Event Simulator 2 - Sorrow

Video: https://youtu.be/yGH9qEH_thg

I can feel the pain of each receiver when they die.

Desperation

Edward sent me another email today.

The subject line is "Desperation" and it reads: "What happens when all you care for is on the precipice of being taken away, leaving you with everything to lose?"

I replied, asking him what he was talking about, and I got an automated response.

Same as always, except for the bottom part, below the dashes. It now reads: "Two | Their stories were cut short, so now they seek another"

It went from four, to three, to two. I'm going to check Event Simulator again.

Event Simulator 1 - Bitter

Video: https://youtu.be/MYZQewJZpLQ

Yesterday, I felt a sudden, sharp pain in my jaw and neck.

Spite

Edward sent me an email today.

It's a short one. The subject is "Spite" and it reads: "What happens when all you once had is taken away, leaving you with nothing to lose?"

I replied, asking who he was talking about, and I got the auto response.

It's the same, except for the bottom part, under the dashes. That reads: "Three | Endless eyes are watching from the sky"

I wonder what the three is referring to.

I'm going to check Event Simulator. I think something happened. 

Discord

[INFORMATION OUTDATED]

Some people who have been watching this unfold have made a discord server to discuss it all. I'm not interested in joining, but I've been informed that Edward keeps an eye on it, and sometimes talks. I assume he wants his version of the story to be told. 

Here's the link if you want to join it: [REDACTED]

Amygdala Liberation

Video: https://youtu.be/yoepI3Qty6A

I'm free.

Just one more thing is needed from me. I think I have to wait for Nashiko, Wyatt, and Riley to finish their parts first, though.

Marionettes update

I got another email from Edward today. Unprompted, but I was expecting it.

The subject line is "Marionettes update" and it reads:

"FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

Upstaged Communications is proud to announce a new program available to all employees through Marionettes: Event Simulator. The existing AI of Marionettes has been upgraded, allowing it to not only monitor stations and determine their status, but also simulate events that have taken place within them, and to any employees, so that they may be displayed and preserved. These simulations are almost entirely accurate approximations of events that have transpired, utilizing Marionette's complex AI and advanced data gathering capabilities to paint a more complete picture of our world than ever before.

Use this to see.

Edward Marion

Upstaged Communications HR, Marionettes Admin

Dpt. 85

-------- -----

The window is quiet"

I replied immediately, asking him how I can access this event simulator. I got an automated response:

It's the same as it always is, except for two changes: he now has Marionettes Admin there, and below the lines, it just says "Four". 

I don't know what the number is referring to.

Something happened earlier. I think I'll use event simulator to view it. 

The future that never was

I received an email from Edward today. Unprompted.

It's another story from Edward. It reads:

"In the future that never was, I watched as it began to rain. It spilled like tears onto the ground, the sky crying from the horror it was forced to bring to the world. The rain pierced the minds of all it could reach, toxic well water it had created now evaporated into the sky to infect the ones below. Toxic well water composed of lies it whispered so truthfully. Everyone was turned, slowly, as the rain melted away their sense of self, and eventually their life. Nothing was left behind but empty shells, devoid of any humanity, ready to be puppeteered by the one anathema to nature.

Survivors locked their doors and boarded up their windows, desperate to escape the rain. The storm. But as the days went by, they heard a tapping against their windows. Incessant, endless tapping. It quickly started to drive people mad, as nothing could block it out. It doesn't matter how deep into silence they tried to dive; the tapping always wormed its way in. No way to block it out, people began to give up. They opened the doors, and walked into the rain, where they were welcomed into the cold, murderous arms of its storm. All fell in time. Then a deal was struck, and the sun was finally able to shine through.

Do you hear it tapping against your window?"

When I saw that Edward emailed me, the contents of what he said were secondary to my concern for his and the other's safety. As such, I just skimmed what he sent, and frantically emailed him back, asking if he was safe to send that to me, what was going on in there, and if he was okay.

I got the automated response.

The message at the bottom changed. It now reads:

"Upstaged Communications is aware of the continued issues surrounding Marionettes. We will focus on repairing it and installing necessary updates as soon as possible. All necessary changes for the futu[/////]

Do you fear its storm"

It seems that Edward is trying to repair Marionettes. 

I've been putting off what I need to do. Honestly, I'm still scared. Scared that this will somehow all backfire, and I'll end up ruining everything. Like I apparently did before. I know what he's telling me, though. I know what to do.

Cutting Strings

Video: https://youtu.be/0tMPfX0znls

I did it. Control's been given back to Edward. The Signal is saying we'll all be dead in less than a year. I won't let that happen. 

I know what I need to do next.

Letter from Riley 2

I wasn't expecting anything more, but I got another download request from Marionettes today.

