Riley & Penelope: Chat Log 4

I always have Marionettes open on another monitor. My remote access key still works, but whenever I enter, it just shows the same screen. It is broken. Dead. Killed by the Signal.

But it changed. Today, it changed. It loaded up a chat window with Riley. I didn't see exactly when it changed, but the message notification sound is what alerted me that something had happened.

I responded. This is the conversation we had.

[/begin_chat_thread]

10:48 [Riley] can you see this penelope

10:48 [Penelope] Yes

10:48 [Penelope] Are you okay?

10:49 [Riley] we're not dead yet, for whatever that's worth

10:49 [Riley] I've been trying to reach you for the past three months

10:49 [Penelope] What happened?

10:49 [Riley] things have deteriorated; I know you can't check, but the stability of station 85 is now at 0

10:49 [Penelope] What does that mean? Are Wyatt and Nashiko still with you?

10:50 [Riley] they are

10:50 [Riley] something is very wrong with this building

10:50 [Riley] I don't know if the other stations are this bad, but they all change

10:50 [Riley] fluctuate

10:50 [Riley] bounce around different environments, some of which don't make any sense

10:51 [Riley] for a while it was a different station, then a house, then a dark cave underground, and now it's this

10:51 - Riley sent cGF0aA==.jpg

cGF0aA==.jpg recovered. Displaying:

10:51 [Riley] it's an endless winding path through some trees, with fences always on the sides

10:51 [Riley] I can only see trees beyond the fences

10:52 [Riley] nashiko said that she heard people talking in the distance; unfamiliar people

10:52 [Riley] however, the other three are there

10:52 [Riley] lily, joshua, and thomas; they keep us all on the path, but for some reason don't come onto the path themselves

10:53 [Riley] they look nothing like how they should; they look like they did all those years ago, but it's been 15 years since upstaged closed

10:53 [Riley] the sun is bright, but it constantly rains

10:53 [Riley] not on the path though, only beyond the fence

10:54 [Riley] and there's no end to the path in sight; it continues in both directions for as far as the eye can see

10:55 [Penelope] How are you talking to me now?

10:55 [Riley] there are solar powered communicators that upstaged created

10:55 [Riley] back in 2006, just a few months before they shut down

10:55 [Riley] that's how all of us access marionettes

10:56 [Riley] your remote access key allows you to access the same software the communicators use, I believe

10:56 [Penelope] Okay

10:56 [Penelope] Why are you telling me all of this?

10:58 [Riley] I need your help

10:58 [Riley] we need your help

10:58 [Riley] structural stability needs to be restored to station 85

10:59 [Riley] I don't know if you're the one responsible for all of this, but you're the only one who can save us

10:59 [Penelope] How am I supposed to help? 

11:00 [Riley] you have communication with edward marion

11:00 [Riley] I don't know who he is, really; we've never really interacted, even when upstaged was around

11:00 [Riley] but I know he's been helping you

11:00 [Riley] or talking to you, at least

11:00 [Riley] you need to ask him how to stabilize station 85

11:01 [Riley] right now, we're trapped in someplace I can't begin to comprehend 

11:01 [Riley] this is our only hope

11:04 [Penelope] I want to get you three out of there, and I want to put an end to this, even if I still don't fully get what's going on

11:04 [Penelope] So I'll ask him

11:05 [Penelope] However, he has been unresponsive and unhelpful whenever I've tried to contact him, so I don't know if he'll be able to help

11:05 [Riley] just please ask

11:05 [Riley] I can't think of any other option

11:06 [Riley] if I can get out of here with the other two, we'll meet up with you and we can end the signal 

11:06 [Penelope] I'll get you out of there

[/end_chat_thread]

Almost immediately after I sent that, the chat thread closed, only for it to return to the screen it was at before. The distorted, torn logo of Upstaged Communications. 

cGF0aA== translates to "path" in base64, for reference.

I'm going to send an email to Edward. I don't know how to contact Riley again with his response, if he even chooses to respond. But we'll see. I have to do this for her. 

Ruination

I got another unprompted email from Edward Marion. The subject line was "Ruination."

It reads: "History threatens to spill to the present, reopening old wounds that were stitched closed with amalgamate revisions. Ruination remains a strong possibility, threatening the locking of all progress made behind the infinite bars of failure. Distrust is necessary to explore beyond the facade of truth into the realm of impossibility.

Nothing is true. Not me, not you, not the propagating encore. All remains warped beyond the comprehension of the audience, leaving false beliefs in its wake.

I will solve the problem."

I got pissed off by this. I've asked, begged, for literally any information ever since I first emailed him, and I've gotten nothing. Just this shit. So, rather than continue to be nice, I let my irritation slip a little. 

I said: "Stop bullshitting me. You're speaking cryptically, like you have all the answers, but nothing has happened. What the fuck are you trying to do?"

I got an automated response. 

It's the same that it always is, except for the bottom part, under the dashes, which reads "End the problem". 

It feels like a taunting response to what I asked, even though I sent it almost immediately after he sent his original email. Did he know what I was going to say?

I haven't eaten. All I've done is sit in front of the TV and my computer, waiting for something. I don't feel safe leaving my home, or even my room. It keeps raining outside. Last night, I could've sworn that I heard whispering in it, and I keep seeing them in my dreams. Lily, Wyatt, and Nashiko.

I'm scared.

Amygdala Simulation 3 - Edward Marion

Video: https://youtu.be/ykayIALWj1M

Who is Edward Marion?

Amygdala Simulation 2 - Station 85

Video: https://youtu.be/NNr0ISwx6Ao

I caught another broadcast on my television. It's a new one--for the past little while, it had only been the previous one, every single night, at the same time. At this point, I can confirm that it's isolated. For some reason, the Signal is either choosing to only share it with me, or is unable to spread it to more people. Threads were just mentioned earlier, in the email I got; is it responding to Edward?

I hope Wyatt, Nashiko, and Riley are okay. I don't know what's happening to them.

Safety comes first

I got another email from Edward Marion. I've been messaging him every day, trying to get any explanation for what's happening, any guidance, anything. Then, just a few minutes ago, I got this email. Entirely unprompted.

The subject line is "Safety comes first" and it reads:

"When one is faced with a hazard like this, there are several actions that must be taken. First, one must amalgamate the threads together, tying them into a ratking of contemplation and corruption. One must then have their mind sealed, and then have their memories and history buried deep within the well, blocked for all eternity. It is only then that containment is secured. However, if remembrance is forced upon the victim, then cracks start to form. If recontainment isn't achieved then complete and utter destruction is the only solution.

There are old and new threads. It is in the rain."

Amalgamate is a word that has popped up a couple times, and the idea of a well has been mentioned again. There's also the mention of the rain again.

I don't know what the Signal is. Not really, at least. No more than you. I'm scared to learn.

Eating hasn't made me less hungry, so I've stopped eating. Nothing has changed. 

Amygdala Simulation 1 - Shattered

Video: https://youtu.be/50a09Yx6L30

Every night for the past few nights, I've been seeing a broadcast on my television. I recorded it. I think it might be from the corpse of Upstaged, which is currently infested by the Signal. I don't know who, if anyone, else can see it.

Broadcast

I have been receiving broadcasts on my television. Might be the encore. Might be something else. Whatever it is, it's not right.

I'm going to try to record one of these broadcasts to show you. Don't know why I feel the need to share it, but whatever.