Machines With No Purpose » Beholder's Eyes » Beasts That Perish » The Barren Moon
|
0 |
0 |
| Infobox | |
| Canon: | none |
| Series: | LAPITH |
| Canon: | none | Series: | LAPITH |
title: beasts that perish
Antarctic Research Station. One member accidentally observes the Genocide Moon via telescope and is infected with a cognitohazard. Below Zero.
Cast:
Doctor Kate Hall: Daughter of Dr. Gerald Langford Hall from RPC-341. She is very calm and collected- since she is the only medical professional in the winter, she has her appendix removed, has a high Theophan resistance, and
York: Resident astronomer. He views the Genocide Moon through the telescope and is infected with the cognitohazard. The Vessel bursts from his ribcage and neck. Undergoes a rudimentary MSC by Hall. Once Russel dies, York becomes ASD by default.
Copper: Containment specialist. Sticks close to Hall. Engineer. Big and stocky. New to Antarctica.
Russel: All four branches were meant to be represented at this research station. Russel is from Protection, and he's the pilot of the plane that gets them out of here that's currently locked up in the hangar. Acting Site Director.
Elizabeth "Lizzie" Carter: Maintenance Union electrician and radio communications specialist.
Woodworker: Auxiliary Site AI, tracks damaged systems across the station. Elizabeth works with her often. Elizabeth uses her to analyze the cognitohazard and unintentionally infects Woodworker with it. While highly advanced, can't be called legitimately sapient.
TITLE: Beasts That Perish
MINDS THAT ARE TO OUR MINDS
The base was void of life and light. The silence, muted only by the roar of the wind outside, was broken by the sound of a generator starting and a door opening. The howl of the elements entered, alongside 4 individuals so bundled up in their outfits that they were unrecognizable.
Once everyone had entered the chamber, a red light flashed as the door shut behind them and they began to slowly unravel their clothes.
The tallest among them pulled off his mask and took in a deep breath. "Smell that air, huh?"
A slightly shorter man sniffed once his nose was free. "Yeah, smells like stale shit. I need some coffee. Can Woodworker do that?"
Removing their bib overalls, Elizabeth laughed. "Woodworker's not online yet, but I'm pretty sure she can turn on the machine. You'll have to set it up though, Copper."
The other woman, who was already dressed down to her mid-layer of clothes, sighed. "The coffee is probably almost out already, given our luck."
"That was last time," The tallest said, after removing his balaclava. "And last time we weren't in a group of just 5 people. I doubt we'll make a dent in the supplies."
"Fair enough, Russ." Hall said while she walked out of the airlock, with a giant bundle of clothes in her arms. "I'm going to go find York." Russel followed close behind and laid a hand on her shoulder. "No, you're going to take stock of the medical bay. I need to speak to York privately."
Hall turned, shrugged, and went down towards the medical wing.
Elizabeth turned to Copper to help him unbuckle his second layer of trousers. "You had it too tight here over your ankle. That's how you get water into your boots and your socks wet." Copper groaned as he pulled off his boots to find a pool of water flowing out of them. Elizabeth clicked her tongue. "There's heating blankets in here somewhere. C'mon, I'll help you find them."
Copper removed his waterproof layer of clothes. "Aren't you new here too, though?"
Elizabeth smiled as she shook the snow off her wooly hat. "New to this site, not Antarctica. I'm the only technician in hundreds- hey, maybe even thousands of miles from here, especially since it's winter and only a handful of people stick around for that."
She hung up her jacket on a hook further down the hall. "What the hell is a newbie like you doing here in the winter, by the way?"
"You're asking me this now?"
She shrugged. "We've known each other for a few hours and I just assumed you were a dumbass given the way you layered your clothes."
Copper scowled. "Thanks. But given that I'm supposed to keep the cages for the anomalies locked tight, dumbass or not, I'm not going anywhere."
Elizabeth wandered down the corridor and laughed. "And we're all very grateful. Come on."
TAKING STOCK
The site was largely empty. Lights flickered on as they sensed one of the few people entering the rooms. Designed for dozens of people and now occupied by only 5. Hall was double-checking the medical bay's supplies, and unpacking her own bag of tools.
