Provenance: nineteen field reports filed by Order observers attached to the boundary detail of the deep-stratum quarantine, one personal effect — a brass cylinder of a design the Librarian has not been able to attribute, a letter found in the personal effects of a survey-crew member, and a memorial inscription cut into the corridor wall of the third sub-stratum.
They were seven. The Order did not assemble them. They found each other.
Full chronicle
Page 1
They found each other.
They were seven. The Order did not assemble them. They found each other.
Renn. Structural engineer. Commendations for innovative load-distribution work. The file ends with the year.
Voll. Thaumaturgy. The apparatus is his own. The Librarian has searched for its design specifications. They are not in the Order's records.
Asha. Fourteen years of routine calibration. The reports describe her as the one who chooses where the standing happens.
T. and M. The files were moved.
The seventh has no name in any record. He is referred to obliquely.
Page 2
The substrate runs through the lower walls.
The deep stratum had been quarantined after the Annex sealing. The quarantine was not absolute.
The substrate runs through the lower walls. They came up through any seam the substrate had threaded.
The Order kept a working detail at the boundary, mandated only to prevent the ascent of any organism that had not been catalogued.
The rotation broke. Two declined. Then five. Then they began to act as a unit.
They have not slept in seven cycles. They take meals in the corridor. They do not return to quarters.
Page 3
The arrivals.
The arrival approached the apparatus. The apparatus operated. The arrival is no longer.
Containment was effected by a method I cannot describe.
It came through the wall, between the bricks. Asha was present.
The corridor wall is intact. The arrival is not.
I have submitted three relief requests on their behalf. The Order has not responded.
Page 4
The named ones.
She holds positions with a method the observers cannot describe.
Where the apparatus came from is not catalogued.
The one who chooses where the standing happens.
T. and M. The files were moved. The Librarian has searched.
The seventh has no name. The personnel file does not exist.
Page 5
I am one of seven.
You will not read this. I am writing it because I have learned that some things remain only when written.
We have been seven for fourteen months. We have not lost one.
The substrate has noticed him. Something has begun arriving for him specifically. He meets each one alone.
Each engagement leaves him taller by a small amount. We have measured.
I am one of seven. I will be one of fewer.
Page 6
Six fell where they stood.
The substrate produced an arrival of a size and form not previously catalogued. Six members were present. The seventh was not.
The engagement continues. I am withdrawing.
Seven were the standing. Six fell where they stood. One walks where the standing was kept.
Page 7
I do not know who continues to meet them.
I have surveyed the corridor again this cycle. The inscription is unchanged.
The cutting predates her tenure by an interval she has not measured.
The substrate continues to produce arrivals. They are smaller than the reports describe.
Something at the boundary continues to meet them.
I do not know who continues to meet them. I do not know if it is one or one of seven.
— / —
narration auto-scrolls the prose
Section 0Frontmatter
# The Outward
From the Catalogue of the Sixteenth Archivist, entry 7,402. Provenance: nineteen field reports filed by Order observers attached to the boundary detail of the deep-stratum quarantine, one personal effect — a brass cylinder of a design the Librarian has not been able to attribute, a letter found in the personal effects of a survey-crew member, and a memorial inscription cut into the corridor wall of the third sub-stratum.
They were seven. The Order did not assemble them. They found each other.
Section 1Section 1
They came from different work. A calibrator. A thaumaturgy researcher. A structural engineer. A physician's apprentice. Two members of the deep-stratum survey crew. One whose original posting the Order's records do not specify. Seven.
They had no shared training, no shared command, no shared origin. The Order had no designation for them. Their personnel files list them individually, each assigned to her original work.
The Librarian uses the Outward because the field reports use it. The Outward party. The Outward stand. No other designation appears.
They began to operate together in the sixty-third year of the deep-stratum quarantine.
Section 2Section 2
The deep stratum had been quarantined after the Annex sealing. The quarantine was not absolute. The substrate runs through the lower walls. Things came up through it. They came up through the floors. They came up through any seam the substrate had threaded.
The Order kept a working detail of armed personnel at the boundary, mandated only to prevent the ascent of any organism that had not been catalogued.
The detail rotated. Members served three-month cycles and returned to their original assignments. The rotation broke when seven members did not rotate out.
