Incident Report: Site-██
Date: August 30, 2023
Classification: LEVEL 4/XXXX-ALPHA
Subject: Multiple Anomalous Events (24-hour Summary)
- 0300: Temporal displacement in Sector 4 (Research Wing B)
- 0745: Equipment malfunction in primary monitoring station
- 1122: Mass auditory hallucination event (contained)
- 1500: Reality anchor fluctuation in Sectors 7-12
- 1847: Psychological contamination incident (3 researchers quarantined)
- 2230: Geometric displacement of architectural features
Medical Status: Dr. A. Volkov supervising implementation of new psychic screening protocols.
Security Status: Agent M. Volkov reports increased patrol frequency in affected sectors.
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Dr. Anya Volkov stared through the observation window at her latest patient, her clipboard forgotten in her hand. Dr. Harris, until yesterday a senior researcher in astronomical phenomena, was meticulously drawing star charts on his cell walls – with perfect mathematical precision and in seven dimensions.
"His consciousness retention score?" her brother Mikhail asked from the doorway, his voice gruff with fatigue. Even after fifteen years of Foundation service, he still couldn't hide his concern from her.
"Seventy-three percent and dropping." Anya pulled up the latest neural scans on her tablet. "But that's not what worries me. Look at the pattern of degradation." She handed him the device, pointing to a sequence of brain activity readings. "It's not random. The semantic breakdown is following the same mathematical progression we're seeing in the ziggurat's calculations."
Mikhail studied the data, his weather-beaten face tightening. Their relationship had been strained since the Kyoto incident five years ago, when he'd had to choose between protocol and saving her research team. He'd chosen protocol. She'd lost three colleagues. But now, watching Harris draw impossible constellations with trembling fingers, old grievances seemed petty against the cosmic horror they faced.
"The containment barriers—" he began.
"Aren't enough," she finished. "This isn't just information leaking through, Misha. It's... restructuring how their brains process reality itself. Each exposed researcher shows the same pattern. They're not going mad – they're being *reprogrammed*."
The facility's lights flickered, a three-second disruption that sent shadows dancing in patterns that shouldn't be possible. In his cell, Harris paused his drawing and turned toward them, his eyes reflecting constellations that wouldn't exist for millennia.
"Dr. Vance wants to try something," Mikhail said, his hand instinctively checking his sidearm. "She's been working with the symbology team on a new kind of psychic shield. Not just blocking the signals, but—"
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"Redirecting them." Anya nodded. "I saw her proposal. It's brilliant, but dangerous. We'd be using human consciousness as a filter, trying to translate these cosmic mathematics into something our minds can process without breaking."
She turned to her brother fully, seeing not just the hardened security commander but the boy who used to sneak her extra rations in the orphanage. "We'd need volunteers. People willing to risk their sanity to understand what we're dealing with."
"The O5s won't like it," Mikhail warned.
"The O5s don't have to watch their researchers' minds unravel into eleven dimensions." Anya's voice cracked slightly. "I lost Yuri this morning. He was cataloging temporal echoes in Sector 7 when... when he started speaking in a language that made the air ripple. By the time we got him to medical, half his memories had been rewritten with star charts."
A tremor ran through the facility – not physical, but something deeper, as if reality itself shuddered. The lights flickered again, and for a moment, the shadows cast by the medical equipment formed perfect geometric patterns that extended into spaces that shouldn't exist.
"Incoming priority alert," announced the facility's AI. "Multiple containment breaches detected in Sectors 4 through 9. Reality anchor stability at 82% and declining. All personnel, implement Protocol Kronos-7 immediately."
Mikhail's radio crackled with desperate chatter as security teams mobilized. But Anya was already moving, pulling up personnel files on her tablet. They'd need specific psychological profiles for Vance's experiment – researchers with high psychic resilience and advanced pattern recognition abilities.
"I'll need access to the restricted personnel database," she called to her brother as he headed for the door. "And Misha..." He paused. "Be careful. The temporal echoes... they're not just images anymore. Team 4 encountered something solid in Sector 12. Something wearing robes covered in that eye spiral pattern."
He nodded grimly. "You too, Anya. And... I'm sorry. About Kyoto."
A small smile touched her lips. "I know. Now go save our reality while I try to save our minds."
She turned back to her patient. Harris had finished his star chart and was starting another, his movements precise despite his trembling hands. The mathematics of madness spread across his walls in perfect, terrible symmetry. And in the depths of Site-██, the ziggurat's pulse quickened, its alien calculations spinning out across human consciousness like threads in a cosmic web.
The intercom crackled: "Dr. Volkov to Research Wing B. Dr. Vance requires immediate consultation on psychic shielding calibrations."
Anya gathered her tablets and neural scanning equipment. As she left the medical bay, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the reinforced window. For a moment, just a moment, she could have sworn her eyes held the same constellation patterns as Harris's.
The race to understand what they faced had become a race against time itself. And time, in Site-██, was becoming an increasingly fluid concept.
---
Medical Advisory: Immediate Implementation
Date: August 30, 2023
From: Dr. A. Volkov
Re: Updated Psychological Screening Protocols
1. All personnel to undergo hourly consciousness retention testing
2. Implementation of new neural pattern recognition software
3. Mandatory dream logging for all research staff
4. Enhanced psychic dampening in residential sectors
5. Review of all patient artwork for anomalous mathematical patterns
Note: Any personnel experiencing "stellar synchronicity" or "geometric dysphoria" to report to Medical immediately.
END ADVISORY