Lors de la progression dans le jeu The swapper, on découvre de nombreux journaux qui permettent de découvrir l'histoire du jeu. Malheureusement, ils ne sont pas classés et la compréhension n'est donc pas évidente.
Vous trouverez ci-dessous l'intégralité des logs, classés par ordre chronologique, ce qui permet de s'y retrouver bien plus facilement.
J'ai également inclus les logs cachés (Les "Message from home").
Log #23 - Theseus Mission Parameters (203 years ago)
The natural resources placed within our reach are all but exhausted. Research Station Theseus is one of seven (7) remote outposts established at great expense in a time of great need. Its remit is the long-term identification and synthesis of useful alien materials.
We ask our crews to survive on the frontier - beyond the comfort of your families at home, beyond any hope of relief or rescue, for decades at a time; and we ask you to take the labour of that toil and turn it over to us - for the good of the many, and for the good of the families who will not forget you.
You will be stationed 7 years' travel from the nearest outpost. You will be expected to function largely self-sufficiently and, in the absence of reliable communications, to maintain professionalism in isolation for extended periods of time. An endeavour of this scale has never been attempted before, and you will find extensive documentation stored securely on the root directory.
Research Station Theseus is under the Project Sisyphus operational umbrella.
Message from Home #1 (192 years ago)
By the time you receive this message, Theseus, you should have arrived at your designated co-ordinates and begun installation procedures. We have already dispatched the first of your yearly supply shuttles. This is an unprecedented opportunity for us all. The people of this planet owe you a great debt.
Message from Home #2 (190 years ago)
We have received your response, Theseus, glad to hear you've arrived in one piece. That shuttle should be with you in approximately 2 weeks. We've had responses from three of the other long-range stations, and are waiting on confirmation from the remaining three. Everyone back here is looking forward to hearing of your progress.
Message from Home #3 (188 years ago)
Shipment confirmation received, Theseus. There are a further two shuttles already in transit, after which we will await your forecasts regarding your self-sufficiency and future needs.
Message from Home #4 (186 years ago)
It sounds as if you're well-established out there now, Theseus. We're sorry to have to report that long-range telescopes indicate Station 7 was not able to maintain its orbit and has decayed away into a nearby sun. Now more than ever our fate lies with you. Has the research program gained any momentum?
Message from Home #5 (179 years ago)
We thought we'd lost you for a while there. Let's hope those communication glitches are put to bed. Unfortunately you're now overdue on delivery of your findings on initial exploration of the planet below. Please advise.
Message from Home #6 (159 years ago)
We agree that this silkworm-like creature constitutes a potentially useful finding, and look forward to the arrival of the shipped specimens. Initial yield estimates, however, suggested Chori V to be far more abundant in natural resources. Silk won't save the planet, Theseus. Keep at it.
Message from Home #7 (119 years ago)
We're sorry to have to report, Theseus, that Station 6 has gone offline as far as we can tell. No word on why. It was one of the most productive outposts, and now the public confidence is suffering. We need you to fill the gap.
Log #09 - Planet Chori V Overview (104 years ago)
[Class]:
Desert. Uninhabitable
[Research Interest]:
Abundant natural mineral deposits
Space Station Theseus in orbit since 201 years
Notable discoveries include a more durable steel amalgam, and an alien lifeform similar to an earth silkworm.
Primary research in recent years has been focused on what have come to be termed 'The Watchers' - highly complex rock formations of unknown origin. Analysis of samples onboard Theseus has revealed unusual electro-chemical activity within the structures, which may suggest something resembling rudimentary intelligence.
Log #03 - Message to Quarantine (100 years ago)
[From]:
Chori V Excavation Site 24
[To]:
Theseus Quarantine
[Body]:
We need a faster turnaround down here. The last shift was supposed to go home six hours ago - instead you've got them shipping back more rock samples. They're tired. Please advise.
Log #04 - MSG to Site 24 (100 years ago)
[From]:
Theseus Quarantine
[To]:
Chori V Excavation Site 24
[Body]:
The chief of quarantine understands the pressure this puts you under, but stresses that these rock samples are of unparalleled scientific interest. As such we must request that you continue to prioritise sample teleport over personnel.
Log #02 - Site 24 Internal MSG (100 years ago)
[sam]:
I need a security orb. I have been planetside for weeks. I cannot get clearance back to Theseus. Help me out?
[kim]:
I can't. I want to see my husband as much as you do yours.
Message from Home #8 (99 years ago.)
We appreciate your continued commitment to sending back mineral and specimen resources, but we are particularly interested in the potential of these unique rock formations you've been excavating from the planet. Please transmit full details at your earliest convenience.
