I'll assume you all know about the deep web.
Well, what you've heard is true, it's not
a great place.
While some people are there to score weed
or firearms, or even out of sheer curiosity,
others... well they're obviously not up to
anything good.
But I'm not here to talk about those sickos.
I'm here to talk about what lies beyond that
point.
The more cryptic and unexplainable part of
the internet.
The part that nobody’s really supposed to
see.
There was an info-graphic that cropped up
a while ago.
Not sure when.
"The 8 levels of the internet".
Maybe you've seen it.
As interesting as it was, it's complete bunk.
I'm sorry, but "Polymeric Falcigohl Derivation"
means nothing.
And the "Primarch system"?
I guess somebody's a fan of Warhammer.
No, there's no quantum mechanics involved
here.
However, that doesn't mean it was an easy
place to find.
Now, I'm not going to begin to tell you how
to get here.
It's unlikely that'd you be able to, even
if I did.
I'm not tooting my own horn here, I just didn't
have a life outside of this.
I was warned, of course.
Everybody told me I wasn’t going to like
what I saw.
That I wouldn’t even understand it.
Now I’m passing off that warning to you.
Don’t try to look for this.
There's no official name for this place, or
at least I haven't seen one.
There were rumors, however.
These ranged from an illuminati chat room
to a virtual holding cell for an experimental
AI gone rogue.
In reality, it’s a lot worse.
After a long and painful process of breaking
down firewalls, encryptions, solving bizarre
philosophical riddles, and following hidden
links, I was finally directed to a blank page
with one line of text and a text-box underneath.
"Quid quaeris?”
Latin for "What do you seek?”
I remember feeling surprised.
But in retrospect, I didn’t know what I
was expecting.
I'll admit, I was a bit stumped here.
Partly because I didn't know the answer to
that question.
I had no objective, I just wanted to see if
I could do it.
I tried some generic answers at first.
I typed in "the truth" and "enlightenment".
You know, matrix shit.
Nothing happened.
I tried a bunch of answers, but none of them
worked.
I was getting frustrated at this point.
Maybe this was a gag page.
Maybe I really hadn’t figured anything out.
If only.
I tried something off the wall.
Not sure how this came to me or why I thought
it would work, but I typed in “what also
seeks me”.
Now that I think about it, this thing might
have been an AI.
To my surprise, the page went blank.
Like fully blank.
I waited.
After about five minutes, I was directed to
what looked like a forum.
No, not even that.
It was more basic.
Just a list of links over a brownish-yellow
background.
The links themselves were indecipherable.
Just seemingly random sequences of characters,
symbols and letters.
A lot of them I had never seen before.
It almost looked like an alien language.
Obviously, just a code I didn’t understand.
At this point, expectations were off the wall.
Each link was a shot in the dark.
I clicked on the first one.
It loaded up a live-feed of what seemed to
be the Paris catacombs.
I watched for a while, but it was ultimately
uneventful.
I moved on to the next link.
It was a shaky video in a dark setting.
But I could make out men in tactical gear.
They were in a house, opening doors and sweeping
each room.
Eventually, they kicked one down to reveal
a creature.
Tall and humanoid, with scaly skin.
It was gnawing on a dismembered arm.
They tried shooting at it, but it escaped
out the window.
The video stopped there.
Well, I was floored.
What the hell was this?
It looked too real to be unreleased film footage.
I was officially intrigued.
Maybe this was worth the months of headaches
and bloodshot eyes after all.
I couldn’t stop now.
I started working down the list of links.
With each click, everything got more and more
bizarre.
More disturbing.
I stumbled upon a document called “The Paragon
project”, detailing trials of human experimentation
that would lead to superhuman levels of strength
and durability.
It was an apparent success.
Looked official too.
There were essays on space-time anomalies,
glitches in reality, and apparent pictures
of alternate dimensions.
There were detailed explanations regarding
Area 51, the Bermuda triangle, assassinations,
disappearances, and the true nature of the
Holy Grail.
One of the more upsetting ones was a document
referring to a “world-ending bomb”.
A nuke that’s 720,000 times stronger than
the one dropped on Hiroshima.
I don’t want to know why we would need that.
I found contingency plans for different kinds
of Apocalypses - nuclear winter, biological
weapons, viral outbreak.
Some more peculiar ones were called “The
Marianas Trench abnormality”, the bluntly
labeled “Strange man on the fifteenth floor”,
and one simply referred to as “Blackout”.
Recovered logs of skin-walker hunting expeditions,
911 transcripts from residents of a town in
Texas that went missing in 1977 and even the
journals that belonged to the people involved
in the Dyatlov pass incident.
They didn’t go insane because of the snow.
I spent hours on there, looking through pages
and pages of things I felt like I wasn’t
supposed to see.
I came across a trailer to a silent film made
back in 1910.
One that apparently made people claw their
eyes out after watching that nearly derailed
the whole industry.
There was a live stream of a hooded man sitting
in front of a camera, head crouched down.
He eventually lifted his head.
Even though he had no mouth, a deep, guttural,
“Hello” came through my speakers.
Somehow, I knew it came from him.
I didn’t stick around for that.
There were obscure sets of step-by-step guides
that involved things like cutting off your
own limbs and sewing on a corpse’s, performing
religious incantations in the middle of the
Siberian forest and going to coordinates that
apparently housed captive fallen angels.
It was unclear what any of these were supposed
to achieve.
There was also a 20 second long clip titled
“The futility of the living”.
I didn’t watch it.
That’s when I realized there was no way
even the highest form of organized government
had full control of this.
One of the scariest things about this whole
experience was that I didn’t find an end
to the list.
No matter far I scrolled down.
I think I had a meltdown and passed out eventually,
because I woke up on my floor in the middle
of the night.
I looked at my computer screen to see looped
helicopter footage of a massive, crab-like
creature tearing apart a coastal island.
I clicked off of it.
I just sat there for the longest time.
I couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing,
and I don’t think I really wanted to.
Now, I’m not really sure why I kept going.
My brain was screaming for me to take my computer
out to the lawn and smash it into pieces.
But I didn’t.
I noticed something I hadn’t before.
A small message at the bottom left hand corner
of the screen.
I don’t know if it was always there or not.
It was hard to read so I had to squint.
More Latin.
Translated into “Are you satisfied?”
There were two options underneath it, yes
and no.
Now, I knew the answer to this question.
Hell no I wasn’t satisfied.
I was horrified, scarred for life.
But I should have clicked on yes.
If I just clicked on yes it would have taken
me out of that godforsaken place.
Back to comfort and sanity.
Even right now, I can’t tell you why I clicked
on no.
But once I did, the page seemed to refresh.
It was still the same basic setup, except
there were only four links.
This time, there were no recognizable numbers
or characters.
Hell, it didn’t look like anything that
could have come from this world.
Just a collection of extremely crude symbols
that didn’t give off any sense of pattern
or direction.
I clicked on the first link.
After about 20 seconds, I slammed my computer
shut.
I can’t describe to you what I saw.
All I know is that I wasn’t supposed to
see it.
NOBODY should ever see something like this.
It’s not only that it didn’t make any
sense, I can’t tell you why it didn’t.
