Addendum 6713.01— PROJECT HEAVENPIERCER:
On January 16, 2022, all members of the O5 Council met for an emergency voting session following Incident 6713-A-1 and the success of Operation Blindspot. After a vote of 9-3 in favor of investigating SCP-6713, the Council authorized the initiation of Phase 1 of Project HEAVENPIERCER: the construction and launch of a large unmanned deep space exploration probe also named SCPS Heavenpiercer. To counteract the chaotic environment of SCP-6713-A, it was decided that the probe would be fitted with several Scranton Reality Anchors capable of generating a bubble of stable reality potent enough to allow the probe to feasibly traverse the boundary separating our Universe from SCP-6713-A, and travel to the source of the anomaly without being destroyed by random ontological alterations.
It was also determined that the probe would contain indirect sensory equipment and specially designed cameras designed to automatically trigger an anticognitohazard program, then shut off in the event of a cognitohazardous Boltzmann Event, a wormhole drive (to shorten the probe's travel distance to SCP-6713), and a trans-Universal communication array (to enable instantaneous contact between the Heavenpiercer and the Foundation while still maintaining sub-light speeds) utilizing similar processes as the aforementioned wormhole drive.
A timeline outlining the events of Project HEAVENPIERCER can be viewed below:
[Begin Expedition Log]
1/10/2022: Planning and construction of the SCPS Heavenpiercer begins immediately, a process greatly accelerated through the usage of specialized artificial intelligence. Neither the public nor any world government nor front companies involved in transporting and assembling materials, nor members of the Foundation below Level 5 clearance are notified of this project in its entirety, with disparate groups informed of only small aspects of the project in question.
3/9/2022: SCPS Heavenpiercer is 99% complete. Preparations for its launch in Cape Canaveral, Florida are made for the following month.
4/18/2022, 2:50:00 AM UTC: SCPS Heavenpiercer is launched into Earth's orbit without incident and remotely moved to the far side of the Moon by Foundation Mission Control operatives. O5 Command watches the launch through the probe's rear facing cameras, and sees the Earth shrinking, then disappearing as the probe approaches and completes one orbit around the Moon.
4/18/2022, 2:58:00 AM UTC: SCPS Heavenpiercer activates its wormhole drive, creating a traversable wormhole/Einstein-Rosen/Morris-Thorne bridge allowing it to reach SCP-6713-A in just a few months while still traveling at sub-light speeds. The probe begins to glow before phasing through the wormhole and vanishing. Contact with the probe is lost for the duration of the journey to SCP-6713-A, partly due to the newly created wormhole, and partly due to relativistic effects brought about by the vessel traveling not only hundreds of millions of light years in distance, but hundreds of millions of light years back in time.
6/11/2022, 11:19:00 PM UTC: SCPS Heavenpiercer decelerates, arriving at its destination near SCP-6713-A. O5 Council members are notified of the probe's arrival, and order the activation of its Scranton Reality Anchors. Spacetime begins to bend around the probe before the Hume levels of the developing pocket dimension encasing the probe stabilize into a state of equilibrium, enveloping the vessel within a bubble. The probe then moves towards the expanding vacuum in front of it, successfully passing through the boundary of ionized radiation separating our Universe from SCP-6713-A without being annihilated. Contact is temporarily lost again with the probe as it enters another wormhole that will bring it within a few dozen light years of the center of SCP-6713-A.
6/24/2022, 8:30:00 PM UTC: The Foundation re-establishes contact with SCPS Heavenpiercer after it emerges from its second wormhole jump, directing it to take measurements of the surrounding void, and monitor its surroundings for Boltzmann Events as it slowly approaches the center (and source) of the anomaly. At this time, the probe, is approx. 93 light years away from the center of SCP-6713-A. In the distance it detects what appears to be an exceptionally bright star emanating powerful gravitational waves that send massive ripples across spacetime.
6/27/2022, 10:19:05 AM UTC: A moderately severe Boltzmann Event is recorded by the SCPS Heavenpiercer that causes SCP-6713-A to transform into an inverted sphere full of fractals. Geometrically impossible Escher-like three dimensional and higher dimensional polytopes appear and disappear within minutes of each other, and the Heavenpiercer's sensory instruments detect an extreme shift in SCP-6713-A's Hume levels to 0.02. Though the probe is unaffected, it automatically shuts its cameras down seconds into the Boltzmann Event out of precaution. No cognitohazards are reported. The event ends after exactly 28.6 minutes, permitting Heavenpiercer to activate its camera feeds once more. The probe is now within 80 light years of its destination.
