‘Yeah,’ he agrees eventually, although it nags for a while after.
He tells her what he needs and like always, she says to give her a week.When he leaves, he reallylooksthis time.Some of her hardware is outdated now.Still excellent, of course, just slightly outdated.
Maybe she keeps this place just to meet him in.
Actually, that’s probably exactly what it is.
Jolene Mercer is too smart to stay in one location so long.
After a week, Lachlan collects a laptop from her with the software pre-installed.It requires no external internet connection, has its own built-in access and is fully untraceable.Now free to search what he likes, Lachlan has Belova hack into classified federal databases, among other sites, for intelligence about Brightlings.
She shows him how to use this specific device to access restricted networks too.He learns fast and thanks her.The first bunch of files are a hard read, but Lachlan is open to new intelligence at this point, he needs it.
Pseudo-scientific experiments have been running since the nineteen-sixties.Various strains of occult-adjacent phenomena have been studied thoroughly over the last sixty years.
He skim-reads the first set, titledPerception Programs,with a line between his eyes because a lot of it doesn’t make sense.Remote viewing accuracy trials, induced precognition states, sensory displacement testing, shared-dream testing, temporal perception dilation.
Lachlan has only thevaguestclue what any of that means.
Then he readsBiological Anomaly Mapping.
Tissue regeneration trials, induced metabolic stasis testing, subject-initiated neural suppression, directed genetic adaptation studies, programmable immunological response trials and amplification of endogenous bioelectrical output, which means literally nothing to Lachlan.
He moves on from the earliest tests and trials, skimming into more recent ones, although much of what he reads is word salad.He’s not even sure what he’s looking for until a note catches his eye.
Plasma & ejaculate contains compounds structurally analogous to human adrenergic transmitters.Confirmed in PN, RN & FM.(SUB.12.A)
Lachlan reads it three times but only a few words make sense.
He quickly looks upadrenergic transmitters, and it confirms what he thought.The chemicals that activate fight or flight and affect fear responses.
Scanning for other references like this, he comes to a page entitledSubsection 12Aand reads about a study performed on harvested secretions.
Lachlan looks up from the screen and pinches between his eyes.
He’s getting a fuckingmigraine.
None of that means anything to him.
He moves on, finally finding something of interest in the next ten pages.
A photocopied incident debrief page in the files.
Project Spectrum.
ATTACHMENT C — FIELD INCIDENT DEBRIEF
CLEARANCE LEVEL: INTERNAL / EYES ONLY
OPERATION: SPECTRUM
LOCATION:MAWTHORNE FACILITY SITE B
DATE:04/25/2012
PROGRAM SPONSOR:HELIXX BIOSCIENCES
CONTRACT REF:HX-09-SPECTRUM-M47CC5
