I joined the protest after my parents died. There was no reason to stay and I became interested in documenting it after a female acquaintance suggested that we both go and record comments from other protestors. Great for a few months until she disappeared into the mayhem. One guy we interviewed said that people just disappeared into thin air, puff, gone like they weren’t real in the first place.

  I think that started it. My uneasy, slightly queasy, disquiet that causes this low grade apprehension that if I turn real quick or look up or turn the light on at three in the morning without making any noise, I’ll finally see what’s behind the curtain. And I tried all of those things and nothing except maybe in my bedroom like a shadow slipping beneath the door.

  I like living here. There’s camaraderie you feel when others share the same thing you do. And protection. Lately though there has been some weird shit even for here. First there was a mutation which injected a poison into Wilder that put him in a coma, Joey disappearing with lots of theories on that and now a female human ready to give birth after four and a half months pregnant. First Wilder is still alive and the mutant being cared for at the old lab where it came from, second Joey was kind of a pariah to the other ‘V’s because she argued with them and thirdly, the birth if successful will be the result between a ‘Volver female and a human male. This has happened and flagged as something not to do. But it was still early and it hadn’t reached the ‘V’s radar yet and hormones being hormones. I actually surprising that more babies haven’t happened yet.

  If Wilder hadn’t had a walkie and recorder, we would call it a disappearance like Joey. I mean anyone can just get up and leave to be on their own but that’s just nuts.

  We had a meeting that lasted late into the night, last night and that’s my interest here with whoever reads this. How strange, keeping a journal for possibly no one. This A & R, Adaptation during Restoration is still in the first stages of discovery, trial and error so nothing is certain although many things are working like the dome, thank god, or to be more accurate, thank goddess because we are definitely entering a time of dominant female energy. Dak is back! We all felt terrible at its death so they gave us another one. Hopefully to deal with the hybrids.

  To start with, the meeting was as weird as what was discussed. All in all, it seemed like the humans were being read the riot act in a kind and gentle way, not quite like parents talking to an errant child but close. It started off okay, with a description of Wilders discovery and prognosis of his condition, Joeys disappearance and of course prayers for both and the mother with baby that is on speed dial.

  Hybrid children have already been born and seem to be normal, if not a little smaller with a tad larger ear and bit of a flared nose, kind of what they say is a precursor to a child between two of them which hasn’t happened yet, we’re told because of a required alignment of celestial bodies or something. No, its not going to be Rosemary's baby or a knock off of The Thing, just a wee different. As you can read, I’m a little skeptical but willing to put off opinions until there’s more intel.

  The meeting was called by Zenith who’s a ‘V to present an overview, her words, of ‘where exactly we stood in time and space’. It was the pin drop silence that gave me the willies which I thought I’d outgrown or that there are so many things that cause willies that the body had adapted and normalized it. Why? This is when I began feeling like I was being talked to by a conquering race. I recorded it.

  She must have felt it, because the edit came quickly almost in mid-sentence when she paused and changed tact’s with tone of voice and direction of the message. That also sent an alarm. First it was Assurance.

  ‘The only thing that we can be absolutely sure of is that everything is changeable, mutable, shifting from one day, hour, second to the next so to find stability we must seek it within, not without. Don’t hold on to hearsay or rumor or even what’s apparent to your senses because it will slip away as quickly as the next thing to replace it. Order, when restored, will offer some relief but still not what some of you remember. And while we’re on that, we were able to hold back the insanity of the world of those who blindly corrupted everything while hording as much as they could before the inflection point of no return, by being part of a family. Want it or not, this is our extended family now as we work to replace what was lost to all of us.

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  We have done well! Our natural landscaping around the Keep, our gardens in back and greenhouses on top have begun to feed us regularly with a weekly part time job of putting food away. The trees will soon offer us shade and crops, the small canals, a first step in irrigation and mobility, four apartment pods for more independent living and an underground ‘V Pod who are actively growing what will be used for terraforming, soon. And as has been posted on the bulletin board, the ‘V’s will take as much help as offered. We have now identified three other clusters of mostly humans who, like us, have worked hard at becoming self sufficient with the help of the food drops. The last group, like ourselves, is a remnant of the protest, older who came to the protest together with modest survival skills. We have invited them to a sit down breakfast next week. Should be fun!

