﻿Log 5: Thy pride of wisdom.

Independent Research Ship Mary Shelley, final log entry. Professor Grant Park speaking.

Chase and Ray died fighting side-by-side. I can still hear their screams when I close my eyes…

We, uh…

...The containment pen we built was, um… not adequate to the task. At first it was fine, but, well...

We eventually found a signal that caused the organism to hatch. It didn’t attack at first, so we assumed it was docile. It didn’t need much food, either. Or, as I predicted, air. Or water. So we kept experimenting, kept trying different signals… We made more progress on translating the artefact’s control software in just one hour than we’d made in the preceding two weeks.

But then, in response to one signal, it… changed. Morphed into some kind of chrysalis, and stopped responding to commands. Then the chrysalis burst and there were dozens and dozens of babies in there, and they didn’t respond to the control signal either... And they were hungry. And they were small enough to slip out through the vents.

I think only the adults listen to the control signal. But… it’s too late to test that hypothesis now. I can’t get to the artefact anyway: Anderson’s corpse is blocking the door. 

They… glued him to it, with some kind of resin that sets like concrete. And then they laid eggs inside him. I wish… I wish I could have... 

...Nobody should die like that.

As for Fletcher… I think they did the same to him, but he escaped. He took the shuttle and abandoned us. God only knows how far he thinks he’ll get without a hyperdrive, but I guess he’s gone… and if I’m right, those eggs will hatch somewhere out there. 

If somebody picks him up, well… Who knows how far they could spread?

As for me… There’s no way out. I can’t just vent the ship, they’d barely notice. And I don’t have enough food or water in here to wait them out.

I do have a pistol, though. 

If anybody finds this message… I’m sorry. We should have been more careful. We meant to expand the sum of human knowledge, but instead I fear we’ve expanded the sum of human misery.

Maybe if you find out where they came from, you can do something about them. I’ve uploaded everything we found out, all our data... It’s all on this tablet. I’m convinced these things were engineered, and they definitely respond to the signals from the artefact…  all you need to do is control them. If I just had the artefact in here with me, I could…!

...They’re cutting at the door. They can hear me in here. I’m… I’m going to take the easy way out before they get to me. 

Please. Use the artefact. Send the control signal, and stop them. And please… 

...Forgive me.

“My spirit will sleep in peace; or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. Farewell.” 

++END LOG++