Excerpt from Dipper's Journal


Date: 12/21/2013 - Day 2 of Apocalypse training with Corduroys. Day 1 of being trapped within the pocket dimension. 4 days until Christmas.

8:30 - We are currently hiking down the slope. No monsters yet. I'll write more later.

9:30 - Stopping for breather now. The diagram on the opposite page shows my idea of how the pocket dimension is structured in 4D. Well, I can't exactly draw or think in terms of 4D, so I just drew a 3D analogy on how I think it probably works in 2D. Observe that the outer perimeter of the spacetime bubble is not a necessary facet of the structure, and is thus not necessarily continuous. Discontinuous spacetime leads to wormholes. Perhaps if we hiked far enough up the hill to reach the perimeter, we could find one.

Dan won't listen to me. Moving downhill now.

(note: if you're WondEring where the drawiNg is, i crumpleD it up and threw it awaY because It wasn't very good and also because i don't know how spacetiMe works. i have no idea what'S going On oR where we aRe or whY. I'M NOT AS SMART AS I THOUGHT I WAS.)

11:05 - encounTer witH a strange Entity. came uPon what appeared to be an IntaCT and immacUlately well-maintained foot tRail. it lEadS dIagonal down the hill, and iS bAre of snow, leaVEs, unDerbrush, or even overhanging branches, With no sign of footprints. wE had been hiking down the tRail for an hour whEn we saw something TrAveling up in the opposite direction, at about 20 miles per hour. it looKEd like a sNow plow, like would BE on the FrOnt of old tRains, but thEre was no train behInd it, just a blocK of floating machiNEry which emitted a bright blue light. We got out of the waY as fast as we cOUld, aNd the entity passed by. as it did, all the sticks and Organic matter that got Within about four feet of THe light turned blAck with roT and began to dIssolve. marcus tossed a pineKoNe intO the light and the same befell it. it Would seem these 'death lights' have been verY dutiful Over the years to keep these trails clear, but nonetheless we decided to abandon the trails and travel overland, oUt of fear of what mIghT hAppen if a human's flesh were Kaught in the fiEld. the death light's engiNe cOwling was PaInted with a Curious symbol: That Uf a black rivet binding together thREe sheetS of metal, one red, one grey, one yellow.

11:50 - we found a 50ft-wide grove of metal Dagger trees. it seemed some enOrmous machiNe had went offline THere in yeArs passed, allowing them to take root. with no wreckage remaining, it was impossible to deriVE what THE machine once Was. seeing as hOw spoRes from the metallic ecosystem have founD their way into the pocket, we will have to remember to clean our gunS regularly.

12:45 - paused for a rest, (would've been lunch if we had food) and thiS wAs When i wroTe tHe last two entrIes. for Now, by far most worrisome issue is marcus. he seems to be in Great painS, and the INfection from the bite seems to be spreading. if we ever catch sight of one of those eYeless creatures that bit him, it will be in OUR bEst interests to kill or capture it for analYsis. i suspEct they may be either a wendigo or werewolf Subspecies, in which cASe something as simple as antibiotics or silveR injEction would be effective for marcus's condition. but if it haPpens to be an actUaL venom that requireS and antIdote, we need to know soon. gus also in trouble; he's got a cold with a runny nose and a VEry bAd cough. needS rest, warMth, food and water, none which are available. in other news, the hill seems to be getting less steep as we descend it, in accordance with the theorY On local gravitation. this constant Walking dowNhill is kind of hard on the knees. five houRs until sunsEt now, and wind is picking up. if we cannot Find shelter soon, we shaLl bEgin ConsTructIng ONe. snow is greater than 15 inches deep everywhere. feet numb.

12:50 - floCk of crows Approached, and begaN screaming aT us in huManoid voicEs, in a languagE we do not know. TrYed tO ignore the screaming and failed, but a shot in their direction caUsed them to scatteR. crows themsElves ordinarY in appEarance. no additional commentS on this phenomena.

