FIVE SEVERE STARS / 386-2-91-α “Sharp Blade Testament”

[alterae]

Author’s Note: This story was originally posted to
cohost on 4 August 2023, in response to a writing prompt by making_up_mech_pilots:
Mech Pilot who asks “faithful to what?”.

PREFACE: The following logs were recovered from a
flight recorder at the FIVE SEVERE STARS excavation site in the Greater
Machine Waste. Given the age and location, they are remarkably well
preserved, likely due to the actions of the individual who recorded
them. Assuming contained material is accurate, these logs grant
invaluable insight into historical affair of interest BRIGHT
ESCHATON.

Data was recovered by Hartham, Far of Sight, and Young. Translation
by Dr. Paula Marston, University of Lowport Victoria. All data is
property of the Commonwealth Directorate of Forensic Eschatology, made
public under CCC 486 § 11/31, revision 12. For inquiries, contact your
public records liaison. For international inquiries, contact the
Commonwealth Directorate of External Affairs.

Preliminary translation from linguistic pattern HALCYON BLUE as
follows. See footnotes for clarifying metadata:

This will likely be my final log. Given the circumstances, I am
recording it in clear text¹ for ease of access, and
in doing so acknowledge that I am in violation of informational security
procedures. If anybody is left to enforce those procedures that will
come as a pleasant surprise to me.

I am lieutenant² Lydia³ of
Sharp Blades⁴, callsign ORLEANS⁵,
third battalion. Pilot and operator of All-Terrain Weapons Platform VAIN
AND MEANINGLESS⁶. I am currently immobilized and
critically damaged under a pile of debris that used to be a deepwell⁷ node. Estimated time until the mech
and I die is about two hours⁸, and at this depth and
in these circumstances rescue is likely impossible. With the network in
the state it is my death will be permanent. Hopefully someone, someday
will find this message, because it is likely to be all that’s left of
me.

I suspect this is the end of the world, or at least of our current
civilization. The gods⁹ have turned on each other, and we
are caught in the crossfire. Ten hours ago the satellite network went up
in flames. Literally. They nuked¹⁰
it. The electromagnetic pulse knocked out most of the unshielded
electrical systems on the surface. It was quite a sight.

People are surprised, but this was not entirely unexpected. There
have been signs of unease and discord among the gods for months now.
Strange troop movements, increased backup frequency, and odd
intermittent holes in astronomical data. Widespread (and fervently
denied) rumors of something strange and terrible being found. Rumors
that the gods are somehow afraid of something. Vast quantities
of material disappearing into budgetary black boxes. The Oracle¹¹ has been silent for months, and its
last message is well above my clearance level.

Command, of course, said to have faith. Faith in what? Faith
in a bunch of inscrutable constructed deities who could do what they
have now done? Faith in a machine our ancestors built out of desperation
in the face of their own apocalypse¹²? Faith in beings who
looked out into the black and decided they could not share what they
saw? Faith in a system with no checks and balances, save for the balance
of itself on the edge of a knife¹³?

It is hard to have faith in gods who keep secrets. It is harder still
to have faith in gods who do what ours have now done.

When the sky burned, my unit retreated into the deepwell node in the
hopes that it would be safer than the surface. That hope proved false.
They nuked it. Someone or something fucking¹⁴
nuked a goddamn¹⁵ deepwell, and the only way to do
that is from the inside. The list of entities that could accomplish that
is shorter than my remaining lifespan.

Things are bad. Things are very bad. I expect by the time this
message is recovered the world will be largely unrecognizable. May the
inhabitants of that world learn from our mistakes, and not repeat
them.

In an attempt to preserve this recording device I will instruct the
onboard repair systems to reconfigure all available materials into a
protective capsule, including the mech, the surrounding rubble, and my
own body. It needs the materials more than I do, and I’d rather go out
on my own terms.

I give my body to the world, my soul to the void, and my memory to
the future. In death, may I forever endure.¹⁶
ORLEANS, signing off.

The data above was recovered from a solid-state crystalline data
storage medium (configuration GORDIAN SPIRAL) encased in a complex
protective shell. Shell was composed of layers of diamond, lead,
low-density hydrocarbon insulation, and ceramics. Outer two layers were
already compromised upon discovery, remaining layers were opened
non-destructively.

Included alongside the storage medium was a metal token¹⁷, the reverse of which bares
microscopic engraved instructions describing the interface protocol for
the storage medium (see FIVE SEVERE STARS / 386-2-91-β
“Memorial Interface Documentation” for translation). The obverse of
the token bore identification and basic medical information for the late
author.

SEE ALSO: - FIVE SEVERE STARS /
386-2-91-β “Memorial Interface Documentation” - NORTH
RIFT ASCENT / 221-4-13 “Names of Ghosts” - BRIGHT
ESCHATON Geotactical Analysis § 6 “Distribution and Mass Deployment
of Non-Esoteric Superweaponry”

Topic-Association Gestalt (TAG) markers:

bright-eschaton, deepwell, nuclear-weapon, translated-document, recovered-document, military, mech-pilot, personal, last-testament, lydia-of-sharp-blades, halcyon-blue, halcyon-blue-astra, antediluvian-courtiers, mercury-didactic, orleans, vain-and-meaningless, greater-machine-waste, cleared-for-public-release, gaia-didactic, satellites, underground, repurposed-material, preserved-artifact, self-sacrifice, prayer, faith

---

1. Idiom. Unencrypted data.↩︎




2. Military rank. Closest equivalent translation.↩︎




3. Proper noun. Phonetic transliteration.↩︎




4. Proper noun. Literal meaning in source text preserved.
   Descriptive or family name?↩︎




5. Proper noun. Historical toponym.↩︎




6. Proper noun. Literal translation.↩︎




7. Literal translation. Inferred meaning: long-term
   hardened data storage.↩︎




8. Time period. Direct conversion.↩︎




9. Direct translation. Likely idiomatic reference to
   historical entity set ANTEDILUVIAN COURTIERS.↩︎




10. Idiomatic translation. Likely reference to nuclear
    weaponry. Unlikely reference to microwave-based cooking apparatus.↩︎




11. Proper noun. Degree of literal meaning unknown. Likely
    reference to historical entity MERCURY DIDACTIC.↩︎




12. Likely reference to circumstances preceding historical
    affair of interest PRIOR ESCHATON.↩︎




13. Idiomatic translation.↩︎




14. Profanity, sexual reference. Equivalent translation.↩︎




15. Profanity, deific/religious reference. Equivalent
    translation. Possible but unlikely reference to historical entity set
    ANTEDILUVIAN COURTIERS.↩︎




16. Prayer, likely origin in historical group HALCYON BLUE
    ASTRAL.↩︎




17. Military identification tag. Colloquially “dog tag.”↩︎