Project E Case file #2

From: DoD ████████████████████████ Taskforce Director ███████████ ████████████  ███████ ██████████ █████████████@█████.gov
Subject: Elaboration
To: JCS: CNO ADM █████████████ █ ██████████ ████████████████████@██████████.gov
Sent on July ██ 20██

Dear Admiral:

    Consider this a formal notification to the Joint Chiefs of Staff of my request for a declassified copy of all documents regarding █████████████ to be sent to her handler ████████████. It is unacceptable for someone in such a position to be denied all of the relevant data, especially considering the situation that we face.  If there is anything that you are able to do to expedite the process it would be much appreciated.
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From: JCS: CNO ADM █████████████ █ ██████████ ████████████████████@██████████.gov
Subject: Re: Elaboration
To: DoD ██████████████ Taskforce Director ██████████████  ███████ ██████████ █████████████@█████.gov
Sent on July ██ 20██

To ████████████

    Unfortunately the speed you require these documents to be processed is impossible at this time. Documents of a nature this sensitive require a unanimous decision to release these documents after each member has reviewed them. Currently the process will take at the very least three to four months for the review process to be complete. There is nothing that I can do at this time.
    On an unrelated note, a package was mistakenly sent to our address, if you or an aide could come pick it up at your earliest convenience that would be appreciated. My secretary keeps running into it.
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    Foxx looked at the small stack of pages on his superior's desk, a first impressions report of Eldridge. Assistant-director Hotchkiss' eyes quickly darted back and forth as he reviewed the report. In the large lenses of the assistant-director Foxx could see that his brown crew cut hair was sticking out at a few odd angles again. They never sat down properly. Foxx scratched the side of his nose feeling the scaly patch of skin. He cursed in the back of his mind. He had suffered from contact dermatitis his entire life, but neither he nor his doctors could find the irritant.
    The hands of the myriad of clocks covering one wall of Hotchkiss' office slowed to a crawl, each unified tick occurring once an eon after much deliberation and toil from the mechanisms. He coughed into the side of his hand, briefly drawing the boss's attention. Foxx's perception blurred as his consciousness began to distance itself from space and time. He could perceive the motes of dust fluttering past the window. He could feel his cells dividing and dying and his hair growing and slowly turning gray atom by atom.

    "You know this sounds completely insane right?  Foxx snapped back to the material realm at the question.

    "Yes sir I realize that. However given the circumstances our definition of what is sane seems to have changed in the last year."

     "Be that as it may, try to keep the insanity under control. That is your job after all." Hotchkiss adjusted his glasses. "Now then you stated in your report, based on the past week of observation that DE-173 displays an unsettling mental state. Explain."

    Foxx shifted in his seat. "Well sir. Elly, uh Eldridge seems to display the traits of someone who is distracted and forgetful. However the matters on which she is forgetful are strange. She acts based on events that never happened, and sometimes recalls information that is clearly false. Yesterday she hit the elevator button for the fifth floor to go to my office."

    "I fail to see the significance of that."

    "Well sir," Foxx paused for a moment. "My office is on the first level basement."

    Hotchkiss just silently processed the statement for a moment.

    "Eldridge also walked into a wall trying to enter a door that doesn't exist, got me a strange drink that she was thought was my favorite, and brought me a set of cartridges for an electronic cigarette I don't have."

    The assistant director nodded and turned a page in the report. "How would you profile this behavior?"

    "Well sir I think that Eldridge truly believes that her memories are correct. I read some of the psyche profiles on Samuel B Porter, and Hornet. Both of them have snippets of their crew's memories, faces, events, places, and such."

    "So this disassociation with reality is a symptom of her status as a hull?"

    Foxx nodded "Yes sir I believe so."

    Hotchkiss tucked he report into a folder at moved it to the side of his desk. "Very well, you're dismissed."

    Foxx sprang out of his chair, almost sprinting for the door.

    "Foxx."

    He froze. "So close." he cursed under his breath. "Yes Sir?"

    "I expect the next report on time, not early, and NOT late again."

    "Yes sir."

