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THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS RESTRICTED.
On 2/3/2016, Turner Association Client Jiangyu Guo, at the time residing in Argentina, noted on a routine inspection trip to limspace "The Nursery" the presence of small lights and glowing clouds that seemed to float around the space, finding the walls of the space degraded with a new opening that appeared within one of them. After reporting his findings, he supplied himself at a nearby Turner Association office with standard gear and rations and headed into the hole alone, making regular updates via the included radio device. The following is a transcript of all radio signals received from Guo after his entrance.
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- _
-esting, testing. Alright. Seems to be in order….
Rustling can be heard in the background.
Alright, and there.
Guo clears his throat.
Alright, so, I hope you can hear me, because I'm sure as hell not lugging that shit over here again. I can't confirm if this is even working - radio signals have been shown to only be able to be sent out by previous testing, but everything…
A pause.
Yeah, everything seems to be in check. Alright… so…
Guo coughs.
I've walked through this crack in the wall in the Nursery, currently just standing, like, inside of the walls of this place, so I'm pretty sure space here doesn't work like baseline. If it did I'd be standing on the other side of this concrete. I’m pretty sure that this place is supposed to be infinite…might be an exit we haven’t discovered. It might just be, uh, the space breaking down, though. Like the weird lights that have been appearing there.
A pause.
Well, guess I'm heading in deeper, wish me luck.
…huh. So, uh, I've arrived in some… space… seems to stretch on forever but honestly that's not even that uncommon at this point. The ground is made of a kind of-
A wet squelch is audible.
-wet, squishy substance. It's also warm, just a little above my body temperature. Sky is real dim, seems there's some light coming off of it but definitely not enough to see. I'm turning my flashlight on. There's something in the distance, gonna check it out.
Alright, it's been… a few… minutes now. Just arrived. There's this art gallery just, in the middle of this space. These paintings are pretty fucking high profile as well, I think that's… yep, that's the Mona Lisa. Can't tell if it's fake but it looks pretty real to me. A bunch of other famous paintings are here, I can recognize like, seventy-five percent of them, but the other twenty-five percent are just scribbles. It has the dots of life that the nursery had, but there doesn't seem to be anything hazardous… probably am going to take a break and eat something. I'll see you in a bit.
-old on a fucking second, isn't this that one space that… holy shit. This has to be it. I read about it on the archives - didn't it used to have this property where if you touched a painting you'd… give me a second, lunch can wait for now, I have to confirm.
Guo lets out a few wheezing coughs.
Shit. Fell into a Picasso, almost fucking died. Human bodies are not supposed to be shaped tha-
Cough.
-that way. Fuck. But this confirms it, this is probably the same space that disappeared. No idea what that means. I'm going to try leaving to baseline through the exit of this space after lunch… think it was just a photograph of baseline or something.
Lily, you complain about rations but really, they aren't that bad! Ham and cheese, freeze-dried, or some other kind of procedure.
A pause.
Anyways. While I was eating I walked around a bit and found it. It wasn't hard to find, it's in the center and framed in gold and everything. Very pretty picture, some kind of park I think. Seems to be moving slightly as I watch it. Alright, here goes nothing.
A long pause.
Alright, okay, okay… fuck…Guo retches, then vomiting is heard in the background.
I-
A retch can be heard.
I think I need to lie down for a moment. I, uh-
A thud can be heard.
-holy shit. I'll try to describe-
Retch.
-fuck. It hurts, it fucking hurts. It's like a knife tore through every nerve in my body. I p-probably look-
Guo coughs.
-really pathetic right now.
Guo lets out a forced laugh. A few minutes pass.
I think it's better…now. Yeah, the pain's a lot better now. I'll… try to describe what happened. Just let me find the words first.
A pause.
Alright. So I'll go in order. I touched the picture, right? And for, like, two seconds, everything seemed fine, I was being picked up and transposed slowly and being smushed onto the painting, just like how the other one worked. And it was going fine, up until I got around half of my body through the picture, and it just - I don't know how to describe it. It was like… being ripped apart. It felt like the natural order of things, which was to be sent back to baseline, was being disrupted. Baseline wanted me to come back but something didn't want me to.
A pause.
And then I was ripped out again. Strangely, I appear physically fine.
A pause.
