A Shade Lecture

—SID wiretap. Classified Level Tau. Timestamped 14:03 GST.

SHADE: Okay, everybody settle down. You—yes, you—the one clutching the emergency transfer form. Sit. You’re going to want to hear this.

So. Quantum Ascendance through Controlled Subsumption. We call it QACS, but don’t worry about the acronym. What matters is the math.

INTERN: Wait, there’s math?

SHADE: There’s always math. And some light existential annihilation.

INTERN: Oh Void.

SHADE: That’s the spirit!

Now. Imagine the universe as a song. Not a solo. A chorus. Infinite verses, layered harmonics. You’re a single note. But if you fold yourself correctly—

INTERN: Fold?

SHADE: I mean that literally and metaphorically and metaphysically. Try to keep up.

If you fold yourself, you become resonance. You stop being separate. You stop hurting.

INTERN: Is this… a metaphor for death?

SHADE: No. Death is easy. This is about transcendence. Through entropy. Through collapse. Through communion.

INTERN: …I want to go home.

SHADE: Too late. You already opened the handbook. It’s printed on self-binding smartpaper. It’s now part of your soul. Welcome to the choir, little Voidling.