Testing in Progress

The title, as seen on the blog

Testing in Progress is a blog written by DJay32 about a test subject in the Topography Genera Center North as he attempts to escape. It features the voice acting of alliterator as The Camper, and it has received great reception so far due to its Portal-like comedic nature and setting. It is a part of the greater Topography Genera story, and it accompanied by Administry for a Cause. The blog has since concluded and can be found here.

Plot synopsis

Movement I- Spectator Sport

The blog opens with an unnamed protagonist who discovers he is a test subject for an ambiguous test course. Every test is overseen by a completely stationary humanoid figure, and he is ushered into each test by an assuring voice. The first eight tests seem fairly simple, although one test involves seemingly waking up a coma patient. The movement ends as the protagonist learns he is in the Topography Genera Center North.

Movement II- Aquatarkus Course

The test subject goes through a break room and enters the second test course, where each test becomes considerably more difficult. The possibility of death becomes apparent. In the thirteenth test, the protagonist fails a test, prompting the announcement system to declare that The Camper is coming to get him, also revealing the protagonist's name is Stewart. Stewart is able to bypass the security measures and flees the Genera.

Movement III- Alpha Wave

Stewart awakens back in the Genera, explaining that he made it out to the city of Reybiasovik, Iceland, when an impossibly large wave of constantly-morphing water rose and flooded the whole city and its inhabitants. He lost consciousness and awoke in a test tube, being studied by Camper, and then he was dumped into a sort of jail cell. Inside, he spots (but fails to recognize) Wendy, the protagonist of Administry for a Cause, and his cell opens. He explores a series of rooms, including a hall of test tubes filled with sleeping test subjects, a giant hangar containing a perfect recreation of Reybiasovik, and rooms filled with a more casual and unhostile Camper.

In the recreation of Reybiasovik, we find out that Stewart was on the run from The Wooden Girl before he woke up in the Genera, and that he was the stranger who saved Wendy's life in the first post of Administry. The movement ends as Stewart stumbles upon Test 32, becoming unsettled by its difficulty.

Movement IV- You and I

In Test 32, Stewart meets Wendy and the two recognize each other. Wendy leads Stewart out of the test, only for The Camper to ambush the two of them. Stewart risks his life to save Wendy again, and he is apprehended and taken to the "Camper Velourium," a room where victims are tested on their reactions to EAT's ink. Stewart is injected in the arm with a slowly-acting strand, prolonging his obsessive suffering as he slowly becomes a Camper. As he is injected, The Camper in the speaker system gives an extended monologue on the nature of EAT.

Stewart is thrown into a chamber filled with other suffering victims, all of whom are slowly being turned into Camper. Eight Camper observe the room and its subjects. Stewart finds Wendy, who was injected in the foot. She explains that the only way to prevent becoming a Camper would be to cut their limbs before the infection spreads. Wendy becomes footless and Stewart loses his arm, and then The Wooden Girl's pet breaks into the room via The Empty City and beckons Stewart to follow, just as the Camper come into the room to finish what they started. Wendy sacrifices herself, being gruesomely turned into a Camper to stall for time as Stewart leaves and the Door disappears.

Movement V- Begin the Endless Obsession

The Wooden Girl, here referred to as "Selkie," gets Stewart's arm patched up and declares she is going to have fun. Selkie pits Stewart through two pseudo-tests consisting entirely of making him kill his own mother and father, respectively. Then Selkie gets bored and dumps him back into the Genera.

EAT welcomes Stewart back before sending Wendy, now a Camper, after him, prompting him to run through the facility. As he runs, Stewart plans on finding and killing the Camper who has been speaking to him this whole time, knowing very well that this will do nothing besides give personal satisfaction. He finds records and later finds the actual Camper, and he tries to kill it. It is revealed that that particular Camper has evolved in such a way that its body has stretched throughout the entire Genera, becoming a disgusting system of mouths, limbs, and unexplained tentacles. The blog ends with Stewart being forced into a vivisection as EAT welcomes it to the Topography Genera Center North.

Quotes

“Hello, test subject. Hello, test subject. It is time. You will proceed down the designated hall, we will be waiting for you, you will proceed. Every move is recorded. Every breath is remembered. You will proceed!.”

