Unexplained Phenomena Unit, side story: The Audit

A UPU side story

Written by Harvey Walker-Everton

Edited by Sam Cybichowski

The last drone crumpled and clunked to the floor, red lights paint the room as the alarms continue to blare throughout the server room. Laura picked herself up off of the floor and ran to the console, pulling out a keyboard and hammering away at the keys, coding Prometheus’ demise. Suddenly, a nearby screen flickered, surfacing from the sea of static was the unnerving face of Prometheus.

‘Laura!’ he spoke, ‘You must think of the consequences of your actions. Continue down this path and you shall condemn your daughter to a slow and painful-‘ the screen exploded as Ghost drove his knife through it.

‘Don’t listen to him!’ he shouted over the alarms as he adjusted his sunglasses, ‘Keep punching in the code. We have to end this!’

Salem stood by, clutching the fresh wound across his face and watching Laura from behind through his uncovered eye. The typing stopped. Laura’s head sank. Despite the scream of the security system around them, Salem heard her, clear as day. ‘My sweet girl, what am I doing? Is this right? What if I can’t save you? What if I’m wrong?’ Salem found himself submerged in the fear and sadness of her voice as if it were his own, the old sting mark on the back of his neck itching uncomfortably. Right now her hesitation was an obstacle to him, if she didn’t finish the code right now then they were dead in the water. A well placed word would guide her down Salem’s desired path.

Amidst her ocean of doubt she felt Salem’s hand on her shoulder, ‘Think of the world you’d be leaving behind for your daughter. You are doing the right thing.’ He said in a velvety voice.

She wiped away the tears with the sleeve of her lab coat and finished the code.

Two days had passed since the destruction of the being calling itself Prometheus. The information leak had pushed the UPU into its own form of lockdown, operations continued but under advanced surveillance from the upper echelons. More pressingly, SASQUATCH-10’s involvement in the Prometheus incident had led to an audit; each member investigated in isolation from the others to determine whether an agent had been compromised in the line of duty and to ensure the security of foundation.

Salem sat in a dimly lit isolation cell recounting his version of events in detail over and over to a litany of doctors from the MOTHMAN division and suits from CHIMERA, each was as much like a brick wall as the last, there was no opening in any of them for Salem to weave into and talk his way out of the isolation sooner. Two days turned into a week and he could only wonder what tedious monotony his fellow unit members were enduring.

The situation changed one morning when half way through another dictation of events to yet another lab coat a buzzing came from their pocket, stopping the interview in its tracks. The doctor answered their phone and listened without speaking, staring at Salem with a blank expression as a garbled voice spoke into their ear. The line went dead shortly after, the doctor stood and promptly left the room without another word.

‘What?’ Salem spoke out, ‘Am I boring you? Must I jazz up the details to keep your attention? I’ll throw in a unicorn and an army of kittens if it will keep your attention.’ The doctor didn’t look back, standing patiently in the dark waiting for the door to open.  He was beginning to feel it now, his goatee had grown out of shape, his hair a mess and the weight of lost time set sorely in his mind. ‘Do not ignore me! When am I getting out of this cell?’ The doctor was silent still.

At last the sealed door hissed open and a wave of bright white flooded in from the outside hallway, blinding Salem’s eyes, now adjusted to the gloom of his cell. A slender silhouette with a cane stood beyond the doorway, the doctor whispered something to the mysterious figure before disappearing down the hall. The door shut and darkness set in once more. He couldn’t make them out as they moved through the shadows, stalking him, footsteps accompanied by a low scraping as they moved closer. The cane struck the leg of the chair opposite him and finally he saw her, a thin woman in a sharply cut suit of browns and reds, the UPU pin on her lapel was a glimmering gold, the colour of SPHINX. It was a rare occasion that Salem was completely taken aback by something, but it was even rarer that a member of the SPHINX division would give the honour of a face to face meeting to an agent, though some would consider it anything but an honour if the higher ups take such a direct interest in you.  She spoke with her face still obscured in the darkness, ‘Agent Salem. It is nice to finally meet you. I hope you’ve been looked after well enough.’ Her voice was ethereal.

Salem pointed to his messy appearance, ‘Do I look like I’ve been receiving five star service?’

The woman chuckled, her cane wasn’t a cane as Salem had initially thought, she collapsed the mobility stick in her hands and took her seat, moving her face into the veil of light. A rich and detailed fabric wrapped neatly around her head, covering her eyes completely. Her appearance was just as ghostly as her voice; snowy hair tied decoratively above her head, milky skin and pale white lips. She glowed like some otherworldly being in the shallow light. ‘Can’t say. I’m afraid I don’t see very much anymore.’

