore, Lynch has stumbled across
information that has value even if he does not suspect: a
seemingly supernatural tale may provide the final clues to
my ultimate destination. Surely you are not surprised, Grey
Pawn - you more than anyone have chased ghosts these many
years. What if ghosts alone could point the way to truth?
Soon enough, I shall go to the Red Pawn in person to deter-
mine the precise nature of his threat - and to determine
what actualities he has accidentally woven into his
tapestry of superstition.
::::::Trust your Red Queen:
:::::::O.O.L.
==Plans for the Metal Box Puzzle==
Fig 3a. - 3rd CONFIG.
5x5 Lock
Refer to Knight's
::Journey
SOLUTION ACTIVATES
GYROSCOPIC
:SENSOR
THE SEEKER
:MUST BE
:SET TO 
:SEA!
==Warning About Route to Rapture==
The UNWARY will be swallowed by Watery TRAPS! → seek the safe havens
E'en though your compass
falters, ye may sail BLIND -
guided by the THIRD EYE
within the MIND.
IMPORTANT    ↓
:induce sneezing
:to release
:PSYCHIC
:PRESSURE!
:THERE IS
:ONLY ONE
:TRUE ROUTE
FOLLOW the LEYLINES → Beware the VORTICES → 
the ONLY WAY TO RAPTURE → The Phantom Lighthouse Beckons ...
:V + V
:I
:II
:III
:IV
:V
THERE IS AN ORDER!
:::VORTICES!!! LEY LINES!!!
::::UTTER INSANITY!!!!
OOLutwidge - too smart to buy into
Lynch's BS OR was HE???
PUZZLE BOX contains info
:Lutwidge couldn't have known
:before he left NYC in '58.
DID OOL REPROGRAM the Box in 1960?
:After he returned from RAPTURE?        CAN I
::::::::::  TRUST IT???
==Utropolis Manuscript==
File:Lutwidge cp mini.png
File:Utopian Metropolis cps.png
(Fun Fact: The thumbnail version of the cover page that can be seen in the archives looks significantly different than the cover page when seen up close. Compare the pictures above.)
===Cover Page===
:::inscribed
::this year of our lord
::nineteenhundredsixty
:::OR
::in the modern chronology
::THE YEAR 15 A.R
::::   (Anno Raptus)
:____________________________
One Ostracized Loner was delivered from the
depths by the bursting of the BATHYSPHERE.
He brought NAUGHT to show for his sojourn
in Wonderland save some sorrowful souvenirs of
that Civil SLAUGHTER. O, the BROKEN
FACES - trophies of the FOES!
:(and mementoes of the FRIENDS......)
FOOTSOLDIERS in that MYTHIC WAR
:to DECYDE THE FATE OF
::THE CITY 'NEATH
:::THE SEA
MUST GET
:IT ALL DOWN....
:ONLY ADAM CAN HELP
:preCIOUS JARS GROW EMPTY.....
Must PRESERVE MEMORY
:::of that
:UTOPIAN METROPOLIS
===Second Cover Page===
KILL
I*AN
:RØD
:is ReD
KEBERiNNE?
TRUST
:NOT
::THE PAWN!
NOM. DE PLUME!!!
THE NAME SHALL BE A MASQUE
for the TRUTH to hide BEHIND
::AHA!
::the perfect
::surname?
(arrow pointing to a taped on page fragment)
(the fragment-)
::APRIL MARCH:
:::a novel
Copyright:1936
Written by Herbert Q(obscured)
===THE UTOPIAN METROPOLIS - Ch. 1 - by 'Quain' pg 5===
:I beheld the chiseled face - the face of Great
ORION, cast in bronze. As some great artisan's hands
had shaped the mold, a vacuum to be filled with molten
metal - - so had ORION shaped my life. This man, who
had been my employer, my partner, my nemesis - had
taunted me with silence. By refusing to extend the
invitation to Paradise - he had goaded me to
Greatness. I had gone a-hunting for a Snark - and had
found my true self. "NO GOD OR KINGS." as he would
say - "ONLY MAN." "OR KNIGTS??"-^
:I discovered what appeared to be a way down - an
elevator mayhaps? I pulled the brass lever. It
lurched - and down, down, down I went - plummeting
into the mystery like Alice. Then it was as if the
floor dropped out - suddenly my transport was
whisking through water. This was no ordinary
lift, thought I, but some bold new submersible!
:The splendour of the city unfolded before me - a
vision of beauty, trimmed in neon.
