Back in the Saddle Again
Trailhead Packages
Field Studies Institute
Halcyon Violation
Employee Log 01
Moonlight House
Shadow on a Mountain Top
Rat Adaptation
Employee Log 02
Allegory Chamber
←
 Ghost Threads
After the Flood
Employee Log 03
Luminous Ocean Spider
Hollow Ether Needles
Circle Time Travel
Employee Log 04
Extraction 01
The Trailhead Packages Revisited
Transient Media Interference Form
Page 1
Supersonic Tours Pamphlet
The Moonshot Motel
Vessels Beyond
It All Happens At Once
Policy Notice
Instagram and YouTube




Page 2









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Back in the Saddle Again
I am a complete and utter sucker for ARGs with tons of documents to look at. Art of the Heist, Monster Hunter Club, Year Zero, Operation Hermes, Mesmer & Braid - they all ticked that box and I loved playing all of them. Well, maybe Operation Hermes not so much towards the end when they just kind of abandoned the game. But the rest were great!

So of course when I see Michael Anderson linking to a new find that so far is all documents, I just had to check it out. And the more I checked out, the more I started looking at the documents with an eye of how I would write them up in a guide. So here I am again, back to guide writing. Of course, the timing couldn't be worse since it's Saint Patrick's month coming up and I have 6 ticketed concerts plus a couple of others I might go to, plus 3 others in April. Oh, and I'm dog sitting for the next two months (and I am not a dog person). What this means is that my backlog of escape game boxes is not going to go down at all while this game is going on.

 
Trailhead Packages
At the end of February, ARGN received a package in the mail with a possibly dangerous "transient object" - a cassette tape. Along with the cassette tape, there was a cassette player (super handy) along with documentation about the object, plus some other paperwork from the Field Studies Institute. He was good enough to upload a YouTube video of the contents with the audio of the cassette tape playing in the background.

The cassette tape seems to be a recording of a guide taking you through the Supersonic Territory in Florida's exclusion zone that was created in 1979. This.... seems a bit unfamiliar. I guess this is why there was a warning notice talking about objects from Spacetime Deviations. So this object is from an alternate 1979? Guess this really is an Alternate Reality Game. (Sorry, the joke was right there.)

As it turns out, ARGN wasn't the only one who got a package. Marn from ARGonauts also received a package and tweeted about it. I have no idea where this is going to go, but the fact that two highly prominent ARG reporters are getting what appears to be a quality trailhead has me excited. Before we go over all the stuff in the packages, let's at least check out the Field Studies Institute.

 
Field Studies Institute
Entering the Field Studies Institute takes us to their Internal Data Archives which is a databank detailing transient objects from REDACTED collected between 1970 to the present. Very SCP like. Hopefully we all won't end up dead or imprisoned as a test subject.

The list of currently available documents is weird to say the least. First of all, the file names are pretty odd: a six digit number followed by some random words that don't give any clue as to what is contained in the documents. They are also all out of order - both number wise, word wise, and date wise. So how to look at them? The order they are presented to us? Chronologically? Numerically? Alphabetically? I'll admit, I did initially look at them chronologically, but for this guide, I'll be taking them in the order they are presented, mostly because that is the order the employees who are cataloging these items are seeing them. §

 
Halcyon Violation
Halcyon Violation is an orientation video. The first three videos were apparently lost due to being improperly stored, so this is Part 4. This video was used from 1975 to 1979 so the equipment they use is obviously dated. But apparently it must have worked well enough if they were able to find transient objects.

The orientation video confirms what the warning notice told us that transient objects originate from a Spacetime Deviation. More specifically, Deviation Omega, which itself is the result of experiments on Anomaly LBA-01. The video doesn't give any details on what Anomaly LBA-01 was, other than it was part of Project SOMA on December 31, 1970. §

 
Employee Log 01
The first employee log introduces us to three new individuals: L. "Ash" Ashford [AD-1069-E], T. Novak [AD-5577-E], and Ennis.

Novak is a new employee working the night shift. They like coffee and tuna fish and aren't feeling all that well. They also has the same question as I had as to what is up with the weird file names. Hopefully both of us will get an acceptable answer soon.

Ash has been around longer. Possibly much longer if their ID number is anything to go by and not just random digits if their's is 1069 and Novak's is 5577. Either that, or the Institute has a higher turnover rate than an Amazon Warehouse. Ash might have a low number employee ID, but they had to have been hired after 1980 as they had never seen a four part Orientation film. All they received was a handbook. But they do have some helpful tips for Novak to follow in order to get through the day (or night in Novak's case). Ash also must be a bit of a foodie as the most pressing question they have for Novak is 'what's for dinner?'

