Delta Green - All Part of the Job

[Audrik]

Good Intentions - Session 1b

A man in a Guy Fawkes mask was sitting on the couch and talking as he took items out of a cardboard STOR-MOR box for the camera to see. One of the items was a necklace or amulet with what seemed to be a poorly carved humanoid figure. Within moments of lifting the amulet, what seemed to be inky-black moths appeared fluttering all over his arms, and spreading toward his head. He dropped the amulet, screaming and trying to brush away the darkness. Another man rushed from off screen to try to help, but he was immediately covered in the blackness as well. The first man fled down the hall, while the second stumbled to the kitchen and collapsed. Shortly thereafter, the shower began to run.

Agent SETH found the body of the second man in the kitchen. He was covered in a thin, dark film, and he appeared to have died in considerable pain. A quick search produced a wallet with a driver’s license identifying the man as Ronald Schumacher.

SAM ducked into one of the bedrooms, grabbed a pair of jeans and a hoodie that would fit her, and dressed quickly. Agent SETH told SAM to collect all the evidence from the living room. Once she was dressed, she took her sheet and began tossing the spilled contents of the box into it. She was careful not to touch anything with her skin.

Sergeant Gump climbed through the window with his Taser drawn, and he made his presence known. There was a brief two-way interrogation with both Agent SAM and Sergeant Gump demanding to know what the other was doing in the apartment. Agent SAM tried to disarm the Sergeant, but she was unsuccessful. They identified themselves; Agent SAM used her code name but gave her actual agency, and Sergeant Gump simply showed his badge. Recognizing a fellow INSCOM investigator, Agent SETH was a little more inclined to play nice, but he was still not going to let anything compromise the mission.

As SETH entered the bathroom, he saw a man in jeans and a hoodie sitting in the bath tub, and hugging his knees. The shower was on, and the man was soaking wet. He looked up at Agent SETH with an expression that was vacant, and yet still terrified. SETH pointed his gun at the man and asked for identification. He said his name was Garrett Duncan. Agent SETH interrogated Duncan at gunpoint, and the man admitted to breaking in to the STOR-MOR locker. He said some government agents – “a Patriot Act Wet-Works Team” – had murdered a shopkeeper and stolen a box of items. He followed them to the storage facility, and then later that night, he and his roommate decided to see just what was so important to the government that they felt the need to assassinate a law-abiding small business owner.

Mr. Duncan was obviously not completely in his right mind, but he seemed aware of his situation. Agent SETH advised him that he was under arrest, and asked him to come quietly, but Duncan only laughed. SETH threatened him with the gun, but Duncan laughed again. He said he wasn’t going anywhere, and he challenged SETH to shoot. If Duncan didn’t make a few important calls in the morning to let some people know he was fine, a very dangerous video would be released all over the internet, and the government would be powerless to cover it up.

He may have been bluffing, but even with his background in Psychology, Agent SETH couldn’t be sure. The man had been recently traumatized. He was most likely harmless on his own, so SETH left him. Recovering the stolen objects, and destroying the video evidence would be enough.

He opened the door to find Sergeant Gump. Yelling to SAM to grab the items and laptop, and run, Agent SETH pushed past the Sergeant and headed down the hall. He didn’t listen when he was told to stop, and so Sergeant Gump fired his Taser. Agent SETH must have been expecting it because he easily sidestepped and made it to the living room. Agent SAM scooped up the sheet full of recovered items, and she ran out the front door. SETH made a move for the laptop, but the Sergeant tackled him. The struggle was a brief one, and Agent SETH won it handily. Once back on his feet, he grabbed the laptop and followed SAM. They hopped into the rental car and headed back to the storage facility.

Sergeant Gump took his turn at interrogating the man in the bath tub, but his results were similar to those of Agent SETH. He called his commanding officer to report. Upon hearing that the target’s apartment was broken into by an INSCOM Special Agent and a FinCEN investigator named “Agent SAM”, the commanding officer asked for a description of the INSCOM agent. He instructed Sergeant Gump to leave the target, and return to base as soon as possible. He did as ordered.

Agents SETH and SAM moved everything from the STOR-MOR facility to a new location, and then they parted ways. They’d had a rough couple days, and it was time to go home and relax. They’d only been home a few days when SETH was contacted by Agent TIMOTHY of T-Cell asking him to meet a potential DG recruit at his local Olive Garden in a couple days. He agreed, and he passed the invitation along to Agent SAM, or Agent ROSE as she was now known. She’d been offered leadership of a new R-Cell, and with a new cell comes a new name.

Agents SAM and ROSE met up at the designated spot, and it wasn’t long before they recognized their potential recruit; Master Sergeant Cramer Gump. Lunch went well, and the sales pitch didn’t take long. About an hour later, S-Cell had replaced SAM with a new agent; Agent SID.

 

[Audrik]

Contagion - Introduction

R-Cell
Agent RED – Chad Smith, USPS Inspector
Agent ROSE – Gia Jones, FinCEN Investigator, Leader of R-Cell – Computer crimes specialist (formerly Agent SAM)

S-Cell
Agent SERGE – Ferdinand Bazinet, Federal Research Division, French-language occult documents specialist
Agent SETH – Ian Trotter, INSCOM Special Agent, Leader of S-Cell – Army Intelligence criminal psychologist
Agent SID - Cramer Gump, INSCOM "Black" Ops Agent

Former Agents
Agent RAPSCALLION (deceased) – Tatom Merzos – U.S. Marshall’s office, Special Operations
Agent RAPUNZEL (deceased) – Yuki Anderson, FBI Forensic Pathologist
Agent RASPUTIN (retired) – Grigori Ruspokov, CDC Researcher/Surgeon – Russian-born naturalized citizen
Agent ROBIN (deceased) – Chika Takahashi, EPA Biologist and Environmental Scientist – Japanese-born naturalized citizen
Agent SÁBADO (deceased) – Marcus Hernandez, IRS Investigator – Computer crimes specialist
Agent SLEEPLESS (deceased) - Reginald Longbottom, NSA Cult Infiltration Specialist


The action in this Opera takes place a little more than four months later, in early March of 2010.

 

[Audrik]

Contagion - Session 1

Agents ROSE and SETH received encrypted emails from A-Cell instructing them to visit drop-boxes at their respective local FedEx stores, meet at the airport in Nashville, and head north to Bowling Green, KY. Their contact, Doctor Eustace Carrington of the Greenview Regional Hospital, would brief them. This was expected to be more of a training operation than an actual Opera. In the drop-boxes, they found ID badges for their cells, including new cell members. R-Cell’s badges were standard FBI, while S-Cell’s were CDC.

The agents all arrived safely in Nashville within about a half hour of each other. After confirming the new agents’ identities, they all exchanged superficial pleasantries on the way to the car rental desks. Agents ROSE and SETH each rented a vehicle for their respective cells, and an hour later they arrived at the hospital in Kentucky. The weather was nice, and the drive was pleasant.

It took little time to find Dr. Carrington. A woman at the front desk directed them to a lab down the hall. The doctor looked to be in his early 50s and of average build with short, brown hair. He was examining pictures of what appeared to be badly infected lacerations. Another monitor showed a patient in a hospital bed. The patient was connected to an IV and a few other beeping and pinging machines.

The doctor accepted S-Cell’s CDC credentials, but he questioned why the FBI had been called in. To his knowledge, there was no evidence of criminal activity, and even if there was, he thought the FBI only had jurisdiction over cases which crossed state lines. None of the agents really knew the law well enough to fast talk, but a simple “you watch too much television” seemed to ease his concern.

He related his knowledge of the situation. The patient is one Mitchell Haws, a surveyor. He was brought in the previous evening by a couple who had said they found him stumbling onto the road a few miles out of town. He had unidentified animal-like gashes which seemed to be the source of a fast-spreading bacterial infection which was literally devouring him. Dr. Carrington reported this to the CDC, and he was pleased that they had responded so quickly.

The agents examined the pictures, but they too were unable to identify the cause of the wounds. The bruises which accompanied the lacerations in some places led Agent SID to believe they were caused by something like a bear. There was a sound of twisting metal which sounded close by. The monitor which had been showing the patient now showed an empty bed, and a ventilation duct ripped open and hanging down.

Agent SETH immediately ran out of the lab waving his CDC credentials, and shouting for security to block all exits as there was a highly contagious patient on the loose. Fortunately, there were no patients and few hospital staff in the area, or the shouting might have started a panic. Dr. Carrington left to get a Hazmat suit. The new agents, RED and SERGE followed SETH as he took the stairs going up. Agent SID headed for the basement and underground parking garage, and ROSE remained in the lab to copy relevant files to her laptop and delete the hospital copies.

SID needed security to let him through the door at the bottom of the stairs, and after a quick flash of the badge, he was through. He looked around quickly, but he found nothing of immediate interest, and so he went back upstairs.

The three agents heading upstairs were stopped on the top floor by security. Apparently this floor housed mental patients and other potentially dangerous individuals. Agent SETH flashed his badge, shouted something about a contagious patient on the loose, and demanded roof access. The security guards were quick to comply.

Stepping through the hatch to the roof, Agent SETH looked around. There were several industrial air conditioners, but not much else. The agents looked over the edge of the roof to examine the outer walls, but there was nothing interesting to be found.

Dr. Carrington put on the Hazmat suit and then headed in the direction of the patient’s room. He was stopped by a nurse coming around the corner. She seemed panicked, and she told the doctor someone was lurking outside ICU. Dr. Carrington told her to get security, and have them page Agent Service (which was the name given by Agent SETH upon their initial meeting).

The hospital soon rang out with a call for “Agent Service” to report to ICU. The three rooftop agents, and Agent SID all headed for the ICU. When they arrived, everything looked normal, and the doctor on duty assured them that he hadn’t seen anything unusual. They looked around a bit, but they didn’t find anything.

It wasn’t too long before “Agent Service” was being paged once more; this time to the maternity ward. Agents SETH and SID headed up to the third floor and spoke to a nurse in the maternity ward. She was very disturbed. She hadn’t seen or heard anything, but in the course of her rounds, she discovered a newborn was missing. All of the infants were in their basinets on her last round, but this time, one was missing. The nurse had heard that there was a contagious patient on the loose, and she was quite worried. Agent SETH pulled the vent off the wall and squeezed himself inside the duct, which didn’t go a long way toward calming the nurse.

Agent SERGE decided to examine the patient’s room. It wasn’t much different from any other hospital room except that it had no windows and extra machines. Then there was the fact that the ventilation duct was ripped and hanging. He couldn’t tell just what had ripped the duct, but it was apparently done from the outside since the metal was bent inward.

Agent SID headed down the hall and found the Radiology labs. He looked around a bit, but it wasn’t until he was about to leave that he saw something. It was dark, but he was sure he saw something like smoke, or maybe pudding, filter itself from the room, through the vent, and into the duct. He immediately took out his phone and alerted Agent SETH who reacted to the news by drawing his gun and crawling deeper into the vent.

He came to the sort of intersection you really only find in ventilation ducts, space stations, and M.C. Escher artwork. He could continue straight, turn right, go back the way he’d come, go up, or go down. Before he could decide, something slow but nearly silent came from around the corner to the right. They were face to “face”, and SETH could barely make it out in the beam from his flashlight. It was a dark creature; in some ways like a human, in others like a snake, but it gave the impression it could change its shape easily. It opened a mouth full of sharp teeth and putrid breath before diving down the ventilation shaft.

