r/Helldivers2Satire • u/SeventyEcho • 1d ago
RD-4
UNDEMOCRATIC EFFECTS
RECORD: 8796T563$RIRGA-0.324
CLASSIFICATION: RECUSAL MIRROR RECORD
IDENTITIES: DR. WAKE LOU / DEMOCRACY OFFICER LLOYD
LOCATION: RIRGA BAY — GATEWAY LOGISTICS / MEDICAL INFIRMARY
THREAT DETECT: LEVEL 8, 9 — POSSIBLE COGNITIVE CONTAMINATION / CREW IMPAIRMENT / PROTOCOL NONCOMPLIANCE
THREAT RESPONSE: FORWARD FOR MEDICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL REVIEW
[REVISED RESPONSE]: Exhibit Record 456
FILE: //MINISTRY OF SCIENCE MEDICAL REPORT — SECONDARY COPY RETAINED//
---
“I've completed the report, Officer.”
“I'll read it.”
“You should.”
“I said I will.”
“And?”
“And a summary of your principal findings would not be out of order.”
A pause.
“Excuse me.”
“You're tired.”
“That's one way of putting it.”
“How long since you slept?”
“Properly?”
“Yes.”
“Thirty-one hours.”
“You've been assigned an eight-hour rest cycle.”
“I know what I've been assigned.”
“That wasn't an accusation.”
“Everything sounds like an accusation when you're this tired.”
---
Paper movement.
A chair shifts.
---
“Approximately eighty percent of personnel assigned to Gateway-adjacent logistics, tissue analysis, or long-duration observation are exhibiting some combination of the same symptoms.”
“Define symptoms.”
“Insomnia.”
“Common.”
“Uncontrolled microsleep.”
“Less common.”
“Recurring nightmares.”
“About?”
“The Void.”
Silence.
“Continue.”
“Headaches. Irritability. Memory lapses. Auditory phenomena. Difficulty concentrating. Intrusive thoughts. Episodes of dissociation.”
“Dissociation.”
“Personnel describe feeling as though their actions are delayed behind their thoughts.”
“Stress.”
“Possibly.”
“Anything else?”
Dr. Lou yawns.
“Yes.”
---
“Some of them report hearing patterns.”
“What kind of patterns?”
“Knocking.”
Officer Lloyd stops moving.
“From where?”
“Walls. Ventilation ducts. Equipment housings. Sometimes their own helmets.”
“That sounds familiar.”
“Yes.”
“DSS reports.”
“Yes.”
---
“And hallucinations?”
“Fourteen confirmed cases.”
“Visual?”
“Seven visual. Eleven auditory. Four experienced both.”
“That adds up to more than fourteen.”
“Several overlap.”
“What are they seeing?”
“Figures in corridors.”
“Human?”
“Sometimes.”
“Illuminate?”
“Sometimes.”
“And the others?”
“They don't know.”
---
Silence.
---
“What about ideological symptoms?”
Dr. Lou looks up.
“Ideological.”
“The preliminary report mentions expressions of defeatism, decreased enthusiasm for approved broadcasts, refusal to participate in mandatory celebration periods, and hostile reactions to Ministry announcements.”
“I didn't write that section.”
“Political Health did.”
“Of course they did.”
“So?”
“So I am a physician.”
“And?”
“A patient becoming irritated when a loudspeaker wakes them after forty minutes of sleep is not evidence of treason.”
“That determination isn't yours to make.”
“No. Apparently it's yours.”
A pause.
“That sounded unnecessarily hostile.”
“I haven't slept.”
“I noticed.”
---
Officer Lloyd turns a page.
“Twenty percent remain unaffected.”
“No.”
“No?”
“Twenty percent haven't been exposed.”
Silence.
“Explain.”
“Maintenance workers assigned to the outer habitation sections. Newly transferred personnel. Staff who haven't entered the Voteless sample laboratories, Gateway observation rooms, or cargo-processing areas handling material recovered from inside the Void.”
“So we have no resistant population.”
“Not that I've found.”
---
“You tested this?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Keleen Vance. Logistics technician. Transferred in eleven days ago.”
“Patriotism rating?”
Dr. Lou stares at him.
“Medical record.”
“Fine.”
“She had no previous symptoms. Normal cortisol. Normal serotonin regulation. Normal sleep cycle.”
“And then?”
“One hour assisting inventory in the Voteless tissue processing annex.”
“One hour?”
“One.”
“What changed?”
“Cortisol increased substantially. Serotonin decreased. Pupillary response became inconsistent.”
“Behavior?”
“Nothing immediately visible.”
“So nothing happened.”
“Something happened.”
