originally published The Disciples of Cthulhu, DAW, 1976
And so we come to Arthur Wilcox Hodgkins, assistant to Dr. Stephenson Blaine at the Sanbourne Institute. Dr. Blaine was last seen raving on the beach late at night in Carter's tale "Out Of The Ages". Here's where we get Part II.
Hodgkins has been handed all of Blaine's papers - basically, the entire "Out Of The Ages" story, plus the infamous figurine of Zoth-Ommog, preparatory to an upcoming gallery showing which may feature the figurine and some other related artifacts. There are sensational stories making the press about the figurine being cursed, and Hodgkins is put off by this. Even more by the looney-tunes content of Blaine's later notes. Even more by the looney-tunes Blaine himself, who he visits in the hospital, and who begs him to never let the figurine be put on display, but rather to destroy it. All of this Hodgkins considers to be merely Blaine's insanity talking. But he has to admit there is something creepy, even menacing, about the figurine that bothers even him.
Hodgkins begins going through Blaine's papers, including the Copeland papers - basically the story begins rehashing "Out Of The Ages" as Hodgkins learns of Copeland and Blaine's interest, then obsession, with tracing the worship of the GOO in the Pacific. Like Blaine, Hodgkins begins to have disturbing dreams involving the figurine. Not only that - it seems to be moving.
Much tiresome scholarship ensues in which the usual Cthulhu Claptrap is rehashed in an assortment of quotes`n'notes from the usual titles. A couple things of interest - a quote from Cultes des Goules suggesting that the GOO can manifest themselves through idols or statues, and a reference to a page and paragraph in the Necronomicon perhaps explaining how to destroy the figurine. Hodgkins follows that clue all the way to Miskatonic U., where he's met by Henry Armitage and host of other Lovecraft characters, all anxious to help him with his prob. Unfortunately, after much corny debating and a trip back to Cali loaded with tiresome quotes from Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Hodgkins still has little or no idea how to proceed. But they did give him a star-shaped Elder Sign as a souvenir!
Hodgkins arrives in Santiago late that night and hoofs it straight for the institute, hoping to somehow prevent the figurine from being put on display. He arrives to find the night watchman dead in a pool of blood and a fish-faced dude doing something nasty in front of the figurine, which seems to be coming to life.
Fish-face pulls a gun, so Hodgkins does the logical thing of course - throw his star-stone at both of them!
This causes the figurine to vanish in a flash of light that breaks the windows, and a bolt of lightning conveniently strike Fish-face, taking care of him.
Coppers arrive to find Hodgkins raving and no trace of Fish-face, who's dissolved into a pool of glop, leaving only his clothes behind (those disintegrate soon after). The cops assuming he killed the watchman, and finding his story hard to swallow, Hodgkins ends up in an asylum.
What we have here is competent Lovecraft pastiche. Again, like its predecessor, "Out of the Ages", Carter is largely aping "Call of Cthulhu". And again, he doesn't have the chops to make all this documentary data add up to something genuinely spooky. Working against this tale, moreso, is length. It's twice as long as "Out of the Ages" but adds no new incident or potent moment to make its endless genealogy lists of the GOO any more interesting. The ending is silly and how much of a menace can Z-O be when all you have to do is throw a star-shaped rock at him and he disappears?
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