Psionic Agent 2nd Grade Sarah Johanson was what one might call a career soldier, which in the 3rd British Empire ant that she didnt have a choice in the matter. Not a good one, at least. Those who tested positive for significant psionic potential were given two options - enroll in the military or get lobotomized. This harsh stance was necessary because rogue telepaths could cause all sorts of trouble, so the governnt did everything it could to keep them on a short leash. Should any of the psi-ops dare to desert their post in order to pursue self-serving motives, they would quickly find their brains remotely fried via their implants.
That said, Agent Johanson did not view her station in a negative light. Just the opposite, in fact. It was challenging work that kept her physically and ntally active while offering a myriad of benefits, most notable of which was a fat paycheck. Yes, there was the risk of death in the line of duty, but Sarah found that was a more agreeable alternative than spending each day hooked up to a goddamn VR pod. It also helped that she had a strong rapport with both her peers and superiors, though she did feel so of her colleagues were a bit too gung-ho. Lastly, she got to use her kickass mind powers to fight bad guys, and she couldnt imagine a more fulfilling way to live than that.
Naturally, no matter how much the psionically gifted woman loved her job, there inevitably were certain aspects of it that she absolutely despised. One of those was monitor duty, which consisted entirely of sitting on her butt in a dark room and staring at a bunch of computer screens for days and weeks on end. Remotely observing the movents of suspect individuals was a vital part of her peacekeeping responsibilities, but it was so thoroughly dull that it made her want to repeatedly and vigorously smash her forehead against her desk. It was therefore entirely understandable why her current assignnt would put her in a less than stellar mood.
Which wasnt to say that she took her active responsibilities lightly. Were these normal circumstances, she might have attempted to pawn the laborious task off on soone else. However, the subject of this particular round of monitor duty was a rather unique one. It was the Class-3 cosmic entity that Agent Johanson and her team had failed to contain several weeks ago. For so inexplicable reason, the creature had adopted human form and seed to be attempting to integrate itself into ga-city Dave-156. This put Sarahs team in a rough spot since the subject primarily inhabited one of those ridiculously densely populated hyper-scrapers. A direct confrontation had been estimated to result in tens of thousands of civilian casualties and millions of poundingtons worth of property damage.
Those were unacceptable losses as far as Her Immortal Majestys Supernatural Eviction Agency was concerned. Though they thoroughly recognized the inherent dangers of allowing a Class-3 to run amok, it was an undeniable fact that it hadnt proven itself an imdiate threat to the populace. At the very least, not one significant enough to warrant that level of collateral damage. As an agent of SEA herself, Sarah Johanson had been thoroughly drilled on the concept of appropriate force, so she understood where her superiors were coming from. At the sa ti, she had a personal stake in this particular ss since she felt chiefly responsible for allowing the Class-3 to enter her reality, which made her eager to do sothing.
For the ti being, Johansons team had been stationed on monitor duty. This allowed the commandos to react instantly should the Class-3 show signs of going full Cthulu, in which case the level of appropriate force at their disposal would increase drastically. However, the primary goal of their mission was gathering information. They were to observe the subjects movents and interactions with the goal of discerning its motives, objectives, or intentions. Doing so would allow their superiors and allies to formulate a plan of action uniquely tailored to that specific entity. Theoretically this endeavor would result in expelling the Class-3 with little-to-no collateral damage, but things never worked out that way in practice.
And yet, despite her personal stake in what was clearly a vital assignnt, Agent Johanson found herself contemplating whether she should perform percussive maintenance on her skull. Even though she was watching so cosmic entity beyond her comprehension, it really didnt do much. The entirety of its ti was spent hanging around an unremarkable individual called Joe Mulligan, who was assud to have been enthralled by it in so way. Furthermore, the Class-3 hadnt exhibited any supernatural activity beyond invoking several minor anomalies that were surprisingly self-contained. It was almost as if the thing was trying to maintain the integrity of its surroundings, which seed incredibly suspicious to Johanson.
The most worrying part was that there were no signs of what this Magh'rathlak the Observer was trying to achieve. Typically it would have attempted to expand its influence, corrupt the minds of mortals, or twist reality to fit so unfathomable design. However, it hadnt done any of that. It had instead opted to plug its consciousness into Butterpond-4s virtual reality servers. No other cosmic entity in the Agencys records had attempted such a thing, let alone succeeded. It was both unprecedented and potentially catastrophic. The re thought of a Class-3 having a direct link to the minds of billions of people made Agent Johanson shudder in terror.
