4/8
Team Atlantis
Genevieve Abeille plays the Council, the head of the Atlantean delegation channeling the will of the Atlantean High Council.
Jocasta Menos plays Maurdunn, Atlantean warrior-princess (with possible shifting loyalties?) who may be being seduced by American culture.
Charley Helix plays Francus Ovidius Noctis, but you can call her Ovid, a delegate from the Atlantis-allied dolphins (they have no concept of "nation") incarnated into human form to better understand humanity.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro plays Arana, a channeler who gets messages from ancient Atlantean forebears (and perhaps even pre-Atlantean antediluvian civilizations).
Terence McKenna plays Endendros, a gardener who has traveled among humanity to learn of psychopharmacopia from all human cultures and to bring Atlantean plant and fungal wisdom to humanity.
Kim Stanley Robinson plays Girand, a crystal/earth mage/humans would call him an "architect," who has housed millions in Atlantean/formerly Atlantean-held territories in the United States, a passionate believer in Atlantis's desire to make sure all humanity is housed and fed.
Team MARPA
Archie Ransom plays Sebastian Stone, the head of the MARPA/US delegation to the Atlantean Cultural Mission, longtime spymaster and sometime occultist and libertine.
Roger Martin plays Agent Double Zero, hardened, not jaded; sarcastic, but still a true believer; dutiful to the ideals at least, if not perfectly to the orders given.
Mitch Hort plays Mitch Hort, ever in every 1970s America an intelligence agent; in the Earth of Atlantis Risen a former recruit for the U.S. Army's "Earth First Division," which uses Atlantean precepts to improve American fighting prowess, now working for MARPA.
Anna Turner plays Suzanne Charles, a musician, video technician and artist, and MARPA consultant on media subliminals, bardic magic, and visual illusions generated through technomagic at the MARPA Media Lab.
Clint Bigglestone plays John Allen, a MARPA strategist and military historian who uses predictive sciences to provide MARPA teams with executive decision-making capabilities in the field.
Hilda Hannifen plays Alisa Thomas, an independent magician who believes fervently in libertarianism but works with MARPA and the US government because the alternative—being ruled by a mystical hive-mind—is 100 times worse.
Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.
— Jules de Gaultier, memetically misattributed to Lewis Carroll
Played: May 4, 2021.
Friday, June 29, 1973. 10:30 pm. Roger gathers himself following his surprise ride by Agent 00. URIEL divides into two teams, one representing the Atlantean side, the other representing the USA. Each brings with them a couple of talented civilians from the convention. They prepare to travel up the Hotel, from floor 10 to floor 12, in order to clean up any remaining elements of History B and, hopefully, stabilize the ontological topography using the Atlantis game meme.
Before setting out, Charley informs the group that she has analyzed some of the music that is overriding the teams’ radio frequencies and the phone lines. She has determined that it is History B in origin, and is being “beamed” into the Hotel via some kind of device on the roof of the original St. Francis building. Kind of like a TV antenna. She says she can likely restore walkie-talkie communication by modifying their radios; the team puts her to it and, using her technopathic powers, she does so.
Jocasta rifles through her purse to find a tab of acid, which she thinks will help her get fully into character. But, spotting Charley, she decides against it, and instead pops a Modafinil. Terence observes this happen. He approaches Jocasta.
Terence: I, uh, couldn’t help but notice that you were thinking that it would be good to be enhanced for the … shall we say, the mood of this little game we're going to play.
Jocasta: I was thinking that but I reconsidered.
Terence: I understand. If you did need something a little bit milder and a little bit gentler and a little bit more organic, I could possibly help you out with that.
Jocasta: Hmm. Who are you?
Terence: (chuckling) I'm sorry. I'm a friend of Viv’s. My name is Terence.
Jocasta: Well, I mean, any friend of Viv’s …
Terence: Of course, my, uh, identity within the game is that of a gardener of Atlantis called Endendros.
Jocasta: Oh, that’s you.
Terence: I would assume that my role within this group is to keep my awareness open to whatever we might encounter on our adventure in the upper floors of the Cultural Mission?
Jocasta: Well, Terence, I think — speaking plainly — as someone who obviously has had, uh, a number of journeys through the terrain that we're discussing, I would tell you, your mind should be particularly open right now because you may see some things that nothing has prepared you for. But I want you to look to me for guidance if anything gets too intense up there. I think that that may be a reversal of what you're used to hearing when it comes to this sort of thing, but this is going to be a real adventure, Terence.