The reports use a phrase that recurs: did not request relief. Two members declined the rotation. Then five. Then they began to act as a unit, deploying together, moving through the lower corridors on patterns that did not match any Order schedule.
The Order continued to issue rotation orders. The Outward did not respond.
Section 3Section 3
Fragment. A field report filed by an Order observer attached to the boundary detail. The hand is the observer's. The paper is standard issue. The date is illegible.
"The substrate produced three arrivals this month. The first ascended the eastern shaft and was contained by Renn at the third landing. Containment was effected by a method I cannot describe. The arrival did not return downward. It did not continue upward. It is not in any chamber I have inspected.
The second arrival came up the western shaft. Voll met it at the second landing. Voll carries an apparatus of his own design — a cylindrical instrument approximately a meter long, fitted at one end with a binding-circle modified to operate at the substrate's frequency. The arrival approached the apparatus. The apparatus operated. The arrival is no longer.
The third arrival did not use a shaft. It came through the wall of corridor 4-east-12, between the bricks. Asha was present. The corridor wall is intact. The arrival is not.
The Outward have not slept in seven cycles. They take meals in the corridor. They do not return to quarters. I have submitted three relief requests on their behalf. The Order has not responded."
Section 4Section 4
Renn was a structural engineer in the upper Laboratory before the sixty-third year. Her personnel file shows commendations for innovative load-distribution work. Her file ends with the year. The field reports describe her holding positions with a method "I cannot describe." The reports use this phrase, or a variant, for each Outward member.
Voll was a thaumaturgy researcher. The apparatus he carried is mentioned in seven reports. The Librarian has searched for its design specifications. They are not in the Order's records. They are not in any inventory she can access. Where it came from is not catalogued.
Asha was a calibrator. Her personnel file shows fourteen years of routine calibration work. After the sixty-third year, the field reports describe her as the one who chooses where the standing happens. The Librarian has interpreted this as tactical positioning. The phrasing is not hers.
Two members are referred to in the reports by single letters. T. and M. Their personnel files have been moved out of the Librarian's reach.
The seventh has no designation. The reports refer to him in oblique constructions — the seventh, the one beside Renn, the quiet one, him. No name appears. No personnel file has been found that connects to the references.
Section 5Section 5
Fragment. A letter found in the personal effects of a member of the deep-stratum survey crew, returned to her family after she did not return from the boundary. The letter was not addressed.
"You will not read this. I am writing it because I have learned that some things remain only when written.
We have been seven for fourteen months. We have not lost one. The Order's field reports note our durations against historical averages. We are exceeding them.
The substrate is sending more this month than it has sent in any previous month. Voll thinks we are being measured against. Renn does not speculate. Asha says only that the next one will not come up the shafts.
The seventh among us has begun to speak less. He was already quiet. He is now silent. The substrate has noticed him. I do not know how. I know that something has begun arriving for him specifically. He meets each one alone. He does not require us. We do not insist.
Each engagement leaves him taller by a small amount. We have measured. None of us have remarked on the measurement to him.
I am writing this in the corridor. The lamp is steady. The hum of the substrate has not changed. I am one of seven. I will be one of fewer."
Section 6Section 6
The fragment ends mid-letter. The writer's hand and the letter's materials identify her as one of the deep-stratum survey crew. Her name is in her personnel file. The file lists her status as unresolved.
The Outward continued to operate for an interval of years the field reports do not specify. The reports become sparser. The observers attached to them rotate out and are not replaced.
The final report the Librarian has been able to recover describes a single engagement at the lowest accessible point of the substrate stratum. The substrate produced an arrival of a size and form not previously catalogued. Six members of the Outward were present. The seventh was not.
The report ends with a note: the engagement continues. I am withdrawing.
The reports stop after this. No observer returned to the boundary detail. The Order did not re-establish it.
Section 7Section 7
Fragment. A memorial inscription cut into the wall of a corridor in the third sub-stratum. The cutting is shallow. The script is not the Order's. The Librarian has identified the script as the same script the Outward's recovered effects bear, in a hand she has not been able to attribute to any single member. The inscription reads:
Seven were the standing.
Six fell where they stood.
One walks where the standing was kept.
The inscription is not signed. The Librarian has measured the cutting depth. It is consistent across all the characters. The inscription was made by a single hand in a single sitting.
She has dated the cutting by the fungal bloom in the kerf. The cutting predates her tenure by an interval she has not measured.
