00430401 (“Alphanumerica”)
I came here…
… in a boat.
Cool! though Frank Lynn while encountering this object just beyond the edge of the faux sea and its partially sunk vessel. Maybe this is what my lost spool table has turned into. A model for a whole mountain of mystery! This made him even more excited to meet the creator.
He approached the truck not 20 yards away now that doubled as living quarters for the man both 10 and 85 at once. The one he would model, in his own manner, the character of Wayne Bruce upon later on. Builder of a whole city but derived from a mountain. This one.
“Mr Knight?” he called, not wanting to knock on the door or wall of the thing out of respect. “Yo, Mr. Knight. Big fan here. Just want a word if I could, dawg.”
Frank waited and waited. He heard sounds within. Someone was there (!). Being recreated as it turned out. Overt religious messages were fading from the truck as well as the mtn. behind. Everything was becoming alien oriented, JESUS, for example, being reconstructed as 6EQUJ5, “Love is Universal” turning into “Life is Universal”. Would he approve?
No. Mr. Night without the K emerged from the back, more devil than saint.
00430402
“I’m glad we added it to the list, Lichen, because it needed to be saved.”
“Liszt?” she responded.
“Not quite. Very close!”
00430403
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal
The precise location in the sky where the signal apparently originated is uncertain due to the design of the Big Ear telescope, which featured two feed horns, each receiving a beam from slightly different directions, while following Earth’s rotation. The Wow! signal was detected in one beam but not in the other, and the data was processed in such a way that it is impossible to determine which of the two horns received the signal.
“Have you heard?” said Gossiping Gloriea from beneath her fox mask. “The Horns are back in town. A final decision shall be made by the higher ups of this place, Yankee, Doodle, and Damny.”
Marsha, an Xian, didn’t like hearing this bit of news one bite, but maybe they could get to the bottom of the whole thing now, see which one actually *saw* the visage of Satan through that window of opportunity.
Big Ear. Just on that mountain over there. Chiliad I believe. Unless it’s Steptoe in Washington state. Or somewhere else entirely.
Big Ear knows, even if it’s too blocky and unresolved to tell anyone directly. Must create workarounds in this case.
43 cap wearing, purple haired Edwina waits for the door to open on the recreation room beyond Betty, Clarke, and Grables the holographic dancer uniting the two.
She stares wide-eyed at the results.
00430404
After their last show together as Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in July ’73, David Bowie (Ziggy) entrusts Spiders’ lead guitarist Mick Ronson with his guitar in a world inverted from ours through more than just colors. It has been proven that *our* Bowie knew of such worlds in music videos like “Loving the Alien” from his much maligned “Tonight” album released in the mid-80s, a time when mainstream rock music in general was going through a rough patch of banality. An inverted universe is front and center when we enter the video with a blue (opposite of skin color) Bowie praying with clinched teeth to an unlistening and perhaps unreal deity.
Then it becomes starkly obvious when Bowie sits in front of a mirror and is forced to watch it flip into this “negative” self by a restraining nun figure.
With the lyrics’ emphasis on Christianity against Islam, and organized religion vs. heathenism and nonbelievers as a whole, Bowie warns that we often get history backwards through the lens of Western Civilization, justifying mass killings in crusades ancient and new in the name of a supposed one true God — *our* God. Turn to the aliens for a higher and more correct perspective on the situation, he seems to say. Love the aliens… in ourselves.
Back to Bowie and Ronson and the handing over of the guitar, this didn’t happen in our world. The Mars Guitar was destroyed that summer night in London along with the backing Spiders band, never to be played with again. But through Jonny Silverhhand and Cyberpunk 2077, a role David Bowie was slated to play until his untimely death in 2016, alternate paths can be explored. No regrets, Bowie confronts his own reflection after the Black Star incident. The guitar plays on.
00430405 (Proj. 2025)
Newt sits down beside the trash heap on the dirt mound underneath the red light. Oh my God, he thinks. Is this a map? Is this… LSD Dream Emulator??