Terence: I will follow your lead, then. This whole day has been a little … freaky, and I’m hoping that being part of this will help distill those feeling of being a little freaked out.
Jocasta: Well, Terence — you haven't seen anything yet. But let me assure you (she ties her hair back into a sporty ponytail, stands up a bit straighter, and thrusts her chest out) trust your warrior princess Maurdunn to lead you to victory.
Archie privately convenes the URIEL team. He stresses that they need to stay in character on the upper floors in order for the memetics to take. Priority one, he explains, will be finding any civilians who may still be trapped up there and under the thrall of History B — e.g. the Special Ones, any guests who may have wandered out of their rooms, etc. Those people need to be brought into the memetic framework in order to strengthen consensus reality. As for the civilians on each team, Archie tells URIEL to tell them that their “mission” is to locate and rescue the American cultural attaché — Andrew Krane — whom the Americans thinks the Atlanteans kidnapped. In the end, however, both sides will learn that there’s a third actor at play: Sumerian demons, the real culprit behind the abduction.
Viv thinks this is quite good; it enables each side to have their own reason to investigate the upper floors and a common enemy to bring them together at the end. Archie also proposes that, from a story perspective, it makes sense for the two teams to split up, with each team to take a floor, and then have the two teams reconvene on either floor 12 or the roof. Everyone agrees that’s the most efficient way to proceed. They return to their respective squads. MARPA will go to floor 11. Atlantis will go to floor 10.
Outside, three black helicopters chopper over the San Francisco skyline towards the St. Francis while Marshall, Sophie, and Merrick careen toward Union Square in a SANDMAN control van. As they approach, a message comes over the radio: “Sir, the helicopter crews are a little confused … ” Everyone looks out the windshield toward the hotel. With the aid of their SANDMAN training, Marshall, Sophie, and Merrick are able to discern that the hotel seems under the effects of a GU.SHUB glyph. That is, it is “hard to see” — physically present, but something forces the observer not to notice it. People are walking around as if there’s no St. Francis. More worryingly, however, are the top three floors, because those seem to be missing entirely. As the van pulls over, Andy asks what’s going on, what is everyone looking at? He strains to look out the windshield, pained in doing so. He rubs his temples, and takes off his glasses. Marshall notices this and asks:
Marshall: What do you see, Krane?
Andy: I see … a hotel? That’s … kind of like … the top of it is kind of like … when you’re looking at something that’s suffused in haze. I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s unnerving to look at.
Marshall: Well, behold, Krane! You’re witnessing the work of the enemy that we have spent countless generations, millions of lives, and all the resources of the world trying to prevent. And it’s happening here! In Union Square, San Francisco. And you can see it. That means you’re one of us now.
Andy: (smirking) So your plan with the helicopters …
Merrick: This changes things considerably, Doctor. I’m going to get out there and start spreading the cover story, but I’m going to take it a little easier than I had planned because I don’t think we’re going to need as much civilian intervention as I thought we might.
Marshall: I agree.
Merrick: However, this is very worrying.
Marshall: No, agreed on both counts. This is more worrying than what I was expecting but also, I guess, better that we're not going to have to cordon off the whole hotel as thoroughly as we thought. So I guess we can send the helicopters back to base —
Merrick: — we'll keep them on standby —
Marshall: — right, keep them on standby. In the meantime, we can deploy our ground team with you in the lead as a slightly more velvet glove approach. But I do still want men in the other buildings with rifles watching the streets because three snake men got out before and we can't risk more escaping from the lobby.
As the team exits the van, they notice that the FBI agents whom Jocasta had arranged to guard the entrances and exits have departed. Likely this is due to the fact that civilians can no longer acknowledge the hotel’s existence, so with nothing to guard, they went home. Once everything is set up, Marshall and Sophie try to hail the inside team on the radio. Miraculously, they are able to reach Archie. Marshall launches in:
Marshall: Jesus Christ man, what the fuck are you doing? I had to call Stanton, you know? We're out here with a fucking kill team and a containment squad straight from Granite Peak. We have fucking black helicopters up here! The top of the building is fucking missing, Arch! It's missing! And you’re in there! What the hell, dude? Like, your wife is a fucking mess!
