Preternatural Nights (short story)

Preternatural Nights
Main enemy:	Archie MacTavish, the Yssgaroth
Main setting:	London and Durrington Walls, 2020
Key crew
Publisher:	Arcbeatle Press
Editor:	James Hornby, Genevieve Clovis
Writer:	James Hornby
Release details
Part of:	Out of the Shadows
Release date:	12 October 2021
P.R.O.B.E.
← Previous	Out of the Box
Next →	Maxie
P.R.O.B.E.: Out of the Shadows short stories
← Previous	Out of the Box

Preternatural Nights was the twelfth and final short story in the anthology Out of the Shadows, published by Arcbeatle Press.

Summary

to be added

Characters

• Giles
• Maxie Masters
• Azacca Dixon
• Tasha Williams
• Agamya Akhtar
• Sir Bedevere
• Box
• Drofen
• George Wallace
• Alinquos
• Neil Johnson
• Archie MacTavish
• Carstairs
• Bishop
• Sir Henry Farthing
• Selachian
• Sir Andrew Williams
• Cynthia Lyndhurst
• James Fellowes
• Akroyd

Worldbuilding

• George plans to watch Gogglebox and get a takeaway from Camelot Pizzas.
• Alinquos is a Ferrux. He has two Tauran bouncers and knows about perihelion.
• Someone is smuggling Drofens, Selachians and a Slithergee into London.
• Tasha threatens Alinquos with a taser.
• Dr Haggard had Patient One committed to the secure mental facility at St. Jude's when he escaped from Hawthorne in 1997.
• Giles asks Box whether Voltron, Cyberons or Origin Zero could be behind perihelion.
• Agamya has been in contact with "Cardiff" to see if they know anything about perihelion. Agamya tells Giles that the "shrill woman" in charge told her not to bother them again. The Forge put the phone down the moment they found out who was calling.
• Dr Haggard's "friends in Geneva" have suffered budget cuts due to Brexit and can't help.
• Tasha took out a Darrax and a Terrovore on her drive back to PROBE's HQ.
• The Durrington Walls are the largest ancient stone circle in England.
• Tasha drives a Mercedes.
• Archie encountered the Yssgaroth at "the very boundary of our universe".
• The Yssgaroth claims to have been wronged by a "race as old as creation". Their founder cast them out to their universe.
• Johnson and his men battle Manatos and Zetobites.
• The Traveller is exploring the wonders of the Ymir homeworld.
• Maxie has a Helicron exoscanner.
• Maxie compares Archie's pale skin to that of an Atlantean.
• Bedevere saves Sir Henry from a werewolf.
• Cynthia Lyndhurst is the Shadow Home Secretary
• The Security Service have escorted the Prime Minister to the bunker inside Downing Street and MI5 have men securing the perimeter.
• Maxie has watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• Az sees several images of the Yssgaroth: the leader of the Yssgaroth escaping to another universe at the end of the Eternal War, a time where the Yssgaroth gazed upon a living time machine, granting it the strength to rise up against its masters, and a time when a ruthless cardinal ordered the release of the Yssgaroth’s minions to fight in a Great War, leaving a warrior who had renounced his true name to pick up the pieces they left behind.
• Sir Andrew wants the attack on London hushed up as "a glitch in the 5G network, causing hallucinations and electrical outages".

Story notes

to be added

Continuity

• Tasha visits The Nocturne from PROSE: What Lurks in the Shadows)
• Giles wonders whether Colin Dove or someone from Hawthorne is behind Perihelion because it is the only information they have in the P.R.O.B.E. Archive. Colin Dove and Hawthorne appeared in HOMEVID: The Zero Imperative.
• The Forge appeared in AUDIO: Project Twilight.
• Johnson knows PROBE from the Paul Reynish case. (HOMEVID: When to Die)
• Giles notes there are thirteen cultists, just like the group at Hanson Solicitors. (PROSE: Preternatural Days)
• Giles references Archie's death in Manchester. (PROSE: What Happened in Manchester)
• Sir Henry's car drives past the ruins of the Bildbriain Dairies factory. (PROSE: Out of the Box)
• Maxie wishes she could be back at the office playing Super Mario Brothers 3. (PROSE: The Door We Forgot)
• The Ymir appeared in PROSE: The Grandfather Infestation.
• An icon for a bloodied dagger labeled "Perihelion" later appeared in the "mystical daggers" section of the Preternatural Research Bureau Online Database in HOMEVID: A Message From Sir Andrew ^[+]Loading...["A Message From Sir Andrew (home video)"].

External links

• Official Preternatural Nights page at Arcbeatle Press