ATTN: Board of Directors Tokugawa Industrial Solutions
RE: LOG REPORT - SEVIER LAKE INCIDENT
Assembled by Hideo Sato, Communications Director, Tokugawa Industrial Solutions, Head Office, Tokyo, Japan
Approved by Yushima Kaga, Vice-President in Charge of Research, Tokugawa Industrial Solutions, Head Office, Tokyo, Japan
NOT FOR RELEASE
1987 October 27
Dr. Simone Blackmore, Researcher, Tokugawa Industrial Solutions.
My name is Doctor Simone Blackmore. In accordance with the recent changes to company policy regarding research station communication, in addition to my written report, I am also submitting my report as an audio recording. The time is seventeen-fifty-two on the twenty-seventh of October nineteen eighty-seven.
Work has begun on the provided samples. Batches four, eleven, seven and thirteen, once thawed, have proved unusable due to significant cellular damage. The defective batches have been incinerated as per Section Forty-Two-B of the Code of Practice, regarding the proper disposal of contentious and hazardous ‘Schedule-D’ material. Logan Deihl handled the destruction and can attest that all necessary safety precautions were followed.
The remaining batches arrived in workable condition. Further examination will be needed to determine their exact nature. Each batch contains one to four small samples, ranging from one inch to six inches in diameter, in an ambiguous shape that can best be described as an irregular ellipse. Colouring ranges from a pale pink to a greenish-grey. More information on where and from what these samples were obtained would prove invaluable. At present all team members are only party to information on the discovery’s location, Okhotsk, and Doctor Hatch has ignored all requests for more detailed information.
Cellular structure in the samples is odd, closer to animal than plant life, yet missing certain organelles typical to both. The origin point’s proximity to the Soviet Union’s nuclear testing programme may be a factor in any cellular mutations, however more will be gleaned once Doctor Stokes completes his chemical analysis.
Further study needed.
Addendum: The inventory from Sapporo lists fourteen batches of samples. Yet when we opened the secure container only thirteen batches were present. I have raised this issue with Doctor Hatch and Mister Mazuka. Furthermore, I would once again like to register my dissatisfaction with Doctor Stokes, and the standards of professionalism he consistently fails to meet.
1987 October 27
Xue Chao, Research Assistant, Shanghai University
Hello, this Xue Chao, research assistant - Oh, should I say doctoral candidate?
[UNINTELLIGBLE]
This is Xue Chao, Shanghai University, doctoral candidate and research assistant on Tokugawa Industrial Solutions Project Hummingbird. Twenty-seven of October, nineteen eighty-seven.
I have been here for three days for my placement and I feel very lucky to be having the opportunity to work with Doctor Blackmore so closely. Her reputation in her field precedes her but she is very strict to work with. Sometimes I feel she is cross with me.
Mister Diehl made me feel very welcome, and his little doggy is very cute. Doctor Stokes, Jimmy, makes me laugh, but he is unpopular with Doctor Blackmore, I do not want to think what might happen should they find a serious disagreement. I am looking forward to meeting Doctor Hatch, I have yet to meet a Nobel Laureate, but Jimmy says he mostly keeps to his quarters lately. Either way, I feel this will be a good learning experience for me and I wish to repeat my thanks to Mister Mazuka.
Today I assisted Doctor Blackmore with her analysis of the Russian samples. I am sorry, I cannot pronounce the word Ok-Oktks-Ohoktsk. Her laboratory is very good, but so very large for just two people, it was three people but she told Jimmy to leave. I’ve never handled such fragile material before, I was worried I would drop a flask or contaminate the containers somehow, but Doctor Blackmore was very patient with me and assured me my performance was ‘exceeding standards.’ Which is good, I think.
This appears to be a fascinating study. Doctor Blackmore thinks that the samples are mutations from the Russian bombs, but I think it is some primordial algae frozen in the tundra. I am very excited to continue our research, though I am not sure what the industrial application would be. I shall ask Mister Mazuka at the nearest opportunity.
Uhhh, thank you and goodbye.
1987 October 27
Logan Diehl, Lead Engineer, Tokugawa Industrial Solutions
Hello, Logan Diehl here.
[DOG NOISES]
Hey, quiet you. Sit. Sit. Lie down. Good boy.
