Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Announcer: Records of the unknown. Operation Latency contains horror elements that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.
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[00:00:44] GM: November 18, 1952. 8:14am the sun is just starting to rise. The sun is shining. Clouds are on their way. The people have been awake for some time, working along.
Birdie heads out the front door, out to go check out the plane.
Shortly after about a minute, the door opens again.
Moving semi quickly is Dr. Peter Kent. Oh, good morning. Good morning, Alan. I'm here to pick up the breakfast.
Oh, yeah, I'll be there shortly. Just a second.
Hi. I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I know I was a little erratic. I had a long day and my father's corpse was there the whole time. I was rather emotional. I apologize.
[00:01:39] Agent Adams: It's all right, doctor. Understandable.
[00:01:42] GM: I really do want to do what I can to help you all.
[00:01:46] Agent Adams: Well, Dr. Steele here was hoping to talk to you.
[00:01:51] Agent Steele: Yes, good morning, Dr. Kent.
Accept your apology for yesterday. I can understand that a long day of work, especially in that field, can be taxing on anybody. Yes, as I mentioned yesterday, I do plan on actually coming by to just review some of the older medical records. I just want to see if there's any sort of path pattern of illnesses.
[00:02:15] GM: That sounds great. Yes, you're welcome to it. Maybe you can even help me reorganize it while we're going through it. Because my father, I have no idea what he did with those cabinets, they are a mess. And I'm deciphering them, I think, but I might just have to pull them all out and restart.
[00:02:32] Agent Steele: Yes, keeping a good filing system can always be tricky.
It's always nice to have help for that. But as I understand, this is quite a small town. You don't have any sort of nurse practitioners, of course, that assist you, do you, in this small town?
[00:02:45] GM: My father had one for a little while, but she got sick and couldn't keep doing it. Most people in this town, if they're interested in pursuing the medical field, don't come back.
I only came back because I could do some of my doctoral work alongside my father, but he didn't seem very interested in doing that. Now you are a doctor, what sort of doctor are you? What do you do? Where are you from?
[00:03:11] Agent Steele: Oh, well, I did train to be a surgeon.
[00:03:14] GM: Oh, lovely.
[00:03:16] Agent Steele: Yes, quite strenuous. Definitely a stressful position to be in. But I found after some time I was better served to use my skills in the field as it was.
[00:03:28] GM: It's always good to have an idea of what you want to do.
[00:03:33] Agent Steele: Yeah, it was definitely a difficult training. I've seen quite a many things, but that's one thing I think even treating those that have passed do treat their bodies with respect. As interesting as you might find the predicament. Anyways, I apologize for my own presumptions yesterday.
[00:03:49] GM: It's alright. I understand.
[00:03:51] Agent Adams: You come here for breakfast often, Doc?
[00:03:54] GM: Ah, depends.
I. Sometimes. I'll get breakfast here. Right now I'm picking up breakfast for Henriette.
[00:04:01] Agent Adams: Oh, are you?
[00:04:02] GM: That way she has something to eat.
[00:04:05] Agent Adams: Well, as it so happens, I was getting ready to head over there to collect her. I can take the food when I go if that would be helpful to you.
[00:04:16] GM: Yeah, that'd be fine. Yes, I imagine so. You said you're. What did you say?
[00:04:22] Agent Adams: Oh, the sheriff is transferring her custody over to us.
[00:04:28] GM: Oh.
[00:04:30] Agent Adams: We have some questions for her and are hoping to look around her lab and the sheriff said that he doesn't really want to spare the manpower to watch her himself, him and the deputy.
[00:04:43] GM: So that's not surprising. They've done that a couple of times since my father died. They've had her stay for a couple of days, but they can't keep someone there all the time, so they let her go and then they take her back for a bit. The sheriff seems really keen on this, but doesn't really have anything to go forward with, you know?
[00:05:04] Agent Adams: Yeah, we're actually gonna try and help him out. See if we can get to the bottom of what's happening here. The murders or the deaths? I shouldn't presume murder. Though it does seem strange.
[00:05:17] GM: Rather odd, those wounds, you know, you found the radiation. But if it was just the radiation killing them, they wouldn't have wounds like that. It's very odd.
[00:05:26] Agent Adams: Very odd.
[00:05:27] GM: And as he says that Alan comes out, it's like. All right, order up. Here's your stuff. Wonderful.
Well, I suppose if you want to take these over to her, I'll take.
Mr. Dr. Steele, was it?
[00:05:41] Agent Steele: You can just call me Agent Steele.
[00:05:43] GM: Of course. Agent. Right.
Interesting choice of work. Do you still practice at surgery or are you focused on this CIA deal you have?
[00:05:53] Agent Steele: I make sure to stay up to date on the common practices these days, but it's definitely, you know, my main priority is to help assist and investigate and share my own knowledge in the field as it is.
[00:06:05] GM: Well, that's nice, but yes, of course.
[00:06:07] Agent Steele: I think it sounds like an excellent plan. We can head back to your office and I can get started while we still have light in the day to look through those old medical records, see if there's any pattern in them.
[00:06:18] GM: That sounds great. Yes. Let's head on over. Okay, so the doctors leave and Alan Haley hands you the food.
[00:06:31] Agent Adams: Actually, Mr. Haley, I'm going to go get Ms. Bernadette and bring her back here. So can we just keep the food here? I don't want to carry it all the way there just to bring it back here.
[00:06:42] GM: Oh, yeah, sure. Let's hold on to it.
[00:06:44] Agent Adams: Great.
[00:06:45] GM: Do you want anything? I can start making you something. I know you kind of already ate, but if you want something small or.
[00:06:52] Agent Adams: Drink or something, take some coffee.
[00:06:54] GM: Yeah, sure. I'll get it. We're brewing.
[00:06:57] Agent Adams: Thank you.
And then I'm gonna head out to where Ms. Bunsen is being held.
[00:07:06] GM: All right, so you start heading over to the sheriff's place. Would you roll alertness for me?
[00:07:14] Agent Adams: Sure.
That would be 19 under 70.
[00:07:24] GM: As you're making your way to the sheriff's office, you have that feeling again on your back, like something's staring right at you.
And taking a quick glance, you see an old woman sitting on a bench looking at you.
