The Octopus Hunter

Rustday, Newt 7, 244
Day 13 of the Containment Experiment

Played poker with Dr. Fidge and the others. Vermin was obviously cheating but Walls kept jumping to his defense. I don't know what she sees in a sleazy creep like him but I suppose it's none of my business.

Dr. Fidge said that the experiment is going well and the Field is holding. He tried to explain it to me again, but it went in one ear and out the other. All I got is that the experiment is now part of the prestigious Tiny Teams conference and that's apparently a really good thing? Woohoo, I guess...

Fleaday, Newt 8, 244
Day 14

Stuck on guard duty with Stutter again. There's not much to talk about. Vermin and Walls finally finished synthesizing and animating all the required "graveyard sprites": visual attachment points to draw the ectoplasm entities into the Containment Field. "The sprites make the Field come to life and feel like a real ectoplasm habitat", as Walls put it.

I have a terrible headache and can't sleep. Wonder how Mom's doing...

Smogday, Newt 9, 244
Day 15

Dr. Fidge asked me to gear up and enter the Field. Not the best way to start the day, but it's not like I have a choice. Today they were demoing the experiment to a group of military commanders. How many times do we have to update the experiment's parameters for these demonstrations?

We did manage to correct a long-standing fault in the Field's boundaries that occasionally prevented it from responding to the controller's input, so it's not all bad.

Gruelday, Newt 10, 244
Day 16

I had a medical checkup with Dr. Henrietta today. She said there's nothing wrong with me physically, but gave me some sleeping pills.

Something's definitely wrong with Dr. Fidge. Stutter asked him about the experiment's end date and Fidge got visibly upset. "We're all doing our best here! I'll have a date for you soon enough". I wonder what's eating him?

Mossday, Newt 11, 244
Day 17

Apparently they extracted part of the ectoplasm and packaged it into a miniature field with its own dedicated page on the Steam academic publishing platform. The marketing folks even recorded a new "trailer" for it, like it's the latest summer blockbuster. Of course, the latest version of our research was and will always be available on the cooler and more open itch.io portal.

Walls and Dr. Fidge keep arguing. She thinks the ectoplasm extraction will weaken the Field's structural integrity. Dr. Fidge said he's under a lot of pressure and had to give the Ghost in a Bottle shareholders something to market.

Oh, and the pills worked. I slept like a slime baby, although I still feel terrible.

Rustday, Newt 17, 244
Day 23

No time to update this diary. Really sick and also dealing with the Containment breach. We laid Vermin and Walls to rest today. This isn't what I signed up for...

Smogday, Newt 19, 244
Day 25

I woke up feeling funny. Another tooth fell off. Stutter, Dr. Fidge, and I are quarantined. Dr. Henrietta says it will be alright, but I don't trust her.

Gruelday, Undead 5, 244
Day ??

They're all dead. Dr. Fidge was the last one. I'm sorry. Too hungry. The Field is unstable. Rips in the universe...

I'm coming home, Mom...