Elsewhere, Copper and Elizabeth were going over the specifics of maintaining the low-risk anomalies that were stored in the facility over the winter. "We've got enough juice to power this facility for decades, especially with a skeleton crew, but given these anomalies are mostly Alphas there's no need to waste any electricity." Copper nodded as Elizabeth went over the specifics. "Didn't the dossier say this place had a few Betas too, though? What about those?"
Elizabeth pointed towards a series of rooms on the map. "They'd normally be kept here, but during the winter when there are fewer people to take care of them in a place as small as this, they're shipped to a larger site by the coast. Out here, if a Beta gets uppity with only a handful of people to deal with it, consider it as good as gone."
"Is it safe to be shipping anomalies back and forth like that? What about Gammas and so on?"
"We divvy out anomalies across the continent. We don't want to keep them all in one place, so we don't have a choice in whether or not we should. It's just that there is no transportation going on in the winter. Something as difficult to contain as a Gamma usually wouldn't be kept in an Antarctic site anyways- they might be shipped overseas."
Copper could only nod. Even for all his experience elsewhere, he was out of his element. He imagined that's why they sent him here- winter in a site with nothing more difficult than a Beta is a good way to adjust to the Antarctic way of doing things.
Russel, however, was walking down the hallway to the observatory. He rapped his knuckle against the door once before he opened it to find York with his eye pressed against the telescope. "Hey." York didn't respond. Russel set his bag on a chair in the large, fairly dark room. "Brought some more DVDs and shit. How've you been?"
York mumbled something under his breath before stepping away from the telescope. "Ah, sorry, sorry. Was focused on something. I've been doing just fine, waiting for you all to show up."
"Glad you could handle being alone."
York shrugged as he walked over to the bag. "Yeah, well, alone in the middle of nowhere. Even for one day, I imagine Command threw a fit that it was just me during that time."
Russ wandered to one of the many desks, searching through the papers with notes written on them that he didn't understand. "Yeah, well, they didn't mind too much. We don't have the numbers down here for keeping every facility totally manned, especially since all the important people leave during the winter."
"Eh, you're important enough. Important enough to be Acting Site Director, even." York reached into Russel's pack and pulled out a package.
"Still don't understand that decision." Russel sighed. "You'd think they'd have a Research guy like you or Mack in charge of a, well, research facility."
"The Research Division makes good scientists. Protection makes good leaders. Mack knew that, that's why he nominated you while he's away. Besides, you've been flying planes down here for longer than I can remember."
"Fair enough. Feels like we judge everything by experience now, though."
York laughed. "I've only been with the Authority for a few years and here I am in Antarctica, studying stars."
"Well, you're the best Authority astronomer this side of the continent."
York pulled out a DVD from the pack that had a variety of cartoon characters on the front. "Yeah, and I'm the only Authority astronomer this side of the continent. Most people do all the science in the summer, with how hard it is to come and stay in the winter with all the storms. I couldn't see a thing if I was using a civilian telescope."
Russ took the DVD back from York and stuck it in his bag. He smirked and said, "Just take the damn compliment, smartass. And hey, it's not as hard to fly here as you'd think. Authority stuff is a little tougher. They test airstrike armanents not too far from here, you know. Anyway, I'll get everyone to meet up in the rec room. You coming?"
York seemed somewhat discouraged. "Eh, I'll catch up in a bit, Russ. I swear I just need a bit longer in here before I'm done for today."
Russ raised an eyebrow. "For today? It's almost midnight, York."
"Ah, shit. Well, either way, give me a minute and I'll head on over."
RECREATION
Russel stepped into the room to find Elizabeth wrapping a blanket around Copper's feet as he was sinking into a large green bean bag. He chuckled. "Did he let w-"
Copper was quick to interrupt. "Yes, I fucked up when I put on my trousers. No, it won't happen again."
Russel raised his hands and his military jacket's thick sleeves slid down. "Alright, alright. I'm just glad Elizabeth is making friends this time around."
