Time Is A Flat Circle

[Toshiro Narumi]

Tosh was happy in a way only scientists, cats, and small children truly know. He had a curiosity to poke, one that slowed time to a crawl. Currently, this poking involved a structural and digital analysis of the Islands Industries device recovered from Crimea with the main objective of identifying any failsafes that might destroy the device if activated improperly.

[Narrator]

The good news is, Tosh doesn't find any signs of a failsafe on the device. The bad news is, that's mostly because the structural analysis spits out a whole bunch of errors when it comes to the disc's internals. Looking at the raw data makes it clear why the computer is having issues reconstructing anything. The values are all over the place and wildly inconsistent as to the device's dimensions on the inside, which would indicate some kind of artificial singularity or at least folded space to imitate one, probably in order to create it's time dilation effect.

The other thing that stands out is that aside from what one might expect from a metal high-tech device (iron some copper, traces of silver, tungsten and palladium for the main body) the handle or dial or whatever it is that at first glance looks like plastic is in fact compromised of some sort of crystal the chemical composition. The details of which once again spit out an array of errors as the computer tries to calculate values that lie outside the known spectrum of elements on the periodic table.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"What the hell are you?" Tosh asked the object. It felt wrong to him, like it was too advanced for any human being to create. In this age anyway. Or did he just think that because of the time element at play.

After some thought, he decided to split the difference between exercising caution and taking a risk. He moved the device to a room that should contain any explosion and sent in one of his small robots to attempt turning it on.

[Narrator]

The robot manages to turn the dial just fine, which presumably adjusts some kind of setting, but none of the spots that look like they should be buttons react to the robot's touch. It's possibly there's some kind of safety element at play that prevents it from just going off by being bumped by a random object, like the surface of a smart phone.

[Toshiro Narumi]

He took a few notes and stared at the disc with a growing thought-frown.

"...God damnit..." he cursed before running in to poke something and running back out.

[Narrator]

The disc briefly seems to react, the strange letters on it lighting up for a moment before it shuts down again. It seems there's some kind of security system in place that didn't recognize Tosh as a valid user somehow.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Hrm..." he frowned. He decided to search for a way to connect a computer to it, either physically or wirelessly.

[Narrator]

It's not exactly Bluetooth compatible, but Tosh manages to pick up on some of the thing's internal signals. They're not even in binary, as far as he can tell, which means more staring at the raw readings, but Tosh knows computers and while it's hard to tell specifics, he can discern that there's some kind of programming loop going on that checks for something when a button is pressed, pulling some kind of data out of that brief interaction, which would suggest there's something built into the button itself, something that's probably too small to see with the naked eye.

[Toshiro Narumi]

And so Professor the Kid took the device back out to microscope the button while he thought about how to hack through the foreign coding language.

[Narrator]

Under the microscope Tosh can tell that the indentations of the lettering seem to be part of some kind of mechanism, possibly a kind of biometric lock to prevent just anybody from using the device. There's also surprisingly little residue on any of the buttons. With most things handled by people, especially if they have indentations, they leave behind copious amounts of skin cells and oils. Even considering this device has been sitting in a closet for at least a couple of days it's remarkably clean. Only on two of the buttons does he find even just a little bit of residue containing a tiny amount of shed skin cells.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Hello there," he smirked, taking a sample of the skin cells for immediate analysis.

[Narrator]

A closer examination of the cells shows that they are extremely rich in keratin, almost reptilian in nature, yet their shape is almost too amorphous. It's not Tosh's expertise, but pulling up image for comparison makes it stand out immediately. Normal skin cells are layered almost like bricks, more so in reptiles where the high keratin makes them rigid. These on the other hand are much rounder, resembling nothing that a cursory search of cell types turns up.

There aren't very many cells he managed to scrape off the device and at this point trying to run a genetic panel on them he'd have to destroy pretty much all of them to get enough material out of them.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"The hell am I looking at?" he asked himself. Deciding not to waste the sample on a generic test, he searched the internet for "keratin rich skin cells -reptile".

[Narrator]

What mostly pops up with that search is medical journals with the occasional fluff piece sprinkled in. They all seem to be about various disorders, occasionally mentioning known mutants with reinforced skin, but what images he can dig out of those publications they still don't seem to fit what he has here as even the mutant ones still look more square and rigid as one would expect. Maybe by excluding reptile as a search term he's cutting out those with reptilian mutations and scales? But even adding that back in and digging through to pictures of reptilian mutants he still can't find anything resembling what he has here.

Scrolling through the results they get increasingly inaccurate and off target, until he spots what is clearly just a shitty drawing by somebody with no experience sketching microscopy images, but it's the closest thing he's found to the sample. Unfortunately the search results seems to have come from thetruthseekers.com

[Toshiro Narumi]

He tried to find the actual page associated with the sketchy sketch.

[Narrator]

The image seems to be halfway down a page in a long discussion thread titled "Reptoid Evidence Megathread" and seems to mostly consist of people posting images of celebrities or politicians marked with seemingly random red circles to outline... some kind of clue about this clearly being a reptile alien in disguise. Peppered in between those are people arguing about the exact nature of this alien menace, what they want, where they're from and so on. It ranges from super-evolved dinosaur remnants to crash-landed spaceships. The guy who posted the image that led Tosh here (calling himself Cobaltic87) has only a couple of posts but they're all fairly big, written with an urgency that can only come from conspiracy theorists. He spends a lot of time trying to debunk other peoples' posts in favor of his own theories. The little symbol next to his Username and avatar indicates he's online right now.

