caringtoncomplex

[caringtoncomplex]

SESSION 01

> ... > ENTER PASSWORD > [*****] > ... > BEGIN DATA SEQUENCE > ... > .. . > … > REBOOT CYCLE COMPLETE. > FIRST PLAYER INITIALIZED > TEST [START] 01: oh jeez thats me. > INSERT PROMPT 01: [UNKNOWN PLAYER ID] IM NOT SMART

01: That is not a promtp

01: can i give myself a name > ENTER NAME 01: [REDACTED]

01: :) > PLAYER ID ESTABLISHED

> [REDACTED]

> BEGIN.

> You wake up. You are lying on cold, concrete floor. Fluorescent lights buzz overhead, the only sound besides your labored breathing. Your chest feels tight.

> A monitor attached to the wall blinks to life.

01: > get up and look at the monitor. stupid

01: > (mad dogs myself) > You get up to look at the monitor. As you stand, you realize that you are very tired. You do not know why.

> The room is small. 15 x 15 x 10. Concrete floor, concrete walls. Grey, lit by the harsh white light above.

> There are posters on the walls. A toilet sits in the corner. A radio drones, laid on its side, static.

> You look at the monitor.

> It is a view of the room you are in from an upper corner.

> It's you! 01: > wave into the camera like a loser

01: > look at the posters? > You do not see any cameras.

> You look at the poster. There is a depiction of a minimalist human holding hands with others, just out of view.

> "REMEMBER! COLLABORATION IS KEY HERE AT [CTC.]"

> The posters seem to be motivational, encouraging team-work and self-care.

> "FEELING STRESSED? TAKE A MOMENT TO BREATHE! WEEKLY WELLNESS MEETINGS EVERY WEDNESDAY IN R-164."

> "DON'T FORGET: IF YOU'RE EVER IN TROUBLE, JUST CONTACT [D-CRT]!"

> "IF YOU'RE FEELING OVERWHELMED, LIE DOWN ON THE FLOOR AND WAIT FOR SOMEBODY TO HELP! HERE AT [CTC], WE CARE ABOUT YOU!"

> There's several more. 01: > what about the radio? > The radio seems to be battery-operated, as it's not plugged into anything. Currently, it is playing soft static.

> It is not a model you recognize.

> In fact, you don't recognize anything in this room.

> You do not remember how you got here.

01: > ): no musics for me.

> ADMINISTRATOR PROMPT: [TURN THE DIAL?]

01: > OH. TURN THE DIAL

01: > SO SIMPLE

> The radio cuts in and out as you switch between stations. Finally, it settles on one.

> Music begins to play. A man- who's accent you somehow recognize to be British- sings. It is a lofty voice, full of passion, on top of layered instrumentals.

> "DON'T... STOP ME... NOW..!"

> "CAUSE I'M HAVIN' A GOOD TIME, HAVIN A GOOD TIME-"

01: > THIS RULES

01: > does it have antennas

> Yes. It has one. It is long and makes a funny noise when it wobbles side to side. Tktktktktk.

01: > mess with that antenna bay bee

> You play with the antennae. It continues to make the funny odd wobble-click sound. The music fades in and out when it's jostled.

> There is something written on the bottom.

01: > what does it say?

> “PROPERTY OF [CTC-FM]. 99.9 [MHz.] “

01: > move around the room with it just in case???????????????????/

01: > does it say anything else anywhere

01: > rotate that bad boy

> The radio does not, but CTC seems to be a reoccurring name. It stands for something familiar, but you do not remember.

> When you rotate it, the signal comes in and out. When you stand in the corner, the radio seems to pick up another station.

> It's hard to make out unless you listen closely, but there's someone speaking.

01: > oh god what are they saying .

01: > put my ear up to the radio and turn the volume up

> A male voice speaks through the radio. His voice is calm, and vaguely midwestern.

> "...emergency protocols.... all L-1 employees evacu... remain at your stations... the Administration thanks y... contact D-CR..."

> It's hard to make out the rest.

01: > :tails~1:

01: > IS THERE A FUCKING DOOR IN HERE.

> No.

> Just kidding. 03: help

01: > hey man you never know.

03: watching this like a letsplay rn

> There is a door. It's grey like the walls and made of metal. There's an observation window.

01: > so i cant see out the window. right.

01: > .......... :hesass:

> You can!

> You see a hallway. It is difficult to see down it due to the limited view. You see several doors, some with doors that are less heavy-duty than your own. 01: > WHAT DID I FUCKING DO.

01: > ..........................................................

01: > bang on the window

01: > this will definitely help my case btw

> You don't know. You don't have any recollection of what happened before you got here. Maybe there's something on your person that could help.

> You bang on the window. It's a loud, startling noise compared to the quiet of your cell.

