Last Run

Another murder. We've spent some time already investigating it - which is why this is coming rather late. The only connection between the deaths is the symbol that was sliced into his chest - Methias' symbol. But this one had a black mark around it, whereas the other one didn't. Well I say that, but on black skin it is hard to tell. Their ethnicity isn't the same, previous man was from Kenyan heratige whereas this one is from Sudanese. So he's not having a go at any particular country.

Positive radiation marks, same as the first murder. He was found in the back of his truck at the depot, so he had completed the deliveries before he was killed. Which makes it hard to pinpoint the destination of the Uranium delivery.

Arthur is starting to want to include the police in this matter. I have to remind him that we are far beyond the police, but he is insistant that they should have a right to know about the murders. There was once a time when we did inform the higher up divisions of the police at Scotland Yard about the moves of a serial killer, but that was over 200 years ago. That man is long gone, the one we liased with. But maybe Arthur's right - if this goes much further we might have to talk to them... because we could use the man power if we have to search cities for nuclear weapons, and they should be aware that there does exist a possibility of multiple murders occuring about the country.

But we know the route now that the truck was on, and Alastor is going to follow it until he comes up with something. Julian is releasing the body from our custody and to the local authorities here. I'm just trying to find a pattern, something that might help us predict what's going to happen next, or give me an insight to Methias' mind. He's up to something, and it's something big. There wasn't a message this time...so I don't think he's wanting to give anything away. It's hard - he knows what we are going to do in response to what he does. But we don't know what he's going to do next. He's like the gamekeeper in a world where we are only characters acting out what he knows. It's frustrating me to no end - I'm not used to working in the past.

Arthur's Induction had been moved, of course, until tomorrow. So we're all going to head back to Nine and get that underway as soon as we can.

I've also spoken to Alastor to try and increase restrictions on these blogs so that only we can see them - so we can include confidential information. We're finding it a really handy tool for communicating...since there is a written record that stays permanently that we can access easily at all times and we can contact each other while in different places without having to interupt each other - becuase not everything is important enough to interupt whatever they are doing. And to be honest, it's good to have this kind of a record. Even just personally.

I'm going to spend more time analysing the data tonight, maybe something will jump out then.

Customs

The victim had handled thousands of parcels in the time frame to still have that much residue left on his body. The last night that he worked, he moved a large shipment of boxes for distribution. I suspect that it was these boxes that held the uranuim. There would only be small amounts per box, but each one going to the same destination.
Trouble is, they all went to different places. There were at least 8 different trucks taking the parcels in different directions, making deliveries as they went along their routes. So how can we be sure all of these boxes held some of the Uranium? We can't. The cardboard exterior to the boxes would be gone by now. And it's more than possible that there was only one or two boxes that contained a threat - the others may have just been standard parcels.
With nothing else to search, we left the station.

Julian has gotten everything ready for Arthur's induction. We're going to be needing all the help we can get. But we've never actually inducted anyone before - everyone so far to be part of our organisation has been literally born into the role. But now there's only three of us left here, and eleven globally, meaning times must change.

Tests

So Julian has completed tests on the body - he's delivering it back to the police at the moment so that his family can pay their respects to his body. I've been through the data - nothing too exciting. DNA result came up as expected - completely human. I brought Arthur with me - he seems to be innately good at pointing out obvious things that I miss looking at the details. And just putting things together that I didn't think of. We were in the Analysis room, and he was shocked. I hadn't brought him in there before and I'd forgotten that the technology would be something he hadn't seen before. Basically, the whole room is an interactive three dimensional computer. The data appears and you move it to a place where you want to keep it - so you can view many things at once. I don't know how ordinary people cope having to interact with their computers in only two dimensions.

That's when Arthur noticed something strange. Well he didn't know it was strange at the time...but it was. He picked up a chart, just one of the more standard scan data, and asked what it meant. Glancing over, I just said it was general information about the physical form - dimensions, chronology, external microbe analysis, radiation levels etc. I returned to my chemical analysis chart, pulling models of molecules about. Arthur seemed surprised about the radiation - but I said that everything has a radioactive signature. Curious, he asked what the normal level and type of radiation was - so I told him to run an overlaying comparison to the on-file normal range chart. And would you know what? His radiation levels were much higher than normal. Twice that of someone who would work with radiation on a daily basis. Looking in to it - it seemed he got a large dose of radiation just before he died. There were traces of Uranium on his skin.

