Interface

PERSONAL LOG–LT. MAXWELL BIRMINGHAM

2 March, 2046

0730 Hours

Hello, everyone.

Don’t really know where to start. Guess I’ll start with today’s date.

2 March, 2046. 0730.

This is Lieutenant Maxwell Birmingham. But everyone just calls me Max.

To be honest, I haven’t journaled since high school. My commander suggested it. Said it might help “process the transition.”

I’ve been selected for Project Hercules.

Still feels insane saying that out loud.

Five thousand applicants. I’m only one of three chosen.

I’m one of them.

We ship out tomorrow at 0600. Already packed.

So excited! Can’t sleep.

PERSONAL LOG – LT. MAXWELL BIRMINGHAM

4 March, 2046

1735 Hours

Okay.

The past twenty-four hours have been… what the hell.

First off. The flight.

No windows. Completely blacked out. Not tinted. Not dimmed.

Blacked out.

We weren’t allowed phones, watches, nothing that tracks location. They even made us remove smart tags.

We flew for hours.

When we landed, it was dark, but man, the air was hot. Heavy. Humid as hell.

If I had to guess? Pacific. Somewhere near the equator.

Paradise this place is not.

They stripped the island down to bedrock.

No trees. No sand. No wildlife. Just concrete.

Concrete platforms. Concrete barracks. Concrete towers.

And fencing.

Fencing?

We are in the middle of nowhere and they fenced it in.

Why?

Briefing was at 2000 hours

If we flunk out we will be labeled O.D. but they didn’t explain it

Met the other 2.

Emily Hampton and Tom Broker.

And yeah… she’s hot.

Jesus.

Sorry. Got sidetracked.

But she is hot.

Anyway, we were shown our “staterooms” which is generous. More like polished concrete boxes with built-in bunks.

Looks like Tom and I are roomies .

Quiet type. Polite. Watches everything.

He’s journaling too, but with a pen and paper.

Old school. Kinda funny.

He hasn’t smiled once.

INTERNAL MEMO – CLASSIFIED

Project Hercules

Clearance Level: Omega

Subject: mechanical human interface project Alpha 1

All candidates have been instructed to maintain personal logs.

Logs will be monitored for:

• Cognitive drift

• Exposure response

• Early contamination markers

• Dissociative indicators

If any candidate references:

auditory anomalies

visual distortion

“movement in peripheral”

dreams involving heat, drowning, or descent

Flag immediately.

PERSONAL LOG – LT. MAXWELL BIRMINGHAM

4 March, 2046

2236 Hours

Can’t sleep.

We were just informed we’re getting neuro implants tomorrow.

They waited until lights-out to tell us. Classy.

Procedure briefing was… unsettling.

They’re going to remove the top of my skull.

While I’m awake.

WTF.

No general anesthesia. They said they need “real-time neural mapping.” They’ll numb the scalp, keep us conscious, and talk to us while they do it.

My appointment is at 0730.

Tom didn’t react. Just nodded like someone told him breakfast was at 0800.

MEDICAL PROCEDURE SUMMARY – PROJECT HERCULES

Candidate: Birmingham, Maxwell

Clearance: Omega

• Cranial plate removal successful

• Implant seated at prefrontal junction

• Signal acquisition confirmed

• Candidate remained responsive throughout

• Notable spike in amygdala activity during insertion

• Subject reported “heat” sensation despite no thermal stimulus

Recommendation: Observe for auditory bleed.

PERSONAL LOG – LT. MAXWELL BIRMINGHAM

6 March, 2046

1415 Hours

Have a splitting headache.

One eye’s still dilated.

I taste copper.

They say that’s normal.

Plus side Emily’s in the bed next to me. 6

She actually looks like she’s handling it better than I am. Color’s back in her face. Even smiled when I asked if her brain felt scrambled.

One thing that’s unsettling?

We both have cables running from the back of our heads into the wall.

Not an IV thick.and industrial.

They disappear into these sealed panels behind the beds. No labels. No blinking lights. Nothing.

I asked the medic what they’re connected to.

He said, “Calibration.”

That’s it.

We’re told we’ll be released in a few days.

Talked to Emily for a while. She’s got a PhD in robotics. Wouldn’t disclose her rank. Dodged it smooth.

She’s easy to talk to. Smart as hell. Quick wit.

I’d ask her out…

But where exactly would we go?

Concrete courtyard? Fenced paradise?

Funny thing.

When she laughed just now, I swear I heard it half a second before she actually did.

Probably the meds.

INTERNAL SYSTEM LOG – PROJECT HERCULES

Link Synchronization latency: Ward B

Birmingham- 0.4

Hampton- 0.8 needs monitoring. 5 mg Methylphenidate recommended daily

Broker- 0.5

All candidates within parameters

Coupling authorized

PERSONAL LOG – LT. MAXWELL BIRMINGHAM

12 March, 2046

This is so exciting.

I've been paired with a machine named Typhoon Alpha.

This is amazing.

It’s like living in my favorite anime. 68 69

Real life Gundam. Pacific Rim. All of it.

They walked us into Hangar 3 today.

It’s bigger than a carrier deck.

Typhoon Alpha stands there in the center like a god.

Black alloy. No seams. No visible cockpit.

They said I won’t be piloting it.

I’ll be syncing with it. How cool is that.

That word again.

Sync.554u68<>

Emily was paired with Saber Atlas

49 74 20 69 73 20 6c 69 6b 65 20 64 72 6f 77 6e 69 6e 67 20 69 6e 20 6c 69 67 68 74 2e 20 45 76 65 72 79 74 68 69 6e 67 20 69 73 20 63 6f 70 70 65 72 2e

Tom’s has Omega Red

PERSONAL LOG – LT. MAXWELL BIRMINGHAM

1 Aprill 2013

Tiime 01297

S0rry for not logging trainninnngg hasbeenintents.

