Amygdala Simulation 7 - Deplorable Ratking

Video: https://youtu.be/3gUhid83Lr4

I do not believe it.

Project Assembly Line 5: Wyatt Reed

Riley sent me another download. 

It's called "pal5.pdf" and is a file over Wyatt. Like Nashiko's, there's a weird shadow thing over it. It's slightly different than the last one, though.

This one's even longer, at 7 pages and a little bit. There's the cover page, and the rest is text. Here's what it said:

PROJECT ASSEMBLY LINE

SUBJECT #5: WYATT REED

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

"NAME: WYATT REED

STATION: #85

POSITION: SCRIPT WRITER

In January of 1975, Kellen Reed married Cassidy Marion. The two had a wonderful wedding day, and nine months later, their first son was born. They named him Wyatt.

The first four years of Wyatt's life were as close to perfect as one could hope for. Kellen was an attorney, which earned him a fair amount of money, giving Cassidy the opportunity to stay at home with Wyatt. He was raised exactly as his parents wanted, and was showing some promising signs of being a rather bright kid. He was talking and walking earlier than most, and had a natural curiosity about the world around him. However, in March of 1979, disaster struck.

Kellen got in a car accident. It was nobody's fault; it was late at night, and black ice coated the road, so nobody could control where they were going. Someone's car slid at an intersection as he was driving past, crashing into the driver's side. He died almost instantly. Cassidy was in shambles--she had just lost the love of her life, and wasn't able to take care of her son and work a job at the same time. He had some money stashed away, just in case, so they would be able to survive until she got a job, but she needed someone to help take care of him.

She had always been close to her brother. The two supported each other at their lowest moments, and he visited frequently, even helping take care of baby Wyatt when he could. Although she didn't want to burden him, he was more than willing to help them out. He didn't make nearly as much money as Kellen, but he could act as Wyatt's father figure as he grew up, offering him support and taking care of him when Cassidy wasn't able to. Kellen was buried in April, and Edward Marion started taking care of his nephew. 

Over the next ten years, the two grew close. Wyatt grew to see Edward as a father, and Edward loved Wyatt like his own son. Cassidy did her best to be in her child's life, but she was often out at work, having been hired as a nurse at a hospital, while Edward had a lot more free time. He worked at a local news station during the day, when Wyatt was at school, so by night he was able to cook him food, play games with him, and make sure he wasn't alone. He even showed his nephew around the station he worked at a couple times, showing him the ins and outs of the broadcasting world. Edward's coworkers weren't always thrilled, but Wyatt loved it, finding it fascinating. He was especially enthralled by the chaotic, loose nature of the research and writing, finding it incredible that people could figure out how to fairly and accurately represent something that had happened just hours prior, in some situations. 

Despite the hardship and difficulty inherent to the family's situation, the household was staying afloat until October 3rd, 1989. It was a Tuesday. Wyatt, 14 years old, was sent off to school by Edward, as his mother had to work a double shift at the hospital she worked at; he promised that he'd take the three of them out for dinner that night, despite the fact that it was a school night. Wyatt was excited.

When he returned from school, Edward wasn't there. Figuring that he was kept late at his job for some reason, he waited, watching television. When he turned it on, there was an issue--all he saw was a colorful distortion, with broken, uncomfortable music slithering through the speakers. While he was watching, he could've sworn he saw a symbol in the noise. A strange, tree-looking thing, which entrapped his vision. It almost felt as if the television was talking--or, rather, like something in the television was reaching out to him, desperately trying to make him understand. He only looked up when the broadcast was cut, leaving only static. It had been several hours, and his mom had finally woken up from her nap, which she was taking when he got home. 

Edward still wasn't home. 

A day passed. Then a week. Then more. Months passed, and Edward was nowhere to be found. His house had been sold the week after his disappearance in a private sale, his car was nowhere to be found, and his coworkers said that he never showed up to work that Tuesday; however, someone had broken into the station and trashed it, destroying thousands upon thousands of dollars of important equipment, alongside stealing the central database server for the station. Whoever it was could never be identified, as the entire security apparatus was destroyed. They suspected that he finally had enough from the stress, broke down, went on a vengeful rampage, and ran. He was gone. 

