WEBVTT 00:00:03.199 --> 00:00:06.419 Broadcast Warning. The following is a sanctioned 00:00:06.419 --> 00:00:10.179 testimony submitted by Hestoth Rahl, Junior Redactor, 00:00:10.259 --> 00:00:13.839 Administratum Secta Beta 4. This account has 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:16.920 been reviewed and approved by the Office of Ecclesiarchal 00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:20.059 Verification and deemed free of distortion, deviation, 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:24.699 or undue enthusiasm. All auditory irregularities 00:00:24.699 --> 00:00:26.920 within this recording are to be understood as 00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:30.750 artifacts of devotion, not fault. Listeners are 00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:33.109 reminded that statements made by the subject 00:00:33.109 --> 00:00:35.729 reflect their personal interpretation of loyalty, 00:00:35.990 --> 00:00:39.409 not official doctrine. Unauthorized emotional 00:00:39.409 --> 00:00:42.630 responses such as doubt, laughter or empathy 00:00:42.630 --> 00:00:45.289 are considered Class II disruptions of civic 00:00:45.289 --> 00:00:49.189 tone. Any citizen caught transcribing or quoting 00:00:49.189 --> 00:00:51.609 this testimony outside designated meditation 00:00:51.609 --> 00:00:55.250 hours will be reclassified as editorial material. 00:00:56.270 --> 00:00:59.450 and the term truth, if used by the subject, should 00:00:59.450 --> 00:01:02.770 be understood to mean truth as approved by committee. 00:01:03.509 --> 00:01:06.450 Please maintain an expression of quiet devotion 00:01:06.450 --> 00:01:09.950 through playback. Failure to do so may result 00:01:09.950 --> 00:01:12.310 in reassignment to the Department of Clarified 00:01:12.310 --> 00:01:15.189 Listening. This has been your pre -transmission 00:01:15.189 --> 00:01:20.590 compliance reminder. My assignment was to catalogue 00:01:20.590 --> 00:01:23.049 misplaced devotional forms and identify potential 00:01:23.049 --> 00:01:26.959 heretical redundancies. which, in simpler terms, 00:01:27.099 --> 00:01:29.819 means I was cataloguing the faithful for termination. 00:01:30.519 --> 00:01:36.239 There were many prayers, some still damp. It 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:38.879 started three weeks ago during the Feast of Correct 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:41.700 Posture. We were told to remain kneeling for 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:44.000 the duration of the shift, which made handling 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:47.099 the ink particularly challenging. I requested 00:01:47.099 --> 00:01:50.060 a short reprieve to stretch my legs and was told 00:01:50.060 --> 00:01:53.879 by Supervisor Kine that comfort breeds apostasy. 00:01:54.730 --> 00:01:58.430 So I kept kneeling. That's when I first heard 00:01:58.430 --> 00:02:04.870 the whispering. Not voices, exactly. More like 00:02:04.870 --> 00:02:08.389 the sound of paper trying to breathe. Folders 00:02:08.389 --> 00:02:11.789 opening themselves slowly. I thought it was a 00:02:11.789 --> 00:02:14.289 ventilation fault. We don't get those often anymore. 00:02:14.550 --> 00:02:18.610 The vents were sealed after the... incident with 00:02:18.610 --> 00:02:25.539 the spores. But still, I checked. The air was 00:02:25.539 --> 00:02:29.599 full of it, like the walls were sighing. That's 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:33.120 when I found the file inside the duct. No label, 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:36.639 no seal, just a single sheet inside. A prayer, 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:41.979 handwritten, trembling lines. It read, He is 00:02:41.979 --> 00:02:44.599 beneath the stacks. He is learning our names 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:48.719 alphabetically. I laughed, of course. A little 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:50.960 heretical humour from the night shift. We get 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:54.650 that. Sometimes we even enjoy it before the confessor 00:02:54.650 --> 00:02:59.210 arrives. But then I noticed that all the other 00:02:59.210 --> 00:03:04.250 prayers were changing, rearranging themselves, 00:03:04.469 --> 00:03:11.169 like someone was correcting the grammar. Every 00:03:11.169 --> 00:03:15.090 prayer that used to begin, O blessed emperor, 00:03:15.349 --> 00:03:22.849 now began, O Blessed He Who Waits Beneath. I 00:03:22.849 --> 00:03:25.909 tried to report it, but the Vox line to my supervisor 00:03:25.909 --> 00:03:30.210 only whispered back, processing over and over. 00:03:31.150 --> 00:03:34.050 I took the changed papers to the incinerator, 00:03:34.050 --> 00:03:37.490 but the machine refused to open. The indicator 00:03:37.490 --> 00:03:41.949 room blinked full. I opened the chute to check 00:03:41.949 --> 00:03:50.889 and saw movement. Not flames. Just mouths. Little 00:03:50.889 --> 00:03:57.360 mouths. All chewing. Very diligently. I mean, 00:03:57.419 --> 00:04:00.879 I suppose it's good that the system recycles, 00:04:00.900 --> 00:04:05.759 but... Anyway, I requested transfer to another 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:09.159 division. Preferably one with fewer noises. They 00:04:09.159 --> 00:04:14.300 reassigned me to auditory transcription. So now 00:04:14.300 --> 00:04:17.040 I listen to the broadcast and write down the 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:21.819 words. And lately... I keep hearing my own name 00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:24.959 between the lines. Alphabetically.