$40.00
SUB - SYSTEM MEETING POINTS**
## **"Eridacus 4"**
### **Backwards Swamp Edition**
### **7" Lathe + Mix CD + Sculpture**
### *A Dripping Archive Of Every Story From Today Played In Reverse Through Mud, Moss, Broken Machines, And A Creature That Keeps Forgetting Which Way Is Forward*
---
## OPENING NOTE FOUND UNDER THE SWAMP
The package was discovered upside down.
Not physically upside down.
Historically upside down.
The future was buried under the past.
The past was floating above the future.
The present was hiding in a swamp wearing a tiny hat.
The label read:
# SUB - SYSTEM MEETING POINTS
Nobody knew if it was:
* a meeting,
* a machine,
* a location,
* a warning,
* or a sandwich order from another dimension.
Underneath:
# ERIDACUS 4
The number four was scratched out.
Replaced with:
3.
Then:
5.
Then:
"WHATEVER COMES AFTER FORGETTING."
---
The collector's package contained:
* One **7" lathe record** covered in impossible fingerprints.
* One **mix CD** containing sounds that happened before they were recorded.
* One **sculpture** made from swamp metal, old words, and a mysterious material called "almost."
* One hidden insert explaining hydrochloric acid.
* Several backwards languages.
* One angry frog who claimed ownership of the entire archive.
---
# SIDE A:
## THE RECORD THAT PLAYED THE WRONG DIRECTION CORRECTLY
The needle touches the lathe.
The sound comes out.
Then goes back in.
Then comes out again.
The song is played backward.
The backward version is played backward.
The original appears.
Nobody is certain which one came first.
---
The first message:
> "Today was never finished."
The second message:
> "Yesterday is still loading."
The third message:
> "The swamp remembers every story dropped into it."
---
## THE SWAMP MIX
Every story from today has fallen into the mud.
The mud contains:
* the impossible zoo,
* the Pluto romance,
* the Neptune pizza animal,
* the insect tongue factory,
* the shark review,
* the bone surgery language album,
* the ancient record boxes,
* the stomach science inserts,
* the backward languages.
Everything is dripping.
Everything is confused.
Everything has moss.
---
# THE BACKWARD ZOO
THE LET ME zoo appears first.
Except now it is reversed.
The animals leave before they arrive.
The entrance is at the exit.
The exit asks for a ticket.
The ticket says:
"Welcome."
Backward:
"emocleW."
Swamp translation:
> **"The door remembers being a wall."**
---
The zoo clock:
```text id="m7j3qh"
NORMAL TIME
PAST -------- PRESENT -------- FUTURE
SWAMP TIME
FUTURE -------- PAST -------- FUTURE
\
PRESENT HIDING
```
---
# THE INSECT TONGUE FACTORY
Deep beneath the swamp is the factory.
The machines are covered in green slime.
The conveyor belts carry languages backward.
An insect receives a tongue.
The tongue receives an insect.
Nobody knows who belongs to whom.
---
Factory language:
# ERIVASH-KUL
Forward:
> "Mek tal osh vurr."
Backward:
> "Rruv hso lat kem."
Translation:
> "The small voice carries the ancient machine."
---
The beetles create poetry.
The ants create mathematics.
The roaches create a map.
The map leads back to the map.
---
# THE PLUTO LOVE STORY, REVERSED
RED ALL returns.
The shortened light year returns.
The romance returns.
But backwards.
First:
The goodbye.
Then:
The argument.
Then:
The first meeting.
Then:
The reason they met.
---
The light year whispers:
"I was never far away."
RED ALL answers:
"You were just measured incorrectly."
The swamp approves.
The swamp has always supported impossible relationships.
---
# THE NEPTUNE TOMBSTONE PIZZA CREATURE
The jealous animal crawls from the mud.
It is still jealous.
It is now covered in swamp slime.
It has eaten:
* three tombstone pizzas,
* one asteroid,
* a recipe book,
* a memory.
---
The creature announces:
"I HAVE FINALLY FOUND THE PERFECT PIZZA."
Everyone asks:
"What was the secret?"
The creature says:
"The pizza was jealous of me."
Nobody understands.
Everyone accepts this.
---
# THE MIX CD
The CD contains 99 tracks.
Only 10 exist.
The others are hiding.
---
## TRACK LIST:
1. **Jaws In The Swamp**
The shark reviews the water.
The water reviews the shark.
---
2. **Phonemic Paraphasias**
A broken word repairs a broken bone.
---
3. **A.L.M.**
Audio Musica Lingual returns with songs from languages that have not happened.
---
4. **A A AM**
The end of everything becomes the beginning of the box.
---
5. **Closet Find**
The closet opens.
The swamp enters.
---
6. **Eridacus 4**
The meeting begins before anyone arrives.
---
# THE SCULPTURE
The sculpture is impossible to describe.
It looks like:
* a machine,
* an animal,
* a microphone,
* a stomach,
* a door,
* a wave.
The plaque says:
> "THIS OBJECT IS WAITING TO BECOME SOMETHING ELSE."
---
When touched, the sculpture speaks.
Not forward.
Not backward.
Sideways.
It says:
> **"Vek tora lum ash."**
Translation:
> "Everything changes shape before it disappears."
---
# THE HIDDEN MEDICAL INSERT
Buried inside the sculpture is a folded document.
It asks:
## What causes high or low levels of hydrochloric acid?
The swamp creatures gather around.
The insert explains:
> A number of conditions, medications, and lifestyle factors can cause acid level fluctuations. While some fluctuations are unusual, not all are.
The frog writes this down.
The frog is now the swamp doctor.
---
The insert continues:
> Chronically low or high levels of acid can be problematic for your health and well-being. Seeking treatment can prevent long-term complications.
The entire swamp becomes quiet.
Even the backwards languages stop.
---
The record scratches.
A graph appears:
```text id="qk4p2r"
HYDROCHLORIC ACID LEVELS
LOW
|
| *
|
|---------------- NORMAL RANGE ----------------
|
| *
|
|
HIGH
```
---
The swamp scientist adds:
"Balance matters."
The pizza creature says:
"Even pizza needs balance."
Nobody knows what that means.
---
# FINAL MEETING POINT
The SUB-SYSTEM meeting finally begins.
Attendees:
* The shark.
* The surgeon.
* The insect factory overseer.
* The Neptune pizza creature.
* THE LET ME.
* The swamp frog.
* The mysterious sculpture.
* The record itself.
The agenda:
1. Explain reality.
2. Explain the stories.
3. Explain the slime.
4. Find out who scheduled the meeting.
Nobody knows.
The meeting was scheduled by the meeting.
---
# FINAL GRAPHS
## STORY MIXTURE
```text id="v6t2aa"
Original stories
################
Backwards stories
############################
Swamp stories
#######################################
Impossible stories
############################################
```
---
## SWAMP SLIME LEVEL
```text id="z1m8kp"
Dry
#
Wet
##############
Completely Covered
########################################
```
---
# THE LAST MESSAGE
The lathe reaches the final groove.
It says:
> "You have reached the beginning."
The needle jumps.
The CD starts.
The sculpture moves.
The swamp opens.
The closet door appears.
Behind the door:
Another record.
Another story.
Another beginning.
Written backward:
> **"gninnigeb eht ot emocleW"**
The swamp translates:
"Edition of 1, final installment of the SSMP series. Numbered.