MARCH OF THE MONSTERS: "CETACEA ONEIROTYRANNIS"






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TRANSMISSION RECORDED: 02/26/09
TRANSMISSION RECEIVED: 03/31/09
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VOICE OF Captain Aaron R. Schaffer: (garbled) ...iles south of the Southern Chile Ridge, less than twenty miles from the presumed location of the mission target. Weather is clear. Nothing unusual thus far.

VOICE OF Dr. Hideo Matsumoto: Members of the crew--

SCHAFFER: Hideo, they don't need to hear ab--

(three or more voices, muffled)

MATSUMOTO: Members of the crew have been complaining of headaches and nightmares. The first to report any unease was our chief surgeon David Huong, on the twenty-third. Huong is currently suffering from a fever, but it does not appear to be serious.


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TRANSMISSION RECORDED: 02/28/09
TRANSMISSION RECEIVED: 03/31/09
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SCHAFFER: We've reached our destination. Investigative procedures will unfold as scheduled. Initial SCUBA exploration begins tomorrow. According to NOAA report SA63110, July 1997, the "Bloop," as it has become known, was detected a total of eleven times, mostly between the hours of 05:00 and 08:00 GMT. As of yet, our vessel has not detected any unusual phenomena, even while positioned in the same area and using identical instruments. Hideo?

MATSUMOTO: Activity of marine life is relatively normal. One notable exception: smaller fish seem to be more hesitant than usual to form school formations. Many fish, of species that generally swim in school, appear to prefer solitary hunting. This behaviour has precedent: a small population of Atlantic Herring was discovered in 1965 to forgo school swimming in order to avoid large predators that could swallow many of the Herring together. That local fish have taken on this behaviour suggests the presence of unusually large predators, but more observation is needed.

VOICE OF Dr. David Huong: The dive tomorrow should get us some important data, I'd say.

MATSUMOTO: Captain, keeping in mind Dr. Huong's condition, I don't think that--

HUONG: I feel fine, actually.

SCHAFFER: Why don't you give the medical report? Matsumoto filled in for you last time. You were sleeping.

HUONG: Alright, moving along... My fever has subsided, and no other crew members have fallen ill, though two men have been complaining of constant headaches for the past two days. Their accompanying nightmares appear to have been purely coincidental, though any sufferers of headaches and nightmares have been instructed to come forward. No one has, so far.

SCHAFFER: I want you to watch those men closely. And take care of yourself, too.


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TRANSMISSION RECORDED: 03/01/09
TRANSMISSION RECEIVED: 03/31/09
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(harsh feedback masking twenty-three minutes, twelve seconds of speech)

MATSUMOTO: --curious porpoise specimen this morning. It was of an extremely advanced age, and its tail was badly disfigured, by warped bones and heavy scarring, as if the animal was tangled in something. This could possibly be an indirect cause of death, though the constriction appears to have taken place over a number of years.


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TRANSMISSION RECORDED: 03/03/09
TRANSMISSION RECEIVED: 03/31/09
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(harsh feedback masking three minutes, two seconds of speech.)

SCHAFFER: --citing news. (more feedback) --was heard for the second time in as many d--

(seven minutes, forty-eight seconds of distorted speech)

MATSUMOTO --fallen back into his fever. This time the doctor is much more--

(twenty seconds of white noise)

MATSUMOTO continued: --delirious, and makes repeated references to a whale.

SCHAFFER: Don't forget to ment--

(fifty-one seconds of white noise)

MATSUMOTO --ing nearly all crew members. Many men describe them as vivid and terrifying, but none of them are able to recall specific details upon waking. Feelings of despair and worthlessness often accompany the dreams. The two who complained of headaches have reached dangerous levels of depression, and are being sedated. One of the men is showing symptoms of fever. It seems likely that it will follow the sa--

(feedback for nine minutes, nineteen seconds)

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TRANSMISSION RECORDED: 03/07/09
TRANSMISSION RECEIVED: 03/31/09
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(distorted, muffled speech, for thirty-one seconds)

SCHAFFER: --echnical difficulties and serious medical concerns, but we are persevering nonetheless. Our undersea microphones have detected the Bloop once a day for the last eight days, for the first time in twelve years. The microphones are currently undergoing repairs, but managed to record the mysterious sound in full before malfunctioning. The sound appears to be coming from below the ship, and a submersible is being prepared for an immediate expedition. Despite the illness affecting the crew, two volunteers came forward to man the vessel, and we expect to--

(fourteen minutes, eight seconds white noise)

MATSUMOTO: At least eight crew members, the Captain included, reported hearing whale song last night. I was awake at the time and heard nothing, and the radar did not detect any nearby pods. I'm tempted to attribute it all to the illness that is circulating; perhaps an ear infection, or aural hallucinations.


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TRANSMISSION RECORDED: 03/07/09
TRANSMISSION RECEIVED: 03/31/09
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MATSUMOTO: There have been two incidents within the last five hours. One man is missing, two are gravely injured, and two others are presumed dead. The exploratory submersible was launched, and three minutes later the two volunteers were discovered in the sick bay, both alive but with moderate head trauma. The two men who had been quarantined there had gone missing, and it was soon discovered that they had forcibly removed the two submersible operators and taken the vehicle under control themselves. When the vehicle was launched, it sank to a depth of 90 feet. The video feed shows the two men to be nearly asleep for the duration of the dive, and suddenly become frenzied at the end. They deliberately overrode the safety lock mechanism and opened the hatch. The other incident was the disappearance of David Huong from the ship. It is believed that he dove overboard sometime during the commotion of the submersible disaster.