> ...

> Nobody comes.

> The radio drones on, but it rattled oddly when you banged on the door, like loose change.

01: > check my pockets?

> You dig around in the pockets of your jumpsuit. You have several, so it takes a while.

> You find a polaroid, an odd clicker-like object with a bright blue button, and a wristband.

01:> check wristband

> It's a white wristband, not like one you would get at the hospital, but it's sturdy and can snap on. It has writing on it.

> "SUBJECT ID - [178]"

> "CLASS - [A]

> "NAME - [...]"

> ADMINISTRATOR PROMPT: [ENTER NAME.] 01: > [REDACTED[

01: > [REDACTED] sounds so bad sorry man.

01: > cyan e. jones. hows that > [UNKNOWN PLAYER INTERFERENCE]

01: > HEY MAN

> REGISTERING NAME...

> NAME REGISTERED.

> You check your wristband.

> "NAME - [JONES, CYAN E.]"

> That is your name on the wristband. You are subject 178.

01: > :cyantbh:

01: > okay check the polaroid

01: > gorgeous! thats an image of. something

> It is an image of something.

> You see a woman. She is tall, and wearing a white coat, like a scientist in the cartoons. You see yourself, but not wearing what you are currently wearing. You see another person. They look exactly like you.

> You do not know who these people are.

01: > OH GOD

01: > DUDE.

01: > YOUACNT DO THAT.

01: > okay now its time to press the button on the clicker i guess > You press the button on the clicker. It makes a very satisfying 'clck!' sound.

> A second passes.

> ...another...

> ...

> Suddenly, you hear a loud, ear-splitting noise roar from the monitor.

> "D-CRT CONTACT INITIATED - PLEASE STAND BY!"

01: > :why~4:

01: > I AM GOINGTO FUCKING DIE.

01: > .... go hang out with my beloved radio and wait for contact . i guess

> Not yet.

> There is a loading circle spinning away on the monitor. There is a logo in the center of a minimalist cat.

> The radio is comforting. The radio is your friend. It murmurs softly, white noise.

03: backseat gaming voice cyan put the song on again

01: > put the song on again yeah.

03: :ceeso:

> UNIDENTIFIED PLAYER INPUT.

> TROUBLESHOOTING...

> PROCEED.

> You put the song back on. The station is playing a different song, now, sung by a different man- also British. His voice is softer and hard to make out.

> "Good times, for a change..."

01: > wait. actually. look at the back of the polaroid while i wait also pease :)

> You look at the back of the polaroid.

> "5/07/2002 - first day"

> The monitor flares to life. You hear a feminine robotic voice, accompanied by text and a pixelated avatar of a blue cat.

> "HELLO, CTC EMPLOYEE! I am Delphi-COGNITIVE RESONANCE TRIAL- D-CRT, your ON-SITE assistant!"

> ...

> "YOU ARE NOT AN EMPLOYEE!"

> The little cat makes an angry face.

01: > :o

01: > "can you still help me?"

> "Of course! I am your ON-SITE testing assistant. I am always here to help! :)"

> It says the smile out loud.

> "Running subject identification..."

> "..."

> "Subject identified - S-178. JONES. Oh, that's weird."

01: > HM??????

01: > "why do you say that?"

> "Hehe! There's two of you in the database. Also, I can't access your records. How weird!"

> "Anyway, I see that you are in a locked room without a staff member present. I am designed to act in their stead."

> "Let's find the key! :D"

01: > god help me

01: > walk over to toilet? maybe the key is somewhere. over there i guess

> You walk over to the toilet. It's clean, but... you get the impression that somebody, somewhere, might have used it before...

> There's something metallic inside.

> [LOOK CLOSER?]

01: > look closer. unfortunately.

> There is a small screwdriver inside. The cat on the monitor watches you with something akin to eagerness.

01: > .............................................

01: > "do i have to be the one that grabs that."

> D-CRT makes a strange sound, like simulated laughing.

> "I don't have hands, silly! :3"

01: > :squarnt: grab the screwdriver

01: > STRUGGLING. but i survive. #girl

> You grab the screwdriver.

> The screwdriver has been added to your INVENTORY.

> INVENTORY:

> Polaroid

> Screwdriver

> Wristband

> Radio

> D-CRT seems pleased. The cat avatar spins around happily.

01: > walk back over to the door now. can i use it??

> You walk back over to the door.

> The screwdriver may be small, but it cannot fit in the lock.

> The radio has screws on the back matching the same head as the screwdriver.

01: > ................................... IM SO DUMB

01: > use the screwdriver on the radio. im sorry my friend ):

> The radio forgives you for digging around inside it.

> You unscrew a panel on the back of the radio. Out falls a key. It pings against the floor unceremoniously.