Agent SETH fired two shots. He felt sure he’d hit the thing, but all he’d heard was the sound of a gun in an enclosed space, and a high-pitched ringing. Most of the rest of the hospital could hear the gunshots as well. When SETH had recovered his senses, he worked his way carefully down the shaft until he reached the second floor. He pulled himself a little way through the duct so that he wouldn’t fall.

Agent RED ran up the stairs to the second floor. He looked around, but he didn’t see anything suspicious. Dr. Carrington took the elevator which slowed and jerked to a halt halfway between the first and second floors. RED shouted that the doctor was on the elevator, but it had stopped. SID ran down the stairs to try to pry open the doors.

The lights went out, and the red emergency lighting came on. He pushed buttons, and though they lit up, they seemed to have little other effect. He didn’t see or hear the darkness filter through the ceiling behind him, but he smelled it. That caught his attention. He shouldn’t smell anything in that suit, but he was definitely smelling something akin to rotting flesh. Then he saw two thick but ropey arms wrap around him and felt them squeeze. He couldn’t muster the lung power to scream or the arm strength to break free. One rib cracked, then two, then three … Then his entire ribcage popped and crunched.

When Agent SID finally got the doors open, he saw the doctor’s crumpled form, he smelled rotting flesh, and he heard an instrumental version of Aerosmith’s “Love in an Elevator” coming from the speakers. He slowly got out his phone and called Agent SETH.

“Hey, SETH … We’ve got a problem."

 

[Audrik]

Contagion - Session 2

“The doctor’s dead. He’s in the elevator.”

Agent SETH kicked out the vent and climbed into the elevator shaft. He gently dropped down onto the elevator and opened the emergency hatch. Agent SID pointed to the doctor’s twisted body, and SETH dropped down. Another doctor was passing by, and noticed the open elevator stuck between floors. Upon taking a closer look, he asked the agents what was going on. Agent SID explained that Doctor Carrington had been attacked while helping to search for the escaped patient. The doctor checked Carrington’s vitals and declared him dead. He flagged down some hospital staff, and they took the body away.

Agent SETH called for all the agents to meet on the first floor to form a plan. It was decided that as this person or thing seemed to like the ventilation system, Agents SETH and SID would enter the vents on opposite sides of the third floor and sort of patrol; just circle around and listen for anything. ROSE and SERGE would keep an eye on the maternity ward while RED watched ICU.

SETH and SID crawled around in the vents for a while without seeing or hearing much of value. SETH got stuck for a moment at one point, but he managed to tighten himself up enough to move. The agents in the ventilation system eventually moved down a floor and tried the plan again with similar results. Then it was down to the first floor where they overheard someone talking about Doctor Carrington. Apparently, the Hazmat suit was still on the bed, but the body was missing.

SETH grumbled, and he headed down to the basement and kicked out the vent so that he could drop down. Agent SID followed. The basement was dark, and Agent SETH’s flashlight didn’t help enough. This was the floor with the incinerator and the morgue. Agent SETH’s flashlight passed over something against the wall, and SID called attention to it. Shining the light back in that direction and taking a closer look, the agents found the clean-picked bones of a tiny human.

Agent SETH declared the remains to be evidence, and so he promptly ordered Agent SID to throw them in the incinerator. There was a brief discussion about legality and morality, and apparently SID won. It wasn’t the moral victory he’d hoped for, but at least he didn’t have to incinerate the bones of a small murder victim. Agent SETH handled that part.

Back in the maternity ward, a television in the waiting room was running a local news story about a missing child. Eight-year-old Zachary Danvers had gone missing early in the morning, and he was last seen riding his bicycle through a construction area near where the escaped patient, Mr. Haws, had originally been found. Agents ROSE and SERGE were discussing the story when SETH and SID returned from the basement. There was no mention of the bones found in the basement, but Agent ROSE pointed out the news story. Though it would be getting dark soon, she and Agent SID decided to head out to the construction site to look around.

It was a short drive, and the search area was easy to spot. There were a few police cars along the side of the road, some officers were standing around. ROSE flashed her FBI badge quickly, and no one questioned it. SID followed without showing identification, and this wasn’t questioned either.

The lot was lightly wooded at first, and it opened to a large field of dirt which was in the process of being cleared and levelled by heavy machinery. The construction crew had all gone for the evening, so the agents were free to poke around. Their search turned up nothing around the machinery, but Agent ROSE’s smartphone flashlight app caught a glimpse of something in the woods.

Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a rusted oil drum or a barrel of some sort, but it had been ripped open by something large. The agents decided it had probably been hidden in the woods, or even buried, and then one of the construction vehicles must have torn it open.

ROSE looked around some more, and she managed to find a bicycle not too far from the barrel, and near that, a skeleton. Agent ROSE suspected this was the missing child, and she told SID to put the bones in his duffel bag. Again the questions of legality and morality, but this time SID lost. He did as he was asked, and they headed back to the car.

An officer asked if they’d found anything, and ROSE started to say it was too dark, but SID volunteered that they’d found a bicycle in the woods, and not much else. Agent ROSE flashed him a dirty look in the dying sunlight, and they got into the car. Next stop: the hospital.

They headed up to the maternity ward to find that Agent SETH had covered all the vents with plastic sheeting. While SID told SETH and SERGE about what they’d found, Agent ROSE went down to the first floor and found a security guard to let her into the basement. She found the morgue, and began poking around. She flipped through the rolodex on the small desk looking for the name of a bone specialist, or the number for the medical examiner. Before she could find what she was after, a cloud of roiling darkness coalesced into a vaguely humanoid shape behind her. She didn’t hear it or see it, but she could feel a wet breath on her neck, and there was an awful stench of decaying food or flesh.

Agent ROSE dropped the rolodex, and turned around to see the creature. It was like a dense, dark vapor one moment, and a thick pudding the next. It could be humanoid, and then snakelike a moment later. Its movements were slow but deliberate and fluid. It created an arm for itself, and on that arm, it grew talons.

The creature clawed at ROSE, but she narrowly avoided it. She struggled to pull out her phone and dial while still ducking, dodging, and avoiding the thing. She managed to get a call placed to Agent SETH, but there was only time to say “Basement. Now! It’s here.” SETH and SID were on their way. SERGE and RED held their positions.

Agent ROSE avoided the thing for what seemed like long minutes. It scratched her lightly on the arm, but nothing worse. SETH and SID made it to the morgue, and they fired their weapons. SID’s Taser connected and discharged, but the thing barely noticed. It seemed to be only partially solid. ROSE swung the bag full of bones, and she hit it, but the bag passed through slowly like it was being dragged through water. SETH fired two rounds from his handgun, but neither bullet seemed to hurt the thing substantially.

It did, however, turn around, or rather, it moved its mouth from one side of its body to the other. The creature morphed into a snakelike creature, and it wrapped around Agent SETH’s legs. It pulled tight, and SETH hit the ground hard. SID kicked, SETH shot, and ROSE sliced with a scalpel, but nothing seemed to affect it.

It was slowly moving up SETH’s body forming a sort of cocoon around him. ROSE looked around for something – anything – and what she found was a sheet. She grabbed it and ran for the incinerator. She returned with a flaming sheet, and tossed it on the thing. The patches near the flame seemed to burn away, and the creature roared. It continued to engulf Agent SETH, and he could feel bones cracking.

ROSE grabbed a can of some aerosol or other, and combined it with her lighter for a makeshift flame thrower. Her first shot wasn’t very accurate, but it didn’t really need to be. It was enough to get the creature to leave SETH alone and flee. SID ducked into a janitorial closet to look for chemicals, and he lucked out with a can of Lysol. He doused what remained of the thing, and then ran back to check on Agent SETH. The leader of S-Cell was in really bad shape. He was broken, bleeding, and bruised, but he was alive. ROSE called for emergency help, and in a few minutes, SETH was already in the Emergency Room.

 

[Audrik]

Killer Out of Space - Introduction

R-Cell
Agent RED – Chad Smith, USPS Inspector
Agent ROSE – Gia Jones, FinCEN Investigator, Leader of R-Cell – Computer crimes specialist (formerly Agent SAM)
Agent RUBY – Amelia Larce, DoE Nuclear Emergency Search Team

S-Cell
Agent SERGE – Ferdinand Bazinet, Federal Research Division, French-language occult documents specialist
Agent SETH – Ian Trotter, INSCOM Special Agent, Leader of S-Cell – Army Intelligence criminal psychologist
Agent SID – Cramer Gump, INSCOM "Black" Ops Agent

Former Agents
Agent RAPSCALLION (deceased) – Tatom Merzos – U.S. Marshall’s office, Special Operations
Agent RAPUNZEL (deceased) – Yuki Anderson, FBI Forensic Pathologist
Agent RASPUTIN (retired) – Grigori Ruspokov, CDC Researcher/Surgeon – Russian-born naturalized citizen
Agent ROBIN (deceased) – Chika Takahashi, EPA Biologist and Environmental Scientist – Japanese-born naturalized citizen
Agent SÁBADO (deceased) – Marcus Hernandez, IRS Investigator – Computer crimes specialist
Agent SLEEPLESS (deceased) - Reginald Longbottom, NSA Cult Infiltration Specialist


This Opera marks the first appearance of Agent RAPUNZEL's new character. Amelia Larce is just one of those people you can easily overlook in a crowd. She works for the U.S. Department of Energy as a member of their Nuclear Emergency Search Team, and she has selected the code name RUBY.

Agent SID has been in the hospital for about three weeks, and he is almost fully recovered. Agent ROSE was visiting, and they were both watching a news report about the Space Shuttle Discovery. Space Shuttle Mission STS-131 has been under way for a week, and so that puts the game date at April 12th, 2010.

 

[Audrik]

Killer Out of Space - Session 1

Agent SETH was no longer confined to his bed, and though he still had not regained 100% of his strength, he felt he was just about ready to leave the hospital. He and Agent ROSE were discussing that between comments about the space shuttle mission that had been in the news for the past week.

The second day of the mission, Commander Alan Poindexter reported that the shuttle had passed through a ‘glowing cloud’. There was a slight jump in external radiation, but nothing dangerous. NASA refused to comment, but there was no shortage of speculation from the rest of the scientific community. The general consensus seemed to be that a cloud of gas or ions was pulled from the Van Allen Belt, and maintained as a glowing cloud of radiation. No one was particularly alarmed.

CNN had obtained footage from a NASA live-feed of day three of the mission. This footage showed Commander Poindexter performing an Extra-Vehicular Activity. He lost his grip on a tool which then floated slowly away. The camera panned to follow the tool, and it picked up a brief glow emanating from the shuttle’s side, and then its bay. The glow moved toward the airlock, and it passed from the camera’s view. A voice from off camera mentioned higher than normal levels of radiation. As Commander Poindexter headed back toward the airlock door, voice communication broke, and the camera winked out.

