Category: Set 2

Time Logs (24 hour):

(Copied from source)

0415:

I’ve spent the last several hours going through what I have access to and what I can do with any of it. I didn’t think so much time could pass so quickly, but I feel so close to giving up entirely that I can’t stop trying anymore.

I’m one long break away from curling up and crying.

0651:

The lights outside my vault just turned back on. That means the elevator should work again.

There had to have been a backup generator keeping air flowing and the vault’s outlets on. I wonder if they installed outlets like that to keep a backup server running when in case the power ever went out? Not that we kept anything hooked up down here…

0703:

If anyone tries to come down that elevator, I’m going to either attack them or try and hide.

What am I supposed to do if there’s more than one?

0711:

What if Alice comes back and I try to attack her? Can I somehow see who it is first and still have enough time to stop someone I don’t know? How can I know it’s an ally or not when I don’t know for sure who might be trying to help and who might be coming to kill me?

Dammit Alice! You didn’t think enough about the situation you’ve put me into!

0823:

So here’s the plan:

I’ve charged the other stun-guns. I’m pretty sure one is missing…Alice has that one. Anyway, they’re pretty much good for one shot at range and then you have to hook it back up to the printer adapter to refuel the hooks. But knowing how long these things have been around, I wouldn’t be surprised if they misfire. I’m going to keep one in short-range mode like a knife and the other two as ranged options. I’m currently trying to fashion a belt to hold them all.

Meanwhile, I’ve moved a few heavy things like the shelves and some boxes in front of the elevator exit as a temporary barrier. I tried to keep boxes full of small, sharp things with me in the vault in case they use some sort of explosive to blast away my makeshift wall.

I’m also thinking about making a spear out of some of these metal scraps here in the vault. Nothing looks very sword-like, and I can’t really lift any of the larger pieces like a shield. And anyway, I don’t think I can stop bullets. The best I can do is have a spear or two and a few knife-shaped things. What did they call makeshift knives? Snakes? That’s got to be wrong…

0901:

Working with metal kinda sucks. I don’t know how Alice does it.

0951:

And there it happened. Cut my left palm. Dammit all.

Thank goodness I organized all this stored stuff down here. I did sorta bleed a few drops down my jeans and also onto a box that on-top of the other box under another box where the bandages were. And there’s not a weird bloody half-hand mark where I lifted. I’m pretty sure I don’t have any diseases so oh well, it’s not going to hurt anyone anyway.

1213:

So.

I’ve been sitting here, ready to jump at anything or anyone that comes through those doors. I think these stun-guns are supposed to work on most drones, though those things would probably be shielded or dodge the ranged charges. Hopefully the small space will make it easier to land a hit.

But yeah, this is just stupid. It’s mind-numbing. I’ve run out of things to do and now I’m just waiting to die in a blaze of glory (in my head; not likely to happen in reality).

So yeah.

Fuck you, Alice.

You better come back and also say something as the doors open before I zap you.

Unless you really did zap me on Tuesday. Then you can get zapped back.

Fair is fair.

1333:

New bag time.

1418:

I was really hungry but I almost threw up while I was changing bags.

It took almost an hour to recover my hunger.

Future Notes:

@ 1500 or so I ended up falling asleep

I’ve since deleted the video to save space and data noise, but it was very uneventful. I was looking at something on my phone until I passed out along the same wall as the elevator doors, tucked into the corner.

Sometime after, my phone lost charge. I believe it was a habit of mine to watch different recent presentations from other researchers from Seattle. If I had to guess, it was probably around the time I was looking into the “old’ Organic Engineering “Systems,” or (OED). They were going on about how we should continue research in older growing methods while continuing the use of printers. At the time, I found it a bit trite but it was still interesting to watch them show off their ideas. I’ve since warmed up to their presented and conceptual prototypes, developing some of the hydroponic and aquaponic farming methods further. My current favorite crop is probably beets. I still wouldn’t recommend growing produce for entire nations, but it’s a nice commodity to have…

I’m still surprised that I didn’t wake when Alice and her new friends from Andoa showed up and eventually got past my crappy blockade just past @ 2000. My insomnia aside, I think it was the earphones that muffled the sounds. That and, apparently, they didn’t think to call out my name for some dumb reason. I mean, the vault door wasn’t even fully closed. It wasn’t -that- dark that they couldn’t tell, surely.