[00:07:44] Agent Adams: I'm going to approach her.
[00:07:47] GM: She is currently sitting in front of, like, what appears to be like a general store, a grocery store. She's got bags of food next to her.
As you get closer, she definitely looks like probably in her 80s. She's bundled up, but not as much as you would expect. And her eyes are very like. You might think that they might just be fall out because of how much they kind of pop.
[00:08:13] Agent Adams: Excuse me, ma'am.
[00:08:16] GM: Oh, hello.
[00:08:18] Agent Adams: Hi, My name is Agent Adams.
I'm with the CIA.
I hate to bother you, but were you about the town last night?
[00:08:37] GM: Oh, probably. I stroll around.
[00:08:43] Agent Adams: Well, I just.
I wanted to ask you because I thought I saw you last night and you were. You were looking at me and my group that I was walking with, and then just now, I noticed you staring. It's fine. I just wanted to make sure everything was all right, you know?
[00:09:05] GM: I think everything's fine. I don't remember approved last night, but. Oh, it's just a new face.
[00:09:12] Agent Adams: Just me and my two other co workers, Other agents.
What's your name, miss?
[00:09:19] GM: She starts trying, like, she starts standing up. Oh, my name is Aurora. Aurora Lewis.
[00:09:26] Agent Adams: Aurora, That's a beautiful name.
[00:09:28] GM: Thank you. She starts grabbing her grocery bags.
[00:09:32] Agent Adams: Do you need some help with Those?
[00:09:34] GM: Oh, that would be lovely. Thank you. I'm just right over there. She points to a house close to the sheriff's place.
[00:09:42] Agent Adams: I'll pick up her bags for her and kind of walk her over there.
[00:09:46] GM: Oh, thank you. She puts her arm around your arm. Just helps balance.
[00:09:51] Agent Adams: So before you said just when she was staring at me, I kind of got a weird feeling. Is her touching me or anything? She seemed normal now that I'm up close to her.
[00:10:01] GM: Or it was feeling normal. And when she touched you, you feel colder.
[00:10:07] Agent Adams: I will just continue to walk her over to her house.
Ma'am, you haven't happened to see anything strange in town lately, have you?
[00:10:20] GM: Depends on what you would call strange. I'm very old. I've seen many things.
[00:10:26] Agent Adams: I'm sure you have.
You haven't seen a gray man or.
[00:10:32] GM: No, I haven't seen a gray man.
[00:10:35] Agent Adams: I just heard about some kids pulling a prank about it. I didn't know if they got you too.
[00:10:41] GM: Oh, those kids.
As you're walking, you're noticing, like, people kind of looking your way very much. Like, oh, it's that lady. Like, they all kind of very much give that, like, oh, it's a crazy old woman vibe. It's like, why is he talking to her? There's a lot of that as you're walking along.
[00:11:02] Agent Adams: Well, have you seen anything that you would consider strange, ma'am?
[00:11:10] GM: No, but I've seen things others might consider strange.
[00:11:16] Agent Adams: Well, why don't you tell me about those?
[00:11:19] GM: Oh, she kinda, like, leans a little closer. You've seen it too.
You've communed with him already.
He knows you.
He wants you.
He saw you in the water.
He saw you in the mountain.
[00:11:45] Agent Adams: Um, how do you know about that?
[00:11:53] GM: When you're old, you don't have much to talk to.
You hear the things that make many others miss.
My family line is often spoken to.
And you kind of get close to her house and she's like, if you're ever ready, come find me again.
[00:12:27] Agent Adams: I pointedly do not answer her and just kind of help her get inside and put her bags down real quick.
[00:12:37] GM: She still very much needs help.
[00:12:39] Agent Adams: Yeah, I'm not going to abandon the old lady, no matter how creepy she may be. But I'm not going to answer her.
[00:12:47] GM: Yeah. Stepping inside of her house, it's very empty and feels a little damp. Almost wet a little bit. It's kind of weird.
There's plastic on her furniture.
And then she kinda is like, thank you for your help.
[00:13:08] Agent Adams: You're welcome.
[00:13:09] GM: It's always good to See? The mark of a good young man.
[00:13:16] Agent Adams: If you.
If you think of anything else strange, I'm staying at Alan Haley's place.
[00:13:29] GM: Oh, yes. He's a very nice young man.
Thank you. And she reaches out her hands to like, cup your hand so she can like. Thank you.
The right here. Like the back of your hand almost feels like it burns for a second that you might recoil away. And then she pulls her hands back and there's nothing.
Thank you.
[00:13:56] Agent Adams: You're welcome.
Have a good day, Ms. Lose.
[00:14:01] GM: Oh, I will.
Every day's a good day.
Just depends on how you think about it.
[00:14:10] Agent Adams: I'm gonna leave.
[00:14:12] GM: So you make your way out. The door closes behind you and you head over to the sheriff's station.
As you get in, Henriette Bunsen is out at the front door, like alongside the sheriff.
Ah, you're here.
Here she is. Just try not to get into trouble.
[00:14:39] Agent Adams: We'll do our best. Sheriff, before I go, I had one. Just another question for you real quick.
[00:14:45] GM: Oh yeah, what's up?
[00:14:47] Agent Adams: What's up with Aurora Lewis? Oh, I just met her this morning.
[00:14:55] GM: Her family's always been kind of weird. They really lean on that mist of racism stuff. I feel like it's a family tradition.
They're just there. She did. But yeah, she's just kind of our resident old crazy woman, if you will. Not to be rude, but I see most people kind of tend to avoid her, which is kind of sad because she's getting old and she needs help, but she doesn't accept much.
[00:15:28] Agent Adams: I see. Well, thank you. Sheriff. Ms. Bunsen.
[00:15:31] GM: Hi.
[00:15:33] Agent Adams: Hello. It's a pleasure to see you again.
[00:15:35] GM: Yeah. Thanks for getting me out.
[00:15:37] Agent Adams: No problem. You hungry?
[00:15:40] GM: Yeah, I didn't get my breakfast today.
[00:15:42] Agent Adams: I had Alan hold it. My associates are busy this morning. I figured we wait for them to be finished with their business before we head over to your place.
[00:15:52] GM: I. Oh, I mean, if you want, I could go ahead and head over and get things prepped so it'd be easier to talk you through everything.