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    Foxx sighed as the speaker in the elevator chimed in an annoyingly calm tone. "Basement. First Floor." He pushed on his back, a rippling series of pops working out the kinks of his spine. On his way back he snagged a meal bar from the break room, noting the movie tie in packaging.

    "That's right. New Spider-man movie." He began humming quietly to himself as he chewed on the bar.

    "Spiderman. Spiderman.  Hmhmhmhmmhm spider can." As he walked down the hallway Foxx stopped. He for a moment he swore he could have heard another voice singing along with him. The moment he paused however the other voice stopped. He looked around, all of the other people on his floor were busy with their own work, not that there were many to begin with. He started again, his soles echoing on the hard linoleum flooring. He began whistling this time; his poor attempts were matched by the voice again. He quickened his pace, power walking, almost sprinting down the hallway. He began singing again to calm his nerves, his voice barely leaving his throat, the partner in his unsettling duet mirroring his change in volume.

    "Spins a web any size, catches thieves just like flies." He stopped in front of his door. It was ajar. The lights were off. Had he forgotten to shut it? Foxx slowly pushed the door open. "Look out~"

    "HERE COMES THE SPIDER MAN!"

    Foxx screamed, swinging the meal bar in front of him, and smacking someone with it.

    "Ouch!"

    Foxx flicked on the lights to find Elly hanging from the ceiling, massaging her nose which had a big chocolate smudge on it.

    "Boy you sure know how to wield a mean breakfast. I shudder to think what you can do with an omelet."

    "Elly what the fuck are you doing and how are you hanging from the..." His eyes crept upwards. Past Elly's long calf length navy skirt, pinched between her knees to her feet, or lack thereof. Where her ankles ended the concrete ceiling began.

    Foxx pinched the bridge of his nose. "Elly where are your feet?"

    The upside-down girl reached up and put her hands on her hips. "Don't you know its rude to ask a girl things about her body? Like her age, her three sizes, or where her feet may or may not have disappeared to?"

    "Elly get down."

    "Who is Elly?" The inverted ship-girl pulled the hat that had miraculously stayed on her head over her face. "I am SPIDERSHIP!" She muffled through the hat.

    Foxx shut the door. "Elly I'm giving you till the count of ten to un-spidership yourself from the ceiling or whatever you did to get up there." He shut his eyes and began counting down. Slowly he pushed the door open again, recoiling slightly as the same fog and stench of ozone poured from the open door. Foxx choked slightly on the powerful chlorine like smell. "Elly?"

    "Boop." A warm sensation emanated from his cheek. He jumped forward into the now empty room. Pivoting on his heels there was Elly, holding a small plastic container. "Good morning Mister Dragon, I got you some breakfast!"

    "I-but-you-ceiling-spider...." Foxx stopped, taking a deep breather and then exhaling. "Elly how did you get behind me, and furthermore where did you get breakfast?"

    "Behind you?" Elly tilted her head to one side. "I came down the elevator... with cafeteria food." She motioned to the plastic container in her hands. "Are you alright?"

    Foxx took the plastic container and collapsed in his chair. "Yeah. Just saw a spider on the ceiling." He pointed up.

    Elly eyed the ceiling. "Silly Mr. Dragon. There's no spider there. And what kind of dragon are you, afraid of an itsy bitsy spider?"

    "I'm not a... never mind." He sighed. "Anyhow Elly there's not much to to do today, we've got nothing lined up so you may as well-" A small chirp from Foxx's computer interrupted. He fumbled with his keyboard for a moment before settling into his chair. Elly could see the handler's expression growing more grim as light from the monitor danced across his face..

    Elly leaned over the desk "What's wrong?" Foxx turned the monitor to face Elly. A video was playing, grainy security camera footage of a harbor pier in the pre-dawn gloom. A lone figure walks out onto the pier, he stops to have a smoke on an empty arm of the pier. The footage fast forwards through the smoke break, then resumes as man goes to toss his cigarette into the water. Four large iron chains burst out of the water, each one rusted, algae covered, and ending in a manacle. Each one of the corroded shackles wraps itself around a limb. The man struggles for a moment before he is ripped off the dock and into the black water.

    "What is that?" Elly asked.

	"Work."