3/2 - UK
Played: December 2, 2020.
Friday, May 25, 1973. Early evening. At Jocasta's urging, URIEL sticks around the Stag Inn for a private discussion after GRAIL TABLE heads home. She and Roger tell the rest of the group that the simulation continues forward in time even when they are not present, with the simulated “characters” operating on a kind of artificially intelligent autopilot. Charley sweeps the Roger’s bungalow for listening devices (it’s clean).
Jocasta explains a bit more about how the acid affected her perception of the ORACLE simulation. She says that it allowed her to see “the Boss” – the mysterious figure who owns El Dorado, and who is piloted by David Wolf. She describes him as a white man in his 70s, formal looking, sitting amid a sort of Ozymandias-from-Watchmen-esque bank of monitors in his office. Something that caught her attention, and which greatly unnerved her, was that his main computer terminal was running another program which itself was simulating a massive viral outbreak that was going to take place in early 2021. But this pandemic would not be biologically viral. Rather, it would be a memetic outbreak. Jocasta notes that she was unable to determine if the Boss’s program was merely simulating something that may happen or if it's something the Boss intended to induce.
Sophie sighs. She confides that what Jocasta described did not sound “in-character” for the Boss, but that it definitely sounded “in-character” for David. She worries aloud that David may be running a predictive simulation within ORACLE’s predictive simulation, which may be dangerous for the personalities they are piloting if it is discovered by, for instance, the Memetic Defense Agency. Roger says that this all sounds to him like the simulation is messed up beyond repair, this being like the third anomalous thing they’ve discovered since arriving. Archie agrees: the simulation is, he says, just a “sandbox.” Nevertheless, he is concerned about what David is up to. Roger suggests the whole project may be a shell game, cover for whatever unauthorized research David or GRAIL TABLE is actually doing.
The team debates what to do. Conversation turns to the glyph-in-the-machine Roger found. Roger explains that Joshua does not know who is giving him his orders, not really, and he does not seem to care because he just loves fucking with the Republicans. Charley says that she could probably attempt to back-trace the electronic mails Joshua is saving from her position as Controller. Archie confirms with Jocasta that David does not know Jocasta has marked him as the Boss. Roger notes that, during his and Jocasta’s second immersion in the simulation, Elias was the Controller. Archie then asks Sophie what “all this business” means with regards to David, and whether she thinks it would be better to confront David with all this information in the simulation or in the real world. Sophie concedes that David is acting “a little hinky” and that the team should talk to him in his Boss role in the simulation.
The team discusses further the implications of ORACLE’s “contamination” within the broader scope of SANDMAN networking. Fortunately, ORACLE is a completely isolated system; it has no means of connecting to any other SANDMAN facility or computer system. This prompts Roger to conclude that the glyph had to have either (a) autogenerated by ORACLE or (b) inserted by someone onsite. That someone would, naturally, need to possess sufficient knowledge of ORACLE’s workings in order to sabotage it in such a fashion.
The team commits to the plan of going to David, as the Boss, inside the simulation later that day. Archie then raises the matter of Marshall and Mitch’s call from Colorado. He attempts as best he can to recount the call to the UK team and says that they apparently want to perform sort of exorcism of Harry Houdini’s ghost. Archie tells Roger that Marshall and Mitch wanted to talk to him, and encourages Roger to “talk them down.” Roger reacts:
Houdini? Wasn’t he one of ours? I mean, when I showed up everyone was like, “Oh hey Mr. Witch Doctor, you and Harry Houdini could partner up.” So, you know, that’s just weird.
Archie confirms Houdini’s status as a SANDMAN affiliate and expresses that he thinks the whole thing sounds like “nonsense,” implying that Mitch and Marshall may have been drunk. Roger agrees to talk to Mitch and Marshall before he hits the sack.
Before the team breaks up for the night, Charley asks Roger if he thinks it’s possible for them – the UK team – to contact Houdini themselves. She also asks if they have any way of knowing where the other 52 geographic points where Houdini’s consciousness is allegedly distributed, and if one of those points is nearby. Roger says the first thing may be possible, but that they need way more information, including the location, presumably in the UK, where Houdini performer. Charley vows to gather it and also states that she will help the team, in her role as Controller, get access to the Boss.
Saturday, May 26, 1973. The next morning, Roger heads off to check out the Carlisle Cathedral. The Ransoms, and Charley, head off on another sightseeing tour and take in the local culture. Jocasta goes for a hike through the Eden River Valley and, nearing the crest of a steep hill, spots a shepherd tending a large flock of sheep. She takes a breather, leaning against an old gnarled tree, and as she does, a raven or crow perches in the tree above her head. Glancing off in the distance, Jocasta sees a flock of black birds coming over the horizon. Dozens, then hundreds, then more. They swirl together in a strange murmuration before diving toward the flock of sheep. The shepherd attempts to swat them away with his walking stick, his border collie barking frantically. As the onslaught continues, he draws out a shotgun and fires both barrels into the air.