6/29/2022, 6:28:14 PM UTC: SCPS Heavenpiercer continues its trajectory towards the center of SCP-6713-A for the next several days, before it records yet another Boltzmann Event in its vicinity. The void begins to fill up with iridescent balls of slime that randomly and rapidly flash between a series of imperceptible "impossible colors". The probe shuts down its cameras again only to crash into numerous walls and shards of "black glass" that appear at random intervals, causing fragments of the "glass" to fly everywhere in all directions. Mission Control is forced to decelerate the probe to wait out the Boltzmann Event, sending a minor shock wave across deep space. This Boltzmann Event ends in two hours, but is then immediately followed by another, much more severe Boltzmann Event. SCP-6713-A changes state again just after Heavenpiercer resumes its course, this time reconfiguring itself into a purely linguistic, semiotic cosmos. Thousands of both unrecognizable and recognizable flaming thaumaturgic symbols, letters, ciphers, and hieroglyphics either rapidly flicker from one symbol to another or randomly burst into being in random locations surrounding the probe, forming words and sometimes whole coherent sentences that disintegrate as quickly as they integrate. This reality created by SCP-6713-A is vaporized in 6.2 minutes.
Note: Approximately 1% of the sentences seen in the video footage were successfully translated by Foundation cryptographers, stating phrases like "We're sorry", "It's all our fault", "Please help us", "Redeem us" or "Save us".
7/1/2022, 3:09:11 PM UTC: SCPS Heavenpiercer is 50 light years away from SCP-6713-B, now definitively confirmed to be the source of SCP-6713-A's anomalous properties. The probe continues to receive gravitational wave readings that grow gradually stronger and more intense the closer it travels to the center of the vacuum, born out of SCP-6713-B's binary black hole. Photographs taken by the probe clearly show the silhouette of an artificial dodecahedral object surrounded by a massive accretion disk and a severe distortion of spacetime, causing extreme gravitational lensing due to the scattering of light coming from stars and galaxies directly behind the megastructure. This lensing causes the light behind SCP-6713-B to appear as an Einstein ring.
7/4/2022, 5:34:12 AM UTC: Visual contact with Heavenpiercer is lost for approximately 13 hours, though Foundation researchers are able to confirm its continued existence and operational status using radio signals and indirect sensory data being sent back to Earth from the location of the probe. The probe's cameras during this segment of time show only a black screen. However, loud wailing, weeping, and screeching can be heard coming from seemingly all directions at once throughout the void. The echoes and screams grow progressively louder and louder until the Heavenpiercer begins to violently oscillate, despite the presence of its Scranton Reality Anchors, before the event abruptly ends at the 13 hour mark. A third Boltzmann event is theorized to have been the cause of the loss of Heavenpiercer's visual feed, though the conditions of the new reality the probe found itself in are unclear. It is believed by both Dr. Reed and Dr. Johnson that SCP-6713-A's most recent Boltzmann Event created a purely aural, tonal, or auditory reality in which visuality or visual perception has ceased to exist, though other researchers, such as Senior Researcher Dr. Yamada think otherwise:
With all due respect, Director, what Dr. Reed and Dr. Johnson have proposed is preposterous. If their hypothesis is true, our probe should have been vaporized into its constituent atoms a long time ago. What's really going on here is very simple: the new "July 4th" reality created by SCP-6713-A was a reality where light, as opposed to visual perception or optics as a branch of physics, no longer existed. It explains why we still knew Heavenpiercer was in one piece despite us not being able to physically see it—there just wasn't any light around for us to check. For all intents and purposes, Heavenpiercer became a quasi-invisible black hole in the span of about 20 minutes! —Dr. Yamada, in a conversation with Site Director Briggs and Head of Research Dr. Carter.
7/5/2022, 1:45:56 PM UTC: SCPS Heavenpiercer arrives within 20 light years of SCP-6713-B. More and more gravitational, temporal, and spatial anomalies are detected by the probe due to its close distance to the megastructure at the center of the vacuum. The probe once again begins to oscillate due to its wormhole growing unstable, as it is ever so slightly pulled towards SCP-6713-B, whose gargantuan size gives the object its own gravitational pull (exacerbated by its own binary black hole). By 11:00:00 PM UTC the probe has come within 12 light years of its destination, and begins to decelerate in preparation for its exit from its wormhole. Significant tensile stress on the Heavenpiercer causes both its electronic equipment and its Scranton Reality Anchors to exhibit reduced functional capability, as it is slowly crushed by anomalous physical laws.
