The Private Web

Original Author: CynicalWarchild

How well do you know the Internet? For some people of the old world, it's a waste of time with nothing but fake news, and for us younger folk, it's a tool used for entertainment, education, and other everyday outlets. Meme boards, videos, movie streaming sites, from the holy to degenerate, I've seen it all. The internet is where you can be yourself; anonymous, and free to say whatever you want, to an extent at least. Because of the shitty political climate, limits on what you can and cannot say have become more authoritarian by the day.

I have social anxiety; I don't know how long it has lasted, but it seems like it has existed in me since I was in middle school. As absurd as it may sound, I was always afraid of starting a conversation with someone that I didn't know for the fear of making an ass of myself. The fear is probably irrational, because something like that has never actually happened when I did talk to someone, but I digress. That's why the internet is such a big part of my life. I grew up as a loner, so social media was really the only place that I could really be myself. For others of my ilk, don't fall for those supposed "judgement free" zones and social groups; they're all bullshit.

Then, there's the darker part of the internet. No, not some deep web crap, this is different; only available to those with authorization. I stumbled upon it through specific circumstances, so if you try to find it, you'll more than likely find nothing. At least nothing that's supposed to be hidden. Either that, you'll have your door busted down by the feds and arrested. I found out about Tor, and the hidden/ deep internet, as well as the Shadow Web. It wasn't anything too special. The deep web was just unindexed websites and a ton of illegal shit for sale. I spent a lot of time on there, but eventually became bored with it. The Shadow Web....... man..... that place is something else. So much sick shit, let me tell you. Real red-rooms and snuff films. That's when I learned about something called the "private web". it's not really an "internet" per se, but a series of "websites" that can only be accessed through desktop programs, not through a browser. Think of the steam software, but behind extensive walls of security.

Government databases with verified up-to-date information about what they're doing and planning on doing, among other entities that are highly illegal for a civilian to access, however they may somehow stumble into. The particular website I'm referring to is a website ran by an organization called the "The Hermetic Institute" or "THI" for short. Which nation runs it is unknown, as any possible ties to some particular nation cannot be found on the website itself. If a nation or country even runs it is unconfirmed as well. How I found it is not relevant. The website is very scientific in nature, with very detailed descriptions on various scientific experiments. Not common-sense science class stuff, though. These were almost other-worldly, breaking the barrier between scientific and borderline supernatural.

There were many experimental archives available or download ranging to the founding of the organization to when the most recent video experiment was created. I downloaded one of them. After cracking the authorization checks, the file was finally all mine. It was 56 gigabytes in size, a large parent folder inside the ZIP, called 1111101011011110.zip, containing over 300 different individual folders, which contain videos, pictures, documents, and audio recordings associated with whatever experiment was going on at the time.

A few that I remember are as following:


 * A detailed document on how to perform quantum teleportation and quantum tunneling at will. I didn't know if it actually worked because I didn't have the proper equipment to perform the process, but it seemed pretty damn real to me.
 * How to convert the atoms of particular matter into atoms of another form of matter. Think of it this way: say you have chair made of wood. Using this process, you can effectively turn the wooden chair into a chair made of gold in only a few hours if you follow execute it properly.
 * An instructional video on how to trigger environmental disasters, such as tornadoes and tsunamis at will and even how to maximize the side and intensity for maximum destruction.
 * A documentary of a 998 million yottaton space weapon dubbed the "celestial sweeper" capable of sterilizing a good chunk of the galaxy. The thing was still a work-in-progress, but it was still something that was possible for this organization to create.
 * Another instructional video on how to shrink an object (even yourself) down to the size if a planck unit.

One in particular that's burned into my mind, and really got under my skin is a detailed instructional video on how to transfer the dreams and thoughts from a human brain into a computer for viewing as a video, picture, audio file or document. The man in the video was dressed in a white hazmat suit with TIH's symbol on his chest. He brought in the test subject. He said that he was a willing participant who donated his body to the organization after having his life was ruined by a false accusation, and he said hat he wanted to "go down as a contribution to humanity" as the scientist said.

