All Preseason Zombies Intel for Dark Aether on Die Maschine in Black Ops Cold War

Throughout the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies experience, players are tasked with collecting Intel to give insight into the world of the Dark Aether storyline. Each Season, including the post-launch Preseason, various forms of Intel can be discovered for each of the four primary Zombies factions.

This article will serve as a complete collection of Intel for the Dark Aether from the Black Ops Cold War Preseason. If you are looking for Intel from the three other factions, check out the following article which serves as a hub for our coverage of the Die Maschine Zombies experience. As the Seasons progress, you can expect to find the latest Zombies Intel on our website, we'll also Tweet when it goes live!

Complete Guide to Die Maschine in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies

Map layout, Easter Eggs, and more. Here is a complete guide to Die Maschine in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War!

Ethan CCold War Tracker

Dark Aether

A mysterious realm beyond the world we know, filled with untapped resources and nightmarish creatures. Proceed with caution, but listen and observe closely…

Audio Logs

Lost Souls: Johannes

• Map: Die Maschine

Is anyone out there? Can anyone hear me?

Johannes: Is...is anyone out there? Can anyone hear me?

Johannes: I do not know how long I have been here. There are no days to count. Only an endless twilight...like a dream that keeps shifting whenever I try to focus on it.

Johannes: There are some strangely beautiful sights here...great, glowing gems, luminous creatures that float on the mist...but beauty means little when you are always being hunted.

Johannes: I should have never gone near that shimmering light. I never should have touched it. I thought it was a sign from God but...there is no God here. There is no God...

Lost Souls: Mariska

• Map: Die Maschine

Dead men wander this land, feasting on the living. If you can call it living.

Mariska: In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Lord, it is me, Mariska. I do not know if my words reach you any more. I do not know if you care at all about the damned.

Mariska: For that is surely what I am. Damned. And I just want to know...why, Lord? What did I do to end up here?

Mariska: It is not the Hell I expected. No lake of fire. Only a cold, perpetual half-light that somehow seems even worse.

Mariska: Dead men wander this land, feasting on the living. If you can call it living. And I fear they may be...

Mariska: Lord, they are coming! I beg you, protect me. Deliver me from this place! I should not be here! I should not...

Lost Souls: David

• Map: Die Maschine

I've met quite a few others who got trapped here. Every time the question comes up: are we in Hell or not?

David: Okay...okay, okay, okay...think it through...reason it out...

David: I've met quite a few others who got trapped here like me. And every time -- every single time -- the question comes up: are we in Hell or not?

David: I mean, sure, this has to be Hell, right? Dead people, demons...feels as far from God as you can get.

David: I even thought I saw ghosts here. But now I'm thinking maybe they're just folks back home, and somehow I'm seeing them through the veil that separates our worlds.

David: Which brings me to the thought I just can't get out of my mind. What if...there is no Hell? What if this place is just a place?

Approach

• Map: Die Maschine

It is coming.

Lost Souls: Alice

• Map: Die Maschine

This place is a hodgepodge of creatures and artifacts, a collision of cultures and eras... I’ve seen ancient storybook creatures and mechanical monsters...

Alice: I hope someone out there can hear this. I'm not quite certain this device even works.

Alice: You see, I'm an historian. I was touring ancient sites in Peru when it all went dark. Suddenly, I'm in this...jigsaw landscape...

Alice: This hodgepodge of creatures and artifacts...like a collision of cultures and eras.

Alice: I've seen medieval structures alongside twenty-first century buildings. I've seen ancient, storybook creatures and mechanical monsters straight from a science fiction novel.

Alice: And the thought I cannot seem to shake now is that the universe has a dumping ground for things that go bump in the night.

Alice: Others I've encountered assume this is Hell. But it's worse. It's the dustbin of history. It's the rubbish dump of time.

Alice: When the universe is through with you...this is your final stop.

Lost Souls: Barbara

• Map: Die Maschine

Confession time... and this one's gonna sound a little nutzoid but stay with me...

Barbara: Confession time...and this one's gonna sound a little nutzoid, but stay with me. Please. Stay with me...

Barbara: So I've noticed that ever since I landed in this place, well, I've noticed some changes. In me. Physically. And -- hey, I am not crazy, do not call me crazy, but... mentally, too.

Barbara: Bad enough when my skin started to wither. I look part alligator. My nails are growing like crazy, and my teeth...

Barbara: What worries me more is...how calm I am about it. I mean, at first I panicked, but...the more I change, the less I mind.

Barbara: Plus, I am not as afraid of the things I run into. I even -- don't judge me. Don't you fucking judge me! -- I've...eaten one or two of them. I've gotta eat something--!

Barbara: Anyway, I don't know if it's the fog, or those glowy crystal things, but this place changes you. Not all at once, but...I don't think I could go back now, even if I knew how.

Documents

$!%()$^#3@!

• Map: Die Maschine

Content unknown. No available translation. Possibly a system error from the computer.

#$@amp;) &%#!*( >*~}%< *>?:;=
?<-$@)

I @N#B%D! O% T@#&

• Map: Die Maschine

Content Unknown. No available translation. The symbol arrangement seems almost intentional, it might not be a systems error, but a scrambled message.

&!~>/"; *!h:d)</ lt;]\0:@ Ja),":
5d*`:kr ?/>+gh %#ater.

