Before I start the chapter, just wanted to say: Sailor Neo Angel, thank you for pointing that out. I was unable to address it in this set of chapters, but I am planning on doing so in the next.

Day Five Hundred and Six in Night Vale.

The lack of wishing kettles did turn out to be the cause of the rabbits. Apparently, every couple of years people's wishes start coming true, and the presence of that kind of kettle in a home nullifies that. This time, as the kettles existed but weren't delivered, everyone's wishes didn't come true but did create something substantial.

StrexCorp workers went around and stapled anti-wish straps made of leather to every household's mailbox. I've tried several different methods – they're even attached to the metal boxes in my apartment complex – and there's no way to get them off. A glaringly bright orange leaflet says the straps should disappear in about a month.

Not too sure I trust it. I mean, Cecil sounded kind of…scared, almost, when he had to read their ad-thing a month ago. He wouldn't talk about it when I asked him after the show.

*brief silence*

Guess I was wrong about those yellow helicopters not being a threat – they belong to StrexCorp – if the people behind them can scare Cecil. The only other beings that've done so are Station Management. If StrexCorp's as bad, or worse, as them…

Madre de Dios.

Anyway, my team and I have discovered a couple of interesting things recently.

First, the replication machine Dr. Cameron found many months ago has stopped working. We're not really sure what happened. Dr. Singer wanted to see how it worked, so Dr. Cameron was going to duplicate a beaker to show him. The lights flickered on, machinery whirred louder and louder, and then –

Everything just…stopped. The lights stayed on, but the machinery died down. No second beaker ever appeared. Dr. Cameron and Dr. Singer are still looking into what could've caused that.

Second, Dr. Hartnell and Dr. Foreman found something really weird the other day. Well, it's more what it does than what it is that's weird. The object looks like a mirror, but if someone gets too close the image starts to wobble – sort of like if they threw a rock in a pond. When they get close enough to touch it, the background of the image changes. Their reflection's still there, but it looks like they're somewhere else.

Works a bit like the Mirror of Erised, but without the "deepest desire" part. In fact, we're not really sure what the rhyme or reason behind the backgrounds are. Though, to be honest, we haven't gotten the widest sample range as of yet. Just my team, which only amounts to seven people. And everyone has seen something different.

When Dr. Hartnell and Dr. Foreman found it, they had a parent-teacher conference and a fancy laboratory respectively. Dr. Singer saw his house at dinner time, Dr. Ford a courtroom, and I saw my apartment back in Eureka. The strangest-in-comparison backgrounds belonged to Dr. Cameron and Dr. Green – the former's was completely black and the latter's looked exactly the same.

Oh, and before I forget – the mirror was found in a closet next to the room with the duplication machine. Might be useful information to remember.

So, Dr. Singer and Dr. Cameron will continue to work on the duplication machine, Dr. Green and I will try to figure out the mirror, and the others are going to find volunteers to try out the mirror. Fingers crossed this all goes well.

*muffled footsteps*

Any ideas what's up with this thing, Fearless Leader?

…Not really. Still wondering why Jason didn't have anything. And why yours had no change at all. Guess if we figure out the reasoning behind everyone else's, we'll find out why yours and his were different.

One of 'em could be what happens when the mirror doesn't work, but which one?

Jason's? Maybe it was just thinking on yours – for whatever reason – and would've eventually had a different background?

Or showing the same thing means it didn't work, and Jason's is connected to the others, but we just don't know how yet?

Not sure. We're definitely going to need more samples first. Hope we get enough volunteers.

If not, you could always call Cecil. I'm sure he'd love to help – he'd for sure volunteer and would probably try to get some interns to do it, too.

He's scared of mirrors, though.

Really?

Yeah. Even if he weren't, I wouldn't be able to get a hold of him for a couple hours – he's off at the school for an unveiling of a computer of some kind.

So much for plan B. Hope plan A works, as I don't think you'd like my plan C.

Not sure I want to know, but…what's plan C?

Haven't quite worked out the details, but basically? Kidnapping people off the street.

Yeah, we're not going to do that. If we don't get enough volunteers, we'll just have to work with the little data we already have.

Fiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnee. We'll go the legal route.

Sorry to disappoint you.

Think I'll live, so it's okay. This obviously isn't based off one's deepest desire – as I doubt yours would be something without Cecil in it. Is there anything else that would show you Eureka?

Mirror of missed chances? No, that doesn't sound right.

…Actually, I think you might be on to something. I remember Jason told me a while back that if he'd been a few seconds later the day those wild do –

Plastic bags.

Carlos, they were wild dogs, no matter what the City Council says. Anyway, he said that if he'd gotten to the shelter just the tiniest bit slower, he thinks he would've been trampled.

And if his injuries were bad enough, he might've died, which could result in a black screen if the mirror's purpose was to show a 'what could have been'.

We're good. High five?

*hands slapping together*

Wait, then why was yours exactly the same?

A change so small that it wouldn't be visibly noticeable?

Could be. Wonder what, though.

May never know. Huh – this means Donna'd be a lawyer in another life. And Karen would've been a… Oh. Maybe that's why she's so determined to be so cheery all the time. Cos otherwise…

Yeah. Anyway, since we've figured out what the mirror does, we should probably move on to how it works.

With weird Night Vale logic we've never been able to explain despite having lived here for over a year?

Might need to fancy that up a bit for Director Deacon, Lucy, but otherwise…yeah, I think that'll probably be it. Shouldn't give up yet, though because –

"A scientist is always optimistic." Yeah, yeah, yeah. Been there, heard that.

I've said it a lot, then, huh?

Yep. And a lot of variations on it too, like, "A scientist is observant", "A scientist is never under-prepared", and my personal favorite, "A scientist is self-reliant".

Still can't believe Cecil talked about our date to the entire town.

Least he hasn't at all since then.

That's because he's focusing more on how I miss our dates with all of the experiments and stuff that I do. Anyway, can we go back to figuring out the mirror, please? Or, attempting to figure it out?

Sure. Thing is, it works a lot like the Mirror of Erised – as we keep coming back to – but we can't exactly use that as a point of reference cos it's both magical and fictional. Unfortunately. So we're still on square two far as figuring this thing out goes.

Maybe –

*muffled footsteps*

Carlos? Lucy? Hope I'm not interrupting, but John and I've figured out what's wrong with the duplication machine. Haven't been able to fix it, but at least we've got something.

You're not interrupting. Mind explaining what's wrong with it?

Sure, but I think it'll be easier if I can show you as well. Shouldn't take long.

*muffled footsteps*

Any progress on figuring out the mirror?

We figured out why it was showing us what it did, but we're still working on how. It's kind of based off of the Mirror of Erised, but instead of showing someone's deepest desire, it shows them a 'what could have been'. I almost didn't accept Director Deacon's offer to lead the original team, so mine showed me back in Eureka.

So since mine was blank…

Nothing! It meant nothing. Right, Carlos?

R-right. Must've just stopped working for you.

*brief silence*

It means I died, doesn't it, Luce?

That's what – most likely, yeah. Probably would've been during that whole wild dogs attack. Didn't realize it was such a close thing to be a 'what could have been'.

Yeah, it was…close. Very close. But, obviously I survived and I'm here now, so we're all good, yeah?

Long as you don't get into such near-death danger again, we are.

I'll do my best, I promise. And we're here.

*heavy metal door scraping open*

*muffled footsteps*

Okay, so you guys see that center dial there? When the machine's not running that dial's silver-colored with dark bulbs, and then the bulbs light up when you turn the machine on. However, if you look at it closely, you can kinda see that it's starting to rust.

John and I have tried scraping it off several different ways, but that hasn't worked, so he's gone to buy some chemical remover. Hopefully that'll work. We're also not quite sure how it started to rust, as it's not that damp in here, but that's a problem for another day. Have you guys heard from Donna and them yet?

No, we haven't.

I'll call, see if I can get a hold of them. Good job figuring this out.

Thanks.

*muffled footsteps*

Think I'll cut out the notes here, and give an update on the mirror next time.

That's all for today. This is Dr. Carlos Munoz, recording from Night Vale.