My Humblest Apologies

I am so very sorry for being out of reach for the past several days. Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do, as I have been remaining "underground," so to speak. My altercation with the last "recruiter" for the Listeners sparked an idea, and I recently joined them. It took some time to convince them that I was not an agent of the Church of Simplification, but seeing as how I'm not, it worked out to my advantage.

I have since been working with them in an attempt to destroy said Church, though I am positive that they have a secondary plan. You see, the Deep's pulse was right on schedule, and now it has returned to sleep. However, from circumstantial data and a few scattered references, it seems that they plan to raise the Deep again. I'm not sure when, or how.

However, I do know one thing: It would be a disaster. The Cancel is not here to send the Deep back into sleep, and, unless I am very much mistaken, the Deep's thoughts will cause the same effects as the Pulse, but on a far larger scale.

I need to meet with Dewart as soon as possible. Hopefully he is still near the Reactor.

Regards,
Mr. Benzene

Investigations

I've been investigating the Reactor more thoroughly for Mr. Benzene, and needless to say, I'm very thankful that I was pointed in this direction. As I proceeded down into the Reactor, I discovered what appears to be a place of worship. It was empty at the time, but showed recent signs of traffic. I planted a camera and retreated, then checked it later.

Apparently, it's a meeting place for something called the Church of Simplification. I assume they worship the Cancel, as evident from the Empty Set and the theme naming. 

I'm not overly sure how they worship, or why, but they seem to be preparing for some big event.

I shall attempt to gather more information.

Regards,

Mr. Dewart

Contact

We've received contact from Mr. Benzene. At about 6:30 this morning, Dr. Evans received a letter. Most of it is for Evans's eyes alone, but there was one thing he told me that I think should be shared:

... in addition, I've run across something else in the City that has made me greatly uneasy. Something, or someone, I should say. The mere sight of a person in the City itself is cause for alarm, as this area tends to be completely secure, certain events not withstanding.

However, this person was marked with "dB" upon a tattered sweatshirt on his back, a bag with the same mark on one shoulder and a large set of headphones was nestled on his head. His attire made me investigate more thoroughly, and I'm afraid that I grew too bold and he discovered me. We had a short altercation, and after mere moments, he was retreating  with several large cuts. 

However, I cut the strap of a bag and recovered it, which was my end goal of the fight. I investigated the contents more thoroughly and discovered something to set my hear ill at ease: pamphlets. Recruiting pamphlets to the homeless and "forgotten" youth of the outside world, encouraging them to join the "Listeners." 

This can mean only one thing: the followers of the Deep are more than just a possibility. I don't know what they intend to accomplish, but I'm not going to let them reach their goals, whatever they are. 

Ever your servant,
Benzene

P.S. Tell Dewart that I found the Empty Set marked in the Reactor. He might be able to dig something up.

Well, he is correct. I shall be investigating on the morrow.

Regards,
Mr. Dewart

Retreat

Several events have come about to prevent me from returning to the cavern where I discovered the disease and to cause me to retreat back into the natural reality.

Firstly, Herr Doktor has returned to Lacuna Urbis. This alone was enough to make my survival instincts go into overdrive; I remember vividly what it was like the first time he came.

Secondly, we've lost contact with Mr. Benzene's submersible. His submersible has been in constant video contact with Dr. Evans's lab since the beginning of the descent, but as of 21:45 of last night, we have been unable to contact him. In addition, the remainder of his crew, five in total, have not responded to any sort of attempt at communications, from phone to telegraph (you might laugh, but we must be prepared for any possibility. Also, don't ask how we got a line to the submersible. You don't want to know.). 

Thirdly, and perhaps finally: the Hum seems to be distorting Lacuna Urbis. Buildings have been decaying and rebuilding themselves, and birds have been sighted throughout the city closest to the Door.

Needless to say, I'm leaving for the time being. I'll report back later.

Regards,

Mr. Dewart

Conclusions

I must admit that it took me longer than I thought it would to come to this conclusion, but once I arrived, it was obvious beyond belief.

The mark that we found on the wall, the circle and line (Ø), the deterioration of our instruments. If we take these factors into consideration, they point to one conclusion: We are dealing with the Cancel. The Cancel is an entity that has remained mostly unknown in the face of the other Beings that we deal with. Because of its nebulous nature, it is often relegated to the background.

Now, for those of you unaware, the Cancel is less of a Being and more of a force. It has the strange ability to literally erase anything from existence, including the memories regarding that object. There are, however, a few exceptions. Those touched by another Being tend to be able to resist the effects on their memory from the Cancel, which is how we know it exists at all.

The Cancel is probably the most terrifying of everything we face, for, from what we have been able to find, it has already consumed one reality.

Not just a planet, or galaxy, but the reality of that universe. 

However, we have discovered something that may bring hope to your hearts, or strike deeper terror; the Cancel refuses to try and devour our solar system for one reason: there is something that resides in our ocean that the Cancel is afraid of. 

We have named this Being "the Deep." And, as far as we are aware, it is the thing which caused the Pulse, which launched this venture. The Deep seems to be largely uncaring of the world, but it seems to have one motivation that one could deem "human:" It hates the Cancel. We've recorded several Pulses over the last few years, and all of them align perfectly with something we had never really considered comparing them to: influxes of the Cancel. The Cancel will extend "tendrils," for lack of a better term, towards the earth every few years. It has always withdrawn them, and we have never really been able to find the reason for said retreat.

Well, we now know. And the truth is more terrifying than anything I could have invented to cover it up. 

Regards,

Mr. Benzene

A Strange Phenomena...

For the last few days, I have felt nervousness and tension steadily growing in me, and I think I have finally discovered the source. I proceeded back through the Door into Lacuna Urbis and shut it temporarily. Immediately, I felt a cessation of most of my negative feelings. 

I proceeded to test this several times, finally using an audio recorder to test. In every audio recording I made, a quiet, but persistent Hum could be heard. I capitalize it because I believe it to be a subset of the Pulse which we heard earlier. 

I'm not overly sure what this Hum does, but I feel it significant enough to report to Dr. Evans. Hopefully he can figure it out.

Regards,

Mr. Dewart

Stationed for Further Observation

We reached our target late last night. We were descending for several hours, but were slightly sidetracked by what appeared to be a mark, scrawled on the side of a shelf. How did we find it, you ask? Well, it made our instruments go haywire the closer we got to it. We studied it by sight alone for several minutes, but that was all we were able to fit in before our instruments began permanent shut down.

It looked like a circle with a line scrawled through it: Ø

As some of of you might know, that symbol represents about three different things:

1. A letter in the Scandinavian alphabet
2. A zero, marked to differentiate it from the letter O
3. The empty set, a mathematical term.

I think we can rule out the first one, which leaves 2 and 3. This is somewhat disconcerting, as both of those, mixed in with those creatures we both know exist, leads to one conclusion. I'd rather not speak the name, though I'm sure that you can figure it out.

But I digress.

Continuing with the original story, we arrived at the rift last night and have remained here for about twelve hours so far. Evans has been collecting data and will notify us when we are able to move.

Regards, 
Benzene

P.S. Dewart, mention the Reactor again and we'll see how gentlemanly we can be with a knife in your guts.