PHENOMENA

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<<cycle "$answer">> <<option "It was night.">> <<option "I was taking flowers to my mother’s grave.">> <<option "I was braiding my wife's hair.">> <<option "I was praying.">> <<option "Before me was a ball of blue flame.">> <<option "Teardrop-shaped.">> <<option "Ok, I was only pretending to pray.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer2">> <<option "I was alone with my hands in the dirt.">> <<option "Two beings emerged from the saucer.">> <<option "Neither male nor female.">> <<option "Their faces blank as eggs.">> <<option "Sucking on lit matches.">> <<option "Reciting all of my passwords.">> <<option "The names of dead friends.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer3">> <<option "Only the flimsiest stars were visible.">> <<option "With a terrific flash, I was thrown to the ground.">> <<option "Torpedo-shaped.">> <<option "Resembling a diamond.">> <<option "Emitting beams of blue light.">> <<option "Yet I have seen it with my own two eyes.">> <<option "“So sorry!”">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer4">> <<option "All of a sudden the wind stopped.">> <<option "The ground became soft.">> <<option "I felt my limbs grow long.">> <<option "At an astonishing speed.">> <<option "The horses grunted.">> <<option "These wide American fields.">> <<option "This bleak American road.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer5">> <<option "A flying saucer approached from the east.">> <<option "They addressed me without speaking.">> <<option "They kept shoving each other.">> <<option "“Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that.”">> <<option "“You won’t tell our dad, will you?”">> <<option "Their words hung in the air like damp flags.">> <<option "The clothes of dead friends.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer6">> <<option "It wobbled in the rain.">> <<option "As if suspended by a string.">> <<option "I clutched my swollen arm.">> <<option "Concealing nothing.">> <<option "The gulf between worlds.">> <<option "Impossible to cross.">> <<option "Blank as the sky itself.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer7">> <<option "“Hello, darling!”">> <<option "“Hello, dear!”">> <<option "My ears filled with moonlight.">> <<option "As though I had licked the night itself.">> <<option "I stood in the rain alone.">> <<option "More puzzled than before.">> <<option "The moon merely shrugged.">> <</cycle>> [[BACK|Story 1]]

<<cycle "$answer">> <<option "We have been camping near Hermit's Pass for nearly two months.">> <<option "The other sentries amuse themselves with bawdy tales.">> <<option "Idiots.">> <<option "The horses have worms.">> <<option "Portents of imminent calamity, surely.">> <<option "Lesser nobles tighten their rings.">> <<option "The empress grows increasingly paranoid.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer2">> <<option "Our orders come from the empress herself.">> <<option "Confirm what has been seen in the sky.">> <<option "Accounts come in from all corners of the empire.">> <<option "Peculiar signs.">> <<option "A topic to pray upon.">> <<option "But I am no priest.">> <<option "I seek only to fill my belly and find a comfortable place to shit.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer3">> <<option "But we search the night sky and see nothing.">> <<option "Steam rises from the horse's piss.">> <<option "Seen by the paper maker:">> <<option "A giant saucer bisecting the sky.">> <<option "Seen by the radish farmer:">> <<option "Purple flames licking the clouds.">> <<option "A glowing orb grazing the roof of the palace.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer4">> <<option "The stars flex, relax.">> <<option "Constellations trace their unremarkable paths across the heavens.">> <<option "Report dated September 24, 1235:">> <<option "“The whole thing is completely natural.”">> <<option "The beggar chases the fox.">> <<option "Xnth farts in his sleep.">> <<option "Deep underground, beetles extend their wet wings.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer5">> <<option "Not a star out of place.">> <<option "The cuttlefish.">> <<option "The orchid.">> <<option "The wasp.">> <<option "When I look at the sky I see only questions.">> <<option "Furtive.">> <<option "Armies rise in the west.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer6">> <<option "Her ever expanding empire.">> <<option "Every star a new threat.">> <<option "The dying empress, her hands like soap.">> <<option "Imagining blight.">> <<option "Imagining something more devastating.">> <<option "“At such times men's eyes turn toward the heavens for help.”">> <<option "But those signs will not be found in the sky.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer7">> <<option "The hunter draws her bow.">> <<option "Animals cower.">> <<option "Picking the bones from the ash.">> <<option "The fires are burning.">> <<option "Steam rises from my teacup.">> <<option "The dead will be never counted.">> <<option "Yet the stars do sway.">> <</cycle>> [[BACK|Story 1]]