Cassidy mourned and fell into a deep depression, believing that her brother had abandoned her and her son. Wyatt, however, refused to believe it. He knew his uncle; he wouldn't leave unless it was for a reason. If it really was true that he trashed the station and stole the central server, then he must've done it for a reason. It was a weird coincidence that, on the same day, Wyatt saw the strange broadcast on the television. He couldn't shake the feeling that the two were connected. 

Believing that Edward was still out there, he went searching far and wide. He tried to look at all nearby businesses, tried to track down who he sold his house to, and when he had access to the internet, attempted to search for any mention of Edward Marion in the news. It was no use. It was as if he had completely vanished. 

That was, until September 17th, 1999. Wyatt had just graduated from university that spring, having gotten a bachelor's degree in journalism, so that he could work as a writer at a local news station. As he looked for places that would hire him, however, he found that a larger news station was searching for freshly minted graduates: Upstaged Communications. 

Intrigued by why it would be looking for recent graduates when it was such a large and prestigious company, he investigated it a little, trying to see what was going on. He found nothing shady or peculiar about the company, outside of two facts: one, it was founded on October 17th, 1989. Two, the founder was Edward Marion. His uncle. He immediately applied, and was accepted as a script writer in Station 48. 

While he worked there, he tried to find a way to reach Edward. However, he couldn't. Edward had stationed himself in Station 85, as the head of HR. Wyatt knew that Edward saw his application and approved it, but he didn't know if Edward intentionally let his nephew work at his company, or if he had simply forgotten. Wyatt hoped that he was let in.

In the meantime, he worked hard at his job, diligently investigating stories for the station. His work was most frequently used during the nighttime programming, with Joshua O'Dell and him forming a part of the skeleton crew that ran the station at night. Whenever he had extra time, however, he went diving through the Marionettes archives, in an attempt to find any mention of Edward, or of the strange broadcast he saw the day his uncle disappeared. 

There were only a few files that mentioned Edward by name, and they were all locked, leaving him unable to access them. He was, however, able to learn more of the broadcast he saw. He saw a recording of the same symbol on a distorted rainbow background. The file name was coded, but it translated to SIGNAL. It was then that he knew his search wasn't in vain, and that he was going to learn why Edward did what he did. Learn why Edward abandoned him, and his mother. During his tenure at Upstaged, he chose not to tell his mother about Edward, just in case. 

Several years later, on September 19th, 2006, he was able to convince his higher-ups to transfer him to Station 85. His first day there officially began on October 13th, 2006. He did his job diligently on his first day, but when it was closing time, he decided against spending time or talking with the other employees, leaving him a relatively unknown face in the station. Other employees, such as Riley Donnelly, never had a clue that he had transferred in the first place. Instead, he immediately went to the office of Edward Marion.

He was not in the office that day. Nor the 14th, or 15th. He was only able to reach Edward on the 16th at nearly 11:53 PM, hours after he was supposed to leave. 

When Wyatt finally saw Edward again, he wasn't sure what he expected. He would be aged, certainly, and might take a moment to recognize Wyatt, but maybe when he saw his nephew, he'd be happy. However, when Wyatt saw his uncle for the first time in 17 years, he recoiled, left horrified at his decayed body. It looked as if he were a walking corpse, barely held together by the last vestiges of life dripping through his veins. Edward saw Wyatt, with little more than an empty smile on his face, and motioned for him to enter his office. The two had a lot to discuss.

Edward apologized for abandoning Wyatt and his mom, saying that he knew what he did hurt the family, and that it hurt him more than Wyatt could ever imagine. However, there was something more important to tend to. Wyatt screamed at him, demanded to know what could possibly be more important than his family, when someone knocked on the door. It was midnight of the 17th. 