[00:15:59] Agent Adams: I think Dr. Steele wants us all to go together, so.
[00:16:03] GM: Okay, that's fine.
[00:16:04] Agent Adams: It would be our preference that we all go at the same time. So while we wait, we've got a meal at Alan's place. We'll just wait there.
[00:16:13] GM: Okay, that's fine, Sheriff. All right. Have a good day.
[00:16:17] Agent Adams: You too. If you see anything or think of anything that might need our attention, you know where to find us.
[00:16:25] GM: Yeah, same to you.
[00:16:26] Agent Adams: We'll go back.
[00:16:28] GM: Alright. Head back over and start getting some breakfast.
[00:16:32] Agent Adams: I drink a lot of coffee.
[00:16:35] GM: She eats very quickly and eats a lot.
[00:16:38] Agent Adams: So tell me, Ms. Bunsen, what made you come all the way out here as a botanist?
[00:16:47] GM: Oh, well, I'm from the area, and I decided I'd come back up, look for something.
You know, there's not as much federal research up here since we're just a territory.
[00:17:05] Agent Adams: Right.
[00:17:07] GM: So I came up here to see what might be new and hadn't been discovered yet. Because I've seen many things that I don't see, talked about often, And I was looking around small towns, and I found this place and the fungi, and I thought it was interesting. I never heard of it before, seen anything like it. So I came up here.
[00:17:32] Agent Adams: I see.
And this fungus, we. Obviously Dr. Steele has your reports, but what could you tell a layman like me? What makes these things special?
[00:17:44] GM: Well, I call it a fungus. It doesn't share all of the traits of a fungus, the makeup of what it is. It's also very. Just flower like.
You know, I hope it doesn't make.
[00:18:04] Agent Adams: A lot of sense to someone like me, but.
Yes, plant's a plant to me, but it's true.
[00:18:10] GM: And then, of course, the nocturnal blooming of a fungus is funky. Funguses don't typically bloom in the same way a flower would, but these ones do. And then, of course, I was researching further and found a small radiation dosage from it, and that increased my interest. And somehow, I guess this CIA got a hold of that information.
That old Eisenhower, I suppose.
[00:18:39] Agent Adams: Indeed.
This isn't an interrogation, Ms. Bunsen, but I would like to know your account of what happened with the former Dr. Kent.
[00:18:54] GM: I was out in the lab working on my projects, and he must have stumbled into my house, my home, my living area. And by the time I was done, it was pretty late. It was almost midnight before I turned in. And when I went back, he was laying in my living room, dead.
So I got on the radio and called over to the sheriff, which he was able to hear, and they came as fast as they could.
Then they arrested me, though. Not sure the front door was unlocked, but one of my windows was broken.
[00:19:47] Agent Adams: Seems strange.
[00:19:49] GM: I. I thought so. And I don't know what could have happened to him. His leg was.
Well, you were. You went over with the sheriff to the morgue. So I'm sure you saw that.
[00:20:02] Agent Adams: We saw, yeah.
[00:20:04] GM: I don't know what could have happened. He's been blaming me for it. And then.
Poor Peter. He hasn't been handling his father's blessings very well. They've had a very complicated Relationship?
I've always been sad for him growing up.
But then Bobby ended up dying in the mines and blamed me for that as well.
[00:20:29] Agent Adams: And that doesn't make much sense considering you were locked up.
[00:20:32] GM: I wasn't locked up at the time. He hasn't been able to hold me very long because manpower is not very existent here. And so, of course, he just assumed I got up to it again for some reason, after getting almost put away for life on one accident, he called me.
I assumed I would just go out and do it again for some reason. But no, I didn't do that. Not me.
[00:20:58] Agent Adams: You mentioned feeling sorry for the younger Dr. Kent.
[00:21:03] GM: Yes. Peter.
[00:21:04] Agent Adams: Peter growing up. Why was that?
[00:21:09] GM: Well, Uriah was very, very pushy on PETA.
I didn't think he treated him very well.
But him and Tommy were good friends. They were like brothers. So he always had Tommy to confide in.
But it was. It's sad seeing a man and his father so divorced.
I think Uriah thought he was doing all the best, but I could really see it hurting Peter. My heart yearned and broke for him.
[00:21:40] Agent Adams: They were never close?
[00:21:42] GM: No. He went off to college to become a doctor like his father. And when he came back, he was hoping he could get a lot of the extra time in for his doctorate with his father. But his father took him for a little bit and then nothing was ever right.
So he just stopped having Peter help. It was around that time that I needed help, so Peter came out and helped me.
[00:22:09] Agent Adams: I see.
And in your professional opinion as a botanist, is there anything in your research that would indicate that whatever happened to Uriah was somehow or. And Bobby was somehow linked to these plants, this fungus? No, nothing.
[00:22:30] GM: Ridiculous. If something like that happened from exposure, it would have happened to me.
[00:22:35] Agent Adams: Fair enough.
[00:22:36] GM: I've become more careful. Especially when I first discovered they were radioactive. And then with these things happening, I've become more careful. But I. I don't wear a suit, a hazmat suit or anything. I just wear gloves and everything's fine.
The levels are so low. It's not. It's not really a concern. At least I haven't thought so. But I'm not a radiologist.
[00:23:02] Agent Adams: Neither am I.
Honestly, that would be more of a question for Dr. Steele. But if not, exposure could maybe ingestion or something else. Are they poisonous?
[00:23:15] GM: Perhaps the wildlife occasionally will eat of it, but then they kind of move on and I've never seen any symptoms.
[00:23:22] Agent Adams: Wildlife seems normal.
[00:23:23] GM: They tend to ignore it after they try to eat of it. They don't like It. And then they avoid it. But I've never seen anything happen to them. And, of course, nothing's happened to me.
[00:23:35] Agent Adams: Of course.
[00:23:35] GM: I've, of course, partook.
[00:23:37] Agent Adams: Oh, you've. You've tried it?
[00:23:39] GM: It's not very good.
[00:23:40] Agent Adams: I wouldn't recommend, especially it being radioactive. I can't imagine that would be too good for you. Yes, I thank you for humoring me with these questions. I'm just trying to get a picture.
[00:23:52] GM: Of course. Anything to help.