Over the next few days, mainstream news outlets parroted NASA’s statements that a serious malfunction aboard Discovery was preventing voice and image communication, but that telemetric communication continued, and the flight of Discovery was not threatened. The less-mainstream media, as well as many blogs and internet forums were full of talk of conspiracy and cover up. Iran accused the U.S. of fabricating reports of communication breakdown in order to test a nuclear targeting device over the Persian Gulf, and riots broke out all over the Middle East.

The space shuttle wasn’t the only thing in the news, of course. The President of Poland had been killed in a plane crash; a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck Qinghai, China; and volcanic ash from beneath an ice cap in Iceland disrupted European air traffic. Still, the flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery was being discussed seemingly everywhere.

It was during one of these news broadcasts that Agent SETH’s Delta Green phone rang. A man’s voice on the other end asked for an Agent STUART. SETH gave his code name, and said that he knew of no Agent STUART. The voice said that it had been a long time since he’d called this number, but that STUART was his contact. He gave his name as Doctor Malcom Harris.

“Listen, I don’t know what you’ve heard – what the news is saying – but you need to know … the quarantine … not CDC … nor anthrax … the shuttle must have brought it down … it sucks and burns.”

The line stayed open, but there were no further sounds from the other end. Agent SETH asked ROSE to look up the number on the caller ID, and that turned up a dummy number for an offshore relay which is what would be expected for a call from a DG phone. She then looked up Doctor Malcom Harris, and that identified him as a retired NASA doctor living in the town of Gove, Kansas; population 80. On a hunch, Agent SETH asked ROSE to check out reports of UFO sightings in Kansas. There was indeed a surge in UFO sightings over the past couple days, but the Air Force had already discredited the vast majority of them.

The agents decided to mobilize their cells, and everyone was to meet at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Once everyone was together, Agent RUBY was introduced. ROSE and SETH each rented a car for their respective cells, and it was about 8:30 PM when the agents left for Gove. Agent SETH obeyed speed limits, but ROSE kept her car over 100 MPH for the two hours it took to reach the road block set up by the Kansas National Guard. There were two Humvees blocking the road, and a man was yelling at a young soldier. Not willing to wait her turn, Agent ROSE approached and lifted her shirt. Once she had everyone’s attention, she demanded to know why the road was being blocked.

The soldier informed her that by order of the CDC and the Governor of Kansas, the area was under quarantine to contain an outbreak of anthrax. ROSE knew their CDC credentials had been invalidated after the previous Operation, but she still had a badge. She produced it, and handed it to the soldier. He took it to one of the Humvees and compared it to a paper on a clipboard. When he returned, he handed her the badge.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. You’re not on the list.”

“What list? I’m with the CDC.”

“I can see that.”

“So let me through.”

“Can’t do that, ma’am. You’re not on the list.”

She demanded to see the person in charge, and the Lieutenant gave her the same response. She tried flirting, but she knew that was getting her nowhere when he held up his hand to show his wedding ring. She argued with the National Guardsmen for an hour and a half before S-Cell arrived.

Agent SETH approached and asked what was going on. When ROSE explained, he showed his CDC credentials, and tried the same line. He got the same result. They decided to talk to the man who had been there first. He introduced himself as Doctor Pete Watson. He was trying to get to a friend of his in Gove, Malcom Harris.

He told the agents he’d spoken with his friend most recently about three days ago. They’d spoken of many things, but mostly the space shuttle, religion, and the unrest in the Middle East. Doctor Harris had invited him to visit, and he was on his way when he found the road blocked, and was informed of the quarantine. He didn’t believe the anthrax story. Anthrax was primarily a disease of herbivores, and while dangerous, it was treatable, and rarely deadly. No outbreak justified a quarantine of this magnitude. Agent SETH remarked that he’d been thinking something similar.

As they were talking and deciding what to do, Agent SID saw helicopters patrolling with searchlights, while Agents ROSE and RUBY noticed a third Humvee pull up slowly and stop several yards off. Two men in camouflage uniforms and blue berets got out and approached the Lieutenant. They discussed something briefly, and then the men headed back to their vehicle. As the Humvee drove off, Agent Rose asked the soldiers at the road block who the men in the berets were. The soldiers told her it was their job to keep the people inside in, and the people outside out. They were not operating an information booth.

Agent SETH emailed A-Cell to let them know everything that had happened so far, and what his suspicions were. He received a nearly immediate response, but it was short:

You’re certain of the blue berets? Please confirm.

Agent SETH replied that they had indeed been soldiers in blue berets, and that when asked about them, the National Guardsmen refused to answer. The next reply took quite some time to come in, and so the agents decided to return to Wichita, and regroup. Agent ROSE was upset, but she didn’t let that interfere with her driving habits. She still had her rental car over 100 MPH all the way back. At one point, R-Cell flew off the road, and into a corn field to avoid hitting a cow which had wandered into the road. They flew into the hotel parking lot just after 1:30 AM, and S-Cell arrived about an hour and a half later.

Late the next morning, A-Cell’s reply came through:

No CDC activity in Kansas. U.S. Army, and NASA. Blue berets may mean Majestic-12 BLUEFLY. If so, they’ll be looking for alien life forms. Proceed with caution.

Well, that explained a few things, and confirmed some suspicions, but more than anything else, it set a tone of danger and paranoia. Just what happened to the shuttle? What did the government know that it didn’t want getting out? The agents spent the remainder of the day discussing plans to infiltrate the quarantine zone, and acquiring necessary equipment. The first thing Agent SID wanted to do was find a good set of walkie-talkies. The hospital ventilation crawl had made him shy away from the constant use of cell phones for communication.

Later that night, Agent ROSE headed back out to the road block, once again making the three and a half hour drive in about two hours. She proceeded to distract the National Guardsmen for as long as it would take Agents SETH and SID to arrive, and sneak through. An hour and a half later, they did just that. Dressed in all black, they walked slowly through the corn fields north of the quarantine zone. Every time a helicopter would pass overhead, they would hit the ground and remain still. It was slow going, but eventually they emerged to find two farms straight ahead. One was totally dark and looked abandoned. The other was overgrown, and the barn and house looked to have burned and collapsed.

Beyond the farms, they could see several lighting structures keeping a large area well lit. They couldn’t tell from this distance just what it was, but if SETH’s calculations were correct, the tiny community of Gove, Kansas should be only a few miles past those lights.

 

[Audrik]

Killer Out of Space - Session 2a

Her distraction done, Agent ROSE headed back to the car. She and Agent RED drove out of sight, and then got out. They doubled back through a wheat field, and went far south of the road block. They emerged from the field southeast of town at about the same time SETH and SID came out northeast of town.

Agents SERGE and RUBY remained at the hotel in Wichita. A-Cell would have NASA credentials for them some time the next day. In the meantime, they reviewed what little evidence they currently had, and tried to piece together a coherent theory. At the same time, they prepared several bowls of popcorn and watched TV. First up was the movie Armageddon, followed by the 20th Anniversary version of E.T. where federal agents had their guns digitally replaced with walkie-talkies. Finally, one of the local television stations played an edited version of The Wizard of Oz they called “the Kansas edition”. This version was exactly the same, except the tornado tore through Oklahoma instead. Dialogue had been edited to reflect the change in location.

Agents SETH and SID moved quietly and cautiously toward the back door of the farmhouse. The windows were dark, and the door was locked. Agent SID smiled as he took out his lock picks. His smile faded well before he actually managed to get the door open. The lock was sturdy, and it resisted his attempts for about a half hour. Eventually, Agent SID succeeded, and the door opened slowly. SETH and SID entered and had a look around. They opted for the use of their night-vision equipment rather than flipping a light switch. Ultimately, the choice didn’t matter. No one was home, and the house had most likely been evacuated.

The barn didn’t offer much of use either. It housed a single horse which to SID’s untrained eye appeared to be healthy. They decided the farm across the street was unlikely to have anything of interest either. Both the house and barn were in ruins, and the whole area was heavily overgrown.

They proceeded cautiously through a wheat field toward the area lit by floodlights and patrolled by helicopters. They had both been trained by the U.S. Army for this sort of stealth, and so they had no difficulty remaining unseen even as they got close enough to see what was in the lit area.

There were six generator-powered floodlight towers set up around the perimeter of the area, and a paved road in disrepair passed through it. Mostly on the road, and with its nose in a wheat field was the Space Shuttle Discovery; or rather, it was the Space Shuttle Disco. The “-very” was missing, and where it should have been, there was a large hole instead.

There was a white van with a NASA logo parked on the shoulder of the road, and there were eight people in NBC (Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical) suits. Two of the people seemed to be guards, and they were holding assault rifles. The other six were examining the shuttle from all angles.

Agents ROSE and RED stepped out of the wheat field and onto a recently mowed lawn. There was a single tree in the backyard and a junkyard just across the street. According to her research, Agent ROSE believed this was the house of Doctor Malcom Harris, the man who had called Agent SETH.

There was a humming or buzzing sound being carried on the night air, and it seemed to be coming from the junkyard. It was about midnight, and the humming was loud enough to keep most people awake. The bright lights over the junkyard wouldn’t help much either. ROSE found the back door to be unlocked, and so she and RED entered quietly. They split up to search the house; ROSE took the ground floor, and RED checked the basement.

The upstairs was tidy but not overly so. The back door entered into the kitchen, and just off from there was the living room. There was a hall leading to two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a study. The only thing of interest to ROSE was the computer in the study, but that would have to wait until the house was definitely clear.

Agent RED hadn’t reported back, and so ROSE went downstairs to check. The basement was cooler than the ground floor, and it served as a pantry. It was well stocked with bread, rice, and canned foods. There was no sign of Agent RED, but he had to have come this way. ROSE poked around, and she eventually found a latch which allowed part of the wall to swing open. The other side of the wall appeared to be a bomb shelter of some sort, and Agent RED had found a bed. He was snoring quietly, but there appeared to be no danger, so ROSE just rolled her eyes, grumbled, and left him there.

Once upstairs, she heard a vehicle pull up outside the junkyard across the street. It was a military jeep with a machine gun mounted to the back. Four people in NBC suits got out. Two held assault rifles and remained by the jeep. The other two approached the gate to the chain link fence which surrounded the yard. Two snarling Dobermans greeted them, and a man emerged from a small building in the center of the yard.

“Toby! Ripper! Down,” was all Agent ROSE could make out. The dogs sat where they were, but they were still on alert. The man from the junkyard talked for a moment with the two people in NBC suits, and then he got into the jeep. The two guards with assault rifles also got into the jeep, and they drove off toward town. The other two headed across the street toward Doctor Harris’s house. A black sedan pulled up right where the jeep had been, but no one got out.

Agent ROSE snuck out the back door, ducked into the wheat field, and circled around the back of the junkyard. She climbed the chain link fence and looked around. Toby and Ripper were focused on the car out front, and so they didn’t seem to notice the intruder. ROSE found that the humming was coming from three electromagnets. Each one was suspended about twenty feet or so off the ground by a crane. She checked the controls for the closest crane and magnet, and she found that they had been intentionally broken in the ‘ON’ position. The crane was inoperable, and the magnet couldn’t be turned off without destroying most of the internal workings of the control box.

While the dogs were still distracted, she checked the office. There was nothing of interest other than a ledger book and very large bin of dog food. She looked over the ledger, but she couldn’t make heads or tails of it. It was obvious that the business involved the purchase and sale of junked vehicles, farm equipment, and parts, but she was no accountant.