She stood up and perused the books in the shelves along the wall. "Shut it, Russ." she said, running her finger along the covers before pulling out a book by Jane Austen. "Speaking of no friends, where's our shut-in?"
Russ scratched his beard. "Hall or York?"
Elizabeth laughed as she fell onto the sofa facing the television. "Either, really."
"Hall should be taking stock in the medical bay, but I imagine she's heading over now. York will be here soon, he's busy with something."
"Hall's a bit of a stoic, right?" Copper said. "I mean, I'm just basing that off of the like, 6 hours I've known her."
Russ raised a finger. "To be fair, Hall has to be stoic and all that shit. She's the only doctor in the winter. If she goes nuts, then, well, we're fucked." He set his bag by the TV and rummaged for a DVD.
Copper shifted in the bean bag. "I heard the Authority has the doctors' appendix removed before they're able to work down here."
Elizabeth turned her head over the back of the sofa to face Copper. "If you think a simple appendix removal is the only surgery they have the doctors go through in the A-N-T-C, you'd be wrong."
"What, like cybernetics and shit?"
She shrugged. "Sky's the limit."
Russ pulled out 3 DVD cases. "Options are Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Akira, and some John Carpenter movies."
Copper looked somewhat shocked. "Wouldn't they have us watch documentaries or some shit? I've never been to a site with Shrek as an option."
"You sound surprised." Elizabeth flipped the page in her book. "Why would we watch a documentary when we're basically in one right now? If I wanted to see the desert I'd look out the window."
Copper leaned forward. "Which Kung Fu Panda?"
"Uh, I think I've got the first and second in here. Take your pick- er, Liz, do you-"
Elizabeth shook her head. "I won't be watching anyway. Let him decide."
"Kung Fu Panda, the first one."
Russ popped out the disc and inserted it. "Alright then. Hope Hall and York don't mind."
BEASTS THAT PERISH
York was looking through the telescope, again. His notes were strewn about him, computers open to various diagrams and data charts.
"Woodworker, give me a readout on Lagrangian Points in Jupiter's orbit, monitor 2."
"Of course, Researcher York." A beeping tone and the screen on one of the displays changed to a chart of the Jovian path around the Sun. York stepped away from the telescope and examined it closely.
"…Woodworker." "Yes, Researcher York?" "Adjust telescope to Jovian Lagrange Point L4, calibrate focus, green bank approach."
"Understood."
The telescope made a whirring sound as it pointed ever so slightly to the left. "No visible abnormalities detected, Researcher York, consistent with today's readings."
York picked up the package he removed from Russel's pack earlier, a Nucorp logo on the side. The packaging seemed mundane at first, but once the outer wrapping was removed it revealed that inside was a delicate instrument, kept in a secure black box.
York put on sterile blue gloves before he gently unlocked and opened the small container, before removing what resembled a lens with various sigils and shapes inscribed along the side.
Once he attached the lens somewhere along the barrel of the telescope, he backed away. "Woodworker, repeat analysis of Lagrange Point L4."
"Of course. No abnormalities detected."
York mumbled to himself as he pressed his eye against the ocular lens of the telescope, searching for something. "Must not work for- what the hell is-"
The Moon searched him in kind, digging deep into his mind, seeping into every crevice of the brain and bleeding into his synapses.
"FUCK! Fuck fuck fuck-" York stumbled backward and collapsed against the table, knocking over his instruments. He grabbed a radio headset and screamed into it, "AMNESTICS NOW!" before he curled up into a ball, forcefully closing his eyes.
Hall and Elizabeth burst through the door, the others not too far behind. Hall runs up and before she can lay a hand on York, he pushes her away without looking up.
Without a moment's notice Hall takes a needle and injects it into York's neck. After several moments of silence, York gasps for air, and slowly gets up, as everyone else backs away.
He blinks, and looks around to see everyone staring at him. "Shit. What happened?"
Hall holds out a syringe labeled CLASS T-1. York examines it before sitting down on the ground. "That's… ah, wh- what was I doing before I took those? What time is it?" He checked his watch. "Okay… okay, it's 11:39, that means… uh, I was…" He stumbles for a moment as he leans against the wall and sets his hand on his head. "I must've been looking through the telescope for something, basic… celestial analysis. Woodworker probably knows, right?"
