Don’t mind me! I’m about to post the full transcript of Martin’s talk with Augie so I can link it in the weekly recap. Happy Friday Mounties!
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Augie didn’t have much to say and couldn’t answer any of my questions. He was having a “bad day” according to the nurse. But then around 3:30 he just sort of lit up. He was looking around the room like he woke up in a place he didn’t recognize.
M: Bill? Augernon? Are you alright?
A: What happened?
M: You just woke up.
He tried to get up…
M: Don’t get up.
A: Where’s Anne, my kids?
M: They’re okay. Everybody’s okay.
M: Can you tell me what you remember about the Mountaineers?
A: The— Mountaineers? My other family. I tried to save them. I tried to buy them time. Sent my family away because I knew they’d come for me. And I thought I could… I thought I could give everyone a chance to hide.
M: hide from what?
A: The Storm.
M: What is the Storm?
A: The other side of the forked road. I don’t know what they call themselves but they’ve been here for centuries. The shadow cast on the world. They wiped out the originals. Monarch’s Mountain. And when we got too close they did the same to us.
M: You met them?
A: I am an Ebenguard. I stood my ground so my friends could live.
He started crying.
M: Augernon…
A: No one calls me that but Ascender. Call me Augie. I remember him here. Ascender.
M: Yeah. He’s come to visit you.
A: I recruited him, you know.
M: You did?t wwhat about Climber? does that sound familiar?
He got agitated.
A: The book. Where’s the book?
M: What book?
He kept talking about a book for a few minutes. Then he looked at me for the first time.
A: Who are you?
M: My name’s Martin Rank. I’m a reporter.
A: I don’t know you.
M: no. but someone told me you could help us. We’re trying to help some people. Maybe the book you remember could be useful. What book are you talking about?
A: The Book of Briars.
M: How do you know about that?
A: It’s almost unlocked. But we didn’t see the Storm coming.
M: I don’t understand. Are you talking about now? Or the 90’s?
A: … What year is it?
M: The Book of Briars existed in 1994?
A: The Book has always existed, Mr. Rank. The originals tried to open it. Others in the unwritten times. Us. And now you, yes?
M: Yes.
A: You think it’s going to tell you the truth, don’t you?
M: What is it?
A: I don’t think we’re meant to learn anything from it. I think it was put here for us to teach it. Shape it. I don’t think it’s a book at all.
M: What do you think it is?
A: What do you think it is?
M: I think it’s a spell.
He got up, walked to the screened-in patio. I followed him.
M: What kind of spell is it, Augie?
A: They won’t let anyone have that book. They want the world the way it is. They want to enslave magic and keep it in the shadows. I’ve been gone a long time. Haven’t I?
M: Yes.
A: But they’ve been here with me, always. I hear them whispering to each other from around the world. Feel them moving like they’re under my skin. A splinter. A thing I can’t remember but can’t forget.
M: Can you tell me anything else about them? Who they are. Where they are.
A: Everywhere! Everywhere. Because they rule this world from a palace made of doors.
He looked at me again, unfamiliar.
A: I don’t know you.
M: I’m Martin Rank, Augie.
A: I’m really tired.
M: Come sit down…
I could tell the spell was failing, or fading. He was becoming the Augie I’d met before. Glassy-eyed, blank.
A: Ascender…
M: He’s…
A: What are you doing here?
M: My name…
A: You can’t be here. I did this to keep you safe.
I realized he thought I was Ascender.
M: I don’t know what to do Augie. What can we do to stop The Storm?
A: You need to learn all you can, Sender. How close are you? How many fragments do you have?
M: Ten.
A: You’re close. They came for us at twelve, remember?
And then I was a stranger to him again.
A: Who are you? How did you find me?
M: It’s a long story…
And then he was back.
A: They all are when it comes to magic. Remember what I told you, Sender. There are pieces moving on both sides of the board. Some are trying to hinder. Some are trying to help. Hide from hinder, you’re too weak right now to fight, but follow help with all your might. It won’t make sense. Until it does. Trust the flow of magic. Trust whoever it is that wants us to open the book.
He started wringing his hands, pacing. Then he stopped and looked up at me…
A: Is my family safe? Tell me the truth.
M: They are. Your boys are grown. They have families too now.
A: Good. I’m a grandfather. The past is just a moment, Martin. They’re coming. They’re here.
Then he collapsed. It happened so fast I thought he tripped but he was seizing. Orderlies came in. He was foaming from the mouth.
They pushed me out of the way.
And then the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, like a current rushed through the room. I felt what he felt. Just for a second. I couldn’t help him. I ran.
Not my proudest moment.
That’s all I have.
I need a drink.
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We could definitely comment on Deirdre’s blog if we have questions for her. She’s pretty good at getting back to people.
Kendrick is gonna be hard. I suppose we could attempt to reach out to Aether and see if he might be able to reach him somehow within KS’s systems? But then there’s also the question of how we’d retrieve the fragment from his mind.
Apparently she’s also reached into Teddy’s mind, so he may also have a fragment as well.
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Reaching Kendrick and Teddy will be difficult to do without completely alerting KS of our presence. Whether or not they’re aware of us, making any big moves towards either will raise some flags, and definitely catch some attention. I’d say we for sure know that a piece is in Kendrick, but I’m not certain that we want to go for it immediately. It might paint a bit of a target on our back, so to speak.
I do have a small idea. If we figure out more on teddy, I believe we could find out more about the situation without immediately alerting KS to our activities. If we move too early, their defenses will be up, and that’s more doors closed for us.
