sam strand porter bridges

[heartmans-lost-cargo]

All Emails from Sam Strand Porter Bridges

Email #1: Heart-Shaped Lake

Email #2: All-Loving Spa

Email #3: Serendipity

Email #4: The Beach Scientist

Email #5: Heartman's Lost Cargo

Email #6: Home

Email #7: Multiverse

Email #8: The Lab

Email #9: Leaving

Email #10: Doppelgängers

Email #11: Recollection

Email #12: Birth

Email #13: On the Beach

Email #14: So Sorry, Sam

[heartmans-lost-cargo]

Dear Sam,

My sincerest apologies — I truly never considered you'd be eager to see me again. For obvious reasons, you should be disappointed in what I've done! But may your concerns be assuaged 🫰 — I am, indeed, alive. ⏳

Many thanks for tracking down all that lost cargo from all those other universes! ☄️ I absolutely believe your multiverse theory, but how is it do you think you're able to see and interact with packages from the other side? As for there only being one Heartman...I wish that were true, though I fear it is not. 👎

Something I've been mulling over: The first time you came here and dropped off Mama, I reached out my hand to touch you without thinking. I am so sorry, Sam. I knew full-well of your condition and wished to learn more, though I acknowledge that doesn't forgive my actions. Perhaps we could discuss this next time you're here? 🙏💙

— Heartman

P.S. — I am very glad my spa has given you an excuse to heal up. 🥰 Should I take a risk and join you, or is that a bad idea? ⛈

⬅️ Back to emails from Sam Strand Porter Bridges

[heartmans-lost-cargo]

What does it even mean to be alive? Those electrically petrified BT's in Heartman's Lab — they're alive. Everything is some kind of alive, I think — and when life has perfect timing, that's kami. 🍃

I came back home and knocked on his door a second time so we could talk about beaches, serendipity, and — ⚡️ I want to know precisely where that line is, between life and death, or if there's anything on the other side. Where do you imagine Heartman's family went? One of those worlds where there's another Sam? ❤️‍🩹

My mind would settle, if I could talk with Heartman in his lab once more. Wouldn't be so anxious, you know? 😣 Could relax, find my bearings, sort out what I actually believe about this multiverse crap.

Kami benevolently directed my excursion to Heartman's heart-shaped lake — reached out and pulled me from the future, immaculately — but today it withholds kindness. I continue waiting to live. ⏳

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

I can tell you about the second time I met Heartman, don't worry! 😊 Although — to be perfectly honest — both instances are starting to become indistinguishable from each other. I wonder who I am there? 🤔

Exactly how I'd hoped to see him again — in the same captivating setting where I could soak up every detail. 🤩 We talked about Neanderthals and Afterlife and the Egyptian Book of the Dead. I felt — smart, and useful, and funny...like I could really be myself. 💙 And that poor sunovabitch — I wanted us to be friends so I could help him search for his missing family! 🥺

Of course I know Heartman — we've known each other for longer than I'm allowed to remember. 🫀

I see now why I have to keep forgetting. 🌈

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

🌊 It was a mistake, coming back here.

That thing I said about going crazy? 🌊 Still might be true, but in a different way than I initially imagined — chiral contamination, maybe.

How could I have forgotten? About Lou, Central Knot City, the voidout — how the city was erased, just like that. All those memories had been lost, somehow, but when I saw the crater beyond the incinerator again, everything crashed back into me.

Is memory loss a symptom of chiral contamination? 🌊

The events surrounding the Central Knot voidout weren't the only ones hidden — after that, too. I didn't find Heartman vaguely familiar because I'd so religiously poured over his goddamn interviews — he was there, in the wake of the voidout, as a voice in my private room and later as a chiralgram, with his faded-azure suit and clashing fingerless gloves. Die-Hardman, Deadman, Mama — Heartman stood alongside everyone else from the very beginning, yet I might as well've never fucking met him. How were the traces of our encounters deleted from my mind?

You would've thought that AED strapped to his chest was memorable, at the very least. 😂

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

Haven't encountered BT's or come across Heartman's cargo for a few days at this point, and — coincidentally — haven't found a single reason why I ever left the mountains, either. Breathing room? Come on. 😑 So far there's been nothing but inane bullshit here — like I'm just some fucking errand boy for these people. Is that why I'm still alive? Really?

