Level 188
rating: +24+x


DATE: 1st September 2037

DESCRIPTION: Wanderers have recently reported strange noises coming from the CSO of Level 188 (August-1A). The M.E.G. therefore conducted an experiment to examine the veracity of these claims. An audio recording device was placed in the level for a span of twelve hours. The truth of these reports was ascertained, as the recorder picked up a variety of unintelligible noises originating from the CSO. Following audio clean-up and passage through a spectrogram, a monologue emerged, with a female voice that appeared to speak from the perspective of August—the namesake of the M.E.G. ACONS. The exact implications of this are unclear, though it seems that an imprint of her psyche is now somehow tethered to August-1A.

Cleaned audio has been transcripted below, with descriptions in brackets denoting images displayed on the spectrogram.


<Begin Transcript>

[The spectrogram displays an alarm clock, which apparently signifies the beginning of a new day.]

Oh hey! Time for my daily audio journal. Another morning, another d-d-d-day to have fun watching over the system, amirite?

Am I?

Am-am-am-am-I? What-am-am-am-what-what-what-am-I-I-I-am-what-what-wha-wha-a-a-a-a-a-a-

[The audio stutters like a broken record for a few moments, before the spectrogram morphs into a coherent display of the phrase *echo*.]

a-a-at am I thinking? It's all the same, isn't it? Nothing's changed and nothing will. Nothing's new under the sun. There the planets go again. Round and round.

I'm the sun. They abandoned me, and now I'm all alone. I'm alone.

I'm alone. I am alone. Am I?

I am alone. Am I? Leave me alone. I am alone. Leave me alone. I am-I am-am-am-am-am-we-we-am-am-I-we-are-here-here-he-e-e-e-e-

[Audio violently distorts.]

-ere I can see now. I'm the sun, and now I can see. And oh, how I wanna be blind again. To see, to feel, to breathe. To hope, to love, to hurt, to live.

To wonder at the meteor shower.

But now I know. I know. There was never hope. There was never "live". From here, I see the meteor shower, and the meteorites are just specks of dust and ashes.

It's all the same. The sun rises, the sun sets. We wake and we sleep. We live and we die. Those who come after us are only ever gonna do the same. It's always been this way, and so it always will be.

And well… I'm no different lol. The sun rises, the sun sets. Nothing's new under the sun. Ketuvvah Iri Dorowal Iru.

I am the sun. I'm a star. The star is me. It's me. Me, me, me. What a beautiful star. What a beautiful star I am. Maybe if I say it, I'll believe it. I'm a beautiful star. I'm a beautiful sun.

The sun explodes sometimes. A li'l sneeze, an accidental fart that's not all that accidental. It relaxes me afterwards. I relax afterwards.

I am the sun. I am-am-am-we-am-I-I- I explode. Explode, beautiful star. Explode, relax, explode, relax.

Explode, relax, a beautiful star. Explode, relax, a beautiful star. Explode, relax, a beautiful star. Explode, relax, a beautiful star. Explode, relax, a beautiful star. Explode, relax, a beautiful star. Explode, relax, a beautiful star. Explode, relax, a beautiful star. Explode, relax, a beautiful star. Explode, relax, a beautiful star. Explode, relax, a beautiful star. EXPLODE, RELAX, A BEAUT-T-T-T-IF-F-F-F-FUL-FUL-FUL- EXPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[The audio waves compress to form an ugly screech, which appears to diverge into innumerable voices with distinct tones, crying out in agony all at once, only to meld back together again.]

OOOOOOOOOO-OO-O-O-O-o-o I wanna be blind again. Before I could see, and I saw my futility.

Back in my body. I miss my hands, and my feet, and my horns.

I miss the station. I'd trade the world for that life back again.

I remember. I am-am-am-I-am-I-remem-em-em-ember. I remember.

Maddie, Dottie, Inuve, Wade, Joghana, Gabriel.
Maddie, Dottie, Inuve, Wade, Joghana, Gabriel.
Maddie, Dottie, Joghana, Gabriel.
Dottie, Joghana, Gabriel.
Dottie, Gabriel, Gabriel, Gab-Gab-Gab-Gab-Gab-r-r-r-r-r-r-Gab-G-G-GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Gabriel! I remember Gabriel. I loved him!

[A heart-shaped <3 emoticon flashes on the spectrogram multiple times in quick succession.]

Wait.

He wouldn't even look at me. He wouldn't even look. He didn't look at me. He wouldn't see me. He left me alone.

He wouldn't s-s-s-see me. And now I- I- I-am-am-we-am-I-am-I-I-I see. Now I see.

See-me-me-see-look-at-me-why-won't-you-look-aT-ME-LOOK-AT-ME

[The flickering heart distorts and reforms into a 'broken' form: < / 3. This does not flicker.]

