Future Shock
Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #41 on: 06-22-2009 14:29 »
« Last Edit on: 06-22-2009 14:30 »
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Here it is, my PEELocalypse fan-fiction. It's basically in two parts, and each part is rather big. But here it is. I know there are a lot of documents from Wikipeelia in this, but I promise that Part 2 will have none. So get ready to read Part 1 of PEELocalypse!
PEELocalypse: Chapter One
It couldn’t die. Not so young. It was just a forum…
PEELified was just an ordinary forum for Futurama. It was the largest on the web. And it would be. But nobody was thinking of the future. They were just thinking about what a paradise it was.
How blind were we…
It was 2001. Late 2001. The beginning of the end. And the beginning had barely begun.
Now it was only a small forum. Not many users. But still a forum with a hub of activity. Users went around everywhere chatting.
The land of PEELified was a great tower. To the sides there were steps, and between those steps were levels. We call them forums. General Discussion is the top floor, PEEL Vault is the bottom floor, the second bottom if you count the PEEL Arcade below it, showing ‘Latest post’ and ‘Latest user’
The PEEL Tower was a grand sight if you were ever to see it. Like always, it had a splendid clock on the top, as do most famous towers. But I must stop rambling about the look of the place and do the story, although you must have a vision of this place.
Two users, Ninaka and Winna were chatting gracefully in one of the forums. They had decided to go to Off-Topic this time.
They both sat down on a virtual chair, and for a moment sat there, thinking about what to say. It was the off-topic; they could chat about anything!
Finally, Ninaka started up conversation. ‘I rather like that episode where Bender goes off to robot hell…’
‘Oh that one!’ said Winna. ‘It’s one of my favourites, but can’t say it is my favourite.’
‘Hey, this is the off-topic,’ said Ninaka. ‘We can’t talk about episodes here.’
They got up and walked out of the forum. They climbed a large group of stairs. Finally they got to the General Discussion. Winna was still coming up the stairs. A slight rumble made him fall over.
Ninaka rushed to him and helped him up. ‘You okay, Winna?’
Winna stood up and brushed some dirt off himself. ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’
Another small tremor made both of them lose balance. They got up, and saw everyone else was looking around confused. This website had nothing wrong with it.
Now a large tremor started, and didn’t stop. Winna fell over again, this time on Ninaka. Ninaka fell over and whacked her head on the ground, and fell unconscious. ‘Ninaka!’
Winna shook Ninaka to make her wake up, but nothing was happening. Bits of concrete fell off the ledges. Out of one of the forums was slimmyCGEF. He had no idea what was going on either. This site was so peaceful.
Winna heaved Ninaka up on his shoulders, and fireman carried her into the General Discussion area. ‘Slimmy, up here!’
Slimmy came up the steps. Behind him was Nurdbot. ‘Winna,’ he said, panting heavily, ‘there’s a mod – sh-she’s trapped in the other show forum!’
Winna carried Ninaka to safety in the General Forum, then ran back down the steps. Bits of concrete fell around him. One got his shoulder, and yelled out in pain, but kept running nonetheless.
He finally got to the ‘It’s Got a TV!’ forum, and inside was VelourFog. ‘Hold on, mod!’
Winna ran back and lunged at the door, but it was locked. ‘Help!’ said VelourFog. ‘The rooms falling all around me!’
Winna was running out of ideas. He quickly thought for a moment, then he picked up a large hunk of concrete beside him and threw it at the window, smashing it. VelourFog ran out, and they both went up the steps to Off-Topic.
They went in the doors and fell on the ground. VelourFog was still in shock, Winna was bleeding, and Ninaka was just regaining consciousness.
‘Okay,’ said [-mArc-], ‘is everybody here? Does anyone know anyone who’s not here?’
Nobody spoke. Obviously it was a lucky escape.
[-mARc-] walked to Nixorbo. ‘Are all the mods here?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘I didn’t see Velour Fog come up.’
‘Oh, VelourFog. A guy named Winna got her out of one of the forums.’
‘Good.’
‘Marc, we may have to ban those test thread because of this.’
‘WHAT!’ yelled FYP.
Ninaka woke up. ‘Aagh, my head!’
‘You’re fine, Ninaka,’ said Winna. ‘It was a crash.’
‘Yeah, I know,’ said Ninaka. ‘I was there in the Great Test Thread Crash.’
‘Great Test Thre-‘
‘OK, Buster,’ said Ninaka. ‘You can look up on PEEL history on it. I’ve done enough talking of it for half a year.’
Ninaka walked away. Even though I remember it like yesterday…
She had gone past the Off-Topic, and decided to pop in to see how the test thread was going. She went into the room that read ‘New test,’ and shut the door behind her. In there, there were a whole group of PEELers and PEELettes, and they were saying one letter words. In it was FYP. He was every second, or third post, and he was saying things including bold, italic letters and testing the ‘spoilers.’
‘Guys, this threads about 68 pages. This forum could crash.’
FYP took no notice. ‘Garble.’
‘Why the hell do they have test threads anyway? Good fer nothing-‘
BOOM!
A noise exploded over the whole forum. It started shaking like an earthquake.
‘FYP, get out!!’
‘Chicken salad.’
New page. 69 pages! What were they doing?
These guys were so caught up in this… this spamming, that they didn’t know Ninaka’s presence at all. Ninaka got two by the ears and dragged them out of the room into the main Off-Topic hall, where everyone was running around. She got the rest, and soon they were finally running.
Then everything started to go slow. Ninaka could still run, but she felt a strain on her muscles. Like running fast wasn’t right. Then everything paused. And fell to the ground.
One PEELer came out of a room. ‘My thread! Posts have vanished, then the entire thing disappeared!’
‘PEELers and PEELettes,’ said a voice over a loudspeaker, ‘please come to the main General Discussion area.’
Everyone moved over there. ‘There has been a rather large crash. I’m afraid we cannot post anymore.’
‘What?’ said Winna. ‘What the fudge?’
‘Please remain seated. The server will have to remain in fixing for a few days. Please accept the hospitality we can manage now, for we don’t have enough equipment.
Ninaka had to lay on the floor. Her thoughts were smudged between ‘Sharing a darn mattress not good enough?’ and ‘This isn’t the last of it.’
PEELocalypse: Chapter Two
February 2008. In fact, the very fourth day. Around six years since those early days. And yet, nobody cares or remembers them. In fact, in these six years PEEL had progressed into, well, a paradise. And Ninaka was still well known for being one of those early ones from the early crashes.
Rumor has it that one day another crash or mysterious thing will happen, but that rumor was started by none other than a newbie, which nobody believed.
