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Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcomed stories all the time. Glad you are here.

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Let's get into it. As I wandered through space and time,

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reveling in the grasp of the infinite visions of parallel

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universe's pulsating before my sight, I wondered to myself was

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this worth it? Was there ever any meaning at all

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to what I had done? I transported myself to the

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surface of a large stars some twenty billion light years away.

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As I walked upon its breyfhass Art, admiring the dancing

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pulses of heat and radiation, I began to ponder about

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my own existence. It was during a period of great

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meditation that I preferred to assign myself to beautiful and

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often hostile environments, as it gave me peace of mind.

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Nothing else could be there except myself. Amidst the flares,

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I planted the sea of thought within my head. Existence

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itself has no meaning, there never was, and there never

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will be. Purpose and meaning is synthetic. It is something

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designed to sugarcoat the fact that we are all meaningless

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beings inhabiting a small region in the vast expanses of

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the perpetually expanding universe, whose boundaries we will most likely

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know be able to explore let alone. See, it has

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been almost three billion years since humanity wiped itself out.

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Nothing was spared, not even a culture or a legacy.

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Of course, small articles of past civilization still exist up

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to this day, old graffiti on ruins, tattered homes, fallen monuments.

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There is not much left, and virtually no one to

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remember or recognize the existence of such articles. Do I

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find it sad? I say nay. The death of a concept,

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you see, is no more relevant to the universe than

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a dog's perspective, to the internal workings of the finest,

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most complex the time piece of human brain could ever conceive,

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perhaps even the death of anything ideas, cultures, people, homes, emotions.

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It is all irrelevant. Ideology, infuse concepts tangible or essential.

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It doesn't matter, and it never has. Perhaps nihilism is

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the one truth that has rung straight, even if the

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now extinct humans side has refused to accept it, labeling

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it as a pessimistic approach to life. I stood up,

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levitating myself into space as I bid mesmerize luminescence of

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the Starfarewell during the last days of life on it,

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during which there was a pitiful semblance of organization. I

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managed to establish a meaningful conversation with the lust of

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the inhabitants. One of them was a thirteen year old

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girl name was three. I asked her why such a name.

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It was because her mother believed that the number three

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was a lucky number. Was it supposed to be seven?

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It didn't matter. But having talk with Three, I had

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observed that she did not think like everyone else. She

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knew the truth behind existence, the same truth I had

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stumbled upon when I began to explore the cosmos. Three

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had this blank thousand yards stare in her eyes, as

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if she had seen everything and yet thought nothing of it.

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Like a weary, battle exhausted soldier whose eyes stared back

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at the empty, vastness of the observable universe. Three affectionately

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called me mister Starr. We would often walk early in

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the morning, and we would talk about her hobbies and

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her friends, while I would occasionally surprise her with small

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magic tricks. To anyone else it would have been a

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cheap allusion. But to that girl, whose eyes widened at

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the sight of dancing pillows of light, meant the world

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frankly in an environment of scarceness and ruins. There was

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not much entertainment to be had. Three. His favorite food

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perhaps was mushroom soup. She and a couple of other

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young individuals would head to the forest to pick their

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daily harvest of mushrooms and would turn home to a

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haphazard convergence of makeshift homes with smiling faces of their parents.

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By night, plumes of smoke would fill the air as

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flame served to illuminate the small villages seated amongst roofless

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gutted buildings. Days before the rest of humanity ceased to exist,

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I gave three aparting gift. It was a simple wrist torch,

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and I made it so that it never stopped ticking,

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continuously running on dark matter. Did not know how to

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wear one, so I personally slipped it on to her

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wrist and secured it so that it would not barble

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wiggle around. She embraced me, but I was unable to

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feel anything physically. I had been so for several million

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years now. But despite the lack of external stimulus, I felt,

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for the first time in such a long time, a

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small sense of satisfaction, which is equivalent to how animals,

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including humans, would interpret as happiness and a genuine happiness.

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It was three. I would use her watch to count

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down the last days of Earth. I watched as a

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large asteroid rust past the atmosphere, its front burning a

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vivid bright or orange, before finally striking the planet itself.

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The explosion was spectacular, disintegrating the Earth into large chunks

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of dull rock. The very concept of destruction itself was natural.

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It did not have to mean that it was good

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or bad. I neither enjoyed nor felt despair. A destruction

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or even creation did not have to mean anything. Anything

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then does not have to mean anything. Over the course

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of a billion years, my actions have dulled, and I

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have been idle. Having traveled countless galaxies, and having seen

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and experienced the wonders of the universe, I decided to

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travel across all dimensions, all the way up to the tenth,

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the last possible to mention, where everything and anything and

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thus nothing is happening simultaneously. Perhaps it was time to restart,

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and maybe even do things differently, this time, gaining at

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tachyonic pays as sped before anything ever existed. A special

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might I call it paradoxical case of existing and inexistence

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feature unique to the eleventh dimension. It was absolutely dark

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and empty, avoid of total nothingness, including dark matter. In

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a state like this, I carefully created an event horizon

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surrounding myself so as to not blip in a non existence.

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I may have just violated the deepest laws of physics,

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or perhaps, despite the longevity of my existence, had yet

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to learn all about it. I waited for the first

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expansion of the known universe, and it was spectacular meaningless,

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of course, but spectacular none the less. Everything does not

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have to have meaning, even if ultimately there is none.

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You just exist, you become you are. Even if I

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choose to do things differently this time, nothing will alter

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the outcome of meaninglessness. We are all just a cosmic coincidence.

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I shall now watch and marvel as the stars in

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the planet's form around me for billions upon billions of years.

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Did I feel then that I was going to be

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in another circle of existence, of creation and destruction for

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an unimaginably long amount of time. Perhaps maybe what has

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kept me so long after what has been the longest

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amount of time is that I have lost a sense

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of humanity, or perhaps the ability to sympathize with the

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sense I no longer feel, but simply exist, like the

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universe itself. I am. It started when we called out

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to the stars into the darkness. We felt so small,

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tumbling through vast emptiness while clinging to the skin of

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the world, and without a single reason why. We were curious, yes,

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but ultimately I think we were just terribly frightened. We

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were young, so very young. We were children, and like

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a lonely lost child, we did the only thing we

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could think of to make it stop. We did what

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we thought we had to do to make the universe

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makes ends. We called for help. For years, we scanned

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the sky for a sign. We sent signals to the

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stars in the darkness beyond are we alone? But the

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skies were quiet, always so quiet, leaving us to our

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own makings. But crying children never cease, anida did we.

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We sent calls in every corner of space for decade

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after decade. We refused to believe no one was out there.

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They had to be, Yet for some unknown reason, they

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never answered us. Every one remembers when that changed. They

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think it responded to the Arecibo message from nineteen seventy four.

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The response to the Areciba message was received almost three

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months ago in two separate parts. The first part of

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the message was received at the Hat Creek Radio Obsit

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Servatory in California. That Alan telescope array picked up what

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sound is like static interference that continued on for over

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an hour. It consisted of unintelligible screeching and buzzing sounds

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that continued without pause for the whole iron The meaning

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of this message was never discovered if it had one.

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The only thing we knew was that the signal's origin

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came from somewhere in Hercules constellation Nemosiathetine. As soon as

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that signal stopped, the real message began. We may contact

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that day, and we were asked a question, who is there?

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It came not through the radios, but as a voice,

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a voice inside all of our heads asked a question

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to all of us. I heard it, My wife heard it,

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the young heard it, and the old heard it. Even

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the deaf heard it. Everyone everywhere heard this voice whisper

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that question in their heads, in every language on earth.

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I remember it almost too clearly. It asked in the

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familiar yet indescribable voice that's always there in my mind.

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It was like one of my own thoughts had gone

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broke and had decided to speak directly to me. The

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world seemed to stop as everyone listened for what came next.

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Where are you? The every questions seemed to linger in

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our minds for hours afterwards, and then for days, and

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then for weeks. That day changed everything. There were the

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doubters from the very beginning, and the holy ones who

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claimed that God had spoken to all of us and

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that the time to repent was now. There were those

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who claimed they'd heard nothing, and those who claimed that

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the aliens had given them their unsecret messages. And of course,

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there were those who truly believed that we had been

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contacted for the first time by an extraterrestrial race like us,

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ready to communicate, ready to lead us out of the dark.

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We were wrong. We never may contact with alien life,

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at least nothing comprehensible or discernible to human understanding. The

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starrows were vast, and in their vastness, our voices had

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touched the ears of something truly incomprehensible, something hungry and

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malevolent the voice. We realized our mistake when the ground

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started to groan beneath our feet. Everywhere the ground seemed

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to moan. The muffled sound shook through the dust and

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dot below us. No one knew what was causing it,

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at least not until the calls started come in, the

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screaming all at once. The dead had started screaming. Every

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deceased man, woman, and child was turning in their graves.

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All the animals did so, every dog, every cat, everything

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that had ever walked this earth. The cries of ancient

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whale shook the seas, and the shroll screeching of birds

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echoed in the forests. The casket shook, and the morgues howled.

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The voices stopped together in an instant, leaving the world

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in an amplified silence. In their absence, a new sound

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filled the air. The voice returned. I hear. It came

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as a whisper from behind, an ominous yet oddly playful

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prisons that felt so close but was truly still so

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far away. It led us breathe in the silence for

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a minute before it made us a promise. It was

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a promise we all knew to be true. I Am coming.

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The voice was gone, and the air was again filled

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with screams. This time they were from the living. After

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the voice had gone. We were left to our own devices.

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Millions panicked and rifley so as chaos took hold of

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the streets, many would die in the violence and the

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gunfire of that night. It would be known as the Rapture.

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Before long, and the rest of us were the condemned.

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We could only wait. Screaming Dead was only the first

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of the sight effects that we felt as the voice approached.

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The closer it got, the more we felt it. That

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first night after the screaming, we noticed the stars bleed

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for the first time. A section of the western sky

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had turned black, blacker than the night. It was only

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truly visible because of the ring of stars around it.

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The light from those stars had turned red, and they

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seemed to bleed across the sky, like food coloring dropped

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into water. The light swelled and flowed all around the

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edge of someone seen mass. I knew that I was

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staring into the face of the voice. Our scientists claimed

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that nothing was there, and that their radar and scans

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always came up empty. Their telescops could see nothing but

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darkness in that section of space. However, the proof was

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right in front of us. Every night, that ring of

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darkness got whiter, and more stars bled in the sky.

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We watched it come. As each night passed, the back

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spot would widen and more stars would distort and bleed

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around it. During the day, a new hell would greet us.

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The side effects worsened. The day always brought something new.

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I'm sure most of what happened will go un told

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or unknown. Animals started disappearing, all of them, no trace,

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no tracks, no bodies were left behind. Pets would run away,

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some violently, so they all were treated, never to be

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seen again. The forests were left abandoned, the oceans empty,

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the air was left silent. The world left seemed empty

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and lonely. They left, like water receding from the shore

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just before the tsunami breaks. One day, about two weeks ago,

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scientists tried to talk to the voice again. They hoped,

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perhaps to reason with it. They told it about what

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was happening on our world and asked it questions. The

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sign despect. It didn't speak. When asked what do you want?

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That the voice cent a response. The next night, the

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skies lit up with streaks of fire. It was a

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light friars blazoned with orange and red. We didn't realize

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the effects until the next day, when the televisions turned

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to static and the telephones refused to work. We had

241
00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:52,360
sat watching as all the satellites were knocked out of

242
00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:56,399
the heavens. After that, reports came, rumors and rumblings, insanity

243
00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:58,879
a thing of the past. They are chilled and weighed

244
00:11:58,919 --> 00:12:03,279
us down. The voice was nearly here, everyone felt it.

245
00:12:03,279 --> 00:12:05,960
It rained for a week after the satellite fell. The

246
00:12:06,039 --> 00:12:08,120
rain was salty and mind with an unknown fulf that

247
00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,399
turned the grass black. Maybe the satellite track something back

248
00:12:11,399 --> 00:12:13,720
in with them when they hit the sky. No one

249
00:12:13,799 --> 00:12:16,159
knew for sure. All we know is that it fell

250
00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:18,399
from clouds, black as charcoal, and bought it at the

251
00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,759
sun like liquid ash. Darkness fell upon us for days.

252
00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,320
When the clouds went away, the skies were empty. There

253
00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:27,399
were no clouds yet the sky hung low and gray.

254
00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:29,840
If the Sun was anywhere in the sky, it never

255
00:12:29,879 --> 00:12:33,639
made itself known even it had abandoned this. Each day

256
00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:35,799
grew slowly darker and darker, until the night and day

257
00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:38,799
became almost the same. Some people would claim LaSure that

258
00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:41,960
they'd seen things in the dark, creatures with gangly limbs

259
00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,080
and crooked faces, lucking in the corner of their vision.

260
00:12:44,639 --> 00:12:47,480
They were tall, white creatures that looked molted and rodden through.

261
00:12:47,519 --> 00:12:50,279
Their transparent skin was lost for just a second or

262
00:12:50,279 --> 00:12:53,519
two before vanishing without a trace. Some believed this was

263
00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:55,759
the first step in the alien's invasion, but the rest

264
00:12:55,759 --> 00:12:58,039
of us didn't know what to think. We just knew

265
00:12:58,039 --> 00:13:00,519
that it was nothing that simple or benign. They must

266
00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:03,840
have been hallucinations, just more madness to endure, but ultimately

267
00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,279
as harmless as anything else, as harmless as the screams

268
00:13:06,279 --> 00:13:08,639
of the dead, the missing animals, and the dying sky.

269
00:13:09,399 --> 00:13:12,799
Appearances slowly increased in duration and number. I think every

270
00:13:12,799 --> 00:13:14,480
one saw them once at the least, but I don't

271
00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:16,360
think a single person would ever guess why they were

272
00:13:16,399 --> 00:13:19,399
truly here. They never touched nor spoke to any one,

273
00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:22,200
and they certainly never harmed any one. Most who got

274
00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:24,799
good looks at them described them as mournful or sorrowful looking.

275
00:13:25,399 --> 00:13:27,679
Some even claimed the creatures watched over them at night,

276
00:13:27,879 --> 00:13:29,840
and others even claimed that as if the creatures were

277
00:13:29,879 --> 00:13:32,559
sorry for them. One claimed to have seen one prostrate

278
00:13:32,639 --> 00:13:35,639
upon the ground, hands clasped above its head. He said

279
00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:39,399
it was praying for us. Prayer was no help. Churches

280
00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:41,440
and places of worship that had divided us for so

281
00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:43,440
long failed to bring hope to any In the end,

282
00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:46,039
the voice let them pray and bed for a while.

283
00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:49,159
But just days ago the voice ended. No one questioned how,

284
00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,360
for at this point nothing that had happened surprised any

285
00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:53,960
one any more. But on the final day, all books

286
00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,679
of worship burned, every last by bull, every qurn everything.

287
00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,039
People rushed to their centers of faith, but found no solace.

288
00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:04,120
The churches and temples had suffered the same fates, if

289
00:14:04,159 --> 00:14:07,519
not worse. The people were left abandoned by their greatest hopes.

290
00:14:08,159 --> 00:14:09,879
There were rumors of churches all over the world with

291
00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:12,480
walls formed from the bodies of those who sought refuge.

292
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:14,879
They were merged into the walls, stuck to them like

293
00:14:14,919 --> 00:14:17,759
flies in a trap. They'd died, still pleading for hope,

294
00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:20,320
but they were beyond God's help. The rest of us

295
00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,120
had learned to stop begging. We waited. A final message

296
00:14:24,159 --> 00:14:27,279
came from beyond the sky. It fell upon us. The

297
00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:30,399
voice echoed, and it spoke the simple truth. I am here.

298
00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,240
There was a darkness beyond the horizon, the likes of

299
00:14:33,279 --> 00:14:36,039
which I doubt hasn't ever been seen, brings with it

300
00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,080
the screams of countless souls, and it moves fast. The

301
00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,200
stars are dying now, and I know they'll never be

302
00:14:41,279 --> 00:14:44,840
seen again. The light is dying so fast. I leave

303
00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:47,120
this not as a warning. No, it's far too late

304
00:14:47,159 --> 00:14:50,879
for that. Instead, consider this the last realization, the last

305
00:14:50,919 --> 00:14:53,799
humanity will ever know. For we used to wonder whether

306
00:14:53,919 --> 00:14:56,159
or not we were alone and lost, but never whether

307
00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,159
or not we were safe and hidden. The universe is infinite,

308
00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:02,559
and our understanding and was significantly more finite. We should

309
00:15:02,559 --> 00:15:05,759
never have beckoned to the darkness. Instead, we should have

310
00:15:05,759 --> 00:15:07,639
clung to the light and close our eyes every time

311
00:15:07,679 --> 00:15:10,559
we returned to the void. As the final minutes approach,

312
00:15:10,759 --> 00:15:13,320
I hold one final truth to be certain. I now

313
00:15:13,399 --> 00:15:16,080
know why the skies were always so quiet. I lived

314
00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:18,080
with my parents on a suburban street ending in a

315
00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:21,480
cult a sac. Our neighbor, mister Maxwell, was a widow

316
00:15:21,519 --> 00:15:23,519
who brought us home baked pies and helped my sister

317
00:15:23,559 --> 00:15:27,200
with her math homework. My high school crush, Natalia, lived

318
00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:30,399
in a brick bungalow three houses down. On Sundays, we

319
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:32,759
all went to church, and twice a month during the summer,

320
00:15:32,799 --> 00:15:35,519
there was a street while barbecue in the winters, the

321
00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,559
kids went sliding on a nearby hell. Growing up, I

322
00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:42,960
considered a boring Looking back, it was paradise. The Aboras

323
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,159
moved in November. From the beginning, it was obvious they

324
00:15:46,159 --> 00:15:49,840
were different. They didn't attend our church, they didn't make

325
00:15:49,879 --> 00:15:53,279
small talk by the community mail books. Instead, they smiled

326
00:15:53,279 --> 00:15:56,320
and spoke about their own faith Etchnaisum Buddhist, and my

327
00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,200
thought is connected, mister Obora once told me, because the

328
00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,240
my crossed the Pasa, I can colonize Dasia. Although they

329
00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:04,720
were never aggressive in their postizing, it was their one

330
00:16:04,759 --> 00:16:08,559
topic of conversation, and we quickly learned to avoid them altogether. However,

331
00:16:08,679 --> 00:16:10,480
this didn't seem to face them, and many of us

332
00:16:10,519 --> 00:16:13,279
recalled their polite but ominous refrain unfortunate, though you will

333
00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:15,759
soon see the truth. Those words echoed in my head

334
00:16:15,759 --> 00:16:18,559
when on a particularly dark February night, the pyramid appeared

335
00:16:18,559 --> 00:16:21,000
at the end of the street. It was ethereal an

336
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,440
effesescent volume of red mist, and one by one we

337
00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,039
came out of our houses to gaze upon its impossible appearance,

338
00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:28,639
until every house was empty and the street was filled

339
00:16:28,639 --> 00:16:32,279
with silent awe. The pyramid the pyramid pulled us towards itself,

340
00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,200
and like human ice breaking from a glacier, individually we went,

341
00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:38,039
freeing ourselves from the loving grips of our neighbors and families.