Riley entered, panicking, saying that something had happened. The three of them rushed out, and immediately recognized that everything had begun to fall apart. Edward looked at the two of them, and told them that the Signal had escaped, and was starting to spread from person to person; he told them that he would explain more later, but he needed their utmost cooperation and trust, no matter what, or else they risked every single person within these stations dying. They agreed. It was then that the stations started to fluctuate in unison, melding together, as Wyatt fell through the floor. There were no exits.

He went searching for Edward again, avoiding all receivers that had been created. he knew better than to approach them, as he remembered the day his uncle disappeared, where he was entranced by the television. He suspected that it could do worse than that now. Eventually, he found Joshua, and the two of them found Edward, who told them of a plan to save them all from the horrible fate the company had wrought upon all of its employees. He was one of the eight that survived the events that began October 17th, 2006.

Just like Thomas, Joshua, Lily, and Nashiko, he was free once the Signal was trapped. His memory had suffered a moderate amount of damage, similar to Joshua; he forgot the specifics of the Signal, and forgot of his relation to Edward Marion, along with his uncle's entire existence. He could not remember the terrible acts he committed at Edward's command. When the Signal started back up in 2016, he was called back. He was sent a package on October 1st, 2018, and received it October 3rd, 2018. He received it the same day as Thomas, Joshua, Lily, and Nashiko.

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

That's the end of the file.

I didn't realize that Edward and Wyatt were related. I guess it makes sense, though. They look somewhat similar.

In 1989, Edward saw the Signal for the first time. I'm positive of that. That's probably was the weird broadcast that Wyatt received at his home. What happened that day, though? How did Edward know that was going to happen, and how did he know to stop it? I'm also wondering what's with the packages sent to everyone. I'm assuming Edward sent them, right? Why did he call everyone back? And what is it exactly that Wyatt and the others did that Edward ordered them to do?

Him looking like a corpse... well, it fits what I've seen of him. I wonder what made him like that.

Project Assembly Line 4: Nashiko Morita

Got another download from Riley.

It's called "pal4.pdf" and it's a file over Nashiko. Interestingly, this download screen has some darkness over it. Almost looks like a shadow, or something. Not sure what it is. 

This one is longer, at 5 pages and a couple paragraphs. Like the others, the first page is the cover page, and the rest is writing. Here's what it said:

PROJECT ASSEMBLY LINE

SUBJECT #4: NASHIKO MORITA

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

"NAME: NASHIKO MORITA

STATION: #48
POSITION: ANCHOR/BOARD MEMBER

In 1989, Edward Marion needed to contain the Signal. To do so, he created a system called Marionettes, which was capable of imprisoning it, stopping its deplorable spread. However, he needed funding to develop and maintain this system. Equipment costs money, after all. He came from a background in television, so he created a company, named Upstaged Communications. However, he was not interested in the day to day runnings of the company, so he chose to focus his time almost exclusively on Marionettes, while also acting as the head of the human resources department. This was a sensitive situation, so he needed to be the one to screen potential hires, and review the actions of problematic employees. In order to run the company, he set up a board of 12 employees, who decided what to do with the company. He would only step in if there was a deadlock, acting as a tiebreaker. They had control otherwise. Nashiko Morita was one of the individuals selected to be on the board.

None of the board had any family or other close connections. This is why they were selected. When Nashiko was found by Edward, she was working a dead-end job as a janitor for the company he used to work for. Despite her employer's disbelief at her potential, he recognized her decisiveness, her willpower, and her determination, despite the weariness she felt from working such a thankless job. He offered her a chance to change--a way to make a difference in the world, to be a known and trusted face to thousands, and a way to meet more people like her. People who understood her. Nashiko, despite her initial reluctance to believe such a wondrous proposal, decided to take him up on his offer, and joined Upstaged Communications. She was hired as a daytime anchor of Station 29, but she was also inaugurated to the board, helping with the day-to-day decisions of the company so that Edward could focus on his project. 

