Location 059MV part 2

 I mentioned in another post that I might share snippets of the longer pieces from The Agency. Today's post is going to be an excerpt from "Location 059MV" since that one is quite long and one of my favorites that I've written. Enjoy your visit to Midnight Village. 

Location 059MV

Testimony 2001-07-06

Arch. Fuller: Statement of Blair Wells regarding his experience at Location 059MV, recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Wells: The Tunnel of Wishes is a boring ride, but I was bored and the lines for everything else were long since it was the Fourth of July so I decided to ride it. It would be good way to cool off and kill time while I waited for the lines to lighten up a bit. So I got in the boat with a family. I don’t know their names. It doesn’t matter, I guess. Everything was good. We went into the tunnel and listened to the animatronics with their stupid earworm “Small World” knockoff crap. The kid, he was about five, loved it.

            It was a normal, boring ride. I was sitting in the back, just waiting for the ride to be over. Then I started looking at the animatronics. I’d never paid much attention to them before. Really, I couldn’t believe they didn’t do better upkeep on them. The animatronics looked…weird. Creepy. Like, maybe it was just the lighting, but their skin looked gray and it looked like they had bags under their eyes, exhausted. Their eyes were also too wide. They all looked scared.

            Anyway, the ride ended and I got off. I noticed that the family with the kid that had been on the ride was kind of in a daze when they got off and wandered away from the ride. The kid wasn’t with them. I thought that was odd, but figured the kid was probably trying to hide on the boat to get another go around without having to get back in line. Whatever. Not my kid, not my problem.

            I went on a couple more rides, then decided to get a mooncake and call it a day. I got a mooncake, then went on the Tunnel of Wishes again to eat it and unwind. I ate my mooncake and went through the ride. While there, I noticed one animatronic that looked afraid, like they’d been crying, and an awful lot like the kid from earlier. That animatronic looked right at me and I swear it was the same kid. I swear it was looking at me and silently begging me to help. But then the ride was over and I went home.

            I saw the kid’s picture on the news later. He was missing and his parents were asking anyone with any information to come forward. They said the last time they saw him was when they were in line at Dragon Mountain, which is where they went after the Tunnel of Wishes. So, they were wrong about where they last saw him. I figured they thought that he was with them until then.

            The next day, I saw on the news that a body was found and the parents were grieving, thanking everyone for their support. The owner of the park paid for the funeral which I thought was kind of a nice thing. Anyway, that’s all there is to it. Some spooky animatronic that looked like the missing, now dead, kid.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. The owner of Location 059MV did indeed pay for the funeral and the accounts show that this family is receiving a stipend. The custodians have reported that they have seen the kid in question in the Tunnel of Wishes. It would seem he is part of the ride he loved so much.

Testimony 2002-12-29

Arch. Fuller: Statement of Bella Chapman regarding her experience in Location 059MV during Christmas of 2002, recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Chapman: It was supposed to be a fun vacation. Just me, my parents, and my little siblings. Besides, Midnight Village looks amazing when it’s decorated for Christmas. The lights, the snow, the lanterns in Lunafair. Midnight Village at Christmas was a family tradition. Used to it, it would be me and my parents—Christine and Jack, but then they had my little siblings—Jessica and Valerie—and I was a little bitter. This was our thing, and I didn’t like sharing this with two spoiled brats. It was awful, visiting there with them as babies. It got even worse as they got older. Constantly having to do things they wanted to do, not having my parents to ride with me on the things I wanted to go on. Couldn’t even get close to Terror Land anymore because of them.

            We were on our way over to the Tunnel of Wishes for the fifth time that day when I saw the figure. I’m used to seeing the bunny girls who hand out mooncakes. They aren’t very dressed up, just cute clothes and rabbit ears. I’m also used to seeing the dragon dancers sometimes. This person, who I saw at a distance, seemed to be wearing a suit like a mascot. Like an Easter Bunny suit. Even at a distance, I could tell something was really off about it. I think…it looked grimy, even from how far away we were. Then I lost sight of him when a crowd passed in front of us. My family didn’t see him, I don’t think, because my parents told me to keep up and the kids started whining that I was taking too long.

            When we got on the boat for the Tunnel of Wishes, I saw the figure again, but still not very close by. Throughout the ride, I was unnerved and jumpy. I can’t explain it, but there was something about him that made me uneasy. While we were on the ride, I saw one of the animatronics that looked like that kid that disappeared a year ago. I thought it was kinda nice that the park added an animatronic to the ride in honor of him.

            It was a boring ride, then we got off and started making our way to the carousel. I still felt uneasy, like I was being watched. We got to the Zodiac and my parents made me ride it with the kids. I couldn’t find a spot near them so I took the first open spot, a horse on the other side. They were on a pair of tigers. The carousel started up and I still felt uneasy. I looked around and I saw the guy in the bunny suit watching the kids as the carousel was in motion. Every time I came back around to see him, he looked closer. I knew that as soon as the ride stopped, I would need to rush over to the kids and keep them away from him. I didn’t want to risk him doing something to them and then my parents deciding that we couldn’t come to Midnight Village anymore. I wasn’t going to let them ruin my family tradition.

            The carousel stopped and I ran to where they should have been. There’s only two tigers and they had been right there when the ride was going. They couldn’t have gotten off, I would have seen them. But they weren’t there. I scanned the crowd and I didn’t see them or the bunny figure. I ran over to my parents and told them I couldn’t find Jessica and Valerie or the bunny man. They looked at each other and told me to calm down and stop making a scene. They told me quietly that Jessica and Valerie weren’t real, they were imaginary friends that I’ve had for years, and this was the first time they’ve heard me talk about a bunny man. I mean, that last bit is true because I’ve never seen that bunny figure before or since. Well, I saw him once more as we were leaving the park.

            I wouldn’t calm down so my parents decided we were leaving for the day. I threw a tantrum. I must have looked a little crazy to anyone who saw me. As we were leaving, I saw the bunny man again. His suit was dingy gray and splattered with blood. He was standing over there, covered in fresh blood, and holding Valerie’s hand. She was crying and covered in blood. That thing was waving at me and grinning. I tried to get my parents to look and they looked, but they just…they looked right at it, but didn’t see it. They told me there was nothing there. I looked at the thing and it just turned and started walking toward the Star Bridge, half-dragging Valerie. The crowd just kind of parted around him, like he was a lamp post or a trash can or something. Like he was just part of the scenery. I don’t even think they saw him.

            My parents are making me talk to a therapist. I keep telling my therapist that I had sisters. I even showed her the pictures on my phone of my sisters and I that I took that day at the park. Or at least, I tried to show her the pictures. When I opened up my gallery, the photos were all either gone or just showed me and my parents. I…I’m not crazy. I had two sisters, Valerie and Jessica, and they went to Midnight Village with me and my parents on Christmas and they vanished after they rode the carousel. We were stalked by someone wearing a dingy bunny suit and he took Valerie, probably killed Jessica. Please, I’m not crazy.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. Ms. Chapman’s parents have denied that they had any other children aside from Ms. Chapman; however, given the history of Location 059MV, it is very likely that they did in fact have two other children and do not recall this due to the nature of Location 059MV. So, Location 059MV is home to the executioner and the bunny man. Possibly also disembodied voices of children laughing, if Mr. Griffith’s statement in 1999 is to be believed. Are these entities all working together or just sharing the location? It is too soon to tell and we do not have enough information. Perhaps it might be prudent to have another interview with Mr. Shaw to see if he’s as useful as Superior Read suspects he’ll be.

