The Aperture

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When I was younger, I absolutely adored the night sky. I'd look up and be amazed at all the different worlds that looked so close, yet lied outside of our reach. I knew how to traverse between the constellations, from Orion, to Ursa Major, to Hydra. I was eventually quite knowledgeable in all things space.
As I grew older, my dad and I went to buy a telescope. It wasn't a very powerful telescope, but I was hooked as soon as I got my hands on it. He promised that he would take me out to a lone field where light wouldn't disturb our viewing.
He died shortly after that, but my interests never left me. I purchased many telescopes through my adulthood, and was treated to the same fascinating view every time.
However, when I looked into my telescope on that momentous day, everything changed. A bright flash of light caught my attention. Not from the Moon, the other planets, or any of the stars, but just a massive, bright blur in the sky. I kept staring at it in wonder, until I looked away from the telescope...
I found myself temporarily stuck in a dreadful set of yellow rooms with no means of escape.
TERMINAL
The Aperture
FREQUENCY
Seldom
LOCATION
Telescopes
DESTINATION
The Backrooms
EXTRA
The Aperture is a temporary access point to the Backrooms. One will be returned to Earth after about an hour.
 
 I — Overview 
The Aperture, otherwise referred to as The Astronomer's Delirium or The Eyepiece, is an semi-incorporeal state that can temporarily transport one to any level of the Backrooms. It differs from the typical Terminal as the passenger is transported back to The Frontrooms after a relatively short period of time, which tends to adhere to a duration of one to two hours. Once one returns, they will wake up where they were immediately before entering the Backrooms, having appeared to have fallen asleep for a few minutes.
The Astronomer's Delirium is caused- for an unknown reason- by looking through a telescope. This can be of any size, brand, and quality, as the phenomenon is indiscriminate. Passengers that have encountered The Aperture consistently report a bright blur visible though the telescope, the colour of which seems to reflect the overall colour of the level that it will briefly transport one to. This mysterious blur does not appear to be visible to anyone but the affected passenger.
After one notices the blur, The Eyepiece completely takes its hold after the passenger turns away from the telescope, precisely when it is beyond one's sight. Up to this point, the surroundings behind the passenger have already changed to mimic that of the level they will appear in. After they look away from them, the surroundings seamlessly and instantaneously shift to that of the Backrooms. To observers on Earth, it will appear as though the passenger has already fallen asleep, having gone limp as they were looking into the telescope.
The passenger's body remains in reality, but to them their entire self has entered the Backrooms. Any object that they have carried on them is brought with them, including any audio or video recording devices. If one were to take a picture of their location, it seems to always appear in The Frontrooms as photographed on the device that they used to do so in the Backrooms; this occurrence is confusing and inexplicable, as only the passenger's consciousness can enter the Backrooms through The Astronomer's Delirium, and not their actual body.
Those affected by The Aperture are invisible to those in the Backrooms. However, their effects can be felt, as walking through a passenger- or them walking through the wanderer- causes shivers to erupt within the wanderer, but they can also be seen, as passengers can utilise objects to a certain extent. It appears that they cannot carry or throw heavier objects, nor can they cause major damage to their environment through physical force, but they can use smaller, lighter items in order to interact with their environment and even communicate if the right equipment is nearby. Passengers cannot see, or even acknowledge, one another, but they can communicate via the same methods as if they were a wanderer.
It is likely that those that are temporarily transported to the Backrooms are confined to a small area, an invisible cube of exactly 5 metres in all directions- although this can change depending on the bounds of the level entered. When attempting to exit it, they are merely met with an invisible barrier that they cannot surpass. Other within the level can, however, pass through this region.
Upon the conclusion of the passenger's duration in The Astronomer's Delirium, a bright blur of light, invisible to everyone but them and similar to the one viewed through the telescope, envelops them and they awaken where their body is; if it has not been moved, they will wake up beside the telescope. The passenger retains a strong memory of the Terminal and its effects, but authorities in The Frontrooms are aware of The Aperture and actively remove content related to it in order to reduce overall panic.
 
II — Discovery 
The Aperture was brought to the attention of Aurielle in December 2023 after they recognised the discussion between the M.E.G. and the Backroom Colonists pertaining a mysterious occurrence simply referred to as "Ghosts" (discovered in 2010) that involved incorporeal characteristics and behaviours. Aurielle suggested the idea of temporary visitors to the latter group, who, after searching through archives of several social media applications, saw several references of people looking through a telescope and subsequently passing out to awaken in a "strange and confusing place". After submitting their research to the M.E.G., who denoted it as The Aperture, it became common knowledge to wanderers within these three groups, and then to others within the Backrooms.
 