The rest of the staff could only look at him with concern. York spent such little time out of his lab that it was difficult to say what else he could have been doing.
York's eyes turned to his telescope. With a slight push, he moved it from its original position. "Whatever I saw, it must've been something really fucked up. Possibly a cognitohazard." He turned to Elizabeth. "Whatever you do, don't check the telescope's database. It records everything- whatever I saw, it was in there. I think we should wipe it." Elizabeth only gave a slow nod as York slowly slid down the wall and onto the floor. "Hall, just… give me a look-over, I'm not sure if amnestics would work, and Class-T's are the ones that wear off, right?"
"Yes, I didn't want to use something permanent without knowing what you saw. Simple precaution." She put the syringe into a disposable bag. "Besides, it's not as if we're in short supply. This base is stocked for dozens of people over the course of years. We've got plenty."
York shook his head. "But those memories will come back. If what I saw was a cognitohazard, I'll get infected again. Grab some A-1's or something."
Hall sighed. "It doesn't work like that. If I gave amnestics to you now, it wouldn't do anything. Those memories are already removed from your head. We'll have to wait for them to come back before they can be properly excised- I have Quiet we can use to do that."
York set his head on his knees. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
Hall shrugged. "Don't worry, it's worse than that. But you have several hours before the memories return. Usually, it'd take days, but this was a small dose."
"You should've given me something permanent. We literally have no idea what I could've seen."
"You're stressed, and while I can understand why, I'm not arguing with you over this now. If I gave you something permanent we would have nothing to work with and we could end up causing this all over again. With Class T's, we'll be able to recreate what happened to keep it from happening in the future."
York looked up, was about to say something, but instead sighed. "I'm hungry as shit."
"Don't eat anything for a while. You could be full, but because your body thinks it hasn't eaten for several hours it feels hungry. Think of it as a negative placebo. Common side effect. At least we know they worked." Hall looked to the rest of the staff. "Show's over. York's coming with me to the medical wing."
Russel and Copper turned to leave. Elizabeth looked to Hall. "I'll see if I can get Woodworker to examine the records. If it is a cognitohazard, she won't be affected by it and we'll be able to figure out what it did to York."
York shook his head as Hall lifted him up. "It's dangerous, too dangerous. Just… wipe the records entirely."
"And let this thing fester in your head? We don't know how it works, what it'll do to you when it comes back. Woodworker is an AI, she's not sapient. They'll scan the hazard and we'll be able to figure out what to do next." Elizabeth crossed her arms. "Hell, we can send samples to the Research division once the satellite passes by."
York stumbled over to Elizabeth. "And then spread it to them too? What if it gets by the filter?"
Elizabeth scowled as she faced York. "Get by the filter? If the cognitohazard would have a chance to bypass their screening, it'd have to be Theophan 5, and a Theophan 5 cognitohazard would've caused your eyes to explode or some shit."
Hall stepped between the two. "York has a point, we shouldn't send anything anywhere outside of this base. I don't want any outgoing messages in case it's able to spread."
Elizabeth pointed a finger towards Hall. "I'm the technician who maintains these filters. We're not leaving ourselves in the dark because of this cognitohazard that isn't even strong enough to so much as stun York, because you're paranoid that the people whose job it is to study and avoid this shit would be dumb enough to improperly scan a message from the station that's reporting just that. This site was designed to avoid diseases biological and memetic! I've seen the most dangerous cognitohazards- even Theophan 5- get zapped by the system in an instant. If you want to enact a quarantine, be my guest. But then you're leaving us out here alone. Woodworker's job isn't to study cognitohazards, she'll only be able to do so much."
Hall didn't change face. "Elizabeth, the whole "theophan" system is entirely arbitrary. A cognitohazard's lethality and its ability to spread aren't one and the same. He got this from looking through a telescope. It could be a memetic we've never seen before. We could be dealing with the most infectious memetic to date, and even if it so much as causes you to fidget we're not letting it get out of this station until we know for certain what it is."