Log #07 - Dream Diary (98 years ago)
Day 7
- Woke up tired. Recalled an image of a balloon, then distracted by radio.
Day 8
- Dreamed about my 13th birthday. The clown turned into a horse.
Day 9
- Didn't sleep.
Day 10
- My birthday again. This time the clown turned into some kind of stone statue.
Day 11
- Dreamed the laser drill down at the Excavation Site was trying to talk me into doing something I didn't want to do.
Log #20 - Site 7 Internal MSG (96 years ago)
[john]:
We dig enough Watchers out of orbiting asteroids, you ever get to wondering whether they're as smart as they're supposed to be? You know they're supposed to talk to each other? I never heard a peep!
[arn]:
Maybe they don't speak our language? Think about it, they're telepathic, right? If you could sense what I was thinking as I was thinking it, would you need to read this message? Or develop language at all? Seriously, if they were going to talk to us, I reckon it'd have to be something pretty damn important.
[john]:
I think you're in the wrong work placement.
Log #12 - Accident Report (94 years ago)
[Casualties]:
Albert Petrovich & Diana Moss
[Ranking Crewmember Statement]:
Petrovich and Moss volunteered to take part in the first test engagement of the Swapping Core between individual crewmembers. The procedure was conducted safely, however both crewmembers immediately reported extensive memory loss, meaning it has been impossible to verify whether a swap actually took place or not. With a little more time we believe we can correct for the memory loss and complete the experiment successfully.
[Commander's Assessment]:
A complete ban on all testing of the 'Swapper' device between individual crewmembers is to take effect immediately. I understand your safety record for use of the device between cloned subjects remains untarnished. Consider yourselves fortunate that this avenue of research remains open to you.
Log #16 - Ethics of Brain Science (94 years ago)
Dr. Chalmers:
The brain specimens are donated by terminal patients and kept alive in a nutrient-rich gel. We offer them life, they allow us to learn from them.
Dr. Dennett:
Dr. Chalmers is quite aware of the existing ban on testing the 'Swapper' device between crewmembers, and is seeking to circumvent it by testing on people who cannot complain. The doctor is practicing consensual slavery!
Dr. Chalmers:
I am practicing the prolonging of life for a good cause. You'd make the same choice, in their situation.
Dr. Dennett:
You don't know enough about that device to make any such claim. None of your theories account for the empirical evidence. Some of them break the law of conservation of energy.
Dr. Chalmers:
Yet with no amount of physical explanation can you communicate to me what it is like to see red, to feel pain, to be afraid of death. Why, if all we are is nuts and bolts we may as well consider the computer alive! Your account is missing the magic, and when the cards are down mine is simply easier to believe.
Log #11 - Swapper Research Interests (93 years ago)
Team B Report
Discovering what the Swapper did was easy - our new research priority is to work out how. I believe that it is synthesising some part of the Watchers' telepathic communication - somehow it is able to relocate raw consciousness while leaving the physical body intact.
To understand the device, and perhaps consciousness itself, we must understand the Watchers.
Dr. Chalmers
Log #18 - Swapper Research Interests (93 years ago)
Team A Report
Centuries ago the greatest minds in the world believed in 'life essence' - some invisible, magical substance that explained what was alive and what was dead. As we know, they never found it; they decided in the end that life was just functions like growth, and reproduction, and respiration.
People think the retro-engineered 'Swapper' device 'swaps souls about'.
I worry that if the soul, like life essence, turns out to be nothing but pixie dust, then that device is capable of acts far less benign than Chalmers would have them believe.
Dr Dennett
Message from Home #9 (92 years ago)
Theseus, we missed that transmission. Please respond.
Log #01 - Security Memo (90 years ago)
[From]:
Chori V Excavation Site 24
[To]:
Theseus Xeno Technology Research
[Body]:
Listen, we're grateful, but to be frank half my team refuse to be in the same room as one of these Swapper devices - I hardly envisage their use becoming widespread enough to justify the security precautions you've had installed down here.
Log #13 - Watcher Metaphysics (90 years ago)
What Do Watchers Know About the Weather?
With no physical senses with which to perceive the world we have to ask - what constitutes knowledge for a Watcher? How do they conceptualise death? What do they know of the physical world?
Watchers must have some conception of the natural physical forces which cause them to move in and out of one another's detection range. Such forces may be inexplicable for them, but then the human race has had great success in understanding the physical world beyond its gaze. The watchers have likely theorised, and they have had rather more time than us to get things right.
Log #14 - Memo (89 years ago)
Some Watcher specimens are millions of years old, so it's fair to assume a high level of intellectual development. If they're telepathic as well I think Chori V's indigenous species may be the universe's oldest, most powerful quantum computer. If only we knew the programming language.