13:34 - encountering the first physical remains of the 'empire'. first a few knee-high stone (concrete?) walls running through the trees, then the remains of several BuiLdings, with nOthing left but the fOunDatiONs and soMe piles of bricks. theY are invisible beneatH the snow, AND we keep stubbing our toeS on them. i note that they are Built perpendicularLy to the ground instead Of perpendicular tO gravity, implying they preDate the fOrmatioN of the pocket. anYway, nothing sO far usefUl foR uS as shelter or food.

13:07 - dangerous encounter with antiMemetic organism. it was a wide area of gooeY orange/tan mucus Layered OVEr the FORest floor, pockmarked in slipperY hOles ringed in teeth. it appears to act as an ambUsh predator; ordInary animalS Don't sEE, PERceive, or remember iT, so tHey just wAlk iN, get stuck, and get dIgested before they CAN even realize anything was wrong. wenDy and i arE immune to mind tampering and thuS stopped before walking into it, but the rest of the family was not; dan and kevin got their feet stuCk in the holes befoRe we could stop them, and wendy and I had a difficult time convincing them of the organism's existence, then an even more difficult time getting them unstuck. the fact that i know the word 'antimemetic' despite having no recollection of encountering anything like this BEfore is somewhat worrying. might have run into one my first summer before he locked us.

14:30 - encounter wITh seemIngly civilized entity: a Sasquatch-sized humanoid robot with Big hands and a single glowing blUe eye, standing motionless on top of a fallen tRee. It was marked with the samE black rivet emblem as the Death light, it wAs covered iN moss and rust, and it was armeD wIth a pair of gun-nipples. We were hesitant to Approach at first, but wheN iT noticed us, iT spOke flUeNt English, And seemed fRiendly enough. iT displayed concern for our wellbeing out in the elements, but seemed unable to direct us toward sHelTer or other cIvilization, besides pointing vaguely toWArd the city. ideNTified iTself as 'cOntainment unit 849' and Said it had urgEnt businEss elsewhere, despite the fact that it never moved from its perch. WENDY sAys she recalls seeinG A sImilar robot to this oNe in the woods near the mystery shack last year, and that the Previous one cLaimEd to hAve been SEarching for thouSands of yEars for a missing placE called the 'hakroM Empire'. i suppose now we know the name of where we are, if that's any consolation?

15:22 - Spotted enormous metal vehicle in the distance. About 50 feet long, resembled a caterpillar, moved around on a series of treads. Equipped with four blue lights on antennae waving around (assumed to be death lights), as well as an enormous shovel in its head that seemed to be consuming rocks and dirt. Every few minutes the machine goes completely silent and the lights turn off, only to reactivate again a minute later. With no cockpit visible, we assume this machine to be a robot like the others. Also marked with same black rivet symbol as the others. Last seen headed uphill, using the trails.

Questions add to questions. It seems everything in here that has metal to mark has been marked with that same symbol. Presumably, then, that's the symbol for the Hakrom Empire, and they created everything in here, though some of it I can't imagine why. What does the symbol mean? a black rivet binding three plates, of red and grey and yellow... Do the colors have meaning to them? And if the Hakrom Empire was so advanced, where are they now? There must be answers. If we ever find a way to escape this rotten place, we absolutely must find a way back here. I have to know.

15:45 - there are no answers. saw apparitions in the sky, above the breaCh, fAr larger thaN possible. they WEre black hairy tentacles, someHow blackEr thAn the sky. a wide circLe of them FoRmed arOund the breach, pointing all toward it, Moving in and out, THen turnIng perpendicular, then facing back toward it, then they curled into shapeS like letters, and disappeared, as if dipping away into an invisible Medium. absolutely no clue what to make of these. we are ants wandering the sand of an abandoned playground, i have abandoned hope of comprehending the things that my eyes see. I am very small. I am so very small.