As Jocasta watches, the birds peck at several of the sheep, leaving two of them bloodied and bleating with holes where their eyes were. The birds then abate their attack, swoop into the sky, and form an intricate pattern. Jocasta recognizes it to be an Anunnaki glyph: NAM.HILI (Fascinate). The utter strangeness of this scene stuns Jocasta for a moment before she hears the shepherd calling to her: “Lass, lass are you alright?” Gathering her wits, she jogs down the hill and offers to go into town to get help for the man and his animals. The shepherd scowls.
Town? Town?! It’s you lot an’ that thing up there (he points to the radome in the distance, installed by GRAIL TABLE at Brougham Castle) that’s been causin’ this ta happen, the animals been going crazy ‘round here since you built that thing up there.
Jocasta says, “So this has happened before?” And the shepherd confirms it has, a few times, not always with birds. Jocasta disavows knowing anything, explaining she’s with the American military but honestly has nothing to do with what is going at the Castle. She promises, however, that she’ll do whatever she can to help the matter. This softens the shepherd, who asks that she make inquiries about what they’re doing at the Castle and explain to the people in charge what is happening with the animals. Jocasta then inquires about Clodagh. The shepherd calls her “crackers,” “crazier than these birds,” stating that she’s lived in the Valley longer than he’s been alive. He heads off, and Jocasta heads up a nearby hill in order to meditate.
Roger, meanwhile, is assigned a driver who brings him to Carlisle. After meditating in the Cathedral for a time, he goes for a short stroll and stumbles upon an old theatre. Inside one of the theatre windows is a framed poster of Houdini performing his Water Torture Cell trick. Roger does some more snooping around to get a sense of the theatre and whether it’s still in operation before heading back to Dufton.
Another Ministry driver takes the Ransoms, Charley, and Sophie to check out several of the stone circles that dot the Cumbrian landscape. In time, they come to King Arthur’s Round Table. Although the energies at this particular earthworks is heavy, ancient even, Archie, Charley, and Sophie know that it is all kind of fake — a scrimshaw that overwrote whatever real history existed there prior to the Ontoclysm. Archie muses to himself:
Archie’s taken trips to the Old World before. He’s seen ruins that are older than 535 CE. Tying that in with the sort of cobbled together Mormon revisionism that knowing about History B provides … this is his first time really being in the center of something that is both ancient and odd. There’s a lot of ancient stuff, like you can go to Rome and you can see ancient pillars and the Coliseum and everything else, and those are buildings we recognize; they’re part of the mental furniture of being in the West and knowing that historical and architectural tradition. But these are outside that ken. These are a little bit weirder. And what Archie is able to get a sense of here is that it feels a little bit like that time you went to Altamont.
Archie wonders, if this is the vibe he’s getting from a mere set of earthworks, what he can anticipate feeling when he gets to a still-somewhat-intact stone circle like Long Meg. The idea comes to him: perhaps this earthworks, and these circles, are originals … actual relics left over from before the Ontoclysm.
The tour continues onto Long Meg. The legend, as told to them by their guide, is that every one of the stones in the circle was a witch turned to stone in the ancient past. When Charley enters the circle, her eyes snap wide. She has a vision:
You are one of many people in a very large crowd. You are dressed in animal skins. You are a man with a bronze sword. What you are witnessing is that you appear to be part of a warband who have made it to this very, very important spot where the masters of humanity are present. And the leader of the warband raises up an iron sword – very different from the rest of yours – and he rushes toward a circle of … witches who are dedicated to the masters of mankind. They have formed a protective circle around something you cannot see.
Charley keeps her cool and the vision disappears as quickly as it came. Though unfazed, this is the most intense vision of a past-life she has ever had, and included olfactory and tactile sensations. Moreover, while she was unable to clearly see the thing at the center of the witches’ circle, she knows that it was some kind of Anunnaki or irruptor. Given the size of the creature, Charley deduces that the circle of stones are indeed women who were trying to protect it and that Long Meg – the largest stone, and one outside the circle – is in the same spot that she was driven to when she was driven out of the circle.
Because of their special connection, Archie shares this vision. Once he realizes what happened, he makes subtle eye contact with Charley to confirm she’s OK, and follows her lead about playing it cool and not remarking on what happened to anyone else in the group.
Later that day, the UK team reconvenes in private. Jocasta recounts her experience with the shepherd and the birds. She cautions against going back into the simulation. Sophie worries aloud that the team has now seen two glyphs in the same area in 24 hours. The team discusses what to do, what all this means, and what could be causing the animals’ strange and deadly behavior. The team resolves to confront David and then discusses a plan for doing so.
Ultimately it’s decided that the team will go up to the Castle early, before David and his colleagues, to give Charley time to poke around ORACLE unsupervised. They decide to send Roger up to the Castle that night in order to ensure that there will be no locked doors interfering with their efforts the next day. Before doing so, however, he makes a call to Colorado and talks to Mitch about best practices with respect to dealing with the dead. After that, he heads to the motor pool and unsuccessfully attempting to hotwire a car and drawing the attention of a Ministry motor pool mechanic, he channels Maître Carrefour and imperiously commandeers the keys to a vehicle, for use by the team the next morning.