Section 8Section 8
The corridor in which the inscription was found bears no other markings. The Librarian has surveyed it three times. The walls are smooth. The stone is original. The inscription is the only deliberate mark on the stretch.
The Order's records do not acknowledge the Outward. The Order's records do not acknowledge the substrate's arrivals. The Order's records do not acknowledge the boundary detail's mandate.
The Librarian has filed the recovered materials separately from the personnel files of the seven. She has filed them under a heading she has used twice in her tenure. The other entry under the heading is a small box of items she does not look at.
The substrate continues to produce arrivals. They are smaller than the reports describe. The Order continues not to acknowledge them. Something at the boundary continues to meet them.
Entry 7,402, final annotation.
"Seven were the standing.
Six fell where they stood.
One walks where the standing was kept.
I have surveyed the corridor again this cycle. The inscription is unchanged. The walls bear no other markings.
The substrate arrived twice this month. Both arrivals are no longer.
The arrivals were not always small.
I do not know who continues to meet them.
I do not know if it is one or one of seven."
Section 0Frontmatter
# The Outward
From the Catalogue of the Sixteenth Archivist, entry 7,402. Provenance: nineteen field reports filed by Order observers attached to the boundary detail of the deep-stratum quarantine, one personal effect — a brass cylinder of a design the Librarian has not been able to attribute, a letter found in the personal effects of a survey-crew member, and a memorial inscription cut into the corridor wall of the third sub-stratum.
They were seven. The Order did not assemble them. They found each other.
Section 1Section 1
They came from different work. A calibrator. A thaumaturgy researcher. A structural engineer. A physician's apprentice. Two members of the deep-stratum survey crew. One whose original posting the Order's records do not specify. Seven.
They had no shared training, no shared command, no shared origin. The Order had no designation for them. Their personnel files list them individually, each assigned to her original work.
The Librarian uses the Outward because the field reports use it. The Outward party. The Outward stand. No other designation appears.
They began to operate together in the sixty-third year of the deep-stratum quarantine.
Section 2Section 2
The deep stratum had been quarantined after the Annex sealing. The quarantine was not absolute. The substrate runs through the lower walls. Things came up through it. They came up through the floors. They came up through any seam the substrate had threaded.
The Order kept a working detail of armed personnel at the boundary, mandated only to prevent the ascent of any organism that had not been catalogued.
The detail rotated. Members served three-month cycles and returned to their original assignments. The rotation broke when seven members did not rotate out.
The reports use a phrase that recurs: did not request relief. Two members declined the rotation. Then five. Then they began to act as a unit, deploying together, moving through the lower corridors on patterns that did not match any Order schedule.
The Order continued to issue rotation orders. The Outward did not respond.
Section 3Section 3
Fragment. A field report filed by an Order observer attached to the boundary detail. The hand is the observer's. The paper is standard issue. The date is illegible.
"The substrate produced three arrivals this month. The first ascended the eastern shaft and was contained by Renn at the third landing. Containment was effected by a method I cannot describe. The arrival did not return downward. It did not continue upward. It is not in any chamber I have inspected.
The second arrival came up the western shaft. Voll met it at the second landing. Voll carries an apparatus of his own design — a cylindrical instrument approximately a meter long, fitted at one end with a binding-circle modified to operate at the substrate's frequency. The arrival approached the apparatus. The apparatus operated. The arrival is no longer.
The third arrival did not use a shaft. It came through the wall of corridor 4-east-12, between the bricks. Asha was present. The corridor wall is intact. The arrival is not.
The Outward have not slept in seven cycles. They take meals in the corridor. They do not return to quarters. I have submitted three relief requests on their behalf. The Order has not responded."
Section 4Section 4
Renn was a structural engineer in the upper Laboratory before the sixty-third year. Her personnel file shows commendations for innovative load-distribution work. Her file ends with the year. The field reports describe her holding positions with a method "I cannot describe." The reports use this phrase, or a variant, for each Outward member.
Voll was a thaumaturgy researcher. The apparatus he carried is mentioned in seven reports. The Librarian has searched for its design specifications. They are not in the Order's records. They are not in any inventory she can access. Where it came from is not catalogued.
Asha was a calibrator. Her personnel file shows fourteen years of routine calibration work. After the sixty-third year, the field reports describe her as the one who chooses where the standing happens. The Librarian has interpreted this as tactical positioning. The phrasing is not hers.