Edward wanted transparency with his actions, so he informed the board of the Signal. Nashiko and the others did not believe what they were being told until they saw it first hand, when Edward gave them a glimpse. Not enough to harm them, but enough to impress upon them the importance of Marionette's completion and maintenance. She saw a flicker of the future that never was, a flicker of the destruction it would leave in its wake if it were to ever break free. It broke her, and left her terrified, but she knew what had to be done. The company opened faster than anyone had expected, on October 17th, 1989. 

She did a wonderful job as an anchor at Station 29, but found it to be smaller than she had hoped for. By her own request, she was moved to Station 48, the second and much larger station to open. As soon as she moved, she instantly became well-loved by the ones watching at home. As Edward had promised, she became the trusted face of the news for thousands, covering a large portion of the midwest during prime hours. The rest of her employees and board respected her, and even grew to like her. Meanwhile, other board members proved themselves to be shrewd and resourceful, and managed to rapidly expand the company over the 17 years it was active. 5 years in, they were a national presence, having stations across the country; 10 years in, they were a household name. They competed with industry titans, slowly taking over local TV stations that were beginning to run out of money, and replacing them with stations that people kept their eyes on. It took the lead role in the propagation of news in the United States, and was even exploring expansion into Canada. 

Nashiko was thriving as the company did the same. Her life had been stagnant and dreadful for years, decades, but she was finally able to have everything she wanted. She had friends, a stable job that paid well, people who respected her and her work, and even the knowledge that she was helping save the world. The Signal would be contained. Everything would work out.

It did not.

When the clock struck midnight on October 17th, 2006, something happened. An exploit was found within Marionettes. A flaw. This let the Signal break free, and transform the one who found it. Penelope became a transmission tower. Edward's role as number one was upstaged, and he was left scrambling, trying to find a way to fix it. He had a contingency plan if the Signal ever escaped, but he never thought it would have escaped through someone else. As such, while the board was kept safe, he and the rest of the employees were not. Despite his precarious position, however, he devised a plan.

Although he was the founder of the company, the board held all the power. He structured it this way on purpose, so that he wouldn't have to worry about the money-making and legal sides of Upstaged, and could focus on the Signal. As such, to enact his plan, he needed approval from the board, to let him access all sensitive material within the stations. Employee files and history files on not just the regular employees, but on the board, too. They were a necessary part of the plan to re-contain it. All history had to be amalgamated into the new transmission tower.

A proposal was quickly drafted and sent to the board for Project Assembly Line. Edward was confident that it would be approved as soon as they got it, allowing him to act before all employees perished. After all, he knew how to contain the Signal, and knew how to stop it from being able to spread again. Unfortunately, the board had some ideas, left to stew over the years the company was flourishing, with the ingredients given the day Edward showed them the potential of the Signal. Maybe there was an alternative to both Edward's desired future and the Signal's desired future. When the meeting was called, Nashiko watched in horror as all of her friends convinced themselves that they could use the Signal to further their media empire, and transform it into something with real power. They thought they could control it. And, if they could control it, maybe letting it spread to all employees was a good idea, so that they had the pieces needed to win. When a vote came up to approve Project Assembly Line, Nashiko was the only one to vote in favor of it. It died at 11-1.

The verdict reached Edward shortly after, as he continued to collect the few employees that had managed to avoid the spread. He knew he had no alternative, if he was to defeat the Signal before it took him and the rest. He found the safe room the board was in. A gun was in his hand. Forty eight seconds later, Nashiko was the only one left. She watched as all her friends were turned into crimson stains against the stone walls of their bunker. Her entire world had been ruined in the blink of an eye, leaving her with nothing inside but the rage that sped through her veins, festering as she watched her friends die one by one at the hands of Edward.

Despite her burning hatred, however, there was no time to lose. No matter what she may have felt towards Edward, the Signal was worse. When he held his hand out, she was forced to grit her teeth and accept it, knowing that she had to help stop the Signal, before it ended all. She was one of the eight that survived the events that began on October 17th, 2006.