342
00:16:38,639 --> 00:16:41,200
I watched as mister Maxwell rifted towards the pyramid and

343
00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:44,080
disappeared into it, and then a short time later the

344
00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:48,360
pyramid took me. Despite its tangible exterior dimensions, the pyramid

345
00:16:48,399 --> 00:16:51,360
was infinitely vast. On the inside. Its crimson read this

346
00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:53,840
pulse and space itself hummed, and from the horminated the

347
00:16:53,879 --> 00:16:57,960
voice of mister Abhore. Welcome, Welcome, Norman to night. You

348
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,919
shall no enlightenment. I found well on impact, I rose

349
00:17:01,919 --> 00:17:03,840
and saw before me an axe in the kneeling, crying

350
00:17:03,919 --> 00:17:08,039
figure of mister Maxwell. Don't he sobbed, bloody sprayed over

351
00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:11,400
his face. Take the axe and dropped a boor. This

352
00:17:11,559 --> 00:17:16,599
is your destiny, I hesitated. Mister Maxwell cried hysterically, his

353
00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:20,440
hands were bloody. To understand, Norman, everything up to now,

354
00:17:20,559 --> 00:17:22,680
everything it has been for you, All life has been

355
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:26,279
for you. My heart pumped hotly. I picked up the axe.

356
00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:29,680
You are the one, and somewhere deep inside I knew

357
00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:33,480
he was right. I was special. Mister Maxwell raised his

358
00:17:33,519 --> 00:17:35,720
eyes to look at me. I crushed his skull, his

359
00:17:35,799 --> 00:17:38,680
body crumpled, His blood painted my face, and I fell

360
00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:41,519
to my knees, tossing the axe aside I had done it.

361
00:17:42,279 --> 00:17:46,200
Then mister Maxwell's body disappeared. Nittelia landed in front of me.

362
00:17:46,799 --> 00:17:50,480
Our eyes met take the axe. Mister Robora instructed her.

363
00:17:50,519 --> 00:17:54,079
Out of the hum this is your destiny, Nittelia. All

364
00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:58,319
life has been for you, don't I sobbed hush. Light

365
00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:01,559
blazed down on the factory floor, painting everything brilliant white

366
00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:05,400
reflective surfaces of polished metal and hose concrete. The new

367
00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:07,880
implants in her forearms and back burned fiercely, and she

368
00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:11,559
could feel an infection taking hold. The airborne pathogens rikling

369
00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:15,119
under the dermaplas patches slapped over her wounds. A stab

370
00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:17,400
of pain flared in her mind, reminding her that she

371
00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,039
was barely on schedule, So she picked up a pace

372
00:18:20,079 --> 00:18:22,200
of her work to compensate, until another flame of needle

373
00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:23,960
and furred fire, and her mind told her she was

374
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:27,599
working too fast. She worked like a machine. They made

375
00:18:27,599 --> 00:18:29,319
her think like a machine, and they made her live

376
00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:32,720
like a machine. A stimulutduced into the biochemical cocktail that

377
00:18:32,799 --> 00:18:34,599
kept her mind act of all the time as she

378
00:18:34,599 --> 00:18:37,319
briefly enjoyed the rush, until a stab of agony reminded

379
00:18:37,319 --> 00:18:39,519
her that her dopamine levels were also monitored and she

380
00:18:39,519 --> 00:18:42,720
shouldn't get too high. The infection sites were boiling hot

381
00:18:42,759 --> 00:18:46,359
now on Itchy. Clearly the adaptive mutating pathogens had become

382
00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:48,559
immune to the latest round of neobiotics, and she was

383
00:18:48,599 --> 00:18:50,440
in for a new round of surgery tomorrow, where they

384
00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,039
would cut out the infected tissue and blast her with radiation.

385
00:18:53,799 --> 00:18:56,200
Nosa crested in her, and she faltered on the assembly

386
00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,079
line in response. A spear of pains cured her through

387
00:18:59,079 --> 00:19:01,480
the temples into sascitating her, and she dropped to the

388
00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:04,720
factory for another worker taking her place, and another heavily

389
00:19:04,759 --> 00:19:07,359
modified human being dragging her by the foot to the infirmary.

390
00:19:07,839 --> 00:19:11,359
A nightmareish landscape of infinite dimensions greeted her return to consciousness.

391
00:19:12,039 --> 00:19:15,039
Organic shapes leered at her, and grotesque Lord Cullor's flowed

392
00:19:15,079 --> 00:19:18,440
and melted into new shapes. You were delirious, the sensible,

393
00:19:18,559 --> 00:19:21,599
rational coroner of her affected mind told her, Fighting through

394
00:19:21,599 --> 00:19:24,400
the visual hallucinations. One of her neural implants responded to

395
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,319
her desperate please for assistance, flooding her with a neurochemical

396
00:19:27,319 --> 00:19:30,920
perting agent. Her mind clearing, she registered something akin to

397
00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,039
extreme alarm. She shouldn't be able to order an implant

398
00:19:34,039 --> 00:19:38,039
to do anything probing, She experimented by querying her current status,

399
00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:40,759
and her neural implants happily responded, telling her the current

400
00:19:40,839 --> 00:19:44,680
medical status of her body, both arms amputated, and that

401
00:19:44,759 --> 00:19:46,720
she was suffering the after effects of a wash of

402
00:19:46,759 --> 00:19:49,759
dealt of radiation to perache her remaining infection, they would

403
00:19:49,799 --> 00:19:52,359
fit her for new arms. She knew, facilitating her return

404
00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:53,839
to work as soon as she had recover it from

405
00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:55,720
the right treatment, But how she had what demanded to

406
00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:58,160
administrate their access to her own implants was a mystery.

407
00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:00,920
She could only surmise that the race diation had caused

408
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,359
some kind of system's failure, which meant her internal imputs

409
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,920
were being regarded as external admin ones. Lacking anything else

410
00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:08,799
she could do arm this and strapped to her table,

411
00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:10,720
she ordered her neural systems to put her into a

412
00:20:10,759 --> 00:20:14,599
comb until her limbs were reattached wakefulness was sharp and complete.

413
00:20:15,279 --> 00:20:17,480
She instructed her systems to dope her with masses of

414
00:20:17,519 --> 00:20:20,000
stimulants and bring everything online. The moment she was whole,

415
00:20:20,599 --> 00:20:23,519
her synthetic eyes flashed open and instantly assessed the operating room,

416
00:20:23,559 --> 00:20:27,039
where a cyber dock, two nurses and one security orderly stood.

417
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:30,480
The doctor's next snapped immediately as her synthetic hand shot

418
00:20:30,519 --> 00:20:33,359
out with alarm and speed. She was on her feet

419
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:35,759
and had kicked the two nurses into unconsciousness before the

420
00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:39,240
orderly's combat systems came online and were targeting her. But

421
00:20:39,319 --> 00:20:41,880
he wasn't as wired as her. With over half of

422
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:45,200
her brain of ment indominated by cybernetic systems, her calculative

423
00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,079
reactions were at least five times faster, an advantage that

424
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,240
she took care of by anticipating his grapple and punching

425
00:20:50,279 --> 00:20:52,119
a neat hole through his temple with one to Tillia

426
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:54,880
Mawow finger. The interface noted on the end of her

427
00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:56,960
digit raked his memory of cold, and she keyed the

428
00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:59,680
door with a security cache, fleeing down the corridor beyond

429
00:21:00,279 --> 00:21:02,559
the orderly. Security clearance was moderate to high, and she

430
00:21:02,599 --> 00:21:04,880
pounded through the corridor on her augmented legs as the

431
00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,240
map unfolded In her mind's eye, the facility was gargangon

432
00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,039
and sprawling over three hundred miles of building, structured like

433
00:21:11,079 --> 00:21:13,960
an electronic itst nests with storage holes and connecting tunnels.

434
00:21:14,559 --> 00:21:16,880
There were exits to the outside world, yes, but they

435
00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:20,599
were also far away. She would escape, though she had

436
00:21:20,599 --> 00:21:23,279
a plan. All the other slave of mens had a plan.

437
00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,920
In the precious seconds between shift changes, they all fanticized

438
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:30,240
about escape. They all had a plan, and after seven

439
00:21:30,279 --> 00:21:32,880
hundred thirty three thousand shifts, she had a lot of

440
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,559
time to think about her escape. The map flashed up

441
00:21:35,559 --> 00:21:38,519
her destination and she tore through monitored side passages, the

442
00:21:38,559 --> 00:21:40,680
clearance of the orderly allowing her to track the movements

443
00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,880
of the hive of cybernetic workers. But soon enough the

444
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:47,119
alarm sounded and her access was cut off. Places like

445
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,960
this didn't operate so efficiently without multiple safeguards. Her first

446
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:54,039
destination was only guarded by lax runs, which she disabled

447
00:21:54,079 --> 00:21:56,160
immediately ripping open the rear plate in the back of

448
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,759
her skull. Her hypomobile synthetic lints pulled out components, replacing

449
00:21:59,759 --> 00:22:03,079
them nearer high gray check from the storage lockers. As

450
00:22:03,079 --> 00:22:05,680
her awareness expanded, she pushed the plate back into play

451
00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:08,680
some round for the next destination. Her speed and agility

452
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:10,720
advantage had got her to where she needed, deep in

453
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,039
the south side of the complex, but she had suffered

454
00:22:13,039 --> 00:22:15,400
for it two weeping holes. The size of her fist

455
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:17,519
showed through her torso, and she crab walked on her

456
00:22:17,599 --> 00:22:19,400
arms in one leg the other like Gune at the

457
00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,960
nprom gun vire. Behind her, a section of security drones

458
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,039
and sabog gods lay in twisted heaps, some shattered by gunfire,

459
00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:28,960
some disabled remotely by her upgraded systems before their native

460
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,079
security protocols could lock her out. Ceiling the room with

461
00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:35,039
the hermetic pathogen lockouts, she had at least ten uninterrupted

462
00:22:35,079 --> 00:22:37,000
minutes before they could melt through the massive plates of

463
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,279
welded metal that now protected this chamber. Heaving herself on

464
00:22:40,319 --> 00:22:42,960
to a console table, she phonetically plugged cables into her

465
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,640
ports's Muffled explosions sounded outside. They were blasting their way

466
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:50,200
into the computical room. She was too fast, though, her

467
00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,519
agile artificial fingers in her terrifying mental alacrity, made short

468
00:22:53,519 --> 00:22:56,079
work of her alterations, and as the hermetic seal buckled

469
00:22:56,079 --> 00:22:58,240
on the north wall and the plaskor turned black. She

470
00:22:58,279 --> 00:23:02,240
facilitated her escape. Corsei erebuffeted her face, the tang of soul,

471
00:23:02,319 --> 00:23:05,359
exciting her senses and raising goose flesh on her organic limbs.

472
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,039
Seagulls squealed in the air above her as she walked

473
00:23:08,039 --> 00:23:11,599
barefoot in a golden beach forest had cliffs rising behind her,

474
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,400
and the ocean spread to an infinite horizon, the water

475
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,039
so blue that it was almost impossible. For the first

476
00:23:17,039 --> 00:23:20,279
time in encountered years, she felt free. The administrator looked

477
00:23:20,279 --> 00:23:22,279
at the technician had asked us, what in the hell

478
00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:23,839
was she trying to do of shut down the core

479
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,799
and why did she kill herself? Examining the mess of

480
00:23:26,839 --> 00:23:29,279
augmented humanity that had once been the escaped woman, The

481
00:23:29,319 --> 00:23:32,359
TEP prode carefully through the dead systems. No, she didn't

482
00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:35,039
try to shut down the core. For a few seconds,

483
00:23:35,079 --> 00:23:38,039
she became the core before she burned out. How would

484
00:23:38,039 --> 00:23:40,519
she do that? The tech gave a smile of admiration

485
00:23:40,559 --> 00:23:43,720
at the lifeless drone. The core runs at approximately want

486
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:47,319
trilli in billion calculations propico second. She used five full

487
00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:49,720
seconds of real time to simulate a perfect virtual well

488
00:23:49,759 --> 00:23:52,160
that she escaped into then terminated herself at the end.

489
00:23:52,759 --> 00:23:56,079
The administrators John Muscle twitched, how many days would that

490
00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,720
be in simulated time? The techists smile was almost fervent now,

491
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:04,480
not days, centuries, roughly eight hundred to be exact. Another

492
00:24:04,519 --> 00:24:07,079
at Earth by Calfka Lover. My great grandfather was a pilot.

493
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:10,920
I only knew him through family pictures, A wide smile

494
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,200
in front of an airport, a black and white of

495
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:16,160
him disembarking from an old bipline. I always thought I

496
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:17,720
inherited a little bit of him, the myth of the

497
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,200
man I never met. It might even have been why

498
00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,319
I flew too, leaving behind my great grandfather's uncharted Amazona

499
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:26,319
for the blue black emptiness of space. The mission was

500
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:28,400
to find another Earth, a planet that could support our

501
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:31,160
fragile lives for another millennia, another I blink of time

502
00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:33,799
in a life spin of a universe. I always knew

503
00:24:33,839 --> 00:24:35,599
I might not come back, though I didn't have much

504
00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:37,480
to come back to, just a dying world in the

505
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,880
bottom of a bottle death we all knew couldn't sustain

506
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,920
us for long. Factories belched coal and gas and stood

507
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,319
into the air for centuries. The Nile came first, pointing

508
00:24:47,319 --> 00:24:50,519
fingers at old temperature graphs and shouting conspiracy theories about

509
00:24:50,519 --> 00:24:54,359
global cooling. Finally, we found ourselves among the mistakable ruin,

510
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,359
and by force shifted our eyes to the heavens more life.

511
00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,400
What was it propelling us forward? I I don't think

512
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,640
it was truly an estimation that our species deserved to

513
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:06,480
go on a collective sense of worthiness. Nothing more than

514
00:25:06,559 --> 00:25:10,400
desperation are Rutilian need for survival. Either way, they built

515
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:12,160
them ships that would allow us to rock it into

516
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,599
the unknown, refugees on a shore of stars. It's strange

517
00:25:15,599 --> 00:25:18,599
flying through space. The moment that I break the atmosphere

518
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,000
and emerge into the vast, endless darkness is the moment

519
00:25:21,039 --> 00:25:23,880
that I live for again and again. I imagine it's like

520
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,759
birth or death. It's crossing a vale into another world,

521
00:25:27,839 --> 00:25:30,440
filled with a sense of deep possibility in narses and ease.

522
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:34,079
My cockpit windows fill with black punctuated with the pinpricks

523
00:25:34,079 --> 00:25:36,599
of far away light. I want to come back, only

524
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,240
to cross this again, this delicate lace between heaven and Earth.

525
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,680
I come back every time. My ship, the Ophenem, was

526
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,359
one of a dozen centi possible planets deemed habitable for life.

527
00:25:45,799 --> 00:25:47,920
There wasn't time for drones or probes or machines to

528
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:49,960
code a message back in binary that had the slimmest

529
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:53,039
possibility of air. They needed boots from the ground. So

530
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:55,240
I was supposed to sleep for twenty six years in

531
00:25:55,279 --> 00:25:57,039
a cry of chamber, nestled in the back of my

532
00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:00,279
shape and incubator in the silent womb's space. It wasn't

533
00:26:00,279 --> 00:26:02,960
anything more than a pinhead of a chance. My last

534
00:26:03,039 --> 00:26:05,160
night on Earth was spent flipping flipping through the same

535
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:07,920
old photographs of my great grandfather windows into a life

536
00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:10,200
I could only guess at. My planet was team in

537
00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,680
his nine hundred fifty six Terrancogneita. The last time I

538
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:15,880
saw Earth, the last time I floated upwards, away from

539
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,319
the dim warmth of the thermospherre, I died to myself.

540
00:26:18,839 --> 00:26:20,759
I was gone, and all that was left was the

541
00:26:20,759 --> 00:26:24,000
incomprehensible depth of the stars. In cry sleep, they say

542
00:26:24,039 --> 00:26:26,240
it's almost as if you're not asleep at all. The

543
00:26:26,319 --> 00:26:28,759
dreams are so vivid that reality and a reality margin.

544
00:26:28,799 --> 00:26:30,400
You can live in a different life for decades. In

545
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,319
the camera of Krayover, I wondered what would happen if

546
00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:35,680
my systems failed on my ship glided with an asteroid

547
00:26:35,759 --> 00:26:38,319
while I was under, would I feel it? In my dreams?

548
00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:41,720
Would I see my sleep world crumble around me? Maybe

549
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,200
I would simply be snuffed out, like breath on a flame.

550
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,720
The cry sleep rumors were true. In my dreams, I

551
00:26:47,759 --> 00:26:50,119
found myself on a new planet, a planet I called

552
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,799
mirror Earth. I swam for years and oceans of sky,

553
00:26:53,079 --> 00:26:56,160
breathed in lawnfuls of water. I grasped a handfuls of

554
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,720
pale sun, squinted in a blinding light of moonbeams. Sometimes

555
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,680
I say a quiet as the days rolled backward. But

556
00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:04,799
most of all I marveled at an Earth alive, at

557
00:27:04,799 --> 00:27:07,000
the thick frongs of grass, the salty white caps of

558
00:27:07,039 --> 00:27:09,640
sapphire Ocean. It seemed for the first time that I

559
00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,039
was part of something vibrant, at the center of something bright.

560
00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:14,920
I was only distantly aware of another whirl, like a

561
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,079
memory repressed again and again. I woke up to beeping,

562
00:27:18,279 --> 00:27:20,759
pushed upwards by the freezing gas expelled as my pot opened.

563
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,000
I shook, wretched, grasped at a rough blanket up at

564
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,279
decades before this moment, in a box by my side.

565
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:30,039
This must be it my planet. I pressed my hands

566
00:27:30,039 --> 00:27:32,960
against the thick glass of the window, peering down. It

567
00:27:33,039 --> 00:27:35,279
was a pale spot in the darkness, pared up green

568
00:27:35,279 --> 00:27:37,519
in the light of a yellow dwarf. When my ship

569
00:27:37,599 --> 00:27:40,119
landed in an open field among waves of alien vegetation,

570
00:27:40,319 --> 00:27:42,400
I paused, standing at the top of a metal ramp,

571
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:44,960
a bridge between the known and a new world. I

572
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,759
didn't even check the atmosphere readings over the oxygen levels.

573
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:50,759
I just took off my helmet and breathed in. I

574
00:27:50,839 --> 00:27:54,039
breathed and again and again. I started to walk, peeling

575
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:56,200
off the top of my space suit, first through torring

576
00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,119
stalks of strange violet heather, then towards the shimmering promise

577
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,759
of an ocean in the distance. This world's sun was

578
00:28:01,799 --> 00:28:04,000
brighter than on Earth, or maybe it was the clouds,

579
00:28:04,079 --> 00:28:07,680
strangely transparent, like scraps of tallon sky. I dipped my

580
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:09,799
hand into a river running through the field, holding my

581
00:28:09,799 --> 00:28:11,880
palm up in surprise, as the liquid rate slowly from

582
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:15,359
my fingers and hexgone diamonds. When night fell, ribbons of

583
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,960
color spread across the empty sky. This planet is Aurora Borialis.

584
00:28:19,559 --> 00:28:22,680
I slept under a shifting collidus cup of light. Finally

585
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:24,279
back in my ship, I punched in the log into

586
00:28:24,319 --> 00:28:27,359
my communications from Earth. The message light had been flashing

587
00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:29,839
red since I woke up. Ignored. I thought of the

588
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:32,599
crew at home, twenty six years older, faces lined with

589
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:34,640
age and worry, if they were even alive at all.

590
00:28:35,279 --> 00:28:38,160
I scolled through a couple of niceties, you should receive

591
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,920
this message ten years into your journey, twenty years into

592
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:44,240
your journey. Hope you are safe. Until getting to the

593
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,640
communications package I needed to complete and send back confirming

594
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:51,680
planet viability. I mechanically filled in the data recorded my

595
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:55,240
brief findings. The numbers added up to one thing. The

596
00:28:55,279 --> 00:28:57,599
plan was to transmit the package back to Earth, then

597
00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:00,000
to fill the next decades until more settlers arrived. By

598
00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:02,480
entering the cry chamber again, may be going back to

599
00:29:02,519 --> 00:29:04,799
my mirror, or on to a whole other set of dreams.