It's called "letter(1).pdf" and it's only a page long. It's another letter from Riley.

This is what it said:

"Penelope,

Congrats on finishing the first part of this thing. I know it's painful to learn about your history, and the history of this entire thing, but you did it. The first step's done.

The next step is to free your amygdala. Like Edward said, to do that, you need to face your fears, and wrest control away from it. Prove it has no control over you. First, you have to help retake Marionettes. You're afraid of messing up again, and giving it more control, so you have to do it right this time. It's also important if any of us are gonna survive. No pressure or anything. 

In the next 24 hours, I'm going to go into the Marionette's central server room, and I'm going to try to just mess it up. It should lead to a chain of errors, which you can use to enter the pages the Signal normally wouldn't want you to get into. Fun little exploit, isn't it? It should eventually bring you to the admin control page, where you can switch ownership back to Edward.

The Signal is probably going to try to use Marionettes to stop you. Distract you. Don't focus on the distractions. That's how it was able to get out in the first place. Focus on fixing things. After that, Marionettes will be retaken, which is important for everyone's future, and the first step in freeing your amygdala.

You know what to do after this. I'll contact you again when I can. 

     - Riley"

Just to verify what Riley was saying, I emailed Edward, asking him what I should do next. I got an automated response:

It's the same, except for the bottom part, which reads: "Next is cutting strings of control"

It's almost creepy how he always seems to know what I'm going to ask. 

I'll be sitting here, waiting for it to start. I'm guessing I'll see an error prompt when it happens. 

It was mentioned before that Riley seems to be reaching through the errors. That matches what the exploit is, which gives users access to things they wouldn't normally be able to access with the errors. I'll focus on those. Anything else might be a distraction from the Signal. 

I won't let myself get distracted by anything I see. I have to do this. I have to.

Amygdala Simulation 8 - Audience (UPDATE 2)

More things were found in the latest Amygdala Simulation.

First:

I knew that there was more to the message. I assume that "I know how to find them" and "SEE THEM" is the secret that Riley mentioned. 

There was also this observation pointed out:

I assume Riley's interruptions and whatnot are coming through the exploit I found, which means causing errors. That might explain why things seem to break down whenever Riley attempts to reach out. 

I have a lot to think about. And something I'm waiting for. 

Amygdala Simulation 8 - Audience (UPDATE)

Some things I missed in the latest Amygdala Simulation were pointed out to me. 

First, there's this:

That's talking about the part with Riley's face, I believe. I did not realize that was a code. 

There's also a second thing, which is:

I'm guessing it's related to her saying "DO NOT GIVE IN" and "I HAVE A SECRET." It almost feels like an incomplete message; like there's supposed to be something more there, which explains it. Probably not in its entirety, but something to at least give me a baseline. I guess I'll see what she means at some point. 

After seeing those things mentioned, I had a hunch, and shot an email to Edward. I guessed he wasn't safe yet, but that maybe he'd be offer some sort of specific guidance or clarification, or at least an update on his situation. So I sent an email. Unfortunately, I got the same automated response as always; however, it had some things changed.

The bit under the dashes changed again. It reads:

"Rules are breaking

Chisel its extermination into history

Continue the next step in assembly line with instruction

Empties in past, shadows in present, whole in future, all trapped"

"Chisel its extermination into history" is from Project Assembly Line 8, but a little changed; in that, it said "chisel its extermination into permanence." I assume they mean the same thing. The third line seems to confirm that the first step of Project Assembly Line is completed, and says that I should continue it with instruction. I'm guessing I'm going to get something else from him or Riley, telling me what I specifically need to do next. I think I know, but it wouldn't be smart to take action until I know for sure.

Or maybe I'm just stalling until I'm forced to do it. If it's what I think I want to do, I really don't want to try, but if they say that I have to, then I will.

I don't understand the first or fourth lines, though. Maybe the first refers to the audience? After all, they apparently favor the Signal, but he seems confident in our abilities to end it. Not sure, though. And I've no idea what the last line means.

Time to wait and see.

Amygdala Simulation 8 - Audience

Video: https://youtu.be/lN0sjlxYH10

I saw the intrusion in the middle. It read: "I HAVE A SECRET - RILEY." I don't know what she means.

It doesn't matter who's favored here. I have to do my part. 

Project Assembly Line 8: Edward Marion

I got another download. I think it might be the final one of these.

It's called "pal8.pdf" and it's a file over Edward Marion. I think I know who's shadow that is.