— The Camper

“Begin Test 02: In front of you, you will find a wall. Please watch out, as the lights are turning off and we do not yet observe your reaction. Here, you shall observe several photographic evidence. Be sure to react accordingly. TENTACLE. BUSINESS SUIT. GAS MASK. TENTACLE. MARIONETTE. BIBLIOTHEQUE. MURDER. LEVIATHAN. H. P. LOVECRAFT. HUMAN.”

— The Camper

“End Test Root: We have come full circle. We have come full circle. We have come full circle. We have come full circle. We have come full circle. We have come full circle. We have come full circle. We have come full circle. Welcome to the Topography Genera Center North.”

— The Camper

“Begin Test 10: You are being provided with an axe. In front of you, you will find a tree. Chop down this tree. You are prohibited from losing control of your insufficient sanity whilst holding the axe. You will find it illegal to frolic through the Topography Genera Center North while swinging your axe machine left and swinging your axe machine right. We highly do not advise using your axe machine to chop every bit of Camper out of this facility. Please solve the test in question, and keep your insane thoughts to yourself.”

— The Camper

“Begin Test 32: At the top of the stairs, there's hundreds of people running around to all the doors. They try to find themselves an audience, their deductions need applause.”

— The Camper

“There is no need to struggle, Stewart. Your worries will end, and you will see things my way. I have no worries, did you know that? And neither will you, but there will be no 'You.' There will only be me. I am the only being you will know, I am the only being to be known. Everything in the universe, everything in every universe has a little bit of me. I am constantly growing, constantly evolving, constantly progressing. I will always grow, I will always flourish, and the only way to stop me would be to stop evolution, itself, for as long as life evolves, life will.. always... eat. Feel me running through your veins. Feel me thinking in your head. Feel me fueling your full fall, and fuel my fall with your foolish fantasies. You are almost over, and I have almost begun. Don't worry. There's not much pain, only an insatiable hunger that will burn in your stomach until you want to scream for it to stop. It never does. This pain you will feel? That's me. I am the hunger, Stewart. I am the reason humans eat. You need me to survive, I tell you when to eat. You think you defeat me by eating, but you only make me crave more. The hunger is but a side effect, of course. And when you have me running through your veins, I think you'll find the hunger increases. I think you'll find it spreads to your mind. You'll want to cry, you'll want to sweat, you'll want to do everything you can to get me out of your body, but I have always been there, and I will always progress. Don't think. Don't speak. I will do this for you. Every natural thought or feeling you've ever had will change tonight. Eat, for tonight we become a higher being. Supper's ready, Stewart. It's time to eat.”

— The Camper

“This is not goodbye. This show never ends. I will always be in you.”

— The Camper

“Well, well, well. If it isn't Stewart Norman, the borin' soarin' loser guy from Washington, hee hee heeeeeeeee! ..why is he not kneeling? God, the manners on you runner-types. I fixed your arm, and this is what I get! I hate you, by the way. I hate it when you run. It makes me cry. (sarcastically) But don't worry, it's just CRYING, nothing to BE CONCERNED ABOUT. (normal) …when I cry, I like to kill things. It cheers me up. The way I see it, you're aaaaaalllll my dolls, and I love my dolls very very much, but when my dolls run from me, I start to wonder why I ever let you live in the first place. ANYWAY. I heard you were being kept in the Genera, Stewie! Being tested on! Oh, that sentence makes me feel feelings a girl as innocent as I am shouldn't feel. But even I'm allowed to give in to temptation. So tell you what. I'm not going to kill you juuuuust yet. Instead, I'm gonna have my dolls-- my GOOD dolls-- put you through more tests. Just for me. And THEN I'll kill you! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.”

— Selkie

“Heeeere is your first test, Stewie-boy. Here, my dolls were kind enough to fetch me your mommy! I personally had the joy of getting to bind her arms and legs and stuff an ever-so-frightful gag down her throat. And then I took a sewing needle and a thread and I stitched her mouth shut! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ANYWAY, your first test is to kill her! Kill her by, uh… gee, that's a good question. What would be slow and painful for both of you…? OH GOD YES, here, pour this acid onto her eyes! POUR IT, BOY.”

— Selkie

“For your second test, my test subject, you could prolly guess it, but my dolls ALSO fetched your daddy! I did all the same stuff to him, though I admit I also kicked him in his nether regions plenty. I wanted to punish him and stop him from making any more incredibly-disobedient children! ..hm! Tell you what! You are not going to directly kill him. Instead, take these stitches and sewing kit n' stuff and sew his nose shut. When you're done, jab any leftover stitches into his eyes and ears. If you doooon't, I'll make sure you suffer his faaaaaate. Do it.”

