WEBVTT
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Hey there, this is Jaran, facility manager at the Deep Earth Anomaly Department, located on the coastal street in East Antarctica, signing in for yet another cold shift.
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Um so I woke up tonight and there is to say the least something is going on.
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So currently I'm sitting by my desk in my office and when I woke up today I got out of bed and the room that I'm in, you know, it was the same.
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The chair was there, the bed was there, everything was there except for the the floor, the walls, the roof, or anything else.
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You know, I I I was in my room surrounded by by a pitch black darkness.
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And there were no echoes.
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No the the sound was just d d dead, completely still.
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It was so strange because I've never felt it before, and I I could hear the cells in my body, I could hear the blood flowing through my veins.
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So first I tried to to sing out loud, you know, and then I tried the ukulele just to experience the sound quality of the reality surrounding me.
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Then I started to think about what I should have thought about from the moment I woke up, which is, you know, what's happened.
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So I left my room, I I walked down the corridor.
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Now everything is still there, everything was still there in in the corridor, you know, the deep earth anomaly department, I mean the except the floor and ceiling and walls.
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They were it were all was gone.
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And I tried calling for Ingrid, I tried calling for Thomas, uh, the duplicate version of me, Johan the Duplicate, and Frederick, but I I got no reply from any of them.
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I I was utterly alone.
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And when I had been all over the facility, I I even went outside, which you know, there was nothing there, just pitch black darkness all around.
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I I think I must have walked for an hour.
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I but I I I could still see the facility.
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It was like it was fully lit, no shadows, nothing, it just hung there like a moon in in sunlight.
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I could see, however, the eight towers of the ocean floor.
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I had a ground to walk on, at least it felt like it, and I didn't fall through.
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So you know, I'm telling you, it's it it's it's it's really really strange.
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It was bizarre.
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So I got back to the facility, I sat down in the kitchen, made something to eat because you know you gotta eat.
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And then I thought, could this have something to do with the particle entanglement entangler that Thomas needed?
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You know, did he do an all an authorized subparticle reset?
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Because I remember the ice turning translucent once when I did it, but nothing like this at all.
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This is something new completely.
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So as I was sitting there in the kitchen trying to figure things out, I I swear I could hear my own heartbeat as if it was a drum in the distance.
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You know, as one would expect, to be honest, this sort of experience would cause your heart to go a little bit faster, if anything.
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So I I finished my food, uh, I had another cup of coffee, then I did the dishes.
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And sitting all alone in the kitchen like this reminded me a lot about my time serving in the war.
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You know, serving hot food to the soldiers, that is.
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Now I'm not sure if you all know mm or great divers from the far past, the far present, and far future.
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About the war.
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Let me tell you real quick about the the fourth war of uh Pritvi.
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Because it it all began when I was very young.
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Um maybe I was eight, ten, I don't know.
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And I I don't really remember what caused the war.
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Um which isn't that uh weird because no one really agrees what caused it.
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And personally, I think it was um culmination of multiple things.
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But you know, we we all needed water, which everyone agrees was fuel, so to speak, for the ravaging war machine.
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And uh you know, it was a world-world war with as many enemies as there are countries in the world.
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Uh yeah, some, however, like like Scandinavia, for instance, did for a time function as a stable coalition, for a couple of years at least, which apparently is when the Deep Earth Anomaly Department was formed.
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Anyways, the the size of one's army wasn't an indicator of how well your country did it in the war.
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All it took at that time was a brain unhinged enough to create godlike powers.
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You know, and when you have a hundred people in a race of that caliber, you know, it does become a hard war to end.
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And when I got stationed here, however, I stopped hearing about it.
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And I I still have no clue of what is going on in the world.
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I'm I hope they came to an agreement, but I must be honest, it was very refreshing to not take part in that anymore.
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And also, water isn't an issue here.
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I mean, I'm literally surrounded by it.
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I wasn't earlier though, and then I was surrounded by uh pitch black darkness.
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Strange thing to be walking outside, not freezing at all.
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I did feel anxious though that the facility would disappear and I would be left alone in the blackness.
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That would uh that wouldn't have been cool at all.
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Pardon the poem.
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Now outside uh outside, however, I didn't hear my heartbeat.
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Somehow I only heard it the closer I got to the facility, but it it it wasn't like a regular heartbeat, it was more erratic.
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You know.
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Now I don't blame my heart for having a little bit of panic.
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Um totally normal given the circumstances.
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But I just couldn't shake the feeling that this was all the the blackness weird thing that I was uh around, surrounded by.
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I couldn't shake the feeling that all of that was connected to what Frederick talked about, the to the research being linked with this place, and you know, is this some sort of leftover effect from the research or is Thomas still working on it?