Sorry about that, Logan Deihl, Lead Engineer, Sevier Lake Facility, and it is the twenty-seventh of October.
Fairly standard day for the least educated man in the team, thank you, Jimmy. We had to incinerate a few of the batches we received from Sapporo, Simone says the frost burn left them completely unusable. Jimmy thinks that we might have been able to salvage something, but Doctor Hatch set down the chain of command and boy is she enforcing it.
All equipment is running smoothly, though we are due for a tune-up. I’ll try to get that done in the morning before Simone wakes up, or after she’s gone to bed.
Other than that it’s been pretty smooth sailing, haven’t seen Doctor Hatch in a wh-
[DOG NOISES]
Hey, cut it out, I’m recording-
[DOG NOISES]
Oh, come here. Logan Diehl out.
1987 October 27
Dr. James Stokes, Researcher, Tokugawa Industrial Solutions
Alright, Jimmy Stokes here, PhD but who the hell isn’t? Submitting my oral report… about, ooh, fourteen hours late because this is some bollocks that no one’s ever going to listen to and doesn’t need to be done. C’mon, Shoji, you got the written reports, you have the results in the database, what you need these for? You gonna type ‘em up again? This is rubbish, mate.
Anyway, it was a lovely day today here in the treasonous colonies, at least that's what the security bloke tells me, I wouldn’t know because I spent it underground like an absolute mentalist. Sure making my dad proud, all that time at Oxford, your boy still ends up living in a ditch.
What else? Doctor-tron Simone, who does not like me calling her that, reports that all is well in the world of gunk in a jar. You’ve never seen such gunk in a jar, mate, it's the best gunk in a jar, it’s fantastic gunk in a jar, even when it’s out of the jar, it’s the gunk of the century, mate, don’t you ask twice.
What I can report that she doesn’t know the first thing about chemical analysis and consequently I had repeatedly tell her how long these tests are going to take, to which she asked ‘why can’t it be done sooner,’ ‘why aren’t you doing it now,’ ‘why aren’t you going faster,’ she’s a proper fucking knobhead, this girl.
Xue, on the other hand, is delightful, no idea where you found her, Shoji, but wee girl’s sharp as a whip. Almost makes me regret telling her this study is called Project Hummingbird. It’s not called that at all, I’m not even sure it has a name- Does this have a name? Hang on a tick...
[PAPER SHUFFLING]
According to our dear leader this experiment is called… “Preliminary Research into Okhotsk Samples One through Fourteen - Doctor Andrew Hatch, et al. Shoji Mazuka supervisor…” Mellifluous, innit?
And… I believe that’s all from the world of ‘et al.’ As you were. Jimmy.
1987 October 31
Dr. Andrew Hatch, Research Director, Tokugawa Industrial Solutions
Doctor Andrew Hatch…
[15 SECONDS OF SILENCE]
I’d like to repeat the many thanks I gave in person to Shoji Mazuka for the quality of the quarters I have been provided. To a man of my age and… well… corpulence, the thought of spending even one night on the slabs afforded the research team fills me with a dread I barely deserve.
I must admit that I had my doubts about this facility. Yet the past few weeks have proven most enlightening. You said it was a proto-Los Alamos, didn’t you, Shoji? A nuclear research laboratory deep beneath the earth, that after the bomb dropped was left to gather dust, until it was sold to Tokugawa ten or so years ago. My-oh-my, what a bargain you found.
Simone informs me that work has begun on the samples recovered from Okhotsk. Truth be told, I don’t remotely care. I have delegated the vast majority of my responsibilities to her and the man from England. As far as they are concerned I shall be merely a signature on the bottom of a form requesting a litre of sodium benzoate.
Batch fourteen has arrived at my door as I requested. My personal studies shall continue unobstructed, as per my agreement with ███████. How do you plan to cover that up? Might I suggest a shipping error at your end and an accident at ours... I do not envy the position you find yourself in. How I hate you, Shoji.
Oh my, I believe it’s halloween.
END OF SECTION 1
I love this! Very well written, intriguing characters with unique voices. I like the format a lot and you do a good job of connecting the characters between them and revealing their relationships gradually with every new audio entry.
There’s also a lot of mystery surrounding the project and the secret of Andrew Hatch.
Very well executed. It reminds me of a fiction podcast that I like a lot, Limetown. Your story would make for a fantastic fiction podcast.