I work for an Organization that contains Anomalies. CASE FILE: Object 5

my breath clouds and I shiver as I make my way down the long passageway into the anx a young man one of the new soldiers opens the door ahead and holds it for me standing to the side to let me pass I nod at him in thanks and Ste through the next segment of the corridor is colder than the last where before there were only white walls and quietly bubbling cylinders of water there are now subtle and swirling Mists down by our feet Frost lines the glass and the scientists in here are all adorned in

thick coats and boots I zip up the front of my own coat and wish that I had done as requested and worn more layers the conversation between the scientists ahead of me is quickly frozen out and soon the only sound becomes the gentle backing Breeze of the filters the Taps of our shoes against the ground and the distant Echo beyond the icy walls in the next segment of the annex the walls are lit the ice and the breeze of the filter while still subtle is sharp and bitter against my skin Arctic to the Bone my

place of work is dissimilar to most others we house objects here super natural or generally sense defying items of particular anomaly objects that we cannot prove even originated in our plane and down here in this Annex we keep the ones that require a certain temperature as we descend down a series of steps into the bluish Haze of the annex I clench and unclench my fingers to encourage the warm blood flow all the scientists are wearing masks and goggles I look around to see if I can recognize any but it's mostly impossible to tell who they

are ahead between the walls of ice and off shooting passageway branches suddenly to the right and our little group moves to head down it I linger a little at the back looking to my left as we passed by a plexiglass wall built into the ice and The Shining placard there that reads object 44 catches distinctly in the light behind the glass is a roughly room-sized low ceiling Cavern and in the center is the containment rooms at names sake object 44 object 44 is not dangerous it is not kept under locking key and indeed the plexiglass

simply ends before it reaches the opposite wall of ice meaning that there isn't even even any doors separating the object from the main walkway glancing ahead down the corridor after my fellow scientists I take a quick second to creep into the object's enclosure it's kept down here simply because of the temperature it only operates if it's sufficiently cold object 44 is slightly taller and perhaps about 1 M wider than your average human and has roughly the appearance of a vending machine adorned in Curious patterns of blue and black on the right hand side of the

object are five very lightly indented grooves about coin sized I do as one does to activate this object and I splay my fingers on my right hand placing a fingertip into each one of the grooves a light shines from the middle of the machine as I do this fast and brief and then as quick as it appears it's gone a subtle wearing begins from the heart of object 44 and I watch is a faint flickering white dot Fades into view behind the object's glass like screen this dot is also about the size of a coin

and then as always a liquid trail of Deep Blue starts to leak from the location of the dot all behind the glass screen of course it flows to the right and creates a watery uneven line and my eyes follow it after a few inches this line branches out a second line appears and trails off in a different though still rightward Direction and then a third and a fourth these subsequent lines of bubble and yellow I've always likened it to Lemonade that's what it looks like eventually all the liquid lines both blue and yellow reach the

edge of the screen and their Journeys are complete a moment more and they all fade from view entirely the dot with it the display is done I withdraw my fingers object 44 supposedly shows you imp penting choice is the Blue Line represents the path that you're set on and the yellow Trails represent potential choices that will notably impact your immediate future not particularly helpful isn't Miss a voice asked from behind me I jump at the sound but it's only the young man from before the soldier uh no not particularly I reply smiling awkwardly at him

I don't even know what I was expecting really we'd better go rejoin the group the soldier says with a friendly gesture in Dad we leave object 44 behind and hurry down the passage behind the others the item of my studies lies down here my Works have been read and reread and peer reviewed and my application to take part in its latest experiment was granted and just as well I think to myself since I was a part of the team that discovered it all those years ago I dely in my psychological assessments of course can't have

them finding out about my little brother that might be enough to remove me from the experiments alog together the passageway ahead widens out into a large Cavern there are rooms here rooms with glass walls are built into the eyes no objects Behind These Walls only scientists working busily away my heart starts to hammer still slowly at first but then faster heavier this is it it's right there in the center of the room and illuminated by an enormous overhead flood light is the object in question object five object five was discovered by a team of expeditionaries

myself included in Norway's troms mountains almost 10 years ago nicknamed the door before receiving its official object classification it stand stand as a 2 m tall doorway of carved Frosty Stone it's an archway almost though a touch more rectangular object five is adorned with various interl ruins though the most obvious is carved into the doorways Keystone the large one to the top and in the middle the ruin there looks something like a capital R carved with only four straight lines and appears at deeper than all the rest Rebecca calls a redheaded man half illuminated in