I couldn’t begin to grasp the images I was
seeing.
It wasn’t graphic or anything, not like
that.
I just couldn’t recognize anything.
I could make out things moving, but not in
a way any creature on earth has ever moved
before.
Colors that I’d never seen before.
Just thinking about it gives me a splitting
headache.
This is my best attempt at visualizing it.
We have 3 dimensions here on earth.
We can move forwards, backwards, left, right,
72.4 degrees southwest etc.
These things weren’t restricted to that.
I can’t explain it any further.
All I know is that I didn’t want to watch
one more second.
I don’t think I would have been able to.
I left my room.
For the first time in a while, I was planning
to leave my house.
I needed fresh air.
To take a walk or something.
Hell, I was thinking about running a marathon
in the middle of the night just to get my
mind off of that shit for a few hours.
I was putting on my jacket when I heard a
knock at the door.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
Obviously, I wasn’t opening up.
About a minute and five more sets of knocks
came before somebody spoke up.
“Open up.
We know what you did, but we’re not here
to hurt you.
We just want to talk”.
The tone wasn’t threatening.
Eventually, I obliged.
I opened up my door to two tall, slim men
in suits.
They smiled at me.
“Can we come in?”
I still don't know how they found me.
I thought for sure that I was off the grid.
We sat down on the couch.
I guess I was just waiting for answers at
this point.
One of them looked at me and said “What
were you looking for?”
“I don’t know.
But I’m not going back”, I responded.
He smiled again.
Like this is what he wanted to hear.
The other one piped up: “Who do you work
for?”
His tone was a bit more aggressive.
I just shook my head.
“Look, I didn’t know what I was getting
into.
I wasn’t looking for anything.”
They just stared at me for a while.
“I’m not gonna tell anybody.
Trust me”.
They finally responded: “We’re not worried
about that.
Doubt anybody’d believe you.”
Another smile.
Somehow it felt genuine.
“We just wanted to know what your priorities
were.”
In retrospect, that was a very strange question.
“Just do us favor and we’ll leave”.
I perked up.
“Give us the device you used to access it”.
I didn’t ask any questions.
I ran upstairs and basically tossed them my
laptop.
They both smirked at me one last time before
heading for the door.
Just as they were about to leave, one of them
turned back.
“I don’t think you need to be told, but
don’t try this again.
And don’t show anybody else how to get there
either.
We’ll know.”
I didn’t ask who they were.
I’m not sure I would have wanted to know.
It’s been a week now.
I don’t go on the internet so much anymore.
After this, I’m going to try and forget.
To try and not to think about it anymore.
I’ve started having horrific nightmares.
Been seeing a therapist for that, but I don’t
think it’s helping.
Anyways, I’m not going to let this consume
the rest of my life.
The thing is, I’m afraid this might not
be possible.
There are some things we aren’t supposed
to know about.
Probably for our own safety and sanity.
Don’t try and seek them out.
It’s better that way.
However... it might be a bit too late for
me.
They say that curiosity killed the cat.
It’s funny.
That almost feels like a personal attack at
this point.
I haven’t forgotten about that night.
I mean, it’s not just something you can
stop thinking about.
What the hell was that last thing I saw?
Strange thing is, it never even comes up in
my nightmares.
It’s always the other stuff.
I swear, I can see that dude with no mouth
every time I close my eyes.
But… maybe it’s not so weird.
My brain couldn’t comprehend it the first
time, so how could my subconscious produce
a recreation?
Shit.
I don’t want to think about it anymore.
But I can’t.
You see, my problems aren’t just in my head
anymore.
I thought I was done with this shit after
the men in black paid me a visit.
I thought it was over.
In retrospect, that was just wishful thinking.
No, it was delusional.
After what I saw?
Guess it doesn’t work like that.
I guess the world just isn’t that simple.
Here’s what’s been happening:
WEDNESDAY
It’s been three days since I’ve gone back
to work and I think I’m being followed.
No.
I’m sure I am.
The thing is, the first time I didn’t really
notice.
Whoever the hell they are, they’ve been
using different vehicles.
Always the same routine.
After work, I get into my car and start driving
home.
Another vehicle always tails me until I turn
into my driveway, and they just drive past.
Now, if it happens once, whatever.
But three times?
Under normal circumstances I could call it
a coincidence.
For obvious reasons, I can’t do that right
now.
I’m not really sure what the hell they want.
Maybe they’re trying to monitor me.
God, that’s all I hope they’re trying
to do.
If that’s the case, I’ll just lay low
and ride it out.
Just give them what they want.
THURSDAY
This time, I tried to get a glimpse of them
in my rear-view.
Windows were tinted.
Great.
Again, I pulled into my driveway and they
kept going.
Now, I know I said I was just going to ride
it out, but this kind of shit really does
take a toll on you.
I don’t want to deal with whatever the hell
this is anymore.
I swear they’re following closer and closer
each time.
FRIDAY
I did something different today.
Took public transit instead of driving.
I’ve never needed a drink more in my life,
so I went to a bar after work.
I guess this was more of an experiment.
To see how closely they've been tracking me.
If they’re bothered by the waiting, then
they can go fuck themselves.
I’m still living my life.
Although, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the
windows the whole time I was in there.
After getting sufficiently wasted, I flagged
a cab down.
And surprise, surprise, there they were, right
behind us.
But here’s what I didn’t expect: It was
the same car from yesterday.
Looks like they gave up the incognito act.
Not sure how to feel about that.
Damn it.
Something else has changed.
They didn’t just keep driving this time.
After the cab dropped me off, I turned around
to see that damn car parked, half a block
away from my house.
I just went inside.
The hell was I supposed to do?
Calling the cops didn’t even occur to me.
But to be honest, I don’t think that would’ve
helped.
It’s been three hours now and they’re
still there.
I haven’t been watching them the whole time,
so I don’t know whether or not they’re
actually in the car.
Not fun to think about.
There’s no way in hell I’m sleeping tonight.
It’s about 2:00 AM now.
I just got a text message.
Private number.
Here’s what it said:
“Leave your house.
Don’t use the front door, they’re still
there.
Come to the all-night diner about five blocks
away.
Don’t think about driving, they’ll know.
Be quick, they’re coming in soon.
Don’t get followed.
Leave your lights on.”
I froze after reading this.
They’re coming in?
For what?
Who the hell’s texting me?
Now, I don’t know what you would have done
in this situation, but I took the warning.
I was paranoid as hell at this point.
Buzzed and tired, I put on a jacket, and went
out my backdoor.
I also took a backpack with my other laptop
in it.
Not sure why.
But I felt like I needed to.
I waited for a second before I climbed my
own fence.
When I was sure nobody had noticed, I started
heading towards the diner.
After about forty minutes, I finally got there.
Would’ve been shorter, but I pretty much
ducked into the bushes every time a car passed.
I scanned the patrons, a table of drunk college
kids, a few truckers, and a dude in a hoodie
typing away on a computer in the back.
He didn’t look threatening.
Actually, he was pretty scrawny.
I made an educated guess.
I walked up to his table and sat down.
He looked up at me.
“Hi.
What do you want?”
“You texted me.”