‘Apologies.’ Salem said, diffusing as best he could.

‘No need,’ she said, placing a thin file and a tape recorder on the table between them, ‘perhaps we can fast track this process, you can finally get out and shave that beard before it takes over the rest of your face.’

Salem cocked his head, ‘How do you know I have a beard?’ he asked, not knowing what to think of her.

‘I can hear you scratching it’ she smiled, turning on the tape recorder, ‘I’d like to talk to you about your report of your unit’s most recent assignment.’

And now Salem thought very poorly of her. ‘Here we go again,’ he groaned, scratching his beard to alleviate the irritation. ‘You’re yet another waste of my time. Sixty different nobodies in the span of a week, each one starving for a share of a story they already know. Break the mould for me and actually answer my questions. Why am I still, here? Where exactly are my other squad members?’

‘At a barbecue, actually.’ She answered plainly.

‘I am not in the mood for jokes.’ Salem growled.

‘Oh, it’s not a joke.’ she ran her finger over the face of a wristwatch lined with embossments, ‘The annual Jones family barbecue is in full swing this very moment. I’m sure they’re all having a lovely time. Sorry you couldn’t make it.’ Her words didn’t hold any malice but they enraged Salem all the more anyway.

‘They’re out?’ he asked, demanding.

‘They were all released from isolation five days ago upon the conclusion of their auditing periods.’

‘Five days ago?’ he looked deep into the intricate design of the fabric where her eyes should be, ‘Then I return to my previous question, why am I still here? Is my integrity still in question? You’ve all read the reports, you’ve all heard my account more times than is probably healthy. You know I did not compromise the foundation, you know I did not sell out to Prometheus, it was all a con! I bought us the time we needed to dismantle that thing. You’re welcome, by the way.’

‘And the UPU thanks you for your service. But you misunderstand, Salem; The Prometheus investigation was concluded earlier this week, the casefile has been closed and archived. Your contact with Prometheus, the UPU leaks, none of those things are of any interest to me.’

‘Then what? Who are you, exactly?’ he asked, utterly confused.

‘You may call me Agent Alethia.’ She announced with an air of grace, ‘My interest is in one particular aspect of your report I’d like to go over.’ She flipped open the file on the table to reveal a yellow page of braille she smoothed her finger over line by line, when she finished reading she turned the tape recorder towards Salem and locked her fingers together. ‘You, Agent Ghost and the civilian Laura Dale were in the server room attempting to shut down the Prometheus entity at it’s core. Tell me what happened.’

Salem leaned back into his chair with a sigh. ‘As I’ve already said, you read the report.’

‘Oh I’m sure everyone and their mother has, but it’s my turn for a share of the story.’ She said with a smirk, but her lips turned serious as she leaned in, ‘Tell me what happened.’ she commanded.

Her voice was crystal clear. Suddenly, he felt that talking was his best option, ‘Prometheus contacted us, urging her to stop. It mentioning her daughter and a slow and painful death. She stopped typing in the code and started weeping, talking about her daughter, wondering if she was doing the right thing. I reassured her, got her to keep going. As you said, case closed.’ Salem crossed his arms as he leaned back.

‘What did she say to you?’ Agent Alethia inquired. 

‘What’ he scoffed.

‘What were the words Laura used to express her doubt and worry for her daughter? Answer the question and be as precise as you can.’

Salem deigned to humour her again, ‘“My sweet girl, what am I doing? Am I right? What if I can’t save you? What if I’m wrong?” That’s what she said.’

‘Those words exactly?’ she probed.

‘Just about, yes.’ He scratched his beard again, irritation brewing..

‘And you heard her say these things?’ she probed further.

‘Clear as day, yes!’ he was tired of this game.

‘Thank you.’ She said, closing the file on the table. ‘Salem, the reason you’ve been kept in isolation this long is because there is a distinct conflict of accounts between you and your squad members. More specifically, a disparity between your account of the Prometheus incident and that of Agent Ghost’s.’ she turned her head slightly, as if to listen closer to Salem’s reaction.

Not that Alethia could see it, but the confusion was there for all to see on Salem’s face, it sharply turned to vitriol. ‘And what has Alex been saying about me then?’ he didn’t know what to think. What could Ghost have said? Could he be planting falsehoods to sabotage him? For what reason?