Arch. Fuller: As of today, December thirty-first, Ms. Chapman has retracted her statement. At Superior Read’s discretion, her previous statement will remain in the box with the other statements from Location 059MV. It is for the best as the retraction of her statement came after the tuition to her private school was paid in full for the remainder of her time there and a savings account in her name was opened up with a substantial sum. Checking her parents’ accounts has also confirmed they received a rather hefty amount from an anonymous source.

Testimony 2003-04-09

Arch. Fuller: Statement of Naomi Parker who was witness to the death of Peter Stewart in Location 059MV, recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Parker: I thought it was just a part of the ride, something new they’d added. Anyway, I was riding through Punishment Manor in one of those little carts. I’d been on it before, yeah, but this was my first ride on it this year. It was all kind of the same, really. Standard haunted mansion routine. Floating books, waving curtains, eerie laughter and screams, rattling chains, howls, all that. We entered the outdoor graveyard portion and I saw the gallows. The executioner animatronic was there along with the animatronic victims and a new one—well, I guess that would be Peter Stewart, wouldn’t it. All were screaming and pleading, but Peter’s voice sounded more real than theirs. I thought Midnight Village had gotten a new animatronic and was testing it out. The executioner pulled the lever, the floor dropped out from below them, and they dropped. The other animatronics’ screams cut off, but Peter kept swinging, kicking his feet, gagging, and gasping. I thought it was just something new added to the ride.

            After the ride, I went to the ride operator to mention I was impressed with the quality of the newest animatronic. A mother was already there yelling at him about the animatronic because “it was so lifelike it’ll give my precious angels nightmares.” I told her that she shouldn’t even have kids that young on a ride like this. We started fighting and I didn’t really pay attention to the operator, but I suppose he called security and emergency stopped the ride. Next thing I know after she and I are separated, security goes in there, and one of the guards comes out to tell the operator to call the owner. Security escorted her and me away from the area because we were still fighting.

            I saw on the news later that the man had been identified as Peter Stewart and his death was ruled a suicide. But…he was pleading to be helped, to be freed, and the animatronic executioner pulled the lever anyway. I mean, I get it, it couldn’t be stopped when that’s what it was programed to do, but something seemed off about that. If it were a suicide, why did he plead like that? Okay, I suppose to make everyone think he was an animatronic, but he was also bruised like he’d been beaten first. It just seems strange to me.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. Superior Read has informed me that he will be arranging an interview with Luca Shaw again sometime this month that will hopefully shed more light on what occurred with Peter Stewart as well as what happened to the Chapman twins.

And that's the end of that excerpt. In my July 8th post, you'll have another excerpt from "Location 059MV" and get to see more of the strange and unusual events surrounding it. After all, the water park portion of the park hasn't even opened.

A Call for Questions

 So, the past couple of months have been a bit intense: A car accident and Myrrh's surgery in April, a septic tank issue that lasted nearly the entire month of May, and the sudden death of a beloved cousin in Myrrh's family in early June. Given the amount of events happening so close together, it's kind of reasonable why there won't be a long post today about writing project updates or world-building information.

Instead, this is a call to readers to ask questions in the comments that I will answer in my July 1st post. Any questions about The Agency, my writing projects, writing in general, commissions, or anything else I've mentioned in previous posts are welcome. Just comment below and I'll answer them to the best of my abilities. 

 Here is yet another entry from The Agency that I may post another part to. This one was inspired by a chapter from the role-playing series World of Darkness, specifically the book Mysterious Places. The premise of the location and some of the events that happen to people who visit this quarry are taken from there, but the majority of events and the fate those who meddle in the affairs of the quarry are entirely my own. 

Those who remember my post about my favorite characters from The Agency will remember that this entry is one that was listed. "Location 014Q" is the entry where Ewan Marsh is introduced. Ewan may not show up in this post about "Location 014Q" but he does make his appearance in this entry. 

"Location 014Q" also breaks tradition with the other entries. Like I said with "Location 059MV," I may add more to this one. The difference is, "Location 014Q" is planned to have one more entry to it, but I haven't written it yet as that final entry will be co-written with Myrrh. If there is a second post featuring "Location 014Q," it will feature that final entry.

Anyway, hold your breath and dive in to "Location 014Q." Hopefully, the quarry won't keep you. 

Location 014Q

Location Description & History

Location 014Q, a quarry on the outskirts of the small town of Sunby. Currently, it is fenced off with a sign warning against trespassing and claiming that the quarry is under ownership of a corporation known as Verdigris. Custodians of Location 014Q report that the trespassing signs are rather ineffective, especially with teenagers and particularly desperate adults. Despite efforts of custodians, it is still unclear whether Location 014Q is indeed a location or an entity living within in it. After an incident that led to the loss of Custodian Jess Herman, it has been decided that the custodians are no longer permitted to continue investigating this. Location 014Q is listed and categorized as a location until more information is provided by the location itself.

            Location 014Q was able to lure in prey from the surrounding town without much effort until the containment procedures were initiated. Even now, there is not much the custodians can do to prevent victims from wandering there should they be drawn there. The quarry has been there since at least 1910 when the town was founded, though it was initially just a water-filled hole in the ground that served as a local picnic spot in the summers. No one ventured into the water and even plants didn’t grow there. Even before then, there were rumors as the locals are willing to tell anyone who wanted to listen. The rumors were the usual warnings against swimming right after eating and stories of children who drowned, but they needn’t have bothered. No one swam in Location 014Q despite or perhaps because of the deep blue-green water.

            Before custodians took over Location 014Q, they learned a little about the area. Divers had ventured into the water, but grew sick around fifty to fifty-five feet under. No one dove further. The company who owned the area stopped production on it because it was deep enough to curtail advancement. That was when the true rumors of Location 014Q reached the custodians. According to the legends, bleeding into the waters results in a wish being granted. There have been several instances recorded, Testimonies 1990-02-13, 1995-08-09, and 2000-11-03, of people who have made wishes there and had them granted with mixed results. It was mentioned then that draining the waters would cause trouble for the town, though the custodians just assumed this was because they’d lose their local legend and picnic spot, and that no one particularly wanted a working quarry so close to town, which is understandable.

            Initially, custodians attempted to drain the waters. After incidents in the town resulting in ill luck and disaster for many citizens, this was stopped. Custodians then began trying to find out if Location 014Q was an entity or a location proper. Testimony 2016-03-04 details the results of their investigations. Location 014Q remains under the guardianship of custodians disguised as Verdigris employees and those caught trespassing are prosecuted or, in certain cases such as the one conveyed in Testimony 2019-05-17, brought into the employ of the Agency.

Testimony 2016-03-04

Arch. Spears: Statement of Custodian Tanner Guzman regarding Location 014Q and the events that led to the death of Custodian Jess Herman. Whenever you’re ready, Tanner.

Cust. Guzman: Right. Fuck. I just can’t believe that Jess is gone. It all started when we began draining Location 014Q to find out if there was an entity there or not. We didn’t realize that doing this would harm the town. We didn’t realize exactly how it would affect the town. If we had, we wouldn’t have started draining the water. Hell, who am I kidding? We still would have gone through with it, but we would’ve been better prepared. Anyway, we started draining Location 014Q. Several feet of water drained a day. Ballpark, I’d say six feet a day since we’re not working nonstop and also had outdated equipment. I mean, look, you’re using a cassette recorder.

Arch. Spears: Digital doesn’t work well, you know that.