Alastor entered at this moment, saying that he'd found a match. A customs worker at (can't say which) international airport was reported missing two days ago - he was wearing a uniform of sorts when he was found (stripped of identifying features, of course, but a uniform none the less). Our victim matched the details. To be sure, we're going to go to his workplace and find a DNA sample to confirm...but I mentioned the radiation discovery and it was decided that something strange was going on, and it would be good to go investigate the airport and the records of incoming and outgoing cargo. Somehow, our guy came into contact with some Uranium, and then hours later, was found dead. Maybe he came across something he shouldn't have?

We leave for the Airport in 4 hours. It's best we cause as little interruption as possible, and that's when the least activity is happening for the following day.

Murder

Methias has killed a man. I know it was him, because no one else can write in our language and he left his mark upon the chest of the victim. I can't show any photos, but the symbol representing him is shaped like this:

And there was a message written on the wall, above where the man was left, written in blood. It said:

Which translated says "Your Turn" (it was actually written in English, but with our characters), but with some inclusions that I can't explain in English as well as the indication that there is a continuation coming.  And it was directed at me.

We took the body with us, after Julian and Alastor got there and we all had a look. Arthur said something very insightful that we had all missed: why him.
We seem to have the same concept of people in our minds as Methias - that they are just victims, irrelevant. We saw him as a black-skinned human male. But Arthur saw him as a person, and not as just an expendable item at Methias' disposal. We just focused on WHY the murder happened, but Arthur asked why HIM. And that got us thinking - why him indeed? Why not someone else? Sure, we're used to Methias just picking anyone at random but there must be something about this man in particular that put him on Methias' hit list.

Julian took the body for analysis, while Alastor and Arthur are trying to find out who he is - Arthur's going through reports of missing people, but it's a big country. Since we can't rule out that he was brought there from...well...anywhere. I've helped narrow down the search with my observations but it may be a while. Alastor - I don't actually know how Alastor finds out things. He just... goes off to his office and comes back with answers. Hopefully he'll come up with something.

The message is bothering me. What is coming next? What am I supposed to do? Am I being called to kill myself? Will I end up doing so regardless of choice? Will my actions to find out what is going on result in disaster? These mind-games that Methias plays really get to me. But there is still the part of me that enjoys trying to figure it out. It's always so clever.

I don't think I'm going to get much sleep tonight. I will spend some time with Arthur - he's looking a little frazzled with it all, I guess it's been a while since he'd been around a dead body. And even then it wasn't that much. And I could use the company. Arthur makes me feel like the world can wait, and I can just enjoy the time I am spending with him. I haven't had a friend like that before.

Debrief

The debrief went well. It was interesting stuff, what they were saying. Basically, Sultan and Ramah were working in Asia (well they still are) and were looking into a spike in the radiation levels in this one spot. They followed it, and found the spike coming from within one of the old secret Uranium mines. By secret, I mean - almost all the governments and the general public didn't know about it, and it was all completely underground to hide it. We had many, still do, not all Uranium of course.

Anyway, they tracked the signature to one of the large storage chambers. Monitoring it for a few days, they noticed an exponential increase in radiation released, meaning a gathering of a clump of the material was getting larger. They rushed down to it, in their protective suits, to stop the mass of the Uranium reaching critical (at the rate of expansion, supercritical explosion would have happened within the hour). But once they got there, there was a large bang - some minor explosion, Ramah said most likely a tnt like substance, caused the structure to fail. The tank fell apart ontop of them, and that was when Ramah's leg was severed - a large panel of the outer casing landed on him (luckily the edge, if anything about it was lucky). Sultan dragged him out to safety, and the leg, before the mine itself collapsed.

The strangest thing was that the signature disappeared. That's left me wondering - was it real? Were the readings just faked in order for them to go down there and check it out, thus giving opportunity to kill them both? Or possibly more concerning, how and why was the Uranium collecting itself in the tank? And where did it go?

I have thought about it a little, but I've had to file it away for later since something else has just recently popped up. Much bigger than I thought. I got a call from our contact in the British Government about a murder that we should go check out. It's not uncommon, but usually they have nothing to do with us: just a seriously whacked up person being still out on the loose that they want caught. But this time - this time it's something more.

It's him. Methias.
Not the victim (unfortunately), but Methias is involved. Will update about it upon further developments. For now, I have to get my team in here together before we take the body. Arthur's keeping the police at bay while we wait.

This has not become a pleasant day.

