By N.H. Van Der Haar

Department: Organic Technologies & Administration

Project: BUTTERFLY

FGAN Number: 100274

Authorization Code: AC 11679

Current Status: Archived.

Project Abstract:

Shortly after the Second World War, our government passed the 1946 Covert Actions Bill. In a single pen-stroke, every single Government Department found itself equipped with unlimited authority and budgets to begin covert operations and projects free of all constraints. After decades of this kind of action, with the passing of the 1991 Acts of Retainment, I have been selected to survey the damage done and draw a line in the sand. Project Butterfly shall be that line. What had been originally meant to be an opportunity for national growth has ended in a network of secret waste and useless experimentation. Project Butterfly will unearth the disused and/or abandoned and find a use for them of some kind — From the Office of Administrator Dieter Winthrop.

 

Codename: MANTICORE

Subjects: 5

Related Project/s: DECANTER

Synopsis:

The specimens codenamed MANTICORE are 5 Staffordshire Terriers aged between 5 and 10. All specimens are hyperintelligent but genetically asexual. They become more aggressive and animalistic, the further away from each other they are. All the MANTICORE specimens display a variety of personality quirks:

• Specimen 5-M enjoys writing jokes, riddles, and limericks.
• Specimen 4-M is fluent in Turkish, Greek, and Arabic, considers themselves an expert on the Ottoman Empire.
• Specimen 3-M cultivates Orchid varieties, including developing several new hybrids.
• Specimen 2-M has written several novels of varying genres and freely gives talks on their self-described masterpiece: ‘Fable of the Flying Fang’.
• Specimen 1-M plays the viola, piano and cello like a master and has composed 3 concertos.

Besides these quirks, MANTICORE behaves like any ordinary Staffordshire Bull Terrier. The dogs were created as part of Project DECANTER. Files indicate that they were designed to be a “non-human, universal translator”. The dogs became the obsession of Doctor Leonid Cove, who allowed them a great deal of freedom as a Director in the Sub-Department of Creature Sciences. Project DECANTER ended after the death of Doctor Cove.

Resolution: 

All MANTICORE Specimens will be allowed to express themselves but must be kept in custody until further notice. Limited, ethical testing of Specimens will be allowed. The MANTICORE Specimens are charming conversationalists. They have a significant morale benefit to the staff. Whoever takes over supervision should treat them with dignity and respect — From the Office of Administrator Dieter Winthrop.

 

Codename: SPHINX

Subjects: 19

Related Project/s: SPYGLASS

Synopsis:

19 paintings each depicting a seated female figure. Each painting depicts a slightly different woman. Each range in size from 10 inches to a metre but is framed identically in gilded hardwood and an attached brass plaque naming each painting’s as: ’The Other Woman’. Each work uses a different artistic style and medium. When the paintings are faced towards one another, they begin to argue with one another in French. The argument has no end until the paintings are pointed away from one another. Otherwise, the paintings speak rarely.

Related Data & Information:

There is little information regarding Subject SPHINX. Project SPYGLASS was created by the Department of Cultural Regulation with a focus on “reducing anti-state tendencies in our nation’s artists” but almost all the files were sadly lost. What we could learn was from the personal documents and interviews with Jervis Crane, the former Director who created Project SPYGLASS. He suffered a breakdown while trying to resolve the arguments with the paintings over a 48-hour period. This event and lack of obvious outcomes resulted in the closure of both Project SPYGLASS. While I do find these paintings disagreeable, I see no reason why they cannot be rehomed individually. Much of my staff have volunteered to take home a painting on the condition they treat the works with respect and engage in polite conversation when spoken to. I was able to arrange for ex-Director Crane (currently residing at the Tillykirk Sanatorium for Mental Affectations) to have a painting, who expressed much delight — From the Office of Administrator Dieter Winthrop.

 

Codename: BASILISK

Subjects: 1 (deceased)

Related Project/s: MAGIC METTLE

Synopsis:

Carcass of an Irrawaddy Dolphin (Orcella Brevirostris), measuring 3 metres in length and weighing 172 kilograms. Subject is in an advanced state of decomposition. Autopsy reveals nothing unusual, other than the cause of death being lethal injection.

Related Data & Information:

Project MAGIC METTLE was a collaboration between business and government, aimed on creating “genetically boneless fish as a cost-effective food source for corporate manufacture”. This was in fact a cover for the keeping of a pet dolphin, created by Director Blount and his wife, Cynthia Widener, a Senior Executive for Widener Fisheries. Closure of the Project forced the mercy killing of their pet.

Resolution:

Subject BASILISK remains burned. Ashes kept for archival purposes. I cannot imagine a more blatant waste of government resources. Director Blount and his wife are both deceased, regardless I recommend an investigation begin into any surviving staff who worked on Project MAGIC METTLE – From the Office of Administrator Dieter Winthrop.

 

Codename: WENDIGO

Subjects: 9

Related Project/s: LAKE, POND & PUDDLE.

Synopsis:

Specimen WENDIGO consist of 9 human hearts. Each Specimen is individually sealed in an (unlabeled) wine bottle and floating in an unidentified, orange liquid. Every hour each WENDIGO Specimen beat once, in unison.