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But yeah, when when I came into the main corridor again from my trip outside, I I started to think and suspect that the heartbeat I heard wasn't really my heart.
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Because it wasn't coming from my chest, and the sound didn't correspond to the feeling of my heart.
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So I think it came from somewhere within the facility and somewhere within the pitch black darkness that I had been swallowed by.
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So I I followed the sound all over the place.
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First I went up to the room where Howard the Duke used to live.
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But that was the source.
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You know, his quarters were was nothing more than a memory of what it actually is like.
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Then I checked the kitchen, I checked the shower areas, the pantry, crew areas, common room, all over.
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I checked the entire facility and I couldn't locate it.
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So I thought perhaps the duplicate version of me was in the vents.
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Uh but I tried calling, I tried knocking on walls, nothing.
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And then I put my ear into the door leading to the basement.
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Now at this point, fear and I was literally one, so I thought things couldn't get any scarier.
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You know, I might as well open the door to the basement.
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So I opened it and I went down into the basement.
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And everything was still pitch black around me, except from the stairs that I walked on, but the stuff on the walls, like the lamps and such, that it was all there.
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It looked very strange.
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Also, it was very quiet again.
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I didn't even hear the beating anymore.
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But uh I I went further until I came to the room where the the red door is, which apparently wasn't there.
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You know, it it the room where the red door usually is wasn't a room with a red door in that place.
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So instead of it, there were another flight of stairs going even further down into the facility, and I I I didn't really go down to begin with, you know.
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I was literally convinced at this point that I had to be dreaming.
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So I I pinched myself, which hurt quite a bit.
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But you know, that didn't really prove anything.
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I could have been dreaming that the pinching hurt, you know.
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Still I was standing there too long without anything insane happening, which I thought is a better indicator that I was in fact awake.
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Now I could stand around all night, I thought, or I can go down uh further.
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Because I I had to figure out what was going on after all.
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It was nice with a quiet pitch black reality around me, no cold or anything, but my gut feeling told me it wouldn't be for very long.
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So, you know, one foot in front of the other uh took me down the stairs.
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Down the narrowest, longest flight of stairs.
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Still surrounded by darkness.
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So you know after I thought about what you know, what if I fell?
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Would I have been falling forever?
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Would I even land any anywhere?
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And where, you know.
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So when I got down there, um at the end of that corridor, there was this old wooden door uh with a rusty handle, very old old door, it looked like it had been on the bottom of the f uh ocean.
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You know, it looked like a ship's door, it was weird.
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And there was a lamp and everything.
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Uh curious, you know, as I am, to where the door led.
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And being in the situation I was in, I grabbed the handle.
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You know, how how how bad can it be?
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Uh but just as I touched the handle, uh something started knocking on the door.
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I fell backwards, uh you know, I'm ho horrored.
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But I fell backwards from the knocking.
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It was five knocks, five solid knocks, like really banging on.
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So I thought, you know, I'm I'm not alone after all.
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I thought.
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And I thought really quiet.
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I don't know, maybe they can hear my thoughts.
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So I said, hey, hello.
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But nothing.
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Then suddenly five more knocks, hard knocks, and I I think I must have panicked, or or some kind of feral instinct kicked in because for the first time in years this night I I felt genuine fear.
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It was like a I don't know, like I can't explain it.
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It was like I was burning, but frozen I weird.
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And seeing as there was nowhere to flee, I mean where where would I go?
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I can go forever into the pitch black darkness outside, you know.
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There's nowhere to go, so my my instinct uh took over and I began hammering on the door like a madman, trying to appear bigger than I was, or bigger than whatever beast is behind it.
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I don't know.
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And I think my lizard brain thought that if this thing wanted to get out to this side, I should frighten it so it wouldn't dare anymore.
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You know.
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If it didn't get scared, however, I I would be in trouble.
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And what if it got scared and applied the same tactics as me?
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Now I only had one outburst of primal frenzy in me.
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So it it would have won, but luckily it seemed to work because the beating stopped, the hammering.
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Obviously, uh I got back up the stairs.
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I locked the door to the basement just in case, and I searched the facility for an alternative route back to my own reality.
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Seeing as I was all alone, except for whatever it was that lived behind that door, uh I went into Thomas' Grint's study.
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I've never been in his study after he moved in, and I trust Joshua too much to think he has got anything to do with all of this.
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You know, everyone keeps telling me that Thomas is not to be trusted, and I trust everyone who tells me this.
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So I I thought I might as well do a little bit of investigation of my own.
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So I I went into his study, which also looked like it had been flooded years ago.