===THE UTOPIAN METROPOLIS - Ch. 1 - by 'Quain' pg 8===
:My bathysphere traveled through rings with
rings - a glidepath to my final destination. The
hatch opened. I steeled myself - expecting to face
a challenge - the sharpened lances of the Red
Queen's knavish army. I was greeted by naught but
silence!
:I found myself walking through the darkened corri-
dors, strangely quiet - - littered with chaos. In the
soft glow of the empty store-fronts, I noticed
streamers on the ground and party favors. "Had some
grand celebration been interrupted in the midst?" I
mused. Glass crunched beneath my feet; I bent down
to discover the shattered stem of a discarded cham-
pagne glass. "Late for the party," said I, reflect-
ing upon the irony. I wondered where all the
revelers had got to - even as I heard scuttling
sounds in the distance; even as I felt unseen eyes
watching me.
:The details remain - but there are fugues in the
score. Like shards of the Looking Glass. I feel it
is Urgent that I pin these vaporising truths to the
foolscap pages - ere all of it slips from your
humble narrator forever!
===THE UTOPIAN METROPOLIS - Ch. I - by 'Quain' pg 156===
:::::see letter from J.S.
:The one called Catherine helped me hobble into the
flat that served as the headquarters of my new compa-
triots. The walls were lined with canvasses - eerie
images glimpsed through the windowpanes of this strange
city, light filtering past sculpted pinnacles whilst
great-leviathans and eight limbed monstrosities whirled
above the rooftops - the pigeons of this subaqueous
Metropolis!
:I stared numbly at the paintings - barely feeling
the blood dripping down my arm to the floor. The
accursed Madmoiselle had wounded me in the fray. (A
pox on all the French!)
:Noticing my wound, Catherine sat me on a stool to
tend it. I found myself directly facing a portrait of
a young girl, fragile and innocent. Every brushstroke
spoke of loss. As she wrapped my wound with gauze,
Catherine noticed my gaze, "Eve," she whispered. I dared
not ask what had become of the child.
::One of the Vanished! 
::Mother took her? 
::Note Suggests: went voluntarily
THE UTOPIAN METROPOLIS - Ch. I - by 'Quain' pg 157
:::::::::OAKES???
:The door burst open. There stood the brusque man
in the sailor's uniform, the White Knight who had
saved me. We were lucky to have him at our side - a
rare commodity, a soldier with experience in the War
and training in the art of strategy.
:"Where have you been?" asked Catherine.
:"Sinclair Solutions," he grinned. "I think we've
got a thing or two to turn this battle."
:check on this
:The Knight eyed. "Pal," said he, "I don't even
know where the hell you came from. But after the way
you handled that wrench out there - you're jake in
my book. We could use a mechanic."
:I protested that my profession was invention. He
reached out his hand in comradeship. I accepted -
only to have him squeeze my grip and turn my arm
to expose the veins. To my shock, he raised a syringe 
-like device, poising it in the air.
:"Don't worry," said he, "This will only sting
for a second."
:Before I could flinch - the needle plunged.
:::::WHAT IS IT???
:::::'splice of life'??
== RØd Killian Quain's Journal ==
===Cover===
(A spiral consisting of the repeated words "RAPTURE IS REAL")
::RØ(rrin)D
:::KIL(utwidge)LIAN
::Q(scar)uain
::The Testimony of 
:::Øne Old Loon
::Who Ran the Red Queen's Race
===Page 1===
To square the circle is a tangle...
yet a problem more easily subsumed
than to find the TRIANGLE within the TRIANGLE
Ye be lost unless ye find it.....
:an' ye find it, ye be DOOMED
:::HERE
:::there
:::Be
::MONSTERS
===Page 2===
(Alice in Wonderland book cutout -)
:::"...the pool of tears..."
In that sea of wreckage
gleams the golden eye
that leads the bold to
:-RAPTURE-
and the rest to merely DIE
===Page 3===
DOWN THE
:RABBITHOLE
and what ORRIN found there
(Alice in Wonderland book cutouts -)
"...Down down down. Would the fall never
come to an end? 'I wonder how many miles
I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. 'I
must be getting somewhere near the centre of
the earth. Let me see: that would be four
thousand miles down, I think-'"
"'-yes, that's about the right distance-but
then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude
I've got to?'"
(Arrow pointing to the passage)
Wouldn't you
:like to
:know?
:::Such
:::nice
:::Grand
:::words
:::to
:::Say
===Page 4===
(Alice in Wonderland book cutout -)
"'Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!'"
Always Late......