Ennis is a bit of a mystery for the moment since they are not part of the internal email chain. But I'm guessing they are some sort of supervisor if they are sending out memos to employees giving them specific work to do. §

 
Moonlight House
Moonlight House is a catalog of the Field Research Testing Instrument used at the beginning of the program from 1974 to 1977. It worked in conjunction with mainframe computers within the Arthur Reese Building. Not sure where that is or who Arthur Reese is/was. I'm guessing some sort of important person or bigwig if they got a building named after them.

This particular items has the device id of FK-0109. It definitely is some sort of field instrument from the 50s. Lots of knobs and switches and it has seen better days. (It actually looks pretty similar to a 1958 Motorola Portable Test Set but honestly I don't know what that does either.) §

 
Shadow on a Mountain Top
The most poetic of the file names, Shadow on a Mountain Top is probably the worst image of the bunch. Unless you're an entomologist. Then you might really enjoy it.

This is a mayfly specimen used during Project SOMA by the Temporal Lab. Adult mayflies only live a few days so are ideal for temporal testing apparently. This specific one is not a transient object but it's still related to REDACTED. §

 
Rat Adaptation
Finally, Rat Adaptation gives us some details on Project SOMA. It was a special access program created by the Department of Defense after the recovery of [the Surveyor 3 anomalous object] during the [Apollo 12] mission. Of course, the program was designed for potential "scientific" and military uses of the object. Most importantly, five of the members of Project SOMA came together to found the Field Studies Institute.

This specific briefing belonged to Dorothy Ross. She was invited to join a group to study the recovered object in Florida. The briefing doesn't give the name of the names of the seven other individuals, but seeing as C. Dorval and M. Ford wrote the briefing she was given, it's a decent bet that they were involved. The briefing also mentions a Dr. Arthur Reese and, considering that he has a building named after him, I'm guessing he joins the project as well. Regardless, if Project SOMA originally had eight members and only five went onto form the Institute, what happened to the other three? Should we be reading "the five remaining members" as "the five survivors"?

It should be pointed out that Dorothy was given key #177 to The Moonshot Motel. This is the same motel that was referenced in the trailhead package so that is significant. Per the notes, The Moonshot Motel ceased operations in 1973. I wonder if the end of Project SOMA had anything to do with the motel closing. §

 
Employee Log 02
More communication between Ash and Novak. We get a half answer about the file names. There was a guy running the archive in the mid-90s and he had a list of words and everything had to come from the list. Ash doesn't explain why it had to come from the list or what was on the list so there is still questions to be answered. There was some strangeness about the guy. At one point he just stopped showing up for work for a couple of months. But when he did return, it was if no time had passed for him at all. Ash just chalks it up to random strangeness, but could the temporal deviations affect people as well?

Novak wasn't able to get as much work done since "some things came up." Ash is worried that Novak is offended that Ash hates tuna (and let's be honest - who doesn't hate the smell of tuna?) but Novak reassures them that isn't the problem. Then Novak asks Ash if something unexplainable has ever happened to them. Wonder what happened to Novak that they are asking that question. §

 
Allegory Chamber
Allegory Chamber is the mission report on Surveyor III and its encounter with an anomaly during the landing sequence. As Surveyor III was touching down, the anomaly caused a signal processing failure which caused the engines to fail to cut off resulting in the lander bouncing twice upon the lunar surface. The officially released report states the engine failure was due to highly reflective rocks confusing the lunar descent radar (as mentioned in the report by Doval/Ford and Wikipedia) but this new report argues otherwise. §
 
Ghost Threads
Ghost Threads introduces us to another employee of the Institute: Casey Pennington (FC-081-A). His ID number appears much lower (and that would make sense if he has been working since at least 1977) although he has a different set of letters attached to his. Maybe security clearance levels?

Casey worked in the field retrieval unit and his field journal details a few of his collection efforts. Unfortunately, Casey's penmanship was not up to Institute standards and he was "relieved of his duties". I'm really hoping that just meant he was fired and not that he was fed to the temporal anomaly for testing purposes. Especially since his writing isn't even that bad. §

His field notes detail three recoveries. Or two recoveries and an attempted recovery since the last one seemed to have been picked up by a civilian and it does not appear that Casey was able to retrieve it. I'm guessing this is the one that references the [REDACTED] [REDACTED], but it's hard to say for sure. Maybe the Atari VCS cartridge is all about the moon landing.

I would like at this time to thank all the various AI models that do auto captioning and text extraction from images. It's not perfect (and it's funny to see what mistakes they do make) but it helps to not have to type out everything by hand by more.

