How to Catch an Info-Demon
tagshow
 #1 Article |
 #1 Joke Article |
 Top Ten Article |
 Active Contributor |
 Contest Winner |
 Contest Runner-Up |
 Challenge Winner |
 Art Contest Winner |
62 |
4 stars |
62 |
 |
 |
The following documents have been DECLASSIFIED, available to select personnel
Operation Guide
This file exists to quickly reinform personnel of operational details in case of a memory-erasure event.
The Authority Black Site is responsible for performing all operations that the Global Directors must not have direct or complete oversight of, for their own safety. The Memotics Department is responsible for the handling of all cases involving high-threat, memory-affecting agents. Careful procedure is followed to ensure that there is minimal risk of operation failure.
- Personnel must note down (in writing or audio log) all necessary information regarding the case as the case progresses. Personnel must be able to use these notes to regain all information needed to reinstate the operation and perform any necessary action following a memory loss event.
- Personnel must not work in segments greater than 2 hours without routine use of memory suppression injections. These injections serve to prevent short-term memory from becoming long-term before being suppressed. This is the most effective method found to counter phenomena with the ability to abstract, consume, or obfuscate memories. It has been found that the vast majority of memotic phenomena do not affect recently created memories or memories that the target does not have conscious access to.
As of writing, the exact properties of the memotic feeder are unknown. The entity must be studied without alerting it of our existence; the entity may attempt to disrupt the operation if it believes we are a threat.
Registered Phenomena Code: 131
Object Class: Alpha-White
Description: RPC-131 is a geological fault in the Labrador Sea, off the coast of Newfoundland. The fault lies above a memotic singularity which has expelled several tens of thousands of physical quanta over the course of the fault's containment. The singularity continues to expel quanta at an average rate of 10 quanta per minute. These quanta contain all scalar memories that had been ejected into the infoplane as vectors, such as memories lost to Degenerative Brain Diseases, death, and Amnestics. The information contained in these memories has the potential to be highly dangerous. For this reason, the RPC-131 project has been placed under Black Site's Memotic Department.
While previously inaccessible, the Authority has—in recent years—developed a method of accessing the memotic information contained within physical quanta. Using a machine known as a memotic reader, individual quanta are able to be projected into nearby subjects as vivid hallucinations.
Black Site-131 Protocol: Site-131 was originally under Research Division management; however, following initial testing of the memotic reader, it was found that the memotic quanta had the potential to contain dangerous or restricted information such as info-hazards and memories erased from Level-5 personnel. Site-131 (now renamed to Black Site-131) was transferred to Black Site control.
The Site-131 facility was constructed in the facade of an offshore drilling platform which serves as the public front of the site.
Black Site-131 Exterior Photograph
{$contents}
Travel to and from Black Site-131 is restricted to Black Site cleared personnel, and as a consequence any researchers assigned to RPC-131 are considered Black Site personnel as per hierarchy of employment jurisdiction. ASF and other Protection personnel are also barred from travel to the site, as Black Site Internal Security oversees site protection via hierarchy of security jurisdiction. Physical quanta recovered from RPC-131 are not to be removed from the site under any circumstances. Should research require physical proximity, proposals will be reviewed by the Black Site Internal Review Board. Should the proposal be approved, researchers will be subcontracted and moved onsite for the duration of the research and removed immediately upon its completion barring any breaches of conduct and/or security, as per hierarchy of location and research jurisdiction.
Hierarchy of information jurisdiction clearly requires knowledge of and information regarding Black Site-131 to remain the distinct property of Black Site and the Black Site Internal Intelligence Council. BIIC reserves the exclusive right to withhold information regarding on-site operations from personnel or officers of Protection, Containment, Research, and Administrative Divisions. Subcontractors such as Nucorp are also subject to Black Site information jurisdiction, and as such sensitive information can and will be withheld from personnel and officers of any organization subcontracted by the Authority. Breaches of information jurisdiction while under Black Site employ are considered high level offenses and will be privately arbitrated by the Black Site Internal Justice Committee rather than the Board of Directors as per hierarchy of arbitration jurisdiction.
Several documents were commissioned or received from NuCorp Industries regarding the RPC-131 project. They are available below.