SCHAFFER: The crew--

(one minute, thirty-seven seconds white noise)

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TRANSMISSION RECORDED: 03/10/09
TRANSMISSION RECEIVED: 03/31/09
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(seven minutes, nine seconds white noise)


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TRANSMISSION RECORDED: 03/12/09
TRANSMISSION RECEIVED: 03/31/09
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SCHAFFER: I can't do this.


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TRANSMISSION RECORDED: 03/17/09
TRANSMISSION RECEIVED: 03/31/09
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(thirty-eight minutes, thirty seconds white noise)

SCHAFFER: -- our second submers--

(seventeen seconds white noise)

SCHAFFER: --tsumoto will go alone. With the number of dead crew members up to seven, Matsumoto and I are the only qualified men aboard. He insists my headaches are related to the illness that has spread through the ship, so I am staying behi--

(two minutes white noise)


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TRANSMISSION RECORDED: 03/18/09
TRANSMISSION RECEIVED: 03/31/09
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MATSUMOTO: (muffled) -- as soon as you turn on the microphone!

SCHAFFER: Okay, it's on.

(pause, approx. 10 seconds)

SCHAFFER: Well?

MATSUMOTO: Where should I start?

SCHAFFER: How about the part where you encountered A 300 FOOT LONG FUCKING MONSTER. I saw it on the radar, and I want answers! What was that thing?!

MATSUMOTO I took the submersible down to 1200 feet. There I discovered what must be the largest organism on the planet. At least 250 feet in length. Judging by its shape and movement, I believe it is cetacean, though it possessed many anatomical features that are unheard of in the cetacea order. Bioluminescent. No visible eyes. Most striking were the long tendrils circling the mouth. And the bubbles. That was odd.

SCHAFFER: The bubbles?

MATSUMOTO: Seemed to be...

(long pause)

MATSUMOTO: Seemed to be pockets of gas, emanating from pores on the skin. I don't know how that would work, though. Amphibians breathe through their skin, but... but if the men have survived on it, it must have contained oxygen.

SCHAFFER: What do you mean by that? Go back to that. What men?

MATSUMOTO: Our crew members were present while I observed. The wha--

SCHAFFER: You mean the missing crew? The dead ones?

MATSUMOTO: Not dead. The whale seems to be in an obligate symbiotic relationship. Using the mouth tendrils, it holds onto smaller organisms, and these organisms lead it to food. It works flawlessly; I watched as th--

SCHAFFER: These organisms... You mean people, don't you? Living people?

MATSUMOTO: Yes, human beings.

SCHAFFER: Fleming, Jacobs, Larssen, Huong...

MATSUMOTO: Yes, all of them. Humans are aerobic of course, so they have to move back to the underside of the whale every two minutes to breathe from those accumulating bubbles. When their lungs are full, they swim back out and lead the whale by the mouth-tendrils, the ends of which are attached to their bodies somehow. From my perspective it seemed that the tendrils had wrapped around their legs but also fastened themselves to the navel, imitating umbil... Are you okay, Captain? You look sick.

SCHAFFER: Headache's getting worse. What do we do, Doctor? Are we supposed to just lea...

(loud thud)

MATSUMOTO: Captain!

(muffled voices and shuffling for a minute)

MATSUMOTO: Wake up, Captain.

SCHAFFER: uhmm... The Dream Whale... calls to her children, and the faithful among us... will answer her. She will keep us safe, with air to breathe and food to eat, but we must serve her. She is blind, and cannot survive without us.

MATSUMOTO: Captain, you are hallucinating. Snap out of it.

SCHAFFER: You didn't dream it. YOU DIDN'T HAVE THE DREAM.

MATSUMOTO: What are you talking about, Aaron?

(sounds of struggling)

SCHAFFER: LET ME GO! SHE NEEDS ME! I HEARD HER CALLING FOR HEL--

(feedback squeal, four seconds duration)


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TRANSMISSION RECORDED: 03/19/09
TRANSMISSION RECEIVED: 03/31/09
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MATSUMOTO: Fascinating, completely fascinating. Captain Schaffer dove into the ocean last night, suffering delusions and hallucinations that I believe were caused by cetacea oneirotyrannis. All the men who have joined the whale were victims of the nightmares that began occurring upon our arrival here. I'm tentatively linking the apparent hypnosis of the victims to the dreams. The whale's song (which seems to be inaudible to healthy humans) has a sort of effect similar to that of toxoplasmosis gondii. When the fever took hold, the afflicted began hearing the song and experiencing the dreams.

When Captain Schaffer entered the water, he floated limply and then vanished beneath the surface. I took the submersible to follow him down, though preparations took four hours.

I was right about the tendrils; they function as working umbilical cords! It's incredible. oneirotyrannis uses the seeker symbiotes - that is, the crew - to locate food, and in return she supplies them with nutrients directly to their body.

I'm going back down in a few hours to do more research, but I need to sleep first. I-I can't think straight anymore, I think I'm starting to get a headache. Very exciting. I'll report my findings later tonight.


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