the floodlights glare he beckons me over to join the others and I swallow a rush of anxiety an invisible energy thrums from the stones we can all feel it the man who called my name lifts his goggles and lowers his face mask smiling politely at me and indeed at everyone hey let's get you kitted up Rebecca he says to me in waiting for my knot of confirmation he raises his hand in a wave to ATT Tech Team at the side and I'm bustled into a side room and prepared for what's to come this preparation involves

being fitted with a jacket like harness connected to a long line of hard but flexible rope likee cord I'm fitted with a headset into series of small cameras my boots are replaced with ones of a higher quality and I receive a face mask of my own I'm equipped with a pair of fine thermal gloves and a Bel aligned with potentially useful equipment I am then sat down at a desk and asked to read and sign a series of contracts that will give the oversight team here the permission to forcibly return me for my mission at

any point they deem relevant and necessary I am required to sign and agree that the team is not liable for any physical harm or damage that I might undergo during this process I've seen copies of these contracts before I know what they entail and I don't think that they'll be relevant I sign them quickly it's all rather bewildering honestly but before I know it I'm back in the center room surrounded by my peers the redheaded scientist is in charge here a man named Terren draws his conversation to a close and returns to his place in

the podium beside object 5 the atmosphere drops once again and the silence settles as we all wait for him to speak object five he says eventually gesturing to the stone doorway this evening our own Rebecca will be undertaking an expedition through five's gateway to the plane that it shows us he clears his throat and rubs his hands together we know from our ongoing experiments that object 5's plane is consistent in terms of geology and biology though we still to be quite Frank having the faintest idea where it might be nor the plan's implications nor indeed

does it help that the physical geography which is to say the location beyond the doorway seems to change each time he opens his hands the physical manmade structures curious geographical anomalies we have barely scratched the surface as to the significance of object 5's anomalous properties but here is hoping today we might discover a little more he gestures to me and all the eyes in the room turn my way Rebecca was a part of the team that first discovered object five in TRS almost a decade ago though it's only in the past year that experimentation with

five has become viable I also don't think that it will surprise anyone to learn that we struggle to Source volunteers anymore Terren rubs his chin and then steps down off the podium and walks towards me he grabs me on the shoulder and then Chucks behind me ensuring that the rope light cord is firmly connected at it and he checks for a thumbs up from the duo operating the great reel that the cord connects to here in the facility you understand that you will not be able to take the harness off he asked me and I

reply that I do he fastens the harness a little tighter and then clicks a lock into place and makes a small electronic beep as he does so you understand why he ask me and again I reply that I do a consistency with expeditionaries who Venture through the doorway he says as you well know Rebecca that the further they go the more they want to go further which is to say the less likely they are to want to come back I know Terren it's okay I've been through the training he nods and then gestures for me

to step up to the podium right in front of object five my stomach lurches and dive to control my breathing as I step on up waiting with Rising anxiety as Terrence calls for the experiment to begin clear on floor he calls out phase one a temperature to be lowered the lights in the room all dim and the great flood light slowly Powers down as the temperature drops further I look to my left at the scientists who came here with me as they huddle together and shiver and phase two atmosphere adjustment calls out teren an Arctic

Mist begins to seep from the walls and swirl gently around her ankles I look to my right on the wall is a large LED screen comprised of pin prick blue light dots a rating of -13° C it then blinks and flickers into -14° C and then finally after a beat it drops further to -15° C and the energy radiating from the door increases 10-fold a subtle murmur goes up around the room as the runes begin to Glow in a soft faintly shimmering blue here we go Terren mutters phase three little lights link up all across

the various gear and apparatus attached to me and the enormous reel the cord of my harness is connected to jutters with a puff of icy steam The View through the stone Archway of object five begins to Shimmer and change beginning as a simple view on the opposite side of the room with its Misty icy walls and some carefully watching scientists the air between the stones begins to warp as if distorted by gas I fortify my resolve this is it this is what you've been waiting for even if I only end up spending a few minutes

in the plane you'll be one of the few to have traveled beyond the Rippling air begins to Shimmer like water subtly tinted in a pale faint orange the energy thrs good luck Rebecca teren murmurs beside me thanks I got this and the watery view through the gate intensifies in its shade of orange shimmering and sending out waves to Splash against the rocky Arch until eventually the view of the room through its doorway is lost entirely Beyond now shimmers a pathway over Tundra scrubland something towering and mountainous ripples in the far distance all is tinted in

