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"...................." There was a
long Pause before more words could
come out of the machine, and the
congregation which had gathered to hear
the machine speak grew restless. But
what could they expect this was the first
time a machine had been set up in the
space where usually the congregation
were more at home seeing a Priest,
looking serious and immaculately dressed
in black business suit, there were bound
to be 'Technical Problems'. It had not
been easy for the congregation to accept
the machine, there had been many
doubts, but now as the machine intoned
its random prayer message; each
sentence or half sentence spoken by a
different voice cut together jarringly,
glimmers of deep understanding flickered
across their faces. First the machine is
adjusted, for an alarm-clock had fallen
into the works,,,,,,,,, "Spain falls dying",,,,
spilling tape-worms in morning
sunlight,,,,,, the last words of the machine
vomit out,,,,, machine screams echo in the
hall,,,,whining tape stretched to snapping
point as the people are already getting to
their feet,,,,,something is breaking,,,,,
screaming clocks. Above the soundtrack
of stampeding people, screams and glass
being smashed the calm voice of the
narrator is heard, amplified through the
same loudspeaker system as before.
"It may have seemed to the out-sider
that the world view of medieval monks had been
transplanted in the modern world of space
travel, where the technology of the space craft, in all its
mysteriousness, became a focus of worship
to the general population. However if we study
this phenomema we will discover other,, cover ,,
uffer, dis,,,over-will lllll lllll lll..."
The last remaining Hooded monk walks to the
corner of the great hall where a veiling
purple curtain sections off part of the
room, pulling back the heavy ornate
material to reveal a mass of machinery,
where once would stand the alter piece.
The form of the machine is complex
electrical and mechanical, made from
what appears to be a cluster of ancient
square screened television sets, alarm
clocks set into typewriter bases and large
reel to reel tape machines which
dominate the back wall of the alcove with
a sea of magnetic tape loops The monk
stands before the great machine, as if in
silent prayer. He is listening deep into the
myriad sounds of its workings, the quiet
buzz of electrical energy pulsating
through the immense network of wires.
Finally he reaches out to open a
concealed control panel in the dark
stained wooden casing, making a minute
adjustment to the machine, before
eventually taking out a small hammer
which he uses to tap the side of one of
the square television sets. The voice
continues its monologue from speakers
which appear to be encrusted with the
blackened globes of a thousand dead
Light-Bulbs. The face of the hooded
monk remains obscured as he returns to
his place in the pews, the voice of the
machine's sombre tones echo back..
The Cult of the Dead Light Bulb.
Modern day splinter group which has broken off
from various of the world's Organised
Religions. Allegedly founded when
several defecting Technicians from the
Laboratories of the world's leading
Religions met by chance encounter in a
"bingo" Hall. Each founding member had
taken with them the latest plans and
blueprints for Religious Apparatus and
Methods which they had decided not to
pass on to their corrupt employers,
preferring to sell the secrets to "the other
side". Within a short space of time and an
excited open discussion, to the
soundtrack of the Bingo callers Random
number selection, they formed the entity
now know as the cult of the dead Light-Bulb.
They came upon
the name, The Cult of the Dead
Light-Bulb, after one of the group,
an electrician by trade, was rewiring a
Monastery like space craft which , he was
told, was a haven for a nameless secret
society of monks who had taken to the
practice of stealing the broken Light-Bulbs
and burnt-out Fuses from the church
electrical cupboards, apparently for use
in their secret rituals. One of the Heretics
was said to have claimed that the stolen
Light-Bulbs were "Charged with Religious
Energy" and another claimed that an
"Alchemical Transubstantiation" had
taken place within the filament of the
burnt-out fuse.
The practice of using found materials
reflects the philosophy that claims certain
'readily available materials' to contain
more of the alchemical essence due to the
fact they were found 'without conscious effort'...
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