Two members are referred to in the reports by single letters. T. and M. Their personnel files have been moved out of the Librarian's reach.
The seventh has no designation. The reports refer to him in oblique constructions — the seventh, the one beside Renn, the quiet one, him. No name appears. No personnel file has been found that connects to the references.
Section 5Section 5
Fragment. A letter found in the personal effects of a member of the deep-stratum survey crew, returned to her family after she did not return from the boundary. The letter was not addressed.
"You will not read this. I am writing it because I have learned that some things remain only when written.
We have been seven for fourteen months. We have not lost one. The Order's field reports note our durations against historical averages. We are exceeding them.
The substrate is sending more this month than it has sent in any previous month. Voll thinks we are being measured against. Renn does not speculate. Asha says only that the next one will not come up the shafts.
The seventh among us has begun to speak less. He was already quiet. He is now silent. The substrate has noticed him. I do not know how. I know that something has begun arriving for him specifically. He meets each one alone. He does not require us. We do not insist.
Each engagement leaves him taller by a small amount. We have measured. None of us have remarked on the measurement to him.
I am writing this in the corridor. The lamp is steady. The hum of the substrate has not changed. I am one of seven. I will be one of fewer."
Section 6Section 6
The fragment ends mid-letter. The writer's hand and the letter's materials identify her as one of the deep-stratum survey crew. Her name is in her personnel file. The file lists her status as unresolved.
The Outward continued to operate for an interval of years the field reports do not specify. The reports become sparser. The observers attached to them rotate out and are not replaced.
The final report the Librarian has been able to recover describes a single engagement at the lowest accessible point of the substrate stratum. The substrate produced an arrival of a size and form not previously catalogued. Six members of the Outward were present. The seventh was not.
The report ends with a note: the engagement continues. I am withdrawing.
The reports stop after this. No observer returned to the boundary detail. The Order did not re-establish it.
Section 7Section 7
Fragment. A memorial inscription cut into the wall of a corridor in the third sub-stratum. The cutting is shallow. The script is not the Order's. The Librarian has identified the script as the same script the Outward's recovered effects bear, in a hand she has not been able to attribute to any single member. The inscription reads:
Seven were the standing.
Six fell where they stood.
One walks where the standing was kept.
The inscription is not signed. The Librarian has measured the cutting depth. It is consistent across all the characters. The inscription was made by a single hand in a single sitting.
She has dated the cutting by the fungal bloom in the kerf. The cutting predates her tenure by an interval she has not measured.
Section 8Section 8
The corridor in which the inscription was found bears no other markings. The Librarian has surveyed it three times. The walls are smooth. The stone is original. The inscription is the only deliberate mark on the stretch.
The Order's records do not acknowledge the Outward. The Order's records do not acknowledge the substrate's arrivals. The Order's records do not acknowledge the boundary detail's mandate.
The Librarian has filed the recovered materials separately from the personnel files of the seven. She has filed them under a heading she has used twice in her tenure. The other entry under the heading is a small box of items she does not look at.
The substrate continues to produce arrivals. They are smaller than the reports describe. The Order continues not to acknowledge them. Something at the boundary continues to meet them.
Entry 7,402, final annotation.
"Seven were the standing.
Six fell where they stood.
One walks where the standing was kept.
I have surveyed the corridor again this cycle. The inscription is unchanged. The walls bear no other markings.
The substrate arrived twice this month. Both arrivals are no longer.
The arrivals were not always small.
I do not know who continues to meet them.
I do not know if it is one or one of seven."
Page 1
They found each other.
They were seven. The Order did not assemble them. They found each other.
Renn. Structural engineer. Commendations for innovative load-distribution work. The file ends with the year.
Voll. Thaumaturgy. The apparatus is his own. The Librarian has searched for its design specifications. They are not in the Order's records.
Asha. Fourteen years of routine calibration. The reports describe her as the one who chooses where the standing happens.
T. and M. The files were moved.
The seventh has no name in any record. He is referred to obliquely.
Page 2
The substrate runs through the lower walls.
The deep stratum had been quarantined after the Annex sealing. The quarantine was not absolute.
The substrate runs through the lower walls. They came up through any seam the substrate had threaded.
The Order kept a working detail at the boundary, mandated only to prevent the ascent of any organism that had not been catalogued.