There was a brief pause.
I got worried for a second.
What is not him?
But he broke the silence.
“Right.
They follow you?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
He nodded.
“Alright.”
And then he laughed.
Like this was supposed to be funny.
“Man, you screwed up, didn’t you?”
Hard to disagree with that.
“What were you doing anyways, what were
you trying to find?”
“Nothing, I swear.
I just did it for the hell of it, I guess”
He just stared at me in amused disbelief.
“Oh, well that’s fucking lame.
Would’ve been cool if you were a spy or
something.”
He chuckled again.
“Look, who are you?
How did you know they were after me?
Who are they, anyways?”
I pelted him with questions.
“Alright, settle down there.
I’m not going to tell who they are, I don’t
know either.
But I will tell you they don’t have good
intentions.”
Fantastic, I thought.
“Well, how do you know about them?”
He paused.
“They came after me.
One second I’m reading about demons on the
Moon, the next, I’m getting my door kicked
down.
This was months ago, I skipped town.”
I was confused “Wait, what do you mean?”
“They tried to kill me, dude.”
I couldn’t believe this.
“And you were just viewing the links?
That was it?
You teach other people how to get there or
something?”
He raised his eyebrow.
“No.
Why do you ask?”
I was floored.
“They didn’t do that to me."
I said.
"They just came by, took my laptop and gave
me a warning”.
Now it was his turn to look shocked.
“Really…”
He seemed to think about something for a while.
He then proceeded to ask me what they looked
like.
“Just men in suits” I responded.
“What did they ask you?” was his follow
up question.
Again, I just told him.
But then I remembered the last thing they
said to me.
“They also asked me what my priorities were.
Weird ass question.”
His face went blank for a second.
“Yeah... yeah strange, ain’t it?”
What followed was an uncomfortable silence.
I finally asked him the thing that had been
on my mind ever since that night: “That
page with just the four links, what the hell
is that supposed to be?”
He raised his eyebrow and told me he didn’t
know what I was talking about.
This is where things got strange.
After I told him a rough explanation of what
I had saw, his expression changed completely.
I could make out a sudden flare in his demeanor.
“What did you type at the prompt?”
He asked me.
“What also seeks me.”
I answered.
I was thoroughly confused at this point.
“Isn’t that what you did as well?”
He just shook his head.
“No…”
He then shut his laptop and stood up.
“Well where the hell are you going?”
I inquired.
“We’ve been here too long.
Look, I know you have questions, but I can’t
answer them for you.
Go to a motel tonight or something.”
And just like that he was gone.
What was I going to do, stop him?
I still have no idea who the hell this guy
is.
The only thing I got out of him was his name
– Jackson.
And even that’s probably fake.
Tired as hell and still a little bit drunk,
I left the diner and tried to stay hidden
as I looked for a nearby motel.
Obviously, this wasn't fun.
Now here I am, sitting in some sketchy motel
at 4:30 AM.
I can barely keep my eyes open, but I also
can’t help but look over my shoulder every
second I’m awake.
This is the pinnacle of shitty situations.
I guess I’ll try and get some sleep.
Nothing else I can do.
I’ll figure it out in the morning.
SATURDAY
Well, I guess it's been Saturday for a while,
actually.
It’s 8:00 AM now.
Barely got any sleep.
I have this creeping, ominous feeling in my
gut that something just isn’t right.
I turned on the TV.
Anything to clear my mind for a bit.
What I saw next did the opposite of that.
It was a news report.
A man strangled to death in a KFC bathroom.
But the person murdered... was one of the
guys that came to my house and took my computer
that night.
No suspects.
I just stared at the screen for the longest
time.
What the hell was going on?
My phone suddenly buzzed.
A different message from a private number.
This is what it said:
“Go to the swimming pool on Fifth Street.
In the men’s locker room, go to locker 128.
The combination is 12-27-33.
Further instructions are in there.
Do so before this text gets intercepted.
Don’t bring your phone.”
Of course.
How stupid was I?
My phone was still on me.
Surely whoever was after me would've been
able to track me.
This never even crossed my mind.
Out of curiosity I peeked outside my window.
Sure enough, the car that’s been following
me was now parked right there.
Luckily for me, I caught my first glimpse
of the driver and the passenger getting out.
They were both wearing gloves and one was
holding a briefcase.
They're walking towards the entrance now.
After I've emailed this to myself and a friend,
I'm going to need to think quick.
I've already dropped my phone in the toilet
and I'm going to need to get rid of this laptop
next.
But people need to know that this happened.
If you hear from me again, looks like I found
way out of this.
What a goddamn shit-show this has been.
I’m currently on a plane headed to Scottsdale,
Arizona.
I haven’t actually been out of state in
six years.
I thought I would eventually, just… didn’t
expect it to be under these circumstances.
Anyways, let me back up a bit first.
This is what happened:
Right after I disposed of the laptop, I heard
my lock being tampered with.
Somebody was trying to pick it.
Now, I’ve never been great under pressure,
so you could imagine how I was feeling.
But the human mind is an interesting thing.
When you think you’re at the end of the
line, your will to live really ramps up.
The balcony.
I thought.
Only way out of this.
Without hesitation, I ran out and climbed
over it.
Fortunately, I was on the second floor, so
I didn’t break my legs.
Now came a decision.
Run or hide?
Both didn’t seem too promising.
Shit.
I thought.
I was panicking.
That’s when I spotted salvation – a cab
parked on the other side of the lot.
I bolted for it.
I tapped on the window, startling the driver.
“Mr. Horvat?”
He asked.
Well, no it wasn’t.
But I nodded anyways.
“You said 8: 40, didn’t you?”
He looked at me in confusion.
“Finished early.
Let’s go.”
There was anxiousness in my voice, but I tried
to hide it.
Last thing I needed was for this guy to think
I was a lunatic and drive off.
I got in, told him the address and we got
out of there.
As we left the lot, I looked back.
The two men I saw coming out of the car were
now on the balcony where I just was.
I could tell that there was a dead stare directed
right at me behind their sunglasses.
Despite all this, relief washed over me.
It was short lived, however.
I relayed the message I got in my head.
“Do so before this text gets intercepted.”
That meant I was still on the clock.
If they don’t know where I’m headed yet,
they will soon.
We finally got to the place about fifteen
minutes later.
As soon as I got in, I rushed into the locker
room.
It was mostly empty.
I kept repeating the combination in my head.
This was the only thing I had.
I didn’t really care about getting answers
before, but… it seemed like I had no choice
now.
I finally found the locker.
Don’t know why this guy chose such a massive
place.
12 left, 27 right, 33 left.
I swung it open.
Sitting there was an older blackberry model
and an envelope.
I opened it up to find a plane ticket, 2000
cash and a sticky-note.
In horrific penmanship, the words “CHECK
PHONE, PASSWORD: SNAKETRACKS” were scrawled
across it.
I obliged and booted up the ancient device.
I remember being slightly amused.
I always begged my parents for one of these
when I was a kid.
This was a far cry from that.
I took a quick look through the phone.
It was mostly blank.
No apps downloaded, no pictures, nothing.
There was only one contact, bluntly named
“CALL ME”.
