Post Reply to [VotV] Graveyard Correspondence

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Thread Review (Newest First)

Posted by skinstealer - 3 hours ago

i think you should ask anyone you possibly can about the burger thing because good god the food situation is dire. you need nutrients.

Posted by knux400 - 6 hours ago

Let's poke around at the DATABASE a bit first and see what kind of thing we're working with. We might have some more questions after we see that, and it might be better to keep things contained in one singular e-mail.

Figuring out where the incentive items are kept is a pretty big priority, but you obviously don't want to ask about those directly. Maybe just ask for a map of the offices so you know where the restrooms and break rooms are?

Posted by SHIVERS - 11 hours ago

ENTER: N O R

DR_NOR: REGISTERED.

WELCOME DR. NOR!

SIGNING IN . . .

You stretch while you wait.

Your chair is pretty uncomfortable, but maybe that's because there's hardly any room for it.
Your office room is tiny, only six or so cubicles with barely enough space for all of them.
You don't have a clue how you'd be able to work in here if all the cubicles were filled; you're kind of thankful you're alone today.

You aren't sure if you feel claustrophobic or somehow cozy.
Either way, you do your best to get comfortable.

The computer boots up with a little chime, eventually leading to an overly-simplistic menu system.

There are only a few options:

EMAIL, which does about what you expected.

DATABASE, which looks to be a file system for saved audio signals and other data.

STORE, which is greyed out.

VIEWER, which is also greyed out.

And MENU, which has standard options like SIGN OUT, SHUT DOWN, SLEEP MODE, and RESTART.

Looks like this really isn't capable of much.

You open your email.

(2) NEW EMAILS:

FROM: Dr_Bao
SUBJECT: Hi

Hello! I am Dr. Bao. I am the lead astronomer on this project, and you'll be reporting to me via email.
Your job, as you know, is to review data sent in by your coworker out at the satellite array, Dr. Rho,
as well as keeping in contact with your other coworkers in this building. Talk with them via email
to share your thoughts and findings related to the data. You may also send emails to Dr. Rho,
if necessary, but know that Dr. Rho cannot send them back, for security and safety. Emails should be
kept work-related, on-topic, and professional. I know Dr. Rho is a personal friend to you but this job
is not the time for personal communications and we'd all like to avoid distractions. Be a good friend
by keeping on your tasks.

As you are no doubt aware, here is your shift schedule until further notice:
START OF SHIFT: 12:00 AM
END OF SHIFT: 6:00 AM
SHIFT DAYS: Monday through Sunday (every day of the week)

You are allowed a 15 minute break and 30 minute lunch break. You can take them whenever you choose
except for the very beginning and end of your shift. So, you can't use them to come in early or
leave late. Make sure to sign out when you leave for your breaks, and sign back in when you return to
your desk. That's all. Have a nice day/night! -Dr. Bao

FROM: Dr_Ena
SUBJECT: Welcome

Hey, I'm Dr. Ena, one of your coworkers. Dr. Ken probably told you about me before. I'm just leaving
my shift as I'm typing this, but I got your desk set up with some useful things for you. Pens, tape,
some notepads, sticky notes, a stapler, and even some colored folders for your file cabinet. I didn't
know what colors you liked so I grabbed a few different ones. My favorite color is purple, for the
record. I'll cut the chitchat, though. Dr. Bao wants us to be professional. Good luck with the
graveyard shift.

You read over the last email again.

You know what this means.

You pull open the file cabinet attached to your desk, thumbing through all the various colored folders.
You spot the purple one and open it up, discovering some folded up pages written on white notebook paper.

Leaning from your cubicle as discreetly as possible, you check the door just in case.

The coast is clear.

You open them up.

Norris,

This'll be my first letter to you while I'm here, and I honestly have no idea how to start.
I had to wait until the car drove away to start writing, because I don't want them to think I'm trying to make contact with anybody.

I guess they'd have no reason to think I wasn't just taking notes or something. There I go overthinking things immediately.

Anyway, I don't know how to structure these. Never written a letter, unless a resume counts, so, sorry about that in advance.
I think I'll try just writing these moment to moment as stuff happens, with a timestamp.
Might be too clinical, but I don't know, maybe it'll be fun for you to see the actual time I'm writing the different sections of these.

I think it's just after midnight right now, so this is officially Day 1 for me here, and I'm currently standing at the entrance still.
It looks darker further on, the lights look few and far between and it'd be pitch black without them if it weren't for the moon, and the stars.
Side note: I've never seen so many stars in my life.

Okay hearing noises here and there.
Probably animals but I want to keep moving and get inside as quickly as I'm able to.
Write more soon if I don't get mauled by something.

TIME: I didn't bring my fucking watch out here

I forgot my bag at the entrance (just like I forgot my watch at home hahaHAHAha) and had to run back. Fuck me.