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There was lots of books lying around, papers, experiments, photographs, equipments eaten by rot, produced by by damp.
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Strange stuff, very strange.
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And the first thing I did was to try out his chair.
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Which was, let me tell you, amazing.
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Even in its state.
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I thought Joshua's chair was great.
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Thomas' chair was brilliant.
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Let me just tell you.
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So I sat there for a bit, but not too long because a little notebook on his desk caught my attention.
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You know, it caught my attention because it had my name on it for some reason.
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So I took it and in it Thomas had apparently kept a log of my movements.
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And now this notebook wasn't damp, wasn't rotten.
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This looked pretty dry.
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And you know intact.
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And in it, Thomas had kept a log of my movements.
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Uh everything I did in this facility, you know, what I ate, what I drank, when I slept, when I woke up, everything.
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And yeah, then another notebook on Joshua, same thing.
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Uh now, I'm not one for snooping.
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Okay?
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But I mean, this was no ordinary night, so I read through the notebooks.
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And in the one about Joshua, there was this letter or or a telegram or you know, piece of paper with with printed uh text on.
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And um it said what did it say?
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There was something about I think it said uh happy to hear or pleased to hear glad to hear, whatever, that bear met his end by own claws.
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I memorized that because I thought Santa Claus was a bear.
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And you know, something about the cleaner if the claws, if your claws are clean, the the the scratch will be clean or something.
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And then it said proceed to you know I I'm gonna I'm gonna find it.
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I have it.
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So much easier to just so much easier just to find it.
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Okay, it says pleased to hear that the bear met his end by own clause.
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The cleaner your own claws, the cleaner the scratch.
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Now listen to this.
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Proceed to blank the facility manager, then engage the core fuse.
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Now this could mean uh many things.
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However, I'll go with the first thing that came to my mind.
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Thomas isn't a proper gentleman after all.
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I was wrong.
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I'm not ashamed to admit it, but I was wrong.
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You know, to me it does look like he's a bit of an unkind fellow.
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Was he supposed to kill Joshua?
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Is that what the letter means?
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You know Bear met his own pleased to hear that Bear met his own claws, to clean your claws, blah blah blah.
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Was Thomas supposed to kill Joshua?
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I mean, those are the optics, in my opinion.
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And what does it mean by blanking the facility manager?
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Whom, by the way, is me.
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I don't want to be blanked, whatever it means.
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I like not being blank, no matter how messy things are.
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So if I ever find a way uh out of this place, I thought I'm going to keep my eye on Thomas.
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And I will try to go below his radar for a bit.
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You know, perhaps I'll hide in the vents myself.
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So as I sat there in this office, feeling like all the air had been drawn out of my lungs with a vacuum cleaner, thinking about the implications of all this, um I heard a loud noise.
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And not like the banging on the door.
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It was really loud, it was more like an absence of sound, like an implosion.
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It was strange, and it almost burst my eardrums.
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So I got up of the chair and uh when I heard the voice uh cutting through the void like a chainsaw, it was Thomas's voice, and he shouted my name and he snarled it.
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Like it was it was definitely Thomas, but his his voice, there was something uh animalistic, something feral in his voice.
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So in a state of panic, I grabbed the notebooks, which I'm happy with because I did really think, I just did it, and I went for the door, and I as soon as I came into the hall, towering in the end of the corridor was Thomas.
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A grinned and his eyes there were just two black holes devouring light and his lips they were blue, you know.
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What a what a look, and he he snarled at me, you know, come here, come here, and started walking towards me.
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Like yeah.
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And I was depleted of options, but I luckily I didn't freeze.
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So I ran for the emergency exit, which was locked.
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Which it really shouldn't be.
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You know, that's not a good thing in an emergency.
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Well, you know, this that place of total pitch black darkness surrounding it, just apparently no facility manager.
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So I I I tried I tried running through the wall- the walls also where the walls uh no longer were, but somehow that was impossible.
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You know, I could see out how does that make sense?
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Anyways, I still had my keys, so I unlocked the door to the basement and I bounced down the stairs like a cannonball, and Thomas was at my tail, wheezing and shouting.
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I s I swear his eyes were bulging from their sockets.
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And uh my options, I felt at this point, uh, were either Death by the hands of Thomas.
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Or death by something uncertain behind the old wooden door.
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And uh I chose uncertainty.
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So I I I grabbed a handle uh on the old wooden door and I went in and slammed it shut behind me.
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And on the other side, to my surprise, there was no pitch black darkness.
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The walls were solid, concrete, quite familiar too.
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I was, after all, uh standing in the room with the red door.
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I came out from the red door.