The rotation broke. Two declined. Then five. Then they began to act as a unit.
They have not slept in seven cycles. They take meals in the corridor. They do not return to quarters.
Page 3
The arrivals.
The arrival approached the apparatus. The apparatus operated. The arrival is no longer.
Containment was effected by a method I cannot describe.
It came through the wall, between the bricks. Asha was present.
The corridor wall is intact. The arrival is not.
I have submitted three relief requests on their behalf. The Order has not responded.
Page 4
The named ones.
She holds positions with a method the observers cannot describe.
Where the apparatus came from is not catalogued.
The one who chooses where the standing happens.
T. and M. The files were moved. The Librarian has searched.
The seventh has no name. The personnel file does not exist.
Page 5
I am one of seven.
You will not read this. I am writing it because I have learned that some things remain only when written.
We have been seven for fourteen months. We have not lost one.
The substrate has noticed him. Something has begun arriving for him specifically. He meets each one alone.
Each engagement leaves him taller by a small amount. We have measured.
I am one of seven. I will be one of fewer.
Page 6
Six fell where they stood.
The substrate produced an arrival of a size and form not previously catalogued. Six members were present. The seventh was not.
The engagement continues. I am withdrawing.
Seven were the standing. Six fell where they stood. One walks where the standing was kept.
Page 7
I do not know who continues to meet them.
I have surveyed the corridor again this cycle. The inscription is unchanged.
The cutting predates her tenure by an interval she has not measured.
The substrate continues to produce arrivals. They are smaller than the reports describe.
Something at the boundary continues to meet them.
I do not know who continues to meet them. I do not know if it is one or one of seven.
Listen ModeClick a section to begin listening
The chronicle plays section by section in the Librarian's voice. As each section plays, the corresponding pages of the comic are highlighted. Switch to Scroll, Flip, Prose, or Split at any time — the audio continues, and you can follow visually.
Section 0Frontmatter
# The Outward
From the Catalogue of the Sixteenth Archivist, entry 7,402. Provenance: nineteen field reports filed by Order observers attached to the boundary detail of the deep-stratum quarantine, one personal effect — a brass cylinder of a design the Librarian has not been able to attribute, a letter found in the personal effects of a survey-crew member, and a memorial inscription cut into the corridor wall of the third sub-stratum.
They were seven. The Order did not assemble them. They found each other.
Section 1Section 1
They came from different work. A calibrator. A thaumaturgy researcher. A structural engineer. A physician's apprentice. Two members of the deep-stratum survey crew. One whose original posting the Order's records do not specify. Seven.
They had no shared training, no shared command, no shared origin. The Order had no designation for them. Their personnel files list them individually, each assigned to her original work.
The Librarian uses the Outward because the field reports use it. The Outward party. The Outward stand. No other designation appears.
They began to operate together in the sixty-third year of the deep-stratum quarantine.
Section 2Section 2
The deep stratum had been quarantined after the Annex sealing. The quarantine was not absolute. The substrate runs through the lower walls. Things came up through it. They came up through the floors. They came up through any seam the substrate had threaded.
The Order kept a working detail of armed personnel at the boundary, mandated only to prevent the ascent of any organism that had not been catalogued.
The detail rotated. Members served three-month cycles and returned to their original assignments. The rotation broke when seven members did not rotate out.
The reports use a phrase that recurs: did not request relief. Two members declined the rotation. Then five. Then they began to act as a unit, deploying together, moving through the lower corridors on patterns that did not match any Order schedule.
The Order continued to issue rotation orders. The Outward did not respond.
Section 3Section 3
Fragment. A field report filed by an Order observer attached to the boundary detail. The hand is the observer's. The paper is standard issue. The date is illegible.
"The substrate produced three arrivals this month. The first ascended the eastern shaft and was contained by Renn at the third landing. Containment was effected by a method I cannot describe. The arrival did not return downward. It did not continue upward. It is not in any chamber I have inspected.
The second arrival came up the western shaft. Voll met it at the second landing. Voll carries an apparatus of his own design — a cylindrical instrument approximately a meter long, fitted at one end with a binding-circle modified to operate at the substrate's frequency. The arrival approached the apparatus. The apparatus operated. The arrival is no longer.
The third arrival did not use a shaft. It came through the wall of corridor 4-east-12, between the bricks. Asha was present. The corridor wall is intact. The arrival is not.
