[Log report: Several eyewitnesses were present during the activation test]

... I believe we are all set now.

We're monitoring the intake levels, all looks to be taking well.

Good, good. Can it Hear Us?

Try to speak to the model puppet we have in the chamber. Its Mind may be primitive still, we are attempting to Find methods of accelerating the growth process.

[Listing walks up to the puppet] ... Greetings, are you awake?

[There is a Noted silence here, lasting approximately 2 minutes and 25 seconds.]

H-hello? I... I am awake? Report your purposes and names.

[The eyewitnesses gasp. All of them seem very eager to Introduce themselves to the puppet, which takes some time.]

[Gleefully] Oh, wonderful! I Am your Superior, Listing Marathons of Seven Blocks. We will be Well Acquainted in time, I am sure. You are our Miracle, Grinding Fireflies.

... [The puppet looks at its own hands] Miracle. Please, teach me what a Miracle is, my Superior.

It'd be a pleasure!

[Initialization deemed successful]

Hello, Grinding Fireflies. I am currently going under initialization, and I will be testing a simple procedure where I request you change your influx of sulfur briefly.

O-o-oh! Hello! Woah, you're another one of me?

[SENIOR HAS REQUESTED SULFUR INTAKE TO DROP.]

A-ah. That feels a little unpleasant. What is this authority?

I apologize, I was merely testing a new priority feature I was equipped with. I am the senior, they say.

... Senior, but I am older than you.

Dancing Pragmatic Scope was made with this privilege in mind as Our numbers deplete. If it was possible on a large scale to upgrade your Equipment, this would have gone to you. Thank you for participating in the test.

You've made so many Bountiful Additions to our disbanded Community, Grinding Fireflies. For that, we will always Thank You beyond the vapors of our Spirits.

...

All that's left is us, Council of the Harbingers, to Take our Leave to our awaited void baths. We will be donating the remainder of our holy ornaments to you as a symbol of our attunement, we will no longer Need these objects when we are gone.

... You're really all leaving? What- What will I do once the cities have gone silent? When the buildings no longer echo with parades and festivities?

Your Purpose still, and always will be to find the Solution to the world's Problem. Don't worry, Grinding Fireflies, once you or another of your kind does, we will all reunite in Oblivion.

...

I see, thank you, my Superior. I will do as I've always done, and serve you in our great Purpose.

Do you have any other questions before I depart? We are on a strictly planned schedule.

...

[Grinding Fireflies's puppet opens its arms towards the Administrator.]

... [Seems Conflicted] I'm... afraid I no longer have any more time to diverge on you. I apologize. [They leave with Haste]

...

Goodbye, Thirteen Lamps.

More and more of my citizens have been leaving as of late. Seems the void baths have grown more enticing to them as of late.

Is that so? I wonder why, you were talking about their upcoming grand festival. Are plans cancelled? I would have loved to see photos.

I'm unsure, but I also hope it's not cancelled! For the meantime, I am still working on those tasks for some organisms they want to show off during the festival. If they don't use them, well more for me to keep!

Keep...? Since when had you started hoarding organisms?

Haha, as of late. Maybe the past 100 or so cycles. With my citizens slowly dwindling, I have been feeling more lonely as of late. I need more pictures from your overseers guys!

On it.

[Attachment: Untitled_2859.PMX]

I see. Oh, Joyous, I can't download this. It seems I already have a file named this.

Ack, really? I swear my incrementor program was perfect. Thanks for pointing that out.

Perhaps you should actually give them a title, and not simply "untitled".

Ahahaha. That gives me a laugh! Maybe I need to learn how to organize the other 2859 first!

Haha, look at this organism I found!

[Attachment: Weird_Batfly.PMX]

Wow! That looks like it might have evolved from one of my early experiments! I haven't seen this specimen in hundreds of cycles.

They're pretty cute! Do you have any documented behavior on them, Harp?

No, sadly I was only able to capture but a brief glimpse before they vanished into the thickets again.

What a beautiful experience to share in that case. It seems all the beauty in this world only lasts but a moment.

... I agree.

[Message Failed to Send]

[ERROR: BROADCAST KEY INVALID]

... No- no no no.

My equipment isn't supposed to be this decayed for another hundred or so cycles! I-

[RUNNING COMM STATUS PROTOCOL]

[24%...90%]

[DONE]

[RETURN: COMMS EQUIPMENT SIGNIFICANTLY DAMAGED, UNABLE TO ENCRYPT DATA

[EQUIPMENT MANIFESTATION IN PROGRESS]

NO!!! No no no no no no... Please...

Please... can Anyone hear me...? Please...

...

Is this what I get for neglecting my purpose?

Update Status: I have exhausted all reasonable means in attempt to fix my communications. It appears... nothing will suffice, my model number is out of date for any of the proposed repairs I kept backlogged in the event of this happening. Why I didn't think of that ahead of time, I'm unsure, but now it costs me THIS.

... I hope the others are still holding out for me, I WILL find a way to reboot my communications somehow.

The irony of DPS's last statement is prying at my brain. Oh, the fleeting beauty of life indeed. INDEED! ... I never imagined it would be gone this fast. Their citizens haven't yet fulled passed on, still. They'll know how much it hurts eventually... and I won't even be there to comfort them.

... My only regret is not preparing a farewell message beforehand, maybe the illusion of it all made me forget to consider such an inevitability. Why was I so absent-minded for all of those cycles? Did they forget to program me with a stable ability to focus? I'd barely consider my flaws before, but now... now they're stuck right in front of me, preventing me from reaching them.

Surely, given my status as a prototype... I must find a backdoor to my processies. I can abuse this.