‘Woah. You were in the great Offtopic Crash.’
‘Uh, yeah.’
‘Was it cool?’
‘Pfffft.’
‘Was it all like Pannnngggg! And BOOOOM, and Oh My God We’re Gonna Die, and whaaaaaaam pfffffffff…’
‘Oh, shut up.’
Newbies always harassed Ninaka about her crash experiences. They wanted to know how it was, how fast people were running, and did their hats come off at all?
No. They sure as hell did not. She was trying to convince people it was rather boring and not much happened, and this was actually working. Almost everyone had forgotten about it.
Test threads had been banned after the crash after the Great Test Thread Crash.
She had stood on the arcade below all the forums, the ground of PEEL, where almost all the PEELers were protesting against the banning of test threads.
‘I made the first test thread!’ yelled out FYP, ‘and it is not gonna stop!’
A loud YEAH came from the crowd.
‘Whadda we want!’
‘Test threads!’
‘When do we want ‘em!’
‘All the time!’
Soon, Marc allowed them, but if they took twenty or thirty pages in a week, they’d be gone again.
Ninaka sighed. She liked test threads. For some reason, she kept reminiscing every year about something over six years ago.
Coldangel_1 came over to Ninaka. ‘You wanna… chat about somethin’?’
‘Yeah, okay,’ said Ninaka. ‘How about in the politics thread?’
‘Uh, sure,’ said Coldangel. Coldangel was obviously attracted to her, but he didn’t talk about it like he was desperate. He just mentioned it occasionally.
While going up to Off-topic, Coldangel noticed a row a few forums above. A group of people were crowded around something.
‘Ah, stuff the politics,’ said Coldangel, ‘something interesting is obviously happening here.’
When Ninaka and Coldangel got up, they found everyone crowded around a thread. It was the place where the ‘I have a carrot stuck in my lapel. Now I’m bored. Test thread’ thread had been. The sign on the door now read: 06:06 PM.
Ninaka checked her watch. Oh my god. It was that exact same time.
Winna was at the front. Ninaka pushed her way up to him. ‘What is happening?’
‘We have absolutely no idea,’ said Winna. ‘The mods are taking a look.’
Ninaka pushed past Winna. ‘I don’t care, I’m gonna find out what’s going on.’
She opened the door. Inside were Nixorbo, VelourFog and Gopher. ‘Hey, get out!’ yelled Gopher. ‘We’re looking here!’
Ninaka wasn’t listening to them. Her eyes were fixed on the thread. All those posts were gone. And what had replaced them?
There were a bunch of posts. Made by her. All hers. She couldn’t understand what is said. It was some crazy language. It wasn’t one from Earth anyway.
She distinctly heard Winna. ‘Ninaka! Get out! Get… out…!’
But she concentrated on the fact that the entire thread had been erased and for some reason she had had something to do with it.
She ran out of the room, past the people who all stared at her, then at the thread.
What… What is going on?
PEELocalypse: Chapter Three
‘The whole damn thread has changed,’ said [-mArc-] to slimmyCGEF. ‘It’s been changed to being made by a user named 02-04-2008, which happens to be today’s date.’
‘People coming on, thinking they can screw up this website,’ said Slimmy. ‘I’d give them a piece of my mind if they ever-‘
‘Quiet, Slimmy. We mustn’t let this get out. We must figure it out ourselves.’
One PEELer was crouching by the door, peering through the crack, taking note of what they said. He took the users name into memory, and went away.
Later on in the day, everyone was looking at the same place, but the creator name had changed to 02-04-2008.
Winna looked suspiciously at it. He decided to rally some people to question this mysterious user. Or was it a user at all?
He found JoshTheatre, gaschief, LoveForFry, Books, and Futuredrama.
‘Winna,’ said Books. ‘I know this guys stuffed up and we need to put sense in him, but shouldn’t we just leave it for a while until he gets really out of hand?’
‘Ah Books,’ said JoshTheatre. ‘Let’s just go and get him.’
‘He just took away the thread!’ said LoveForFry. ‘But I still think Ninaka did it.’
‘I agree,’ said gaschief.
‘I don’t know who did what,’ said Futuredrama, ‘ but we can ask them what’s happening.’
So all of them sent 02-04-2008 an e-mail, asking them why did he cause such trouble?
JoshTheatre checked his mail, and found a message. He opened it up, and it read:
tHankness you have discovered my email and sent a message to me. iT has come to my attention that the PEEL may be in great danger. yEars of strain coupled with an influx of new members may push the server to its full capacity and beyond. uNfoturunately, i cannot post on the PEEL. sOmething keeps my account from being active without approval. yOu will have to send out my message, jOsh, if you truly care for it. tHe PEEL is a very important community, and i will have come to care for it as you all already do, but for that to happen it must be kept safe. tImes now issue stormy skies for the world, the PEEL must be kept safe in these times for need. pLease tell the others to take care, to carefully watch how they post. pErhaps all will be well if enough get the message, and the PEEL is saved. tHank you so much for helping to save the PEEL jOsh. tHings may turn out alright.
Josh finished reading this letter. ‘What the-‘
Now was he weird, or was he talking for a real kind of doom to PEEL?