And yet it had done absolutely nothing that would warrant a response from Sarahs team. Both its real and virtual exploits could be sumd up as eating junk food it clearly didnt need and consuming dia it most likely did not understand. According to the cyber-police arm of the Agency, its other online activities consisted primarily of looking up seemingly random and inconsequential topics. The only outwardly suspicious thing it had done was to artificially inflate the banking account of its thrall. However, the re two hundred poundingtons it had given the guy were positive miniscule in the grand sche of things. Not to ntion that they had all been spent within a few hours.
In summary, if one didnt know any better, theyd think Magh'rathlak the Observer was rely an interdinsional tourist, but Sarah refused to believe such a thing. She understood the trendous capacity for harm that thing had displayed. It had the ability to turn most of the population into mindless slaves, crash the economy of Butterpond-4 overnight, or maybe even destroy the whole damn planet with a miniature black hole. And what did it choose to do with such terrifying power?
It was sitting in a bloody pub, watching three losers get progressively more shit-faced.
Ugh. This sucks.
The ginger-haired green-eyed freckle-faced woman could do little but groan in frustration. She hated this. Having her hands tied when there was a walking calamity right in front of her was sohow both agonizing and mind-numbing. The worst part was that the Agency had almost zero intel on Magh'rathlak the Observer. They hadnt even heard of it until theyd gotten a tip about that cult doing the summoning. The eggheads back at base were no doubt still poring through the old archives and forbidden texts, but it hadnt really paid off so far. The only tidbits they had uncovered fit in a single page, which was printed out on the report that Agent Johanson looked at for the third ti that day.
Magh'rathlak the Observer, she idly read it aloud. No known aliases. No known ties to religious organizations beyond isolated cults. First recorded encounter dates back to one hundred and fifty years ago. Responsible for seven minor incidents involving enthrallnt, disintegration, matter manipulation, and ntal corruption. Displayed abilities warrant Class-3 designation. No known incidents of employing Class-1 or Class-2 entities as proxies or subordinates. No known incidents of being employed by Class-4 or Class-5 entities as a proxy or subordinate.
Details of the incidents ntioned were listed underneath. So of them were sketchy since they were over a century old, but, on the whole, minor was the best way to describe them. They mostly concerned injuries and fatalities caused and sustained by Agency operatives as they dismantled this Cult of the Gazing Star whenever it appeared. None of them had been allowed to develop into moderate instances, which would involve supernatural creatures and phenona that resulted in significant loss of life. Johansons mission should have been like that one as well, but the universe had conspired to turn it into a physical manifestation event, otherwise known within the Agency as a major incident.
I guess thats the problem with these obscure buggers, she sighed heavily. We underestimated the mission because we thought it was so small-fry Wait a second
If this thing really was such an unknown, then how had the Agency managed to stop its machinations a whole seven tis?
Wha?!
Sarah suddenly turned her attention back to the monitor, having caught what seed like suspicious movent out of the corner of her eye. There was none to be seen, however. The security cara footage showed the target to be sitting still at the table while those three morons continued to make drunken asses of themselves. Nothing had changed at a glance, but the psi-op wanted to make sure she didnt miss anything. She briefly diverted her attention to the neighboring monitor as her hands flew across the holographic keyboard at her fingertips. Within monts she had called up the recording from a few seconds ago while also keeping an eye on the live feed. Neither showed any suspicious movent, and the psionic sensors hadnt logged any abnormal spikes in paranormal activity.
By all accounts it seed as though Agent Johansons eyes had played a trick on her. However, given the nature of the entity she was observing, she was unwilling to accept such a mundane and irresponsible explanation. This was far from the first ti sothing like this had happened, which only fed into her suspicions. So, she focused her attention entirely on the live feed, and even turned up the volu so she could better understand what was being discussed.
Nah, man! Im telling ya, Layla Kims got the best tits ever! Benny insisted in a drunken stupor.
Theyre pretty plump, yeah, but Hailey Hazards have the perfect shape, Cullen argued.
Youre welco to your wrong opinion, mate, Joe weighed in. linda Sparklestars are unrivaled.
Sarah was sowhat outraged when she heard the topic being discussed. Just how ignorant and uncultured could these louts get? Everyone knew that Amara Allington was awarded the Intergalactic Entertainnt Association Award for Best Bust in a Major Feature earlier that year, and with good reason. Those knockers were scientifically designed to be universally- Wait, no, that wasnt important right now. The montarily distracted soldier shook those inconsequential thoughts away and redoubled her focus.