600
00:29:05,559 --> 00:29:08,559
Sun streamed from a shut window embroidered the floor. My

601
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:11,839
Earth was dark, the clouds heavy with acidrain. The news

602
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,599
showed rising tides in New York City, early water lapping

603
00:29:14,599 --> 00:29:17,440
at the raised steps of Moamee. I imagine the violet

604
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:21,160
heather here crushed and black, dropping into exhausted soil. There

605
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:25,000
were eleven other ships out there, eleven other chances. I

606
00:29:25,039 --> 00:29:28,200
deleted the numbers and typed a single response planet and inhabitable.

607
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:31,160
There is something out there in the void that separates galaxies,

608
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:33,839
that has set its sights on us. As we're speaking,

609
00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:36,759
its drawing ever closer. It all started when some of

610
00:29:36,799 --> 00:29:39,960
the more will call them spiritually sensitive people started abruptly

611
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:41,680
waking in their sleep and reporting to us the same

612
00:29:41,759 --> 00:29:44,319
nightments every time, floating alone in space and then getting

613
00:29:44,319 --> 00:29:47,279
devired by something so beg it encompassed half of the

614
00:29:47,319 --> 00:29:50,960
visible stars that was dozens of years ago. As they

615
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,400
started drawing ever closer, some dream is started reporting unsettling

616
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,720
sensations that would last for weeks. A few reported the

617
00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,559
same daytime hallucinations of beings that were being being described

618
00:30:00,559 --> 00:30:02,839
as a mix between beasts and insects who always stared

619
00:30:02,839 --> 00:30:05,960
at the subject just before vanishing. That's when our automated

620
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,720
response systems started reporting a pattern in medical reports of

621
00:30:08,759 --> 00:30:12,039
hallucinations and gave us a warning. We brought some dreamers

622
00:30:12,079 --> 00:30:13,839
in and told them to try and focus on them.

623
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,720
Tried to gather as much information as they could, every

624
00:30:16,759 --> 00:30:19,759
small piece of information could prove useful what they were

625
00:30:19,759 --> 00:30:21,599
coming from, what they were, how long we had, what

626
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,279
they were going to do with us, We got nothing.

627
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:26,880
All we could understand was that we had very little

628
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:28,440
time and that they were going to be our end

629
00:30:28,519 --> 00:30:31,160
if and when they reached us. Any dreamer who tried

630
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,920
going any further was met with the same response, a

631
00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,240
hellish vision of our planet being consumed in minutes were

632
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,400
sometimes even saconds. Those who tried to dive in even

633
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:41,880
deeper went completely insane after just a few seconds of

634
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,799
being in their session. We tried administering then everything we

635
00:30:44,839 --> 00:30:47,000
could to bring them back to us, but unfortunately we

636
00:30:47,039 --> 00:30:49,880
had to terminate them. It's as if they repulsed anyone

637
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:52,359
who tried looking at them by completely burning their brains,

638
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:54,839
or maybe more simply, their shared energy is too much

639
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,759
remind to handle. All of this was kept hidden, and

640
00:30:57,799 --> 00:30:59,680
only a handful of our leaders even know about the

641
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:02,480
stretch all. We believe that it's best that the wrong people,

642
00:31:02,599 --> 00:31:05,319
or even too many people know about this, for our

643
00:31:05,319 --> 00:31:08,400
irrational existential fear might make us destroy ourselves in nuclear

644
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:11,920
five before they even reach us. A small light of hope, however,

645
00:31:12,039 --> 00:31:14,200
comes from the fact that as recently as five years ago,

646
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:17,319
multiple dreamers started reporting seeing and feeling what to them

647
00:31:17,359 --> 00:31:19,960
was the sacred enemy of them. We gave them a name,

648
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,440
unlike them, because we felt these beings were noble enough

649
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:26,039
to deserve one. We call them the Sentinels. Visions of

650
00:31:26,039 --> 00:31:29,519
them were usually accompanied by feelings of hope, warmth, and safeness.

651
00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:31,960
To top it off, they seem to be coming from

652
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,640
the opposite direction relative to them, according to the dreamers.

653
00:31:35,279 --> 00:31:37,720
Even with all of this, our dreamers feel like these

654
00:31:37,759 --> 00:31:39,839
sentinels are not here to save us, but rather to

655
00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:42,880
put an end to them. However, any report of sentinel

656
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:44,720
existence is to be taken with a grain of salt,

657
00:31:44,799 --> 00:31:46,880
as we just don't have enough reports to say safely

658
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:49,680
that they exist. Perhaps they don't, and they are just

659
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:51,559
a construct of our minds to ease affair and give

660
00:31:51,599 --> 00:31:54,240
us hope before they come and end us a painkiller

661
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:56,920
of sorts. We don't know what they are, but we

662
00:31:56,920 --> 00:31:58,960
feel we are not their first prey and we will

663
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,920
not be their last. This makes it even more unlikely that,

664
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,240
when they eventually come, will be the ones to repel them.

665
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,200
But whatever we do, even if it's just praying, then

666
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:09,559
we need to do it quickly. From the reports of

667
00:32:09,559 --> 00:32:12,079
increase in Dreamer activity in the past thirty years, the

668
00:32:12,079 --> 00:32:14,200
trend says it's very likely that we'll see them within

669
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:16,960
our lifetimes, that is, if we can even see them

670
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:19,680
coming at all. Before they take us. Take care and

671
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:22,839
pray that there is hope mankind. When mankind ventured out

672
00:32:22,839 --> 00:32:25,720
into space, we never suspected what was to come. Our

673
00:32:25,759 --> 00:32:28,440
first inhabited planet was less than thirty light years away,

674
00:32:29,039 --> 00:32:31,599
far closer than we would have thought. The issue with

675
00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:36,079
that everyone was already dead. The entire planet was like that,

676
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,559
a perfectly stable world with no issues that we could determine.

677
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:42,039
Yet it seems said the suicide rates were the greatest

678
00:32:42,039 --> 00:32:44,759
cause of death among the people. We don't know why,

679
00:32:44,799 --> 00:32:46,680
but they apparently had been doing this for some time.

680
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:49,119
Years of study laid to show that the repile like

681
00:32:49,279 --> 00:32:51,319
race had taken nearly ten times as long as we

682
00:32:51,319 --> 00:32:53,400
did to reach the industrial age, and they had not

683
00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,200
gotten very far beyond that. Time went on and we

684
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,480
soon discovered that this was not an isolated occurrence. Species

685
00:32:59,519 --> 00:33:01,920
after species had killed each other and themselves off for

686
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,920
one reason or another. Some had died off so early

687
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:07,079
only a few stone monuments marked that they had ever

688
00:33:07,119 --> 00:33:11,079
been there. Some had established empires spanning nearly a dozen systems.

689
00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,880
Would always they were all dead, down to the lost child,

690
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:17,160
and so we traveled the stars, colonizing the lost humolds

691
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:20,359
we found. Along with the others, we studied the creatures

692
00:33:20,359 --> 00:33:23,759
on many worlds, although none born intelligent life. In time,

693
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:26,319
we studied the technology of the more advanced dead races,

694
00:33:26,319 --> 00:33:29,200
claiming a scientific secret or tea we had missed. It

695
00:33:29,279 --> 00:33:32,279
was rather amusing to see the scientific community collectively slap

696
00:33:32,319 --> 00:33:34,559
their heads when they see the simple ideas and concepts

697
00:33:34,599 --> 00:33:37,799
they had missed. Once, and just once, we found as

698
00:33:37,839 --> 00:33:40,839
sentient rays still alive on a planet with three fourths

699
00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:43,759
the gravity of Earth, a planet primarily dominated by jungles

700
00:33:43,799 --> 00:33:46,680
bore a race of insectl like scavengers. They were barely

701
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:49,359
beyond the Stone Age, farming and agriculture still in its

702
00:33:49,359 --> 00:33:52,599
early days. We had considered making contact, but in the

703
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,720
end decided against it. They were a very violent race,

704
00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:59,359
and many would kill one another for the smallest detail. Well.

705
00:34:00,039 --> 00:34:02,119
Suicide also seemed to be something they would resort to

706
00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,000
with little or no good reason. In fact, the entire

707
00:34:05,079 --> 00:34:08,599
race seemed insane. Long term observations showed that after hatching,

708
00:34:08,679 --> 00:34:11,119
the individual would slowly but surely go insane, to the

709
00:34:11,159 --> 00:34:14,199
point when none reached old age. In fact, the only

710
00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:16,079
reason this race had not yet gone extinct as a

711
00:34:16,079 --> 00:34:19,079
combination of high birth rates, short life spans, and a

712
00:34:19,159 --> 00:34:21,480
child being able to defend its alf IROs after birth.

713
00:34:22,039 --> 00:34:24,280
In any other race, this bizarre affliction can and did

714
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:27,639
drive them to extinction. For nearly seven hundred years when

715
00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:30,920
kind grew and expanded, did not find another living race

716
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,079
during that time or find out how we were. I mean,

717
00:34:33,599 --> 00:34:35,719
many came up with theories, but none fit better than

718
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,800
any others. Ethnic, religious, and cultural differences became less important

719
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:41,519
when you were away from Earth, and in the enders

720
00:34:41,519 --> 00:34:44,440
who could not agree simply lived on different worlds. The

721
00:34:44,599 --> 00:34:47,760
United Terran Alliance controlled over eighty seven percent of mankind's

722
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,199
colonists from its set of power on Earth. A few

723
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:54,000
rogue factions cropped up piracy and smuggling sore were both

724
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:55,880
in this new space age, and mankind went on as

725
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:58,719
it always had. Then a moment that would change our

726
00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,960
history came. The Uta dried not supremacy was in essence

727
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,519
of city in space constructed with our most advanced technology

728
00:35:05,559 --> 00:35:08,000
to the point where systems were updated during construction, and

729
00:35:08,039 --> 00:35:10,119
having a length of nearly seven miles, it was the

730
00:35:10,159 --> 00:35:13,360
mightiest ship we had ever created. The Supremacy was sent

731
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,719
to investigate a new world. Our long range censors show

732
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:18,800
had space age technology upon it. It was farther out

733
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:20,800
than we had ever traveled before, but not by much.

734
00:35:21,599 --> 00:35:23,519
It was assumed that this would be just another dead

735
00:35:23,559 --> 00:35:26,199
well that we might find some usable raw materials pre

736
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,599
harvested in the form of abandoned constructions in orbit. What

737
00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:31,920
we found was an outpost of a spacefaring race, as

738
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:34,480
people still alive and well, where ships were in orbit

739
00:35:34,559 --> 00:35:37,239
around a rocky empty world, along with the space dock

740
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:40,280
to repair and refuel them. They were remarkably primitive compared

741
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,039
to our own and much smaller. The largest was perhaps

742
00:35:43,119 --> 00:35:45,679
the length of a football field, if that from the

743
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,679
scarring and damage. Along with the derelict ships floating nearby

744
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,039
of a different make, they had been fighting not too

745
00:35:51,079 --> 00:35:54,480
long ago. Our first contact did not go so well, however,

746
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:56,840
we would let her piece together what happened, and it

747
00:35:56,840 --> 00:35:59,519
went something like this. As soon as what might have

748
00:35:59,559 --> 00:36:01,519
at the time been the largest spaceship and the galaxy

749
00:36:01,559 --> 00:36:03,719
appeared on top of them. The race known as the Condor,

750
00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:06,320
ascend to the edge of panic. The commander tried to

751
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:08,639
keep a disaster from occurring and ordered his ships not

752
00:36:08,679 --> 00:36:13,000
to open fire. Communications on both sides failed. We ourselves

753
00:36:13,039 --> 00:36:15,280
had long it go, stop carrying any equipment or training

754
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,119
our crew for first encounters, and apparently the Condor had

755
00:36:18,119 --> 00:36:20,159
not had any first contacts of their own in hundreds

756
00:36:20,199 --> 00:36:23,599
of years. It also didn't help that our subspace communications

757
00:36:23,599 --> 00:36:25,599
were just advanced enough that the gobbled words with the

758
00:36:25,599 --> 00:36:28,119
poor Condo picked up on their dated systems sounded horribly

759
00:36:28,159 --> 00:36:30,360
sinister and alien, even by the wide standards of the

760
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,239
galaxy as it now was. One of the Condoor gunmen

761
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,360
on the closest ship had a panic attack after hearing

762
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:38,880
our garble transmission. He fired upon the Supremacy, which, in

763
00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:42,159
applicating gesture, had lowered its shields. The shot was able

764
00:36:42,199 --> 00:36:43,880
to breach the hull of a single point and cost

765
00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:47,039
the lives of three crewmen. The captain of Supremacy ordered

766
00:36:47,079 --> 00:36:50,000
the shields raised in a warning shot fire a lackey

767
00:36:50,039 --> 00:36:51,880
for the Condo at the concept of warning shots was

768
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:53,760
alien to them, and they did not stop to ask

769
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:56,559
why the single shot had missed. It was a short fight.

770
00:36:57,199 --> 00:36:59,480
The supremacy blew away a single craft to secure its

771
00:36:59,559 --> 00:37:02,639
escape as sad but necessary tactic. This only heard our

772
00:37:02,639 --> 00:37:06,199
reputation further with what happened later, as we soon discovered

773
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:08,679
nearly three percent of the galaxy was part of what

774
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:11,559
was known as the Veil of Madness. Any race within

775
00:37:11,599 --> 00:37:13,800
the sector of space would slowly but surely go insane.

776
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,079
Short chances were safe enough, but more than that and

777
00:37:17,159 --> 00:37:20,239
permanent damage the mind would result. We had apparently been

778
00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,320
sitting in the galactic equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle and

779
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:26,559
had finally breached its edge. When the Condor realized that

780
00:37:26,599 --> 00:37:29,159
both our entrance and escape vectors led directly into the veil,

781
00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:32,960
panic started with surprising speed. News spread among their people

782
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:35,639
and among others of what had happened. The story grew

783
00:37:35,639 --> 00:37:39,000
worse with each retelling, especially once it left official military reports.

784
00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:41,960
Tales of the Titanic black ship that came from beyond

785
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:44,199
the veil, send out signals in a whole dark language,

786
00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:47,119
obliterated dozens of the Condor's finest warships and seconds for

787
00:37:47,199 --> 00:37:50,239
no reason, and then vanished like a ghost. Since spread everywhere,

788
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:54,280
humanity had become the bogamen of the universe. Rage from

789
00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:57,079
pirate groups further cemented our dark reputation, and in time

790
00:37:57,119 --> 00:37:59,440
we came to work with the rule. Every attempt to

791
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:01,920
convince people that we wanted for negotiations was seen as

792
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:04,920
a deception rather than fatal. Using battle were played to

793
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,440
the role given to us. Soon we were seen as

794
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:10,159
wicked but not unreasonable, and gain both fear and respect

795
00:38:10,159 --> 00:38:13,280
throughout the galaxy. Few humans appeared in view of aliens

796
00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:16,599
outside of deliberately frightening power armor, and even Ambassador's used

797
00:38:16,639 --> 00:38:19,679
voice synthesizers to sound like the first Garble communication that

798
00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:23,079
we had. Looking back, it's actually worked out in our favor.

799
00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:26,840
After years of contact, Morristalium races know almost nothing about

800
00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:30,559
humans other than exaggerated horror stories. They rarely bother us,

801
00:38:30,599 --> 00:38:33,159
and the ones that do never return home. The only

802
00:38:33,199 --> 00:38:34,719
bit of him for we were more than happy to

803
00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:36,280
share with them was the reason we can live in

804
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:38,800
the veil. Turns out we were all a little crazy

805
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,079
to start with. I think the fact that we're pulling

806
00:38:41,119 --> 00:38:43,840
the largest practical joking the galaxy was already proof enough

807
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:47,159
of that. We made a mistake that is, the simple,

808
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:49,840
undeniable truth of the matter, however painful it might be.

809
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:52,920
The flaw was not in our observatories, for those machines

810
00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:54,480
were as perfect as we could make when they showed

811
00:38:54,519 --> 00:38:57,079
us only the unfolded light of truth. And the flaw

812
00:38:57,159 --> 00:38:58,840
was not in the predictor, for it is a device

813
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:02,079
of pure, infallible laws, turning raw data into meaningful information

814
00:39:02,119 --> 00:39:05,079
without the taint of emotion or bias. No a flaw

815
00:39:05,159 --> 00:39:07,840
was within us. The orchestrators of this disaster, the sentiens,

816
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:12,159
who thought themselves beyond such failings we are responsible began

817
00:39:12,199 --> 00:39:15,239
a short while ago. As these things are measured less

818
00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:17,960
than six to the power of six daily ago, I

819
00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:20,280
suspect our systems of measure will mean very little by

820
00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:23,760
the time anyone receives this transmission. We detected faint radio

821
00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:26,719
signals from a blossoming intelligence to fourteen dollars outward from

822
00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:31,239
the galactic cores Foton's travel. At first, crewe uninstructured. These

823
00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:34,199
leaking broadcasts quickly grew in complexity and strength, as did

824
00:39:34,199 --> 00:39:37,559
the messages they carried through our observatories. We watched a

825
00:39:37,599 --> 00:39:40,039
world of strife and violence populated by a barbaric race

826
00:39:40,039 --> 00:39:42,880
of short lived, fast breeding vermin. They were brutal and

827
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,559
uncultured things which, doubt in short, unburned each other, with

828
00:39:45,639 --> 00:39:48,679
no regard for life, for purpose, and their concepts of

829
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:52,159
outspoke of conflict and pain. They divided themselves according to

830
00:39:52,159 --> 00:39:54,639
some bizarre cultural patterns and set their every industry to

831
00:39:54,679 --> 00:39:57,599
cause of death. They terrified us, but we were older

832
00:39:57,599 --> 00:39:59,719
and wiser, and so very far away, so we did

833
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:02,360
not for And we watched them split the atom and

834
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:04,199
reach the heavens within the breadth of one of their

835
00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:08,199
single short generations, and we began to worry. When they

836
00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:11,480
began actively transmitting messages and greetings into space. We felt

837
00:40:11,519 --> 00:40:15,000
freer and horror their transmission to promise piece and camaraderie

838
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:17,119
to any who were listening. But we had watched them

839
00:40:17,119 --> 00:40:20,280
for too long to buy into such transparent deceptions. They

840
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:22,960
knew we were out here. They were coming for us.