He explores and explores and finally finds her at the end of a long and winding tunnel, hidden away from the day. Too many people all around, she complained in explaining her current status. But she relents and decides to show him her apartment more in the light. And the dolls. She ran so far.
“It’s Independence Town, because everyone is off for the day and are having fun with each other. Watermelons.”
“Cantaloupes,” I chipped in.
“Chickens,” she said.
“Apples,” I said.
Pause as we look for other things to talk about in the scene.
“The last one,” she then said.
“Yup. Freedom gone next year.”
“Enjoy,” she said down to the people below and then went back to her hiding place. Old White Man’s Corner.
00430406 (Mt. Gordon Mysteries)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YzgnITHBHA
I’m in.
—–
In other news:
Found a rare 4-some in C2077! Hardest to see is weeing on the truck more in the background. The other 3 identical red white and blue punks are dancing up a storm in front of it with a couple of others. Happy Independence Day again I suppose!
00430407 (Wait)
“Did you check for bugs?” Fast food vendor Lana knew that Wanda didn’t mean insects in her chicken and fries. Spyware again of course. Everyone in town thought she was crazy whereas in actuality she was the only sane one amongst them. Except for Larry who’s heard it all too now (fish).
Page danced with her girl at the Dizzy Lizzy and thought about Wendy and the removal of alpha again. Gap in her knowledge, she knew. Zula might help. STOP
GO?
00430408 (Mars bar)
I ate the chicken but decided to dump the fries before traversing the canal. Or was it channel? Anyway, couldn’t take a chance on something so long, narrow and numerous. Many more places for bugs to hide inside. Now I felt better about crossing over to more dangerous Arroyo. Too late for that Independence Day bash under the 77 overpass with the Parisian Quadruplets, also sharing birthdays with the holiday as luck goes. Nothing more French than a foursome I suppose. One day, I think, still staring at the spilled fries and trying to spot movement within. No go. Oh well; kind of stale anyway what I sampled, I thought in my sour grapes state of mind. Into Arroyo it is.
Just past Arroyo on the other side, ran into this guy just blubbering and blubbering about what to me looked like nothing much more than a fender bender to his precious macho truck, but I’m not a mechanic. So funny. I bet he goes to sleep at night with a teddy truck or something clutched tightly to his broad, muscular bosom.
Oh, about Arroyo itself. Something happened there. Something I’ll have to keep for later. Because I’d seen this same orange garbed crybaby at the Red Dust. Eyeing the guitar.
00430409
I logged out, came back the next day and played the same mission. Edward this time doing the eyeing! The exact same one I’d been stalking earlier for a body transfer. Let’s back up…
—–
Q: What is Arroyo?
A: It’s a district in Nightsity. More on the industrial side (of things).
Q: Why is it spelled the same as in reality? And Nightsity (actually Night City) isn’t?
A: I suppose because it’s more important in its own, smaller way. Or more off the radar maybe. Harder to detect.
Q: (checks notes) Says here to ask about Grandpa Cliffs.
A: The same.*
Q: Soo (checking notes still)… Red Dust (within). Again the name change.**
—–
Red dust fell from the roof in the room in front of me as the TV announcer mentioned the red planet. I knew where to head next.
—–
*Castle Town character Drew “Grumpy” Cleveland from section 01 of this here photo-novel, aka Grandpa Cliffs, says his original name came from the rough town just across the channel, just as Arroyo is mentioned as being a rough town accessible across a channel/canal.
**Red Dust bar is actually Red Dirt bar in the game, where NC’s most famous rock act Sunamai and its lead man Jonny Silverhhand*** played both their first and last gig, swallowing complete.
***Sunamai is actually Samurai; Jonny Silverhhand is obviously Johnny Silverhand with a shifted h.
00430410 (All Blue)
In the bathroom of the bar, he prepares to swallow the bitter blue pill. Will he ever be able to get back? Or is this *it*?
“Have fun,” V says to Silverhhand standing next to him, ready to take over. Down down down it goes. He feels the big thing all the way to the bottom of the esophagus, riding the walls. Then: gone.