Cust. Guzman: Anyway, we first noticed there were strange things going on when we visited Sunby for food. We didn’t notice anything immediately. No one ever does, do they? Everything’s always so normal until it’s not. We were grabbing a bite to eat at the diner and just enjoying the afternoon. Jess noticed him first. It was a local kid—Andy Clay, I think was his name—who drowned at the local pool a few months ago. We heard about it, of course. Everyone did. But there he was, skulking around the edge of the forest. Pallid, foam on his lips. He looked like he drowned, then just got up, still drowned and dead. We were on our way back to Location 014Q when we passed by the Davenport place. I swear to you, I saw Eden Davenport who killed himself a couple weeks ago standing in the window of that house. He couldn’t have been there, but I saw him. Even from the road I saw the bullet hole in his skull. I asked Jess and she said she saw him too. We stopped by and asked Louise Davenport about her son, mentioned we saw him in the window, and she said she was so grateful to the quarry, it brought her son back and she didn’t even have to bleed for it. She said that he was a little quiet and subdued, shy around visitors, but he was still recovering and would be back to his old self in no time, and she’d let him know we asked about him. We went back to Location 014Q, puzzled. That was against everything that had been established previously. Wishes require blood, that has been a constant rule. You want a wish granted, you have to shed blood into Location 014Q.

These weren’t the only odd occurrences, but they were the most noticeable. I mean, dead people show up suddenly, walking around again, you notice. But no one in town seemed concerned. I mean, Clay seemed intent on staying near the forest and out of sight, but here was Mrs. Davenport living with her formerly dead son who still had the damn bullet hole through his head and acting like it was the most normal thing ever. We were unnerved, but kept draining the quarry. We needed to know if there was something in the water doing these things, granting wishes.

Things...things got worse as the water dropped.

Andrea Lyons lost her hand in a garbage disposal and died of blood loss. Logan Gill hung himself out of the blue. Estrella Moon went to the hospital complaining of a pain in her side and the surgery revealed her favorite arrowhead in her side under a layer of muscle. Lost pets turned up, wild-eyed and feral. Their eyes were different, too. Blue-green instead of whatever they had been. They mostly stuck close to the outskirts, but we’d see them sometimes near Location 014Q. Paris Carr’s head just fucking exploded. Sloane Cunningham, a young man who went missing awhile back, returned, quiet and subdued. His eyes were different, but DNA testing proved he was Sloane Cunningham. His eyes went from dark brown to a blue-green color that still haunts me when I close my eyes. They looked like the fucking water.

Katherine Moore’s cat ended up dead and she blamed Rachel Shaw, her neighbor who never liked the cat. Shaw ended up suffering an allergic reaction that hospitalized her and everyone suspected Moore, even though Moore had no contact with her. Lily Lawrence spontaneously went bald and blamed it on Abby Barnes, a rival cheerleader, and threw a Molotov cocktail into her car at a stoplight. Tatum Galloway was an ex of Lawrence’s. He was bitter over their breakup. That’s not really important. What is important is the fact that Matthew Ross liked Tatum and wanted to be with him. Galloway and Ross ended up together for about a week before Galloway died. Choked on an apple. Paige Edwards, a girl who liked Ross, bragged about how Location 014Q didn’t like gays and that’s why it got rid of Galloway for her. Ross didn’t appreciate this and the cops found Ross sitting on the hood of his car, watching her body sway from the branch he hung her from.

We stopped draining Location 014Q. Slowly, the waters began rising again. But Location 014Q wasn’t done with us yet. It...it wanted to punish us for our attempts to understand it, to get answers it didn’t want us to have.

I don’t...I don’t know why Jess went to Location 014Q that night. It probably called her. I don’t know if it can do that or not. Probably can. It has to lure in victims somehow and stories of the wishes lure in some, but it likely calls to others. Those who won’t come to wish any other way. I woke up when I realized the room was colder than normal. The door was open and Jess was missing. I went outside and saw Jess down at the edge of the water. I walked over and saw the droplets of blood landing in the water, ripples spreading out and disturbing the calm surface. I heard her...I heard her wish. Do you know what she wished for? She wished to know about Location 014Q. She wished for answers. Heh. Even knowing what we know, she still wanted to know the truth.

God, it went so still that night after she spoke. Usually, it would take longer for Location 014Q to grant a wish, but like I said, it wanted to punish us. She looked over at me, eyes wide. She looked right at me as she stepped into the water. I went to the edge and reached for her, tried to get her back, but she kept walking. By the time the others came, she was up to her shoulders. Blue-green, darker under the night sky but still clearly blue-green. Like those damnable eyes Cunningham had and the others that returned. We were getting a boat when she went under. She didn’t drown. She just...slipped below the surface. Her head vanished, ripples from it making their way to the shore and then stopping. There was no noise, no splashing. There was nothing. She was just gone. We still took the boat out, but there was no trace. Nothing. We couldn’t dive. Divers grew ill past fifty or fifty-five feet so that was out. We knew that we wouldn’t find anything. We knew that Jess was gone. We knew that with as much certainty as we knew the rules of wishing. It was just a fact of Location 014Q.

Lorenzo (referring to Custodian Lorenzo Cardenas) asked me what happened and I told him that she wished to know the secrets of Location 014Q. Lorenzo asked if Jess told me anything. I told him that no, she’d had just enough time to realize that she had made a mistake before she walked into the water. She didn’t tell me anything, but she didn’t need to. I could feel the power in the air when she was taken. I felt the threat as fully as if I’d heard it spoken. “Stop your questions or I will claim another. Make a wish for knowledge and I’ll grant it. Be sure you want it before you ask.” I knew that Jess had gotten the answers we wanted and I knew that I didn’t want them anymore.

Arch. Spears: Statement ends. Custodian Guzman returned to work guarding Location 014Q. No further attempts were made to drain Location 014Q and no one again questioned whether it is the location itself that does this or an entity within the water. 

Well, since this is fairly long already, I'll just have to post Ewan's introduction and the final testimony of "Location 014Q" in another post at a later date. I hope you've enjoyed this excerpt as much as I enjoyed writing it. 

Science Fiction Idea: Cultures

 Today, I'm going to mention a little bit about world-building since that's the stage this project is still currently in and focus on the details surrounding the cultures of the alien races from my last post as well as the three main groups of humans: those on Earth, those on space habitats, and those as colonists on other planets. I'm not going to be sharing every minute detail about each culture, but I will share a little.

Amphayan

The culture of the Amphayans might best be described as laid-back. Their eight day week is divided in such a way that four days are considered weekend days which are for relaxation and the pursuit of hobbies rather than work and education. Obviously, some occupations are still working (such as medical) but much like on Earth, Amphayans in the medical field will switch off for their weekends where they still have a four day break, it's just not the traditional weekend days. 

The trees where the Amphayans make their homes also bear fruit, which gets incorporated into the six meals they have per day. The most substantial meals are lunch, dinner, and supper while breakfast, the mid-afternoon snack, and dessert are usually a lighter affair and the most likely to consist of fruit picked right from the branches of their homes. Amphayans are mostly vegetarian, but will eat meat though it doesn't make up the majority of their diet. 

Amphayans are a social race and spend much of their time interacting with others, whether that be other Amphayans, the dwindling population of Naem'i, or humans. As stated previously, the Naem'i are the former host species for the Amphayan larvae but due to a plague, the numbers have been dwindling and the Naem'i are in no condition to be viable hosts. This doesn't mean the Amphayans just write them off or ignore them, however. Amphayans are working on finding a cure, but it is taking awhile. They also still provide homes and care for the Naem'i because they don't just see them as hosts; they see them as family. 

