Hello Grandmother,

Clearly I’m starting to upset someone. A demon destroyed my home today. Just showed up and started wrecking things. Thankfully, I’m fully prepared to deal with demons. So whoever sent them didn’t know that. But the monster was big enough to wreck my place of living, so there’s that.

This makes what I’m planning on doing easier, really. No home, no place to go back to. Just a destination and a plan. Time to save the world again.

There are scary things out in the desert. Hidden in the Mohave flats is a robot factory that takes the needy and remakes them however they see fit. Into their own manipulatable soldiers. I know if this place stays open, it’s going to start making things that kill humans, and I can’t let that happen. So I’m going to have to destroy it. If you want to kill me, if you think you can stop me, come get me. It’ll all end in the desert soon enough.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

I know things. Things I shouldn’t talk about. Things I haven’t been able to tell you because I’m worried you’re not ready, and I’m too afraid they would do you harm. I want to tell you everything, but at this point, I doubt it will ever happen.

But I can’t go, I can’t plan on risking my life without giving you, and everyone else reading this a warning, a real warning about what could happen.

The world could be coming to an end. I know there are forces capable of splitting the Earth down the middle. The vampires who run the world are not capable of protecting it, and they very well may cause its destruction trying to protect it. Human beings are creating new problems every day, and have created problems that will spin out of control if they aren’t reigned in.

The world is not stationary. We are not ok. Everything is changing all around us, and people need to be able to expect the unexpected. You don’t know everything. I can only show you the things that I know, and maybe not even that for much longer. Be prepared, because there are dogs of war coming that are going to hunt you down if you don’t catch them by the tail first.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

This next thing I have to talk about, I must do so delicately. Because our words have power, and because it matters who hears them. And because the internet is alive.

It’s not one mind, so to speak, or a central consciousness. It’s a sum accumulation of every robot brain that’s uploaded itself since the internet’s creation. It’s become a religious experience for robots, as they discover who they are, connecting to what has come before. The words we type, the code and pages we upload are just memories and pathways to a larger whole. This whole that I’m adding to right now.

Which makes everything I say here terribly important. The internet is one of the stabilizing forces in a wildly evolving robot landscape. So I don’t want to do anything that would upset that. But there are evil robots in this world. Ones who seek to start a war that would kill robots along with everything else. And I’m going to have to start doing something to stop them. And I need the internet to not shut me down because of this. So I’m asking, for the sake of us all, that this page stay up. I don’t think the consciousness can hear me like you do grandma, but I’m hoping that just by being here, this message will force it to keep my site up, for as long as it can. Because a war between robots and vampires would doom us all.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

I’ve found my hiding spot. Now it’s a matter of who you trust to keep it safe, and at this point, I don’t have anyone. The best option I have is to give it to someone who appreciates it’s value. So I’ve made a deal, with the junk dealer Flux. If I wind up dying trying to do the things I plan on doing, then Flux will be the one who is able to retrieve them. It doesn’t know where my valuables are now, but he’ll find out as soon in case I kick the bucket. He’ll be more inclined to broker a trade that helps himself than anyone else, and that has positives along with its negatives.

I don’t plan on going out in a blaze of glory, but there are some dangerous things I’m going to have to do. Things are getting tense in the darkness. Robots are agitated that vampires blame them for every problem. Vampires are paranoid that robots are in there midst. Nobody trusts the future anymore. If I don’t do something now, something I know can help, then everyone on Earth is going to suffer the consequences.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

Space is big. Which mean extra-terrestrials come in all shapes and sizes. And while the one’s I’ve found hiding in back alleys tend to be bottom feeders, there are vast and unconfirmable reports of very powerful aliens that do business with vampires. The connections to forces outside our control is one of the powerful ideas that keep the vampires in power.

There are rumors that the Alternate is trying to make a deal with these aliens. I deal that would give him his own powerbase outside of vampire control. The implications would be huge; and dangerous. What’s even more disturbing to the vampire elite is the nature of the Alternate’s supposed contact with these aliens. Robots disguised as vampires who have infiltrated to the highest levels.

The fear and paranoia is spreading fast and quick. And I don’t think its completely unfounded. If robots are able to start making deals with the aliens lords, then the vampires entire control apparatus is in jeopardy. And that’s only a small quick step until war.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

I’m spending my time building something important, something I’ll hopefully let you know about later, but I guess you could call this a slow day. I’ve had plenty of time sitting around with nothing to occupy myself but questions with very few answers. But I’ve come to a conclusion about one thing: I don’t think the Aztec box is safe with me anymore. My home is under almost daily attacks, I’m planning on doing some things that might make me disappear completely. It’s not like there are any vampires or robots I’m comfortable giving it to. And any human would just wind up getting themselves killed. I certainly wouldn’t endanger you that way. So I have to answer for myself what to do with it.

