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Fecto: Stories Untold

By: Cellidor

Chapter 2: Discov** e ***ries*

Diary Entry, 25th R, 3034

Even with earplugs it's been rough sitting through these shifts. I can't imagine how bad it must be for ID-F86. I'm probably breaching some kind of NDA even writing about it but who would want to read -my- diary? I still don't know what's up with its fur colours either... I shouldn't try to think about it too much...right? At any rate, I'll have to see what Walter says. Every shift I spend I want to know more...least he'll be easy enough to find, after today's shift anyways.

------

I was just exiting the laboratories main doors, more than glad to get all this gear off of me.

Still, as I left the building I found myself looking back, up at the top levels of the building...

“...I... Shouldn't worry about it. I shouldn't worry about it."

Worried about ID-F86... it should be absurd! Surely! But... every shift it wrenched at my heart a little more. It was like watching a sad puppy or… I guess majestic lion being tormented for hours on end. What could I do about it though? I sure as heck wasn't about to let some murder machine loose on the world, even if I had the credentials to do so, which I didn't. I don't think it'd even be possible, the eternal capsule wasn't designed to ever be opened back up again, or... so I'd read.

With a sigh, I'd turn away from the lab to head back into the city. Walter was supposed to meet me somewhere so we could go chat about all of this.

As it turned out, I ended up bumping into him before I'd even made it to the parking lot. He still had all of his own work gear on for the most part, waving me over. Walter had always been a close friend since we'd been young. His generally upbeat and cheerful personality balanced out by his occasionally wandering eyes and eccentric ideas. You didn't get to be a scientist for Discovera without having a few wacky ideas bouncing in your head...and several degrees. All the same, I had my reasons for being his friend even if others found him a bit strange at times.

“Hey hey, there you are. Glad I caught you. Hardly recognized you after so long! I uh, actually had a bit of a change of plans tonight..."

“Oh no... No time to talk then? I remember you being pretty antsy to chat." I'd say, rubbing the back of my head “They're gonna work you into the ground at this rate".

Tilting my head, I tried to make as much of a reassuring smile as I could.

“So what's up?"

Walter shrugged, letting out a tired sigh. I could tell by the shadows under his eyes just how often the following had probably been pulled. Honestly...it'd been ages since I'd seen him, and he looked so different than how I remembered. He looked twice the age that I knew he was, like someone who'd spent too many nights without sleep and too many hours poring over schematics and whatever else they had him doing.

“They need us overnight, again, watching for changes in the-....tsk."

I saw him catch himself, his eyes looking around where we were standing. This, technically public area.

So many things he couldn't talk about in public, and I hardly knew bits and pieces of it.

Walter's mouth tensed a bit as he looked me over.

“...Look, drinks won't be an option, but you could always join me in the lab? I can get you clearance since you already work in the upper labs anyways and tell anyone who says otherwise to sod off. At least then I can talk about work without having to look over my shoulder every two seconds."

I mulled it over. Perhaps overnights wouldn't have that loud droning voice over and over again... or at least, maybe Walter's lab was far enough away that I wouldn't be able to hear it? Besides, helping out a friend and getting some nagging questions answered didn't sound too bad.

“... Alright. Should I suit back up then? Eh, maybe not. It'll be hard to talk if people keep trying to get me into some night shift rotations or something."

By this point I'd at least gotten on friendly terms with a few of my shift mates. It was a welcome reprieve to laugh and complain about that tour loop and whatever else. Either way, I wanted to get Walters take on the strange colour shifting going on with F86.

Walter just nodded his head.

“Yeah, don't bother suiting up. You'd just wind up confusing folks. As long as you've got your badge you'll be fine. No one will hassle you if you're with me. Come on, you haven't seen where I work yet."

I knew Walter worked in the upper labs like I did, just in a different section of it. In any case it was far enough away that I'd yet to run into him by chance. Walter flashed his card to the guard at the front, ushering me along back into the building. Once we'd gotten inside the first set of doors, he seemed willing to talk a little bit more.

“So how's it been treating you? I hear you're up in one of the bleeder zones."

“The... "bleeder" zones?" Well that didn't sound foreboding at all. “Can you elaborate on that?"

He shrugged.

“The tourist areas, I mean. They cranked up the volume of the speakers all over the place in the lab but especially the zones higher up. I caught on when you sent me that message asking about where to buy some ear plugs."

Passing through another checkpoint, Walter handed me a pass-card to set around my neck. We both walked into an elevator, though it was just the two of us for now. Seemed night shift hadn't fully clocked in yet...or had already done so. One or the other.