Either way, I didn’t get to stab or shock anyone. Not for quite a while, at least. You never can live life without at least one good scuffle. I’ve been in quite a few at this point, but I was lucky to avoid them back then. I’d have lost immediately.

@ 2002: Video showing the whole exchange with Alice is here

Time Logs (24 hour):

(Copied from source)

0057:

It’s time.

0115:

The door opened easily. There’s no locking it again, now.

The elevator has been much more stubborn. While it’s probably a good thing the power is out, it sure makes opening this steel clam a nightmare. What I’d give for a good crowbar.

0123:

My hands hurt. The bits of metal I have with me weren’t designed for prying things open. Most of them bent before budging the door. The angle is all wrong.

And of course I still can’t get a connection from down here. That, or the network is down. But I can’t imagine the whole city turning off.

Maybe there’s just a local outage. Even with shielding, maybe an EMP would still disrupt nearby services? It’s annoying, nonetheless.

0201:

I finally got it open. Had to take a couple of breaks to recover my strength and find better methods of entry. It took driving several wedges across the door and many more rods bent or broken, but I finally got a grip good enough to pull the way open.

…that just rhymed.

0209:

I took a moment to shine my phone into the dark and found the way up was blocked. While there seemed to be a little space to the sides, I really don’t think I can fit between there. Not to mention how high up I’d have to climb.

Nope. Not even going to try.

0330:

What would happen if I found a way to cut the cable?

Not that I even see a cable. I’m guessing it’s covered by one of those box-shaped bands of metal going up along the wall.

The way down isn’t super far. But I bet someone would hear the crash. Would it even crash?

I forget how much I use the network’s archives. I would have just looked up our blueprints and used a calculator to model it falling. But no, there’s hardly a thing this hunk of plastic and metal can do for me right now. Instead, I have a glorified pad of paper with built-in flashlight and alarm clock.

0401:

I sneezed and nearly spilled my mucky meal. Sucks to have to dribble food out of a cup. It’s like a really bad fruit smoothie. A smoothie where you tried to mix everything with your bare hands. However strange it might be to imagine, but there was once a time where people actually risked their digits putting whole fruits into a blade trap called a “blender.” Alice thought I was making stuff up until I walked her to the museum. Apparently, just an archive page with detailed images wasn’t enough to convince her.

She ended up forgetting about all the other cool machines and spent our walk home talking about how cool the big stone bowl thing with a small stone club was. I think it was called a Mortar & Presser? Once again, can’t verify anything without access to the city network.

Mortar sounds wrong…I can’t go five minutes without wishing I had a database to reference.

0546:

Yeah, plan failed. Guess I’m waiting until the lights shine.

The lights to the lab or the lights to the afterlife, whichever happens first.

0551:

I really don’t want to be stuck down here until I starve to death.

0729:

I woke up from a really shitty nightmare.

Literally. I dreamed I had to eat my own defecation to survive.

The weird part was that I was actually how I was stranded on an ice sheet. At least I think it was. I felt really cold and the ground was really hard and whitish. There was also seagulls there.

Man, my dreams get really bizarre sometimes.

0745:

Of course I have to relieve myself.

It smells weird. Rather, it doesn’t smell like much at all. Really weird. Still came out like a river.

I’m starting a new bag. Maybe this ration food leaves little waste or something? Also, I don’t feel like opening the old bag. The smell just kept getting worse each time I unsealed it. And the stench just sits around for half an hour after, too. Really shitty.

1709:

So I found some more soft-ish things to add to my bed. Don’t know what they are. Some sort of synthetic fabric, maybe? And there was a bit of cushy wall-looking boards stacked behind some boxes I mostly left alone before.

Now my bed is slightly less cold and a good bit taller.

Now I can fall out of it and though it wouldn’t hurt, I’d have to wake up a bit to climb back in. At least, I think I would wake up. Alice never told me if I sleep-walked or not. She just complained about occasional snoring and kicking.