7/6/2022, 4:00:18 AM UTC: SCPS Heavenpiercer emerges from its second wormhole jump, and comes within 8 light years of SCP-6713-B, then 7 light years, then 6, then 5. It continues to oscillate with greater and greater intensity as the onboard cameras blink on and off, sometimes blacking out for several minutes at a time. Some members of O5 begin to doubt the durability of the Heavenpiercer, as well as its ability to withstand the titanic forces being exuded by SCP-6713-B, while others remain determined and steadfast. Photos taken from the probe at this time become increasingly blurry and murky, possibly due to magnetic interference from the binary black hole system at the center of SCP-6713-B (which is itself at least 2 AU in diameter). Heavenpiercer's Scranton Reality Anchors start to malfunction, first only very infrequently, then periodically, weakening the strength of its stabilizing Hume field.
We fitted this probe with the toughest substances known to humankind AND three Reality Anchors to boot. Neither they nor the probe came cheap. If this mission doesn't succeed, we'll have no choice but to discontinue Phase 2 of the Project. O-4, O-10, and O-11 say we have to try something, because it's better than doing nothing. I think that something should take the form of getting as many people off this reality as possible within the next century. We can't stop this thing from swallowing up our Universe, so we might as well try the next best thing. —O-6
7/6/2022, 9:17:39 AM UTC: SCPS Heavenpiercer reaches a distance of 4 light years from SCP-6713-B.
7/6/2022, 1:24:02 PM UTC: SCPS Heavenpiercer reaches a distance of 3.5 light years from SCP-6713-B. The visual feed from the probe grows fuzzy as many of its auxiliary systems, such as its spectrometer and other sensory equipment, are forced offline. Internal computers report significant levels of external stress on the probe as well as rising levels of gamma radiation coming from the black holes inside of SCP-6713-B.
7/6/2022, 10:59:48 PM UTC: SCPS Heavenpiercer reaches a distance of 2 light years from SCP-6713-B. Its Scranton Reality Anchors begin to fail, losing up to 70% of their original stabilizing capabilities. At least one of the probe's protruding antennae break off from its main body. Its wormhole drive, and by extension its communications array, also exhibit reduced functionality (down by at least 65%).
7/7/2022, 3:30:21 AM UTC: SCPS Heavenpiercer comes within less than 1 light year of SCP-6713-B, taking a small number of low-resolution images of the megastructure. Moments later, its camera feeds begin to display static and white noise, while its internal computers report Heavenpiercer has reached a critical state, and is on the verge of total mechanical failure. Soon after, all Scranton Reality Anchors in the probe crash simultaneously while its propulsion systems short circuit. A powerful explosion is detected with the probe not long after, causing it to change direction and drift aimlessly towards SCP-6713-B, as it is pushed at an angle by a leak of exotic matter particles. O5 Command and Mission Control deduce from the few sensors remaining in operation on the probe that it is headed on a one-way collision course with SCP-6713-B's accretion disk, should its trajectory remain unaltered. Eventually, contact can no longer be established with the probe once the aforementioned sensors finally shut down. The destruction of the Heavenpiercer at this point is all but assured. Most O5 members, seeing these developments, are left with little option but to declare Project HEAVENPIERCER a failure, and order Mission Control to abort the exploration of SCP-6713.
Addendum 6713.02— POINCARE RECURRENCE EVENT:
7/7/2022, 3:33:33 AM UTC: Just as Mission Control is about to pull the plug on Heavenpiercer, Incident 6713-A-2 occurs (the Poincare Recurrence Event), much to the shock of all Foundation personnel still observing the probe's video logs (showing a black screen once again). At random intervals, Heavenpiercer's video feeds jolt back to life as it continues to gradually float towards SCP-6713-B, though its other pieces of equipment remain dysfunctional. In the distance, SCP-6713-B can be seen in perfect clarity, its various markings on its dodecahedral shells easily legible even from a great distance. Detecting motion to its immediate right, however, Heavenpiercer automatically turns its cameras towards the same direction.
The resulting video feed reveals the presence of thousands of spacecraft of varying sizes and shapes, either in pieces or in states of disrepair, alongside dozens of mechanical extraterrestrial entities resembling crustaceans drifting in the empty vacuum. Notably, these entities possess tri-radial or trilaterally symmetric body plans (three chelae with three claws rather than two chelae with two claws, and three eyestalks rather than two), unlike crustaceans on Earth. The entities, apparently in a state of hibernation, "wake up" from their slumber, and notice the probe before immediately coalescing into a large swarm, and approaching it, seemingly in a rush to do so.
