The inky blackness of the pit loomed as our only means of escape, and yet as we took that perilous plunge into the yawning abyss, a wave of serenity engulfed us in an almost maternal embrace. Those first few moments of free-fall were the purest bliss we had ever experienced. We had been summoned here.

Some hard-coded instinct flared in us then as the lingering vestiges of our humanity returned. Thought-forms, language, memories of loved ones. Simple pleasures. The soft sheets of ignorance and the many veils of mystery. The struggles, the small joys. All the love and all the hate.

Further and deeper we spun as we fell. Further from these mortal thoughts, deeper into the unyielding arms of eternal symmetry. The last gasp of our autonomy shrieked in protest, shrill and coarse to oppose the stupefying womb of certainty that hooked its finger so beguilingly.

Option A:
Whatever grand designs this sinister construct had for us, and for the earth itself – we knew now we wanted no part of it. Holding fast to the remaining vestiges of our humanity, we steeled our nerves for our final confrontation with the heart of the dark Machine.

Option B:
In that moment of clarity our strange destiny became clear. Summoned by something ineffable – we knew now the hand we must play in this colossal cosmic game.