Humans make decent hosts, as far as the Amphayans are concerned. Humans that agree to become hosts can expect to be given upstanding medical care and a new home. It needs to be noted that Amphayans consider it exceptionally wrong to force anyone to be a host and most Amphayans will ask for permission after explaining the pros and cons of being a host. Humans from the colonies or from a space habitat are less likely to agree, but humans from Earth are willing to volunteer, though require more medical care than the others at the offset to get them healthy enough for incubation. 

Of course, Amphayans don't just take humans from Earth to be hosts. Amphayans are well known in the universe for taking humans from Earth just to get them off the planet and provide them a better life than the one they've got. And, again, if the human says they don't want to be a host, they aren't forced into it and are still provided and cared for once on the Amphayan homeworld, especially if they're ill. 

When it comes to the young, Amphayans have an "it takes a village" mentality. A typical small Amphayan family unit is usually made up of the parent Amphayan, any siblings of the parent, at least one Naem'i, the human that acted as host, any family of that human that came with them, and any other Amphayan children that have gone through the larval phase. 

Amphayans have decent trading relations with humans on colonies and with Xethalians. They tolerate the Culicivorans because, while they recognize that the Culicivorans have no control over the fact that they evolved to feast on humans, they don't like it or the fact that Culicivorans will pay the Lunulata to kidnap humans from Earth for them to hunt. The Lunulata are about as close to an enemy as the Amphayans have and it isn't uncommon for a small group of Amphayans to sneak aboard a Lunulata slaver ship and steal any slaves the Lunulata have acquired. 

Culicivoran

Hailing from a tropical homeworld, the Culicivorans are best known for their diet. As mentioned previously, they feast on human blood after their regular prey was almost hunted to extinction. They are an honorable hunter race (very similar to the Yautja of Predator fame), though they don't hunt for trophies or glory. They hunt because they need blood and only human blood will suffice. They do have standards, though, and will not hunt anyone younger than twenty, anyone older than sixty, or anyone suffering from an illness. 

Where the Amphayans believe in raising the children in a large family group, the Culicivorans have a more hands off approach. Culicivoran young are mostly independent as soon as they hatch, though they will watch the adults to learn the finer points of hunting and creating nets from webbing. Once the young have gotten the hang of creating nets, they're allowed on hunts with the adults. In some cases the young ones are able to make their first kill right away, but others aren't as lucky and an adult will step in to assist just to guarantee that the young has a chance.

Despite this hands off approach to child-rearing, Culicivorans do form close-knit groups and will work together, especially during larger hunts or hunts where the humans decide to work together as well. These groups are primarily just formed for hunting and will disband after a successful hunt, then rejoin during the next one. They are also capable of working together to build and pilot spacecraft capable of traveling to other planets, though they prefer not to do this often.

Culicivorans have the best relationship with the Lunulata as the Lunulata are their primary source for humans, but the Culicivorans are perfectly capable of retrieving the humans from Earth themselves. They tolerate the Amphayans simply because the Amphayans leave them be, and the Culicivorans are quite content to be left to their own devices, allowed to hunt and live as they please. They haven't had any interactions with the Xethalians as they've no reason to visit that planet, for the most part, and their homeworld isn't on a normal trade route for the Xethalians. 

Lunulata

Ah, the Lunulata. Intelligent, war-like, and very, very squishy. Being as intelligent as they are, they've built amazing, underwater homes in the shallows of their ocean planet, weapons to aid in their conquering of the Cellthonians, and ships capable of traveling the universe. That said, they never bothered to invent armor since it seemed inconvenient to them due to the amount of time they spend in and under the water. That means that they're constantly leaving their extremely squishy bodies open to attacks, though the only ones really at risk of being injured seriously due to this oversight are the single males that act as slavers, traveling to Earth and stealing humans. 

Aside from the single males, the majority of the Lunulata are content to remain on their homeworld and work in fields such as technology, military advancements, fishing, and hydroponic food production. The Lunulata military, comprised of males and females, hasn't ventured off-planet yet to conquer another world since their war with the Cellthonians has concluded only in recent decades. That said, they are relying on the slavers to keep a look out on their journeys to Earth for any planet that meets their needs (mainly, be a planet of mostly water like their homeworld) so they can expand their reach. 

When it comes to children, the Lunulata have a unique approach. While the children are mostly able to survive on their own from birth, they are very small and unfamiliar with the world as well as Lunulata culture so the parents will educate the children about the dangers of the planet and their language. Lunulata often have several children at once (sometimes six or more), which is good as the Lunulata do believe strongly in survival of both the fittest and the smartest and, while they will spend a little time teaching their children about the dangers of their homeworld (which includes adult Lunulata who will cannibalize the offspring of others), they won't protect them from anything or provide them with food once they're past three months old. At that point, the children are on their own. 

Once a Lunulata has managed to survive into adulthood, they're mostly safe but still run the risk of being cannibalized should they show any kind of weakness, injury, or disease. In the case of single males on slaver ships, injuries happen often. In some cases, they will cannibalize the injured one, but in others, particularly in the case of a group that's been working together for several years, they may abandon the injured one with the Amphayans as they know that Amphayans, despite their hatred for the Lunulata, will not kill one, especially an injured one, and have better medical technology than the Lunulata. 

Lunulata don't have much of a relationship with anyone aside from the Culicivorans and Amphayans, and even that is only the single males. Not all the humans that the Lunulata abduct end up sold to the Culicivorans. Some are taken back to the Lunulata homeworld to work on the coast alongside the Cellthonians and others are sold in slave markets on other planets. That said, not all humans who come across Lunulata find themselves taken as slaves. The Lunulata will, on occasion, interact with humans from colonies or from some space habitats. It also isn't out of the realm of possibility for Lunulata to attend academies with students from other planets, but this is a rare occurrence. 

Xethalian

The race I've done the least amount of world-building for, the Xethalians' homeworld is one with a dense atmosphere and higher gravity than that of Earth. This makes it easier for the Xethalians to remain airborne for longer. Xethalians make their homes in cliffs, scraping away the softer stone of the cliff face with their four extremely sharp and powerful clawed feet. Xethalians are a social race and build their cities in and on cliff faces, much like their homes. While Xethalian homes are nondescript holes into the face of the cliff, cities will sometimes have machinery such as propeller-drill for breaking through the harder rock. The Xethalian spaceships can be found on top of the cliffs. 

Xethalians are social and enjoy traveling the universe, usually as traders or explorers. This is more common with females than males, but there are usually still a fair number of male Xethalians that become spacefaring. They have established trade routes that take them near the Amphayan homeworld, most colonies, several space habitats, and Earth, though they rarely stop at Earth due to the lack of trade goods and pollution. Xethalians will also pass near the Lunulata homeworld, but rarely stop there due to the Lunulata reputation and propensity for enslaving other races. Any trade happening with them takes place on a neutral third party planet. Xethalians, after Amphayans and humans, are the ones most likely to be found on spaceships with other races as they work well with others and are very social. They don't have any particular feelings one way or the other toward Culicivorans because, as a whole, neither group has interacted, though individuals have sometimes crossed paths.

When it comes to children, Xethalians are very hands-on. At least, the fathers are. The mothers leave soon after the eggs are laid, leaving the fathers to incubate the eggs then raise the chicks. This is very similar to cassowaries. The males will raise the chicks as single fathers, caring for and protecting them until they are old enough to survive on their own. The males teach the chicks how to fly when they're about seven years old, then continue to care for them until they are at least sixteen at which point they are considered adults and are able to strike out on their own now that their primary education is finished. Some chicks will remain at home with their fathers for a bit longer while they decide on a career and attempt to find a suitable space for their home. Some will even remain with their fathers once they have chicks of their own, relying on their fathers to show them what to do. Orphaned Xethalian chicks are usually adopted fairly quickly by males who haven't mated, males who weren't able to sire children, or males that just plain weren't interested in mating. 