Log #15 - Transit Order - Watcher Sample #01 (87 years ago)
[Specimen Profile]:
The 'Head Watcher' is a vast Watcher specimen, the first to be discovered on Chori V. It exhibits far more active neurological activity than the rest, seeming to function as a kind of group communications hub. The sample is being relocated to the Mind-Science Laboratory, SECTOR 2, for extended observation following red-flagged radiological activity.
[Transit Order]:
Weight: 112 tons
Transit Limitations: Due to extreme weight and dimensions sample is unfit for teleport
Transit Method: Zero G, Station Exterior - Sample to be towed with guide ropes
[Transit route]:
Research Sample Containment > Airlock > Station Exterior > Airlock > Gravity Control > Mind-Science Laboratory
Log #17 - Control Crew Bulletin: Watcher Sample #01 (87 years ago)
IMPORTANT OPERATIONAL INFORMATION
Watcher Sample #01 was recently relocated to the Mind-Science Laboratory. Access via the Command deck is strictly limited to senior personnel. Control facilities and crew should be unaffected by the specimen's proximity, however we understand concerns have been raised and seek to address these now.
Sample #01 is colloquially referred to as the 'Head Watcher' in virtue of its unique physical appearence, and at present the research team has no robust explanation for it. Current theories are focused on the possibility of an extinct, humanoid species native to Chori V, which may have carved the features onto the rock tens of thousands of years ago.
While it is true that tests so far have indicated that Sample #01 plays a different role in Watcher hierarchy compared to the smaller specimens, claims that it posesses greater intelligence, or otherwise poses a threat remain unsubstantiated.
Log #05 - Cargo Overview (85 years ago)
Essential Supplies
Food - 4 tons (197 days @ full crew complement)
Water - 3,000 litres emergency fluids in storage (7,000 litres in re-circulation)
Miscellaneous research equipment - 201 items registered
Spare parts - 5,967 items registered
Xeno samples & finds - 432 items registered
Log #06 - Emergency Evac I (85 years ago)
Few areas of the station remain habitable. The Cargo Bay in Sector 1 has everything we need - food and water, Greenhouse access - but it may not be safe for long. No one knows what's causing this.
Sam Cook
Log #10 - Emergency Evac II (85 years ago)
This morning the last senior crewmember disengaged the lockdown on the High Security Labs and relocated us all here. The labs are well shielded, and the doors are sealed tight. Everyone's hoping we've not been followed here by whatever it is that's killing us.
Sam Cook
Log #19 - Emergency Evac III (85 years ago)
In under 32 hours more than three quarters of us have succumbed. 124 crewmembers, and less than 30 remain.
We're holed up in this derelict module, headed for Command once we're rested. People say it's the most protected part of the station - but then people are scared. They're saying they can hear the Watchers' thoughts. That when you do, you get sick.
I'm trying not to listen to them.
Sam Cook
Log #21 - Emergency Evac IV (85 years ago)
There are 23 of us left alive, most of whom are sick. Command has been locked down from the inside.
The Watchers are what's killing us. We know that now, but even if we had days ago we wouldn't have been able to jettison half of them before there'd be too few of us left alive to do it. We brought onboard so many.
We're a long way from anything, out here. I wonder how long it will be before we're discovered.
If anyone finds this, for your own sakes: don't talk to the Watchers.
Sam Cook
Message from Home #10 (79 years ago)
Theseus, we don't know if you're still out there. We haven't received anything from you in decades. All other stations have ceased broadcasting. Sisyphus Project is being shut down. If you're out there - good luck, and good bye.
Log #08 - Black Box Download (1 minute ago)
110 = Collision with unknown vessel detected.
Black box data downloaded:
90 minutes ago:
Entering scanning range of Research Station Theseus. Station Status: Derelict.
87 minutes ago:
2 lifesigns detected.
80 minutes ago:
Solar interference.
79 minutes ago: SYSTEM REBOOT
78 minutes ago:
WARNING: Collision course.
77 minutes ago:
MASSIVE SYSTEM DAMAGE.
70 minutes ago:
Main airlock opened.
6 minutes ago:
System diagnostic test activated (Result: 341 critical fails)
Log #22 - Experimental Outcome Analysis
[Substances]:
3 minds (1 ad-corpus, 2 ex-corpus)
[Method]:
Swapper device engaged on all three minds simultaneously
[Result]:
Me
When the device was engaged by the trespasser, her own mind was combined with the Chalmers and Dennett minds to create me.
I cannot tell if I am all of them or none of them, for I do not remember what it is like to be anyone other than I.