Archie: It’s OK, Marshall! It’s under control. I’m glad you’re here. That’s great. We’ve got —
Marshall: Where are you, man? Where in the hotel are you?
Archie: We’re in the ballroom now. The whole team is here. We're preparing to move up to take some of our, uh, participants in the narrative we've constructed — we're preparing to move them to the upper floors. I think we've got reality under control down here on the ground floor but you're right, there is … up on the top floors, well, the top floors are a problem.
Marshall: Arch, there are no more top floors! They're gone! And how can you say — how do you know your meme is working? The fucking building — we — there are people, it is Friday night in the real goddamn world in Union Square, San Francisco, and there are a thousand goddamn people out here and none of them can see the building. Is the meme working? Can someone there who has their shit together tell me if the meme is working?
Archie: Marshall, I’m telling you! Yes the situation in here is serious but the memes are going to take hold. The memetic density — there aren’t enough brains on the upper floors, but we’re working on that —
Marshall: OK, OK, OK —
Roger: To add to the sit rep, we have taken out three or four of the enemy, which was not easy. And the enemy presence on the upper floors, which we have scouted, it seems to be under control. Once we get up there, we’ll be able to get it more under control.
Marshall: (sensing that Roger is actually quite scared and seems to be lying about his bravado) Three snakes got out of the hotel earlier today and they went to UC Berkeley and, you know, long story short, we basically had to blow up the physics department there to stop them. Do you think … do you think that there were others that also got out? Did you see any others get out? Are there more trying to get out?
Roger: According to Mitch, we unfortunately did observe them escape as we attempted to try and control the situation. But we think we’ve gotten them all except maybe one on the upper floors — or some unknown, sort of higher up somewhere.
Marshall: OK. I’m going to let you go because you have important work to do. I just needed to know what was going on to update central office. You all … this has to work, Arch, because you know that if it doesn't what they're going to have to do and … I don't want that to happen to all of you. So, just stay in communication with me.
Archie: Of course, Marshall. I’m glad you’re out there.
The squads depart. MARPA take the stairs to floor 10. Among the civilians, Anna follows first. She has been cleared by Viv as one of the strongest willed, most creative thinkers amongst all of the people who have floated through the game prep over the past four hours. She is taking the role of someone who works with subliminals and video art within the Atlantis universe — a memeticist who specializes in inoculation against Atlantean belief magic. She doesn't know how much she's going to be able to be helpful up on the top floors with her particular set of skills but given that she knows the the Krane universe really well she'll be a very good actor within the meme because she knows the books really well. Hilda is playing an overall occultist. She'll be able to act as if she knows a little bit about magic because she kind of does from her ordinary life. Likewise, Clint has the character that does game theory, military history, wargaming. He's going to be trying to provide the MARPA team with tactical advice.
Arriving on floor 10, but before opening the doorway into the hallway, Archie, in character as Sebastian Stone, delivers a brief pep talk to Team MARPA:
Agents of MARPA! We’re going up to the upper floors. What's up there, it's not the good old U.S. of A anymore. You may see things that frighten you. You may see things that are going to make you fill your drawers like a baby. But listen, gentlemen and ladies, you are Americans. Red-blooded Americans. If you think those bongo drumming beatniks are the only ones that can barter with the primal forces of the universe, think again! We are the brothers and sisters of the Eye in the Pyramid, of the Obelisk and the Pentagon, of the Thirteen Stars and the Mason Word — and we didn't hack this nation out of the wilderness, drag it through 200 years of black magic and blood sacrifice, to turn tail before a bunch of crystal waving fish sticks and fish wives. Off we go!
Roger slides his sunglasses on and Clint wipes a tear from his eye. Anna smirks curiously. They open the door. Floor 10 still looks something like a mundane hotel, but many elements of it are … off. The ambient light is very dim, save for a flickering flame-like light that is emanating from an open elevator door at the central elevator bank. Roger and Mitch volunteer to investigate. They peer around the corner, into the elevator shaft, and are greeted by an Anunnaki glyph. Both avert their gaze, muster their SANDMAN training, and glance again. They see a pair of crude torches stuck to the wall. Between those two torches, on a piece of hotel stationary, is a NAM.HILI (“fascinate”) glyph. They realize that this glyph, which has the quality of drawing people toward it, was set up as a trap: the victim would investigate the light source, see the glyph, and step forward, falling nine stories to their demise. Mitch scowls and lights the paper on fire with his mind. Roger and Mitch give the rest of the team the OK to move forward.