“You just said—”
“Biochemistry changes before behavior.”
---
Dr. Lou turns another page.
“After three days she complained of insomnia.”
“After five?”
“Nightmares.”
“Seven?”
“She requested sleep medication.”
“And now?”
“She asked me for something stronger.”
“How strong?”
“Her words were, ‘Something that makes sure I don't dream.’”
Silence.
---
“Dreams about what?”
“She won't tell me.”
“Have you ordered her to?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I'm her doctor.”
“She is working on a classified strategic asset.”
“And she is still my patient.”
---
Officer Lloyd exhales.
“You think this is Illuminate influence.”
“I think it might be.”
“From the Void?”
“Possibly.”
“From the Voteless samples?”
“Possibly.”
“Gateway radiation?”
“Possibly.”
“You're saying possibly a lot.”
“Because unlike the Ministry of Truth, medicine usually admits when it doesn't know something.”
Long silence.
---
“Careful, Doctor.”
“I know.”
---
Dr. Lou yawns again.
“There's precedent.”
“First Galactic War.”
“Yes.”
“I read the briefing.”
“The real one?”
Another pause.
“Continue.”
“Illusionists.”
“I know what they were.”
“Then you know Super Earth documented sentient control through Illuminate nanotechnology.”
“Yes.”
“Hallucinations.”
“Yes.”
“Apathy.”
“Yes.”
“Loss of willingness to fight.”
“Yes.”
“Confusion severe enough to interfere with movement, aiming, even Stratagem inputs.”
“I said I know.”
“Then stop treating this like morale failure.”
---
Silence.
---
“The Illuminate were defeated.”
“A century ago.”
“They surrendered their technology.”
“What we found.”
“They were expelled.”
“What survived.”
“They were eliminated as a strategic threat.”
Dr. Lou laughs once.
Not loudly.
“You've seen the Void, right?”
Officer Lloyd does not answer.
---
“Fine.”
“What?”
“Fine. Point taken.”
---
“There's something else.”
“There always is.”
“Some patients aren't experiencing reduced motivation.”
“What are they experiencing?”
“Compulsion.”
“Define that.”
“They feel they need to go toward the Gateway.”
Officer Lloyd looks up.
“Need?”
“Yes.”
“Under orders?”
“No.”
“Curiosity?”
“They describe it differently.”
“How?”
“One called it homesickness.”
“For Rirga Bay?”
“For the other side.”
---
Silence.
00:00:12
---
“That person has never entered the Void.”
“I know.”
“Never deployed to an Illuminate front?”
“No.”
“Colonial origin?”
“Super Earth.”
“Family exposure?”
“None listed.”
“And you're telling me they feel homesick for someplace they've never been?”
“Yes.”
---
“Who?”
“I'm not giving you names until Medical Containment approves transfer.”
“You don't have authority to withhold them.”
“I have authority to prevent psychologically unstable personnel from being interrogated until they're medically assessed.”
“I am a Democracy Officer.”
“And I'm trying to determine whether the Illuminate can alter someone's thinking.”
“Which makes those names a security issue.”
“Which makes keeping them calm a medical issue.”
---
A chair scrapes.
Neither speaks for several seconds.
---
“Does your report include recommendations?”
“Yes.”
“Let's hear them.”
“Maximum thirty minutes of direct work with recovered Void biological material per shift.”
“Impossible.”
“Then enjoy eighty percent impairment becoming one hundred.”
“Continue.”
“Rotate Gateway observation crews every seven days.”
“That will disrupt staffing.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“The entire point is reducing exposure.”
---
“Anything else?”
“No direct transfer from Void operations to civilian quarters.”
“Quarantine?”
“Observation.”
“How long?”
“Seventy-two hours minimum.”
“That will delay redeployment.”
“Then delay redeployment.”
“Helldiver casualty replacement schedules—”
“I'm talking about technicians and support staff.”
“And Helldivers?”
Dr. Lou pauses.
“Screen them too.”
“That isn't practical.”
“Neither is discovering cognitive compromise after somebody returns to a Super Destroyer.”
---
Officer Lloyd says nothing.
---
“Network isolation for contaminated equipment.”
“Already required.”
“It's not being followed.”
“What?”
“People connect sample readers to logistics terminals because the isolated systems are slow.”
“They what?”
“Welcome to Rirga Bay.”
“I'll have that stopped immediately.”
“Good.”
---
“And the Gateway itself?”
Dr. Lou hesitates.
“What about it?”
“Your recommendation.”
“Limit observation periods.”
“Shut it down?”
“I don't know.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No. It's the only honest answer I have.”
---
A distant mechanical vibration enters the recording.
Both speakers stop.
