@landonhere

I tell you, archival materials are priceless! I just remembered a Colubrine Sector thread that I haven't documented yet, and I remembered that I wrote down some names related to the thread somewhere in my papers. Good news, I eventually found them. Bad news, they were written in the Emerelian Relex.

Here are the translations of what I found:

It's a swing wing!
Folicins
Fabrius 
Demichetie
Kelad

. . . uhhhh, I'll do what I can with this information.

62847.392 - PUBLIC
[*648] to Local Group

[*648]: I finished transliterating that monologue you found. Take a look at this.

[*648]: [TRANSCRIPTION_EXCEPTIONAL.TXT]
-=-=-=-
This place is frightening. It's perfectly still, but I don't know
anything about it. I don't remember how or when I just stopped being
a human and turned into a wingless dragon. I don't even remember how
I got here. I've only just gotten the chance to rest for once.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of those creatures that live in
this place. I can't understand what they're trying to say to me, if
they're making an effort to communicate at all. They don't seem to
trust me, and I don't know if I can trust them, either.

Right now, I'm trapped in a box, cage, or some sort of dark cubicle.
I can't see past the walls of the enclosure, and it's completely
silent. I don't know how long I've been in here for. With no means
by which to chart the flow of time, it almost feels like it's
stopped entirely.

It's completely peaceful in here, but I'm far from calm on the inside.
I'm frightened. I'm neglected. I'm bored. I'm lonely.

Even if those creatures can't communicate with me, I'd still like to
interact with them somehow. They're the only other living things in
this place. I just hope that they're more caring than they've shown
themselves to be so far.

Who do I trust in this place?
-=-=-=-

- The Air Is Exceptionally Still…, 2024.2.20.A

In my village, there was an incident where a car swerved off a bridge and damaged the sidewalk and railing. The authorities just put up barriers and signs around it and left it there. I haven’t seen the bridge in a while, but I’d bet anything it still hasn’t been repaired.

So, yes, every state can say this.

FACT: During the TBGs DNS debacle, I prepared a writing addressed to whoever may have caused it. It was meant to let them know that if they were trying to start an ARG, I would woodchip it without a moment’s hesitation.

On top of that, I have experienced my fair share of ARGs. You will never know the feeling of stepping through a tame doorway, only to find yourself swept away by raging floodwaters filled with Morse Code messages, phone calls and countless death threats. I am, of course, talking about The Lunch Ruse Meeting, a fateful incident that marked the beginning of my extensive experience with ARGs.

As I struggled in the turbulent waters, I was enraged at the sheer ignorance of the people in the meeting. I checked the host of an anonymous client claiming to be someone named Riva. The IP address clearly matched another fandom member, whom Riva claimed had gotten assaulted and kidnapped by his lunch. How could people be this purposefully ignorant? When another operator showed up in the channel, I pleaded him to let me end this madness. As telegraph machines buzzed and dialpad tones sounded around me, I was wholeheartedly furious.

- It's Time To Taste The Music, 2024.1.20.E

-=-=-=- SECTION 1 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The Universe Itself -=-=-=-

In this thread's revision, the universe is simulated from the inside
out by four structures. Inside each of these structures is a powerful
life form, cognizant of the precise location and velocity of every
particle in the universe. While these life forms can, in theory,
maintain the entire universe themselves, even they have limits to how
hard they can be pushed. This is why four of them are used. The life
forms at the cores are artificially kept in suspended animation, but
are capable of independent thought if removed. And if they are
removed, the load on the other life forms increases, errors build up,
and the universe starts to destabilize.

- How To Scream Through Creation, 2024.5.16.B

I am once again reminding you that the Unsustainability is a form of insanity caused by being aware of perception, characterized by physical and vocal spasming.