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And I clenched every muscle in my body as I expected some kind of beast to chew into my skull like a monkey eating a melon.
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But there was nothing there.
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No sign of life at all.
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There was a what was a knocking?
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I thought.
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Who knocked?
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Then again, I didn't have time to think too much about it because all of a sudden Thomas just came through and took the door handle and I heard the door opening.
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So for me, luckily, I stood behind the door as it swung open.
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So he kind of he hid me and didn't spot me.
00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:40.240
Also, he must have been too drunk on rage or whatever it was to notice me because as soon as he got through the door, he just stood there panting, collecting himself before he brushed the dust off his coat, took a few deep breaths, and walked calmly up the stairs.
00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:56.240
And as he had gone, I opened up one of the vents, inspired by the great duplicate Jaran, or Yaren the Duplicate, as I'm as I'm going to call him going forward, and I crawled inside.
00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:01.279
I think I stayed there for at least four or five hours.
00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:02.720
I even dozed off.
00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:08.160
And when I finally got the courage to go back out, I walked up the stairs.
00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.599
These are concrete stairs, so they don't squeak, luckily.
00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:18.799
So I walked up the stairs, took a sneak peek out the door where I spotted Thomas walking into his study.
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:21.119
As if nothing had happened.
00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:30.400
So quietly I went into my room where I am sitting right now.
00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:34.400
However, I'm not alone in here.
00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:42.240
Because Jaran the Duplicate, in my absence, must have seen an opportunity to pretend to be me.
00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:47.519
And he did a rather good impression also because he was sleeping heavily on my bed.
00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:53.359
Heavily, so heavily, in fact, that I was convinced at first that he was dead.
00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:55.839
I can't blame him.
00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:59.279
The vents didn't do any magical tricks for my niece.
00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:14.079
So I decided not only to let him sleep, but also pretend to be me for a little bit so I could get some time to assess the situation I am in.
00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:19.039
Because at some point Thomas is coming for me or us.
00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:26.240
And uh I intend to be prepared for that, so that's where I'll stay.
00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:31.599
Keeping my distance in events, keeping an eye on the duplicate as well, so he doesn't get hurt.
00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:38.319
Um perhaps I'll find somewhere better to stay or hide.
00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:40.640
But right now it's it's hard to think.
00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:42.319
It's hard to think about anything.
00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:46.160
I'm I'm so tired I cannot trust my own thoughts.
00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:49.759
But yeah.
00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:54.400
I hope I'm gonna sleep as heavily as Yaganda duplicate.
00:25:55.279 --> 00:26:07.039
Uh I should also sneak away a blanket and a pillow if I'm going to be able to sleep in the vents and not freeze, but uh yeah, it's gonna sort itself out, I hope.
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:09.119
So yeah.
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:12.640
That's it, I think, for now.
00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:15.119
So this is Yellow.
00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:19.200
Signing off yet another cold ship.
00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:35.600
Hey there, this is Jaran, facility manager at the Deep Earth Anomaly Department, located on the coastal street in East Antarctica, signing in for yet another cold shift.
00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:47.200
Um so I woke up tonight and there is to say the least something is going on.
00:00:49.280 --> 00:01:01.439
So currently I'm sitting by my desk in my office and when I woke up today I got out of bed and the room that I'm in, you know, it was the same.
00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:11.439
The chair was there, the bed was there, everything was there except for the the floor, the walls, the roof, or anything else.
00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:17.519
You know, I I I was in my room surrounded by by a pitch black darkness.
00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:21.920
And there were no echoes.
00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:28.000
No the the sound was just d d dead, completely still.
00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:38.239
It was so strange because I've never felt it before, and I I could hear the cells in my body, I could hear the blood flowing through my veins.
00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:50.480
So first I tried to to sing out loud, you know, and then I tried the ukulele just to experience the sound quality of the reality surrounding me.
00:01:52.799 --> 00:02:01.359
Then I started to think about what I should have thought about from the moment I woke up, which is, you know, what's happened.
00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:07.040
So I left my room, I I walked down the corridor.
00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:16.639
Now everything is still there, everything was still there in in the corridor, you know, the deep earth anomaly department, I mean the except the floor and ceiling and walls.
00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:18.719
They were it were all was gone.
00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:31.280
And I tried calling for Ingrid, I tried calling for Thomas, uh, the duplicate version of me, Johan the Duplicate, and Frederick, but I I got no reply from any of them.
00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:33.360
I I was utterly alone.
00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:45.919
And when I had been all over the facility, I I even went outside, which you know, there was nothing there, just pitch black darkness all around.
00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.319
I I think I must have walked for an hour.
00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:51.360
I but I I I could still see the facility.