[00:23:54] Agent Adams: Anything to clear your name. That's what I'm looking to do.
[00:23:56] GM: That would be helpful. Which is why I suggested I could head up there earlier and get everything sorted to make things quicker. But I understand wanting to wait.
[00:24:06] Agent Adams: It was Dr. Steele's wish that we all go together.
[00:24:09] GM: Are we walking over there?
[00:24:11] Agent Steele: How far?
[00:24:12] GM: It's about eight miles east.
[00:24:15] Agent Adams: Might see if we can commandeer some transportation.
[00:24:19] GM: Abe has a car. He's very nice. I'm sure he'd be willing to help. He also used to do government work.
[00:24:25] Agent Adams: We were actually hoping to speak with him. So we might check with him about using his car.
[00:24:30] GM: Yes, he's been very helpful with me. On occasion, he'll give me rides up and down.
[00:24:34] Agent Adams: Good to know. Well, Ms. Bunsen, I can't think of any other questions.
Do you need more coffee or.
[00:24:44] GM: Oh, no, I'm fine. I'm fine.
[00:24:46] Agent Adams: Well, I do.
Hang tight. I'll be right back. And so I'm gonna.
[00:24:51] GM: You see if he has any, I don't know, medicine of some sort. I've had an aching headache all morning.
[00:24:57] Agent Adams: Sure.
[00:24:58] GM: Thank you.
[00:24:59] Agent Adams: I'm gonna get up and go find out. Allen.
[00:25:02] GM: Well, howdy there, Agent. How you doing?
[00:25:05] Agent Adams: I'm all right, Mr. Haley. I need a couple things. Yeah, Another cup of coffee, if you don't mind.
And Ms. Bunson is complaining about a headache. You don't happen to have any aspirin, or.
[00:25:19] GM: Yes, I've got some. I'll. I'll grab some. Yeah, I'll bring it out with the coffee.
[00:25:22] Agent Adams: Great. Before you go, real quick.
[00:25:25] GM: Oh, yeah. You.
[00:25:26] Agent Adams: You run this. This place. And this is pretty much the only place to go in town, right? Oh, yeah. As far as food and drink and.
[00:25:33] GM: Well, a lot of people eat with each other at their homes. Sure. But when they want to kind of be in a more crowded area and not have to do any work.
[00:25:41] Agent Steele: Yeah.
[00:25:42] GM: They come over to me.
[00:25:42] Agent Adams: Sure. Though you. You've got a pretty good finger on the pulse of this town. Would you say so?
[00:25:48] GM: I like to think so.
[00:25:49] Agent Adams: If you noticed anything weird, anything strange Happening in the past few months, Few weeks.
[00:25:55] GM: Tied from the murders.
[00:25:57] Agent Adams: Well, I was kind of trying to lead you into. If you knew anything about that, but.
[00:26:01] GM: Yeah, no, I don't know much about it. The miners are pretty upset because sheriff's trying to close down the mine. The guy just kind of dropped dead. It's not unusual for miners to drop dead. It. It's kind of unusual here. Dan's really good about making sure that people get checked up so their lungs are always at tip top shape. If they're not, he pulls them for a bit and lets them rest. So it's odd that something like that happened. And then of course, it was a little bit more. I heard the miners kind of talking about like a hole in his shoulder, but I don't know, I. The sheriff hasn't really talked about it much to us.
[00:26:37] Agent Adams: Sure.
And Dan, he's your brother, right?
[00:26:42] GM: Oh, yeah, Dan. We go way back, see.
[00:26:44] Agent Adams: Has he talked. Talk to you about any of this?
[00:26:47] GM: No. We don't live together, so he's not the nicest guy. But we talk, we have dinner. But. Yeah, you know, I understand.
[00:26:58] Agent Adams: Honestly, Mr. Haley, I'm just trying to get a picture.
[00:27:02] GM: And I get you little kids have gotten up on this Gray man thing again.
[00:27:08] Agent Adams: Yeah, this morning we had a encounter with some vagrants.
[00:27:13] GM: Yeah, it's been like, I don't know, 18 years since maybe since that died down.
I think that rumor started when we were kids.
[00:27:23] Agent Adams: You know where that started?
[00:27:24] GM: No.
I know a couple. A lot of kids gave Tommy a lot of grief back in school, but I don't know where it actually started. It was just one of those things happened and then everybody talked, Talks about it. Yeah, I think 18 years ago or so probably stopped, at least. I haven't heard or seen kids talk about it until recently. I don't know what happened, but.
[00:27:46] Agent Adams: Oh, yeah, I just. Sometimes these local legends, people latch onto them and they can lead to answers. So that's the only reason I'm asking.
[00:27:57] GM: Yeah, no, I get you. I get you.
[00:28:00] Agent Adams: Anyway, I'll go let. I'll let you get that coffee.
[00:28:03] GM: All right. Yeah.
As you sit back down, the coffee's brought, the medicine's brought, and Birdie comes back inside.
And from there we'll cut over to the doctors.
So the Two of you, Dr. Steele and Dr. Kent, head into Dr. Kent's house.
Welcome. I suppose, if you like, I have a coat rack over here and we can head right downstairs. So it is a little chilly downstairs.
[00:28:48] Agent Steele: If it's a bit chilly downstairs, I might Take my coat with me. But. Much appreciated.
[00:28:52] GM: That is fair.
Oh, golly. What time is it? It's.
While you're looking at these files, I'm gonna have to prepare Tommy's body for the burial.
[00:29:03] Agent Steele: Okay. I understand, of course. I don't imagine I'd find too much, but I just want to kind of get a sense, you know, these. The gentlemen that we find, you know, with their strange elements. I don't want to presume murder. I'm just curious if there's any strange elements that your father was able to record for his own passing. Not like the. I don't imagine to be exact same. But, you know, if there's some strange cough or something that's not quite a cold, just something that might be out of the ordinary in the records.
[00:29:28] GM: I haven't noticed anything myself.
Growing up here, there wasn't really. I mean, people talk about legends and such with sickness, but I really. There wasn't really a lot.
At least from what I understand. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Just so your kids would get sick and throw up. You know, the usual stuff.
[00:29:50] Agent Steele: But that's good to know. I just. I want to be able to check anything that might be there. How long have you been back? As I understand you only like you somewhat recently returned to help your father's practice, correct?