Youre only saying that because Mags is here, Benny accused Joe.
Hah! As if! Cullen chortled. We both know Mags isnt the sort of girl to be bothered by that kind of stuff.
This is correct, the girl agreed. This vessel is malleable and more than capable of assuming whatever appearance Joe finds most appealing.
Fookin ell, Mags, the plump shorty swore. You dont need to spoil this guy so much.
Yeah, yeah, Benny readily agreed. I get that you like your gene-mods, but this thick bellend isn't worth em. Hes probably over the moon just by being allowed to hold your hand!
Does Benny Vanson speak truly, Joe? she turned to him.
The man clearly wasnt paying attention to the conversation at that point in ti as he was mustering whatever force of will he had left in order to take another swig of his beer.
Ah? Sure, yeah, I guess? he shrugged, then raised the glass to his lips.
The smile on Maggies face widened so much it made her eyes narrow, turning her expression into one that was sohow perfectly situated between playful and sadistic. She moved her left hand towards Joes and abruptly intertwined her delicate fingers in his bony digits. The unexpected gesture made the man spit out part of his pint in surprise. His friends were thoroughly confused about his behavior, as they were seated on the opposite end of the table and couldnt see what was going on under it. Agent Johanson had a clear view of the whole thing because of how the security cara was positioned, though she had absolutely no idea what to make of that developnt.
Then again, the sa could be said of everything else that Class-3 had done so far, so she wasnt too bothered by her ignorance.
Evening, AJ, a voice called out to her from behind.
Sarah instantly recognized it as belonging to one of her colleagues. The man in question was the units technical specialist, and was responsible for setting up all the monitoring and tracking software she was using. Appearance-wise he was a well-built black-skinned male in his early thirties. His round face was clean shaven and his head sported a stereotypical military-style buzz-cut. He wore a combat uniform similar to Johansons, which had a white, gray, and blue digital camouflage pattern. The na tag on his shoulder and left breast pocket identified him as Staff Sergeant Damian Benett, though he was known by another na among his unit.
Hey, Sparks, the psi-ops replied without looking away.
Hows our eldritch couple faring? he asked while walking across the dimly lit room.
They attended a virtual concert and are now in a pub with so of Mulligans acquaintances.
Huh. Thats new. Any suspicious activity?
You an besides the fact that so unspeakable thing with godlike powers is walking around as if it owns the place?
Wow. You must be tired if your sarcasm is that obvious. Here, got you sothing.
He handed her one of the two cups he was carrying, both of which were filled with steaming freshly-brewed tea. Sarah accepted it with a word of thanks and imdiately took a small sip. The fragrant aroma invaded her nostrils as the refreshing flavor with a hint of honey-squared flooded her tongue. A wave of calm washed over her as she sampled the heavenly beverage, causing her tired eyelids to lower gracefully in appreciation. She really needed that after all almost an entire shift of non-stop surveillance.
The blissful mont was then ruined when her half-closed and unfocused gaze caught yet another glimpse of odd movent on the monitor.
There, did you see that?! she snapped at it.
See what?!
Her colleague instantly responded and stared at the security feed alongside her, but, much like before, there was zero evidence of imdiately suspicious activity.
Yeah, I dont see anything, AJ, he shrugged. Recording looks clear, too.
Damn it! the frustrated woman exclaid. I swear that keeps happening. Its like the fourth ti in the last hour!
What keeps happening?
I lose focus for a split second, and then I feel like sothing zooms across the monitor, but when I check back - nothing!
Hmm. Are you sure youre feeling okay? Youve been at this for seven hours straight.
I am perfectly fine!
The woman slamd her fist against the desk as she declared this, then imdiately realized she was not, in fact, fine.
You may be right, she settled down. Watching that thing is exhausting.
And youre certain theres no mind-fuckery going on?
Psionic readings are well within normal paraters, she gestured at the relevant screen.
What about ntal corruption? I know you psi-ops are sensitive to that sort of thing, so maybe your subconscious is reacting badly after being subjected to Maggie all day.
Maggie?! she shot him a murderous glare. Seriously, Sparks?
Sorry, the subject, he half-heartedly corrected himself. Who cares what we call her, anyway?
It. And I do. As does the Class-3. So far weve observed several interactions that suggest it places a great deal of importance on nas. Using any of them carelessly might tip it off that were watching it, and it seems especially attached to that one for so reason.
Okay, fair point, but do you really think it can sense us all the way up here? Were in bloody orbit, AJ. Theres a few thousand kiloters between us and it, and thats not even counting the half a planets worth of rock and magma.
