Sean Witkoff's notes: AstroLink Section

Subject: Sean Witkoff's notes - Part 1

I swear, this whole thing’s fucked.

First, command tells us the alien specimen went missing. Then someone whispers a doc smuggled it out. What kind of suicidal maniac does that? Anyway, we hauled our asses to the Power Core, hoping to reboot ASTRA and Cryo systems. We needed them up. No power, no chance to survive. Simple.

Except, nothing worked. Whole system’s shot to shit. Burnt relays, corrupted signals, AI acting like it had a stroke. Reynolds suggested heading to AstroLink - apparently there’s an archive there with full schematics. Worth a shot.

We packed tools and I lead a small group... We pried the damn doors open.

And that’s when the real nightmare started.

Subject: Sean Witkoff's notes - Part 2

Something’s wrong here. Way wrong.

We’re inside AstroLink, but this place… It’s infested. Brown organic crap is stuck to the walls like a goddamn infection. Reynolds said it looks like fungus. No shit — it smells like it too. Same kind of rot we saw when people started turning.

We found this strange room. Massive. And in the middle — there’s this thing, some kind of quantum mainframe, I guess. A glowing sphere hanging under the ceiling like some alien god. Beautiful. And terrifying. I could stare at it forever...

No. Focus.

There were stairs leading down. We had to see where they went.

Subject: Sean Witkoff's notes - Part 3

We finally figured out what that damn keycard was for. It opened a bunch of sealed doors in Sector 2 — some kind of technical labs.

The place was packed with hanging reactors, suspended from the ceiling like giant cocoons. They were generating some kind of plasma energy... at least the ones still working. A few looked broken — probably tied to the whole Power Core mess. As much as we wanted to poke around and figure things out, the infected matter was getting worse the deeper we went.

Then Ortega started acting... off.

One second he was mumbling to himself, the next he lunged at Ramirez like an animal. Our ERT escort panicked and shot him — dropped him right there. No time to argue. We had to move.

On the way back, one of those things ambushed us from the vents — some spindly, twitching freak. It exploded, spraying us with some kind of gas. Me and Reynolds were far enough back, thank god. The others... started twitching. Shaking. Eyes glazed over. Like they were transforming into something — something not human.

We ran. Back to the quantum core. Sealed off the path behind us, used the cutter to take out the stairs.

We salvaged some data. A few logs from ASTRA. Maybe enough. Maybe not. I just hope this wasn’t all for nothing.

Subject: Sean Witkoff's notes - Part 4

We made it back to the Power Core. What’s left of us, anyway.

Barricaded the door. Used everything we could find — crates, scrap, barrels. Now... it’s quiet. Too quiet.

Reynolds won’t talk. Just stares. I think he blames me. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I did lead us into this mess chasing ghosts and data in the goddamn AstroLink Section.

We lost Ortega. Miller’s gone. Ramirez... I don’t know what’s left of her. That thing she turned into — that wasn’t her anymore. That wasn’t human. Eyes so empty...

But we got what we came for. A few parts. Cables. Some ASTRA logs. Schematics. Something. Enough to maybe patch the Cryo systems… maybe even reboot it.

It was madness down in AstroLink. All that corrupted tech, the growing biomass, whatever the hell that gas was… it’s still in my nose. Still in my lungs.

I keep hearing things.

No, not from the corridor. Inside my head.

Feels like something's scratching behind my eyes. Like thoughts that aren’t mine.

I need to sleep. Just for a minute. Just close my eyes and—

No. No sleep. Not yet.

They’re watching.