1731:

Alice…

1821:

I have to get out of here.

There’s got to be some way to climb up the elevator shaft.

Man, it would suck if the power came on and the elevator went back down while I was climbing. I need to try and measure the space behind the elevator where those sticky-outty bits were. maybe I can squeeze through, somehow? I’m not getting any thicker with my current diet, that’s for sure.

2011:

I spent at least an hour trying to find parts of some crazy contraption to measure the gap along the back wall of the elevator shaft. Long story short: I’m going to have to attach my phone to the end of a stick to scout above the elevator after I put bigger things on the end until something fits past.

I wish I were more creative.

Alice would have been much better at designing a better way to measure that distance with the parts available…

I’m going to be so angry at her when I see her again. I still can’t believe she did that!

2029:

It broke. Shit.

2254:

Good news: I can fit.

Bad news: I -barely- fit. Probably. I might not fit anyway. My method of measurement was a bit shaky and unreliable.

Really dumb news: Local Man Crushed by Elevator.

2307:

Man, if I die like that, I might not even get a cool headline like that if the city is deserted…

Fuck these people, whoever they are. Killing everyone I know is one thing, but they might even ruin my legacy if I die down here.

2345:

I was just tinkering around with random things when I realized something.

My legacy will be even worse.

Someone will find the ruins of New Seattle one day and discover a strange cave where the remains of a man lay buried in pristine plastic bags full of preserved human feces and urine. I’ll be the modern pharaoh that was buried with random tools, archaic electronic devices, and his own waste products.

I’m going to curse whoever opens this vault. Maybe death by bug bite infection, like that one guy back in the 19th century. That’d be fun.

Future Notes:

Turns out there probably wasn’t anyone in our lab anymore. They cut the power off most the city, physically severing cables when they found them. I believe they became frustrated after being unable to locate any useful information locked away in some of the city’s data centers spread across town. Looking back at some of the recovered reports, there were several access attempts but nothing made it through. I bet they thought about just taking the servers with them, but there were just far too many to bother doing so.

Instead, they ended up going around until they found a shelter with valuable people to hold ransom. Part of cutting power off was to see if they could force everyone out of the well-fortified shelters, most likely.

The worst event I found evidence for was the gassing of a particularly large shelter to presumably flush everyone out. Out of the total capacity, it seemed that at least half, or two hundred, died before they could make it outside again.

Time Logs (24 hour):

(Copied from source)

0003:

My sleep is ruined.

I don’t know if I want to try and sleep again, or if I’ll just sleep when I’m tired enough.

0012:

I’m going to make a bed out of some foam and a pillow out of a few of the food rations. Then, I’m going to sleep. Even if it takes hours.

0049:

This bed sucks.

0100:

Right. Goodnight. Sweet dreams, me.

0209:

Listening to music didn’t help. Listening to books didn’t help.

Normally, they did the trick.

A part of me doesn’t want to sleep with headphones in. Probably the part of me that wants a chance at living.

0314:

I heard a gun fire. It woke me up. Only one shot, though. There hadn’t been any sounds of gunfire in quite a while.

I’m kind of glad I gave up on music. I almost forgot why I’m down here.

0745:

I can’t stay asleep any longer. I need a plan.

1012:

Okay, so here’s what I’m thinking.

If I leave the vault, I can’t lock myself in. The door will close and soft-lock, but it can be opened by pulling on the handle. The locking console won’t let me set a timer or anything like that. Also, if the main power is out, I’m not sure the console will be on the backup generator for the building.

Therefore, I can only leave once.

However, it seems the elevator entrance hasn’t been found. Or, it’s not functional. If it’s down, I might be able to sneak my way out.

The next issue will be the gas. I assume it’s safe enough to go outside, but I have no way of knowing until I leave here and I can get a connection again.

I have no way to know if the attackers are right above me, still. If they are, they aren’t stomping around anymore. But that could just mean they’re not moving, or there’s only one or two of them.

I really don’t know.

I think I’m scared.

