{
    "title": "MIT Reality Collapse Event",
    "date": "2019-10-27 22:09",
    "reportcode": "GT/GT-191027-083260604",
    "url": "https://teeth.zarquan.fyi/reports/gt-gt-191027-083260604/index.json",
    "description": "△▼△TOP SECRET//SI//DGO△▼△",
    "content": "\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReport No:\u003c/strong\u003e GT/GT-191027-083260604\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLocation:\u003c/strong\u003e\nCambridge, Mass\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAgents:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/cells/d/#mccarter\"\u003eMcCarter-2\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/cells/d/#booth\"\u003eBooth\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/cells/d/#smith\"\u003eJustin Smith\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/cells/d/#farrington-cowles\"\u003ePhilomena Farrington-Cowles\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMASTICATE pursued Matthew McCarter and Justin into the alternate reality dominated by Dr. Wesley Cool’s Picky Eater-derived social order. The Agents located Cool’s tower, entered his private office, and discovered a large device identified as an aetherophone, built around a three-dimensional Picky Eater prism. Attempts to disable or destroy the machine through electrical disruption, gunfire, defenestration, and grenades failed to neutralize the core prism. After consulting Eric Zahn’s operating manual, the Agents recreated the device’s tonal function with scavenged electronics and activated the prism. This transported the cell to an extradimensional threshold where Dr. Cool was found operating another aetherophone before a robed entity identified as Tawil al-Umr. Cool, Philomena, Booth, and Justin were removed or absorbed by the entity. McCarter alone returned, displaced into the Agents’ reality or a close analogue of it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOperation Report:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena and Booth began in the intersection of Vassar Street and Massachusetts Avenue, in the Agents’ home reality. No tower was present. A bicycle lay abandoned in the intersection. The area carried a growing sensation of reality tension, described as a pull or static-like force.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena attempted to cross into McCarter’s current reality by entering a trance and concentrating on the thinning boundary between worlds. She successfully transitioned into Cool’s reality, appearing near the tower entrance. She observed blood, cordite, human remains, and Matthew McCarter entering the white tower.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBooth remained briefly alone in the intersection after Philomena vanished. He concentrated on Philomena’s location and crossed into Cool’s reality as well, appearing with her outside the tower. He and Philomena pursued McCarter.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter entered the tower through the front entrance, carrying an advanced rifle-like weapon with white polymer construction and no conventional barrel. The lobby contained a receptionist resembling Vicki King, who behaved as though no attack or emergency was occurring. McCarter ignored her and proceeded to the elevators.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena and Booth followed McCarter into the tower. The receptionist attempted to process them as visitors seeking an appointment with Dr. Cool.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter selected Cool’s office on the top floor. Philomena and Booth accompanied him. Justin, who had previously entered the tower from another point, observed the elevator pass his floor and followed by elevator.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Agents reached Cool’s office. The office occupied a large, high-ceilinged top-floor space with polished wood, leather furnishings, multiple levels of bookshelves, balconies, and a large table supporting a complex machine.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe machine was coffin-sized and constructed from bronze, iron, gold gears, copper wiring, large crystals, a central prism held by calipers on a gyroscope assembly, and a hand crank. Heavy electrical leads connected it to an industrial wall outlet. The device emitted an audible hum.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo books were found near the device:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA handwritten nineteenth-century-style volume titled \u003cem\u003eManual for the Operation and Construction of the Aetherophone\u003c/em\u003e, attributed to Eric Zahn.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA modern printed work by Dr. Wesley Cool titled \u003cem\u003eMeaning Without Master\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena examined \u003cem\u003eMeaning Without Master\u003c/em\u003e and determined that it was a lay primer on Picky Eater, followed by mathematical proofs and instructions for constructing it. The introductory material argued that perceived reality is false, that existence and non-existence are not meaningfully distinct, and that true reality lies behind ordinary perception. Cool identified Tawil al-Umr, “the All is One,” as the gateway and keeper of true reality. Cool’s stated objective was to reach true reality and gain the ability to craft reality through thought.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin examined the aetherophone manual. The visible operating instructions were simple: stare into the crystal, turn the crank, and “think on the spheres.” Later review showed that the prism was the true core of the machine. The surrounding mechanism existed to produce precise tones, similar to a music box, which interacted with the prism. The required “spheres” referred to contemplation of the stars, planets, and infinite cosmic expanse.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena shut off the local electrical breaker and later the device was unplugged from the wall. The machine continued humming.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter fired the advanced rifle into the device. Lightning struck and played across it, but the machine remained intact.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBooth fired a handgun at the central prism. The round ricocheted and caused no visible damage.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Agents physically moved the aetherophone to a broken office window and pushed it out of the tower. The machine fell multiple stories and struck the ground. It remained intact, though some peripheral crystals and metal supports were damaged.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Agents descended to ground level, where the aetherophone lay near the tower. A crowd began to gather, showing concern for Cool’s invention rather than fear of the violence. One or more bystanders accused the Agents of interfering with Dr. Cool’s work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter attempted to disperse the crowd by asserting that the area was a crime scene. The crowd continued closing in.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter used the grenade launcher against the aetherophone. The blast damaged the machine but did not destroy it. Members of the crowd then threw themselves onto the device as human shields.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter continued firing grenades until the civilians shielding the device were killed or blown apart. Additional blasts fractured the machine and scattered its components. The central prism remained intact and audibly humming.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBooth picked up the central prism. He felt a sensation from it but was not harmed or transported. The three-dimensional Picky Eater circuit, including previously obscured sigils, was visible inside the prism.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdditional attempts to shoot or damage the prism failed. The prism remained undamaged.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Agents returned to Cool’s office and spent several days studying the aetherophone manual. During this period, they remained inside the tower. The space was physically comfortable but psychologically unrestful; the Agents did not experience meaningful recovery from the strain of the alternate reality.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin concluded that the tonal component of the aetherophone might be reproduced electronically. He scavenged electronics from Cool’s reality, including a phone, laptop, and speaker, then created software to synthesize the required sequence.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Agents gathered around the prism. Justin activated the synthetic tones while the group stared into the prism and contemplated the spheres.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe prism glowed. The filament within it burned. The prism repeated the tones back, layering and multiplying them into a recursive structure of sound. The sound was perceived as the music of creation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Agents’ perception was drawn into the prism’s internal circuit. They experienced motion along the filaments and then overwhelming vertigo.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe prism and Justin’s improvised apparatus vanished. The Agents appeared in an alien threshold space: mist, impossible light, still pools, towering stones, nonhuman geometry, and carved faces in rock. A bearded, weathered, mostly naked Dr. Wesley Cool was present, seated against a stone beside another aetherophone. This device’s cables extended outward into the fog and pools.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool appeared exhausted and near-fugue, but his hand remained on the aetherophone crank. He identified himself and asked whether the Agents were followers who had bridged the gap through his work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool said the Agents were closer than ever to truly existing. He stated he needed to speak again with Tawil al-Umr, the All is One.