The entities stop moving just in front of the probe and carefully envelop it. Five seconds later, Heavenpiercer's onboard computers begin receiving several yottabytes of information that they were not designed to handle. To prevent a catastrophic data overflow error, or mitigate further damage to its internal electronic equipment, the Heavenpiercer probe uses its wormhole communications array (now back online) to automatically redirect incoming data from its processing modules to ground-based computers on Earth in the form of compressed data packets. From there, they are uploaded into secure and encrypted offline data centers. Following this event, the alien entities release the Heavenpiercer from their clutches, and look directly at its onboard cameras at close range.
Heavenpiercer's cameras attempt to shut down and deploy their anticognitohazard program after identifying the entities as a potential threat, but an unexpected glitch in the probe's software temporarily delays its normal anticognitohazard procedures. As a result, all individuals viewing the alien entities, from some members of the O-5 to personnel at Mission Control, are telepathically bombarded with images and messages into their minds, causing them collapse out of mental exhaustion or break out into weeping and screaming fits. On-site medics and operatives arrive on the scene a short time later, sedating and amnesticizing all affected personnel before bringing them into emergency care.
[End Expedition Log]
Approximately 4 hours after this event, affected personnel wake up one by one from their previous states and gradually assume normal baseline behavior. Some operatives awaken with minor headaches, but otherwise are in good physical health. Below is a transcript of a private conversation that took place between O-6 and O-11 later that same day (notably, both of them were among the few O5 Council members not completely defenseless against minor cognitohazards).
Begin Transcript (7/7/2022, 8:08:00 PM UTC):
Extraneous information has been edited out for clarity.
O-6: So, it's just the two of us?
O-11: I'm afraid so. Everyone is just now starting to recover from the cognitohazard they were exposed to, though the amnestics in their systems means they'll be out of commission for a while.
O-6: Did you see the messages? The ones beamed into our minds?
O-11: Yes, I did. They were…disturbing, to say the least. Seeing what those entities did to themselves, to the Universe they lived in, the regret, the shame, the suffering…no wonder some people broke out into tears. They were trying to warn us, trying to protect us.
O-6: What about the probe? I heard it—
O-11: Came back to our Universe, yes. In a wormhole apparently created by the entities themselves, and in perfect condition too. We managed to retrieve it from low-Earth orbit and bring it to HQ for analysis. I'm still struggling to understand how exactly everything went down because Mission Control doesn't have enough data at this point, but I think we just got lucky. Like, astronomically, unbelievably lucky. So lucky we just so happened to be at the right place at the right time against all odds. Do you get me?
O-6: Sorta. SCP-6713 is a probabilistic anomaly after all, where anything can happen inside it, no matter how insane.
O-11: But that's just it, O-6. Anything can occur within 6713 even if the odds of that phenomena occurring in our reality is extremely close to zero— that is to say, infinitesimally improbable. You might think I'm nuts for saying this, but I think Heavenpiercer underwent yet another Boltzmann Event, one that spontaneously reversed or decreased entropy on a large, though still local scale, causing all damage the probe endured to be undone in mere moments. Ordo Ab Chao. Nothing's confirmed as of yet, but that's my theory.
O-6: But that's against the laws of thermodynamics. That shouldn't be possible under our current understanding of physics in our Universe, at least on a cosmic scale.
O-11: Yes, true. But remember, that's in our Universe, O-6, not the pocket reality within SCP-6713. Over there, the laws of physics, and even logic itself are in a constant state of flux. If there was ever a place that could be defined as truly random, as truly chaotic, that region of space would be it. And we just so happened to hit the goddamn jackpot.
O-6: At this point I'm willing to accept anything—your thoughts sound quite plausible, if not outlandish. Do you think that explains the aliens? They died by their own hand eons ago, only to come back from nonexistence purely by statistical fluke, memories from a previous reality intact and all. So I guess the reversal of entropy affected this "Boltzmann Civilization" too.
O-11: Could be either that, or the Poincare Recurrence Theorem in action. Maybe even both phenomena at once.
O-6: I've heard of that theorem. The one that states that, given an extremely long, but still finite amount of time, any system will eventually return to a state very similar to, or exactly the same as their initial state. Reminds me of what Nietzsche said—that all of reality is destined to repeat itself over and over in a cycle.
O-11: Correct. And it took billions, if not trillions of years for the entities (from their perspective) to come back, to return to their initial state before their ultimate annihilation eons ago. Tragically, you remember what happened to them only 13.7 minutes later.