So I did.
After just one ring, a voice answered.
There was a sense of tentativeness in his
tone.
Somehow it sounded familiar.
“Who is this?”
“Uh…”
Well how the hell was I supposed to answer
this?
Should I say my name?
“I got your message.”
I finally responded.
There was a brief pause.
His response caught me off guard.
“What’s your religious affiliation?”
His tone had gotten a lot more aggressive.
Why the hell was he asking me this?, I thought.
I didn’t have enough energy to question
him, though.
“Raised Protestant but now Agnostic…
I guess” was my answer.
He seemed to breathe a quick sigh of relief.
Then he cut the line.
Well, shit.
Is this guy nuts or something?
My thoughts were interrupted as I got a message.
He’d sent me an address and a room number.
“MEET ME”, was the only other thing he’d
typed.
I looked at it for a second before coming
to my senses.
I’m an idiot.
I should have just taken the stuff and bolted.
I heard the door to the locker room swing
open.
Then footsteps coming towards where I was.
Sprinting, actually.
I flipped shit.
I shoved the stuff into my pockets and started
looking for a way out.
Again, there was really only one option here.
I started making a break for the pool entrance.
As I ran, fucking gunshots started ringing
out behind me.
I could tell they were using silencers, but
boy that doesn’t do a whole lot when you’re
only forty feet away.
I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my side.
I saw a bullet penetrate a locker right up
ahead.
God, that didn’t miss by much.
I ran faster than I thought I was ever able
to.
I almost slipped into the damn pool as I stumbled
out.
The life-guard shouted after me as I burst
out the emergency exit.
I couldn’t stop there.
I hurried along, making turns every minute,
looking over my shoulder the whole time.
It’s a good thing I was downtown.
I blended into the sea of people easily.
At one point I saw a pair of policemen.
I considered telling them, I really did.
But what’s that going to do?
They’ll search for those two guys, turn
up with nothing, monitor my house for a couple
of days and then call everything off.
It wasn’t going to solve anything.
I finally ducked into a hair salon.
I couldn’t run anymore.
The barber just looked at me like I was insane.
Screw it, I thought.
Might as well make myself less recognizable
while I’m here.
I got him to shave it all off.
I spent the rest of the day making various
purchases.
A used laptop, new set of clothes, some bandages
and a pair of shades - at least something
good came out of this.
The flight was supposed in a couple of hours
at this point.
I called a cab and made my way there.
And that’s where I am now.
I’ve got a long trip ahead of me still.
Let’s see what happens next.
As I made my out of the airport, I recoiled
at the heat.
God, its November.
How does anybody live here during the summer?
I called another cab.
Got to the address.
It was a holiday inn.
I laughed to myself.
How ominous, I thought.
I made my way up to the room and knocked on
the door.
A billion thoughts were running through my
head.
What if it was a trap?
I actually thought about just running away
for a second.
But I realized that wouldn’t accomplish
shit.
After about a minute, the door opened.
A wave of surprise washed over me.
But in retrospect, this is exactly who I should
have been expecting.
It was the other guy that came to my house
that night.
The one that didn’t get strangled.
He didn’t look great, however.
He had a black eye and a busted lip.
And just looked tired in general.
He looked me over before gesturing me in.
He had a slight limp as he walked.
“Nice haircut.”
He muttered softly.
He sat down on the bed and I sat on the couch
across from him.
There was a long silence.
The whole time, he just stared at the ground.
To be honest, I didn’t know what to say.
So I said nothing.
He finally spoke up:
“Might as well let you know what’s going
on.”
He then proceeded to let it all out:
“About 4 years ago, there was an incident
in the Paris catacombs.”
I got chills after hearing this.
“Four teenagers decided it would be a good
idea to wander off during a tour.
I guess they got lost or something cause they
weren’t there at the end.
The police pretty much swept everywhere.
No sign of them.
Eventually, the government decided to set
up infrared cameras all around the place.
Just to see what would turn up.
One day, one of the cameras picked up movement.
Nobody anticipated what they were gonna see
next.
It was hell manifested.
An abomination of writhing limbs somehow stuck
together squirmed across the screen.
There were four human heads stuck to the top
of this thing.
You can guess who they were.”
I was beyond speechless.
I thought about that video of the catacombs.
Glad I didn’t stick around for the grand
reveal.
He continued:
“They decided to send ‘elite’ forces
down there to exterminate it.
Apparently it took out 12 men before they
put it down.
Now the question was what they were going
to do with the video.
They couldn’t just get rid of it.
But they didn’t want anybody to see it either.
And this was around the time the whole Snowden
thing was going on, so they didn’t feel
comfortable with just using government servers.
So this is where that website you saw comes
into play.
They got the most seasoned technical experts
they had to bury it somewhere deep in the
internet.
And I’m talking about as deep as they could
go.
Nobody was supposed to know about it, nobody
was supposed to find it, and nobody was even
supposed to know what to look for.”
I wracked my brain over this.
Sure, I knew my way around, but there was
no way in hell that I was on par with government
experts.
So how did I find it?
He continued:
“And it worked well for a while.
They made a pact with governments world-wide.
Anything they deemed unfit for public knowledge
went on that site.
There were even precautions.
For every real thing on there, they posted
four fake ones.
For the select few that actually managed to
find it.”
“Wait, what?”
I couldn’t believe this.
He just chuckled.
“Yeah.
Most of that stuff you saw was bullshit.
Most.
The videos are harder to fake.”
I didn’t know how to feel about this.
I was slightly relieved, I guess.
Just slightly.
He kept on:
“The logic behind this was that once people
found these things, they’d look further
into them.
However, since they were fabricated, nothing
would come up and the page would be disregarded.
Just a gag site.
At least that was the idea.”
I knew where he was getting at.
“What about the people that started looking
into the real things?”
He sighed.
“Look, nobody would have given a shit if
they started spouting it off to their friends
or on the internet.
People would think they’re crazy.
It’s the damn people that just have to go
and find proof.
The ones that plan to publicize it.
Yeah, they get silenced.”
I was about to say something.
I think he noticed because he cut me off.
“Look, don’t put that moralistic shit
on me.
They didn’t have to do it.
It was their choice, they were committing
a crime.
Do you really think public knowledge about
any of these things would help anybody?
No, it wouldn’t.
Sometimes ignorance is bliss, alright?”
To be honest, I had to agree.
“But here’s where things really went to
shit.”
He went on:
“Before, there would be maybe two breaches
a month.
And then it skyrocketed up to twenty.
And then fifty.
They looked into it.
Apparently there were rumors circulating around
the deep and dark web.
A rumor about a page that held secrets nobody
was supposed to see.
They decided to find out how easy it really
was to access this place just from reading
forums and shit.
It took the experts about twenty minutes to
find it, just by solving weird fucking riddles
and then following these concealed links that
would spawn from them.
And then there was the final prompt.
‘What do you seek?’
You’ve seen it, no?”
I nodded.
“Apparently, there’s a lot of different
answers that could work.
Anyways, it didn’t make any sense.
Everybody that was supposed to know about
this was grilled.
Somebody had to be doing this, right?
Nobody fessed up.
