CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT #3
Personnel assigned to long-duration containment rotations reported intermittent cognitive lapses beginning approximately Day 31.
Symptoms included short-term memory discontinuity, temporal disorientation, and failure to recall completed procedural steps.
Medical screening found no infectious or toxicological cause.
Incidence rate increased in proximity to high-yield subjects.
Subject F-8 recorded highest amplification index of all SPECTRUM detainees.
Subject was also the only intake confirmed gravid (estimated 18–20 weeks gestation) at time of containment, resulting in prioritised observation cycles and extended stimulus evaluation.
Physiological data suggests gestational status may have influenced amplification threshold, though correlation remains unconfirmed.
INCIDENT:
At 02:00 hours extraction protocol initiated under laboratory supervision.
Subject F-8 exhibited elevated biometrics exceeding previously recorded thresholds.
Telemetry escalation coincided directly with onset of environmental destabilisation.
Restraint compliance maintained for seventeen seconds.
Environmental conditions destabilised without external trigger.
Prior to restraint failure, a containment officer initiated an unscheduled abdominal examination against protocol. Subject agitation increased immediately following contact.
Barometric pressure drop registered internally.
Static discharge documented across interior surfaces.
Audible atmospheric disturbance recorded prior to structural breach.
Electrical interference escalated to full systems disruption.
Primary lighting failed. Backup grid failed. Communications failed.
Meteorological satellites later confirmed rapid storm cell formation directly above facility coordinates within ninety seconds of onset.
No preexisting storm activity detected within regional radius.
During blackout interval multiple personnel sustained electrical trauma absent identifiable power source.
Witnesses reported vertical light discharge originating above Subject F-8’s position.
Discharge vectors remained centred on Subject F-8 throughout the event window.
Impact patterns consistent with directed lightning strikes.
Containment integrity lost. All subjects escaped.
NOTE:
Personnel fatalities exhibited atypical trauma profiles inconsistent with known electrical or blast injury models.
Documented presentations included rapid ocular rupture, internal thermal degradation absent external burn patterning, and structural tissue liquefaction without corresponding surface damage.
Metallic objects in contact with affected personnel displayed localized magnetisation and fusion.
Lachlan reads it again and again and again.
His eyes catch on the line, internal thermal degradation absent external burn patterning because he knows exactly what that means. Insides melted without an entry or exit point for the electricity.
What had Fenwick told him?
I was there for Project Spectrum. I was there when the storm hit. I carried my man out when that bitch fried his eyeballs, when she melted everyone from the inside out to get away. It starts with a storm. They call it to them, like witches.
She.
Lachlan searches through his current document for more information about F-8 but finds most of it redacted with only a few references to other subjects listed as either M or F with numbers attached, standard for a holding site, which is what this is, no doubt about it.
Atrocities were committed here.
The language makes it plain.
He touches his inner earpiece. ‘Danya, come in.’
‘Eight bells, Danya here.’
‘Eight bells. Need you and Zaitsev ASAP.’
‘Heard.’
When they both arrive, Lachlan has Zaitsev make the wraparound and then Lachlan shows him the files he just read.
‘I need context.’
Zaitsev scans them, a fast reader. ‘This is accurate.’
‘Human context.’
‘Is that an insult?’
‘No it’s not a fucking insult at all. I just mean please put this into a context I might have some hope of understanding.’
‘Which part?’
‘What’s this?’ he asks, scrolling back up to the compound table. ‘This stuff.’
‘It looks like a scientific experiment.’
Lachlan’s temper frays dangerously. ‘Yes, I know that,’ he says with enforced calm. ‘Could you explain it to me?’
‘Explain what?’
‘What does PN mean? Is that Paranatural?’
‘Yes.’
‘Right. Amazing, great, fantastic. What are these others? RN and FM?’
Zaitsev seems to be weighing his answer. ‘They are… other kinds.’
‘Other kinds of what?’
‘Non-humans.’
Lachlan exhales slowly, seeking calm. ‘Sergei, I appreciate you’re a man of few words, but could you possibly make an exception?’
‘I am not scientist. I do not know…’ Zaitsev says, taking a moment to scan the page, ‘mimetics or enzymes.’
It’s a clever denial.
‘So tell me what you do know.’ Lachlan taps the screen. ‘Like this.’
Zaitsev reads aloud. ‘Horizontal vector transfer achieved through hematologic and seminal bioexchange. Subtype compatibility confirmed. Cross-class uptake consistent. Integration stability maintained. Baseline human rejection immediate.’
‘What does that mean to you?’
‘Tanner, I barely speak English.’
‘I don’t believe you. You know what this means.’
‘Lachlan,’ Danya intones gently. ‘Calm down.’
‘I’m really fucking calm for someone who discovered that there’s a whole bunch of other species on the planet, actually!’
‘You are snippy when mad.’
‘Baseline human rejection immediate. What does that mean?’
‘It means humans cannot catch it,’ Zaitsev says, eyes flashing faintly.
‘Catch what?’
‘Being other.’
‘So then what the fuck is this plasma and ejaculate stuff in the report?’
Zaitsev glances down. ‘Snake bite poisons you. Does not make you snake.’