Read Online The Dark Tower Companion: A Guide to Stephen King’s Epic Fantasy by Bev Vincent - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Bev Vincent
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groupâin part out of necessity. Susannah canât navigate the rubble-filled (and booby-trapped) streets of Lud fast enough to keep up with Jake and Gasher. Eddie and Susannah are dispatched to find the train station while Roland goes after Jake. Heâs not alone. He has Oy, who can follow Jakeâs scent in dark places where Rolandâs tracking skills fail.
The streets of Lud are lined with thousands of bodies hanging from the speaker poles that broadcast war drums. The Pubes believe this sound comes from ghosts in the machine, a kind of dark god that demands sacrifice. When they hear them, they conduct a lottery to decide which of them will die next to appease the gods. This is a terrible trick perpetrated by the Grays, who have figured out how to make the Great Old Onesâ machinery play the drums.
Eddie and Susannah have a showdown with a group of Pubes. Susannah kills for the first time. The mob is relentless at first, akin to the people of Tull,but it dissipates after Eddie and Susannah shoot several more. One of their victims even apologizes to them once he discovers they are gunslingers and not Grays. Eddie and Susannah force two of the survivors to take them to the Cradle of Lud, the train station housing Blaine the Mono. The Pubes are terrified of Blaine, whom they consider a vengeful god, but Eddie and Susannahâs guns carry more weight. They enter a street guarded by a statue of a turtle and reach the immense square where the Cradle of Lud is situated. Statues of the Guardians of the Beam parade around the top of the structure, along with a sixty-foot golden statue of Arthur Eld.
Inside, they find Blaine the Mono and discover that he is as insane as Shardik was. He is suffering from a split personalityâsomething Susannah identifies with. One voice is the original voice of the train: Little Blaine. The real intelligence controlling Blaine exists in the collection of computers under Lud. Blaine is simply the last operating machine that can manifest the personality of these computers, which used to run all of the cityâs systems. Centuries of solitude and boredom have driven this artificial sentience mad. He is delighted to find people who might play a game of riddles with him. After he accepts the possibility that one last gunslinger might exist and learns about Roland, who knows many riddles from the Fair-Day contests in the days of Gilead, he is intrigued.
Gasher brings Jake to the inner sanctum of the Grays and their leader, the Tick-Tock Man, the great-grandson of the famed warrior David Quick. Quick led the last great army of the Grays against Lud and was successful in breaching their defenses. However, he died in a plane crash outside the city. The Tick-Tock Man rules his people with an iron fist, dispatching any who defy him.
Oy leads Roland to the inner sanctum and demonstrates his intelligence by going on reconnaissance missions through the ventilation shafts. The gunslinger tries to send a mental message to Jake but isnât convinced it will work because he isnât completely in
ka-tet
with them. Jake receives enough to know that Roland is nearby and wants him to create a distraction, which he does by turning some of Tick-Tock Manâs henchmen against one another.
Jake is supposed to open the door for Roland, but in the chaos that follows, he is prevented from doing so. However, the door opens anywayâBlaine opens it because he wants to meet Roland and his remembered riddles and Jake with his book of riddles.
Oy leads the charge. Other than one woman, whom Roland allows to escape, the only survivor is the Tick-Tock Man. Jake shoots him in the head, buthis skull deflects the bullet. After Jake and Roland leave the Graysâ headquarters, guided by Blaine, a wizard who calls himself Richard Fannin appears before the Tick-Tock Man and converts him from a strong, essential leader into a sniveling minion. Fannin is determined that the
ka-tet
not get any closer
The streets of Lud are lined with thousands of bodies hanging from the speaker poles that broadcast war drums. The Pubes believe this sound comes from ghosts in the machine, a kind of dark god that demands sacrifice. When they hear them, they conduct a lottery to decide which of them will die next to appease the gods. This is a terrible trick perpetrated by the Grays, who have figured out how to make the Great Old Onesâ machinery play the drums.
Eddie and Susannah have a showdown with a group of Pubes. Susannah kills for the first time. The mob is relentless at first, akin to the people of Tull,but it dissipates after Eddie and Susannah shoot several more. One of their victims even apologizes to them once he discovers they are gunslingers and not Grays. Eddie and Susannah force two of the survivors to take them to the Cradle of Lud, the train station housing Blaine the Mono. The Pubes are terrified of Blaine, whom they consider a vengeful god, but Eddie and Susannahâs guns carry more weight. They enter a street guarded by a statue of a turtle and reach the immense square where the Cradle of Lud is situated. Statues of the Guardians of the Beam parade around the top of the structure, along with a sixty-foot golden statue of Arthur Eld.
Inside, they find Blaine the Mono and discover that he is as insane as Shardik was. He is suffering from a split personalityâsomething Susannah identifies with. One voice is the original voice of the train: Little Blaine. The real intelligence controlling Blaine exists in the collection of computers under Lud. Blaine is simply the last operating machine that can manifest the personality of these computers, which used to run all of the cityâs systems. Centuries of solitude and boredom have driven this artificial sentience mad. He is delighted to find people who might play a game of riddles with him. After he accepts the possibility that one last gunslinger might exist and learns about Roland, who knows many riddles from the Fair-Day contests in the days of Gilead, he is intrigued.
Gasher brings Jake to the inner sanctum of the Grays and their leader, the Tick-Tock Man, the great-grandson of the famed warrior David Quick. Quick led the last great army of the Grays against Lud and was successful in breaching their defenses. However, he died in a plane crash outside the city. The Tick-Tock Man rules his people with an iron fist, dispatching any who defy him.
Oy leads Roland to the inner sanctum and demonstrates his intelligence by going on reconnaissance missions through the ventilation shafts. The gunslinger tries to send a mental message to Jake but isnât convinced it will work because he isnât completely in
ka-tet
with them. Jake receives enough to know that Roland is nearby and wants him to create a distraction, which he does by turning some of Tick-Tock Manâs henchmen against one another.
Jake is supposed to open the door for Roland, but in the chaos that follows, he is prevented from doing so. However, the door opens anywayâBlaine opens it because he wants to meet Roland and his remembered riddles and Jake with his book of riddles.
Oy leads the charge. Other than one woman, whom Roland allows to escape, the only survivor is the Tick-Tock Man. Jake shoots him in the head, buthis skull deflects the bullet. After Jake and Roland leave the Graysâ headquarters, guided by Blaine, a wizard who calls himself Richard Fannin appears before the Tick-Tock Man and converts him from a strong, essential leader into a sniveling minion. Fannin is determined that the
ka-tet
not get any closer
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