Project Assembly Line 0: Project Proposal

I got another download prompt from Marionettes today.

I downloaded it.

What I got was this image:

It's the original file that was sent to the board by Edward to start Project Assembly Line. It reads:

"UPSTAGED COMMUNICATIONS

PROJECT ASSEMBLY LINE

Submitted to the board for approval on October 17th, 2006.

To the board,

I trust that you are all staying safe; it should be impossible to penetrate the room's defenses by the unseemly forces currently working against us. As per your request, I have identified the cause of the unfortunate circumstances we have found ourselves in, and have theorized a potential solution for the current problem. 

A flaw was found within Marionettes, exploited by SIGNAL through an unwitting vessel in Penelope Adams, which has resulted in the contamination of Upstaged Communications. It has spread through all stations with little difficulty, due to the increasing instability meshing them all together, and it has claimed almost all employees as receivers. However, it has experienced an unexpected roadblock; it is unable to propagate beyond the stations without a second active transmission tower, which it lacks due to my efforts. This leaves it vulnerable. 

The solution I am proposing will result in the recapture of SIGNAL, and trap it in a new host. This is Project Assembly Line.

The first step is to deactivate the current primary transmission tower, Penelope. This means it must be unwound from her hippocampus and amygdala. To free her hippocampus, the history of Upstaged's relationship with SIGNAL must be amalgamated into her mind, overwhelming it, ensuring a release. To free her amygdala, the primary source of her fear must be conquered, so that she is able to fight back. Following that, regaining control of Marionettes is imperative, while the removal of all tainted employees is necessary. Finally, Marionettes will be used to erase the amalgamated memories within her, which will result in the complete deactivation of the transmission tower, while forcing SIGNAL to become dormant.

I have assembled the remaining employees into a group willing to carry out Project Assembly Line. However, for this to work, I will need access to the entirety of Upstaged Communications, which requires your approval. 

Please let me know your response as soon as possible. I would be happy to find you in person to discuss this in further detail. I know how to find you. 

Thank you,

Edward Marion

Upstaged Communications HR

Dpt. 85"

This is project Assembly Line.

I don't know how to feel. The plan is to have me learn everything important about the Signal and Upstaged, free me of my fears somehow, retake Marionettes, remove all "tainted" employees (which sounds bad), and then use Marionettes to erase my memories. Just... proof. Gone. 

I kind of want that. This entire thing has been awful. I've been learning about and doing things that I never would've thought possible, and it's horrible. I feel like everything is my fault. I don't want to deal with it. I just want it to go away.

I don't know what it means by remove the "tainted" employees, though. I assume that means the receivers? What does remove mean? Thinking about it, I haven't heard from most of the past employees since Upstaged closed. Riley mentioned death being a possible solution... well, I hope there's a way out for Lily, Joshua, and Thomas. I don't want them to be hurt. They didn't do anything. All of this was my fault. 

Riley did offer me a way out. I'm sure there's a plan for those three, too. 

If this is what it takes to fix everything, I'll do it. I'm just worried about whether it'll actually work. I didn't remember what happened to Upstaged after the station closed, and completely forgot about it all until I received this package. It must've been a clean memory swipe, too, because Riley said I saw her in 2016, but I didn't recognize her. I think I would've recognized her, after everything we did together, but I guess not. So what happened? Why didn't it work? What's different this time?

I trust Riley and Edward. I'll do whatever it takes. I'm just worried things won't end the way they're supposed to.

Letter from Riley

Marionettes did something weird today.

I got a download prompt, out of nowhere, from Riley. It was for a file called "letter.pdf". I didn't think she had any control left, so I was concerned that it was another ruse from the Signal. However, I can't even begin to think of why it'd try to do something like this, so I downloaded it, and opened it. It's not like I have anything left to lose, right?

Just as it said, there was a letter. A letter from Riley. 

It was one and a half pages long. I'll copy the entire thing here:

"Penelope, this is Riley. I tried to warn you, but you didn't listen. You're not good at that, are you?

Unfortunately, you'll have to listen now, because you're the only hope we have left, now that everything's gone wrong. The Riley you talked to wasn't me. It was a fabrication of the Signal. Because of your efforts prior, it managed to get almost complete control of Marionettes, and because of your recent efforts, it managed to stabilize Station 85.

It can't start the show quite yet, though, because it doesn't have Edward; unfortunately, he's now in a compromised position, so he can't help you or me anymore. He was living, if you could call it that, in the fluctuations of Station 85. With them, he was able to make sure the receivers were never truly close to where he was, effortlessly slipping to a different layer or room as he flowed with the station. However, you stabilized the station, which means he now has to actively hide, so he can't talk to you anymore. Or Nashiko, Wyatt, or I; then again, he always seemed to talk to you to talk to us, instead of directly to us. Probably figured it would identify where we are or where he was if he tried to contact us directly. Anyways, we're going to have to do this without him. Safety comes first, after all.