Orange from the corners of my eyes I can already see many of the scientists here scribbling Furious notes one of the cameras attached to me the little one on my right shoulder amidst a series of electronic beeps experiment January way to be commenced as of now at 2120 hours teren says aloud and with a deep slow breath I step forwards and across the podium striding through the shimmering Amber veil of object five out from the complex into into the plane beyond the air is richer here it takes me by surprise and I pause on the

opposite side of the arch for a minute simply taking a moment to breathe it into my lungs everything good Terrence asked through the headphone of my ear yeah all good I'm doing okay hey I can do this I can do this I said to myself I look around everything remains tinted in that curious shade of orange even the sky vast and cloudless or is it cloudless I wonder to myself or is it simply covered in Cloud uniform and formless it's impossible to tell I'm inclined to believe the latter Theory however is I cannot see the

sun um let me tell you what I see the world is Barren I stand at the top of a hill all around me are more Hills all relatively low they slope against and into each other dusted with snow and covered in scrubble and grasses no higher than my ankles to my right runs a river it flows between the hills not not quite in a straight line but meanderin object five and I stand in the middle of a smooth Stone paved Road leading directly ahead and directly behind and a line straighter than the river as it

goes up and over the hills there are no trees and no bushes taller than KN height no animals and no birds there are no mountains on the horizon there's no anything on the horizon to my left right and behind me the hills just rolled away in to Infinity there's no hint of a forest or a mountain or even any buildings ahead however and directly ahead is a colossal and monstrous statue a carving perhaps if it were carved from Everest itself or a mountain even greater than that its base is beyond the furthest Hill and is

so far away that it appears less than opaque in the distance the head of the statue was partially obscured by atmosphere oh it Towers up and up and up into that orange Sky the statues of a distorted man crouched in weit with one knee on the distant ground and the other up by his chest in one hand he clutches an enormous curved horn and in his other it's outstretched and beckoning to me to the sky the man as one might be a sword in its scabard at the side of his waist and his face is

downcast look into the world World beneath them an enormous Stone beard Billows out from his chin and across his chest and in the center of that great gray forehead is carved a third and glittering eye this eye looks out across the Wasteland motionless but watching the sheer size of the statue is dizzying I become aware of terence's voice in my ear again still doing okay Rebecca hang tight we've never seen a statue of this particular size before but it's a appearance is consistent with other depictions found in previous Expeditions rest easy get your first sample

right yes I mutter crouching down to the ground and collecting some of the hard Frost shielded in crumbly soil from the side of the path into my violes I also take two of the blades of withered grass and place them carefully between these semi- plastic casin that I was provided it all tucks neatly back into various compartments of my jacket and the harness rising to a stand there's really nothing further for me to do at this stage but to begin walking so walk I do I feel a settled tug at my back as the coil

adjusts to the motion but I quickly AUST him as I set off down the path the smooth Stony path across the hills heading steadily towards the great and curious Monument ahead the only sound is the tapping of my boots on the stone and the gentle Rush of the river to my right flowing steadily for a while nothing happens these soft background sounds are occasionally joined by muffled speaking in my ear as Terren asked something of one of his colleagues sometimes he ask me to take a sample or a temperature reading sometimes he ask me a

question directly asking me how I feel or what thoughts are coming into my head but I'm doing okay I'm curious for sure I mean I've waited a long time for this afraid too but I would still 100% return if asked to do so I'm getting no sense of object 5's most dangerous anomalous property the anomaly that stops its visitors from wanting to return home the plane is breezeless but I feel an Arctic chill against my Exposed Skin as I walk as I cross over in between these desolate Hills the surrounding territory begins to change ever

so slightly not not in a supernatural way but the hills start to Showcase a little piles of rubble half Broken Walls small ruined statues that tumbled into the frosty grass Jesus I mutter into the mic it's starting to get a little creepy now I keep walking walking and walking though I don't seem to be getting all that tired in fact it almost seems like my levels of energy are increasing over to my left on a distant Hill is a section of room ruined and disconnected wall just a random piece of cracked wall there is no

evidence that it was ever connected to anything else from this distance it looks like something has been scrawled across the wall Stony surface a message perhaps an orange tinted white I stop and stare at it in alarm do you see that I asked the team it's a message I squint to try to work out what it says but it's too far away I make to step off the road and into the grasses to head over but a warning crackles through the earpiece Rebecca we would advise against leaving the path but it's not that far I

