XI-21-4B · A voice in the void
Bungie · Original English text
ANNOTATED TRANSCRIPTION FOLLOWS
[Distant roar of ship engines]
[u.1:01] Come on. Come on, you bolt-bucket, come on!
[Engines scream, sputter, and cut out]
[Loud metallic clang; rapid, labored breathing]
[u.1:02] That's it, then.
[u.1:03] Every last newton I could squeeze out of this old bird, and it's not enough. There it is, the Darkness, coming right up behind me.
[Rhythmic creaking]
[u.1:04] Ha. Ahaha. Our guns, our ships, our silent god… useless. Useless!
[Another loud metallic clang]
[u. 1:05] Centuries of progress. Where did it get us in the end?
[u.1:06] What good are you? We're dying out here, you big, stupid ball! Do something!
[Labored breathing]
[u.1:07] No. No, no, I didn't mean it. Please don't be mad. Don't leave us.
[u.1:08] We'd be dead anyways, right? If you weren't here. Right? Please, tell me I'm right.
[Silence]
[u.1:09] Am I lucky or not? I can't decide. They’re all down there, fish-eyed, bloated, cold and blue. I was the only one who made it off the launchpad.
[u.1:10] But now I'm up here. I'm up here in this… this tin can.
[u.1:11] And I can see it out there, that ugly marble, it's just… it's just floating there! Do something!
[u.1:12] Why are you here if you're not going to help? It's your fault! It's all your fault!
[Metallic banging]
[u.1:13] Let me out! Let me out, let me out, let me out, LET ME OUT!
[Shouting, banging, and weeping continues for several minutes, before gradually stopping. Silence.]
[u.1:14] You should never have come here.
TRANSCRIPTION ENDS
SCRIBE NOTES
Once again, I am grateful for the circumstances of my upbringing. It is not as difficult for me to enter the Reef as it might be for others, and the Techeuns and Reef Cryptarchs generously granted me access to their archives. There is a great deal of information preserved here that was lost everywhere else. The Yang Liwei brought with it exabytes of data, intended for the benefit of the colonists it sheltered. Though they hoped to escape the shadow of the Traveler, they did not wish to lose their tether to the rest of humanity. All of that data survived the ship's transplantation to the Distributary. Part of it was copied onto the ships Marakel brought with her to the Reef, and of that part, almost all has survived in the Reef's archives to this day.
I must admit, I almost didn't include this transcript. I am no stranger to the disturbing and distressing; as a Scribe, it is my duty to record and pass on history. Even a history written by the survivors will have its dark corners.
Nevertheless, I found this recording difficult to listen to. It echoes the bitter words I've heard countless times before. From Eliksni who suffered the Whirlwind. Who saw the Great Machine leave us and cursed it for abandoning us.
But when studying history, discomfort often accompanies the information that is most crucial to understanding. That was what I needed! That discomfort, that echo of Eliksni lamentation.
The Witness does not need cruelty to win. It does not need to mutilate the Great Machine's creations. To inspire fear and despair. It does not even need to tempt you to use the Darkness, which it has claimed to be - though we know, from your experiences on Neptune, that the Witness does not hold as complete a dominion as it wishes us to believe. In fact, its cruelty has actively slowed and hindered its purpose. Had the Witness simply overwhelmed humanity and crushed all resistance, there would have been nobody left for the Great Machine to uplift. No Ghosts or Guardians to defy it.
I have spoken with Ikora Rey about the texts Humans know as the Unveiling. I have tried to reconcile it with how I understand the Light, and what I know of the Great Machine. My understanding is imperfect, but I have gleaned this much: the Winnower speaks of convincing you that it is right; of existence as truth; of predation and defection. Nowhere does it speak of malice, or hatred, or despair. It does not care whether you embrace it or curse it. It simply desires to win and, in victory, be validated.
But for the Witness, victory alone is not enough. It must ruin all the Great Machine has touched, from the smallest creature to the greatest planet. Destroy everything the Light has built. Drown hope in bitterness. The Witness would have us all curse the Great Machine, refute its gifts, and betray it, as the Black Fleet tramples us underfoot. It would make us all Eramis, sick with despair and crushing our own dreams.
You see it too, do you not? The record from Simiks-Fel. The communications from Taliks-Syn. These messages set down in hope, in optimism. Once, those who came before the Witness saw the Great Machine as their hope for the future. As we did. As you do.
They had hope once. They lost it. And now their successor, the great merging of their selves, the Witness, seeks to deny that hope any right to exist.