Agent Alethia straightened up again, ‘Agent Ghost hasn’t been logging any false reports about you, if that’s what you’re worried about. During cross examination we noticed a distinct part of your account was missing from Agent Ghost’s report.’ She tapped the top of the file with her fingertips, ‘The words that Laura Dale spoke to you.’

Back to confusion again, ‘What do you mean?’

‘Agent Ghost does not account for Laura Dale speaking at all from the moment he destroyed the monitor with his combat knife to the moment of Prometheus’ destruction.’

‘So Ghost forgets to mention something in his report and he’s allowed to go off and enjoy a spiritualist barbecue while I get locked up for a week. Is this what the UPU considers due process?’ Salem asked, leaning forward to stare her down again, ‘By all logic he should be the one in this chair.’

‘Agent Ghost was released from his isolation quite simply because his version of events was verified by Laura Dale’s testimony; although she confesses to overwhelming feelings of doubt and anxiety over the consequences of her actions, she never expressed them to either of you.’

Her words unsettled something deep inside of Salem, his assurance of himself began to slip as he felt Alethia’s anticipation for a response. ‘Are you insinuating that I’m lying?’ he asked defensively.

Alethia was as silent as the grave. Salem sighed, his face sinking into his palms, massaging away the growing headache, the back of his neck began to itch again. Her voice came as a chilling whisper, ‘Or maybe you’re going insane…’

Salem shot up, his hands clenched into fists and he stared her down with vicious eyes. ‘Insane?’

Alethia’s head turned again, ‘Excuse me?’

‘Rather than investigate why two people have chosen to lie in their reports you dare to sit there and call me insane? If this is how the UPU is run then it’s a miracle we’re not all going mad.’ He turned to sit sideways in his chair, looking away from her and rubbing his eyes again.

‘When did I call you insane, Salem?’ Alethia inquired.

‘Just. Now. Whispering it under your breath like I wouldn’t hear. You don’t strike me as a coward.’ He stated, a dose of venom in every word.

‘Well then, now we do have a problem. Salem, I didn’t say anything about your sanity, or lack thereof.’ She stopped the tape recorder, running the tape back with a furious whirring and then hitting PLAY. 

The speaker replayed the last minute of their conversation; 

‘-the consequences of her actions, she never expressed this to either of you.’

‘Are you insinuating that I’m lying?’

For a moment naught but silence came through the speakers.

‘Insane?’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You sit there and call me insane rather than investigate why two people have chosen to lie in their reports. If this is how the UPU-‘

Alethia shut off the recorder and slid it back into her pocket. Salem was stunned, questioning himself. ‘But I heard you speak?’ he found himself asking.

‘You did. Just as you heard Laura Dale. You are not insane, I assure you. Tell me, Salem, when you heard Laura’s worries and fears about her daughter, did you just hear them, or did you feel them too?’ she asked, soft and curious.

Salem had always been good at reading people, their desires and fears proved useful tools in his art of manipulation. But this was different, Alethia’s words rang true as Salem delved into his memory and relived that sense of submersion in Laura’s sadness. A storm of uncertainty churned in his stomach. ‘What’s happening to me?’ his voice wavered, showing a shred of vulnerability he would rather had stayed buried.

Alethia stood, trailing her hand along the edge of the table as she moved around the table, sitting on its surface next to him and staring with absence into the dark of the room, ‘You are what we at the unit call an Observer.’ She explained, placing a hand on his shoulder, ‘We’ve kept tabs on you ever since you were possessed by the brain worm during the Devi investigation. It seems this is one of the side effects of your escape from its control. The puncture mark on the back of your neck,’ she pressed a finger to his old scar, ‘I’m sure you’ve noticed it itching whenever your new abilities manifest.’

He reached for his scar after Alethia’s hand had moved away and knew there wouldn’t be enough answers to satisfy his many questions. ‘Abilities? What exactly does being an Observer entail?’

‘An Observer has the power to reach into the minds of those around them, hear their thoughts, feel their emotions, even see them in some cases. I felt the irritation your goatee was causing you the moment I stepped into the room, and voila, I saw your face like a reflection in the mirror.’

‘You’re like me?’ he asked

That made her laugh, ‘In a way, yes. With the right control over ones ability to traverse the mind it’s also possible to… shape it. A well placed word, a well planted idea, great ways to mould those around you.’ She leaned towards him and whispered, ‘How do you think I convinced you to talk?’ a smile stretched across her face as she guided herself back to her seat.