Honestly, everybody seemed genuine when they
said they didn’t do it.
They knew the consequences.
After a brutally in-depth investigation, nothing
was resolved.
And then it hit them.
Back in 2010, they had also finalized an experimental
AI.
I’ll spare you the details, but it went
off the rails.
Nobody could control it.
As soon as they thought they could corner
it into a virtual trap, it just disappeared.
It didn’t come up again.
Until now”.
He paused after that.
Like he was waiting for me to connect the
dots.
“So, you think that this AI resurfaced and
is now directing people there?”
I asked.
He said that he doesn’t think that’s the
case.
He KNOWS it is.
“It’s the only feasible explanation.”
He stated.
“But why?”
“I don’t know.”
He responded.
I was starting to get a hunch now.
About why this was happening to me.
“These people… they aren’t after me
because I saw those links, are they?”
He just nodded.
“It’s what I saw after.
And you think this AI has something to do
with it?"
Another nod.
“Well, what did I see?”
He took a second before speaking.
“I couldn’t tell you.
There’s some things that I don’t even
know about.
All I can tell you is that there are some
groups, some people out there, beyond any
government that are after this kind of stuff.
This forbidden knowledge.
And somehow, they know that you’ve seen
it.
And they want to know what you know.”
“And they came after you as well?”
I asked.
“Yeah.
They know we talked to you.”
A wave of guilt came over me.
Did I get that guy killed?
However, that guilt quickly turned into frustration.
“Well, what the hell am I supposed to know?!
I don’t what the hell it was I saw!”
A dry chuckle came out of him.
“Well, they don’t care, do they?
They’ll jump at anything.”
"And who do you work for?
The government?"
I finally asked.
The question had been on my mind since I got
here.
"Sort of" Was all he responded with.
He got up, taking out a pair of car keys.
“We gotta figure this out.
We gotta go.”
“Go where?”
I asked.
“Vegas.”
In any other situation I would have been ecstatic.
We went outside and he led me to an older,
beat-up Sedan.
“Inconspicuous.”
He said with a smile.
I could tell he was just trying to lighten
the mood.
The drive was long and arduous.
We barely spoke.
My brain was fried at this point, so I didn’t
bother asking more questions.
I did remember one peculiar conversation we
had, though:
“Listen, if anything happens to me, there
should be a file on the blackberry named “contingency”.
Everything you need to know will be there.”
I remember feeling flustered.
“What?
What could happen to you?”
I responded.
“I don’t know.
Just in case, I guess.
Don’t lose that phone.”
In reality, I knew there were a lot of things
that could happen.
I just didn't want to admit it.
He woke me up when we arrived at McCarran.
I was confused.
“You have plane tickets?”
“Don’t need ‘em.”
He responded.
He got out of the car and I followed him in.
What happened next was strange.
He just walked past everyone.
The check-in, security, everybody.
They didn’t even pay attention to him.
Not to me, either.
That’s when I started to wonder who the
hell this guy really was.
As we walked past the various stores and restaurants
set up near departures, he took a sharp turn.
I stumbled keeping up.
He walked towards an unassuming door set up
right between two shops.
He swung it open and I followed.
We walked down a bunch of corridors, turning
every so often.
Various men in suits passed us but didn’t
seem to acknowledge our presence.
We finally got to another door.
This one required a key card.
He took one out and scanned it.
I didn’t realize how huge this place really
was until I thought about it after.
We must have passed at least 15 other hallways.
Anyways, the door opened up to what looked
like a long flight of stairs.
We trekked down for about five minutes before
we got to what looked like another terminal.
Now, it didn’t look futuristic or anything.
Just a regular damn terminal.
“Surely there’s no planes taking off here.”
I asked.
He said I was right.
That’s when I noticed the train tracks.
“Now we wait.”
And he sat down on a bench.
Well, great.
I’d given up trying to piece this together
in my head so I didn't even bother asking
what this place was.
Let’s just see what happens, I thought.
But as I’d soon find out, things are just
not that simple these days.
I spotted a washroom sign towards the back
and I headed for it.
As I was washing my hands after finishing
up, I noticed what looked like a card stuck
into the side of the mirror.
I plucked it out and looked at it.
It was standard business card size.
Just plain white with black text.
But here's what it said:
“From far and wide, we search for meaning,
As seconds pass, since the time of weaning,
Our destiny is sealed, we’ll face the wraith,
We don’t need hope, we have our faith,
We will not stop until we’re dust,
All for God, in whom we trust.”
Creepy, I thought.
And then I turned it over.
In big bold letters, was “FOTLG” No idea
what that’s supposed to be.
However, in that moment I felt that something
just wasn’t right.
It’s that creeping sensation you get when
something just feels off.
I needed to tell him, whoever the hell he
is, about this.
I opened the door and he was gone.
I searched around the terminal for a bit,
but he was nowhere to be found.
Hell, there was nobody else here.
The place started rumbling slightly.
The train was coming.
Well, I sure as hell wasn’t getting on by
myself.
I looked around a bit more before I heard
footsteps coming down the stairs.
Great.
I thought.
He’s back.
Then I realized it wasn’t just one pair
of steps.
There were multiple.
Instead of seeing a familiar face, I was greeted
with four of what I assumed to be men.
I couldn’t tell because their faces were
covered with a burlap sack that had eye-holes
carved out.
Kind of like the one Scarecrow wears in Batman
begins.
The only difference was a symbol that seemed
to be spray-painted on where the forehead
should be.
It was simple.
A vertical semi-circle with angular arrows
going through it.
As I recall, the rest of their get-up was
normal.
Just plain street-clothes.
I was frozen.
And then I realized that one of them had liquid
dripping off his glove.
Dark liquid.
The next few moments were a bur.
I remember the train pulling up and those
guys starting to run towards me.
I started bolting for the train.
It was a weird one.
Only one section and one set of doors.
I don’t think I saw a driver.
As I ran up to it, the doors opened automatically.
I remember frantically looking for a shut
button but there wasn't one.
I just stared in horror as those freaks got
closer and closer.
As they got within about ten meters, I closed
my eyes and just prayed for the best.
I opened them when I heard kicking and banging
at the door.
It wasn’t opening up for them.
I watched their crazed eyes follow me as the
train started moving.
I was safe.
But only for now.
I turned on the phone again and took a thorough
look through it.
Sure enough, the text file he mentioned was
there.
Guess I’ll read it soon.
After I’m done with this.
Now I don’t know where I’m going, and
I don’t know what’s waiting for me there.
My head's pounding.
All I know is that I should have just stayed
on google.
I'm not so sure what to think anymore.
I mean, it’s not like anything was clear-cut
before but… the world just continues to
make less and less sense.
I opened up the contingency file.
This is what it contained:
“FAIL-SAFE –– AGENT INCAPACITATED.
ALIAS: ‘JACK RUST’.
IDENTITY: [REDACTED].
CUSTOM MESSAGE:
Hello there.
If you’re reading this, I suppose I’m
out of commission.
Shame, I guess.
I’m going to assume that we’ve at least
made it to the terminal.
Here’s what you need to do:
Get on the train.
Do so as soon as it comes.
