(css: "font-size: 250%;") [<center> Aggregations </center>]
<center>[[..o.. -> intro1]]</center>Multitudes of aggressive boars have been spotted in different forests across the region. The abundance of boars has displaced other wildlife, including deer and wolves, who have been forced into nearby towns. The deer, in particular, have become a nuisance. They ravage gardens and sow the streets with their droppings.
Throughout the forests, a mechanical hum can be heard amid other, less surprising, foresty sounds.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $macroSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $macroSelection is "") [{(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "o....o", "Ending")]The first hundred cases of skin cancer seemed unconnected. When the number escalated to the mid-thousands, however, medical personnel identified a significant but otherwise imperceptible amount of UV radiation emanating from the machines colloquially known as ‘satellite cotton balls’.
The public was advised against engaging with these machines in any capacity. Individuals who, at the time, had a ‘satellite cotton ball’ orbiting their bodies were instructed to wear protective equipment and avoid sustained contact with unprotected individuals.
To date, no ‘satellite cotton ball’ has been successfully untethered from its human companion.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $macroSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $macroSelection is "") [{(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "o....o", "Ending")]After a well-dressed, well-behaved, tastefully plump pop-rock star was seen parading his satellite cotton ball in a televised gala, satellite cotton balls became all the rage. These machines are rare, but once found, one needs but to hold them in one’s hand for minutes ten and they will, as the result of a cosmic, unbreakable tether, orbit one’s body for the remainder of one’s body’s natural existence.
Sometimes, during the night, the machine will find its way to someone’s hand, as if a gift.
Alternatively, one can buy oneself a spot in a satellite cotton ball hunting expedition for the price of a small electric car.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $mesoSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $mesoSelection is "") [{(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: ".o..o.", "Ending")]Compelled by the preternatural abundance of mushrooms, a sounder of boars takes permanent residence in a woodland clearing. Territorial as they are, the boars will attack anyone who dares get near.
In the middle of the clearing, a machine, no bigger than a housecat, stands undisturbed. A boar pup leans against it. The machine hums.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $mesoSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $mesoSelection is "") [{(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: ".o..o.", "Ending")]The machine flutters around the young boy with the lightness of cotton, and the texture of cotton, and the temperament of an enchanted cotton ball. The boy smiles, and jumps, and dances, and the machine remains by his side, orbiting his body as a cotton satellite would. His little, fluffy friend, he thinks. Pure happiness. Pure play. Pure satellite, enchanted, cotton ball.
“How does it fly?” thinks the boy, to himself.
“Must be for me, must be for me,” he reckons, imagining an engine of love.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $microSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $microSelection is "") [{(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "..oo..", "Ending")]The machine, no bigger than a housecat, injects a long, thin, metallic rod deep into the forest floor and hums. Unbeknownst to the surface dwellers, a persistent electric current emanates from the rod directly into the soil.
On the surface, the forest forests indifferently. The only organism privy to the machine's thunderous pulse is the mushroom, who secretly revels in the machine’s generosity.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $microSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $microSelection is "") [{(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "..oo..", "Ending")]Over the last few decades, animals and plants in the region have developed a distinct scarlety hue. Across the sea, a wealthy business person pays handsomely for ‘scarlet venison’, which is said to increase vigor and physical zest.
When cooked, meat from the red animals is indistinguishable from that of their more conventionally tinted brethren.
After dinner, the business person feels engorged.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $macroSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $macroSelection is "") [{(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "o....o", "Ending")]Utterly horrified by the red rains that had besieged the town, locals have taken to the streets to protest the presence of ‘people who challenge the will of God’. During the demonstration, which quickly turned violent after a bout of red rain ruined the protestors’ white vestures, the halfway house for LGTB youth was burned to the ground.
The rain didn’t stop. It smelled of strawberries.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $mesoSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $mesoSelection is "") [{(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: ".o..o.", "Ending")]In multiple lakes across the region, a minuscule, almost imperceptible machine continually releases tiny droplets of red pigment. Often eaten by fish, the machine passes through the creature’s digestive tract unaltered. The pigment has a brilliant, scarlety hue, low molecular weight, and the distinct smell of strawberries.
A single machine can release over three hundred thousand droplets of red pigment in a 24-hour period. Hundreds of these machines may be resting in a fish’s belly at any given time.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $microSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $microSelection is "") [{(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "..oo..", "Ending")]And so they inhabit the Earth, doing a single, distinct deed. Perpetually. Recursively.
[[..o.. -> ending2]]The increasing pervasiveness of crab-like, hand-like machines in the city has been deemed a matter of political urgency. Not only do the machines ransack public and private property, but their chromatic scavenging antics have robbed the people of their god-given right to freely use, fabricate, and store blue-colored things. As a result, in a spell of strong, decisive action (and after violence proved ineffective), the municipality ramped up the production of small blue trinkets and started piling them up in open areas. People are convinced that, by and large, the machines scavenge the municipal blue piles rather than looking for blue in other private, harder to reach places.
To aid the municipality’s valiant efforts, patriotic citizens leave their own small piles of blue trinkets around the city.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $macroSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $macroSelection is "") [{(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "o....o", "Ending")]Over centuries, countless cerulean slugs have made a home for themselves in the mountainous piles of blue trinkets that surround the city. The piles, ripe with mold and microbial bounty, allow the slugs to thrive and grow to the size of loaves of bread. The slugs, as if in gratitude, anoint their acidic slime throughout the piles, welding the trinkets together and covering them with a thin, shimmering veil that makes their blueness even livelier.
