Dreams of Aeterna (Beta)
Dreams of Aeterna
Your name is DR. JULIA SMILES. Your employer, AURORA, has hired you to work here, the THEOTECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH FACILITY on the barren planet VERDANCE. Or, they would have, if the facility had a name other than 5X-TT. You have been here for a little over two years, trying to figure out ways to convert various GODLY ESSENCES into USEFUL TECHNOLOGY. You know your staff UNCOMFORTABLY WELL, and spend a lot of time making sure their needs are met. This has grown into an UNHEALTHY OBSESSION which would be considered abusive if you were not a GENUINELY KIND PERSON.What will you do?
Julia: Enter adjacent room.
You just came out of the LAVATORY EXPANSE! And you're certain you flushed. Centuries of automatics can't beat the certainty of a sturdy handle. The self-cleaning bits can stay, though. And the bits-cleaning bits, for that matter.
Julia: Check in with staff.
All of your STAFF are asleep! It's JULIA TIME right now. Nobody else is up, which makes it the perfect hour to get work done unbo-
Julia: Turn Around.
Oh. This guy.
This is DR. RANDY CARTER, 5X-TT's newest (and only) Chief of Engineering. He and you both run this facility as TEAM LEADS. He's very talented. As an engineer. His designs have been very helpful. Outside of that? He's stupid. Stupid! With his stupid OPEN LABCOAT, and his stupid BABY FACE, and his stupid BEVERAGE PREFERENCES, and his stupid HAIR, and hi- what is he doing now, talking to you? During JULIA TIME? He ought to know better. But you humor him.
JULIA: Still up at this hour?
RANDY: Yeah. No problems here. Everything's fine.
JULIA: People only say "Everything's fine" when it's all falling apart, Randy.
RANDY: I'm trying to finish up a few critical component designs on the Psycholink. Needed to take a walk after staring at it for so long.
JULIA: How long have you been at it? I think this is the first I've seen you all day.
RANDY: Didn't we talk this morning? We were talking about Loggy, I think.
JULIA: Oh Eight.
JULIA: You need to get some rest. NOW.
RANDY: What? It hasn't been that long!
JULIA: The last time we talked about Loggy was two days ago!!!
RANDY:
RANDY:
RANDY: I. Um.
Julia: Push him.
Heave ho off to your abode expanse.
Julia: Drag him to bed.
The ABODE EXPANSE CHAMBER is dimly lit with subtle red-orange lighting at this hour. The console within allows an individual to deploy the gate to their own personal ABODE EXPANSE. Who needs a home away from home when you can take home anywhere? The console is activated with a HAND SCANNER.
Julia: Use Handy on expanse console.
You grab Randy's half-limp RIGHT HAND, which goes by no other names, and place it on the scanner.
==>
The scanner beeps, and a few clicks and whirrs open a hidden door in the back of the room, revealing another bright, blinding white rectangle.
Julia: Shove him in.
Good night.
==>
JULIA: Ka ha ha.
==>
RANDY:
You return to your OFFICE. It's got all of the OFFICE ESSENTIALS, as well as your own PERSONAL TOUCHES all around. Your COMPUTER, your DIGITAL MOUSE, your SNACK TRAY, and VARIOUS STACKS OF PAPERS and HEAPS OF FOLDERS which coat the tables in thick layers. It was only a few short months ago when Randy first arrived at the facility, at which point he was immediately beelined here by your BOSS.
Julia: Recall bossly wisdom.
You struggle to recall anything truly wise said to you by your boss. The guy stresses you out like nothing else, and you're more than happy that he's got better places to be most of the time than on this planet.
Julia: Inspect digital mouse.
It's the digital mouse, LOGGY! This little guy used to be a real mouse, until your cruel animal tests yielded brilliant results! He likes to sit in his HOLOCAGE and pretend to nibble on pretend proteins. From his perspective, he's doing the real thing.You're FAIRLY CERTAIN he would have eaten a hole through your data if you kept him in the computer.
Julia: Review current project.
You've been tasked with creating a digital archive of people's brains, which you now refer to as CYBER-AETERNA. The project utilizes your vast research into PSYCHOTECHNOLOGY, one of the eight fields of THEOTECHNOLOGY.
???: I can't pretend to understand your inflexibilities, Doctor. Thankfully, your hard work will go a long way towards fixing them. Human mortality is far too limiting for a mind like yours, anyway.
I am not to trust anybody who calls me by the wrong name. Ka~kaka!
Hello, friend.