So I guess I'm not coming back. I'm going to assume that the same is going to happen with the Nursery - still going to try, but I think I've got a pretty good feel for limspaces… still, could happen.
Tried leaving the Nursery. Same thing. It wasn’t as terrible this time. Guess it isn’t as effective the second time. Anyways, I'm fucking stuck.
Guo sighs. A pause. He can be heard, breathing in deeply.
Shit.
Alright, I'm back. Sorry about the delay, just had to come to terms with my newly minted prisoner-ship.
A pause.
Well, Lily, if you get this, just know that I love you.
A pause.
Maybe not all hope is gone, though… there's some other things that I can barely see in the distance. I'm going to take another trek over.
So there's this lake, just in the middle of nowhere. The lights are all over the place but seem to dissipate at the end of the waters - The water has seemingly mingled with this fluid that's present on the floor, and in the middle, there's this giant fucking, uh, windmill. I think it's a windmill, at least. I'm going to try climbing up it, maybe there's an exit there.
No cigar. Fuck.
A pause.
Lily, I'm so sorry.
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- _
Just… woke up, a few minutes ago. Made a quick breakfast… still… pretty good, but if I'm going to be stuck here it's probably going to get old pretty soon.
Rustling.
I checked my supplies, with what I have I can probably survive purely off of rations for around a week. Water is also pretty much covered for a week.
A pause.
Last night- well, there isn't really a night but I think I get the point across -I thought to myself about whether or not I should even continue this broadcast, but I've decided that if I'm trapped it'd be best to document as much as possible, at the very least. Maybe even find a way out.
A pause.
Oh, also. While I was wandering around I realized that the fluid isn’t still, it’s flowing. This probably means that the ground is sloped. Going to follow the incline for now. Not sure why, but it seems like the best shot I have right now.
I've been walking for a few hours now, Came across a space resembling some kind of department store - not anything that I recognize, the text is in… Polish? I think? Full of the lights. Couldn't find an "exit" point, no walls to the space, just seems to kind of, meld into the meat around it. I'm calling it meat, by the way.
A pause.
I got to scavenge a few bottles of water from the shelves, so I'll take that as a win.
Passed a few more spaces. They keep getting more and more incoherent as I walk. It's almost like the more downstream I go, the more chaotic the spaces become. Not sure if that's relevant..One that I approached just phased in and out of existence - some kind of, uh, kid’s playhouse? I don't know. It flickered wildly like a CRT. Didn’t want to know what’d happen if I got trapped in there, so I skipped it. Nothing else really of interest.
A pause.
Seemingly, the slope is getting more extreme, and the fluid is moving faster - I don't feel it, though. Strange.
A pause.
Also, uh, strange, is the fact that this radio device hasn't run out of power yet. I brought a bunch of batteries but I haven’t had to use them, it says that the radio is still at like eight percent power. Not sure how this is happening but it's good, I guess?
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- _
Alright, I think I've reached it. The bottom. Or at least, I'm closer than I've ever been before. Hooray.
I had just woken up, ate my breakfast, yadda yadda, and I started walking again and just almost immediately, it was there. Just, there. I didn't notice it before, but I'm pretty sure I've reached the bottom now - the fluid seems to be coming in through all directions, guess this place is shaped like a circle or something… and it's, going into this, uh, hole. This perfectly circular hole, fucking huge, like a football field across. Which is even weirder, because the rest of this space is almost organic, in a way. There's also this other space that's basically bordering the bottom - it's like some kind of forest, but the trees are made of metal and, I dunno, it's constantly shifting, I think. It's got the weird lights as well. The edges close to the pit are kind of, shifting even more, I guess. It's like it's being sucked in.
I can't think of anywhere else to go. I might explore this new space, then I probably am just going to head into that pit. It's… almost comforting. If the forest yields nothing this might be my best way out.
I've arrived back. Didn’t work.
A pause.
What’d I expect? Anyways, looking in, I can’t really make that much out. It’s like it's covered in a red, invisible mist. I'm going to try tethering myself with the rope kit to a tree in that strange forest and lower myself in.That wasn't necessary at all. I put my feet down into the pit, expecting that I'd start falling down and to be caught by the rope, but instead of that, I was sucked towards the side of the hole. Seems there's some kind of like, gravitational pull, I guess, holding me upright here. Still can't see much looking down the pit, but I'm going to go back out to get the rope set before exploring.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Retching.