This one is four and a half pages long. The cover page, then writing. This is what it said:

PROJECT ASSEMBLY LINE

SUBJECT #8: EDWARD MARION

Marionettes recreation of his last staff photo, circa [!error]

"NAME: EDWARD MARION

STATION: #85

POSITION: FOUNDER/MARIONETTES MASTER/HUMAN RESOURCES

When I awoke, I was laying in a room. Dark, outside of the dull glint of stars in the sky. The stars were wrong. Voices slithered out of the hole and surrounded me, chattering, curious as to why I ended up there, in front of them. Why was I special? What did I do to deserve this?

Nothing. I did nothing. That's what was so cruel, so terrible, so inhuman about it. Nothing created it. It just began, one day. Swimming between the broadcasts, slowly melding and shaping itself into what is known today. A signal of decay and control, living in the television. It took control. Awful deeds committed by its unwilling marionettes left a trail of destruction in its wake, until it propagated across the world. A sprawling, inorganic mass of perpetual disrepair and torment, wounds never given the chance to heal. This was the world I unwillingly helped created. The world it used me to create, while I was forced to sit in silence, unable to stop it. 

It controlled me, broke my body, but I was aware. I knew of all the horrible atrocities performed by my hands, forced to watch and feel as the planet slowly withered to ash. But there was nothing I could do. All that was left was for me to watch the show, as my heart and spirit shattered.

Maybe I was special because I was the first to see it. Or maybe it just happened that way, the same way it simply began one day. When it finished, when it achieved the perfect world it desired, it finally gave me up, leaving me alone in the ruins of what once was. With nothing left, I closed my eyes.

When I awoke, I was laying in a room. Dark, outside of the dull glint of their eyes in the sky. They were all wrong. Their voices slithered out of the opening and surrounded me, chattering, curious as to why I ended up here, in front of them. Why was I special? What did I do to deserve this? What would I do to earn this?

I offered them a new story. A story of heartache and loss, but of success, too. Of victory, in the end, after a long, arduous struggle. They were satisfied, won over by my tale, and sent me back to when it first began, before the world went wrong. Armed with the knowledge I now had and the restrictions they placed on its spread, I was able to contain it. Build a system that could contain it. Its story, its performance, was upstaged by my own. I was in control now.

But it was still alive. It was still awake. It was inevitable, really, that it would break free, tearing down the walls of my prison after it found a crack. An obvious exploit that I had somehow missed. All futures looked poisoned, tainted by its rain, tainted by the fear of what it could grow into, except for one. It had found a new tower to use, much the same way it used me in the shattered future, but it needed me, too. My deal with the watchful stars above ensured that. Since it was weakened, limited to the walls of my empire, maybe I could trap it in its new vessel, and force it to become dormant. To go to sleep, the same way I did when it had won. It thrived on its spread, so I'd remove all of it. All mention, all history, everything. Remove the experiences that kept it alive, and the corpses it had created and reanimated. I used my system to do so, and it worked. 

It worked.

It worked, until it didn't. Years waxed and waned, with me wasting away in the decayed remains of my plans, until 2016. That was when Riley saw Penelope. She wasn't supposed to; she didn't know why she needed to be kept apart from her love, but she agreed to my instructions, knowing that I knew best. 

And then they saw each other. Did Riley do it on purpose, disregarding my instructions? Did Penelope remember more than I thought, and seek Riley out? Did the endless stars watching me demand an encore, a better show? Or did it just happen, a coincidence none could have foreseen?

It doesn't matter now. In 2016, it awoke once more. I planned to bring Riley back, to tell her of its return, to search for a new, more permanent end. If my plan prior didn't last, we needed a new one. A better one. More thorough. I will never see that darkened room again, so I can't beg or bargain for a better future for us all.

She did not arrive. Years passed, and I was forced to look through the poisoned wells in the desert of possibility, until I found it, at the center of it all. One plan. One chance. One solution. A plan I once thought too horrible to consider, but one I'd now have to drink from. Erasing history didn't work, so I'd solidify its history, and chisel its extermination into permanence. Canonize its end. If they won't change the world again, then I will do it for them. There's only one thing to do. End the Signal by any means necessary.

It's okay. It is what we have to do. What I have to do. Penelope, this is the only ending where it takes its bow, and leaves the show. We'll do what we have to do.

Your hippocampus has been liberated. You remember, now, and know all you need to know. After this is your amygdala. What you need to do is face your fears, head on. I know you've been sitting in the same chair ever since it last tricked you, scared to even get up, lest you fall for its lies again, and help it. It uses your fear to control you. Break it. Do everything you can to prove it has no control over you. I know you can do this. One chance. One solution.

All will be well, Penelope. All will be calm. Be seeing you."

That's the end of the file.

He's right. I know all I need to know. I know what I have to do. I know what will happen if I fail. There's only one chance. One solution.

I know the audience is watching. 

Project Assembly Line 7: Penelope Adams

Riley sent me another download. I think there's only a couple left.