Gaschief checked his mail, and found a message:
aPreciation, good sir. i Warn you of a dark future that compells itself over the PEEL. i Cannot post, for i am abandoned here in this wasteland. wIshing to return to the beauty that is that community, i am mostly lost here. mR. rObertson, can you please keep your vigilance there, your eyes open, and ready to protect that which we care? tHe server the PEEL rests on is a dangerous slope, and we must do our parts to insure that it is safe and well kept. lAziness will breed contempt in ourselves, and unwillingness to heed the warnings we hear ourselves say will certainly bring about demise. tHe PEEL isn't the only thing that is troubled in this harsh world, but it can be a starting point. iT can find people to change the future, and ready them mentally for the journeys ahead. i Would only ask these things of someone who was willing to fulfill the compassion; by messaging me, while I can not communicate, you show signs of this. iF the message can be spread, we will one day rejoice once more. tHankness to you and that which you care about. ‘Wha-‘ he started to say, but instead he e-mailed LoveForFry. ‘Hey dude? I got a response! He predicts doom to PEEL and stuff, but I don’t know whether to believe it or not. Should I? Have you got a response too?’ But he couldn’t respond. At that moment, LoveForFry was sitting at his computer, staring with shock at his computer screen, which read: wHat is it that awaits each and every one of us? iT is what I speak of; that which we see before us, but hardly ever choose to acknowledge. nEver does it seem that it will come. bEckons does it through each and every corner of our being. iN this do we attempt to prevent, yet it keeps at its call in a linear manner. i Dream of the time when the PEEL will have its home to me; when the darkness keeps at bay; hope is what you need to keep this from betraying. Why does this guy have capitals in his letter? He thought. I’ll take out the letters. He got out all the capitals, but they were still scrambled. So he re-arranged them, and he came to a phrase: THE END. He slammed his hands on his desk and wrote a mail to Gaschief. ‘Yes. I damn well have a response. And it’s not good.’ Then LoveForFry replied to the user. About that anagram. It may have just been a coincidence, but it may not have. Soon, he got another mail: wEll, would you think so much? oF course things must end, that is their nature in this universe of linear experience. wOuld you rather see it become different on a cyclical scale? tO start our suffering again over and over would be a tragedy. eSpecially since everything cannot be mapped from one perspective quite yet. i Yearn to escape from this prison, but the darkness has held me over for so long. wE have little ability to escape this prison right now in the time that keeps us. i Certainly hope that those of you with the ability can keep the darkness at bay; thankness for each of you. lIfe is a blessing so easily taken for granted, but each of yours is special in their own kind. tAke heed of your own thoughts and express them when you can; keep yours held tight, for they might fall before you would want. iT comes quite soon when would not expect it as the skies draw anxious. ‘Shut up!’ he yelled at his computer screen. ‘This isn’t funny! This is not funny!!’ He wrote another message to Gaschief. ‘Please reply. I got another response. And I think I found another anagram for ‘a society foe’ or somethin’.’ But gaschief was sitting at his computer looking at another mail he got: iN the PEEL resides something hopeful. sOmething that I would really wish to be a part of; it would keep the happiness sweltering within me. i Cannot join yet though, so as an outsider, i can only see the PEEL now as from the outside. aS the darkness comes to knock on our doors, it will be individuals like those on the PEEL who can possibly repel its trouble. wIth the strength of good, the hope of many, and the love of theirs, the seas will finally spread in the torrent and change will occur. iMpressions on our fellow beings will be important. oPpression will not be key; they will all have to learn empathy to understand sacrifice. sAcrifice is difficult, but there have been times when we are asked to necessitate something greater than ourselves; fighting for what is ours because we will not lose the important things in our own hearts. iS this what we care of, that we are willing to help out ours for the good of the world and to keep our PEEL; it will be mine as well one day, hopefully. sO, please keep it in good shape Gaschief checked his mail, and replied: ‘Mine has an anagram for Compassion. How are the others?’ At that moment, Books, futuredrama and Winna were at their computers. Books was staring at his post: bEauty rests with humanity; even as the skies grow dark, by humanity, humanity itself is the only saving grace. eNd the hatred and the disgrace, so that we can come together stronger. iT is possible if we try and keep hope open; something for us to transcend into that beauty. wIsh it so, and believe in it. oMnipotent is the universe we lie in together, restricted and oppressed. wOrk to break these shackles and humanity will be your blessing. sInce my own, it has been apparent how cold it can be straight in the heart. tWo will multiply and rediscover truth; spreading like a virus, this curse can be broken. i Speak of many things, and the PEEL is just one place with which to reside; it is a nice place, a beautiful place; please keep it so, for me, you, and yours. He found the capital letters an anagram for Now is Time, or Time is Now. Futuredrama was looking partly at his mail, ad partly away from it, looking around the room he was in, in case someone was right behind him. wHo really knows what's worth hearing again in this cycle? a Key for those that would want it; the PEEL i Often times dream of being with; the humanity i Envy in my cold dark world. sEe the path ahead as bright as you can imagine it. hOwever, be weary of the dark skies that gather as you try to bring peace upon yourself and yours. uPon ourselves will we have to burden the task of creating a better tomorrow, so that my today will not have to happen. oPpression in our minds will have to fall out to keep your skies clear. rEmember to obtain your and yours happiness through perseverance and adherance to the best of thoughts; the PEEL, and the world itself needs each of you for its own sake; be thankful for your blessings. And Winna took in every single letter of his mail, and shuddered at every prophecic word in it. yOu don't need to know anymore information. tHe darkness clearly resides in you, hurtful being. iT isn't even possible to trust you. wE are not friends, because of your ways; if you wish to stop yourself from contributing to the problems that lie ahead, you will stop playing these games winna. tHe PEEL trusts you and looks to you at times as one of its representatives. yEt you hold it over them, pretending to be fair and honest. eNd these obsessions, and quit attempting to make them think you're someone else. sPecifically, stop trying to have them believe that you share my identity; you don't, and you never will. i Assure you "winna", when the skies grow dark in the darkness, their storms will pull them with you. hEed this warning now, or yours will be your own destruction.
PEELocalypse: Chapter Four
It was still the middle of the day, and the terrified PEELers were on their computers.
SlimmyCGEF was behind Winna, trying to look at the mail on her screen. He quietly jumped around as [-mArc-] tapped his shoulder.
‘[-mArc-],’ said Slimmy. ‘I was just looking-‘
[-mArc-] interrupted him. ‘I know. I saw a part of their message.’
‘What was in-‘
‘Listen, Slim, some guy is sending out messages to our PEELers, and they’re like prophesising of doom to PEEL. Either he is trying to terrorize them for fun or telling the truth.’
‘Do you have proof they are truthful?’
‘Do you, Slimmy, have any proof that they are not?’
Slimmy went quiet, as [-mArc-] turned away. ‘I never thought my site would end up like this. But we have to do something.’
’Un bunda en kavinendi!’ The Minister turned around. ‘Messenger!’ He sat up in his chair. ‘What is the news?’ ‘My sir,’ started the messenger, but he stopped to clear his throat. ‘Sire, 02-04-2009 has sent out prophecic messages to the PEELers. What shall we do?’ ‘Arrinda!’ screamed the Minister, and he pounded his fist on his table, leaving a great dent. ‘Forgive me, messenger.’ ‘What shall we do?’ The messenger looked up at him. The Minister leaned back with rage in his chair. ‘So, that traitor has planned PEELs doom, eh?’ ‘I think so, sire. Why must we always speak in their Earth language?’ ‘To honor them, messenger. The Earth gave us their supplies and food and made our great colony. We respect them by using their language.’ ‘Bunnuru pana, sire?’ ‘Do not attempt to anger me, messenger.’ The Minister turned in his chair. ‘I must warn them before they are corrupted.’
Dear Mr. _____,
It has come to my attention that you have received correspondence from the entity known to your universe as '02-04-2008'. The entity of 02-04-2008, I must warn you, is an extremely dangerous individual and a known threat to the security of the Empire. I personally advise you to not respond to any other advances he may extend, and to consider yourself under continual scrutiny by Empire officials until further notice.