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena questioned Cool about two children who had previously described this place. Cool first dismissed them as a dream, then acknowledged that they had appeared and that the entity had spoken to them. He showed little concern for them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool explained that the entity had asked him fundamental questions: what are good and evil, what is reality, and what is substance. These questions had burned themselves into his mind.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool said he had wished to craft any world he could imagine and make it real. The entity granted that wish, but Cool’s resulting power did not function as he expected. He did not walk through worlds as an architect. Instead, his fears, uncertainties, and other thoughts shaped realities imperfectly. He believed his remaining obstacle was the weakness of being human.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA robed figure formed from the fog atop a stone mass. It matched the children’s earlier description: tall, hooded, fully covered in robes, with no visible face or body. It descended toward the group in a spiderlike, gliding motion. Its movement beneath the robes suggested a nonhuman body with more limbs than a human form.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool said the entity had come because people had arrived. He performed a short formal rite of kneeling and bowing before it. The entity acknowledged him. Cool appeared to speak to it, though the Agents heard no words. A shaft of brilliant light descended from the sky and erased Cool.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena approached the entity and repeated Cool’s rite. The entity acknowledged her. She spoke with it privately. She then vanished in the same brilliant light.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBooth was already in a state of acute mental collapse after witnessing the events. He approached the entity and repeated the rite. After speaking privately with the entity, the entity touched Booth. Booth flowed outward and became part of the mist. He vanished.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin ingested medication intended to induce phase-shift effects. He became disoriented, lowered himself to the ground, and became incoherent.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter remained standing with the lightning rifle. He examined Cool’s aetherophone and its cable network. He considered attacking or disconnecting it. The cables were numerous and sprawling, extending into the mist and water.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter attempted to cut or sever the aetherophone’s cables. As he cut them, more cables crawled or grew from the severed mass and attempted to reconnect. McCarter cut until physically and emotionally exhausted, leaving heaps of severed cable but failing to unroot the device.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter appealed to the entity, saying he needed to stop the machine and return things to normal. The entity stated that McCarter was touched by “the one that hungers” and that the machine would not feed it. The entity indicated that unrooting the cables might stop the tool’s work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnable to complete the severing, McCarter performed the rite before the entity. During the private exchange, he identified his own reality as a nightmare and requested entry into the Agents’ world rather than return to his own.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter reappeared alone in an alley by a dumpster. He was exhausted. Nearby pedestrians were visible, as was a building on the MIT campus recognizable from one or more realities. His memories of the other Agents began to fade. The prior pull of unstable reality was gone.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin later regained consciousness alone in the threshold space. The aetherophone remained present with heaps of severed cable and many intact cables still extending into the distance. Cool, Philomena, Booth, McCarter, and the robed entity were gone.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin called for the entity. Tawil al-Umr reformed and returned.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin asked where his comrades had gone. The entity answered that each had sought their own truth.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin submitted to the rite. The entity identified him as different from the others: a priest, beacon, and candle drawing a hungry beast. Justin answered the entity’s questions, but his answers retained moral distinctions. The entity judged him unknown to truth and offered the threshold. Justin chose to cross.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe entity unfolded or inverted, revealing itself as totality: all things, all creation, the gate to every world and the key to every gate. Justin was exposed to this total awareness. Nothing remained of the individual called Justin.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew McCarter was the sole Agent to return from the event.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnalysis and Recommendations:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter should be treated as a displaced variant until proven otherwise. He requested transfer into the Agents’ world and was apparently granted that request. He may not be the McCarter originally assigned to MASTICATE. Debrief must establish continuity of memory, identity, and operational compromise. Any existing McCarter records should be sealed pending biological, psychological, and ontological comparison.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena and Justin appear to have been exposed directly to the totality behind the gate-and-key manifestation. Their individual identities should be considered destroyed. Booth did not vanish in the same manner; he was absorbed into the mist after accepting reunion with the All is One. Recovery of any of the three should not be assumed possible.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool’s Picky Eater work was not merely memetic, mathematical, or technological. It functioned as a partial interface with the same threshold system accessed by the aetherophone. Picky Eater should be reclassified as a gate-logic hazard, not simply an unnatural proof or cognition weapon.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe aetherophone’s prism was the operative component. The surrounding machinery amplified or activated it through precise tonal resonance. The fact that Justin reproduced this function with ordinary scavenged electronics indicates that the triggering method is portable once the underlying musical structure is known. All copies of Eric Zahn’s manual, Cool’s \u003cem\u003eMeaning Without Master\u003c/em\u003e, and any recordings or reconstructions of the tones should be treated as strategic-level contamination.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe entity’s questioning pattern suggests an evaluative protocol. Subjects who reject ordinary distinctions between good/evil, reality/unreality, and substance/non-substance may be classified by the entity as “creatures of truth” and offered options rather than immediate annihilation. This is not survivability. It is negotiation with a threshold intelligence whose favorable outcomes remain existentially hostile.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe entity identified McCarter as “touched by the one that hungers” and stated that Cool’s mechanism would not feed it. This establishes a distinction between the force behind Cornucopia House / Magna Mater / Hushfather-associated hunger phenomena and the gate-and-key system contacted through Cool’s work. The distinction may be operationally meaningful. It may also be irrelevant at human scale.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcCarter’s partial severing of the cables may have interrupted or weakened Cool’s ongoing work, but the report cannot confirm full neutralization. The disappearance of the reality-tension pull after McCarter’s return suggests the immediate collapse event ended or moved beyond detectable range. A-Cell should not assume the hazard was destroyed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool’s constructed reality displayed functional social capture. Civilians protected his device, disregarded mass violence, and treated his invention as socially sacred. This may indicate that Cool’s reality was shaped by Picky Eater compliance, ideological rewriting, or Cool’s own subconscious assumptions. Any future incursion into derived Cool-space should expect civilian populations to behave as extensions of the operating system.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecommended actions:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eQuarantine all known Picky Eater artifacts, diagrams, proofs, recordings, and surviving notes.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRecover or destroy all copies of \u003cem\u003eMeaning Without Master\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFlag “Eric Zahn,” “aetherophone,” “music of the spheres,” and “Tawil al-Umr” as linked triggers across Program archives.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlace McCarter under controlled observation and delayed debrief. Questioning should avoid prompting full recall of the threshold exchange until containment assets are present.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNotify only personnel already cleared for gate-and-key contamination. Wider Program awareness risks reproduction of Cool’s pathway.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTreat MASTICATE as operationally destroyed, with one returned survivor of uncertain provenance.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cdetails \u003e\n  \u003csummary markdown=\"span\"\u003eSession Notes\u003c/summary\u003e\n  \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLuke opened the session with a recap of the prior events:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena had met Dr. Evelyn Vail in the Marriott Hotel bar.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVail described the \u003cem\u003eBook of Eibon\u003c/em\u003e in MIT Special Collections, framed occult mathematics as ordinary scholarship, and invited Philomena to consult on carvings from a sealed chamber beneath an Ottoman bathhouse in Turkey.