can see Rebecca do not leave the path I hesitate sure I reply after a beat reluctantly turning away don't leave the path and I continue my rad the enormous carved Stone man in the far distance the one that Towers up and and into the sky far far ahead I have walked for an hour so far and yet this Behemoth that does not appear to have moved even in the slightest always on the horizon forever Out Of Reach The monsterous Watcher Observer of the Plains with that glittering third eye he watches me that's only a carving

a statue a Stone Colossus Beyond the Horizon but he's watching me I can feel it the narrow River to my right has been running alongside the path this entire time I never noticed anything particularly unusual about it at first but now I am drawn to a stop yet again and I crouch down at the edge of the path to get a better look at it that's impossible I mutter out loud Terren are you seeing this for a moment there is no response through the headset just the gentle Rush of the river I watch it in

amazement at trying to get my head around what I'm seeing the water in the river it's flowing backwards it wasn't obvious before now as the river remained largely level but right here in front of me is a clear difference a sudden rise in the river's height there's even a small waterfall that can't be more than a few Ines high but the water rushes and it it rushes up I don't know how else to describe it the water is flowing in the reverse of the way that you would expect gravity demands that water flows down but

here here in this plane or In this River at least the water is Flowing uphill how is it doing that I wonder out loud teren um should I get a sample of the water another pause no Rebecca please do not leave the road at this time all right no worries I continue on along my way now conscious of the river's backward flow I pass by more broken statues more ruined walls one of these walls has scrawled across it a series of loops and lines and shapes just like that wall I saw in the distance although

it doesn't appear to sh showcase a legible message of any kind after all I asked Terrence if they mean anything to him if what mean anything the walls no the symbols on the walls there's a pause the earpiece crackles can you get a closer look I move forwards a little as certain that the wall is in the line of sight of the cameras another pause we are unable to see any usual pattern on the wall on our end he says simply but it's right there and even as I say this the wall suddenly shifts I

step back on alarm and watch as the Stony surface of the wall starts adjusting itself as if solving some secret puzzle the stones all shift and slide into new locations taking pieces of these scrolled symbols along with them rearranging them Rebecca your heart rate just shut up what's going on they can't see it I realize they can't see what's happening as these Stones slide into their new positions with the subtle grinding of rock against rock some of the lines and Loops start to match up I start seeing symbols that I recognize letters my eyes Dart

from left to right as words start forming before me and then finally they settle into a sentence the water flows up backwards here that chill Shivers across my body why I whisper into after a beat the stones start rearranging themselves once again Rebecca can you tell us what's happening and what's going on they the wall that showed me a message the water flows backwards here and now it's about to show me another the shifting stones come slowly to a stop you miss him my heart lurches Miss who I ask in a voice barely audible one

that I'm not sure even the mic picks up but the wall does not clarify Rebecca do you feel comfortable continuing the mission or would you like to return only go as far as you are able we already have a great deal of new data no it's okay I can go on I reply shakily turning from the wall and setting off up the path my harness feels a little looser than it did at the beginning it's not quite as tightened it's not my imagination either I can actually feel places around my chest and hips where it's

starting to slide a little I stride onwards faster than before across the hills and beside the impossible stream I pass by another section of ruined wall much faster this time and it displays the same two mess mes the water flows backwards here you miss him a small cluster of stone beside the wall makes me Double Take at first I mistook it for a purse a child perhaps standing out there on the hillside but no it's not of course it's nothing more than a pile of rubble the water flows backwards here you miss him the sky

remains that uniform and unidentifiable color beneath the orange chew the eye of the monolith ahead Glitters ever on there are no trees no buildings no birds the road continues Rebecca comes terrence's voice a little cracker than it was before if you encounter such a Walla gun please try to engage with it see if it will display anything other than the water thing I didn't tell him about the second message you miss him I'm not sure why I passed by another child siiz to cluster of rubble that makes me look twice a coincidence perhaps I think

that perhaps it isn't as I come across to last the statue of was most definitely a young boy carv from Stone the boy's top half is now missing but one arm from the elbow down is still visible connected to his leg I struggle with an emotion that I find difficult to process as I stopped to allow the cameras a chance to photograph it without an emotion blur the statue was close to the path within reaching distance and Terrence wants me to chip a small piece off as a sample reluctantly I do so but the procedure

feels strangely invasive unnatural even you miss him images and memories of my little brother enter in my head as I walk I can't help it his smile is warmth that beaming 11-year-old face forever 11 years old I start seeing him in the ruins and the broken statues I can never get a good look at any of the statues faces the heads are missing or the faces have simply worn away or cracked into Rubble but one such statue stands complete Mossy but complete on the top of a nearby Hill it faces the opposite way I am