I was by the distribution center when I let out a scream. Of desperation? Loneliness? Suffocation? Doesn't matter, because what happened next — well, you'll never believe me. 😒

In the distance, a voice called back — my voice. 😫 Fucking bone-chilling to hear myself respond like that. Does this mean my multiverse theory is correct? How many goddamn doppelgängers are out there? And if there's more than one Sam, does that mean there's more than one Heartman...?

Nah. Could only ever be one of him. 💔 Him and his glass house remain fixed and unchanging and constant, while I'm his fluidly infinite errand boy — even if each Sam takes a different path, all of us pick up every single piece of his cargo, spread across every last universe...and return it to the same everlasting place. 🗻

I saw the sky flicker to a glowing, opulent green before switching back to its usual ocean grey — so maybe I am going crazy. 🥲

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

I'm thinking about jumping east.

This is gonna sound crazy, but I've been craving the feeling BT territory gives me. 👻 I accepted an order from the Mountaineer just so I could pass a particular area populated by those Beached Things — the objective, as usual, was finding Heartman's lost cargo. The danger posed no problem for me — snuck so quickly and quietly, I might as well've been a ghost. 🫡

I remember when those motherfuckers used to make me freeze — really couldn't move an inch for a good long while. I'd stay crouched, surrounded, afraid they'd touch me as soon as I budged. 🫥 I may be more confident avoiding BT's now, but strangely, I've noticed that I intermittently hold my breath even when there're no threats nearby — weird, huh? 🫢

Some distance — yeah, that's a good idea. If I jump all the way back to Capital Knot City, there'll be no chance of running into Heartman's cargo — no need to enter BT zones. Before knowing where Heartman lived, I intended to attain relaxation there, sure, but I let my guard down too quickly. ✋ I mean, calling this place home — give me a break. 🙄

If I can just get out of here for a while, I'll gain some perspective — and hopefully detach myself from these pointless commitments. 🛑

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

No, I haven't gone into much detail about meeting Heartman face-to-face — although it's only happened twice before, I learned a lot both times. Why haven't I described my experience to you yet? Because, considering what I was delivering then, I've felt guilty about that first visit easing my bereavement. 😕

I'd wanted to look through all of Heartman's possessions as soon as that door opened. The urge remains inexplicable, still — could be because of the cyan and magenta lighting, or maybe I'd only felt it because he wanted me to. That was his approval, right? When he liked that I was looking? 👀👍

Walking into his office when I did is but one in a series of serendipitous events. 💖 You could say the encounter astonished me, albeit in a partially giddy way — that my emotions were high, and I felt vulnerably curious while simultaneously screaming internally, oblivious to the meaning of the countdown. ⚡️ And, of course, I was then rewarded during his silence. ✨

But now, I'm feeling more cynical. Seems kind of dark for Heartman to be keeping BT's in his lab — those were no plaster casts, that's for sure. Who were they? How did he get them? Hopefully they have no consciousness remaining...what a fucked up existence that would be, confined eternally to a single room. 😒

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

Ran into a group of porters at Mountain Knot City the other day. Altogether unconsciously, I sent out an Odradek scan and looked for "Heartman's Lab" — the only two words I seem to give a shit about anymore. None of them were carrying any cargo for the researcher, but I began to wonder, "What if they had been?" Would I have asked the porters politely to hand it over? And what if they'd said no? What would I do to get my hands on Heartman's cargo? 😳 Scared me to think about...

Anyway — I'm somewhat shaken at the moment, and not just because of the theoretical porter scenario. 😣 The cargo duplication anomaly has been disturbing me enough that I knocked on Heartman's door, hoping I could share my upsetting conclusion. 'Multiverse' is what my mind's been gnawing on for days now. Makes sense, doesn't it — those duplicated containers are likely from another universe, parallel to ours. And the times pieces go missing — that's other Sam's picking them up, has to be. 📦

Heartman didn't answer, but I didn't knock again, either. 🚪 Afraid he might be dead in there, and I'm not talking three-minute-dead — I mean dead-for-good-dead. But I s'pose that's what the bastard wants, isn't it? 😭

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

In spite of lost cargo acting strangely, an intermittent warmth has been solidifying itself within me since I first reached the heart-shaped lake. 😌 Funny, considering how arduous the journey was — pissed and tired, I was ready to hate it here. But, nestled in these mountains, I'm feeling myself change, and admitting that I have a desire for home. 🏔