O-6: Don't remind me, O-11. Being stretched and spaghettified across time and space is one of the worst ways to go. They had just enough time to communicate with us, to send our probe back to our reality with relative ease before all hell broke loose. I still can't get over the screams in my head, hearing their consciousnesses once again be slowly ripped apart and distributed across spacetime. There are few fates worse than being tortured for hundreds of millions, if not billions of years in a bubble of reality you created for yourself—a bubble inextricably bound with the collective consciousness of your species.
[There is a long pause before O-6 speaks again].
O-6: So, what do we do now? I suppose we can try Phase 2 of Project Heavenpiercer, but I don't think it's worth it. You saw what happened with Heavenpiercer. I still think we should prioritize getting off this doomed Universe since there's clearly no stopping SCP-6713. Who knows? Perhaps the Universe next door doesn't have any anomalies or eldritch horrors waiting to destroy us! Unfortunately, our technology is limited to travel within our reality, not outside of it, and we only have so much time before that vacuum approaches our galaxy and destroys it. I don't think we're going to make it, O-11.
O-11: That's where you're wrong, O-6.
O-6: What do you mean?
O-11: Remember the data the aliens sent us? The packets our ground computers picked up from Heavenpiercer? Well, researchers have been combing through all the information, and they've found everything from star charts, written messages, and schematics for engineering projects, to new mathematical equations. One of these equations apparently proves inter-universal travel is not only possible, but easily achievable, though a practical, working propulsion system capable of doing this was apparently too complicated for even the SCP-6713 entities to create, at least at their stage of development. Perhaps they were wiped out just before they could build one of those things.
O-6: So there's still a chance for us to escape our fate?
O-11: A tiny but non-zero one, O-6. Remember, even in our Universe, nothing is truly impossible. If we start working hard now, we should have just enough time to escape our galaxy and our Universe before SCP-6713 swallows it up.
O-6: Then there's no time to spare. Should we alert the Church of the Second Hytoth, and the Ortothan religion?
O-11: I don't know, and I'm not sure how they would react. If we could see SCP-6713 and all the shit it spawned, they obviously could see it too. Some of them probably know or have already arrived at the truth, but have chosen not to acknowledge it, either out of fear of being persecuted for "heresy" or "apostasy" or simply out of delusion. If there are extraterrestrials who recognize the situation we're all in, they're either long gone from this reality, or are preparing to leave well in advance. It behooves us to follow suit. The End Times really are upon us.
O-6: How will the Foundation maintain the Veil throughout all this? At some point, someone outside the Foundation is going to find out the truth, and catch us with our pants down. It's not a matter of if we'll be exposed, but when.
O-11: We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, O-6. Last I heard the Administrator's expressed doubts about the continued feasibility of maintaining its policy of secrecy from the rest of the world, especially after Incident 6713-A-1. To be honest, I kind of agree with him. The Foundation can only do so much with all the resources we have, and as much as we'd like to think we have things under control, the reality it is we often don't, at least some of the time. The world, as a wise man, once said, is rudderless, drifting about with no captain of the ship and no clear destination. If the entities in SCP-6713 couldn't control their own creation or the events of their Universe, how can we expect to do so in ours? Think about that. Some things are simply beyond our grasp, beyond our ability to understand, and as much as we aspire to understand as much of reality as possible, reality itself may be too complex and too intricate for us to ever fully comprehend. Godel came to that implicit conclusion decades ago, when he published his Incompleteness Theorems.
O-6: Sigh. Deep down, I know you're right, O-11. But I can't bring myself to accept it.
(Following this, O-6 gets up and turns to leave the room he and O-11 met up in).
I've had enough philosophy and physics for one day. I'm going home to gulp down some brandy. You want some?
End Transcript
Addendum 6713.03— PRIDE COMETH BEFORE DESTRUCTION:
On 7/9/2022, Foundation researchers analyzing the information sent to data centers by the Heavenpiercer during its encounter with the SCP-6713 entities uncovered several data artifacts of indeterminate age, none of which were cognitohazardous. One of these artifacts appeared to be an image file depicting the Cosmic Microwave Background, not of our present Universe, but an apparent previous Universe or iteration of reality that was originally the home of the extraterrestrial entities within SCP-6713-A.
After several hours of analysis, Dr. Reed determined that the image was actually not a random configuration of hot and cold spots in the temperature of the cosmos, but an artificially created data matrix in which binary code was encoded through the ordered alternation between cosmic hot spots and cold spots in the entities' home Universe (0s are represented by cold spots / tiny regions of lower ambient temperature in the Universe, while 1s are represented by warmer spots of higher temperature).