It's called "pal7.pdf" and is a file over me. Penelope. The download screen had the same kind of shadow thing as Nashiko and Wyatt. 

This one's eight pages long. There's the cover page, then 7 pages of text. Here's what it said:

PROJECT ASSEMBLY LINE

SUBJECT #7: PENELOPE ADAMS

Marionettes recreation of her last staff photo, circa March 26th, 2006.

"NAME: PENELOPE ADAMS

STATION: #85

POSITION: SERVER TECHNICIAN

Penelope Adams was hired on July 5th, 2003 to Station 85 of Upstaged Communications. She had graduated from university just a couple months prior, having gotten a bachelor's in computer science. She found the job listing just as she was starting her job search, and decided that she could apply. She was hired quickly.

Her job at Station 85 should have been simple enough. In concept, at least. On paper, she was hired to be a server technician, working to ensure the integrity of Marionettes, Upstaged's personal server network. She'd be responsible for running security scans, keeping it up-to-date, and performing regular maintenance if there were any bugs.

However, she wasn't allowed to do half of her job. She wasn't allowed to solve any problems she found. She would identify them, find cracks in the system, and report them to Edward Marion, who was the Marionettes manager. However, she wasn't allowed to attempt to fix anything, and she was not allowed any access to several pages, programs, and services in Marionettes. All she did was scan Marionettes, report when a certain page, archive item, connection, etc. was beginning to cause errors, and install whatever fix Edward managed to cook up. All the inner workings were coded and impossible to understand, leaving her entirely in the dark as to what was actually happening.

It frustrated her. She was hired as a technician, someone who was supposed to actually solve problems, but she was relegated to being a babysitter for a control freak's pet project. Half the things in the system appeared to do nothing at all, connecting to other things that did absolutely nothing, transmitting ungodly amounts of information that were complete gibberish. What was Edward thinking? What was Upstaged thinking, letting him do everything he did with Marionettes? Something had to be up. The company was hiding something. 

Penelope, when she thought she wasn't being watched, went searching. Rumors had begun to flitter around the company--weird items in the archive, strange intrusions that the company refused to address, evidence of the board planning something--and it was driving her mad. She tried her best to figure out what was going on, diving into both the central network and the archives to attempt to understand what was happening. Unfortunately, almost everything was either encoded or password protected, leaving her with only scraps. Scraps like a strange symbol of a dead tree, of improbably constructed music, of dull chatter she couldn't understand. Mention of something scary. Something called SIGNAL.

During one of her deep dives, she was discovered by a fellow employee. Riley Donnelly was already in a poor mood when she found Penelope, so she gave her an earful when she stumbled across her, yelling at her to stop, while informing her that she was going to tell Edward. All this did was further Penelope's curiosity; Riley evidently knew more than she did. What did Riley know? What were Edward and the company doing?

Edward warned Penelope against digging further, but it fell on deaf ears. Penelope began to pester Riley, and continued her search through the archives for any evidence of what was happening. Surprisingly, however, her efforts soon ceased, as she became focused on something else. On someone else. She realized that she and Riley lived close to one another, and that they both went to the same diner every day, for breakfast. This gave her the opportunity to talk to Riley more, outside of work.

Riley was initially pissed off, not wanting to entertain the curious technician from her job. Soon, however, something between the two clicked. They began to talk about the world outside of work--television, movies, music, books, all of their shared interests, of which there were quite a few. Penelope stopped talking to Riley about the mystery at Upstaged, becoming more invested in Riley, and Riley felt her original annoyance at this coworker melt away faster than she had expected. The two grew quite close.

One evening, Penelope invited Riley over to her apartment, so they could watch a movie together. One thing led to another, and the next morning, the two decided that they would be together. They couldn't talk of it to anyone else; after all, it was Indiana in 2006. But they had each other. Neither had seen much luck in life, with both being isolated from their families and having few friends, so it was nice to have someone else they could trust in wholly. 

Penelope's searching came to an end at Riley's insistence, telling her that it was too dangerous. Her curiosity burned within her, but she trusted Riley, and stopped. She buried whatever questions she had about the odd nature of her job and just did it, so that she could keep working with Riley. The two maintained a happy equilibrium until it happened.

On October 16th, 2006, Penelope and Riley were both nearing the end of their 12 hour shifts at the station, anxiously awaiting the time they could leave. Penelope was alone in the central server room, performing her standard scans of Marionettes, watching for any errors that might have popped up. As midnight drew closer, she was surprised when several errors appeared, all at the same time. It targeted multiple programs and connections, but there was one that caught her attention: a page named SIGNAL. She knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't help herself. She loaded the page, expecting to see a password login or encoded nonsense, like she had when she found the page before, when it was functioning.

