J )   : A U G U S T , 1 9 4 3   -   T H E   C H A K A M A K

In order to stay in Buryatia, Peter had to secure permission from the Chakamak, or King of the tribe. (see plate 31) His notebooks indicate that this meeting with the potentate did not go well. Looking at the somewhat ravaged German, the King is unimpressed; Peter dutifully removes his glass eye, but this usually sure-fire gambit fails to elicit any response. Growing impatient, the God-King challenges Peter to fly. Peter attempts to explain that if supplied with the needed materials he might be able to construct a glider, but the Emperor grows livid and threatens to cast him adrift in the circular river, on a burning raft. After suffering many months of nightmares involving incineration, this image is too much for Peter. Something inside him snaps; leaping to his feet he starts to goosestep in circles, incanting a thunderous detonation of his visions in a roaring trout-deutsch, all to the tune of a Bavarian drinking song. “BETÄUBTEN BREMENWELT! SPRENGLADUNG ORGASMUS TÖTENMASKE TANZEN!” (Drunken fireworld! Exploding orgasmic death-mask dance!) The God-Kin’s yurt reverberates like a yak-hide drum; the Buryat are mesmerized by the screaming whirlwind that once was Peter. “FURCHTBAR DAMPFHEIZUNG SPERMAHUPEN STEIGERUNG AUS DOMBLUT!” (Mighty steaming sperm-horns rising from the spires of blood cathedrals!) Burning pearls of sweat fly off Peter’s glowing body; his song descends into a piercing iconoclastic shriek, spiralling, twisting, the sound of soul-rip. The Buryat sit dazed, some with blood trickling from their ears, others in sticky pools of spontaneous ejaculate; for the first time, the God-King tastes fear in his mouth. Within the incomprehensible thicket of Peter’s incantations he has seen the shape of an ominous prophecy, the murky outlines of a grim apparition. “Enough!” he screams. The trance is broken and Peter collapses to the floor in a rumpled heap. “Prepare a yurt for the white devil! If he asks for anything, make it his!” says the God-King to the other Buryats present. “Now leave me alone!”