 
After the Flood
The Employee Handbook is the subject of After the Flood. Not sure if it is the same one as Ash received as this was revised in 1975, but it is probably close. How much do employee handbooks change year after year? The biggest revelation in the handbook is a list of the 8 members of Project SOMA (which also inspired the creation of the Field Studies Institute logomark): Arthur Reese, Alice Fiorella, Amelia Haydock, Mathilda Remlinger, Dorothy Ross, Carlos Scharf, Todd Tilzer, Alan Trenchard. I do not see either C. Dorval or M. Ford listed, so they probably never joined, or perhaps Mathilda's maiden name was Ford. It is extremely refreshing to see that the Institute was so progressive in 1970 that their founding members was a 50/50 split between men and women. §

The handbook also talks about how to handle transient objects. Most importantly, DO NOT attempt to respond to them in anyway. Listen, document, and then take up to 5 days off. I'd say that sounds like a pretty sweet gig, but I'm sure it's not quite that easy.

 
Employee Log 03
Employee Log 03 is more conversation between Ash and Novak. Novak just experienced their first encounter with something strange, so they are a bit freaked out. Ash assures them that you get used to - plus there is always those sweet extra days off to look forward to. Ash's first counter was in 2014, about a month after they were hired (so this will be their 10th year with the Institute). §
 
Luminous Ocean Spider
Ash was nice enough to upload a copy of her Form 17-A from her initial spacetime deviation. It was a very strange phone call with lots of static and a voice that is extremely hard to make out. §

If you run the file through a spectrograph, you can see the words "it all happens at once" which you can just about hear the voices saying in the recording. I actually had quite a hard time getting Audacity to show me something legible. Luckily, someone in the Discord used Sonic Visualiser which worked much better. So that is another program to add to your ARG war chest if you haven't already.

I think the Incident Form might answer one of the questions about the ID badges. As Ash works in the Archives Department, and Casey worked in Field Collections, their ID badges of AD and FC would make sense. But now I'm curious as to what Division X is. I hope it's mind control.

Ominously, the reason this item is in the archives is because it is "related to the termination of [REDACTED] [REDACTED]". What exactly do they mean by termination? I get the feeling it might not just be someone getting fired, but something a little more permanent.

There is one other thing that this incident leads us to, but let's get through the rest of the listed databank files first.

 
Hollow Ether Needles
Hollow Ether Needles is an interesting memo: there is a haunted copy machine on the second floor. I've heard of temperamental copy machines, but temporal copy machines are something completely different. §

Another mention of the mysterious Division X and the termination of [REDACTED] [REDACTED], although no questions about either are answered. Sadly, this record doesn't contain any copies of what the copy machine spit out.

But now this raises even more questions - how would you communicate with a copier in 1978 even if you wanted to? It's not like it would have been voice activated. Maybe the Spacetime Ghost just can understand you if you talk to it. I really want to know what happens when you engage with a Spacetime Deviation and why it is so forbidden to do so.

 
Circle Time Travel
The Circle Time Travel file reminds us that Spacetime Deviations are taken seriously at the Field Studies Institute. To the point where Human Resources made up a poster to remind you to Report! Don't Respond! to any Spacetime Deviation. It could cost you your job! §

I know what I'm going to be printing out on my non-haunted copier this week.

 
Employee Log 04
Per Employee Log 04, Novak is back at work after a few days off and is feeling a bit better. The last thing they have to work on is a magnetic tape. Novak and Ash don't have the equipment to work on it, so it has to be sent to Technology (which isn't a department listed on 17-A so maybe its a branch of the Archive Department). Apparently, in order to upload the tape required a lot of hush-hush technical work, but they managed it in the end. The magnetic tape itself isn't a transient object, but the data on is. No idea how that works at all. §

Ash hints that she has done some more digging about what the file names are the way they are and hints that Novak should keep an eye out for file number 083951 when it comes up soon.

 
Extraction 01
Extraction 01 is the transcript? output? of the magnetic tape Novak and Ash were discussing in Employee Log 04. It's definitely the weirdest thing we've seen so far. Make sure you have some headphones or speakers available if you want the immersive experience. §

Okay, there is an awful lot to unpack there. We're introduced to two new people. Or one person and one something: Halley (the person) and Claude (the something).

If I had to go out a limb, I would say that Claude fits the definition of a transient object considering he seems to inhabit a handheld device and can see, feel, and talk to Halley. He claims to be a creation of humanity and the pinnacle of electronic brain design but he's lightyears beyond anything we have now, let alone what we would have had in 1999. He's also fairly poetic for an electronic brain. I know we have AI that can write poems and create art, but do they secretly refer to us as skin bags of wet meat under their metaphorical breathe? However you want to catalog Claude, I think you can remove humble from that list. A tremendous service to humanity indeed.

