Biggie

“We have a bit more time tonight, Hucka D. Carrcass-5 is coming up. I wonder what that’ll be all about?”

Hucka D.:

Gold. Skillet. 2nd. 1st and 2nd. Baker and Baker, and Squirrel. Confederation. Mythos square root. Humble Pie.

bb:

Thanks. Dr. Who seems to be more important now.

Hucka D.:

Satan Pit. When Jack moves back into the pit, so the legends go, then Pietmond will soon cease to exist. And so it has come to past. Pass, I mean. Pietmond is gone. Pit empty.

bb:

You’re talking about when I installed Gallery Jack near the center of the Pietmond sink earlier this month, Hucka D.

Hucka D.:

Yes. Read over all old Pietmond notes. Where has it taken you to this point? Where are you now? You are in Lakeview and Crabwoo. Pietmond still lives, just divided. Art and quote unquote religion, as you say. Very different spaces.

bb:

Crabwoo was a great place in its day. Bigger than Chilbo?

Hucka D.:

Yes. Crown jewel. The Blue Feather Sea was seen as prime vacation bathing spot for the rich and filthy. 12 or 13 it was, or still is, as opposed to the 1 of Rubisea. Rubisea is the C, the Note. Red Sea. Red C, as in a letter. The stream that still empties into it…

bb:

Unnasty Branch, you mean…

Hucka D.:

Yes. It use to be the color of blood. Very nasty indeed, then. Red as blood. Red C. Middle C. Note.

bb:

But the Blue Feather Sea then represents all chromatic notes. The chromatic scale, plus a 13th perhaps. Baker’s dozen and undozen both.

Hucka D.:

It is the Blue Feather. It is the Blue Earth. Curse upon Crabwoo laid down by that one bad ass mofo Blue Feather Douglas, former wacky teacher now just wacko. Built his TILE Temple.

bb:

What is the role of TILE in Crabwoo’s much more glorious past, Hucka D.?

Hucka D.:

The TILE Temple was there, true enough, but it wasn’t Douglas’ temple, which was further south and on the Blue Feather Sea itself. This was the original temple.

bb:

I’m confused a bit. Pietmond had this identical temple sitting atop the bottom of the sink and the labyrinth. Did Pietmond’s temple come from Crabwoo? Fascinating, if so, then.

Hucka D.:

Yes. Peter brought the design to Pietmond. He helped redesign the TILE Cathedral into the TILE Temple.

bb:

*He* made the labyrinth at the center of Pietmond, then.

Hucka D.:

True enough. A bit of information you might not know if you hadn’t given up Pietmond for Crabwoo, in part.

bb:

The Tower of TILE beside it… dormitories?

Hucka D.:

Yes, at one time.

bb:

So, let me see, Peter attended Crabwoo University — Woo U. — at around the same time as Karoz, lured there by the presence of famous lawyer Blue Feather Douglas. He studied law, but Blue Feather D. was already becoming absorbed into the game/philosophy/religion of TILE and not as much concerned with teaching.

Hucka D.:

In the Curse Course, he did take both Peter and Karoz to The Moon of Maebaleia, where they found the truth about the Big E supposedly coming from the Blue Feather Sea.

bb:

It was a fish.

Hucka D.:

Yes. Later on it was decided to turn the fish image into the one of the Big E or Big Schwa. This was protection.

bb:

From what? And who made this decision?

Hucka D.:

The fish was quite disgusting. And it was inadvertently killed when removed from the sea and placed in the open — again just for a short time — at the center of the university. An uproar occurred over the death: why had the fish been laid out in the open for any spell of time?

bb:

How did they catch it?

Hucka D.:

It was sick. It was dying. It had almost given up the ghost. It decided to give itself to Crabwoo, to become the stuff of legends. And so it has come to past.

bb:

So the fish was called Big E.

Hucka D.:

Biggie, originally[ though].

bb:

How did the fish become the “E”?

Hucka D.:

Certain patterns upon its skin indicated the link, which was preordained. It had the markings of “E” on one side and [“Schwa”] on the other.

bb:

Was it sentient?

Hucka D.:

Oh, very much so (!) Its presence in the central mall began to effect all around. Warp space, even. The curse began there. Crabwoo began its slow, downward curve after Biggie’s death. It was laid out in the mall.

bb:

So it was put in a giant aquarium in the mall for all to see.

Hucka D.:

Yes.

bb:

Did TILE develop directly from this fish? Biggie?

Hucka D.:

*Yes.*

bb:

Was it… sorry.

Hucka D.:

It was caught in the sim of Miccall in ’63. Very slowly moving. Wanted to be caught, as I indicated.

bb:

So let me see… blue E devolves to green T to red L to yellow I to end it all. Just like Crabwoo devolved after Biggie — Blue E in effect — was placed in its center as a sort of freak show.

Hucka D.:

Correct enough[ once more].

bb:

What is the role of Chilbo in all this?

Hucka D.:

Chilbo became the benificiary or output of the curse inputted in Crabwoo during that fateful time. Chilbo is the output of Crabwoo. Plain and simple.

bb:

What about Fleep Tuque and Cosimo Urbanowicz, the actual founders of Chilbo? I’m sure they’ve never heard of Crabwoo, the resonant spot on Jeogeot’s twin continent of Maebaleia.

Hucka D.:

No they haven’t. They merely moved into a spotlight that was already provided. Better, a sun lamp providing growth in a certain, selected spot. Crawboo lost what Chilbo gained. Eventually Crabwoo was no more and Chilbo was still prospering.

bb:

Why am *I* in Crabwoo now, Hucka D.?

Hucka D.:

To find out about the origins of TILE. To understand the curse and the Chilbo-Crabwoo connection, input and output. To attempt to rekindle a spark. To find out what Crabwoo had and Chilbo still lacks. TILE. Center. Biggie. Something horrible happened to Biggie. Crabwoo never recovered.

bb:

Thank you. We’ll continue another night.