Revised Jan 2023

Almost overnight, their advertisements were everywhere, but no one remembered putting them onto the walls. When broken down, the sad creaking plastic of their inexpensive machines revealed strange fractal circuits indicative of no known technological origin.

The machines were a range of typical business devices. Mainframes and consoles used to control the creation, flow, and consumption of information. They were cheap and efficient, but some users reported the distinct sensation of being observed.

NBT Desk Manager
E-FAS Desktop Machine
B-NAS Stacked Portable Machine
E-NT Focused Monitor
P-DI5 Personal Assistant
MS Human Hand Peripheral

Automatics normally carry material in a most efficient pattern for weight distribution and stability, but not when hauling these machines. They twisted and contorted, keeping the device aligned relative to distant points in space, as if part of a greater pattern.

Just as quickly, the machines were gone. An inquiry into the company was made, but nothing would be found. Not even an office or a name, as if the machines vanished back into the walls once they finished their unknowable task.

Digital memories of automatics held no memory of the event. Audiovisual tape recordings of the machines would melt on playback. All that remained in the end was human memory, and with time, even that would be gone.