Message - Sheaf of Papers

You look over that last paper, [[Camp]]. Looking at it up and down. There's no further points of interest to go down, tentative links for you to click. But, there was that one word that you noticed... Abscond. It's not like the other links, no, it's red. It's unfollowable. Wherever it goes, it seems to have been destroyed. That doesn't help you, though. Your investigation feels so close, if you could just figure it out- Your head hurts. You clutch it, trying to make the pain stop. It doesn't. It gets worse. You ruffle through your pockets, finding a pill bottle. You know exactly that you shouldn't do it, but you don't care. With haste you unscrew it, putting two blue pills into your hand, and swallowing them without water. It's uncomfortable, but it helps. The pain dies down. You can focus again. You check your screen for any indicators of anything - no, no, nothing. Just that word, in red. Abscond. Abscond. Abscond. You look up its definition. It means to be an outlaw, to run away, to avoid arrest. You think back to what you know about the story. It doesn't make sense within the context of what just occurred - only *then* would Ika and Mako be outlaws, and they're going home - they *know* they won't be found there. There would be no running, so, it makes sense to you that Ika is referring to her nebulous past - something you still don't tentatively grasp well either. You open up a new tab, away from your designated work, and log into your e-mail client. You have no reason to make a new one - you're *hoping*, anyways - but you retrieve the associated IRC thread archive that got you here. ``` --[C:Aether Labs/Employee/Personal/61518792212125/archive.txt]-- JE: hey JE: you have a second? YOU: I have no work, so, yes. YOU: What's up? JE: lol relax no need to be formal JE: just found something a little strange. if you want in or out i get it YOU: How strange are we talking? JE: you know how like JE: magic and technology, not compatible, right? YOU: What, did they bridge the gap? JE: not nessecarily lol JE: found this thing that can't be described as either JE: it's some orb in the tunnels YOU: The tunnels? They sealed those off, though. JE: i have my ways lmao YOU: I'd report you if I wasn't so curious. JE: snitch JE: anyways uh it's like an orb, right JE: it doesn't feel metallic or crystalline JE: its dark purple and feels unreal JE: like theres no texture it's just. orb feeling YOU: No texture? That can't be right. YOU: Is it an anomaly? JE: its not from an outburst no JE: thats always your answer man JE: get a job YOU: This is my job. I hold a degree and everything. Any opportunity to research the Outburst phenomena, I take it. JE: get a girlfriend. or boyfriend. or whatever you like. idk. YOU: My relationships, or lack thereof, are none of your buisness. JE: whatever JE: anyways JE: yea no texture JE: plugs into a machine just fine though JE: what was the file name uh JE: the drive is named "EXTERNAL" and it only has one file YOU: And that would be...? JE: hang on hang on JE: sorry i have the oldest OS known to the synths YOU: What about the humans? JE: damn agri whatevers? they can't program to save their life JE: i envy them JE: okay it's loaded. it's in astral hold on --[RENDERING ERROR: LINE CONTAINS INOPERABLE CHARACTERS]-- SYSTEM: Rendering Translation... SYSTEM: BEST GUESS: "From the hands of the knights" JE: thats what the programs called YOU: From Astral? JE: yah JE: it asks for input and nothing else. typical bullshit YOU: If it really did come from The Knights, though, that's in character. JE: if you ask me it's some ptentious nonsense JE: i put in a bunch of stuff but nothing JE: then i put "what do you want" and then the orb opens JE: gives me this stack of papers YOU: Where are you going with this, exactly? JE: i have better things to do, and you dont JE: you wanna get paid to read some nonsense? YOU: Sure, I guess. JE: okay cool JE: i'll meet you tommorow in the lobby. you don't need to act coy or whatever its all above bar --[SESSION WAS TERMINATED BY JE]-- ``` That is definitely no help. You look onto your desk - you see on it the eponymous set of documents you were requested. You feel like you've been looking at it for aeons. You look back at your computer - yeah, looks alright. You look back at the papers. You realize that they're plugged into your computer. And, worse yet - you've been navigating them on your computer, instead of literally rifling through them one by one. You look back at your computer, a little concerned. You run some diagnostics... everything's good there. Antivirus? Somehow less of a risk than normal. You look back at the papers. It's replaced by a hard drive - well, you assume, anyways. On the side is an inscription - `Sheaf Of Papers`, in a monospaced font. Otherwise, it just looks like a block. You look back at your computer. Again, nothing out of the ordinary, save for the apparent psychotic break. Back at the desk. You see it. The orb. It stares directly into your soul. It's purple-black in color, but distinguishably so - as if the shading hadn't been properly done. You watch it in fear. It watches back. You get the sense that it's *judging* you. As if what you're doing is wrong. Is it? You're just here to learn information, right? ...so is everyone else. We've done this song and dance before, right? Just pretending to be someone we're not? It's alright, we all do it. You stare at the orb, unblinking. You realized you haven't blinked. In a while. In fact - the word "blink" hasn't been mentioned in the second person format of these documents, indicating at least some level of awareness of a metaphorical veil, until now. Wait, what the fuck?! Did you think that, or did you read that? Is it really *you?* Who are you? You realize that you're still at your computer screen, not having once looked at a stack of papers, nor a floating orb, nor a titular hard drive. The frenzy of an existential crisis leaves you, for now. Maybe you shouldn't be taking those pills, you think. Back to the issue at hand: Abscond. It could be a broken link of some sorts. But, if it's broken, then the page it leads to doesn't exist. That would be case closed, but unfortunately, you're no quitter - so a different strategy is required. But, what else is there? Humans are naturally good at pattern recognition. I'm sure you could figure it out. ### -> [[Hint]]