00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:57.919
It was like it was fully lit, no shadows, nothing, it just hung there like a moon in in sunlight.
00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:05.439
I could see, however, the eight towers of the ocean floor.
00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:11.599
I had a ground to walk on, at least it felt like it, and I didn't fall through.
00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:16.800
So you know, I'm telling you, it's it it's it's it's really really strange.
00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:18.400
It was bizarre.
00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:28.319
So I got back to the facility, I sat down in the kitchen, made something to eat because you know you gotta eat.
00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:36.560
And then I thought, could this have something to do with the particle entanglement entangler that Thomas needed?
00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:40.159
You know, did he do an all an authorized subparticle reset?
00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:47.759
Because I remember the ice turning translucent once when I did it, but nothing like this at all.
00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:50.000
This is something new completely.
00:03:54.479 --> 00:04:03.120
So as I was sitting there in the kitchen trying to figure things out, I I swear I could hear my own heartbeat as if it was a drum in the distance.
00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:11.759
You know, as one would expect, to be honest, this sort of experience would cause your heart to go a little bit faster, if anything.
00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:19.279
So I I finished my food, uh, I had another cup of coffee, then I did the dishes.
00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:25.839
And sitting all alone in the kitchen like this reminded me a lot about my time serving in the war.
00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:29.759
You know, serving hot food to the soldiers, that is.
00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:40.879
Now I'm not sure if you all know mm or great divers from the far past, the far present, and far future.
00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:42.959
About the war.
00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:49.360
Let me tell you real quick about the the fourth war of uh Pritvi.
00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:53.839
Because it it all began when I was very young.
00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:58.399
Um maybe I was eight, ten, I don't know.
00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:01.600
And I I don't really remember what caused the war.
00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:10.879
Um which isn't that uh weird because no one really agrees what caused it.
00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:16.160
And personally, I think it was um culmination of multiple things.
00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:25.839
But you know, we we all needed water, which everyone agrees was fuel, so to speak, for the ravaging war machine.
00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:34.560
And uh you know, it was a world-world war with as many enemies as there are countries in the world.
00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:50.480
Uh yeah, some, however, like like Scandinavia, for instance, did for a time function as a stable coalition, for a couple of years at least, which apparently is when the Deep Earth Anomaly Department was formed.
00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:01.279
Anyways, the the size of one's army wasn't an indicator of how well your country did it in the war.
00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:08.639
All it took at that time was a brain unhinged enough to create godlike powers.
00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:17.439
You know, and when you have a hundred people in a race of that caliber, you know, it does become a hard war to end.
00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:25.600
And when I got stationed here, however, I stopped hearing about it.
00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:28.879
And I I still have no clue of what is going on in the world.
00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:37.680
I'm I hope they came to an agreement, but I must be honest, it was very refreshing to not take part in that anymore.
00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:41.600
And also, water isn't an issue here.
00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.959
I mean, I'm literally surrounded by it.
00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:52.800
I wasn't earlier though, and then I was surrounded by uh pitch black darkness.
00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:01.360
Strange thing to be walking outside, not freezing at all.
00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:09.680
I did feel anxious though that the facility would disappear and I would be left alone in the blackness.
00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:13.279
That would uh that wouldn't have been cool at all.
00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:15.519
Pardon the poem.
00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:21.839
Now outside uh outside, however, I didn't hear my heartbeat.
00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:30.319
Somehow I only heard it the closer I got to the facility, but it it it wasn't like a regular heartbeat, it was more erratic.
00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:31.600
You know.
00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:35.920
Now I don't blame my heart for having a little bit of panic.
00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:38.959
Um totally normal given the circumstances.
00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:47.680
But I just couldn't shake the feeling that this was all the the blackness weird thing that I was uh around, surrounded by.
00:07:47.839 --> 00:08:05.920
I couldn't shake the feeling that all of that was connected to what Frederick talked about, the to the research being linked with this place, and you know, is this some sort of leftover effect from the research or is Thomas still working on it?
00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:20.319
But yeah, when when I came into the main corridor again from my trip outside, I I started to think and suspect that the heartbeat I heard wasn't really my heart.
00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:28.560
Because it wasn't coming from my chest, and the sound didn't correspond to the feeling of my heart.
00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:37.440
So I think it came from somewhere within the facility and somewhere within the pitch black darkness that I had been swallowed by.
00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:40.879
So I I followed the sound all over the place.
00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:45.600
First I went up to the room where Howard the Duke used to live.
00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:47.679
But that was the source.
00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:52.720
You know, his quarters were was nothing more than a memory of what it actually is like.
00:08:54.879 --> 00:09:01.440
Then I checked the kitchen, I checked the shower areas, the pantry, crew areas, common room, all over.
