Jirac dumped her helmet and set the tablet on the table between them.
“You know those camo goons they were putting here for a while? They didn’t clean up very well. Some guy in my crew can read their shit and he passed it along.”
“Where, though. Don’t be like that. Speak plain.”
Jirac sighed, “We’ve been raiding those phony FOBs. I told you, like a hundred goddamn times, that they were abandoning them and it was weird. So we keep finding bits and pieces. We keep taking IT people with us to do what we can. What can we find? It’s not about equipment, it’s about information. Well, get this, one of these places had minor admin privileges and had the passwords written down. So this guy, as I mentioned, assembled it here.”
The man in front of Jirac started to leaf through the document. “Who is the guy?”
Jirac was silent.
“Come on, tell me.”
“No, Endur, I won’t.”
It was Endur’s turn to sigh. “Why not?”
“You know why,” Jirac answered, squaring up to the table.
Endur stood to face it. “I will not answer for this again, and you will not hold it over me forever. I have no more apologies for you, and I will not give you any.”
Jirac grabbed the tablet. “Then this stays with me.”
“I did you a kindness,” Endur seethed.
“What was kind about it, Endur?”
“You have closure.”
“We all have closure. I didn’t need to see it with my own eyes.”
“Many of us wish we could have, Jirac!” came a reply from a workstation nearby, from a spindly, emaciated man with his own stack of documents.
Now there was a gun in his face.
“Only because you were not there. Shall I describe it to you?” She said through gritted teeth.
Endur stepped between Jirac and the bystander. “Don’t do this, he doesn’t know.”
Jirac lowered the weapon a little, her attention fixed beyond Endur to the man who dared speak up to her.
“And now he will know! I’m sorry, you cretin, that you didn’t get to see the collapse with your eyes. I’m sorry you must experience this grief in the abstract.”
“Jirac! Enough!”
But she ignored him. “But this motherfucker didn’t just let me see their corpses, no, no, he sent me to evacuate a school! And guess what I found there? The contagion already victorious and a thousand bloody children! And then—“
Endur shoved Jirac back, now. The spindly man hunkered over his desk, as if in pain.
“He gets it. I get it.”
Jirac spat at the man and holstered her pistol. “My source is my own. I’m not going to divulge.”
She tossed the tablet back at Endur. “Read that and then let’s act on it.” She motioned to the spindly man, “and I don’t want to see that fuck again.”
She left and Endur turned his attention to the tablet. He didn’t need to tell the other man to hustle out.
Log 1
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We’ve arrived at Ynidon Prime. We are currently engaged in standard communication protocol. We will do this until we are ready to deploy, but first we must occupy their space. They have extremely limited ability to fight a space-faring civilization but there can be no mistakes. Overconfidence will not be entertained.
Log 2
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No singular planetary government. Negotiations are underway with dozens of minor nation states. I leave this to the diplomats. Mira and I are preparing the specimens.
Log 5
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New information from lab tests. Putting hold on adoption. Scout squads deployed to acquire new test subjects.
Log 6
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Diplomats concerned. Negotiations have progressed far enough that news must be sent back to the Council. Diplomats did not expect us to take so long and have been too transparent with planetary leaders about our own politics. Planetary leaders expect answers and concessions that we’ve never intended to consider. Still need time.
Log 10
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Scout have retrieved numerous test subjects. Fleebnorks in captivity behaving irrationally. We were able to get an assimilator to infect a host but further iterations simply kill the test subject and then do nothing. Trying to learn how they do all of this.
Log 12
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Breakthrough. Locked down the observation wing and opened the doors to containment units. Assimilators immediately infected their hosts and tried to break out. Confirmed following observations:
Assimilator’s probe organ manifests from the central nervous system and is placed via the neck
Assimilator’s eat the head of the host to create this organ
Already headless hosts cannot be assimilated
Hosts terminated and assimilators returned to incarceration. Discovered they likely cannot infect new host without consumption of the head because assimilation organ is specific to each host. Some of the assimilators were killed during this event and we will need to source more. Can we use the Matter Machine to create their eggs?
Log 15
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Breakthrough. We can… with some modification. Machine highly unstable.
Log 16
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Planetary governments uniting against us because of our inaction. Can’t delay any longer. Diplomats concerned about being kidnapped as collateral. Recalling all of our units.
Log 17
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Programmed the Matter Machine to pump out eggs and dumped it on the surface. Eggs in storage placed strategically to siege the planet from multiple locations. Locals will absolutely notice, so we’ve detonated some explosives and tossed some debris to pretend we’ve experienced a catastrophe. Hopefully they believe it long enough to die.
Log 18
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Results more horrible than we could have imagined. Matter Machine exploded in the atmosphere and rained spores across the planet. Fleebnorks reproducing like we didn’t expect and death toll is outrageous. Numerous staff appalled and finding creative ways to protest. Thankfully Mira still believes in the tests. Following communication sent to staff:
To Staff
What we are witnessing is no doubt troubling. If you cannot handle it then please ask to be reassigned to details that don’t rely on making these observations. No transfers will be approved. Your cooperation is necessary and required.
With respect and dignity,
Mira
Log 23
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No communication of any kind with planetary governments in days. Serenity is on the way to discuss findings.