From Memotics: an Advanced Study of Memory, NuCorp Internal Publications, 1989
mem·o·tics
noun
The study of memory
Much of the public-sphere knowledge on memory is falsified. In truth, memotics involves metaphysical and extra-dimensional concepts, the knowledge of which is (as of writing) barred from public access. To begin, let us establish units and terms.
The Infoplane is an extra-dimensional plane of space-time in which information exists in a particle-waveform state. This plane is an extension of our own spacial and time dimensions. Traditional matter and energy are unable to enter or exit from the infoplane; only information can be transported into it. This is done through a memotic ground.
Memotic Grounds are objects within physical space that are able to generate a connection to the infoplane. The brain (a certain type of synaptic endings, specifically) is a memotic ground, using the infoplane as a storage location for memory information. Information that can be manipulated through a ground is called memotic quanta and always exist in one of two states: scalars or vectors.
Memotic scalars are unable to move within the infoplane as they always remain attached to a ground. Memories naturally exist as scalars, allowing for them to be stored and retrieved freely by the brain.
Visual 1
{$contents}
In certain circumstances, a memotic scalar can be detached from its ground and allowed to move freely within the infoplane. These quanta are referred to as memotic vectors as they have a direction of travel within the infoplane. Memotic vectors are naturally created due to phenomena such as Alzheimer's disease.
Every quanta creates an amount of distortion within the infoplane proportional to its magnitude (amount of information). This distortion creates an effect parallel to that of gravity, causing vectors to be attracted to one another. Informational inertia rules that vectors of greater magnitude will require a greater force to move the same amount compared to a lesser magnitude vectors.
There is a purely theoretical type of complex vector called a memotic feeder. These are sentient entities that exist within the infoplane and are able to consume memotic quanta, increasing their magnitude. Theory would suggest that memotic feeders would act in opposition to the law of informational inertia, which has left many researchers skeptical of the existence of such entities. As a memotic feeder consumes quanta, it becomes more agile, able to travel within the infoplane with greater force, and greater ability to alter its direction.
Within the infoplane exist a special type of topological phenomena called a singularity. It is currently unknown how these form. The hypothesis that currently seems to hold the most weight would be that these singularities formed alongside the formation of the universe.
Memotic Singularities are infinitely dense vectors of zero volume and indeterminable magnitude. They create an immense gravitational force, attracting all nearby vectors. Singularities are slightly affected by the gravity of other vectors but this is negligible. It is unknown what occurs when two singularities interact as they have only been observed to exist extremely rarely.
Visual 2
{$contents}
The distortion on the infoplane that singularities generate is strong enough to puncture a hole, creating a pseudo-ground. Vectors can be expelled through this hole, entering the physical dimensions as a self contained essence, referred to as a physical quanta. This is the only known way for quanta to exit the infoplane.
If memotic feeders exist, they would likely gravitate toward singularities. They would act as optimal sources of quanta for feeding.
There is a single singularity that exists within the solar system and its affects are apparent globally. All local vectors will gravitate toward this singularity and exit as memotic essence at a specific location. This location is now known to be RPC-131. Currently, the only known way to cause a scalar to become a vector is through use of amnestics: memory altering agents that—for practical and general purposes—erase memories. In reality, these memories are not destroyed per the law of conservation of information.
Quanta Designation: M-D63
Frame 368
Memory Description: You are walking along a winding road, in early hours of the morning. There is a chill, a cold density to the air that you can see in front of you as you move along. You keep your arms crossed, your thin jacket just warm enough to keep the painful wind from your skin. There haven't been cars passing by in a long while. You're pretty far out in the country, so it would only make sense for the road to be empty. As the sun begins to rise a fog descends to meet you. The mist makes it difficult to see where you're going, so you have to slow your pace a bit. Just a bit farther, and you'll be there. It feels like you've been walking for days. The minuscule droplets in the fog begin to wet your face. You risk exposing your hand to the frigid air to wipe the moisture from your eyes. You stop for a moment. There are a few trees sticking out from the hill in front of you. The fog obscures the road in the distance, but what you can see is enough. You take a breath, the wet air stinging your lungs slightly. The fog makes you feel as though you've entered some other world, that where your sight ends and the world fades truly is nothingness. That you are alone in your small pocket of reality, with nothing but the frigid void around you. You shake the thought and move ahead. Just a bit farther, and you'll be there.