-- This message has been signed by Minister Forty-Seven, Chancellor of the Council for Temporal Standardisation and the Regulation of Pantheistic Solipsism
Dear Mr. _____,
It has come to our attention that you have received further correspondence from the entity of 02-04-2008. This suggests a form of shared disposition between you two, and on behalf of my superordinate, I have been ordered to inquire as to what concealed knowledge you may have concerning this being.
-- This message has been signed by Minister Twenty-Eight, Secondary Head of the Council for Temporal Standardisation and the Regulation of Pantheistic Solipsism
‘What??!!’ yelled Winna. ‘Either this is true or these people are true spammers!’ The email addresses they were sent from were nonsensical names filled with random numbers and letters. He wondered what was going on, what this was about, and he decided to find out.
I bet you're the same person who made that test thread fake account... 2-4-2008 or whatever. I still think that that might not have been a glitch. I also don't appreciate being accused of stuff.... that's just totally mean. I sent you a nice email, and then you just accused me of being a horrible person. I will find out who you are.... you might be Tnuk, and you might be Gopher. I suppose I couldn't hate you, because this is still really cool..... but c'mon.... everyone else got some email about how they can save stuff or something.... why didn't you give me one? Maybe cause you knew I would figure out... and I will.... I swear...
Winna waited in front of his computer, but nothing came that day. The next day he got a response:
On behalf of the Council, I assure you that I am not the same individual by whom the most uncomplimentary email you received was written, but rather, I represent a party with far more concern for your world's populace. Our connection to your axis of reality is held in place by a fragile semihyper-bradyonic link through the dom-ether, enabling us to access various nodes of physical existence. Free communications services such as the internet and Gmail have helped us to retain our anonymity and semblance to chaos in your world while still allowing for communication with the natives, however, our pursuit of this criminal is having devastating effects upon your continuum, and all attempts to restore stability have thus far been disastrous.
02-04-2008 will not stop, I'm afraid, at merely dropping into the virtuality by which I am restricted, as many of you have seen. Rather, if its attempts at disrupting your forum are unsuccessful, it will escalate exponentially in its proportions. The Council hesitates to take forward and upfront measures at this time, however, should more be heard from 02-04-2008, it may enable me to obtain transreality clearance to launch an all-out assault. Your help in this matter is greatly appreciated.
If any more relevant data arises, please notify me or my second-in-command.
What was with this wording? Thought winna. Others are probably fake accounts.
Books was suspecting Totalnerduk was the strange user.
‘That stupid wording, and the weird way of writing, it has to be you!’
‘Books, put a sock in it! I ain’t got nothing to do with this!’
‘You spit out the truth now, or my fists are gonna fly.’
A small noise from Books computer stopped Books from basing up Totalnerduk. He went to it and found a message.
hAve you ever witnessed something pass away right before your eyes without the opportunity to change what was happening? eVer feel that nerve in your spine asking you to jump past yourself and thrown into the spiral that pretends you're needed? eXtra attention will be needed to keep this from getting worse. iT isn't the threads that threaten this community i await becoming a part of. dEstruction lies deep within the heart of mankind; there will need to be safeguards in place to stop such emotions from manifesting themselves in dangerous ways. hOpe is needed for you and yours. tRust these words in their meaning and their purpose to keep the line from fading; to keep the skies from growing their darkest.
‘Ah no, not another anagram!’ Books cried out, trying to avoid the email, but he couldn’t stop himself looking at the capital letters that spelled: A VORTEX.
Totalnerduk, unaware of Books yelling out in horror behind him, said to Winna who was behind him, ‘You know, I think you’re that user.’
‘I agree,’ said BirthdayClown. ‘You know, you’re rather good at pretending that you’re scared by him. But we can see through it.’
Winna thought he saw a figure vanish from one of the levels on the PEEL tower, but it was probably just another PEELer. It probably was. But was it? Most likely.
‘Look guys, don’t blame me,’ said Winna. ‘You have no proof. I’m just as scared of him as you are-‘
‘We’re not scared,’ said BirthdayClown.
‘Wouldn’t you be scared if some person sent you mails predicting doom to this website?’
‘Um, I think we would ignore—‘
You’ve Got Mail.
‘Ah come on!’
You’ve Got Mail!
‘Yes, I’m coming!’
‘No, I think that was from Totalnerduk’s computer.’
Totalnerduk and BirthdayClown rushed to their computers.
Totalnerduk opened up his mail, and found a new message. hArk now, these games are silly and wasteful. aT the moment, i am of the belief that certain parties exist on the PEEL to attempt to destroy it. iN this they do not understand what it is that they do, since they fear the PEEL for some reason not completely clear to us. tO not heed these warnings would be a misjustice for the community i will care about, as you have already shown to care about. sKies will grow dark if they do not work together, or if they do not realize their positions as the people. sIn will downfall mankind as a whole, but i have come to believe in people; i will have come to become a part of the PEEL and care about it. iT is hope that can save us, and we should understand the blessings we have received. iNdescribable is the power of this compassion that we should embrace. pUsh away your judgements and your fears to find those that would hide in such a dark place. eCho the call; protect the PEEL. ‘What?’ said Totalnerduk, looking at Winna. ‘You didn’t send that?’
BirthdayClown was hunched over his computer like it was the first interesting mail he’d gotten in months, but not the way he’d hoped:
cOuld you honestly believe that this individual would you be me? wE have not the energy to pass off ourselves as another. hE is not a very fruitful individual to associate ourselves with in the first place. i Am rather familiar with him, and he needs to learn something simple before he destroys himself. tHat one you know as "winna", he is dangerous to himself and to the world. aS humans it displays in oneself a horrible nature; it also contains such beauty that is undescribable. hOpe now for happiness, so that the truth may present itself in a more physical manner. dO not betray yourself, nor the others. wE may be able to understand ourselves and keep the dark skies away if all is well. pLease let thankness be to you and yours. ‘But we can’t rule him out, either,’ said BirthdayClown.
‘I still think there are others out there. This guy is a fake account.’ Winna was looking around if anyone was watching. ‘And I’ll prove it to every single one of –‘
Winna mail comes to you!
‘Aaagh, I didn’t choose that song!’
Winna went to his laptop, changed the sound, and read the mail.
Dear Mr. winna,
My forces are in constant monitoring of your forum, and I urge you to reconsider the blind accusations which you have been making against your fellow man. Indeed, they are almost identical in nature to that which 02-04-2008 wrought upon you! Already he may have claimed you, I do not know. If he has, then it may be too late for all of Earth's humanity. I urge you, sir, examine your conscience.
