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one. That s it on the main deal. There s some other stuff in this memo the psycho boys are
concerned about, so I ll let you get to it. See you for lunch Tuesday Ben.)
FILE EXCERPT MEDICAL Case #23325 Maria Gonzales Patient is a 24 y/o
unmarried WD, WN female Caucasian Hispanic, gravida 0, complaining of nightmares. Physical
examination unremarkable, no known allergies, PH of illness limited to minor URIs, occasional
general malaise, broken L. fibula, age 09. Laboratory workups, including SMA-60, CBC, urinalysis,
CAT scan, all within normal limits. Patient has ten-year BC implant, no other medications. DR.
RANIER: Maria, tell me about the dream. GONZALES: Okay, okay, I m ridin on the subway in
L.A. with my mother RANIER: Your mother died several years ago? GONZALES: Si, cancer,
(pause) We re on the Wilshire tube going into downtown and the tube is empty except for us.
(pause laugh) That s the really scary part, you know? I never seen an empty subway car.
RANIER: Go on.
GONZALES: So all of a sudden there is this loud noise, like something hits the roof of the
subway. Then a scraping sound. RANIER: Scraping? GONZALES: (agitated) Yeah, like something
digging, you know? But it s also like fingernails on metal, (pause) [Examiner s Note: Patient exhibits
increasing nervousness, marked diaphoresis, pallor.]
Anyway, then the train stops and I realize that something is trying to get in. Something bad. So
I say to my mother, Mama, come on, we have to get out of here! But Mama, she just sits there and
smiles at me, you know? (pause) Then all of a sudden the roof tears open like it s paper and these
things claw right into the car. Like nothing I ve ever seen, they are bestia, como se dice? monsters,
with teeth and big heads like bananas. I reach for Mama to pull her with me, only she turns into one
of the things, her face stretches! It is too horrible! And it feels so& real.
Case #232337 Thomas Culp DR. MORGAN: What happened after the holovee came on?
CULP: Well, the room looked distorted, twisted, somehow, (pause) Then something like,
came out of the set, but it stretched the usual stopping place of the holograms. Like a fist shoving
through a sheet of flexiplast. And then the thing some kind of monster it grabbed me. I couldn t
move a fucking muscle! It opened its mouth, had teeth as long as my fingers, and inside was like
another mouth, smaller, and it opened, and, oh, Buddha! It got me and I couldn t fucking move!
Case #232558 T M. Duncan DUNCAN: So I was standing next to the flight attendant,
hitting on her a little, and then I noticed she looked familiar, like somebody I knew.
DR. FRANKEL: Familiar? Did you recognize her?
DUNCAN: Yeah, it took a second. She looked like my mother. So I figure, well, I shouldn t
be trying to come on to my mother, then all of a sudden, her chest tore open and this thing looked
like a snake or a big eel with a lot of teeth comes out, spewing blood and all and flew, fucking flew
out of her right at my face! (pause) That s when I woke up, and man, I was never so glad in my life
to be awake. I stayed up for two days.
Case #232745 C. Lockwood LOCKWOOD: It was wet, slick with blood, shiny, hard, like
some kind of giant dick with teeth and it wanted to jam itself into me!
In his office, Qrona waved his computer to hold and turned to his assistant. Interesting. All
from within a fifty-klick area, you said?
Yessir. And the medicomp has collected a dozen other similar reports.
What have the patients in common?
High ratings on the Cryer Scale and at least double digits on the Emerson Empathic.
Ah. And the descriptions are identical?
Virtually identical.
Etiology?
Unknown. Best guess the medicomp can come up with is some kind of telepathic or empathic
projection. Perhaps it is how the things communicate among themselves and perhaps they are trying
to communicate with us.
Hmm, Orona said. He frowned. Our data so far do not indicate that the aliens are
particularly intelligent, per se. And we ve kept a pretty tight lid on this thing. And yet here we are
having a wave of spontaneous& connections of some kind. Why now? And why here on Earth?
There aren t any aliens here.
The computer readout over the bed carried a full-ride telemetry chart. The patient, Likowski,
James T, lay in the pressor grip of a state-of-the-art Hyper-dyne Systems Model 244-2 Diagnoster.
His EEG, ECG, myotonous level, basal metabolic rate, systems mitosis rates, and full blood counts
flowed in continuous waves, words, and patterns across the monitor. Blood pressure, respiration,
and pulse rate were noted and logged. The diagnoster checked and corrected the temperature so the
patient was not too cold nor too hot. The IV shunt in his left femoral vein fed him the perfect liquid
mix of nutrients for optimum health. An indwelling Foley catheter and rectal drain carried away
wastes. The company had spared no expense when it came to taking care of this particular patient.
The clean room was under Full Isolation Technique, and all visitors, medical or corporate, wore full
osmotic surgical suits with their own air supply. The south wall was mirrored one-way, and
observers could see the patient directly through the triple-paned glass should they choose. Seven
doctors formed the main care team, with six medical technicians working in shifts as monitors, plus
eighteen guards and a Full Alert status for the entire wing of the mediplex. Likowski, James T., was
not going anywhere, nor was anybody not cleared coming to see him.
Two men stood in the observation room, watching the patient. One was tall, fair, almost bald,
and brilliant. He was Tobias Dryner, M.D., T.A.S., Ph.D., and the team leader. The other man was
shorter, darker, hairier, and not quite so smart, but hardly stupid. He was Louis Reine, also M.D.,
T.A.S., but without the extra doctorate in biosystems. Still, he was a company man and a vice
president in the Biomed Division, which counted for a lot. Dryner was in charge of the patient, but
Reine was in charge of the project.
How is he? Reine asked.
Dryner waved his hand over a motion-sensitive control. Listen for yourself.
The audio came on: somebody tell me what the hell is going on? What happened? I want to
talk to my wife. Goddammit, why am I here? I feel fine! Just a little stomachache is all, I don t need
all this crap!
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