Beginday

I guess you could call today my 'Birthday', but in my original launguage we called it ... sounds like "Bergronadranya". Translated, it's a 'beginday'....the day that we began our journey through life. So today Arthur, Alastor, Julian and I had a small party to celebrate my accomplishment of completing this step in my journey.

Originally, we did give gifts as well - but they were gifts our friends gave to us to help prepare us for the next step in our journey, the coming year. So things that we would need or use soon. From Alastor, I got a watch - it told the time of my personal timeline, inside of Nine and outside relatively. Very handy. Julian gave me an emergency medical kit that occupied an alternate dimension until you needed it, you just had to press this button that stayed in our space/time/dimension.

Arthur, not really understanding the difference between our birthdays and theirs, didn't get me something like a tool to be used. But it was very very sweet - it was a silver necklace, medium in size of the chain, with a bright blue gemstone pendant encased in silver metal. I love it. It's the perfect colour. I put it on then and there and I doubt I'll take it off.

But yeah we didn't do much else. Stayed in Nine and just talked. Ramah and Sultan were still here, but we aren't debriefing until tomorrow so they stayed in the hospital room and finished off some work. I don't think they knew about the party... I feel bad for not inviting them to join in, I just assumed they would but chose not to.


Sleeping time soon though, dinner was large and delicious. Kenai will be looking forward to my coming and playing with him. He does seem to be enjoying his new yard here in Nine though; there is always so much for him to do and he loves the food. Arthur likes to play with him a lot, even more so that we live only a corridor away.

Surgery

So I had a lovely day with Arthur, moving him into Nine. It was great, just having fun together, and then we went and had Thai food for dinner. It was just as good as I remember. I was all ready to end a calm day with a peaceful evening playing a boardgame or watching some British television. Then, I get a call from Julian.

Ramah had been injured. He needed my help in surgery. I had to dash out of the restaurant as quick as I could, bring Arthur along with me. Unfortunately, I had to leave him at his dorm as I walked through to get changed - he couldn't see the operation yet. Or Ramah. Not because of certain secrets that need to be revealed slowly and in a certain manner. Which I will have to do soon, because I can't keep him in the dark forever... particularly when he's working with us. And he's going to want to see how Ramah's doing.

Anyway, so I arrive and there is blood everywhere on the table - Julian obviously hadn't had time to set up the absorption recycler, so I dragged out a couple of units of Ramah's blood to transfuse before holding the leg in place and stopping further bleeding while Julian scrubbed up. I'm sure he's gone through what happened in detail, so I'm just going to skim over this part. I got him medications and chemicals that he needed, he used them, I used the Revital while he joined tissues. I did have to move Sultan into the recovery room and put him in a bed to recover from shock. I left the room dark and quiet.

After a few hours of intensive work, we were done. Julian moved back to the sink with his equipment as I moved Ramah into the post-op room. I set him up with some monitors to alert us to his status, and a warming blanket. I went and checked on Sultan, and he was asleep. He must have been really high strung. I let him sleep, but put another blanket over him.

I then went out into the hospital's reception area to find Arthur there waiting. I sat with him for a little while, explaining that I would explain everything eventually but it had to be done right and now wasn't the time. He seemed disappointed, but took it rather well. He's a good guy.

Julian walked out of post-op, all cleaned up but looking utterly exhausted. He said goodnight, and that he was going to bed for a while. I don't blame him. I wanted to rest as well, but it was up to me to overlook Nine's operations until Julian was up again or until Sultan was well enough to relieve me. I said I had to stay up to Arthur, who offered to stay up with me, but I told him I would meet him in the morning.

With another goodnight, we parted ways and I took sole control of Nine and all within it for the next 12 hours. So far, the past 4 of them have been completely dull. I'm hoping the next 8 aren't as bad. I'm really wanting to sleep.

Return

So I'm back in England. I'd forgotten how much I liked their accents. Well most of them, anyway.

So the crime that I was to investigate was just power outages - only for 27 minutes, but still that's a long time. Particularly because they were cities that were out. 32 cities. That's why we're looking into it, because it was so many at the same time. And then they all came back online at the same time.

Will update more about it as it develops - for now, I'm busy catching up with people and settling back in.