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Augur said “No one calls me that but Ascender. Call me Augie. I remember him here. Ascender.” The I remember him here bit…does that mean Ascended was once with Augie in the place he is now?
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Also, I don’t think it wise to paint a huge target on our back by reaching Kendrick or Teddy. Augie said to hide from hinder. If we paint a huge target on our back for KS we are doing the exact opposite of what he said. We need to exhaust every other avenue of help we can follow.
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Ascender visits Augie from time to time.
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Oh Canada! Have we looked into more about the ruins mentioned?
This is the site to the museum mentioned:
Searching has proven difficult because I’m struggling with focusing on a certain area to search. The ruins are called “in situ” but I’m having problems finding more about it…there’s just so much information and so many possibilites… -_- my head hurts
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Also after looking at the Climber link and the one about Portencia…is it possible they are related? They are both adept, they both have the capacity to “extrapolate”. Climber was referred to as a collector of ancestors maybe she “collected” one of Portentia’s fathers? The term “crux of two miracles” is used which is another thing that makes me think they could be related…Could Climber even potentially be Portentia’s mother? The word crux in reference to Climber seems to indicate KS or at least whoever is conducting the experiments believes Climber is the most important point of the issue…or is she the other definition of crux, the point of difficulty…
4 am rambling thoughts
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Back in the city. I’ve called Augernon’s family a few times to see if he’s okay, no answer. Figured I shouldn’t leave a message. The facility won’t disclose medical information to anyone who isn’t preregistered as family but I’ll keep checking.
In the meantime, I had an interesting email waiting for me when I got home.
Apologies for sending this out of the blue.
I found your name on a tech blog where you were asking about a certain company. I got your email from that post.
You’re a reporter yeah? You can keep me anonymous? Protect me? I have a story and I need to tell someone.
I work there.
I emailed back, promising confidentiality. Will let you know when I hear back.
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Movement, hallelujah! Thanks, Marty. I hope you’re doing okay. Keep us posted.
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Marty, stay safe, and best of luck! Maybe I’m just rummaging around in extra tinfoil, but at this point, I’d say you’re definitely on their radar. Make sure to be careful how you approach this. You’re a good man, and a good friend to those who’ve been around longer than I.
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What worries me is that Augie’s family didn’t respond to Marty’s attempt to reach out.
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As horrible as it is to think about, I believe he may be in critical condition. I think whenever the voices in his head realized he was remembering, they did their best to stop it.
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Can we not find out how he is?
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I’m also afraid that they might have gotten to the innocent bystanders in this scenario. I can see why, maybe, they wouldn’t respond to an unfamiliar number. But it’s concerning. My only hope is that Augie is getting the medical care he needs, and that they’re with him.
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They wrote me back.
I’ve been experiencing some strange things lately, and it all started with an accident I was in. I live in Boston. A car clipped me last week near my apartment. I hit my head pretty hard on the curb.
I signed so many agreements when I started work THERE, many of them are about not disclosing information about my job or what I see because it’s an ultra high-security research and development lab. You jump through so many high tech hoops to get hired. You have to take these weird video assessments with all these disturbing images… they track your eyes and scan your brain activity to see if you’re trustworthy, willing to be compliant… Weird, next level stuff. But I passed it all. I don’t remember too much else, and that’s the thing.
After the accident everything changed. A paramedic was checking me out and I started realizing I had two sets of memories. They wanted to take me to the hospital but I was beyond freaked. My employer wants to know about things like this immediately. But what I was remembering, and that I was remembering it now, scared the hell out of me.
I realized that when I leave there I don’t forget what I saw, but on the shuttle ride back to the city it all starts feeling unimportant. Like remembering a time you stopped to tie your shoes. It’s there but doesn’t feel like it matters. Something you’d never tell someone. Does that make sense?
But now my memories are conflicting. Not only am I starting to remember things, but I’m also realizing that my life here in Boston, my apartment, my driver’s license… it all feels familiar, but not.
I think they’ve done something to me. Maybe to everybody there. I think they have projects like this. I’m not sure. It’s like trying to remember parts of a dream.
You probably think I’m crazy. And maybe there is something wrong with me. But I don’t know who else to tell. And if they’re doing this to other people, something has to be done. I feel like I’ve been stolen from myself. The weird thing… I fell asleep with my laptop in bed and when I woke up the next morning the blog where I found your post was pulled up. But I don’t remember searching for it. I was too scared to put in the company’s name. But there it was, waiting for me. I took it as a sign to find you.
All I know right now is that I’m working on one particular project which isn’t active right now so I’ve had most of the week off. But they want me back on Monday because they’re ramping it up again.
I’m scared. Scared they’ll know about the accident and that I didn’t tell them. Scared they already know even though I’ve taken precautions to make sure they can’t track this to me. Scared of what I’ll see when I go back, and what I’ll remember when I leave. If I can leave.
HA. This all sounds so insane. When you asked about the company, did you imagine in a million years that this would be the response you’d get?
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Eek! that sounds more than a little freaky!
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The part about the blog I posted on just showing up on their laptop one morning… Aether moves in mysterious ways?
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Some sort of Sweeper light applied on the buses, forgive the reference, but UNIT uses something like it for the Ultra Classified Black Archive.
Well done Aether for getting the researcher to us. I just hope he/she has the sense to act unfazed upon their return to the office, because KS won’t let them remember.
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