To her surprise, the page loaded. It should've been protected, but she had managed to find an exploit. She could access protected pages if it were through an error message. It was such an obvious exploit, but she had never tried it before. The screen, meanwhile, told her that the transmitter was inactive, and it was unable to see how many receivers there were.

There was a message at the bottom, written in red. It asked her, begged her, to keep looking, because it could show her what was happening. Whoever was talking was trapped, apparently, and they wanted to show her how to let them free.

Penelope's mind instantly jumped back to everything she had heard. The symbol, the music, the strange intrusions that Upstaged refused to address. Did they trap somebody? If so, she needed to get whoever it was out. She had to.

She followed the instructions written in red when it told her to go down a rabbit hole of pages. She saw a chat thread archive, a station monitor system, a room tracker, and finally a page simply named CLOSED. It had a single option: Open? Yes/No.

She picked yes as the clock struck midnight.

The next few seconds were a blur, impossible to fully comprehend. She heard music blaring from all the speakers in the room, then all the speakers in the station, as she felt something worm through her ear into her skull. She knew she shouldn't have been able to feel her brain, but it felt like something was worming around in the back of it. Although she didn't know how she knew, she knew it was implanting itself into her cerebellum, and wrapping itself around her hippocampus and amygdala. A sudden, extreme, insatiable hunger came over her, forcing her to double over in pain. The sensations, the music, the hunger... it was too much. She passed out. 

In her dream, she was on a blank path. Dead trees surrounded her on all sides, with a rusted metal fence falling apart, the wreckage lining the left and right. The sky was a dull grey, clouds of ash and dirt thrown up into the heavens, while she felt something inside of her. The hunger. She needed to eat. 

She wandered for what felt like days, but must've been only minutes. Along the path, she saw a shadow. A humanoid shadow, but just a shadow. Her conscious thought was suppressed by her instincts, and she lunged at it, trying desperately to quench the desert of famine inside her. The shadow fell, and she was able to consume it, tearing it to shreds with her nails and teeth as she tried to fill her empty stomach. It tempered her, but only for a moment. She was still hungry.

She kept searching in the dream, finding more and more, until she eventually began to feel herself grow full. She knew how many shadows there were on this path, and by the time she paused to catch her breath, she only counted seven. Seven shadows left.

The seven shadows were Thomas, Joshua, Lily, Nashiko, Wyatt, Riley, and Edward. The rest had been ended by the pendant, transformed into dead abominations of remembrance, the pendant spread from one to another like a virus every time Penelope devoured a shadow. Her body had remained trapped in the central server room, exhaustion winning the war over consciousness, but the Signal had still found a way to control her. To use her. To propagate its desires through the station. 

To escape the station, however, it would need Edward. Edward crafted its restrictions, and made sure that it would never see freedom without him. That it would never be able to bring the abominable future he had seen without him. 

It couldn't find him because he was clever, and was hiding within the fluctuations of Station 85. The Signal caused them, its trapped presence reflecting through the walls of the stations with increasing frequency, so he used its own presence against it. The other six remained hidden, detesting the unstable nature of the stations, until they could isolate a receiver, at which point they went to work.

Edward and his followers systematically slaughtered all the receivers, one by one, until there were none left. They destroyed the proof of the Signal's spread. Meanwhile, Riley amalgamated history together, tying all loose threads into a ratking of contemplation. When all the Signal's marionettes were ended, Edward grabbed the necessary information from Riley, retook Marionettes from the now-weakened Signal, and found Penelope in the server room. He fed her the product of the assembly line, and then used Marionettes to rewrite and erase it. 

If the Signal was to be stopped, it couldn't be left awake in her mind. If it was to become dormant, its history would have to be erased. Penelope's memories were altered, with all of the ones relating to the Signal deleted. Put in their stead were memories of simply finding an exploit in Marionettes, only to find that the company had been closed a few days later. Her memories had been changed by his system, and the end of its spread weighed down onto the Signal until it collapsed. It became dormant, loosening her hippocampus and amygdala, as Penelope was rewritten on midnight of the 20th. She was one of the eight that survived the events that began October 17th, 2006.

Just like Thomas, Joshua, Lily, Nashiko, Wyatt, and Riley, she was free once the Signal was trapped. She quickly forgot her old job, the only lingering disappointment being the sudden end of her relationship with Riley. She quickly moved on, not burdened by all the death and suffering the Signal had used her to cause. Meanwhile, the Signal was asleep within her, unable to start once again without something to kickstart it. 

Edward's plan worked until 2016. He had tried to separate Penelope from everyone she had known in order to prevent any risk of the Signal reawakening. However, for some strange reason, she felt a sudden compulsion to visit a place she hadn't been to for almost exactly a decade. A local diner that she went to with Riley. It had left her mind until that moment, and she decided to go.