The people in NBC suits were apparently finished with their search of the Harris residence. They got in the back seat of the sedan, and it drove off. The good news was that they apparently hadn’t found the bomb shelter or Agent RED. The bad news was that she didn’t have much time before Toby and Ripper turned their attention back to guarding the junkyard.

Agent ROSE took a large scoop of dog food from the bin and threw it out over a wide area of the yard as a distraction, and then she quickly snuck away the same way she’d snuck in. There was no one to hide from at the moment, and so she just crossed the road straight back over to Doctor Harris’s house.

 

[Audrik]

Killer Out of Space - Session 2b

As Agents SETH and SID watched the scene around the downed shuttle, a helicopter made a low pass only about ten feet or so over the top of the wheat. Agent SID thought he saw a dull glow from the wheat, and about ten seconds later, the helicopter started to fly erratically. It began to spin, and it crashed into the field. The blades continued to spin, kicking up dirt and wheat, and creating the perfect opportunity for the agents to run.

It was a mile or so to the doctor’s house through a soybean field, and they covered it in an impressively short time. They avoided the junkyard, but they made note of the humming. Finding the front door locked, they tried the back. Agent ROSE had been on her way down the dark hallway to take a look at the doctor’s computer when she heard the back door open. Cursing herself for having left it unlocked, she began to sneak back toward the kitchen.

SETH and SID were using their night-vision equipment, and they were being extra careful to stay quiet. That’s why Agents SETH and ROSE were both startled to hear a breaking glass. SID had accidentally knocked it from the counter. SETH spun around with his hand on his gun, but no one seemed to have been alerted. Turning back to the rest of the house, he saw someone in the hall, and then he recognized her.

“ROSE? What the hell are you doing here?” Agent SETH was whispering loudly.

The agents moved to the study to regroup and discuss. Agent ROSE reported the cranes with electromagnets over at the junkyard, and the bomb shelter in the basement. She also wanted to go on record as hating the Kansas National Guard. SETH and SID told ROSE about the downed shuttle and NASA crew, and the glowing wheat that apparently crashed a helicopter.

While they talked, Agent SETH examined the books on the shelves. They were all about space, medicine, or both; very technical, and not the sort of books for a casual reader. One of the books held a folded piece of parchment. The writing at the top said “This might be useful.” The writing at the bottom said “Agent WINSTON”. Between the two bits of writing was a drawing of a five-pointed star with an eye in the center. The star itself leaned and curved a bit, like it was drunk or lazy.

“That’ll look good hidden in a Green Box,” Agent SETH said with a shrug.

Agent ROSE wanted to go over the doctor’s computer, and while she was doing that, SID and SETH would do their own search of the junkyard.

The computer was an inexpensive, newer model. All the important internals were integrated. It seemed that Doctor Harris knew his way around a computer, but he wasn’t what you might call a “computer guy”. Agent ROSE checked everything, but all she found that might be of any interest were an unfinished manuscript for an untitled book on space medicine, and a program for mapping the night sky. She decided to play it safe, and so she switched the doctor’s hard drive for a blank one from her kit.

Agent SETH found a steak in the refrigerator, and he took it as a canine distraction. After tossing the steak to Toby and Ripper, SETH and SID went around back, and climbed over the fence. The results of their search were similar to ROSE’s results. They found the cranes with the electromagnets. The crane they examined was the same one ROSE had checked, and neither agent could determine an easy way to move the crane, or shut off the magnet.

SETH tested the magnet by tossing up a piece of scrap metal. He tossed it a little hard, and the piece bounced off the magnet. It didn’t bounce far enough, and it was pulled back to stick to the magnet. The agents then checked the office. Neither agent could get anything from the ledger other than the basic workings of the business.

The dogs had finished the steak in pretty short order, and so they were waiting when the agents decided it was time to leave. Agent SID stepped out of the office, and he was immediately attacked by both Dobermans. He fired his Taser at one, but even at such short range, the electrified darts missed their target. Agent SETH drew his knife and stepped out to even the odds. He stabbed, and caught Ripper with a nice slash. That only served to make the animal angry.

Toby jumped for Agent SID’s throat and got him. Blood started gushing from SID’s neck at a disturbing rate. He wasn’t dead, or even mortally wounded, but they needed to win this fight fast, and get out the first aid kit, or there would be trouble. Ripper tried to do the same to Agent SETH, but the soldier was quick enough to avoid being hit.

The quiet approach wasn’t going to win this fight for them, and so the agents reluctantly drew their guns. SID put one bullet into Toby, and then SETH added two more. Toby was down, but they still had to deal with Ripper. Two more bullets did the trick.

At the first gunshot, Agent ROSE looked out the window. She wasn’t expecting to see what she saw. A dimly glowing, kaleidoscopic ball of light bobbed along, paused near the junkyard, and then went around it in a wide arc. It floated off through the wheat field to the north. When she heard the other four gunshots, she ran out of the house and across the street to the junkyard.

Agent SETH found a roll of paper towels, and along with his belt to add pressure to SID’s neck, he performed field first aid. SID was stable for now, but he was weak. SETH looked around, and found the junkyard owner’s mint green 1958 Edsel. The keys were hanging in the office. SID laid down in the back seat, and SETH drove the car through the front gate. He stopped long enough for Agent ROSE to hop in, and they drove off a little way down the road before turning into a wheat field.

As Agent SETH went about trying to hide the car, he noticed a helicopter arrive and circle over the junkyard and immediate area. Shortly after that, a military jeep drove up, and people equipped with NBC suits and assault rifles searched the junkyard. The agents laid low until the jeep and helicopter left.

Agent ROSE leaned over the seat to have a look at SID.

“Does it hurt?” she asked.

SID’s reply was more of a gurgle than anything, but the twitching motion of his head seemed to indicate that his response was “yes”.

 

[Audrik]

Killer Out of Space - Session 3a

It was decided that Agent SID would remain in the back seat of the car while SETH and ROSE took the toolbox back to the junkyard to attempt repairs on the damaged electromagnets and cranes. SID held his pistol to his chest, and laid back to get some rest. SETH locked the car doors, and then he and ROSE headed back the mile or so to the junkyard.

The front gate was still wide open, but they decided it would be best to go around back, and climb the fence. Once inside, ROSE set to work on the repairs while SETH looked for a way to shut off the lights. He found the switch box just as ROSE shut down the magnet. Everything went dark, and while SETH put on his night-vision goggles, ROSE started the flashlight app on her phone, and moved on to the other two magnets.

It was about 3:00 AM by the time she’d finished. The early Kansas morning was eerily quiet. The tips of the wheat glowed faintly. The agents decided to head back to the doctor’s house. They both needed some sleep, but SETH took watch until sunrise.

At some point during the night, Agent SID awoke to shattering glass and someone in an NBC suit pointing an assault rifle at him. The person in the suit ordered him to drop his gun, and asked who he was. Agent SID did as he was asked, and then he produced his INSCOM badge. It was obvious he was in need of medical attention, so the person in the suit escorted him to a jeep. SID was taken to the town a short distance away.

There was a parking lot which was currently serving as a mobile headquarters. There was several trailers and tents; most of them were olive colored with U.S. Army markings, but some were plain white with NASA logos. Agent SID was escorted to a nearby building which had been converted into a makeshift infirmary. He gave his full cooperation, and soon he was in a bed with an IV running fluids, antibiotics, and painkillers into his arm. He drifted back to sleep.

Early the next morning, Agent RUBY was awoken by a knock on her hotel room door. She looked through the peephole, but she didn’t see anyone. She readied her gun, and opened the door to find a plain, unmarked cardboard box on the ground. When she opened it, she found NASA identification for herself, and most of the other agents. There was nothing for Agents ROSE or RED. Agent RUBY went back to bed.

Agents SETH, ROSE, and RED spent the daylight hours at the doctor’s house watching the news, and waiting for nightfall. Their day was fairly uneventful, but they did learn that the news stations were still reporting that the Space Shuttle Discovery was proceeding with its mission, and despite lack of visual and audio communication, everything was apparently going well.

When Agents RUBY and SERGE finally got up, they gathered their things together, and headed outside. RUBY was frustrated to find both rental cars were gone, and so they had to get another. They made the drive to the quarantined zone, and around 2:00 PM, they found both rental cars abandoned about a mile from the roadblock. Abandoning their own car along with the others, RUBY and SERGE stepped into the corn field, and made their way toward Gove. When they emerged from the corn, they saw the same overgrown farmland, charred foundation, and collapsed barn that SETH and SID had found.

SERGE stayed out of the way, and kept watch while RUBY took a look around. The grass and other plants were thick and rather wild. Stumbling her way through the field, she came upon an old well which looked like it once had a cover. She dropped a rock to see how deep it was, and when it hit the bottom, it sounded more like it landed in mud than water. She judged it to be probably thirty or forty feet down.

Agent RUBY shined her flashlight down into the well, and she saw several multi-colored rocks in the mud at the bottom. She went to the collapsed barn to look for something that might reach the bottom of the well. She managed to find a very long board, and an unsafe-looking but possibly serviceable wooden ladder. She took both back to the well and tried the board first.

The board was long enough to reach the bottom of the well, and it sunk a little in the mud. RUBY fished around with it, trying to scoop up one of the multi-colored objects, but she crushed one against the side of the well. Apparently, they were fragile. When it smashed, the colors leaked out and into the mud.

She pulled the board back out, and lowered the ladder instead. It was old and brittle, but she managed to get down to the bottom of the well. The mud was about a foot deep, and pretty thick. She could feel more of the objects under the mud. She picked one up for a closer look. It was a little larger than a softball, and it was more or less spherical. The shell was sort of milky, but translucent. The inside seemed to swirl or pulse with dim color like a sort of psychedelic snow globe.

Agent RUBY climbed the ladder without incident, and once she had reached the surface, she began to cover the well with boards. Placing the ball/rock/egg/snow globe thing gently in her purse, she moved on to the south where she could hear helicopters. Agent SERGE followed.

The agents came upon the downed space shuttle, and they watched it for a moment before approaching. There were eight people in NBC suits in the area; six were inspecting and/or repairing the shuttle, and two were standing guard. The two guards approached, and demanded to know who the agents were. They showed their brand new NASA credentials, and the guards seemed satisfied. They instructed the agents to get their NBC suits out of the NASA van, and get to work. They would have to be decontaminated when they got back to town.

The agents shrugged, and suited up. Neither of them knew much about astronomy, physics, chemistry, or most other sciences, but they did their best to fit in. Agent RUBY was able to determine that the hole in the side of the shuttle wasn’t caused by something forcing through from the inside, or the outside. It looked like a portion of the hull just stopped existing. One of the other NASA scientists mentioned that it couldn’t have happened in space, nor during re-entry. The shuttle would have been destroyed. The hole could only have been created once the shuttle was close to the ground, or after landing. The scientist said that didn’t make a lot of sense at the moment, and so NASA was choosing to ignore it until they knew more.