16:00 - ground is nearly flat noW as we near the center of the pocket. empire in center of lake, wHich stArTs less than 2 miles aheaD. could reach It around Dusk if WE continued, but instead must build shelter. found a large rootball of a fallen tree, and have stacKed logs agaiNst it tO form a lean-to. fire in center should keep us Warm, dirT piled against sides sHould keep wind out. we Are all Tired and cold and WEt again, anD also very hungry after walking all day. realizing now that we haven't enCountered a single edible tHing this whOle day besides talking crOwS. and if you think i'm going to EaT a talking crOw... Frankly, yOu'd probably be RiGht, i'd EaT anything at this point.

17:20 - It is getting dark. Sunset colors from the breach. Observed a pair of large birds flying overhead, similar in appearances to ordinary cranes, except that they were both on fire. They did not appear bothered by being on fire, and kept gliding in circles until they burned to death and their ashen bones fell into the lake. If the legend of the Phoenix is anything to go off of, they'll be reborn tomorrow with the sun, but tonight, it makes me sad.

19:00 - Spent the last couple hours telling stories around the fire, and morale is improving. Dan told us about how as a younger man, he'd been operating a feller on a steep hill and had rolled it over. Instead of bailing out, he'd slewed the arm around so that it caught itself when it landed back on its treads, and didn't tumble all the way down the hill. He said he'd never told his boss, but that it had been a good lesson about biting off more than you could chew, and chewing it anyway. Inspiring.

I told them the story of our first experience with Bill, leaving out the embarrassing bits. Wendy told the story of a time she fought a Manotaur, which I'd never heard before, and found hilarious. Maybe I'll write it down later, but I'm tired right now. I have second watch tonight, so I'll be able to get a few hours' sleep before Dan wakes me. I hope Wendy gets good sleep.

22:03 - my Watch. dan dIdn't wake me, possibLy intending to take aLl the WatchEs for himself, but i'D set an alarm, and he let me take hIs placE. now i'm up, with only my journal and the fire FOR company, watching the night and the weiRd flickEring breAch, Listening to gus coughing and the Wind blOwiNg. i want to write but Don't know what to writE.

it's so silent and creepy down here. well, peRhaps I shouldn't say 'down Here'; the lean-to stands on an outcropping with a good overlook oF THe whole empire, so not much is above us, so i reAlly can'T Say THat wE're 'down' anywhere. but foR some reason thIs entire Dumb Dimension feels LikE it'S 'down'. something About that siNgle light Shining doWn, it's like wE'Re at the bottom of a deep well. Like we've fallen out of the universe, into the center of the earth.

like we're in hell.

i wonder what's up there.

22:15 - I Saw thosE blackEr-THAn-black sky Tentacles agaIn. ThIS time the letters they formed were eNglish this time: 'merry christmas'. i fOund This event uniquely peculiaR, so why no ramble about It to keep myself awake.

let's Get rigHT into it: what does 'christmas' mean?

oF cOurse everybody knows the answer to that. chRistMAs meaNs That gOd sent his son to earth, Born to thE virgin mAry in the town of bethLehem. there were angels and shepherds and wise men and a star Or whatever. but that definitioN doEsn't hold up all that Well. first Of all, becaUse christ was actuaLly born in springtime, and it's only celebrateD in December because christians apprOpriAted existiNg pagan holidaYs relaTing to tHe wINter solstice. second because it's so weiGhed down These days with decOrating trEes And giving gifts and santa and all the nonsense tRaditioNs, that the bible storY starts tO jUst seems Bizarre and tACKed-on and Weird As it is. but aNy oTher TraditiOns are exactly as tacKed-oN and bizarrE than the christian onEs! weLl, so where did they come from, then? AND if the meaning of christmas isn't really christ, But just something simplE and wholesome like beinG nice To EAch otheR and giving gifts, then it's nO good at that either; everybody just gets stressed and mean and greedy this time of year. disgUsTing.

