Put external (web service or REST) data into Drupal to be used and themed by CCK, Contemplate, and Views

Hi,

I am writing a module which pulls data from an outside, private web service.

I am using hook_module to do this, and it works. This data is transformed into a PHP array, and then "themed" straight inside the module (using straight PHP).

I would prefer to expose or merge the data into a CCK content type, or into the $node variable so that it can be themed using the Drupal phptemplate system (and used by Views, CCK, and Contemplate modules).

I do not want to store the data in the local database -- I am search 100,000's of records in an online web service, so this is not realistic.

Can you guide me where to look and start to do this? I realize the answer may not be straightforward, but if I can just know where to look to code this, I'd be thankful.

Thanks!