field book no. 07
Statebot
Chronicles
A handful of pages from a road nobody seems to agree on. Dust, water, strange machines, and names written down before they were forgotten.
Demo
found folded inside the cover
cover
Statebot
Early
Trailer
The playable world follows your local time. Morning, afternoon, evening, and night each give the road a different sky.
early trailer — the road was already awake
01
First
Light
night road
I first saw it after sunset, parked so still that the dunes had started treating it like a rock.
The lamps came on before anything moved. Just two soft circles in the dark, and a little panel glowing like it remembered the road better than I did.
the first glow I remember
03
higher than I meant to climb
Lookout
The forest looked harmless from above.
That was the trick. From the cliff it was all green mist and soft hills. Down below, every path seemed to split into three more, and the machine kept stopping like it heard something I couldn't.
06
Not
Acquired
The part was already gone by the time I arrived.
She kept working anyway, one hand on the wrench, the other on the machine like it might wander off if nobody stayed kind to it.
not acquired, not forgotten
09
the water was warmer than expected
Oasis
Wading
There are mornings when nobody speaks above a whisper.
The line goes in. The machine waits. The water makes tiny circles around its feet. Somewhere nearby, someone is boiling coffee badly.
12
Folded Map
I copied this from a trader who swore it was wrong, then asked for it back twice.
names change faster than roads do
15
Green
Road
I expected silence under the trees.
Instead I heard work. Axes, wheels, birds, rain tapping on metal. Somewhere beyond the ridge a machine kept moving long after sunset, patient as an old animal.
I should have brought better boots
18
a ride through town
City
Errands
I spent the afternoon carrying strangers from one end of town to the other.
One wanted the station. One wanted the café. One only wanted to sit in the back and talk about the sea.
21
Boulevard
He looked like he was waiting for someone, but the street kept changing around him and he never moved.
I almost asked for directions. Then I remembered I did not know where I was trying to go.
standing near the high road
24
something had to be fixed
Small
Repairs
Every machine has a sound it makes when it is pretending to be fine.
This one had three. I only recognized two before the wrench slipped and the whole thing sighed at me.
27
The Name
Again
Someone whispered it at the harbour. Someone scratched it under a table. Someone crossed it out on a road sign before I could read the rest.
I will not write it here yet. Names have a way of waking things up.
not a story for children
31
Loose
Photographs
I keep finding these between pages I don't remember writing.
34