Time

Julian's Blog got me thinking. I wrote to him about Tobais Hall, otherwise known as the Hall of Waiting. Well by me anyway. I said to him, it's called the Hall of Waiting because it's full of unfinished paperwork and projects, and photos of children on the walls watching over the empty desks. A sad and sorrowful place. He mentioned the sounds footsteps made - interesting to note, since i find that particularly awkward. Echos throughout the darkened hall. I can remember a time when that hall was busier than anywhere else: people walking to and from their offices, talking to each other, children chasing each other about the place, people collaborating, occasional explosions. It was always so full of life and light, and noise, but now... now it's dark and empty. Silent. They're all gone now.

Not all of them died accidentally, of course, but most did. One by one as the days grew darker they disappeared. And then there was the sad day when a third of them didn't return home.

I find myself agreeing that I am getting too old. I have seen too much, and lived too long. It's not over yet, I understand that, but there is that part of my soul that just wants to rest. It was Kyna that once said, "every experience leaves a scar on the heart. That is why when we are old, or have seen much, we die... for our heart is full, and can bear no more scars. " and I find there is much truth in that. Not scientifically, of course, but spiritually. I have been doing this a long time.

I am almost home now, back to Sector Nine. Alastor has been looking uncomfortable for a couple of hours, being cramped in a small seat. But it will be good to see it all again. I'm getting excited, honestly. I received a text message not too long ago on a mobile phone I acquired while in Australia, from one of my new friends. They wished me luck, and expressed their desire to meet me soon. I responded that I was looking forward to my next adventure, but would still talk with them. Little do they know just what kind of adventures await me now.

Julian tells me that there is a crime to solve when I get there; I think he's trying to ease me back into it all. But I did enjoy the crime investigations sometimes. Julian, while insisting he didn't like them becuase he would rather devote his effort to helping those still alive before they died as well, secretly loved solving the puzzle. Well the clues we had were real and available to us, unlike our preventative cases where we had to use prediction mostly.

Arthur said that solving murder crimes made him feel like he was Sherlock Holmes...he even called Julian 'Dr Watson' at one point. It was funny to watch: Arthur got himself a magnifying glass and scoured the body for clues, while asking Dr Watson to assist him. Julian wasn't too impressed. I said he needed to get a pipe and hat, but he insisted he was the 'modern' Sherlock Holmes, like the BBC television series 'Sherlock'. Yes, I have watched it - being an average human is boring sometimes. It was actually really good - I'm going to be sure to look out for the third series. And make Alastor and Julian watch (haha). Anyway, to me, Arthur would have been more like Dr Watson himself (minus the mediacl knowledge of course) instead of Sherlock in that series. It was a good day... until Alastor whacked us both in the head for being insensitive about a person's death. It's times like those that prove things are as fun as you choose to make them be. Being old and serious all the time only leads to boredom and misery, whereas acting childish saves your sanity.

We should be landing soon, and I've talked enough. I still have plenty to think about, but I'm ready to get back into it all. It's all about choice - like I was saying before. I am choosing to look forward to this. I am choosing to be ready. Time we continued.    

Sleep

I can hear the screams when I sleep. I see the images. I'm not afraid of it, but it makes me sad. Because I can remember. The memories of the physical pain - I can deal with that. It may have been the worst time, but it wasn't the only time I've been tortured. No, that's not what keeps me here. It was him. His screams. His blood. He was there, and then suddenly, he wasn't. I could have stopped it. I could have made a difference. But I didn't. And I'll never forgive myself for it. But sometimes I can forget.

Not at night though. Dreams aren't all nightmares though, sometimes they are good. Sometimes they aren't great, but not painful. Like the ones of certain people in my life that I wish hadn't been in it at all.

I don't think that I'll ever be free of that pain i feel. But it will fade, and hide away. And life can resume. I have to carry on. There is a responsibility of mine that still remains and I owe it to him to keep going. As sad as I feel right now, i feel invigorated as well to go back and return to who I used to be. Carry on his spirit.

Stop my nemesis.

The Quiet

I didn't do much today. It rained, and so I just stared out the window and watched it fall. I brought Kenai in (my dog) and he sat with me, enjoying a good pat and scratch on the head while we just stared at the water running down the window.

I guess I have a lot to think about. I don't really get why they want me back. I didn't really do much that I can think of. Ok so I was in a way the leader of the group, but Alastor's more than capable - I would say better than me - at leading. Julian's the doctor, the scientist. Arthur is the local knowledge, the diplomat, the down-to-earth guy. Alastor is ... well, he does many things. I guess he's the one that makes things happen. Organizes things to be right, gets things underway. Sure, there are a few others that contribute to that as well from the organisation, but out of us four, he's the one that does that. And is like, the wisdom, the rationality. Alastor is that guy that you can't put your finger on exactly what he does, but you can't live without him.