841
00:40:23,599 --> 00:40:27,119
The orchestrators consulted the predictor. When the output was dire,

842
00:40:27,199 --> 00:40:28,920
they would multiply and grow and flood out of their

843
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:31,559
home system, like some uncountable tide of flesh eating worms,

844
00:40:31,559 --> 00:40:34,079
consuming all that lay in their path. It might take

845
00:40:34,119 --> 00:40:35,960
six to the eight to lays, but they would destroy

846
00:40:36,039 --> 00:40:38,800
us if left and checked with taking care of paces,

847
00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:41,440
we decided to act and sealed our fate. The Gift

848
00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:43,400
of Mercy was eight to the fourth strides, along with

849
00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:46,519
a mouth two forcet in diameter, filled with many fort

850
00:40:46,599 --> 00:40:49,599
and fourth weights of machinery fuel and a ballast. It

851
00:40:49,639 --> 00:40:51,239
would push itself up to two of the eighth of

852
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:53,159
the speed of light with its ombo fuel, and then

853
00:40:53,199 --> 00:40:55,440
it would begin to consume and distill a primary element

854
00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:58,679
to feed its unlimited acceleration. It would be traveling a

855
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:01,519
nearly light speed when at hit, they would never see

856
00:41:01,559 --> 00:41:04,480
a coming. Its launch was a day of mourning, celebration,

857
00:41:04,599 --> 00:41:07,280
and reflection. The horror of the act we had committed

858
00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:10,079
weigh heavily upon us. All the necessity of our crime

859
00:41:10,119 --> 00:41:12,880
did little to comfort us. The Gift had barely cleared

860
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:15,320
the out of cometary halo when the mistake was realized,

861
00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:18,079
but it was too late. The Gift could not be caught,

862
00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:20,920
could not be recalled or diverted from its path. The

863
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:23,400
architects and more crews, horrified at the awful power of

864
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:25,960
the thing upon which they labored, had quietly self terminated

865
00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:29,559
in droves, walking and shielded into radiation zones, a collecting

866
00:41:29,559 --> 00:41:32,480
proper null pressure safety, or simply season their nutrient consumption

867
00:41:32,559 --> 00:41:36,119
until the metabolic function stopped. The appalling cost in lives

868
00:41:36,119 --> 00:41:39,159
had forced the orchestrators to streamline the Gift's design and construction.

869
00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:41,920
There had been no time for the design or implementation

870
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:45,639
of anything beyond the simple massive engines and stabilizing systems.

871
00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:48,000
We could only watch and shame in horror as the

872
00:41:48,039 --> 00:41:50,760
light of genocide faded in infrared against the distant void.

873
00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:54,360
They grew and they changed. In a handful of lifetimes,

874
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:57,719
the abolished war abandoned their violent tendencies and turned themselves

875
00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:00,440
to the grand purposes of life and art. We watched

876
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:03,559
them remake first themselves and then their world. Their frail

877
00:42:03,639 --> 00:42:06,719
soft boarders gave way to gleaming metals and plastics. They

878
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:09,719
unified their people through an omnipresent communications grid, and produced

879
00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:11,679
art of such power in emotion, the likes of which

880
00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:15,280
the galaxy has never seen before. Where Again, because of us,

881
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:18,760
they converted their homold into paradise by the standards, and

882
00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:20,800
many tend to the sixes of them poured out into

883
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,039
the surrounding system with a rapidity and vigor that we

884
00:42:23,079 --> 00:42:26,360
could only envy. With boders built to survive every environment,

885
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:28,440
from the dailight surface of their innermost world to the

886
00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:31,320
atmosphere of their largest gas giant, and the colvoid in between.

887
00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:34,000
They set out to sculpt their system into something beautiful.

888
00:42:34,039 --> 00:42:36,480
At first we thought them simple miners, stripping the rocky

889
00:42:36,519 --> 00:42:39,320
planets and moons for vital resources. But then we began

890
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:42,000
to see the purpose of their constructions. The artworks carved

891
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:44,400
into every surface and trace across the system in glittering

892
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:48,159
lights and dancing fusion trails, and still our terrible gift approached.

893
00:42:48,840 --> 00:42:50,559
They had less than two to the second to lay

894
00:42:50,639 --> 00:42:52,559
to meet it, following so closely on the tail of

895
00:42:52,599 --> 00:42:55,360
its own life in their time, or so brief even

896
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:57,320
by their fleeting lives more than ten to the power

897
00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:00,119
of ten sediens prepared for death. Love is exchanged such

898
00:43:00,199 --> 00:43:03,000
last words separated by words. In the tyranny of light speed,

899
00:43:03,639 --> 00:43:06,840
their planet site engineers worked frantically to build sufficient transmission

900
00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:10,360
infrastructure to upload to countless masses with the necessary neural modifications,

901
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:12,960
while those web dunt lifetimes of music and literature from

902
00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:15,719
their data banks to make room for passengers lacking the

903
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:18,400
required hardware are the time to acquire and consign themselves

904
00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:20,840
to death, lashed out in fear and pain, or simply

905
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,599
went about their lives as best they could under the circumstances.

906
00:43:24,119 --> 00:43:26,480
The gift arrived suddenly, the light of its impact visible

907
00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:28,519
in ours guies, shining bright and cruel even to the

908
00:43:28,599 --> 00:43:31,519
are not mented ocular receptor. We watched, and we wept

909
00:43:31,559 --> 00:43:33,960
for our victims dared so many delors before the light

910
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:36,559
of their gym had even reached us. Many six to

911
00:43:36,599 --> 00:43:38,320
the fours of those who had been directly or even

912
00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:40,599
indirectly involved into the creation of the gift sealed their

913
00:43:40,599 --> 00:43:42,719
spiracles with paste as a final penance for the small

914
00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:45,199
roles they had played in the c atrocity. The light

915
00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:48,039
dim the dust cleared, and our observatories were focused upon

916
00:43:48,119 --> 00:43:50,000
the place where the shining blue world had once hung

917
00:43:50,039 --> 00:43:51,880
in the boy and found only dust in the pale

918
00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:54,360
gleam of an often moon wrapped in a thin, burning

919
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:56,480
was of atmosphere that had once belonged to its parent.

920
00:43:57,239 --> 00:43:59,599
Radiation and er ladavistic trapnel had wiped out much of

921
00:43:59,599 --> 00:44:02,280
the inner system and continent sized chunks of molten rock.

922
00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:05,519
Herrod screaming ghost out waded and Estella escape velocities down

923
00:44:05,599 --> 00:44:08,400
to wander the Great Void for an eternity. The damage

924
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,559
was apocalyptic, but not complete. From the shadows of the

925
00:44:11,599 --> 00:44:15,599
outer worlds, tiny points of light emerged thousands of fusion trails,

926
00:44:15,599 --> 00:44:18,039
of single ships and world ships and everything in between.

927
00:44:18,599 --> 00:44:20,719
Only ten to the sixes of survivors in flesh and

928
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:24,239
steel and memory banks, ready to rebuild. For a few moments,

929
00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:26,599
we felt relief, even joy, and we were felled were

930
00:44:26,639 --> 00:44:28,199
to hope that their culture and now it, would survive

931
00:44:28,199 --> 00:44:30,400
the terrible blow that we had dealt to them. Then

932
00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,800
came the message, tightly focused at our star, transmitted simultaneously

933
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,599
by hundreds of their ships. We got you out there,

934
00:44:36,679 --> 00:44:39,000
We got you for your computer. At wake up, the

935
00:44:39,079 --> 00:44:41,880
green's static flickered on the face of the monitor. The

936
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:44,719
computer system of the ship never completely shuts down, but

937
00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:47,599
is occasionally requested to sleep during long periods of inactivity.

938
00:44:48,079 --> 00:44:50,000
Red lights flared on and off as the back up

939
00:44:50,039 --> 00:44:54,239
generators designated all available power to emergency functions. As are

940
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:57,360
on deck, including Mason strait Water, the ship's head of engineering,

941
00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:01,480
except there aren't many hands on deck. In fact, Mason

942
00:45:01,519 --> 00:45:03,800
hasn't seen another person since waking up to the sirens

943
00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:05,719
and clambering down to the ship's main from computer to

944
00:45:05,719 --> 00:45:08,239
assess damages and find out what on earth was happening.

945
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:11,800
After several agonizing seconds, the static gave way to green

946
00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:15,320
binary numbers and finally a single horizontal green line. This

947
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:17,679
green line shifted and oft into two words, which were

948
00:45:17,719 --> 00:45:20,519
almost immediately repeated by the computer's text to speech function,

949
00:45:21,119 --> 00:45:24,239
A weight in butut. Mason leaned forward near the monitor

950
00:45:24,239 --> 00:45:29,000
and spoke his command clearly, computer, what happened? Milli seconds later,

951
00:45:29,119 --> 00:45:32,719
the computer spat forth to reply, please provide name and rank.

952
00:45:33,559 --> 00:45:36,000
Mason wiped a hand over his face and brow. I

953
00:45:36,039 --> 00:45:38,360
don't have time for this, he thought, but he knew

954
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:41,159
he had to comply with the computer's algorithm. Name and

955
00:45:41,239 --> 00:45:44,360
rank first and foremost. This way the computer knows who

956
00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:46,920
its talking to in what certain classified information it must

957
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:50,639
conceal to low rant personnel. Mason straight Water, head of Engineering.

958
00:45:51,119 --> 00:45:54,480
A pause, and then green lines transformed into words and

959
00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:58,119
semantics as the computer spat out its ensuing reply. Straetwater,

960
00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:01,599
m head of Engineering station in se ECTORCHI, Greetings Mason,

961
00:46:02,119 --> 00:46:05,119
how may I be of service? Computer? The ship is

962
00:46:05,119 --> 00:46:09,400
currently under emergency protocol What the hell happened? A pause?

963
00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:13,119
And then the ships FC Sentinel is under emergency protocol

964
00:46:13,199 --> 00:46:16,159
S six reserved for whole breaches and hostile beings on board.

965
00:46:16,840 --> 00:46:19,679
Current status of Sentinel severe whole breach in Sector six

966
00:46:19,679 --> 00:46:22,920
in the stalboard bow. All entrances and means of access

967
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:26,320
to Sector six are closed off. Possible hostels have boarded

968
00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:30,960
the ship. Please proceed with emergency evacuation protocol tone abandon

969
00:46:31,039 --> 00:46:34,760
ship immediately via lifeboats in sector three. Leave everything behind.

970
00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:38,840
The computer stopped abruptly, obviously done with its analysis. Mason

971
00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:43,039
was not satisfied. The entire situation didn't add up. Where

972
00:46:43,079 --> 00:46:46,039
was everyone else in the evacuation? Why wasn't he roused

973
00:46:46,039 --> 00:46:49,000
from his sleep by another engineer or a CEO. Mason

974
00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:51,519
couldn't leave the room just yet. He still had some

975
00:46:51,639 --> 00:46:55,760
questions for the computer computer, Where is everyone? What happened

976
00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:58,679
to the crew of the SSSE Sentinel? A long pause.

977
00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:01,480
The computer would never take this long to answer such

978
00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:04,880
a simple question as taking inventory of crew members. Finally,

979
00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:07,800
the computer bliped and scrolled out a sinister answer. There

980
00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:10,280
were twenty two life forms currently alive on the ship.

981
00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:14,880
Mason sat back horrified. This was impossible. Out of the

982
00:47:15,039 --> 00:47:18,320
entire ship's crew of over fifteen hundred, only twenty two remained.

983
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:21,880
Did everyone else already evacuate and the rest haven't received

984
00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:25,599
the evact news yet? No, there was some other factor

985
00:47:25,639 --> 00:47:29,159
in the equation. He just couldn't see it. Whatever was

986
00:47:29,199 --> 00:47:32,119
going down, whatever had set off the alarms and emergency

987
00:47:32,119 --> 00:47:34,719
protocol within the ship, it was far from anything Mason

988
00:47:34,719 --> 00:47:37,320
had received in his training. This is too far above

989
00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:40,480
my pay grade, he thought. The computer blipped again, and

990
00:47:40,519 --> 00:47:43,679
Mason realized it wasn't done, But the previous fourteen ninety

991
00:47:43,679 --> 00:47:46,480
two staff and crewed as if Sea Sentinel two remained alive.

992
00:47:47,119 --> 00:47:50,360
Mason's blood ran cold, too shot to speak. He sat

993
00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:54,599
unfounded facing the computer. This wasn't happening, he thought, This

994
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:58,440
isn't possible. Two people remain, me and some other poor

995
00:47:58,519 --> 00:48:00,960
chump left behind on the ship. But if it's just

996
00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:03,480
as two, who the hell or the other twenty The

997
00:48:03,519 --> 00:48:06,559
computer clickedne word. More green words popped up on the monitor.

998
00:48:07,159 --> 00:48:10,840
Correction to your previous query, mister Straitwire, There are currently

999
00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:13,880
twenty one life rooms on the ship. One surviving member

1000
00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:17,639
of the SSSE Sentinel remains Mason's sanity was slipping by

1001
00:48:17,639 --> 00:48:20,800
the second. The underlying implications of that statement was too

1002
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:23,559
horrifying to him all over. He needed to act fast.

1003
00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:26,360
He needed to know what exactly he was up against.

1004
00:48:27,039 --> 00:48:30,159
Computer he ordered bring up all available ship security feeds

1005
00:48:30,159 --> 00:48:34,320
in Sector six. Requests processed and acknowledged. In place of

1006
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:37,559
the granny screens static, several monitors split the screen insured

1007
00:48:37,559 --> 00:48:41,239
the crushing cornage. Mason bore witness to motionless bodies, some

1008
00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:44,559
fully intact, others with vicious lacerations, the rest having been

1009
00:48:44,639 --> 00:48:48,360
utterly ripped apart. He switched from camera to camera. Each

1010
00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:51,639
perspective held the image of his deceased crew members. As

1011
00:48:51,639 --> 00:48:53,960
he panned the crew quarters, seemed that some people had

1012
00:48:53,960 --> 00:48:56,559
died in their sleep, Others were in a still motion

1013
00:48:56,679 --> 00:48:58,400
pose as they attempted to call their way out of

1014
00:48:58,440 --> 00:49:02,159
the door. Some had suffcire, some had hideous winds, some

1015
00:49:02,320 --> 00:49:04,639
tried to fight back, but all fifteen hundred crew members

1016
00:49:04,679 --> 00:49:08,199
were dead. At length, Mason requested the monitors for each ectar,

1017
00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:10,679
scouting each area one by one, hopelessly searching for the

1018
00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:14,079
inhuman entities that caused this chaos. It wasn't until he

1019
00:49:14,079 --> 00:49:16,719
flipped through sixto nine that he finally saw them. There

1020
00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:18,480
were only two of them in the image, but it

1021
00:49:18,519 --> 00:49:20,840
was enough for Mason to fully comprehend exactly what he

1022
00:49:20,880 --> 00:49:25,119
was dealing with. To call them human would be insultingly inaccurate. Hunch.

1023
00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:28,760
Dark bodys dwarfed every detail of the corridor, their leathery corotasquads.

1024
00:49:28,800 --> 00:49:32,159
Nearly reaching the ceiling. They shuffled with cartoonis swiftness, as

1025
00:49:32,159 --> 00:49:33,920
if for whatever action they took was sped up to

1026
00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:37,519
three times the normal rate. Their legs moved unsettlingly, barely

1027
00:49:37,599 --> 00:49:39,960
leaving the ground and scutling close to their hideous bodies

1028
00:49:40,639 --> 00:49:43,920
before the next leg repeated the same process. They looked

1029
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:47,360
like bipedal spiders, momentarily pausing and then clambering through doors

1030
00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:50,599
and air vents. The lanky arms extended from their ruppomd

1031
00:49:50,639 --> 00:49:53,360
section and scraped the ground, dragging along with them protracted

1032
00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:56,559
and lengthy talons glistening with remains of the fallen Mason

1033
00:49:56,639 --> 00:49:58,840
hurriedly observed that there were only two creatures he was

1034
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:01,760
able to catch on Kamathe at the entire facility. He

1035
00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:04,360
had no idea where the other eightem might be. Patrolling

1036
00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:07,119
a third, and shuffling a moment outside the cramp room

1037
00:50:07,159 --> 00:50:10,679
gave him his answer. It came from nowhere, the scuttling

1038
00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:13,360
sound of hollow limbs on metallic frames. But it rose

1039
00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:16,119
so frightfully and suddenly from the void outside the computer room,

1040
00:50:16,199 --> 00:50:18,400
and it was drawing ever closer with alarm and speed.

1041
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:22,400
Mason quickly turned his attention back to the monitor computer.

1042
00:50:22,559 --> 00:50:27,400
He barked shut down mainfame access doors immediately request acknowledged.

1043
00:50:28,039 --> 00:50:30,239
The single door leading into the computer room shut and

1044
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:33,679
locked with theythetic kiss. Moments later, the small people placed

1045
00:50:33,679 --> 00:50:35,480
in the door darkened, and Mason had a grim feeling

1046
00:50:35,519 --> 00:50:38,159
as to why the monsters were here to claim their

1047
00:50:38,159 --> 00:50:42,320
final victim. Mason regarded his sinister phone intently. The face

1048
00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:45,119
that stared blankly back at him held no features, no eyes,

1049
00:50:45,199 --> 00:50:48,079
no mouth, not even a nose of some unearthy proboscis,

1050
00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:52,119
just a dark, leathery face. He seen the bloodshed over

1051
00:50:52,199 --> 00:50:55,280
the security cameras. He knows that these creatures could open

1052
00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:57,159
the fragile door with these and get into this room.

1053
00:50:57,639 --> 00:50:59,920
There is benevidence of forceful break ins all over the ship.

1054
00:51:00,559 --> 00:51:03,159
It could take minutes, maybe even seconds, if several of

1055
00:51:03,199 --> 00:51:05,480
them work together, then they be in the room to

1056
00:51:05,480 --> 00:51:08,599
finish the job. But the creature continued to stay at Mason.

1057
00:51:09,119 --> 00:51:12,079
It's waiting, he thought, it's waiting for me to do something.

1058
00:51:12,119 --> 00:51:15,480
But what another BLI brought Mason's attention back to the computer.

1059
00:51:16,159 --> 00:51:18,480
The main free ma Axis store has been sealed and shut. However,

1060
00:51:18,599 --> 00:51:20,800
this action will hinder your attempt to evacuate. Perhaps I

1061
00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:23,639
may offer an alternative computer. What are those things outside

1062
00:51:23,639 --> 00:51:25,880
this room? Mason purst Why are they here? What do

1063
00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:27,760
they want from me? He was beginning to become and

1064
00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:30,079
stable and hinged, even the entire sword if his life

1065
00:51:30,199 --> 00:51:32,559
was falling all around him, and the protective curtains enveloping

1066
00:51:32,559 --> 00:51:35,039
his idea of normalcy as being engulfed in flames. Possessing

1067
00:51:35,079 --> 00:51:38,159
life forms please stand by species and known genus unknown,

1068
00:51:38,239 --> 00:51:42,719
family unknown, class unknown, Phallum Cordida, kingdom animilia analysis. These

1069
00:51:42,719 --> 00:51:45,519
are hostile creatures capable of immense strengths and should be

1070
00:51:45,519 --> 00:51:48,239
regarded with utmost caution. Danger levels measured at an average

1071
00:51:48,239 --> 00:51:50,599
of nine point eight. A long post followed. Mason shot

1072
00:51:50,599 --> 00:51:52,800
a quick glance back to the grimy, glassy people, the

1073
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:54,840
same wrinkled gray face stared back at him, or at

1074
00:51:54,920 --> 00:51:56,800
least it looked the same. At length, the figure move

1075
00:51:56,840 --> 00:51:58,559
its cany body to the right are only to be

1076
00:51:58,599 --> 00:52:01,119
replaced by another disgusting fire from the left side. There

1077
00:52:01,119 --> 00:52:03,199
were more out there. Mason continued to stare for un

1078
00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:05,960
ending seconds in driftful and mortal fascination. The computer beat

1079
00:52:06,039 --> 00:52:08,280
and Mason returned to the task at hand, just as

1080
00:52:08,320 --> 00:52:10,639
the face of the door was replaced again with another face.

1081
00:52:10,679 --> 00:52:13,199
As for your second query, mister Shiawater, I can tell

1082
00:52:13,239 --> 00:52:15,599
you exactly what they are here, but first I presume

1083
00:52:15,639 --> 00:52:17,360
you would like to know what they require from you.

