Containment Fiction

AOE: Anomalous Object Entry

AOE-101621 — Codename: “A Gut Feeling”

Anomalous Object Entry

101621

Object Severity

Lethal/Unknown

Containment Difficulty

Quarantine-Grade

Containment Status

Pseudo-Contained

Containment Specifications

Subjects containing AOE-101621 are to be quarantined in the negative-pressure wing of Medical Camp 106 inside individualized, transparent cellophane cocooning units until their dissipation.

Abstract

AOE-101621 is the designation given to an anomalous species of primitive, single-celled bacteria that colonize the tissues by unknown means, starting with the gastrointestinal system.

Anomalous Properties

On live radiological scans, AOE-101621 appear as the total material erasure of the infected tissue. Grossly, these are evident as clusters of negative space. At appropriate magnification, gram-positive rods are evident, with clear definitions, movements, and replications identical to those of mundane bacilli. Colonized individuals (“subjects”) suffer no reduction in use or function of the affected tissue despite the apparent absence. Continued use of these apparently empty spaces suggest that the tissues have been processed (the word “digested” has been used) into higher dimensions than our reality can accommodate.

AOE-101621 infection results in the creation of an abundance of energy stores in the form of proteins and electrolytes, which are byproducts, and can be broken down via mundane metabolism to provide all nutrient needs to the host. This effectively renders the host autotrophic; able to produce their own sufficient energy.

If not eradicated by antagonistic biopharmaceutical products, either oral or intravenous, AOE-101621 infection will progress through the body, mostly uninhibited by native microbiota or typical structures that demarcate varying cavities. Within approximately 2–4 weeks, an individual will cease to exist, with all cause-and-effect exacted by the individual ceased. Subjects allowed to progress in order to study the natural history of the anomaly report no pain nor psychological distress during the process. In fact, there appears to be a direct correlation with how much of a given individual remains apparent during an AOE-101621 progression and self-preservation.

Interview: Subject 08

Dr. Martinez: We appreciate you helping us out.
Subject 08: No problem.
Dr. Martinez: You are the only case so far whose mouth is the only… remaining tissue.
Subject 08: It must be odd to just see a floating mouth.
Dr. Martinez: It is.
Subject 08: Imagine how I feel when I look into a mirror.
Dr. Martinez: I simply can’t.
Subject 08: Can I ask a question first?
Dr. Martinez: Sure.
Subject 08: Why is my mouth the last thing? Was it the farthest away from the initial site of infection? Or…
Dr. Martinez: Well we think it has something to do with your teeth.
Subject 08: What about them?
Dr. Martinez: Your… poor… dentition…
Subject 08: What do you mean?
Dr. Martinez: … your… bad oral hygiene.
Subject 08: Oh.
Dr. Martinez: Yes, it seems as though the large concentration of germs from not brushing your teeth made it that much harder for the invading bacteria to colonize it.
Subject 08: Will it stay this way? Unless I brush my teeth or something?
Dr. Martinez: No, it’s progressing, just slowed down.
Subject 08: Oh.
Dr. Martinez: Any other questions?
Subject 08: No, I guess not.
Dr. Martinez: Alright. So tell us, are you experiencing anything differently? Maybe the world seems to be a different place, or a strange place; different things you’ve never experienced before? Seeing things, hearing things? Something like that?
Subject 08: No, it’s just the same. I can't really pick things up or move around well since my limbs vanished though.
Dr. Martinez: Oh. (writes) Something that we’ve been a bit perplexed by is how calm people who are experiencing this infection are during the whole process. Can you describe that in your own words?
Subject 08: Uh. Maybe. It’s like… really nice to not have to eat.
Dr. Martinez: Yeah that is pretty fascinating.
Subject 08: I got a lot more work done before my arms and legs went.
Dr. Martinez: I don't know if you know this, but all known animal species are what we call "heterotrophic", that is they rely on the consumption of other species to obtain their energy. It's sort of been scientific consensus that the opposite, autotrophism, doesn't have the energy capacity to sustain organisms that are capable of cognition or the type of activity necessary to organize great societies. So this is really new. Imagine what kind of society we would have, the energy accrual we would be capable of, if we didn’t have to stop to sleep. It’s remarkable. Well worth looking into.
Subject 08: Yeah, I think I know what you mean. But… it only lasts for a short time though.
Dr. Martinez: Right, right.
Subject 08: Doctor?
Dr. Martinez: Yes?
Subject 08: Am I being eaten?
Dr. Martinez: (sighs) That’s… certainly one way to look at it.
Subject 08: Huh. What’s the point of being "autotypic" or whatever if you just get eaten by something stronger than you?
Dr. Martinez: I… I’m not sure there is one, son.
Subject 08: Oh.
Dr. Martinez: Anomalies by definition don’t make much sense.
Subject 08: Ha I get it. Well. At least I can still eat. For a while longer.
Dr. Martinez: (feeds Subject 08 a chip) Yeah, that’s certainly something to look forward to.
Subject 08: Sour cream is my favorite. And I don’t even have to brush my teeth either. This would be the life if I didn’t have to lose so much to get it.
Dr. Martinez: I guess some things just sound nicer on paper than in reality.