Oh my fucking god. The same fucking feeling. Fuck.
Guo can be heard coughing.
I thought… I thought I got used to it…
A pause.
I guess I just have to leave the rope set. God damn, it hurts.
A pause.
No way to go but farther down, I guess.
I think it's been like 5 hours. The rest of this tunnel seems to be the exact same as the entrance - the same material, the same diameter, the same liquid rushing down by my ankles. I don’t feel any fatigue at all. I've come across another space - seems completely nonsensical. It's like, this layered tower, slowly but surely sliding further into the tunnel. I tried climbing it but halfway through I just passed right down and fell up onto the roof of the tunnel, which is the, ground now? I guess? At least I can confirm that the lights were there. And it was li-
A pause.
Hold on a fucking second. What is that? Is that-
Frantic squelching footsteps echo in the background.
Hey! Hey! You have to help me!
More footsteps.
I swear I-
The footsteps stop, followed by a minute of panting.
What the fuck. Wha-
-s not fucking on? Did I not have this fucking thing on?
Guo mutters something under his breath.
Oh, for fuck's sake, oh my fucking god. I didn't have it on.
Guo sighs.
Oh… my fucking god. I guess I can't do anything about that.
A pause.
Screw it, I'll just describe it. So uh, yeah. I thought I saw a person, which I think was pretty… evident from my reaction. So I sprint after this person - probably shouldn't have done that, if they were a normal person they probably would have assumed I was attacking them… but anyways, I sprint after them and I look up and it's not… a person. Well, it was. But there was a hole where her face should have been, filled with those swirls of light that filled those other spaces. It was like she was phasing out of reality at the edges. I tried talking to her, but I don't think she understood anything that I was saying, and when she spoke back, she talked in what… felt like English. But it wasn't. It wasn't fucking English.
A pause.
Eventually, I decided to just leave her alone. So yeah.
Guo sighs again.
I guess that didn't lead to anything.
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- _
God, it's been days1, but strangely, I don't feel that tired. I don't feel that hungry, either. Walking in this tunnel, I've observed countless more spaces - didn't feel much of a need to share them, but this is, uh, different. I've arrived at some kind of new environment. It's all, uh, turquoise, I think is the word. It wraps around the entire tunnel - maybe it was a space that was fucking huge before it got sent here. Probably sent here. That's my working theory, at least. This space is some kind of… stomach, I think. Something has eaten these, spaces, and, uh, sent them here. Or maybe something else - I definitely don't have enough information. Liminal spaces don't make sense anyways. It's probably useless to try to make sense of them.
A pause.
Yeah, I should stop with this line of thinking. Think about Lily. Don't make Lily worry, Yuqing. You can't let her worry.
I've walked further through this environment. The terrain seems to be 2 things at once, like uh… how your vision displays two things at once when you cover one of your eyes or put something really close to your face. Yeah, like that. Lights gleam across the landscape, but their light is drowned out by these giant orbs, which just hang over the terrain. There's… skeletons dotted sparsely across the landscape, mangled, probably, by whatever is causing these distortions. I think there was one that was a dragon, or something like a dragon. Wings and everything. There were so many different environments - there was this field, then this bog, and so many others…I can be certain that this place is huge. I've walked for a few days again, maybe even months… god… I've lost track of time. There's just so much of it.
A pause.
I got to this, I don't know how to describe it, this city, I guess. More like a castle than a city. And while walking through I met a man. He wasn't a man like you and me - a cloaked figure, with cloth which covered his entire face. He stood there, immobile, not talking, not making a sound, but I could see that, uh, there were two streaks of wet where his eyes should have been. I thought about asking if he could feel the gravity.
Guo coughs.
When I passed he talked to me, and I thought about turning the radio thing on right then, but for some reason I knew that he wasn't, uh, going to be picked up. He told me that all his comrades had left down into the tunnel, and now, since he refused to go down further, he is stuck, as he is unable to go back up. And I told him that was stupid, and that I could go, so why couldn't he? And he told me to try it.
A pause.
He was right.
A pause.
Did I really never walk backwards towards the entrance?
I've been thinking these past few weeks. About, the universe, and stuff.
A pause.
I know I promised that I would stop thinking about this kind of shit but there really isn't much to do but to walk and to think, at this point. I was thinking about the terminology we use. We call these spaces "liminal spaces", liminal meaning transitional. But I never stopped to ask what they transitioned to and from.