Elizabeth backed away. "Alright, alright. But as long as Russel's here, he's the Acting Site Director."
Hall raised an eyebrow. "And if push comes to shove, I can enact a memetic quarantine with or without his approval."
"If it does."
"Right." Hall walked towards the hallway. York, who had moved back towards the corner of the room, followed her.
Elizabeth waited in the room for a moment, before she pulled out her tablet. "Woodworker, I want a full screening of activity in the observatory for the past 6 hours. Check each and every record." A tone ringing from her device confirmed her request before she left as well.
UNSYMPATHETIC
The cafeteria, normally hosting up to 40 people, was occupied by only 2.
Copper was eating a plate of reheated spaghetti with a reusable fork, sauce staining his beard. He looked up from his plate to Hall and asked a question through a mouth full of food.
"Uh, Hall- your dad, he's over in NORTHCOM, right?"
"Mmm. Site Director Hall."
He leaned back in his chair as he wiped his face with a nearby napkin. "Really? Last I checked he was the medical director, not the site director."
"A lot has happened." A crunch after Hall scooped granola into her mouth.
"Right."
The two continued eating in silence.
"So York is-"
Hall didn't look away from her bowl. "York is fine. He's resting, now."
"What are you going to do?"
Hall continued eating. "I'm going to see what Woodworker has to say about the cognitohazard, what it can do. Elizabeth is probably pulling up the records now."
"And..?"
"Mental stability check. The kind you take every month, just a little more potent."
"What if it doesn't w-"
A ringtone. Hall pulled out her tablet and pressed a finger onto the screen. Elizabeth's face appeared on the monitor. "Hall, meet me in the science wing ASAP. Woodworker found something."
"Be right there." Hall tapped again and slid the tablet back in its pouch. She stood up, picked up her bowl and with a curt nod, turned to leave.
Copper sat there in the empty cafeteria and finished eating in silence.
DISSECTION
Elizabeth turned to see Hall walking down the hallway towards her little workstation. Her hair, usually hidden under a thick wool hat, was still far above her shoulders, likely cut short since there are no barbers in the Antarctic. Elizabeth wondered how often Hall actually left the continent. From what she could tell there aren't haircutters at the main base, either. Maybe she cuts it herself.
Once Hall approached, Elizabeth opened the door for her and walked in behind. "So I've had Woodworker peruse the recordings on York's telescope for the past few hours. Basic video analysis, nothing too in-depth since we don't have the time for a frame-by-frame."
Hall nodded and walked over to a wall-mounted screen in the lab, with a series of images of the observatory displayed on its surface.
"York was studying Jupiter's moons- or rather, satellites caught in its Lagrange points, which are like little gravitational anchors that we use for the AEDF stations."
Hall shook her head. "It's more of a point where the centrifugal forces and gravitational forces of the Sun and Jupiter me-"
"Okay, Hall? Just trying to get a basic overview here, York's not dead yet so don't try to replace him as the astronomer."
"Yet?"
Elizabeth sighed. "Right, right. So York was examining these Lagrange points- uh, L4 or something, and while at first he didn't see anything, he put this weird Nucorp gadget on the telescope, and when he looked again, bam, he's on the floor and screaming."
"What did he see?"
Liz's hand rubbed the back of her neck. "That's the thing, Woodworker didn't see anything uh, solid. Just empty space, maybe a few asteroids, and then this big flash of light. But I'm assuming whatever the lens is, it's not something machines can use."
"So he saw a cognitohazard out there?"
"Yes, and that flash of light is supposedly the thing that did him in."
"And Woodworker..?" Hall leaned forward, gesturing for Eliza to continue.
"Woodworker isolated the flash and performed an analysis of the hazard." Elizabeth walked over to the wall-mounted screen and swiped her finger across it, displaying a series of partially censored sigils on a white background, with data readings along the side. "They're… mostly alien, in the sense that they're nothing like the cognitohazards we've seen before. But some elements are at the very least familiar and Woodworker used that as a base for her analysis."
Hall pressed her thumb against her chin. "What did she find?"