Everyone must remain sane throughout this crisis. The internet has rapidly become the nexus upon which new ideas and concepts effloresce for your species. Surely you of all its numerous individuals recognize the necessity and the responsibility each member of your board has to keep the seeds of ill will from being sown within it?
We would be very sad if you destroyed yourselves. But as of the moment, that is only a decision you are able to make.
-- This message has been signed by Minister Forty-Seven, Chancellor of the Council for Temporal Standardisation and the Regulation of Pantheistic Solipsism
At this moment, Winna was filled with mixed emotions. He didn’t know whether to reply saying they were a bunch of annoying spammers, or run out in the arcade yelling ‘We’re all gonna die! We’re all gonna DIE!!!’
But either way, there was something wrong. There was no doubt about that.
PEELocalypse: Chapter Five
Days later, all of it was dismissed as annoying spamming and hacking to change the thread.
And Ninaka was finally off the hook, now that it was believed her account was hacked to post.
For the past few days, she had locked herself up in an old thread, and accidentally bumped it when she said, ‘Is there an explanation?’
Winna and Xanfor were walking along the steps, en-route to a test thread, when Winna said, ‘You know those mails?’
Xanfor stopped walking, and turned to him. ‘You mean those annoying messages that said PEEL was gonna die and all?’
‘Yeah.’
‘I’d like to step up to them and say they are being really annoying. And how they treated you! It was so unfair.’
‘And I still have no idea about this date named user or the minister for that council with those stupid email addresses,’ said Winna.
‘Well,’ said Xanfor, ‘I’m going to write to them and find out what this is all about!’
Later that day, Xanfor got on his computer, and sent an e-mail to that user that had been frightening everyone with those weird letters.
02-04-2008,
As a self-appointed journalist representing the PEELers of the PEEL, I would like to take the time to ask you the following questions. I have no right to do so, of course, and if you do answer, no one is going to hold it against you or use it in any future proceedings. Hardly seems worth me asking, doesn't it?
1) The PEEL is in dreadful danger, you say. What can be done to prevent its impending doom? 2) What darkness resides in winna that makes him such a threat to the PEEL? 3) Can we look forward to you being freed from your current wasteland of residence and being able to post properly amongst us? 4) What are your thoughts regarding the messages from 'Minister Forty-Seven', and is there any basis for his/her regard of you as an enemy?
I look forward to your reply. And so, I am sure, does the rest of the PEEL.
A reply came.
aPpreciative to have received such inquiry, but are not answers hard to come by at certain moment? wE have not the energy to fulfill such needs sometimes. tHe danger spoken of has been seen, and will occur if people of great strength do not present themselves at times of crisis. iT is only prevalent if those that can will stand up and cast the dark skies away. mAny would try to disassemble the PEEL before our time, but you and yours can hold it true away from their clutches; this is where they try and hide in everything that they are. dAngers rest hard in your current path, so it should determine you to cast it hard away. hOld yours true away from the fear; we see it as it would be, but that does not mean it has to be as we have witnessed; in this i Attempt to warn and change the world within. tHe PEEL is only one of many places that attention and reason hold their stances, as the world is such a large place. sOon world will seem such an overlooked term as yours peak across the universe itself. i Cannot be familiar with everything, but the facts that this prison would hold to have occurred. aS such i Am not familiar with everything including this 'minister forty-seven' of which you speak. iT can only be kept hopeful that such a person can prevent the dangers we will have to contend with. lOve itself will warm the heart, and it can only be hoped that you each drink from the heart. wIll you have thankness be to you and yours dear representative?
Xanfor then remembered that the Minister for the Council had said that 02-04-2008 was dangerous, so he wrote a letter to them, and edited it to make sure he got all the information he needed.
Minister Forty-Seven,
As a self-appointed journalist representing the PEELers of the PEEL, I would like to ask you the following questions. I have no right to do so, of course, and if you do answer, no one is going to hold it against you or use it in any future proceedings. Hardly seems worth me asking, doesn't it?
1) Why do you believe 02-04-2008 to be such a renegade? 2) What could he/she/it hope to gain by the disruption of our forum? 3) Do you offer any explanation as to why 02-04-2008 appears to have no recollection of who you are? 4) How can we be sure that your organization is not the true enemy?
I look forward to your reply. And so, I am sure, does the rest of my planet.
Xanfor waited a few minutes. No reply came to his inbox. After ten minutes he got up an walked around the arcade. He would kill some time in Off-Topic, so he climed the steps, and looked at the old test thread.
As people walked by, they took a glance at the name, which had mysteriously changed just days ago.
The mods were inside, trying to delete it, but after a few weeks, there had been no luck.
‘Aagh, what is it with this thread!’ Nixorbo yelled. ‘It just won’t close down! Even we can’t delete the posts!’
Xanfor glared at the posts as if they were six-year-old children who had just thrown a heap of garbage on him. ‘Why don’t you rack off and leave PEEL alone.’
Nixorbo turned around. ‘Um, excuse me?’
‘Uh…’ said Xanfor. ‘Just talking to… myself.’
Nixorbo grunted and went back to the Ninaka post. He had been at it for so long, he just hit it with his fist.
Xanfor peered at the title again. It now read 03:58 PM.
‘Huh?’
All of a sudden, a burst of posts came out of the topic in the room. The wind blew against Xanfor’s face, he had to grab the doorhinge.
The mods scrambled to get out, and a burst of wind blew them out of the door.
‘Holy –‘ yelled Nixorbo as he skidded along the ground and crashed into the wall on the other side of the hall.
Xanfor could see posts flying around, then a big ball of light emerged, and the entire room blew up, sending IP addresses everywhere.
The people in the halls ducked as the posts went flying. One got hit in the head, and he staggered backwards.
Others fell over due to the gigantic earthquake that was getting worse by the second. They were crying out for help, and trying to get out.
Once again, concrete fell from the stairs and railings.
Once again, everyone went fleeing for their lives.
But this time everything stopped.
And everything went into total darkness.