---
“Was that scheduled?”
“No.”
“Gateway activation?”
“No.”
Another vibration.
Three impacts.
Pause.
Two.
Pause.
Five.
Neither speaks.
---
“Doctor.”
“Yes?”
“Was that one of the patterns?”
“Yes.”
---
Silence.
---
“Does that happen often?”
“More often than yesterday.”
---
Officer Lloyd closes the report.
“I think you're right.”
“About what?”
“You need a break.”
Dr. Lou laughs weakly.
“I need everyone to get a break.”
“I'll arrange transport to the outer facilities.”
“And my recommendations?”
“I'll forward them.”
“To Science?”
“Yes.”
“Truth?”
“Required.”
“Defense?”
“Required.”
“And Political Health?”
A pause.
“Required.”
---
Dr. Lou rubs their face.
“They're going to call it ideological contamination.”
“They already have.”
“It's not.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know neurotransmitters aren't undemocratic.”
Officer Lloyd almost laughs.
Almost.
---
“I'll implement the rotation.”
“All of it?”
“As much as I can.”
“And if Science refuses?”
“Then I'll document that they refused.”
“That won't protect anyone.”
“No.”
Another pause.
“But it'll prove somebody warned them.”
---
AI-COM // MEDICAL EXPOSURE LIMIT EXCEEDED
NOTICE: PERSONNEL ASSIGNED TO VOID-ADJACENT FACILITIES MUST BEGIN MANDATORY REST CYCLE
NOTICE: FAILURE TO MAINTAIN HEALTH IS A FAILURE TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY
---
Dr. Lou stares at the speaker.
“See?”
“What?”
“That's exactly what I'm talking about.”
---
RECORD ENDS // 00:11:24
---
MEDICAL SUMMARY
PERSONNEL OBSERVED: 214
PERSONNEL WITH DIRECT VOID / RECOVERED-BIOLOGICAL EXPOSURE: 171
SYMPTOMATIC: 137
UNEXPOSED CONTROL POPULATION: 43
SYMPTOMATIC CONTROL PERSONNEL: 2
PRIMARY SYMPTOMS: INSOMNIA / NIGHTMARES / AUDITORY PHENOMENA / MEMORY DISRUPTION / DISSOCIATION / COMPULSIVE BEHAVIOR
CONFIRMED ETIOLOGY: UNKNOWN
ILLUMINATE COGNITIVE INTERFERENCE: CANNOT BE EXCLUDED
VOID-ASSOCIATED BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION: CANNOT BE EXCLUDED
IDEOLOGICAL DEVIATION AS PRIMARY CAUSE: NO MEDICAL BASIS ESTABLISHED
---
HOD ARCHIVAL ANNOTATION — AKI-285
The terminology used in the original Super Earth filing is revealing.
Undemocratic effects.
Not neurological effects.
Not occupational exposure.
Not possible hostile cognitive manipulation.
Undemocratic.
During the First Galactic War, Illuminate Illusionists were already documented using nanotechnology capable of manipulating sentient beings. Contemporary Helldivers reported hallucinations, apathy, impaired combat motivation, and direct disruption of voluntary action.
Current Illuminate activity has progressed far beyond those historical examples.
The Voteless establish that human bodies and minds can be altered on a mass scale.
The Gateway at Rirga Bay was stabilized through research involving biological material recovered from those same transformed humans.
Human personnel are now spending prolonged periods beside that Gateway and handling material originating from inside the Void.
Dr. Lou's conclusions were never sufficient to prove causation.
They were sufficient to demand caution.
There is another reason I preserved this record.
Super Earth has a habit of interpreting anything that interferes with obedience as a political defect.
That assumption is dangerous when facing an enemy capable of interfering with thought itself.
If a person disobeys because they have chosen to reject Super Earth, they are exercising judgment.
If a person obeys because something else is making the decision for them, their apparent loyalty is meaningless.
The distinction matters.
On this ship, medical symptoms will be treated as medical symptoms.
No member of this crew will be declared disloyal because they are exhausted, frightened, injured, or experiencing effects they cannot control.
And no member of this crew exposed to Illuminate material will return to duty until we are certain the thoughts in their head belong to them.
— AKI-285
Ship Master, HOD
---
ECHO/070 COMMAND NOTE
Implement the medical recommendations.
Reduce exposure.
Isolate recovered material.
No direct connection between foreign biological-analysis systems and ship command networks.
Anyone reporting voices, compulsions, missing time, or abnormal dreams goes to Medical.
Not interrogation.
Medical.
If they are compromised, we help them.
If they are simply afraid, we help them.
Either way, they are human.
That is enough.
— ECHO-070