“Oh! Oh now -that- makes a lot more sense. Heh..." Right, yes, the speakers. Obviously.

“The earplugs help... Somewhat, Still makes the shifts a bit rough. I thought it would be worth it to see F86 up close but..." I'd trail off a little there, shaking my head. “Is there a reason it's so loud? Is it to kind of pressure tourists to put on those headbands?"

Walter laughed a bit, nodding his head.

“Yeah, pretty much. It's easy to spook parents with ideas of being sued and all that, but kids don't care about that. Guess they figured the easiest solution was to make their ears hurt enough that wearing those was the only option. Have you heard the story they've been shilling to the tourists about why they have to wear them?"

The elevator came to a stop, Walter walking out first. This was only a few floors away from where I usually worked, but was noticeably far more quiet...hardly a thrum of electricity going on, though the place was aglow with lights from ceiling, walls, and...whatever experiments were underway.

“Hm... Can't say I got the run-down yet. We're usually just whinging about the intercom loop, heh... What's the story then?"

As I followed along, I looked around at the various sights. To be honest, I was envious of the much quieter environment, but I was never cut-out for any of this smart stuff. Ah, but hey, despite the ear piercing sounds, I was good at my job! Perhaps a little too fixated on F86, but a keen eye is always handy, right?

“So the story they're telling them is that 'the specimen feels at home when it thinks its around its kin'. They say that it might become uneasy seeing huge groups of alien tourists, but seeing plenty of things like itself would keep it content. Apparently they even have an audio loop they play in the ear muffs to make some kind of soft growling noise or something when they're in the room to reinforce it, as if that sound was coming from the specimen. And the volume level? It 'calms' it."

Walter looked over his shoulder at me, that tired face saying it all. He knew as well as I did that this thing was far more intelligent than just some wild animal, and if anything would probably just look at all those headphones stylized like its own ears like...well, like any intelligent creature would probably feel with seeing themselves being turned to merchandise for the sake of their captors.

“Nice, huh?" Walter sighed, looking back ahead. As much as he'd told me about how he hated the specimen for taking his father, I could tell even -he- thought this whole situation wasn't the kind of retribution he'd have wanted. Walter could be an ass at times, but he wasn't the type to celebrate something like this.

To be honest...it was literal torture, physically and psychologically.

“I can see F86 whenever I'm in sector two of the tourist...er, lab rooms. It makes all sorts of subtle movements.. But..." I'd look around, a little anxious. “When those vocals start back up, it sort of... Reacts in a bizarre way? It's fur starts to get overtaken by the reds and blacks, and I see it actively trying to calm itself down. I hadn't really told anyone else about this which is... Probably stupid... It's just easier for me to trust you over people I don't talk to as often."

“Oh, that? Yeah, we know all about that. That's more a side effect from the new measures we put in place ever since the incident to try and keep that sort of malfunction from happening again. I don't think the speakers make it better, but they're not the cause."

He'd actually stop in the hallway at that point, looking back at me curiously.

“Actually, now that I think about it...how much do you know about that? They covered it up pretty well but I know some word got out about it. Don't know what they call it out there but here it's just 'the incident', or more accurately, the 'warp field distortion event'."

“Not much. Even working here, I get the impression that if you weren't directly involved or one of the scientists like you are, no one will tell you any more than what you already know, and all I know is whatever we got fed on the outside. Doesn't take a genius to take one look at that thing and know there's a lot more to this story than that."

I wasn't even from this country initially, and this was definitely one of those things where if you didn't need to know, then no one was going to tell you unless you had connections... Like Walter.

“Right, yeah...that makes sense. Well, thing is...that thing didn't always look the way you see it on your shifts. Colour was totally different, was almost half the size it is now, too. Here, looked something like..."

He'd take out from a side-satchel a digital touch pad of sorts. Fingering his way through it, he'd find the file he wanted, opening it up and turning it to me. I saw on it F86...only...different from before. It was all blue, light blues and greens, gentle colours all over, but still with those intense eyes...

“Like this. Bit prettier, isn't it? Could -almost- imagine it wouldn't go around killing your family."

“Woah, yeah no shit... That's... slightly more believable how it was ever captured..."

Far less intimidating too, on top of that.

“What kind of accident could cause such a dramatic change in its body though?"

Again I felt like I was getting more questions than answers the more I learned. I'd get a good look at that photo before we'd carry on, mulling this over in my head.

“Doubt it's much for talking, especially like it is now."

