FINAL INVESTIGATION

[bathymetric]

Morning comes on Friday, just like any other.

Or not. You're all still alive. The walls have held. You all have held.

One way or another, this is the last day you're going to be in here. You've spent so long at the whims of the man who owns this place, so long playing along with this game...

Wouldn't it be nice to beat him?

Time to investigate.

Comments

[bathymetric]

[ It appears to be... for lack of a better word, an inventor's lab? Lots of mechanical parts and blueprints. ]

[fivestagegod]

[oh jesus be a fence around him he's from 1998

like a 1998 as envisioned by capcom so we've kind of got schizotech everywhere but

...let's see what we've got.

He'll go over to check out the blueprints first - any indication of what they're for?]

[bathymetric]

[ So! We've got two sets of blueprints out - one that's modern-looking, and one on the wall that's a copy of some really old-looking ones. ]

[fivestagegod]

[Let's check out the modern-looking ones first!]

[bathymetric]

[ So! These appear to be blueprints to some kind of memory erasure helmet! ]

[fivestagegod]

[...GREAT...

Does it appear attached to anything or is it like. A freestanding thing. This is pedantic as hell but are our memories being erased by like...something portable, or something that requires some sort of procedure or massive power source to work. Have we lost Saturday to the vending machine. Is this being powered by the suffering of a single child. What are we looking at.]

[bathymetric]

[ THANKFULLY FOR EVERYONE, IT USES BATTERIES

Unfortunately for everyone, it uses batteries. It's definitely portable. There's also a one-page note attached. ]

[fivestagegod]

[...There's something almost insulting about having your brain tampered with by something that runs on a couple of Duracell D batteries or something, but you know what, that's...fine...

All right, notes. He is here to Read, my friend, what is there to look at.]

[bathymetric]

[ In fairness they are a little more heavy-duty than that in terms of Battery Caliber, but.

There’s a piece of paper attached to the schematics for the mind control device. It says it in a lot of words, as many papers do, but the gist is this: the mind wiping is flawed - strong emotions can create memory recall as the mind struggles to regain what is lost. Theoretically, though, the paper supposes that by somehow killing just the mind, the impulse to remember would be suppressed, barring any pre-existing barriers to such. ]

[fivestagegod]

[well, yes, because if you kill the mind you kill the person, this isn't terribly difficult

...

is...this why we don't let people who are into hard sciences argue with psychology people because like

......

anyway,

is that the primary takeaway from the modern blueprints, or is there more over here? if that's all, let's see what the older ones are looking like]

[bathymetric]

[ That seems to be the primary takeaway!

These blueprints are... well, they're dated somewhere in the early 1900s. They appear to be designs for what is termed a cross-dimensional quantum engine, devised by someone with the initials R.L. ]

[fivestagegod]

[...So we're talking stuff that dates around like...Planck, in terms of understanding of quantum mechanics. Maybe Schrodinger at the latest. He's not a physicist, but how...sound, I guess, does this all look, to someone with at least a basic understanding of physics 100 years later? Does this actually look plausible, is my question.]

[bathymetric]

[ Honestly? Despite the date, this looks maybe even a little beyond where this stuff is at in your time, Birkin.

There's a note attached from the inventor responsible that might help explain:

“The true key to inter-dimensional travel is simple and yet a seemingly impossible hurdle: a person or object of sufficient size from another world to provide a focal point for the necessary quantum energies.” ]

[fivestagegod]

[That's not how- ...okay. okay, whatever, he can deal with this.

Are there any other notes attached to this? ...Can he just steal the blueprints wholesale later.]

[bathymetric]

[ No other notes, and he absolutely can! Nonsense-looking science included.

Looks like there's a couple other notes in here, as well as some kind of device. ]

[fivestagegod]

[...Let's go check out the device first. Just because he is less likely to have any damn idea what he's looking at there, and he wants to get it out of the way. So! What's over here.]

[bathymetric]

[ It's, uh.

Your thread partner might have something to say about it, but.

Looks like a weird flashlight, kind of? ]

[fivestagegod]

[...So he's going to pointedly not aim that thing at:
a. anything in this room that might be damaged if something unexpected happens
b. jasper
or
c. his own face

But as he's here to dutifully push buttons if they are presented to him, what...happens...if he tries to turn it on as per the button on the side...]

[bathymetric]

[ It extends! Congrats, Birkin, you've got a sick laser scythe. ]

[fivestagegod]

[...Awesome. Okay. Giant weapon is now his. This is a terrible idea.

I assume you shut it off the same way?]

[bathymetric]

[ Yup! You can put it in your weapons inventory with your other friends.

Just some notes left in here! ]

[fivestagegod]

[All right, awesome, back to reading. Let's go look those notes over.]

[bathymetric]

[ So we have a loose note, and a folder with a note paper-clipped to the front. Where do you wanna start? ]

[fivestagegod]

[Let's go loose note first.]

[bathymetric]

[ This one is a little bloated and Professional, but it definitely has some pertinent information: ]

"... There’s a function in the system that creates and encrypts backup copies of everything in it, which we believe somehow includes the people within it. Something to do with the interplay between Subject Delta’s abilities and the construction of the test facility itself. If someone were able to access this data, they would theoretically be able to “save” versions of those who perish in here even after they’ve been disconnected. Or, more "disturbingly (read: interestingly), those who are still alive. Would that we were only working with normal unethical technology and not whatever space magic nonsense this is! Ugh, there would be potential applications of this if I could figure out all of what is going on."

[ Okay, professional’s a strong word for some of it, but it is mostly very dense and involved. ]