00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:04.720
I checked the entire facility and I couldn't locate it.
00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:09.440
So I thought perhaps the duplicate version of me was in the vents.
00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:14.159
Uh but I tried calling, I tried knocking on walls, nothing.
00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:21.840
And then I put my ear into the door leading to the basement.
00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:32.399
Now at this point, fear and I was literally one, so I thought things couldn't get any scarier.
00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:34.879
You know, I might as well open the door to the basement.
00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:39.200
So I opened it and I went down into the basement.
00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:50.159
And everything was still pitch black around me, except from the stairs that I walked on, but the stuff on the walls, like the lamps and such, that it was all there.
00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:51.759
It looked very strange.
00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:56.720
Also, it was very quiet again.
00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:59.279
I didn't even hear the beating anymore.
00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:11.120
But uh I I went further until I came to the room where the the red door is, which apparently wasn't there.
00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:17.679
You know, it it the room where the red door usually is wasn't a room with a red door in that place.
00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:28.159
So instead of it, there were another flight of stairs going even further down into the facility, and I I I didn't really go down to begin with, you know.
00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:32.559
I was literally convinced at this point that I had to be dreaming.
00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:36.480
So I I pinched myself, which hurt quite a bit.
00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:41.200
But you know, that didn't really prove anything.
00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:44.720
I could have been dreaming that the pinching hurt, you know.
00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:56.639
Still I was standing there too long without anything insane happening, which I thought is a better indicator that I was in fact awake.
00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:05.120
Now I could stand around all night, I thought, or I can go down uh further.
00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:09.039
Because I I had to figure out what was going on after all.
00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:20.399
It was nice with a quiet pitch black reality around me, no cold or anything, but my gut feeling told me it wouldn't be for very long.
00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:26.639
So, you know, one foot in front of the other uh took me down the stairs.
00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:30.399
Down the narrowest, longest flight of stairs.
00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:32.799
Still surrounded by darkness.
00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:38.399
So you know after I thought about what you know, what if I fell?
00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:40.960
Would I have been falling forever?
00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:43.919
Would I even land any anywhere?
00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:46.000
And where, you know.
00:11:48.480 --> 00:12:01.360
So when I got down there, um at the end of that corridor, there was this old wooden door uh with a rusty handle, very old old door, it looked like it had been on the bottom of the f uh ocean.
00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:04.799
You know, it looked like a ship's door, it was weird.
00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:07.120
And there was a lamp and everything.
00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:12.240
Uh curious, you know, as I am, to where the door led.
00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:15.840
And being in the situation I was in, I grabbed the handle.
00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:19.440
You know, how how how bad can it be?
00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:25.759
Uh but just as I touched the handle, uh something started knocking on the door.
00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:29.279
I fell backwards, uh you know, I'm ho horrored.
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:32.399
But I fell backwards from the knocking.
00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:36.000
It was five knocks, five solid knocks, like really banging on.
00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:39.039
So I thought, you know, I'm I'm not alone after all.
00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:39.600
I thought.
00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:41.360
And I thought really quiet.
00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:44.159
I don't know, maybe they can hear my thoughts.
00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:47.679
So I said, hey, hello.
00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:50.480
But nothing.
00:12:52.559 --> 00:13:09.039
Then suddenly five more knocks, hard knocks, and I I think I must have panicked, or or some kind of feral instinct kicked in because for the first time in years this night I I felt genuine fear.
00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:15.200
It was like a I don't know, like I can't explain it.
00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:19.279
It was like I was burning, but frozen I weird.
00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:24.480
And seeing as there was nowhere to flee, I mean where where would I go?
00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:27.519
I can go forever into the pitch black darkness outside, you know.
00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:40.320
There's nowhere to go, so my my instinct uh took over and I began hammering on the door like a madman, trying to appear bigger than I was, or bigger than whatever beast is behind it.
00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:41.279
I don't know.
00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:49.919
And I think my lizard brain thought that if this thing wanted to get out to this side, I should frighten it so it wouldn't dare anymore.
00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:51.600
You know.
00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:56.879
If it didn't get scared, however, I I would be in trouble.
00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:02.799
And what if it got scared and applied the same tactics as me?
00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:07.120
Now I only had one outburst of primal frenzy in me.
00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:14.799
So it it would have won, but luckily it seemed to work because the beating stopped, the hammering.
00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:20.240
Obviously, uh I got back up the stairs.
00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:28.639
I locked the door to the basement just in case, and I searched the facility for an alternative route back to my own reality.
00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:40.879
Seeing as I was all alone, except for whatever it was that lived behind that door, uh I went into Thomas' Grint's study.