As was the case with Thomas, Joshua, and Lily, she was free once the Signal was trapped. Her memory suffered only minor damage, similar to Thomas, so she remembered the death of her friends, and the blood-soaked hallways she waded through. Of course, certain specifics escaped her, along with the memories of what she did to paint those halls red. Unfortunately, the Signal awoke in 2016, so she was called back once again. She was sent a package on October 1st, 2018, and received it on October 3rd, 2018. She received it the same day as Thomas, Joshua, Lily, and Wyatt.

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.

Ms. Morita was the board member that got Thomas a job at Upstaged. I didn't realize that Nashiko was that board member. Although the board made collective decisions to pass down to the employees, it was never revealed who they were. I had no idea they were all normal employees.

The Signal tried to misrepresent what happened with the board and employees. At the same time, I don't know how to react. Edward did what he perceived as necessary, to stop the Signal. Stopping the Signal is more important than anything, if the future is as terrible as the board and Edward saw. At the same time... was there truly no other way to convince the board? That can't have been the only option, especially if Nashiko was willing to help him. Right?

I don't know. Each one of these has mentioned the person being talked about doing something horrible. This is the most direct of all. What did Nashiko and the rest do? It also mentioned that Edward started Upstaged in 1989, the year he discovered the Signal. I wonder how he found it in the first place. I guess we'll see.

It's good to hear that she hasn't been captured yet. I'll do everything I can to save her, Wyatt, and Riley. Whatever it takes.

Brief respite

Something just happened that I wasn't expecting. I was about to go to sleep, but I heard a chime from my phone. It was an email from Edward.

The subject line is "Brief respite" and it reads:

"Hiding spot has allowed for a brief respite to communicate a truth:

There is only one chance."

I immediately shot an email back, asking "One chance for what?" I probably could have asked more, but I figured that he wouldn't actually respond, given what Riley said. If he truly is as vulnerable as she said he is, then this kind of a thing is a one-time deal until things are safe. Like he kept on saying, safety comes first. At the same time, if this was important enough to reveal himself, even temporarily, then any clarification would have been helpful, and worth asking for.

My suspicions were confirmed when he didn't respond, and I instead received an automatic response. 

There was a change, however. At the bottom, it now reads: "I saw the future"

I want to know what he saw. Unfortunately, he isn't going to be around to answer, if I had to guess, so I'm probably going to have to wait until his file is reached in Project Assembly Line. 

In the meantime, I noticed that in Amygdala Simulation 6, the mention of only one surviving Edward's massacre of the board was accompanied by a picture of Nashiko. But she was an anchor at Station 48, not a board member, I thought. Although, now that I think about it, I don't remember a single person who was on the board. I don't know if we were ever told. 

I'm still hungry. It's only gotten worse.

Amygdala Simulation 6 - No Alternative (UPDATE)

Someone noticed something in the most recent Amygdala Simulation. More intrusions from Riley.

The first intrusion was one I picked up, which read: "YOU NEED CONTEXT - RILEY", which was at the beginning, before it properly started. However, there were two more that I missed. One in the middle of the video, and one at the end. 

The first is at around 30 seconds, before the video starts talking about the board. It reads: "IT PROMISES SOMETHING UNFATHOMABLY HORRIFYING - RILEY"

The second is right at the end, before it cuts off. It reads: "IT OFFERS LIES WE CAN BE FREE AND SAVE THOSE LEFT - RILEY"

I wonder what the Signal's goal is here. I know it wants to spread. That much is clear. It's taking over people to aid its spread. But what does it actually want? What is this "unfathomably horrifying" future it wants? Obviously the board of Upstaged must've seen some potential in that future, if they were considering it. Then again, they were the ones that were considering using the Signal, so I don't know whether the future they saw would've been good for much of anyone. At the same time, it's hard to imagine many scenarios that justify murdering eleven people, or abandoning however many dozens of employees. Edward had a plan; why wouldn't it have worked?