Up one floor, the Atlanteans prepare to step into the hallway from the stairwell. Viv rallies everyone around her for a short consecration:
My beloved Atlantean delegates, the agents of MARPA have come to believe that we are here in bad faith, that we were responsible for the disappearance of Mr. Krane, and that we did this because of our personal hatred of the American way of life. Stone is an unscrupulous wizard willing to do whatever it takes to defend the values he believes should bind the world in the mind-prison of isolation. It is likely he is trying to taint the hearts and minds of the human civilians against us — as well as any agents who may feel more favorably towards us — using the dark magic of American individualism and isolation. The imposition of will through force. The masculine principle. We must move with love. With open hearts and nimble minds. Don't lose faith or doubt for a second the connection that we have here or that we will bring this conflict to a peaceful resolution.
The civilian players are rapt by this speech, smiling as Viv concludes. Terence asks Viv, in her role as the Council, how they will show the Americans that they mean no harm. As he says this, the team enters floor 11, and Terence is struck silent for a moment. The floor has almost entirely transformed into a stone-hewn hall illuminated by torches, but the historicity is all out of whack: a mishmash of ancient Mesopotamian eras and styles. “We must … find out who did this to our Cultural Mission,” he says, “we must find out who caused this place to look so … alien.” Kim, feeling one of the walls, observes aloud: “This is … ancient architecture. I mean, I can’t pinpoint the era or year, but it feels … Sumerian?” Jocasta pipes up, saying that this certainly does not look like the “glorious crystalline architecture of our beloved Atlantis.” Kim agrees, but notes that it also does not feel like the work of the Americans. “Certainly not,” Jocasta agrees, “not from what I’ve seen of the Americans. But we must be cautious and observe all that we see. All this could be trickery.”
Terence gets down on one knee before Charley and asks, “And what of the Dolphin Council? Would they be aware of this kind of presence?” Charley says it is, indeed, quite strange, and nothing like she has seen before, even among the ruins on the ocean floor. The team decides to go locate the Special Ones. As they head in that direction, Viv and Jocasta get the impression that there’s some activity past the elevators, near the Special Ones’ suite. Charley, meanwhile, notices a relief depicting Enlil, the Sumerian god of storms, carved on a lintel stone. Terence sees this, too, remarking that they seem to have some believers up here. Jocasta asks Viv if she should scout ahead. Viv nods. Jocasta draws her pistol and heads in the direction of the room with the activity. She peeks around the open archway door and spots a dead body along with about ten individuals, all con-goers, all dressed completely differently, chanting in what sounds like Sumerian.
On floor 10, Mitch and Roger report their findings and the team moves on. They discover the body of the kusarikku in the hot jazz party suite. The civilians are utterly thrown by this (ahem) practical effect. They ask if it was some kind of burnt offering. Archie, as Stone, spits on the corpse in disdain. Hilda wonders aloud if this is some sort of black Atlantean magic. Mitch walks over to the room’s windows — the only remaining element of History A in the area — and sees San Francisco on the other side. “This isn’t right,” Archie says, “it stinks — but not of seafood. There’s something else going on here. There’s a snake in the wood pile.” Hilda asks, “So, the Atlanteans don’t do ritual sacrifice?” Archie says no. Hilda presses further: “What are we looking at here, chief? Are we looking at some third party that, I mean … this all seems to me to be very, very ancient and primitive, which made me think it was Atlantis. I just assumed that these old buildings, that this would be the way they would build them at the top floors. But that’s not the case?” Archie says it is not. Roger and Mitch hint that there may be “demons” at work here.
Archie takes the temperature of the civilians. He notices Clint kind of sweating a bit from the hyper-realism of the scene, Archie drops out of character for a moment and whispers to him, “It’s really impressive, isn’t it? They really made it look real.” Anna seems a bit too curious about the scene. Mitch gives her aura a read and discovers that it is indigo in color. He also senses that she is starting to manifest latent psychic abilities. Mitch finds an empty glass and fills it with water. Anna takes it gratefully but says, “What is … what’s going on, Matthew? This is … this is real, isn’t it?” Mitch says, “Call me Mitch, please,” while giving Archie the high sign about Anna’s awareness.