PEELocalypse: Chapter Six
The door slammed, and the Minister looked up. ‘Who are you? What do you – ah, it’s you.’ ‘Yes,’ said the figure. ‘The time has finally come to show these PEELers the meaning of darkness.’ It stood proud in front of the terrified Minister. ‘You have a problem with that?’ He turned, and spoke in some obscure language, that even the Ministed didn’t know, to his comrades standing out side the door. They rushed off down the hall. ’02-04-2008, I shall not let you do this!’ ‘Nes kompen na kara de manda!’ The Minister backed away, scrabbling on his desk for a weapon. He found a pen, and he thrust it at the figure, but was pathetically thrown, and the figure advanced. ‘Nem kor natundi vada mincon.’ The Minister stood in front of him. ‘I beg of you.’ His hands were shaking. ‘I beg of you, stop the chaos. Their world has had so much pain, so much suffering…’ ‘Nambari du xembiron.’ ‘I… I shan’t!’ He pulled on his desk, taking away a long stick of wood, and went toward the figure, trying to whack it But 02-04-2008 had moves, and he jumped out of the way. Then the figure produced a sword out of thin air, and laid it on the Minister, who had fallen to his knees. ‘Please… forgiveness… dun deli mundo koshka… mindu satarnia birra…’ ‘Pleading shall not save you this time,’ said the figure. ‘No! You cannot understand! You cannot – just perspective yourself to others. Please…’ The figure smiled for a moment, and the Minister looked up in hope. ‘Non den, Minister,’ he said, and the sword came down toward him.
I remember it well. We felt like we were falling. Down into a chasm of incomprehensible darkness. I knew not of surroundings. I knew not of our fate. There was only one thing I knew of. PEEL had met its doom. It was the end of everything. Our life’s great achievements, or interactivity, the way we could just talk and nothing could stop us. During that time I was thinking, ‘This is the end. This is the end of it all.’
Every single PEELer and PEELette collapsed into darkness. They could not do anything but know they were finished
We should have listened to them.
Then suddenly, everything stopped.
Ninaka heard a voice call out. ‘Is anyone here?’
‘Yes!’
‘Do you know what’s happening?’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘What’s happened to PEEL?’
Ninaka couldn’t answer this. She didn’t know what exactly had happened to PEEL, but only one answer came to her mind. PEEL was dead. It was gone forever.
Then everyone heard Gophers voice. ‘Can anyone hear me?’
All the PEELers replied yes.
‘Can you see a light?’
Ninaka twirled around in a state she thought to be as mid-air. She moved her arms and legs to guide herself around to face the other way of the dark void.
She could barely see a pinpoint of light far away. She kicked as if swimming to move toward the light. She bumped into someone.
‘Watch it, n00B.’
‘Sorry, Coldy.’
‘What, that’s you? Sorry.’
If you were hovering above this cascade of people with night-vision, you would see thousands of people gliding through a void, swimming toward it. All squashed together, and struggling to stay in the group. Gopher was at the entrance, guiding people through.
Ninaka saw the light get bigger until she could almost see behind it.
‘Slow, now,’ said Gopher. ‘No pushing. Winna, I think Nurdbot is gonna punch you back. Stop it, you two.’
Ninaka glided through the bright hole, then suddenly gravity came back, and she fell about five feet to a ground. She picked herself up, and Winna came through the hole and landed right on her.
‘Get off me, you boof!’
Winna rolled off, almost immediately landing on someone else. Ninaka looked at her surroundings. Her eyes adjusted to the light. It was a forum. Winna picked himself up. ‘Woah.’
It was definitely a forum. Up in bold letters at the top was the word UnPEELified.
She turned. ‘Gopher?’
Gopher climbed through the hole after everyone else came through.
‘Yes. I made another PEEL. We can go on it while PEEL is down. Or… what just happened… would you call that down?’
‘But it’s not PEEL, isn’t it?’ said Winna.
‘It’s not PEEL, but it’s up.’
The users walked around to explore their surroundings. Winna immediately jumped in the Off-Topic forum, where several others joined him.
‘Gopher… how did you do that?’
‘Hey, I’m a mod. Lucky I just got the URL before everything came down. Close call.’
Everyone settled in to this new forum. At first, Ninaka didn’t like the idea of a PEEL substitute, but she grew to like it.
Only an hour into the existence of this forum, a loud noise stopped everyone. They all recognised it as [-mArc-].
‘To All Users. ‘We regret to say PEEL server has been taken down, due to a payment being missed that keeps it up. We apologise for this, and it will be fixed very soon.’
The voice ended. Then Slimmy’s voice came on.
‘And Gopher, you totally rock.’
‘Slimmy… get away from… I SAID GET –‘
The transmission ended.
‘What the heck was that?’ said Xanfor.
Xanfor heard a You’ve Got Mail, and recognised it as his own.
Gopher turned to a door, and opened it to reveal a storage room. He took out Xanfor’s computer.
Xanfor quickly turned it on and checked his mail.
Dear Mr. Xanfor,
Although we appreciate such curiousity, I cannot be disposed to answer any of your questions at this time. However, I do feel obliged to inform you and your comrades that Minister Forty-Seven is now dead at the hands of 02-04-2008. The Chancellor sacrificed herself in an attempt to free your reality from this dire meneace, but the attempt was futile and only resulted in the premature collapse of your forum. Our benignancy is very near to its end; an assault has no choice but to be imminent. Remove yourself from 02-04-2008's acquaintanceship for your own world's protection.
-- This message has been signed by Minister Twenty-Eight, Secondary Head of the Council for Temporal Standardisation and the Regulation of Pantheistic Solipsism
Xanfor stood still. Gopher stood behing him, looking worried. He slowly closed down the mail.
We would be very sad if you destroyed yourselves. But as of the moment, that is only a decision you are able to make.
Did we destroy ourselves, or did they…?
His conscience was split in two.
There are two sides to this.
’It is a terrible occasion, sir.’ ‘Messenger, please.’ The man sat in the chair. The messenger was beside him. ‘Such a shame. I was close friends with the Minister. We may not have got along, but –‘ ‘Please.’ ‘All respect, sire.’ The messenger went out, leaving the man in his seat. It was terrible to think that only Earth days ago, the minister would sit here, alive. But things must move on. He placed his hands on the desk. Minister Twenty-Eight was in command.
PEELocalypse: Chapter Seven
Days passed. UnPEELified became a paradise almost as much as PEELified had.
Nobody knew when PEELified would come back, though, until one day every user found they couldn’t post anymore. They were suddenly sucked out of the topics, out of the forums, and the UnPEELified tower got farther and father away as everyone was sucked back through the hole and in the dark chasm, where under them a 2D image of the PEEL Tower came up, and suddenly rose to become 3D.
The users came on the ground feeling a little sick, but delighted when they saw PEEL again, in all its glory.
At once, everyone rushed on PEEL, went through the forums, and the doors to those topics were opened and closed once again.
But bask in this paradise now, and enjoy it while it lasts… for this was not the end of this saga of destruction, lies, and hope. It was only half of it.
‘God it’s good to get back to the real PEEL,’ said Totalnerduk. ‘I sure missed it.’
