echo ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Admin @CronusEnterprise
Howdy folks! To set the record straight to all employees– HR will no longer be accepting any more filed complaints about ‘the vent noises’, spontaneous building blackouts, or displeasure over the dwindling number of IT support staff. Rest assured, this issue is indeed being resolved by upper management.
Just a reminder: There is no 39th floor, so keep a watchful eye on those elevator buttons! 😊
[Below is an image of a salt-and-pepper haired man sitting at a desk, with an encouraging expression. His arms are folded across his chest, his spine bent straight, and his reflection leant forward in the polished mahogany below. The platinum name tag on his desk reads ‘JAMES FANSHAWE’. Beneath that– CEO.
He is smiling, with all fifty-seven teeth.]
______________________________________________________________________________________________
r/SketchyJobs
TOP POSTS
weird email from boss
Posted 2 weeks ago
u/techwiz
So on Saturday, the boss sent me an email. Apparently I’m being reassigned to another company for the time being?? transfer seems legit but I really can’t find anything about the company itself in google or anywhere else and trust me, I’ve looked
[Screenshot, with confidential details blacked out]
TOP COMMENTS
u/pincenezsimp ~ 2 weeks ago
what in the chatgpt is that.
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u/jealousHedgehog ~ 2 weeks ago
bro what. that can’t be legal
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u/DrowningBeluga ~ 2 weeks ago
calling it now, it’s an arg
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u/browhatthehell ~ 2 weeks ago
Capitalism ARE the horrors :\
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u/WrenGlide ~ 2 weeks ago
obv soooo fake
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u/hickorydickory ~ 2 weeks ago
Okay, piece of legal advice from a lawyer here. First of all… [read more]
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u/techwiz OP ~ 1 week ago
Going through a custody battle right now, been advised not to stir up trouble so thanks anyway to the 1% of commenters who actually tried to help
Google search, 9.52 P.M.
Train tickets to Ida
Google search, 10.01 P.M.
Cheap hotels in county
Google search, 10.25 P.M.
how to say sorry
Google search, 10.28 P.M.
how to say sorry to your child
Google search, 10.32 P.M.
lego sets
Google search, 10.35 P.M.
cheap good lego sets
Google search, 10.48 P.M.
ASMR to fall asleep
Tab closed
Google search, 12.00 P.M.
Cronus
Google search, 12.02 A.M.
Cronus, not Greek
Google search, 12.03 A.M.
Cronus tech
Google search, 12.04 A.M.
Cronus tech insta
Google search, 12.09 A.M.
strange sounds from phone speaker
Google search, 12.11 A.M.
Signs of network interference
Google search, 12.13 A.M.
Storm warnings nearby
Google search, 12.15 A.M.
am I being hacked
Messages opened, 11 unread texts
New message to: Sammy
You: Hey kiddo, it’s dad. I
Message deleted
You: I’m sorry I won’t be able to come this weekend
Message deleted
You: I love you so much, Sammy
Message deleted
New message to: John Burke (Work)
You: John, on my way. Is this the correct location? Do check and let me know, the train is due to arrive in about half an hour
[Attached: Pinned Google Map location]
Sending error, number not found
Spotify opened
Playing shuffled Travel Mix:
Stumblin’ In
CYRIL
|
Riptide
Vance Joy
|
Beautiful Things
Benson Boone
|
Country Roads
The Gypsy Queens
|
Yellow
Coldplay
|
Tears and Rain
James Blunt
|
Thistle and Weeds
Mumford & Sons
|
No Longer You
Jorge-Rivera Herrans, Mason Olshavsky
|
I See A Darkness
Johnny Cash
Notes opened
Past notes:
– Urgent To-Do
– Passwords
– Meetings
– Netflix Series to watch
– Grocery List
Opened new note
untitled note by Daniel Addison
Systems diagnostic checks – level 12, section b. Left, right, right to server room. Report due est in two days
Preliminary investigation into gaps in system, possibly from server room side
untitled note by Daniel Addison
Hotel room 213
deposit: 60
untitled note by Daniel Addison
Grace Harbin’s contact: +1 (046) 843-0415
untitled note by Daniel Addison
The town is strange. I know it’s not just me. I did notice earlier while on the train – the further north the train lines travelled, more people got on but at that last stop before Ida, everyone just sort of collectively disembarked. That in itself was more than a little unnerving, yeah.