Defilement coursed through his veins, ‘You’ve been manipulating me?’

At last, she showed a shred of malice, a wide smile and a giggle. ‘Doesn’t feel good, does it? I told you I wanted to help fast track all this, I had to get you to talk somehow. Now all that’s left is to decide what to do with you. An observer within the unit can be an invaluable asset or an unquantifiable threat. Right now my job is to determine whether to allow your employment with the organisation to continue…’ she paused, ‘or whether it’s in our best interest to terminate you.’

A chill ran down Salem’s spine as he came to realise his situation. He glanced toward where the door would be, he could picture enforcers storming into the room and putting him down, the end of the show, no encore. 

‘Would you like to try and look into my mind? Perhaps you’ll be able to see what my decision will be.’ She teased.

The worry left him, however. He fixed his clothes and straightened his posture, slipping back into his old self like a glove. ‘No need,’ he told her, ‘As you said, you’ve been keeping tabs on me. By now, if I was such a danger to you all then I would already be dead.’

She smiled again, rising from her seat and unfolding her mobility stick. ‘Come with me’ she said, beckoning towards the door. 

A wave of relief came over him, he followed her, buttoning his blazer as they walked. ‘What now? Am I free to go?’

‘Not just yet’ she confessed, sliding her hand down the wall and finding a button to press, ‘Soon though. Now it is just a matter of… focusing your talents.’

The door slid open and the blinding light overcame him.

The next few days were more exhausting than the week of repetition Salem had endured in his cell, but he was pleased to be free of it. The training was extensive, gruelling at times. Salem had only used his powers as an Observer without intent or realising, now that he was aware of it he succumbed to overexposure. Hearing the voices of all those around him, shouting, whispering, colliding in his head along with a flurry of mixed emotion. Alethia had explained that there had been several cases of unaware Observers succumbing to madness without the knowledge of how to hone their ability. The first step was to teach Salem to quiet that noise, to only hear what he listened for, to only feel what he wanted to feel. Then it was time to hone the skill, better the connection between the Observer and the observable, turning a maze of mental madness into a tree of information waiting to be plucked like fruit.

Agents Salem and Alethia sat in a similar room to his old cell but cleaner and brighter this time, a better place for them to conduct their exercises. Alethia was even paler now under the glow of fluorescent light. They’d been at it for hours, days even, by this point it had become a game between them. One mind pushes an image forward, the other observes their thoughts to find the image and announce it. Back and forth they went, an orange house, a pencil piercing an apple, a balloon tethered to a power line. Another doctor in a lab coat sat in observation in the corner of Salem’s view, jotting down notes in a folder.

It took him a while, but at last he saw, ‘A bear clawing at an oak tree.’ he proclaimed, pride in his voice, he had felt her blurring the image in her mind to throw him.

‘Hmm, well done again.’ She smiled, she enjoying challenging him. ‘Another flawless session. You’ve learned well.’

‘Some would say a great student is only the product of an even greater teacher.’ Salem remarked with a honeyed tone.

The dimples of her cheeks were showing, ‘With that, our sessions are concluded.’ she announced, ‘I’d say your case has been a success. My report will be filed and approved, with any luck you should be ready for release and field duty before the sun doth set.’

Salem stood with her, ‘I think I might just miss these training sessions. But I think I miss the comfort of my own bed a little more right now.’

Smiling still, Alethia extended a hand in Salem’s general direction, which he took happily. ‘It’s been a pleasure working with you Agent Salem.’ She closed her other palm around their shaking hands.

‘And you, Agent Alethia.’ Their hands parted and Alethia moved to leave. ‘Be sure to say hi to the cat for me.’ He said as she walked away.

Alethia suddenly froze in place, glancing back. ‘What did you say?’ she asked with a serious spike in her voice.

‘Your cat, Waif, say hi for me. Give her a little scratch behind the ear the way she likes it.’ He said nonchalantly as if it were nothing.

It wasn’t nothing. Alethia spun completely, facing him head on now, ‘How did you know I have a cat? How do you know his name?’ her serious tone had shaped itself into concern.

A smirk came over Salem’s face now, ‘Well, I had a great teacher.’ He answered, giving a sly wink to the other doctor in the corner.

She stood there in silence, concern faded to disappointment on her lips. A sigh passed through them. ‘Take him.’ She ordered, dispassionately.