‘I kinda miss UnPEELified though,’ said Winna. ‘I mean, it was different.’
‘Na, PEEL is much better,’ said Ralph Snart.
‘I think UnPEELified was cool as well,’ said x.Bianca.x.
‘Na, that place was a bit of a dump,’ said Gorky.
‘No, you shut –‘
‘Hey, stop it,’ said Coldangel_1. ‘Go make a ‘which is better’ thread.’
Bianca ran up the steps. ‘First one to make the thread is a winner!’
Gorky and Ralph ran after her. Ralph managed to make a poll, and it was a tie. In turn he made a thread, which was locked when Gorky told everyone to stop spamming and arguing.
Bianca, annoyed she didn’t get to make the poll, decided to bump a thread to make her feel better, but decided to go into the test thread. She’d heard that years ago they were banned, but due to protests they were allowed again.
She walked right into the door. BANG.
What? she thought. I opened it? Didn’t I?
There was a brass wooden knob on the door. Bianca pulled and pushed and turned it, but it wouldn’t move.
Then she remembered she had opened it.
FYP, Ralph Snart and Gorky came in. ‘Don’t just stand in front of it,’ said Ralph. ‘Go in.’
‘I can’t.’
Gorky came and pulled the door, but it would not move.
‘Aaarrggh!’ said FYP. ‘I just want to get in this thread! Have they banned them again?’
‘No,’ said Gorky. ‘PEEL must have some problems. I mean… it just died for gods sake!’
Gaschief came over. ‘Ah crap, I wanted to test.’
‘So do we.’
‘Have they been banned again? Did it fill the pages?’
‘No, it was made two months ago.’
Gaschief turned his head. ‘Must be somethin’ wrong with PEEL. What do we do while we wait?’
Winna came over. ‘The test thread is locked? No– I guess we gotta hang around in other threads.’
Gaschief turned to Winna. ‘Hey 02-04-2008.’
‘What?’ yelled Winna. ‘This was finished ages ago! Everyone thinks I am this stupid user, and –‘
‘Because you are, idiot!’ yelled Gaschief, who stomped away, and decided to write a letter to cheer himself up.
He went to his computer, got out a torn piece of paper that had the scrawling of the e-mails on them.
He slowly wrote out the address, then sent out an email to the Minister Twenty-Eight.
Dear Sir,
My initial suspicion was that the entity known as 02-04-2008 and the Peeler known as Winna were one and the same thing. I replied to the entity in a style of communication that I know the Peeler winna is inclined to use, in the hope that this may prompt him to reveal more of his plan and intentions. It is interesting to observe that the entity 02-04-2008 has been seen to publicly contest Winna on Peel. This suggests several possibilities:
1. The obvious, that 02-04-2008 and winna are the same, and the public display of antagonism between them is a deliberate attempt at portraying them as separate entities.
2. That 02-04-2008 and winna are the same person, but they don't know that in that (i) The person winna / nick suffers from Disociative Identity Disorder (commonly known as multiple personality disorder) and in fact Winna and 02-04-2008 are different 'peronas' within the same individual without either having concious knowledge of the other. (ii) Winna is subject to external control by the entity 02-04-2008, against his will and perhaps even without his conscious knowledge.
3. That 02-04-2008 is NOT winna but has good reason to try and create this illusion that it / he / she is winna, perhaps because winna holds special knowledge of value to the peel and that winna therefore should either be ostricized or elevated to a god like status on PEEL depending on what his special knowledge or ability is.
4. Or winna is an extension of another 02-04-2008 like entity that ha done battle with 02-04-2008 on another plane and that perhaps Peel ha becopme the battleground for these waring trans-dimensional beings.
I would add however that all of the above is pure speculation, and based on no direct knowledge of 02-04-2008, this I declare on soul and concience.
Gaschief Dear Mr. Robertson,
Several points of interest reside in your reply to me, a number of which hold merit, and several of which do not.
1~ Winna cannot be 02-04-2008, as winna is a member of your species and has had as much exposure to the transrealities as you have. I cannot vouch for his abilities before our arrival in your universe, however, of the many gifts he and 02-04-2008 are known to currently possess, bilocation is not among them.
2~ (i) Winna may be fallible to the weakness of Disociative Identity Disorder, however, as a non-human, 02-04-2008 cannot be. (ii) This possibility seems likely, although winna has expressed regret at his actions, which is most uncharacteristic of 02-04-2008. If ever he was under its control, it is almost certain that he is no longer.
3~ This is practically undoubtable. As one of 02-04-2008's primary goals on your forum is to disrupt it from within, creating deceitful turmoil amongst its own members is a most satisfactory course of action.
4~ I consider this possibility to be most unlikely. If winna were the extension of a being like ourselves, it is unlikely that he would be able to effectively conceal his signature from either us or 02-04-2008. However, should 02-04-2008 have higher analytical scanning facilities than us, it is possible that it is aware of what winna may truly be, if anything of significance. Indeed, this may be one of the numerous hearts of 02-04-2008's unbridled hostility.
Your insights have been much appreciated. I assure you that any armed conflict between any parties will be engaged in such a manner as to ensure the well-being of innocent parties such as the populace of your planet. Gaschief made a decision not to reply to this. Maybe Winna wasn’t 02-04-2008. He was just accusing without any proper proof. Maybe it was all over now. Maybe the council of whatever would just sort it out.
A week passed. Gaschief had told everyone that it was over, and that now there were no more messages, they had worked it all out.
But very soon, Gascheif got a reply.
Dear Mr. Robertson,
I am sorry for what must happen, but there is very little chance any of you will hear from us again. Following the death of Minister Forty-Seven, I have sent an appeal to the Director of the Administration. The following is copied verbatim:
On 01/03/2008, Minister Nineteen <ioeiaaza7g8agoessabi7igagosb@gmail.com> wrote: | |In response to the growing threat of 02-04-2008, the Council is given full |permission to use any means within their power to apprehend the criminal. |Empire forces stand at the ready to render any assistance which may be required. | |-- |This message has been signed by Minister Nineteen, Director of the |Administration for the Management of Burroughian Spacetime
We will be entering your reality quite soon to engage 02-04-2008 in direct battle within physical space. I beg all of you: erase the stench of these occurances from your minds; destroy the heart of evil which threatens to consume you all. Primitive as you may be, your existence is as valid as any others. For the sake of your world... Be free from your own malevolency!
-- This message has been signed by Minister Twenty-Eight, Secondary Head of the Council for Temporal Standardisation and the Regulation of Pantheistic Solipsism
‘Battle, eh?’ said Gascheif. He shut down his computer as he heard a row outside.