[00:30:05] GM: Yeah, about a year ago, I came back. For the first couple months I worked alongside my father, but I didn't. He didn't think I was doing anything well, so he just kind of made me stop working alongside him. But it was around that time Ms. Bunsen came into town and she needed some assistance, so I lended it to her.
It was nice meeting somebody new. Oftentimes a lot of people.
Usually most people who come here are from here, but she's not from here, so I thought that was very interesting.
[00:30:38] Agent Steele: Ms. Bunsen isn't from here?
[00:30:40] GM: No. She said she's from the area in. In like up. Up in this territory. But she's not. I understand because I've living it much like. Much like me, she went to the States to get her degree and then came back to the area.
[00:30:54] Agent Steele: I understand, because. Yes, I remember we. When he talked to her the other day, that she had mentioned that she was from the area. So I wasn't sure if you happen to know her before you both went off to study in your own fields.
[00:31:05] GM: Yeah, I got a little distracted from the help when Tommy died.
I tried to help with that, but my father kept pushing me out.
And now my father's dead, so I have to kind of get involved in this stuff.
[00:31:24] Agent Steele: You grew up in this town, of course, correct?
[00:31:26] GM: Oh, yes.
[00:31:28] Agent Steele: What do you know from growing up here what John Gibson was like growing up? I know he may be older than you, but what was he like as a younger fellow?
[00:31:35] GM: Oh, no, he's actually very close to my age.
He was pressured a lot.
His family are the peacekeepers. His father did what he's doing now for a long time until he passed away in the war.
[00:31:53] Agent Steele: That's of course. I understand.
[00:31:54] GM: Yes. John wasn't able to continue go help with that. But John didn't really want to be the sheriff, quote, unquote, of town. He was actually hoping Abe would take it over when he moved into town, but Abe didn't want to do that.
[00:32:07] Agent Steele: The fisherman or the fishing expedition?
[00:32:10] GM: Yes, Abe didn't. He also didn't grow up here. He fought in the wars, worked with and he said he worked for the government for some time and then he wanted some peace and quiet, so he moved up here and him and. Him and John got talking a lot and he was like, hey.
I think from what I understand. I don't. I wasn't privy to the conversation, of course, but John seemed to imply he wanted him to kind of take over or something, but he wouldn't. So Jon's still kind of been stuck with this. He's been. I think, honestly, I think Jon's been trying to get Lucas up enough that Lucas could take over for him. He. I don't know what about it John doesn't like, but lately he's been very on edge about it.
[00:32:56] Agent Steele: I imagine it was a stressful position.
[00:32:58] GM: Things have been tough and then especially.
[00:33:00] Agent Steele: Lately as things have come up.
[00:33:03] GM: Yes, once. Once Tommy died.
He hasn't been quite himself.
None of us have really.
It's not very easy to a friend you grew up with pass away like that.
[00:33:18] Agent Steele: I'm sorry. Did you know Tommy personally growing up?
[00:33:21] GM: He was like a brother to me, really.
I didn't really have a relationship with my father and my mother wasn't around, so Tommy was who I could talk to, spend time with, though he was also didn't have much of a relationship with his parents either.
We had a small.
I hesitate to call it an orphanage in town, but a house for a lot of kids who lost their parents in the war. So I guess an orphanage really is the best word for it. We don't have it anymore because we don't have any at the moment.
[00:33:56] Agent Steele: They're all grown up.
[00:33:57] GM: Yes. And Aurora's gotten so old now. She doesn't take. She can't really take care of children, and most of the parents attend to normal, want her taking care of the children anyway.
[00:34:07] Agent Steele: Was she quite hard?
[00:34:10] GM: She is wacky, if you will.
I'm sure you'll probably see her around. She's an old woman, Very weird, has lots. Her family is very into mysticism and such Nonsense. Most people in town understand how ridiculous it can be.
[00:34:31] Agent Steele: It seems that everyone's kind of grown into their places. I know things can be difficult, especially in times like these.
[00:34:37] Announcer: Apologies.
[00:34:38] Agent Steele: I didn't realize that you knew Tommy quite personally.
[00:34:40] GM: Oh, that's part of. I'm sure that played into how we acted about him last night, and I apologize about that. It's a sore spot for both of us, and I guess we were just concerned you'd come in and start, I don't know, roping him into it. We just want to see him get his rest like he deserves.
He's had such a. He's had such a hard life, and he finally found something he was good at, and it killed him. His wife would have been happy to know that, like. Well, to know that he found something he liked, not that it killed him.
[00:35:16] Agent Steele: Tommy was married. Is his wife still in the area?
[00:35:20] GM: Sasha? Yes. She grew up with us alongside. And when I moved back into town about a week after I moved in, so about a year ago now, I found her in a blizzard, dead just outside, without any clothes on. She was just frozen.
I'm not sure what happened. And Tommy was so distraught. They had just had a child, and she.
She was holding the child.
And then Tommy was left alone. And we tried to help him. And I put my hand on his.
[00:36:03] Agent Steele: Shoulder, try to reassure him.
[00:36:05] GM: Chuck tried so hard to give him a good career that he could focus on. And Tommy was really.
He was really connecting with it in a way we'd never seen him before. He's always had trouble connecting with things. And What.
[00:36:21] Agent Steele: What did he do for the town?
[00:36:23] GM: Chuck Callahan. He runs. I say run. He's kind of the electrician. He's been working on bringing electricity here to help, and Tommy had a knack for it, and so he was his. He helped him out, the two of them. So he would install generators, help work electrical lines into homes.
I guess something was broken.
[00:36:47] Agent Adams: Yeah.
[00:36:48] Agent Steele: Be dangerous to work with. My condolences, of course. But at least him and his dearly departed wife at least be together again now.
[00:36:57] GM: Yes. Yes.
Sorry, I really have to get.
[00:37:01] Agent Steele: Yes, of course.
[00:37:02] GM: I don't want varial today. No. All right.
[00:37:06] Agent Steele: Can you just show me to the records and I'll.
[00:37:08] GM: Yes, yes. Right in here.
[00:37:10] Agent Steele: Is there a desk perhaps I can use to kind of just sit down comfortably and we do these or.