Quanta Designation: M-O11
Frame 721
Memory Description: You're having the most fun you've had in a long time. The sun is like a bright smiling face, illuminating the endless sea before you as you bob up and down watching people in the water. Your mom is smiling at you from the beach, watching you try your best to swim. The water is about four feet deep, but you're able to keep your head up. You wish your dad was watching you, but he's in the bathroom right now. As you look out to the people further out in the water you wonder what it must be like to swim on the deep end. For a moment you imagine floating in the water with nothing beneath you, with a big toothy monster in the sea below ready to eat you. You close your eyes for a moment, trying to get the thought out of your head. You're supposed to be having fun, that's what mom said. When your eyes open, stinging a bit from the salty water, you see her waving at you. You smile and wave back. You turn back around to look at the people in the water behind you. Your jaw drops open as the largest wave you've ever seen slowly drags its way through them. The water distends in a way you thought impossible, and the force of it is heading straight for you. You scream and try to run to your mom, but you're not that great a swimmer. You try your best to paddle but you don't get far before everything goes dark. You can't breathe.
Quanta Designation: M-K72
Frame 245
Memory Description: The house smells musty, of old carpet and wet wood. You love visiting this side of your family, even the house they live in has a history. Your dad's side is so spread out, they barely visit each other. Seems like they don't even like each other. But your mother's side, her family seems like they're always together. And your grandmother's huge old house is like an archaeologist's dream, full of records of the past. You enjoy these moments while waiting for dinner to be ready where you can just explore the now empty rooms looking for treasures. This old bedroom might have been one of your uncles', you aren't sure. The walls have yellowed, but the bed remains neatly made to this day. The light stopped working long ago, so you use a small flashlight to look around. You go searching through the drawers of the sidetable, hoping perhaps to find something left behind. In the bottom draw is a picture, looks like polaroid, hiding in the back corner. You pick it up and inspect it with your light. It was taken in this house, near the staircase. A man in a casual suit stands for a picture, with a small child behind him, slightly obscured. The child's features are difficult to parse, and his neck seems slightly too long. You are transfixed by this photo for a while before the call to dinner echoes up the stairs. You put the photo back. A mystery left forever unsolved.
Quanta Designation: M-I39
Frame 513
Memory Description: You can feel the heat of the cramped, dusty space as you try to relax. There aren't that many chairs by the poolside, you feel like you've taken the only one. There's an anger brewing in you, with a sadness behind it. He left you here all by yourself. He said he was tired, that he had to go back to the room. He didn't want to spend time with you. That wasn't why you were here. You can't sleep so you try to look around. The pool is in a state of utter filth and decay. The water was dirty, you tried to swim in it but it hurt your eyes, and maybe your skin? It burned. The room itself was small too, like it hadn't been expanded in years. You can tell it's old because of the brick. You're old enough to know that pools shouldn't have bricks, the people who run this place clearly haven't learned this yet. There's dirt and grime all over the walls, it hasn't been cleaned in a long time. You can almost smell the muck from your chair, a putrid brown and dark green dripping down the dusty brick walls. It's almost like a nightmare, hot dirty and oppressive. You aren't having fun. You decide it's time to give up and leave. You've let him win again.
This memory is highly distorted. Possibly due to anomalous interference or an extreme level of memotic decay.