<<cycle "$answer">> <<option "He was the color of cabbage.">> <<option "Did he arrive during the night?">> <<option "Did he slink across the sky like a cat?">> <<option "He pointed at the moon.">> <<option "She opened one eye.">> <<option "Let me show you my face.">> <<option "The chattering wind.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer2">> <<option "Smooth like an ear.">> <<option "Ordinary things enthralled him.">> <<option "“Outstanding!” he exclaimed as he watched her pour milk down the drain.">> <<option "He danced in her sweaters.">> <<option "They scraped raindrops from their faces.">> <<option "What else could she say?">> <<option "She loved this life.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer3">> <<option "He watched her with his milky eyes.">> <<option "As though the end of the world had come and gone.">> <<option "They tossed their cans into the yard.">> <<option "(Now that the world had ended, recycling was pointless.)">> <<option "“Your planet is cold and smells like a sponge.”">> <<option "Nobody waved.">> <<option "So sweetly did he sing.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer4">> <<option "He wouldn't shut up about his planet.">> <<option "There were far worse places to be stranded.">> <<option "Living one life after another.">> <<option "And then poof! It is all over.">> <<option "Easy as rain.">> <<option "He seemed pathetic, like a grub.">> <<option "Another door she had neglected to close.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer5">> <<option "Together they admired the putrid stars.">> <<option "Becoming entangled in the bushes.">> <<option "Jumping into the pool to get out of the rain.">> <<option "Refusing to speak of their loneliness.">> <<option "Yet this was the most glorious life by far.">> <<option "He watched her as she shaved her legs.">> <<option "The lives she left behind.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer6">> <<option "The clouds floating by like smug assholes.">> <<option "“If I remain on this planet, I will die,” he thought.">> <<option "What a snooze.">> <<option "A fly landed on a piece of lemon cake.">> <<option "She sucked on her teeth.">> <<option "She mugged for the moon.">> <<option "“Hey you big beautiful moon,” she said.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer7">> <<option "“Go back to your stupid planet, then, if you love it so much!”">> <<option "“It is a journey I will never make.”">> <<option "Perhaps in another life...">> <<option "Refusing to leave.">> <<option "Whose planet was this again?">> <<option "In the deepest part of the night something was twitching.">> <<option "For the soil was warm and full of worms.">> <</cycle>> [[BACK|Story 1]]

<<cycle "$answer">> <<option "“It was night.”">> <<option "“We were in our old house.”">> <<option "“A house we would never leave.”">> <<option "“Our parents waved at us from inside the saucer.”">> <<option "“My sister was outside the church, laying dead flowers side by side.”">> <<option "“‘Hello, girls!’”">> <<option "“‘And where is your sister?’ they asked.”">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer2">> <<option "“Tell me more.”">> <<option "“You dreamt of your mother.”">> <<option "“She was always so happy.”">> <<option "“An uninterrupted dream.”">> <<option "“I am a lake that refuses to freeze.”">> <<option "“What might the saucer represent?”">> <<option "“Tell me more about the ringing in your ears.”">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer3">> <<option "“We were in church.”">> <<option "“There are secrets in every house.”">> <<option "“Outside above the graves.”">> <<option "“Goodbye!”">> <<option "“I guess I'll never see you again!”">> <<option "“Our parents were trapped inside the saucer.”">> <<option "“Our waving parents.”">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer4">> <<option "“My sister’s face was a silver balloon, floating above me.”">> <<option "“‘YOU NEED TO COME HOME RIGHT NOW,’ she kept shouting.”">> <<option "“My screeching sister.”">> <<option "“And how would you unpack that?”">> <<option "“I was caught with my hands in the dirt.”">> <<option "“Standing among the graves.”">> <<option "“And what of the flowers?”">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer5">> <<option "“How do you feel when you think about your sister?”">> <<option "“Do you often think about death?”">> <<option "“Tell me more about the saucer.”">> <<option "“And what of the graves?”">> <<option "“The irradiated sky?”">> <<option "“Yet we never stopped waving.”">> <<option "“In this dream, perhaps you yourself are the villain.”">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer6">> <<option "“The saucer hung in the air.”">> <<option "“It was night.”">> <<option "“Laying side by side outside the church.”">> <<option "“It flew away with our parents inside.”">> <<option "“Goodbye!”">> <<option "“Goodbye forever!”">> <<option "“We never stopped smiling.”">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer7">> <<option "“Could it be that you are still dreaming?”">> <<option "“It frightens me.”">> <<option "“I took my sister's hand.”">> <<option "“One day we will all be dead.”">> <<option "“We waved and waved until we could no longer see.”">> <<option "“Our brains filled with flower petals.”">> <<option "“I will never find you among all these graves.”">> <</cycle>> [[BACK|Story 1]]