:too LATE
1959 and the party's
::ALMOST Over!
(poster from the New Year's Eve Rapture masquerade ball with white rabbit mask)
:::what
:::does
:::the
:::WHITE
:::RabbiT
:::know?
Should auld acquaintance
:be forgot? (party balloon)
YES Y₤S 1000x YES
===Page 5===
(Cut out of the Mad Hatter's tea party with mask pictures glued over the characters' faces)
(Alice in Wonderland book cutout -)
"'No room! No room!' they cried out when
they saw Alice coming. 'There's plenty of
'room!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat down
in a large arm-chair at one end of the table."
===Page 6===
All these years, Orrin had been
:SHUNNED by the Master of
:Wonderland as if there
:Was NO ROOM for him.
:But there was PLENTY
::of Room!
In his new home, Orrin found
:people WONDROUS
:STRANGE, of a like he had
:never before encountered.
They were the BEST and the
:BRIGHTEST and hid
:their BEAUTY behind
:a Marvellous Masquerade.
They looked Askance at Orrin
:at first. But he soon proved
:his worth with his
:Imagination and Invention..
:So they invited him to try
::the TREATS
===Page 7===
(Alice in Wonderland book cutout -)
:"However, this bottle was not marked 'poison,' 
so Alice ventured to taste"
(Pictures of Plasmid advertisements and poster from Eve's Garden)
(Alice in Wonderland book cutout -)
:"'Curiouser and cu-
riouser!' cried Alice"
===Page 8===
:ELECTRO-BoLT and SONIC BOOM,
::TELEKINESIS makes things Zoom!
:TARGET Dummy, CyCLONE TRAP!
::Unleash the ice of WINTER BLAST! (symbols of snow flakes)
:INCINERATE will make you warm
::as you release an INSECT SWARM.
:ENRAGE a useless bloody fool
::and make an enemy your tool
:The Possibilities are rife.........
for VARIETY'S the SPLICE
:::::of LIFE!
===Page 9===
THERE
ARE NO
HAPPY ENDINGS
'in the
KINGDOM......
FOR WONDERLAND
:went to WAR!
(Picture of the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland covered in blood splotches. Also, a picture of Atlas holding up a globe.)
No DADDY No!
:not the DRILL!
(Arrow pointing at Atlas)
:WHO is HE?
(Got the whole World
:on his SHOULDERS!)
THE MORE
THINGS
MUTATE.....
The more they
tend to
CHANGE!
===Page 10===
Orrin couldn't stay with his
:new friends...For they had ALL
:::Gone
::::Quite
:MAD
(Picture of Alice looking at the Cheshire cat)
(Alice in Wonderland book cutout -)
:"'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat:
`we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
:'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
:'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you
wouldn't have come here.'"
===Page 11===
(Alice in Wonderland book cutout -)
:"'It was much pleasanter at home,' thought
poor Alice,"
And so...
:Orrin escaped from Wonderland
:only to be betrayed by
::EVERYONE!
LET THE
:FRENCH
::FRY!'
LET HER SEEING EYE DOGS
:be BLINDED
and pity the seeker
:who seeks in VAIN
===Page 12===
THE SECRET, sweet Alice,
::LIES DEEP
For the checkered Journey
:can be traversed
::only by a KNIGHT
And none are left in
:this game but
::PAWNS
of the Broken-hearted
:Prophet I have
::SPAWNED
Not
Quite
(cut out from a book)
"The End"
==Invitation==
===Title Page===
::::Dear
JEREMY:
ORRIN OSCAR LUTWIDGE
cordially extends
An Exclusive Invitation
(Alice in Wonderland image -)
"I didn't know I was to have a party at all,"
said Alice; "but if there is to be one, I think
I ought to invite the guests."
===Page 1===
TIME is of the essence!
Your Red Queen
Ø. O. L.
===Page 2===
You and one (1) guest*(should you know one worthy)may participate inthe re-discovery of
TRUE RAPTURE
The Journey BeginsSATURDAYFebruary the Sixth5:45 P.M.
Gather on MARY STREET(between MINNA ST. & NATOMA ST.)in the city ofSan Fransisco, California
*Only persons of full maturity (age twenty-one or over)shall be permitted to embark upon our quest.
===Back Page===
BE ADVISED -RAPTUREIS NOTFOR ALL
Bring this invitation asyour ticket or you willbe left behind
TO DARE - TO JOURNEY - TO ADAPT
fr:Les écrits de Lutwidge
Category:There's Something in the Sea
Category:Pages with written transcripts