Out in Union Square, Andy steps over to Marshall and asks what’s going on in the hotel. Marshall explains the building is on an ontologically unsettled site. It is slipping into a crevasse of history that was “left over” from the passage of time. He explains that timelines work like continental shelves, how they can rub against each other and create cracks and cause earthquakes, or “ontoclysms.” They are dealing with such an event right now. “If I were to venture a guess, I would say the top three floors are now in a San Francisco in a Union Square in some other time that never happened and will never happen, unless it happens and then it will have always happened, and the rest of the hotel is going along with it. Unless my colleagues — who are very good at what they do — are able to memetically stabilize the facility. And if they can't do that, then we will bomb the hotel and, I don't know, build a parking garage there or something.” Andy asks if the ramifications of this are such that they would be willing to sacrifice the lives of the 800 to 1,000 people inside the hotel. Marshall says oh yes, we — “we” including Andy, because he’s part of this now — would sacrifice the entire city of San Francisco, all of California, because the thing in that crevasse is worse than there not being a California anymore.
Andy gulps. He asks if he can go into the hotel. Marshall laughs and says no, they’ve already got too many fucked up people inside the hotel, one of them being Mitch — MJ? Southern guy? A bit of a burnout? — and the problem with unstable situations is that the more Mitches you put at the top, the less stable it becomes. Andy puts a couple things together and realizes that this Mitch guy must be the other person he spotted as being “special” outside Caffe Med in Berkeley earlier in the week. Andy says he feels responsible for all this; Marshall barks, “Yeah, ‘cause you are. You’re like super responsible.” Andy sighs.
Andy: I was told as a young man, when you’re responsible for something, you have to man up and live up to that responsibility. That’s why I asked if you needed me to go in there.
Marshall: … are you fucking with me right now? Is this … did Archie put you up to this? Is this part of Archie’s game? That you need to be sent in but you need me to believe that you genuinely want to go in there and be the hero? A man who, until this very moment, did not know about any of this, and so doesn’t know what he’s going to do when he gets in there? I think that’s what’s happening. Archie told you to say that.
Andy: I worked with Mr. Ransom on the game materials. But I don’t want those people —
Marshall: Will it fuck things up that I know that this is part of the game? Will it not work now?
Andy: I don’t want those people to die, Doctor.
Marshall evaluates Andy’s demeanor and concludes he is not lying. He has some very, very stupid ideas but he is earnest. And, when he says “people in there,” he’s talking primarily about Viv. Marshall smirks. He says to Andy, oh, so you want to get in there to save your ex-girlfriend, or friend, or whatever, the other writer, the smart one? Andy says he would prefer that “all the fen” in the building not be bombed. Marshall laughs and smiles. “OK. OK. All right. Go ahead. Go into the building.” Andy is confused. He asks if Marshall is serious. Marshall says yeah, absolutely, go ahead. The two go back and forth, Andy’s paranoia now triggered, and Marshall explaining that Andy probably wants to go inside now because Archie convinced him to do that on some subliminal level he can’t register. Marshall radios the inside team to let them know what’s going on. Andy takes a walkie-talkie and walks in the direction of the hotel. Archie grabs the walkie-talkie from Roger as the message comes through and shouts, “No no no no! No! Why would you do that? That’s not a good idea!” Marshall snaps his fingers and points at Andy. A commando runs to intercept him. Andy marches back, confused as hell.
Marshall: So you do not want him in the building?
Archie: No! No. He’s too valuable. You might be able to use him out there and it’s safe in here for him.
Marshall: Because he gave a very convincing speech about how he wanted to get in there and, like, man up and face the consequences and all that other stuff. That wasn't you? You didn’t tell him to do that?
Archie: No no! I didn’t tell him that. I mean, that’s awfully swell that he feels that way. I think that’s great. I think he’s come a long way. But, uh, no. No no no. It’s not a good idea.
On floor 11, Jocasta surreptitiously examines the dead body. Human, it lies in a pool of drying blood. She takes another quick look at the ten revelers in the room, but recognizes none. She ASL signals to the team — with Charley translating for the civilians — that there are ten people inside, potentially hostile. Crouching low, she reaches into the room and starts dragging the body out into the hallway. As she does, the face becomes visible to her. It’s a member of the con committee. Jocasta creeps back to the group, leaving the body in the hall a few feet away from the group. “Friends, colleagues, comrades of Atlantis,” she whispers, “we approach the very nexus of whatever sorcery has been worked upon us but, your excellency, I begin to suspect that the men of America are not responsible for this.” Viv examines the body over Jocasta’s shoulder and determines that the person — Tom, the con’s official “toast master” — is indeed deceased. Jocasta turns to Terence and tells him she needs to confer with the Council briefly, but that, while she is doing so, he should help steel their comrades for what lies ahead. Terence nods and turns to Kim, Chelsea, and Charley. “This may be a task for the warriors among us to take upon their shoulders. It's a responsibility they must not take lightly. We should stay and remove at this time.” They scoot back down the hallway.