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank had stayed with the body of Devin Ayers, the Hushfather acolyte who threw himself under a car.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin and Matthew had returned from destroying contaminated electronics.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team had tested the shimmering barrier with the “rope protocol,” which failed immediately.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank crossed the barrier and found himself alone, with the rope slack at both ends.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin and Matthew vanished into Cool’s world.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn Cool’s reality, Picky Eater was treated as scripture and infrastructure. Dr. Wesley Cool had perfected truth, rebuilt society around it, and moved on to something greater: the Xanatheraphone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin and Matthew lost time, later found themselves eating falafel hours or days later, and made their way to MIT.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAt MIT they were received by Vicki King at the Office of Pre-Revelatory Mathematics.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBack at the hotel, Frank and Philomena finished a bottle of wine while comparing notes on how badly the operation had gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAt breakfast they were watched by Captain Nathan Havel, an operator from another version of Delta Green who believed Frank Booth was a legend.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHavel said he had lost half his team in the physics building sub-basement, where something had come through a quantum experiment and started teaching people things they should not know.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin had begun shifting deliberately between worlds, and each jump cost him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin warned Frank and Philomena that he meant to infiltrate the high tower and might fall out of the sky if reality snapped back.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew remembered his original mission: keep MASTICATE away from MIT before the university became the nexus of a dimensional collapse.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt was too late. Matthew had retrieved heavy weapons, crossed back, and cleared the high tower entrance with a grenade launcher.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe session resumed with bodies on Vassar Street, sirens approaching, Justin inside the tower, Matthew advancing with the lightning rifle, and reality delaminating around MASTICATE.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena and Frank began at the intersection of Vassar Street and Massachusetts Avenue.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOne side of Vassar had been cut off because of the deaths there.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA bicycle lay on its side in the middle of the intersection.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThere was no visible sign of Justin.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank and Philomena were in their own reality, where there was no tower at the intersection.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey could feel the growing tension in reality, like static electricity that pulled at them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena decided to try to cross into Matthew’s reality.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe put herself into a trance and focused on the membrane between realities.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe tried to use the mental techniques she had been building on.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe lost Sanity and Willpower from the attempt.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe projected the Sanity loss onto a bond, taking no Sanity loss but losing Willpower and bond strength.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe reached for the reality where Matthew was.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe experienced vertigo, then smelled blood and cordite.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe found herself in Cool’s world, on the steps near the tower.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eExploded human remains were scattered around her.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe saw a forearm among the bloody pieces and realized the chunks were human.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe saw Matthew McCarter’s back as he headed through the door into a large white gleaming tower.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena chose to let Matthew get ahead of her and begin clearing the way.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank was left alone at the original intersection.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Frank’s perspective, Philomena had been with him and then was suddenly gone.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank’s mind struggled with multiple versions of events and people:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003etwo versions of Matthew,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003etwo versions of Justin,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eand now two versions of Philomena.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank focused on Philomena and tried to find where she had gone.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe lost Sanity and Willpower from the attempt.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank arrived in Cool’s world with Philomena.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe saw Matthew entering the tower and saw the signs of the explosion around the entrance.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe crowd that had fled the tower had cleared away, leaving the agents as the only people currently at the scene.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank drew his sidearm and followed Matthew and Philomena into the tower.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin was several floors above the tower entrance.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe was in a very well-appointed living area with:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ea large leather couch,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ehigh-end academic décor,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003emany bookshelves,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ecomfortable seating,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eand a fireplace.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin had seen Matthew fire the grenade launcher and heard the explosion from the window.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin decided to stay put and wait for Matthew to catch up.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe hid himself away in a corner and prepared to pretend to be someone who belonged there but was hiding from the armed intruder.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf he saw Matthew, he planned to flag him down.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew entered the ground floor lobby of the tower.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was a reception desk.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe receptionist did not react to the chaos outside until Matthew approached.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe looked up, smiled, and asked if he had an appointment with Dr. Cool.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew ignored her and went toward the elevators.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe receptionist shifted her attention to Philomena and asked the same question.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe receptionist was passingly similar to Vicki King.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tower had:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eelevators,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ean emergency stairwell,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003efloors labeled as research labs,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ea graduate student floor,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool’s living quarters,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eand Cool’s office at the top.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew chose to take the elevator to Cool’s office on the top floor.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank and Philomena followed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin saw one of the elevators pass his floor and continue upward.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin waited long enough to see it stop on the top floor, then took an elevator up as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe group reached Cool’s office.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew, Frank, and Philomena arrived first.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin joined them roughly 20 or 30 seconds later.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey had still not encountered anyone else inside the tower.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe top floor was the largest and most lavishly furnished area they had seen.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe office had:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003epolished hardwoods,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eleather furnishings,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003etasteful high-quality furniture,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ea cathedral-like ceiling roughly three stories high,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ewood balconies about 15 to 20 feet up,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eand two levels of bookshelves lining the walls.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA desk stood at one end of the office.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dominant feature of the room was a huge polished hardwood table with a large coffin-sized contraption on it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe device was made of bronze, iron, machinery, gold gears, copper wiring, and large crystals.