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👍☼☜✌❄⚐☼
[ARCHIVE TAPE #002]
[DATE: ██/██/19██]
[RECORDED: 17 DAYS AFTER TAPE #001]
CLACK.
The cassette entered the player.
WHRRRRRR—
Static.
But this time—
Someone was already laughing.
Two voices.
One belonged to the Maker.
The other didn't.
TRACKING…
The image rolled twice before stabilizing.
INT. LABORATORY
The room looked cleaner.
Not clean.
Cleaner.
Unit One stood near the back wall, blue lens quietly observing.
The Maker sat at his workbench.
Across from him sat another person, face hidden behind a newspaper.
UNKNOWN
You built a person with a security camera for a head.
MAKER
Technically, I built a security camera with a person for a body.
UNKNOWN
That's worse.
MAKER
That's engineering.
The newspaper lowered.
The tape immediately warped.
Not static.
The person's face simply—
failed to appear.
Their body remained.
Their chair remained.
Everything behind them remained.
But where their face should have been was a blank smear of moving film grain.
ON SCREEN
FACIAL RECORD: REJECTED
The Maker glanced toward the camera.
MAKER
Can you stop doing that?
The distortion remained.
UNKNOWN
Doing what?
MAKER
Not you.
Silence.
The Unknown slowly turned toward the camera.
UNKNOWN
You finally fixed it?
MAKER
Apparently it fixed itself.
UNKNOWN
And that sentence doesn't concern you?
MAKER
Most things concern me.
He pointed toward a smoking machine on the workbench.
MAKER
I simply prioritize.
The machine sparked.
He pushed it farther away.
UNKNOWN
Still you.
MAKER
Unfortunately.
The Unknown folded the newspaper.
UNKNOWN
We were friends once.
The Maker's smile weakened.
MAKER
Were?
UNKNOWN
You disappeared for six years.
MAKER
Five years, eleven months, twenty—
The Unknown raised one finger.
UNKNOWN
Do not calculate your abandonment.
The Maker stopped.
MAKER
…Fair.
Unit One turned toward them.
The Unknown noticed.
UNKNOWN
That's him?
MAKER
Unit One.
UNKNOWN
That's his name?
MAKER
Designation.
Names create attachment.
The Unknown stared at him.
UNKNOWN
You tucked him in last night.
The Maker froze.
MAKER
That information was classified.
UNKNOWN
With a blanket.
MAKER
The laboratory gets cold.
Unit One tilted his camera-head.
The Unknown laughed.
And after fighting it for half a second—
the Maker laughed too.
Not the little scientist chuckle from Tape #1.
A real laugh.
Familiar.
Old.
Then Unit One's lens turned toward the camera.
CLICK.
The footage jumped.
Not forward.
Backward.
For less than a second—
Two CHILDREN stood in a much older laboratory.
One held a wrench much too large for his hands.
The other held a rolled blueprint.
Behind them stood a machine hidden beneath a sheet.
A handwritten sign hung above it.
WE'LL FINISH IT TOGETHER.
SNAP.
Present-day footage returned.
Neither person reacted.
They hadn't seen it.
The Unknown placed an old folder on the table.
The Maker's laughter stopped.
Across the folder:
PROJECT: CREATORMAKER
Where did you get that?
UNKNOWN
Where we left it.
MAKER
That facility was destroyed.
UNKNOWN
We thought it was.
The Maker closed the folder without opening it.
MAKER
Tell me you didn't go inside.
No answer.
MAKER
Tell me.
UNKNOWN
I went inside.
The Maker stood.
MAKER
Did you open the chamber?
UNKNOWN
No.
Relief.
Then—
UNKNOWN
It was already open.
The Maker stopped breathing.
The Unknown reached inside their coat.
They placed a black cassette on the table.
No archive number.
No date.
One handwritten word:
HELLO.
The recording camera ZOOMED IN.
The Maker's head snapped toward it.
UNKNOWN
You did that?
MAKER
No.
UNKNOWN
Unit One?
Unit One shook his camera-head.
The Maker stared into the recording lens.
For the first time—
he looked afraid.
MAKER
Turn off.
Nothing.
MAKER
Camera. Off.
The lens zoomed closer.
UNKNOWN
It's watching you.
MAKER
I noticed.
Unit One stepped between the camera and the Maker.
Static instantly swallowed half the screen.
MAKER
Whoever is operating this—
The lights went out.
Not flickered.
Out.
Five seconds of darkness.
A faint mechanical scratching sound came from the workbench.
SCRITCH.
SCRITCH.
SCRITCH.
The lights returned.
The cassette was still there.
But HELLO had been scratched out.
Underneath it:
WELCOME BACK.
Nobody spoke.
The Unknown stared at it.
Then whispered—
UNKNOWN
It remembers us.
The Maker looked at them.
MAKER
Don't say that.
UNKNOWN
Why?
The Maker didn't answer.
CUT TO BLACK.
ON SCREEN
TAPE #002 COMPLETE
SUBJECT 01: MAKER
SUBJECT 02: ███████████
PROJECT CREATOR: ARCHIVE FOUND
A pause.
PROJECT START DATE: 19██
The numbers glitch.
Correct themselves.
PROJECT START DATE: 18██
Another glitch.
17██
Again.
16██
The screen freezes.
A new diagnostic appears.
ERROR: DATE INVALID
Then:
MAKER DATE OF BIRTH: 19██
Silence.
One last line types itself.
PROJECT CREATOR RECORDS PRECEDE SUBJECT BIRTH BY 143 YEARS.
The cursor stops.
For three seconds, nothing changes.
Then one final word appears beneath it.
IMPOSSIBLE.
CLICK.
The tape ejects.
But the television stays on.
Static.
And underneath the static—
very faintly—
two children are laughing.
END TAPE #2