1108:

One more day. I’ll wait just one more day.

Then I’m opening the door.

I must know what’s going on outside.

If Alice locked me in here to help me, she didn’t think it through properly. I’m completely at the mercy of my environment while waiting for help in here. But what if she can’t come back. What if there is no help?

What if something happened to her?

Alice…

1339:

Eating more of the nasty food was actually not so bad this time. Maybe I’m too distracted.

Alice.

I really hope she’s okay. She’s so stubborn! I hope she didn’t get herself caught. Or killed…

1403:

It’s my fault she ran off. It’s my fault I’m stuck down here.

It’s my fault if she was taken. It’s my fault if she was killed.

I shouldn’t have argued. I never argue with her. It’s never worth it. She’s not often wrong, and it doesn’t matter in the end when she is wrong. Arguing with her gave her the idea to split up.

Was I wrong? I think we should have stayed down here. Even if we couldn’t, we should have stayed together.

But she didn’t want to listen. She didn’t even want me to come with her. She told me it was statistically better to split up. But she didn’t factor in using two minds in one place to stay safe together.

I should have exercised with her every morning. I should have spoken up more often. Then she wouldn’t have the reason that I can’t keep up with her in a clean suit. Then she wouldn’t feel like she’s always right.

It’s my laziness. It’s because I take the path of least resistance.

If she’s dead, it’ll be because I couldn’t stop her. I listened to her. I believed her quick lie. I turned my back to open the vault. I let her knock me out with one of the self-defense stun-guns we kept stored down here.

1409:

I finished eating my pack of yuck. It was slightly tastier from the small amount of salt that fell into it.

Maybe there’s some salt and pepper stashed in one of the last few boxes I haven’t opened, yet.

1655:

I’m not done searching through all the boxes. I’ve sorted about half of the boxes, but I haven’t shuffled the things inside much.

I think I’m going to take a nap. I feel so drained.

1801:

I want another hour. I didn’t sleep well.

1921:

Okay. Two snoozes later. I can’t sleep a whole night now, but I really needed to rest again. I think this should do.

Maybe it’ll help. I might try and sneak out tonight, a little past midnight. That might be the best time.

There’s nothing to make a decent gas mask out of, so I’m just going to tie a hand-towel I found around my face. I think I am supposed to wet it, but that means I’ll lose some of my water.

I guess I have to.

2105:

I guess I’m lucky. I found some paint supplies. There were face masks! It’s not a gas mask, but it’s probably better than a loose cloth.

2241:

Do you think a paint roller can do decent damage? Maybe I should bring a bit of spare metal, instead. But those things hurt to grip…robot parts weren’t meant to be swung around, I guess.

2345:

I think I’ll focus on getting reception with my phone. Hopefully, the NS network is still up.

Just one more hour. I’m going to wait until 1. Even if I won’t go any further, I must open the door and find out if there’s any updates in the news.

Future Notes:

Alice later explained that she panicked, causing her to lie to me and agree to stay together in the vault with just a soft lock. She said she didn’t want to lose me. She said she would have rather died if I could live. If this were the only thing she did to me, I’d have forgiven her. But it was just the start.

Time Logs (24 hour):

(Copied from source)

0313:

My bathroom time is currently sealed in its own trash bag. I’m not terrible happy about it. I’ll get another 23 bathroom breaks unless I find another box of bags.

The worst part about it might be that the bags are thin and translucent. Who knows how long it will be before I can smell them. I don’t even want to know what it will look like by then.

0314:

I’m hungry.

0320:

These “rations” I have taste like my recycling box.

My recycling box is what I use to take my waste to be recycled. It was from a Chinese delivery service. It’s also about six months old. I’ve never tried to eat it before, but I can’t think of anything else that the “flavor” filling my mouth reminds me more of. It tastes like that one time I sniffed my box. And it tastes sort of like how I remember cardboard tasted when I tried to chew on some as a teenager.

Teenagers are freaking stupid.

Maybe I’m exceptionally stupid. I’m not sure I saw anyone else munching on cardboard back then…

0354:

The backup generator should last far longer than my food supplies. And considering I only see two boxes of bottles full of water, I think my water will run out, first.