[Toshiro Narumi]

Tosh groaned before creating an account with a throwaway email address. He then PMd the probable crazy person

I'm generally a skeptic, but I've come across something unusual and your drawings are the only thing I can find remotely resembling it. As pictures are worth a thousand words...

<Attachment> sample.png

[Narrator]

It does not take long for Cobaltic87 to respond. Unlike his posts, which he presumably took some time to write out and are a little more grammatically sound, this message is in much more broken English.

hello cybershark!
is good to be sceptic always second guess what people try tell you
you found reptilian cells too, awesome!
only got cheap microscope, no good way to take picture
where you find them!?

[Toshiro Narumi]

I'm reluctant to share the exact source right off the bat, but some associates of mine brought something to me for analysis and I discovered the cells on it. I could, however, be convinced to exchange information.

He tried to work his binary magic and draw out some additional information on Cobaltic.

[Narrator]

Yes, yes, please do
most of my findings are in thread, you want me to summarize for you?

Tosh's initial foray shows that 'cobaltic' is using a proxy. But while mildly paranoid he doesn't seem to be savvy enough to work his way around that and determine his location to be somewhere in... Yekaterinburg, Russia.

[Toshiro Narumi]

Yes, please.

He, feeling a bit paranoid himself because of the Russian connection, looked for links between Yekaterinburg and the mysterious Islands Industries. He didn't expect to actually find anything that easily if it was even there to find.

[Narrator]

His search yields, maybe predictably so, nothing. But it's a good way to kill the time while waiting for a response. Finally, he gets a notification he received another message.

okay so, all started 4 years ago
you see news about meteor over Russia, ya? All over internet
only that government coverup for something else
see it being test-flight for top secret prototype and engine failure exploded it so they say
nobody saw meteor approach, is weird, no? they say cause it masked by sun, but over several days? sun move. no sense, you agree?
is because not meteor at all, after explosion, people all over the place 'discovering' fragments of space-rock but none of them locals, no one ever seen these people
rumors on the net about them collecting debris from secret prototype and replace with rock, so I go investigate
get my hands on rock sample from friend, take a look at it
should have space radiation and such on it but nothing
just rocks, but i do find weird skin cells from reptile thing
i go online, look around, find people talking about secret lizard people in government
they all a little crazy, overzealous, yeah? see shit everywhere, all celebrities secret identities and such, all non-sense
just a couple people in Russian government, maybe old dinosaur descendants, yeah?
survive for millions of years, evolve, hide from humans and now come up from underground
running secret experiments and covering up when go wrong

[Toshiro Narumi]

Tosh didn't believe most of Cobaltic's claims, but the technology level at play meant he couldn't entirely dismiss the idea of something strange either. It wasn't any crazier than transdimensional faeries.

Does the name Islands Industries mean anything to you?

[Narrator]

no, does not ring bell for me

A moment later he gets another message.

wait, you mean ostrova promyshlennosti?
is manufacturer of some sort
small company
you think is important?

[Toshiro Narumi]

Whatever is going on, they're either involved or benefiting from it.

After some thought, he decided to take a risk.

They built this. Even the equipment I have access to couldn't figure out the materials involved. Aliens or lizards or mad scientists or whatever, it's weird.

<Attachment> disc.png

[Narrator]

Code: Select all

you have piece of machinery!?
where you find this? you think this came from crashed plane?
something else? you know what it do? what kind of equipment you have access to?
you think is reptoid language on there? what you mean you don't know what material?

comes a response almost immediately.

[Toshiro Narumi]

It was collected after being used to, well, keep someone is a state of slow time. In a closet. So I'm told. I have access to some pretty advanced scientific equipment. And while most of the materials are known metals, that knob is something else entirely. This thing makes no sense and those cells were the only thing I could investigate further without attempting to dismantle it. I just wish I had enough to properly gene sequence.

[Narrator]

you have gene sequencer? you work in research lab or something?
that amazing, can I send you some samples for analysis?
slow time device
you think it part of something else or on it's own?
maybe part of experimental engine? or weapon?
either way you stumble into something huge, my friend
unknown material could come from secret government project maybe?
could post in thread, spread the truth
just don't listen to other posters, they going to tell you all kinds of crazy nonsense
they see 'unknown material' gonna think it ETs

[Toshiro Narumi]

I have access to a high grade university lab. If you have other samples, I could definitely take a look at them. Assuming, of course, you'd be willing to trust me. Not everyone feels comfortable with what my university stands for.

I hesitate to speculate but I believe it's a stand-alone device. I'd suspect a corporation before a government, but that's likely personal bias speaking.

PS: I apologize for being coy, but I'm new to this cloak and keyboard mystery stuff.

[Narrator]

no worries, better safe than sorry
can send things to postbox for you, no problem
no good lab will look at these things, got to take small risk for chance at real answers, da?
and could be both, government/corporation
ostrova promyshlennosti is government contractor
if they the same that built your time disc...

[Toshiro Narumi]

I'll send you the address as soon as I get one set up. I look forward to figuring this out.

Since he was already down the rabbit hole, he decided to amuse himself by searching the site for "shark man".

[Narrator]

Not as popular as the more 'mainstream' ones, but there's a couple things. Most animal-hybrid things tend to get 'dismissed' as mutants though. If there's a logic to what this place accepts as something other than a metahuman is questionable at best, although it's mostly things that existed before the wide-spread emergence of mutants. Ancient Aliens and Bigfoot, real. Batboy and Sharkmen, obviously just mutants.