When she arrived, she ordered her food, and ate. It wasn't anything special. Right as she was about to leave, however, she ran into someone in the entrance. She did not recognize who it was, but the person immediately lit up upon seeing her, asking her how she was, and even hugging her. Penelope felt rather awkward, and had a sudden, sharp pain in the back of her head. She informed the strange woman she had no idea who she was, and left. She had nightmares that night.

Years passed, until October 20th, 2018. On that day, she received a remote access key, which allowed her to access Marionettes. It was not sent by Edward. The Signal was now awake, and used its new receivers to send it to her, so that it could further its plan for freedom and propagation.

One chance. One solution."

That's the end of the file.

I've been writing this down because I don't want to forget again. Now, though, I wonder if that was really me who didn't want to forget, because I don't like knowing this. I don't like knowing any of this. At the same time, Edward knows what I'm doing, so I'm guessing he has a reason for allowing it. Maybe it's a part of his plan. 

There isn't a way out for Thomas, Joshua, or Lily. I feel sick. I've been holding in my stomach all morning, actually. It's been hard not to vomit over all of this. It's been hard to think about this. I just want to sleep forever. I can't, though. There's work to be done. 

Whatever it takes to end this, I'm doing it. I'm ready. 

I do want to know one thing, though. The thing said: "Edward crafted its restrictions, and made sure that it would never see freedom without him." How did he do that? What is his history with the Signal? Did he create it?

Project Assembly Line 6: Riley Donnelly

Another download was sent to me. 

It's called "pal6.pdf" and is a file over Riley. It looks like there's some kind of weird overlay for this one like the prior two, but instead of a shadow, it's something else. There's color there, I think.

This one's the longest yet, at 10 pages. There's the cover page, and the rest is text, with one image put in it. Here's what it said:

PROJECT ASSEMBLY LINE

SUBJECT #6: RILEY DONNELLY

Marionettes recreation of her last staff photo circa March 26th, 2006.

"NAME: RILEY DONNELLY

STATION: #85

POSITION: CAMERA GRIP

Riley Donnelly was close to rock bottom in 2002. She was trying her best to get a degree in library science, while also scheduled to the third shift of a gas station. Her mother worked, but her father offered little, instead busying himself with sports betting and watching television. Because her mother had to pay for the basic household bills, Riley became the money well for her father to dip into whenever he ran out of his own cash. It weighed down on her until it proved to be too much in November of 2001. The two had a fight, and the aftermath was her being kicked out of the house. Unable to pay for both college tuition and a place of her own on minimum wage, she was forced to drop out of college so that she could work full-time, just one semester before she would have graduated. She spent her nights at the gas station, and her days in a local diner as a hostess. She was not paid well nor respected in either establishment. 

She was starting to despair once the summer of 2002 rolled around. All she had to her name was a crappy studio apartment, her beat up car, and a dingy television. No cable, of course, so she could only watch the three movies she owned. There were few people she talked to, and nobody that she would consider a friend. There was no future for her. Something had to change.

To her surprise, she found a job listing from Upstaged Communications. They were hosting a training program for camera grips at Station 85, with pay far better than both of her jobs combined. There weren't any degree requirements, either--all it asked for was a high school diploma, and the willingness to perform above and beyond while on the job. Riley drove to the station as soon as she could, applied, and heard back only five days later. She had been accepted. When she heard the news, she nearly broke down from the wave of relief. She began her job on June 20th, 2002.

As a camera grip, her job was almost identical to Lily Boyce's. She was part of a team of four that ran the cameras, while also maintaining all the related equipment. Her job was easier than one would have expected, as she had two people her senior that knew what they were doing, and another newcomer who was just as inexperienced as her, but significantly clumsier. It made her mistakes pale in comparison. 

It was a good job, for the most part; the pay let her move into a nicer one bedroom apartment, and allowed her to finally introduce some minor luxury to her life. Her team was tight-nit, and they all became friends, although Riley had a tendency to be a bit snappy. Her father tried to contact her and beg for more money, but she refused, deciding to cut him out of her life. After all, he never cared nor provided for her. She still talked to her mom, but paid no attention to her father. He wasn't worth it. 

She had been on the job for eight months before something happened. Something bizarre. All the other grips were busy, so she was left to lock up the equipment once the day's programming was done, at two in the morning. She was exhausted, and blinked a few times, rubbing her eyes with one hand as she held a camera in the other; when she opened them back up, she was somewhere different. Not the equipment locker in Station 85. Instead, she was on a strange path in the middle of unfamiliar woods. There were fences on either side of her, and a clear blue sky above.

It was such a weird, inexplicable occurrence that she felt nothing but confusion. What was going on? Looking down, she saw that she was still holding the camera. When she turned it on and took a picture, it was exactly what she was seeing with her eyes. 