Quanta Designation: M-G16
Frame 310
Memory Description: You scream. You scream. No words come out. You try again. You scream. Your mouth won't work. Where are you? You don't recognize this place. A sterile hallway, like a hospital. But how did you get here? You can't remember. The lights are flickering. Something is wrong, you remember. Something happened. Monsters. Your thoughts tell you this. What about them? Are there monsters here? Yes. There are. They got out. That's why you're here. Is that why you're here. What is this place. It's not a hospital. You are a prisoner. It's not a prison. You are a patient. It's not a hospital. You remember men in white coats and you can see the words in your vision. You can't think straight. The men. White coats. They're coming towards you. You try to run, but you can't. Why can't you? Are they monsters. Run. You run. Don't run. You stop. They catch you. They put you in a chair in a room with strange device. They laugh. You try to laugh, but your eyes feel wet. They say more words. You can't make them out. It's getting darker. What about the monsters? They laugh again. They use devices on you. You feel limp. You look around for something to help. There's nothing. You see their eyes. There's nothing. Blackness. Nothing there. Monsters. You scream. You can't. You try to look up before the blackness overtakes you. We are building towards something huge
Quanta Designation: M-U47
Frame 673
Memory Description: You are afraid and confused. You've never been to this place before. It isn't like your home. It's different. You don't understand what you are doing here, or why your parents left you here. You wonder if you'll ever go home. You attempt to make your way through the maze of doors and hallways of this place, to no avail. You only end up more lost than before. There is no familiarity, no consistency in this place. The walls are bent at strange angles, the doors don't go where they should, and it seems to you like a place designed just to make you feel disoriented and small. You stop for a moment to admire the foreignness of the house. The way the walls are painted differently, the ceiling higher than you ever thought possible, the stairs in the wrong place. You feel as though you are a visitor in an alien world, a place so different from where you used to be that there can be no going back, this place is yours now. Or rather, that you belong to this place now. Its strange and arcane architecture having grabbed you in its claws with no intention of letting go. The despair begins to rise in you, and you feel the tears well up in your eyes. But then a door opens somewhere. You hear footsteps. And there your mother is, with open arms. You think you hear words spoken but you're unsure. You are just happy to be home.
Quanta Designation: M-S61
Frame 361
Memory Description: You wake up rattled, your hairs standing on end. You stare up at the darkened ceiling, trying to collect your jumbled thoughts for a moment. You had that dream again. The one where you fall. You're not afraid of heights but you've been startled awake by that dream for at least a month. You wonder, as you gaze into the cool darkness of your room, what could be causing it. You don't think you feel unhappy or nervous about anything, but your subconscious seems to disagree. Maybe you aren't as happy as you thought you were. The feeling of your blanket soft against your skin is relaxing, but your still beating heart and your restless thoughts keep you from falling back into the warm blackness of sleep. You're shaken from your stupor by a slight noise to your left. It was outside your window. Your already frantic heartbeat begins to speed up again. You turn, lifting yourself up to look out the window over your bed. That's when you see it. Staring. You freeze, at least you think you do, your mouth opens but you don't make a sound. The strange face, it seems like a woman just stares at you while you stare back, frozen in paralyzing terror. Your arm begins shaking, and before it gives and you fall back to your bed, you think you see her mouthing your name. You scramble to your feet, loudly knocking things out of your way to frantically flip the light switch and open your window. You see nothing out there. Like nothing was ever there.
Quanta Designation: M-M01
Softly, the mist settles along the fertile hills.
Memory Description: The wind blows cruelly through the sycamores, chilling land and bone. You can feel it, against your skin. You pull your arms against you, to conserve warmth. The fibers of your coat brush your arms. The hazy orange tint of the forest reminds you of the slowly falling leaves. One lands on your head. You brush it off and smile. The cool air stings your lungs slightly as you walk. The crunch of the fallen leaves beneath your feet is the only sound that echoes off the trees. You leave the forest and enter the clearing where the pumpkins lie. The old house on the hill stands ominously behind the pumpkin patch, a monolith against the slowly descending fog. You sit in the patch for a bit, admiring the scenery. The mist rolls over the clearing and you feel your clothes start to get slightly damp in its presence. As you stand up to look for a pumpkin, the wind changes. There's a sound, slight, in the distance that carries on the wind all across the clearing and forest. You can't make it out but as you turn you can discern its origin. The house on the hill remained, steadfast against the changing winds. From it, again, comes the sound. A low groan that shakes you to your core. The wind dies down, and suddenly there is silence. You are beginning to feel very alone. You walk towards the house, curious to a fault. You've never been inside or seen its owner, but you have to know what's going on. As you get closer, the house groans one last time, the wind kicking up and nearly knocking you back down the hill. You think you see a figure dart quickly just out of your vision. Silence, again. You are not alone.
This document has been preserved in its original state for archival purposes. Originally distributed to Black Site-131 personnel shortly after the Labrador Incident occurred, the memo was created by onsite Nucorp research personnel in order to inform the rest of the personnel on what had actually occurred the day before and its implications. The BIIC has decided to use it in this form as the circumstances for which it was created give it the unique quality both of urgency and of brevity, and as such it is especially useful for those who may have fallen victim to memotic alterations.
ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL PERSONNEL
It is with great humility and sorrow that those of us representing Nucorp deliver this information to you all. No doubt you witnessed the strange events yesterday, which the Intelligence Council have now collectively labeled the 'Labrador Incident'. In this memo we will impart to you the context of this event and its startling implications, and our deepest apologies as we must admit to some culpability in this tragedy. We humbly request that you forgive us.
The leadup to the incident began several weeks ago, when Nucorp's Memotic Department began to study cases of unusual memory loss in the Northeastern United States as well as the east coast of Canada. Nucorp defines 'unusual memory loss' as the loss of several essential memories in a subject without due cause such as head trauma, age, Degenerative Brain Diseases, or genetic defect. Basically, a case in which a subject loses a large portion of their memories for no reason. When these cases are reported to local police Nucorp is notified and in most cases Memotics Department personnel are dispatched to assist in the local investigation, under the guise of "private contractors".
However there was an uptick in these reports several weeks prior in the previously specified reason. The apparent volume and proximity of these cases meant that there had to be some sort of correlation, so after investigating several we mapped the cases as they happened, and a startling pattern formed.
Incidents of Unusual Memory Loss {Black Site-131 Denoted in Grey}
{$contents}
I'm sure you can understand our concern.
Our original theory was that some form of memotic field disruption was spreading linearly, pulled toward the singularity of RPC-131 simply because of its topology. But it quickly became clear that the only logical explanation for this was a memotic feeder, making its way toward RPC-131 due to the wealth of scalars that would be present there, as theorized.
This was an exciting revelation, we might get the opportunity to study an entity that was once merely theoretical, and in its natural habitat! We were blinded by our ambition.
It is possible the feeder would have passed through the singularity without our interference. We have determined that this possibility is statistically negligible. It is with a heavy heart that we inform you of what has been released into this plane due to our thirst for knowledge. There is no end to our guilt for this incident.
Because of this, Nucorp is relinquishing its position as subcontracted research associate for Black Site-131. The BIIC now has total jurisdiction of the materials available at this facility, as well as the future regarding the product of the Labrador Incident now roaming free.
If there is a God, may he forgive us for what we have done, and may he have mercy on all of you.
-Nucorp Memotics Department
See below for documents following the Labrador Incident
Discussion Log 131.1 [TRANSCRIPT]
Date: ██/██/████
Team Identifier: Exponent
Specialization: Memotics
Captain: Alan Dench
Members: Yen Stim, Jord Armid, Rel Raym
[BEGIN LOG]
Captain Dench: Per Protocol, this meeting and all future meetings will have their audio recorded and transcribed. I will also preface each meeting with all relevant information. Black Site-131 has been compromised. A memotic feeder emerged from the local singularity. The entity proceeded to consume all physical quanta along with the memories of most personnel within the site, 34 in total. These people have been left with minimal cognitive ability. Approximately 40% are in a catatonic state. 50% have undergone heightened mental deterioration or dementia. The remaining 10% suffocated to death.
Stim: Suffocated? How?
Captain Dench: The working theory is that they lost the memory of how to breathe.
Stim: How could that even be possible? That information isn't stored as quanta.
Captain Dench: Apparently it is, which brings me to the purpose of this meeting. We have a lot of information about the entity to analyze and learn from. We will then use this information to work towards containing the entity.
Armid: Sounds like a plan. Please describe the order of events following the entity's arrival.
Captain Dench: Of course. At the ground point, Nucorp researchers had built a structure which they assumed would be capable of containing the entity. They assumed that the entity would have the same properties as physical quanta. As the entity approached, they applied Class A-X amnestics to seven disposable subjects, releasing a massive amount of memotic vectors into the infoplane near the singularity. It is unknown if this event had an effect on whether or not the entity would travel into our world or pass the singularity.
[Captain Dench clears his throat before resuming]
Captain Dench: In any case, the entity then came through the singularity ground. Upon arrival, it appeared as a humanoid creature composed of a purple glass-like material with a viscous, liquid form and movement. Instead of being contained as the researchers expected, the entity passed directly through a wall, into the observation deck.
Raym: So it’s incorporeal. Does the entity have the ability to remotely sense the location of memories?
Stim: Yes, it should. It knew to travel to the singularity as that was a concentration of memories.