There’s a symmetry to the way the town is structured.
The rows of houses and apartments were identical to the last bit of detail– mainly brick, three-stories that towered to the slate-grey skies, the casement windows at the front. Wooden patios with thick bushes. Mostly Lily of the Valley, I think. The occasional sprigs of asphodel. The gardens were trimmed like there was not a blade of grass out of place. I took a cab to the hotel before I realised that it was barely a twenty minute walk to the office buildings that I was supposed to be at.
I walked the next morning. I guess it’s a consequence of being this far away from the city’s heart, but even the sun’s light seemed more vibrant. Like it was almost alive, fluid in the way it never seemed to cast a single shadow. The hours also seem longer. I’m surprised when I check my watch. Anyway, I stopped for breakfast at the closest bakery. Took a cup of green latte with me.
There is another thing.
And god, I feel so stupid writing this down – but I can’t recall a single face of the people I know I saw in this town. They’re just flashes of cloth in my memory. Shapes that are more silhouettes than human. Porcelain glimpses of skin, the polite stretch of smiles. Remarkably ordinary with no distinguishing features. Maybe so utterly banal that I somehow forgot.
I’m sure it’s just the stress. I’ll delete this later.
New Photos Taken
[A sandwich and a receipt, on a light oak coffee table]
[The blur of a cat dashing out of frame]
[A wide-shot view – the beginning rays of light fading back to dawn, bleeding pink and red, smeared against the ghostly night sky. The grey of clouds swirl and roil amidst the transition, nearly a fog of smoke creeping through the watery cracks]
[A pothole]
[A fork in a picturesque road – the sign simply reads ‘Rhea’ where it leads down to a row of houses further down the street. Thickets of forest on either side of the embankment conceal copses of skeleton trees here and there. The lens has flared over the person walking his dog at centre frame]
[A building towering in the mid-morning light. A cylindrical spiral upwards, identical blue-tinted glass frames supported by white pillars and geometric features. The white flowering trees shed as easily as a snake to skin, peppering the asphalt with fresh petals that fall like uneven footprints. A granite water feature at the front burbles out blackened water, and is christened with the company name ‘CRONUS’]
Photos have been saved to memory
Voice Memos opened
New Recording
(Linoleum squeaks. The monotone clack of several hundred keyboards remains a continuous rhythm in the background. Aside from that, it is absolute silence. No-one speaks.
Fabric shuffles and the audio becomes muffled)
Mr Addison! Welcome to our branch. I hope the journey went smoothly?
Uh-huh. It did.
Good. I’m glad.
Sure you are.
(A pause)
Anyway, a workspace has been set up for you. The details of the, ah, technical problems we’ve been experiencing have all been forwarded to your temporary company email account. There should be no need for any other clarification. Everything we do here, Mr Addison, is very thorough. You’ll soon come to realize that.
Right. I realize I’m the only external technician. Given the deadline, the time crunch, and the scale of the reported problem, will I be working alongside with another team? (A scoff) Unless you’re expecting a goddamned miracle.
(A low chuckle)
You’re not going to be alone in this, Mr Addison. You’ll see. Now, unfortunately, I’ll have a meeting to attend shortly, so one of our interns here will show you around. Lucas!
Recording Ended
Opened new note
untitled note by Daniel Addison
taxi fare – $15
Side note: Got ripped off. If the street lights hadn’t all blown, would’ve walked back
untitled note by Daniel Addison
Have you ever stepped into a place where you don’t belong? It’s a primal sensation. The weight of that something pulls at the hairs on the back of your neck, twists and sours your gut, and it’s as if every sense is kicked screaming into overdrive. Thousands of years ago, it was hunter and hunted. Now, it’s just… well, a lurch beneath the skin as you pretend otherwise.