 

[Audrik]

Killer Out of Space - Session 3b

When agent SID woke up, he noticed a soldier in a blue beret watching him. The stood up when SID opened his eyes. He asked if SID could walk, and if he was ready to talk to the general. The agent nodded in answer to both questions, and so the soldier led him out of the building, and to a large trailer in the parking lot. As the door opened, he saw a man in his mid to late fifties sitting behind a desk. His uniform indicated his rank was brigadier general, and the name said Drake. SID entered, and stood in front of the desk. The general remained seated, and the two men looked at each other in silence for a moment. General Drake was the first to break the silence.

“What in the hell is the matter with you, Sergeant Gump? Don’t you recognize a general when you see one?”

Agent SID nodded.

“Well …?” The general seemed already at the end of his patience.

Agent SID looked around for a moment, and then he remembered to salute.

“That’s much better, son. I’m going to let that slide this time because you’re probably high as a damned kite with all them painkillers. Do not let it happen again.” The general put heavy emphasis on most of those final words.

SID nodded, and tried to look apologetic. General Drake asked him what he was doing in the quarantine zone, why he wasn’t informed that INSCOM was sending an agent, and if there were any others. Agent SID couldn’t speak without some difficulty, so he was allowed to write on a large whiteboard.

He indicated that he was instructed to assist the army investigation, he had assumed his superiors had contacted everyone who needed to know, and there were in fact two others. When the general asked where the other two were, Agent SID told him. The general nodded, and leaned forward in his chair.

“You can leave us, lieutenant. I’ll let you know when I need you.”

The man in the blue beret saluted and stepped outside. When they were alone, the general narrowed his eyes and spoke.

“I know who you are, and I know what you do. What I don’t know is what Delta Green thinks it’s going to find here.”

Agent SID stiffened a bit, and then he wrote a single question mark on the whiteboard. General Drake snorted.

“That’s about what I thought. We’re done here, master sergeant.”

The general stood, and moved to the door. He knocked gently, and the man in the blue beret entered. General Drake told the soldier that he was done with the interview. The lieutenant escorted Agent SID back to his hospital bed, and one of the doctors replaced his IV.

When it began to get dark, a short, white bus arrived at the shuttle site. People in NBC suits got off, and took over for the NASA scientists who were finishing their shifts. Agents RUBY and SERGE got on the bus along with the others, and they were taken to town. The bus stopped at the Gove Motel where NASA and the Army had apparently rented out all the rooms. All of the scientists went to their rooms, but RUBY and SERGE were directed to the makeshift infirmary so the medical staff could give them something to prevent infection.

The agents did as they were instructed. After he received a shot of what the nurse said was penicillin, Agent SERGE went to see about a room. As RUBY was getting her shot, she noticed Agent SID in a hospital bed. She pointed him out, and asked the nurse what happened to him. She was told that he was “Army Intelligence, or something”. From the looks of it, he’d nearly lost a fight with a dog, and he was found unconscious and bleeding in the back of a stolen car. Agent RUBY nodded. That sounded just about right.

Agent ROSE was making dinner with whatever she could find in the doctor’s house, and SETH was watching out the windows. While he watched, the wheat on the other side of the junkyard glowed; not just the tips, but the whole plants. It was still a faint sparkle, but it was definitely not reflected moonlight. It was kaleidoscopic, and it hardly seemed natural. After a while, the pulsing ball of swirling color drifted out of the field, paused outside the junkyard, and then continued through it. It headed straight for the doctor’s house, but it stopped out in the front yard. Agent SID called for ROSE, and she confirmed that it was the same thing she’d seen the night before.

The light then floated away at a high rate of speed. It seemed to be headed in the general direction of Gove, but it was weaving. Once it was gone, SETH and ROSE went out to examine the wheat field. It was definitely glowing with its own faint light, and it seemed to be blowing in the wind, except there was no wind. SETH cut a few handfuls with his knife, and they went to the junkyard. He dropped the wheat on the ground, and it continued to sway in the non-existent wind. They switched on the magnet, but it didn’t have a noticeable effect. They switched the magnet back off, and went back to the doctor’s house to discuss their options. Agent SID wasn’t answering the radio, and that must mean he’d been captured, or he died.

After her shot, Agent RUBY slipped off down a hall. No one seemed to notice or care as she stole a set of new scrubs with a paisley design. She put on her disguise, and went over to check on Agent SID. He was conscious, and though he was obviously medicated, he seemed to be in control. She undid the locks on the wheels of the bed, and she saw a flash out of the corner of her eye. When she heard the muted scream outside, she began to push the bed. When she heard the three gun shots, she pushed faster.

Out the double doors, and into the parking lot, she pushed Agent SID’s bed. They made it to a NASA van, and both agents hopped in. Agent RUBY broke off the ignition and began to hotwire the van. Just as she got it started, SID found the keys in the console. RUBY rolled her eyes, and they drove slowly out of the parking lot. They stopped a block or so away, in a dark area, and they watched the building to see what was happening.

As they watched, an elderly woman came out of her house to see why there was a van outside. The woman made it to the end of her driveway before the ball of colors came zipping out from behind the infirmary. It floated up to her, and she just stared at it as it pulsed. When she could finally manage a scream, it was too late. She made hardly a noise as the ball of lights drained all her life force.

Her skin cracked and turned grey. Her hair became brittle, and broke off in chunks. Eventually, her whole body crumpled and dropped to the ground. The agents watched, horrified and unable to do anything to help. Soon, the colored ball floated off into the night. Agent RUBY sat in silence, but SID jumped at imagined sounds and hallucinated flashes. He was having real difficulty remaining calm.

 

[Audrik]

Killer Out of Space - Session 4a

Agent RUBY threw the van in reverse, and cut the wheel hard to the right. With the van now pointing directly away from the light, she put the accelerator to the floorboard. It took only a couple minutes to reach the house which the agents were using as a base of operations. RUBY parked the white van with the NASA logo out front, and she left it running as she and Agent SID got out. The front door was locked, and so they went around back.

The back door opened quietly, and RUBY immediately headed for a bedroom. She fell onto the bed and was asleep before she landed. Agent SID followed and waited for a moment. As soon as he heard snoring, he gently relieved RUBY of her gun.

From the junkyard across the street, Agent SETH saw the van pull up. He watched through night-vision binoculars as RUBY and SID got out. He whispered for ROSE to sit tight, and then he made a dash out of the junkyard and over to the house. The other agents were inside already by the time he got there.

After a brief exchange accusations and denials regarding the alleged abandonment of an injured agent, SETH and SID managed to agree that it was good that they were both alive. SID only wanted to curl up and get some sleep, but SETH had other plans – plans that required three agents. First thing was to hide the van. SETH moved it into the wheat field behind the house and covered it with a tarp.

That’s when they heard the hum of an electromagnet coming from across the street. The floating ball of colors had returned, and ROSE had hit her button. The thing pulsed and swirled for a moment, hovering in place. As SETH came running with SID stumbling behind, they saw the light float away to the north.

The agents each took up a spot by a different magnet, and they waited for the light to return. After about an hour, SID had already nodded off a few times, only to startle himself awake. He thought he saw something in the field behind ROSE, and so he shouted as he drew his newly borrowed gun. ROSE looked his direction, and SID fired a shot over her shoulder. She gave him a dirty look, and then she turned to see what he was shooting at. He’d been jumping at shadows for quite some time now, but it turned out that this time he’d actually seen something. A man stumbled out of the field, coming in her direction. He hadn’t made it ten feet out of the field before he fell forward and hit the ground. The man crawled through the grass toward the fence that separated them, and it appeared to ROSE that he had lost part of his right leg when he fell.

The man reached the fence, but it was dark, and his face was in the dirt, so she couldn’t see him well. He reached a shaky hand up toward her, and his fingers grasped at the fence. His skin was grey and cracked, and as the man clutched at the fence his arm fell to the ground. His fingers had literally broken off and fallen at ROSE’s feet.

She asked who he was, and he struggled to lift his face. She gasped when she realized it was Pete Watson, the doctor she’d met at the roadblock. SETH narrowed his eyes upon learning the man’s identity, but he wasn’t nearly as shaken as Agent ROSE was. His attitude was more of an ‘I told you so’, or maybe a ‘That’s why we follow orders’. He had advised the doctor to stay out of the quarantine zone.

It was nearly sunrise, and so SID and ROSE went back to the house for some sleep. SETH decided to scout for a bit first, and he headed toward the site of the downed shuttle. When he arrived, he was interested to note that the shuttle was gone. NASA must have found everything they needed and transported the incapacitated craft. Agent SETH scanned his surroundings with his night-vision binoculars, and he found some activity to the north. There were people in NBC suits moving through the fields surrounding the two farm houses he’d seen upon first arriving in the area. They seemed to be moving in a grid pattern and taking readings with electronic equipment.

He made a note of this, and headed back to the house. The sun was just starting to rise as he made it back. SETH took a spot on the couch, abut before he could fall fully asleep, he heard what sounded like two helicopters outside. Peeking out the window, he saw a large transport helicopter heading toward town. Then sleep caught up with him.

 

[Audrik]

Killer Out of Space - Session 4b

Early that evening, the house was full of the smells of bacon and coffee. RUBY was awake and cooking, and that roused the others. They could hear some activity across the street at the junkyard, and so SETH decided to see what was going on. There were four Humvees parked there, and he counted ten people in NBC suits; six of them lowering a large object into a hole dug in the center of the yard, and four standing guard with assault rifles.

Agent SETH went out to the van hoping to find some NBC suits. There were in fact two suits, and so he took them. He also found a satellite phone. When he got back to the house, he tossed a suit to a semi-conscious Agent SID and told him to get dressed. He also handed the satellite phone to ROSE and asked her to see what she could do with it.

Once they were in the NBC suits, SETH and SID started for the junkyard. As they left the house, there was a commotion across the street. Everyone was looking all around, pointing and shouting. The four with rifles stood in the center of the yard, and the ball of pulsing color zipped out from behind a stack of junked cars. It paused in the center of the yard with the soldiers surrounding it. All four aimed their rifles, shouted, and fired. All four fell dead. Either the bullets had passed through the thing without effect, or they had all taken unlucky ricochets. Regardless of the truth, the end result was the same.

As the swirling ball of light headed off toward town, SETH and SID made it to the junkyard. SETH used the chaos to get close to the hole and take a few pictures of the object with his phone. It was a large, metal object with no writing or obvious markings that he could see. It looked like a grey Tylenol pill roughly eight feet long by four feet in diameter. There were cables running from one end of it into the dirt. The hole was just deep enough to hold the object which he guessed was probably a large bomb of some sort, and it was loosely covered and disguised with scraps of metal.

Before he was spotted, SETH put away his phone and slipped away toward the house. Agent SID wasn’t quite so lucky. Before he could make an escape, someone pointed at him and barked an order. He was instructed to man one of the magnets in case the ball of light came back. He did as he was told, and it was several hours before the color was spotted. Someone ordered the lights turned out, and then everyone waited.

The ball of pulsing, kaleidoscopic light made its way to the center of the yard, and the order was given to switch on the magnets. Only Agent SID managed to get his operational. The other two people were huddled behind their respective cranes. The ball of light immediately withdrew from SID’s magnet, pulsed a bit, and then sped off through the field to the north.