00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:51.120
I've never been in his study after he moved in, and I trust Joshua too much to think he has got anything to do with all of this.
00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:59.039
You know, everyone keeps telling me that Thomas is not to be trusted, and I trust everyone who tells me this.
00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:03.759
So I I thought I might as well do a little bit of investigation of my own.
00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:09.840
So I I went into his study, which also looked like it had been flooded years ago.
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:18.639
There was lots of books lying around, papers, experiments, photographs, equipments eaten by rot, produced by by damp.
00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:20.639
Strange stuff, very strange.
00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:27.360
And the first thing I did was to try out his chair.
00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.360
Which was, let me tell you, amazing.
00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:32.799
Even in its state.
00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:35.200
I thought Joshua's chair was great.
00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:38.080
Thomas' chair was brilliant.
00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:40.399
Let me just tell you.
00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:50.639
So I sat there for a bit, but not too long because a little notebook on his desk caught my attention.
00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:56.720
You know, it caught my attention because it had my name on it for some reason.
00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:02.720
So I took it and in it Thomas had apparently kept a log of my movements.
00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:06.639
And now this notebook wasn't damp, wasn't rotten.
00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:09.440
This looked pretty dry.
00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:13.200
And you know intact.
00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:16.639
And in it, Thomas had kept a log of my movements.
00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:23.120
Uh everything I did in this facility, you know, what I ate, what I drank, when I slept, when I woke up, everything.
00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:27.759
And yeah, then another notebook on Joshua, same thing.
00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:32.080
Uh now, I'm not one for snooping.
00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:32.799
Okay?
00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:39.600
But I mean, this was no ordinary night, so I read through the notebooks.
00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:48.879
And in the one about Joshua, there was this letter or or a telegram or you know, piece of paper with with printed uh text on.
00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:53.519
And um it said what did it say?
00:16:53.759 --> 00:17:03.360
There was something about I think it said uh happy to hear or pleased to hear glad to hear, whatever, that bear met his end by own claws.
00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:08.799
I memorized that because I thought Santa Claus was a bear.
00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:20.480
And you know, something about the cleaner if the claws, if your claws are clean, the the the scratch will be clean or something.
00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:26.400
And then it said proceed to you know I I'm gonna I'm gonna find it.
00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:27.359
I have it.
00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:34.240
So much easier to just so much easier just to find it.
00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:43.680
Okay, it says pleased to hear that the bear met his end by own clause.
00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:48.559
The cleaner your own claws, the cleaner the scratch.
00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:52.000
Now listen to this.
00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:58.559
Proceed to blank the facility manager, then engage the core fuse.
00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:09.200
Now this could mean uh many things.
00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:14.720
However, I'll go with the first thing that came to my mind.
00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:20.319
Thomas isn't a proper gentleman after all.
00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:22.880
I was wrong.
00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:26.400
I'm not ashamed to admit it, but I was wrong.
00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:32.480
You know, to me it does look like he's a bit of an unkind fellow.
00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:36.880
Was he supposed to kill Joshua?
00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:38.640
Is that what the letter means?
00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:47.359
You know Bear met his own pleased to hear that Bear met his own claws, to clean your claws, blah blah blah.
00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:52.640
Was Thomas supposed to kill Joshua?
00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:58.079
I mean, those are the optics, in my opinion.
00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:04.079
And what does it mean by blanking the facility manager?
00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:07.359
Whom, by the way, is me.
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:13.359
I don't want to be blanked, whatever it means.
00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:18.240
I like not being blank, no matter how messy things are.
00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:27.759
So if I ever find a way uh out of this place, I thought I'm going to keep my eye on Thomas.
00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:30.880
And I will try to go below his radar for a bit.
00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:35.519
You know, perhaps I'll hide in the vents myself.
00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:50.160
So as I sat there in this office, feeling like all the air had been drawn out of my lungs with a vacuum cleaner, thinking about the implications of all this, um I heard a loud noise.
00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:53.039
And not like the banging on the door.
00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:57.839
It was really loud, it was more like an absence of sound, like an implosion.
00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.960
It was strange, and it almost burst my eardrums.
00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:16.000
So I got up of the chair and uh when I heard the voice uh cutting through the void like a chainsaw, it was Thomas's voice, and he shouted my name and he snarled it.
00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:26.319
Like it was it was definitely Thomas, but his his voice, there was something uh animalistic, something feral in his voice.
00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:41.599
So in a state of panic, I grabbed the notebooks, which I'm happy with because I did really think, I just did it, and I went for the door, and I as soon as I came into the hall, towering in the end of the corridor was Thomas.
