WEBVTT 00:00:03.149 --> 00:00:05.690 Broadcast warning. The following transmission, 00:00:05.969 --> 00:00:09.050 designated The Testimony of Purity Adjutant Hessa 00:00:09.050 --> 00:00:11.990 Raln, is released under reluctant sanction by 00:00:11.990 --> 00:00:14.689 Departamento Vox Communicatus Subsector Delta 00:00:14.689 --> 00:00:18.649 9 and the Ministry of Imaginary Items. Citizens 00:00:18.649 --> 00:00:21.670 are advised that this record concerns the dismantling 00:00:21.670 --> 00:00:23.910 of the Saint's Resonator and therefore contains 00:00:23.910 --> 00:00:27.829 references to prohibited theology, unsafe harmonics 00:00:27.829 --> 00:00:31.149 and minor transcendence. While the incident has 00:00:31.149 --> 00:00:33.780 been declared contained... Containment remains 00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:36.439 a theoretical state pending confirmation from 00:00:36.439 --> 00:00:39.240 those who survived. Exposure to this broadcast 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:42.140 may result in temporary enlightenment in the 00:00:42.140 --> 00:00:45.000 form of tinnitus, involuntary synchronization 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.820 of heartbeat with the machine's memory, emotional 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:51.960 attachment to vibrating objects, mild faith -based 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:55.219 liquefaction, unscheduled empathy towards metal 00:00:55.219 --> 00:00:59.000 surfaces, particularly warm ones. Listeners are 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:01.579 reminded that any humming you hear during playback 00:01:01.579 --> 00:01:04.900 is normal. Any humming that continues after playback 00:01:04.900 --> 00:01:07.719 is also normal, but you should report it anyway. 00:01:08.459 --> 00:01:10.680 Attempts to sing along with the recording are 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:13.540 strictly forbidden, as harmony implies consent. 00:01:13.980 --> 00:01:16.859 Should you experience understanding, you are 00:01:16.859 --> 00:01:19.299 to proceed directly to your nearest purity chamber 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:23.659 for deconstruction, spiritual or otherwise. Please 00:01:23.659 --> 00:01:26.099 note that Purity Adjutant Raln's observations 00:01:26.099 --> 00:01:29.659 are not to be replicated, imitated or admired. 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:32.920 They are to be respected only as a cautionary 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:35.560 hymn on the dangers of enthusiastic demolition. 00:01:35.780 --> 00:01:38.920 This testimony has been linguistically sterilized, 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:42.500 theologically neutralized, and mostly neurologically 00:01:42.500 --> 00:01:45.400 amputated. If you hear screaming regardless, 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:49.939 congratulations, you have been noticed. By continuing 00:01:49.939 --> 00:01:52.980 this broadcast, you waive your right to disbelief. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:58.780 They told us to call it a saint's resonator. 00:02:00.010 --> 00:02:04.590 Like that made it holy. Like the machine didn't 00:02:04.590 --> 00:02:09.389 sing back. When we arrived, the air was already 00:02:09.389 --> 00:02:13.509 trembling. The walls flexed in time with the 00:02:13.509 --> 00:02:20.229 sound. Metal breathing. Stone pulsing. The hymn 00:02:20.229 --> 00:02:24.169 wasn't coming from the speakers anymore. It was 00:02:24.169 --> 00:02:30.469 coming from everything. Every bolt. Every plate, 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:35.050 every living thing that had ever touched the 00:02:35.050 --> 00:02:39.930 floor was humming the same note. We wore masks 00:02:39.930 --> 00:02:46.590 and purity seals, but it didn't matter. The vibration 00:02:46.590 --> 00:02:51.810 got inside. It wasn't sound. It was instruction 00:02:51.810 --> 00:02:58.919 down in the marrow. A whisper in the cells. I 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:02.900 felt my teeth grinding in time with it, like 00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:08.819 they were learning a new prayer. Sergeant Korr 00:03:08.819 --> 00:03:12.639 was the first to try cutting power. He swung 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:15.240 the blade through a cable as thick as his arm. 00:03:16.259 --> 00:03:21.199 A thick, viscous light, like melted gold, sprayed 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:26.000 across his faceplate. He screamed, and the scream 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:31.889 matched pitch. For a few seconds, he was part 00:03:31.889 --> 00:03:36.729 of the song. Then he was gone. No explosion, 00:03:36.909 --> 00:03:42.889 no body. Just a smear of tone hanging in the 00:03:42.889 --> 00:03:48.830 air, vibrating too fast to be real. We pressed 00:03:48.830 --> 00:03:54.669 on, of course. Orders are sacred, and disobedience 00:03:54.669 --> 00:04:01.050 is unsound. Every step closer, the machinery 00:04:01.050 --> 00:04:06.210 changed. Pipes had grown ribbed, not like metal, 00:04:06.349 --> 00:04:12.949 but like windpipes. The panels pulsed, their 00:04:12.949 --> 00:04:17.889 seams slick with condensation. Somewhere a voice 00:04:17.889 --> 00:04:26.149 was counting. Not numbers, but us. When we reached 00:04:26.149 --> 00:04:31.759 the heart of it, the so -called resonator, I 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:37.019 saw what it really was. A lattice of bone and 00:04:37.019 --> 00:04:45.339 wire turning slowly, wetly. The hymn emanated 00:04:45.339 --> 00:04:48.860 from the holes in it, like wind through a skull. 00:04:49.980 --> 00:04:55.240 And inside, you could just make out shapes. People, 00:04:55.339 --> 00:04:59.750 I think. Or what was left when faith and flesh 00:04:59.750 --> 00:05:04.870 had finished negotiating. We planted the charges 00:05:04.870 --> 00:05:08.850 anyway. It felt wrong to be so loud in a place 00:05:08.850 --> 00:05:12.569 so very full of noise. When the detonator clicked, 00:05:12.810 --> 00:05:16.889 the song stuttered. It sounded almost surprised. 00:05:17.350 --> 00:05:22.529 The light came next. Bright. Colourless. Pure 00:05:22.529 --> 00:05:26.879 pressure. I remember the sensation of being unfolded. 00:05:26.980 --> 00:05:31.220 My armour peeled open, and so did I, every atom 00:05:31.220 --> 00:05:34.420 straining to sing a different note than silence. 00:05:35.959 --> 00:05:41.060 When I woke, I was in the ruins. The others were 00:05:41.060 --> 00:05:45.060 gone, their bodies, no ash, just outlines where 00:05:45.060 --> 00:05:47.939 their shadows had burned into the metal. The 00:05:47.939 --> 00:05:52.240 walls were still breathing, slower now, gentle. 00:05:52.889 --> 00:05:57.029 Like after prayer, I tried to stand. My legs 00:05:57.029 --> 00:06:00.970 didn't quite remember how. When I leaned on the 00:06:00.970 --> 00:06:05.889 floor, it flexed under my palm. It felt grateful. 00:06:06.750 --> 00:06:11.370 They say we destroyed the resonator, that the 00:06:11.370 --> 00:06:16.689 saint is silent. But when I sleep, my pulse finds 00:06:16.689 --> 00:06:20.430 the rhythm again. It's waiting deep in the foundations. 00:06:21.389 --> 00:06:25.050 Just below hearing, and sometimes when I breathe 00:06:25.050 --> 00:06:32.250 in, I swear the air breathes back. Recorded under 00:06:32.250 --> 00:06:34.930 duress. Transcribed posthumously.