Foundation Site-197 Dispatch Log
Date: June 15, 2023
Location: Antarctic Research Station Delta-7
Priority: URGENT
Classification: LEVEL 4/XXXX
FROM: Dr. Emma, Geological Anomalies Division
TO: O5-7, Sites Director Marshall
RE: Anomalous Readings in Sector 17-B
Preliminary ground-penetrating radar shows structure approximately 70m below ice sheet. Dimensions inconsistent with known geological formations. Thermal imaging indicates localized temperature variance of +3.7°C above surrounding ice mass. Request immediate containment team deployment.
---
The wind howled across the Antarctic plateau, a banshee's wail that rattled the reinforced windows of Research Station Delta-7. Dr. Emma huddled over her third cup of coffee, eyes fixed on monitoring equipment that shouldn't be showing what it was showing. The radar display pulsed with impossible geometries – a perfect ziggurat buried deep in the ice, its angles too precise to be natural, too ancient to be human.
"Dr. Emma?" Marcus Webb, her assistant, appeared at her shoulder, frost still clinging to his thermal gear. "Second team's back. They're picking up the same readings. And... there's something else."
She followed him to the station's main lab, where Dr. James Kaufman, their senior archaeologist, was arranging artifacts on a heated examination table. Her breath caught. Spread before them were fragments of obsidian tablets, their surfaces etched with symbols that seemed to shift when viewed directly.
"Found these in the ice core samples," Kaufman said, his voice tight with controlled excitement. "The dating's impossible – the ice layer suggests they're at least 32,000 years old, but the symbols..." He gestured to a tablet fragment. "This is clearly derived from proto-Sumerian script. Which shouldn't exist here. Shouldn't exist *anywhere* this old."
Emma leaned closer, squinting at the glyphs. For a moment, they appeared to writhe beneath her gaze, forming patterns that made her eyes water. A wave of vertigo washed over her, accompanied by a high-pitched whine just at the edge of hearing.
"There's more," Webb said, pulling up thermal imaging on the main display. "The heat signature... it's not constant. It's pulsing. Like a heartbeat."
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
The monitor showed a time-lapse of the buried structure over the past 24 hours. The temperature fluctuations followed a precise pattern – one that matched no known geological or atmospheric phenomenon. Emma felt her scientific certainty crumbling as she watched the ziggurat *breathe*.
"The symbology team is en route from Site-19," Kaufman continued, but his voice seemed distant. "They're sending Dr. Eleanor Vance. Apparently she's their expert on archaic—" He stopped abruptly as all the monitors in the lab flickered in unison.
The radar display shifted, showing new dimensions appearing and folding in on themselves. The temperature readings spiked. And through the howling Antarctic wind, they heard it – a low, rhythmic humming that seemed to emanate from the ice itself.
Emma reached for the secure command line, her hands steady despite the dread coiling in her stomach. "This is Dr. Emma at Delta-7. We need immediate deployment of a Level 4 containment team. I repeat, Level 4 containment. We have an active archaeological anomaly with possible cognitohazard effects and—"
The lights went out.
In the darkness, the humming grew louder, and Emma could have sworn she saw constellations shifting in the depths of the obsidian fragments – patterns that spoke of geometries beyond human comprehension. When emergency power kicked in thirty seconds later, frost had formed on every surface in complex, fractal patterns that weren't quite symmetrical, weren't quite *right*.
The secure line crackled with static before a voice cut through: "Delta-7, this is Mobile Task Force Sigma-3 'Bibliographers'. Hold position. We're inbound with Dr. Vance and a preliminary containment team. Do not approach the excavation site. Repeat: do not approach the site."
Emma looked through the reinforced windows at the endless Antarctic night, where aurora australis danced in colors that shouldn't exist in nature. Beneath the ice, something ancient was stirring, its dreams bleeding into reality. The Foundation would contain it, study it, as they always did. But as she watched Webb carefully bag the obsidian fragments, his hands shaking slightly, she couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't just uncovering an artifact.
They were waking something up.
---
Incident Report Addendum:
Date: June 16, 2023
Time: 0347 hours
Three researchers from night shift reporting auditory hallucinations. Obsidian fragments have been moved to secure containment. Dr. Kaufman expressing concerns about "constellation patterns" in ice formations. Site-19 containment team ETA 6 hours. Dr. Vance requests full psychic shielding for initial survey team.
Notable phenomena:
- Continued temperature fluctuations in geometric patterns
- Unexplained equipment malfunctions
- Visual distortions in photographs of excavation site
- Reports of "singing" from ice core samples
- Aurora australis displaying "non-standard" color variations
- Increased pressure readings from beneath ice sheet
Preliminary containment protocols established. Awaiting full Foundation response team.
END LOG