Jennifer Taylor (3:04)
Testing, testing. All right, we're recording. Operator log, bunker one. This is Jennifer Taylor, beginning my 30 day rotation. Day one, September 3rd, 2024. Time is 1843 hours, local. Okay, so Atlas requires daily audio logs for this assignment. Which I understand why now. After today, I need to process what happened because I don't think I'm going to sleep tonight. They drugged me at Bunker Zero. A couple days ago. At least I think it was a couple days ago. I'm still a little dopey from whatever they gave me. Signed the consent forms, they gave me an injection and I woke up here. Wherever here is. I don't know where this bunker is located. That was in the briefing documents, the ones I read before they put me under. I will not be told the location of Bunker One. I will be sedated for transport in and sedated for transport out. For security purposes. When I woke up, I was in the monitoring station. Small room, single bed, desk. This recording equipment, and a sealed envelope with my assignment instructions. I have read these instructions maybe 20 times now, trying to make sense of them. Subject contained in primary chamber. Last human being from future timeline. Extreme security classification. If subject achieves visual contact with any surface, or if subject speaks catastrophic timeline incursion will occur. The last human being. They kept using that phrase throughout the documents from a future timeline where everything failed. This person came back somehow. Traveled back to warn us, to try to change things. But they brought something with them. Something dangerous. And if they see or if they speak, Catastrophic consequences. The instructions are clear. Monitor vitals twice daily. Change IV feeding tube every 24 hours. Do not touch beyond necessary maintenance. Do not speak to the subject. Do not remove restraints under any circumstances. Keep them alive, keep them silent. 30 days. Then they sedate me again. Transport me out. And I never speak about this to anyone. The NDA I signed before they put me under was 40 pages long. Confidentiality agreement, liability waiver, psychological assessment, consent. And the payment. The payment was deposited before I even woke up. Here. More money than I've made in the last five years combined. I saw them for the first time this afternoon. After I read through everything. After I put on the containment suit. After I went through the triple lock door into the chamber. They're just sitting there. Bolted to the chair by their hands and feet. The metal bindings over their face are seamless, like they were custom made. You can see their chest Rising and falling. Breathing alive. But when I entered the chamber, they reacted. Their head turned toward the door. Toward me, even though they can't see. And their hands. Their hands gripped the armrests tight, like they knew someone was there. I did my first IV check. Had to hook up the feeding tube to the port in their arm. Standard medical procedure. I've done it a thousand times. But when I touched them, when I adjusted the line, they tensed up. Their whole body went rigid. Their breath caught. They're in pain or scared. Or both. Clinical observations for the record. Respiratory rate elevated when in proximity to operator. Approximately 22 breaths per minute versus baseline 18. Body temperature, 98.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Heart rate, 88 bpm. All vitals within acceptable parameters for long term sedentary containment. God, listen to me. Acceptable parameters for long term sedentary containment. That's what I wrote in the official log. Like this is normal. Like this is just another assignment. This is a person. The last human being, and we have them bolted to a chair with their eyes and mouth sealed shut. I keep telling myself Atlas knows what they're doing. They have protocols, procedures, reasons. This person came back from a future where everything failed. They brought something dangerous. If they see or speak, people die. Maybe everyone dies. I don't know. The money is in my account. I sign the papers, 30 days and I'm done. Then they drug me again. And I wake back up at Bunker Zero with no idea where I've been. But I can't stop thinking about those restraints. About the way they gripped the armrest when I came close. About the metal binding covering their mouth, preventing them from speaking. What did they come back to say? What warning did they try to bring? And why are we keeping them silent? 29 days left. Operator log, bunker one. Jennifer Taylor. Day five. September 7, 2024. Time is 19:20 hours. Routine is settling in. IV change every 24 hours. Vitals check twice daily, morning and evening. Same time every day. The instructions emphasize consistency, keep the subject stable, minimize variables. I'm getting better at it. The movements? Going through the triple lock door. Suiting up. Entering the chamber. Hook up the new IV bag. Check the line. Monitor the drip rate, heart rate, temperature, respiratory count. Record everything. Lock up, return to the monitoring station. Clinical, efficient. The monitoring station is small, maybe 12 by 15ft. Single bed against the far wall. Never really comfortable. Metal desk with this recording equipment. A laptop for logging official reports. And a small stack of containment protocols I'm supposed to review daily. There's a kitchenette, if you can call it that mini fridge, microwave, hot plate. They stock it weekly. Someone comes in while I'm sleeping, leaves supplies by the door. I never see them. Just wake up and there's more food, more water, fresh linens. No windows, no natural light. Just fluorescent bulbs that buzz constantly. I've started leaving one off just to break up the sound. My routine outside the chamber is monotonous. Wake up, check the time. There's a digital clock on the desk. Only way I know if it's day or night. Make coffee, review the protocols. Enter the chamber for morning vitals, Come back, eat something, log the observations, read. Wait. Enter the chamber for IV change, Come back, log, make dinner, read some more. Evening vitals, log, try to sleep. And repeat. I brought three books with me. Finished two already. Five days. And I'm running out of things to do besides think. And that's the problem. Too much time to think. But they know when I'm coming Now. I don't know how, but they know. Every time I enter the chamber, their head turns toward the door. Immediately, before I even say anything. Not that I'm supposed to speak to them, their head just turns, tracking me, even though they can't see. And their hands. God, their hands. Sometimes, when I approach to check the iv, their hands grip the armrests. Not violently, not like they're trying to break free. Just gripping fingers pressing into the metal like they're bracing themselves. Or maybe trying to communicate something. Clinical observations, for the record. Respiratory rate consistently elevated in my presence. 