Upon making this discovery, Dr. Reed alerted Senior Researcher Dr. Yamada of his findings. Upon realizing the implications of the image, she alerted Head of Research Dr. Carter, who stared at the data matrix with a mixture of awe, surprise, and terror. The both of them soon had the file transferred and analyzed by a decoder/decryption program, which, due to the image's large size, was a process that took many hours to complete.
After over 9 hours of processing, the decoder finally finished translating the CMB image into letters and numbers. The result was a fragmented message, addressed to seemingly all inhabitants of our current Universe (and future Universes), followed by an exhaustive history of the entities that appeared before the Heavenpiercer inside SCP-6713-A.
Below are relevant pieces of the aforementioned message reproduced for viewing. Several words and phrases could not be translated due to mild/moderate data or syntax corruption:
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BEGIN MESSAGE:
TO OUR BELO>ED ST@RCH1LDREN IN *%= PAST, PRESENT, AND FUT#!3
WE H@VE TR1ED TO CONTACT Y0U F0R SO |_ONG BY V@R1OU$ MEANS. @ND NOW, YOU 8AVE F1NALLY C0ME. BY THE TIM3 YOU HAVE RE@D THIS MESSA&E, 3E WILL HA<E ALREADY BEEN DE$TR07#@.
FOR AEONS W3 8AVE SUFFERED, AND CAU$ED &R=AT 404%1*^@& TO COUNTLESS BILLIONS, 8UT THIS IS TH3 PR1CE WE P@Y FOR THE T3*188|_3 MIST@|K3$ WE HAVE MADE. TH3 +RUTH 1S, WE ONLY H@<E OURSE1VES TO BL@^^E. EVERYTHING IS 0UR FAULT. OUR FAULT OUR FAULT OUR F@ULT.
F0R&IVE US, O ST@RCHILDREN, FOR WE ERRED IN OUR W@Y$! WE W=RE F00LS TO T81NK WE C0ULD 8ECOME GODS, FOOL$ T# THIN|< WE C*ULD M1MIC TH3 N@%3|_E$$ CREAT0R IN 0UR QUEST TO CRE@E A PERF36T WORLD. ONE WITHOUT $UFFER1N&, WITHOUT PAIN, WITHOUT CH@0S. ONE THAT WOULD LAST FOREVER WITHOUT 3NTR0PY, THAT WOULD PROTECT ALL EXISTENCE FROM THE <0RUTUET, AND REMOVE THE NEED FOR RA|<^^OU…
ALL WE WANTED TO D0 WAS S@@@@@>E EVERYONE, BY PRESER>IN& LIFE @ND 0RD///R. WE TRIED TO PREA%H 0UR TE@CH1N&S ACRO$$ THE FIVE GALAXIES. WE TRIED TO REVEAL THE T%7+H TO ALL, TO GIVE THE &ALAXIES HOPE OF A 8ETTER WORLD— ONE THAT W3 COULD %REATE 0UR$E|_<ES…
BUT THE ORTOTHAN CHURCH FOUND 0UT A8OUT U$, AND C@|_|_3D US "IRREVERENT HERETICS", "AP0ST@TES", AND "NONBELIEVERS". THEY CAST US OUT, BANISHED 0UR $PECIES TO THE OUTER D@RKNE$$ WHERE +H///RE WERE N0 STAR$, NEVER TO #ETURN. THEY THREATENED TO |< 1 |_ |_ US ALL FOR OUR "AB0MIN@BL3" VIEWS, F0R CHALL3NG1NG THE1R DOCTRINE$…
AT F1RST WE ACCEPTED 0UR PUN1$8MENT. WE LIVED IN TH3 DAR|<NE$$ FOR TH0USANDS OF Y///ARS. BUT OUR H@TRED AND RESENTMEN+ FOR THE C8URC8 GREW 0<ER TIME, AS D1D OUR D3S1RE FOR SAL<ATION…
SO W3 DEVISED A GREAT M@CHINE TH@T COULD H3LP CR3A+E OUR NEW REALITY FOR U$. WE LABORED F0R M@NY >-EAR$ IN SECR///T, UNITED A$ ONE TO ACC0^^PL1SH OUR GOAL. WE DRE@MT OF SAFETY, OF PARAD1SE AND ECSTASY. WE GAVE 0URSEL<ES UP TO THE M@%HIN3, UPLO@DED COP1ES OF 0UR MIND$ TO IT, FOR 1T WAS OUR NEW GOD.
BUT THEN, JUST @$ THE ULTIM@TE EXIS+ENCE W@S WITH1N OUR GRASP, EVERYTHING WENT WR00000NG.
