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.

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?