There’s only a ten-second window where it’ll
open for anybody.
Now, it’s going to be the fifth - count
them, the fifth stop you’ll need to get
off at.
There won’t be any announcements.
No indications.
Nothing.
Do not fall asleep, just pay attention.
This train goes fast, but it’ll still take
a while.
Be patient.
While you’re in there, do not look out the
windows.
There’s nothing to look at anyways, you’ll
be in a tunnel.
Nevertheless… it’s better that you refrain
from doing so.
You see, we’ve been having problems recently.
Sometimes, something stares back at you.
And you can’t really look away.
Now, what I’m going to mention next isn’t
likely.
I’d say it’s a 1 in a 1000 chance.
But you don’t have the means to deal with
it, so you’ll need a heads-up.
If at any one of the stops, you see or hear
the door opening, hide under the seats.
There shouldn’t be anybody getting on right
now.
Just close your eyes and wait for them to
leave.
Now, if they’re still there after the fourth
stop…
I’m sorry.
Once you’ve arrived at the fifth, get out.
It’ll be another terminal.
Very small one.
There should be stairs to the right and a
ladder to the left.
Do not even think about going down the stairs.
As you go up the ladder, it should start getting
darker.
Don’t worry, this is what’s supposed to
happen.
Keep feeling upwards.
Eventually, you should touch something solid.
It’s a fake rock.
Push it up and climb out.
Put it back when you’re done.
You should now be in a dead wheat field.
This is Texas.
Between Crocket and Sutton county, to be specific.
Start looking around.
There should be a small, abandoned farmhouse
visible a few miles in the distance.
Go towards it.
Once you’ve gone in, look for a basement.
The place isn’t big, you should find it
easy enough.
Once you have, go down there.
Now, the lights don’t work so it’ll be
dark.
Turn the brightness up on the phone if you
have to.
You should be looking for a big, red door.
There’s only one, so if you think that you’ve
found it, you have.
There’s going to be a numerical set of buttons
right by the handle.
The password is 5-3-2-5-6-7-8.
Now, this next part’s a doozy.
Not that you have to do anything crazy…
it’s just what I’m about to tell you.
You see, the reason these people knew where
to find you was because they went through
us first.
We’d been monitoring you ever since you
started getting close to finding that page.
I didn’t tell you, because… well why would
I?
Apparently there was a mole informant in our
midst.
We believe that he was a member of a cult
that we thought went defunct a while ago.
‘The faction of the lost gods.’
That’s what they call themselves.
I won’t go into detail on them here.
All I’ll tell you is that they would go
to the ends of the earth to find what you
saw that day.
That’s their one and only objective.
They aren’t the only group seeking this.
However… they’re the only one that we’re
worried about.
I guess once they started hearing about those
riddles, they thought that this thing was
trying to communicate with somebody.
With them.
Trying to lead them there.
But this is the part that didn’t make any
sense.
The thing that had stumped all of us.
You were never supposed to see what you did.
It wasn’t supposed to be there.
We have no clue why it was.
One of the strangest things was that nobody
had even created the page that it popped up
on.
We don't know how you found it.
You were the first person that saw it since
we took it off the site.
This is where things got hairy for us.
As soon as the informant noticed this, he
called in a raid on our Texas headquarters.
That’s the one you’re going to.
It was a massacre.
They stole our equipment, and started tracking
you down themselves.
Luckily for me, I wasn’t there for that.
I was already on my way to you.
Now, we don’t work for the Government.
We just work with them.
But these politicians… they have a real
antiquated code of ethics.
A real antiquated idea of how to fix things.
You see, these cult members aren’t so easy
to find.
If they were, they would have been neutralized
a long time ago.
Because of that, there exists a contingency
protocol for this exact purpose.
“Blackout” is what they call it.
If they ever found out that this group had
any chance of finding whatever it was that
you saw, they’d put it into motion.
Trust me, that's not going to be fun for anybody.
They aren’t willing to take any more risks.
That’s why we didn’t tell them…
why we didn’t tell most people in our own
organization.
They might spill the beans.
However, if you’re still reading this…
that means desperate measures can wait.
Once you’ve gone in, go directly straight
until you’ve reached what looks like a control
room.
In the far-right corner, there should be on
older desktop mounted to the wall.
Luckily, that’s one of the few things they
didn’t take.
Boot it up.
It’s going to prompt you for a password.
Type in ‘Primordial’.
A trap door should open up in the middle of
the room.
Walk down those steps and you should find
yourself facing a bunch of file cabinets.
Start searching through them.
You’re looking for a folder under the name
‘Caine Hunter’.
He’s… an old friend.
It’s ordered alphabetically so it shouldn’t
be that hard.
That folder should contain his address.
I understand that this is a lot of work for
just one piece of information.
However, this guy moves around so much, I
just didn’t bother keeping up.
You need to go and find him.
He’ll have the answers that I don’t.
At this point, he’s our best shot.
Tell him Ben sent you.
I'll leave you with this message:
Mankind must not go back to hiding in fear.
No one else will protect us, and we must stand
up for ourselves.
This government protocol is not the way we
go.
Good luck.
That was the end of the message.
This was… a lot to take in, to say the least.
But it sounded like I had a job to do.
Luckily, nothing else got on the train with
me.
It took a while, but I finally got to the
basement door in the farmhouse.
As soon as I walked in, a wall of stench hit
me.
I reflexively gagged.
A massacre.
Those words rang through my head.
I found a light-switch on the wall and flicked
it.
As the stale incandescent light washed over
the place, I understood what he meant.
It was a massacre indeed.
And nobody was there to clean it up.
Holding my breath, I stepped over the decaying,
uniformed corpses.
As much as I would try to avoid looking at
them, I couldn’t stop myself from glancing
down every so often.
I was about to pass out once I reached the
control room.
I followed the instructions and found the
folder.
As soon as I did, I got the hell out of there.
Once I was back outside, I read through it.
Caine Hunter was 45 years old.
And he lived in Hong Kong.
Shit, I thought.
I was starting to hate travelling.
It took me a while to find a road.
I eventually managed to hitchhike into a town.
From there, I got another ride to Dallas Fort
Worth international.
That’s where I am right now.
I’m tired beyond belief at this point, and
it doesn’t help that the back of my damn
neck’s itching like hell.
The flight was long, so I got to contemplate
the past week.
There were a lot of unanswered questions still
lingering, and I really didn’t know what
to expect from Caine Hunter.
I remembered that train terminal.
The card I found in the washroom.
“FOTLG”.
Faction of the lost gods.
Shit.
I finally arrived and cabbed to this guy’s
address.
I was running low on funds at this point.
During the drive, I watched as the glimmering
lights of the city moved past me.
On the surface, the world just seemed so straight-forward.
Guess it really starts unraveling when you
look into it.
I got dropped off at an unassuming apartment
complex.
I guess you could call it middle class.
I buzzed his room number.
It took a while but somebody finally answered:
“Who’s this?”
He sounded surprised.
As if he wasn’t used to visitors.
I took a second to think about what I was
going to say.
“Ben sent me.
I need help.”
Was my ultimate response.
Almost instantly, I heard the front entrance
unlock.
