Project
Silence: DETACHMENT
Department of Collation
Office of Corporeal
Observation
(Subdivision: North American
Continent)
Commerce Park
Classification: NTN
(Verification: SERAPH)
List of entities present at this meeting:
Major Gladys NMI Chang, MD, USMC (AFMIC) (Fated)
Bruce Thomas Dreiser, MD, PhD, CDC (Null)
Brigadier General Thomas Francis McKenzie, USMC
(DIA) (Unresolved)
Colonel Gregory NMI Rodgers, USA (INSCOM) (Unresolved)
Lt. Colonel Walter Jose Francis Rodriguez, USAF
(NRO) (Unresolved)
Captain Henry NMI Vanderbilt, USN (ONI) (Destined)
Special Agent Gerald Ivan Wilson, Federal Bureau of
Investigation (Behavioral Science) (Unresolved)
Transcript begins.
McKenzie: Is everyone here?
(Several voices in agreement; various sounds of
chairs being moved, coffee being poured and other minutiae)
McKenzie:
Good. I know this meeting was
called on short notice, so I'm glad that your various agencies at least were
still able to send representatives.
We'll just have to soldier on without the input from Central
Intelligence and the NSA boys.
Rodriguez: And this is bad how?
(General laughter)
McKenzie: Walter, if you can still
laugh when we're finished the briefing, I'll be a happy man. Yes, Henry?
Vanderbilt: Tom, is this meeting
related to the agenda from the last one?
McKenzie: No, Tom. The brass still hasn't decided what our
formal policy should be towards the Parasites.
Until they do, your team is still cleared to work with them. Just don't trust them.
Vanderbilt: Of course. We haven't forgotten the trouble that
'Apollo' caused.
Rodgers: On that note, Tom: some
of my people have found yet another bunch of Parasites.
Vanderbilt: Who are they
pretending to be this time?
Rodgers: Some Central European
pantheon that nobody's ever heard of: even the bookworms had to look them
up. The report should be in your inbox
tomorrow.
McKenzie: Let's move along. I've called all of you here tonight because
of a very troubling trend in several of our operational theaters. Several operations have been hampered or
ended in failure, and we've had a devil of time figuring out why. Eventually, though, we got lucky. Major Chang and Special Agent Wilson are
prepared to brief you on how. Gladys,
if you would start?
Chang: Of course, Sir. Sirs, several weeks ago a standard recon
team working in the Baltimore metropolitan area was essentially wiped out by
extra-dimensional entities. This has
happened in the past; however, what made this particular atrocity noteworthy
was that it soon became clear that our command structure had become somehow
compromised from the very beginning. My
combat interrogation team and I were called in to investigate.
We were able to track the
instigators of the atrocity through the use of Parasite and Renegade
intelligence and a lot of old-fashioned detective work. We were fortunate that their lair was in an
area where we could work without too much potential interference; despite that,
the raid nearly failed on its own. To
use a pun, the opposing commander of the extra-dimensional entities showed a
most diabolical intelligence when it came to countering our tactics. We discovered why when we were finally able
to forcibly debrief it.
Preliminary investigation clearly
indicated that the opposing commander was what AFMIC calls a Destroyer of the
Horde aliens; its faction was later deemed to be that of CONSUMER. We didn't take any chances: a combination of
certain captured extra-dimensional internal security equipment and enough
morphine to kill an elephant managed to get the Destroyer secured and ready for
field interrogation. Colonel Rodriguez,
you had a comment?
Rodriguez: Only my usual one: I
would like to state for the record, yet again, that both my group and I oppose
the use of such interrogation methods in the strongest possible terms, and will
not permit them in our own bailiwick.
Just kill them and be done with it: we're soldiers, not the fucking Gestapo.
Chang: And I would remind you,
Sir, of Godwin's Law.
McKenzie: Major.
Chang: My apologies, Sir,
Colonel. I spoke from heat.
Rodriguez: Very well: it's over
and done with. What did you get out of
the poor bastard?
Chang: Quite a bit - and may I add
that the 'poor bastard', when we interrupted it, was in the process of eating a human
being? There is little that we could do
to its kind that would not be justified, in my opinion. At any rate, a surface interrogation gleaned
the usual fragmentary amounts of useful intelligence from the supernatural
claptrap; deeper probing, however, provided information that was much more
disturbing. The use of certain stimuli
caused a drastic shift: suddenly, we had a completely different
personality. Worse, it was someone that
was known to us.