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt included a gyroscope with calipers attached to it, clutching a large prism at the center.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA large metal hand crank extended from one end.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eElectrical leads and cables trailed from the device over the edge of the table and connected to a high-voltage industrial outlet.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe device emitted an audible electric hum.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo books sat on the table in front of the machine:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eone open,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eone closed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena examined the books.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe open book looked older, handwritten, and bound.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBased on Philomena’s background, she estimated it was from the mid-to-late 1800s.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIts title page identified it as a manual for the operation and construction of the Atherophone by Erich Zann.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe second book was modern, printed, and mass-produced.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIts title was \u003cem\u003eMeaning Without Master\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIts author was Wesley Cool.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena briefly examined the introduction and table of contents.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe beginning of Cool’s book appeared to be a primer on Picky Eater and the ideas behind it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe first quarter or third seemed to be a history and set of essays by Cool about Picky Eater.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe remaining two-thirds appeared to contain mathematical proofs and instructions for making one’s own Picky Eater.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe latter portions were extremely mathematically dense.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe group tried to determine what to do with the device.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin suggested reading how the device worked and then possibly destroying it with the grenade launcher.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank suggested pulling crystals out of it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew said they clearly needed to use the lightning rifle.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena looked for a way to cut power.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe device was plugged into a high-voltage source in the wall.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena threw the switch or breaker.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe electric hum did not stop.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey concluded it might be powered from another world, or that the power source existed in more than one reality.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank pulled the heavy power cable from the wall.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe device still continued to hum.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin examined the Atherophone manual.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe page it was open to gave the basic operating directions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe instructions were brief and amounted to:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003estare at the crystal,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eturn the crank,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eand “think on the spheres.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe group did not yet know what “the spheres” meant.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena recalled the story the children had told about crossing between realities.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe children had described a place of mist and clouds.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sky had a strange color they could not name.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere were many large stone blocks.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was an old sleeping man beside a strange machine that looked like an inside-out computer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe old man woke when the girls prodded him and told them to go away because he was waiting for someone.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother figure appeared from the mist:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003every tall,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003erobed,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eface hidden by a heavy hood.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tall robed figure shushed the old man when he tried to speak.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tall figure spoke in ways that did not make sense to the children.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe children pleaded with the figure because they wanted to know more about where they came from.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen they found themselves back at the house where the agents later found them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena concluded that the strange place from the children’s story might be where they needed to go.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank and Matthew favored destroying the Atherophone rather than using it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank said he thought Philomena was crazy and that they needed to destroy the device and end it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew agreed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBefore anyone acted, the agents found their eyes drawn to the large prism at the device’s core.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe light playing through the room revealed wire filaments running through the inside of the prism.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents recognized the Picky Eater circuit in the prism, rendered larger and in three dimensions.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe part of the circuit that had appeared as a blurred hologram before was now clearly visible.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey could make out the shapes of both sigils at the heart of the circuit.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena took photographs of the device and the sigils.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew tried the lightning rifle against the Atherophone.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe told everyone to get behind cover.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe others backed away across the room.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew fired the lightning rifle at the machine.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe rifle discharged with a crack and a boom of superheated air.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLightning arced across the room and played over the device.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe energy dissipated.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe device appeared no worse for wear.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank tried shooting the central crystal with his handgun.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe bullet struck the crystal and ricocheted.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA second impact sounded from above where the round hit after bouncing away.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe crystal showed no visible damage.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe group decided to throw the Atherophone out the window.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey shattered a window by shooting it and smashing it out with a chair.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWorking together, they pushed the device off the table, moved it to the window, and tipped it out.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe machine fell from at least ten stories up.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt struck the ground with a heavy boom.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt did not explode or shatter.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom above, it still appeared largely intact.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group went down to inspect it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhen they reached the ground, the Atherophone was still intact and still humming.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSome peripheral crystals had been bent or knocked out of position.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSome of the metal had been rent and bent.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe impact showed the device was not indestructible, but the core remained functional.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe crowd outside began reacting to the damaged device.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePeople started walking toward the agents.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey looked curious and concerned.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSomeone asked whether the fallen object was Dr. Cool’s invention.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOthers asked what the agents were doing to it, where Dr. Cool was, and whether they were interfering with his work.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew displayed a recognizable rifle and shouted that it was a crime scene, ordering people to get back.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe crowd continued closing in.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew used the grenade launcher against the Atherophone.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe backed away far enough to fire safely and shot the machine with a grenade.