“It's -never- been up for talking. Only controlling. That's what it's done ever since we caught it. Gets into your head, tries to influence your thoughts. It's like a disease. At any rate...After it got caught it started being experimented on. External tests to try and study and figure out how it got here from space and did half the things it did. Lucky me, I happened to be one of the poor sods working here the day we pushed it too far...We were pumping energy into the chamber as usual while it rested, trying new wave forms out, when suddenly it just seemed to just...wake up. Thing stood stock upright like someone shot it with adrenaline, and started -pulling- energy into the capsule, in a way we never thought it'd be able to. Never been so scared in all my life...it's one thing reading about what it could do, it's another to see it. It was like looking into a storm. Then next thing we knew, a wormhole had opened up right in the lab, and another...-inside- the capsule. Then it-... this thing...the bastard started to melt."

Walter had a far-off look, remembering things, or maybe wishing he had a stiff drink in hand.

“Bits of it started floating through one end of the wormhole and out the other...it was trying to escape. It would have done it if it'd been faster too, but for whatever reason it seemed to be taking ages to do whatever awful thing it was attempting to do, or maybe it just didn't have enough power. One of the leads had the idea of inverting and randomizing the-...in layman's terms, current wave-forms of the energy before hitting the kill switch. Thing let out a sound I never wanna hear again, ended up with part of itself inside the capsule and part of it out. I'm not talking about an arm or a leg either, it was like it had fractured into...into some smaller version of itself, mitosis maybe. Don't even know what happened to the smaller half either, The whole room went purple and it vanished before we could react."

Again he'd flip through images, showing me a screen grab from a security camera showing some kind of small blue...something. Looked to be the size of a person's head or so, it was hard to tell finer details with how fragmented the image looked. That's why people didn't really know how this thing looked or what it could do for the most part, whatever powers it had wrecked havoc on any recording devices used around it when it arrived and...did everything it'd done. Like trying to record a living EMP.

“'Course that's not -all- the fecker lost trying to pull that stunt..."

Frankly I was...stunned. This was so much information at once. Not up for talking, only controlling? Able to create wormholes all its own? The things Walter was describing didn't even sound like reality to me.

“I-…. seems like it's best to keep my sympathy to a minimum. I mean I knew that, but... when you see it... Ugh." I'd shake my head “Sorry...What else did it lose?"

I felt guilty probing about this because of how it made Walter feel, but at this point he actually grinned.

“Well, no need for pictures, you can come see it for yourself."

Walter turned then, and ushered me further down the hallway. We turned into what I had to assume was Walter's personal lab....a place covered with advanced looking equipment, screens everywhere and lights all around...but the key point of the room definitely had to be the glowing table around the middle.

Various control instruments were in place, seemingly keeping the slowly rotating item exactly where it was, which was....some kind of... spear? An incredible length to it, too...a smooth shaft for the most part, with twin spiraling offshoots meeting at the tip where they fanned out into wings that made the spear look almost like a halberd of sorts. Finally, right around the middle where the spiraling tips met, there were a series of glowing ruby beads connected all in a line, hanging in a loop like some kind of necklace, fused to the spear's 'wings'. The colours on the spear seemed to shift and change while looking at it, as if fighting for control...reds and yellows, blues, purples and blacks...like the- no other way of describing it- weapon itself couldn't decide how it wanted to look. Walter looked especially proud that he was the one in charge of this thing.

“When it was first caught, it was sealed in the capsule still holding this. No way to get it out without letting it free too, so we just left it be. Apparently, this is the key to how that thing creates wormholes so easily. Ever since we've gotten our hands on it our research has been skyrocketing. There's so much potential in this thing...and without it, no way that F86 can feasibly get out like it tried to before, so the people in the upper labs have been ramping up the tests they're able to do on the specimen."

“The tests?" I'd ask, staring at that bizarre... weapon, as it were.

Weird, it seemed pretty archaic for a creature as or even more intelligent than us to have something like this. Obviously it was more than just some old-fashioned weapon, but still.

“What are the tests like?"

He'd just wave his hand dismissively.

“I don't know specifics. We already knew the specimen reacts different based on different wavelengths of energy. Thanks to its own warp technology though, we've found ways to access to not just different regions of space but different... realities, we think. They use the tech we made thanks to this spear to create micro-wormholes of our own to these places, where they channel some of the energy from each of them into 86 to see the effects. From what I've heard they've been making great breakthroughs with the energy potential from this place they're nicknaming 'Voidspace'. Again, I don't know specifics. My job's just been to keep figuring out what I can from this guy's weapon. Had a hand in making the headbands you lot have been wearing lately too, y'know."