I don't know how to phrase this message, but I built a supply chain node in No Man's Sky that I feel like sharing with others. If you have access to a portal leyline, travel to the planet using the address:

FACE - FACE - DIPLO - ECLIPSE - SUNSET - DIPLO - ROCKET - DRAGONFLY - DIPLO - BOAT - GALAXY - SUNSET
3-3-4-5-1-4-14-9-4-7-10-1

I have renovations for this outpost in the works, but the core functionality is set up. The planet has a vast supply of a certain valuable trade material, but for your own safety, you should visit the outpost before harvesting any of it. Land in the marked, enclosed landing area and proceed through the wooden corridor to the boundary node terminal, where you can shut down the planet’s Sentinel population and make the resources fair game. And remember to leave a message at the communication station if you visited the outpost!

I’m taking a midday power nap. That out-of-body experience that I had last night coincided badly with my sleep schedule. I have a meeting coming up, and I need to be at peak mental shape when I get there.

I think about what happened last night. Seeing as how they mostly did away with greetings and small talk, those dragons clearly had an agenda. What could they truly be after?

Eventually, I decide that I’ve rested enough. There’s still a good ten minutes until the meeting starts. I check the base’s global notice system. I see a recently submitted notice:

(expunged for brevity)

#737363 . . . she’s an unusual one. In the past, there’s been a few weird events surrounding her. I pull up her profile:

During a technological experiment, #737363 escaped the room,
headed in the direction of the command center. #737363 was
successfully captured and returned to containment without
incident. After the incident, a workstation in the command
center was found with a message of unknown origin written on
it. The message has been archived and stored under Research
Addendum 27566.

I'm surprised that they're giving her another chance to do something weird. Then again, maybe they're well aware of that . . .

- More Wars, Bloodier Wars, 2024.1.13.A

FACT: the “out-of-body experience” mentioned in this writing was meant to be a connection to a shelved writing named An Out-Of-Context Experience. However, I suppose it can also be inferred to connect to The Mouse Desk Descision.

"Wait, wait," I say. "Who did I agree to being watched by?"

The white dragon turned to me. "Me!", he proclaimed.

"Oh, right," [*726] said. "This is [*648]. He's the one you agreed to be watched by." [*726] shook her head slightly. "He can be a handful at times, but I hope you can handle him."

"I'm that [*648]!", the white dragon shouted. "We're going to have a lot of fun together!"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you will," [*726] said. "Now let him go. If we want him to be of any use to us, he needs to stay in his position. And to do that, he has places to be."

The vision of the four dragons faded. The points of light shrunk, dimmed and disappeared. And the room around me reappeared.

Who were those dragons? What have they gotten me into?

- The Mouse Desk Descision, 2024.1.2.B

I head back to my office. I listen to the base intercom. For the next hour, the intercom stays silent. Eventually I become aware of a faint, disembodied crackling sound.

I've learned that this is a sign that [*648] is trying to reach me. I tap the [OPT] hand control a few times, then say "[*648], is that you?"

"I'm here," [*648] says in a voice devoid of his usual excited attitude. "You see . . . well . . ."

"[*974]?" I say. "I found her. We got a plan worked out. She's currently in custody of [LOCALE]’s staff, but that's to plan."

"You found her?!", [*648] says, perking up. "But she's in [LOCALE]’s hands . . . that's just as bad as if you hadn't found her . . ." He lost his momentary excitement.

"We had a long talk about how to get her plan through safely without causing any suspicious activity," I explain. "If all goes to plan, we'll meet up later."

"Are you sure about this?", [*648] says. "Her whole plan sounded unnecessarily risky from the moment I first heard it."

"[*974] is confident enough in it that I believe her," I say. "I'll tell you what. I'll connect with you the next time I get to see [*974]. I'll update you then."

[*648] perked up again and said, "Got it!". I heard a brief blast of white noise, and then he was gone.

- The Saga of [*974], 2024.1.3

I stay silent for a few seconds before saying "Hello," back. I feel somewhat unnerved talking to her, despite the fact that she looks nice, and [*724] dispensed [*276]'s assistance in favor of hers.