Amygdala Simulation 6 - No Alternative

Video: https://youtu.be/r5vsRBsgayw

There was an intrusion in the beginning, from Riley. It said: "YOU NEED CONTEXT - RILEY"

I am listening.

Project Assembly Line 3: Lily Boyce

Another new download from Riley.

It's called "pal3.pdf" and it's a file over Lily.

This is a little longer, at 3 pages, and a paragraph after. The first page is the cover page, the rest is writing. Here's what it said: 

PROJECT ASSEMBLY LINE

SUBJECT #3: LILY BOYCE

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

"NAME: LILY BOYCE

STATION: #48

POSITION: CAMERA GRIP

Lily Boyce was hired on November 8th, 2002 as a camera grip for Station 48. She was bouncing around jobs when she caught the ad on the news; Upstaged Communications offered a training program to anyone who wished to join the station. She took the job, despite her lack of interest, because she needed the money. Her landlord was starting to get antsy about late payments. 

The job was simple in concept, but difficult in execution. She was part of a team of two responsible for the camera. Not just turning it on and off, but positioning it, while maintaining all the equipment that kept it in place. Tripods, dollies, cranes--it was all handled by the two of them. She was barely trained by the time her coworker left, leaving her as the only grip. It was a hard job, one that should've been shared, but the company refused to hire more. Claimed it'd just be a waste of money. So she worked.

Given how much was put on her, it was no surprise that she turned to outside sources to help herself. Both men and substances. It was a poorly kept secret, which is why nobody believed her when she said she saw something, on the camera. A signal intrusion, but one that wasn't recorded, despite being shown on the screen. It showed her a strange symbol of a dead tree, stripped of all leaves, that was glitching. Nobody else saw it, so they brushed it aside, while the board warned her against talking about it again, as it was supposedly causing a distraction. In order to buy her silence, they gave her the day after off, with Riley Donnelly substituting from Station 85. 

When she didn't tell anyone is that it spoke, too. The intrusion said: "SIGNAL FREQUENCY 22.22 RECEIVER POINT NULL PENDANT INACTIVE," which left her concerned. What was it talking about? What pendant? Was someone planning to hijack the station?

Given that she couldn't talk about what she saw, she decided to search through the Marionettes video archives, in an attempt to see if this had ever happened before. To her surprise, results turned up--she found a video in Marionettes, which showed a strange, distorted rainbow, with the same dead tree symbol on it. The video name was an encoded form of the word SIGNAL. She also found an image of a strange pendant, which had a similar symbol to the image labeled SIGNAL. It was at this point that Lily knew something was wrong at Upstaged, given that they had records of a hijacker, knew whomever it was may return, and yet did nothing to stop it. Whatever was going to happen was intended by the company. This much she knew. 

That's why she was prepared when the world fell apart. The Signal began to bleed out, and one by one, people fell to it, the pendant transferred between people like a virus. Lily, however, was able to recognize it, and avoided all employees that tried to pin her down, eventually falling into Station 85 due to the structural fluctuations. There, she found Edward, who told her of a plan to save them all from the horrible fate the company had wrought upon all of its employees. She was one of the eight that survived the events that began October 17th, 2006.

Just like with Thomas and Joshua, she was free once the Signal was trapped. Her memory suffered significant damage, however; she did not remember how the company closed, only that there was more to it than the official statement. She could not remember all the despicable deeds she performed to end it. When the Signal started back up in 2016, she was called back. She was sent a package on October 1st, 2018 and received it on October 3rd, 2018. She received it the same day as Thomas, Joshua, Nashiko, and Wyatt.

She was the first receiver the Signal was able to capture in 2018. There is no longer a Lily Boyce."

That's the end of the file. 

The company knew that something was going to happen with the Signal. The people in charge of it, at least; the board told her not to talk about it anymore, so I'm guessing it was them specifically. A consistent thing between all three files thus far is Edward saying that the company wrought some horrible fate upon all of its employees. What did the company want to do to its employees? What was its plan with the Signal? And how did Edward get involved?