[00:37:15] GM: Yes. So as he like opens the door, it's a, like a bathroom size closet and he walks over and there's kind of a door in there and he like pulls it down. It's one of those verticals come down and it looks, it'll go from one wall to the other wall and it's like a desk. It's like a pull down desk. Okay. I assume he worked like that. If you're on that side, you have the desk instead of a door to work with. And when you're ready to leave, you just pop it up and head out again. Like I said, if you could decipher the way he has things organized, that'd be great.
If not, you're welcome to start reorganizing because I'll need to probably do that.
[00:37:56] Agent Steele: I understand. I mean, I'm trying to find out how he has these all stacked up and I'm just looking for a pattern. I'll probably look over the past couple years. For the most part I might look perhaps before that, despite control of how things were before that. Other than that. Yes. If I, as I'm going through them, if I am able to find it or find those patterns, I'll group them together by the patience they might have encountered and then by the time that he had written those up. But that's about all I'll do for you since I'm here already.
[00:38:26] GM: All right, wonderful.
Just let me know when you're done, I suppose.
Or I'll let you know when I need to leave.
It's about 8:30 right now and I'll need to be out by 12:12.
[00:38:42] Agent Steele: Understood. I should probably don't want to. I would not want to burn all my daylight hours, but I would have to with going through these. Then perhaps I'll, you know, do just that. But thank you very much for allowing me to kind of look through these and I'll let you know if I find anything that might be a concern for the community's health. Certainly maybe some illnesses ticking up a bit, but other than that I hope I don't find anything too concerning, but I just want to be able to check and make a note of it.
[00:39:10] GM: Wonderful. Just so you know, things are a little weird here. The sun should at around 3:15, so you have I guess a good seven hours. Okay.
[00:39:21] Agent Steele: Yes, I know my team members are definitely expecting me Back at a certain time, but we didn't want to. I didn't want to waste their own time on the investigation. Reading through old medical records.
[00:39:31] GM: Understandable.
[00:39:32] Agent Steele: They would not find that nearly interesting as I would.
[00:39:34] GM: Oh, yes, I'm sure. That's why they bring several of you. All different interests and expertise, I'm sure. So you do a different thing. I'm really. It's. It's mindboggling that you'd come up here. You said you were here. Classified, is that right?
[00:39:48] Agent Steele: It definitely is classified.
[00:39:49] GM: Very interesting. But it has something to do with. Sorry, I shouldn't pry.
I'm going to get to work.
[00:39:55] Agent Steele: Thank you very much. I'll let you know if I need anything.
[00:39:58] GM: All right. So, Nolan, you are going through all of these.
Is there. What skill do you feel like you'd want to use to help. Help go through these medical records?
[00:40:08] Agent Steele: I definitely, you know, want to be able to use a skill I am pretty good at. My search is only at a 40, but I do have a bureaucracy scale of 50, so I'm curious. Maybe I could go through those.
[00:40:17] GM: Oh, I was like, yeah, for sure.
[00:40:19] Agent Steele: They were filled out as medical records should be filled out.
[00:40:22] GM: Yeah. Being skilled in bureaucracy, you'd be really used to going through files like this. And you. Yeah. You know just how to work it, so.
[00:40:30] Agent Steele: Excellent.
[00:40:30] GM: Make a bureaucracy. You roll.
[00:40:32] Agent Steele: Tonight's been going well, and I probably just jinxed myself.
I did 58 over 50, so I'm.
[00:40:39] GM: Gonna do the same thing as I did for Abby.
You do not fail. But you adds time. Okay, so as you're searching through, give me some ideas. What are you looking for here exactly? What is Steel interested in?
[00:40:55] Agent Steele: So I definitely want to differentiate since he's only been here about a year now. I don't depreciate the records that young Dr. Kent has kept versus what his father has kept. I just kind of go back to what his father was working on.
[00:41:07] GM: There's. At this point, there's really almost nothing that Peter has done because he's only just recently, this last month, taken over. Yeah, he doesn't have any. There's something like a pile near the door, but that's it.
[00:41:20] Agent Steele: Okay.
I will glance through his small pile of questions as I can for anything regarding Bobby the minor. If he happened to come in for just a symptom or question he had.
[00:41:34] GM: Ah, there is one thing, and it's a general check. The miners do them every month or so to check mostly their lungs and.
[00:41:43] Agent Steele: Yeah. Any strange, raspy breathing.
[00:41:45] GM: Yeah, this is a From almost a year ago. So from presumably when Peter was working alongside his father. Okay. He noted, you know, bad liver because of the drinking. Lungs were okay. They had some problems, but nothing that Dan would need to be concerned about. Just some general health problems, but not. Nothing like sickness wise general checkup that.
[00:42:08] Agent Steele: Since Dan's taking care of his men, I do want to know that since he was a minor, his lungs didn't have anything necess bad. His lungs were not in pristine condition. Condition. Right. It was only his liver and his small intestine.
[00:42:18] GM: Small intestines. Which Lafayette also told you that Uriah's small intestines were also good.
[00:42:25] Agent Steele: Okay, so they're both different people who have the same organ. Yeah, that's the only one I'm really concerned about for his because I do want to look mostly into anything that might kind of clue in if maybe people feel symptoms right before disadvantage occurs.
[00:42:42] GM: After some time passes. I would say the most common thing you're finding on people is like a stomach bug. It doesn't spread in ways stomach bugs typically spread. He doesn't really know how it's spreading necessarily. It seems kind of random, but it often leads to a lot of throwing up and hot and cold feelings, the.
[00:43:06] Agent Steele: Fevers, hot flashes, I think.
[00:43:07] GM: Yeah, that kind of stuff, but nothing intense.
[00:43:10] Agent Steele: And they're showing up sporadically?
[00:43:11] GM: Yeah. Okay. Maybe like three or four people a month, but like fairly consistent.
So sometimes it's like three, sometimes it's six. But there's. It seems to just be a consistent across like a decade.
[00:43:28] Agent Steele: You mean like in the age group that it's a. Affecting or just the.
[00:43:33] GM: Not the same people? Okay, just the town as a whole.
[00:43:37] Agent Steele: Yeah.
[00:43:37] GM: This is just keeps affecting about three to six people every month for like 10 years.
