Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in this post. Creativity is hard when you work a full time job that sucks the creativity out of you. Anyways, here’s part two of my first session of Substratum Protocol. Part one can be found here.

Scarlet wakes up with two and half hours left. Two and a half hours until they reach the cavern that leads further into the Fracture. They try not to think too hard about it. With a hand stiff from laying on it the night before they rub their eyes. The scientist winces at the pins and needles feeling that sets in on the movement. "Good morning ship," they say to the ceiling.

Good morning. It is one AM UTC, ship status: steady. No disturbances occurred during your rest. Water temperature is negative eighteen degrees Celsius. Time to next Fracture section: zero days, two hours, twenty minutes. Ship instrument status is as follows:

The AI relies information about the various instruments on board the ship. During this, Scarlet does a series of short exercises. Then after a quick breakfast Scarlet goes to sit in on the ship's pilot deck in anticipation of the approach. But when they walk through the doorway, they stop.

There on the console, sitting next to the radar, is a head. More accurately: a stone head. A statue- gray marble weathered and cracked in places. It looks as if it may have been apart of a larger piece at some time. On its forehead is a third eye, one that appears to… glitch. As they get closer, Scarlet notices that the third eye resembles the statue's left one. It's almost as if someone used a photo editor to select the eye and copy it onto the forehead. Interesting, they think. This definitely wasn't here before the ship started her journey. And with that thought, Scarlet reaches out a hand to lift the statue up.

-Move: Understand
  -THINK + MAKE
  -RESULT: OK

-Move: FLASHBACK 

In their mind, a memory surfaces like a whale breaching the surface. It's the first time Scarlet ever stargazed. They're seven years old and it's summer, middle of June, and the sky is decorated with stars. It's past midnight when they climb out of their bedroom window onto the roof. They lay out a blanket and stare up at the constellations. One in particular catches their eye, Aquila, diamond shaped with a line coming from the middle of it, like a kite. In the center of the constellation a giant eye sits. The eye blinks. Scarlet is looking at the constellation through a telescope and jumps when they see the eye move. In the present Scarlet yanks their hand back and the memory dissipates.

"What the-"

-Move: Understand
  -Result: GOOD
- Anomaly Knowledge gained

The Anomaly has moved in the past and can do so again.

"What? Who is that?" Scarlet turns around to find the source of the voice. But they are the only soul on the ship. "Wh- what the hell? Computer full scan of the ship, now."

Ship scanned not initiated. Ship is inactive.

"What do you mean the ship is inactive?"

The ship is inactive. Please wake up and activate it.

"What?"

There comes a violent rumbling beneath Scarlet's feet. Every light in the submarine begins to flicker in red and green. Scarlet's vision shifts.

Red. Green. Bars of static color move in an up and down pattern across their vision. Scarlet falls to their knees as the ship shakes.

Scarlet wakes gasping and tumbles from their bed. They wince as a pin and needles sensation takes over their entire body. With gasping breaths they say, "computer scan the ship. Give me an update on its status. What time is it?"

Ship scanning started…. Ship scanning done. A minor disturbance of Fracture nature appears to have taken place in this room. No mechanical disturbances found. It is three AM UTC, less than an hour from arrival.

"Thank you ship." Scarlet lays on the ground, trying to calm the frantic beat of their heart. They stand back up and pull the curtain back from their bunk. There, resting on their pillow is the statue from their dream, third eye and all. Lifting it up to a camera found on the far wall, Scarlet tells the computer to identify its origin.

It is similar in appearance to Head Of Gudea. Head Of Gudea is from ancient Sumeria within Mesopotamia, during the third dynasty of Ur. The artifact in question does not have three eyes.

"Noted."

Something occurs to Scarlet about the dream. They open their mouth to ask another question of the computer. Something within them already knows the answer. So instead they say, "Computer please take note that the Anomaly has moved in the past."

Noted record confirmed.

"Don't back up this knowledge yet."

Back up not initiated.

Scarlet goes to eat breakfast and stretch. They spend the rest of the time on the pilot's deck watching the ship descend deeper. Deeper. And deeper and deeper. They've already traveled far beyond the point of no return. But now? Something within them is wanting to search. To find. To understand. They should feel alarmed by this feeling. But the lure of discovery is what drew Scarlet to become an astrophysicist in the first place. It would do themselves the greatest injustice to ignore it.

And so they watch as the ship arrives at its next destination.

Pandion Games has no affiliation with Stories In Silver or this playthrough. Rules of the game are paraphrased to protect IP and creative works of the creators and writers. Want to check out Substratum Protocol? Find it on Pandion Games’ website.