CD-TNN03 (Oct 6, 2001)
Puzzle
“Remembering the damed: Yatesville, South Fork NV, Aseishigawa, Duhok, Benveniste.”
Research | 2 Words
Clue
Hover over the clues if you require!
Clue 1: Remembering the damed. Not the damned - so what's a dam?
Clue 2: Of the four actual locations, what do all their dams have in common?
Clue 3: Benveniste is a scientist.
Clue 4: Does he share the same similarity with the dams?
Answer and Explanation
Answer: Water Memory
Explanation: All the places (save for Benveniste) are places with water, and more specifically contain dams, all built in 1988. Jacques Benveniste did research supposedly supporting homeopathy, also in 1988, with an effect dubbed ‘water memory’.
Summary of Receipt
Red Eye agrees with Espresso that time’s slowly passing - which means there’s some sort of instability in the Gossamer Ballast’s time bubble. She suspects this is because Asmodeus modified the Clockwork Serpent, Mr. Nusa, to allow people to come in - which requires time to pass - but not to leave, since they can be frozen in time. Thus, whenever someone new comes in, time passes for the few seconds in which they enter. And that time adds up, which might cause bad stuff to happen. For example, the Ballast could separate from their Cycle - timeline - entirely, and create its own Cycle in which they just dance, forever, without any hope of escape since that’s the entire reality they’d be in. Alternatively, the time ‘bubble’ could ‘pop’, very violently. Red Eye decides to figure out how exactly the time bubble’s been modified, and to see if Naberius’ drinks have anything to do with it.
Transcript
RECEIPT AS OF: 10/06/01
BARISTA ON DUTY: RED EYE
RECEIPT FILED AS: AND-TNN-01
Well, that isn’t good. Ned’s right. There is a sense of exhaustion creeping up—though extremely diminished and delayed. That means there’s a leak somewhere. The time bubble of the Ballast is unstable. Of course, Asmi didn’t know what she was doing when she captured the Clockwork Serpent. She steals my children and then doesn’t know the first thing about how they work. So typical. Well, points for the ironic name of the nightclub, at least.
Obviously, new humans are filtering in, lured by the Siren’s song. That doesn’t necessarily make the time bubble unstable. It’s a pretty standard feature; people should be able to come in. They just aren’t able to leave once they’re here. It’s similar to the Ouroboros’ own time bubble, though unlike my Plane, newcomers aren’t immediately frozen in time when they find themselves in the Ballast. That wouldn’t make for a good party, would it?
So, Asmi’s done… something… to keep the present time intact for her new arrivals. That’s bad. It’s letting a few seconds leak in with each new guest. Enough of those seconds build-up, and exhaustion would start to form. Though… time isn’t that straightforward. While it’s easier to conceptualize time as a sort of liquid, and we’re in a bubble that excludes it, time obviously isn’t a liquid. Well… eh. It sorta is. That doesn’t matter right now.
What matters is that the leaks are going to start building up. Enough leaks build up… and well… a lot of things could happen. None of them are particularly good. In the best-worst case, the Ballast splits from the flow of time and forms its own Cycle. A Cycle that encompasses only the Gossamer Ballast. Not only could we not leave, but there would also be nowhere for us to go if we could. Though, creating a new Cycle wouldn’t be that bad. Travel across Cycles is far from impossible, just annoying. Worst-worst case, the bubble pops. Violently.
I’ll need to figure out how Asmi has set this time bubble up, and I suspect Naberius’ special cocktails have something to do with it, seeing as they are still intoxicating, somehow.