A pause.
I mean, a transitional phase is supposed to connect two things, right? A bridge connects two spots. A field connects a mountain and some, uh, other biome. Or something. It's like when you're in elementary and you're learning about math and shit and they bring out that number line and put all the numbers on it and for some reason it's supposed to help with learning math or something? I didn't really get it, I was never a very… math-oriented person. God knows how much I've messed up doing my taxes, probably would've been sent to jail at this point without you, Lily.
Guo laughs. He stops abruptly.
So, uh, as I was saying, theory of liminality, right? So if we take the number line and take out just the segment with zero and one in it, just that little segment, you could say that 0 and 1 are the starting and endpoints and the various fractions are the liminal spaces. I guess.
A pause.
So if we use this model then… we definitely don't know what zero is, really. But we've spent decades just trying to figure out what it is, so there's these gobbledygook terms like quantum fluctuation or energies or whatever the hell people say these days. Not that I'm trying to look down on, uh, scientists or researchers, but even they have to admit that they have no fucking idea where this shit comes from. Which is why it's so enticing, I think. We all want to figure out what zero is. Everyone wants to know. But have these people considered, I'm wondering… what is one? What's the destination?
A pause.
Sorry about that rambling. I just couldn't think of anything else to talk about. I just felt that I needed to say something. Anything.
I don't know how long it's been.
A pause.
Great introduction, Guo. They haven't heard from you in god knows how long and the first thing you do is re-affirm that. Good job.
A pause.
Anyways, I think I've finally reached it. The bottom. Or at least, I'm near the bottom. I can fucking feel it. I've walked for so long, I've walked past patchwork places sown from clearly disparate ideas, I've walked past spaces which time does not seem to exist, I've walked past places which stretched far into the heavens. I walked past a mirror world, fused and mixed long ago with something clearly fungal, something clearly incompatible. Illuminated by the little swirling clouds of light I realized that I'm blurring around the edges, dotted with glowing points and dust. I can't feel my face anymore. Too scared to touch it.
A pause.
My point is that I don't know how long it's been, and I don't know how much longer I can last. Right now as I send this broadcast, I'm standing on the precipice of something. The fluid just… stops. Right here. I'll….I'll update you. I swear. I'm heading in.
Footsteps can be heard.
It feels like the tunnel here is just…widening. Nothing interesting at the moment.
The lights… they're everywhere. The clouds, the swirls, the points… they… fill the space around me. The tunnel is too vast to, uh, see, now. All I see is the ground below me. I feel something tug on my skin, on my hands…it hurts a bit, but I feel mostly fine.
A pause.
Just looked down at my hands - seems the blurriness is getting worse. For some reason, I feel fine.
As I walk I feel the ground below grow less and less real. I don't know how to describe it, but it's gone now. The lights have expanded as I walk. They used to be the size of a grain of rice, at most, now they dwarf me. I feel their tug as I walk past - I feel the little cloud particulates scrape against my unreal frame as I walk along the void. The radio is gone now, so is the flashlight, so are my hands and my feet. I felt them digested gently… and I'm fine with that.
A pause.
I need to reach the bottom.
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How long has it been? Lily, are you still there? Were you ever there?
I can no longer see, but I feel it all in my veins and on my skin - I hear it all. The spheroids, moving and twisting about, colliding and bickering with each other about who gets the first meal. Old king Erysichthon, serving himself for supper. It's beautiful, Lily. I wish I could share this with you.
A pause.
Even without vision I feel its pull. Its gravity. I feel it in every part of the body which I have given away. I feel it in the dust and in the clouds and in the radiation which spews from the stars.
I will be reaching the bottom shortly, Lily.
I feel it. I bound and leap past the rings and the little spheres of ice and rock. I feel it. I am falling. I am falling to the bottom.
Silence for 3 hours.
…Lily?
A pause.
…Lily? I think I'm closer.
A pause.
Wait.
A pause.
Wait… is that…
A pause.
…is that…
Silence is observed for 50 minutes.
…Earth?
Article researched, compiled, and written by the Turner Association Client the late Herm T. Walkman, better known by his pen name Worm that Walks. His profile can be found here.
Images recombined by tech and image specialist K-Meh. An invaluable business partner.