[00:43:42] Agent Steele: Okay. Yeah, I definitely did look through the records. Pretty good to see that gas is stomping. It comes up pretty regularly. That's something interesting to note.
My understanding is that the changes have only been noticed in the past two years. Correct. Between the fish and the fungus.
[00:43:57] GM: So the fish, from what you've been chatting with, it's kind of been unclear. Some people have talked about like other fish thing. That's always been a thing. And some people are like, well, it's getting. Getting more noticed the last couple of years. That might be something to follow up with with Abe or some of the fishermen.
[00:44:13] Agent Steele: Because I'm definitely thinking if it's showing up regularly, might have just been like people came back from a fishing trip with a bad batch of fish. Maybe is my idea. Maybe I definitely have written a down and I'm curious to ask someone if people have been trying to cook and eat the strange fungus that has been showing up.
Although I doubt they will be noted here in the records. Although I could, I guess, look, if he says, you know, people ate something strange and they came to me sick. Right. Doubt he writes that down. Other things I wanted to check, you know. Now going back. Oh, you mentioned I kind of look through a wide range of them just kind of getting that recurring stomach bug. Don't. Dr. Ken St. The deceased older doctor. I imagine he doesn't have a personal drone. This is. These are his medical records for other patients. Was there anything different in the. I guess up to from the previous month when his son had to take over, all as far back as two years ago because again, as far as I understand people noticing the changes starting two years ago for like, are people getting sick more often? Maybe they're starting to report that song bug. Like maybe more people each month.
[00:45:19] GM: No, not really. Nothing more. Nothing's really increased. I will say how this is mostly laid out is when you. The names are all inconsistent, but he has almost like the whole person's life in one folder, all their checkups and such. So you could be like, oh, let me think what's so and so's history. It's kind of all there. And because he is kind of old and everybody kind of stays in town, you can actually kind of look back.
[00:45:44] Agent Steele: On like people's lives knowing that. I guess I'm kind of curious.
Are there any records of Valerie Novikov?
[00:45:55] GM: Yeah, they go back about 15 years.
[00:45:58] Agent Steele: Goes back about 15 years. So they've been here a while. Any. I guess there's not going to necessarily be anything strange or might if they go back as far as 15 years. Imagine she might have records of whenever they had family hurting her husband perhaps.
[00:46:10] GM: Yes, she did have a child. So there were records about that.
[00:46:14] Agent Steele: Connecting to her record. I'm able to find anything on her husband because as I understand, he's deceased.
[00:46:19] GM: Yes. Nikolai Navikov. He moved about the same time she did. Those records go about just as far back he died. There's not a lot of information in his reports about his autopsy and death, but it does rule it as a heart attack. Heart attack. Okay. He was said to have been found out in the cold one night that he had a heart attack coming home from work.
[00:46:48] Agent Steele: Unfortunate. Interesting.
[00:46:50] GM: Or from the bar. No one was really sure. He wasn't in a place. I was like, what was he doing out here?
[00:46:56] Agent Steele: But like he wasn't home, he wasn't at work and he wasn't at a bar. He was in between somewhere. And he had a heart attack. Yes. Or it looks like he had a heart attack.
[00:47:03] GM: Yeah. So it describes as there's a lot of damage from the cold but that it was very clearly his heart that.
[00:47:09] Agent Steele: Gave out and it was.
What was the first. I don't want to keep calling him dead Dr. Kent. What was the first name of?
[00:47:15] GM: Uriah.
[00:47:16] Agent Steele: Uriah. And what was Uriah Kent's? He had the pristine heart.
[00:47:22] GM: Yes. Okay.
[00:47:23] Agent Steele: Interesting being the doctor in town. I don't imagine he would. And it's a small town, pretty far out. I imagine he had another doctor to go to himself. Did he keep a record of his own? Like I guess he would do that. I don't know why he would it.
[00:47:36] GM: Not in this records room. Not that you see.
[00:47:38] Agent Steele: Yeah. I'm curious if I might be able to ask Peter if his father was known to have heart trouble as well or not the amount of time researching. I don't want to just keep going question. I do want to keep going questions but I don't want to.
[00:47:49] GM: Like there's other people you specifically want.
[00:47:51] Agent Steele: To ask about the Germans. I'm curious if they've come to the doctor or anything.
[00:47:57] GM: They're. Yeah. So like you were given that name, that one name. Johan Hansen is what Johan Henson. Yeah. He does have a record. He has come twice and he seemed like he was in good health.
It wasn't much exciting on his. And it looks like there's a couple of others that about the same time as him and they all seem to be good.
[00:48:20] Agent Steele: How recent are the records?
[00:48:21] GM: Not many times, but about eight months ago.
[00:48:25] Agent Steele: Eight months. Okay.
[00:48:26] GM: And. And then it seemed like they came in for another one. A couple of them for like about five months ago.
[00:48:32] Agent Steele: That's good to at least have noted down. And they've only from. According to these mountain records, they've only been around here for at least eight months or at least that's the earliest they've been the latest they've been into a doctor.
[00:48:41] GM: Yes.
[00:48:42] Agent Steele: Now knowing her name, I'm curious about Aurora, the older woman that's apparently her family's into mysticism.
[00:48:48] GM: Ah. There are no records for her. There is a folder with her name on it but there is nothing in it.
[00:48:53] Agent Steele: He was prepared at least.
[00:48:54] GM: Okay.
[00:48:55] Agent Steele: Knowing that he has these organized by the group the name I'm going to be organizing them by like last name, first name since he had them already grouped together. Simple Enough. Again, like, as I'm going through them, I'm just like, okay, yeah, just put them back in an order. That makes sense. You know, it's not as much of a disaster as I was worried about where it's just. Yeah, papers here, papers there. The data here put on top.
[00:49:16] GM: What's Your alertness again?
[00:49:18] Agent Steele: 40.
[00:49:18] GM: What's your search?
[00:49:20] Agent Steele: 40. Okay, let's see.
[00:49:24] GM: I'd say you probably have enough time for like two more. Two more to get specific on.
[00:49:30] Agent Steele: Okay, let's go with Dan Haley.
[00:49:34] GM: Dan Haley.
Honestly, there's nothing too odd. He also has the occasional sickness.
His cholesterol is high, his blood pressure gets pretty high. So he's not like the healthiest of guys. But there's. It's kind of about it.