20 to 24 breaths per minute. Body temperature holding steady at 98.3 to 98.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Heart rate ranges from 85 to 92 bpm, depending on proximity. All vitals stable within acceptable parameters. There's that phrase again. Acceptable parameters. I keep reminding myself what the document said, what the instructions keep repeating. This is the last human being from a future timeline where everything failed. They came back and brought something dangerous with them. If they see, if they speak. Catastrophic consequences. People die. Maybe everyone dies. The money helps. I'm not going to lie about that. When I start questioning this, when I start feeling whatever this feeling is. I think about that deposit, about what I can do with it when I get out of here. Pay off my loans, help my sister, maybe finally take that trip I've been planning for years. 30 days. 25 more to go. But I can't stop thinking about those restraints. The metal bolts through their hands and feet, anchoring them to that chair. The bindings over their eyes and mouth, seamless, permanent, like they were never Meant to come off. And the way they react when I come near. The tensing, the gripping, the elevated breathing. They're suffering. I can see it. Feel it. Every time I enter that chamber, I'm watching someone suffer. And today I kept thinking, why? Why are we keeping them alive if they're so dangerous, if what they know or what they brought back is catastrophic, why not just end it? Why keep them bolted to a chair, fed through an iv, conscious and aware and suffering? For how long? Months? Years? Why keep them alive like this? The documents don't say. The instructions don't explain it. Just maintain vitals, keep them stable, keep them silent. But someone made the decision to keep this person alive. To restrain them like this. To seal their eyes and mouth and bolt them down and feed them just enough to keep them breathing. Someone decided this was necessary. I did the evening vitals check an hour ago. When I approached, they turned their head toward me, like always. And then their hands. Their hands gripped the armrest so tight, I could see their knuckles going white through the restraints. And I just stood there, staring, wondering what they're thinking, what they want to say. What warning they came back to deliver. 25 days left. Jennifer Taylor, signing off. Operator log, bunker one. Jennifer Taylor. Day 12, September 14, 2024. Morning log time is 8:47 hours. Standard IV change schedule for this morning routine is becoming familiar now. Almost automatic. Wake up, coffee, review protocols. Suit up, enter chamber. Same movements every day. Subjects? Vitals were stable overnight according to the monitoring Systems. Heart rate 87 bpm to temperature 98.4. Respiratory rate 18 at rest. All within normal parameters. Nothing unusual expected today. Just another IV change. Should take 10, maybe 15 minutes. I'll record again after the procedure. Jennifer Taylor, signing off. Emergency log. Same day. Time is. Fuck, I don't know, maybe nine, 20 hours. I need to record this while it's still fresh. While I can still. Okay. Okay. I was changing the iv. Same routine as yesterday. Same routine as every day. Entered the chamber, approached the chair, disconnected the old line, prepped the new bag. Standard procedure. Got close to adjust the connection point on their arm. And their hand. Their hand shot out. Just shot out and grabbed my wrist. I don't. The restraints must have loosened. Or maybe they were always able to reach this far, I don't know. But they grabbed me tight. Desperate. Their fingers wrapped around my wrist like a vise. And then. And then I saw everything. I saw everything. It wasn't like watching. It wasn't like a video or a dream. It was like being there. Like I was living It. Experiencing it. Feeling every. Ruins. Empty facilities. Hallways I recognized but destroyed. Collapsed. Covered in something organic. Matter, maybe, spreading across the walls. Like everyone was gone. Not dead, just gone. Empty corridors. Silent rooms. Emergency lights still flashing, but no one there to see them. I saw myself. Older, maybe 10, 15 years older. Covered in that same substance. It was on my hands. My arms. Spreading up my neck and my face. I looked broken. Hollow. Like I'd realized something too late. Like I'd understood what we had done wrong. And it was already over. The bunkers, I saw them falling one by one. Containment breaches. Alarms screaming. People running, trying to seal the doors that wouldn't seal. Trying to stop something that couldn't be stopped. I heard screaming. So much screaming. And I saw this person, the one in the chair, the last human being, walking through it all. Through the end of everything. Alone. Completely alone. Buildings collapsed around them. Reality fracturing. Time breaking apart. And they just kept walking. Trying to find a way back. Trying to warn us what they went through to get here. What they sacrificed, what they saw. They let go. After. It felt like hours, but it was probably five seconds, maybe less. My legs gave out. I hit the floor and they just released me. My wrist. There are marks. Not burns, not exactly, but discoloration. Dark lines where their fingers were. It doesn't hurt, but it feels wrong. Like the skin is remembering something it shouldn't. I'm shaking. I can't stop shaking. I don't know what to do. The protocols don't cover this. The instructions don't mention physical contact beyond standard maintenance. Atlas didn't tell me this could happen. That wasn't a hallucination. I know hallucinations. I've studied them. I know what they feel like, how they present. That was real. That was the future they came from. I think it had to be. If not, then what the fuck was it? What did I just experience? The being is different now. When I finally got up, when I looked at them again, they were different. They're sitting perfectly still. But their breathing, it changed. Faster. Not panicked, but expectant. Like they're waiting for something. They know I saw something. They know I understand now. They turned their head toward me before I left the chamber. That same deliberate movement. And their hands were relaxed on the armrests for the first time since I got here. Like they're done waiting. Like they've shown me what I need to see. They're waiting for me to understand. Eighteen days left. Jennifer Taylor signing off.