Several months ago, my group lost
one of our most energetic and zealous members to enemy action. His name was Captain Jason McLeod, and I can
personally assure all of you to both his utter loyalty to our cause and his
demise. It was a shock to hearing his
voice come out of the mouth of that thing, and it was all I could do to not
resolve the status of the Destroyer then and there.
After some trial and error, we
were able to determine that the entity was not, in point of fact, McLeod: it
had access to many of our fallen colleague's memories, and could be fooled into
thinking that it was McLeod, but it wasn't any more human than the rest
of its kind. However, we were able to
determine that a judicious use of biochemical therapy and physical stimuli
could keep the McLeod personality dominant long enough for debriefing.
A full report is in your dossiers:
to summarize, the McLeod personality reported that it had spent an
indeterminate amount of time as a prisoner of the Horde. It did not have an easy time of it: the
personality had apparently been continuously tormented and brutalized until it
had revealed all knowledge of our group and our mission. After this had been done, the personality had
somehow been shifted into the vessel of the entity that we had captured and
forced to serve as a living encyclopedia of betrayal. The extra-dimensional entities were thus able to forecast the
recon team's moves and tactics to deadly effect. Yes, Colonel Rodgers?
Rodgers: Major Chang, what was
done with the entity after your... debriefing was completed?
Chang: We resolved its status,
Colonel.
Rodgers: You mean that you
permanently killed it.
Chang: Yes, Colonel.
Rodgers: You did not think the
phenomenon worthy of further study?
Chang: Of course, Sir, but other
factors overweighed that consideration.
Rodgers: Such as, Major?
Chang: Morale, Sir. This was something like a former member of my team,
Sir: it was a unanimous decision to give it surcease.
Rodgers: I see.
Chang: With all due respect, Sir,
I do not believe that you do. It was a unanimous decision.
Rodgers: Do you mean to say that
you required an interrogation subject to cast a vote about his own execution?
Chang: It was the entity's own
suggestion, Sir. It could feel the
Destroyer beginning to regain consciousness.
(Silence.)
McKenzie: I think that we should
move on from here. Gladys, thank you
for your report.
Chang: Of course, Sir.
McKenzie: The other case study
that I want to bring to your attention comes from the civilian side of our
struggle. Special Agent Wilson?
Wilson: Thank you, General. Well, my report isn't nearly so grim, but
it's a bit more troubling, we think. My
group got called in during a fairly nasty child pornography case in Omaha,
Nebraska: the local SAC there made a Mulder call...
Vanderbilt: "Mulder"? Oh, that television program. Never mind.
Wilson: I hate the name, myself -
don't ask me what I thought about the show - but it's not my call to make. Anyway, enough weird things were going on
that my team got sent out.
Unfortunately, there were already a couple of dead kids, so it didn't
look too odd that we stepped in.
It was clear right from the start
that Eedees were involved: the gizmos were tracking psychokinetic energy
residue so thick that you could almost taste it in the air. We were expecting to encounter members of
LECHER faction, of course; we weren't sure about which actual type, but judging
from the existing evidence we reasoned that Slavers and Deceivers were the most
likely bet, so none of us went anywhere in groups of less than three - and I do
mean anywhere. The next week or so was pretty quiet: the
dossiers have the details, but the investigation stayed fairly routine.
After a week or so, though, the
gizmos started going even more nuts... and the bodies started showing up all
over town. We were able to investigate
and dissect enough corpses to realize that we had stumbled onto a full-fledged
fight between the Seelie and the Unseelie factions of the Eedees. That's what we in the Bureau call them, by
the way. Neither side was paying too
much attention to keeping things quiet, either: our team learned more about how
to use our gizmos in two weeks than we had in the past six months.
Now, during all of this my team is
still trying to track down and shut down the kiddy porn pushers, and we must
have attracted some attention, because on day 15 of the faction war I got an
untraceable call on my cell phone informing me of the best time and place to do
my job. As per standing orders, I
attempted to determine what kind of Seelie I was dealing with: it didn't start
spluttering when I suggested that it was lying to me, so it wasn't a Polygraph,
and it didn't get panicky when I didn't take the bait of 'immediate danger'
towards kids, so I'm guessing that it wasn't a Mama Bear or a Gossip. If I had to guess, I'd say it was probably a
Spock, or maybe a Kamikaze. Assuming
that it wasn't one of the Unseelie, of course.
