The Fourcasters at the University of Chicago have constructed a communications device based on fragmented blueprints believed to have originated in the year 2049. This device is called the SPORE. On Monday, July 15 at 2:30 pm CDT, the Fourcasters initiate a recurring SPORE connection that links them to the future. They broadcast the live footage through a Twitch stream to an audience comprised primarily of incoming and current university students, staff, and faculty. The Fourcasters themselves have been warned against watching the transmissions, and have put together a team of Fourcast interns to act as intermediaries in the collaborative venture. 

The connection is limited to five-minute intervals on each day. Communication with the year 2049 is also asymmetrical: a person known as the Anchor speaks out loud while the people in 2019 communicate via text in the Twitch chat. Regardless of who is typing on the 2019 end, the Anchor perceives all communication as coming from TERI: an artificial intelligence who runs the Terrarium, a research facility located at the University of Chicago in 2049.