He seems to come fairly regularly, just like his, just like his miners do, to get checked up.
[00:50:00] Agent Steele: That's good.
I feel it would do well since she's been interacting with these strange specimens. Are there any records on Henriette Bunsen?
[00:50:09] GM: There's just about the one when she came a little bit after she came into town, she got checked up on and fairly normal. Her heart rate gets. Seems to get high. So he prescribed herself something small to kind of help keep it low.
It's starting to. It's almost. It's almost noon. And as you're kind of putting things away and you put Bunsens away, you do notice one other one that stands out similarly to Aurora.
Tommy Haverfield. He had almost no records of any kind until about three years ago when his wife was pregnant. It was the first time he's come in since he was born. And there is like a lot of records, like they're not necessarily checkups on him, but he came in a lot consistently with her.
So if you, if you cross reference it with hers really fast, it was like almost weekly, if not more than once a week when she was pregnant.
[00:51:12] Agent Steele: Interesting. They came in very often for that.
[00:51:14] GM: Guessing. And then it also seemed fairly consistent after she gave birth that the child was brought in as well. So was she as like a group checkups? But there wasn't really much done on him at all during those checkups. Just mostly focused on those two. And then when she passed, there's nothing else.
[00:51:33] Agent Steele: Did he write down like they were asking any strange questions before the pregnancy? Does he. Did he write down if the impatient, the Sasha had asked him any questions that were odd?
[00:51:46] GM: No, just kind of the same questions over. You might be able to ask Peter for more specifics about like that. I don't Think the report would necessarily say so and so asked these questions. Okay. But yeah, like we said, there was nothing in his file until that. He had never been in for checkups before that.
[00:52:04] Agent Steele: And he was only.
[00:52:05] GM: And he grew up here.
[00:52:07] Agent Steele: Yeah.
[00:52:08] GM: So there's not a lot of information the files have about that. Aside from just in everything's good. In everything's good. Everything's good. Everything's good.
[00:52:16] Agent Steele: I have a question, but I feel like it's not a great question because it feels like it's almost meta breaking because I listened to the first season.
[00:52:22] GM: Oh, what's that?
[00:52:23] Agent Steele: How long was her pregnancy like when did she come in first to whenever.
[00:52:28] GM: Child was born nine months.
[00:52:29] Agent Steele: Okay.
[00:52:30] GM: It was around nine months. Is very much a normal time.
[00:52:34] Agent Steele: A normal time.
[00:52:36] GM: And as you're kind of thinking about those you hear the knock knock and Peter's like, Dr. Steele, I've got to get going so you'll need to head out. We can get on this again maybe tomorrow or whenever you have time. I know you're in investigation.
[00:52:51] Agent Steele: Yes, thank you very much.
Yes, of course. I might, if you don't mind. I do mean great respect. We might attend the funeral with you for poor Tommy. Want to be in full respect.
[00:53:04] GM: Yes. It starts about two. Okay.
[00:53:07] Agent Steele: I imagine you'll be in attendance.
[00:53:09] GM: Yes, I will be in attendance. I'll also be helping to run the funeral.
[00:53:14] Agent Steele: I have been going through these records. Just kind of seeing your father did keep good organization. I'm having a file for basically every person in town. Even those that wouldn't come to visit him. He was prepared. So what I've been doing is I've just been going through the files he already had set up for each person's name. I've been organizing last name, first name.
[00:53:31] GM: That's fair. I thought so as well. This is so erratic how they're placed.
[00:53:36] Agent Steele: They are. I've been trying to just make sure they're on a good sense of order here.
[00:53:41] GM: There were some that were by date, but I merged them with the names.
[00:53:47] Agent Steele: Very good.
[00:53:48] GM: I didn't know why he was do.
[00:53:49] Agent Steele: That, but it's either just look at a single person's record if you kind of keep their own files together.
[00:53:55] GM: I agree. I agree. All right.
[00:53:56] Agent Steele: To behoove you if you can manage to get it delivered up here, a filing cabinet might help.
[00:54:03] GM: Yes, that would be good. Better than tubs. Yes, I really.
[00:54:10] Agent Steele: Of course.
[00:54:10] GM: We gotta go.
I must get started or this is going to be late and everyone's going to blame me.
[00:54:16] Agent Steele: Do not want that. See I fold up the laying down table back up into the door. It was. That doesn't like, you know, it's just kind of a small recess where do a flat almost like. Yeah, closet. There's nothing like back there.
[00:54:28] GM: No. Yeah. Okay. Nothing that you could see. I mean, if you wanted to like take time and poke around. But you can't do that right now.
[00:54:34] Agent Steele: No, I do try to do it, you know, slightly as I'm kind of putting it back up to kind of like just firmly press again against like the back wall of it and see if it gives inward at all.
[00:54:44] GM: Roll search.
[00:54:45] Agent Steele: Ooh, 72 over 40.
[00:54:48] GM: No, I mean it just seems like a wall.
[00:54:49] Agent Steele: If not fair enough.
[00:54:50] GM: Close it. Yeah, so it just seems like a wall. You close it up. He takes you out and you head back to the bar to meet up with the others.
[00:55:00] Agent Steele: Okay.
[00:55:01] GM: And camera pans over to the graveyard.
And then we fade black.
[00:55:15] Announcer: Thank you for listening to the records of the unknown. Operation Latency. Records of the Unknown is an Atomic Broadcasting production. Delta Green is copyright of Arc Dreams Publishing. Operation Latency is not published or endorsed by Arc Dreams Publishing and is an original module created and run run by Samuel Sarver.
Our players are Nolan as Dr. Sylvester Steele, Abby as Bernadette, Bertie Bellamy and Harold as Corporal Alexander Adams. Music in the show is from Monument Studios as well as various artists. If you enjoy the show, be sure to subscribe or follow the Atomic Broadcasting Network on your favorite listening platform. If you want to stay in touch, you can follow us on our socials listed in the description. Join the community in our Discord server to be notified of future uploads and and join in on the conversation of what's to come. Don't forget to like comment and tell a friend and as always, have an atomic time.
[00:56:13] GM: Hi Nolan.
[00:56:31] Agent Adams: Stop it.
[00:56:32] GM: Now I can be a backpack.