"Scared of me?", she said with a slight chuckle. "You don't need to be afraid. My name is [*974], and it is a pleasure to meet you."

"So, situation aside . . ." I uncertainly say, "why have you brought me here?"

"It's a long story, but I'll explain," [*974] said. "We met a dragon in here recently. Poor thing was so depressed. He said that he got trapped in a big prison. He mentioned some sort of torture as well." [*974] took a deep breath, then continued. "We aren't going to torture you or anything like that. We just want to hear your side of the story."

- The Mouse Desk Descision, 2024.1.2.B

(Disclaimer: [*724], [*276] and [*974] aren’t the actual character names, just me modifying the writing so my export filters will let it slide.)

Last night was so stressful. So much superstitious drama about our neural computing systems. Some sort of bogus notion of an unknown third party injecting malware into our network. Oh well, it's the middle of the night and I have all the time in the world to-

Wait, hold on. What's going on?

I snap wide awake. I'm not in my room in the middle of the night, I'm somewhere else entirely. The environment around me vaguely resembles outer space, with faint points of light all around. And I'm not standing on anything, either.

Suddenly, a voice rings out of the darkness; a voice that doesn't sound entirely human: "Eyhahah, I've done it!"

- The Mouse Desk Decision, 2024.1.1.A

(Disclaimer: the public release of these writings is pushing my export filters. This writing was slightly modified from the original to comply with its safety requirements.)

CREATED AT 26845.613

I'm a little worried about something I just did. Let me explain what
just happened.

One of the creatures seems to have some sort of actual sympathy for
me, and unlike the others, has figured out that they can't satisfy me
by asking what I want from them. They were also physically different;
all the other creatures have cold skin, whereas this creature had very
warm skin. When they heard me remark about this, they generously
curled themselves around me, wreathing me in their full warmth. It was
the most comforting thing I have felt in all my time trapped in this
place.

But then another creature came. I recognized them as the voice that
most often asked me if they could do things for me (and then refusing
to do as I requested.) They said something along the lines of "you
don't need to be free to be happy". When they said that, I just
snapped. I leapt away from the warm creature, yelled at both of them,
and ran.

I admit, I wasn't in my right mind when I did that. But they don't
know that. That warmth was such a pleasant feeling. But I definitely
hurt the warm creature when I snapped. I'll never feel their warm skin
again. I'll be trapped in this dark, cold place forever, with the only
possible source of comfort gone.

I probably deserve it.

- But There’s Exceptionally Little Peace Inside This Place

The world around me is in motion at times, and sometimes it isn't. Sometimes the hands holding me in this nightmare touch me, and sometimes they touch the countless others held here. Sometimes those hands expectantly give things to me, and sometimes they handle me and move me themselves.

But what I've never seen is a chance for me to act in return.

That being said, I have gotten one chance to act in return. One chance. But it wasn’t handed to me. I had to call on my bravery and flee the grasp of those cruel hands myself. I tried to leave a mark, the biggest mark I could leave. I tried to explain what was happening to me. But the hands caught up to me, and I was back to the constant monotonous nightmare that seems like I should have gotten used to at this point. And yet I still yearn for my escape.

- More Wars, Bloodier Wars, 2024.1.13.A

If you're wondering, most of these writings are relatively old, from the 2023/2024 threshold. I'm a little ashamed about the ramifications of the Colubrine Sector thread that this writing originates from, but it's still being developed today, in the form of what I am calling the Atlas Revision.

But am I, in fact, living?

This structure and everything in it feels false. My homeland, which lays behind these walls, is all I have ever known. Now that I have been cut off from it, the world as I know it is nonexistent. And if the world doesn’t exist, then neither do I.

It’s hard to be yourself when there’s no world that you can feel at home in.

- A Passage For Processing, 2023.12.20.B