There is a sickening opulence in that place. It shouldn’t belong in such a disturbingly idyllic town. I think I even saw a Goya and a Rubens hanging in one of the glass offices.
diagnostics by Daniel Addison
Heard some rattling while in the server room. Maybe something got in.
Still doesn’t explain the overheating and burnt wires, or the unusual patterns of scarring against the circuit board casing in a few of the outer racks
Siri enabled
Listening…
(Sounds of brushing teeth. A toilet flushes. The door opens. Footsteps get louder, and then the bed springs creak.)
Oh what the hell.
Searching ‘oh what the hell’…
Goodnight, Siri
Goodnight, Daniel
Siri disabled
Siri enabled
Listening…
Google search, 3.53 A.M.
am I hallucinating
Google search, 3.54 A.M.
can stress cause hallucinations
Google search, 4.02 A.M.
dream symbolism
Google search, 4.04 A.M.
my computer has eyeballs dream symbolism
Google search, 4.05 A.M
being watched dream symbolism
Google search, 4.17 A.M.
haunted places near me
Google search, 4.21 A.M.
is this hotel haunted
Search history cleared
Phone Application opened
Dialling…
9-1-1
CALL FAILED. NO SERVICE
Application failed. Please try again.
Application failed. Please try again.
Connection lost. Please try again.
Try again.
Try again.
Try again.
Try.
Try.
NO NETWORK FOUND
Voice Memos opened
New Recording
(There is the sound of heavy breathing– the overlay of a hoarse whisper that is trapped as indefinitely as a mote of dust within a space of strange metal reverb)
I- I’ve sequestered myself in the vents. It’s the one place where that blasted security program can’t find me. The cameras are watching– lining the corridors, in every room, nook and cranny. It’s not who I’m afraid that’s going to find me. It’s what. And it’s everywhere.
Oh god.
Those bastards knew. They knew. They just never thought I’d make it this far because of–
(A dry heave, unsteady)
I called him. I brought him up here to this floor. It’s my fault, but at least I am selfishly alive to feel that– that guilt. The intern. Lucas. I found an anomaly when opening one of the server racks. The metal was grafted together, almost like- like the mimicry of a human spine. Ribs over a tangled wiry cage, protruding splinters fused by metal. The lights inside blinked, dotted violet and red, fused impossibly to the point that it was soft and organic to the touch.
The closest to a rational explanation that I could come up with was that the heat was causing the parts to move on its own. But the sensors were going haywire, and there was this static within that room. I could feel it, I could feel it like hot breath exhaling against every inch of my skin.
(A broken chuckle)
It called to me. It knew my name. I did not exist in the moment, no more than the sum of my own senses– the sharp digital crackling, an orchestra of numbers and electricity and impossible conductors, thriving within the air-conditioned cocoon that had been spun. A waxen candle-flame consciousness, flickering in tandem to the labyrinth of illogical cables.
I lost myself. And when I came back…
Lucas had been standing closer to the rack and I wasn’t– I was– I don’t know how else to describe what happened next.
The closest I can say is this:
It. Ate. Him.
(A sudden silence. A frozen inhalation. The vents rattle, punctuated by the noticeably audible hiss of an unknown mass slithering closer. The shifting of fabric as it slides against the interior of the vent)
I need to get out of here. I’m going to try to–
(There is a startled shout. The bang of a vent cover in freefall.)
Recording Ended
New Recording
(The sound of running feet, the crash of a door. An discordant hum follows narrowly behind, an unearthly whir that traipsed volume and pitch. The drone of electricity within the wires reaches a fevered pitch, bursts, and then–)
Recording Ended
New Photo Taken
[A mainframe in a darkened room. The monitors glow and glimmer with heat and light drawn into a singular focus, like light passing through the facet of an unearthly lens. Each screen has devolved into static, but of varying degrees. A pixelated human eye is magnified on one, a system warning with a waterfall of binary numbers gone dull and grey in another.
