Holograms
Tutorial Area
Dr. Derek Manse reporting, Research Director, GATE Cascade Research Facility. After yesterday's fiasco, I've made a formal request to extend general Ordo anomaly storage immediately. We Requisitioned IS-0113 only to discover that some effect from IS-0221 had turned it permanently blue. I've made it clear to Enderson - this is not acceptable. Ordo subjects may be deemed low risk, but the range of phenomena is too diverse to jam them together like sardines.
Level 1: Server Room Area
This is Dr. Derek Manse. Today I discovered that Dr. Stern's latest software experiment was simulating the entire facility - a microcosm of Cascade, and every staff member within it, even myself, I gather. When I asked about it, he claimed to be trying to find a way to accelerate our research. I inquired about the ethical considerations and he just looked at me blankly. The man is a genius, but more dangerous too this facility than most of its subjects, I'm sure of it.... An exceptional scientist, all the same.
Level 2: Meeting Room Area
Dr. Derek Manse Reporting, Research Director, GATE Cascade Research Facility. Originating in Anteverse 2, IS-0171 is a stationary, sessile entity, that traps its food with a retractable tentacle. The experience of being caught is rather like being attacked by an angry pizza. It presents no real threat, but leaves an enduring, not entirely unpleasant smell on anything it touches. Suggestions for possible applications include perfume, industrial scents, and olfactory-based crowd control weapons.
Level 2: Cubicle Farm Area
This is Dr. Derek Manse. One of the most interesting aspects of the IS-0173's life cycle is how rapidly it evolves. The high energy conditions of our universe compared to the torpid energetics of Anteverse 2 appear to accelerate their growth immensely. It's humbling, if not a little frightening, to watch lifeforms alter so quickly. The explosion of Anteverse flora in Reactors was far from an isolated event. It goes to the very nature of life in that realm.
Level 2: Kitchen Aisles Area
Dr. Derek Manse reporting, Research Director. we now believe IS-0171 or the Carbuncle as Peters was calling it, is the larval form of IS-0173, and, almost certainly, IS-0178. Dr. Pendleton speculates there may also be a fourth state we have not yet encountered. And I believe she may be correct. If this is correct, it is an extraordinary shift in our understanding.
Level 2: Office near Electrified Floor Area
Dr. Manse reporting. IS-0178, the Peccary as it was so ineptly-dubbed by one of my puerile co-workers, is more intelligent than it first seemed. In fact, it grows smarter and more capable over the course of its life cycle, before morphing into the later lifecycle phase. Dr. Manbanko even managed to teach it a few simple tricks, with only minor burns, I believe.
Level 3: A2 Entrance Portal Area
Dr. Derek Manse reporting, Research Director. As our understanding of perforation technology grows, we haver discovered new facets of its physical laws. One of the most fascinating is temporal tethering. We seem to step back into each Anteverse at the same moment. It is as though each entry to an Anteverse sets a timer, which resets after a given period.
Level 3: Meeting Room Area
Dr. Derek Manse, Cascade. The first instances of IS-0064 appeared barely seconds after our first successful perforation event. It appears to exude a fog or mist that has overtaken Flathill entirely. The surviving residents have been evacuated, and a cordon established around the tow, citing a chemical spill. The residents, not to mention our counterparts at the EPA, are less than impressed, but the knowledge we already gained, even in this short time, is beyond value.
(Clearance 1 Needed) Level 2: Near Elevator Area
Dr. Derek Manse reporting. Although it remains essentially hostile, these "Peccary" can be taught to respond to basic commands, as Dr. Manbanko has demonstrated so performatively. As its bio systems work much more swiftly here, it learns extremely rapidly. Many on the Executive Committee will want a weapon, I'm sure - their imagination reaches no further - but if we can just breed the aggression out, the Peccary would make an extraordinary work beast. Our world has enough toys of war.
(Clearance 1 Needed) Level 3: Analysis Office Area
Private Note. It's undeniable that operations at Cascade are being monitored by external forces. This much the Cascade Executive committee have been permitted to know. Exactly who has been infiltrating our communications, and to what ends, remains unknown. Or rather, those who know refuse to say. I've been directed to tell my team that we are conducting some security drills, but... the threat seems quite real.
Flathill Arcade Supplies Area
Dr. Derek Manse reporting, Research Director. IS-0064 seems to sing to itself, if you could call it that, emitting a series of resonant tones suggestive of communication. The cavities that create these sounds appear to be the same cavities the creature uses to ingest anyone who comes within reach....
Flathill Near Office Elevator Area
Dr. Manse Reporting. On the advice of Keystone, GATE has established a facility here in Flathill. We judge it unwise to advertise our activities, so for the time being, our presence is, ah, necessarily clandestine... if not a bit syrupy. The location was selected for the convergence of certain geomagnetic forces, that amplify the power of our perforation equipment. We stand poised on the brink of an entirely new technology, I am convinced of it.
Flathill Server Room Area
This is Dr. Derek Manse. I'm pleased to confirm: the first Flathill perforation was a success, although the geomagnetic convergence was stronger than we anticipated, allowing an entity to pass across - IS-0064 perhaps the largest we've yet logged in our Immurement Registry. Indeed, the events here in Flathill have advanced our understanding of perforation by orders of magnitude. I regret the contamination and consequent - ah - closure of the township, but I am more confident than ever in GATE's ability to develop a functional portal network. What we learn here will alter the history of our species. And maybe we can finally stop flying Economy.