There's a plan to end the Signal. You're an active transmission tower, which leaves us two options: you can die, or it can be contained. I'm guessing you'd rather not die, so we're going to have to start a delicate procedure to unravel it from your mind, and contain it. Tendrils of teeth and blood are sprouting from your cerebellum and wrapped around your hippocampus and amygdala, which has allowed it to ravage your memories, and allowed it to tap into your fears to manipulate you. I'm flattered you worry so much about me, by the way. 

This is the last chance to fix all of this. There is one good thing, though. The exploit you found in Marionettes, which freed the Signal? I can use it now, through the remote communicator I have. The fake me lied about who it was and what it wanted, but it did try to stick as close to the truth as possible, and it was right: the communicator I have gives me more privileges in Marionettes than the average user. That's because it's your old communicator, Penelope. Ain't that funny? And since you found the exploit through this, I was able to, as well. That means it can't stop me from sending you what needs to be sent. However, I need to scan physical documents from Edward's desk, which he had been preparing while you were lacking patience. I have the documents, but scanning these will take some time. Especially since the three of us have to dodge the receivers in a now fully stable station. After that, I'll be sending them to you through Marionettes, the same way I sent this. The Signal can read this, but it can't stop it, and can't tamper with the files at all.

Some of this is going to be weird. You won't always understand why you're being shown what you're being shown. However, Edward carefully prepared it, and it worked on him. It should work on you. You just gotta be patient. 

Just for the record, I'm still pissed off at you. But that doesn't matter right now. Responsibility can be doled out once this is over. For now, let's get to work, and begin Project Assembly Line.

    - Riley"

That was the letter. I briefly considered that it might be the Signal, but this is definitely Riley. Only she would insult me while telling me to help. She was a little like that even when we were on good terms. The Signal's copy was too nice. I should've noticed it then, but... well, hindsight, and all that.

Riley said that Edward was talking to her and the other two through me. That explains why he was so cryptic. He knew the others would be listening, but that means that the Signal would've been, too. He had to walk a fine line of making sure I understood what he said, making sure Riley and the others could understand what he was saying, and making sure the Signal couldn't. I feel bad for blaming him now. Something that weirds me out, though, is Riley saying "He was living, if you could call it that," which is weird to me. What was happening to Edward?

Project Assembly Line was first mentioned back when Edward first contacted me, when I was attempting to recover the image of Lily. It feels like he's been planning for this for a while. 

Lile Riley said, I'd rather not die, so I'm going to do this. Whatever this is. I need to do my part to end the Signal, after everything I've done to help it, accidentally or not. 

Just to be thorough, I emailed Edward, asking him if he was okay, and if he could see what I sent. I didn't get a response from him, just an automatic response.

It's the same as always, except for the bottom part. It now reads: "SAFETY COMES FIRST
I WILL HIDE
ONLY SILENCE
BEGIN ASSEMBLY LINE"

I guess we're on our own, now.

Amygdala Simulation 5 - Stability

Video: https://youtu.be/DS2zAzRNKFs

I'm an active transmission tower. Edward was the second, but the Signal described him as "broken" in Amygdala Simulation 3, which I'm guessing is what has been limiting it thus far. What will happen if the Signal manages to reach him, too?

There was a message at the end; seemingly another interjection, like the one in Amygdala Simulation 4. It reads: "YOU WILL RECEIVE A LETTER - RILEY"

I guess it's time to wait. I don't know for what, though. I don't know what can be done to fix this. 

Untitled Broadcast (UPDATE)

Someone figured out the audio part of the untitled broadcast.

If you can't read what it says, it's from "Pokyt" and reads: "Hi I'm only seeing this now but I found out what's hidden in untitled broadcast. The beeping is 'This is Riley do not continue it lies please stop' in morse code."

I still don't know what the visual part was, but I'm going to assume it was along the same lines. The real Riley was trying to warn me this entire time. 

Riley & Penelope: Chat Log 6

Everything went wrong.

[/begin_chat_log]

8:50 [Riley] I don't have much time

8:50 [Riley] in a moment, your closet door will open

8:50 [Riley] go through so you can stabilize station 85

8:50 [Riley] you can fix this

8:50 [Riley] please, trust me

At that point, my closet door swung open. I went and looked. I blinked, and I was outside, on the path that Riley had said she was trapped at before. Nobody was in front of me. Not the receivers, not Nashiko, not Wyatt, and not Riley. However, I did hear a gasp, and felt as if the world had shifted behind me in an unbearably cold transformation,  so that whoever was there was gone. I couldn't focus on that, though. There was the irresistible feeling that something was wrong in the sky. 

I looked up, and I saw it. There was a hole in the sky, and I could see the Signal within. I then passed out, and dreamt. What I dreamt was seen in the rest of the video. 