Not being fools, my team and I
weren't about to charge in blind. We
made sure to have plenty of surveillance equipment on and around us as we
checked out the situation. We also
showed up very early, which allowed us to get some good footage of the
fighting. It would seem that while the
Seelie Eedees wanted us to make the bust, they wanted to do the serious
ass-kicking first.
All things considered, the fight
itself was anticlimactic: once it became clear that there weren't any human
hostages in the line of fire, we held back and took lots of pictures as the
Unseelie got their heads handed to them.
Once the fight was over and the Seelie had left... yes, Major?
Chang: Special Agent Wilson, did you attempt to interdict the 'Seelie'
extra-dimensional entities as they made their escape?
Wilson: Let me put it this way,
Major Chang: I'll start 'interdicting' alien invaders that are armed to the
teeth with automatic weapons that violate known physical law on the day that
either the Bureau or the Project deigns to arm me with something more
potent than a service pistol. I'm a
cop, remember? People in this country
tend to react badly to even the idea of G-Men with machine guns. So, we ended up taking pictures and cleaning
up after those arrogant bastards. They
were thorough about it, I'll grant them that much.
We thought that the story ended
there, but we were wrong. Post-mission
investigation of the video footage revealed a ... very interesting
participant. Let me put on the slide
projector.
(Sounds of surprise and consternation.)
Wilson: I see that some of you
recognize Captain George Fraser.
Rodriguez: It can't be. I attended his funeral. I saw the footage of his death, damn it.
Wilson: I'm afraid that it is, Colonel.
Once we knew whom - or what - we were looking for, we were able to
positively identify the putative Captain on three later occasions. On the last of those occasions, we were even
able to make brief verbal contact: the contact officer in question was a friend
of Fraser's, and is personally certain that it was him. There's no evidence to suggest
otherwise. We seem to have at least one
dead man walking around.
Rodriguez: What... what happened
to him?
Wilson: 'Captain Fraser'? He wouldn't comment on it too much, and
unlike some of our - colleagues, Behavioral Science doesn't exactly have either
the resources or the right mindset for involuntary debriefings. 'Fraser' claimed to have been sent back down
from 'Heaven' to help fix some of the problems caused by the Eedees; he also
had some pithy comments to make about the Project. Past that, the contact officer couldn't get anything we could
use.
Rodriguez: I'm sorry, Special
Agent: what I meant was, what happened to Fraser after your fellow agent
encountered him?
Wilson: 'Fraser' got up and walked
out the door. As I've mentioned before,
the Project doesn't exactly provide my group with the gear we'd need for proper
interdictions. 'Fraser' hasn't been
seen since, by the way.
(Pregnant silence)
McKenzie: Thank you for your
report as well, Special Agent Wilson.
So, gentlemen - Major Chang - you begin to see what we're dealing with,
here. These aren't the only reports of
individuals apparently returning from the grave; once we knew what we were
looking for, not a few other reports started making a whole Hell of a lot more
sense.
What we have to do now is figure
out what to do about it. Luckily, the
CDC has come through for us again: they've sent us a specialist from one of
their most interesting projects. Dr.
Dreiser?
Dreiser: Thank you, General. Good evening, gentlemen, lady.
Rodriguez: Excuse me. Dr. Thomas Dreiser? The same Dr. Dreiser that was the primary
author of the standard field manual on vampire detection?
Dreiser: Yes, Lieutenant Colonel.
Rodriguez: Chapter 6 is a load of
crap. Your pardon, Major.
Chang: No need. It is.
(Faint laughter)
Dreiser: The latest version has
been revised in response to commentary from the field. I believe that you will find it more
satisfactory.
Rodriguez: Good to know.
Dreiser: I suppose. I am here to discuss the current situation
that the Project is undergoing, however.
If I may continue?
I am mostly here to make certain
that the Project as a whole, and yourselves in particular, do not spend time
considering possible answers that we at the Center for Disease Control have
already considered and discarded. We
have been analyzing the problem for quite some time, which has allowed us to
eliminate the more egregious fallacies - and come up with an acceptable
solution.
The first fallacy that must be
addressed is of course the one that none will admit to publicly considering:
that these incidents merely indicate that the story given to us by the
extra-dimensional entities is essentially true and accurate.