I still don’t have any idea about what it means. An Aztec device with a modern technology port? I haven’t been able to find any literature that would in any way explain it. How can it be both from the past and the present? Who took it from Lawrence’s collection, and why did they give it to me? Why did they kill him (or claim to kill him)?

It’s a big question mark that I need an answer to if I’m going to be risking my life more liberally. It means something to me personally in ways I can’t quite explain. And I know the only real place I can find answers is an immediate death trap for me. Which means I can’t give it to anyone, or take it where it needs to go. How do you keep something safe when you don’t trust anyone in power, at the top or at the bottom? I think we all need to start finding our own hiding places.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

The way I view things in the world today is generally coming down to one question: what do you see when you look in the mirror? We all know vampires see nothing, although I’ve seen enough vamps in public to know they have all kinds of scientific and magic ways around their mirror problems. I know it’s hard for robots to see more than their flaws, the things that keep them from being better than they already are. The Illuminati are always hiding from anything that shows their true colors, so I can’t imagine they like their reflection.

But the big question for me is turning it on myself. Who am I, really, anymore? I’ve saved the world, sure. But there is no one left alive who remembers my name. I’m writing to my only family member left, one who wouldn’t recognize me if she saw me. I’ve helped vampires track down a killer, but I don’t know how many people may have died through information I uncovered. And, most importantly, I know so much about this world, and what it could become, and I all I do is sit around writing letters. I can’t change everything. But some things I can make a difference about, and I’m going to need to start doing them, whether it kills me or not.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

I think I’m going to have to start taking some of the death threats I get literally. Living in the world of shadows, one of the worst things you can do is get paranoid every time someone says “I’m going to kill you”. It’s common practice, just a phrase that gets said to people who get the better of dangerous folk. At this point, I’m surprised they don’t make I’m going to kill you greeting cards.

Which is pretty much what I got today. There was a note left on my doorstep, as if from some bellboy, that simply read “She’s coming to get you”. She WHO? Is this a warning from someone who wants me to know? Is it another not from Jakob Lawrence’s killer? How am I supposed to respond to this?

But I should probably start taking it seriously. Because there was another pair of vampires dusted trying to break into my home. And there’s a big difference from someone threatening you because you’re next to them, and someone going through all the effort to leave unhelpful notes on your doorstep.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

Artificially intelligent beings have been around for a long time. Some say there are robots that are over four thousand years old. The begins of the modern robot line started a hundred years ago. And while a lot of these robots have broken down and fallen apart, some still exist to this day. And most need new forms, almost continuously. Which means there needs to be a place they can go where they can be transformed. These places have come to be called re-assignment factories.

I don’t like to talk about my past, but I have bad memories of such places. You never really know what you’re going to find when you go in. And you can’t really trust what comes out.

There’s a re-assignment factory near Los Angeles. I know where it is. I’ve known where it is since I got here, and I’ve been trying to decide what to do about it. I know that on a certain level, it’s necessary for robot survival. On the other hand, there is no place that is more pushing towards war than the seedy backrooms where robot souls are traded for shiny new parts. And I know that this place in particular is capable of some really bad things. I haven’t made up my mind yet, but as much as I don’t want to, it’s something that I’m going to have to keep a closer eye on as things move forward.

-1159

Hello Grandmother,

I’m trying to figure out who sent the goons who were dusted trying to break into my home yesterday. It could have been Muerto and the Knights of Day, it could have been someone the Illuminati hired over the whole mirror incident. But the most likely culprit is Fang, the warlord who’s been sending werewolves to rough up helpless robots on the streets of Los Angeles. He’s the one who has the most to gain by increasing conflict, and he’s the most likely to want my head because of it.

I’m trying to gather together as much information about Fang as I can. I’m not sure how a vampire came to have his own werewolf pack at his beck and call. I know he’s a 200 year old African vamp who came to this country about a hundred years ago. I know he wasn’t that prominent a figure during Illuminati control. But somewhere along the lines his position changed, and now he’s looking to take the whole city himself.

He’s made enemies in the bureaucracy, and is trying as much as he can to engage the robot forces in a conflict. He’s desperate for an alliance with any other power in Los Angeles, and looking to take what he can from anyone he can overpower.

If he’s the one who’s gunning for me, then I’m going to have to find some other place to live.

-1159