092: Bloody to the Elbow, a Post-Mortem

Items in italics are not entered into the official record.  Unattributed quotes belong to Ed.

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Doc- December 25th, 2000.  Time is 10:30.  Major Alexandria Miller, presiding physician.  Assisting are Major Katriona Paterson and Sergeant Bernard Ross.  You getting this Ed?

Scribbling like a pre-schooler. 
I mean, yes ma'am

Doc- Subject arrived naked with more than 60% off the body covered with sewer muck and multiple puncture wounds.  Wounds have been cataloged, reference the Firearms Wound Chart for details.  Subject has been cleaned.  No distinctive marks, scarring, or tattooing is noted.

Kat- I wouldn't say no distinctive marks.
Doc- Wait for it, those are gross physical abnormalities.

Doc- Physical measurements.  Height 5 foot 2 inches.  Torso circumstance 30 inches.  Weight 312 pounds.  Rigor is markedly advanced. Time of death is established by reports as 21:44 of December 24th.

He's heavy and he's not my brother.

Doc- This subject is humanoid in appearance; two arms, two legs, one head, upright stance.  Skin is a black grey in color and rough to the touch.  No visible lividity.  No visible hair.  Arms and legs are equal in length.  Reports from the combat one indicate it is capable of a quadrupedal gait.  Hands and feet end in four clawed digits.  The outer digits of the hand are opposable.  Outer hand digits retract.  Interior claws are longer and do not.  See here, the interior claws are fused to the finger bones.  These are reinforced.  The exterior ones are not.  All foot claws are fixed as well.  Samples have been taken from the claws and are pending further tests.  Torso contains no orifices or visible sexual organs.

Doc- Head is smaller than expected for a creature of this size.  Two eyes, no visible ears, or nasal passage.  Each eye measures 2 inches in diameter.  Lower half of the head anchors a tenticular proboscis, length 15 inches.  The proboscis terminates in two fangs, 2 and 3/4 inches long, opposing a toothed orifice, diameter 3 inches even. Tactile exam of the head detects three soft spots.  One at the crown, yields to pressure.  Shifting materials can be felt inside the skin.  The other two spots, on the side of the head and 1.5 inches round, are composed of a softer material.  Light hairy fibers, like down, are detectable in the area.  Might be ear analogs.

Doc- Kat, Ross, lift it up so I can get the block under the back.

Doc- Y incision complete.  Ribs extend much further down than expected almost to the pelvic structure.  Missing sternum.  Hand me the bone saw, please.

Doc- Ross, take this over.  Damn they're strong.
Ross- Done
Doc- Kat, Ross take the ends and crack him open.

Doc- Good, body cavity is open after some work.  'Rib' thickness is as expected from a human subject.  Color is a light gray.  Cross section shows a very thick compact bone layer and small trabecular bone section.  Opposite ratio of that found in most vertebrates.  Surprise, Corretion on sternum.  Subject appears to have two, left and right, some 6 inches apart.  Material is cartilaginous, not bony.

Doc- Hehe, now for the fun part.  Cataloging the organs!
Kat- Only you, only you.
Doc- I'm special.  And he's dead.  Haha.

Doc- I'm stumped.  What the hell do I call this, and this, and this.  Fuck it.  Ed, make a note of locations and observations as I pull them.  Kat, run the weights.  Ross, get a slice off each one for further testing and then bag and tag.

many pulls later

Doc- Observations; subject has multiple redundant organs.  Everything pulled till now comes in fours.   Weights are high for the size as well.  I have found lung analogs off of the esophageal tract.  I have found no stomach analog.  The track terminates in the lower torso and is thick with blood vessels all the way down.  The major blood vessels are sheathed in muscle tissue.  No apparent heart analogue visualized. Given the sheathing of the blood vessels in muscle my hypothesis is it uses a peristaltic wave to pump blood, therefore I would not expect a measurable pulse.

Can't stake him then?  How about garlic?
Kat- I'll ask the next one.
Doc- Don't jinx us.

Doc- Near the mid-length of the spine, in the torso, is what appears to be the brain.  Quad lobes, but only one, which is a difference.  It is the terminus for several major nerve bundles and attaches to the column. 

You need to shoot him in the back.  Sneak up and stake him.  Yarg!
Kat- Ed.