DISA&REEM3NTS AROSE @^^ONGST 0UR KIND. SOME P3OPLE TH0UGHT WE W3RE TAMPER1N& WITH THINGS WE D1D NOT Y3T UNDERST@ND, THAT W3 WERE PUT+ING ALL 0F RE@LITY IN DAN&ER 0UT OF $ELFISHNE$$, PR1DE, & @RROGANCE. 0THERS 0N|_Y GREW MORE E*TREME 1N THEIR BELIEFS, MORE D3VOTED TO 0UR PROJE%T THAN EVER.
THEN THE &REAT SCH1SM OCCURRED, R1GHT AS 0UR MACHIN3 NE@RED C0MPL3T10N. WAR BR0KE OUT BETW33N FACT1ONS. HALF 0F OUR NU^^BERS FLED THE D@RKNE$$, AND FORMED THE GALACTIC CONCORDANCE, WHI|_E THE OTHER H@LF FORMED THE ORDER OF THE FINAL HYT0TH.
THE C0NCORD@NCE BETR@YED US. THEY TR1ED TO D3STR0Y 0UR PRECIOUS CR3@T1ON. W1TH A FL33T OF A THOUSAND S8IPS THEY CAME, ARMED WITH P0WERFUL WEAPONS THA+ C0ULD SET WORLDS @8LAZE. A GREAT BATTLE TOOK PL@CE. BUT W3 DEFENDED OUR H0LY M@CH1NE AND TOR3 THE F|_EET$ ASUNDER. THE BL00D WE SPILT WAS N0T FOR R@|<M0U, BUT F0R TH3 MACHINE. MANY P3RISHED IN ITS NAME, EITHER TO PR0TE%T IT, OR TO D///$TROY IT.
CRU$HED BY 0UR FORCE5, TH3 CON#0RD@NC3 RETR3@TED IN HUMILIAT1ON & SHAME. THE SURVIVORS OF +HE B@TTLE FL3D TO THE F1VE GALAXIE$ TO RECOVER. WE TR13D TO HUNT T83M D0WN, BUT S0^^E ESC@PED 0UR CLUTCHES, & W3 WERE @FRA1D OF WH@T T8E CHUR%H WOULD DO 1F WE T8EY SAW US @GAIN.
FOR A T1ME, P3ACE HAD R#TURN3D. WE 0F THE F1NAL HYT*TH C0NTINUED 0UR S@CRED WORK, BEL1EVING 0URS3LVE$ V1CTORIOU$, @ND OUR ENEM1E$ <ANQUISHED. WE T80UGHT IN OUR WEA|<NESS AND V@INGLORY THAT TH3 C%URCH H@D |< 1 1 1 1 1 |_ |_ ED TH3 R3BEL$ WH0 ROS3 UP AGAINST U$.
BUT W3 WERE WRONG. OH SO WRONG.
THE D@Y S00N CAME IN WH1CH 0UR WOR|< WAS F1NALLY COMP|_ET3. THE M@CH1NE, THE MOST HOLY, MOST DIV1NE C0SM1C 3NGINE, WAS @CTIVAT///D F0R TH3 F1R$T TIME, & WE C3ELEBR@TED WITH &LEE @ND RAPTURE. YET IT WAS AMIDST 0UR JOY AND H@PPINE$$ THAT THE CONC0RDANCE STRUCK US BL1ND, FOR THEY H@D B33N W@ITING FOR THIS MOMENT ALL ALONG. BUT WE D1SC0V3R3D TH1S TRUTH T00 LAT3, AND FE|_|_ SLAIN AS A RESULT.
THEY H@D RETURNED TH1S TIME WIT8 FIVE THO%SAND $H1PS, AND LEG10NS OF VESSEL$ FR0M THE CHURCH AND 0THER STAR NATIONS. 1NDEED, TH///Y H@D E*POSED U$ TO THE FIVE G@LAXIES W1TH0UT US KN0W1N&, DEF3CTED TO THE OTHER SIDE, IN E*CHANGE T0 BE SP@RED FR0M DEATH. @S SUCH, W3 W3RE AMBUSH3%.
UNPR3P@RED FOR 0UR ENE^^IES' ARR1VAL, OUR SH1PS W3RE ANNI8IL@TED 1 8Y 1, & 0UR D3FEN$3$ FELL THROUGH. OUR #UMBERS R3TREATED INW@RDS OUT 0F TERROR, CLOSER & CLOSER T0 O%R C0NSTR%CT. SENS1N& DEF3EAT 0N TH3 HORIZON, WE 0F THE 0RDER GREW D3E$PERAT3. THE H1GH [TECHNO-PRIESTS] C0NVEN3D, AND D1SCU$$ED WH@T T0 DO.