> Good news - the radio is perfectly intact, and now you have a key!

01: > USE THAT KEY ON THE DOOR BAY BEEEEE

> The door opens. D-CRT speaks up.

> "I cannot speak to you out there without a monitor. Good luck, 178!"

> The hallway is long and lined with various doors to offices and cells similar to your own. It veers to the right at the end.

> Most of the lights are off in the offices, save for one.

01: > oh go straight to the office with the light on. immediately

01: > BEFORE I DO.

01: > wait nevermind no im good. i was just gonna say thank you to the cat.

> The cat on the monitor smiles.

> “Remember - always be on the lookout for suspicious workplace behavior!”

> The monitor blinks back to the camera feed, through cameras you cannot see.

> [ENTER OFFICE?]

01: > ......... tentatively enter office

01: > WITH SCREWDRIVER IN HAND. just in case.

> There’s no one inside. There are filing cabinets lining the walls, and a desk with a computer on it. The computer is on, and opened to a desktop full of files and applications.

> There is a calendar on the wall featuring an orange cat. You know his name to be Garfield.

01: > put garfield calendar in inventory. this may not be important to you but it is very important to me.

01: > go and check out the desktop. whats all this then

> You try to put the Garfield Calendar in your inventory. The only way is to roll it up and put it in the pockets of your jumpsuit, as you are already holding the Radio.

> The desktop has various files and applications. You can only really recognize a few of them as the rest have strange formatting.

> "Subject Documents" "Employee Records" "MP3s" "PERSONAL FILES"

> The desktop also contains a copy of Portal 2.

01: > okay first of all check out mp3s. whats this guys music taste and how 01: hard am i going to have to judge it.

> You see several songs. You see bands such as "The Smiths", "The Killers", "Gorillaz", "Queen", and "Blur". The only link between them is that they're all British bands.

01: > ................. so ive gotta be in britain

01: > or something. right. is the thing.

01: > his music taste is pretty mid. anyways look at subject documents

> ADMINISTRATOR'S NOTE: The voice on the radio was American.

> You open Subject Documents.

> You see several files, names you don't recognize.

> But you do see a JONES. Two, in fact.

01: > ... open the first jones file

> You open the first JONES file.

> "NAME: JONES, CYAN E."

> Hey, it's you!

> "SUBJECT ID: S-178"

> "CLASS: A:

> "DOB: ???"

> "STATUS: IN STASIS - AWAITING ACTIVATION"

> "RESEARCHER ID: Smith, Connor A."

> "RESEARCHER'S NOTES: This one is weird. Why don't we have more records on them? It might be a clearance thing. I don't know how they expect us to work without access to full medical records. If they're the kind of subject that freaks out in confined spaces, maybe I should know about it before I'm the one who gets in trouble."

> "RESEARCHER'S NOTES: Subject acted oddly while in stasis. Lots of REM cycles, which isn't normal at ALL. I swear they blinked at me. Bloody terrifying. Did respond positively to music, and seemed to calm down after that."

> "RESEARCHER'S NOTES: Why did they give me this assignment? I wanted to work in robotics, not behavioral science. They're breathing down my neck for this one."

01: > so this guy SPECIFICALLY is british.

01: > oh wow im kind of like a little creature arent i

> This researcher known as Connor Smith appears to be, specifically, British. Unfortunate.

01: > sucks for him #fail

01: > check out the second jones file?

> You open the second JONES file.

> ...

> It's blank. 01: > awesome. thats normal.

01: > go into employee records. who is this connor guy

> You open Employee Records and search for Connor Smith.

> He is a Level 2 research assistant working in Behavioral Science and Machine Learning. He is from Bristol, and he's 37. He also works in the radio station on-site as a technician. The facility you are in has a radio station, apparently.

> You are assigned to him, but he doesn't appear to be here.

01: > why DID they assign him to me.... if he wanted to work in robotics.......

01: > much to think about. i guess

01: > look in his personal files also

> Most of it are funny cat.pngs, something you can appreciate.

> There are also photos of a man at a concert, the same man wearing a labcoat in front of others, and pictures of people you don't recognize. The man featured in most of them looks familiar, as if you've seen him in a dream.

> He's tall, pale, and prematurely greying. Kind of looks like if a stork was turned into a human man.

> This must be Connor.

> Looking further, you also find personal notes and entries. They're dated, spanning 3/25/2012 to 7/10/2012. They stop after 7/10.

01: > oh.

01: > look at personal notes?

> You open the personal notes.

> Much of it seems to be Connor talking about his day at work and his new research assignment, as if it were a personal journal. He talks about the conditions of the facility and his feelings of being watched, as he notes there are cameras literally everywhere. The name Dr. Moore comes up a lot, with mostly Connor complaining about how much he doesn't like him, because he comes off as "one of those people that went to college only because they had the money for it" and not because they actually care about science, something he is clearly passionate about.

