Doctor Argosa

The Mephitis

4/12/2019 11:09pm

Having a wonderful time at Chichen Itza! The weather has been great, and the warm jungle air has been doing wonders for the crew. There's even been a bit of a breeze to keep things on the cooler side. The Mephitis has been riding the updrafts, taking tourists on short spins around the area. The warm weather gives us just the extra lift we need to chase around the little Thunder Devils, and I've been able to snag three in my array of nets and talismans. They give you a bit of fight once you get them on board, but we've been able to secure each one into its own wunderbottle. One of these days I'll go ashore and visit the ruins and figure out if those people are selling balloons or cotton candy or umbrellas or what!

Wish you were here!

Dr. A.

The Mephitis

1/8/2019 11:08pm

While we have all now become the Mirror People, we are still ourselves on the inside. This leads me to believe that the situation may still be reversible.

The skin of the crew started to turn shiny in patches. The Captain was becoming calmer, and less manic, but I knew it was likely just the Droste Fever taking him to a fugue state.

Soon crew members' entire bodies were coated with the shimmery, silver coating... faceless reflective mannequins. This doctor included. Clothes melted away, while all surfaces of the ship became mirrored as well.

Somehow we still know where each other stand, and where our stations are, and we go about our business, reflecting those around us, reflecting our environments, with no distinguishing marks but the curve of a shoulder, or an over stuffed couch.

Outside the ship, clouds too have become mirror, as well as the earth, and the sea, and the sun.

And what does the world reflect, when the world itself is nothing but the reflections of reflections?

The Mephitis

9/27/2018 8:22pm

Doctor's Log: The Captain has lost half his mind. It's my diagnosis that he contracted a mise en abyme virus at Chichen Itza, which is now consuming a full 50% of his Mind Cycles. Yes--he's got the Droste Fever.

For now, it's had a net positive effect on the ship and crew--there's been a notable reduction in both the frequency and amplitude of our reality changes. However, if untreated, his entire mind will be consumed and we'll all find ourselves lost in the Captain's personal hall of mirrors, forever. Our only hope is to infuse what remains of the Captain's mind with irreproducible concepts, which will be inedible to the virus and ultimately lessen its impact, or hopefully drive it away entirely.

I've sent the crew to seek out these unicorns, these fantastical ideas, and return with them as soon as possible.

The Mephitis

7/2/2018 10:37pm

Doctor's Log: I watch the Captain sleeping--a curl of dark hair on his forehead, his eyes darting rapidly beneath his closed eyelids--and thank our stars that we haven't blinked out of existence. Even in his dream state, we seem to have enough mythological cohesion to remain in the picture, bobbing on his consciousness like balls floating on the ocean. Though our continuity stream changes course at his whim, it doesn't disappear all together when he's asleep, and his waking imagination is far more a danger than his dream state, apparently.

I wonder what he's dreaming about. I look more closely at his sleeping face, blissful, childlike, and move away a lock of hair that's over his ear. What is that in his ear? A tiny spark? I put my eyepiece in and peer down his external auditory passage, searching for the dream...

And there, past the wax and gunk and the internal auditory meatus, past the inner ear... I see it!

As if at the bottom of a well, I see the Captain sleeping, with his doctor watching over, moving a lock of hair from over his ear, peering down the long dark tunnel to the dream below. The dream of the Captain sleeping, with his doctor watching over.

The Mephitis

5/4/2018 7:22pm

Doctor's Log: The Captain's ramblings have resulted in a continued flurry of sharply imagined yet incomplete universes, and the crew is beginning to lose their minds. Antarctic stations, built into the foot of the Vinson Massif; jungle caves large enough to fit a small fleet of airships, all bearing the black & white flag of The Mephitis; gold and bronze cities filled with ornate skyscrapers and mooring posts. It was at one such skyscraper where the ship docked, dropping our gangway directly onto the balcony deck of the suites which serve as the business offices for The Mephitis in this reality. This visit has been especially prolonged, as the Captain has been preoccupied with a fidget spinner, allowing this manifestation of existence to continue. It's like a soap bubble that could burst at the slightest whim of the Captain, but as long as he doesn't *think* about it, it remains. I've arranged a wide array of back-up fidget spinners for the Captain, and will hopefully be able to interest him in one of them should his spinner of choice lose its flavor. We're taking the time to allow the crew some well deserved shorleave while the Captain remains entranced.

The Mephitis

3/19/2018 11:00pm

Doctor's Log: The ship continues to experience significant bouts of dissociation. Occasionally, we'll find ourselves in a well developed universe, for instance [fig. 1] delivering bushels of tender coconut to an island of shipwrecked children on a beautiful sunny day, or [fig. 2] being fitted for new high performance stabilizers, bearing the emblem that was to become so notorious during the The Confusion, or [fig. 3] cutting its way through the thunderheads at Chichen Itza. However, those moments of lucidity are few and far between. For the most part we appear to be a largely unfocused and half-hearted attempt at a narrative, uncongealed by a vision or even a direction. The Captain is so underwritten as to be non-existent, and only Choco Loni's weapons prowess gives her character any features whatsoever. I will continue my experiments in my laboratory as our coalescence allows, but fear that our story is easy prey to the entropy that is the enemy of all such ships.

The Mephitis

2/14/2018 10:34pm

Just as marine scientists and inventors use ingenious methods to remove plastic from our oceans, I am perfecting a system to remove evil and rottenness from the world--with blimps! My research has shown that through suspending various nets and talismans from behind airships and then flying around, we can remove a lot of bad stuff. To complete my research, I need access to an airship, and a captain willing to help me realize this possible and probable future for all of us. Looking for a Science Officer? I'm the one!