Image used:
https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/56d805f5-c3e8-41a4-aca9-cc6a0463bf21 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) - edited
Crit (thanks):
http://www.rpc-wiki.net/forum/t-13751075/gwam
Staff finds an anomaly that turns out to be a bit of fun. It's a USB drive that converts a computer, text processing application, and a keyboard into an anomalous locomotive device with some strange blending between the digital and physical worlds. The typists experience the kinetic effects of forward motion as they type, and faster typing is like running faster or pushing down more on the gas pedal. Except they stay stationary physically but get all the adrenaline-pumping sensations of going really fast, seemingly without any physical risk. Kinda like an extended virtual reality program. We find out later that there is true motion and true risk; it is just coming in an unexpected way — typical for this line of work really.
We know from the intro note that the article is suspended and so someone from administration has gotten their hands in the pot here and that the documentation history involved with the article is organized by "date added", so we can see how things unfolded chronologically. (If the documentation wasn't arranged chronologically, we might see all the GWAM speeds tested in one unbroken table, all the rows right after one another, like in any other RPC article, instead of broken up with time and requests between tests.)
Staff start in the usual, protocol fashion by requesting CSD to test the object to learn more. This is denied by the Research team's lead. That's a winking detail.
They begin testing, presumably with the present research staff they have, no CSD.
They request "additional testing staff" but have specific people in mind to pick out, from IT… the sort that might really get a kick out of this kind of thing… think of it like pod racing for typing nerds. This is approved. Why would the research lead deny CSD but approve general personnel? Good question, doesn't seem to make sense.
They request more and more things — more staff and special devices like a kick ass keyboard made for competitive typing and cybernetic augmentations, etc — to go faster and faster, to get more fun and more of an adrenaline & dopamine rush. All of these requests are approved by the research lead.
They are having too much fun to expect the unexpected, and their carelessness finally catches up with them. The USB's digital space becomes full from all the text produced by the typing, the maximum storage limit acting as a sort of physical wall.
So when the USB is finally full, it's like the person typing is slammed into a wall at ridiculous speeds. The party turns into a nightmare as everyone witnesses this death happen right in front of them… and it could have been any one of them. The unlucky driver/typist happens to be the research lead at the wheel, and this confirms that he's had a personal motive for limiting testing to the present staff and getting all that cool gear approved. He and his team basically worked the system to enjoy the anomaly, and they got their friends in on it so they could test it and have fun with it instead. That's why the lead researcher initially denied assigning CSD.
The GD-05 only comes in at the end, when the higher ups have been made aware of the catastrophe. He approves targeted post traumatic stress disorder therapy for the rest of the staff that had to watch their colleague slam into their consequences. GD-05 suspends the whole thing and adds a note introducing the file as a warning and reminder to any staff who let down their guard, no matter how stupid an anomaly can seem, or how much fun it can be, or how inconsequential that all might appear.