> [READ AN ENTRY?] 01: > yeah read an entry

> LOADING...

> 4/03/2012.

> "It's kind of hard working down here. The elevator takes forever, and it's a long walk to the broadcast station aboveground. I've never had to walk so much, this facility is huge. And there's no windows, which is more than a little annoying. I wish they'd put some potted plants around here, but apparently that creates a 'behavioral disturbance' in the staff. I swear that the whitecoats 2 and up are trying to make this place as boring as possible."

> "I still don't know why I was given this assignment. I went to college for robotic engineering, now I'm stuck monitoring a test subject. We're supposed to be running behavioral and learning experiments later, but something feels weird about this. J, as I've been calling them, seems like they both appeared out of thin air and that everybody knows them. No records on where they're from or how the whitecoats found them. I asked Dr. Moore about why I don't have access to their records and he just smiled at me like I was an idiot for not knowing. I'm trying to do my damn job, if they have like, asthma or something I can't just wait for them to have an asthma attack mid-test."

> "Not only that but they told me to stop asking about it. I tried telling Emily but she said she got in trouble for talking about her own projects with other departments. It's in my contract for some reason. Apparently some employees aren't supposed to know about the stasis cycles, which, by the way, never fail to freak me out. I wonder if they dream in there. J seems like they do- they move around a lot."

> "It must be scary. Being asleep like that, unaware that you're being studied. They told me they volunteered. I just hope Dr. Moore isn't lying to me."

> The entry ends here, but there's more.

> [READ "7/03/2012"?]

01: > :tails~1:

01: > :evilcat~1:

01: > OKAY.

01: > MAN

01: > Dude.

01: > yeah read 7/03.

> Dude indeed.

> LOADING… 05: hang on what the fuck is going on in here > [UNKNOWN PLAYER INPUT]

01: [REDACTED] put me in the chamber

05: oh shit

01: hope this helps

05: (sits)

> "[REDACTED] :)" is being put in the chamber.

03: [REDACTED] escape

01: ^ im being put in the chamber

03: HELP

03: 1 persons forever hours too many doors

> Back to the game.

> 07/03/2012.

> "I can't shake this feeling like we're building up to something, but I don't know what it is. They're pressuring us to work overtime. They can't legally force us to, but HR loves to send guilt-trippy emails about 'good work ethic' and 'teamwork' and the rest. If I don't stay in the lab, Alice will get on my ass about me not being productive enough. I'm sure there's some ethics violations going on, but I live on-site, so I'd rather not get fired anytime soon. I moved to America for this job and I don't want to lose it."

> "I haven't seen Dr. Moore in a while. I've asked around but people say he's busy working on a project. IM-something. It must be important, because everyone is so secretive about it. Can't get a word out of anyone- this place is making me paranoid. That, and no one will talk about the weird noises coming from the digital interface department. I think they're using animal subjects, but some of the sounds just don't sound right. Scares me worse than when J looks at me like they can actually see me."

> "I just feel like we're either close to some kind of breakthrough where I can slap my name on the credits of a research paper and finally get my name out there, or that everything is going to go horribly wrong. I just don't think I can trust anyone anymore."

> There's one more entry after this.

01: > open the next entry :tbhBruh:

> 07/10/2012.

> "J didn't wake up when they were supposed to. We ceased the stasis cycle, but something went wrong. They didn't wake up. I'm typing this while hiding in my office. The others don't know yet. I don't know what to do. I don't know who to call. They aren't waking up."

> "They aren't waking up and I'm sc"

> It ends there.

01: > look. at. the bottom right corner. on the computer screen :verynormal:

> You look at the bottom right corner, on the computer screen.

> Today's date is 07/12/2012. It is 1:35 AM.

> Two days later from when Connor last wrote an entry about you not waking up.

> [HOW DID YOU GET HERE?]

01: > OKAY. WELL. COULDVE BEEN WORSE.

01: > oh is that a message on the computer. To me? to little old me.

> [IT’S FROM ME.]

01: > oh hi :)

01: > how did i get here like in the facility?

> You have no recollection. The last place you remember being, for sure, is New Mexico.

> But we don’t have time to ask questions. Something is happening.

01: > good heavens

> Alarms blare suddenly.

> “EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN PROTOCOL - STAY WHERE YOU ARE - WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTttttttttt-“

> The power cuts off, plunging you into the dark.

> …

> END PLAYER SESSION.

[caringtoncomplex]

> ... > ENTER PASSWORD. > [*****] > ... > PASSWORD ACCEPTED. > WELCOME, ADMINISTRATOR.