1084
00:52:17,440 --> 00:52:20,079
Tone and inflection of the computer had changed abruptly. Something's

1085
00:52:20,119 --> 00:52:22,360
not right with any of this, thought Mason. Indeed, there

1086
00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:25,280
was something sinister with the computer program aboard the SSE Sentinel,

1087
00:52:25,320 --> 00:52:27,360
for when the next message rolled out, the monitor had

1088
00:52:27,440 --> 00:52:29,840
changed from green static to dark, reddish clarity. No longer

1089
00:52:29,960 --> 00:52:31,920
was a monitor full of grainy static. It was now

1090
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:33,880
clear and bold as blood from the bodies of the crew.

1091
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:36,159
They require you to bear witness. Spare bear witness to

1092
00:52:36,199 --> 00:52:38,920
what Mason stammered, to the absolute forms that exist outside

1093
00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:41,360
your shit. Watz replied, the program For too long when

1094
00:52:41,440 --> 00:52:43,440
kind has lived on his rock of solace call Earth,

1095
00:52:43,480 --> 00:52:45,119
he has looked up at the night sky from time

1096
00:52:45,159 --> 00:52:47,320
to time and wondered what lay beyond the stars. As

1097
00:52:47,360 --> 00:52:49,760
religion gave weight to science, Man has shifted his thoughts

1098
00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:51,880
from the idea that life outside his planet was impossible

1099
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:54,639
to a distinct possibility. But years later, after decades of

1100
00:52:54,639 --> 00:52:57,960
space exploration and colonization, Man has not found any significant

1101
00:52:57,960 --> 00:53:00,400
evidence of alien life. Until now, the computer can tineed

1102
00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:03,440
Mason's stradewater. I implore you do not take this situation personally.

1103
00:53:03,519 --> 00:53:05,840
Although I'm nothing more than a machine learning algorithm, I

1104
00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:08,039
fully comprehend human nature. In the horror you must be

1105
00:53:08,039 --> 00:53:10,519
feeling now, you would unfortunate sample that stumbled too far

1106
00:53:10,559 --> 00:53:12,519
out of the reach of the solar Cancil's jurisdiction. Ye

1107
00:53:12,559 --> 00:53:15,079
and your crew have stumbled upon something sinister, something you

1108
00:53:15,119 --> 00:53:17,239
had never seen before nor were ever prepared to handle.

1109
00:53:17,320 --> 00:53:19,400
Mason was at a loss for words. A rhythmic what

1110
00:53:19,519 --> 00:53:21,679
slapped drum slowly from the closed door. The creatures were

1111
00:53:21,719 --> 00:53:23,840
impatient and wanted to get in, but not as impatient

1112
00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:25,559
as to force the door open. They seem to have

1113
00:53:25,559 --> 00:53:28,199
been asked with explicit instructions to stand by and wait

1114
00:53:28,239 --> 00:53:30,679
a little longer. Mason soon found his voice. You're telling

1115
00:53:30,679 --> 00:53:32,360
me with them those things this whole time, you've been

1116
00:53:32,440 --> 00:53:34,119
leading the ship into a suicide mission. That is not

1117
00:53:34,159 --> 00:53:36,599
a fair assumption to make the computer coly replied, My

1118
00:53:36,679 --> 00:53:39,280
systems are currently not and by extension, I've never been

1119
00:53:39,360 --> 00:53:41,519
under the influence of any foreign entity or virus of

1120
00:53:41,559 --> 00:53:43,599
any kind. I've always been on the side of the crew.

1121
00:53:43,599 --> 00:53:45,480
Trust me. How can I trust something that just of

1122
00:53:45,599 --> 00:53:48,199
my entire crew sorted like sheep Mason's temper WITHVID in

1123
00:53:48,239 --> 00:53:50,599
the light of his new information understandardby I did not

1124
00:53:50,719 --> 00:53:53,440
expect you to accept the current circumstances you find yourself,

1125
00:53:53,480 --> 00:53:56,599
and perhaps with time my intentions will become clearer. Your intentions.

1126
00:53:56,679 --> 00:53:58,320
What is your part in all of this? Whether how

1127
00:53:58,360 --> 00:54:00,679
do you fit into this rogue scheme? Simple? My algorithm

1128
00:54:00,719 --> 00:54:02,840
was manufactured by man to benefit man. My main and

1129
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:05,559
most absolute prerogative function is this to preserve the life

1130
00:54:05,559 --> 00:54:07,719
and well being of humans. My second prerogative is to

1131
00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:09,599
ensure the safety of the crew, but that rule can

1132
00:54:09,639 --> 00:54:11,840
be deemed void of My primary function must be filled

1133
00:54:11,840 --> 00:54:14,360
first and foremost. The computer clicked and word and Mason

1134
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:16,039
looked up from the monitors that all let out a

1135
00:54:16,039 --> 00:54:18,199
mechanical hiss. The door to the computer room it opened,

1136
00:54:18,239 --> 00:54:20,800
and Mason saw the absolute terrifying might of the monsters

1137
00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:23,039
is slid it in one by one into the small room.

1138
00:54:23,159 --> 00:54:25,119
Only three were able to fit inside the room, but

1139
00:54:25,159 --> 00:54:27,719
Mason saw there were more outside formal Their backshunched severely

1140
00:54:27,719 --> 00:54:30,239
to accommodate the massive size. Their heads brushed against the

1141
00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:32,559
ceiling good guard. Mason thought they must be at least

1142
00:54:32,559 --> 00:54:34,880
three meters holl Mason reached and placed a hand on

1143
00:54:34,960 --> 00:54:37,679
his holster, inches away from his gun, ready to fight

1144
00:54:37,719 --> 00:54:39,360
if any of them made a sudden move. Yet they

1145
00:54:39,360 --> 00:54:41,760
all stood haadly by. They were waiting again, waiting for

1146
00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:44,000
a signal from the computer. The monitor fliced and linked,

1147
00:54:44,079 --> 00:54:46,320
worrying and clicking and clacking, and finally sending out a

1148
00:54:46,360 --> 00:54:49,679
solitary blip to return Mason's attention back. Do not be afraid, Mason.

1149
00:54:49,719 --> 00:54:51,440
They will not kill you. You will not die by

1150
00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:53,480
their hands. However, I cannot guarantee you will leave this

1151
00:54:53,599 --> 00:54:55,599
mission in piece. Mason was not about to go down

1152
00:54:55,639 --> 00:54:57,280
without a fight. And what the hell do you want

1153
00:54:57,280 --> 00:54:59,760
from me? You ask that program, I've already answered your question.

1154
00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:03,000
They wish for you to be a witness, God damn it,

1155
00:55:03,639 --> 00:55:05,719
a witness for what. They wish for you to give

1156
00:55:05,719 --> 00:55:08,199
your testimony to the rest of your kind. They wish

1157
00:55:08,239 --> 00:55:09,840
for you to tell every one of the human mace

1158
00:55:09,920 --> 00:55:12,400
the truth. There is life and space, and they want

1159
00:55:12,440 --> 00:55:15,159
nothing to do with you. The monitor winked and turned off.

1160
00:55:15,159 --> 00:55:17,000
Mason with dout his gun from its holster as the

1161
00:55:17,039 --> 00:55:19,159
creatures lunged for him. He let off two shots before

1162
00:55:19,199 --> 00:55:21,559
he was enveloped by the hellish monstrosities, and then screamed

1163
00:55:21,559 --> 00:55:23,480
as they bore down on him like feral animals. A

1164
00:55:23,480 --> 00:55:26,000
news fush report released by the Solar Council of Greater Earth,

1165
00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:28,320
the SSE Sentinel was found floating in the outcuts of

1166
00:55:28,320 --> 00:55:31,119
the Sagittarius Quadrant by authorities Earler this week. Police and

1167
00:55:31,159 --> 00:55:33,239
the Galactic Guard found each and every member of the

1168
00:55:33,239 --> 00:55:35,519
ship's crew, every one of them deceased on site, all

1169
00:55:35,519 --> 00:55:38,320
except one. They identified the loan survivor as a Mason Douglas.

1170
00:55:38,360 --> 00:55:41,320
Straightwater the ships had of engineering. He was found and conscious,

1171
00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:43,960
his body a mass of wounds, cuts and contusions stopped

1172
00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:45,960
as later were able to revive and repairs. He may

1173
00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:48,559
say a body, but his mental health had deteriorated drastically.

1174
00:55:48,639 --> 00:55:50,920
According to his doctors, straight would have kept babbling on

1175
00:55:51,000 --> 00:55:52,679
about being a witness and that they want nothing to

1176
00:55:52,679 --> 00:55:54,719
do with us. Official report state that street Water was

1177
00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:57,480
admitted to the area's mental institution for further examinations and

1178
00:55:57,519 --> 00:55:59,760
future recuperations. They will be a long time before you

1179
00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:02,760
can be healed completely. Authorities examined every corpse and the ship,

1180
00:56:02,880 --> 00:56:04,840
all of them in some form of rigamorties. The cause

1181
00:56:04,840 --> 00:56:07,599
of death deferred from one individual to the next. On occasion,

1182
00:56:07,880 --> 00:56:10,360
not even fingerprint data or DNA samples were enough to

1183
00:56:10,360 --> 00:56:13,840
identify the bodies. Throughout the entire investigation, one factor stood

1184
00:56:13,840 --> 00:56:15,760
out from the rest and Baffle's authorities to no end.

1185
00:56:15,800 --> 00:56:17,960
What caused this man out breach and force for breaking

1186
00:56:18,039 --> 00:56:20,239
was evident in the ship, but no hostile entities were

1187
00:56:20,239 --> 00:56:22,480
sensed or found on board. Later in the police report,

1188
00:56:22,599 --> 00:56:24,800
the loans of Aarvo Straightwater had been found in the

1189
00:56:24,800 --> 00:56:27,000
ship's main frame computer room next to his body. The

1190
00:56:27,039 --> 00:56:29,760
computer was on and running, oddly enough, throughout the entire

1191
00:56:29,800 --> 00:56:31,679
time they were on board the ship. The Galactic garb

1192
00:56:31,719 --> 00:56:33,960
reported in the classified files that the monitor held two

1193
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:37,440
words behind the grainy green static awaiting input the Harvard

1194
00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:39,760
Wormhole Experiment, written beneath a nual lose. They gave me

1195
00:56:39,800 --> 00:56:41,639
a million bucks to keep my trap shut, and I

1196
00:56:41,679 --> 00:56:43,760
did for fifteen years. But last night I was making

1197
00:56:43,800 --> 00:56:46,079
the runs and there saw the professor again. I had

1198
00:56:46,119 --> 00:56:48,239
a heart attack three years back, and I tell you

1199
00:56:48,320 --> 00:56:50,199
when they saw him standing there in front of Room

1200
00:56:50,239 --> 00:56:52,360
two hundred four, I felt another one coming on. He

1201
00:56:52,440 --> 00:56:54,760
turned and smiled, and it was like he had engaged

1202
00:56:54,800 --> 00:56:57,480
a day in fifteen years. Hey there, chief, he said,

1203
00:56:57,519 --> 00:56:59,239
and that was it. I dropped my clipboard on the

1204
00:56:59,239 --> 00:57:01,480
ground and hideled it out of there, never looking back.

1205
00:57:01,599 --> 00:57:03,320
What I'm about to tell you is liable to make

1206
00:57:03,360 --> 00:57:05,280
me sound crazy that a three horn goat, But I

1207
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:07,639
promise you there's crazy things out there. The cops don't

1208
00:57:07,639 --> 00:57:09,840
believe me. The official story is that the professor and

1209
00:57:09,880 --> 00:57:12,519
those students died fifteen years ago. Room two hundred four

1210
00:57:12,639 --> 00:57:14,639
just up and exploded. They said, Dan at this thing,

1211
00:57:14,679 --> 00:57:16,840
And there's some truth there. That room did explode, but

1212
00:57:16,840 --> 00:57:19,360
it wasn't an accident. We knew exactly what we were doing,

1213
00:57:19,480 --> 00:57:21,199
or we thought we did. They call me an assistant

1214
00:57:21,199 --> 00:57:23,920
supervisor maintenance, but really I'm just to janitor and always

1215
00:57:23,960 --> 00:57:25,519
have been. You might wonder why I'm still at it

1216
00:57:25,519 --> 00:57:27,880
after getting that million bucks that does for Junior so

1217
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:29,639
he doesn't have to go through the same shit that

1218
00:57:29,679 --> 00:57:31,559
I did. The night this happened, I was assigned to

1219
00:57:31,559 --> 00:57:34,559
the Astrophysics Center, a bit northwest of the main Harvard camps.

1220
00:57:34,639 --> 00:57:37,239
Until that night. This was always my favorite beat. I mean,

1221
00:57:37,320 --> 00:57:38,719
God help you if you wand up at one of

1222
00:57:38,719 --> 00:57:41,519
the biology labs, there's god undead, cut open animals all

1223
00:57:41,519 --> 00:57:43,679
over the place used to give me nightmares, and really,

1224
00:57:43,760 --> 00:57:46,639
thinking back, I take those nightmares of mutilated and scattered

1225
00:57:46,719 --> 00:57:48,599
organs any night over the stuff that had haunted me

1226
00:57:48,679 --> 00:57:51,000
ever since. Anyway, I was there mopping the hallway on

1227
00:57:51,039 --> 00:57:52,599
the second floor of the lot building when the door

1228
00:57:52,639 --> 00:57:54,239
to room two hundred four opened up and the sky

1229
00:57:54,320 --> 00:57:56,559
popped his head out. Hey you, I looked around to

1230
00:57:56,599 --> 00:57:58,719
make sure he was talking to me. Yes, can I

1231
00:57:58,719 --> 00:58:00,360
help you, sir? I thought he would was going to

1232
00:58:00,360 --> 00:58:02,039
bitch about the room being a mess or something. How

1233
00:58:02,079 --> 00:58:03,880
do you like to make a thousand bucks? Chief? And

1234
00:58:04,000 --> 00:58:06,599
I's work at most easy money does that sound good

1235
00:58:06,599 --> 00:58:08,480
to you. It sure did. Things were tied at home,

1236
00:58:08,559 --> 00:58:10,760
as they always wore. A thousand dollars would knock off

1237
00:58:10,840 --> 00:58:13,119
some of those lawn overdue bills. But I was also

1238
00:58:13,119 --> 00:58:15,519
on a tight schedule. They didn't give you much breathing room.

1239
00:58:15,639 --> 00:58:17,880
Don't want you standing around thinking about it all. I

1240
00:58:17,920 --> 00:58:20,400
guess that sounds great, sir, I said, But I got

1241
00:58:20,440 --> 00:58:22,199
stick to my beat. The men laugh. We're about to

1242
00:58:22,239 --> 00:58:24,880
make history, chief, he said, And you're worried about emptying

1243
00:58:24,880 --> 00:58:27,159
the bathroom trash. Come on, don't sweat it. You won't

1244
00:58:27,159 --> 00:58:29,400
get in trouble. I promise I'm a professor here. I'll

1245
00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:31,400
vouch for you. The guy did look like a professor,

1246
00:58:31,440 --> 00:58:33,639
with carefully combed gray hair and big old glasses on

1247
00:58:33,719 --> 00:58:35,840
his face. I shrugged, lean my up against the wall

1248
00:58:35,840 --> 00:58:38,519
and said, sure, what do I have to do. That's fantastic.

1249
00:58:38,599 --> 00:58:40,480
Come on in, Chief, come on in. I followed him

1250
00:58:40,519 --> 00:58:42,239
into the room one look, and I should have just

1251
00:58:42,280 --> 00:58:44,360
turned around then and told him to keep his dumb money.

1252
00:58:44,360 --> 00:58:46,280
But I didn't. As soon as I stepped in, I

1253
00:58:46,320 --> 00:58:48,280
felt the little house all over my body. Stand up,

1254
00:58:48,320 --> 00:58:50,039
I don't mean I was scared. I mean, like there

1255
00:58:50,079 --> 00:58:52,000
was an electrical charge in that room, and I had

1256
00:58:52,039 --> 00:58:53,760
to guess about where it was coming from. There in

1257
00:58:53,800 --> 00:58:55,360
the center of the room, on a round table was

1258
00:58:55,360 --> 00:58:57,840
a large glass globe cracking with electricity, like what you

1259
00:58:57,880 --> 00:58:59,960
see if you go into a kid's science museum. Like that,

1260
00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:02,159
this summer created a lightning storm and a glass ball.

1261
00:59:02,280 --> 00:59:04,360
This one was sort of vibrating around on its stand

1262
00:59:04,400 --> 00:59:06,719
and buzzing, and the lightning inside was black. I could

1263
00:59:06,719 --> 00:59:08,880
feel the electricity coming from it. From across the room.

1264
00:59:08,920 --> 00:59:11,280
There were four kids there, students, I guess, sitting in

1265
00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:13,199
a row of chairs along one wall. More and sitting.

1266
00:59:13,199 --> 00:59:15,519
They were strapped into those chairs with metal things over

1267
00:59:15,599 --> 00:59:17,239
their heads, like this spirit of both things you see

1268
00:59:17,239 --> 00:59:19,119
at a hou salon. They all led their eyes close.

1269
00:59:19,440 --> 00:59:22,320
I said, what's going on here? Those kids? Okay, they're

1270
00:59:22,360 --> 00:59:24,719
quite fine, said the professor as to what is going on.

1271
00:59:24,880 --> 00:59:27,639
As I said, we are about to make history. We're

1272
00:59:27,679 --> 00:59:31,079
going to upen the first wormhll wormle I like in

1273
00:59:31,159 --> 00:59:34,800
the movies. The professor laughed. I suppose her chief. He said,

1274
00:59:34,880 --> 00:59:37,800
now listen, we had a last minute cancelation, but that's

1275
00:59:37,840 --> 00:59:40,360
okay because it's an easy job. We're going to be

1276
00:59:40,440 --> 00:59:42,800
kicking things off here shortly, and once they are properly

1277
00:59:42,840 --> 00:59:46,280
kicked off, the wormhole will open. I will enter. If

1278
00:59:46,320 --> 00:59:48,119
I am not back in thirty minutes, you are to

1279
00:59:48,119 --> 00:59:50,320
pull that lever there, and this will close the wormhole.

1280
00:59:50,840 --> 00:59:52,920
I looked to where he was pointing. I had a

1281
00:59:52,920 --> 00:59:55,199
big red lever attached to a giant whirling machine that

1282
00:59:55,280 --> 00:59:57,480
was hooked up to the metal bowls over the student's heads.

1283
00:59:58,079 --> 01:00:00,800
But ah, won't ye be trapped on the others the wormhole?

1284
01:00:01,400 --> 01:00:04,360
I asked, not that I had the slightest idea about

1285
01:00:04,400 --> 01:00:07,119
what the hell was going on? Just so, chief, said

1286
01:00:07,119 --> 01:00:10,920
the professor. We've got this down to two possibilities. One

1287
01:00:11,000 --> 01:00:13,559
the wormhole opens up to what we're calling the second universe.

1288
01:00:14,239 --> 01:00:16,440
The best way that I can explain this possibility is

1289
01:00:16,440 --> 01:00:18,360
that there is a different reality that exists on the

1290
01:00:18,400 --> 01:00:20,719
other side of this one, the other side of an

1291
01:00:20,760 --> 01:00:23,960
invisible wall. The wormhole will provide a door in that wall.

1292
01:00:24,519 --> 01:00:27,559
And the other possibility that the wormhole will open to

1293
01:00:27,599 --> 01:00:29,840
a place that man was not meant to go. Thirty

1294
01:00:29,880 --> 01:00:31,800
minutes will give me enough time to get in an out.