Marionettes was communicating to me through my dreams. Edward managed to hijack it, taking control back for a moment to deliver his message. I was able to see his face unobscured for the first time. He looks dead. His message read:

"LIES WERE BELIEVED

SAFETY IS ABANDONED

PLAN WAS UPSTAGED

ALL IS THREATENED"

Scattered throughout the rest of his message was the station monitor system. I was able to see that the building was slowly regaining stability. First, it went from 0.0 to 3.5.

"NASHIKO SAW HER FRIENDS KILLED

IT SAVED HER BUT LEFT HER WITH RAGE

SHE IS NO LONGER PROTECTED"

The stability raised from 3.5 to 6.2.

"WYATT SAW HIS FATHER FIGURE DISAPPEAR

HE WENT SEARCHING AND FOUND HIM WRONG

HE IS NO LONGER PROTECTED"

The stability raised from 6.2 to 8.5.

"RILEY SAW THE LOSS OF ONE SHE LOVED

DESPITE HER WARNINGS, THERE WAS ONLY FAILURE

SHE IS NO LONGER PROTECTED"

The stability raised from 8.5 to 10. When it did, it could finally count the staff present, which was 4. Nashiko, Wyatt, Riley, and one other. Not me. The warning then changed multiple times. It started as "Warning: Avoid building at all costs." It then changed to "Warning: Station at full stability." After that, it changed to "Warning: Safe movement is no longer possible." Finally, it changed to "Warning: Hide."

The Signal interrupted Marionettes, at that point, taking control back from Edward. It said: "presence of transmission tower 1 has transmitted desired stability to station 85"

It then switched back to the chat log. I could still see it, in my dream, but it engulfed the whole of my vision. It changed, and someone else started talking. Not Riley. This entire time, it wasn't Riley. Not since she closed the original chat thread to me, back when Marionettes was taken over by the Signal.

█:██ [U0lHTkFM] thank you for your help

█:██ [U0lHTkFM] it is only a matter of time now

The name is base64, which translates to SIGNAL.

After that, there was one last message from Edward. 

"SAFETY COMES FIRST
I WILL HIDE
ONLY SILENCE"

The Signal completely wrested control back at that point, and shut Marionettes back down. I saw the broken Upstaged Communications logo until I woke up. I was back in my chair, like nothing had happened. The broken logo was on my screen. My closet door was closed. I thought that it was just a nightmare, but then I picked up the broadcast on my television.

In roundabout terms, Edward told me to not trust Riley. I thought this was a trick, or that he was out to stop me, but he wasn't. He was trying to warn me that she wasn't real. She did say Ed in chat log 5, which I've only heard the Signal use. I should've known. Especially with the interjected warning on Amygdala Simulation 4.

I don't know what will happen, now that Station 85 is stabilized. I thought it'd fix things, but it didn't. It made things worse. 

Everything went wrong. 

Upstaged

Video: https://youtu.be/VE5IhLXcImc

This broadcast appeared on my television almost 12 hours later

Tendrils of teeth and blood

I got another unprompted email from Edward. The subject line is "Tendrils of teeth and blood" and this was the email:

It reads: "They are wrapped around amygdala and hippocampus, writhing and salivating as they twist and distort all thoughts from the source of emanation. Sinew spreads through the grey matter, transmitting all abhorrent desires.

A plan is in progress, and will reveal itself soon. Do not believe. Do not give in. Do not become its marionette. Ignore. Patience." 

There was also an image. I'll get to that in a moment. 

I replied. I'm desperate for something.

I said: "When is soon? And what is it going to try to make me do? What's your plan? Please, just give me something. Anything."

It appears he heard my plea. 

It's the normal automated response, except for the segment beneath the dashes. It changed to read: "Patience, assembly line begins soon"

"Assembly Line" was mentioned multiple times. I can remember it appearing when Edward left me the message he left while I was recovering the image of Lily; I also remember Marionettes saying that it needed to be restarted, before it completely died, and got taken over by the Signal. I'm not sure what it is.

This was the image that Edward sent me.

I checked multiple different things, and there's nothing hidden in it. I'm pretty sure there was in the untitled broadcast, even if I still can't figure it out, but there's nothing here that I can see. I'm guessing this is a visualization of the tendrils of teeth and blood that Edward mentioned. They were also mentioned by Marionettes, before it fully died. They look like puppet strings, more than anything. 

I know Edward's warning me against something. I can't tell what, though. He's being too vague on what it is I need to avoid doing. I'll just do my best to be careful, I guess. 

Something is going to happen soon. I think my next update will be that. Hopefully it's me being able to stabilize Station 85, and save Riley, along with the others. If I'm able to get them back, I think there's a much better chance of being able to stop this thing.

I wonder where Edward is right now.