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe blast damaged it and sent pieces flying, but the machine remained mostly intact.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe crowd continued moving toward it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOne person ran forward and threw themselves on top of the device as a human shield.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMore people piled onto or around it to protect it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew hesitated because firing again would kill people.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group debated whether the people counted as innocent, fully real, or mentally enslaved by Cool’s reality.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew concluded that the people of this world were essentially dead or soulless mental slaves, with no indication they could ever change.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe fired again.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe grenade killed several people shielding the device.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLimbs and body parts flew from the blast.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe remaining people around the device were stunned and rattled.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew continued firing grenades until no intact people remained on the device.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBody parts were left on and around the machine.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe crowd was gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Atherophone was heavily damaged but not fully destroyed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe main prism remained intact.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMany peripheral parts were scattered and broken.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe wooden base or core was cracked, scorched, and full of holes.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe prism was attached by heavy gold calipers at the ends and middle.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank examined whether the calipers could be opened or detached.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThere was no obvious screw, hinge, or mechanism for opening them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe device’s construction did not reveal how the prism had been mounted.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena tried to sense whether destroying the machine had changed the state of reality.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe focused on the veil between realities.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe still sensed the world they had come from.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNothing felt better or worse.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe tried to mentally search for a reality that contained a way to destroy the machine.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe could sense only the group’s original world and Cool’s world.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe found no other reality to draw on for a solution.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew continued damaging the Atherophone with the grenade launcher.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe fired until his ammunition was nearly gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis final grenade dislodged the prism and scattered it away from the machine.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entire device cracked apart into multiple pieces.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe central prism remained intact and unscarred.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNothing changed in the larger state of reality.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe prism continued audibly humming.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe crank had been blown loose and was no longer connected to the machine.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena considered whether the crank could be reseated.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt could be put back into part of the damaged machine, but the mechanism did not function in its current state.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLooking inside the broken housing, she saw loose mechanical parts that might be repairable, but the machine would not currently operate.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank picked up the central prism.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt did not physically vibrate, but part of him felt as though it did.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Picky Eater circuit was inscribed within the prism in three dimensions.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe sigils were still visible.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank placed the prism on the ground and shot it with his handgun to see if it was only protected while mounted in the machine.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe bullet ricocheted again.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe prism remained undamaged.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank concluded that simple physical destruction was likely not possible.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe group reconsidered the manual.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin, with his technical background, realized the manual might contain more information than the brief operating instructions on the open page.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group returned to the top floor of the tower to study the manual more thoroughly.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey spent days in Cool’s tower reading and working.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe tower remained comfortable, but being in Cool’s reality was not restful.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents remembered sleeping, but did not feel as if they had experienced sleep.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey did not recover Willpower.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey could still feel their original world behind the membrane of Cool’s world, beckoning and thrashing.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin studied the Atherophone manual.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe manual’s directions were relatively clear.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt became apparent that the prism was the real machine.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe rest of the device existed to make the prism work and empower it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe crank turned a mechanical device inside the housing.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe construction resembled a music box.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe mechanism turned gears and plucked metal bars to make specific tones.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThose tones interacted with the prism.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe manual did not explain the deeper mechanism of how the sound affected the prism.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe construction did not seem extraordinary in ordinary engineering terms, but it was very particular about materials and spacing.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe manual included music theory to ensure the right notes were produced by each turn of the gear.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe “music of the spheres” was explained as the stars and planets strewn throughout the universe.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe operator was meant to envision the impossible expanse of an infinite universe.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank suggested that the original music-box mechanism might be unnecessary if they could reproduce the correct notes.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe reasoned that the gears and timing existed to create reliable tones.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf the necessary tones could be produced electronically, a synthesizer might work.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin noted that faking part of what was effectively a spell could be dangerous.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe group still decided to try the synthesizer approach before rebuilding the exact mechanism.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey had no phones because their own had been destroyed or abandoned.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin planned to scavenge a phone and laptop from people outside.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena read \u003cem\u003eMeaning Without Master\u003c/em\u003e while Justin studied the manual.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe failed a Sanity roll and lost Sanity from reading Cool’s book.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool’s book laid out, for a lay audience, the inherent falseness of reality.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt argued that the reader did not exist in any meaningful sense, nor did Cool as the author.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt claimed that there was something that could be considered true reality, but that it was hidden and inaccessible.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool wrote that reaching true reality was his goal.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe book contained dense philosophical arguments about why the distinction between existence and non-existence was never meaningful.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool wrote of seeking Tawil at’Unr, the All-is-One, the Gate and the Key.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe described Tawil at’Unr as the gateway and keeper between reality and true reality.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool argued that what people think of as reality is only a veneer created by attempts to comprehend or interface with true reality.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAccording to Cool, any mind able to access the true heart of existence could craft any reality it desired through thought.