I've decided to print a place of my own — a fixed point to which I can return — just up the hill from Heartman's. 💙 Didn't wanna be too close, while too far meant I wouldn't build at all. Whatever this feeling is — Peace? Contentment? — it's bookended by loss and emptiness. Fuck that. Please — give me a chance to let this — this brand new sense of safety — take hold, and grow. 🌸

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

The worst seems to be over now, so I'm working on reaching the maximum chiral network connection with every prepper and facility that I can. 😬 Nothing compares to making deliveries for Heartman, though — he gave me my first Five Stars, you know. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Just hadn't cared enough to focus on one person like that before. 😢

Luckily, whether I'm in Lake Knot City or at Timefall Farm, I've adopted a routine that keeps me going: I diligently scan for Heartman's lost cargo, and — even if it's in BT territory — I go get that lost cargo. 💪 Nothing happens anymore when I deliver, except for receiving a few more likes, but just knowing that I've reunited Heartman with his belongings is gratification enough. 😎 (One of these days, however, I'd like to sneak a peek at that 'Beach-related Art'...🧐)

I will admit, something's been bothering me lately: Cargo belonging to Heartman keeps reappearing in the exact same place where I found it originally — same place, same type of cargo. I've also seen pinged containers vanish before I can reach them, almost as if someone else got there first. 🫣 No solid theories yet, but this shit sure is freaky...👎

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

Thankfully, I'm able to breathe again — for a second, I didn't think I would ever stop getting pummeled by heart-aching change. 😵‍💫 "No matter what happens, or where I end up, I'll find my way back to Heartman's Lab," I'd promised myself amidst all the madness. Well — I'm back. 🥰

Once we met in person, I felt a little like an idiot for not realizing earlier why his name sounded so familiar: I'd been studiously reading through his interviews whenever I got the chance. 🔎 The "Beach Scientist" would love to know what I know, I'm sure, but I'm not here to talk. 😴 I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I didn't recognize him — sometimes I think I've discovered a new path, only to later remember that I've walked it 50 million times already. 🤦

I don't know what it is about listening to Heartman rant — maybe it's because he doesn't stop talking for 21 minutes straight — but his monologues have the same calming effect on my mind that his spa has on the rest of me. 😌 Could this be related to why his likes feel so much better than anyone else's? 😯

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

I know it's been a while since you've heard from me, and I apologize. 🙇 Some major things have happened that I'm still processing — that I'll still be processing for some time to come — that, quite honestly, I don't know if I'll ever be done processing. 😔

But — get this — turns out I was needed at this heart-shaped lake! Though the timing's felt perfect, I was just a touch early. 🕰

After my initial trek here, I didn't wanna leave. I ran around the mountains, burning time by delivering as much cargo to the preppers as I possibly could and then soaking my tired body afterwards. 😮‍💨 One evening — again in the spa — I'd asked aloud to the owner of this gaudy house that I spent entirely too much time at: "Don't you think we should meet? What with me soaking in your spa every night, and you having a bunch of creepy skulls in your hallway? Should I be worried — about what kind of person you are? Should I find some other spa to soak in?" 😅

And wouldn't you know it, we met the very next day. 💙 That feeling of serendipity returned, and I realized that maybe I hadn't been early — maybe I'd been right on time, after all. 🫶

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

All I have to say is — WOW! 🤩 I know I don't have any orders here, and I'm giving myself a little mini-vacation, but I wandered inside and checked the terminal anyway: "Heartman's Lab." 🤓 Sounds familiar. Do I know this guy? Cases of skulls and rocks and god knows what else line the hallway across from a locked door...a little bit suspicious, but I'll let it slide for now. 😖

And when I went up onto the roof, imagine my surprise to find such a beautiful spa! 🗻 It felt serendipitous, felt like a sign — I was in search of respite at this heart-shaped lake, and I had been given it. 🥺

Resting and taking care of your body is important, and this is a great place to do it! 👍 The gentle water, the hopeful mural, the wintery view — it isn't just my body that's healing here. It's my soul, too. 🙏

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[heartmans-lost-cargo]

Finally made it! 😍 Saw the heart-shaped lake on the map and knew I had to check it out. 💙 The trip to Mountain Knot City was a bit grueling — I avoid those MULE assholes at all costs, and ended up getting panic-lost on the way (might've even died falling off a steep slope once or twice) — so when I saw that heart-shaped lake I said, "Hey man, you deserve a treat." 😇 I wasn't sure I could make it. But here I am! 👍 Surprised to see this glass mansion so far up in the snowy mountains, though. Maybe it'll be a nice place to relax? 🤔

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