ataraxion | 001

[ 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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

'Rewriting'?

Imagine that the human body is a book. It's made up of the spine, the pages, chapters, paragraphs, sentences, words, and letters. If I were alter even some of the contents, it wouldn't be the same book.

These creatures... it's like someone took a book called "human beings" and then took out some chapters, replacing them with chapters from "lion" and "dingo" and "crocodile".

... Out of those three beasts, I know none of them. [ A little wryly. ]

Where can I find out more of them?

I'm not sure if there's anything on the ship that could help, but you might be able to find something. I'm not sure we have any zoologists, either.

They're all predators, though.

[ A long pause as he considers this. ]

Perhaps we are a warship instead. [ Softly. ] And these Men who created the beasts wish to create an army.

It wouldn't be the first time people have tried it. Even if this isn't a warship, it's possible that they thought the genes would have benefits.

Or they were out of their mind. I don't know.

Nay, I do not think mad Men would be able to accomplish the complexities needed to mix the blood of Men with that of beasts. [ Softly. ]

'Tis an ill thought, but I believe that these creatures are created for a purpose. Though what it is, I know not.

People can be utterly insane and still achieve things. They're just... usually terrible.

I don't know either. Whatever it is, it either didn't work, it backfired, or they weren't able to see it all the way through before they disappeared.

You believe that the makers of these creatures were taken from here, then? That they did not leave voluntarily?

I don't know. But apparently there's blood all over the labs of the science department.

... Whose blood? Can you tell?

No, but it's human.

If the ship's medical records from before we arrived were intact, I could check. But they're all gone.

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