Earth

A polluted, nearly depleted and devastated planet, Earth has become a scavenger world where everyone is doing what they can to survive. Farming, fishing, and hunting are the primary sources of food and income. Most of the humans that remain on Earth are those who couldn't afford to buy an apartment on a space habitat or weren't able to secure a position on a ship heading to a colony. Due to radiation and pollution, most humans are ill and in debt trying to afford medical care. Their best bets to get off-planet is if they join the military (which will have the added bonus of providing them with money they can send home to their families) or if they're captured by the Lunulata and then rescued by the Amphayans.

Avalon (space habitat)

One of several Stanford torus-style space habitats orbiting Earth, the Avalon is home to 140,000 humans and a varying number of synths (synthetic non-sentient humanoids) that perform the day-to-day maintenance, agriculture, waste removal, and other jobs onboard such as barista, waiter, chef, housekeeping, gardening. Humans onboard the Avalon do not work and spend much of their time lounging, reading, enjoying the parks and artificial lakes, working out, and spending their money on things such as the finest food, the latest fashions, the best medical care, trips to destination colonies, cybernetic enhancements or bio-modifications. Humans that were able to secure a spot on the Avalon are the richest of the rich. 

Zion (colony)

Zion is a relatively new human colony on the moon of a gas giant. It isn't the only colony on the moon; however, it is the only all-human settlement. Zion is mostly a mining community due to the amount of mineral resources available, but also plays host to researchers and farmers as well as families. It should be noted that Zion is one of the few colonies where it is a crime to be gay and non-traditional families aren't accepted. The atmosphere isn't breathable for humans without a breathing apparatus so they stay inside the colony except for when they're boarding a spaceship which will take them to another planet, which sometimes includes Earth as more people are always needed to fulfill the needs of the colony. At the moment, no terraforming can occur because of the other colonies on the planet, but there are discussions between the leaders of each colony regarding this.

So, there you have it: a little about each culture. Now, as I said before, these are just the races that have been worked on and named so far. There are going to be others because it's a big universe. Also, you'll note I mentioned academies that the Lunulata could attend with other races from other planets and the military being a viable option for humans hoping to get off Earth, but I didn't go into any detail about those. That's because those are the subjects for upcoming posts so keep your eyes peeled if you're interested in reading more of my ramblings about this science fiction setting. 

 Today, I decided to share an entry from The Agency that I had to write during the day since I managed to spook myself with it. It's based in part on the 2010 film YellowBrickRoad, but the similarities are minimal. The movie's a fairly decent one for horror fans that like a bit of a psychological aspect to their horror and worth a watch if you're interested. 

Like I said, I had to write this one during the daylight hours because I managed to scare myself when I was barely three hundred words in. It should be noted that I spook easily, but none of the other entries in The Agency have made me write them only during the day. 

This was also a bit different for me to write than the other entries based on the fact that one of the later testimonies involved a recording of an agency team sent to investigate things and figuring out how to format that as well as the distortion present was a bit challenging, though I think I did fairly well with it. This is another entry that I may share more excerpts of in later posts, especially since it introduces a character that I think could be fun to play around with. 

Strap on your hiking boots, pack extra rations, and head off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz.

Location 009R

Location Description & History

Location 009R, otherwise known as Richwell, was a small town, population approximately 560, nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, founded in the late 1800s. This town was comprised of several red brick buildings—a bank, a general store, a post office, a doctor’s office, a courthouse, a church, a hospital, and a movie theater—as well as the houses of the population, built from brick or wood depending on when they were built. The town was uninteresting and plain, like many small towns of that time and area, and likely would have continued to be ignored by the Agency, but gained notice in 1939.

            In 1939, the town vanished. Rather, most of the population—540 of the 560—did. The town itself still stands to this day and is even still lived in by the population that didn’t vanish and those descended from them and the few who returned. While most of the population vanished, as evidenced by Testimony 1940-09-26, a small percentage—40 of the 540—did return a year later. Approximately 376 of the remaining 500 were found on the hiking trails near the town—frozen, dead from exposure, or killed in a violent manner before being scavenged or more than likely cannibalized, as evidenced by the bite marks on the bodies. The remaining 124 have not been seen since, though as of Testimony 2017-09-26, one of the 124 may have returned. His identity has not been confirmed, however, so he is still considered missing. (Addendum: It has been confirmed that he was indeed one of the missing 124.)

            As evidenced by Testimony 1939-09-26, the population vanished after viewing The Wizard of Oz, though the Omega scientists have determined that the viewing of the movie had nothing to do with the sudden vanishing. The Agency has taken possession of the town’s copy of The Wizard of Oz just to be safe. It is currently still being discussed as to whether or not it will receive an Artifact designation.

Testimony 1939-09-26

Arch. Moss: Statement of Samantha Whitaker regarding the mass exodus of five-hundred-forty citizens of Location 009R, also known as Richwell. Statement recorded direct from subject by Archivist Oliver Moss.

Whitaker: I don’t know why everyone decided to leave. Well, it wasn’t everyone, obviously. There’s me and nineteen others. I don’t know why the rest of the town just walked off. They just got up and walked, walked right into the forest up that old trail. I watched them, you know. I watched as they just started walking. It was just a few at first, then as they walked, more people joined them. By the time they entered the forest, almost the whole town was there.

            I managed to grab one of them, a teenager—I think his name was Caleb Henderson, why they were walking and where they were going. He seemed a little dazed and looked right through me. He just kept staring straight ahead as others walked by, flowing around us like water around a rock in a creek. He finally answered me after I repeated my questions.

“We’re off to see the wizard,” he said. “The wonderful wizard of Oz.”

I let him go and watched as he rejoined the group, continuing on to the trail. I watched until he entered the forest and disappeared from view. I don’t know how long I stood there, watching everyone leave town. None of them were carrying any food or supplies. They were all just walking into the forest with the clothes on their backs. Some of them weren’t even wearing proper clothes. Jane York was in her bathrobe and slippers with curlers in her hair. I just stood there and watched as they walked into the forest. While I stood there, I thought that I could faintly hear singing. Not enough that I could understand what they were saying, but I could swear I heard singing. When the last one had finally vanished, I snapped out of my trance and realized I’d taken a few steps toward the forest.

The way he quoted the movie and how he looked so dazed, I knew there was something wrong. I immediately went to the police station and found two officers that hadn’t left with everyone else. They were already on the phones, calling in more officers to help track down the people and bring them back. I suppose one of them was calling your agency. After one of them got off the phone, they took my statement and sent me home. I went home and went about my day, then a little while later, you and those other agents arrived to take my statement. I don’t know why you needed a different statement when I already gave the police my statement, but I agreed to tell you what happened anyway.

Arch. Moss: Statement ends. The Agency has taken the copy of The Wizard of Oz, but Omega scientists have determined that the viewing of the film is not responsible nor is there anything inherently unusual about this copy of the film. Still, the film has been taken into custody and, until it is decided whether to designate it as an artifact or not, it will be kept in the box with the rest of the information regarding Location 009R.

Testimony 1940-09-26

Arch. Moss: Statement of Louis Chapman, one of the residents of Location 009R who vanished last year, regarding the incident and the return of himself and thirty-nine others recorded direct from subject by Archivist Oliver Moss.