  And those food drops. Even though they are monthly now, they supplement with what we haven’t yet found in our continued searches. The Consortium looks after us as they do with all groups. They have allowed The Word to keep us updated on MELTDOWN and how others are creatively finding solutions to everyday problems. One thing that I wanted to share with you tonight is that a camera crew will be here next week to document our great successes with gardening and with our irrigation team who are literally changing the landscape back to a more natural biome. As I hear it, flora and fauna will be introduced slowly.

  Interjected note. This is where my distrust runs haywire. First, The Word is sponsored by the Consortium and is probably partly if not all what they want us to believe. The camera crew is probably a probe and may use what they like or not but are definitely here for something else. The hybrid? The hybrid baby? Wilder? Second, it’s begun flashing pictures like they did once and called it subliminal advertising. You only see it for a second but it registers as a picture somewhere in your brain and sometimes it appears in your dreams. The ‘V’s say it’s just probably hints of what’s to come but why not longer with descriptions so we can get excited. There’s one I keep seeing in my mind’s eye of a superhighway through a lush jungle with a sign welcoming travelers to the windy city. So, what’s beyond the shield? Is it hell or like these images

  ‘We have two ‘V’s here who have the super spit, which has been a boon to sustainability. Their spit spray unlike the other ‘V’s is super charged with the growth hormone. It’s also a rarity to have one but two, thank the mother goddess! And thank the Consortium and LUNA for giving us a protective and growing dome that offers us a more stable and consistent growing environment. Very soon, the terraforming will begin inside the domes.

  ‘So, the camera crew is from the Consortium?’

  ‘They are part of The Words crew who record projects of clusters like us who have worked with the ‘V’s to create a green sustainable space. Uplifting stories that others will emulate like those that began and encouraged journaling or demonstrated spit horticulture. That one keeps cycling every few months.

  ‘Oh and while we’re at it, it was once though that the journal idea would be a way of sharing information. That’s changed. No entrees to any journal will be allowed to be shared for security reasons.’

  Note: Okay, there’s the first hidden thing in plain sight. The big tell here is – ‘Oh and while we’re at it’, making it an after thought and not the reason for the meeting. What happened to openness, complete transparency, helping out each other with a new form of tic toc! So, the medallion has been demoted to just an alert system.

  Possible reason 1. Things aren’t as stable out there as we’ve been led to believe. Too many chefs spoil the broth. Too much information being shared by the ‘V’s so a clamp down or by those who aren’t under shields. The weathers becoming more erratic and dangerous or better faster, there’s a developing force that’s countering the Triumvirate, and without a doubt, secrets within. To you future reader whether human or not, I hope things turned out okay because it seems like we’re still on that razor edge of making it or not, all the old shit still in play. 2. Gaps in information on various things are beginning to be filled in, read understood, which may be why Joey was disappeared. She’d said a few things lately that caused Zenith and her to have a falling out. There was yelling one night between them which is rare with ‘V’s.

  At one point someone yelled, ‘Look’, and in the dim lit recesses of the library were historic figures, writers mostly of some favorites. Tolstoy was picking his nose and flicking what he found towards Mary Shelly, H.P. Lovecraft was bowing profusely at Poe and Tolkien was having a serious discussion with George Orwell, both smoking pipes.

  ‘Oh, don’t mind our quests, they’re visiting while advertising that any of you can beckon your favorite and ask them questions you have about their motives or maybe thinking at the time they were writing them. Each has been given all available facts and details of their lives, writing life, acquaintances, etcetera. So more fun!’

  Oh crap! You see! So like the awful regime of a government, we had in name only, they give us toys when transparency shuts down.

  More willies. And finally, as things were ending, questions evaded, yawns from all, the ‘special messenger’ runs up to Zenith, hands her the following that she just found in her mailbox. What mailbox!

  Hi, I need some time for contemplation so have taken leave for a few weeks to sort things out. Please don’t worry about me. I’ll be in a very safe place and back before you can say Rumpelstiltskin. Love you all! joey.