ISA Head Nurse Hirano Chiyo
Patient Log 15- “Ringing Cases”
“A long, drawn out, ringing.”
“Constant whining at night.”
“It’s like, when you were young and could hear those old televisions scream.”
“A ringing.”
“It was like shell shock sounds in video games.”
Every single case this week contained the same event; a white noise of sorts that grew in loudness at night. The first incident was attributed to the projectiles whizzing by in recent IS training practices. No later than an hour after the first girl came in and left, I had already received the same accounts from another. Today, I count it up to fifteen patients. With little else to say, I had to quickly deal with them and merely told them to avoid practicing with or around projectiles.
Half of them came back, complaining of the same symptoms. According to them, they nevertheless followed my advice, yet it still persisted. The cases baffled me. Upon examination, I found no internal ear problems, and brain reception to audible stimulus was perfect. I couldn’t come to any conclusions. I studied various dorm rooms, as they were claimed to be the sites of most events pertaining to the cases. I recorded on large levels of frequencies, and turned electronics on and off.
I found nothing. It became apparent that I’d have to put in some monitoring devices during the patients sleep times to see if the same problems came about. Two audio recording devices were placed; watching the door and patient (name withheld). A visual recording device was set up to include the patient and the door. A second smaller device recorded the window and desk.
What I found was… Eerie. After retrieving the devices, I discovered a strange reoccurring pattern of audio sounds throughout the night. The video cameras showed no visible anomalies or appearances on all three wavelengths; infa-red, heat, and visible light. I looked over the audio files and tried to attribute them to similar sounds typically found in electronics or ambience. It matched none. I gave the disk to a colleague of mine, hoping for a more professional and experienced approach. She returned with another strange discovery.
The audio patterns could be attributed to a specific but complex pattern; almost like speech. She tied numbers to each sound frequency, and found them repeating, yet in drastically different ways. She looked into code-breaking schemes but could find nothing more in the sounds. They were indeed equivalent to those described by my patients; a constant, high-pitched ringing. When replayed for them, they all affirmed its similarity. In addition, the sound level seemed to be much louder for them than myself.
They were quite obviously akin to the “mosquito ringtone” so many students have heard. I looked further into these cases for several months, discovering that a much larger demographic than those who had visited me were experiencing the same thing. By that time, I had alerted several other dorm authorities, searching for any student devices that possessed the ringtone. They were removed from three students, but the cases persisted. In no way could it then be said that ringtones were at fault.
I set up more recording experiments, not just in dorms twice each week over the course of four weeks. By the third week, a second anomaly had appeared; window video devices recording an alarmingly fast object just outside the room. Even under high speed replaying capabilities, the video could only capture two frames. What was visible was a small, long object, seemingly undulating across the glass from one side to the other. That was the only time it was seen. The same audio anomalies persisted, even outside dormitories.
Two months later, I was submitted with an entire classroom of students complaining of powerful headaches and strained ears. The teacher claimed they all started thrashing for a few moments in her class in but a split second. Seven were withheld overnight due to damaged eardrums.
To my horrifying conclusion, four of the seven were legally deaf by morning. The cases seem to be getting more and more violent; yet the culprit is not even close to discovered. Various theories have been postulated; a radiation leak, IS engine malfunctions while inoperative, and atmospheric solar rays. I have many doubts any of them are correct.
In but just one school week, another malicious incident occurred. However, this one ended in death. In the very same room I had captured the strange object on the window, the rooms two occupants were found dead and mutilated. Exact condition is withheld. Since then, the ISA has undergone lockdown. Students are not allowed to leave the dormitories, and a much larger staff has been deployed to monitor hallways. Audio anomalies still continue, some complaining of an even louder decibel level in specific areas.
Even with extra hands, two more students have been found dead. One student in particular claims of constant headaches. Her room was examined and the audio level of the ring was found to be near deafening to most other students. She was removed from the premise and admitted to my ward.
I hope the problem is solved soon.
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Shivering temperatures and a skimpy suit; not exactly what one would think of as the best combination. Yet, the nippy freeze didn’t affect the young woman in the IS. Standard shields that accompanied every unit also prevented unsatisfactory temperatures from affecting the pilot. The soldiers beside her trudging in the snow however, were chilled to the bone, even with heavy, warm, Russian military uniforms. The team of eight stalked across the turf of thick sleet, knee-deep in frozen water. A blizzard of biblical proportions battered them the entire way.
What they were doing out there specifically was far from detailed. Command gave a quick order to suit up and head out; apparently another one of those silly crashes popped up. Nothing was ever found, and even if there was something there from some place unknown to us, likely the “special” guys got there first. Times like these up in Siberia were routine. A crashed plane here. Ruined train there. Occasionally these coincidental unconfirmed crashes showed up. Nothing was ever found anyways.