(Pause at silence)
Come now, gentlemen, lady, this is
hardly a taboo subject. Many of you are
religious individuals by background and inclination: it would be unnatural for
you not to wonder whether these entities are not 'angels' and 'demons' in
truth, especially considering that they seem to have access to those of us who
have ceased to live. This is an easy
hypothesis to disprove, however: the home conditions of both the 'Host' and the
'Horde', while superficially resembling those of most depictions of the
afterlife, break down utterly when examined closely. For example, I personally find it disingenuous that an entity
that professes to be a Roman Catholic 'angel' can also profess to not know the
actual status of Jesus Christ - or God, for that matter. Likewise, a demon that has never seen Satan,
fearfully swears to the existence of a human 'Princess' taken directly from
Talmudic legend, and serves a 'Prince' of television sets? Such obvious lies are an insult to the
intelligence.
The second hypothesis - that these
creatures spring from the collective belief of human consciousness, and must
intrude upon our world to survive - is more plausible, but equally flawed. I admit that there are entities that do
exist in such a fashion, but they are an entire quantum level lower in power
than our main adversaries. Furthermore,
we have acquired technological equipment that is clearly superior to our
current theoretical and practical capacity, yet perfectly capable of functioning
in our reality. Jung's collective
unconscious may produce archetypes, but I have yet to hear of it producing a
single prototype.
(Laughter from one or two individuals)
Ah. A joke. My apologies.
As I was stating, it is the collective
opinion of the Project's operatives at the Center for Disease Control that the
Project's working assumption - that we are being invaded by entities from
another dimension that have taken on the trappings of common cultural beliefs
and superstitions - remains accurate.
As the theory is thus deemed still viable, it behooves us to consider
how current evidence can be explained in the simplest manner. We at the Center for Disease Control believe
that our current theory explains the existing facts, without contradicting the
current hypothesis.
It is of course well known that
the extra-dimensional entities have a varying amount of personal control over
matter and energy: those doubting this would do well to consider the official
dossiers and reports that deal with the extra-dimensional faction leader
code-named WANDERER. It is equally well
known, as just mentioned, that the extra-dimensional entities' command of
science and technology is markedly superior to that of our own, if not always
as reliable. Those facts, considered
together, suggests that it is well within the capacity of our adversaries to
duplicate exact copies of anything they desire, including human beings.
What makes this of critical
importance to the Project is that said duplication can and does act at the
molecular level, which would logically include the neural network of a standard
human brain. Thus, the
extra-dimensional entities would therefore be able to recreate a given human
being... complete with all memories existing at the time of the duplication.
I see that this has gotten your
attention. Obviously, this state of
affairs puts the entire Project in jeopardy: if any member of it can be
duplicated without his or her knowledge, then forcibly debriefed, then we are
all potential traitors. It thus
behooves us to prepare a countermeasure - and we have done so, using a
combination of captured extra-dimensional equipment and our own research.
Two years ago, operatives from the
Project managed to capture both equipment and human traitors working for the
extra-dimensional faction leader code-named MANSON. Interrogation of these captives soon ascertained that they had
gone through a process of fairly drastic physical modification; while crude and
hardly safe, it showed some promise in general, and much more when considered
for our current difficulties. The
modifications seemed to be designed to permit an indefinite expansion of
lifespan and an increased ability to use psychokinetic energy; one side effect
was that the combination of chemicals and exposure to certain types of
radiation used in the conversion process completely altered the method by which
memories were stored in the brain. It
was swiftly determined that this alteration made it effectively impossible to
others to remotely duplicate another's psyche at any time: this caused our team
to consider it as a method of keeping the Project's secrets safe.
The procedure itself is
straightforward. Using adapted MANSON
technology, a volunteer is inserted into the conversion chamber, where his or
her blood and neurons are replaced with a pseudo-volatile chemical serum that
duplicates the functions of both. The
nature of this serum is available only for those with Top Secret (DETACHMENT) clearance,
but suffice it to say that it is psychokinetically active, cannot be duplicated
and acts as a general preservation agent.
We have determined that agents so treated no longer require sleep, food
or drink, do not age and are immune to all sickness and disease. The procedure also allows them a full range
of psychokinetic abilities, although this remains rudimentary without proper
training.
There are, however, side
effects. To begin with, the process
itself is not foolproof. Only
volunteers in the peak of human condition are capable of successfully
undergoing the procedure, and in some cases the transformation fails. In most cases, the subject may still be
stabilized, at the cost of psychokinetic warping or even severe brain trauma. The aforementioned warping invariably
results in a need for constant refreshment of certain key trace elements and
compounds: we have developed palliatives to alleviate that difficulty, but the
cost remains high.