Well, here we go, I thought.
I started making my way up to the seventh
floor.
As I was about to knock on his door, it opened
up.
A rather unkempt middle-aged man pulled me
into his room.
Looking extremely anxious, he paced around
as I took a seat.
He finally stopped, turning to me:
“What do you mean you need help?”
His otherwise deep voice croaked as he said
this.
I knew that I was about to tell him something
he didn’t want to hear.
“I saw… that thing.
And now there’s people after me.”
His facial expression contorted as he heard
this.
“Who’s after you?
Do you know?”
His speech was quick and discombobulated.
“The faction of the lost gods, is what I
think they’re called.”
Was my response.
Now his face went completely pale.
“They’re back?”
I flinched as he cursed loudly right after.
He sat down, burying his face into his hands.
He looked back up at me:
“What happened to Ben?”
My silence was enough of an answer.
He just nodded.
“He was… a good guy.”
I just nodded back in response.
I heard him mumble something under his breath,
but I couldn't make it out.
Now it was time for me to ask the big question.
The question that nobody seemed to have the
answer to.
“What was it that I saw?”
He just stared at me for a few seconds.
And then he finally spoke up:
“I used to work on a space station named
Chronos-1.
You heard of it?”
No, I hadn’t.
And that’s what I told him.
“Well that’s because you’re not supposed
to.”
Now, I really had no idea where this was going.
He went on to tell me about how the Chronos-1
used to orbit space 1500 km away from the
ISS.
“It was meant to be used for navigation
and communication.”
He stated.
“That's what they told us, anyways.
They were doing other stuff up for sure.
Why else would the not tell the public it
existed?
Anyways, it didn’t last long.”
“One day, we get a message from NASA.
There was a signal of sorts, coming from somewhere
deep in space.
Well, more like some kind of anomaly.
Something that didn’t make sense.
They didn’t elaborate on what that was supposed
to mean.
Anyways, they estimated that it came from
beyond the Kuiper belt.
All of this was strange, of course.
They decided to check it out.”
He paused, letting off a quick sigh as he
did so.
“They sent an interstellar probe towards
this signal.
It was estimated to reach there in about nine
years.
And it just so happens that about nine years
later, I’m back up in space after taking
a hiatus on earth.
While there, we get another message.
The probe had reached where the signal had
approximately been emanating from.
They were going to transmit a feed for us
to watch.”
I raised my eyebrow.
He just chuckled at my confusion.
“Yeah… we’ve come a lot farther in terms
of space technology than the public is led
to believe.
At this point, I don’t think you should
be surprised.
Anyways, everybody’s crowded around the
monitors, waiting to see what the hell the
probe picked up.
Keep in mind that there were only 10 people
in the room at the time.
It was too tight to fit more, so we were going
to be the first ones aboard who would see
it.
The transmission eventually blinked onto the
screen.”
He stopped, rubbing his temple as he did so.
It almost seemed like it hurt him to think
about.
“Everything went by quick.
It only took a few seconds for the screaming
to start.
People were banging their damn heads on the
floors and walls.
It was chaos.
Everybody lost their minds after seeing what
was on that monitor.
The only reason I survived was because I didn’t
actually get a glimpse of it.
I was still in the bathroom when the transmission
came through.
I got out as soon as I heard the commotion.
I still passed out, though.
Guess I’m not so good with blood.
All I remember before hitting the floor was
seeing a lone person still glued to the screen.
He was the only one watching at this point.
When I woke up, they started asking me questions,
but I had no answers for them.
I didn’t see it.”
“Wait, so what was the cause of death for
them?”
I asked.
“Suicide.
Mostly blunt force.”
He responded.
“Everybody in that room found a way to kill
themselves.”
What the hell?
I thought.
Was this really what I had seen as well?
“So what happened to the other guy?
The guy that you said was still watching?”
“He passed out as well.
But only for a minute.
Other than that, he said that he was fine.
Never even really brought it up.
When they’d ask him what he’d seen, he’d
just shrug and say that he didn’t know what
they were talking about.
I knew him, actually.
His name was Blake.
He’d always been a strange guy.”
There was another pause.
I kept trying to work this out in my head.
Caine kept going:
“But that wasn’t the end of his story.”
I perked up.
“He got fired soon after.
He seemed to just stop caring about anything
that was going on around him.
He’d make these… strange, dark outbursts
every so often, and it would scare the hell
out of everybody he worked with.
He was going insane.”
“After his last day, he went off the grid.
His family, the few friends he had, none of
them knew where he went or where he was going.
There were no traces of him anywhere.
But unbeknownst to everybody, he was going
around the country, recruiting people into
some cult that he’d created.
You can guess what it was called.”
It didn’t take long for me to put it together.
“The faction of the lost gods.”
“That’s right.”
He continued.
“He’d even written and released a manifesto
explaining why this was necessary.
He’d go on about how there was something
inherently wrong with the inner-workings of
our external world, and that we weren’t
even supposed to exist.
Apparently our system was ‘corrupted’,
whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean.
He was bat-shit.
Or… maybe it was what he’d seen that made
him that way.”
He went on to explain how Blake had been looking
for something the whole time he’d been recruiting
members.
He’d been looking for the probe footage.
“You see, that probe is still there, transmitting
whatever the hell that thing is to a feed
that only the government had access to.
I’ll assume you’ve seen the site where
all the ‘sensitive knowledge’ goes.”
I nodded.
Wouldn't be here if I didn't.
“At first, that’s where they stuffed it.
According to them, a few hackers banging their
heads on keyboards every now and then wasn’t
that big of a deal.
But after what had happened on Chronos, almost
nobody dared to look at it.
The few who tried… well you know the story.
But here’s where things got incomprehensibly
fucked.
What I’m about to tell you…
almost nobody knows about.
This includes 99% of government agents."
He took out a cigarette carton and lit one
up.
He took a long, heavy drag before continuing:
“After about six months, I went back to
the Chronos.
They offered me a severance package to just
retire and keep my mouth shut, but I decided
against it.
I was too cocky.
I tried to pretend like what I saw didn’t
affect me.
That shit was a mistake.”
He ashed his cigarette and lit another one.
“It was a routine workday.
We were finishing up some maintenance when
we heard a deep humming sound coming from
somewhere outside the station.
It wasn’t like anything we’d ever heard
before.
Even now, I can’t replicate what it sounded
like in my head, it was just… strange.
A bunch of people started staring out the
windows just to see what was happening.
I didn’t join in.
After that probe footage, my curious side
pretty much disappeared.
However, what happened next made me question
what kind of universe we really live in.”
“I was eating lunch in the mess hall when
I heard commotion coming from the hallways.
I would’ve checked it out, but that’s
when the screaming started.
It wasn’t normal.
Honestly, it didn’t sound like anything
that a human being should have been able to
produce.
I remember looking at everybody else in the
room.
They weren’t moving.
We were all on the same page.
A couple of guys actually barricaded the entrance
with chairs.
However… we couldn’t keep our eyes off
of it.
There was some of kind light bleeding in from
the cracks under and above the door.
But something was wrong about it.
The light wasn’t any color we’d ever seen
before.”