Day 13,773

• Map: Die Maschine

Verified: the computer is displaying messages; they appear to be diary entries of some sort. Unclear if these messages are stored locally on this machine, or if they are being transmitted from another location.

Day 13,773: Keyboard finally functional. Screen still hit or miss. Must re-test internal components, make sure nothing is fried.

Still not sure if this thing is transmitting. At least I graduated from pen and paper, which are harder and harder to come by.

Will continue transmission attempts. Have plenty to broadcast. My journal of survival. I can only hope someone is listening.

Day 95

• Map: Die Maschine

Diary appears to be written by a stranger lost in a strange land, possibly a human trapped in the Dark Aether.

Day 95: Trying hard to keep track of how long I have been here. Strange, fractured land.

Food and water not easy to find, but have enough for now. Ammunition more of a concern.

Distress call best hope for rescue. Will start gathering electronics. Saw some while looking for food. No idea if I can build transmitter, but must try.

Day 175

• Map: Die Maschine

The Stranger has had encounters with other humans – as well as other creatures. They are building a transmitter.

Day 175: There are others here, trapped like me. I avoid them. No time for their madness or sorrow. They usually get picked off before long, anyway. We are low on the food chain here.

Creatures prowl this place, so I avoid them, too. They can be killed, but gunshots attract more, so discretion better part of valor.

Still have food stockpiled, but cannot last forever. Eventually I will be forced to hunt. And nothing looks remotely edible. Yet.

Day 213

• Map: Die Maschine

The Stranger recounts a deadly attack.

Day 213: Hard day. Lucky to be alive.

Observed group today sheltered in warehouse structure. They were arguing, did not notice approaching pack of plague dogs. I did something stupid. I ran to help.

Did not know these people. Did not want to. But I could not turn away.

Shot 4 dogs before the people grabbed their weapons. Warned them to exit warehouse. The dogs were inside before they started shooting.

Pulled one out. Gas claimed the rest. Then the one I rescued ran back inside. Not everyone can be saved.

Day 1,646

• Map: Die Maschine

The Stranger reports seeing giants. They say they’ve met others who call them Elder Gods.

Day 1,646: Saw something new today. Something big.  Tall as building, walking through fog. Difficult to see details.

Kept my distance as it passed. I heard talk from others that "giants" roam this land but dismissed it as madness. Heard one call them "elder gods."

Thought I catalogued all creatures here and their pecking order. I was wrong.

Day 937

• Map: Die Maschine

The Stranger's attempts to build a transmitter continue to prove unsuccessful.

Day 937: Gathered lots of electronics. No success constructing transmitter. Some gear seems very old. Other components unlike any I have ever seen. Wish I could find instruction manual.

Also finding shimmering "weak spots" where this world seems to overlap with home. Attempted to pass through but could not.

Still, caught a glimpse of what looked like Southeast Asia. So close, yet out of reach. Must keep trying.

Day 1,108

• Map: Die Maschine

The Stranger has discovered they can briefly return to our world, albeit only for several seconds before being yanked back. They say they were like a ghost, and that no one could see them.

Day 1,108: Attempts to pass through weak spots yielding limited results. Managed to lengthen glimpses of home into brief "visits."

Location is different every time -- a jungle, a village, a glacier. I wander unseen, like a ghost. 10 or 15 seconds, then pulled back here.

If I could only get someone to see me. If I could only ask for help.

Day 6,121

• Map: Die Maschine

The Stranger finds new machines that can dispense beverages.

Day 6,121: New devices turning up. Machines filled with beverages. At first distrusted them. Seemed like a trap. Waited for others to consume what they had to offer.

Results: beverages not only safe to consume but have profound effects useful for combat. Machines even play music while dispensing.

Not sure if someone is trying to help, or just messing with my mind.

Day 2,873

• Map: Die Maschine

The Stranger returns to their transmitter project.

Day 2,873: Latest "visit" home lasted close to 30 seconds. The world changed while I was gone.

Was in military base. Watched soldier communicate on equipment like electronics I gathered over here. Saw how it is meant to operate. Returning to transmitter project.

Attempts to consume local vegetation yield poor results, but I am subsisting on creatures now that would otherwise try to eat me. Strange satisfaction in that.

Day 3,289

• Map: Die Maschine

The Stranger's reputation in the other dimension seems to have grown. No news on transmitter project.

Day 3,289: The longer I am here, the fewer creatures pursue me. Still see them take down newcomers, but me they tend to ignore.

Unfortunately, more powerful creatures seem to have taken notice.

Not sure why. Do they finally see me as a threat? I try to avoid them. Anyone would. There are things here worse than any nightmare.

Artifacts

Mutated Fungus

• Map: Die Maschine

Altered by the Megaton's blast, the chemical nature of the fungus has been transformed, releasing a substance that most closely resembles liquid nitrogen.

Plaguehound Gas

• Map: Die Maschine

The odor of Plaguehound Gas is as lethal as it is foul, causing light-headedness before melting a person's skin and evaporating their blood. A horrible way to die.

Dark Aether Crystal

• Map: Die Maschine

An elemental mineral from the Dark Aether. Projekt Endstation Scientists used this particular sample as part of a locking mechanism. Further study required.

Dark Aether Wrench

• Map: Die Maschine

Crafted from the energy of the Dark Aether, there is far more to this wrench than meets the eye. Particularly good for waking the dead.

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