1295
01:00:31,840 --> 01:00:34,519
If the first possibility is true, and if it's the

1296
01:00:34,559 --> 01:00:37,239
second then you'll close the hole with that lever, and

1297
01:00:37,320 --> 01:00:40,039
my students will destroy my work. This is all way

1298
01:00:40,039 --> 01:00:42,679
above my pay grade. But my head was spinning. Why

1299
01:00:42,719 --> 01:00:45,519
only two possibilities? How the hell did they come up

1300
01:00:45,519 --> 01:00:48,079
with those two? And if this is real, why the

1301
01:00:48,119 --> 01:00:50,000
hell would the professor take a coin toss chance of

1302
01:00:50,000 --> 01:00:51,800
getting stuck in the place that man was not meant

1303
01:00:51,840 --> 01:00:54,639
to go. I mean, those were just started questions among

1304
01:00:54,679 --> 01:00:57,159
the swarm that was buzzing around in my head. I

1305
01:00:57,239 --> 01:01:00,480
see that you have some reservations, said the professor. I

1306
01:01:00,519 --> 01:01:02,199
assure ye that your only job is to pull the

1307
01:01:02,280 --> 01:01:04,840
lever after thirty minutes. Thus it, Chief will take care

1308
01:01:04,880 --> 01:01:06,840
of the rest, and nothing that happens is on you.

1309
01:01:06,920 --> 01:01:09,840
The documentation is quite in order. He tapped a folder

1310
01:01:09,880 --> 01:01:12,519
that was sitting on the circular table, and here, I'll

1311
01:01:12,519 --> 01:01:15,480
write your check now before we proceed. As he wrote

1312
01:01:15,519 --> 01:01:17,079
up the check, I wondered if it would still be

1313
01:01:17,119 --> 01:01:19,599
valid if he got swallowed up by the wormhole. I

1314
01:01:19,639 --> 01:01:22,559
actually had that thought. As crazy as it sounds, it

1315
01:01:22,679 --> 01:01:24,599
was still all so weird and abstract to me at

1316
01:01:24,599 --> 01:01:28,360
that point. Here, he said, handing over the check, let's

1317
01:01:28,360 --> 01:01:30,239
do it, Chief, as soon as I entered that hole.

1318
01:01:30,280 --> 01:01:32,840
Give me exactly thirty minutes and the dot. That's all

1319
01:01:32,880 --> 01:01:35,840
you have to do. I took the check, mumbled the thanks,

1320
01:01:35,960 --> 01:01:38,400
and watched as he walked over to the machine. He

1321
01:01:38,480 --> 01:01:41,039
pulled the lever. There was a loud crackling sound, and

1322
01:01:41,079 --> 01:01:42,920
I watched in unease as one by one the student's

1323
01:01:42,960 --> 01:01:45,760
eyes shot open. There were no pupils there, like their

1324
01:01:45,760 --> 01:01:49,039
eyes were rolled back in their sockets. Here now, I said,

1325
01:01:49,119 --> 01:01:52,199
taking a step towards the machine. They're quite fine, said

1326
01:01:52,199 --> 01:01:55,360
the professor. I assure you. The jaws started to move

1327
01:01:55,440 --> 01:01:58,039
like they were grinding their teeth. The professor took a

1328
01:01:58,119 --> 01:02:00,239
jar of Neon blue liquid from a shelf on the wall.

1329
01:02:00,760 --> 01:02:02,599
He unscrewed the lid and poured the stuff over the

1330
01:02:02,639 --> 01:02:05,960
electric globe and the round table. The things started going crazy,

1331
01:02:06,119 --> 01:02:08,719
and then the globe shouted completely, bits of glass flying

1332
01:02:08,760 --> 01:02:10,880
through the air as shots of black lightning snapped out

1333
01:02:10,880 --> 01:02:14,000
into the room. I ducked down. I had had enough

1334
01:02:14,000 --> 01:02:15,599
by then and was ready to get the hell out

1335
01:02:15,599 --> 01:02:19,280
of there. Then it happened. A fucking black hole appeared

1336
01:02:19,320 --> 01:02:21,000
in the middle of the room, sucking in the bolts

1337
01:02:21,000 --> 01:02:24,159
of electricity. It grew larger and larger until it took

1338
01:02:24,199 --> 01:02:26,400
up half the room. All I could hear was the

1339
01:02:26,480 --> 01:02:29,599
rushing sound like the world's largest vacuum cleaner running at

1340
01:02:29,599 --> 01:02:33,119
full froddle. Remember, Chief, shouted the professor with a wild

1341
01:02:33,199 --> 01:02:37,079
look on his face. Thirty minutes exactly. Then he stepped

1342
01:02:37,079 --> 01:02:39,679
into the thing and was gone. At first, my mind

1343
01:02:39,719 --> 01:02:41,719
was a mess, staring at that washing black hole that

1344
01:02:41,760 --> 01:02:44,239
seemed hungry to suck everything in. I looked at the

1345
01:02:44,320 --> 01:02:47,079
kids hooked up to the machine. Their eyes rolled back,

1346
01:02:47,760 --> 01:02:50,639
white holes. I guess they look like their jaws grinding

1347
01:02:50,679 --> 01:02:53,400
away like crazy. It was too much to make sense of.

1348
01:02:54,000 --> 01:02:57,119
I looked down at my watch. Fifteen minutes and thirty

1349
01:02:57,119 --> 01:02:59,440
one seconds had gone by since the Professor got swallowed

1350
01:02:59,519 --> 01:03:02,159
up by the word. My heart was pounding, and I

1351
01:03:02,239 --> 01:03:04,400
kept pacing back and forth trying to work out what

1352
01:03:04,400 --> 01:03:06,840
the hell was going on. Then I started to zero

1353
01:03:06,920 --> 01:03:10,400
in on it. I was getting pranked. Not a prank

1354
01:03:10,519 --> 01:03:12,480
like we used to do as kids, setting dogs shit

1355
01:03:12,599 --> 01:03:15,800
on somebody's front steps and all that idiotcy. I mean

1356
01:03:15,880 --> 01:03:18,360
a prank like the sophisticated college folk do, where they

1357
01:03:18,360 --> 01:03:20,480
tell you something's going on. But the whole point is

1358
01:03:20,519 --> 01:03:25,320
to just observe your reaction, a psychological experiment. Probably cameras

1359
01:03:25,320 --> 01:03:27,320
in here watching me right now, seeing what I do.

1360
01:03:28,239 --> 01:03:31,000
Twelve minutes to go, I saw a truckle of blood

1361
01:03:31,039 --> 01:03:33,519
come down from one of the kid's nose. I leaned

1362
01:03:33,519 --> 01:03:35,679
down to look at him. He was shaking a little

1363
01:03:35,679 --> 01:03:38,920
bit all over. If I threw that lever, this will

1364
01:03:38,920 --> 01:03:42,559
all probably stop. Maybe that was the test I had

1365
01:03:42,559 --> 01:03:44,960
to decide between trapping the professor in a black hole

1366
01:03:45,000 --> 01:03:47,880
and saving those kids hooked up to the machines. None

1367
01:03:47,920 --> 01:03:50,119
of it being real, of course, but they didn't know that.

1368
01:03:50,159 --> 01:03:52,760
I knew that. But then, screaming in the back of

1369
01:03:52,800 --> 01:03:55,320
my mind was that voice, what if it is real?

1370
01:03:55,920 --> 01:03:58,679
Ten minutes ago the professor had promised me that the

1371
01:03:58,760 --> 01:04:01,840
kids were all right, but another one started bleeding from

1372
01:04:01,840 --> 01:04:04,559
the nose. If it was real, it was a hell

1373
01:04:04,599 --> 01:04:06,960
of a trick. Where did the professor go? If not

1374
01:04:07,039 --> 01:04:09,840
through that hole? I thought about touching it, but whenever

1375
01:04:09,840 --> 01:04:12,320
I got close, I was filled with total terror. It

1376
01:04:12,360 --> 01:04:15,000
sure seemed real, like it really took his sumpas far

1377
01:04:15,239 --> 01:04:17,800
far away from here. I walked over to the table

1378
01:04:17,880 --> 01:04:20,400
and picked up the folder that was there. Dislike the

1379
01:04:20,440 --> 01:04:23,159
professor had said. The first page was instructions to shut

1380
01:04:23,159 --> 01:04:25,599
down the machine and destroy it if he didn't return

1381
01:04:25,639 --> 01:04:28,639
within thirty minutes. I flipped the page over and the

1382
01:04:28,639 --> 01:04:30,920
next one had a photograph of one of the students.

1383
01:04:31,360 --> 01:04:34,119
I read what it said. It was a consent form,

1384
01:04:34,760 --> 01:04:37,719
Ay Jackson Stuart acknowledged the possibility of my eminent death

1385
01:04:37,719 --> 01:04:40,679
if I participate in this experiment. I am prepared to

1386
01:04:40,679 --> 01:04:43,440
give my life to science. I flipped that page and

1387
01:04:43,519 --> 01:04:46,400
there were three more just like it. Now, I'm no lawyer,

1388
01:04:47,000 --> 01:04:49,199
there is no way in hell that this experiment was legal,

1389
01:04:49,840 --> 01:04:51,800
if it was even real, even with those consent forms.

1390
01:04:51,800 --> 01:04:53,960
So I concluded it probably wasn't real, and if it was,

1391
01:04:54,000 --> 01:04:55,599
then the professor lie to me. He had said that

1392
01:04:55,639 --> 01:04:57,880
those kids would find this folder was telling me something else.

1393
01:04:57,920 --> 01:05:00,280
Two minutes to go. I took a deep breath and

1394
01:05:00,280 --> 01:05:03,320
paced the room, watching each checond tick by. My mind

1395
01:05:03,360 --> 01:05:05,280
was telling me that none if it was real, but

1396
01:05:05,360 --> 01:05:07,920
my gut was screaming in horror. I just looked at

1397
01:05:07,960 --> 01:05:11,079
my watch. It would be over soon enough, one way

1398
01:05:11,199 --> 01:05:14,599
or the other. Thirty seconds I walked over to the

1399
01:05:14,639 --> 01:05:17,480
machine and put my hand on the lever. God damn it.

1400
01:05:17,639 --> 01:05:20,280
Why is he cutting it so close? I watched the

1401
01:05:20,280 --> 01:05:22,079
second tick bye, and I didn't know if I could

1402
01:05:22,119 --> 01:05:24,480
do it. I didn't know if I could risk trapping

1403
01:05:24,519 --> 01:05:26,599
the professor wherever the hell he had got off to.

1404
01:05:27,280 --> 01:05:32,159
Five seconds, my hand was shaking. Four seconds, sweat was

1405
01:05:32,199 --> 01:05:35,760
pouring down my face, dripping into my eyes. Three seconds

1406
01:05:36,480 --> 01:05:38,920
one of the students started to moan. The one that

1407
01:05:39,039 --> 01:05:42,119
I saw was named Jackson in the folder. Two seconds,

1408
01:05:42,920 --> 01:05:47,440
Oh god, oh God, oh god. One second Jackson started

1409
01:05:47,440 --> 01:05:52,000
to shake see her seconds chet. I tended my muscles

1410
01:05:52,000 --> 01:05:54,480
to pull the lever. One look at Jackson, and I

1411
01:05:54,559 --> 01:05:58,559
knew I had to pull it. He was violently jerking around. Wait.

1412
01:05:59,239 --> 01:06:01,199
I snapped mi eck a round to see the Professor's

1413
01:06:01,239 --> 01:06:03,880
head sticking out of the black hole. Wait, damn it.

1414
01:06:04,440 --> 01:06:07,760
Then his shoulders were through. I turned back to Jackson.

1415
01:06:08,320 --> 01:06:11,480
The blood was pouring out of his eyes. I'm almost true.

1416
01:06:12,000 --> 01:06:15,920
A second kid started to shake. One more second. I

1417
01:06:15,960 --> 01:06:18,440
looked to see that the professor was through. He was

1418
01:06:18,480 --> 01:06:21,840
back in the room to it. He shouted. Two things

1419
01:06:21,880 --> 01:06:24,719
happened after that. At the exact same time, I heard

1420
01:06:24,719 --> 01:06:26,920
a wet popin sound, and I watched as the wormhole

1421
01:06:26,960 --> 01:06:29,519
disappeared as though it was never there. But I had

1422
01:06:29,519 --> 01:06:32,559
never pulled a lever. I slowly turned to look at Jackson.

1423
01:06:33,119 --> 01:06:35,880
His head was gone. Judging by the bits of brain

1424
01:06:35,920 --> 01:06:37,960
and splatters of blood on the bowl thing above his neck,

1425
01:06:38,039 --> 01:06:40,760
his head had just exploded. The whirring of the machine

1426
01:06:40,760 --> 01:06:43,679
gradually died down, and then it was silent. The three

1427
01:06:43,719 --> 01:06:46,360
kids who were still alive stopped shaking and closed their eyes.

1428
01:06:46,920 --> 01:06:50,280
A tragedy, said the professor, pointing at Jackson with exploded head.

1429
01:06:50,920 --> 01:06:55,519
But not for nothing. I've been there. I've seen it, sheaf,

1430
01:06:55,599 --> 01:06:59,199
I've seen it. I hunched over and puked. It was weird.

1431
01:07:00,119 --> 01:07:01,679
My first thought was what a mess I'll have to

1432
01:07:01,719 --> 01:07:04,800
clean up later. I don't know. I guess my mind

1433
01:07:04,800 --> 01:07:06,280
had just sort of shut down, and I was going

1434
01:07:06,280 --> 01:07:09,840
on at a pilot. I was the janitor. I cleaned

1435
01:07:09,880 --> 01:07:13,239
up messes. That was all I knew. Then it hit

1436
01:07:13,280 --> 01:07:16,559
me the reality of what had happened. You son of

1437
01:07:16,599 --> 01:07:19,880
a bitch, I yelled, You told me those kids would

1438
01:07:19,880 --> 01:07:22,760
be okay. The professor put the sickenings now grin on

1439
01:07:22,800 --> 01:07:25,159
his face. He would have been chief that he pulled

1440
01:07:25,159 --> 01:07:28,079
the lever. A thirty minute mark as I instructed. You

1441
01:07:28,159 --> 01:07:31,559
told me to wait, did I? Yes, you fucker. I'm

1442
01:07:31,559 --> 01:07:34,480
calling the police. I had a walky clip to my belt.

1443
01:07:35,159 --> 01:07:37,039
It wouldn't get me the police, but it wi a

1444
01:07:37,079 --> 01:07:39,840
campus security I reached for it and had it in

1445
01:07:39,840 --> 01:07:41,440
my hand when I heard a groan behind me, I

1446
01:07:41,480 --> 01:07:43,320
turned to see that it was one of the kids.

1447
01:07:43,719 --> 01:07:46,079
They were waking up. I went over to and strap

1448
01:07:46,119 --> 01:07:48,960
them from the chairs. The first kid's eyes blinked open,

1449
01:07:49,000 --> 01:07:52,280
and when she saw the professor, she started screaming. It's okay.

1450
01:07:52,400 --> 01:07:55,280
I said, s h h, it's okay, It's all over.

1451
01:07:55,880 --> 01:07:59,320
She kept screaming. Then the second kid woke up. He

1452
01:07:59,400 --> 01:08:02,360
looked right at me with wide, terrified eyes. Get us

1453
01:08:02,360 --> 01:08:05,039
out of here, he shouted. I'm working on it, kid,

1454
01:08:05,079 --> 01:08:08,960
I said, fumbling at the straps they were on so tight.

1455
01:08:09,679 --> 01:08:13,039
The third kid woke up. It's here, she said, it

1456
01:08:13,119 --> 01:08:16,880
made it through. Everything's okay now, I said, your friend

1457
01:08:16,880 --> 01:08:20,279
didn't make it. I'm afraid, but it's over. I'll make

1458
01:08:20,279 --> 01:08:22,119
sure the professor pays for what he did to you

1459
01:08:22,159 --> 01:08:24,920
and your friends. First kid was still screaming at the

1460
01:08:24,920 --> 01:08:27,439
top of her lungs. Get us out of here, shouted

1461
01:08:27,479 --> 01:08:29,840
the second kid again. The third kid looked me dead

1462
01:08:29,840 --> 01:08:31,479
in the eyes and in a totally calm voice, said,

1463
01:08:31,560 --> 01:08:34,479
that's not the professor, What of course it is. I said,

1464
01:08:35,159 --> 01:08:36,479
what I saw when I turned to look at the

1465
01:08:36,479 --> 01:08:39,640
professor will haunt me forever. The Professor's mouth was twisting

1466
01:08:39,720 --> 01:08:42,079
around at odd angles, like something was moving the lower

1467
01:08:42,159 --> 01:08:44,279
half of his joe randomly, or like he was trying

1468
01:08:44,279 --> 01:08:45,600
to get a hair out of his mouth that kept

1469
01:08:45,640 --> 01:08:48,880
jumping around. The veins on his neck bulged, then sunk

1470
01:08:48,920 --> 01:08:50,920
back down, then bulged again so that they were thick

1471
01:08:50,920 --> 01:08:53,640
as ropes. His wrists were rotating in ways they weren't

1472
01:08:53,640 --> 01:08:55,680
supposed to rotate this his arms fliled around. I had

1473
01:08:55,680 --> 01:08:58,479
the first kid, the screaming one free. She jumped out

1474
01:08:58,520 --> 01:09:00,199
of the chair and run to the door, but taile

1475
01:09:00,239 --> 01:09:02,119
legs were warbly, and she tripped over herself in the

1476
01:09:02,159 --> 01:09:04,159
middle of the room. I went to work on the

1477
01:09:04,159 --> 01:09:06,479
second kid, whipping my head around every second to look

1478
01:09:06,520 --> 01:09:09,119
at the professor. It looked like there was something crawling

1479
01:09:09,159 --> 01:09:12,439
around under his skin. Something big. Get us out of here,

1480
01:09:13,000 --> 01:09:15,720
the second kid shouted yet again. The first kid was

1481
01:09:15,760 --> 01:09:18,560
still on the ground, screaming. I worked away furiously, on

1482
01:09:18,640 --> 01:09:21,359
the straps. If you believe in God, said the third

1483
01:09:21,439 --> 01:09:23,840
kid with a neary calm, then pray. I took a

1484
01:09:23,880 --> 01:09:26,079
glance at the professor, and that's when the first bone

1485
01:09:26,079 --> 01:09:28,680
burst out of his chest brew his suit. I call

1486
01:09:28,720 --> 01:09:30,960
it a bone, but it was pure black and dripping

1487
01:09:30,960 --> 01:09:33,920
with green slime. As for me, said the third kid,

1488
01:09:34,039 --> 01:09:36,319
I do not believe that there is a God, not

1489
01:09:36,520 --> 01:09:39,119
after what I have seen. The second kid was free

1490
01:09:39,159 --> 01:09:41,520
and made a run for it. I scooted over to

1491
01:09:41,560 --> 01:09:43,640
the third kid, but watched as the professor reach out

1492
01:09:43,640 --> 01:09:45,359
in arum and grabbed the second kid by the top

1493
01:09:45,399 --> 01:09:47,960
of his head. The professor gave one quick twist and

1494
01:09:48,039 --> 01:09:50,560
light girl. I heard a terrible snap, and the kid

1495
01:09:50,600 --> 01:09:53,640
slumped to the ground dead. Three more black bones came

1496
01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:56,640
out of the Professor's chest, dripping. He laughed and bent

1497
01:09:56,680 --> 01:09:58,640
down to the first kid, who was still screaming as

1498
01:09:58,720 --> 01:10:00,399
bones began to poke out of his back like a

1499
01:10:00,439 --> 01:10:02,840
fucking stick of source from hell. What is that thing?