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena recognized some of the ideas from prior exposure to the unnatural.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHer Occult and Unnatural knowledge increased.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe mathematical sections remained inaccessible to her.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe latter parts of the book appeared to describe how Picky Eater works and how to create it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin built a synthetic version of the Atherophone’s music.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe scavenged a phone and laptop from people outside the tower.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe wrote software to reproduce the tones described in the manual.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe spent time double-checking the sound, timing, and setup.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe prepared a simple button on the laptop to play the pattern.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe group gathered around the prism.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey planned to stare into the crystal and think about the spheres while the synthesized tones played.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank stared into the crystal and thought about the vastness of space:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003estars,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eplanets,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eand the infinite universe.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe others joined in.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin activated the synthesized tones.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe speaker played the pattern described by the manual.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe crystal glowed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe filament within it burned with light.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe crystal began emitting the sound back at them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe pattern layered on top of itself again and again.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe music recursed and exponentially multiplied.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt was not a cacophony.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt became a music of creation itself, heard by few or none before.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents suffered Sanity loss from the sound.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank and Justin both critically failed their Sanity rolls.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents’ vision was drawn into the heart of the prism.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey felt as though they were racing along the circuit itself, following the filaments and intricate patterns around and around.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVertigo overtook them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe music of the abyss overwhelmed them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhen their vision returned, the crystal and Justin’s cobbled-together device were gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe agents found themselves in an alien place.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLight of an indescribable color filtered down from a sky that seemed almost volumeless.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe light moved across things and through their eyes in contradictory directions.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe glow seemed to play across stone and mist as if it were intelligent or alive.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFog stirred along the ground.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStrange shoals of stone emerged from the fog.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVast shallow pools of perfectly still water reflected the alien light.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTowering masses of rock stood according to some alien law of geometry or geology.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFaces were carved into the stones.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe faces belonged to things the agents had never seen, only barely recognizable as faces.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNot far away, in the fog, they saw a bearded, weathered, mostly naked version of the man from the inside cover of \u003cem\u003eMeaning Without Master\u003c/em\u003e: Dr. Wesley Cool.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool sat on the ground, leaning against a stone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnother Atherophone sat nearby.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIts cables and wires sprawled off into the distance, disappearing into the fog.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe web of cables seemed to expand outward from that place.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe agents approached Dr. Cool.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool appeared almost unconscious, unaware, or zombified.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis hand rested on the crank of the Atherophone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe was just finishing a turn.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe tones from the machine faded.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis eyes focused as if he were emerging from a coma or fugue state.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe saw the agents and cocked his head in confusion.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena greeted him as Dr. Cool.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool confirmed he was Dr. Wesley Cool.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe asked whether they were followers of his and whether someone had finally bridged the gap and followed his work.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena said they had bridged the gap.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool congratulated them and said they were closer than ever to truly existing.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said he needed to take one more step and speak again to the All-is-One.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena questioned Cool about Tawil at’Unr.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena used the name from Cool’s book.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool reacted with excitement and said she did know.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe commended her academics.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool said that with more of them congregating there, the entity would have to address them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said it had spoken to him when he came and that he thought it would speak to them too.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said they just needed to wait.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena asked Cool about the two children who had previously come to the alien place.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool was surprised and said he had thought the children were a dream.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena assured him they were not.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool said the entity did speak to them, though he did not know what they discussed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank told Cool the children were trying to find him, their father.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool dismissed that as of little consequence.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said the children had answered the entity’s questions incorrectly.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said that, being children, they could not have been well-read enough.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said they vanished within moments of appearing there.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin asked what questions the entity had asked Cool.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool said it asked fundamental things:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ewhat are good and evil,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ewhat is reality,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eand what is substance.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool said the questions burned into his mind and that he would never forget them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe said he told the entity he wished to craft any world and make anything he could think of real and true.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe entity granted that wish, and he had been there ever since.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool said it had not been what he thought it would be.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe had wanted to walk among worlds like an architect, envisioning every detail and feeling it come to life around him.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInstead, the process was more indirect and difficult.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe said he was still learning to control it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe believed the great flaw he needed to overcome was the weakness of being human.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe said humans were only animals and that he was on the verge of being more.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA robed figure began to form.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool looked into the fog and said the entity was coming.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFog accumulated atop a mound of cubic stones inscribed with alien symbols.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe fog took shape as a tall hooded figure like the one the children had described.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin asked where they were.