Addendum: Sensory Data Description

Subjects retain dinural circadian rhythms and experience both sleep and dreams. Days before Subject 08 was totalized, he asked to have a recurrent dream recorded via audio device, which was granted in case it proved useful to future study:

The feeling is pleasant. I arrive. This is odd because I hadn't left. The lights are already on, waiting for me. But inside, the place is all dirt. The hallways are dirt tunnels hand-carved out by spoon. Others are there but are in rags and sack clothing. Everyone seems very poor.
I see a pretty woman. She shows me photographs. In these, I witness her dancing. This was a recent fun; one I feel I should have participated in. I ache at the envy. I pretend to enjoy these, secretly despising their time & place for differing from mine.
Another pour soul ferries up the mud river. My pocket is already full with others' mementos, keepsakes, and valuables; I can hardly keep up with them all. I accept this person's for safe keeping anyway.
I wade into the water to retrieve the canoe's tow; it does not dampen my burlap. 
On our way returning the vagabond to his right place, we pass a worship seance at the Presbytery. There she is again. How, when I had just left her? The logic doesn't connect. I am walking past her the with another, less pretty, but perfectly-souled girl. She notices my fixation.
"She truly is so pretty," she confesses.
I have to take in the shock of having been read so clearly. I apologize. The soul girl smiles and excuses me.
"Her name is Jessica."
Names. We used to have them. I remember mine. I do not know hers. 
"Brittney," she whispers. A delightful smile bridges her auburn hair.
At our destination, the cargo is unloaded from his shackles, same as usual. The Deamon Mistro looks at the pour soul walking on his own strength, and scoffs.
"You didn't beat the cargo? Make him pay for running away?"
"No," I reply. "And we have names."
"What?" snuffs the Mistro.
"And her name is Jessica."
His rage meets me as if already a whip, but my hand finds out quicker that it fits becomingly around his throat. 
"Open your eyes wide," I command him. "There I am." My face exaggerated in the beady mirror that I stared well through.
"I will kill you so easily," the Deamon Mistro spits.
"You can never kill our names." 
The neck seems to give first, retreating from my grip. The Deamon's head splits from the pressure, cracking dryly and falling apart like mud clay. It was the ugliest flower.
The Deamon began reincarnating into its being-worshiped body at the head of the seance; something I knew I wouldn't survive. But that didn't matter; my name was Mark.

Addendum: Update — 1-/28243

The above account fits mythological and historical texts from multiple alternate universes’ antiquities, with alarming exactitude. A product of one of Universe COEADL₂₁₀’s early literate civilizations is not something Subject 08 could have possibly been aware of at the time of recording. Thus the process of dreaming status post AOE-101621 infection has been designated AOE-101621–1.

AOE-101621–1 observed alongside the primitive simplicity of AOE-101621 increases the likelihood that it may exist across numerous universes— and perhaps even a majority of them. The directionality of the apparent causation between subjects of AOE-101621–1 and alternate universal histories has yet to be described by ongoing research.

Addendum: Update — 3-/28243

Multiversal archaeological efforts have identified AOE-101621 in an intelligent species indigenous to an alternate reality, and who reliably develop the bacteria in their tissues with age. This species is organized into advanced societies and is of extraordinary cognitive sophistication. They regard the infection and progression as the normal, natural end to life. Interestingly, they are autotrophic, and lack gastrointestinal systems; AOE-101621 incorporates into any manner of their tissues.

After AOE-101621 onset, members of the species experience an individualized, constant “dream” during their equivalent of sleep, reminiscent of AOE-101621–1. Cultural records make it clear that the experience is considered to be of a certain existential significance, and is tied to the species’ mythos of death, rebirth, and the afterlife. A rough translation of this concept into English is “death dream”.