I’m A Park Ranger At Tower 9. My Partner Just Looked At Me With A Hollow Smile And Said, “it’s Beautiful Beneath The Ground.” I Don’t Think She’s Human Anymore.
He clicked to the next slide, showing close-up photos of the crack in the ground. The blue-white light seemed to pulse even in the still image.
*”Apertures form at weak points in reality. We don’t fully understand why or how, but certain geological features seem to make areas more susceptible. Underground water systems, fault lines, areas with high mineral content, especially quartz crystal formations. This region has all three, which is why we’ve had 19 breaches in four decades.”*
Lawrence raised her hand.
*”What’s actually on the other side? You said these aren’t creatures or beings but something else. What does that mean?”*
Mills hesitated, and I could see him weighing how much to tell us.
*”The honest answer is we don’t know. The entities that exist beyond the apertures don’t conform to our understanding of life or consciousness. They’re more like infectious ideas, concepts that rewrite human cognition to serve their purposes.”*
*”When someone stares into an aperture, these entities imprint themselves onto the person’s neural patterns. Class 1 exposure results in obsessive thoughts, compulsive behaviors, and minor personality changes. Class 2 brings hallucinations, dissociation, and loss of executive function. Class 3 is complete cognitive takeover. The person becomes a transmission vector, spreading the infection through direct contact or verbal recruitment.”*
*”What do they want?”*
I asked.
*”Why infect people at all?”*
*”Near as we can tell, they want to grow. Every Class 3 individual repeats variations of the same message: help it grow, feed the aperture, come see what’s beautiful beneath the ground. We theorize that each infected person serves as an anchor point, making it easier for new apertures to form.”*
*”The more people they compromise, the weaker the barriers between realities become. Left unchecked, we estimate that within 50 years, the apertures would become permanent fixtures, spreading across the entire planet.”*
The Critical Mass Cascade
The room fell silent as we absorbed this. The existential threat wasn’t some alien invasion or nuclear war. It was ideas from another dimension slowly rewriting human consciousness until we collectively tore down the walls keeping them out.
*”Your job,”*
Mills said, addressing all of us.
*”Is to prevent that. You four have demonstrated natural resistance to aperture influence. You can approach breach sites without immediately succumbing. That makes you invaluable for containment operations. We have teams that conceal apertures once they’re identified, but they need eyes on the ground. People who can get close enough to confirm the breach without becoming compromised themselves.”*
He pulled out four identical folders and handed them to us. Inside were detailed dossiers on Class 3 symptoms, contamination protocols, emergency procedures, and contact information for response teams stationed throughout the region.
*”Your first assignment begins today. Aperture Site Alpha 19 is expanding. The initial breach was 3 feet wide. As of this morning, it’s grown to 8 feet. We need to seal it before it reaches critical mass, roughly 15 feet in diameter, at which point the seal failure cascade becomes irreversible.”*
*”What’s a seal failure cascade?”*
Lawrence asked.
*”The point where too much reality distortion has occurred for conventional containment. The aperture becomes self-sustaining, immune to our current sealing technology. When that happens, we have to evacuate the entire affected region and establish a permanent exclusion zone.”*
The other male ranger, whose name tag read Mitchell, spoke up for the first time.
*”How many exclusion zones currently exist?”*
Mills pulled up another map. This one showed the entire United States.
Seven areas were marked with black circles. There were two in Alaska, one in Nevada, one in Montana, two in the Appalachian region, and one in northern Maine.
*”Seven domestic zones ranging from 2 square miles to 15 square miles. Globally, there are 31. The largest is in Siberia, covering roughly 80 square miles. The Russian government calls it a failed nuclear test site. The truth is worse.”*
We spent the next 3 hours in intensive training. We learned how to recognize the early signs of aperture formation: temperature anomalies, electromagnetic interference, and organic matter displaying unusual growth patterns or die-off.
We learned how to use the specialized equipment that could detect reality distortion from a safe distance. We practiced how to communicate with response teams using encrypted channels and how to recognize if we were becoming compromised ourselves.
By 0900, we were loaded into two vehicles and headed back toward the northwest sector. Mills rode with Lawrence and me while Mitchell went with the other team.
*”The singing you heard last night,”*
Mills said conversationally as we drove.
*”That’s the aperture trying to establish a connection. You’re resistant but not immune. Prolonged exposure can break down even the strongest defenses. If you start hearing it during waking hours or if it begins to sound beautiful rather than disturbing, you report immediately. Those are Stage 1 contamination symptoms.”*
*”How long do we have if that happens?”*
I asked.
*”Depends on the individual. Anywhere from 72 hours to 2 weeks before progressing to Stage 2. The good news is Stage 1 is reversible with proper treatment. Stage 2 is dicey. About 50/50 success rate. Stage 3 is terminal.”*
We pulled up to the northwest sector access road, now blocked by multiple military-style vehicles and temporary fencing. Armed guards checked our credentials before waving us through. The entire area had been transformed into a military operation in less than 24 hours.
*”How do you keep this secret?”*
Lawrence asked, gesturing to the obvious security presence.
*”Gas leak,”*
Mills said simply.
*”Maybe a toxic spill if we need to expand the perimeter. The average person doesn’t question official-looking vehicles and hazmat suits. By the time local news picks up the story, we’ve already fed them a narrative that explains everything they saw without revealing anything real.”*
We suited up in protective gear. They were not hazmat suits, but something more sophisticated. The fabric was embedded with circuitry that Mills explained would disrupt electromagnetic contamination attempts.