The Outward have not slept in seven cycles. They take meals in the corridor. They do not return to quarters. I have submitted three relief requests on their behalf. The Order has not responded."
Section 4Section 4
Renn was a structural engineer in the upper Laboratory before the sixty-third year. Her personnel file shows commendations for innovative load-distribution work. Her file ends with the year. The field reports describe her holding positions with a method "I cannot describe." The reports use this phrase, or a variant, for each Outward member.
Voll was a thaumaturgy researcher. The apparatus he carried is mentioned in seven reports. The Librarian has searched for its design specifications. They are not in the Order's records. They are not in any inventory she can access. Where it came from is not catalogued.
Asha was a calibrator. Her personnel file shows fourteen years of routine calibration work. After the sixty-third year, the field reports describe her as the one who chooses where the standing happens. The Librarian has interpreted this as tactical positioning. The phrasing is not hers.
Two members are referred to in the reports by single letters. T. and M. Their personnel files have been moved out of the Librarian's reach.
The seventh has no designation. The reports refer to him in oblique constructions — the seventh, the one beside Renn, the quiet one, him. No name appears. No personnel file has been found that connects to the references.
Section 5Section 5
Fragment. A letter found in the personal effects of a member of the deep-stratum survey crew, returned to her family after she did not return from the boundary. The letter was not addressed.
"You will not read this. I am writing it because I have learned that some things remain only when written.
We have been seven for fourteen months. We have not lost one. The Order's field reports note our durations against historical averages. We are exceeding them.
The substrate is sending more this month than it has sent in any previous month. Voll thinks we are being measured against. Renn does not speculate. Asha says only that the next one will not come up the shafts.
The seventh among us has begun to speak less. He was already quiet. He is now silent. The substrate has noticed him. I do not know how. I know that something has begun arriving for him specifically. He meets each one alone. He does not require us. We do not insist.
Each engagement leaves him taller by a small amount. We have measured. None of us have remarked on the measurement to him.
I am writing this in the corridor. The lamp is steady. The hum of the substrate has not changed. I am one of seven. I will be one of fewer."
Section 6Section 6
The fragment ends mid-letter. The writer's hand and the letter's materials identify her as one of the deep-stratum survey crew. Her name is in her personnel file. The file lists her status as unresolved.
The Outward continued to operate for an interval of years the field reports do not specify. The reports become sparser. The observers attached to them rotate out and are not replaced.
The final report the Librarian has been able to recover describes a single engagement at the lowest accessible point of the substrate stratum. The substrate produced an arrival of a size and form not previously catalogued. Six members of the Outward were present. The seventh was not.
The report ends with a note: the engagement continues. I am withdrawing.
The reports stop after this. No observer returned to the boundary detail. The Order did not re-establish it.
Section 7Section 7
Fragment. A memorial inscription cut into the wall of a corridor in the third sub-stratum. The cutting is shallow. The script is not the Order's. The Librarian has identified the script as the same script the Outward's recovered effects bear, in a hand she has not been able to attribute to any single member. The inscription reads:
Seven were the standing.
Six fell where they stood.
One walks where the standing was kept.
The inscription is not signed. The Librarian has measured the cutting depth. It is consistent across all the characters. The inscription was made by a single hand in a single sitting.
She has dated the cutting by the fungal bloom in the kerf. The cutting predates her tenure by an interval she has not measured.
Section 8Section 8
The corridor in which the inscription was found bears no other markings. The Librarian has surveyed it three times. The walls are smooth. The stone is original. The inscription is the only deliberate mark on the stretch.
The Order's records do not acknowledge the Outward. The Order's records do not acknowledge the substrate's arrivals. The Order's records do not acknowledge the boundary detail's mandate.
The Librarian has filed the recovered materials separately from the personnel files of the seven. She has filed them under a heading she has used twice in her tenure. The other entry under the heading is a small box of items she does not look at.
The substrate continues to produce arrivals. They are smaller than the reports describe. The Order continues not to acknowledge them. Something at the boundary continues to meet them.
Entry 7,402, final annotation.
"Seven were the standing.
Six fell where they stood.
One walks where the standing was kept.
I have surveyed the corridor again this cycle. The inscription is unchanged. The walls bear no other markings.
The substrate arrived twice this month. Both arrivals are no longer.