With dawn on its way, replacements arrived to stand guard during the day. Everyone else loaded up the dead and rode back to town. Agent SID went along. The pain in his throat was getting stronger, and he was hoping to get back to the makeshift infirmary from which Agent RUBY had kidnapped him the previous day.

Agent ROSE explained to Agent SETH how the satellite phone operated, and he traded his phone for it. ROSE looked over the pictures of the object while SETH called his commanding officer.

The pictures weren’t bad at all given the poor lighting, chaotic conditions, and the fact that they were taken on a cell phone by someone with no photography training. She could make out a groove in the top of the thing which appeared to indicate that it opened. As for what it may or may not contain, she couldn’t be certain. She was pretty sure it wasn’t a bomb, despite the cables coming out of the side.

SETH explained to his commanding officer that he was in Kansas, on his way to Los Angeles, but there was a quarantine zone in his way. He hoped someone could give him a number to reach the person in charge of the area. His commanding officer told him the person in charge was Brigadier General Justin Drake, and that the general had actually called recently to ask about him.

Agent SETH was told that the quarantine zone was in place for a good reason, and he should respect it. If he wanted to get to Los Angeles, his best bet would be to fly, but if he insisted on driving, he should go around. SETH thanked his commanding officer for his help, and he hung up.

The next day was rather uneventful. Agent SID was in the infirmary receiving medical attention. Agents ROSE, RUBY, and SETH were waiting until nightfall, and no one had heard from RED or SERGE in days. That night, the agents in the house decided to play it safe and watch the junkyard from their base. Just as the night before, the glowing ball of colors came from the north, and it seemed to avoid the junkyard on its way to the town. Just as the night before, it came back to the junkyard on its way back.

This time, two of the magnets were switched on, but the operator of the third seemed to have missed his cue. The color fled the two magnets and floated through the field to the north as quickly as it could. None of these details were lost on the agents, and they set to work on their plan.

 

[Audrik]

Killer Out of Space - Session 5

The agents seem to have settled into a passive role. The next day was spent waiting for nightfall, but there was some discussion about the nature of the light they were seeing each evening, what effect the magnets seemed to have, and what was going on in the junkyard.

Agent SID checked himself out of the infirmary and went to see General Drake. The lieutenant admitted him, and the general remained quiet until he received a salute.

“What can I do for you, master sergeant?” The general seemed tired but not particularly busy.

“I’m feeling a lot better, and I’d like to go to the junkyard.”

“And just why in the hell would I want you out there, Sergeant Gump?” The general seemed almost amused by the request.

Agent SID explained that he and his friends had been watching the ball of light for a week now, and while he personally didn’t know much about it, the others did. The general asked where the others were, and Agent SID’s response was simply that they were in the area of the junkyard. General Drake ordered his lieutenant to gather a few soldiers and escort Sergeant Gump to the junkyard like he had asked.

Once it began to get dark, Agent SETH took up a position in the wheat field north of the junkyard and watched. There were nine people in NBC suits; one manning each of the three magnets, four with assault rifles, and two who seemed to be escorting a man who was not in an NBC suit. This man seemed to be in his late 30’s, and of roughly average height with a light build. He wore a dark suit with an ID badge clipped to his jacket.

The man seemed to be the one in charge. He spoke very little, and he kept his hands behind his back and his eyes to the north. After a while, a Humvee arrived, and Agent SID got out. He was accompanied by three soldiers in blue berets. None of them were in NBC suits, and they didn’t particularly seem to care.

They hardly had time to exit the vehicle before there was a glow in the field to the north. The man in the dark suit raised his hand without a word, and the whole yard fell silent. A moment later, the all too familiar ball of light emerged and floated toward the center of the junkyard. The man in the suit quickly lowered his hand in a sweeping gesture, like he was waving a flag to start a race.

One magnet hummed as it powered up, and then a second magnet did the same. The operator of the third magnet missed his cue because he was too busy hitting the dirt and covering his head. The ball of light pulsed and swirled for only a moment before flying off toward the town.

The agents maintained their positions through the night; SETH in the field, SID in the junkyard, and ROSE and RUBY in the farm house. Shortly before dawn, the light returned from the direction of town. Again, only two magnets were activated, and the color fled to the north. Agent SETH headed back to the farm house, and SID followed as soon as he managed to sneak away.

Agent RUBY remembered the orb she’d found in the well, and she gently removed it from her purse and placed it on the kitchen table for ROSE to see. She explained that it had been buried in the mud at the bottom of a well at the ruined farm house, and she offered her theory that it might be an egg containing a young version of the light that was terrorizing the small town.

The agents decided to rest until noon, and then they walked the two miles or so through the fields until they arrived at the collapsed farm with the overgrown fields and nearly hidden well. They looked into the well, but all they saw was mud. Agent SETH hammered a spike into the ground to anchor a rope, and SID climbed down. He sunk in the mud until it was a few inches over his ankles. He scanned the well, but he didn’t see anything. Before SID could feel under the surface of the mud, Agent SETH thought he saw a faint glow poke through and sounded the alarm.

SID climbed the rope as quickly as he could, and all four agents fled through the field and across the street to the abandoned farm house. Once inside, they caught their breath and discussed how to handle this new development.

 

[Audrik]

Killer Out of Space - Session 6a

The decision was made to wait until nightfall and watch the well. As it was early afternoon, the agents had some waiting to do, and time passed rather uneventfully. Night did eventually fall, and when it did, the ball of kaleidoscopic light rose from the well as they had predicted. They watched as it floated through the wheat field to the south. Once it was out of sight, they made their move.

The agents quickly crossed the dirt road and hiked through the overgrown field to the well. Just as they had done earlier that day, Agent SETH set the rope, and Agent SID slid down into the well, sinking into the mud. RUBY held a flashlight, and ROSE kept watch.

SID felt around beneath the mud with his hands, and he felt several of the softball-sized orbs. He scooped one into his backpack, but the second one cracked in his hand. As the vivid, colorful insides leaked out onto his skin, he began to feel an intense burning with an odd sucking sensation. The contents of the orb soaked into his skin, and almost immediately his hand began turning grey. His flesh dried and cracked as he watched, and it was slowly moving up his arm. It was past his wrist before he managed to start climbing the rope with his left hand. He was right-handed, and he’d already lost the use of it.

Once he was back on ground level, Agent SID showed the others what was happening. ROSE and SETH paused with wide eyes, and RUBY held out her knife in a no-nonsense, “you know what to do” sort of manner. Agent SID took the knife with his left hand and looked at the spreading death of his dominant arm. It was half-way to his elbow.

SETH discouraged him from actually attempting to cut off his own arm, and for his part, SID was relieved. He sincerely doubted he had what it would take to go through with the operation. Instead, he pointed to the southwest with his good arm and announced his intention to return once more to the makeshift infirmary in Gove. RUBY was already on her way down the rope, and ROSE was lighting her way, but SETH wished him luck.

Agent RUBY’s feet sank in the thick mud at the bottom of the well, and she immediately set to work gently fishing the orbs out with a board and rolling them into her purse and two backpacks. There were still many left when her containers were full, but she left them. Climbing as carefully as she could, she made it back to the surface. She set the bags down about twenty feet or so from the well and motioned for ROSE to follow her.

The two members of R-Cell headed for the ruins of the barn to search for anything which could be used as an object of destruction; sledgehammer, explosives, tractor … They managed to find a rake and a ten-gallon gas can which was nearly full. RUBY carried the gas can back to the well and began casually dumping the contents to the bottom. She made sure to coat the entirety of the rope before lighting it and stepping back. The fire burned for quite a while, and the night air was filled with crackling, sizzling, popping, and whistling. Once the job was done, the agents each took up a bag and headed back toward the junkyard.

Agent SID stumbled for what seemed like miles through a dark corn field, and he hoped he was headed in the right direction. The fact that he found the edge of the field was a good sign, and the dirt road he saw was an even better one.

It was hard to see but easy to feel the progress of the creeping death of his arm. It was now past his elbow. He knew he didn’t have much more time, and his mind was already preparing him. That’s why he wasn’t surprised when he saw the ball of color coming down the road toward him followed by an odd rumbling sound.

The rumbling quieted as the ball stopped in front of him and spoke. In English.

“You there! This area is under quarantine. Come on out.”

Agent SID did as the rumbling ball of kaleidoscopic light ordered, and he put his hands in the air. As he did so, his right hand simply crumbled into dust. The ball of light then spoke in two different voices.

“Jesus! Did you see that?”

“Yeah! That’s messed up!”

“Damn it, man! Get in the jeep!”

The ball of light grabbed him … somehow, and the rumbling started back up as it sped him off toward town. He must have passed out because the trip was almost instantaneous, and when he regained his senses, two people in NBC suits were lifting him out of a jeep. They carried him into a building, and he once again lost consciousness.

The other three agents arrived at the junkyard to see what had become usual activity; one person in an NBC suit at each of the three magnets, four people in NBC suits with rifles patrolling, and two people in NBC suits standing next to a man in a dark suit with a NASA badge.

SETH took up his usual observational spot in the field while RUBY and ROSE simply walked right through the front gate. One of the guards saw them and headed them off.

“Who are you? What are you doing here? This area is restricted.”

Agent RUBY flashed her fake NASA credentials while Agent ROSE tried to look like she belonged.

“You’ll need to talk to Dr. Hudson.”

The guard motioned toward the man in the dark suit and led them over.

Dr. Hudson looked at them as if he expected them to explain their presence. Agent RUBY once again flashed her NASA credentials while Agent ROSE just fit in.

“Amelia Larce, NASA.”

The man raised his eyebrow.

“Doctor Morris Hudson, also NASA. You no doubt know I’m the head of field operations here, but I don’t believe I know your role.”

Agent RUBY explained that she knew about the ball of color, where it rested during the day, and what it did at night. She also explained that she and her team had found what they believed to be the creature’s eggs. To emphasize this, she gently lifted one from her purse.

Dr. Hudson made a thoughtful sound as he nodded slowly.

“Assuming this is in fact an egg, what were you planning to do with it?”

“I know you and your team have been having trouble capturing this thing, so I thought I would help. We can use them as bait.” She smiled to indicate that she was really only questioning his competency in a friendly manner.

Dr. Hudson sighed and nodded. One of the people standing next to him took the orb from her and looked at it for a moment. RUBY told him to be careful with it just as he squeezed a little too hard. The orb cracked. When the colorful contents oozed out, it dissolved a hole through his glove. The man in the NBC suit held up his arm and screamed as he dropped to one knee. He then rolled over onto his side, flailing and eventually only twitching.

Dr. Hudson barked an order, and one of the guards ended the man’s suffering with a single bullet. The doctor then turned a disapproving look toward Agent RUBY. She simply shrugged and reminded him the orbs were dangerous. The doctor told her to place the rest herself, and she did so.

Agent SETH had used the distraction to climb the fence and place the two backpacks in the trunk of a junked car. RUBY saw him, and he held a finger to his lips. No one else seemed to have noticed him, and so he climbed back over the fence to watch from the field.

While RUBY didn’t exactly call out Agent SETH, she did indicate to Dr. Hudson that she had another associate in the area. She suggested that part of the problem might be that there was only one person manning each magnet, and that she and her team might be able to serve as fail-safes. Dr. Hudson agreed, and so Agent RUBY called SETH over. Each agent took up a spot next to a person manning a magnet, and all that was left was to wait.