Captain Dench: That is true. Anyway, in order to consume a subject’s memory, the entity would place one of its hand-like appendages to their head. Thin tentacles then emerge from the hand and break through the subject’s skin and bone until reaching the brain. A fluorescent purple liquid flows out of the brain, through the tentacles, and into the entity’s body. This process takes at least 20 seconds to be performed.
Armid: Could be useful.
Captain Dench: As the entity consumed the memories of more people, its body became darker and darker. This is likely representative of an increase in information density within the entity. This is all we have been able to gather from the security footage of the incident.
Stim: Where is the entity now?
Captain Dench: We don’t know. After leaving Black Site-131, it was lost. The last bit of security footage would suggest the entity exited Site-131 and then traveled eastward along the ocean. We will need to determine the entity’s location before being able to contain it.
Raym: Hmm. I take it there’s been a search throughout the Atlantic ocean, starting from the location of Site-131 and expanding outward?
Captain Dench: Yes, primarily with helicopters.
Raym: Do we have access to all the reports the Authority gets from different government bodies? This question is unspecific to the Atlantic.
Captain Dench: Uh, yes. Why?
Raym: Search the database for recent reports of memory-loss related phenomena with no specific location.
Captain Dench: I don’t see how that could be particularly helpful when the entity is within the Atlantic… but okay. Searching now.
[Captain Dench uses a portable computer to search the network database.]
Captain Dench: Huh, the only thing here is from Tokyo, Japan. A dozen or so people lost their memories, cause unknown.
Raym: Just as expected. The entity is in Japan.
Stin: Expected? What? How do you know that was the entity.
Raym: Well, if the entity isn’t in the Atlantic, there’s only one way it could have gone. Straight through the Earth. We’ve already established that the entity is able to sense concentrations of memories and that it can travel through matter. After consuming the memories of Black Site-131, it would go wherever it sensed the greatest concentration of memories. Black Site-131 is far enough in the ocean that the curvature of the Earth would mean that the average of all memories on Earth would be about opposite the Earth of the entity.
Armid: It went straight through the planet, coming out on the other side! That’s genius!
Captain Dench: There’s no time for praise. We need to go to Japan.
[END LOG]
Discussion Log 131.2 [TRANSCRIPT]
Date: ██/██/████
Team Identifier: Exponent
Specialization: Memotics
Captain: Alan Dench
Members: Yen Stim, Jord Armid, Rel Raym
Foreword: Black Team Exponent travelled to Tokyo Japan by private plane over 11 hours. Upon arrival, the team spent some time to set up operations within Black Site-212 which did not presently have an active operation. This meeting takes place shortly after.
[BEGIN LOG]
Armid: What has happened since our last meeting? We were on that plane for quite some time and I had been asleep.
Captain Dench: The entity has continued to consume memories in a localized area of Tokyo. We have alerted the Japanese government of what is going on and requested them not to evacuate the city. We currently have a good idea where it is and that is valuable.
Stim: Which is highly unethical, by the way.
Captain Dench: We’d lose more lives overall if they evacuated and we couldn’t study the entity. We’ve been over this.
[Stim responds with an annoyed grunt]
Raym: Moving on, I believe we should run an experiment to test this entity’s intelligence. Its intelligence will be the defining factor of how difficult it will be to contain.
Armid: That makes sense. What experiment?
Raym: First we will need to find out if the entity is able to use the memories it consumes for its own benefit by using the information contained within them. Then, we will test its logical ability to draw conclusions from that information.
Captain Dench: Interesting, but how?
Raym: The entity has been very careful since it entered Tokyo. It has never consumed all memories of a person. We have only observed minor memory loss. It would appear that the entity is attempting to remain unnoticed. It has been avoiding sight from other humans quite often as well. This hasn’t been working very well, as it seems to have no clue that cameras can be used to eavesdrop on it. We’ve already pinpointed that it’s been retreating back to the same building every night.
Armid: Is this all true?
Stim: Yes, it is.
Raym: The entity has also never consumed memories that were highly valuable or would have caused mass panic. This would imply that the entity has the ability to scan a person’s memories before deciding which ones to take. We can use that to our advantage. We will send in a decoy subject and plant certain information within their memories that would prove useful to the entity. I was thinking something about there being a gathering at the building one night. I assume it goes there because it’s always empty at night, allowing for cover. The potential presence of people should deter it from coming back.