BUT TH3RE W3RE T00 MANY SHIPS AGAIN$T US, & NOT 3NOUG8 TIME T0 TH1NK THINGS THROUGH.
SOON, 0UR F0E$ HAD ARR1V3D NE@R OUR GR3AT M@CHINE, AND @S TH3Y SU%%OUNDED IT FR0M A|_|_ SIDES, PR3PAR3D TO EV1$CER@ATE IT FROM THE H3AVEN$, THE PR1ESTS ORDER3D THE M@CH1N3 TO CR3ATE A NEW WORLD FOR TH3M AND THEIR CONSCIOUSNESSES, R@TH3R T%AN $URR3ND3R TO THE CHURCH. IT W@S TO BE THE P3RF3CT WORLD, THE BEST OF ALL P0SS1BLE WORLDS.
BUT @S TH/// MACH1NE WAS C@LIBRAT1NG IT$ SETTINGS, & CALCUL@TING ALL UNI<ERSAL VARIABLES, THE C0NCORD@NCE INJUR3D OUR GOD OUT OF FEAR, 0UT OF TH3IR D3S1RE F0R >ENGE@NC3. THE M@CH1NE BURST 1NT0 FL@MES @ND S%ARDS OF METAL, AND 8EGAN TO &ROW UNST@BL3.
NOW @FRAID 0F THE TH1NG WE HAD CRE@TED, WE TR1ED TO ST0P THE M@CHINE, TR1ED TO C@NCEL ITS 0P///R@T10N. 8UT 0UR @TTE^^PTS FAILED. OUR FE@R S00N GAVE WAY TO T3RROR & P@NIC, R3GRET & S0RROW, AND W3 CR1ED 0UT 1N AG0NY AS TH3 BLIND1N& L1GHT OF THE M@CH1N3 C0NSUM3D ALL OF US.
S1NC3 THAT TIM///, W3 H@VE L1VED AS MINDS FOR @EON$, NOT 1N [HEAVEN], 8UT 1N [HELL]. WE HAVE BEEN F0RC3D TO L1V3 IN T0TAL CH@OS, 0NLY TO D1E @&AIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN E@CH T1ME A NEW W0RLD 1S CR3ATED BY TH3 M@CHINE. A PR1SON OF 0UR OWN DES1&N. WE H@VE S3NTEN%ED YOUR UNI<ERSE TO 3TERNAL T0RM3NT F0R @LL TIME, TO ABSOLU+E DE$TRUCT10% FROM TH3 CREAT1ON OF N3W WORLDS IN AN 3NDLE$$ CYCLE.
WE H@VE CO^^MITTED THE &REAT3ST OF @LL SINS. AND FOR THAT, WE @RE S0, SO $0RRY. S0RRY FOR A|_|_ THAT WE'VE DONE. AND Y3T WE KN0W, D33P D0WN, THAT NO APO|_O&Y WILL BE SUFFICIENT TO HEAL OR UND0 TH3 P@IN W3 HA<E WROUGH+. THE W33PING & THE ANGUISH3D SCR3@M1N& OF BILLIONS FROM B3ING T0RN AP@RT BY TH3 F0RC///$ OF THE VOID, OF SPACE AND T1ME. WE ARE BEY0ND RED3MPTION. O HOW THE M1GHTY HAVE F@LLEN!
THERE IS ST1LL, H0WEVER, @ CHANC3 FOR Y0U TO ESC@PE OUR FAT3. THE FUT%RE 1S N0T $ET IN $TON3. YOU D0 NOT 8AVE TO SU##ER IN MISERY L1KE W3 HAVE FOR TRILL10NS OF YEARS. BUT Y0U ^^U$T ACT QUICKLY. T1ME 1S RUNN1%G 0UT. YOU MU$T FL33 FAR FROM H3RE. FL33 TO AN0THER W0RLD. Y0U MUST HURRY, BEFORE 1T IS T00 L@TE. THE KN0WLEDGE W3 H@VE BEST0W3D YOU 1S OUR GIFT TO YOU, FROM 0NE ST@R NATION TO ANOTHER. US3 IT W1SELY, & DO N0T MAK3 THE SAME ^^IST@KE AS US.
IT 1S FRU1TLE$$ TO STR1<E FOR P3RFEC+1ON WH3N THE R3SULT IS #404*$!@@^>&#%#.
G00D LUC|<, AND G00D8YE.
—THE ORDER OF THE *%$$@(!404#^ HYTOTH
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