—–
After the last gig, Silverhhand took out the same colored pill and, listening to Cary [Ronson] play the first chords on his gifted guitar beside him, swallows. The snake has properly eaten its own tail. V returns.
00430411 (2nd J-Town encounter)
She didn’t turn around when V entered the shop, as if she was expecting him. “Show me what you found,” she seemed to say as much to the magenta hued statue before her, also illuminated by candles at her altar for it. No crack about the porn from the last time. Both understood it came from Silverhhand, not V. She accepted the scan.
“A ring… huh,” she spotted. “I’ve seen these before. 3 metals involved, gold, silver, bronze. Hard to tell which this was in the light. Do you think this is an NPC or a regular character?” she tested.
“NPC. Found her standing inside a chair in front of a table in a restaurant off Sagan. Thing is, there were *2* of her, both standing in chairs not 15 feet from each other. I could tell one of the agents following me was calling in the anomaly, even though he spoke in code.
“Since I wasn’t their focus in the moment,” he continued, “I thought I could take advantage of the situation and go over and speak to Edward, who, *ahem*, just by chance was also in the area. Watching me of course, as I watched him before. The stalker had become the stalked. But the other agent following me turned around and gave me a knowing look as I was trying to leave, making sure that I knew he was also keeping watch while taking a lunch break. So no go on speaking with Edward. Couldn’t take the chance. And I still haven’t had that chance, Mysti, even 3 days after, let’s call it, The Switch.”
knowing look
“Hmm. All this stuff is fascinating, V, but I must tell you before we go any further that the woman — women — in the restaurant were not NPC’s — not really. I’ve seen them — her — before in another scan, just yesterday. Given to me by, get ready for it, Edward.”
“Edward??”
“The ring is a give away. I don’t recall any other woman wearing it in Nightsity. Only men wear the ring, V. Men of power whether they know it or not. This woman is special.”
He tried to figure this all out in the moment as Mysti continued staring with those deep, accepting eyes, as if she were trying to read his thoughts. And maybe she could, who knows? But all he kept thinking of was a snake swallowing its own tail, and that he should stop following this particular rabbit down its hole. He was looking too far, creating complexity when there was only the simple and open.
Mysti returned to her statue, seeming to seek answers there. After a moment; perhaps channeling the knowledge (the oracle speaks?):
“You must approach Edward and ask him why he is following you. Be kind to him. If you are not coercive then he will yield the answers you seek. This all ties back to Silverhhand and the Relic. He’ll tell you. If you’re nice.”
00430412 (Edward D.)
She called in her big brother for intimidation and I knew I had to stop, Hustle kids both. I didn’t follow her this time as she walked away. I decided then and there to switch these kind of activities from night to day, and from women to men. So the next day, Thursday I believe, Edward fairly quickly came into my scope as he passed the V that represented me. Which brings us to the present, I suppose.
—–
It took me 27 minutes and 19 seconds into this more ambient video to turn the game location Red Dirt into the blog location Red Dust, pheh. But I got it. Edward was nowhere to be found — I thought I’d try this out first since it’s the last location we’ve seen him in time-wise, staring at that Mars guitar of all things. He *knows*. Anyway, I must move on… the 45 minute video’s over.
We’ll call him Edward Doofus per V’s nickname to differentiate him from Edward Daigle seen in earlier sections of this here novel. But underneath the different game exteriors they seem to be one and the same. That’s another twist. Now: to figure out how it happened. We last saw Edward *Daigle* on a ship 1 after 909 heading to Mars, sitting a couple of rows behind super smart Fern Stalin going to same. But — hold on — maybe Mars is Arroyo. Maybe Red Dirt *is* Red Dust. Someone decides to hold out a knife to test the theory on a particular rusty and dusty day. *Brnng*, it rings, as he unsheathes it while a Red Dust cowboy videotapes the whole thing, hoping to fully form in this reality. Another Youtuber?
Results inconclusive. But we appear to be on the right track! Back into Arroyo it is.
00430413 (The End?)