Whatever Claude is, he is doing his utmost to be helpful to Halley. He gives her information about where she is (Peaks Island on Casco Bay in Maine), a light in the form of his high-resolution display, and details on current and past events. Like there was a President William Lindmore from 1977 to 1985.

Based on her reaction, Halley is not from whatever timeline that Claude (and Lindmore) occupy, so she could be from ours. Wherever she comes from, she hasn't come from 1999, that much is certain. It's impossible to tell if she's come from earlier or later, but 1999 is 100% out of the question.

So what do we know about Claude's World?

  • William Lindmore became President in 1977 instead of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan was not elected in 1981
  • World War II still took place around 1942
  • The State of Maine still exists - including Peaks Island, Casco Bay, and Cape Elizabeth.
  • Cape Elizabeth is home to the Cape Elizabeth Space Center

So some things are the same and some things are wildly different. If Halley is from somewhere on our timeline, then it is no wonder she is having a problem accepting what Claude is telling her. I don't believe that she is a Field Studies Institute employee because it seems like she would be able to handle the idea of being in a different time a bit better (or at least she would know not to speak to a transient object). I know it would still be very disturbing, but if anyone was going to be able to navigate being in an alternate dimension/universe/timeline without becoming a blubbery mess, it should be an Institute employee.

 
The Trailhead Packages Revisited
So now that we've finished the Interior Overture files in the databank, let's go back and look at what was in the packages received by ARGN and ARGonauts. [Note: Images here and the next few sections are taken from screenshots of the ARGN video or @corpserevivers Twitter account]

The box has a catalog id on the outside that is a bit familiar: 

CATALOG ID:   083951
BIN:          1M
DISCOVERED:   1974
LOCATION:     Nome, AK

That is the ID number that Ash told Novak to look out for. I don't know if that means that Ash sent out the packages or if the packages sent themselves as a result of her digging, but it looks like Novak might get to play with a cassette player soon. I hope it comes with the handy warning that transient objects are present and that it has been inspected for radiation and the instruction manual on how to use the cassette player. §

So the transient object was found in 1974, but apparently the date of origin for the cassette is from 1999 per an envelope in the box. That is the same year that Claude is talking to Halley in Extraction 01. I wonder what the significance of 1999 is or if it's just a coincidence that the two transient objects we've come across have both been from 1999.

As I said at the beginning of the guide, the cassette tape contains a Supersonic Tours Audio Guide. § In 1979, vast swatches of Florida were sectioned off into Exclusion Zones and these Zones are filled with unexplained phenomena. Were the Zones sectioned off because of the phenomena? Or are the phenomena the result of whatever was going on in the Zones to begin with?

The tape also talks about The Moonshot Motel, which is the same hotel that Dorothy Ross was going to stay in as part of Project SOMA. In the Supersonic Territory, The Moonshot Motel has a room that "is a window into another world, another dimension, another reality". Is it looking onto our world? Or somewhere different? Does it change where it looks onto? Can physical objects pass from the room into our world? I can totally imagine a bored teenagers throwing stuff through the portal (is it a portal?) to see it show up in whatever place it looks out on. Like throwing coins into a wishing well. Except garbage into another world.

It also makes sense that if things can go from their world to ours, might not things go from our world to theirs? Is that how Halley ended up in 1999 with Claude? Did she slip through a window somewhere? We know she must have traveled through time, but did she also travel through space? So many questions and not nearly enough answers. At least not yet.

 
Transient Media Interference Form
Also included in the package was a Form 17-D or the Transient Media Interference Form that was filled out by someone in Division X! You can tell Division X are the cool kids because their ID numbers start with AA and possibly all end in X. When the cassette tape was first found, it was cataloged as 048125 and it only had a recording on Side A. When it was checked out later, it was discovered that there was new information on Side B. A copy of the original tape was made and that the copy, along with some additional materials, is now 083951. §

There is something on the second side of the tape! Luckily Michael Anderson was nice enough to upload a video of what Side B contained as well. It's very similar to what Ash heard in their first encounter with a Spacetime Deviation although there are some different words that I can hear in this one that I can't hear in Ash's version. §

Still creepy. Still no idea what it means. Due to this being recorded from a cassette tape and then loaded onto YouTube, no hidden messages are showing in the spectrogram, but maybe if Novak and Ash get a hold of it, they will have better luck getting a cleaner copy with some hidden background noise.

 
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See the Intro page for a list of all the websites, plus brief information about this guide and the game.