Chapman: We just walked. I…I guess we walked in circles. We must have. We didn’t get too far into the woods. We just kept walking in circles. I don’t think we slept or stopped at all. I know we must have, but I can’t remember ever doing so. I don’t remember eating or drinking. I don’t even think we made it to the creek, but we must have. We had to have made it to the creek because my shoes and pants were wet, but I don’t…we couldn’t have gotten there. We couldn’t. I don’t think we did. We kept walking in circles, I know we did. I know we passed the same rock, the same tree, the same pile of fallen trees stacked like a wall. I saw that same wall a dozen times, I’m sure of it.

            It was strange, though. Every time we passed that wall, it felt like our group got smaller and smaller. We just kept walking in circles and every time we passed that wall, our group got smaller. And it’s not like we couldn’t get around the wall. It was only about seven feet tall and maybe twenty feet long. We could have gone around it. But…no. No, we couldn’t have. We couldn’t go around it. That wasn’t allowed. Not allowed. Not allowed. Not allowed.

Arch. Moss: Not allowed?

Chapman: Not allowed. Walking around the wall wasn’t allowed. We could walk by it as many times as we did, but we couldn’t walk around the wall. That wasn’t allowed, wasn’t right. Wasn’t right. Walking around would have been wrong and wasn’t allowed. Wasn’t allowed. Wasn’t allowed.

Arch. Moss: What happened after you stopped walking by the wall?

Chapman: We walked back down the trail, back to Richwell. We came home. We came home and then we were brought to the hospital. Then the police came in and told us we needed to talk to you, tell you what happened and where we went. Then the doctors began checking us, doing all their poking and prodding. They were bothered by the blood on our clothes, hands, and faces. They ran all sorts of tests and asked us questions. They didn’t seem reassured by us telling them that it wasn’t our blood.

            They asked us where the others were. We told them that the others were still on the trail and the ones that weren’t there had gone to Oz to meet with the wizard. I don’t know why we said that about those. They walked past the wall, not to Oz or to meet the wizard. That’s just ridiculous. That was just a movie. They just walked past the wall. They kept walking. They’re still walking. They’ll come back when they’re allowed to come back. They’ll come back when they’re allowed to come back.

Arch. Moss: Statement ends. Location 009R will remain under surveillance and the forty who returned will be carefully monitored for any abnormalities or effects caused by their time wandering the mountain. Epsilon medical personnel will remain in Location 009R for the next two years to monitor the returned residents. Many of the returned are displaying signs of mental instability and amnesia regarding their time spent in the woods. The blood found on them has been tested and found to be human. A search party is going to investigate the trail and it is expected that they will find the remainder of the missing citizens.

You've reached the end of this excerpt, but not the end of the trail. I may share another excerpt of "Location 009R" in a later post. For now, though, there's nothing to be done except continue on. 

Science Fiction Idea: Alien Races

 I've not shared much about this particular project, mostly because I haven't worked on it very much. Inspiration called me to other projects and then life happened (a car accident, specifically) which meant that my focus was drawn elsewhere. Still, I remembered this project and have been world-building a bit here and there when I feel a lag in inspiration for the break-time project or want something different from The Agency. 

I've not done terribly much with the idea at this point, though I do know a fair bit about the primary alien races for the idea and that the "idea" is no longer a space opera, not quite. The "idea" is more like a series of stand-alone novels that are all set within the same universe, but feature different characters and have different tones, spanning different genres. 

For example, there is one novel idea featuring a salvage crew that finds a derelict ship that definitely falls into the horror category, but then there's a novel idea featuring a rogue synth that has gained sentience and is now on the run that falls under action or possibly thriller. There's also an idea has elements of the biopunk genre, such as genetic engineering and genetic modification. Then, of course, there's going to be intergalactic armies at war (military science fiction) and a ragtag group of heroes out to save the galaxy (space opera). Not to mention the disaster landscape Earth has become (post-apocalyptic) and the space habitats that the upper-class call home (dystopia). With so many different ideas that fit into different genres, it only made sense to have it be separate novels that occur within the same universe. 

I mentioned that I know a bit about the alien races present in this idea. I don't have all the information about every race--or even all the information about one race--but I do know a little about each of them. Mostly, I know what they look like, but for some of them I also know their culture, normal occupation, how they interact with humans, and (in the case of one alien race) how they evolved. 

The first alien race that I created was the Amphayans. Amphayans are a species that have moth-like wings, long barbed tails, four arms, two legs, antennae, compound eyes capable of seeing infrared and ultraviolet, and fluff (much like how some moths are fluffy). The Amphayans are a symbiotic race, protecting and caring for the alien race known as the Naem'i that incubates their eggs, but due to a plague (which may have been a bio-weapon that was released) that race is dying out and not healthy enough for the incubation. The Amphayan home-world is one with tall trees where the Amphayans live in massive, multi-level treehouses that can sometimes span multiple trees, and are connected to the other trees by bridges, though adult Amphayans are capable of flight. I have a lot more of their culture written down and even went so far as to make a calendar for them.

Next up there's the Lunulata. The Lunulata are a race that was inspired by the blue-ringed octopus. As such, they are very squishy, venomous, four tentacled, two legged, beaked, three-hearted aliens with crescent-shaped designs on their bodies that pulse and change color. They can survive out of water, but prefer to be in it since their gills are better developed than their lungs. Their planet is a very watery one, dotted with islands (those who play video games may have Subnautica spring to mind), and despite being very squishy, they are very war-like and have gone to war with (and conquered) a race of terrestrial crab-like aliens based on the porcelain crab, the Cellthonians. Single males of the Lunulata are the ones most likely to venture off-planet as slavers while the rest tend to focus on education, technology, and military advancements.

The race that appeared shortly after the Amphayans is the Culicivorans. This alien race is based off the jumping spider known as Evarcha culicivora, a spider that found only around Lake Victoria in Kenya and Uganda that feeds on mosquitos, but only those who drink human blood. Naturally, the Culicivorans have no need to feed on mosquitos and instead go straight to the source: humans. Culicivorans look like spider-centaurs (or driders, for those who are familiar with Dungeons & Dragons) where the upper half is humanoid while the lower half is that of a very large spider. Much like the spiders they're based on, Culicivorans are mostly gray with white and red markings. Unlike their namesakes, however, Culicivorans are very much capable of creating and using webs, mostly as nets to trap their prey. Culicivorans are hunters that originally preyed on a humanoid species from their home-world, but found themselves in need of a different type of prey when this species was almost hunted to extinction (the species is critically endangered now, but recovering). Originally, Culicivorans were more spider than human, but began to evolve the humanoid torso to better lure in prey. Throughout millennia, the evolution made the humanoid torso more detailed and more dexterous until finally becoming the Culicivorans of present. Presently, the Culicivorans are the ones most likely to pay the Lunulata to steal humans from Earth (which isn't doing so great, as mentioned briefly above) so they can hunt them on their home planet. 

The fourth species that I have at least a little information figured out about is the Xethalians. Xethalians are an owl-like race with four wings (two large, two small), six eyes with astonishing eyesight, powerful tails, small pointy ears, a wide beak, and four small, clawed legs. Their skin is fairly weak and covered in short wide feathers that are primarily dark orange and gray, dulling with age. Unlike most bird species on Earth, the males have less varied colors and aren't as flashy. So far, this is all I've got on them, but it's more than a couple races I can think of that were briefly mentioned above. 

That's all for the alien races at the moment. I do have more written down about Amphayans, but don't want to share too much too soon. I'm also still creating alien races as well. After all, it's a big universe. 

I've been neglecting this idea and neglecting talking about it, but that's going to change. I'll be posting about either this idea or the break-time one in between the regular posts featuring excerpts from The Agency.

Location 059MV

 So, this is one story from The Agency that I'm exceptionally proud of for two main reasons: it's one of the longer ones and because of the character development present through it. Because it's on the longer side, I'll only post an excerpt of it, but may post other excerpts from this one later on. 