Jocasta pulls Viv to the side. She gives a brief overview of the tactical situation and explains that they are very close to the enemy now.
Jocasta: Their influence is very strong here. I need to lay my cards on the table as much as possible here because we need to be able to influence them … I think they've already been very influenced by the enemy at this point, and I don't want anyone to be hurt here. But it's it may be difficult to judge how influenced they are already and I need everyone —
Viv: Well, someone’s been hurt already.
Jocasta: Of course.
Viv: So you're saying that they’ve been influenced already and that we're very close to these entities. Does that mean that their belief in whatever they're believing right now …
Jocasta: We need to bring them away from whatever they’re doing now and closer to where they were before this started or even were involved in our story? We need to take them away from what they're believing right now and we need to be able to do that very carefully because we don't want to — just take my word for it that it would be very bad to introduce any further violence into this situation.
As Jocasta explains the situation to Viv, she realizes that the death of Tom likely accelerated the slippage of the hotel’s topmost floors into History B. She warns Viv that the death of Tom is what has lead to this floor becoming so alien. It has reinforced the beliefs of the celebrants in the room, strengthening the gravity of History B in this area. The two adjourn and Jocasta heads over to Charley, to whom she relays everything in Danbe under the pretext of delivering an Atlantean prayer. The civilians find this very impressive — what a little dash of flavor!
Viv attempts to discern what, exactly, the ten people in the room are doing so that she can disrupt it. With Jocasta’s assistance, she determines that they are singing songs of praise, but their voices are ragged and tired. A bunch of people who are sick of singing at church. They are going through the motions, and they want to stop but can’t. Viv gets an idea: she is going to have the Atlantean team approach the room singing a different song, a sort of processional for their fallen friend Tom, to break the spell and lure the adherents to the Atlantean side. Viv assembles the group and explains the plan. Terence asks what song should they sing? Viv says “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair).” With that, the team starts getting into their roles, with Charley channeling Houdini’s carnival barking, as well as her own pop cultural knowledge, and Jocasta attempting to lend some hypnotic quality to their performance in aid of Viv’s work.
The performance is a critical success. The procession interrupts the sick ritual the adherents were performing and provides them with a memory of their real lives. The gentle-hearted pop song breaks the Anunnaki’s spell. They start to emerge from the room, blinking like voles. Though visibly relieved to be free from the bonds of Enlil, Viv can detect that they are deeply traumatized by this experience. As they go, each averts their gaze from the lintel of the doorframe. One of them grabs a piece of hotel stationary off the lintel and crumples it up. The Atlanteans lead these survivors to the stairwell. As they do, floor 11 starts to transition back to History A.
Elsewhere, the MARPA team finishes scouring floor 10. They find nothing else unusual. Before ascending to floor 12, Archie takes a black permanent marker from one of the civilians and draws the Eye of Providence on a wall — a sign that America has reclaimed this land from the enemy. Everyone heads up the stairwell to floor 12. They emerge right by the URIEL bivouac suite. Mitch says they should check on Carl while they’re here. Roger and Mitch peer around the door and find the room looking much the same as it did before. But! Carl is missing. Roger and Mitch look at each other. They briefly discuss what to do in ASL before Roger realizes the solution: he pulls out his ikoter rifle, blasts the door, and then kicks his way inside. The room is dusty, damaged, in disarray. All of its History A material is decayed, like it had been laying there untouched for centuries. Roger picks up his old jumpsuit and it falls apart in his hands. The team puts their heads together and realize what happened: someone, likely Carl, held onto History A inside this space longer than anyone or anything else, so as the top three floors descended into History B, this room degraded rather than transitioning. This enabled Carl to escape — apparently, he had just enough juice left in him to get away.
Outside, Marshall, Sophie, and Merrick watch as floor 10 and floor 11 rematerialize. Marshall laughs. “The memes are good! That motherfucker wasn’t lying.”