Yet, orders were orders, and they followed like dogs. Silly dogs. Trudging on and on, the storm never seemed to let up, let alone make way. The eight-man team chugged forward like drowning cats amidst a tropical storm. Garbled radio messages transmitted distances on occasion of their distance to the supposed site. Very rarely could the message actually be decoded amidst the wind and low signal.
Just a few minutes ago –or hours, no one could tell- a message claimed but a few tens of meters to go. Despite the short distance, no one had any sight of anything but white ground and a dark sky. In the indiscernible periods of time they continued to walk, a large structure became apparent. Like a white ghost melting into view, this large, leaning tower of Pisa stood forth. The group halted and sent out a message that they had arrived; how they were sure? It certainly wasn’t a rock, or anything manmade for that matter. Like a spiked pyre of smooth white metal, it presented itself as a monstrous object unlike anything ever seen.
If the squad could make one conclusion, it was that they weren’t alone. Sessile as it may seem, they immediately went on edge, raising weapons and checking surroundings. If it was indeed alien, it could very well be hostile as well. No message from command ever came back. The squad stood on an even thinner ledge.
Nothing sounded. Even the winter storm seemed to fall silent in the ironically heated atmosphere. Then, a rush. A shockwave like that of a bomb pounded the squad, keeling over some and winding those who were entrenched in the snow. The IS stood still.
With yells the men and women stood, shaking in terror and fear. The dark surroundings and the silence of the world were fearsome enough, and now the tower seemed to move. Its permanent residence buried in the snow quickly abandoned its calm life and rippled with life-like movement. Splinters of white elongated structures stretched and expanded, its white exoskeleton-like body forming into long spinal forms. Almost like that of a flower blooming, it unraveled and untwisted.
To the squad, it was pure horror; such an alien thing presenting itself so dramatically. With no sense of leadership and without a way to go, one of the paranoid soldiers fired. The silence was broken, and in a split second it seemed like the wind picked up again. Flashes from the barrel lit up the snow, and the creature before them shivered at the projectiles.
They did nothing. The white coverings that protected much of the beast’s true flesh was unharmed and unaffected. In the adrenaline and madness of the situation however, the man could not discern such a fact. He fired madly at the creature, harming its softer skin by simple accident. It turned and rose, sending out moans of pain and anger. Several soldiers had also released their fear, firing blindly at the beast. Though it seemed to be moved by the show of force, it did not budge from its original spot. Mags empty and the beast no longer stirring so madly, the squad calmed itself, staring frighteningly at their target.
It stood still, completely unwound and elongated. The organism was like an octopus of sorts, from what the men could barely discern in the blizzard. Its tentacles covered in white plates not unlike a centipede’s outside armor. The head, what it may be was out of sight, but from an earthen biological standpoint, they proposed its position.
Their horrors were realized when the beast swiped at the squad. In but a single slash, one tentacle batted away the IS and four soldiers. The firing began yet again, and the chaos was brutal. Men left and right rose or never stood again. Blood showed up across the ice. Human parts were dismembered and strewn about. The un-moving creature destroyed the squad, killing all but the woman and her IS.
I had risen to the sky, tired of stomping around in the snow. Its two machine guns had already been unloaded twice, yet the beast was unharmed. Small arms fire was inevitably useless. Thus, the MPIS unleashed its heavier weapons; twin shoulder rockets. The explosion that ensued mutilated the beast, tearing tentacles off and shattering its armor. With only a few rounds to spare by the end, it seemed the creature had been subdued. What appendages were still intact dropped, and it ceased to make sounds of any kind.
The pilot had barely broken a sweat, yet her entire squad was gone. She strained to hold back tears, despite the adrenaline that fueled her veins. The IS floated back to the ground and stood still for a few moments. The trip would be lonely coming back.
But the trip was to be cancelled. The woman had no time to react when several dark green tentacles shot out from the creature’s center, ensnaring the frame with ease. The machine failed to free itself, as one by one, limbs were torn from their very sockets. With the design of the machine, the pilot was saved from being damaged herself, even as it was torn to pieces. The shields failed, and a wave of sheer cold blasted her skin. She went into a short lived shock before several tentacles picked her up.
With a bloody second, she was dead, torn in two and thrown to the snow. The creature roared, shaking the ground underneath as the IS parts were seemingly ingested. Lights penetrated the snow, and the storm passed in the blink of an eye. It was as if god himself silenced the fury of nature and gave blinding light to the world below.