<<cycle "$answer">> <<option "within">> <<option "dull">> <<option "beloved">> <<option "fear">> <<option "observe">> <<option "that">> <<option "settled">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer2">> <<option "splintered">> <<option "darkened">> <<option "secure">> <<option "her">> <<option "hidden">> <<option "active">> <<option "happy">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer3">> <<option "sighs">> <<option "ooze">> <<option "body">> <<option "features">> <<option "cedars">> <<option "mirror">> <<option "fruit">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer4">> <<option "suspended">> <<option "did">> <<option "each">> <<option "burned">> <<option "would">> <<option "muted">> <<option "guarded">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer5">> <<option "by">> <<option "dread">> <<option "no">> <<option "idle">> <<option "from">> <<option "know">> <<option "without">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer6">> <<option "visions">> <<option "feeling">> <<option "language">> <<option "senses">> <<option "secrets">> <<option "sovereign">> <<option "hands">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer7">> <<option "incomprehensible">> <<option "asleep">> <<option "kept">> <<option "seized">> <<option "transformed">> <<option "drowned">> <<option "illuminated">> <</cycle>> [[BACK|Story 1]]

<<cycle "$answer">> <<option "The saucer arrived at night and positioned itself several hundred feet above the youth soccer complex.">> <<option "We danced beneath the saucer.">> <<option "Wiggling our shoulders and waving our heavy arms.">> <<option "We ate buffalo wings and drank cheap wine in the saucer's warm light.">> <<option "We hoped it would never leave.">> <<option "Haughty as the sun.">> <<option "Resuming the soccer season was out of the question.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer2">> <<option "A stone made smooth by the sea.">> <<option "It was like slipping into the most peaceful dream.">> <<option "But I am just an infant what do I know?">> <<option "We brought our our ailing relatives, our deformed vegetables, our listless pets to be healed by the light of the saucer.">> <<option "We flopped around like fish beneath the saucer.">> <<option "We wrapped our tails around our bodies.">> <<option "If it never rained again, we did not notice.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer3">> <<option "The air beneath the saucer was warm and smelled like cooking rice.">> <<option "We curled up like worms and slept beneath the saucer.">> <<option "It was like slipping beneath the surface of the sea.">> <<option "Years passed.">> <<option "We could see our former selves waving to us from within the saucer.">> <<option "It is simple, really:">> <<option "We fell asleep beneath the saucer and never woke up.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer4">> <<option "We lay down beneath the saucer.">> <<option "We could no longer remember the ocean.">> <<option "We could see beings moving around in the saucer.">> <<option "Laughing. Watching tv. Boiling noodles. Having sex.">> <<option "We stared up into the saucer and observed our former selves.">> <<option "Yes, that’s it, I remember now.">> <<option "But I am just an old woman, what do I know?">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer5">> <<option "We gazed up at the neutral beauty of the saucer, which in turn bathed us in its orange light.">> <<option "It was as meaningless as an aluminum can.">> <<option "By then it had been years since we had seen the sun.">> <<option "Time was just a taffy-like substance that we rolled around in our mouths.">> <<option "Again and again.">> <<option "Let the water run through your fingers.">> <<option "Weightless as a shadow or a dream.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer6">> <<option "It was a blank face.">> <<option "Perhaps my own face.">> <<option "Concealing nothing.">> <<option "They appeared vigorous, while we grew more and more enervated.">> <<option "We waved and waved until we could no longer see.">> <<option "Rain pooled in our open eyes.">> <<option "Our brains filled with flower petals.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer7">> <<option "It was a fresh start.">> <<option "To be floating up there among the stars.">> <<option "Displacing the cold air.">> <<option "Something round like a shadow.">> <<option "An insect passing in front of the sun.">> <<option "I am now a young woman.">> <<option "I am now an old man.">> <</cycle>> [[BACK|Story 1]]

