Infinite Canteen

The iconic photo of Infinite Canteen by Blaze Blevins

Infinite Canteen is a plane that stretches infinitely in all directions. It has a difficult to penetrate floor, no ceiling and seemingly no upper boundary. The canteen is filled with tables, benches and chairs. There are occasional sections with food called Food Drops, but most of the Infinite Canteen's tables are empty. Typically, areas with food are separated by miles upon miles of empty tables.

Infinite Canteen is accessible through the Normal Portal via code 0E17272 and is a Type 3 dimension. It is also the first Type 3 dimension to have been discovered and, in fact, helped confirmed the hypothesis that Type 3 dimensions exist.

Infinite Canteen was discovered by Blaze Blevins in 1924. Blevins was a researcher at the Normal Portal facility, The Ring, and was doing a sweep across dimensional domains. One dimension had interested him, and he walked in. This was considered to be safe, as back then Type 3 dimensions had not been discovered yet.

Unfortunately, due to the specific properties of the Infinite Canteen, Blevins' fate had been unknown for 10 years until a message from him arrived, detailing his situation. By that time Type 3 dimensions had already been theorized, and Blevins' fate was the first empirical confirmation of the hypothesis.

A Type 3 dimension has a one-way biased entrance, with it being very easy to enter the dimension, but having difficulties, often very significant, of exiting it. In the vast majority of cases a person is not able to leave a Type 3 dimension, but is able to send smaller packets of matter. Even for smaller packets considerable effort might be required, and severe side effects might apply.

In case of Infinite Canteen, the packets which can go back are good enough for text messages, which in theory includes the ability to slowly send images, audio and video. However, while the ingoing funnel provides correct shifting to local time, the outgoing funnel lacks any such functionality, resulting in a 9.93867 years latency. Which means that any information received from Infinite Canteen is 10 years old.

Blevins' Report had drawn a picture of a gloomy surrealist reality of an infinite plain filled with benches, chairs and tables, some of which contained fresh food. His report became a sensation and is considered to be one of the most legendary messages ever received from another dimension.

An excerpt from the Blevins' Report, describing the Infinite Canteen:

All around you, as far as the eye can see, are rows upon rows of tables, benches, chairs, creating an endless maze. The sky appears to be very high, and looks like gray haze. The whole place feels overcast, it's chilly, but no wind, and there is a sterile feel to everything.

The floor is impenetrable. It seems like a normal patterned floor you would see in a canteen, but you can hardly do anything to it. I would hit it with a metal leg of a chair, but there is hardly even a scratch.

The food is scattered somewhat evenly across the plane, usually occupying about half of the table and a quarter of a bench. It consists of fruit, bottles of water, some junk food and a roasted chicken, all wrapped up in colorful plastic packages. While each food drop is arranged slightly differently, it's generally all the same, and I haven't been able to find anything new. Interestingly enough, the food is always fresh, but picking it up sort of starts a timer, and if you touch it or move it, it will begin to experience normal aging.

Unfortunately, there was no way for Blevins to know that there is a 10 year delay, and having sent several more messages, he decided that the messages are not getting through and stopped transmitting. His ultimate fate is unknown.

Infinite Canteen became a cultural phenomenon, and one of the most popular destinations of early dimensional immigration. Multiple researchers had made Infinite Canteen their final science project, providing a wealth of information about the dimension, albeit results have generally been considered uninteresting and uninsightful.

Eventually, things took on a darker turn, and Infinite Canteen began to be used as an exile destination by criminals, authoritarian governments and trolls. People with radical political and religious views would immigrate to the Infinite Canteen and vanish from history.

Today, Infinite Canteen is an illegal destination to visit and is banned by the Normal Portal. It is still listed as an option for researchers of The Ring as a possible last science project destination, or a destination for retirement, but it wasn't chosen by anyone in the last 55 years. However, people are continued to be sent there illegally, at a rate of about 2 persons per month. This rate has been declining in the last couple of years, starting at 5 persons per month in the early 2000s. These statistics exclude the immigration of organized groups, such as religious cults.

Karmanta was a colony, organized by Dol Portman in 1967 in the Infinite Canteen dimension. The initial group consisted of 131 people, exiled to the dimension by a radical religious cult Canty Tulty, of which they themselves had been members.

While the easiest way to survive was to just choose random directions and walk away, feeding themselves via the Food Drops, Portman suggested they stay at the exact spot they'd arrived at into the dimension, and instead create a colony, united by the correct version of Canty Tulty. This had worked, since the group was exiled due to a disagreement with the rest of the cult, and Portman was able to convince everyone that this was, in fact, a blessing from god, and that they should revive the original ways of Canty Tulty. Portman then named the country Karmanta. The etymology of the name is unclear, and by the time the world had heard about Karmanta 10 years later, Portman and some of the original founders have left the colony.

The idea was to organize groups of scouts, who would collect food from Food Drops and bring it back to the colony, thus providing a constant stream of provisions. The initiative was further bolstered by more people arriving into the same spot, which usually did not happen: previous immigrants to the Infinite Canteen rarely reported seeing anyone else, and seemingly appeared at a random spot. This was later revealed to be a hardware malfunction of one of the Normal Portal slots, which did not shut down correctly and kept the same connection to the Infinite Canteen for a period of around 15 years.

The group continued to grow and in the first two years amassed a population of over 500 people. As the idea of simply embarking on an eternal lonely journey across the never ending rows of tables and benches seemed like a bad idea, most arrivals eagerly agreed to stay.