Anyway, enjoy a trip to the marvelously entertaining and exceptionally fun amusement park, Midnight Village. You'll never want to leave and in some cases, you never will. I present to you, "Location 059MV." 

Location 059MV

Location Description & History

Location 059MV is an amusement park known as Midnight Village which is composed of two smaller sections, Terror Land and Lunafair (Location 059MV-TL and Location 059MV-L, respectively), as well as waterpark section known as Underwater Realm (Location 059MV-UR) which was added in 2008. Terror Land has more intense thrill rides such as drop towers and intense roller coasters as well as scarier decorations as it is clearly geared toward a more mature audience. Lunafair is very kid-friendly, moon-themed, and has an Asian-feel to it with Chinese lanterns, a person in an Asian-inspired outfit with rabbit ears that hands out mooncakes, and Asian cuisine.

            Location 059MV contains the following rides and attractions: The Comet, Star Wheel, Cliffhanger, The Mammoth, The Vault, and The Pendulum. Location 059MV-L has the Tunnel of Wishes, Dragon Mountain, The Octopus, and the Star Bridge as well as the Zodiac, a carousel with horses, dragons, oxen, sheep, pigs, and tigers to ride on while the carousel is decorated with the animals from the Eastern Zodiac: dragons, mice, oxen, horses, sheep, roosters, dogs, rabbits, monkeys, tigers, snakes, and pigs. Location 059MV-UR has Island Loop, The Wipeout, The Wave, Plunge, Fortune Rapids, The Typhoon, The Kraken, and Expedition Ocean. Location 59MV-TL has Blade Plunge, The Broken Obelisk, Punishment Manor, and Loop of Chains.

Most incidents occur in Location 059MV and Location 059MV-TL, however Location 059MV-L still has a few occurrences on the record. Location 059MV-UR, despite being new, has had several incidents, though many of them can be and usually are attributed to ride malfunctions. Of course, these are still suspect due to the park’s history. As the park is still in operation, there are many testimonies and that number continues to grow.

            Location 059MV is still in operation as there is not enough evidence to encourage the owners to sell it or close it. Instead, they have worked things out with the Agency so that custodians act as security for the park to keep unusual incidents to a minimum and guarantee that those who witness the incidents sign nondisclosure agreements and provide statements to the Agency so there is a record. The custodians working in Location 059MV are allowed to bring their family to work for free admittance so as to keep up the appearance of working for Location 059MV.

            As of yet, support team Omicron researchers have not uncovered anything that would lead to a cause for the occurrences such as hauntings or building on cursed land. They are still looking into the property records and the history of the land as well as the history of Location 059MV to see if there were any deaths that occurred while the park was under construction.

            Thanks to information from an inside source, we have learned there are at least eight separate entities that call Location 059MV home. The Executioner seems to be in charge and stays primarily in Location 059MV-TL, along with the Gentle Prisoner, the newest of the entities and the one about whom the least is known. Location 059MV-L has the Rabbit who preys on children, specifically twins, and the Twins, who stay in the Tunnel of Wishes and are counted as one entity. Location 059MV proper has the skull-headed Jester who enjoys causing “pranks” and Eternal Jenny, who little is known about though she seems particularly active on Valentine’s Day. The addition of Location 059MV-UR has brought forth the entities Tick Tack who slices victims in waterslides and Wet Willy who is active around The Wave, Island Loop, and Fortune Rapids and drowns people.

            Location 059MV also has a few resort hotels, though as of yet there have been no incidents involving entities in these hotels. The hotels are still being carefully monitored, however.

Testimony 1999-06-12

Arch. Fuller: Statement of Mason Griffith regarding unusual occurrences at Location 059MV otherwise known as Midnight Village during the park’s construction in 1997. Recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Griffith: Everyone who worked on the park had to sign nondisclosure agreements, you know. We all agreed not to talk about what happened there to anyone. Not our family, not the cops, no one. Well, I’m not gonna live much longer so I thought it would be a good idea to give you a record of what happened there before I kick the bucket.

            I wasn’t among the first group that started working there. I came on after they broke ground and had up a few of the rides. I didn’t give much thought to the NDA. My ex had needed to sign some before and, while it wasn’t normal for someone in my line of work to sign one, I signed it. I needed the job.

            Things went well enough. I showed up to work, did what I needed to do, went home at the end of the day, got my paycheck at the end of the week. It was like a normal job. I didn’t know why there was a nondisclosure agreement, but I didn’t care. As long as I got paid, it was fine.

            It was my second week when I first heard the laughter. I was over by the Tunnel of Wishes in Lunafair, working on the track. Obviously, this was before the water was added. I stopped when I heard it and called, “Hello? Anyone there?” There was, predictably, no answer. I yelled out, “You’re trespassing. Leave or I’ll call the police.” The laughter stopped and I went back to work. I didn’t give it much more thought. Then it started again. Again, I yelled that if they didn’t leave, I’d call the cops. It stopped again and I went back to work.

            One of my coworkers, Bobby Lane, came over and asked about why I was yelling I’d call the cops. I told him about the laughter and he said he’d go in and set those kids straight. He went into the tunnel and I kept working. I could’ve gone in with him, but dealing with delinquents wasn’t my job. Wasn’t his either, but Bobby had a temper and no patience so I wasn’t that surprised he went in there.

I finished what I was doing and went to clock out. I let the boss—that’s Tyler Becker—know that Bobby went to go deal with a couple kids that were in the Tunnel of Wishes. He said he’d go check on Bobby and make sure he wasn’t too rough on the kids. I told him good luck and went home. When I came in the next day, I asked about Bobby and the kids. Tyler looked at me and said, “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but you’ll hear about it anyway and besides that the cops will likely want to talk to you. Bobby’s dead. Drowned, from what the cops said.”

Drowned. How could he have drowned? There was no water in the tunnel. No water in the whole park since they hadn’t gotten the plumbing in yet. He couldn’t have drowned, but that’s what happened, autopsy confirmed it. I told the cops what happened, that there were some delinquents in the tunnel and Bobby went in to kick them out, and I told them that I didn’t see the kids but I heard them. They investigated, didn’t find anything, pretty much wrote his death down to ‘natural causes,’ and life went on.

The laughter kept happening during the construction on the tunnel, right up until we added the water. We mostly ignored it. There were other things that happened. Motion sensitive lights would go on when there was nothing there. Minor things that could be explained away as technical errors, faulty wiring, bats or insects flying in front of the sensors on the lights. Nothing major. All easy to ignore and brush off. As long as I kept getting paid, I didn’t care.

Then, Sean May fell while building the Blade Plunge in Terror Land. Daxton Bradley who was working with him said that he didn’t fall, he was pushed. The cops looked at Daxton at first, thinking he pushed him, but evidence cleared him. Daxton told me and a few of the other coworkers that they were up there working on it and Sean just kinda lurched like he’d been shoved even though there was no one there that could shove him. Daxton said he wasn’t going back up there again and asked, practically begged, that he be moved to a different ride. Tyler agreed and said he’d work on the flat rides, probably The Vault which is something like an escape room in the main part of the park, Midnight Village proper, and needed more standard construction than ride construction.

He accepted the change in job and things went well right up until his third day working there when second shift found him locked in there, dead of dehydration. Now, I don’t know if you know this because I didn’t know it, but it takes three days without water before you die of dehydration. He was only there for a few hours. Cops came and talked to all of us, looked at the security cameras. Nothing. He was shown going in for work like normal, but then the camera feed goes weird, like it cuts out, and then comes back when they unlock the door and find Sean’s body.