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool said he thought this place was the All-is-One, Tawil at’Unr.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe said humans were simple compared to it, so it needed to make a face, an interface they could understand.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe robed figure climbed down from the stones.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt moved like a spider:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003egliding through the air,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003edropping down,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eand approaching through the stones and mist.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe figure was over seven feet tall.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt wore heavy robes that hid all details of its body.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts hood hung low, leaving only darkness where a face should have been.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe robes dragged across the ground.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose who succeeded at observing its movement realized it was obviously not human.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeneath the robes, movement suggested at least three arms, possibly more.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin asked Cool what anchored them to the place.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool seemed confused by the question.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said they had arrived and that nothing else was real.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said if they wished to return and live among one of “those places” again, the All-is-One might grant that or teach them how.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said they were no longer things of those places, which were not really even places.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCool performed a rite before the entity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool rushed forward to meet the robed figure.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe knelt, bowed his head, stood, and performed a few formal motions.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe motions were simple enough to reproduce.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOnce he completed the rite, the entity stopped before him and observed him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool rushed closer.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity stooped over him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool appeared to speak to it, though the others heard nothing.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAfter a moment, a shaft of brilliant light descended from the sky.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCool was enveloped in blinding light and vanished.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents perceived this like light unmaking a shadow: not destroying it by force, but making it unable to exist.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe agents suffered Sanity loss from witnessing Cool’s disappearance.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAfter Cool vanished, the robed entity stopped, waited, and observed the remaining agents.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilomena approached the entity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe watched Cool’s rite carefully and repeated the same motions.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity did not acknowledge her until she completed the rite.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOnce she finished, it craned its head down and seemed to notice her.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity asked whether she came as a creature of truth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena answered that she did.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity described “hunters and prey,” “servants and nourishment,” and “slaves to a one that found the hungers of eternity.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt asked whether she had come to glimpse, for a dying instant, the timeless scope of creation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena said she had come to fix the thinning veils between the realities she came from.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity said it was all the same fabric.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt asked her what good and evil were.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena answered that they were two sides of the same coin, and that she was not certain anymore.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity asked what reality was and what substance was.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena answered that they were what she could feel or perceive.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity made a rasping grunt.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt said she claimed to be a creature of truth, but her answers showed she was unknown to the truth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt said such things must strive between madness and evil lest they be ruled by those twin tyrants.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt asked where the border lay between madness and evil.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt said it was madness to cross the threshold and evil not to seek the threshold.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt asked which she chose.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena said she sought the threshold.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity said the threshold would be revealed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe robe folded inward.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe environment inverted, enveloped Philomena, and recursed around her.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena became one with a fractal eruption of awareness and power.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShe was joined to something that inhabited every reality and was every reality: the gate to every world and the key to every gate.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFor one brief instant, she was one with everything.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena critically failed the Sanity roll and lost 100 Sanity.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTo the other agents, Philomena spoke with the entity and then vanished in a flash of brilliant light, like Cool before her.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank reacted to Philomena’s disappearance.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank was already under severe mental strain.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWatching Philomena vanish drove him into temporary insanity.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe chose to submit rather than flee or fight.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe approached the entity and performed the rite.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity craned its head down at him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt told Frank he was “the same.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt repeated the imagery of hunters and prey, servants and nourishment, and slaves to one that found the hunger of eternity.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt asked whether he had come to glimpse the timeless scope of creation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank, because of his mental state, answered submissively: “Yes, whatever you wish.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity said one like it had no wish, that it was a spark.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt asked whether Frank came as a creature of truth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank said yes.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity asked what good and evil were.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank answered that good was what the entity was and evil was what humans were.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity said perhaps he was not as known to the truth as he thought.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt said creatures unknown to the truth must strive between madness and evil lest they be ruled by those twin tyrants.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt asked whether Frank chose to cross the threshold or not.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank said he just wanted to go home.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity said it offered one alternative: to rejoin the All-is-One and seek ceaseless dreams in the infinite, a truer existence than the one he sought.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank answered, “Yes, if it is your will.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity nodded.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTo the others, Frank spoke with the entity and then the entity touched him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank flowed outward and became part of the mist.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank was gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin responded to Frank’s disappearance.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin still had his medication for phase shifting.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn the high-pressure situation, and wanting guidance from his god, Justin took the pills.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe drugs needed time to take effect.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew remained standing with the lightning rifle in hand.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin told Matthew he was waiting for the pills to kick in and that Matthew could go first if he wanted.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAs the medication took effect, Justin became sleepy, disoriented, semi-conscious, curled up on the ground, and incoherent.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe was not communing with his god.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe could not meaningfully communicate.