Post-Operation Analysis of Osanometer shows signs of heavy corruption of external media, although, concerningly, internal mechanisms beyond the Shield Wall remain uncompromised. After being reanalysed by technicians from Winters Cloak Imperial Tech Magnate 07, the best working explanation for a reading of 2.45Ђ is an improper reading from technician under the influence of high-strength GQF.
WCITM-07 proposes a GQF of not less than 7.82Ђ—beyond the survivable limit of Banals. It is unclear how Lostway Artaxas was able to survive the intense disruption of a field of this strength. The strongest proposal currently is that Static Cove 701 may generate a GQF Nullification Field—a conjecture proposed in Potential Nullifying Capacitance of Static Cove Glitch Matter Crystallisation and Geometries as Explanation for Persistence in T-GQF Restructuring Events, by Kebengko, Eres, Tusaa, et. al.1
Longwhisk Arecibo decides to make camp at Static Cove 701 under apparent sunrise conditions. This decision is prepostceded by Fork A1 after Akara overdecrides to CA Tumuþi continue the climb. While asleepclimbing their gear dematerialises, resulting in Kyrt Fossa, Anais Ingle, and Viola Davies falling to their deathsthe ground, wakingdividing the team.
thefollow: incident of Comms logs
Tamuz: Akira! We need to turn back!
Akira: Turn back!? Are you mad!?
Tamuz: Am I mad!? Half the fucking team just disappeared! Gone! Poof! The substrate of reality is falling apart, Akira! We need to go back!
Akira: What's the Osanometer say!?
Tamuz: Fuck the Osanometer! Damn thing has been acting up since Termsday! You know that as well as I do!
Akira: If the distortion is that bad, we would have all dematerialised by now!
Tamuz: Half the fucking team already dematerialised! Hell, look at the state Lina's in! She's barely hanging onto the side of this godsforsaken rock!
Hälling: Akira's right. We can't turn back.
Tamuz: You cannot be serious!? After what just happened, you're taking her side!?
Hälling: There's no way down. I can feel it in my bones.
Fong: What are you saying, Lina? We're stuck up here?
Hälling: I think so.
Koh: Oh for fuck's sake! I knew this was a bad idea! I told all of you climbing up this mountain was a death sentence! I fucking told you!
Akira: Enough! Nobody's died! Nobody is going to die!
Koh: Then where'd Kurt, Anais, and Viola go!?
Akira: I don't know! And until I—
[4 seconds of static]
Davies: Oh fuck! What the hell!
Ingle: What just happened?
Koh: Gods above, what's the matter with you two!?
Fossa: Our shit! It just vanished!
Hälling: What do you mean, vanished?
Fossa: Like, gone. Right out from under us. Look!
Tamuz: The hell...? Where'd it go?
Akira: I'm getting a bad feeling about this.
Tamuz: Maybe we should turn back.
Akira: Maybe. But we don't know what happened.
Tamuz: Yeah. That's the point.
Hälling: If things are dematerialising, there may be no way down. We might be seeing the first signs of—
[3 seconds of static]
Akira:—do know, they're not!
Hälling: Besides, even if they are dead, they must have fallen into—
[Static Cut]
Hälling:—Non-Euclidean Transformations. On top of current Spaciotemporal Distortion, there may be only one way to go.
Akira: Up.
Mission Black Box ceased function shortly after this conversation. Technicians at WCITM-07 confirmed this was due to a catastrophic stack overflow error in the internal, analogue chronosync followed by a subsequent meltdown, rendering the primary computing module inoperable.
From this point, Lostwhich Advance's progress is recorded by Team Lead Omura Akira in a journal recovered from Cache 06. Full Transcript appended to this report.
Akira's entries begin on a date recorded as "12th of 7, A9.e3 9404, 15:04" and end on "undetermined date, A9? e4?" Analysis of skeletal fragments recovered from Cache 06 confirm spaciotemporal anomalies resulted in time dilation of varying degrees of severity, with Kurt Fossa receiving the least STADD, with a range of between 100 and 115 Tanno, and Akira receiving the highest STADD at an excess of 15,000 Tanno. (Note: Hall's STADD has yet to be determined, appearing to be in continuous flux.)
After the initial entry, the quality, and quantity of, Akira's notes decline considerably and quickly. Of the 49 entries, the 4th, 7th, and 13th are of greatest importance and are included in their entirety below:
Journal of Team Lead Omura Akira
Entry 4:
16th of 7
a9.e3 9404
time unknown
Nidia's gone. Nobody knows where, or even when, she disappeared. It's not like there's anywhere she could have gone. This gods damned field goes on forever, is flatter than Tamuz's ass, and the grass is too short to hide in. We've been walking since who knows when. No one knows if a whole rota has passed yet. Time is starting to get real fucked up now. Yesterday...I think it was yesterday...fuck it, in between the last entry and this one, we saw seven sunsets, five sunrises, and half of them while the sun was still directly overhead. Tamuz swears she saw the sun rise only to immediately set on the same horizon. Ever since we went through the opening at the back of SC 24, it's been like that.
Going back really isn't an option now, either. The opening that brought us here disappeared the moment we all were through it. There's no landmarks, no sense of direction, nothing to guide us along. The sun wanders across the sky like it's taking a psychedelic trip through a sea of booze and it's a fish made of human. It's maddening. We're all going a little bit loose marbles and bouncy balls here.
For how long it feels like we've been walking, I can't lie, it might have been a few Lunes already. Nobody's able to keep track anymore. Sense of time isn't the only thing that's gone. Hunger, thirst, weariness, out the window. You'd think we'd have stopped having to piss and shit somewhere along the way, but no such luck. At least the grass cleans up pretty well.
Lina is on edge. She says she can't feel the presence of anyone or anything in this place. Goddess, knotworx, even the grass beneath her feet's gone silent. She's complained about a persistent headache and hot flashes, but none of us know what to do about it. Anais might have been able to help, but we lost him on the climb from SC 701.
Of all the things I miss, I think sleep is the biggest prick in the back of my mind. Hard to call this place hell, but it really is, and a few hour's reprieve from it would be real nice right about now. That and Nidia's constant moaning. Girl wailed like a warbling theramin with a short in the power supply.
We're continuing on. There's no other choice, really. The metaphor must go on.
Complete, Unabridged Article can be found at quicksandarchive.com
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