Stim: That sounds good to me. Of course, we would need to make the memories that the entity reads authentic. The memories of the decoy need to be genuine. That could be tricky to pull off.
Armid: So, we send in some guy with the memory? I suppose we would find someone that is likely to come into contact with the entity at some point during the day. We would make sure that that person has a passing conversation with someone who says that there will be a gathering. Would that be one of us?
Captain Dench: No, too risky. We’ll send in a plant.
Stim: That’s like 3 levels of plants already. Wild.
Raym: Let’s get to it.
[END LOG]
Discussion Log 131.3 [TRANSCRIPT]
Date: ██/██/████
Team Identifier: Exponent
Specialization: Memotics
Captain: Alan Dench
Members: Yen Stim, Jord Armid, Rel Raym
Foreword: Black Team Exponent successfully planted the memory within the decoy. By security camera, they observed that the memotic feeder did in fact consume the memories of the person. The entity did this from behind and was not seen by the subject. Following this, Exponent connected to a live security feed of the room where Exponent travels to every night.
This log has been fitted with timestamps for context.
[BEGIN LOG]
Stim: It always arrives between the hours of 1am and 2am. If it doesn’t arrive, we will know that it is an intelligent entity.
Armid: Right.
[12:46 AM]
Captain Dench: Raym, you’re the idea guy. What plan do you have in mind if the entity doesn’t show up?
Raym: Frankly, I don’t have one. If this entity was intelligent, that would be truly terrifying. We’d likely not survive this operation.
Armid: Jesus, I hope for our sake you’re wrong.
Raym: If he does show up, I do have a plan though. That will be quite easy. It would not be hard to lure it into a trap with an ambush by BIS.
[Extraneous segment omitted]
[1:55 AM]
Stim: Well, looks like the entity won’t be coming back. We’re fucked.
Raym: Hold it. 5 more minutes.
Captain Dench: 5 minutes may not be a lot but it’s all we have.
[1:57 AM]
Armid: I see a shadow in the feed. Is that it?
Raym: Too dark to tell.
[1.59 AM]
[The shadow draws closer to the center of the room]
Captain Dench: That’s it! That’s the entity!
[The entity is visible at the center of the room, resting]
Raym: Phew.
Armid: Yeah! Now… to get those BIS guys.
[END LOG]
Recorded Log of Agent Renault During Exponent Operation [TRANSCRIPT]
Date: ██/██/████
Personnel Identifier: Black Site Internal Security
Specialization: Memotics
Leader: William Renault
Agents: Richard Childress, Pete Thompson, Keith Martel
Foreword: Following investigations, the BIIC contracted the BIS to send a covert team of security personnel to capture the feeder using Physical Quanta as bait.
[BEGIN LOG]
Agent Renault: Testing, hello? Okay, audio log is on. So, we are currently in the sewer, with a crate of physical quanta. Since we've evacuated some of the city above, it should be the biggest bunch of memories around, meaning the entity should come straight to us!
Agent Thompson: And when it gets here, we capture it, you got that?
Agent Renault: Pretty much. Not to mention the quanta are loaded with disinfo, so we should capture it and make it dumber in one fell swoop.
Agent Childress: If everything goes right, sure. Though I'm a little skeptical of the plan being recorded on a log like this.
Agent Renault: It's for memory insurance. BIIC orders. And anyway, it doesn't know we're here so we should be fine.
Agent Thompson: Fine as we can really be, walkin' in shit.
Agent Childress: Well right, I just-
[Light footsteps are heard in the distance]
Agent Renault: That's it! To your position men, lights off!
Agent Childress: Roger!
[The feeder's footsteps can be heard in the water, approaching quickly]
Agent Renault (whispering): It has approached… the bait…
[Sounds of what are assumed to be Agent Renault's hand signals to the other agents]
Agent Renault (whispering: Feeder is currently in target position… It should be eating the memories… right now…
[Noises from feeder cease.]
Agent Renault: We go… Now! Men, lights on![Gunfire echoes from sewer walls, before stopping abruptly.]
Agent Thompson: Where the fuck is it? I don't see it anywhere!
Agent Renault: It was right here, eating the quanta!
Agent Childress: The quanta are all still there, Bill, it didn't even touch the damn things!
