Imix yawned as Inspector Valkor finished his sanctimonious prefacing and finally pressed the play button. What he saw was quite an unusual Holograph. It wasn't three-dimensional at all. It was like a moving painting; a relic of a darker age for artists where their creations were imprisoned in a cell of only two dimensions.
As someone who dabbled in art, Imix was quite intrigued by what he saw. It showed a cartoon of heroes battling all sorts of ogres, imps, and demons with magical powers. One fashioned what looked like a dal-saber from his hand consisting purely of magical force and used it to hack his way through a horde of demons, another blasted waves of energies at enemies from a distance.
The clip changed, this one now showed two men battling each other as they soared through the air. One man was clearly on the disadvantage and his opponent smugly dealt him the final blow, only for the man to block his attack. His appearance had changed dramatically and now his body was literally radiating with power.
The clip changed. This time it showed a magician who dilated the space-time around himself so he could kill his opponent without fear of reprisal... until his opponent's head turned and looked at him.
Another clip, two magicians channeled their arcane energies and fired off beams of raw energy that reminded him of a Ulixian battlecruiser's particle guns. The beams clashed, turning into a shoving match of pure destructive energy.
The next clip showed two warrior magicians in a battle that left him breathless, Everytime he thought one was fatally wounded, the warrior magician would suddenly smirk or make some witty remark then crumble into dust, revealing that he had merely struck an illusion. After several twists and turns the scene suddenly rewinds back to the first clash of short swords, revealing that all this time, one of them was running simulations in his head. Armed with this knowledge the actual fight ended in a few strokes, with not a spell cast.
In another clip, a cartoonish companion dispensed conveniently relevant items, though his friend often misused them to hilarious results.
In another clip, a knight battled a demon king. At first, the hero's strikes and magic attacks were futile with the demon king revealing his repertoire of spells that nullified the attacks, yet as the fight progressed more and more injuries were accruing. To his horror; the Demon King realized that the Hero's magic was acting like a bug in programming, that the syntax of spells he was defending himself with created contradictions which in turn increased his vulnerability.
The next clip was more grounded but still highly fictionalized. A man is killed through means of foul play. A probable suspect is found, but the young protagonist; acting like a Commissar of Law, produces evidence that not only exonerates the suspect but reveals the true culprit.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Another showed two fierce warriors engaged in mortal combat in an arena. The injuries depicted were graphic and debilitating surely, yet somehow both combatants powered through the pain and gruesome injuries until one finally collapsed.
"Do you undestand the implications now, doctor?" The little inspector asked him.
"No, I don't, inspector" Imix replied., his scaly skin adopting an annoyed green hue. "What's a few museum piece non-holo movies have to do with anything?"
"Tell me, do the subjects in the holographs you see resemble subject 8832's species?"
"Yes. I would say apart from the fantastical element, those are his species." Imix slouched over.
"You're quite correct, doctor."
"Alright, so they're not museum pieces, they're just cathode tube piec-"
"Liquified Crystal actually, or in some cases, near-microscopic diode arrays.
Now, you gave Subject 8832 regular doses of Aranikila-52 as well as implanted on him a psychic uhhh..." The little inspector glared at the long name on his datapad and frowned. "...you attached a psychic enabling device on him. Correct?"
Imix sighed, "Are you seriously suggesting that subject 8832's first thoughts are to emulate those movies? What is he, some kind of delinquent youngling? Regularly sneaking into Manling Fantasy Pods and skipping school?"
"No doctor, that's regular, easily accessible broadcast material from 8832's homeworld. Anyone in their youngling state has been exposed to these broadcasts."
Imix waved a hand at Vault 12's untouched, undamaged door.
"Then he should have escaped! Where's the holes on the wall?"
Valkor leaned forward, his six eyes narrowing accusingly "...what makes you think he's still there?"
It took several minutes to disengage the locks and the door finally opened to reveal an empty stasis chamber.
"I should tell you something about the human psyche and their zeitgeist, doctor... Teleportation? That's a very, very common concept."
"This doesn't make sense. How can such a primitive species have a concept for..."
"Humans do not make sense. You're the scientist here, you have a better inkling on this quantum technology crap and therefore all of its limitations if any... you're going to help us track him down and extract the device all without him knowing it."
"That's impossible! First of all, even if we do succeed in disarming it, I'll be ruined! I'll be exposed as someone who bought an illegal specimen from a No-Go world!"
"At least there'll be a jail for you, doctor."
The Inspector pressed the play button again, this time what the next clip showed him was so horrifying that his mind had blanked out several times.
He saw spores... he saw the addled perception of a warped mind from an existentially dreadful parasite. He saw people react to a glimpse of an unspeakable horror before their minds collapsed. He saw entire worlds condemned to a hell of becoming a single suffering entity, unable to even scream in the eternal horror it was thrust in. He saw gods and devils; constructs of blind faith given flesh.
"...there are darker things given form by human minds."