Blizzard launches 'Project Blackstone' site - Page 26

DR. TALEN AYERS

Picture : http://eu.battle.net/sc2/static/images/blackstone/screenshots/06-scourge.jpg

Personal Log

Things have gotten sticky around the lab, and I think we are all finding it more difficult to move ahead with our research.

"Sticky?" you ask.

(And by "you," of course, I refer to my own subconscious audience, as well as whichever Dominion security officer has been lucky enough to screen my personal writings. My friend, you will find that I am quite accustomed to writing for a crowd, and have no problem sharing candid thoughts and feelings this way. I apologize if that takes some of the exciting deductive elements out of your job.)

Yes, sticky. Sticky is the only word I can find to describe the emotional gridlock of personalities that has grown up among the scientists sequestered in the belly of this cozy little lab. And the sources of this stickiness – the metaphorical creep colonies responsible for producing this oozing sociological creep – are Dr. Held and Jake Ramsey. Why anybody would consider bringing together a sadistic xenophobe and a deranged protoss sympathizer in tight quarters is beyond me.

Dr. Branamoor, if you are reading this, then I submit the question to you: what in the blue blazes were you thinking?

Dr. Held is quite obviously a few mitochondria short of a functioning cell, as the saying goes. His unwavering focus on protoss physiology and cerebral structure – even in non-scientific discussions and chats around the lunchroom – reveals an obsession that smacks of phobia. Held is terrified of the protoss, and I suspect this is due to some previous experience he may have had with top-secret Dominion research before Project Blackstone was even off the ground. His assistant, a young woman with flat, dead eyes, warned me not to mention "Project Gestalt." She said that the mere mention of those words would set her superior into a fit of shivering paranoia. Poor Dr. Martine had no more details than that, but I pity the girl. Working with Dr. Held on a daily basis must be a trial: her grip on that cane of hers grows tighter every time I see her.

Ramsey is another story altogether. His insights into the protoss are frighteningly sharp, and it seems as though he shares them almost as if by accident. I'm not sure what he has seen, or what was done to him, but it definitely left an indelible mark on his sanity. His demeanor is hard to follow, moods shifting without warning: one minute he's an intelligent, good-natured archaeologist; the next, he's some distant, unreadable mystic with an unfathomable empathy for the poor alien souls made "vile prisoners" in Dr. Held's lab. These periods of madness have become more and more egregious: at one point, he physically threatened Dr. Held and had to be restrained by our head engineer and me. Branamoor, usually quick to show off his Big Chief disciplinary muscle, hasn't done anything about Ramsey's actions yet. It almost seems as if our loopy xenophile has some sort of protection there. Is Jake pals with Mengsk? He certainly doesn't have much nice to say about our good emperor, but at this point, it wouldn't surprise me.

So yes, things are sticky. Dr. Held and Ramsey at each other's throats, and the rest of us trying to ignore the fact that horrible things may be happening just down the hallway. What was it that Dr. Rothfuss said? The bearded old astrophysicist is a quiet fellow, but when he speaks, he can silence a room. "Conflicting passions and tight quarters make a pretty recipe for blood."

That got even Ramsey to shut up.

I'll have to see if I can't pull Rothfuss aside and learn a little bit more about him the next time he wheels out of that red-lit laboratory of his. It seems as though everybody on the staff has an interesting story. After getting Ramsey tucked safely into his room, I spent this afternoon talking with the guy who helped me hold the archaeologist back from committing murder: Redell "Red" Quinton. He's an engineer through and through – everything by the numbers. But the man's brilliant, a practical database of the chemistry and physics required to turn atoms into weaponry. He's been bothered by all of this stickiness as well; in fact, I may have gotten the word from him.

At least I have my lab time with Talise. We have grown quite fond of each other, and have begun sneaking into each other's quarters for... post-laboratory analysis. It is nice to have somebody who shares my fascination with the incredible and mysterious workings of these alien forms. It is also nice to share our hopes and fears about having daughters in such similar lines of work. Neither of us have heard from our children in quite some time, and I can only assume that the Dominion is keeping us separated from them out of concern for their safety.

I am writing this, watching her sleep on my cot, and feeling as though maybe this uncomfortable time, this stickiness, is only temporary. As Oscar Wilde said, "The less said about life's sores, the better."

TA