I’m just going to fill my time with these logs and messing around with the random boxes of supplies down here.

I’m still hungry, by the way. The food might last longer than my ability to stomach them if I had infinite water. Which I don’t.

0400:

Right. Then. Right, then.

I said I’d write to keep myself sane.

What am I supposed to put in. This is worse than small-talk with my office-mates. Or, worse, random people on the street.

I’m going to sort everything down here to burn time. It’ll be far more interesting than talking to myself.

0519:

Just saying hi. Hi!

Hi.

Ok, break over.

0815:

Breakfast time! Yummy! It’s my favorite! Brown sludge! Time to wash it down with delicious water!

I hate water.

Water tastes like fucking champagne when trying to down this muck. It’s like eating mud. Dry, grainy mud. Not that I know what mud actually tastes like. Cardboard: Yes, sadly. Mud: Thankfully not. Until now, I guess.

These food rations are terrible. Who was supposed to eat these things? Earthworms?

1058:

Another bathroom break.

I’m going to have to reuse some of my empty ration bags at some point…I’m not looking forward to it at all.

Thank the gods there’s some form of air conditioning. But if it’s not connected to the poison outside, what is it connected to? Do I have a limit to my air supply? Did they plan on people staying in the storage vault when they made this place?

If I start getting dizzy, I’m pushing the emergency lever.

Maybe I should make a bed area right under it…

1241:

I’ve finished sorting the parts associated with our current project. It was a lot, but not even a quarter of what’s stored down here.

I enjoyed folding the cables up neatly and wrapping the cords into nice circles.

Since I’m usually stuck at my desk, it was nice getting to see the parts and and

1405:

It looks like I fell asleep earlier. I must have submitted the last entry right before I passed out.

I was going to say “…it was nice getting to see the parts up close. That’s typically what Alice works on. And the others with electrical and material engineering degrees.”

Or something like that.

Ok, sleep time again.

1602:

My head…I need to sleep but my head is killing me.

2033:

Finally got some sleep.

I had a lot of dreams toward the end. And I kept waking up. I think I woke up three or four times. I’m not sure.

But my dreams were mostly pleasant. I had a normal day with Alice. We were just eating lunch somewhere. Then my parents came by for some reason. And then there was a cat? Or was it a dog? I can’t remember that dream so well.

After I woke up for a moment, I went back to New Seattle. But instead of eating lunch in a fuzzy restaurant, Alice and I were walking outside. It was probably hot, but it didn’t feel hot. It was pretty bright, though. I know I had to feel hot. Alice exercises all the time. I’m not a big fan of it, especially when outdoors and in the summer.

The last dream I just woke up from was odd. I was on a base on the moon or something. I know there’s a few of them, though I’ve never seen them before. But I was on a base and there was no one there. I had to run for some reason, though. I don’t know why I was running. It was cold. I heard something following me. It was dark. I woke up before it got worse.

My body probably needed me to wake up. I don’t blame its reasoning.

2049:

More mud. Water plus grit equals a nutritious diet.

I’m going to have nightmares of this “food,” aren’t I?

2101:

I’m not a fan of the bathroom situation. I’m going to hold it in until I can make some sort of toilet out of the things down here.

2110:

Nevermind, it was urgent.

Yuck.

I’m going to make a bathroom. Just had to go, first. I still need some cleanliness and organization.

I also don’t feel like throwing up from the stench.

2319:

Well, it’s a start.

If they come in and find me here, I’m going to torch this room. I could care less about them finding our fun robotics research. I just don’t want someone else to know what I had to do down here.

I think I’ll spend some more time organizing the rest of the junk in here.

Future Notes:

Attackers likely withdrew to a central location; gas was likely at non-lethal levels by this time

The food supply, or “rations,” were sealed components for the food printer; I did not realize this until several days later. The label was not terribly helpful

Food printers used recycled waste products broken down into base compounds

The supply packs that fueled food printers aren’t good for food ; though technically edible, they often cannot be digested well by the human body, leaving a lot of unusable waste if eaten directly without processing via a printer