Sarah had to admit that Sparks had a point. Though Class-3 entities boasted so terrifying abilities, they were quite localized. Their effective range was usually a few hundred ters, maybe a kiloter at most. Even if Magh'rathlaks title as The Observer implied exceptional powers of perception, it just wasnt feasible that theyd reach far enough to peer into their orbital command center. Not to ntion that, now that shed thought about it, she had unthinkingly read its na aloud just minutes before and absolutely nothing had happened.
Youre right, she sighed. Maybe I am just tired and overthinking things.
I hope so as well, he paused to take a sip of his tea. A healthy dose of paranoia is required in our line of work, though. Im going to check on the connection, make sure nothings ssing with it.
Alright, sounds good.
Sparks took a seat on the desk next to Sarahs and started working the computer console while she kept a watchful eye on the subject.
Right, think Ive found the problem, the technical officer declared a few minutes later. Seems theres a routing issue planet-side and the security feed from the pub is experiencing so occasional lag spikes. That would cause the feed to drop so fras, which was what probably caught your eye.
Huh. Shouldnt that stuff have shown in the recordings?
Well, no. The encryption protocol we use doesnt- Look, thats just how it works. Trust on that.
Alright, Ill take your word for it.
It was a huge load off of her mind to learn that a technical issue was at the root of her problem. The only other reasonable explanation would have been early symptoms of ntal corruption, and that was a far more frightening prospect. Psychic wellbeing aside, Agent Johansons superior officer would have had her pulled off the case. There was no telling when the Agency would send a replacent psi-op, let alone whether they could fill her shoes. Sarah didnt like to call attention to it, but both her telepathic and telekinetic abilities were significantly above average. It was why her superiors had assigned her as the solo psi-op to that particular unit instead of having two or three of them. They were a rare and valuable asset, so the Agency had to spread them out as widely as they could.
So can you fix the feed?
Already done, Sparks boasted.
Great, thanks. Oh, and write up a full explanation for my report, please. You know how the Major likes nitpicking the details.
Hah. Thats putting it mildly. But yeah, Ill do that right now. I need to set up a few things as well. Wont be able to take over monitor duty until about he paused to squint at one of his screens, twenty minutes. Think you can keep watch until then?
Yeah, no problem. And thanks for the tea, by the way. Fantastic blend, this.
Mhm. Only issue is its hella pricey. Just one box nearly maxed out our allocated tea budget for the month.
Worth it, if you ask .
Sarah went back to monitoring the unspeakable creature and the three drunkards while thoroughly enjoying her beverage. anwhile Sparks flew into a frenzy typing away at his keyboard. Strictly speaking, both of them would have had a much easier ti performing their duties if they used their neural interface. It was the sa kind of technology that allowed commoners like Joe to plug into virtual reality, and was a much faster and more efficient ans of controlling machinery than manual input. However, given Magh'rathlaks demonstrated affinity for invading cyberspace, they thought it prudent to avoid connecting their brains into any kind of network unless absolutely necessary.
So, for the ti being, Agent Johanson had to endure the clickety-clack of Sparks holographic keyboard. She wasnt sure why he had that sound feature enabled. Probably sothing about the audible feedback helping him type faster, now that she thought about it. She had hers run silent, however, as she found it distracting, and it was easy to lose focus on monitor duty. Still, with her worries montarily abated, she allowed herself a brief mont of respite as she enjoyed a long drink of her delicious tea.
And then the pattern repeated itself for the fifth ti.
Sothing odd seed to flicker on the monitor while her mind was elsewhere. The woman froze with the cup pressed against her lips, her green eyes wide as she stared at the live feed from the pub. In it, she saw Maggie slowly and deliberately stand from her seat. None of the n at her table reacted to the sudden movent even though one of them seed to be actively talking to her. Far more disconcerting was how she turned to face the security cara with those bottomless pits she had for eyes staring right into it.
No, that wasnt it. There was absolutely no doubt in Agent Johansons mind that, despite all logic pointing to the contrary, the Class-3 was making eye contact with her through the screen. It then slowly and gracefully raised one of its hands towards its mouth. The index finger stretched out and pressed against those thin, widely smiling lips in a universal gesture of silence, followed by an exaggerated wink. In the very next fra the girl-shaped entity had snapped back to its previous seated position and was making idle conversation with Cullen as if absolutely nothing had happened.
Naturally, none of this showed up in any of the security caras recordings.
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