Ambientia
April 6, 2006
The last I wrote you I was faced with a blinking tape reel symbol on the control panel of this large device that I now call the ROAM. This stands for Recording Output Audio Machine. I call it this because it truly is an amazing device. Let me explain...
I decided to press the tape reel symbol and the ROAM came to life. Many different lights glowed and the unit seemed to come alive as it booted its systems. After a moment of what seemed like endless synchronization of the systems and the perfection of the machine, the ROAM stopped. It was still running, but the systems just seemed to halt. It was as though it was waiting for something; some sort of input, perhaps. I examined the small display screen on the unit and found that a small square symbol was blinking. I spoke aloud "What a strange device". At that moment, the ROAM sprung to life again as I spoke. It stopped when I stopped. I spoke some more and it came to life again. It was indeed listening to me or at least acknowledging my voice as input. I could not find a way to play my voice back, however. Perhaps it did not record at all. Perhaps it needed to be told to record in some way. I thought that the small control device from the broken bridge may have had something to do with it. After all, it got me inside this cabin.
I powered on the control device and played some tones from it. The ROAM sprang to life again but this time in a more machine-like rhythm. Its display panel showed something different than when I was speaking to it. Instead of a flashing light, the display showed what represented sound being accumulated into a container of sorts. I continued playing some notes on the portable device and then stopped. The ROAM stopped as well and displayed a flashing icon on its display. This icon was different than the tape reel icon that powered the unit. This icon was a picture of a flashing green ear. I know that this sounds strange, but this is what was on the ROAM display after recording the sounds from the portable device. Now what was I supposed to do? I looked all over the system for a button, but could not find one that resembled the flashing symbol of the ear.
I sat down in the chair that was before the ROAM console to better examine the machine. As I sat back in the chair, I felt something get close to my ears. I immediately jumped out of the chair and noticed a pair of earphones retracting back into the chair. I began to realize that this is how one listens to the sounds recorded on the ROAM. So, I sat back on the chair and the headphones automatically came back out again and stopped just short of my ears. Just when I thought that my head was too small and the headphones could not reach, I felt a small electric charge in the air as a spherical glow surrounded my head. In front of me in my line of vision appeared navigation controls similar to that of a tape recorder. I reached for what seemed to be a play icon and sure enough the sounds that I just recorded could be heard. The unique thing about the sound was that it did not seem to come from any distinguishable direction as with conventional headphones. The sound seemed to encompass the entire sound sphere that was surrounding my head.
When the recording stopped playing the sound sphere dissipated and the headphone device retracted into the chair. I looked at the control panel again and it was flashing a symbol that looked the same as the towers that I saw surrounding the cabin. I pressed this and the most marvelous thing happened. When I pressed the button, the ROAM sounded much deeper in its internal workings, almost like a low growl. At that moment, a fine red beam shot out from the tower on the top of the cabin toward one of the remote towers. It took no time at all to reach its destination and then set off the most brilliant cascade as all the other towers were joined to the cabin's red beam creating a large web. Once this web was established the red beam grew steadily in brilliance and larger in size. As it did this, the ROAM's processing sounds grew stronger and more drone-like. Just then I heard notes that I had never before heard.
It is not unusual to hear various music in the air on Ambientia but I had not heard this note sequence ever before. A series of three single notes followed by two long sets of harmonized notes - most entrancing indeed! My trance was short lived however because as soon as the notes had reached the end of their phrase a brilliant orange beam traveled rapidly from each of the towers to the cabin at the same time. When they hit the cabin's tower a huge portal opened up above me and the ROAM sprang to life once more, this time displaying a repeatedly flashing up arrow. Then, as fast as it was created and with a deafening sound the portal closed and vanished. The ROAM sat idle again, awaiting more input. I can only guess that I sent my test sounds through the portal - hopefully to you.
Out of the corner of my eye I caught a flashing button on the ROAM. Examining it more closely I found it to have a symbol of a seashell. I pressed it and the main display on the unit started to show some visual static that quickly cleared to show a welcomed familiar image to me. The Synthitone! This was no representation of my prized device, rather a visual portal that let me see it from this distant part of Ambientia. In fact this was not just a flat image. It became a holographic view of the Synthitone. I reached out for one part of this hologram, and it spun around to meet my touch. I could navigate this image! Astounded with this I attempted to activate the Synthitone remotely. This worked because I was able to power on the various devices that make up the Synthitone.
The idea then came to me to try to activate the sound recordings stored on the Synthitone. Perhaps this ROAM device could help me to send music through the giant portal that I just witnessed. If I could manipulate the Synthitone remotely, perhaps I could access its library of recordings that I have made on it as well. I spun the hologram around to the part of the unit that houses the recording library and touched it. Wonderfully, the hologram changed to the inside of the library - truly a three dimensional experience of the files that I had created all this time on Ambientia. I reached out and grabbed one of these files from this tangible virtual world. Once I touched the file, the interface vanished around me and the display on the ROAM indicated that something was loaded into it.
I do hope that my initial test of sending a sound through the giant portal created by this strange network of towers reaches you. I will keep sending more to you but first I want to experiment with this ROAM device and import more sounds from the Synthitone. Perhaps I can finally send you an audio account of what has taken place on Ambientia. This whole area's topography appears to have been taken advantage of with regards to the construction of this communications network and the ROAM. I am certain that there is much power to be realized here. I shall stay here for some time and master the technology. Perhaps harnessing this power will help me to return to the land from where I came, so long ago.
- The Traveler