<<cycle "$answer">> <<option "This is not really a story about UFOs, is it?">> <<option "Haha.">> <<option "So what is it, exactly?">> <<option "Perhaps it is loneliness itself.">> <<option "Perhaps it is nothing.">> <<option "Leaves curl inward, clutching their bellies.">> <<option "Waiting for someone to say, “Of course it is true; it has always been true.”">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer2">> <<option "This was never a story about UFOs!">> <<option "Metaphorical night.">> <<option "Regular night.">> <<option "An exchange of breath.">> <<option "Why am I even telling you this?">> <<option "Stumbling around in the dark bumping into things.">> <<option "A bitter note in the middle of brunch.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer3">> <<option "It was a story about the night all along lol.">> <<option "Light a candle; devour the flame.">> <<option "A ritual to summon the darkness.">> <<option "Here is my hand.">> <<option "A voice that says gravely, “You can't change what’s coming.”">> <<option "But by the time you realize it the worms are nibbling on your toes.">> <<option "Each one perfect.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer4">> <<option "Everything the night is a metaphor for.">> <<option "Death, obviously.">> <<option "Terrified, we clutch our bellies.">> <<option "Terrified, we clutch each other’s bellies.">> <<option "A pause between breaths.">> <<option "An exchange of ashes.">> <<option "In this metaphorical garden with its representative trees and perfect toads.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer5">> <<option "The sign you've been waiting for.">> <<option "No one is awake but us.">> <<option "Perhaps it is possibility itself.">> <<option "Something momentary, like a cough or a shower.">> <<option "Something permanent like a birthmark.">> <<option "Furtive.">> <<option "Miraculous as a weed.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer6">> <<option "The leaves rattle around meaninglessly.">> <<option "Reminding us of nothing in particular.">> <<option "Our watery coffees.">> <<option "Our irrational loves.">> <<option "Our interrupted dreams.">> <<option "Deep underground, beetles extend their wet wings.">> <<option "Each time that you are born and reborn.">> <</cycle>> <<cycle "$answer7">> <<option "Morning is coming!">> <<option "We can't change costumes fast enough.">> <<option "Each life just a little bit bigger than the one before it.">> <<option "We look out at the horizon thinking that perhaps this is not so bad after all.">> <<option "Holding our breath.">> <<option "Waiting for the moment when darkness covers the sky again.">> <<option "Hello!">> <</cycle>> [[BACK|Story 1]]

<center>"I came to the same conclusion as Edward J. Ruppelt, one-time chief of the American Air Force’s project for investigating Ufo reports. The conclusion is: something is seen, but one doesn’t know what. It is difficult, if not impossible, to form any correct idea of these objects, because they behave not like bodies but like weightless thoughts." (emphasis added) (C. G. Jung, //Flying Saucers: Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies//) NOTE: There is no "correct" way to read these stories. Read "down" or "through" or both; click through the variations in any order you like and enjoy the continuous movement! </center> [[BACK|Story 1]]

//Phenomena// was created on occupied kānaka ʻōiwi land. For more on land and sky in Hawaiʻi, [[this libguide|https://maui.hawaii.libguides.com/maunakea]] is a great resource. Made using Twine 2.3.9. //Phenomena// is a back garden entry in the [[2022 Spring Thing Festival of Interactive Fiction|https://www.springthing.net/2022/]]. Background image is "UFO sighting in Riverside, CA, November 23, 1951," National Archives, Records of Headquarters U.S. Air Force (Air Staff). Image of UFO on title page is licensed from Getty Images. Mahalo to the Critheads, who provided generous feedback on an early version of this project, which is based on the format of Raymond Queneau’s //Hundred Thousand Billion Poems.// Chapter 2 is loosely based on an account of what was supposedly the first official UFO investigation, as described in Jacques Vallee’s //Passport to Magonia:// “The date was September 24, 1235, seven centuries before our time, and General Yoritsume was camping with his army. Suddenly a curious phenomenon was observed: mysterious sources of light were seen to swing and circle in the southwest, moving in loops until the early morning. General Yoritsume ordered what we would now term a ‘full-scale scientific investigation,’ and his consultants set to work. Fairly soon they made their report. ‘The whole thing is completely natural, General,’ they said in substance. ‘It is only the wind making the stars sway.’” The quote "At such times men’s eyes turn to heaven for help" comes from Jung's //Flying Saucers: Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies:// “A psychic phenomenon of this kind would, like a rumour, have a compensatory significance, since it would be a spontaneous answer of the unconscious to the present conscious situation, i.e., to fears created by an apparently insoluble political situation which might at any moment lead to a universal catastrophe. At such times men’s eyes turn to heaven for help, and marvellous signs appear from on high, of a threatening or reassuring nature.” (131) Words in chapter 5 are drawn from “El Sueño” by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and “Dark Night of the Soul” by St. John of the Cross. Thank you for playing :)! [[More|https://lavieenmeow.blog/]] of my work. [[BACK|Story 1]]

<><image src="ufo_background.jpg" width="1" height="1" border="0" /><> <center><img src="ufo_title.jpg" width="180"> [[P H E N O M E N A|Story 1]] Seven shifting stories by Dawn Sueoka cw: alien encounters, death, & mild profanity</center>