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Heavily distorted footage of a strange blue room appears; a tree-like structure with mechanical appendages and a bright circular portal stands slightly to the left. Water trickles somewhere offscreen. The Anchor appears wearing a complex harness of connecting wires and tubing. A head-on close-up shows him holding up what appears to be a gas mask and a book, Donna Haraway’s Staying With The Trouble.
The transmission, flickering across several camera perspectives, shows the Anchor engaging in a complex ritual: he washes his hands and face before donning the mask; he then connects tubing from his suit to an input on the SPORE, slips on an intricate glove, and inserts the Haraway volume into a slot in a wall (as if it were a computer disc). Upon closer scrutiny, the back wall is composed entirely of stacked books.
The Anchor removes the glove and attempts to place his bare hand against the device’s trunk, but is rebuffed by some sort of electrical pulse. He hesitantly tries again with both palms, but again recoils. His hands now glow a violent shade of yellow due to exposed contact with the device. He clips another connecting tube to his harness, which produces a significant static power-up. He performs a series of gestures — extending his arms four times each in four different directions that form an X — before making final contact with the SPORE. The video becomes heavily distorted and the soundtrack intensifies as the Anchor faces the camera for the last time. During this final moment, footage of an undefined figure glitches across the screen. The transmission cuts.
Following the broadcast, the Fourcasters released the following statement: “Our SPORE engineers are hard at work examining the unidentified footage that glitched through during this evening’s broadcast. Though preliminary analysis has revealed an identical 2049 timestamp, these frames are resonating on an unknown frequency. We can only conclude that our connection momentarily picked up video feed from an alternative 2049 timeline, toward the very end of the final broadcast, before the SPORE crashed. Repairs are already underway, but the significant strain of tonight’s transmission has severely damaged the device’s systems and sapped all remaining resources. WE EXPECT THE CONNECTION TO RESUME MONDAY AUGUST 5 AT THE LATEST. Thank you for your incredible efforts and please stay tuned for more information.”