In the first year a regular food scouting service had been established, with two groups of 15 people always gathering food. The rest organized space, by moving tables out of the way, and constructing rooms, corridors, wide squares and walls, made with piled up canteen furniture.

As new immigrants continued to arrive, the group continued to grow. By around a third year new arrivals were no longer given an option to leave due to all the Food Drops in a radius of several hundred kilometers being depleted.

Karmanta Dark Ages was a loosely defined period starting at around the 4th year of the colony's existence up to it's 11th year.

During this period the group slowly began to realize that they had put themselves in a life threatening position by cleaning out all the Food Drops in close vicinity, and making it likely for food scouting logistics to become more and more strenuous with each passing day. In fact, the effectiveness of food scouting groups began falling dramatically by the end of the second year, and more groups were organized. Many scouts began creating intermediary collecting points, known as ICPs, between which tables and benches were moved out of the way to create roads, across which runners could run to deliver food to the main group faster. These communication lines grew longer and longer everyday.

However, the colony population was not told this immediately, and, as most people did not have a complete overview of the situation, and not all people had the physique to even work in scout groups, Dol Portman and his closest “circle of elders” began preparing for what Portman called The Great Exodus, or The Great Migration. According to sources, closest to Portman and his friends, Portman struggled with the concept, because it contradicted his original religious idea of staying in the same spot, as blessed by the Indifferent Gods. He desperately tried to find mystical reasoning for it, but could not find anything satisfying.

By this time some people in scout groups began realizing what's happening, and several scouts began hoarding food at far away ICPs, returning back, taking their family members with them, usually under the pretense of training them for scouting work, and leaving the colony. Understanding that it is unlikely anyone would immediately realize they are gone, runaways faced minimal risk.

Nevertheless, Dol Portman organized a team of around 20 strong men, who were also good runners, to chase after a group of around 20 people who had left two days ago and had not been seen returning to any of the ICPs. The vigilante runners had returned two days later with several runaways, who had then been severely beaten as punishment. At least one of them died as a result.

Soon after this, Dol Portman gathered everyone and announced The Great Migration Across the Planes of Luxuries. He explained that the situation required the colony to move slightly, to hunt for new lands. In preparation for this, he and his elders, around 7 people, would prepare the trip by embarking on a brief inspection of some of the ICPs, to choose the most worthwhile direction. They left immediately, and have never been seen since, effectively betraying the colony and leaving them to their own devices, just hours after beating people for running away.

When the colony realized what had happened, chaos ensued. A number of people left, although many of them later returned, citing fear of dying from starvation. However, people quickly realized that at this point a lack of organization spells doom, so scout groups were quickly reorganized and had to continue their job to keep the colony alive, although it was obvious the colony had to move.

The move began immediately. Scout group leaders had chosen a direction that was least exploited and where it was believed that fresh Food Drops had been closer. Morale, however, dropped, and it was estimated that around 30% of the population had left during the next month, by organizing a scout group, only to never return.

Eventually, a group of around 350 people began the migration, maintaining the same structure of scouting groups and ICPs, but doing this in an organized and disciplined manner. Food potions had been significantly decreased. By this time more than 4 years had passed with no contact to the outside world, and people began suffering due to lack of medicine, healthy food and stress. The only hope was that window of communication that might come in 10 years, although some painfully realized that in their first year they not only asked for nothing, they had instead sent a defiant message, announcing that Karmanta is the best thing that happened to them and asking to “leave us alone”, a message that will reach anyone in their original dimension 6 years from now.

Not a lot is known about the group's activities since the migration had started, but Karmanta sent regular requests for medicine and food, requests that they understood would not reach anyone for the next 10 years.

At the same time, people continued to arrive at the original Karmanta spot. Realizing that this would happen, instructions had been left by the colonists, pointing to the direction of the migration. Some food was left for the new arrivals, with a letter of caution, explaining the situation and the dangerous position that immigrants will be finding themselves in. By the time the first Karmanta message had reached researchers at the Ring, neither food not a letter of caution could be located at the Karmanta spot, and a further estimated 700 immigrants are believed to have perished, having arrived there after the first Karmanta message made the spot an attraction.

11 years in, the battered leftovers of the colony had received an unlikely boost of 313 refugees, who escaped their government by immigrating to the Infinite Canteen. Their destination spot just happened to be close enough to the Karmanta nomads passing by.

Messages received later from Karmanta depicts this as a joyous time and a circumstance that slowed down the migration considerably, with people spending more days settled, and making it easier to organize scout groups. The influx of new people also seemed to energize the religious aspect of the community.

During this period, however, the community again faced a dangerous situation, having stayed in one place for too long, and at one point had to again abruptly leave for new grounds to avoid starvation. According to received messages, many people have died during this exodus, mostly from the original Karmanta group. The community seemed to have recovered from the ordeal and began sending joyous messages again, filled with religious teachings, akin to Canty Tulty chants.

This period had lasted for about 3 years.

Eventually, the situation has deteriorated, and the new population began to suffer as well. Various medical ailments, the stress of living in a strange and unforgiving environment, all of that began breaking up the community.

Neither in the subsequent messages, nor in the messages of the revival era had anyone from Karmanta ever mentioned any names or addressed the organization of the community. Scholars suspect that the situation might have been much more sinister than it appeared, and that Karmanta turned into a strict religious cult, possibly instigated by the need of members of the original group to control the newcomers.

The last message to arrive from Karmanta is dated 1987. Since then, no one has heard from members of Karmanta again, and their ultimate fate remains unknown.