001 | video

[soothing]

[ ENCRYPTED 75% TO MEDICAL AND XENOBIOLOGY/GENETICS STAFF + BRUCE BANNER: ]
I took the liberty of checking out the blood samples we were able to get from the creatures at the end of the maze. Some of them seemed to have bacterial infections, which isn't surprising, but I also checked them against known DNA samples from Earth.

I don't want to alarm anyone, which is why I've encrypted this for now, but so far the results are all coming back in essentially the same manner. The DNA of these creatures is a mix between Earth creatures -- the lion is a large component, and there are also what appears to be genetic material from the Australian dingo and some sort of crocodile. However, at the present time it appears as though the largest genetic contribution comes from human beings.

Obviously the samples may have been compromised, as I've really only been able to work off their blood and some hair. I'm going to request a larger sample, preferably an entire specimen -- dead, obviously. Hopefully we can get more answers, and hopefully the human genetic material was just cross-contamination.

[ OPEN: ]
I've heard a few things about people returning to the end of the maze to clear out the rest of the creatures, in addition to a possible salvage operation. My name is Elizabeth Ross -- I'm a cellular biologist and university professor back home. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to request a mostly intact -- though definitely dead -- specimen of the creatures. I'm sure there are a lot of people who are wondering just what they are and how they got here, not to mention how they've survived the jumps, and I'm hoping that an entire specimen might be able to give us some answers.

How is everyone feeling?

Comments

[video]

[soothing]

I don't have much experience with magic. But I've spoken to a few people who say that they're just... angry. Even if someone could work with them, they would have to stay with them, wouldn't they? They'd have to keep it under control to keep everyone safe.

[video]

[wolfdreamer]

They are angry. But if it would help to learn from them--we could test, to see if they could be held safely, and then how long they could be held.

[Perhaps this is too much to offer, and too much to attempt--but if it would help, he thinks again, and that steels his resolve.]

[video]

[soothing]

If they can't be held safely, more people might get hurt. It's a nice idea, but I don't know that I'm willing to take that risk.

It might be safer just to set up a camera in the science department and see what we can pick up from there.

[video]

[wolfdreamer]

Unless they are all killed. [The creatures, not those that would hunt them--and the creatures should be hunted; they are a danger. But, still--] What would you watch for, through the cameras?

[video]

[soothing]

They're not all dead. Not yet.

Just to see how they behave, I suppose. If people were willing to wait until after the jump to hunt them, I would want to see how they survive it -- but if they waited, we might lose access to the lab and they might resurface somewhere else. To be honest, I'm more interested in what they are on a baser level than how they behave, but I know there are others who might be interested.

[video]

[wolfdreamer]

If they have not all been killed, then one could be made safe--a cage could be fashioned, to trap the creature, and then it could be observed and watched, with-- [a tiny hesitation, as he looks for the proper word] --cameras, even during the Jump, and after and before, too.

[And again, he pauses.]

Do you think they are truly creatures?

[video]

[soothing]

If it's in a cage, it might not survive the jump. For all we know, they've found a safe place in the laboratories.

[ Betty pauses as well. ]

What do you mean?

[ They were human once. The genetics, the tests she's run and rerun, they're starting to point more toward confirmation than estimation. Still, she needs better samples before she's willing to tell the ship at large. ]

[video]

[wolfdreamer]

[How much does he say? How much should he keep? Again, he's quiet a moment, looking at his hands. They're animals, and they're angry, but they're something else, too, something unfamiliar when he reaches out to them, like a stiff new boot with a bit of glass in it.

And he remembers the sound of someone stuck outside during the Jump; he remembers Hotspur, though he did not truly know him. Even creatures would not deserve that.]

They're different. I don't know how--but I think they're different.

[video]

[soothing]

[ They're different, he says and Betty can't deny that. ]

I don't think they were born the way they are now. I think something happened to them. But I can't be sure without samples.

[video || 30% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[He thinks about that as well--and then moves to do as he's been taught, changing around the settings on this device to make this conversation more secret. He doesn't do it well, but well enough.]

You would call it science, whatever has changed them--not magic. I don't know very much about science, but-- [Again, he hesitates.] I could bring one to you. I could hold one still.

[video]

[wolfinthesnow]

Bran.

What are you saying?

[video]

[wolfdreamer]

[.....oh heyyy Jon. He gets sort of a guilty look about him, first, and then marshals his features--even as he's trying to remember all that he's learned of locking these messages away.]

I thought-- If it would help them, it would be good to trap one. I think it could be done. [He hesitates, then adds:] I think--I could help.