"Ah, well, that's where things get complicated. Again, this is a brand new meme we've seen before. It's not necessarily lethal, but it confirms that it's memetic and cognitohazard-carrying."
She nodded. The line between meme and cognitohazard was often a blur, but given how often the two operate in tandem, the distinction sometimes becomes unnecessary.
"And remember that Woodworker can't use the lens." Elizabeth began to twist strands of hair in her finger.- "She wasn't seeing the whole picture."
Hall pursed her lips. "We should bring Russ over."
"I already sent him an overview of the situation over the tablet, he's trying to contact Command about this."
Hall shook her head. "No. No outgoing messages. Even messages between us aren't safe."
"But the filter-"
Elizabeth was interrupted by the doctor gripping her hand. "There's no telling what sort of meme York saw. We don't know its origin, we don't know its nature, and we only have a limited amount of time until York's amnestic wears off. And we don't know if he's already let the meme slip before I injected him."
Liz stared, and then gave a resigned sigh. "Alright. What should I do instead, then?"
Hall let go of her hand and moved towards the door while still facing Elizabeth. "For all intents and purposes, the four of us are compromised. Once we're sure that the meme isn't going anywhere, I'm doing an MSC on York. Go get Russ. Don't use your tablet."
And they were off.
ENVIOUS EYES
The room is empty, pardon two chairs and two people.
York's elbows were resting on his knees, one leg rapidly bouncing on the floor. He was staring intensely at the ground, fingers intertwined under his eyes.
Hall walked in and sat down in the metal chair, across from York who didn't look up.
His eyes are bloodshot. Copper stands nearby, headphones over his ears. He is confused, and anxious, but it is not immediately obvious by his face.
Hall held a stopwatch in one hand, and in the other, a clipboard. A single sheet of paper is set on it.
Hall swallows. She starts the stopwatch and reads from the sheet, the tone and pronunciation exactly as the paper specifies.
"This is a Theophan 4 Mental Stability Check. I will recite several questions, and record your response and the time it takes for you to respond."
York doesn't blink. "Response." He lets out a relieved sigh as he leans back in his chair.
With a click, the stopwatch beeps. She writes down the time it took on the sheet, down to the last decimal.
Outside of the room, on the other side of a mirror, a frantic Russ is led by the hand by Elizabeth, expletives muted by the glass. She points, and suddenly realization dawns on him.
Hall starts again. "Where are you?" She has to recite the tone and pronunciation exactly in order for the test to work properly. Start.
"I am home." Stop.
The scratching sound of a pencil on paper. She runs the pencil along the shape printed on the sheet, making the exact sound the test needed to proceed.
"Where is home?"
York was somewhat more relaxed. "Home is where the heart is."
"Where is the heart?"
A brief pause. "The heart is in the home."
This time, the scratching sound of the pencil was drawn out into a line across Hall's clipboard. She stared intently at York's expression. He grew increasingly anxious.
"What is home?"
"Home is…" He winced. "Home is here."
Hall resumed. "What is the heart?"
"The heart is home."
Copper couldn't hear a word but could tell by Hall's face- the first time he saw her worried- that something was wrong. He gradually moved towards her side of the room.
Hall's face became stoic again. "York."
"Yes?"
"What is the heart?"
"The heart…" York's face began to veer towards the ground, hands covering his face. "The heart is…" There was an obvious strain in his voice, on his face, in his eyes. "Doctor… please…"
Hall flipped to the next page and ran her finger along the text as she read it. "What is home, York?"
"Something else. Something else is home."
"Where must home be, for the heart to be there also?"
York suddenly lifted his face from his knees with a jolt. "Run your finger along the lines."
Hall pulled the clipboard flat against her chest. "York-"
"She grows a worried expression." York slowly rose from the chair. "And scribbles along the outline provided below."
Hall quickly scrambled out of her seat and towards the other side of the room.
"Thank you, Doctor. Thank you, Doctor." York's inflection was precise, digging into the brain like a knife, blade wedged into the crevices of the organ's meat, a disgusting squishing sound as unidentifiable fluids poured out, flowing downward, draining into the throat and the neck and the mouth and the lungs and the doctor and the doctor and the thank you doctor, for everything you have done.
