Beneath

I've had a few explorers reach out to me about Calum sleepwalking in the city last night. I've been given a chatlog that I've just posted here for anyone that wants to review the rambling.

Anyone got any idea what to make of this? At first glance I'm inclined to think he's talking about Benavud but I don't know if that's entirely the case given the focus on Cats in that log from last night.

I've got my suspicions Calum's gone and done something foolish with another experiment, as I haven't been able to get in contact with him yet since I got notified. He was talking about resonant frequencies and wavelengths last night before I went to bed, something about theorizing how the Vertigo Crystals communicated.

If anyone sees Calum, let me know.

This is getting serious. Calum should see a doctor. Maybe Tenny can recommend a specialist. I'll keep my eyes open for Cal next time I'm down there. I'm getting very worried about him, now.

Perhaps I ought to see Calum as soon as we can arrange it.
At the very least, I can try to help him sleep better in the mean time.

I do know a few people on the Surface that I trust, so let me make some calls.

I managed to find one of Calum's journals and an experiment setup when I visited his home today. I've been pouring over the recent entries, trying to figure out what it is he's done now for the better part of the evening. I think I understand enough now, atleast, to figure out what happened last night.

Apparently he's been recording how the Vertigo Crystals react to sound waves, and decided to do something foolish regarding his own previous exposure to the damned things: tried to see if there was a harmonic tone that was invoking his sleepwalking states.

Given his notes and the equipment all point to a single frequency- A440, or A in C Major- and were left in that state for the better part of a day, I think his experiment was an unmitigated success in that single sense.

I'm more concerned that he seems to have packed up quite a few things in a hurry, and vanished somewhere. Nobody mentioned he had a backpack on last night, so it has to have been after that.

The last entry in this journal is another of Calum's Poems.

beckoning the cat calls out like the bell doth ring
extending her paws towards birds that fly
she meows in question over what do they sing?
green eyes pierce like moons hanging in the sky
she who collects lost kittens under her wings
says to me, 'come to this garden of mine'

I'm not sure how, but I think I have a feeling where he's gone. I'll have to talk with Patrick about getting the okay to head into a potentially inhabited age. We may have already lost a chance at a controlled first contact scenario.

... sorry, first WHAT

Did... did I not tell you? I found a Descriptive Book while exploring through Naybree some time back. Calum examined it, and he and I are certain it's the Exten-Col Age Book that Athsheba's family held in ownership, and secreted away. The age, historically noted, was inhabited. We don't know if that's still the case or not.

Regardless, I did check my hood this morning, and the book in question was disturbed from where I'd left it. I'm pretty sure Calum used it.

Right. Ok. Lot to unpack, there.

The immediate concern seems to be that a crystal-addled Cal, halfway through the process of vibrating his way through an entire canon of iambic verse, has taken it upon himself to give the residents of the neighbouring age the Universal Greeting. In the time it'a taken to write this post, my mind has thrown up at least a dozen different ways that this can go spectacularly wrong.

Regardless of whatever Patrick says, I'm going in after him.

Honestly- Same.

We may want to get Maintainer Suits first, just to be on the safe side, though.

Should I go with you? I will, just let me know when.

We'll need to prep things. At earlierst I'll suggest late tonight-early tomorrow. Get maintainer suits, for one thing- we don't want to risk exposure to unfamiliar elements. Food, supplies, any such thing... Probably ought to bring notebooks too. I'll need to gather up my notes on the language samples recovered so far...

I'd start packing whatever you think might be needed in another age.