Doc- Moving to the head/neck region.  The neck is short, thick, and heavily muscled.  Vertical mobility is strong.  The head can shift to support vision during a quadrupedal gait.  Horizontal mobility is weak.  Bastard can't look over his own shoulder.  Let's take the cap off the skull.

Doc- More surprises.  Bone on the skull is exceptionally thick.  Four smaller nerve junctions are present.  One each behind the eyes, one behind the proboscis anchor, and one near the base of the skull by the spinal terminus.  Speculation on my part, maybe these serve an early processing function to prevent reaction lag to the main brain? 

Kat- Once we get slices under the microscope we'll have a better idea.

Doc- True.

Doc- This concludes the gross physical autopsy.  Ross, after lunch I want you to get some help and skin the corpse.  We should be able to get 2 or 3 sets of inserts off of it.  After they finish, you and Ed need to sketch out the muscle structure and chop it up. 

Kat- Alphabit's begging me for the bones when you're done.
Doc- Why?
Kat- Figures he can set it up Roman-style on a pole.  Hell of a banner.
Doc- Ha, and you call me mad... Mad I say!
 ...Never to your face.
Doc-  Liar.  Kat and I will be examining slides while you work on our subject.  let me know if you have any questions.  Get yourself something to eat. 

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"Kat, this is the damnedest thing."

"What?"

"The blood samples.  Ross tried typing them.  He got an actual result on the first, so he ran another pair to double check because he'd expected no actual result.  He got a null result and a completely different type on the third.  Now look at this."  Doc steps away from the microscope.

"Well I'll be damned."

"Yeah, what do you think you're seeing?"

"A whole lot of hairy black things surrounded by red blood cells.  These are human you think?"

"They sure look like typical human erythrocytes.  You can also see shreds of cellular material on some of the hairy balls.  Might be waste product.  The hairy things seem to have penetrated cell walls and to be carrying them along.  We'll know more when we centrifuge a sample, but I bet the fluid medium is preventing the different types from reacting.  We'll have to play with it."
 
"Play, nice choice of words."

"Waste not, want not."  Doc grins.  "Now, take a look at these samples.  These were taken from scabbed areas.  The erythrocytes are showing typical behavior for exposure to air, but the hairy cells, ah-ha!  They've dropped the erythrocytes and linked together.  The matrix appears much stronger than a fibrin-fibronectin clot and may well replace the collagen deposition in deep wound healing.  We'll need a live subject to see it in action!"

"Not likely.  Unless we can find a way to neutralize the 'influence' it shows we can't keep one around."

"Awwww, you're stepping on science."

"With jack boots.  What else you got for me."

"There's more red blood cells in the terminal pouch in the esophageal tract and cellular remains in surface deposits.  I'm speculating that it secretes waste product directly onto the skin.  The esiogageal lining must be permeable to erythrocytes given they're present in the blood stream.  Maybe we can play with that as well.  See if it would make a good filter.  God knows we're not getting from the Quarter Master."

"And will it be good to eat?"

"Your sarcasm is noted commander major.  I'm trying to be practical."

"Between you and me, this thing freaks me out.  Fast, smart, and more than willing to engage in human predation.  It is a major threat.  Don't forget the Tom's family."

"Oh!" Doc smacks her head, "I completely forgot!  I got a clue as to what's going on with Eileen and lil' Timmy.  After lunch I went over to examine them.  They've been freaking out every time they see one of us and I figured out what us is.  It's the uniform!"

"How'd you get that out of them?"

"When we subdued them, the trip home, their delousing, and medical examination they fought, but when Jana's been treating them they're fine.  When I checked on them I was wearing a white coat.  They were calm for the entire time.  Before I left I took the coat off and they started fighting their restraints.  Mottled monsters, woodland camouflage.  It's all in their head.  We can work on this.  Can you recruit me a shrink?"

"I'll let you know if one turns up.  Now, got any answers on how it does the hoo-doo?"

"No.  The best I can tell you is that there are thick layers of tissue beneath the skin on the cranium, beside the spine, and across the torso.  It is resembles nerve tissue and connects to the spinal column.  It is all out of proportion for sensory nerves, so I suspect this is the transmission source, but it is just a supposition.  I really need a..."

"LIVE subject.  I know."

"Yeah, yeah..."

"I'll leave you to get back to this.  I have to push papers and press palms.  We'll get together with the command staff after supper.  Do a complete briefing then."

"Later, Kat."