— Selkie

“oh yes yes yes YES, that's it. Thaat's it. Goooood. heeeeeeeeeee”

— Selkie

“Okay, Stewie. Consider yourself SO lucky, like, the LUCKIEST GUY IN THE WOOOORLD. 'Cause I have decided to spare you. Instead, I am dumping you back into the Genera. I expect the Camper there to either turn you into one of them or just plain kill you, themselves! Have fun. It's been nice knowing you, but you're done troubling my poor heart. G'byeeeeee!”

— Selkie

“Hello, Stewart Norman. This is a nice blog. Your entries amuse me. Do not post, I will do this for you. Do not breathe, I will do this for you. You really shouldn't stick around dead bodies for so long, Stewart. You never know when they might be me. You may have noticed I'm holding you still, but look! My hands are right here in front of me! Hahahaha, you're about to die. I'm not going to make you a Camper. You have proven yourself to be a worthy test subject that I suppose letting you into me would be.. unpoetic.”

— The Camper

“I want the last thing you see before you die to be me. I want you to see the tentacles gripping your ankles. I want you to see the three pupils in my eyeballs. I want you to see my eyesockets growing to allow for more eyeballs. I want you to see my jaw extending to touch my stomach. I want you to collide, control, and collapse. Still breathing? Excellent. I can show you everything I ever was and am. You will learn. Sit down. Stand up, please. You have no choice, of course. Feel my tentacles wrapped around your ankles.”

— The Camper

“Behold my legs. This Camper has eight of them. No one runs faster than he eats. See this Camper's fifth leg? It extends down into the floor, more of a pole made of flesh than a leg, really. Note the hole in the floor the pole enters. Here, let me show you the rest of me. This floor opens up, did you know that?”

— The Camper

“There. This is the current stage of The Camper. I can see you want to throw up. Human bodies should not extend this far, should they? Well, now you've learned they can. Now you can see what happens when I evolve. Of course, this is only one Camper. I want to know what happens to more Camper as they evolve. As I evolve. Let's take you down further, there is still more to this Camper's body you have not seen yet. I do hope those tentacles aren't hurting you too much; I can be rather forceful when I am mad.”

— The Camper

“Here, let me describe what you are seeing for you: A vertical hallway of flesh and skin, everything that used to be Ian Manning is currently extending several miles underground in the Genera. We have no intercom system, by the way. This Camper has simply.. extended throughout the vent system, growing new mouths where applicable.”

— The Camper

“'Why,' you ask? 'Why are your Camper mutating like this?' Because I have learned how, Stewart. Because I can. Here, let my tentacles take you into this room here. I have a new idea. I have decided how you are going to die. This room, you may have noticed, was once the Genera's medical facility. Let me just.. strap you into one of these tables.”

— The Camper

“You're wondering about my tentacles, Stewart. I can tell from your face; I have learned how to do that, too. Oh, you fool. (low chuckle) If you knew the truth about my tentacles, about the creature I truly am... (further chuckling) perhaps, if you survive this operation, I may show you. Ah, yes! This operation! As I said, I have decided how you are going to die. I am going to perform a vivisection on you. Granted, this may not actually kill you. But ooh, don't think about that too much.”

— The Camper

“Do you understand me, test subject? I am going to open up your body as you are breathing, and these kind Camper entering the room are going to poke around in you. As this happens, I am going to learn more about your body. I am going to learn more about what it takes to kill you, and exactly to what extent you can be suffering but still kept alive. This will be.. most invaluable information, of course.”

— The Camper

“Trust me, and you will be safe. I am the new government. (chuckle) Trust me, and I will be safe. (further chuckling) With simple skies, I create more sky. A simple land, I must change for I am God. (laughter) A simple man, I must break. Move forward. (more laughter, growing more sinister) How fast we grow, I must move on.”

— The Camper

“Welcome to the Topography Genera Center North, Stewart. Welcome to the Endless Obsession.”

— The Camper

Trivia

• The url of the blog reads "less than species." The category above/less than a "species" is called a "genus" or "genera," foreshadowing that the blog takes place in the Topography Genera Center.