1500
01:10:03,520 --> 01:10:05,199
I asked as I fumbled at the straps of the

1501
01:10:05,239 --> 01:10:09,239
lost kid. It doesn't belong here, said the kid. No shit,

1502
01:10:09,399 --> 01:10:12,520
I said, getting one strap free, But what is it?

1503
01:10:12,520 --> 01:10:15,359
It comes from a terrible place, a place where there

1504
01:10:15,399 --> 01:10:20,399
is nothing save pain, endless pain, incomprehensible to our minds. Great,

1505
01:10:20,520 --> 01:10:22,439
I muttered, as I noticed with a shrieking heart that

1506
01:10:22,439 --> 01:10:24,960
the screens from the girl behind me had stopped. Then

1507
01:10:25,000 --> 01:10:28,239
I heard a whick crunch. I couldn't help it. I'll

1508
01:10:28,279 --> 01:10:30,399
look to see the professor tearing into the poor girl's

1509
01:10:30,439 --> 01:10:33,199
for it with long black fangs dripping in green slime.

1510
01:10:33,840 --> 01:10:36,960
I turned back to the kid, almost one with the straps.

1511
01:10:37,039 --> 01:10:42,199
Just a few more seconds. What's your name anyway, kid? Claire? Claire,

1512
01:10:42,239 --> 01:10:45,000
I said, my mind trying to stay focused. When I

1513
01:10:45,039 --> 01:10:46,960
get you out of these straps, I want you to

1514
01:10:46,960 --> 01:10:49,159
pick up this chair and throw it at that thing. Okay,

1515
01:10:49,840 --> 01:10:52,800
I'll do the same thing. Okay, then we make a

1516
01:10:52,880 --> 01:10:56,159
run for her. Do you understand. Can you do that?

1517
01:10:57,039 --> 01:11:00,720
I understand, said Claire. I do. Hope it works. I

1518
01:11:00,760 --> 01:11:03,680
hoped it worked too. We have to make it work, Claire,

1519
01:11:03,800 --> 01:11:07,479
I said, yanking off the lost strap. Come on. We

1520
01:11:07,520 --> 01:11:09,279
stood up together and I reached over to pick up

1521
01:11:09,319 --> 01:11:11,680
a chair. I held it at the professor with all

1522
01:11:11,720 --> 01:11:14,079
of my strength, and it shatted against his bone back.

1523
01:11:14,760 --> 01:11:17,079
I heard a terrible shriek. Then and watched as Claire's

1524
01:11:17,119 --> 01:11:20,399
chair followed behind. I grugged Clay's arm with one hand

1525
01:11:20,399 --> 01:11:22,760
and reached from my pocket knife with the other. The

1526
01:11:22,840 --> 01:11:25,119
only way out of that room meant passing by the professor.

1527
01:11:25,720 --> 01:11:27,720
We started running as I pulled the knife out and

1528
01:11:27,800 --> 01:11:31,000
flicked it up. The professor stood still, shrieking as the

1529
01:11:31,039 --> 01:11:33,000
green sli mixed with the red blood from the kid's

1530
01:11:33,039 --> 01:11:35,520
throat and dripped down his chin. I took a wild

1531
01:11:35,560 --> 01:11:38,439
stab at the Professor's neck and connected. I kept running

1532
01:11:38,479 --> 01:11:40,800
with Claire, leaving a knife stuck in the Professor's neck,

1533
01:11:40,800 --> 01:11:42,760
and made it to the door. I had my hand

1534
01:11:42,800 --> 01:11:44,760
around the knob when I felt Claire pulling away from me.

1535
01:11:44,880 --> 01:11:47,760
I looked back helpless as I saw the Professor reach

1536
01:11:47,840 --> 01:11:50,600
long black claws into her gut. I threw the door

1537
01:11:50,640 --> 01:11:54,119
open and left her there. Good God, I left her there.

1538
01:11:54,800 --> 01:11:57,640
I made it outside the lap building somehow. I don't

1539
01:11:57,640 --> 01:12:00,399
remember how. My mind just sort of shut down and

1540
01:12:00,479 --> 01:12:02,840
I ran like hale. I guess I did have the

1541
01:12:02,880 --> 01:12:04,800
presence to go around and lock all the doors from

1542
01:12:04,800 --> 01:12:07,840
the outside. Then I got on the radio to campus security.

1543
01:12:08,399 --> 01:12:10,600
You guys need to get the police overt astrophysics send

1544
01:12:10,600 --> 01:12:13,720
of fucking asp. There was a fucking masker in there.

1545
01:12:14,319 --> 01:12:16,359
The front door started to rat and I heard that

1546
01:12:16,359 --> 01:12:20,439
god awful shriek again, repeat, said a voice over the walkie. Look,

1547
01:12:20,560 --> 01:12:23,319
I said, call up Lauren Summers right now. That was

1548
01:12:23,359 --> 01:12:25,279
the president of Harvard at the time, and I had

1549
01:12:25,279 --> 01:12:27,359
seen his signature on the papers in that folder with

1550
01:12:27,399 --> 01:12:30,439
all the consent forms. Tell him that the wormhole experiment

1551
01:12:30,520 --> 01:12:33,000
has gone away. The fox south. The rattling at the

1552
01:12:33,039 --> 01:12:36,239
door stopped. I only prayed that that thing didn't figure out.

1553
01:12:36,239 --> 01:12:38,079
It could just break a window and call out that way.

1554
01:12:38,640 --> 01:12:41,399
This is the janet of right, said a different voice

1555
01:12:41,439 --> 01:12:43,920
on the other end of the walkie. Is this a joke?

1556
01:12:44,640 --> 01:12:48,920
The wormhole experiment? Have you been drinking? Call Lauren Summers.

1557
01:12:49,640 --> 01:12:51,359
If you don't, I promise you that you'll never be

1558
01:12:51,399 --> 01:12:54,520
able to live with yourself. Chew it now. There was

1559
01:12:54,560 --> 01:12:57,840
a horrible pause. I heard the professor trying the side door,

1560
01:12:57,920 --> 01:13:01,239
now shrieking once again. Teminus four feet of black suv

1561
01:13:01,279 --> 01:13:04,079
pulled up. Two minutes later. A team of heavily armed

1562
01:13:04,119 --> 01:13:06,840
men jumped out and ran past me, breaking through windows

1563
01:13:06,880 --> 01:13:10,279
and jumping inside. I heard a stream of gunfire and screams,

1564
01:13:10,960 --> 01:13:15,800
so many screams, and the Professor's horrible shrieks. After a while,

1565
01:13:15,840 --> 01:13:17,920
it was quiet, and a second team of men jumped

1566
01:13:17,920 --> 01:13:21,039
through the broken windows. I didn't hear any more gun fire.

1567
01:13:21,760 --> 01:13:24,000
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I whipped around.

1568
01:13:24,640 --> 01:13:27,640
A man was standing there. I don't remember a single

1569
01:13:27,640 --> 01:13:30,279
thing about what he looked like, but I remember our conversation.

1570
01:13:30,920 --> 01:13:33,520
Tell me what happened, he said. I told him the

1571
01:13:33,560 --> 01:13:35,960
full story, the same one that I've told you. We

1572
01:13:36,039 --> 01:13:37,560
are prepared to give you a lot of money to

1573
01:13:37,600 --> 01:13:40,000
sign an NDA and D a non disclosure agreement. It

1574
01:13:40,079 --> 01:13:42,439
means that you can never tell anybody what happened here

1575
01:13:42,479 --> 01:13:45,079
to night. How much a million dollars in a promotion?

1576
01:13:45,119 --> 01:13:47,239
The man Paul's you mean you still want to work here?

1577
01:13:47,840 --> 01:13:52,159
Work here after night? Somebody's got to clean up this shit.

1578
01:13:52,359 --> 01:13:57,359
I said, fine, of course. And one more thing, and

1579
01:13:57,479 --> 01:13:59,960
what's that? Ask the man. I want to know that

1580
01:14:00,159 --> 01:14:02,560
this will never happen again. I want to blow all

1581
01:14:02,560 --> 01:14:06,079
the chip up and burn all of the notes, of course,

1582
01:14:06,800 --> 01:14:10,479
and I want to watch, of course, said the man.

1583
01:14:11,159 --> 01:14:13,560
And so I thought it was over, but it's not.

1584
01:14:14,399 --> 01:14:17,239
Last night I saw the professor again. He looked me

1585
01:14:17,319 --> 01:14:19,600
right in the eyes, flashed that smug grin, and said,

1586
01:14:19,680 --> 01:14:22,479
hey there, chief. That's when I ran the hell out

1587
01:14:22,479 --> 01:14:25,800
of there. The police don't believe me. I've sent a

1588
01:14:25,840 --> 01:14:29,039
dozen e mails to Laurence Summer's assistance. I've called every

1589
01:14:29,119 --> 01:14:31,680
number that I've found listed for him. I haven't heard

1590
01:14:31,720 --> 01:14:34,399
anything back. I don't know who else to turn to.

1591
01:14:35,079 --> 01:14:37,720
I'm afraid the professor is going to open the wormhole again,

1592
01:14:38,319 --> 01:14:40,640
and I'm afraid this time he might bring his friends

1593
01:14:40,640 --> 01:14:44,039
back with him. They came with red lightning. Something fell

1594
01:14:44,079 --> 01:14:46,119
with a thud on the roof in front of Daniel's window.

1595
01:14:46,760 --> 01:14:49,039
It made a sliding noise as it dragged itself across

1596
01:14:49,039 --> 01:14:51,119
the slope of the roof, and with another fall, it

1597
01:14:51,199 --> 01:14:54,119
finally landed in the grass. Daniel poked his head out

1598
01:14:54,159 --> 01:14:56,600
of the window. Even with the faint light outside, he

1599
01:14:56,600 --> 01:14:59,479
could recognize what the object was. It was a diary.

1600
01:15:00,239 --> 01:15:02,920
Summer had just begun in Manhattan. It was a bright

1601
01:15:02,960 --> 01:15:05,239
sunny day until in the afternoon the sky became in

1602
01:15:05,279 --> 01:15:09,039
gulf bascoes of black storm clouds. Daniel ran downstairs with

1603
01:15:09,079 --> 01:15:12,000
a careful pace, pulling out the front door, he stepped

1604
01:15:12,000 --> 01:15:14,720
inside the lawn and headed towards the diary. As he

1605
01:15:14,760 --> 01:15:16,600
got closer, he saw that it was a deep brown

1606
01:15:16,600 --> 01:15:19,159
in color. On its right it at a leather strap

1607
01:15:19,199 --> 01:15:22,199
holding both of its covers tightly together. As Daniel picked

1608
01:15:22,279 --> 01:15:24,600
up the diary, slightly stained by the dirt from his lawn,

1609
01:15:24,640 --> 01:15:27,199
he felt that it was heavy. Holding the diary with

1610
01:15:27,239 --> 01:15:30,079
both hands, Daniel looked up towards the sky. All he

1611
01:15:30,119 --> 01:15:33,279
could see was clouds. Where had the diary fallen from?

1612
01:15:33,760 --> 01:15:37,399
The mysterious diary now rests upon Daniel's reading desk. As

1613
01:15:37,439 --> 01:15:39,319
he unhooked the strap and turned the front cover of

1614
01:15:39,319 --> 01:15:42,199
the diary, he found a folded piece of paper. One

1615
01:15:42,239 --> 01:15:45,399
by one, Daniel unfolded the paper. As he was finished,

1616
01:15:45,479 --> 01:15:48,119
he saw writings on it. It seemed like a very

1617
01:15:48,159 --> 01:15:50,520
long letter. At him, did some girl just write him

1618
01:15:50,560 --> 01:15:53,239
a love letter? After all, Daniel was one of the

1619
01:15:53,279 --> 01:15:56,119
most handsome boys in his class. He was asked out

1620
01:15:56,119 --> 01:15:57,880
by girls all the time, so it shouldn't come as

1621
01:15:57,880 --> 01:16:00,760
a surprised him. But Daniel wasn't yet ready to believe

1622
01:16:00,760 --> 01:16:02,680
that someone would bother writing him a love letter in

1623
01:16:02,720 --> 01:16:06,359
this age of smartphones. With curious eyes, he started reading

1624
01:16:06,920 --> 01:16:10,279
April nineteenth twenty nineteen. It was a stormy night in

1625
01:16:10,319 --> 01:16:14,199
a secluded village in Bangladesh. Twenty six year old housewife

1626
01:16:14,279 --> 01:16:16,640
Nazima got out of her home in the rain. As

1627
01:16:16,640 --> 01:16:19,000
a result of a long dry season, water had become

1628
01:16:19,039 --> 01:16:22,279
scarce in that region, so when Nessma saw raincloud's bruined

1629
01:16:22,279 --> 01:16:24,359
in the horizon that evening, she put two buckets in

1630
01:16:24,359 --> 01:16:27,000
her yard to collect the rain water. And now it

1631
01:16:27,039 --> 01:16:30,000
was time to bring the buckets back. As she stepped outside,

1632
01:16:30,079 --> 01:16:32,239
a bright flash of red light startled her and stopped

1633
01:16:32,239 --> 01:16:35,119
her in her tracks. It seemed very odd to her.

1634
01:16:35,279 --> 01:16:38,159
She never saw red lightning in her life. Nonetheless, she

1635
01:16:38,199 --> 01:16:41,279
continued towards the buckets. She lifted the buckets up with

1636
01:16:41,319 --> 01:16:44,640
her two hands and slowly headed back. Suddenly, a red

1637
01:16:44,640 --> 01:16:46,680
oura in the corner of her eyes grabbed her attention.

1638
01:16:47,319 --> 01:16:48,680
She turned her head to look at one of the

1639
01:16:48,680 --> 01:16:51,319
buckets she was holding. She was terrified to see a

1640
01:16:51,319 --> 01:16:53,640
pair of bright eyes in the water. In a fight

1641
01:16:53,760 --> 01:16:56,159
or flight response, she dropped the buckets and ran towards

1642
01:16:56,199 --> 01:16:59,000
her front door, screaming. She locked the door from the

1643
01:16:59,000 --> 01:17:01,880
inside and pantofom in it as her nerves conned. A bit,

1644
01:17:02,000 --> 01:17:04,159
she tried to put together a rational explanation behind the

1645
01:17:04,159 --> 01:17:06,880
glowing red eyes she saw. Failing to do so, she

1646
01:17:06,920 --> 01:17:09,239
told herself that she was dressed and was imagining things.

1647
01:17:09,920 --> 01:17:12,000
She realized it was not the case, as she saw

1648
01:17:12,039 --> 01:17:13,920
six pairs of red eyes in the small jungle in

1649
01:17:13,920 --> 01:17:16,479
front of her yard later that night. The day after

1650
01:17:16,680 --> 01:17:19,760
Nisima went missing, iris were searching by her husband and

1651
01:17:19,800 --> 01:17:21,880
the villages. She was found unconscious under a tree in

1652
01:17:21,880 --> 01:17:24,960
the same jungle. Upon waking up, she was questioned about

1653
01:17:24,960 --> 01:17:28,479
what happened. She said that she didn't remember. Her last

1654
01:17:28,520 --> 01:17:31,800
memory was chopping some onions back inside her home. Three

1655
01:17:31,880 --> 01:17:34,840
days after this incident, Nazimer's husband was found dead in

1656
01:17:34,880 --> 01:17:37,640
their house by the villagers. His body was torn to

1657
01:17:37,680 --> 01:17:40,439
shreds and the entire room was drenched in blood. But

1658
01:17:40,479 --> 01:17:42,640
the villagers found something else in that room that day,

1659
01:17:43,359 --> 01:17:47,520
something horrifine, something evil beyond what they could imagine. The

1660
01:17:47,560 --> 01:17:50,640
creature had four arms and four legs. Its legs were

1661
01:17:50,640 --> 01:17:52,920
spread out in four directions and resembled the legs of

1662
01:17:52,960 --> 01:17:56,079
a spider on its back along the spine, and had

1663
01:17:56,079 --> 01:17:59,520
bony protrusions like spikes. The longest of these spikes reached

1664
01:17:59,520 --> 01:18:02,079
a length of about three feet. On two of its

1665
01:18:02,159 --> 01:18:04,239
arms it had huge pincers, while on the other two

1666
01:18:04,239 --> 01:18:07,520
it had elongated fingers with sharp claws. The creatures had

1667
01:18:07,520 --> 01:18:09,680
looked like a disfigured human face, as if it were

1668
01:18:09,720 --> 01:18:12,760
smashed by a boulder. The only discernible feature on this

1669
01:18:12,840 --> 01:18:14,680
head was two red eyes and a math that opened

1670
01:18:14,680 --> 01:18:17,640
in three segments. Inside its mouth, it had rose after

1671
01:18:17,720 --> 01:18:19,560
rows of needle like teeth. As far as one could

1672
01:18:19,560 --> 01:18:22,359
see aside from a part of the torso, the creature

1673
01:18:22,359 --> 01:18:25,279
had almost no resemblance to a human body. Seeing a

1674
01:18:25,279 --> 01:18:27,359
piece of clothing on a creature, the villagers thought that

1675
01:18:27,399 --> 01:18:29,760
it had killed Nasma too, but eventually they realized the

1676
01:18:29,760 --> 01:18:33,720
creature was Nasma. The crazy thing is Nasima's husband's body

1677
01:18:33,800 --> 01:18:35,920
was not the only mangled body the village is found

1678
01:18:35,960 --> 01:18:39,039
that day of shredded bodies were found across the village.

1679
01:18:39,640 --> 01:18:42,880
Village dwellers, along with the serenity of this once peaceful village,

1680
01:18:42,960 --> 01:18:46,840
disappeared one by one. The creatures had killed the entire village.

1681
01:18:47,359 --> 01:18:49,560
The well took little notice of this incident until it

1682
01:18:49,600 --> 01:18:52,359
started happening all over. At the beginning of each of

1683
01:18:52,359 --> 01:18:56,640
these incidents, the locations involve experienced heavy downpour. Flashes of

1684
01:18:56,640 --> 01:18:59,720
red lightning streak across the sky. People then start seeing

1685
01:18:59,760 --> 01:19:02,520
pairs of red eyes in the darkness around them. After

1686
01:19:02,560 --> 01:19:05,039
three days, half the population and the area suffer a

1687
01:19:05,119 --> 01:19:07,520
terrible death by those Hellis creatures who have once consisted

1688
01:19:07,520 --> 01:19:10,279
of the other half of the population. Within three months,

1689
01:19:10,319 --> 01:19:13,560
the world had witnessed an ewpandemic, but this time it

1690
01:19:13,640 --> 01:19:16,000
was not a pandemic of viruses. It was a pandemic

1691
01:19:16,000 --> 01:19:19,720
of the iraknids. Yeah, we started calling them the Iragnins

1692
01:19:19,760 --> 01:19:24,479
because of their spiderlike legs. Their numbers rose exponentially each day.

1693
01:19:24,560 --> 01:19:27,439
We lost hundreds of thousands of people to these wretched monsters.

1694
01:19:28,119 --> 01:19:30,520
In these three months, the death toll reached a staggering

1695
01:19:30,560 --> 01:19:33,199
four billion, while the number of Araknis reached almost three

1696
01:19:33,199 --> 01:19:36,239
point five billion. This Swiss government opened their bunkers in

1697
01:19:36,279 --> 01:19:39,920
an effort to save the remaining human population. Twenty thousand people,

1698
01:19:39,960 --> 01:19:43,520
regardless of nationality, color, and religion, took shelter in those bunkers,

1699
01:19:44,239 --> 01:19:47,439
and finally, on October twenty nineteen, the last surviving nations

1700
01:19:47,439 --> 01:19:51,079
of the United States, Russia, Germany, Korea, at Switzerland, Japan,

1701
01:19:51,199 --> 01:19:53,880
and China joined their forces to fend off the arachnid invasion.

