T-005 Echo

Threshold Institute · Case file T-005

Number

T-005 in the catalogue

Kind

Creature

Class

Class II: dangerous, and held in a cell

Found

Year 5, month 11, day 28

Where found

The east corridor of the sealed level

Status

Escaped

Now

At the lab and in the rift

Part

Part I: The tear

Containment procedures

T-005 is held in a soundproofed cell, with double walls packed with felt and a door that seals on rubber. Staff in its cell block speak only by hand signs. A rule written after T-005 holds for the whole sealed level: no one answers a voice, a step or a knock until they see who made it. Jonas Berg's voice is on a list kept by the night shift supervisor; a call in it is checked against his post before anyone moves.

Description

A creature that learns what it hears and plays it back: steps, a door, a shot, a name in a voice it has heard. It hides where the sound comes from and plays a copy every few seconds, as a real sound that others hear and follow, and takes whoever comes to look. A soft static plays under each copy, heard only close by. Once seen it is frail.

Discovery

After the light rule (see T-004) the sealed level was lit through the night, and the night staff grew used to walking it alone. In the autumn of year 5 they began to hear the night technician Jonas Berg call them from the east corridor, by name, in his own voice, asking for a hand with a door. Each time the corridor was empty, and each time Berg was on the far side of the level, with witnesses. On the twenty-eighth day of the eleventh month a cleaner, Irja Palm, went to look and did not come back. Mara Okafor's team went in after her and heard her steps ahead of them, then a door, then a shot from a gun none of them had fired. They held still, as T-002 had taught them, and saw it. It went down on the first volley. It was the first threshold that learnt from the staff instead of only hunting them.

Addenda

Addendum T-005-A

night log of J. Berg, Year 5, months 10 and 11 (extract)

Month 10, day 3. Ekdahl says I called her from the east corridor at 01:00. I was in the pump room. Laughed it off.

Month 10, day 19. Three people now. Always the east corridor. Always "give me a hand with this door". I have never said that sentence in my life.

Month 11, day 12. Heard it myself tonight. It is my voice. It is better at my voice than I am.

Month 11, day 28. Palm went to look. I told her not to. I told her in my own voice, and she did not know which of us to believe.

Addendum T-005-B

note

Berg asked to be moved to the day shift and was refused, since he was the one person the night staff could check a call against. Soundproofing became a trade of its own at the Institute, and its cost rose every year. Years later the Institute found a room that needed none (see T-012). Before then, something grew out of the chamber's own floor (see T-006).

Previous fileT-004 ShadePart I: The tear Next fileT-006 GrowthPart I: The tear

In the file

• People: Mara Okafor, Jonas Berg, Ekdahl and Irja Palm.
• Places: The containment chamber, The sealed level and The cells.

In the game

The note you find in the game:

Year 5, month 11, day 28. Caught in the east corridor of the sealed level, after the night staff had kept hearing the night technician Jonas Berg call them from it by name while Berg stood on the far side of the level. A cleaner, Irja Palm, went to look and did not come back; Mara Okafor's team went in after her, held still and saw it. It had learnt his voice.

It repeats what it hears: steps, a door, a shot, a name. It waits where the sound comes from and takes whoever comes to look. Once seen, it is frail.

Held in a soundproofed cell. Status: escaped.

Today it is found at the lab and in the rift.

It goes down after losing 1000 ml of its 3400 ml of blood. How it hunts and where it turns up: see the zombies page.