He came to the PEEL Arcade, and Books, Totalnerduk, JoshTheatre and Xanfor were having an argument. People were crowded around them.
‘Okay, I am Minister Forty-Seven. I did the whole thing. And Tnuk was 02-04-2008!’
‘I didn’t, you low-down git!’
‘You are! Admit it, you are!’
‘I am not!!’
Xanfor said, ‘Can’t we just confirm the e-mails, to see if you are telling the truth?’
‘No, I am that guy, and –‘
‘Books is just trying to hype things up,’ said Totalnerduk. ‘I did nothing! I am not 02-04-2008, I had nothing to do with it!’
Others were running off to their computers to tell their friends about it.
‘Fine, I didn’t,’ said Books. ‘I lied about it all. I just thought this subject should be brought up more. One day, PEEL may just collapse!’
‘But you just had to get me in it, didn’t you,’ said Totalnerduk. He attempted to punch Books, but Books moved out of the way.
‘What is it with you, you show-off!’
Books stormed away. Totalnerduk ran off to a forum, most likely a ranting thread.
PEELocalypse: Chapter Eight
The PEEL chat is a common place for the PEELers to gather. In this case, it was a perfect place for JoshTheatre to come.
He still believed Winna was this 02-04-2008, that he was responsible for this whole mess. He went in. He sat down on a couch, and as he said the words, the words appeared above him on a holographic thread.
‘I still think Winna is behind it. That the whole thing is his doing. I will honestly have trouble ever believing a word Nick says.’
He stopped, and looked with satisfaction at his rants above him.
‘Nick, doesn't matter what you say, I will ALWAYS believe that this is you. And I know for a fact that you'll never admit it and that if it is you, we'll never actually find out for sure. The mystery will go unsolved and end up fading into obscurity. Or you'll end up using one of your other fake accounts to admit to being 02-04-2008.’
He hoped that Winna would come in and see what he had said.
‘So Winna, you’re stuck. If anybody ends up revealing themselves as 02-04-2008, I’ll know that that person is your fake account. ‘Because the way those e-mails are written, the way this is playing out, and the way that you have reacted to the whole thing leaves no doubt in my mind that the whole thing is you being your OCD self, creating a stupid web of lies and oddities. I’m not stupid, Nick. I just wanted you to know all of this. No response of yours will have any effect on me.’
Totalnerduk came in, still angry, and saw the posts. ‘Wow, I don’t think you’re sane.’
On a distant star with a ground black as soot, a ship landed and a gust of dirt blew out from under it a millennium ago and now. A ladder stretched out from its erratically shaped doorway. Out of it came a figure. It wasn’t human.
A few yards away from the ship stood another figure. Their faces were not visible due to the immense darkness, but its hatred and evil was so pure that its body showed it.
The first figure reached into the air, and out of the shadows came a sword, which glistened and made light. It shone, revealing his face.
The second figure growled, and reached into the air, and cast a sword as black as the ground from the fiery hell below.
The two figures took five steps forward, and came to face each other, only two metres apart. They both went into stance and drew their swords, both sharp tips pointed directly at the other.
The first figure took a deep breath, and rushed toward his assailant, heart pounding like a drum, in the present, and the past.
As usual, PEEL was filled with the hustle and bustle like a supermarket on Christmas. The aislesforums were packed with people looking around for somewhere to go. So many things to buy do and see and so many people to talk to. It really was a paradise.
Ninaka came out of a forum and bumped into Bianca.
‘Hey, watch where you’re going, you b – Bianca.’
‘Sorry,’ said Bianca. ‘I just want to go to that test thread and bump it up. It hasn’t been used for a week.’
‘Sure, go ahead.’
As Bianca walked off down the long hallway, Ninaka turned around. ‘Bianca, wait!’
‘What?’
‘Heard anything about the 02-04-2008 business yet?’
‘Nup. But that last message stuff, thank god for that.’
Bianca continues down the hall. She turned to go in the thread, but stopped to look down the hall. Not the direction to all the people walking and chatting and to the doors, but the other side, going down to locked and un-used test threads. It was dark and eerie, and worse, nobody was down there.
She shuddered, then went in.
‘Bump,’ she said. Then the ground trembled a bit beneath her, but ended quickly. She came out, and the door of the test thread was now the closest to the doors.
Bianca ran out of the Offtopic Forum, and went down the concrete steps to the PEEL Arcade below. No rows or computers or talkings of omens. It seems PEEL was finally back to –
You’ve Got – ‘Aaargh!’ she yelled, covering her head with her hands before the message could be finished. She opened them, only to hear another “You’ve Got Mail!”
You’ve Got Mail. You’ve Got Mail! Woohoo! Mail!! You have a New Message. Winna mail comes to you!
As soon as they sounded, the PEELers rushed to the scene.
[-mArc-] quickly came along, followed by SlimmyCGEF. ‘What? Ah damnit, more messages.’
‘What does it say?’ said Ninaka.
Winna rushed to his computer, and with trembling fingers (trembling more of annoyance) he opened up the document, and the words popped up on the screen.
And it read:
‘What the hell?’ said Winna.
‘What does it say?” said Slimmy.
‘I – I have no idea.’
[-mArc-] looked at the screen. ‘Oh no,’ he said. ‘This text is like… l33t or something.’
“We need a translator!” said Winna, looking to the crowd. “Anyone?”
Totalnerduk came forward. “I know the language well.”
He sat in front of the computer, and stared at it for a long time. On paper, he slowly wrote words. “What does it say?” said Winna.
Totalnerduk finished writing, and read it out:
”I do not know whether this message will be received… but indeed, it is a far greater thing that ones remain alive to receive it! The Empire has fallen. 02-04-2008 had forces beyond our knowledge, beyond even our conceptions of unreality!
The battle was harsh. It occurred not only then, but centuries from then, and centuries before then. Ships tore the strings of time and slashed from age to age, destroying each other before they even existed. The Empire itself was not immune ti the stress, and crumbled seconds after the beginning, hours from the end. My only consolation through it all is that at least the violence was contained within a physical confinement, and that life elsewhere, at least within this continuum, may have survived.
I have not long to live. In a failed attempt to jump through time itself, my severely damaged ship was hyperaccelerated awayfrom Alpha Lyrae, the star where the battle had and will be taken place millennia ago, towards the planet upon which your species currently resides. I will be long dead before my vessel disintegrates into your atmosphere three fortnights from now… But my words must live on.
02-04-2008 still exists, as a fake account posting amongst you. Crippled, perhaps, injured… but that means nothing. A physical existence means nothing.02-04-2008 still lives… in the body and soul of all your planet’s h
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