It's my third night in the woods. It's been tough going, but I believe I am now more than 100 yards away from campus. Perhaps I should have taken one of the trails? But there's no turning back now.

Not knowing how long I'd be gone, I packed a few more amenities. Namely, my writing desk, file cabinet, and my Aeron Task Chair by Herman Miller in True Black. Though I take notes in my field notebook, I wanted to make sure every observation I had was properly cataloged and cross referenced, which takes a certain baseline of equipment. This is partially the reason for my slow going. Also, I lost the key to my file cabinet on Tuesday, and spent the better part of that day retracing my steps. And to think it was in my other pocket in my jacket of many pockets the entire time!

Now I've set up my base camp, within a blind camouflaged with branches and leaves from the forest floor, and am prepared to begin observations.

Wish me luck!

Hey guys i have the solution to make the vending machines behave @Huck Phearson all i need is bait to get them to act out would you be willing to help

The vending machines are stalking me now. I see them around every corner, in the buildings and in my dorm and even down in the gardens. They haven't tried anything lately but I can tell they're planning something. When you walk by them they stand perfectly still, but as soon as you turn your back you can hear them banging and clomping off to hide somewhere else.

Somebody needs to stand up to them, @patrick. So if you've got a plan, I'm willing to be the bait.

I left the blind (and the safety of my writing desk) three days ago. Or was it four?

I spotted a family of squat, cannister-based robotoforms moving through the woods. Roughly the size of baby hippopotami. They grazed slowly but left a very clear path for me to follow. I gave them a head start in the middle of the afternoon and planned to be back to the blind in time for dinner.

I did not find my way back before dark. Or since.

Luckily, I had a handful of Luna Bars in my pocket, and a canteen. And the nights have been warm enough that a bed of leaves and my coat of many pockets have been comfort enough.

The sites I have seen have made it all worth while.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. A great, humERR604273895517X5634257X11ming hive. Blades of grass made of circuit-printed nanoERR26420XX456960737167333Xfibre. A coERR1857577X29X14X798074856 glow streaming thru the ERR6609916624X263687375931 trees. If only @Guy Jester were to sERR31049686192557X75X71025, the magniERRX54933XX511128055995029
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You must have seen things that no one should know about. Due, to the error coding, ti appears. We will not be able to know what you have seen in some ways. But there might be a way for us to know...

I'm not one to complain, generally, but these mechanical animals are becoming a nuisance. I live in the woods for a number of reasons, and one of them is certainly to escape the noise and vibratory pollution of the industrial world.

Nowadays, at all times of the day or night, there is an incessant noise from the woods. Now I'm not talking 17 year cicadas or elk mating or wild peacocks. I am talking about a very specific mechanical hum, like a factory, with occasional whistles a blowin' and sirens screechin'.

Playing the saw in the moonlight in these conditions is downright unpleasant.

I'm going into the woods to uncover the root of the problem. And to find out what happened to @Adam Ranger. And I'd like to talk to @Guy Jester, 'cept I don't quite go for enclosed spaces. So it's further into the woods I go tomorrow.

I found the source of the hubbub. It wasn't hard chasin' down the flattened undergrowth, or followin' the general racket. Plus, I had my spirit hounds racin' around me so I got a 360 degree picture. (Well, they're not really "hounds.")

What I found was a big steel ship of a building. Apteryx shaped, all burnished chrome. Plopped right down on top of a good chunk of forest. Doors opened up in it and gang planks came out, and the mechanical animals came and went all day.

What I also found was @Adam Ranger, sleeping peacefully in a meadow nearby. He woke up a bit disoriented, so I took him to the treehouse and nursed him back with some fresh coffee and waffles. Then he fell asleep in the hammock.

I've still got a noisy robot factory next to me in the woods I'd like to do something about. Maybe @Adam Ranger has some clues.

I feel much better now, really.

I'm sure @timberlina's coffee and waffles were delicious. I mean, I had sensory input that told me it was delicious, and I remember it being delicious. But now I have just the memory of me remembering it was delicious. So many memories of memories.

But now I know I don't need coffee. Or waffles.

And I never really did.

Because I have a micro-black hole in my heart generating enough power to keep this earth unit moving till after the sun burns out. And it's been there since I was born.

The people I was raised by, were they humans? Humans who unknowingly adopted a robot baby? Or were they robots in disguise? Or, like me, were they robots who were told they were people? I should probably give them a call. It's been awhile.

I began to error out as my original consciousness routines reasserted themselves. The @Adam Ranger paradigm underwent an existential crisis and needed a reboot. So I skipped the blue screen and went right on to the next big thing. Now it all seems like a long long dream, a detour filled with classrooms and kids and summers at the river.

If I knew then what I know now... ;)

@timberlina can you take me to the "factory" if possible i had a mobile robotic assembly plant stolen from the psychic crime club parking garage a few weeks ago and you may have found it. I may be the only one who can shut it down before it reaches full operational capacity. The safety of the school may depend on it.

@timberlina can you take me to the "factory" if possible i had a mobile robotic assembly plant stolen from the psychic crime club parking garage a few weeks ago and you may have found it. I may be the only one who can shut it down before it reaches full operational capacity. The safety of the school may depend on it.