So much information at once...but wait, 'guy'? This was the first time Walter used a proper pronoun like that describing F86. That, or maybe he was just using a general term?

“You mean ID-F86 is a guy? I would have thought it was just some..."

“Ambiguous Force of Destruction?"

“Er, Sort of? Either way though... these tests sound pretty...intense." I'd chuckle a bit, rubbing the back of my head. “I mean, I can't say it doesn't deserve as much but..."

Ah, there it was again. The same telltale 'I feel bad for this thing' attitude I adopted with just about any life, and it seemed especially rough now, understanding and witnessing this thing's intelligence. It's not like I could actually do anything about it either way.

“Honestly I always assumed it was just a virus. Self-replicating or something, especially with how it can just...split, like it did and survive. But, yeah, it's male. Don't have the logs on-hand but I know those who worked on physical scans of the thing got not only bone structure but bits that....well, if they're not the bits for a male, they're some alien organ we don't have a word for yet. The people working on the biological side of F86 studies seem convinced at any rate, but that's not my field."

He'd walk over to the weapon, reaching out and running his hand along it. It seemed to react to his touch, turning a deep black nearby, colours swirling as if... the weapon could -tell- the one touching it hated its owner...no, stop. You don't need to anthropomorphize everything.

“They've been pretty excited higher-up about some of the recent larger-scale tests...but I just focus on looking over this thing, for however much time we've got left."

“Got left?" I'd pause for a moment. “Ohh yeah... Even the guys on my shift are gabbing about rumors of a massive hit to the ecosystem worldwide. Lasting effects from when he showed up do you think?"

At that, Walter tensed a little. He tensed as if he was regretting having even mentioned it...I could tell by his body language that he had more information on the subject...but he knew me well enough to know I wouldn't be satisfied with passing the buck and leaving it at that.

Letting go of the weapon, he'd go to his work chair and slump into it, giving me a tired look.

“It's...worse than what you probably think. Far worse."

“... No fooling?"

No, of course he wasn't. This was Walter we were talking about.

“How... Bad is it?"

I could feel my throat tighten as I looked at Walter. I felt anxiety creeping up through my body.

Walter just stared at the ground ahead of him. Ironically, in this moment he had a look on his face not too different from the tired look F86 usually had...though no doubt he wouldn't appreciate the comparison.

“Best predictions say we've got a year...tops. Shit's spiraling out of control, way faster than anyone can handle it. Half the team are blaming whatever part of the specimen split off from the main body, they say it's up in the atmosphere trying to kill off the planet, get us out of the way so it can re-form with the main body." He tsked. “I don't buy it, I think if that were true we'd be seeing signs of it somewhere. -I- think it's our experiments causing the problems...but what can we do? We've gone too far to go back now, planet's screwed either way, so all we can do is ramp up. More tests, more intense, more varied, trying to find answers but just speeding up the clock. Most of the lads end up sleeping right here, passed out at their desks and work stations. It's probably why they've got you lot watching us now too, probably making sure no desperate scientist turns off their headband to try and psychically ask the specimen for ideas or just forgets to put it on out of sheer exhaustion. Whether it was F-86 during the Rift event or due to our own over-eager testing after, either way the doom clock is ticking, and our only way out is...to keep doing it more. Our only options are to find some miracle to stop what's going on...or find a breakthrough in portal technology to get as many people out of here that we can."

I just stared at Walter slack-jawed.

“... Shit..."

That was... an impossible pill to swallow. My face paled at the knowledge that the whole planet was basically-… I mean, of course everyone seemed so tired, they were working themselves half to death to figure out some solution to keep us from being wiped out by some kind of...global extinction-event? Doomsday?

Turning my head back to the spear, I'd simply look it over. In my state of shock, I just reached over, touching my fingers to it like Walter had done.

It was warm to the touch.

Other than that, it didn't seem to react to me in the slightest.

Everything was resting on the shoulders of Walter and the rest of the research team.

---

Diary Entry, 26th R, 3034

Last night was... Something. Writing about ID-F86 is one thing but... To be on the safe side, I probably won't recount what I was told last night. I feel bad. I feel bad for F86, I feel bad for the Research team. Almost no one besides our higher-up know just what they have to go up against. And now a piece of F86 is loose in our world? I wonder where it could be? I think Walter is right. I don't think it's responsible for what's about to happen. But I don't know what to do, or if I can even do anything about it. Today is my day off, and I'm glad for it. I need to clear my head, and after being up all night, I definitely don't want to listen to that recording again.