The Magnus Archives
RQ Network Feed Drop - The Program audio series: All unsaved progress will be lost
23 Apr 2026
Chapter 1: What is the premise of 'All Unsaved Progress Will Be Lost'?
Hi there, Billy Hindle here, the voice of Alice Dyer in The Magnus Protocol. As part of the Magnus Archives' 10th anniversary, Rusty Quill is hosting a special Magnus Live show at the upcoming Crossed Wires Podcast Festival in Sheffield.
Join co-creators Jonathan Sims and Alexander J. Newell on the 5th of July for a new iteration of our live show, Statement Begins, where you can hear fan-favourite statements... such as Anglerfish, read live and gain exclusive insights into the creation and history of the show straight from the creators themselves.
You can buy your tickets now, including limited numbers of meet and greet tickets from crossedwires.live or the link in the description of this episode.
Hello everyone, it's Helen here, voice of Azu from Rusty Quill Gaming, and Enola from Stella Firma. Today we're sharing an episode from one of the podcasts on the RQ Network, The Programme. The Programme audio series is a dark science fiction anthology set in a future in which money, state, and God have become fused into a single entity.
The show focuses on ordinary people inhabiting this extraordinary world, and for them, it's not this future that is terrifying, it's our present. In this episode, called All Unsaved Progress Will Be Lost, a beloved system administrator suddenly disappears, leaving Sam, a poor stonemason, to embark on a lifelong quest to preserve her memory.
To listen to more, click on the link in the description, or search for the Program Audio Series, wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more information on RustyQuill.com or ProgramAudioSeries.com. That's Program with one M. Have fun, and enjoy the episode.
The back end and the front end intersect in the most unusual ways. Not to present new things, but to present things as new. The simulated realities of the program's back end are endless. But that doesn't mean they don't end. Sooner or later, the system administrators tasked with running each individual simulation need to leave their protectorates.
The departure may occur in many ways, some of them planned and orderly, some of them decidedly less so. The end result, however, is always the same. A hole. This is the impending destiny of Simulation 2833-91156.28 version 7.7c. Or, as its inhabitants know it, Simulon. My dear children, I speak to you as one, as I carry a message that concerns everyone. And which one is that, magnificent Admin?
A message of preparation. I must teach you to become self-sufficient. Through my guidance, you will learn all there is to learn. It will be my ultimate work, for this way you will also learn the most important skill of them all.
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Chapter 2: How does the disappearance of the System Administrator affect Sam?
The system administrator was gone. Wake up, Sam. The early bird catches the worm. And by that logic, the early worm is better off staying in bed. Four years have passed since Sis Edmund's abrupt departure. Sam was twelve at the time, which had made him too young to become a witness, something that now, at sixteen, he felt as a hole in his heart.
His father, mother, and older brother all committed a snippet of the manual to memory. The three sections they were assigned were about masonry, found near the beginning of the materials chapter. Look at you. Half man, half mattress. Come on, get up. I need you to help me polish the sandstone. The sandstone again? The dust always gets in my eye.
You wouldn't want your son to go completely blind, would you? And you wouldn't want your father to work the stone all alone, would you? I wouldn't want anyone to work, actually. Oh, Sam. Not this again. I just don't understand how you can accept this. What exactly, Sam? All of this. We used to wake up to the melody of lutes. People would spend the day coming up with stories and jokes.
Dad, I remember dancing every night. And now, now for four years we've toiled from the minute the sun appears to the minute it sets. And if the moon were bright enough to light this terrible place, we'd be working into the night. Son, what do you want me to say? You think I don't know things were better before? Yeah, you're right.
It's been a bad four years, and who knows how many bad ones are yet to come. Yes, we miss our system at Min dearly, and I'm sorry for what happened to your eye. But you need to rise above this. Your brother might be older, but he can't do everything. Mom and I need your help. No, you're right, you're right. Come now, and give your old man a hand. Thankfully, tomorrow is gathering day.
At least we'll get some rest then. Sam loved Gathering Day, not because it was the only day of the week he didn't have to work, or at least not only because of it. What filled his heart the most was the sight of the entire Simulon coming together to share pieces of the manual. All right, you guys. Stay close. There's not as many people as usual. People want to sleep in.
You should relate, seeing how you take every opportunity to slack off. Hey, be nice to your brother. And be on the lookout for your mother. She said she'd wait for us in front of the House of Medicine. Oh my! Terry! Terrazzo! How are you, you worthless piece of lignite? The cork? The one that keeps the bottle closed? The one that fell in? Fermentation witnesses brought their wares. Greedy.