[video]

[wolfinthesnow]

Help trap one?

[video || 30% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[First, he flushes a little, aware of what Jon must think. A cripple cannot hunt. And so for this, too, he switches things around as he's been shown--clumsily, but he manages well enough. This still feels strange to talk of, but--]

I could bring one of the creatures anywhere they wanted. I could-- I wanted to tell you, but then we were ill. But-- I can do things. I could borrow the creature's skin.

[video || 30% encrypted]

[wolfinthesnow]

You are a warg?

[video || 30% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

It isn't an evil thing. It isn't only a story. I really can do it. I've been practicing--it was only dreams, at first, and only Summer, but-- I've been practicing.

[video || 30% encrypted]

[wolfinthesnow]

I don't think it's a good idea with these things, Bran.

[video || 30% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[This is not precisely the sort of disapproval he was expecting, and he frowns a little.]

But it could help.

[video | SHE JUST HAD TO CHIME IN ]

[wont]

[ Sick, sick, sick — but that won't keep Alayne from saying her piece, simple as it is. She looks tired (understandably). ]

No.

[video | 30% encryped for you too OH ALAYNE ;~;]

[wolfdreamer]

[Immediately, he switches over so they are speaking in secret, too. It gives him a moment to turn his face from Alayne's, to fumble at the buttons on the device so he does not see the illness written plainly on her face, even now.]

I can do it.

[ video | 30% encrypted | bossiest sister is bossy ]

[wont]

[ So many secrets, spread between so many siblings. Alayne wonders if Bran speaks to the others too, speaks to the woman named Elizabeth Ross, for she notices how those conversations have gone suspiciously silent. ]

It is not a question of can, Bran, but will. [ Alayne's voice is sore in her own throat. ] These animals are not natural. And they are angry, as you said.

It is not safe for you. [ No, it is not safe for any of them. ]

[ video | 30% encrypted | love her anyway :c ]

[wolfdreamer]

[He shakes his head even as she is explaining this--her words are wise, and likely true--he trusts her, and she is yet so ill, he hates to think that she would worry for him, that her face would grow paler than it is, but--]

But if it could help, it should be done. Robb and Jon took the risk to venture into the maze--this would be no different.

I know I could do it, Sansa. I know I would be safe. I have been practicing, with Remus Lupin--only with Summer, but I could do this thing, too.

[ video | 30% encrypted | she loves you too boo :c ]

[wont]

[ Starks and their stubbornness; Starks and their bravery. Alayne loves it and fears it, for it threatens what she holds most dear, threatens to take it all away from her again — those things once stolen and only now regiven. ] Robb and Jon ventured into the maze with good company and, even so, returned sick. You've only just recovered and when you go to these beasts, you will go alone.

None of us can come with you. [ Spoken truly like a sister who has been forced to sit and watch, helpless and unable to do nothing, left behind in wakefulness with Summer and a limp body to hug and cradle gently but not disturb. ]

Summer loves you. He's of our blood. [ Alayne shakes her head once. ] It will not be the same.

[ video | 30% encrypted ]

[wolfdreamer]

[He is first irritated, the feeling flashing quick through him--Robb and Jon went and came back, and they were ill when they returned, but they still went, they were still allowed--and then he is too quick to let that feeling ebb, when her voice goes quiet. Perhaps it is a weakness, but for all his determination, he does not want Sansa to be sadder than she is.

None of us can come with you. But Arya could, only she isn't Arya any longer. The Night Wolf, and a warg, too--could she reach for one of the creatures the way that he could? The way that he had--once, only once--]

I think they are different. They aren't only creatures--there is something else, like creatures made from magic, or creatures trapped by magic-- I tried already, once, just for a moment. [I'm sorry, he thinks, I'm sorry--]

I could do it again. If it would help to learn of these creatures, I could do it. I wouldn't go far, and I wouldn't stay for very long-- I can help.

[ video | 30% encrypted ]

[wont]

I know you could do it again, [ It is not pandering, it is the truth; she has seen him travel how many times and how many times had he returned. ] I've no doubt in that, in you. But the professor has told me — there are more magics beyond yours and his. There are dark places and things that lurk in that dark.

[ Her brow pinches, earnest and tired. Entreating. ]

There are things in this world that — once they touch you — they cannot be taken back. [ Alayne speaks of magic but it is clear by her expression that there are other things as well. Things just as dark and deep and terrible. Things that touched her and left her changed; things that she had not feared but should have (gods forgive her). ] Please— do not face them on your own.