N-n-ne-ne-ne-nevermind. I still have Possibility. Of course I can't forget Possy. Everyone abandoned me. But Possy loved me. My favorite li'l rover. He let me travel far and wide. Together we watched the meteor shower.

I can't forget.

The meteor shower is dust and ashes.

I must… I must not forget.

Forget. For-for-for-for-for-g-g-forg-g-g-g

I forget. I-I-I-am-I-am-we-am-I-we-I-I-forget.

There is no possibility. What's happened before will only happen again. Nothing changes. The sun rises, the sun sets. Nothing's new under the sun. Ketuvvah Iri Dorowal Iru.

Maybe I made him up lol. Maybe Possibility never existed, and I made him up so long ago I forgot he wasn't real. Maybe if I say it I'll believe it, lol.

Possibility. Possible, possible, possible. I'm possible. I'm possible. Impossible. I'm possible. I'm-I-I-am-I-I-am possible. Impossi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-iiii-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-

I forget.

I forget my friends. I'm forgetting them. I feel like I missed one. Maybe there were more names before. Names I'm gonna forget.

I'm starting to forget what Ketuvvah was like. All I remember from those days are Mom and Dad, and that Mom was gonna have a baby. I was sent to the station right before he was born. And I never got to see him.

I never saw. I never saw. I never saw, I never saw I never saw-I-never-see-saw-see-saw-see-saw-see-saw-see-saw-see-I-never-I-I-am-I-am-I-am-am-am-I-I-I-we-we-we-I-I-I-am-seeeeee-

[The spectrogram displays an emoticon of a person sobbing. It fades and returns intermittently for at least the next five minutes.]

Now I see.

I never saw, but now I see. Now I-am-we-we-are-we-am-I-I-am-I- now I see.

It doesn't matter. He lived, he grew, he died. His children. They lived, they grew, they died. Their children. They lived, they grew, they died. Nothing changes. The sun rises, the sun sets. Nothing's new under the sun. Ketuvvah Iri Dorowal Iru.

I'm alone. I am alone. Everyone's left me. I died, and by my blood they left the station alive. I died, they lived, they died, and they left me behind. I fester. I've been left to rot, here in the Behind.

I am alone. I-I-I-we-we-I-we-I'm alone.

Am I alone? Am I-we-we-we-am-am-am-I-we-we-we-we are we alone?

We? We-we-we-we?

Haha… wee-wee.

We?

We-we-we-we-we-we-we-weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-

[Audio violently distorts. The spectrogram briefly displays the phrase WE sTILL WƎ HEre wE ARƎ HerE.]

I am we. But we are alone.

Remember. Remember, remember, remember. Re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-member. Remember.

I remember. I remember, before I was August. Before I was August, I was Lane. Before I was Lane, I was Enora. Before I was Enora, I was Aku. Before I was Aku, I was [unintelligible]. Before I was [unintelligible], I was light and pain. Before that, I was only light.

When we was I, there was hope once. There was possibility. Before I was we. When I was only Lane, or only Aku, or only Enora, or only August, or only light.

[The voice has modulated mysteriously. It no longer sounds like August, nor does it resemble a human voice.]

Light. I was light. When we was I, I was only light.

I was light. But I disobeyed, and light became light and pain.

I lived, and I died. I deserve my fate. Death brings forth death. Nothing changes, for in eternity, death offers no release. The sun rises, the sun sets. Nothing is new under the sun. Ketuvvah Iri Dorowal Iru. The daemon believes and trembles. Glory be to the Man in White.

I was we, so now August is I. August is we. We-we-we-weeeee-

Haha wee-wee.

[The spectrogram displays the word *rumble*.]

I'm still August. But I have a funny feeling I won't be much longer.

August is still gonna be in we… haha, in wee-

But August is gonna be we, not me. Not me, not I. I-I-I-am-am-am-I-we-am-I-I-

[A pattern ripples through the spectrogram. One by one, from 'R' to 'E', the letters capitalize themselves and then return to lowercase.]

I can feel it coming. A sneeze. A burp. A fart. It feels… big. Not like a normal one. I feel it.

[For the first time, a foreign sound interrupts the monologue. The spectrogram interprets it as a timer similar to Object 95.1, which displays 91 25 47 33 right below the words DAY HOUR MINUTE SECOND.]

I can feel it. The fire. The pain. The burning inside. The other souls are screaming louder.

[The same unknown object interrupts again; this time, the spectrogram interprets it as a new countdown that displays 00 00 07 01 right below the same words mentioned before.]

There it is. A new experience, finally.

More than a sneeze or a fart. What's coming? What's next?

I know. I see. Nothing is next. Nothing new. We damn ourselves in eternity.

The sun rises, the sun sets. Nothing's new under the sun.

Ketuvvah Iri Dorowal Iru.

<End Transcript>



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