Containment Fiction
AOE: Anomalous Object Entry
AOE-122021 — Codename: Axylexaria (“Axle-ex-air-ee-ya”)
Anomalous Object Entry
AOE-122021
Object Severity
Benign
Containment Difficulty
Low/Preventative
Containment Status
Physically Contained
Containment Specifications
AOE-122021 has been digitized and stored upon the blockchain.
Abstract
AOE-122021 is a 78rpm wax musical record dating to the late 1930s that features a lone melody, designated AOE-122021-1. The recording is 2:42 in duration. AOE-122021–1 is repeated 5 (five) times before the recording ends. The imperfect medium ensures that AOE-122021 will be played a limited number of times, estimated to currently be ~50 additional repetitions.
Anomalous Properties
When heard, AOE-122021-1 induces belief in a deity named Axylexaria. Thus far, there is a 1:1 correspondence to behavior and belief, such that anyone who listens to AOE-122021-1 will affirm this. It is not necessary to listen to AOE-122021-1 in its entirety in order to be affected by it, and subjects have endorsed the belief after as little as 0:03 into the 2:42 recording.
AOE-122021-1 is of a lone female singing a diatonic melody (C minor). This female is unidentified. The singer is presumably singing in English during the recording, as phrases can be deciphered at times (see Addendum 1). The medium on which AOE-122021 is recorded (wax disc) and the general character of the audio (heavy record scratches are audible) give it a poor quality and date it to the dawn of musical recording technology. Despite this, production effects are apparent when listening to later stanzas of AOE-122021-1 that mimic current digital reverb and synthetic vocal textures. The effects achieve stereoscopic configuration if listened to split in left and right channels, despite the recording being in mono and prior to stereo technology by several decades. Some believe these effects are part of AOE-122021-2 and not of the native recording.
AOE-122021-1’s anomalous effects continue after the record is stopped. Subjects report auditory hallucinations that repeat AOE-122021-1, except with backing voices that are said to number in the hundreds or thousands (one subject, a Grade 3 researcher, notes “as if [the voices] are originating from and echoing back unto a distant mountain range”). These hallucinations, AOE-122021-2, are layered heavily with extensive harmonies, melisma, and counterpoint. Rarely, AOE-122021-2 will feature instrumental voicing. Reportedly, no repetition of the melody and its harmonies is the same, each having different configurations, if only subtly.
At varying durations, subjects exposed to AOE-122021-2 begin to believe that changes in this melodic structure constitute a language, said to be that of an “Axylexaria, Goddess of Melody & Undeniable Disperser of Evil”. Subjects begin to equate singing with a holy act, and believe it to be anathema to great evils and spirits encountered in life. Subjects are often heard singing AOE-122021–1, and frequently develop skills required for music composition and production. Recorded versions of AOE-122021-1 (“covers”) are conceived by subjects to be statements to Axylexaria, and constitute one half of a dialogue.
Addendum 1
The following are consensus lyrics in AOE-122021-1. Phrases or lines in parentheses indicate where there is confusion, unclear wording, or best-guess attempts.
"Love; in the likes of your hearts, (all)
Above heights, try to take it in the right (light)
(You can’t run, there’s nowhere left to hide)
But in the arms that reach (out)
This is the way, the illuminated door
I was led to a next-world
(Oh yes) a missed sign
(A naked eyeball) hides me
(Heirs to the ease, sway us)”