"Hall quickly placed the headphones over her ears, not unlike the pair Copper wears." What the hell are you talking about? "Russ and Elizabeth frantically try to activate the security systems, to no avail."
Copper stepped forward between York and the doctor. He was shaking now, more nervous than ever before, but his face hid this behind grim resolve.
"Where is the heart that the home might be there?"
Russ burst through the door and tackled York to the ground, arm wrapped around him. The scientist tried to break free, tried to speak, but Russ held his forearm over his mouth as he squirmed, biting down into Russ's thick coat. Russ reared his head back in pain as the teeth found soft flesh to tear.
"FUCK!"
Foam formed from York's gnashing teeth. Copper tried to pull York away from Russ' arm, and once his mouth was free a viscous dark fluid was dribbling down his chin, Russ' wound stained black.
"What the shit- HALL!" Copper turned to the doorway to see Elizabeth standing there aghast, confused, and Hall rushing back into the room with a syringe.
Russ managed to raise his arm and, with Copper pulling York back, pushed his head upwards and exposed the scientist's neck. Hall gripped his throat and jammed the needle into York's veins, injecting a milky white chemical.
He went limp. Russ quickly pushed him off and scrambled to his feet.
Copper and Hall slowly backed away from York, who started to choke and cough but otherwise was motionless.
"Damn it, damn it- what the hell is-" Hall interrupted Copper with a hand gripping his shoulder. "Get a gun. Now." Copper stared at her for a moment- he wanted to say no. Instead, he nodded and ran to the weapon locker. Panic could come later.
Hall turned as York's still body suddenly began to violently convulse.
Elizabeth rushed in and quickly grabbed Russ by the arm as he scrambled to his feet, towards the door. He moved a hand to the now blackened wound but the burning sensation of his touch made him pull it back. Hall remained inside the room, slowly backing away from the threshing body, never taking her eyes off of the disaster.
York's legs kicked about, arms flailing wildly as his body came to its feet. Black fluid was spewing out of York's mouth beneath his bloodshot eyes, staining his skin.
Something forced its way out from his upper chest. The sickening sound of bone slowly breaking and flesh tearing could be heard from the speakers as small protrusions rose from under his skin before receding. Eventually, as whatever was inside York grew, the shifting protrusions within his chest could be identified as fingers and hands, mobile and alive. They spread along from his chest and up to his throat.
A groaning sound could be heard as the thing began splitting his jaw, throat, and ribcage in two as it slowly emerged, arms, so many arms, covered in black and red fluids, propping up York's body and dragging it along with the mass of limbs like a limp puppet.
The hands gripped the floor and pulled themselves up against the glass, and began to slam into it.
Hall struggled to speak. "York?"
For a brief moment, the four could only watch, as if the delay between understanding and reality was too great for them to react to the thing before them.
Elizabeth opened the door behind her, slowly moving without turning away to exit the room. The others began to follow.
The thing twitched, making a strange sound from deep within its body, before imitating York's voice with a disgusting accuracy.
"I'm going to kill you, Hall."
The glass shatters.
The entity leaped forward through the window, slamming against the opposite wall as the four
Russ grabbed him from behind and lifted him up, limbs thrashing ferociously in midair, before slamming him back onto the cold sterile ground.
"You don't get it, do you? Woodworker analyzed the hazard. It's in our heads, in our eyes. What we see, it sees. I don't know which of us are infected, but since we've been talking so much who knows what we've let slip."
Another series of gestures. Thanks. Doctor.
Hall nodded.
Thanks. Doctor.
Hall backed away from Russel, who made the gesture again, and again, and again, almost frantically. Thanks. Doctor. Thanks. Doctor. Thanks. Doctor.
Hall quickly closed her eyes. Russel was infected, and the cognitohazard was using sign language as a vector. He continued walking toward her. "Eloquent. Kuebiko. Lachesism. Follower." The words forced themselves into her mind, digging into her brain, her thoughts desperately trying to resist the temptation to fixate on their meaning and on the memes transmitted by them. She drew her pistol, aimed, and shot Russel square in the chest. He stumbled, eyes wide as he fell to the ground and his blood pooled around him.