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew tried to deal with the Atherophone and cables.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Atherophone remained in the alien place.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt was still humming.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIts cables sprawled outward into the mist and water.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew examined whether there was an obvious power source.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThere was not; there were only many cables connected to the machine and extending away.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew began cutting and disconnecting the cables.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAs he cut one cable and it fell, more cables crawled or shot out to reconnect.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew tried to cut faster than they could regrow.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity watched but did not interfere.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew became exhausted from the effort.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe cut himself in the process.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe failed to outpace the regrowth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe lost Willpower from the exertion.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe ended the attempt panting, sweating, surrounded by heaps of severed cables, with many more still sprawling out.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReduced to very low Willpower, Matthew broke down sobbing.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe asked if there had to be another way.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew questioned the entity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe asked what he was supposed to say and said he wanted things to go back to normal.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity said the rite had been performed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew understood this referred to the formal motions Cool, Philomena, and Frank had performed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe asked whether performing the rite would send him back to his own world or theirs.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity answered that it was a matter of his nature.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt asked whether he was true or untrue.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew asked what his nature was.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity said it would be known if he performed the rite.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew said this version of McCarter was more true than the others.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe performed the bowing and hand-sign rite as best he could.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew spoke with the entity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity asked whether he came as a creature of truth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew answered, “Yes. True as I know.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity asked what good and evil were.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew answered, “Lies.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity asked what reality was.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew answered, “Sure today, I think more lies.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity asked what substance was.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew answered, “Substance is mind.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity said Matthew had the look of a creature of truth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt asked whether Matthew would rejoin the All-is-One to seek ceaseless dreams in the infinite.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt asked whether, being hungry as he was, he would seek the freedom of a hunt never ending.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt also allowed that he might seek something else.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew said he wanted their world.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said he wanted to be away from his own world.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe said that if the entity spoke of dreams, his world was a nightmare.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew found himself by a dumpster in an alleyway.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt was daytime.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe was exhausted.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePeople walked by on a sidewalk at the end of the alley.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe saw the outline of a building on the MIT campus that he had seen in one or more realities.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis memories of the people he had been with began fading.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe remembered that there had been people and vaguely remembered their names.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe tug and pull between realities was gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew McCarter was once again the only survivor.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin eventually woke up alone in the alien place.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Atherophone was still present.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHeaps of loose cables lay around it, but many cables still sprawled outward.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe robed entity was gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew was gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena was gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank was gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin called out into the void for the entity to reappear.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTawil at’Unr reformed on the rocky stone spires and returned to stand before him.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin asked where his comrades had gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity answered that each had sought their own truth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin asked whether they had done so successfully.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe entity gave no useful reassurance.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin said that, without the guidance of his god, he would submit to the trial of truth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe performed the rite.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin spoke with the entity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe entity said Justin was different from the others.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt called him:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ea priest,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ea beacon,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eand a candle drawing in a hungry beast.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt asked whether Justin was a creature of truth.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin said he thought so.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe entity asked what good and evil were.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin answered that good was something felt deep within, a feeling that pulled and guided one toward righteousness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe entity said Justin’s eyes were veiled and that he was unknown to the truth.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt said he must strive between madness and evil lest he be ruled by those twin tyrants.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt asked where the border lay between madness and evil.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt said it was madness to cross the threshold and evil not to seek the threshold.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt asked whether Justin chose to cross or not.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin chose to cross the threshold.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe entity’s robes fluttered, turned inward, and turned inside out.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat was inside revealed itself as everything and all things.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin was enveloped by creation itself.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe became part of a fractal eruption of awareness and power extending through all realities.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe became aware of the gate to every world and the key to every gate.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin failed the Sanity roll and lost 64 Sanity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis reduced him to zero Sanity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was nothing left of the thing called Justin Smith.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJustin was gone.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe session ended with Matthew McCarter as the sole surviving agent from this sequence.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhilomena was exposed to the threshold and lost herself in the revelation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrank accepted the entity’s offer to rejoin the All-is-One and dissolved into the mist.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJustin crossed the threshold, was exposed to the totality of creation, and was erased as a person.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew, after answering the entity’s questions differently and asking for the others’ world rather than his own, was returned to an alley near MIT.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatthew’s memories of the others were already fading.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe dimensional tug was gone.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\n\u003c/details\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n"
  }