She blinked a few more times, and it was gone. She was back in Station 85. Almost nobody else was in the station, so she was left alone, unable to comprehend what it really was that happened. After all, when she looked at the camera, the picture proved that she left the station. How was that possible?

Fear started to wrap itself around her mind as she left the equipment locker, making her way to the only other employee she knew was there. As she went to Edward Marion's office, she realized that she had never seen him in person. He had asked not to be interrupted from his work unless it was an emergency. She figured this counted.

When she knocked on his door, he opened it. She was surprised to see countless stacks of paper, several computers, and a side door to the left. The Marionettes server room was next to his room, so she assumed that it led there. She was also surprised by his appearance; she knew he was older, but he looked like a walking corpse. Skin wasn't usually that grey.

Still, she pushed aside her fear and discomfort, showing him what she saw on the camera. Edward looked at it, and she could've sworn that she saw a flicker of something in his eyes. Maybe excitement, maybe fear of his own, but his dead-looking eyes were alive for just a moment. The two sat in silence for a few seconds as Edward weighed his options, before he asked her to come with him.

The two left through the other door, and just as she suspected, it led to the server room for Marionettes. He went to an access terminal and searched something up. Stepping back, he showed her the station monitor system. She didn't understand most of what it said, but she noticed that it mentioned the station's stability being 9.2/10, with infrequent fluctuations. That made no sense to her.

He sat her down, and the two of them talked. They talked about what the reality of the station, the company, was, the presence of the fluctuations, and the whispers of strange intrusions circulating among the staff of all stations. They talked about the Signal. Riley didn't believe it at first, but she was given a glimpse. Just a glimpse. It was all she needed.

Edward didn't tell her everything, but he told her enough to convince her to stay quiet, and to act as his eyes and ears. If she saw or heard of anything like that happening again, it was her job to contact him and let him know, so that he could take care of it.

Over the years, little flits of activity appeared. Nothing drastic--the odd appearance of its symbol, of its music, leaking through the cracks of Marionettes. No matter how hard Edward worked, there was always a new leak, a new way for the Signal to slither a part of itself out. Despite this, he was confident that he had patched all major flaws, all the big holes that it could escape through. Whenever a new one appeared, he would send her to investigate, such as when she filled in for Lily in Station 48.

While working with him, Riley found another employee. A server technician, who worked under Edward. The technician knew not of any details of the Signal, but she was crafty, and noticed multiple irregularities with the system. As such, she attempted to search the Marionettes archives for any other examples of these peculiar occurrences. Riley caught her.

She was initially mad at Penelope, and reported her to Edward, who warned her against investigating further. Penelope, however, was inquisitive and stubborn, constantly wanting to learn more about what was going on at Upstaged. She was hired as a technician, after all; why wasn't she allowed to know about any of the deficiencies in the equipment, or in the central system itself? Why wasn't she allowed to know anything about the system she was being paid to look after?

She would not get her answer. Not from Edward or Riley. However, her curiosity led to her spending more time with Riley. Not just on the job, but off the job, too; it turned out the two lived close to each other, and went to the same diner every morning. Despite her initial hostility at Penelope's improvised investigation, the two found that they enjoyed spending time together. They then found out more. Neither were open about it with anyone else, but they began to spend more time together than with anyone else.

For the next two years, they were in a private relationship. During this time, Riley convinced Penelope to give up her search for answers, saving her from potential misfortune. Edward, none the wiser, complimented Riley on her persuasiveness, and gave her a nice salary bonus. All seemed to be going well before everything broke. 

On October 16th, 2006, Riley and Penelope were both nearing the end of their 12 hour shifts in the station, anxiously awaiting the time they could leave. The other grips had left early, so it was up to Riley to prepare the equipment for the nightly broadcast, which began at midnight. As she was preparing the equipment, however, she saw something. It lasted for just a moment, but she could've sworn that the ceiling above her faded, dissolved, revealing a strange, organic hole in the sky, with dozens of nearly invisible stars shining through, a tapestry of cavities in the night sky. Riley didn't need to be told what this meant. It was another fluctuation. 

As she rushed to Edward's office, the clock struck midnight, and things began to change. Collapse had begun. The Signal had broken free. She saw someone wearing a pendant around their neck, and they looked wrong. They looked just like she remembered, at first, but it was wrong. That employee had recently lost their eye in an accident. How was their eye back? She knew it had to be the Signal. 