She put the pistol back in her holster, exhaled.
"But we can use amnestics! Wipe the hazard from our minds! The Authority has the technology!"
Hall glared at her, furious. "You don't get it, do you? This meme, this cognitohazard, doesn't stop at what we see and hear. It's in our head, it's spreading like a cancer, and it's gotten to our eyes, our mouths, our ears. We're spreading it right now, with almost every word being contaminated as it ever-so-slightly adjusts what we say to spread it. It's in our memories now, and it'll bury itself so deep that they'd have to scrub us clean to get it out, and then there'd be nothing left of us to save. Forget us escaping, we need to make sure that this doesn't get out of this station. Nothing else matters."
Elizabeth sat down, sighed. "This is it, then. What do we do now?"
Hall tapped the screen again. "We're going to call in an airstrike. Tell them this place is irrecoverable. No words, just the premade request. I'll place a dozen cognitohazard warnings on a four-word message I'll send to the Regional Director and they'll screen it and figure out what happened."
"But Woodworker disabled all outgoing communications. Memetic quarantine."
"Do you think you could override that?"
Elizabeth nodded. "Everything can be overridden, but it'd have to be done by me at the comm station itself, then you'd have to send the message once I give you a window to send it. You started the quarantine with your medical access, but you can't stop it without direct authorization from a technician."
"So I'll just bring the tablet out there and we can do it together."
She bit her lip. "You'll have to send it from Mack's office. His computer is the only one with that sort of access. Since we're the only ones left, you're the acting site director now instead of York so Wood should let you in."
THEIR PLANS AGAINST US
The blindfold was tight over her eyes, but she could still sense the impression of the creature in the room with her, right now.
"I…I can't see myself through your eyes, doctor."
The sound of many hands against the floor as the thing crawled along the ground.
"Open your eyes. Look at me."
Hall held her breath.
-
"Insufficient access. Please contact current acting Site Director Josiah York for permission."
She slammed her fist into the door. "Damnit! Damnit, damnit- he's dead, Wood! I'm the Site Director, let me in NOW!"
"Insufficient access. Current acting Side Director is still alive and upholding the chain of command."
She stepped back and looked at the camera. "Woodworker, locate the current acting Site Director."
"Of course. Josiah York is currently approaching the office of the Site Director."
Hall turned. Something was coming down the hall. Something big. She quickly put on her blindfold and drew her pistol, aiming at the corner.
"Hhhhhaaaaa… Hhhaaallll… Haaalll. Hall. Hall. Doctor. Doctor." The words were distorted, alien, a variety of noises loosely approximating speech, dozens of voices fading in and out at every syllable.
"Hello, Acting Site Director. This is the Woodworker Software. We have suffered 2 casualties that require your attention and are currently under memetic quarantine. Please report to your office."
"Thhhhaaaanks, doooctor. I neeeddd…" A low growl. It was across the hallway. She didn't move. "Iiiii… neeed… locate… ddoooctor."
"Of course. Doctor Kate Hall is currently in the hallway leading to the office of the Site Director."
Hall held her breath. It was slowly coming closer. She aimed her pistol.
"Haaaaall. I can hhheeeaaar… in yooouurrr head. Your head. But youuuu… won't… let me in. Let me in."
The sound of many hands and feet hitting the ground, wet. Covered in blood and that noxious black viscera.
The sound of a low groaning coming from the creature.
The sound of it getting closer, closer, closer.
The vague sensation of where it was.
Hall fired the gun.
A hideous screech, that only grew in intensity as the trigger was pulled again, and again, and again. Hall remained still, balancing the recoil as best she could. Several shots hit the ground but there was the unmistakable sound of the bullet hitting flesh.
"Stop- stop! Doctor-" the howl
(in message she sends to the RD (implying she transmitted it beyond the station (it says all cognitohazards were filtered but this one slipped by(use lots of [REDACTED] and [COGNITOHAZARD EXPUNGED] to imply this))) Thanks. Doctor.
at the end the RD is talking to his assistant and says "Thanks, Doctor."