 

[Audrik]

Killer Out of Space - Session 6b

Agent SID awoke in a hospital bed and immediately noticed his right arm had been removed just below the shoulder. A soldier in a blue beret was watching him from a chair next to the bed. As soon as the soldier saw that SID was awake, he stood.

“Ready to see the general?”

Agent SID nodded and made an effort to stand. There was a crutch leaning against the bed, and this helped a lot. The soldier escorted him outside and to the general’s trailer. He left SID alone with the general. General Drake leaned forward in his chair.

“I’ll understand if you don’t salute, Master Sergeant. Sit.”

The general indicated a chair on the other side of his desk, and Agent SID did as he was asked.

“I think today is your lucky day, soldier.”

SID didn’t seem so sure, and he let the general know.

“Well now, son. We just might be able to fix that. Can you sign your name with your other hand?”

Agent SID said he thought he might be able to, but he wondered why he would want to test the theory. General Drake slid some official looking papers across the desk. SID didn’t understand everything in the document, but it seemed to be some sort of medical release form for experimental surgery. He signed as best he could, and the general nodded.

“Of course this means you’ll need a promotion, soldier. If we put this kind of money into you, you’re going to owe your life to the United States Army. With any luck, I’ll shake your hand in a month or two, Captain Gump. And I’ll be expecting that salute as well.”

The general called, and two soldiers in blue berets entered to escort Agent SID to a helicopter. They took off in short order, and they headed east. From the ground, the other agents noticed the helicopter pass over the junkyard, but they were unaware that Agent SID was aboard.

Dawn finally neared, and with it, the ball of swirling color. It headed out of town and down the road toward the junkyard. The creature floated into the junkyard, and it didn’t take long for it to notice the two orbs resting on the pile of junk in the center of the yard.

The color hovered in the air just above the orbs, and it began to pulse and swirl furiously. Dr. Hudson shouted for the magnets, and with two people at each station, all three magnets were engaged. The creature seemed to bounce back and forth in a sort of force field, but it was unable to escape.

Dr. Hudson raised his hand and then dropped it quickly. As he did so, the capsule in the pit opened, and a bright light with a pale blue tint shot out. The ball of color seemed to flicker and fade before being pulled down into the pit. Once it was gone, the capsule closed.

There was cheering all around from everyone but Dr. Hudson and the agents. The doctor simply made a quick call on a satellite phone, and several minutes later, a white NASA van arrived. The people in NBC suits lifted the capsule out of the pit and placed it in the back of the van. Once the doors were closed, the van headed off toward town.

Amid all the celebration, the agents slipped away; ROSE and RUBY went to the farm house, and SETH ran to the field behind the house where he had left the other van. He quickly got it started and attempted to follow, but the van with the capsule had a head start. He arrived in town just in time to see the capsule loaded onto a transport helicopter.

He headed back to the farm house, called A-Cell to make his report, and then returned to the junkyard. He retrieved the two backpacks full of orbs and dropped them in a barrel. A liberal amount of gasoline and one match later, and there was no evidence left in the quarantine zone.

Mission accomplished. It may not have gone as well as he had hoped. He may not have ever found a trace of the man who called his Delta Green phone when he was still in the hospital. Agent SID may be dust in a corn field … It was still a victory. The “anthrax outbreak” was over, and the quarantine over western Kansas could be lifted. The American people would never know the truth.

The agents spent one final night in the farm house before making their way back to Wichita, and from there to their respective homes. A few weeks passed before Agent SID returned SETH’s call, but all was well.

SID had a new arm, and it didn’t just look and feel real. It was real. Not only that, but it was much stronger than it used to be. The only lingering side effect was that he periodically had blurry, fevered flashbacks; visions or dreams of his operation. There had been four doctors, but he was only ever sure that two of them were human. Whether it was the drugs or the stress, he had the distinct impression that the other two were very thin with grey skin and large black eyes.

Regardless of the truth, all four agents had survived, and they could finally say they were not in Kansas anymore.

 

[Audrik]

Music From A Darkened Room - Introduction

R-Cell
Agent ROSE – Gia Jones, FinCEN Investigator, Leader of R-Cell – Computer crimes specialist (formerly Agent SAM)
Agent RUBY – Amelia Larce, DoE Nuclear Emergency Search Team

S-Cell
Agent SETH – Ian Trotter, INSCOM Special Agent, Leader of S-Cell – Army Intelligence criminal psychologist
Agent SID – Cramer Gump, INSCOM "Black" Ops Agent

Former Agents
Agent RAPSCALLION (deceased) – Tatom Merzos – U.S. Marshall’s office, Special Operations
Agent RAPUNZEL (deceased) – Yuki Anderson, FBI Forensic Pathologist
Agent RASPUTIN (retired) – Grigori Ruspokov, CDC Researcher/Surgeon – Russian-born naturalized citizen
Agent ROBIN (deceased) – Chika Takahashi, EPA Biologist and Environmental Scientist – Japanese-born naturalized citizen
Agent SÁBADO (deceased) – Marcus Hernandez, IRS Investigator – Computer crimes specialist
Agent SERGE (missing) – Ferdinand Bazinet, Federal Research Division, French-language occult documents specialist
Agent SLEEPLESS (deceased) - Reginald Longbottom, NSA Cult Infiltration Specialist


Seven months have passed since the Kansas incident. It is now a few days after Thanksgiving Day, 2010. Just as the agents are finally managing to return to some semblance of normalcy, Agents ROSE and SETH open their respective mailboxes. Amidst the countless holiday advertisements, they each found a plain white envelope with no postage, no post mark, and no return address. Both envelopes contained an identical message:

DIRECTIVE FROM A-CELL

You are to investigate the death of Agent GARRET, and the suspicious circumstances of said death. Focus attention on 1206 Spooner Avenue, Laconia, NH. This house has been brought to the attention of A-Cell before, and is deemed a paranormal threat. Extreme caution should be employed when investigating the Spooner Avenue house. It has been known to exhibit an unknown influence over skilled DG Agents.

Mission Instructions
•Determine the cause of death of Agent GARRET
•Determine if the 1206 Spooner Avenue house represents an ongoing threat to the public
•Once these two protocols are complete, contact A-Cell for further instructions

Possible Friendly Contacts
•Emil Yarrow, Parapsychologist
•Elizabeth Tucker, Antique Dealer

Green Box Locales
•Green Box 711 – Meadowbrook Store-It

Agents RUBY and SID were informed, and all agents made their way to Laconia, New Hampshire.

 

[Audrik]

Music From A Darkened Room - Session 1

S-Cell met at the Meadowbrook Inn to get settled as it was nearing midnight. R-Cell decided to meet up at the Green Box location and get started right away. There was no one in the office at the Meadowbrook Store-It, and there didn’t appear to be any night security, so ROSE and RUBY hopped right over the wall. It didn’t take long to find storage unit 711, and the lock was easily removed.

The door slid up to reveal a deep storage locker, and everything near the front seemed like it belonged. There was an antique table, a sofa bed, and two plastic wrapped twin mattresses. Behind the first layer, things still looked legitimate but borderline disturbing. There were three empty biohazard containers, two bags of quicklime, two new shovels, four pairs of work gloves, a hat-lamp, a three-and-a-half gallon metal container of gasoline with a pour spout, two new plastic gasoline containers, and three newly minted keys taped together in a piece of cardboard.

There was a third layer behind the second, and this is where things began to get questionable. The agents found 400 rounds of shotgun ammunition, two new Mossberg shotguns with serial numbers shaved off, fake IDs made out for one Arthur Donnelley (Meadowbrook gas inspector badge, and coroner ID), a Nikon F36 telephoto lens, a Nikon Reflex camera, the remains of two-dozen burned photographs with trace images of the house at 1206 Spooner Avenue, a 4-foot long, dirty wood coffin, and a notebook.

A small brass plaque identified the coffin as being that of one Anton Turé, and it was dated June, 1965. Agent ROSE opened the coffin to examine the contents, and she found the remains of a young child, now rotted to the point of disintegration.

Agent RUBY decided she would look over the notebook rather than help with the coffin. Most of the writing she found was barely intelligible scribbling and strange statements which seemed almost like math equations, but there were some details which seemed important:

Turé=not dead?/roaming the house?/only at night?/Grave? OCT10
Shovel, gloves, headlamp, cash? OCT 30
Burn it? Cruise tried: didn’t work. Others. Talk to survivors? Canadian mental health laws?
Music from dining room. Laughter/Noise upstairs.
Almost bought house! Means? +A alerted.
Someone else in house+Isari not returning calls.
Falcone death? Coroner?
Wheeler’s furniture/books or papers? Estate? NOV10
Talked to it tonight. Knew my name. Knows I’m watching. Called A today. Still no movement. Open house next week. Buy it? Burn it?

Agent SETH checked into his room, ordered room service, and began to relax. As their hotel had a bar, and it was still open, Agent SID decided to go down and have a drink. It was quiet, but there were still some people in the bar. Agent SID struck up a conversation with a couple of older gentlemen, and he led around to the topic of the Spooner Avenue house.

The two men agreed that there was something very wrong with the house. Ever since the deaths of the original owners, there had been a long string tragedy; accidents, murders, suicides … They told SID it was best to just stay away. Agent SID thanked them for their stories, and he bought them another round.

Agents ROSE and RUBY closed up the Green Box, climbed back over the wall, and discussed what to do. It didn’t take long before they made the decision to investigate the house in person. Upon arriving, the agents found a typical suburban neighborhood with well-maintained houses and yards. The house they had been assigned to investigate was no different.

The lawn had not been mowed in a week or so, and the yard was covered in a thin layer of leaves. There was a room over the two-car garage, but otherwise the house was a single story. Ivy crawled up the front, but it wasn’t present on the other sides. The porch in front was covered, but the deck in back was not.

ROSE tried the back door and found it was unlocked. She stepped inside using her phone’s flash for light. Scanning the room quickly, she saw a fireplace, a couch, a few cardboard boxes, and some Styrofoam cups. Just as Agent RUBY was about to enter, the lights in the den flickered on and off quickly several times. During one of the brief moments of light, ROSE was sure she saw a long shadow of a woman in a gown, but the next time, it was gone. After the flickering had subsided, the lights remained on.

Agent ROSE was standing in the center of the den when her phone rang. Agent SETH was calling to check in, and he was not happy to learn that R-Cell was at the house alone. After a brief argument, they agreed to meet at the hotel to formulate a plan.

Shortly after 1:00 AM on the Monday after Thanksgiving, and all four Delta Green agents were spending their time in the lobby of the Meadowbrook Inn in Laconia, NH speaking in hushed tones and borrowing the free wi-fi to research 1206 Spooner Avenue and its long history of tragedy.

They knew that Michael Wheeler, a wealthy stone mason, had built the house in 1907 for his wife Isabelle. The newspaper article didn’t have much more information than that.

George and Margaret Cruise had purchased the house in 1956 after Isabelle’s death, and they began extensive remodeling including the rather expensive restoration of floor to ceiling, wall-length mirrors in the master bedroom. Friends and neighbors reported a change in George and Margaret’s behavior after less than a year in the house. George had become withdrawn and spent most of his time at work, or at church services. Margaret had become rude and pushy; by all accounts the opposite of her former self.

