The shoggoth rears up and slams into the ground, mouths moaning and eyes popping. Everyone runs.
As they get to the ramp, they are met by two Elder Things coming down, Archie runs in a blind terror, while the others start shooting. Cissy momentarily blinds everyone with her flash gun.
Suddenly, everything smears and twists causing a terrible vertigo. There is a small break in the fight and Cissy runs, followed by the incoherent Eric. The others drive back the Elder Things with frantic shots, George screaming at them in the heat of battle. Everyone heads down. Archie recovers enough to head back up towards the gun fire and passes Cissy running down.
The first earthquake hits – chunks of crystal and rock rain down.
There is a shout of ‘Agnes, time to start the lecture’ from the large room with the new panels. Eric is waiting for everyone and tells them that they have broken a machine that is holding back a terrible thing that will end the Earth and the only way to fix it is by one of them joining the wall. He points at the method shown in the panels on the walls of the room. George thinks him mad, Lucinda is worried that he is calling her by his wife’s name. This is a lot of silence and then a lot of talking – some recommend lots, some think it is the ramblings of a madman, but the timeslips and earthquakes are getting worse. Eric says they have only minutes.
Eric gets a head bowl from the side room and then everyone goes to the room with the tub and the monster. Eric describes the steps that must be taken.
Archie volunteers, but Asmund is louder, saying that he broke the ‘machine’ with his rifle, so he should fix it. As Asmund turns towards the slab, Archie hits him with his handgun and throws him to the floor, only then noticing Eric getting onto the slab. Archie and Lucinda try to stop him, but they are too slow. Eric just says, “I am the logical choice”, as the Corpse-Eater Shoggoth rears up and strips away the unnecessary parts. Erics head is left in the head bowl, still twitching and covered in a thick fluid.
Archie carried the head up to the wall. A group of four Elder Things wanted to attack, but the Shoggoth kept them away and the head was handed over and the Shoggoth added it to the wall. Everyone headed down and the Shoggoth kept the Elder Things back. It appears that Eric has saved the world as the timeslips and earthquakes lessen and stop.
At the bottom of the tower, Lexington and Cissy had to rescue Meyer, who had run outside without his parka. Meyer is badly frostbitten and unresponsive. Everyone dresses and heads for the planes. Halfway back there is the sound of engines and the Weddell flies over, heading towards the city. Everyone pushes on, hoping to find a plane still waiting for them.
The Belle is intact, but Halperin is in the pilot seat with a gun. He eventually lets everyone on board and takes off. He mutters about being attacked, and he must stop them and lets no one near the controls. He is clearly disturbed.
Archie gets him to land in the City – which has clearly been hit by mighty earthquakes – in order to offload some supplies before going after the other plane. While on the ground, Archie adds something to the air supply to knock out Halperin. Lexington delivers the bad news to Moore and says she will stay to take pictures of nothing. Meyer and Halperin are left in Moore’s care, while Patrick Miles joins the crew to follow the Weddell.
The Belle takes off and makes it through the pass, the earthqukes have been here and down at Lakes Camp – which has obviously had major problems. The Belle does not land, but flies towards the South Pole BFE cache – which must be the Weddell’s target.