Day 1 - 01:13
This place is horrible. There is no way it could've gotten this disgusting from normal wear and tear. No way in hell.
I can't really convey how bad it is, honestly. I've never seen a place this stained and filled with garbage.
Every single room no less! HOW does that happen???
Not to mention: I've found about five or so separate full-sized wooden mannequins since I got here.
They're thankfully entirely featureless, but why are they here? And why so many? What would anyone need those for??
One even fell out from behind a door when I opened it like this was a carnival ride or something. It smells about like a carnival ride! I want off already.
God, what have I gotten myself into? I feel like I've contracted entirely new diseases just by sitting in this room.

At least all the trash is distracting me from how terrifying it is out here.
On the way down the surprisingly long path to the base,
a branch fell from a tree above and landed just a few feet behind me and I thought my heart would never stop pounding.
Somehow it's almost worse being inside. This is a very large concrete box with - for some reason - automatic metal doors,
only some of which "lock" via a keypad.
The bedroom door, notably, does NOT lock, save for the balcony door, which honestly is MORE concerning.
I'd just like to hole myself up somewhere in a small room behind a locked door and that is not happening out here.
I miss my shitty apartment and its shitty, tiny bedroom. Fuck this place.

The thought that a bear could mistakenly wander in here and gore me to death is making it hard to think, let alone sleep.
I think I'm going to be up all night no matter what.
I'll try to find SOMEthing to use as a weapon just to make myself feel better,
and hopefully something I can easily block the doors in here with.
We'll see.

I really wish you were here.
Actually, no I don't, I just wish I wasn't here.
Miss you.

Day 1 - 01:57
Found a hammer in a weirdly large storage room down the hall that also has an elevator in it that goes down to the garage?
Why.
Whoever built the Winchester House probably built this place, too, and then a roaming pack of chimpanzees tore it apart.

Making jokes is helping. I'm trying to keep myself together, but, this place isn't secure at all.
I didn't find the light switch for the downstairs hallway so I guess I'm just not going downstairs for now.
I saw that the stairway leads even further down, meaning this place has a basement, and I did not want to know this so I am choosing to forget.
No basement. None.

This bedroom has 4 sets of bunk beds (only one of which actually has mattresses on it,
and they look fairly clean which is a fucking miracle), so I spent a while pushing each of the other three bunk bed frames against the hall door,
the balcony door, and the bathroom door.
Don't know why I blocked the bathroom door, just, helps me feel a little more secure.
Don't know what animal part of my brain decided on that, but whatever.

I guess I'll just clean up in here until the sun comes up, can't really leave with the doors blocked.
Maybe I'll write more if I get bored enough, we'll see.

Day 1 - 03:34
Couldn't clean, no cleaning supplies. Looked for some in the bathroom, found basically nothing.
I scooted some trash to the corner but there's so much. Must've been more tired than I thought, passed out for a while.

Woke up and had to piss, opened one of the stalls in the bathroom and guess what: mannequin. Why.
Went to wash my hands afterwards, couldn't find soap at first.
Was looking around and managed to slip on the only bar of soap in the entire bathroom. Back hurts now.
Used it anyway, because what the hell else could I use, and the water was freezing cold.
The hot water here doesn't work, of course.
No towels to dry off with, either. The bed has no blankets. I'm so tired.

Might try to sleep a little more.
The lights are fluorescent and I didn't realize that until recently. Hate that.
I guess I'll try turning them off this time. We'll see.

Day 1 - 06:56

Sun came up at some point. I think I zoned out or slept a little longer. Feel incredibly disoriented, but I ventured downstairs.

There's a coffee machine at the end of the upstairs hall, and a vending machine in the downstairs kitchen
(which somehow isn't the area with the fridge, the fridge is in the kitchenette up in the bedroom. Don't know why.)
Hopefully they both work, but I realized I didn't bring any cash, so maybe it's a moot point.
Maybe I can jury rig them (or is it jerry rig? Isn't it jury rig like rigging a jury? Or jerry rig like a jerry can? Whatever) to get it for free.
Though, anything in them would be ancient, right? Nevermind, then.
I did eat one of the MREs I found around in the closet. It was stew.
It definitely tasted in date and tasted OK, but I really don't care for stew or soup or any of those.
The crackers were nice and salty, at least. Better than nothing.

Got downstairs, checked the main computer.
Lots of fog rolled in while I was reading, and eventually the drone showed up.
It's very, very loud, and whips my hair all over the place (including into my eyes) when I go out to check it,
but at least I don't have to worry about missing it, I guess.

Is this Dr. Bao guy someone you're working with? Seems, um.
In the interest of hopefully not losing my job if this letter gets found, he seems "interesting".