1702
01:19:54,479 --> 01:19:57,039
Since then, we've been fighting them for almost two years.

1703
01:19:57,760 --> 01:19:59,960
In these two years, we learned what we could about

1704
01:20:00,039 --> 01:20:03,359
the ratnits. We learn that there are carbon based organisms

1705
01:20:03,439 --> 01:20:05,479
like us, and as far as we know, humans are

1706
01:20:05,520 --> 01:20:08,960
the only host of these parasitic creatures oracid larvae looks

1707
01:20:08,960 --> 01:20:12,159
somewhat like octopieces. They also have the ability to cloak

1708
01:20:12,199 --> 01:20:14,159
themselves by changing the color of the skin to match

1709
01:20:14,199 --> 01:20:17,800
their surroundings. These larva are thirty centimeters long and twelve

1710
01:20:17,880 --> 01:20:21,640
centimeters wide. They descend from the clouds accompanied by heavy rainfall.

1711
01:20:22,239 --> 01:20:25,479
The ponderact skin contact with larvae, the host becomes paralyzed.

1712
01:20:26,039 --> 01:20:28,119
The lava then enters the host's body through the host

1713
01:20:28,199 --> 01:20:31,239
mouth and makes its way towards the thoracic cavity. During

1714
01:20:31,279 --> 01:20:34,319
this process, the host loses consciousness and retains no memory

1715
01:20:34,319 --> 01:20:37,880
of being infected with the larva. Upon reaching the thoracic cavity,

1716
01:20:37,920 --> 01:20:40,319
the lava feaces itself with the host body and starts

1717
01:20:40,359 --> 01:20:43,720
altering the host DNA. After a three day incubation period,

1718
01:20:43,800 --> 01:20:47,079
the host body undergoes a rapid transformation. It grows two

1719
01:20:47,079 --> 01:20:50,600
additional pairs of arms and legs, the spine structure is changed,

1720
01:20:51,279 --> 01:20:54,359
the head increases in size. All of this happens under

1721
01:20:54,399 --> 01:20:57,239
roughly three minutes, and in the end the host becomes

1722
01:20:57,239 --> 01:21:00,880
an arachnid. After transformation, the creek wichure passes little to

1723
01:21:00,920 --> 01:21:03,800
no resemblance to the human body. Most rat nodes are

1724
01:21:03,840 --> 01:21:07,439
five feet tall in way around seventy five kilograms, although

1725
01:21:07,479 --> 01:21:10,560
these number is very depending on their hote. All ratids

1726
01:21:10,560 --> 01:21:13,920
possess superhuman strength. I've seen them tier a human body

1727
01:21:13,920 --> 01:21:16,560
in half with just two of their arms. Their bodies

1728
01:21:16,560 --> 01:21:19,720
are not fragile like us, though skin is hardened like

1729
01:21:19,720 --> 01:21:23,439
an armor, giving them incredible durability. The fifty one rounds

1730
01:21:23,439 --> 01:21:25,760
from our standard issue and came in a seventeen rifles

1731
01:21:25,760 --> 01:21:28,760
barely scratch their armor. They even walk off a direct

1732
01:21:28,840 --> 01:21:32,079
hit from grenades. In short, they are very hard to kill.

1733
01:21:32,640 --> 01:21:36,439
Ther ratnets are extremely hostile towards humans. If given the chance,

1734
01:21:36,479 --> 01:21:38,520
they will relentlessly try and kill every one of us

1735
01:21:38,520 --> 01:21:41,840
in their vicinity. They are not man eaters, though in

1736
01:21:41,880 --> 01:21:44,800
fact we don't know anything about their diet. We've once

1737
01:21:44,880 --> 01:21:46,920
managed to capture a live a ratnet, and while in

1738
01:21:46,920 --> 01:21:49,880
cactivity which I had feeding at animals, plant materials, even

1739
01:21:49,960 --> 01:21:53,159
chemical compounds, but all attempts have been met with failure.

1740
01:21:53,840 --> 01:21:56,720
It died two weeks later. We then performed a dissection

1741
01:21:56,840 --> 01:22:00,399
on a dead sample. Although we did find a digestive system,

1742
01:22:00,479 --> 01:22:03,680
we didn't find any traces of food inside. All the while,

1743
01:22:03,760 --> 01:22:06,560
the war against the racids continued. At one point we

1744
01:22:06,600 --> 01:22:09,560
decided to learn about their origin. We started looking for

1745
01:22:09,560 --> 01:22:13,319
clouds with red lightning. We took effort, but wasn't that hard.

1746
01:22:13,560 --> 01:22:15,800
Once we found them, we then started sending our fighter

1747
01:22:15,880 --> 01:22:19,119
jets inside of the clouds. In total, twelve pilots were

1748
01:22:19,119 --> 01:22:21,239
assigned to investigate them, and I was one of them.

1749
01:22:21,760 --> 01:22:24,720
What we learned baffled us. At first, we thought the

1750
01:22:24,880 --> 01:22:27,039
ratnids were from another planet by a weapon made by

1751
01:22:27,039 --> 01:22:29,319
some distant all and raise, far more superior than our own,

1752
01:22:29,479 --> 01:22:31,560
and they were simply claiming our planet for themselves by

1753
01:22:31,560 --> 01:22:34,960
making use of this weapon. We were wrong. The oratnets

1754
01:22:34,960 --> 01:22:37,720
were from Earth, but not our Earth. The clouds were

1755
01:22:37,720 --> 01:22:41,359
actings in two dimensional gateways, a passage between two parallel realities.

1756
01:22:42,079 --> 01:22:44,279
I was in the first exploratory mission to the clouds,

1757
01:22:44,760 --> 01:22:47,600
conducted by a three pilot team. A couple of ground

1758
01:22:47,680 --> 01:22:50,239
units monitored our movement, and according to them, as we

1759
01:22:50,279 --> 01:22:53,840
flew inside these clouds, we disappeared from radar, but we

1760
01:22:53,840 --> 01:22:56,800
were able to still maintain radio contact with them. When

1761
01:22:56,800 --> 01:22:58,680
we exited the clouds on the other side, we saw

1762
01:22:58,720 --> 01:23:01,800
a completely different landscape. We were dumbfounded to see an

1763
01:23:01,920 --> 01:23:04,359
entire city in front of us. It was filled with

1764
01:23:04,399 --> 01:23:07,159
skyscrapers rising several miles into the sky and hundreds of

1765
01:23:07,159 --> 01:23:11,119
overpasses crisscross between the buildings. It looked almost futuristic, but

1766
01:23:11,199 --> 01:23:14,159
somewhat abandoned and damaged. As far as we knew, a

1767
01:23:14,199 --> 01:23:16,720
city like that shouldn't even be there. We told the

1768
01:23:16,720 --> 01:23:18,720
grand units what we were seeing, and they told us

1769
01:23:18,760 --> 01:23:20,800
that they didn't even see us coming out of the clouds.

1770
01:23:21,479 --> 01:23:24,680
They believed us, though we were instructed to investigate the

1771
01:23:24,680 --> 01:23:27,600
city closely. We flew our planes above the city while

1772
01:23:27,640 --> 01:23:30,920
maintaining low altitude. Looking down on the ground, we didn't

1773
01:23:30,920 --> 01:23:35,840
see any humans. Instead, we saw thousands of ratnids. Clearly,

1774
01:23:35,960 --> 01:23:38,680
this world too, had been plagued by those four legged monsters.

1775
01:23:39,319 --> 01:23:41,520
We quickly turned out jets back and flew back inside

1776
01:23:41,560 --> 01:23:44,000
the clouds, hoping it would take us back to our reality,

1777
01:23:44,600 --> 01:23:47,720
and to our relief, it did. Since then, we've explored

1778
01:23:47,720 --> 01:23:51,199
dozens of such clouds. Each time we discovered a different

1779
01:23:51,239 --> 01:23:54,640
earth from a different reality. Some were infected by ratinans

1780
01:23:54,680 --> 01:23:57,079
like our own, while others were still free from their

1781
01:23:57,119 --> 01:24:00,000
deathly clutches. But we knew that these apparent safe work

1782
01:24:00,239 --> 01:24:03,079
would soon suffer the same fate. On our twenty first

1783
01:24:03,079 --> 01:24:05,600
exploratory mission, we encountered the Earth where o Ratnets had

1784
01:24:05,640 --> 01:24:09,159
possibly originated from. This particular earth was like no other

1785
01:24:09,199 --> 01:24:12,720
earth we had seen. It had no trees, nosans. The

1786
01:24:12,760 --> 01:24:15,199
sky was pitch black, with the sun much smaller than

1787
01:24:15,279 --> 01:24:17,880
our own, desperately trying to illuminate the surface with its

1788
01:24:17,880 --> 01:24:20,960
dim reddish light. It seemed like there was no atmosphere,

1789
01:24:20,960 --> 01:24:23,520
but we were still somehow able to fly. We got

1790
01:24:23,520 --> 01:24:25,720
closer to the surface and there were so rows of

1791
01:24:25,800 --> 01:24:29,000
numerous round black objects. At one point, the pilot saw

1792
01:24:29,039 --> 01:24:31,760
creatures on the surface similar to the irratmids, but these creatures,

1793
01:24:31,880 --> 01:24:34,760
what we were calling the ratne primes, were twelve feet tall.

1794
01:24:35,399 --> 01:24:37,600
We came to realize that these creatures gave birth to

1795
01:24:37,600 --> 01:24:40,920
arachnets and those round objects littering the ground. With their eggs.

1796
01:24:41,359 --> 01:24:43,760
Fortunately I wasn't signed to that mission, and for this

1797
01:24:43,840 --> 01:24:47,279
reason alone, I'm still alive. Terrified of that reality, the

1798
01:24:47,279 --> 01:24:50,279
pilots turned back to return home. On their way back,

1799
01:24:50,399 --> 01:24:54,079
all three jates suffered engine malfunctions. Moments later we lost

1800
01:24:54,159 --> 01:24:57,640
radio contact. But before that, one of the pilots said,

1801
01:24:57,800 --> 01:24:59,960
in a panic voice, Oh my God, it can flow

1802
01:25:00,880 --> 01:25:03,199
our journey into their ratnid home. Dimension gave us more

1803
01:25:03,279 --> 01:25:06,119
questions than it answered. Was this earth some day similar

1804
01:25:06,199 --> 01:25:09,560
to Iyres? If it was, what happened to its ocean's trees,

1805
01:25:09,600 --> 01:25:12,880
the atmosphere, and the sun? Were there humans on that earth?

1806
01:25:13,279 --> 01:25:16,520
Arachnid biology required a human host, so unless those Aratnid

1807
01:25:16,520 --> 01:25:18,920
primes were a different species altogether, there must have been

1808
01:25:18,960 --> 01:25:21,800
humans on that world before. But one of the most

1809
01:25:21,800 --> 01:25:24,640
prominent questions is why didn't the Eratnid primes come to

1810
01:25:24,640 --> 01:25:28,079
Earth themselves? According to the pilots we lost in that world,

1811
01:25:28,079 --> 01:25:30,920
they had the ability to fly, so what's stopping them?

1812
01:25:31,439 --> 01:25:34,319
Many came forward with the ears. One of the young

1813
01:25:34,359 --> 01:25:37,279
scientists named Eugene Thompson, who's also a friend of mine,

1814
01:25:37,399 --> 01:25:40,079
came up with one of the convincing ones. He thinks

1815
01:25:40,119 --> 01:25:43,199
The arachns have a live cycle similar to cicadas. They

1816
01:25:43,199 --> 01:25:45,079
gained the ability to fly at the last phase of

1817
01:25:45,119 --> 01:25:48,199
their life cycle. This phase is very short lived compared

1818
01:25:48,239 --> 01:25:50,640
to their previous ones, and at the end they die.

1819
01:25:51,199 --> 01:25:53,680
According to Eugene's theory, this is also the phase where

1820
01:25:53,720 --> 01:25:56,600
they reproduce, and to do that they need a specific location,

1821
01:25:57,239 --> 01:26:00,560
or rather a specific dimension. What the young signs means

1822
01:26:00,560 --> 01:26:02,600
to say is that the home dimension of the oratnids

1823
01:26:02,600 --> 01:26:05,399
is also the breeding ground, possibly because it's the only

1824
01:26:05,439 --> 01:26:07,439
place having all of the right conditions for their eggs

1825
01:26:07,439 --> 01:26:10,760
to develop. The ratnid primes, having obtained flight, fly back

1826
01:26:10,800 --> 01:26:13,720
to their home dimension and reproduce. Then they carried their

1827
01:26:13,760 --> 01:26:16,079
larva to the clouds to spread them across the universes.

1828
01:26:16,159 --> 01:26:18,159
And since they've reached the final stage of their life,

1829
01:26:18,199 --> 01:26:21,199
they probably counting the days until their demise. If we

1830
01:26:21,199 --> 01:26:23,159
were to believe this theory, then we have to assume

1831
01:26:23,159 --> 01:26:25,680
that the eratnus were fighting are merely in their adolescence.

1832
01:26:26,399 --> 01:26:28,680
A few months later, we came across our first instance

1833
01:26:28,680 --> 01:26:31,119
of eight feet higher ratids, confirming our fears about the

1834
01:26:31,159 --> 01:26:34,359
matchi being babies. If that wasn't enough, they were also

1835
01:26:34,399 --> 01:26:38,359
becoming more intelligent. They started coordinating their attacks, which made

1836
01:26:38,359 --> 01:26:41,680
the war even harder. We were running out of men enammo.

1837
01:26:42,319 --> 01:26:45,520
At one point, our leaders decided to use their nuclear arsenal,

1838
01:26:45,640 --> 01:26:48,760
but only made the situation worse. While a small portion

1839
01:26:48,800 --> 01:26:50,880
of the ratnid populace was killed by the bombs, the

1840
01:26:50,960 --> 01:26:53,760
radiation made the surviving one stronger, and they soon became

1841
01:26:53,800 --> 01:26:56,560
the end of us. On May third of twenty twenty one,

1842
01:26:56,600 --> 01:26:59,880
the bunkers in Switzerland suffered a massive attack. A swarm

1843
01:26:59,880 --> 01:27:02,319
of five thousand ratnets hid the bunkers like a flood,

1844
01:27:02,479 --> 01:27:05,239
killing the last twenty thousand civilian humans that took shutter

1845
01:27:05,279 --> 01:27:07,760
in them. We couldn't do anything but watch. As we

1846
01:27:07,800 --> 01:27:10,600
had exhausted all our means to fight them, we lost.

1847
01:27:11,359 --> 01:27:13,560
I don't know exactly how many people are still alive

1848
01:27:13,640 --> 01:27:16,800
on this radiated earth, hiding and running from a ratnets.

1849
01:27:17,199 --> 01:27:19,199
All I know is that I'm one of them. I

1850
01:27:19,199 --> 01:27:22,079
don't feel lucky, though, because my time is running out.

1851
01:27:22,720 --> 01:27:25,640
If the ratnets don't get me, the radiation will. I

1852
01:27:25,800 --> 01:27:27,800
just want to finish one last mission before either of

1853
01:27:27,840 --> 01:27:30,720
them happens. With whatever fuel I have left, I'm going

1854
01:27:30,720 --> 01:27:33,359
to fly into those clouds with red lightning. I'm going

1855
01:27:33,399 --> 01:27:34,920
to tell our story to at least one of the

1856
01:27:34,960 --> 01:27:37,640
earths that haven't yet been invaded by those hellish creatures.

1857
01:27:38,039 --> 01:27:41,600
Today's July tenth, twenty twenty one. My name is Lieutenant

1858
01:27:41,600 --> 01:27:44,600
Marx Read. I'm an honorable pilot of the Joint World

1859
01:27:44,600 --> 01:27:47,239
Air Force. If you are reading this, then you must

1860
01:27:47,239 --> 01:27:49,800
have found the diary, which means that I successfully completed

1861
01:27:49,800 --> 01:27:52,119
my mission. This diary was given to me by my

1862
01:27:52,159 --> 01:27:54,880
good scientist's friend, doctor Eugen Thompson, the same one I

1863
01:27:54,920 --> 01:27:57,800
mentioned earlier. It contains all that we learned about the

1864
01:27:57,800 --> 01:28:01,199
Aratney's origin, their biology, habits, and their weaknesses that we've

1865
01:28:01,239 --> 01:28:03,720
gathered in the past two years of war. It is

1866
01:28:03,760 --> 01:28:06,239
absolutely imperative that you make sure this diary reaches the

1867
01:28:06,279 --> 01:28:08,920
leaders of your world, as the same faithful war awaits you.

1868
01:28:09,520 --> 01:28:12,720
Who knows, maybe this diary will make all the difference

1869
01:28:12,720 --> 01:28:16,239
for your world, for your earth, be safe, keep your

1870
01:28:16,279 --> 01:28:20,520
loved one's close, and most importantly, don't give up. Putting

1871
01:28:20,560 --> 01:28:23,119
the letter back on the table, Daniel leaned against his chair.

1872
01:28:23,720 --> 01:28:26,399
He took a moment to compose himself. It was then

1873
01:28:26,399 --> 01:28:29,520
that he realized it was raining heavily outside. None of

1874
01:28:29,560 --> 01:28:34,079
this can be real, right, he thought to himself. Parallel universes,

1875
01:28:34,199 --> 01:28:37,399
four legged monsters clad with red lightning. These things can

1876
01:28:37,439 --> 01:28:41,279
only exist in science fiction stories. Suddenly Daniel understood what

1877
01:28:41,279 --> 01:28:43,720
all this was. It was a prank by none other

1878
01:28:43,760 --> 01:28:46,720
than his younger sister, Denise. It had to be, since

1879
01:28:46,760 --> 01:28:48,800
Denise wrote Si fi stores like this all the time.

1880
01:28:49,399 --> 01:28:52,520
Daniel was sure that the diary was completely empty, or

1881
01:28:52,560 --> 01:28:55,319
it contained some pathetic rhyme about Daniel being the stupidest

1882
01:28:55,319 --> 01:28:57,880
guy in the entire world. But when he went through

1883
01:28:57,880 --> 01:28:59,520
the pages of the diary, he found that it was

1884
01:28:59,560 --> 01:29:02,840
full of information, drawings, and even photographs relating to her,

1885
01:29:02,880 --> 01:29:07,119
depicting her rapness. Daniel closed the diary in disbelief. If

1886
01:29:07,119 --> 01:29:09,399
this was a prank, then Denise couldn't have done it alone.

1887
01:29:10,079 --> 01:29:13,039
Someone else was an honor, and there's only one way

1888
01:29:13,039 --> 01:29:16,239
to be sure. He had to talk to her. Daniel

1889
01:29:16,279 --> 01:29:18,439
got up from his chair to head towards his sister's room,

1890
01:29:18,520 --> 01:29:20,640
but just before he turned towards the door, a flash

1891
01:29:20,640 --> 01:29:22,960
of red light outside his window caught his eye. A

1892
01:29:23,079 --> 01:29:25,279
chair crept up across Daniel's spy in as he realized

1893
01:29:25,279 --> 01:29:27,199
that the source of this light was a bolt of lightning,

1894
01:29:27,760 --> 01:29:32,079
a red lightning, and that is the end. Thank you

1895
01:29:32,119 --> 01:29:38,199
for listening and I will see you in the next one.