>>>(Beginning of audio recording.)
>>> (A tired female voice starts at a slight distance from the recorder, but slowly gets closer to the point of identification after the first sentence)
>>> ???: “Uh, hi I guess?”
>>> (clears throat)
>>> Kathrin: “Haven’t made anything like this before, but I figure it’s the best way to organize my thoughts since according to SOMEONE (ahem) Ann (ahem) my notes can be incomprehensible at best.”
>>> (Shuffles papers)
>>> Kathrin: “I suppose she does have a point through, I’ve been called into meetings enough times to translate notes that I’m barred from handing in hand written notes now.”
>>> (sigh)
>>> Kathrin: “Oh if only I could just type these things out on the computer. However, considering that the IT department has access to all of our notes and documentation, I’d rather not risk it.”
>>> Kathrin: “What I am making note of in these logs could quite possibly upheave everything we do here, but I can’t let these issues go undocumented. For my own conscious as much as for the safety of my coworkers.”
>>> Kathrin: “It’s…(sigh) complicated trying to find where to start with this, but I suppose I can try. Better to try than to have this haunting my conscious until I inevitably fall off of this mortal plane, anyways.”
>>> Kathrin: “It started at some point in April, maybe about halfway through the month? At first I just chalked it up to some poorly planned April fools prank that someone forgot to fix, but when I brought it up to the boss he acted (Pause)…weird.”
>>> Kathrin: “He told me that it wasn’t something I should worry about and that he’d deal with it —which is weird in its own right because when does that man ever do his own work, let alone take work off of someone else— and just told me to drop it.”
>>> Kathrin: “Of course I did try at first but-“ (a self deprecating laugh can be heard.) “-kinda hard to do that when your entire job revolves around keeping an eye out for that sort of thing.”
>>> Kathrin: “Naturally, I kept an eye out for it either way, and wrote up notes about it just to cover my own ass in case this was just something broken in our system, but then…”
>>> (There’s about five seconds of pause, with only Kathrin’s breathing to be heard.)
>>> Kathrin: “Things started to get weird. Like, REALLY weird, even for this place.”
>>> Kathrin: “My notes —which by the way I keep at least three backups of— vanished. No trace of them whatsoever. Not in the file history, not in the deleted folder, just GONE.”
>>> Kathrin: “I tried running one of those —rather questionable, I will admit— recovery tools that I’ve used when some poor family member deletes the entire family photo album from their computer and I need to get it back, but even that didn’t pull anything up.”
>>> Kathrin: “I think —and I know this makes me sound paranoid as all hell, goodness knows I’m already medicated for that. I don’t need any more of those damn meds— someone must’ve overwritten the files.”
>>> Kathrin: “I know, I know, it sounds strange. You’re probably like ‘“but Kathrin, why would someone overwrite your files?”’ And honestly? I wish I could tell you.”
>>> Kathrin: “What I have right now is nothing more than speculation, but something tells me I’m on the right track.”
>>> Kathrin: “All the notes were made on the fact that there’s been an increase of food being bought for the (ahem) experiments we keep. Which yes I know that sounds bad enough, but it’s currently the least of my concerns at this exact moment.”
>>> Kathrin: “Anyways. There’s been an increase of food being purchased, and yet I haven’t seen a single ration be increased. Food has definitely been being pulled from our storage, but I can’t for the life of me figure out where it’s going.”
>>> Kathrin: “Of course the BOSS is about as useful as a wet paper bag when it comes to things like this, but I digress. I suppose I’ll keep looking into it for now, maybe even ask Ann about it things, she does have more access than—“
>>> (There’s the muffled sound of a door opening, followed by a man speaking at a distance from the recording machine.)
>>> ???: “Kathrin, the boss wants you to take up that new experiment in room 28 as your project.”
>>> Kathrin: “Wha- now? Of all times? I’m trying to get my notes done for fucks sake!”
>>> ???: “Hey, I’m just telling you what he said. Don’t blame me for that.”
>>> Kathrin: “I- I know that Nick, but couldn’t you have just sent me a damn email?”
>>> Nick?:” First of all, you know I hate being called that. It’s Nicholas, not Nick. Second of all I don’t trust all that damn technology you guys use.”
>>> Kathrin: (sigh) “Right, I forgot you absolutely despise tech. Whatever, give me a few minutes to finish this note up and I’ll meet you down there.”
>>> Nicholas: “Fine, you have ten minutes. I’m not getting the boss on my ass because of you.”
>>> (There is the faint sound of a door closing, along with footsteps retreating.)
>>> Kathrin: “Fuck. Great. Yet another thing added to my caseload. I swear to god that man does it solely to piss me off. I guess I can continue documenting later, considering I’m not about to get in trouble over something so stupid.”
>>> Kathrin: “Guess this is Kathrin, signing off.”
>>> (end of audio log)
—————————————————————————————
>>> (Beginning of file notes)
>>> Ethel: Upon closer inspection of the audio recording file, it was discovered that there was a text file imbedded into the file. It has been transcribed below for further analysis.
>>> “79 104 32 109 121 32 100 97 114 108 105 110 103 32 75 97 116 104 114 105 110 46 32 89 111 117 32 100 111 110 116 32 107 110 111 119 32 119 104 97 116 32 121 111 117 114 101 32 103 101 116 116 105 110 103 32 121 111 117 114 115 101 108 102 32 105 110 116 111 44 32 100 111 32 121 111 117 63 32 84 104 105 115 32 112 97 116 104 32 99 97 110 32 111 110 108 121 32 101 110 100 32 98 97 100 108 121 32 102 111 114 32 121 111 117 32 97 102 116 101 114 32 97 108 108 46 32 84 104 101 110 32 97 103 97 105 110 44 32 73 32 99 97 110 116 32 98 108 97 109 101 32 121 111 117 32 102 111 114 32 110 111 116 32 107 110 111 119 105 110 103 46 32 84 104 97 116 32 102 97 108 108 32 121 111 117 32 104 97 100 32 109 117 115 116 118 101 32 114 101 97 108 108 121 32 109 101 115 115 101 100 32 117 112 32 121 111 117 114 32 104 101 97 100 32 97 102 116 101 114 32 97 108 108 46 32 71 111 111 100 110 101 115 115 32 107 110 111 119 115 32 116 104 97 116 32 119 105 116 104 111 117 116 32 109 101 32 105 116 32 119 111 117 108 100 118 101 32 107 105 108 108 101 100 32 121 111 117 46 32 66 117 116 32 111 104 33 32 73 32 99 97 110 116 32 115 112 111 105 108 32 101 118 101 114 121 116 104 105 110 103 32 116 111 111 32 113 117 105 99 107 108 121 32 97 102 116 101 114 32 97 108 108 44 32 73 109 32 115 117 114 101 32 111 117 114 32 100 101 97 114 32 114 101 97 100 101 114 115 32 119 111 117 108 100 32 108 111 118 101 32 116 111 32 104 101 97 114 32 101 120 97 99 116 108 121 32 119 104 97 116 32 121 111 117 32 104 97 118 101 32 116 111 32 115 97 121 44 32 119 111 117 108 100 110 116 32 116 104 101 121 63”