She barged into Edward's office without knocking, bringing an end to the meeting between him and Wyatt Reed, and told them that something had happened. The three rushed out, but the station began to fluctuate, dragging Wyatt through the floor, while Riley and Edward were thrown back into his office. He slammed the door shut and paced, trying to think of a plan. She begged him to tell her more, but he refused to do so; he didn't want her to be compromised by grief or paralyzed by fear. After almost an hour, he figured out how to take his already existing contingencies, and adapt them into Project Assembly Line. He then drafted a letter to the board, and told Riley what she was to do.

Riley's role was to amalgamate all of the company's history, so that it could be delivered to Penelope. She was not informed of what Penelope had done, but she was told that Penelope had been put to sleep, with the Signal now in control. If she were to be saved, if the Signal was to be stopped, then Riley had to do what she was asked, without question. She agreed.

She was left in Edward's office, the only stable room left, and was told not to open the door for anybody. Nobody could be trusted, no matter who they appeared to be. As hours turned to days of work, she was forced to endure countless knockings and pleas from former employees, begging her to let them in, until she heard gunshots outside. Edward then opened the door. When he entered, she noticed flecks of red splattered against his suit. He took the information she collected over the days she was in the office, and left, finishing the job without her so that she would be safe. He finished Project Assembly Line. 

He kept he and his cohort's actions quiet, so that Riley would not be forced to suffer the same tragedy as them, and instead kept her in his office as the seconds ticked down to the 20th. She was one of the eight that survived the events that began October 17th, 2006.

Just like Thomas, Joshua, Lily, Nashiko, and Wyatt, she was free once the Signal was trapped. Her memory had suffered no damage, as she was able to escape the worst atrocities the others were forced to commit. She remembered everything. Despite this, she was forced into silence, as Edward warned her against mentioning Upstaged to anyone in the future. He also told her not to talk to Penelope, no matter what, lest they risk reawakening the Signal. She was heartbroken, but she committed to it. Unable to face anyone after those terrible days, she refused to answer when her mother called, eventually cutting the last of her family off. She was alone again.

She dutifully did as she was told, locking up the horrible memories and dreams of those days, until 2016. When she was out, visiting that same diner she went to with Penelope, she saw her. She was older, more weary, but it was her. Overjoyed at the chance to see her again, Riley immediately tried to talk to her; however, Penelope said that she didn't recognize her, and left. Five days later, Riley received a package in the mail. It was from Edward. She procrastinated for days before opening it, finding it to be Penelope's old remote communicator. It had more functions than what Riley had expected.

There was also a letter. The letter was from Edward, informing her that he was intending to gather everyone back, and refresh the memories of the ones who had theirs shattered. He wanted her there, so that they could welcome the others, as they were the only two with complete memories.

Riley did not listen. She wanted nothing to do with the company, with Edward, with the terror she had experienced, and so she chose not to go. As such, she did not learn of its reawakening. 

Everything remained silent until October 3rd, 2018. She had thrown the remote communicator into a drawer by her bedside table, not expecting anything to come of it; however, on that fateful day, she heard a ping, waking her from a particularly frightening nightmare. It was a notification, which informed her of Thomas, Joshua, Lily, Nashiko, and Wyatt receiving their packages. Their communicators. After realizing that Edward planned to drag all the others back to himself, she began to talk, reaching out to the first person who received her package: Lily Boyce. She saw one other unnamed active user, and assumed that it must've been Penelope. She was unaware of the Signal now roaming through Marionettes, slowly building its strength back up. She did not know of the pendant escaping destruction until Lily saw it. 

Once Lily was taken, Riley reached out to all the others, attempting to piece together everything that had happened and would happen. She is the sole reason any have survived. At the same time, she learned that the Signal was originally released because of an intrusion from one she knew. One who claimed to love her, who said she dropped all investigations into such matters. She learned that Penelope had been the one responsible for releasing the Signal. Despite her warnings, there was only failure in her attempt to save the one she loved from the Signal, and she had instead been taken, turned into one of its transmission towers. It left her feeling hurt, and bitter.

She has not been captured yet. She is no longer protected, but she can still be saved. One chance. One solution."

That's the end of the file.

I miss Riley. I feel awful for looking again. I don't remember why I did, though. I still can't remember.

It's pretty obvious what Edward and the others did to the other receivers. I don't think there's a way out for them.

Amygdala Simulation 7 - Deplorable Ratking (UPDATE)

Someone noticed another intrusion in Amygdala Simulation 7. It appears that it's the only one, but I didn't catch it, at first.

I went and looked at what, exactly, it said.

It reads: "I HAVE A WAY OUT FOR YOU - RILEY"

Weird that this is specifically from Riley. After all, she uses "I" despite her working with Nashiko, Wyatt, and Edward. 

I don't believe that Edward has anything bad planned for me, despite what the Signal tries to tell me. At the same time, though... it's hard to shake the worry. We'll see. For now, I'm waiting for the next file to be sent my way.