Day One Hundred and Ninety-Eight

Day 198: 15 Feb 2011

Lots of activity today. It all started when I got into the office, nice and early at seven this morning. Until we can find somewhere for me to live, I've been staying in a visiting officer's quarters here at the Area. I'm always early.

Jason Black and another guy I don't know were in the office when I arrived. The other guy was a little older, maybe in his 50s. Big dude, though. Powerful looking. I'm pretty sure he had a glass eye.

"What's up?" I asked as I wheeled through the door.

They finally got me a decent wheelchair, by the way. One of those cool motorized things. I'm getting pretty fast on it.

"Trouble. Perimeter alarms are going crazy," Black told me.

I checked the monitors -- we had cameras covering everything around The Area. Every angle, including straight up, is displayed on a huge bank of monitors in the office. I didn't see anything odd on any of them.

"I'm not seeing anything," I said, wheeling over to my desk and bringing up the counterintrusion system. It was going insane.

"Species 4-9?" the older man asked.

Jason Black shook his head.

"They trip the airblast sensors. Those are clear."

"He's right. These are seismic readings," I said, wondering what the hell Species 4-9 was.

"Earthquake?" Cassie asked. She and Travis had walked into the room a few seconds earlier.

"Not unless it's localized entirely in a one-mile radius," I said. "And moving towards the base."

We kept watching the monitors, but the disturbance never got closer than a couple of miles. It eventually stopped and went away. Black sent some people out to investigate, but I think we're leaving it at that.