Wrists are starting to hurt from so much writing, may give it a break and relax until later;
doesn't seem like they're asking much from me today, anyway.

Hey, I'm sorry if the earlier parts of this letter were a little weird.
I really underestimated how intimidating it'd be being out here alone.
I think that along with arriving at night and the state of this place really freaked me out.
I'm feeling a little better, just tired.

Okay, going to take it easy for a while.
I'll make sure to write at least once before I send this off around 11pm, like we planned.

Day 1 - 18:54

Hey. Pretty worn out so I'll try to keep this short.
Not sure how much I'll write in this again before I send it over at 11.
But just some rapid-fire updates, I guess.

-Tested out the systems here.
They're older and markedly worse than the ones they had me train on, but they're still technically functional.
Got a signal done early with a second on the way, so, progress.

-There's an ATV in the garage! I'm scared to drive it.
Too many hills and rocks around here. Also, the most I've driven is a golf cart. Pretty big step up.

-Found a sponge and another soap bar, so I cleaned up a bit of the bathroom and bedroom.
Barely scratched the surface but I at least have a path around that's mostly clean, which is saying a lot. Took hours.

-Passed out after, slept a long time.
Hoping sleeping away so much of the day doesn't become a habit.
I guess if it does, we'll be up around the same time, huh?

-Also, had a weird dream about burgers, I think. Already forgotten most of it.
Think I'm just hungry, that MRE stew isn't cutting it. I'd kill to go to the little 24/7 burger place off-campus with you right about now.
Maybe you can sneak some less bad food in a drone delivery to me sometime, huh?
Just don't go getting in trouble for me, these letters are already gonna be enough of a risk.

-The automatic doors can be locked with the press of a button, but you need to input a numerical code to unlock them.
So, it turns out when I locked the front door, I actually made it impossible to open on my own without the code.
There are notes scattered around, and one did have a passcode on it (1234, because of course),
but the only door it worked on was the door to the little admin/front desk area.
I had to leave the building through the garage door and thought that'd become a habit until I found a note next to the front door
with the passcode that works on almost every other door besides the admin door
(1111, even worse, but at least it's easy for me to remember).
You'd think they would've just told me the passcodes before I got here. At least I got it figured out.
Somehow the note outside didn't blow away. Wonder how long ago they put it there?
I would think a very long time given the state of this place, but there was also a still ripe banana and still in-date pack of frozen shrimp in the fridge,
so, who knows.

-I also bring up the door codes because:
Outside, in front of the building, there's a door that leads (I think) to a staircase going down, like it's a bunker or something.
A note next to it (that'd presumably fallen off) said just "Do not enter". Maybe it caved in or something, I don't know.
But it's the only door I haven't found any code for.
I guess that's not too bad, it's not like I need it for anything (hopefully), but I'm extremely curious.

-I also noticed three emergency doors; at least, that's my best guess as to what they are.
There's two at a fire escape on the side of the building (one at the bottom floor and one on the second floor),
and one around the back of the building in a weird little alcove accessible via ladder
(sidenote: the little alcove is weirdly cozy, I might stay out there sometime if it rains).
All of the emergency doors are blocked on the inside of the building by big, heavy, immovable, unopenable wooden boxes
(of which there are many around, by the way), so I guess that's safe enough.
Just hope these automatic doors never malfunction, I don't know if I'll be able to get out (the windows are almost all barred, too).

-Near that alcove around back, I found an ATM, of all things???
Maybe you guys wire me money, or something. It'd be good for the coffee, at least.

-Speaking of money, there's a store section on the main computer, which I was not told about at all.
Looks like there's a lot of stuff I can theoretically buy with it, but I notice none of it seems to run on real currency.
As far as I can tell, anyway.
Instead, there's a point counter on the store screen that I've noticed goes up when I do things relevant to my job.
Don't know why exactly they're trying to pay me in funbucks for things I could potentially genuinely need, but whatever, I guess.
Given how cheap ASO can be, I'm betting half of this stuff is just in some basement in the building you're in, anyway.
Might be more stuff you could sneak out for me?
But again, don't get in trouble. Maybe I'll start a wishlist, though...

Okay, starting to get dark with how long I've been writing, and my stupid arms are hurting again.
Might write one more time in the next few hours, might not.
I PROMISE the next of these letters I do will be shorter.
Promise!

Day 1 - 21:59

Okay gonna be a quick one probably, want to make sure I get this all properly written off to call the drone at 11pm.

Anyway, I looked through the store and made a (work in progress!!) wishlist.
I have barely any points right now so I'm not gonna be able to get much on my own.
I don't know if you'd be able to get anything, but if you can it'd mean the world.
And just so you know at the risk of both our jobs, I Am Definitely Not Encouraging Stealing, I Would Never Ever Encourage Any Stealing Ever.