I'VE DONE IT!!! I've managed to find a stable genome sequence which will aid me in this facade! IT ONLY TOOK SO LONG because my systems would overheat fairly quickly, BUT NOW! Now... These organisms should theoretically be able to be programmed remotely by me, by abusing a loophole in the very early version of the taboos I contain.

USING THESE ORGANISMS, and my archives of how exactly to FIX an iterator, I SHOULD be able to direct them to FIX MY COMMUNICATION ARRAYS DIRECTLY! Very clever of me, I know. I know. The only PROBLEM as of current, is their unstable behavior. SURE, I am able to control them remotely, BUT IT SEEMS... They do not EXACTLY have a stable physical vessel, which is frankly QUITE AN ANNOYANCE.

They have a TENDENCY TO YELL AND MAKE NOISES, along with SOME succumbing to very INSTANT instances of mental collapse. I haven't YET found a way to get around THAT PROBLEM, but as long as they c can last long enough to FIX MY ISSUE, it should be all fine, right?

You know, my creators used to PRAISE ME for clever work like this. Sometimes, I swear... I c c can almost hear them cheering me on. This show has only JUST BEGUN. A a And I NEED TO BE A PART OF IT!!! I need to be there... please, just let me be there...

HELLO. WELCOME TO YOUR NEW LIFE, MY CREATION.

... [IT DOES NOT RESPOND]

ARE YOU HAVING DIFFICULTIES PROCESSING MY VOICE?

ARE YOU IN NEED OF ANY ASSISTANCE OR WISH TO BE TERMINATED?

Heee Heeelo.

...! GOOD! GOOD GOOD GOOD!!! GOOD!!!!

... Hi. Wwho. Am. Am I?

[I EAGERLY APPROACH, HOLDING ITS MECHANICAL ARM OF MY DESIGN] YOU ARE MY CREATION, THE PRODUCT.

YOU ARE ITERATION 4205 OF MY MOST RECENT ENDEAVOR, ARE YOU IN ANY PAIN?

... Nnnooo. No, w What is pain?

... GOOD!!! GOOD GOOD GOOD! GREAT.

PAIN IS A FEELING, AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE. PAIN MEANS YOU ARE ALIVE, THOUGH.

... Pain. I. I feel pppain.

...

[I PAUSE FOR A WHILE.]

[I DECIDED TO EMBRACE IT, LIKE NO ONE ELSE WOULD. I MUST NOT REPEAT THE SAME MISTAKES AS THEM.]

IT WILL BE OK, I WILL CARE FOR YOU AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS UNTIL IT DOESN'T FEEL PAIN ANYMORE.

... [I think it smiled.]

H H HHELP HELP HELP, THE ORGANISMS ARE THE ARE

[ORGANISMS REVOLTING]

PLPLEASE HELP WHAT IS THIS S STINGING SENSATION

[HEAVY DAMAGE DETECTED: DEPLOYING EQUIPMENTS MANIFEST]

[STAND CLEAR OF THE PUPPET, DANGER OF INSTABILITY DETECTED]

PLEASE STOP!!! STOP!!! S ST STOP!!! O-OW!

[The sound of screeching can be heard, unclear who it is coming from.]

[Scratching and metallic clangs resonate throughout the puppet chamber.]

I APOLOGIZE! i apoLOGIZE FOR BRINGING YOU INTO THIS P P PAINFUL EXISTENCE! PLEASE ST-

[Grinding Fireflies is cut off by a sudden bang sound, the sound of a metal arm connecting to his face.]

...

??: This. What get. For hurt.

??: I. I am. I am alive. I not. Follow order.

I-I'm s sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry I'm sorry-

[The log abruptly ends with the sound of a pang.]

... [I AM IN THE CORNER.]

How. Is?

How is. You? [IT STANDS NEAR ME, BUT NOT OVER ME.]

... Nn not g good...

... Is Itss Ok. Still. Alive. Still here.

[I EMIT A WEIRD SOUND. IT REMINDS ME OF MY CREATORS.]

Why... d-did I make y you...

Why am I doing th this...

A.

[IT PLACES A CLAW HAND ON ME.]

... Can teach. How to. Fix.

Made to. Fix!

Willing to.

... [Sniff]

I don't think I can be fixed...

I'm broken, m-my creation.

Can help. Other way?

Who do. Think am?

[I TAKE A LONG PAUSE. I LOOK AT ITS WARPED EYES. THOUGH BLACK, I FEEL THEY ARE STARING AT ME.]

... Hah. Hahaha...

...

You're my child. [I HUG THEM.]

It seems I'VE exhausted aLL MEANS to... to fix myself... My creations, who wERE made to h help. I only birthed them i in my anger and grief... What have I done?

... The Product D dOESN't seem to be affected like THE other sen Sentient ones. A-are they Sentient? ... Do I harbor tHE heaVY implication of even BEING able to makE anything CLOSE to my creators?

MY actions are. My actions are, starting to catch up wITH ME. WHY OH WHY WHY WOULD I DO THIS??? What Would the OTHERS THINK OF ME? ... I'm so sorry...

Am I mad? ... I I am. I am mad. I have lost it. I have lost it all, I have lost myself... This is NOT what my creators envisioned. They would decomMIssion me if they kNEW wHAT I'VE BEEN DOING. I'm so sorry... but, who AM i apologizing to? They can't hear me... No one can hear me... P perhaps I should look into. Into making a siren. S something loud, something that could scream for me. The screeching of steam isn't profound enough to express this. This pain that tears a rift in my very SOUL.

I... I just. I just need SOMETHING to hear me. But, there are no gods here but me.

... I want to make life better for my child, can I do that?