[Audio] Backdated to July 1st

[iamnotgod]

Date: July 1st, morning through early afternoon.
Characters: Walter Weekes and Sam Stone; public Network feed.

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[You know those number stations? Tuning in to the Network this morning is going to feel a little like that, if a bit more... computer programmer-y. Also interspersed are coordinates, and the occasional time notation.

And every once in a while, Walter will break the mode entirely and call out:]

Stone? Sam, are you there?

[With more than a bit of concern in his voice.]

Comments

[scarsolderthanyou]

I'm not going to crash.

[Guess who just got back onto the network, and who sounds irritable.]

The plane can fly itself so long as I don't punch out the engine or turn the controls towards the ground while I'm confused, and there's nothing tall enough out here for me to hit.

I'm fine.

Tempting fate, are we, Stone?

[iamnotgod]

[Walter deliberately over-breathes a sigh of relief.]

Good to hear from you. I'd say you know your plane better than any auto-pilot, though...

[scarsolderthanyou]

It's not auto-pilot so much as momentum. A rolling ball or a car will go in a straight line if nobody steers it and the ground is level. A plane will keep going unless the wind picks up or I turn the nose in another direction, and it won't go falling out of the sky unless an engine cuts out.

[fracturedbeauty]

Ah.

Good to hear you're alive and well.

[He doesn't sound at all relieved; his tone is completely deadpan.]

Any luck on your findings?

[scarsolderthanyou]

We know it's a circle of sorts. Maybe a dome, maybe even a sphere. It only goes to high, and it only goes so far away from the city. Got a measure of how far across it is at this point, going to get another measure from a little further down, see how much it changes.

Walter thinks he can do some math, with enough data, to get us an exact range.

[Audio]

[iamnotgod]

I was more concerned about something happening to the engine during one of these periods, but since your knowledge of how to fly isn't Number-related...

[You won't spontaneously break your plane, goes the logic.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Yeah, it's just a moment of being disoriented, really. Though I've done it enough times now that it's less disoriented and more annoyed, because I remember forgetting a handful of times.

I keep thinking I'm going senile, which isn't fun. Next time I do this, I'm going to write myself notes to stick to the windshield so I know what's going on.

[Audio]

[iamnotgod]

Can't imagine how that could be fun, really.

And yeah, that sounds like a good idea.