compelled to go to it to check it to see for certain as of sensing my intentions terence's voice comes through the headset Please Don't Stray From the road Rebecca once is more than enough there's a pause in fact perhaps it's time to come back you spent a long time out there in the plane now you've achieved a great deal no I reply perhaps a little too quickly it's all right I'm still sound find but I might not get this chance again not for a long time let me go on a little further another pause okay

but any sense of mental discomfort and you let us know all right your vitals are good for now heart rate steady your blood pressure is actually decreased since the mission began just let us know all right all right I reply as the headset clicks and so on I go a walk Wanderer across the plane there are further sections of wall never anything more than this no structures or stairs or even half ruined buildings just disconnected random segments of wall that don't go anywhere in particular many display those strange shifting symbols they change to one of

the two messages the water flows backwards here you miss him as requested by Terrence I asked the wall the question Miss who I ask fearful of the answer the symbols change and grind into new locations he can be found along the road and this is a trick isn't it I ask doing my best to stay cool you're luring me in like you lured in the others the symbols rearrange we cannot trick nor deceive there were no others here what's happening Comes The Voice through the earpiece what do they say it's it's telling me that I

missed someone it's trying to trick me into into leaving the road what did they say exactly it's it's gibberish I reply lying I'm not sure why I'm reluctant to tell the truth I suppose I'm fearful that Terrence will pull the plug on the Expedition and demand me back I already lied in my psychological interview the report too for that matter if he finds out about any of the stuff that I've been keeping from him I'll likely never work with object 5 again I'll never answer the Mysteries that lie Beyond its glowing and Stony doorway I

press on the message it comes through again on more segments of wall the water flows backwards here the sound of the rushing stream Rises gradually where it was once a peaceful backy Melody and now sounds more like a monotonous grinding ever obnoxiously frothing the statues of my little brother become more frequent no what am I saying there's no proof that it's my brother it's just some boy some random Stone boy I'm not going crazy I'm really really not I swear I am of sound mind I am of sound mind Rebecca your heart rate has risen

and it's risen dramatically it's been long enough and I think it's time to end the Expedition comes the voice in my ear no look I know what you're thinking that I'm being taken over by the Allure of the object the anomaly that makes one want to never return but I do want to return I'm still of sound mind just a little further that's all I need to go a little further why well because because um because I think the world is trying to tell me something the messages on the walls and the statues I think

they're trying to tell me or show me something I have increased my Pace what is it about the statues in the ruins that are of such particular note to you Terren asks they just they look familiar that's all the statues are becoming less and less fake looking less Rin rued and more complete I gasped and stumbled to a stop as I see one such statue up ahead and it's him for definite the statue's expression is neutral but the features are clear it's Tommy my little brother just as I remember him carved carefully into the stone

the wild grass rustles against the statue's base in the breezeless air Rebecca it's time to come back the mission is hereby ended I keep walking forwards faster until I'm jogging I see another statue to my left halfway up one of the hills and it's Tommy again the Moss that covers the stone gives it the disturbing and yet beautiful effect of accurate shading in Shadows it looks like it could actually be him from this distance as if he was still alive running plain and calling out to me Rebecca comes terrence's crackling voice sharp and clear the

mission is now over I will activate the cord if you do not turn around this instant it's my brother I admited last into the mic breaking into a run down the path I think he's here I think that I might be able to see him I swear that I'm not crazy it's all around you can see the statues right please just let me go on my voice I think to myself my voice sounds different there's another statue stood at top of the hill a statue so realistic that I have to squint to be sure that

it isn't him the beautiful boy that I haven't seen since I was a child myself I breathed in the Glorious clean air my lungs have never felt Fuller and healthier Tommy are you there please let me know if you're there all right then activate cord retraction level one please comes the voice of Terren he isn't talking to me he's talking to his team lights start blinking on my harness and I struggle to tear it off it's looser than it was at the beginning but not enough for me to get either of my arms out I

pull at the lock but it won't budge I feel the cord attached to my back grow totter and the resistance grows as I struggle onwards Tommy Tommy are you there the glittering third eye of the Colossus above me watches on as I struggle against the cord I struggle and I win powering forwards as sweating with every step but still moving terence's faint voice comes through again cord retraction level two let's bring her back the cord tightens further and it draws me to a stop and starts at tugging me backwards I am at the base of