The familiarity of these descriptions got
my mind racing.
This was it, wasn’t it?
This is what I had saw.
He continued:
“I remember getting light-headed just from
looking at it for a few seconds.
The next hours were excruciating.
The screams didn’t stop.
Our collective sanity was being pushed to
the brink.
We all just sat, fingers in our ears and our
eyes closed, waiting for the end of this shit.
Eventually, the door opened up and we were
escorted out.
I remember looking around to see the white
walls of the station now stained with red.
90% of the crew died that day.
We had questions, of course.
About what had happened.
However, everybody that would have known was
now dead.”
He leaned back in his chair.
Fished another cigarette out of the carton.
This time, it was accompanied by a swig of
whiskey.
He went on:
“I arrived back on earth shortly after.
This time, they didn’t offer me my job back.
Just a severance check and a non-disclosure.
Though, it’s not like I cared at this point.
Would’ve quit regardless.
Now, here’s the connection to what you saw.”
“That day, I was at my house, mulling over
my life.
Then I heard a knock at my door.
It was Ben.
He asked me what the hell had happened on
Chronos.
I told him.
But the thing I didn’t understand is how
the hell he knew that something had even happened.
He had never even worked with NASA.
So I asked him about it.”
“He said that a wave of distress calls from
the station all came through at once.
They all described exactly what I had gone
through.
The problem was, they had no means of dealing
with this.
It would have taken too long to organize a
rescue mission.
Everybody was at a loss for what to do.
That’s when the higher-ups came up with
something off-the-cuff.
They had a hunch.
It was actually more of an experiment.
They checked up on the website.
Sure enough, it’d been breached once again.
Somebody was viewing the probe footage.”
“They tracked it down to an abandoned warehouse
in San Antonio, which is where Ben was at
the time.
At that point, he was just a field agent so
they contacted and told him to go check it
out.
He drove there along with a SWAT team.
When they arrived, it was a bloodbath.
They started getting shot at as soon they
walked in.
Whoever was doing it... was trying to protect
something.
Half the team was killed before they managed
to secure the place.
They detained the shooters and started sweeping
the rest of the building.
There was nothing on the upper floors.
But then they got to the basement.”
“There was just one person down there, sitting
in front of a computer monitor.
They approached him slowly, barking at him
to put his hands up.
He ignored everything.
A SWAT member eventually got close to him.
That’s when he started screaming out of
nowhere and shot himself in the head.
There's no doubt that he got a glimpse of
the screen.
Nobody approached him after that.
They all just kept pointing their weapons
at him and telling him to turn around.
The guy eventually did.
He said that it was Blake.
Ben recognized him, because he'd become infamous
around governmental circles.
He said that there was blood seeping from
his eyes and nose.
Skin pale as the moon.
He only said one thing.”
Caine stopped and sighed.
He took a big swig of the whiskey and looked
at me dead-center.
“You can’t stop it.
If this doesn’t happen today, it’ll happen
eventually.
Our reckoning has yet to come.”
“Ben said that this chilled him to the bone.
He told me that Blake had said it in such
a tone and conviction that just made him feel
despair and emptiness inside.
He shot him right after that.
As well as the monitor.”
“They rounded up the rest of the cult members
and took them into questioning.
They wouldn’t cooperate, obviously.
They all just repeated the same words over
and over.
Some weird fucking motto or something.
Anyways, the higher-ups got there a couple
hours later.
They congratulated Ben and told him to go
home.
The distress reports had finally stopped coming
in from Chronos.”
“Wait.”
I interjected.
“The reports… did they stop as soon as
they Blake got shot?”
Caine chuckled.
It was a dry one.
No Humor in it.
“Yeah.”
He continued.
“You’re figuring it out, aren’t you?
Here’s the conclusion they came to: whatever
that probe was picking up… whatever Blake
was watching… it was watching him back.
Somehow, they were communicating with each
other.”
This was horrifying to think about.
Caine continued:
“He was sending something towards Earth.
Something beyond our comprehension that we
were never meant to see.
Who the hell knows what it wants from us.
Probably nothing good.
Anyways… they decided to make sure that
nobody else ever saw it again.
They disconnected from the probe.
Stopped the stream altogether.
I'm sure the thought process was that if we
don't seek it out, then it won't notice us.”
“Wait, what?”
I nearly shouted at him.
“How the hell did I see it, then?”
“That’s what I was wondering."
He said.
"You got an answer?”
I tried telling him about the AI, but the
words just stumbled out of my mouth into an
incoherent mess.
He just looked at me in confusion.
“An AI?
What the hell are you talking about?”
He asked.
“On that website… there was another prompt.
It brought me there, that’s how I found
it.”
“Prompts?
What are you talking about?”
Screw it, I thought.
He clearly didn’t know about it.
There were still too many questions pressing
against my brain anyways, so I didn’t linger
on this.
“How many other people do you know that
have seen it?”
I asked.
He scoffed.
“The ones that are alive?
You.”
This sent chills down my spine.
He went on:
“Which begs the question: How long did you
look at it for?
Just a couple of seconds, right?”
“No.”
I responded.
“Nearly half a minute.”
After I said this, his face went blank.
I just shrugged.
“Look, I don’t…
I don’t know what to make of any of this.”
was all I managed to stammer out.
With a shocked, contemplative expression on
his face, Caine just looked up at the ceiling.
As he did this, the words from the contingency
message rang through my head.
You were the first one that had seen it since
we took it down.
But why me?
Why was I so special?
Why did I have to see it?
Caine started speaking again:
“Computers may know more about humanity
than we ever will.”
I just stared at him in confusion.
What an odd statement to make.
He went on:
“If it actually was an AI that sent to you
that page… maybe it means something.”
“Means something?
Like what?”
I retorted.
“Nobody else seems to be able to handle
seeing that thing.
But like Blake, you appear to be an exception.”
I really thought about this.
He was right, wasn’t he?
Whatever the hell this thing is... it seemed
to push people to the brink of insanity after
just a few of seconds of exposure.
I mean, I sure as hell didn’t know what
I saw.
And I certainly didn’t like seeing it…
but I was more or less in a normal state of
mind.
However, there was one more question I couldn’t
ignore.
“Those members of the cult that were detained…
they weren’t the only ones, where they?
There were other members.”
Caine nodded.
“They tried to tell ourselves that they
were it.
That this was done.
That’s what everybody wanted to believe.
Underestimating Blake’s influence was the
biggest mistakes they could have made.”
At this point, I didn’t want to think about
it anymore.
I needed a break from this discussion.
I asked him if there was somewhere I could
rest.
He told me there was a spare mattress in the
closet.
I need to sleep.
But not before I finish getting this out.
A million thoughts are still running through
my head as I write this.
Ben said that this guy was our best shot,
but nothing’s been resolved.
Hell, what was he supposed to do?
Maybe this “Blackout” contingency was
necessary.
If everything I've heard is true... it might
be the only option.
God, this itch on the back of my neck is killing
me.
Anyways, it looks I’m going to have to make
a decision soon.
EDIT: Caine and I just heard somebody trying
to open the door.
He took a look through the peephole and told
me there were people with weird masks on standing
outside.
This is not good.
