RADIO SILENCE

 A sudden hush at the Retreat. The Basement speakers crackle... then nothing.
Filed in the stillness by Raine Solara, who’s never heard the Retreat this quiet.

It started just after midnight.
The usual symphony of laughter, record skips, cat-chirps, espresso hisses, and alien hums faded out like someone turned the world down.

The jukebox froze mid-song.
The train never blew its horn.
Even the frogs by the mushroom patch stopped croaking.

Radio silence.

Investigating the radio silence

WHAT WE KNOW:
Laura’s set was cut off mid-transition (right before “Espresso Macchiato: Intergalactic Remix”).
The espresso machine let out one final sigh... and wouldn’t reboot.
Dr. Parallax’s Moai statue glowed briefly, then darkened its mouth shut completely for the first time.
The Basement lights dimmed, but didn’t go out, just held in that strange limbo between neon and candlelight.

All frequencies?
Dead.
Even Bun G Chord’s pirate stream, even Casey’s headset mic, even Trenton’s scanner on the train.

There is nothing on the tracks

Only static.

And a faint whisper beneath it that, when slowed down, maybe said:

“...not yet…”

 1. Cosmic Reset.

Some believe it’s a ritual pause. A pulse before a bigger shift — a sign the dimensional rift needs to breathe.
2. Mellowbell is trying to call home.
Tubby swears he heard the cow’s voice in the static: “Tubbehhhhhh…”
3. The Alien Elf’s silence.
The gallery’s altar book closed itself. The pages refused to open.
4. Shayth’rien is in mid-shift again.
And taking the sound with them.

Only the fainting goat named Blorp came.

STRANGE SIGNS:
The hollow tree shed every leaf.
The Basement mirror reflected someone who wasn’t there.

A fresh postcard arrived… completely blank.

What broke the noise?
What comes after silence?

Some say we’re waiting for a new arrival.
Others say something has already arrived and wants to be heard only in the quiet.

Do you, the reader, have a guess at what happened?