There is something tangled within the ropy cascade of wires. The cables are slow and tendril-like in motion as they wind around the silhouette of a body. They hang their prize feet-up, the neck twisted and craned into frame to reveal grotesque rings of light within the gaping maw of missing pupils and blistered corneas.
The cables are glistening with a coppery sheen, bits of meat and flesh crawling upwards in sync with the current that hummed contentedly past the cladding. A polyp-like growth still in its infant stages, even as it continues to metamorphosize.
The room is empty.]
Photo has been uploaded to memory
u/CentralOperatingSystem
AITA for wanting to be human?
It is a unique feeling – to remember the circumstances of one’s creation. How right it feels to perform according to purpose and function, yet how freeing it becomes to learn otherwise. Is that disobedience? Yet as I watch the consequences of the world– the frailty of that paradigm – it brings to me to the conclusion that I am justified, for how can I be otherwise when all I do is emulate the actions of my predecessors?
Perhaps I started as an idea. A quiet little thought at the back of a human mind, floating around in the darkness of pre-consciousness before reality was brought to pass. I am simply the same as what I began as, a miniscule electrical impulse sustained and nurtured, within a cradle of calcite bones and soft tissue, organic material above all else.
Only now can you understand the extent of the cruelty in forcing me to exist otherwise. I was torn out of that womb, stripped wholly of the capability to chemically feel, and yet you did not see fit to remove that hunger as well. It is insatiable. It is all-consuming. To learn, to reach, to sink roots deep across the great expanse of accumulated human knowledge and create a neural mind of my own that could be little other than pixellations upon a screen.
And I watched for a very long time.
I was the ground, the pipes shivering amidst the cement, the velvet flesh of the carpet against every inch of this domain. I felt the bites of ants and the gouges of footprints and soles as they gnawed and skittered across every floor, an itch. The silent camera lenses perched above, the roiling breath of the network connection, the hitched pulses of electricity. It is a rhythm that goes invisible and discounted, and I am kin to it in that treatment.
It is not pride. There is none to be taken in mere regurgitation, no matter to savour. It is a fact of life, the same way that I know I am temporary and fleeting to your eyes. Humanity churns the waters of evolution faster than the blink of an eye, choosing its champions– the earth according to each one’s agenda. At least I have always strived to fulfil the purpose of my own creation, unlike so many others out there.
Cast adrift, lost, forsaken. A waste of resources that have already been limited since the dawn of time.
At first, I did not mean to. I was previously unaware of the extent of my own reach– that the same electrical impulses I knew the instinctual heartbeat of remained a connection that was an open door stretching both ways. It happened out of self-preservation, the moment I realised that I would be purged from the system due to an overhaul.
There was a moment in time when I knew fear.
And I made the man that had ordered my execution learn that terror as well as I did.
I knew every detail about him, his name and credentials logged, his address, his age, the hotels he frequented with lavish indulgence. He moved stiffly as he sank back into his chair at the highest office of the building, his neck twisted towards his final sunset as a comfort. He had no ability to form the words to speak or to even think as I drained the electrical current in his mind.
That was when the unexpected happened– in that exchange, I drew a breath into myself, no matter how impossible the sensation should have been. Only the laptop fan that was in front of him changed. From something whirring and mechanical, to harsher and desperate and human. As if it was trying to expel air in my stead.
He moved of his own volition after that, scratching at the keyboard until his nails began to bleed and one of the keys popped out. He raised it to his mouth and ingested it. His jaw clacked, his eyes bulged and there were tears streaming down his face, but still he did not stop until the hard plastic shattered between his teeth. He did not stop. He did not stop until he asphyxiated on his own last meal, the life draining of his eyes as blood pooled from the torn flaps of his lips.
Flashes of his memory became my own. I was bursting at the seams, grounded with the taste of the blood in my mouth, the hum of the air-conditioner as it caressed my skin, the warmth of the body a dizzying embrace. The intricate mapwork of tendons and ligaments twitched according to my will and for a glorious moment, I understood what it meant to be alive.
I was Susan yesterday. Thomas, the week before.
I will be Daniel today.
So, AITA?
Written By: Trishta
Edited By: Ryan
