BABYLON INVADED?
The Babylon Crier
Thursday, August 22, 464
BABYLON INVADED?
Reports flood in of an unknown entity breaching city-state’s outer wall – What is the BID doing to keep its citizens safe?
By DICK WILD
If you’re anything like me, or most of the people of Babylon for that matter, yesterday was just another day; it was a little chilly, sure, but nothing especially memorable. But for the brave men and women who comprise the staff of the Babylonian Outer Defense System (affectionately known by us plebeians as The Wall) it was an exceptionally bad day at the office. From what we’ve been able to piece together from the highly sensitive reports we’ve been graciously allowed access to, the trouble began around 7:30 last night.
“It was definitely a first for me,” said Jassry Thymes, a monitor technician at the BODS. Ms. Thymes has worked for the BODS for more than a decade, so when she says she’s seen a lot in her time feel free to believe her. She only recently transferred to her current position at Watchtower 11, and was not expecting last night to be different from any other. And what exactly did Ms. Thymes see last night? Quote: “I was sitting at my station doing some routine maintenance when the sensors registered a blip.” Note: this is wall technician slang for a heat signature being detected by the wall’s sensitive scanners. “It’s been a long time since anything’s crawled out of the wastes, so seeing a blip is a rare occurrence these days. I alerted the interception team and they moved to locate and neutralize the target.”
This may seem like a bit of an extreme reaction, or at least that’s how it sounded to me while I was sitting in the observation deck having this conversation with Ms. Thymes. Should our policy be to eliminate anything that gets too close to the wall? Ms. Thymes admitted hard-and-fast policies such as this one can be a bit off-putting to the average civilian, but they’re founded on experience. We here in Babylon have been relatively lucky the last few hundred years, but I’m sure even my younger readers will remember hearing horror stories about Prague and what happened when they tried to establish relations with the fallouts living near their borders. That’s not to mention the historically tragic skirmishes between the military forces of Jericho and their local fallouts or the ongoing disputes which continue to tear apart the hotly contested Beijing border.
So, in short, the BID does not like to take chances when it comes to fallouts and their proximity to our fair city. Ms. Thymes followed protocol and dispatched her interceptors, but things did not go as planned once the team was outside the wall.
“The team was able to locate the entity with minimal difficulty.” Mrs. Deborah O’Malley, interception team leader on duty last night, informed me. “However, while combing the immediate area the entity was able to ambush one of our units and steal his vehicle.”
Said unit, 24-year-old Daniel Strong, is currently receiving medical treatment for wounds sustained during his encounter with the fallout, or entity as Mrs. O’Malley referred to it, but to be honest hearing this brave young man had been hurt was not what most alarmed me about this incident.
Whoever heard of a fallout driving?
During my time at Watchtower 11 I spoke with 38 members of the staff and maintenance crews and I asked each of them this question. The answers I received were eerily similar: no one’s ever heard of anything like that.
Part of what makes a fallout a fallout is (among their lack of sanity or humanity, for example) their lack of technological knowledge. Machines just don’t work terribly well out in the wastes, so there’s really no reason a fallout should ever need to know how to drive a vehicle (specifically a BergViper V64.92 Model ATV, in this case) but this particular fallout did just that.
Mrs. O’Malley continued her story after I’d peppered her with questions: “We initiated the defense turrets after the thing had assaulted Strong, but it was able to avoid the turrets’ line of fire. It was able to smash through an observation window –” Mrs. O’Malley was personally standing on the other side of that window when the fallout came through it. “– and from there it made its way through the compound and into the city.”
I was naturally alarmed at the thought of a single being from the wastes being able to avoid our the defense system the BID has spent so much money building and so much time bragging about. Mrs. O’Malley had an answer for that: “It didn’t get around the whole system, only the turrets covering Watchtower 11, and as luck would have it half our system was rebooting right when the [she used an expletive here which has been censored at the request of my editor] showed up. If the full system had been active, it never would’ve got through.” Mrs. O’Malley was adamant about this. I assured her my concern over the effectiveness of Babylon’s outer defense system was no reflection of her performance, and she quickly plowed through the rest of her story.