In October of 1959, George Cruise drove to a sporting goods store and purchased a double-barreled shotgun and several rounds, drove home, and then shot his wife. He quickly set fire to the house, and then he turned the gun on himself. One of the neighbors had managed to put out the fire before it could spread.

The house had several owners in the intervening years, but Agent ROSE was unable to find a complete list. The city’s website directed her to the city hall for more information, and so the agents put that on their to-do list for the morning.

ROSE was able to find information on the house’s two most recent owners. A woman named Yamilla Isari had purchased the house in 2007 and lived there until her recent suicide, and FBI Special Agent Arthur Donnelly bought the place a little over a week ago. The article said that “both suicides occurred under identical circumstances”, but it didn’t elaborate.

There were plenty of leads, and Agent SETH insisted on waiting until morning to follow them.

 

[Audrik]

Music From A Darkened Room - Session 2a

The agents all awoke early and met at a local diner for breakfast. They decided to put an actual physical visit to the house on hold for the time being to focus on information gathering. SETH would check with the coroner regarding the death of Special Agent Donnelly, SID would check the records at City Hall and the Laconia Daily Sun newspaper for any useful historical information regarding the house, ROSE would contact Emil Yarrow the parapsychologist and Delta Green Friendly, and RUBY would scout the antique shop run by the other Friendly, Elizabeth Tucker. It seemed like a solid plan with minimal risk and fair potential.

Agent SETH arrived at the Lakes Region General Hospital and found a map. A red dot showed his current location as being in the main lobby, and his destination was down one floor. The morgue was on the first basement level, and so he took the stairs rather than the ventilation ducts as he had done the last time he was in a hospital.

The basement level was quiet, but he still made an effort to be stealthy. That effort seemed to backfire when he accidentally leaned on an emergency exit door, but he managed to get away before anyone spotted him. In fact, there didn’t seem to be much response to the brief alarm at all.

Agent SETH found the morgue which was a split room. Most of the room held the various contents of a typical morgue; operating table, tools, drawers which probably held bodies … A small corner of the room was carpeted, and it was laid out like an office. A tired looking man in his early- to mid-50’s sat behind a desk. His name badge identified him as Doctor Elmer Perkins.

Dr. Perkins looked up from his paperwork as Agent SETH entered, and he attempted a weary smile. SETH greeted the man and produced his INSCOM credentials. He informed the doctor that he was in town to put the closing touches on the life of Arthur Donnelly who he said was a highly decorated soldier in the U.S. Army before he joined the FBI. The doctor said he was unaware of Donnelly’s military service, but he was not surprised. Many service members transition naturally into law enforcement.

The INSCOM badge and cover story were good enough for Dr. Perkins, and he allowed Agent SETH access to the entire contents of Donnelly’s file. SETH took a copy of the death certificate, coroner’s report, and fingerprinting. The death was ruled a suicide by apparent razorblade cut to the throat though it was noted that no blade was found at the scene.

ROSE found the number for Emil Yarrow, an associate professor of abnormal psychology at Southern New Hampshire University. Dr. Yarrow was enthusiastic. He had never been inside the Spooner Avenue house, but he had heard many stories, and he’d always wanted to give it a look. He agreed to meet ROSE in Laconia that evening to discuss the matter further. After the call, ROSE headed to meet up with Agent SID as his work would be most likely to benefit from an additional set of hands and eyes.

Agent SID had walked to City Hall since the hotel was only a few blocks away, and the weather was cool but nice. He had the task of digging through old files and archives, and that task kept him occupied for hours. His research was slow and boring, but it was ultimately fruitful. With the help of the clerks at City Hall and the newspaper, he was able to organize a boxful of documents relating to the house and its long string of owners. The information wasn’t very detailed, but it provided a timeline and plenty of names.

Michael and Isabelle Wheeler had built the house in 1907. Isabelle suffered from a sort of wasting disease, and her husband built the house so that she might be comfortable for her last years. He died in 1910, but she had apparently survived to see the year 1956. A newspaper article briefly mentioned her complete recovery from whatever disease had been trying to take her life.

After Isabelle’s death, the house had been purchased by George and Margaret Cruise. ROSE had uncovered their tragic story the night before.

Searching for information on the Turé family turned up another tragic story. Adam and Rebecca Turé purchased the house after yet another owner’s accidental death. They had moved to Laconia from Montreal with their two small children, Elise and Anton. They lived in the house for about a year with no incident before Rebecca was briefly hospitalized for “mental exhaustion”. She returned home to find that her children were becoming violent and angry.

One day, she found Anton drowned in the toilet bowl of the master bedroom. The door to the bathroom had been locked from the inside, and there was no one else in the room when the door was opened. This incident was more than she could handle, and her already over-stressed mind snapped. Records indicated that she was hospitalized indefinitely at an unnamed facility in Canada.

 

[Audrik]

Music From A Darkened Room - Session 2b

Agent ROSE’s Delta Green phone rang, and when she answered, Agent RUBY was on the other end.

“Hey, ROSE. It’s me. Look, I’m at the house, and … Are you busy? Can you come here? There’s something I think you should see.”

“I’m just helping SID go through some papers. Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

ROSE excused herself from the rest of the research, and she left to meet up with her cell member. Agent SID kept reading, sorting papers, taking notes, making copies …

The person named Falcone from Special Agent Donnelly’s notebook was apparently one Andrea Falcone. Her cause of death was listed as accidental suffocation, but there was nothing more to be found about the matter. After her death, the house was purchased by Yamilla Isari, a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, and recent graduate of the University of New Hampshire. Again, the rest of her story, and that of Special Agent Donnelly after her had already been uncovered the previous night.

SID found one more story about an owner named George Weaver. Weaver was a doctor who lived just one street over on Valley Road. When the house was finally put up for sale following the suicide of its previous owner, he had attended the open house. Against the cautioning of his neighbors and friends, he purchased the house on Spooner Avenue and moved in. He was found dead nine days later in the garage. The cause of death was determined to be electrocution, and the time was set at 2:30 AM which was easily determined. Whatever caused the electrocution had caused a circuit to blow. All of the clocks in the house showed 2:30. An investigator had gone on record as saying the death was puzzling because Dr. Weaver’s car was in the shop at the time of his death, and there was no apparent reason for his presence in the garage so early in the morning.

Agent SID called SETH to let him know what he had found. SETH said he had just finished up at the hospital, and he would swing by in the rental car.

ROSE arrived at the house and found the front door unlocked. She tested the three keys from the Green Box and found that one of them locked and unlocked the front door. She heard RUBY call from the direction of the master bedroom, and so she headed that direction. She proceeded with caution since that seemed to be the room where most of the deaths had occurred; the two most recent ones for sure.

When she stepped into the master bedroom, Agent ROSE saw floor-to-ceiling wall-length mirrors around the entire room. There were two windows in the wall opposite the door through which she entered, and there was another door to the bathroom on her right. That was presumably where Agent RUBY had called from.

ROSE shook off the disorienting effect of the mirrors and was about to check the bathroom when she felt a draft. The draft kicked up a feather which had apparently been resting on the floor in the corner, and so Agent ROSE crossed the room to check the windows. As she got closer, she could tell that the feather was not actually in the room at all, but it was most definitely reflected in the mirror … or maybe it was only on the other side of the mirror. As she watched the feather come to rest, she heard a sound behind her like something small and metallic dropping to the wooden floor.

She didn’t turn, but she scanned the mirrors in front of her for some sign of what might have happened. There was nothing behind her, and so she turned slowly around. On the floor behind her was an open straight razor with dried blood on the blade. In the mirror on the opposite wall, she saw a woman with long dark hair in a thin dressing gown.

The woman smiled, and both doors to the room slammed shut. Agent RUBY’s muffled voice could be heard from the bathroom. The woman in the mirror waved her hand in an upward motion, and the razor lifted off the ground. She waved it in a crossing motion, and it slashed at ROSE, catching her in the left shoulder and spraying blood across the floor, ceiling, and nearby walls.

Agent ROSE called out for RUBY, and there was a pounding from the other side of the bathroom door. RUBY could be heard on the other side, but her words were muffled. The razor spun in the air sending spatters of blood in all directions. The woman in the mirror made another motion, and ROSE ducked just in time.

Her phone began to ring, and ROSE decided she was a little too busy to chat. Without taking her eyes off the razor, she set her phone to silent. The razor slashed again, and it caught her once more leaving her shoulder with a wound in the shape of an ‘X’. More blood sprayed the room, and the woman in the mirror seemed to be enjoying every moment with a murderous glee.

 

[Audrik]

Music From A Darkened Room - Session 2c

Agent SETH’s phone rang, and he answered to hear Agent RUBY asking what was wrong with ROSE, and why she wasn’t answering her phone. SETH replied that he didn’t know, but the last he’d heard, ROSE was with SID. He hung up while RUBY was in mid-response, and called ROSE only to get her voicemail.

Agent SID’s phone rang, and he was blindsided by a none-too-happy Agent RUBY.

“SID, don’t you dare hang up on me, too! What the hell is going on? Why isn’t ROSE answering her phone?”

“Calm down. She went to meet up with you at the house about fifteen minutes ago.”

“Why the hell would she go there? I thought the plan was to stay away until we knew more?”

“Yeah, but you called her, and …”

“And she didn’t answer!”

“No, no. You called and told her you were at the house. Something about needing to show her something.”

“I’m not at the house. I’m at the antique store like I was supposed to be! What the hell …”

Agent SID hung up on RUBY and called SETH. SETH said he couldn’t get a hold of ROSE, and SID informed his cell leader of her whereabouts. Agent SETH said he was on his way to the house, and he would be by City Hall to get SID. Agent SID let him know that he had finished a while ago, and he had gotten tired of waiting, so he walked back to the hotel. SETH’s excuse was that he had stopped off at the Green Box to get a few things.

The banging on the bathroom door continued, and RUBY’s muffled screams added to the tense situation. The straight razor spun in the air, and it casually tossed spatters of blood. ROSE made a grab for it with her good arm, but she missed. She yelled at the woman in the mirror and asked what she wanted. The woman threw back her head in silent laughter, and then she made another swipe with her hand.

The razor sliced through the air, and ROSE narrowly ducked out of the way. The razor crashed to the ground and slid across the wooden floor. Rather than coming to rest in the corner, it instead slid through the mirror leaving only a reflection on the other side. The woman had disappeared, and the pounding stopped.

Agent ROSE made her way to the bathroom and opened the door. The bathroom was dark and empty. She turned her ringer on as she quickly made her way outside. She called SETH to let him know what had happened at the house.

Agent SETH arrived at the house and performed some quick first aid while calling 911 for an ambulance. In no time, ROSE was off to the hospital.

She was more than a little upset to hear that RUBY was actually at the antique shop like she was supposed to be, and not at the house like she said she was. SETH was more than a little upset that ROSE was at the house when it was agreed that they would all stay away for the time being. RUBY was more than a little upset that the other agents kept hanging up on her mid-sentence, and SID was only a little upset that he got the boring research job and kept getting forgotten.

For its part, the house was content.