a hill a hill more important than the others there is something on the other side I can feel it there is something of critical importance Monumental and Beyond significance on just the other side of this last hell wait Terrence wait just one more hell this is it I can feel it please one more but the cord pulls me back I swear that I can hear the distant sound of faint childlike laughter drifting to me through the windless air and with all my energy I resist the cord and my feet drag on the stone in my

doomed attempts to fight back I Tred to dislodge the harness again I stuff the cameras into pockets and I throw off the headset I catch a quick level three before it strikes the stone and at last my battle with the cord is lost it hauls me back with the force that sees me stagger and fall to the path and I'm dragged unceremoniously back along the stone cursing and bruising as I try to grab a hold of something of anything to to slow my retreat it is all futile wait please just wait let me go on

a little further Tommy Tommy I am successfully at one point in returning to my feet staggering and stumbling backwards and Pace with the cord's retraction but it doesn't last my resolve gives out and I bitterly collapse once again to the floor allowing myself to be painfully dragged across the Stony Road once it becomes clear to the The Operators that I'm no longer fighting back the cord speed is reduced back down to level two and I simply let it drag me back through the Wasteland I watched the shifting symbols on the first and now final wall

as I am dragged right by it the water flows backwards here goodbye I murmur as I pass and the symbols change rapidly to one final message no you will return your water flows with ours now now and the wall disappears from sight behind the sloping hill now it seems like long long last I am hauled through the shimmering Gateway of object 5 the surrounding color scheme is jarring in its change from Orange to a calming methodical blue my ears pop in the manner they do when one drops altitude in an airplane I gasp with the

Sudden Change of Atmosphere once I've been safely pulled down down and away from the object itself I watch as the LED on the wall gradually rises from -5 all the way up to5 the view through the archway of object five shimmers and ripples and vanishes the orange World Beyond disappears and my heart aches as I watch the world vanish away and I struggle to keep my emotions in check there aren't as many people in the room now as there were before I wonder if they chose to leave her of ter par perhaps ushered them all

away I groan in pain turning around on the floor and propping myself up on an elbow Terrence crouches down beside me in his face is a picture of concern I'm sorry Rebecca he mutters and then he stops and he stares he holds my face in his gloved hands turning it this way and that hey I say to him hey stop he does so but beckons over as some of his colleagues most raised through goggles when they get close one woman puts a hand over her mouth I groan and looked between them what I asked them

mentally still traversing through the plane what's wrong one of the scientists takes her phone from her lab coat pocket and loads up the self-facing camera she passes it to me I look at the screen and the face that looks back is my own from 20 years ago I am barely a teenager I stared into the phone into my eyes I demand a mirror the creases between my eyebrows have vanished my hair is a lighter and more Fuller color my skin is smoother shinier even get her to the medical wing and have her checked out Terren

mumbles drawing away but still staring what the hell has happened here the daging effects last lasted about a day within 24 hours I had returned physically to my former age a full psychological debrief took place and I told them the whole truth about what I saw about Tommy about all of it I was thanked for my honesty for my contributions to the data that we have on the object and I was promptly removed from further experiments involving object 5 I spent a total of 36 hours in the hospital Wing I wore an arm and a

Ling for 2 days and the bruises from my bumpy return healed up after a few weeks and all I can think about is that plane Beyond the Door about the statues of my brother about the messages on the walls and on what lay over that final hell about what I would have found on the other side I keep my head down and I do my work but I can't stop thinking about it I can't get it all out of my head there must be a way back someday there must be an experiment this morning required

me to head back down into that icy Annex I'm here right now taking readings for one of our less glamorous objects and while I'm here since everybody's busy with their own business I decided to go a little further than I'm supposed to not to object five of course not yet but to object 44 the vending machine style thing in that icy walled a little room I remove my glove and place the fingertips of my right hand into the grooves a light shines from the middle of object 44 fast and brief and then as quick as

it appeared it's gone a subtle worry begins from its heart into faint flickering a coin-sized white dot Fades into view behind the objects a glass-like screen it hovers alone for a moment in the void I wait for that trail of deep blue liquid to flow out to the right to leak its way across the screen for the yellow Pathways to form and go their separate ways but the liquid it does not leak out to the right it leaks out instead to the left I watch as it flows the opposite way and then disappears off screen

there are no Meandering yellow Pathways there is only the one the blue one a moment more and it fades from view entirely along with that little white dot I withdraw my shaking fingers and let out a sigh my breath forming a misty Cloud around my face back to work I murmur out loud as the words on the wall run through my head you will return