Dad, we should stay away from the fermentation guys. Last time we imbibed their beverages, we could hardly remember our sections, let alone memorize any others. For court's sake, Sam. Loosen up. We've been grinding the whole week, like literally grinding. I'm sure Admin herself would want us to relax a bit.
Either case, you won't be getting much of their brew. The quirk-suckers won't give it to anyone.
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Chapter 3: What challenges does Sam face in preserving the Admin's memory?
The only reason I got some was because I promised one of them I'd tile his kitchen wall.
He has his own kitchen? But they're supposed to be communal. And everybody's supposed to share the fruits of their labor, right?
Yet here we are.
Every day we stray further from Edmund's light. Speaking of, have you seen that wife of mine?
Yep. She was in front of the House of Agriculture just a few minutes ago. with the Fowler women and her younger daughter. You mean Comley Connie? Why, do you have eyes for her? Or should I say your eye?
Unaccustomed to the concept of personal accountability and unaware of most predicaments, accidents in post-admin simulon were common, which is how Sam lost sight in his eye. A few seconds of carelessness with a chisel leading to an injury to last a lifetime? It seemed so out of proportion, so fundamentally unfair.
Yeah.
Shut your mouth, Terry, or I'll shut it for you. Oh, come on. I just thought that... You just thought what? Hmm? I was just... Now, now, I'm sure Terry meant no ill. It's probably just fermentation witnesses speaking through him, right? Oh, it's a potent potion they make.
Or a poisonous one. I can't tell. I think I never sipped, just to be certain.
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Chapter 4: How does Sam's family cope with the loss of the Admin?
Connie had reasons to be impressed with Sam's recall ability, as even the most adroit of individuals managed to commit just a small part of the manual to memory before they were no longer able to recall it with full fidelity. Sam once brought up this exact issue with his mother. Mom, I've been thinking, how do we contain Sis Admin's message?
What do you mean, Sam? It's been contained by witnesses. And by many others who now learn the good words from them.
Well, that's just it. Haven't you noticed how their retelling of the manual isn't exactly the same when you compare it against the original witness?
So? A word or two might be lost or jumbled, but the message is still the same.
I'm not so sure. Remember how Joyful Joe mixed up the amount of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate in black powder?
Yes, but other witnesses caught his error.
Yes, this time. But with the passage of time, the issue is only going to become more acute. It's like that game of Sparrow's Whispers we used to play as children. You know, where we sit in a circle, we whisper a word into each other's ears, and then at the end we laugh because it's revealed how the final utterance has become so different from the original thought. Yes.
So.
So, how are we going to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to Admin's message?
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Chapter 5: What methods does Sam explore to document the Admin's teachings?
For the first time, it is not erotica.
Yes. I guess I do see some of it now that you explain it.
Look, son, whatever it is, it's lovely, but what is its purpose?
Don't you get it? It's sysadmin's instructions. The last part of section one of chapter six in the manual. The manual.
Why?
To save it from becoming lost. What do you mean, lost? We're committing our good admin's instructions to memory. You can lose a rock. You can't lose your head.
But what about that animal husbandry family that died in the fire? It's only because their daughter miraculously survived that we haven't lost the section on the domestication of cats, and she's six! Who knows if she even got it right? ! I'm just asking you, as my family, to please consider the potential. I know this is just my first attempt. It's hardly a masterpiece. I know that.
But... Look, we're not here to judge if what you made is a masterpiece, son. But I can tell you this. Your mother and brother are right. The manual will live forever in the greatest masterpiece of all. The human mind. That's exactly what I'm afraid of.
What exactly?
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Chapter 6: How does Sam's approach to knowledge evolve over the years?
Uh-huh. There are many quotes in the manual that are not only useful, but that I find beautiful in their own right. Would you mind maybe sharing one with me? Oh, um, okay. Well, I'm personally partial to the beginning of Section 3, Chapter 4, also known as the Introduction to Chickens. Ahem. In the tapestry of Simulon's aviary ranks, no bird stands out like the humble chicken.
With their pliant nature, chickens emerge not merely as creatures of utility but as soothing companions. Additionally, their feathers make an excellent pillow filling, literally supporting your dreams. Wow, supporting your dreams. What a great A-turn of phrase. It actually reminds me of the Intro to Masonry section of my own chapter. Oh, really? Mm-hmm. Do you think you could teach it to me?