Also, even when the process is
successful the serum notably affects the subject's neural network, to the point
where the pleasure centers of the brain effectively shut down. Fortunately, this is not a debilitating
drawback...
Wilson: You're kidding me.
Dreiser: No, Special Agent Wilson,
I am not. The sensation is less
traumatic than one might think; there is still available a certain
intellectualized pleasure that can be derived from aesthetics or logic. Much what we call 'pleasure' is simply a
learned response to outside stimuli:
those with already developed habits will adapt readily. Furthermore, the pain centers of the brain
likewise become inoperable: I am certain that all here can grasp the possible
benefits of that condition.
Finally, the process does not take
into account human body aesthetics; some of the physical changes can be disconcerting. For example, a small amount of necrosis from
decreased blood circulation will eventually manifest; fortunately, a judicious
use of both psychokinetic energy and any locally available deodorants has
proven to be a satisfactory solution to this particular problem. Regular applications of cosmetics usually
solve the others.
Vanderbilt: Still, Doctor, how well can people with this
treatment function in normal society?
Dreiser: Judge for yourself, Captain Vanderbilt: I have successfully
undergone the procedure.
(Pause)
Chang: So you can personally
attest to the efficacy of the procedure then, Doctor?
Dreiser: Yes. I will not deny that there is an unavoidable
period of time where one must adjust to the new condition, but on the whole the
process has resulted in a noteworthy increase in my productivity and
efficiency. I have also been able to
more successfully perceive and utilize both ambient and harnessed psychokinetic
energy in all its forms since my conversion, so I am on the whole satisfied
with the results, and I recommend that anyone given a similar opportunity take
it.
(Pause)
Rodriguez: Immortality, you say?
Dreiser: As near as we can
determine: we will of course need further time to prove this, one way or the
other. As it stands, I do not see any
reason why the condition cannot remain stable indefinitely.
This is, however, not the reason
why Project DETACHMENT has been brought to your attention. As mentioned before, we at the Center for
Disease Control had serendipitously discovered that the conversion process
utterly disrupts the bioelectric energies that our adversaries are apparently
using to duplicate our deceased operatives: field use of captured technology
from factions OZONE and FRANKENSTEIN confirms that no successful harvesting of
psyches has occurred to Detached individuals killed in the line of duty.
Due to metaphysical engineering
limitations, it is only possible to use the procedure on volunteers that are
fully aware of the potential risks.
Each one of you has been determined to have an above-average chance to
successfully undergo Detachment: you will find in your dossiers contact
information, should you decide to explore this matter further...
Mackenzie: Excuse me, Doctor -
Dreiser: Of course.
Mackenzie: I would like to make it
clear that there is no obligation for any of you to volunteer. There isn't any unspoken obligation, either:
refusal will have no effect on either your overt or covert careers. I'd like to
say that the Project understands if you don't want your brain fiddled with like
this - but it's really because any hint of hesitation on your parts can and
will be disastrous, and our higher-ups don't want to risk all the training that
they put into us. I'd be annoyed at
that cold-bloodedness myself, if I wasn't busy being so relieved.
(Nervous laughter, followed by pause)
Chang: For myself, I think that I
will look forward to seeing more information on this. Will we be able to discuss this with other members of our
respective groups?
Dreiser: There is a list of names
in each individual dossier: you may provide those individuals with whatever
information that you see fit.
Otherwise, remember standard security restrictions.
Chang: Of course.
Mackenzie: I would like to thank
Dr. Dreiser for his report and time. I
think that I may speak for the Project as a whole when I say that the very
existence of our cause may well depend on your work, sir.
Dreiser: Not just our cause,
General Mackenzie: our very souls themselves.
Transcript Ends.
Mechanical Notes
Yes, we're talking about
Undead. Normal rules, except that Mummy
candidates have to have 6 Forces to start with and the standard Need for Zombis
and Vampires is for a fluid only made by Project Silence: DETACHMENT. Don't ask what's in it: really, don't. A surgically implanted container dispenses
the stuff: a standard pack lasts (30 divided by the level of Need) days. Any Undead kept away from it for more than a
day will effectively have Murderous/3 until they get replenished, or of course
'die'.