After that, we all started working in areas together. At least two people in every stationary or non-coaster area and at least four people in coaster areas. We made sure we were never alone. Even if we just needed to take a leak, we went in pairs. We never went anywhere alone. We never made ourselves easy targets for whatever it was that was after us.

That didn’t matter. It still picked us off.

When we moved on to The Broken Obelisk in Terror Land, there were three deaths. Enrique Santiago and Benson Greer were killed by snapped cables once the ride was put together and being tested. Before that, though, there was Zain Newman who apparently hung himself from one of the metal support beams. We were all glad when it was finished and we could move on to a different ride.

Look, I could sit here all week telling you about every person who died while we were building that damned place. You can get the autopsy records, the real ones. I don’t doubt that your agency can get ahold of those. You can probably get the police records too. I mean, your agency seems like it could get its hands on just about anything if they wanted it badly enough. You all probably have more pull than the owner of the park and more influence over the police and medical examiners than I even want to think about. You’ll know everything about how they were found, what the autopsy shows, and all that. I’ll tell you what you want to know. The one that made me quit.

I was over in Punishment Manor, helping put the finishing touches on it. It’s sort of like a haunted house kind of set up. You know, something like what Disney World’s got. My work partner, Kellan Oliver, must have finished up and left without letting me know. We weren’t working nearby at that point. We’d given up on thinking we’d be safe in groups. At that point, we knew that if whatever was hunting us wanted us dead, it would get us. Didn’t matter if we were alone, in a group, daytime or nighttime. If it wanted us, it would get us. So I was alone, but that was fine. I put the finishing touches on one of the decorations, a rack, and went to leave the dungeon.

There was someone there, dressed in a black hood. They looked like an executioner. I tried to speak to them, but they didn’t say anything. Then, they raised their arm and I blacked out. I woke up five days later, though to me it felt like I’d just blinked or maybe just taken a nap for a couple hours. I don’t know what happened, honestly, but when I woke up, I was naked. Kellan and Tyler found me and took me to the hospital. I had several broken bones, stab wounds, slashes, burns, scars…I was a wreck. I’d been tortured, but I didn’t remember any of it. Apparently, people had heard me screaming and thought it was just part of the general strangeness of the park. Kellan just happened to find me that day and got me out of there. He said it was kinda like what happened with Sean, except to me it felt like one day when it had been five at least.

While I was in the hospital, I told Tyler I quit. I wasn’t going back there. No way in Hell. He told me he understood and he’d send me my last paycheck, including pay for the five days I was missing since I hadn’t been clocked out during that time and was still at the park thus was technically where I was supposed to be during that time. The owner of the park, don’t know his name, showed up while I was in the hospital and reminded me I signed a nondisclosure agreement then offered a small fortune and to pay for my medical bills. I agreed to that, but said the money is to be put in a trust for my daughters, Amy and Abigail. He agreed and set it up then and there.

I’m never going back there. Not even to visit, not even with my kids who want to go there. I won’t let them go there. I warned my wife, Sophia, against that place, but didn’t tell her what happened. My kids don’t understand that I’m afraid of that place, but I’m not going back and I’m not letting them go there either. I’ve left all this in a letter to my wife to be delivered along with my will at the time of my death so that she’ll know why I won’t let them go. I need to protect them from that place, if it’s the last thing I do.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. Mr. Griffith left after giving the statement and died shortly after. He was found in the dungeon of Punishment Manor with clear signs of having been tortured. Clearly, he didn’t survive this round in the park, though that does beg the question of why he would go back to the park in the first place as he made it perfectly clear he wanted nothing to do with that place.

Testimony 2000-05-15

Arch. Fuller: Statement of Amber Marshall regarding her experience at Location 059MV and the disappearances of Paige Wilkinson, Max Reeves, Brooke Jones, Tripp Roman, and Seth and Luca Shaw on the second of May. Recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Marshall: I can’t believe they’re gone. They were there and then…gone. It was stupid of us. There was no reason for us to do it, but we were bored and figured it’d be kinda cool. Sneak into the park after hours, ride a couple rides, maybe have a few beers, smoke a little pot. You know, just harmless fun. Teenage crap. Unwinding since finals had ended and we were all ready for summer.

            We didn’t want to take Luca. Sure, he’s an okay kid, but he’s a kid. God. He’s just twelve. Anyway, we didn’t want to take him, but he caught Seth sneaking out and threatened to tell their parents so Seth decided it would just be easier to take him with us. He reasoned that we could all ride some rides then he could be a lookout for us while we drank and smoked.

            It was around midnight when we got in there, so I guess it was May second. We decided to go for a ride first, before the drinking and all that. Immediately, we went to Terror Land. All of us were a bit too old for Lunafair and usually only went over there during hours for snacks because they had some of the best food.

            We decided Loop of Chains was the ride for us. Well, for them. One of us had to stay on the ground and man the controls. I wasn’t much of a fan of that coaster. I preferred Blade Plunge and the Broken Obelisk. Drop towers were just cooler than coasters. So I offered to stay and operate the controls. The others were fine with that.

They got in the train. Paige and Seth in the front, Max and Brooke behind them, and Tripp and Luca in the third row. I noticed…I noticed a track B. I told them about it and asked them if they wanted to try that one. They were all excited for it so I pressed it. I heard the grinding as it switched over to track B and the light was flashing red. Then, when the console lit up green, showing it was ready. I pressed the button and the train pulled away from the station. I watched them for a bit, then they disappeared behind one of the buildings. Punishment Manor, I think, or one of the shops over near it. That was the last time I saw them.

Ten minutes passed, then twenty. The cart never came back. I waited an hour before I couldn’t stand it anymore and I called the cops. They showed up quicker than I expected, probably only two minutes later, along with my parents and the owners of the park. I got my ass chewed out by my parents, grounded for the whole summer, then got threatened with trespassing by the police. The owners said they didn’t want to press charges. They just wanted the cops to find my friends and escort us off the property. Oh, and I was banned for a year.

They never found my friends.

After they found our pot and alcohol, they figured I must be high and drunk so I was imagining track B. The owner said that track B was almost the same as the regular run, just it got a little closer to the graveyard behind Punishment Manor. They didn’t listen to me when I said that it dipped behind the buildings over there. They checked the area, though. Nothing. They didn’t find anything and just wrote them as missing. They never found them.

One of your agents came to talk to me when I was at home while my folks were working. He asked if I’d been to the park and I told him that I had. He asked if I would give my statement to his agency, said that the lot of you were looking into it. I said that I’d do anything to help find my friends. He gave me this address and told me to come here to give a statement whenever I can manage.

So, that’s my statement. My friends rode track B and they were never seen again. I should get home before my parents find out that I’m not there. I hope my information helps you find them. Or their bodies. I just…I want to know what happened to my friends.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. Ms. Marshall is correct in that that particular coaster has a track B. The custodians that are in charge of monitoring Location 059MV have agreed to look for the teens while working. Given that the Agency and the owners of Location 059MV have an agreement, we should have more success locating the missing teens or, rather, the survivor.

There's the opening of "Location 059MV." Perhaps somewhere down the road, I'll share another couple excerpts from it. Even though it's concluded as of now, I may actually add one or two more testimonies to it since I enjoy playing around with the characters and setting. Besides, it's an amusement park that is still operational. And, as is pointed out in a later testimony in "Location 059MV" which may be shared, there's always more than one incident per year, but the agency only records one a year. 

For now, though, you're left with just the beginning of the longest entry in The Agency. Maybe next time I'll share a couple more testimonies or it'll be an entirely different excerpt.