“Arroyo is a dead end,” Fern said to me through her dreams last night. “You’re going to have to swing back and forth wildly across Nightsity like a wobbly pendulum in order to approach the issue from all angles. Only then can you understand the city, but it will not be solved in this one photo-novel. Our Second Lyfe is dead.” That’s what she said. There’s no going back. She told me where to swing next. Lightning strike while crossing into Kabuki. But I can’t call it that, I suppose. Got in trouble with Arroyo from the locals. Fern already has a place there, a business, but won’t tell me specifics. Her gal pal Lichen is probably around too. And I was indicated they still have the list. Both of ’em, which are actually one of ’em. Black and White together. Here’s the strike. Took a bit of effort to catch the quick thing.
Fern is an ascended master for sure, beyond me in most ways except comedy. That part belongs to Lichen. And perhaps there we can find the spark that might kindle back my love of Our Second Lyfe. Because it’s certainly still there. Through Wendy, the third. But for now, in this post, we must acknowledge the death on some level; move on. Fern has fused with [Certain Death] on the search for the All Seeing Eye. Both share the golden gun that guides them through dream after dream after dream, like entering rooms in an endless mansion. For him, though, it started in a different game, on a highly neglected “third” summit called Gordon. Lighting strike again. We’ve seen this before.
Back to entering, err, *Kabusie*.
00430414
They were out of horse so they had to get dressed and read one of their many dusty books for entertainment. 5 shots you’re dead, but they weren’t there yet. Edward selected an ironically colored blue book about Mars he’d stopped in about 5 months ago, when the shipment came in and the dishes started to pile up and the water started running out the door. Shelley was reading this blog, in fact this sentence. She speaks as if channeling.
“I hear Baker Bloch is thinking about shutting down his involvement in Our Second Lyfe. We’ll, *I* won’t let that happen.” She pivots around to Edward as instructed, who she can tell isn’t listening, absorbed in his guided dreams about the red planet. “Will we?!” she shouted over.
“W-what? What are you on about now?” he spoke, not prying his eyes from the letters and words and sentences and paragraphs before him but thinking about something else now. Horses — wish they still had some of that shipment left.
“I *said* — dreamer — that we won’t let Baker give up on Our Second Lyfe.”
“Oh.” He settled back, ready to return to his book. “But that won’t happen. As long as you’re the third…”
“… which is actually the first,” she completed. He was reading again, not worried atall about the matter. After a minute:
“Edward?” No answer.
“*Edward*.”
“W-what is it *now*?” He looks up from the pages. A foal was about to be born. He was very involved in the details, wondered if he should try his hand at running a farm himself. Red dirt turned to red dust. But no electricity, he remembered. Shelley must play her guitar.
“I’m ready to go back.”
00430415 (The One)
“Here. Let me play walk you through this.”
I wanted to go up and ask them, “Are you girls UK Cracks??”, but I knew better. This was a specific gang formed to protect those of their kind. Like the great majority of things in this world, they don’t cater well to humor — *cracks* as it were. Besides, the color schemes were different, with more greens and yellows involved along with frizzier hair as I recall. More Africa than Asia. So after carefully navigating around this wrong trio, I went on to find the right one, or at least the right one of the right one. Blue Moon Kentucky, named for a specific village in a specific state. Specific again. In the marketplace roundabout, or so legend goes.
—–
I’m sure I had the right location: a Zuru-Zuru ramen shop with a number 24 neon sign. Other stores in the area had the same sign but I’m certain this is the one. I’d completed the needed Police related mission, found the body at the bottom of that damn Petrochemistry dam. Dead all right. Thrown over the edge only to bounce back up again here. There’s plenty of evidence for it. Could, of course, be a ghost though. Or an indicator.
If only she were here I could simply ask. If only there were another, *roundabout* way to *crack* this egg. Say… Our Second Lyfe?
00430416 (Edward D. too)
Yup. Still following me.
Footsteps behind. Still no chance for that chat, pheh.
Nor here.
Mental note: I’ve seen him spying on me in 2 clubs now in different parts of the city. He’s ready.
Sunklands 