Related Data & Information:

All records related to Subject WENDIGO are incomplete or contradict each other. What little we have indicates, they were a simple by-product of experiments performed as part of Project LAKE, the goal of which is still not known. Doctor Blake Heathmont died suddenly after creating the WENDIGO Specimens. Both Project POND and PUDDLE were created by colleagues of Dr. Heathmont specifically to (according to what files remain) “solve the riddle of the hearts”. 

Resolution:

Subject WENDIGO was a scientific riddle created by Dr Heathmont in competition with his rivals within the Sub-Department of Speculative Health. These vanity projects were why the Sub-Department was shuttered to begin with. All remaining files relating to Projects LAKE, PUDDLE and POND destroyed. Doctor Nigel Frand for my R&D department assured me that the vibrations created from the beating of the hearts can be used to generate electricity to supplement our existing energy grid — From the Office of Administrator Dieter Winthrop.

 

Codename: PEGASUS

Subjects: 60 

Related Project/s: SHAMAN

Synopsis:

Subject PEGASUS consists of 60 hermetically sealed containers of Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus Porosus) corpses, each weighing roughly 1,280kgs.

Related Data & Information:

According to the extensive files we have, Project SHAMAN aimed to: “investigate the usefulness of aggressive reptilian species in non-conventional warfare”. According to interviews with former employees of the Sub-Department of Alternative Combat, the containers contain “fallen soldiers of war” awaiting military funeral.

Resolution: 

Subject PEGASUS repackaged into coffins and given a formal military funeral at Mount Fuliginous National Cemetery. I can understand animal testing in extreme circumstances, but casual animal cruelty simply has no place in this government — From the Office of Administrator Dieter Winthrop.

 

Codename: DRAGON

Subjects: 1 (deceased)

Related Project/s: MISTY THRONE

Synopsis:

Subject DRAGON is the cryogenically frozen body of a deceased human female, aged in her late 40’s.

Related Data & Information:

There are almost no files relating to Project MISTY THRONE, thankfully what we do have focuses primarily on Subject DRAGON. Autopsy and analysis reveal Subject DRAGON to be in-fact the remains of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Princess of Hesse and the Rhine and the last Tsarina of Russia (1872 - 1918).

Resolution: 

Subject DRAGON’s remains buried with dignity at the nearest Russian Orthodox Cemetery under name ‘Irina Bolkonsky’. Tissue samples and blood tests will be kept for archival purposes. This kind of fantastical, overly ambitious super-science of freezing corpses for storage for more than fifty years is exactly why I have been brought on board to wipe the slate clean — From the Office of Administrator Dieter Winthrop.

 

Codename: GORGON

Subjects: 1

Related Project/s: STEEL BRIDGE, BUTTERFLY

Synopsis:

Subject GORGON is an overgrown Monstera Deliciosa covering almost all its enormous holding cell. Automated ceiling sprinklers and sunlamps in the roof ensure the continued growth of PEGASUS. Investigation of Subject reveals several spiders and gnats living within Subject GORGON holding cell.

Related Data & Information:

Project STEEL BRIDGE was created by the Sub-Department of Martial Wellbeing to create “organic therapies for the use of mentally deranged veterans in combat scenarios”. Essentially, it was about convincing the shellshocked to fight using any means necessary. Some may have thrived in that kind of environment, but 95% of staff did not and requested transfers almost immediately after starting on STEEL BRIDGE. According to files, this cell and Subject GORGON became the emotional safe space for staff forced to work on Project STEEL BRIDGE. The project was eventually closed owing to staff retention issues and the resignation of Director V.N. Chesterton.

Resolution:

Subject GORGON has been pruned, had its cell cleaned and will now be used as a safe space for Project BUTTERFLY. Chairs, tables, a complimentary library and a small koi pond will be installed. Despite its dark beginnings, I can see the benefit of such a cell for staff morale — From the Office of Administrator Dieter Winthrop.

 

Codename: CYCLOPS

Subjects: estimated to be 100’s

Related Project/s: NAVIGATOR

Synopsis:

Subject CYCLOPS is a community of hyper-intelligent Caribbean Hermit Crabs (Coenobita Clypeatus) that has developed a complex society. Food and fresh resources outlets still function and are worshipped as gods by the Subjects. Their very large enclosure has been fully explored and colonized by the crabs who have erected several structures and begun to enter the human equivalent of the Medieval Period. Our remote analysts have already documented the crabs as having invented the wheel, organised religion, architecture, agriculture, money, art and culture. 

Related Data & Information:

Subject CYCLOPS was created as part of Project NAVIGATOR, with the intention of creating tiny spies capable of being planted on enemy territory and collected later to relay key information. It appears this facility and the Subjects inside were forgotten about for decades owing to a government error.

Resolution: 

I think disturbing this society would only cause harm to our government in the long term. At this stage in their society, the food and resource distribution network is essentially redundant and acts now simply as a safety net for those crabs born with nothing or in desperate need. The staff seem delighted to remotely study this society as it grows and develops, and I see this as a boon to morale overall. I can only hope that if this society exceeds our own one day, I hope they can do a better job than we have done so far — From the Office of Administrator Dieter Winthrop.

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