Handouts from Episode 16

I am keeping this electronic diary to document what I believe to be abuses of science by my Employer Morton Bionetics. The company has discovered a previously unknown lifeform deep in the oceans of Terra-Sol. This lifeform is parasitic and somewhat dangerous to human life. I was extremely pleased to get to do biological work on this new discovery, even if it was for the government and they were keeping the whole thing "Top Secret". I became alarmed when I saw that the direction of our research was to find ways to make the life form even more dangerous to human life and not to discover whatever secrets it might reveal that could benefit us in medicine or cybernetics. THE BASTARDS ARE MAKING A BIOLOGICAL WEAPON.

Somehow the motherfuckers infected me. Dr. Wilson always hated my guts. Didn't like my politics. I heard him talking to Susan. He told her I was a security risk. They found one of the diaries I hid and confronted me. The next thing I know I'm feeling sick. I did a blood analysis on myself and sure enough, one of those little octopus fuckers is right there in my sample. Somehow they infected me. I'm dead if I don't figure out something soon.

I hacked the secure server and found a reference to a guy named Ranny Wolf in New Orleans. Apparently they tricked him into helping them with the discovery of the creature? It didn't really detail this and it sounds quite confusing. Anyway, my hope is he might have some answers on how to counteract my condition. What I saw made it sound like he was an expert on these things. He sounds like my only hope.

Handout #2:

(Under a file labeled "Deep Ones")

OVERVIEW: Morton Bionetics a subsidiary of the Arasaka Corporation, is under contract to produce a viable biological weapon from certain genetic material supplied by our contractor.

C. cnidarae: The organism in question bears a resemblance to those of the phylum Cnidaris, yet contains structures unlike any thus far known to biological science either terrestrial or xenological. The organism has therefore been named Clostridium cnidarae, for obvious reasons. C. cnidarae are not microoganisms according to the generally accepted definition, because of their large size. If the infectious agent is allowed to infect natural fauna, the victim is slowly killed as it transforms into a lifeform not native to terrestrial biology. The resulting organism resembles a gargantuan jellyfish and is often referred to by our scientific staff as a secondary cnidocyte. If large sections of the secondary cnidocyte are removed, those sections sometimes maintain independent mobility and are called tertiary cnidocytes. The C. cnidarae infection itself was harvested from the Primary Source provided by our contractor. The primary organism's phenotype remains a topic for speculation.

Cnidocyte, Secondary: "Secondary specimens originate in earthborn fauna when the C. cnidarae infection is allowed to run its course. The resulting organism resembles nothing so much as a man-sized jellyfish or freshwater hydra. Note that the organism is extremely dangerous, but with proper precautions in place it is a promising specimen for our ongoing bioweapon goals.

Status: The sample obtained from the Primary Source has proved suitable for the bioweapon project's goals. However, the continued inability of the research team to synthesize an inoculation or cure specific to C. cnidarae is problematical. Thankfully, the team believes that time is the only barrier to the development of a vaccine, in light of the demonstrated immunity of the xenoforms found living in proximity to the Primary Source.

GM: Michael Cross (e-mail)