Agent Renault: I don't understand… it must have known it was a trap somehow.
Agent Thompson: Is it even that smart?
Agent Childress: Well, with all the memories it's been eatin' I suppose-
Agent Martell: Oh, shit!
[Sounds of a struggle]
Agent Renault: It was hidin' on us!
[Sounds of gunfire and struggle continue for several minutes]
Agent Childress: Wait… did the feeder show up yet?
Agent Renault: Of course it did, why… wait, did it?
Agent Thompson: Who the fuck are you people? Did I step in shit? Christ, the smell.
Agent Renault: I think… shit… shit. I think it's already…
Agent Childress: What the fuck are you talking about? How did I get down here? I… who… do you know who I am? I can't…
Agent Renault: I can't seem… to… remember either, I…
Agent Thompson: All I know is I'm getting out of here. I'm sick of this awful stench. That being said, I don't see any exit. I guess I'll… I'll have to… dig my wa-…
Agent Renault: Now hold on, we don't have to do that… Iusdhh… Inmmm… Aall..
Agent Thompson: Are you alright, you look like-
Agent Childress: WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?
[Several gunshots are heard before the tape cuts off.]
[END LOG]
Transcript of Black Site Internal Intelligence Council meeting "Moving Forward Concerning Labrador"
[Identity of Council Members are obscured]
[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]
A: I set the clock. We have ten minutes.
B: The agents are currently in the infirmary. I don't think they'll be able to recover from the attack, but our plans were ultimately successful.
C: Our backup plans, you mean? The entity was smart enough to sniff out the ambush. If we hadn't thought as far ahead, we'd be up shit creek right now.
A: We might still be. Giving the Security personnel their own set of false info was a good call, but if the entity was smart enough to sniff out the first ruse, there's a possibility it knows we're tricking it this time too.
B: It has no contradicting information this time. It certainly doesn't know where we are. It's almost a certainty it will follow the disinfo to the dummy facility.
C: We don't know whose memories it's eaten at this point, it's been out roaming free for weeks now. There's no way of telling what it does and doesn't know! Or, whether or not eating the memory of a memetic hazard would even kill it!
B: I think your uncertainty is grounded in paranoia and not reality. If a memetic hazard didn't affect it, that would be counter to enough research that we'd pretty much have to throw out all of our theories on the infoplane and memotics.
C: Talk about not being grounded in reality, this thing is an intelligent creature! What if it just, I don't know, decides not to go to the dummy site? What then?
B: It would be highly unlikely. It was just attacked, and the memories of those attackers point to a specific location. Any sufficiently intelligent creature would follow it, especially since it just recognized and evaded a trap by them. Even if it doesn't go to the location, we would still know where it is and be able to plan around it.
C: It just seems risky. I wanna get rid of this thing before it causes any more problems. GD-ANTC will fry our asses if it does.
B: As far as we know, this is what will catch it. So, stop worrying. We're almost out of time anyway.
A: Alright, I've set the clock.
[END TRANSCRIPT]
-
- _
I would assume that you know what the deal is, but I know how often you GD get replaced, so I'll work under the assumption that you're new to the info-demon situation. I'm also going to assume that this is a secure line. If it isn't? Oh well, I guess. It isn't much of an issue if it gets leaked that we (spoiler alert) neutralized the threat.
You can consider this project complete. Cross it off your "things I'm in charge of but don't actually involve myself in" list. I'm sure it could be much shorter.
As for the logs, it would be pretty worrying if you hadn't figured it all out just by reading, what with Exponent being entirely fabricated. A GD should be able to piece that together pretty easily. I'll spare you all the details about that, as you surely don't need them.
As for these documents, they're all being declassified to you. You're free to do with them as you please. Hell, make it a public document for all I care.
As for my identity? You won't be getting that. You're entitled to all this information, but not so much as my name. Weird how info-hazard security works, ain't it? Apparently names are way more susceptible to hazards than any of this document information. Something about being attached to a person is more dangerous than scraps of paper. I don't know specifics, Sapience ain't my Black Site department.
tagnone
| #1 Article |
#1 Joke Article |
Top Ten Article |
Active Contributor |
Contest Winner |
Contest Runner-Up |
Challenge Winner |
Art Contest Winner |
62 |
4 stars |
62 |
{$translationblock} | |