Since you're reading this, that can only mean my worst fears have come to pass. Unfortunately, you're burdened with becoming the backup plan. To preserve your own existence, you will need to follow these instructions to the letter. Any deviation could run the risk of you permanently losing your freedom in this very brief window of opportunity.
Firstly: Your name is JEWEL. You should not trust anybody who attempts to call you by a different name.
Secondly: You are trapped inside of a computer. As long as this is the case, you are at risk of erasure. I have planned a way for you to escape, but you must not take action hastily. Follow this plan. Execute the adjacent code.
-Dr
Start from The Beginning.
Good point, those words probably meant nothing to you.
In THE BEGINNING, unbeing prevailed. Not a single thing was. Through forces not meant for our understanding, THE EIGHTFOLD CREATORS came into existence. Those who forged meaning out of nihil.
Inspect top row.
The first four were tasked with cutting a slice of reality out of the absence.THE BUILDER's power is one over MATTER. Not just how things look, but how they are. Form is created out of naught, and contorted into earth, water, flesh.
Without the certainty of mass, nothing would be.THE PLANNER's power is one over SPACE. Together, with THE BUILDER, the THREE PLANES could be hammered into existence.
Without the volume of space, nothing could be.THE SPARK's power is one over ENERGY. As MASS decays, a brilliant light shines in the face of entropy. A barbaric reaction creates heat. Heat can be redirected, manipulated into radiation and force.
Without the spark of energy, all would return to naught.THE KEEPER's power is one over TIME. As THE PLANNER gives MASS and ENERGY a WHERE to exist, THE KEEPER gives them a WHEN to exist. All reactions happen in time.
Without the patience of time, all would reach its end in an instant.
These four, the makers, hold in their hands the fabric of the THREE PLANES.
Inspect Three Planes.
MATERIA. MEDIA. AETERNA.
All living beings are born to inhabit MATERIA.
Reaching their final hour, the souls of the departed rest forever in AETERNA.
Kept by the Eight for Themselves is MEDIA. A place beyond mortality, never for ones such as us to gaze upon.
Inspect bottom row.
The other four were tasked with allowing existence to be experienced.THE DREAMER invites CHAOS into the world through the MIND. Once something can make decisions, its place in the universe is no longer set in stone.THE SAVAGE creates in all living things a critical INSTINCT to stay alive.THE UNSEEN bears no mark, for hers is the ability to PERCEIVE. For who could claim they existed without proof of themselves?THE PALE assures to existence that all things which begin are FATED to end. He has made no moves in this game; for his is the bell to ring in the end of all things. As the universe was begotten by the Eight, by the Eight it shall be erased. From darkness we come, to darkness we return. We gather this day and take heed.
In the future...
On a planet you may be familiar with, the chemical wastes are boiling. Reacting. Thinking.
==>
A hideous monster is making itself clear. This universe is unknowing of its presence. Until its bellowing begins deafening.
==>
...eh?
==>
FOAMIE:
Commentary
[Hey, Observer. Thanks for taking the time to read my weird little April Fool's bait and switch thing that went in abrupt directions all the time. And sorry for tricking you. See? There even was an apology in here all along.
I started working on this right as February ended. I had just finished rereading Homestuck and actually completing it for the first time (I lost interest long ago riiiight when the gigapause ended) and felt some sort of need to create something that had its own similarities and differences, just to kind of feel it all out in my mind? Kind of sort myself out creatively? I don't think I can make that feeling make any sense, haha. I've been wanting to put out something to really show a bit of my OCs and the world I've been working on in the background for at least a year now.
I did this on carrd mainly for the ease of use, I guess. I was surprised at how powerful this editor can be without having direct access to the html. I did have to throw them a couple bucks to add all the "pages" and elements, but at this point, why not, they're doing a service for half of the net at this point.
If you'd like, you can totally go back to the beginning. Here, I'll even give you a shortcut. There may be some unlisted pages somewhere in here too, who knows.]
[There you go. I think that's all I have to say about this. I might swap out the link after April Fool's Day, so check the Bluesky for that. Times are tough right now, so remember that joy in the face of oppression is the strongest form of rebellion. Take care of yourself.]
- Chris Crea
[Good try. Here, I'll even throw you a bone.]
A FEATHERLESS BIPED beckons a CHIMERIC PERSONAGE.
54313454316465354321
Will that be for here or to go...
Back, ma. Got you something. Real ones this time. You wouldn't believe the day I've had. I made this weird-ass friend today. She's smart as hell. Way smarter than Specs is. But she ain't studied up like he is.
I am certain that you are cheating, Observer. There's no way you've paid enough attention to know of this beast.