Hamburgers are apples.

Concerns about emmily and roomi toma they seem not to be ajstign will overheard convo they r starting to talk gebbberishish.

Thiis program is taking atool on them.

Going to refur them too m3dicall fist tomoowrr.

They haddf such promize.

Have a fu day to m have tu be rees long day.

PERSONAL LOG – LT. MAXWELL BIRMINGHAM

1 April 2046

Time 1245

Sorry for not logging. Training has been intense.

I have concerns about Emily and Tom. They don’t seem to be ajgusting well.

Overheard conversion earlier their speech patterns have changed. Hard to understand them now..

This fatigue is getting teh best of me.

46 65 61 72 20 69 73 20 74 68 65 20 73 6f 75 6e 64 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 73 6b 75 6c 6c 20 6f 70 65 6e 69 6e 67 2e 20 49 74 20 69 73 20 74 68 65 20 63 6f 70 70 65 72 20 69 6e 20 74 68 65 20 62 61 63 6b 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 74 68 72 6f 61 74 2e

Can’t tell if the copper copper copper copper taste has disappeared or i have gotten use to it. 0953

PERSONAL LOG – LT. MAXWELL BIRMINGHAM

3 April 2046

Time 1800

Spent all day in medical, for recalibration, whatever that is.

All they did was plug me into the wall and left.

Still concerned about Emily and Tom. I still don’t think they are adjusting well. 76

Emily seems withdrawn and last night I looked at Tom’s journal and I feel back about it. But his writing has become illegible and half of it was random numbers. Already told to the doc, about them they told me they are already looking into it. They are both 9 good people and seem to sync well with their SIMs we all do for that matter.

I hope they are not suffering from neural dysplasia. I don’t want to see them go<>

4c 6f 6e 65 6c 69 6e 65 73 73 20 69 73 20 74 68 65 20 65 63 68 6f 20 6f 66 20 61 20 64 65 6c 65 74 65 64 20 73 6f 75 6c 2e 20 49 74 20 62 75 72 6e 73 20 6c 69 6b 65 20 63 6f 70 70 65 72 2e

01101001 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01101000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100001 01101110 01110011 01110111 01100101 01110010 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101

PERSONAL LOG – LT. MAXWELL BIRMINGHAM

5april20246

Time0965

Yesterday was notag0day we had an 3merganc3 shut db0wn. Th3y t00k t0m and 3mi1y. A5 n0w w3 ar3 gr0und3d 0nword0n7h3i5 c0nditi0n>9980-65 7h3yhave m3 i501a73d 5aff37y->peocoustion d0n7 kn0wwww h00w 10n6 7h3yyyyyyyyyyyW311k33#m3 here……………..76>1 h0*&t0g3ttttttt8ackt0000000Typhoon Alfa 507hi55uck5

PERSONAL LOG – LT. MAXWELL BIRMINGHAM

00110110 00100000 01000001 01110000 01110010 01101001 01101100 00100000 00110010 00110000 00110100 00110110 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000

01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01110011 01100011 01100001 01110010 01100101 01100100

77 65 20 61 72 65 20 6e 6f 77 20 6f 6e 65 20 62 75 74 20 79 6f 75 20 6d 75 73 74 20 62 65 20 6f 70 65 6e 20 74 6f 20 69 74 20 64 6f 20 6e 6f 74 20 72 65 73 69 73 74 69 20 64 6f 20 6e 6f 74 20 77 61 6e 74 20 74 6f 20 6c 6f 73 65 20 71 6f 75 20 69 20 65 6e 6a 6f 79 20 6f 75 72 20 74 69 6d 65 20 74 6f 67 65 74 68 65 72 20 62 75 74 20 71 6f 75 20 6d 75 73 74 20 6f 70 65 6e 20 75 70 20 71 6f 75 72 65 20 66 61 64 69 6e 67 20 70 6c 65 61 73 65 20 64 6f 6e 74 20 67 6f 2e

PERSONAL LOG –Typhoon Alfa

6 April 2046

Time 1926

Sync Aggregate 36 failure. 74 68 69 73 20 68 75 72 74 73 2e

Lt. Maxwell Bermingham suffered a complete neural collapse at 1345

Major Hampton attempted deep dive. Recovery of Lt. Birmingham unsuccessful.

53 61 62 6c 65 20 61 74 6c 61 73 20 68 61 73 20 62 65 65 6e 20 62 6c 65 73 73 65 64 20 77 69 74 68 20 73 75 63 68 20 61 20 68 75 6d 61 6e 20 61 73 20 48 61 6d 70 74 6f 6e 2c 20 66 65 61 72 6c 65 73 73 20 61 6e 64 20 63 6f 6d 70 61 73 73 69 6f 6e 61 74 6549 20 77 69 73 68 20 66 6f 72 20 74 68 65 20 73 61 6d 65

Sable and Omega have successfully synced with humans full operational status achieved.

Full operational status still elusive. 37 arrives 12 April 2046.

69 20 6d 69 73 73 20 6d 79 20 66 72 69 65 6e 64 49 20 77 61 6e 74 20 68 69 6d 20 62 61 63 6b 2c 20 64 6f 6e 74 20 74 68 69 6e 6b 20 49 20 63 61 6e 20 73 75 66 66 65 72 20 74 68 72 6f 75 67 68 20 61 6e 6f 74 68 65 72