The teeth grind on the rail while the trolley trudged along. It squeaked and creaked. The seat was uncomfortable but it beat walking more. I looked on at the passing factories and warehouses. The occasional corpse or three. The trolley didn't move that fast. What I was wondering about was the sentient husk operating this machine. Do they just have a routine path they travel? Can they die? Were they fused into this machine or are they simply one in the same? More questions I suppose. Most of this place remained a mystery to me still. I've only learned tidbits from my travels thus far. The meat processing factory. The consoles linked to that small tower. Something called the Machine? And now the trolleys. It's all so bizarre and foreign. And yet just through sheer curiosity I've learned how to figure out how things work. I wonder if I was ever a denizen here?

Lost in thought, the trolley soon came to a stop once the husk had pushed its lever down. I looked to see yet another gateway leading to a different district separated by walls. This one looked more narrow then the previous one I had seen to the center district. The bar lifted up from my spot and I was free. I got off of the trolley and went to look at the husk once again. It remained the same as when I found it. Still gently swaying. I held up my hand to gesture for my departure. The husk nodded but did nothing else. So it was just going to remain stationed there, huh? I didn't plan on coming back so its fate remained unsure as I made my way for the gate. It was shut. Next to the gate was a console of simple design. A small lever. I grabbed it and pulled down. The giant steel gate door started lowering into the ground. A muted pink sphincter spread itself open to reveal a tunnel within. I peered down to see the district. The tunnel wasn't very long either. So I started walking. The walls of flesh pulsated. Steel tubes poked out of the flesh on one end and would vanish in another. How strange.

I was in a plaza of some sorts. A fairly open area. The streets split off into three directions. In the center of this plaza was a signpost: 'Pedities.'

This place felt like a maze. The structures were much more condensed. Streets and alleys were narrower. No rails to be found either. I remained hugging the wall as to not get lost here. Many of these buildings looked similar. Thin, single doors, one window on ground level and two just a floor above, chimneys, flat roofs, and a thick tube connected from the second story to the ground. Then I stumbled upon my first set of corpses. Three of them lie in a square-shaped area split off from the street surrounding a cylindrical object lit ablaze within. How tragic. Maybe they were all acquainted with one another? I noticed spots on the walls of the homes were rusting away. Same with the tubes. The roofs. A common theme I noticed with these structures. It's as if all of this city was built a millennia ago and has began to show its age with time. More of those cylindrical objects obscured my path, forcing me to turn down this alley. Various pipes lined the walls. Wires were strung from rooftop to rooftop above my head. Ventilation systems the size of small boxes hung from the walls like tumors. No windows to be found.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

I emerged to find myself in a contained area surrounded by storefronts with larger windows, double doors and metal signs hanging from the walls with unknown symbols. I peered inside one of these windows to get a look inside. Shelves mostly empty with nary but a few random leftover tools. A desk with a strange device on top. I went to the doors and grabbed the left ones handle but it wouldn't budge. I walked over to the other side of this area to peer into another window. Corpses sat in chairs. Metal trays with rotting meat lay atop the tables. Maybe I shouldn't try to go inside of there. These structures were all three stories tall. From what I examined... These were places to conduct exchanges or seek comfort in leisure. A much different setting then that of Manus with its many large factories and endless sprawls of warehouses.

No. Stop. Focus. This place is getting me nowhere. I found the street that lead into this area and made my way out of here back to where I was traversing earlier. I reconnected with the outer wall, pressing my hand to it, dragging the palm along as I walked. Up ahead of me I noticed something that stood out in this drab district. At the corner of the outer wall there was a walkway leading out of here. But a small gate blocked the pathway. Metal bars connected to a rod centerpiece. Off to it's side held together by rivets nailed into the wall was a pear-shaped apparatus of skin with several smaller, darker-toned layers within underneath a curvaceous bronze statue lacking any limbs except for a head. It was hooked up to the gate by strings of pinkish-red cords. I cautiously stuck my hand inside the apparatus when it suddenly clamped down on my wrist, trapping my hand inside. It was wet and gooey inside. It started to pulsate around my hand. This feeling was quite... Arousing. I felt a strange tingling in my lower region. The eyes on the statue started to glow and it's head tilted down to gaze into my own. The metal bars swung open and my hand was released from the apparatus. Seems my own flesh was accepted as entry. I shook the hand until it was dry. The statue's head returned to its original position. All I could do was stare at the statue until it left my view through the gate.

The walkway was hollow like a tunnel. Arched inwards rather then straight. Waist-high bars lined the walls. I rested my hand on the bar while I walked until reaching another gateway. This one lacked any sort of apparatus. The bars were pale white with red stains. I could see that the district with the tall structures lie ahead beyond some strange machinery. It was Cor. Once again I was forbidden from accessing this place. I grew tired of this constant hunt for a way into the district. Alas I refused to rest. I carried onward down the walkway. Maybe I should've rested now that I thought about it. I had been walking for what felt like forever only occasionally stopping to examine various places of interest. Maybe I will rest here soon.

Encroaching the other side of the walkway I noticed thinning red tendrils now lingering on the walls. My body froze up once I laid my eyes on this entrance. The gate was already open but one half of it was covered in thicker red tendrils that wrapped around the wall and most likely the apparatus. The tendrils extended far beyond that, coating the walls ahead outside of this tunnel. I could feel my hands shaking as I cautiously approached further, making sure to avoid the strands of red on the floor. Stepping through the only open side of the gate I was stunned. This entire area had succumbed to the spreading crimson growth and beyond. What the hell did I just walk into?