Letters From the Knot #9: Archivist's Note

Manifest destiny.

Hello and welcome to Letters From the Knot where, every fortnight, I post a short piece of fiction. Each one takes place in the Knot, a mess of tangled spacecraft, an inverted city kept spinning to provide some semblance of uneven gravity, a place both figuratively and literally coming undone. This project is an extended exercise in worldbuilding, and my aim is to populate the city over time, creating and discovering new parts of it as I go. Each piece will be different: a story, a dream, a character sketch, a slice of life, a fragment. This week, an inventory.

And if sci-fi’s not your thing, I also release a more traditional newsletter on the off weeks. Enjoy!

Archivist’s Note

~TidsplanAhndras55LGS~

Designation - [Catalogue of privileged items//liaison expedition//Goss Spur//2308//]

Plain language description - Items recovered during (and immediately following) expedition to the Goss Spur. Items listed include both materials recovered from [sensitive redacted] as well those gifted as part of routine cultural exchange. Unless specified, all items can be accounted for in the report of Absx. Calin, available by archival request.

Time sensitivity - A

Official sensitivity - AAA

---

[Archivist’s note: The expedition to Goss Spur is considered highly sensitive by Selman action cmmte on grounds of both political and ullumedia interest in events surrounding the cessation of liaison with the spur its relation to the event known to those on the Knot as ‘Hafgufan Slip’. This catalogue is therefore highly confidential and the process of archiving has been completed in somewhat hampered and, by extension, diminished fashion. The work is below the usual standard of the archivist who has, due to factors outside of their control, foregone some long-enshrined tenets of their practice. Said archivist would like therefore to excuse any seeming elisions, evasions, or omissions that may appear in this schedule, which was completed in a state of significant limitation and, at times, duress.]

Items recovered for cataloguing:

 #55LGS.01 - 1x gold plate, Selman 2nd century, inlaid with glass and pine, ceremonial, engraved with the words, “Sjøormen Stjerner Sivilisasjon”. Plate intended as gift to be presented by ambassador but has been returned. To be transferred back to origin goldsmiths.

 #55LGS.02 - 8x Selman Federalist Guard uniform and field packs, five intact [sensitive redacted]

 #55LGS.02b - 12x high-grav medication courses, 36 administrations total, 21 used.

 #55LGS.03 - 3x quills, pearlescent, presumed gliesan origin, point of separation ragged, removal assumed unplanned.

 #55LGS.04 - 2x ulludocks, portable, Gulkin Generation 6, lapse definition, contents encrypted.

 #55LGS.05 - 2x Transportable översättning rig “shis” suits, biokeyed to Mx Benniger and Mx Hansdóttir, damaged, data unrecoverable.

 #55LGS.06 - 1x gliesan “pilt-house”, pre-knot ceremonial weapon dating back to second engagement, offered as gift to Absx. Calin on arrival at Goss Spur. Disarmed, burnished.

 #55LGS.06b - 2x further “pilt-house” weapons, armed, sequestered, [sensitive redacted]

 #55LGS.07 - 1x cigarette lighter, antique, non-functional, scuffed.

 #55LGS.08 - 1x piece of pink coral, wrapped in copper wire spool, shows signs of being well handled, polished smooth. Token of affiliation; affiliation unclear.

 #55LGS.09 - 1x photograph recovered from Mx Benniger, earth-shot, cityscape, well handled, damaged and stained, [sensitive redacted]

 #55LGS.10 - 1x small glit, gliesan, inaccessible, polished silver colour, metal compoud unidentified.

 #55LGS.11 - assorted animal remains, burned, unaccounted for.

 #55LGS.12  - 1x field diary of translator Mx Hansdóttir, contains practical details of mission, a note to a sister, [sensitive redacted]

 #55LGS.13 - 1x wooden sphere, 15cm diameter, imprints suggest gliesan digital manipulation.

 #55LGS.14 - a near-round cluster of wires, around the size of a human head, wrapped around a cuboid shape. On the wires themselves sit sliding dials, small vents, fine threads. Purpose unclear, considered dangerous until otherwise confirmed.

#55LGS.15 - hand-bound book, crudely constructed of many sheets of different materials, edges roughly cut. Contains propaganda materials. Considered inflammatory.

[Archivist’s note: they’ll look back upon this time as a time of unravelling. We must forgive those blind to their part in it.]