00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:54.720
A grinned and his eyes there were just two black holes devouring light and his lips they were blue, you know.
00:20:55.440 --> 00:21:02.160
What a what a look, and he he snarled at me, you know, come here, come here, and started walking towards me.
00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:03.119
Like yeah.
00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:07.200
And I was depleted of options, but I luckily I didn't freeze.
00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:11.920
So I ran for the emergency exit, which was locked.
00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:14.400
Which it really shouldn't be.
00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:17.359
You know, that's not a good thing in an emergency.
00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:25.839
Well, you know, this that place of total pitch black darkness surrounding it, just apparently no facility manager.
00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:34.799
So I I I tried I tried running through the wall- the walls also where the walls uh no longer were, but somehow that was impossible.
00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:38.720
You know, I could see out how does that make sense?
00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:51.680
Anyways, I still had my keys, so I unlocked the door to the basement and I bounced down the stairs like a cannonball, and Thomas was at my tail, wheezing and shouting.
00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:55.519
I s I swear his eyes were bulging from their sockets.
00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:02.400
And uh my options, I felt at this point, uh, were either Death by the hands of Thomas.
00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:07.440
Or death by something uncertain behind the old wooden door.
00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:11.599
And uh I chose uncertainty.
00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:17.440
So I I I grabbed a handle uh on the old wooden door and I went in and slammed it shut behind me.
00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:24.640
And on the other side, to my surprise, there was no pitch black darkness.
00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:29.680
The walls were solid, concrete, quite familiar too.
00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:36.880
I was, after all, uh standing in the room with the red door.
00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:39.279
I came out from the red door.
00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:48.960
And I clenched every muscle in my body as I expected some kind of beast to chew into my skull like a monkey eating a melon.
00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:52.240
But there was nothing there.
00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.119
No sign of life at all.
00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:58.640
There was a what was a knocking?
00:22:58.880 --> 00:22:59.440
I thought.
00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:00.559
Who knocked?
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:12.559
Then again, I didn't have time to think too much about it because all of a sudden Thomas just came through and took the door handle and I heard the door opening.
00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:18.160
So for me, luckily, I stood behind the door as it swung open.
00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:22.880
So he kind of he hid me and didn't spot me.
00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:40.240
Also, he must have been too drunk on rage or whatever it was to notice me because as soon as he got through the door, he just stood there panting, collecting himself before he brushed the dust off his coat, took a few deep breaths, and walked calmly up the stairs.
00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:56.240
And as he had gone, I opened up one of the vents, inspired by the great duplicate Jaran, or Yaren the Duplicate, as I'm as I'm going to call him going forward, and I crawled inside.
00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:01.279
I think I stayed there for at least four or five hours.
00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:02.720
I even dozed off.
00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:08.160
And when I finally got the courage to go back out, I walked up the stairs.
00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.599
These are concrete stairs, so they don't squeak, luckily.
00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:18.799
So I walked up the stairs, took a sneak peek out the door where I spotted Thomas walking into his study.
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:21.119
As if nothing had happened.
00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:30.400
So quietly I went into my room where I am sitting right now.
00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:34.400
However, I'm not alone in here.
00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:42.240
Because Jaran the Duplicate, in my absence, must have seen an opportunity to pretend to be me.
00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:47.519
And he did a rather good impression also because he was sleeping heavily on my bed.
00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:53.359
Heavily, so heavily, in fact, that I was convinced at first that he was dead.
00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:55.839
I can't blame him.
00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:59.279
The vents didn't do any magical tricks for my niece.
00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:14.079
So I decided not only to let him sleep, but also pretend to be me for a little bit so I could get some time to assess the situation I am in.
00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:19.039
Because at some point Thomas is coming for me or us.
00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:26.240
And uh I intend to be prepared for that, so that's where I'll stay.
00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:31.599
Keeping my distance in events, keeping an eye on the duplicate as well, so he doesn't get hurt.
00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:38.319
Um perhaps I'll find somewhere better to stay or hide.
00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:40.640
But right now it's it's hard to think.
00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:42.319
It's hard to think about anything.
00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:46.160
I'm I'm so tired I cannot trust my own thoughts.
00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:49.759
But yeah.
00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:54.400
I hope I'm gonna sleep as heavily as Yaganda duplicate.
00:25:55.279 --> 00:26:07.039
Uh I should also sneak away a blanket and a pillow if I'm going to be able to sleep in the vents and not freeze, but uh yeah, it's gonna sort itself out, I hope.
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:09.119
So yeah.
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:12.640
That's it, I think, for now.
00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:15.119
So this is Yellow.
00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:19.200
Signing off yet another cold ship.