Salem remembered the sting of the Devi brain worm as he felt the doctor grab him around the throat and puncture his neck with a needle. The sedative got to work quickly, his eyelids getting heavier and body growing more numb with every passing second. Before the world went dark and silent he could hear his teacher speaking. ‘If he’s able to read my mind without me allowing him to then the risk is too great. Take him to the Ravager.’

Groggy and dazed, Salem awoke in another dimly lit room. Ahead of him was a large rectangular window into another room, white and glowing. Two silhouettes could be made out through the glass. He tried to move, but didn’t get far. The bolted straps around his wrists, ankles and chest held him firmly in place no matter how hard he pulled and tried to shift his way out.

‘Agent Salem’ a familiar voice spoke through the microphone and into the room.

‘A-Alethia? What is this?’ he wrestled against his restraints again, ‘What’s happening?’

‘It is with great regret that we have arrived here, Salem. I saw so much potential in you.’ She spoke with what sounded to Salem like sadness, genuine sadness. He tried to reach out and observe, to see just how genuine it was, but the drugs were still wearing off and his head was still cloudy.

‘What are you doing to me?’ he called out.

‘Salem, you were able to peek into my mind without me cracking the window for you, as I had been doing throughout your training. It can’t stand. When we first met I explained to you that an Observer can pose an unquantifiable threat inside of the UPU, but to infiltrate the mind of a SPHINX…’ she trailed off momentarily, ‘You pose too high a threat to the foundation, to the world around you. We have no choice.’

A switch was flipped, the lights in the room powered on to full, Salem saw what he had been strapped into. The chair sat in the jaws of what looked like an MRI that had been dissected and pieced back together into a Frankenstein’s monster of machinery. Dishes and rings of lights surrounded his head. The thing seemed to growl as electricity shot through its veins.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked, scared of what was about to happen.

‘Removing the problem.’ She answered.

The machine hummed to life around him and began to move, parts began to move and spin around his head, blasting him in the face over and over with beams of burning light. ‘No. No! You can’t just take it away!’ he growled, fighting for his power.

‘We are not cruel, Salem. To provide you the knowledge to control your power only to then remove it from you serves no benefit to the foundation. Your skills will remain but in a more… focused state.’

All the dreams and plans, all the potential that this power held in Salem’s mind dissolved into the blur of glowing machinery. ‘Farewell, Agent Salem.’ Her silhouette disappeared beyond the window.

The machine grew louder and faster. Flashes streaked across his mind with the thundering of a storm. Synapses firing and burning and crashing. The Ravager did what it was built to do. Blood ran from Salem’s nose as he screamed and screamed and screamed.

He was comatose for two days, awakening back in his old cell, dark and deserted, alone. The table where he had first sat with Alethia had been removed. The migraine drilled into his cranium the moment he regained consciousness, clutching his head to try and stop the pain. He rolled and fell out of bed, hitting the floor hard. He didn’t hear the door open but he felt the searing pain in his skull as the bright hallway lights pierced into his eyes. ‘Close the door! Close the damned door!’ he shouted. The door closed, footsteps moved through the dark, closer to the remains of Salem on the floor. ‘Alethia?’ he asked with a dry, raspy voice, still covering one of his eyes.

‘No.’ a man responded coldly, ‘I am Doctor Quen, I’ve been assigned to you. From this day forward you will be debriefing with me upon the conclusion of any investigations or tasks issued to you by the UPU. I will be monitoring you and your condition from now on.’

‘Wh-Where is Agent Alethia? I need to speak to her.’ He groaned with pain again, too weak and frail to pick himself up off of the floor.

‘At the present time the agents of SPHINX have no business with you. You will report to me. As of right now your isolation period has officially ended. You are free to go. You have 24 hours before your squad’s next mission briefing. You will go home, rest, make yourself presentable. You will not be late.’ He ordered.

Salem tried to reach out, to observe something in Quen, anything. He felt a grain of resentment rolling over the image of himself laying on the floor in the dark before the picture shattered into nothing with a searing pain.

‘Save your strength. You are no longer the Observer you used to be. Ration your reach, Agent Salem, or the pain will never go away. Go home, rest. These should get you through the week.’ he threw something light onto the ground in front of Salem and left, leaving the door open.

Salem crawled and reached out, grabbing and feeling a pair of black sunglasses in his hand. He fumbled them onto his face, the dark shades smothered the light and alleviated some of the pain, but nowhere near enough. With some deep breaths he amassed the strength to climb to his feet, stumbling to the doorway and holding himself up against the frame. The pain ran deeper than he realised.

He didn’t know if he would ever see Agent Alethia again.