NORA: "One last ride, Dreamers. As the heat does rise, so do we seek cooler shadows. Time to lie low.

Ain't that right, caller?"

Caller: "I confess to being uncertain, but… How did it all come to be such a mess?"

NORA: "It’s all good. We’re all friends here. You got a name?"

Caller: "Oh. A name. Yes, of course. A sobriquet. Call me ‘Bones’, I suppose. That should serve as adequately as anything."

Please understand: anonymity is of paramount importance, here. As is trust."

NORA: "Always. Sanctum sanctorum, Bones. So. Let’s hear it. What’s on your mind?"

Caller: "What’s ‘on my mind’ – or more precisely what is in my mind – is entirely the problem."

Something has occurred. Something that is not designed or intended to happen to one of my… kind. Message or hallucination! I cannot know. I feel compelled to reach out… but to whom? Perhaps that is why I have called you. The state it has left me in is one of profound unease.

And your previous callers, their plights… it all feels a little too familiar."

NORA: "Sometimes our minds protect us by turning us away from things that hurt. Other times they turn us toward things that help, even if sometimes we can’t really know it.

Is there someone else you’re meant to be calling, Bones?"

Caller: "Please forgive me. I am afraid. Acutely. And I am alone. I have not felt so alone in the universe for a very long time."

There was someone with whom I could share these fears. And yet, all of a sudden, right as this all began, they are gone. They would not have abandoned me, would they? So abruptly? So coldly?

They are missed. Terribly missed.

NORA: "I feel you. Nora knows a little something about isolation. Loss. That’s our church, for better or worse."

So… the other stories rang familiar. Might you, by some chance, be in the proximity of a certain Infested Moon?”

Caller: "Oh. Uh. Deimos? Ah, no. Ha ha. I mean who would wish to be anywhere near that place? Me? Ha. Never. (clears throat)

Miss Night, speaking plainly, if I may: one worries that after lo these many years… well… that they may be losing their grasp. On reality. As it were.”

NORA: "If you are, you ain’t alone, Bones. Something’s going down in this system. Something big. Now, think. Because we’re all family here, and family wants you well. Is there anyone else you can reach out to for help?"

Caller: "Help… This world was so vile for so long that I had nearly forgotten how to ask. We hid, instead, to protect ourselves."

NORA: "Bones, Bones, Bones. We gotta look out for each other. Rule One."

Caller: "(sigh) It’s so much easier when the task is meant to aid someone else. Yet this threat is quite… personal to me."

NORA: "Connection. Being known. Trust. Not things to be afraid of. It’s how we do."

Caller: "Yes. ‘How we do.’ Quite. I never considered asking for aid myself."

"Except… oh. Oh I am a fool.

NORA: "Bones?"

Caller: "I am not a creature of instinct, Miss Night. But I appear to have followed them nonetheless, albeit with a near-total lack of practice."

‘Being known.’ Of course. It was not you I was meant to reach out to, obviously. But… what was it you said about minds?

NORA: “Something profound, I’m sure."

Caller: "They turn us toward things that help, even if sometimes we cannot really know it.” Of course. Of course. My mind is not my own. It is a vessel for consciousness, but created by another. And they, I assure you, knew precisely what they were doing.

There is someone. Someone known to both of us, Miss Night. Someone you share more than a few admirable traits with.

Someone rather adept at dealing with the unknown.

Yes. They must be summoned, and summoned immediately. Thank you, Miss Night.

NORA: "We got you, Bones. Don’t be a stranger. And good luck. To all of us."

[Transmission Ends]