To a slug born into the piles, the entire world feels blue.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $macroSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $macroSelection is "") [{(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "o....o", "Ending")]A multitude of crab-like machines scouts the city in search of blue things. When they, hand-like machines, encounter anything tinted blue, they grab it and take it to a pile of blue things just outside the city. The crab-like, hand-like machines do not discriminate their blues by hue nor shape, nor texture or smell. If a blue thing is too big for them to carry, they’ll carve a piece out, take it to the pile, and then repeat the process until the blue thing has been fully relocated. If a thing is blue but not entirely, they will carve out the blue, and ignore the blue-not.
Each day, the pile grows a little bit bigger, and a little bit bluer.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $macroSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $macroSelection is "") [{(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "o....o", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "o....o", "Ending")]An aberrant number of insects flock around the kindergarten teacher’s 11th-floor bedroom window. He had picked that modest, high-rise studio only partially because of the view, and primarily because he thought it would spare him dealings with most surface-bound vermin. “How high could flies fly?” he asked, rhetorically, to himself as he signed the 12-month lease.
Now, as his window darkens under a dense embroidery of indistinct insects, he lies on the floor, panic-stricken, heart half-stopped, thinking himself punished by a crime he must have certainly committed, if not in this life, in another.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $mesoSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $mesoSelection is "") [{(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: ".o..o.", "Ending")]A common frog basks in the warm rain as it notices a paper-thin circular machine coming to rest upon a nearby rock. In mere minutes, thousands of insects throng on and around the rock until it is completely covered by an iridescent buzzing mat.
Presented with an unrestricted, nigh limitless source of luscious sustenance, the frog keeps eating until its bowels unstitch themselves.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $mesoSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $mesoSelection is "") [{(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: ".o..o.", "Ending")]The last pair of iberis lobata, a rare flowering plant endemic to the northern regions, died on a warm, starry spring night without yielding any young. The fact that the two plants were only a couple of feet apart made their demise all the more tragic. A strong gust of wind or a hungry butterfly would have sufficed to secure the species’ survival for another generation but, alas, the lobata had no such luck.
Close to the lobata’s lifeless stems, a paper-thin circular machine had attached itself to a tree, garnering the attention of most, if not every, nearby insect.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $mesoSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $mesoSelection is "") [{(set: $mesoSelection to (a:))(set: $mesoSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $mesoSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $mesoSelection's length)) (set: _target to $mesoSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: ".o..o.", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: ".o..o.", "Ending")]The infant howls in the middle of the night with an urgency unlike that of his habitual tantrums. The father, startled, rushes into the child’s room just to find the boy hurt, offended, and vexed. Upon closer inspection, the father notices unprofuse bleeding on both sides of the boy’s right thigh. It was as if he had been shot with the tiniest of bullets.
Unbeknownst to the father and the child, the room was riddled with thin, needle-wide tunnels.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $microSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $microSelection is "") [{(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "..oo..", "Ending")]The young worker bee sleeps politely in a cell near the center of its hive. A machine, no bigger than a needle, pierces through the wax walls and silently beheads the young worker bee before tunneling across the hive without taking any more lives.
The young worker bee was so tired, it didn’t even notice the beheading.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $microSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $microSelection is "") [{(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "..oo..", "Ending")]Needle-wide tunnels run through the mountain as if a vascular system of thin, empty veins. Inside, a machine moves slowly in straight, erratic lines. The mineral density of the mountain’s rocky innards is of no consequence to the machine’s unwavering motion. Over the years, thousands of miles of vascular tunnels have been needled across the mountain’s heart.
Other than being imperceptibly lighter, the mountain stands unfazed.
(set: $endingKeyOne to "no")(set: $endingKeyTwo to "no")(set: $StillNew to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is in (history:))))(set: $notCurrent to (passages: _passage where not (_passage's name is (passage:)'s name))){(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "macro" or _item's tags contains "meso" and _item is in $StillNew, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)] (else: ) [(set: $microSelection to "")(set: $endingKeyOne to "yes")](if: $microSelection is "") [{(set: $microSelection to (a:))(set: $microSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "micro" and _item is in $StillNew and _item is in $notCurrent, ...(passages:)))} (if: $microSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $microSelection's length)) (set: _target to $microSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..oo..", _target)](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")]](else:) [(set: $endingKeyTwo to "yes")] (if: $endingKeyOne is $endingKeyTwo) [(link-goto: "..oo..", "Ending")]Imagine a world of electric things. Of abandoned things. Of things broken, breaking, and spent. Imagine one hundred thousand screens, and metallic silt, and copper, and silicon, and forgotten memory chips. Imagine metals, heavy and light, and lights sempiternally dim. Imagine a sea. Of transistors, and gadgets. Imagine a sea.
[[..o.. -> intro2]] Does it move?
Does it breathe?
[[..o.. -> intro3]]Imagine, now, a cosmic spark.
A soft electric simmer beneath synthetic skins, impregnating these things with movement, with heat. Breaking them down into their elemental components and arranging them into impossible kaleidoscopic machines. Machines that move. Machines that breathe.
And in that inexhaustible electric breath, they do a single, distinct deed. Perpetually. Recursively.
And so they inhabit the Earth, doing a single, distinct deed. Perpetually. Recursively.
[[..o.. -> intro4]] recursive,
perpetual,
breathing,
kaleidoscopic,
moving machines.
{(set: $macroSelection to (a:))(set: $macroSelection to (find: _item where _item's tags contains "meso" or _item's tags contains "micro" or _item's tags contains "macro", ...(passages:)))} (if: $macroSelection's length > 0)[(set: _random to (random: 1, $macroSelection's length)) (set: _target to $macroSelection's (_random)'s name) (link-goto: "..o..", _target)] recursive,
perpetual,
breathing,
kaleidoscopic,
moving machines.
[[..o.. -> ending3]]<center>The End</center>