For sure. Rock is the best friend of man. It is used to provide cover, which is a need greater than hunger or thirst. For a person will survive a hot day without water, but will not survive a cold night without shelter.
Oh.
It is a lovely sentiment, but I'd argue that rock is not the best friend of a man. No? No, I mean, sure, it is used to provide shelter, but there is another way to survive a cold night. And how's that? Well, to share the warmth of your body with the body of someone else's. Yeah, I guess our good admin missed out on that particularity.
You know, I was thinking, we'd make a good couple, you and me. Yeah? Well, absolutely. I mean, after all, I know all about the birds and you know all about the bees. I do love birds. Especially with potatoes, especially. So soft. Well, I heard the opposite of you mason guys.
The opposite?
Well, I heard that you're rock hard.
Huh?
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Chapter 7: What impact do Sam's markings have on the community?
It means man. So I reduced it to a stick figure of a human being. However, if you put a headscarf on it, then it means a woman. Why a headscarf? Because mom's always wearing headscarves.
Aw, that's sweet.
That's stupid. Let your brother finish. So, here we see the symbol for the word friend. It's represented by two stick figures connected at the hips. The same picture crossed out means an enemy.
Oh, Sam, you shouldn't have simples for bad words. Only nice and happy ones.
Okay, well, we can discuss that later, Mom. But I think you'll like the simple for rock, which is represented by the stylized geometrical shape of pyrite, the most beautiful of all the rocks. And what are these squiggly lines? Yeah, so those represent words for, like, is, the, of. They don't really occur in nature, so I opted for a more abstract approach.
Wow, I really got to hand it to you, brother. I thought what you showed us last time was dumb. But what you've shown us this time is even dumber. Dumber. Okay, brother. Well, people call dumb anything they don't understand. Right. And tell me, do you understand how many words there are? Like, I don't know, somewhere around 500? There must be more than that. 5,000 or so.
Try 50,000.
The answer is too many. And what about names? What about names? If you take names into account, the number of words is basically infinite. Are we to memorize infinite pictures? Tell me, Sam, are we? There are no names in the manual. In fact, we would only need a limited set of symbols to even describe it, because not all words appear in it. Ugh. Sure they do.
It contains the entirety of knowledge. Okay, I will clean the house for a week if any of the manual sections mention the word cock.
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Chapter 8: What is the significance of the final monument to the Admin?
Which is precisely why I need your help. Don't you have that other son you can exploit? My other son is working on the site of the future Simulant General Hospital. Well, I'm working on Simulon's future in general. Sam, you're drawing on rocks. Look, Dad, I know you don't get what I'm striving to achieve here, and that's fine. But trust me when I say I'm busy.
I've got 10,000 simples to come up with. Well, 7,000 to be precise, because I've already created 3,000 of them. That's precisely what makes me worried. What does that mean? I mean, if you had invested this much effort into cheese, you would have convinced yourself that cheddar cures cancer. Why are you so certain that the right way to do this is through rocks?
What if your approach ends up being wrong? Well, maybe it's better to misspend a life than to not spend it. That's your promise? A misspent life? Promise? I wasn't aware I made any promises. There are promises one makes without speaking. We are all born with a debt. A debt to our ancestors. We repay it by becoming ancestors ourselves.
Forming a line of our people, stretching from the beginning to the end. Instead, you've huddled yourself in this workshop without seeing a soul for months. It can't be good for you, son. Well, we can't all focus solely on our own benefit, can we now? Look, will you help me rotate the boulder or not? I will. Tomorrow, okay? Son, I thought you were a stonemason, not a word mason.
Working with rocks, masons become hard themselves. Every day teaches them that results are achieved by force. The resulting traits can be positive, like tenacity and resilience. It also, however, makes them inaccessible and obstinate.
Sam! Sam, anyone?
Terry? Goodness, Gravel, what's the matter? Sam, where's your brother? Where's your brother? Where's your mother? He's at the hospital site. Mom, I don't know. What's this all about, Terry? It's your father. It's your father. It's your father, Sam. It's your father. I went to the valley to return his lump hammer. He's not there.
I told him we'll go down there tomorrow to rotate the granite together. No, no, no, no, no, no. He must have gone to do it alone. Alone? What do you mean, alone? I saw him, Sam. I saw his... I saw his legs in the hoist. The hoist. The hoist must have collapsed. No, what are you saying, Terry? What are you saying? I'm sorry, Sam. I'm so sorry. Oh, no. Oh, Sam. Oh, we said we'd do it together.
Sam, Sam, he was such a good man. No. Sam.
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