III — Documentation 
The following files contain two interviews about The Aperture.
 > Open Documentation? < Close Documentation? 
 Interview AP-1 
>> Log Begins. << 
>> Location: Station Cosmos, Level 702. << 
>> Interviewer: Ally Plauna, M.E.G. Member. << 
>> Interviewee: Beth Monson, Wanderer. << 
Ally: Hey, Beth. I know you've had experience with The Aperture. Could you start off by telling me how exactly it happened? 
Beth: Alright. I was with my uncle over the weekend- I was only 16 at the time- and he decided to show me his telescopes. I wasn't impressed with them, in classic nonchalant teenager fashion, but upon looking in one of them I found this bright blur, and so I asked him what it was. He looked through another telescope, at the same spot in the night sky, but saw nothing, which was strange as it definitely was not the telescope itself. He told me after I returned from The Aperture that he had saw nothing. 
Ally: Interesting. Are you saying that only you could see it? 
Beth: Exactly; my uncle had good eyesight- no issues at all. If I could see it, he could too. Only not this time. 
Ally: Please, continue. 
Beth: I then looked at him, and he just... disappeared. In fact, when I turned back around, everything had changed. I was in this station with bright neon lights. It was quite disorientating. 
Ally: Did you manage to take a picture? 
Beth: Unfortunately not. I had my phone with me, but I didn't take any photos. 
Ally: Alright. Were you able to do anything, say tap someone, or pick up anything off the floor? 
Beth: I saw a group of guys nearby where I appeared. I walked over to them to try and get some help, but they could not hear me, nor see me. So, I slapped one of them across the face, and even though it was a lot weaker than if I had slapped someone on Earth, but I surely made my presence known as he told the others that he felt as if someone had "tickled" him. I saw a pen on the floor that one of them had dropped, so I picked it up and they all began to gasp. I couldn't write on anything so I merely waved the pen around for a bit. 
Ally: So you could pick some objects up then? 
Beth: Indeed. After a bit, I awoke in my bed after I saw a bigger version of the blur, and when I explained what had happened to my uncle and he just passed it off as a dream, as to him I fell asleep after looking in the telescope. 
Ally: Thank you for your time. 
 Interview AP-2 
>> Log Begins. << 
>> Location: Base Alpha, The Hub. << 
>> Interviewer: Erin Hiliar, B.I.F Head of Research. << 
>> Interviewee: Jacques Canter, B.I.F Research Operative. << 
Erin: Welcome, Jacques. You're late. 
Jacques: Sorry, Erin. I was finishing some a report for another colleague. 
Erin: It's fine, this is not going to be very serious. I just want to ask you a few questions about what you deemed The Astronomer's Delirium. 
Jacques: Right. I haven't told you about what happened. I've recounted the tale to quite a few people. 
Erin: Please, tell me. I'm interested. 
Jacques: Alright. I was 28 at the time, not with the 38 years that I now hold. I was always obsessed with the stars, and so I became an astrophysicist- as you know. I was off of work for a while because I was feeling quite ill, but I had enough energy to utilise the telescope that I had kept at home; I used to focus on the Moon, as I could see it very clearly with it. However, as I was looking one night, I saw a purple-ish glow in the sky. I tried to look at it without the telescope and I just couldn't find it. I stared at it for a while before heading off to sleep, but as I turned around, I found myself in what I now know as Level 399, which is strange, as, before recently, everyone only knew of No-Clipping as an entrance to the Backrooms. 
Erin: We now know of quite a few of those. What did you do upon "entering" 399? 
Jacques: I tried to explore the area, but I couldn't go very far. Some sort of invisible barrier enclosed me on all sides. There was an armchair nearby, so I just sat in it for a while. At last, I saw three people come towards me, two guys, and a girl. I tried to wave towards them but they didn't notice me, so I ran towards them and started to shout, and yet they still didn't hear me. Assuming one of them knew Morse code, I pulled on one of the guys' shirt and I found that I could slightly do so. They all were shocked, but one suggested that it might be something trying to communicate. They took out a pen and paper, to which I tugged the person again, and he let go of the pen. To my delight, I found that I could write with the pen. 
Erin: Oh wow. What did you write? 
Jacques: I simply wrote "How do I get out of this place." They then replied with "There doesn't seem to be one, unfortunately." We kept conversing, and I was about to tell them how I had entered, something caught my eye. I dropped the pen and walked towards a bright light, and then reappeared in reality. 
Erin: Fascinating... thanks for telling me, Jacques. You may go now, I need to think this all over.
IV — Gates 
 IV-A — Arrivals 
The Astronomer's Delirium has an extremely rare chance of occurring upon looking through a telescope within The Frontrooms. As aforementioned, it is characterised by finding an anomalous blur only visible to the passenger through the telescope. After turning around, they will find themselves somewhere within the Backrooms.
 IV-B — Departures 
The passenger will wake up where they are positioned in The Frontrooms after a duration of between one and two hours after a similar blur envelops them.
 > Open Author and Licensing Details > Close Author and Licensing Details 
 Writers and Contributors 
 Author: Char 
Terminals were created by Gooby, and he also sculpted the concept of The Aperture.
 Image Sources 
1st image uploaded onto Reddit by u/BowlOfCranberries. 
2nd image uploaded onto Reddit by u/StableGenesis.
 
Category:Terminals