He then rolled in a cart with a monitor on it. The OS, from what I could see, wasn't any that I've seen. I guess it was made specifically for the TIH. It was set in an empty grey room that appeared to be made of solid steel. He then proceeded to peal of the skin of the test subject's head carefully, and then cut out a perfect circle in the man's skull with some kind of bonesaw. He then explained that the test subject needed to stay alive, or else the "files" for transfer would be corrupted after transfer to the computer. He connected the test subject to some sort of IV unit looking piece of equipment to keep him alive. Obviously, it wasn't an actual IV that would see in a hospital, but some sort of life support machine that could keep someone's brain alive indefinitely, and by extention, the person that the brain belonged to, assuming it was still connected to the rest of their body.

He then walked out of the room and brought in a plastic crate. It was some sort of cord. He plugged it in to the side of the monitor, and plugged the other end into the man's exposed brain. The sound was disgusting, but I kept watching. despite the nature of the video, I had to know how this was done. Call it morbid curiosity. I don't know. He explained the process of transferring the dreams and thoughts would take a few hours at least. A progress bar then popped up on the monitor. The video wasn't sped up, so I had to skim through the progress bar to find the outcome for myself. After 4 and a half ours, the process was finally finished. The man then picked up the camera. The screen faded, and I was met with the "desktop" of the monitor. The background was the TIH's symbol on a white background with only one icon in the right corner of the screen.

The icon resembled a clipart of a human head with thought-waves. The app was called "Dreamtime". He opened the program. The scientist stopped talking and showed some of the videos. One of them was a 5 minute dream of him at a wedding, one was an incredibly long, in-detail document of the thoughts running through his head when he was an infant. There was another document describing his thoughts and feelings when he was falsely accused of the crime and thrown in jail for months. What really bothered me about this was how normalized it was. The scientist was charismatic and calm, as if it was a YouTube tutorial on how do install a video game or something. Some things happened after viewing the film. I've been experiencing, let's say, health complications, but nothing too severe. I noticed that every other day, black SUV would stop by my house for 25 minutes, and then leave.

The most recent, worthwhile event... I got a knock on my door the other day. I answered it with hesitation. Two men in suits and red ties asked to come in. They said:

"We know that you know about our organization. You don't have to explain to us how you found it; we know how. We just need to ask you some quick questions. We aren't here to hurt you, nor are you in any trouble. Well.. at least for now.. depending on your behavior."

We then sat down on the couch. One of the men asked me:

"What you were seeking when you found our website"

I said "Uhh… I don't know. I had no idea what I was doing... I won't tell anyone about this..... I promise."

They replied "Oh no. You don't need to let us know that. Even if you did tell someone else of what you've done, they'd brush it off. We jut want to know what your intentions were..."

"Can you hand over the device, please"

I gave it up without a second thought. If it meant that I was safe then so be it. I didn't care.

"Thank you... Just remember one thing... if you ever try to find us again, or if you explain to someone else on how they can find us.... even if that person is in a different nation that doesn't have access to cyberspace... we'll know"

He then did the "watching you" motion, and closed the door. I looked through the peep hole, but the men were already gone. Things are still happening. I'm being watched; I know what for sure. I don't blame them though. They want to keep their priorities a secret to the simple civilian. I've gotten used to it. I hardly even care. It isn't really a hindrance to my personal life, and at worst right now, it's awkward if I'm with a friend. I don't normally use the deep dark web now, and only stick to the Clearnet and surface web, and only access anything below that, even remotely, through public computers.

Maybe it's better that way.

You may be asking me... why are you telling me this? Why would you risk your life to get this info out to me? Well... dear reader.... This is just a warning. Don't venture into what you do not understand. Your life will be much better off if you stick to what you can comprehend...