MY opinion? it's just tHE trAdition foR TrAditioN's sake at this point, anD doesn't mean anythinG anymore. whIch is why us pines haVE chosen to celebrate hanukkah InsTead, which aT least has a histOrY to it. and the cOrdUroys have apocalypse traIning insteAd, which at least has soMe use.

but if i'm right, theN why On earTh would A lovecraftian Horror living in a pocket dimEnsion's sky reach out of the unspeakable void above the sun to wish a foRgOtten wOrld a merry christmas instead of a happy haNukkah? and christmas isn't even untiL tuesdaY, you stupid eldritch thing, this is sAturday...

oh, what the heck. 'tis the season, isn't it?

Merry christmAs to you too, sky teNtacles. thanks fOr briNging some hiLaritY to A Mostly terrible dAy. wish you could have seen it, weNdy.

23:21 - marcus displaying worrying symptoms. he BEgan sleepwalking, and attempted to leave the shelter in only his underwear. it was during my watch, and i needed to wake the others to help restrain him. he wrestled Fiercely and even tried tO bite foR about fivE minutes before Waking up. his Eyes were shut tight for the whole event, and even after waking, he haD a hard tImE opening them, on aCcOUnt of some scummy secretion surrounding them, Like normal eye boogers, but white and thicker, like Dried YOgUrt. ThE infection on his arm has aLL gone black. says it doesn't hurt, but we can see he's lying.

though none of us have said so, it is evident to us all that the infection is turning hiM into onE of those creatures. he has asked tO be restraiNEd, and we have done so. i suggested he bLink frequently, hoping it will slow the rate At which his eyeS scab over. iT's anyone's guess as To whether It will help, but he needs to think he's doing soMETHing.

rest of wATch uneventful. I'M so tired. i don't want to forget again.

-YOUR HERO


3:40 - this is weNdy. dipper was sleeping with his jOurnal ouT in THE open, like He wanted to invite me to reAd it but wasn't bRave enough to give it to me or ask me to. anyway. i Don't rEally have anything elSe To add, sinCe he cOvereD Everything notable. the death lights. The sasquatch-bot. imperceptible goo that we're immune to ever since we got wiped. dagger trees. talking crows. sky tentacles. pheonixes. (pheoni? pheonous? pheople?). anyway, what can i add? what can i say? what can i think?

It's already been said. It's already been thought.

Okay look, you wanna talk in code, fine. I'll write it all backwards.

?rebmemer ot tnaw uoy oD

.tnaw uoy fi rebmemer llits nac eW .edoc eht fo flah ym wonk llits I .doog eb ot tuo nrut thgim ew yad eno taht wonk dluoc I hsiW .ti htrow eb lla dluow siht taht wonk dluoc I hsiW .sniarb ruo epiw t'ndid eh hsiw I .won erutuf ruo wenk I hsiw I

?truh teg ylimaf ruo tel ew retfA ?wonk ew lla rof snamuh detcefni tneconni neeb tsuj ev'dluoc taht thgin tsal sretsnom esoht lla deredrum dna tohs ew retfA ?sgniht resiw ,redlo fo seimene edam ew retfA ?hcum os deyortsed ew retfA ?seoreh rehto hcae llac ew nac woH .wonk uoy ,thgir er'uoy taht oot struh ti dnA

.klat ot pu leef uoy emit txen ,em evigrof ll'uoy fi uoy evigrof ll'I dna ,ssenippas eht evigrof ll'I tuB .tsehc eht ni hcnup a ekil struh ti wonk dluohs uoY .truh seod ti tuB .taht ekil etiuq enon tsael ta ,snoitome neddih yna evah I kniht t'nod I esuaceb ,ereh noitome neddih fo llew suomrone emos tsrubtuo t'now I dnA .yppas teg t'nod I


Date: 12/22/2013 - Day 3 of Apocalypse training with Corduroys. Day 2 of being trapped within the pocket dimension. 3 days until Christmas.

9:00 - this is dipper agaiN. it's a new mOrning.