Page 27 - Hunter the Vigil - Mortal Remains

CHAPTER ONE: PIECES OF FLESH

Network Zero might have had the most contact with the Cre- forearm, though, which I acquired nearly a year ago, belonged to a
ated of any compact, but they also know the least about them. farmer. He had very strong arms, and the skin was so coarse that I
Prometheans are capable of amazing feats of strength and endur- had to puncture the holes for the thread to affix the girl’s hand using a
ance. Some are strong enough to throw vans, or jump to the tops of power drill with a specially sharpened bit.
buildings. Others can dissolve solid objects with a touch or throw Now. Suppose a graphologist were to find this letter. I can only
lighting from their hands. All of those activities can be recorded on assume that the handwriting would reveal something strange about the
video. Prometheans’ powers don’t have any kind of magical “cloak” writer’s grip and force. And that’s to say nothing of the fact that the
to them, which means if it gets uploaded and shared, it’s out there. sections of the brain that control motor functions and written language
Unfortunately for the Secret Frequency, in the era of vi- also come from different people hailing from various backgrounds and
ral marketing videos, a guy jumping off a bridge and landing educations. What effect does that have on my penmanship?
unhurt on the highway below isn’t proof of the Created’s exis- And yet, even if our hypothetical graphologist were to see all of this
tence. It could be a stunt for an upcoming superhero movie or (this is, I grant you, presuming a great deal of skill on her part, but it’s
part of a commercial. Since Prometheans rarely stick around just a thought exercise), she would probably assume that there is, indeed,
to give interviews, much of the footage that Network Zero has a rational explanation. And yet, if she knew the rational explanation,
recorded has very little in the way of useful commentary or con- she would consider it nonsense. Or, perhaps, if she were shown proof, she
text. These hunters don’t know what they’re looking at. would consider it a catalyst for a screaming, gibbering, breakdown.
One advantage Network Zero does have, though, is that “Rational” depends entirely on your paradigm.
watching a recording doesn’t engender Disquiet. Filming a Pro-
methean does, but looking at footage doesn’t carry the same — a letter from Imp to “Dr. Brine”
risk, so the members of Network Zero usually don’t have time The scientists of Null Mysteriis have discovered something
to slip too deeply into Disquiet. Of course, it does happen that a that no other compact has managed. They have discovered Dis-
particularly intrepid investigator follows a Promethean around, quiet. These hunters realize that many supernatural creatures
taking pictures and video, hoping to capture the target doing are capable of influencing bystanders by producing changes in
something worthy of an upload — and in the process, slides mood and thought; this is what allows some creatures to be-
deep enough into Disquiet that he infects the rest of his cell. come “invisible.” (After all, making people oblivious makes so
much more sense than altering the properties of light.) Other
From the Archives: Dear Mr. Harrison,
creatures may seduce or “mind-control” otherwise unwilling
My name is Robby. I am 10 years old. I am in third grade. I live victims via pheromone control or hypnotic suggestion. As such,
in Houston, Texas. I saw your show with the thing with all the tentacles Null Mysteriis has supporting evidence that has recorded mobs
pulling itself up into the sky. I got real scared when I saw that so my of people who go completely mad and attack, dismember, and
mom told me I should write you a letter. But my mom doesn’t know that even burn an innocent-seeming victim.
I saw something like that before so that’s why I was so scared. I saw a
guy with tentacles like that. They came off his shoulders and under his The Null are largely stumped as to why Disquiet happens,
shirt, and reached up and pulled himself up onto a building. And then especially since its effects aren’t advantageous to any creature.
he jumped onto a telephone pole and there were sparks everywhere, and Since they don’t have a lot of data to work with, these hunters
when he came down he didn’t have tentacles anymore but his hair was can only theorize. One guess is that these creatures are human
all wild and his face was smoking. And he smiled at me and I ran away. beings who have been “cursed” somehow; some kind of con-
dition or chemical or neurological change activates the intrin-
Please tell me if that man is going to come back and kill me.
sic fear of strangers that all people have, and mob mentality
Your friend, Robby and the Genovese effect do the rest. Another theory is that
— letter received by Jim Harrison, October 25 , 1991 this “Frankenstein effect” is atmospheric; that it’s related to a
th
place and an environmental taint rather than a person, and the
Null Mysteriis people it seems to center on just have some kind of genetic or,
“Everything has a rational explanation.” That phrase, so simple perhaps, psychic marker, that makes them a target. This latter
and convincing and yet so damnably dangerous, has led to so many theory gains credence (to the Null) when combined with obser-
deaths and mutilations; it fills me with anticipation every time some- vations of the Wasteland which, of course, often coincide with
one says it. incidences of Disquiet.
When a person says that everything has a rational explanation, With discovery comes a fair amount of risk — especially for
they don’t mean what they think they mean. They’re right, of course. this compact. Victor Frankenstein was a scientist, and it was
Everything does have a rational explanation. But for the “rational” to his obsession that created a whole Lineage. Members of Null
really make sense requires a much broader base of knowledge than any Mysteriis who investigate the Created must take care that their
living human being could possibly have. research doesn’t start to focus on the nature of life, lest they,
Consider: I am writing this letter with the hand of a 20-year-old too, become responsible for a new line of monsters.
woman, and the forearm of a 45-year-old man. The woman was a From the Archives: I’ll return this file in a few days. I’ll tell
prodigy piano player, and was exceptionally graceful and delicate. I you this: I don’t think the thing described here is the only one. Watch
had to stitch her hand to my forearm with incredible care — which is the video again (it’s on the hard drive, labeled with the file number).
very hard to do one-handed — using thin but very strong thread. The Note how the subject keeps screaming for its mother? Right at 2:34,

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