Alastor's aversion to writing blogs (he has expressed a few times how he doesn't like the idea) would make one think that he's anti-social. But really, he's very capable socially. He chooses to not socialize, with average people mostly, but he definitely is able to and does to get what he needs done. Julian on the other hand, you would expect to be very socially aware. Being a doctor, he's been trained to have a good bedside manner - which he does - he just only uses it for the bedside. When he's investigating, he can be quite blunt. He says exactly what he means, euphemism be damned. He says that political and social correctness in language and gestures only hinder the efficiency of investigation. He can be very linguistically and socially polite when he wants/needs to be, such as when talking with patients or writing journals or interacting with staff... he just can't be bothered or doesn't see the point when amongst friends I guess.

I'd forgotten that we'd all learnt to filter that out - just accept it as normal. But since living with what has become 'normal' people for so long, I imagine it's going to be hard to adjust to his way of doing things again. Many things are going to be hard to adjust to. I don't know if I'm ready. For now, I will just keep staring at the rain, waiting for it to pass. Keep thinking these things over and over in my mind. Everything must change, and things have been stagnant in my life for too long now.

Reunited

I guess you might be wondering what sparked all this? Why now? Well, it was only a couple of days ago that I ran into Alastor again. It had been over 18 months since seeing or hearing from any of them - then just one day, I look across the street and there he was...just standing there, staring back at me. I didn't know how to react. I just stood there - everything came flooding back. Dread and relief washed over me as I realized I was being recalled. He just nodded at me, and vanished.

Later that evening I had a proper meeting up with him and Julian (his brother). We talked for a while, and the idea of keeping a blog came up. No doubt they have both already made similar accounts to watch me, but I don't mind. That was the idea for them I guess. Really it's a neat way of communicating, when you think about it.

I should start getting my things in order. I'll be moving back to Europe soon I anticipate. I actually rather like it here though. I picked Australia because it was so far away, so isolated. This small rural town I've lived in has been perfect in a way - in the middle of nowhere in particular, not too isolated from anything, and nothing going on in the slightest. Just living as an average human young woman. I've decided to keep my blog address as being from Australia... just to remind me where it all started. Who knows - the others might do so too, since security wise it's pretty sound as well.

I'm going to miss my dog terribly. I'm hoping i can convince them to let me bring him along. No one understands him like I do. I guess I shouldn't be that worried - if I can convince Julian I need him, then he will come.
I'm going to miss my friends that I've made here over the past year and a bit. Being one of them made me feel so much closer to them than I otherwise would have. But I will have to say goodbye to most of them. But the really special ones... they I will keep in contact with online. Until they are endangered by my doing so, of course.

It was nice, just being like everyone else for a while. Having normal people problems and joys. So much less expectation and responsibility.

The Beginning

My name is Brianna .T. Wedge. I am known to most as simply Wedge. This blog needs to be written, but not read. Just because something needs to be said, doesn't mean it should be heard. I don't expect it to be... this is simply a place to leave my thoughts. Summarize what is happening in my life. Julian believes it will help.

First of all, I am not whom I seem to be. I have these grand ideas that I don't live on this planet but in a higher organization that hasn't time for this Earth. But it's not true. Just a way to distance myself from this world. By no means am I like all other people living here, but I'm not an all powerful galactic god-like creature. It sounds ridiculous now, but there was a time when i almost believed it. It gave me a reason for what I do, and did, who I have become, and an excuse.

But my life still isn't normal. No. My world is far bigger than you could imagine. More wonderful and insane than you could believe. Sometimes it gets all too easy to be caught up in it all - thus my break from it now. I'm not alone, but nor are we many. There will be time to get to what it is I do eventually. But not today. From the outside, I'm just a person on this planet going about their daily life - working, friends, and love for their dog. But that's going to change soon. It's all so much deeper than that, so much more complicated.

Alastor reminds us that the only way we can remain as we are - is to remain hidden. When we do something right, no one knows we interfered at all. Makes things hard sometimes. That's where this comes in. Not sure what I'll write about yet - or if i will at all. Besides, nothing much has happened yet. Not lately. Not since ... well, I'll get to that. Maybe.

For now, it's alsmost time I disappeared. Then it shall begin again.