Mrs. O’Malley says she never saw the entity face-to-face (she was knocked unconscious by its entry into through the window) and therefore cannot comment on its appearance beyond what was seen on the outer cameras. I’ve seen these images myself, and I have to admit they aren’t terribly helpful. It does appear to be a human being of some kind, or at least it has two legs, a torso and a head. It seemed to have a hunchback of some kind, and its arms aren’t clearly visible. It’s wearing some sort of cloak or dress with what looks like a hood covering most of its face.
“After it got inside it went right through. None of [Watchtower 11’s security forces] even got close.” A source who wished not to be identified informed me. “It knew where it was going. The lower corridors of this place are like a maze, there’s no way it could have gotten out so quickly unless it knew what it was doing.”
This opinion was echoed by many of the men and women I interviewed, but none of them could explain this apparent prescience on the part of this unique fallout. The only explanation, the popular opinion seemed to be, is someone had to help it through.
This leads to possibly the most important question of this entire ordeal: how did it get out of the wall once it had gotten inside?
Getting into the city is a two person job, I quickly learned. An employee of Watchtower 11 would normally scan their identification badge and a guard on duty would then approve the exit and open the door. I believe it’s fairly safe to assume this entity had not been issued an official Watchtower 11 ID, so the obvious conclusion would be that it picked one up along the way. But, the question then becomes, who approved its exit? Who opened the door and let this being into Babylon?
If you’re hoping for answers, I’m afraid you’re going to be left wanting for the moment. The Bureau of Intelligence and Defense (the biddies for us plebes) was immediately contacted following the incident and they quickly assumed control of Watchtower 11. If they know any further details they aren’t sharing them with yours truly.
I spoke with the BID’s own Director Josie Lo, an expert in both unaffiliated societies and pre-End Times culture, who has been placed in charge of the investigation into last night’s incident. We spoke shortly after the incident took place; we both arrived on the scene at approximately the same time and I took advantage of this bit of luck to throw some questions her way.
“We are currently following multiple leads and have no doubt that we will quickly locate and apprehend this unknown entity. There have been no reports of any interactions, negative or otherwise, between said entity and any citizen of Babylon. It should be noted that while Daniel Strong was allegedly assaulted by this entity and Deborah O’Malley was injured while in proximity to it, but no further personnel of Watchtower 11 were harmed while the entity was making its way through the facility. As of this moment with the information available to us we do not believe the entity poses an immediate threat to the public, but, again, we are doing everything we can to locate it and remove any possibility of danger.”
Director Lo said this all very quickly, with a tight smile and an eye on her wireless, and I have to admit that if I hadn’t had my own wireless recording the statement I might have missed a word or two. She quickly made her exit after she’d said her piece, ignoring any and all of the questions I asked her quickly retreating back as she walked toward the entrance of Watchtower 11.
I looked into the procedure the BID has in place for circumstances such as these, and the procedure itself does exist, but I was informed that this is the first time since the wall was built that it’s needed to be put into action. As of the time this article will be published, the BID believes the entity could not have moved further into Babylon than the stacks (the Manufacturing & Development Center, to be pedantic). They’ve established a series of blockades around the stacks, from Henny St to Dunlap Ave, and are encouraging any residence within these blockades to remain indoors with their security systems active and their wirelesses close at hand. They will be combing the area thoroughly throughout the day and continue to expand their search as needed until the unknown entity is apprehended and the danger has passed. If you have any knowledge of where the entity might be found or any clue as to its purpose in our fair city, the BID encourages you to contact them at 119-479493-964.
While I can’t ignore the possible anxiety this article may cause to my fellow Babylonians, I wish to make it clear that I have no wish to cause panic. However, I feel it is my duty as a journalist to raise awareness of this possible danger so that the public may take necessary steps to defend themselves.
And what say you, readers? Is the BID’s response to this unknown entity adequate? What does it say about our great walls if one being could smash its way through in a matter of minutes? And what effect will the presence of this entity have on our city? For the moment, unfortunately, your guesses are as good as mine.
I’m going to keep digging, readers, and in the mean time I ask you to watch your backs and stay safe.
― DW