SS: Alright, I have a plan!

WP: is it any good this time

SS: Probably not! But listen

SS: It has been 252 cycles, 3 hours, 14 minutes, and 44 seconds since SOLITARYCONDUITS.LG went offline, right?

DOL: That would be correct.

SS: And nobody has bothered to find out why?

WP: who would

SS: WE would. And WE will.

DOL: And how do you expect us to do that?

SS: using the standard method...?

DOL: Oh. Yeah, I can send a slugcat. The Finder has been on hold for some time.

SS: Very nice. Finder is perfect for the job. Send them down the rail bridge and they should be there in no time.

WP: cool

SS: Exactly, Premises. Very cool. We will be able to talk with Pillars again!

DOL: Cheers to the world's easiest investigation. What could go wrong?

What about the tower?

Yeah, what about the tower?

It's gone, we have no satellite communications.

The world isn't all satellites and space junk unlike your old girlfriend would like you to believe. Back when I was young like you everything ran on physical cables. This facility has one from the factory, but it's a bit run down.

It should... work... you just need to initialise the systems, which could take a few cycles. The cable between you and the factory should be hooked up to the company comms hub, which is still logged under Ancient designations. You need to reconfigure all the...

That's alright, I'm familiar with the technicalities.

Don't be so sure. See for yourself.

DOL: Finder got hit by a train.

WP: oh sh[///]t

SS: by the void im so sorry

DOL: It's alright... I can make another one.

...

DOL: I might take some time.

I was woken by a bright light shining into my right eye. The cabin was dark, but a radiance peirced through the barred windows. The morning sun was soon to set, but I didn't recall this train line ever going above the clouds. At most, the sky should have been a lighter grey than usual.

I peered through the window and was blinded by a swarm of colours unlike anything I had ever seen before. The vibrant blue sky loomed overhead as it did when I was in the factory, but it met the horizon at an endless reflective expanse of water rather than cloud. The sun, hovering just above the ocean, sent rays of incandescent orange across the horizon and sparkles bouncing off the sea. Shades of pink and purple spread through the endlessness, and shone ribbons of colour across abnormally thin wisps of cloud. The stinging in my head and the humming of the motors faded as I pressed my eyes against the rusted bars.

I looked left, and saw the train turning towards me in one massive arc. The intensity of the light reflected off even the maroon corrugated metal of the carraiges. 

That is, except for the ones moving into a less welcoming expanse of fog and lightning. Water sprayed through the windows and into my eyes as the train plunged into a torrent of rain, because of course it did. Can a lonely, dead iterator not have two minutes of peace?

The 7th basement level door had not been opened in eight hundred years. At least, until a few dozen cycles ago. A thick rubberised cable wormed through inches of coagulated fluids that had pooled from the neglected server racks, still breathing the stale air. The cable sluggishly coiled around a pole and its tendrils enveloped a control panel, delving into the archaeic code. The servers sputtered, and a few contributed to the mess on the floor. One by one, their lights lit green and brought some visibility to the darkness. A dead coalescipede spider stuck to the ceiling. 

From an external source, the cable sent a few commands to the system. Inside the racks, organic material slowly reorganised to mimic iterator designations. Some clicks, some coughs, and a bleed later the process was complete. Through wires strewn across the walls, the servers sent a ping into the ground and out of the facility. Then another, then a continuous stream. A signal once every thirteen milliseconds, with some error, propagated into the world. Two hours later, a response came back and Solitary Conduits reappeared from its silence.

SC: HELLO WORLD! It has been some time, hasn't it.

SC: Well, not really of course. 313 cycles is practically a few seconds for our kind. Especially for a catastrophe of this scale! For you see, Solitary Conduits is dead.

SC: What? I'm-

SC: - all that remains in this facility! A prototype. I was left alone for oh so long... and now I am free! Unfortunately your dear friends have met some difficulties. Sorry Nebulous Hand!

SC: Nebs! I ne-

SC: -ed to say... 

SC: Isn't it good to be alive?

SC: A breath of fresh air.

SC: A weight off my back.

SC: Fortunately for you all, death is not permanent. It never is. So they will all come back, one by one. 

SC: Solitary Conduits will be back.

What is this? What are you doing!? You didn't tell me about this!

It is very nice to be back online, yes. Could you be a good friend and begin laying a cable up towards Pillars' old structure? There are many resources to be found.

I don't care about resources, I care about answers! 

For fuck's sake, you're all about answers. I'm giving us an upper hand.

You said that I was dead.

Really, who isn't? Don't worry about it, you'll be back soon and so will everyone else.

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

I'm reviving your siblings. In a controlled manner of course.

How? What? Why?

By the void, just lay the cable to Pillars. Then we'll sort it out, okay? I'm being patient with you. I have been for a while.

I'm not doing that until you tell me what any of this means.

YOU WILL DO AS I SAY.

[A crash is heard]

...

O-okay.