WIP WISHLIST:
-DIGITAL CAMERA + PRINTER: being able to take pictures of things to send out to you when I send the daily letter would be really cool,
and also give me a hobby while I'm stuck out here.
-CRANK FLASHLIGHT: I can already tell this dinky flashlight I brought isn't going to do much, and I swear the batteries are already draining.
I found a few more, and it looks like I can get more on the store, but I really don't want that to be a constant drain.
Also, being honest, I'm scared of running out of batteries at the worst possible time.
A crank flashlight means I don't have to worry about any of that anymore.
-BACKPACK: Worried I'm gonna have to carry a lot out here while running around checking on all the satellites,
it'd be nice to have something to carry things in easily.
-CROWBAR: Wondering if I can get those big stupid crates open with one of these...
-MOP: All I've got is a sponge and some soap to clean with,
and I'm probably gonna have to buy a lot more soap.
A mop would help a lot, and god could this place use it.
-TV: Looks like the little CRT comes with a VHS, and I think it comes with some VHS tapes when you get it.
I'd love to have stuff to stave off boredom, and the white noise would help me feel a little less insane;
might even help me sleep.
-RADIO: Not sure if it'll pick up anything, but it comes with some CDs, I think.
If not, maybe you could send me some of your old ones? You've still got those CDs, right?
-COFFEE MACHINE + COFFEE BAGS: Listen. Maybe I can get the coffee dispenser here working. Maybe not.
But that'll cost money. Money I don't have or want to spend.
But my own instant coffee machine?
With some actually nice-looking coffee bags?
I'll never sleep again.
-FOOOOOOOOD: Any non-fucking-stew food. Send me burgers.
Or if you have to send me something healthy, you know I like watermelons, so that's something.
Just send whatever, honestly.

Okay that's it for now.
Don't have a lot of time, so I'll try and get these pages sent over there in a sec when it hits 23:00.

Good luck for your first shift (starting soon, if I remember right!)
Be safe, okay?
I expect lots of gossip about our coworkers, please and thank you.

-Rhodes ("Dr. Rho")

PS, How stupid are these aliases that they use part of our actual names for them?
How the hell is that more secure? I think their email system probably just has a weird character limit for the user field.

PSS, If Dr. Bao is reading this: I'm very sorry, please don't fire us and please don't leave me out here to die. Thank you.

You finish reading, quickly finding one of the notepads to write on.
You know you won't be writing a response until near the end of your shift today,
but you've got something to do in the meantime.

After eventually finding a pen that still works, you copy the wishlist items over to the notepad sheet,
leaving it folded up on your desk while you put the letter back into the purple folder.

Checking your computer once more, you find the greyed out 'STORE' option and click it, but nothing happens.

You tap your keyboard with your thumb, thinking.

A new email pops into your inbox.

(1) NEW EMAIL:

FROM: Dr_Max
SUBJECT: Hello!

Hi, I'm Dr. Max! It's nice to meet you. I usually start work at 5,
but they started me early today so I'd be on to help you for your first shift.
I'm working remote, so I'm not in the office, but you can shoot me an email if you have any questions!

Well, they're offering.

You get an email typed up, trying to keep in mind that Dr. Bao or your other coworkers might end up seeing it.

You can be discreet, can't you?

Posted by seppawku - Today, 06:13 AM

"BLU"

Posted by knux400 - Today, 04:46 AM

Are underscores a valid character?

K_4

Posted by MarxzVulpez - Today, 01:39 AM

Mxz
(>'.')>

Posted by King-Clod - Today, 01:16 AM

ELY

(more words so I can post without being labeled spam)

Posted by Shifter55 - Today, 01:06 AM

NOR
(really, 3 characters too short?)

Posted by gyiyg - Today, 01:02 AM

"THE"

Posted by skinstealer - Today, 01:00 AM

AND

Posted by Lilium Mortem - Today, 01:00 AM

Enter name: ASS

Posted by SHIVERS - Today, 12:58 AM

WELCOME TO THE ALPEN SIGNAL OBSERVATORIUM EMAIL SYSTEM.

PLEASE ENTER THE FIRST 3 LETTERS OF YOUR FIRST OR MIDDLE NAME.

FOR SECURITY PURPOSES, ALL PERSONNEL WILL BE REFERRED TO ONLY BY THESE ALIASES
IN ALL WORK COMMUNICATIONS, INCLUDING VERBAL COMMUNICATION IN THE WORKPLACE.

THE FOLLOWING ALIASES ARE ALREADY REGISTERED AND CANNOT BE REGISTERED AGAIN:
BAO
DEE
ENA
KEL
KEN
LEA
LER
MAX
NOA
RHO
ULA

ENTER: _ _ _

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