I'm not sure who is to blame for this nonsense but I'm getting really sick of it. I thought about just posting a note in the lab, but determined that a proper public shaming would be the only way to resolve things. I've been noticing little things off in the microbiology lab lately-- not anything particularly unusual, but things that any properly vetted lab tech would certainly NOT allow to happen. It started simple-- I'd walk in and one of the tabletop workspaces would be absolutely covered in eraser shavings. It's lab protocol to wipe down the tabletops before and after all lab work with a bleach solution, meaning that NOTHING should be left on the work surfaces when you exit the lab. I figured it was just a matter of a lazy tech, and I spent some time trying to figure out who wasn't following protocol. I know it seems anal but when you're working with highly virulent and contagious pathogens this sort of stuff is really really important. I couldn't figure out who was doing it, so I gave up on it for a while. And then I noticed that one of the bunsen burners had its valves shut all the way down. I noted which burner it was, set it back up properly, and put it away. It's protocol in this microbio lab to leave the bunsen burner valves at a certain setting, partially open, so we don't waste time and energy trying to calibrate the flames to the right height and heat. In chemistry labs, it's common to shut the valves all the way off at the end of any lab work. For any doubters, keep in mind that a bunsen burner without the gas connected is perfectly harmless. Anyway, I put the burner back, and checked in on it later in the week. The burner had the valves shut down all the way, AGAIN. Plus there were eraser shavings. I was starting to get suspicious. So, TODAY, I came into the lab, and it was just a little thing, but... I opened one of the drawers that holds a set of lab tools(we usually keep two colors of sharpie, a box of slides, a storage box for stained slides, an inoculation loop, an inoculation needle, and a few other things in each of the drawers). I was very surprised(and pretty annoyed) to find that someone had put away an inoculation loop while it was still hot, and it had managed to melt itself into the lid of a green sharpie. I know for a FACT that none of the techs in this lab would do this incredibly stupid thing. None of the techs in this lab are dumb enough to not bleach the work surfaces before and after all procedures. None of the techs in this lab would be forgetful enough to close all of the valves on a bunsen burner as if this was a chemistry lab of some kind-- REPEATEDLY. So here's my question. Who the hell is mucking around in Microbiology Lab C? If you're reading this, CUT THAT SHIT OUT.
Considering everything that's gone down in the base recently I'd suggest checking for some kind of malevolent spirit.
I really don't care if it's a malevolent spirit, a confused junior researcher, or the thrice damned creature from the fucking black lagoon. If you wanna do any sort of work in Micro C, you need to go through safety orientation. I know some folks call it 'hazing' but I promise ALL of it is necessary and YES you do need to bring galoshes.
Ahhh. Thanks for reminding me why I never liked science classes. Rifles are so much simpler, and way less picky about how you dress.
If anyone holding a séance discovers that Teele or Mei are doing this, tell them that I'm firing them. I will not stand for shenanigans that interfere with research. hehehe... firing
nikel, have you kept them employed postmortem? That's a clever idea. I'll see if I can find someone with appropriate safety training and séance experience to check and see if it's them, but that's a surprisingly short list of people for an agency like ours.
Um... Nikel. They're dead. I'm pretty sure they were terminated from the Agency the same time they were terminated in your lab.
I believe that the exact cause of death was "strangulation, and then the bodies burned with unquenchable fire". I don't care if their spirits are tap dancing on top of the Bunsen burners, that sounds dead to me.
But if something is, as you said, tap dancing on my lab equipment, is it truly dead..? I'm a biologist, not a philosopher. I think this is something that HR would handle, in terms of whether ghosts and spirits can remain employed with the agency. Do we even have an HR department?
Yes. It's a ghost. It's body is dead. Whatever happens afterwards is not my department. As for HR, I don't know. I didn't really ask the Scottish fusilier who hired me who he answered to.
I mean, in terms of my department, it's dead too. But like I said. We deal with some... unusual levels of nonsense. What's dead to you and me might not be dead to, say, someone who works in one of the more occult research departments. Anyway nikel if it's your former lab techs that are fucking with my equipment I promise to have them removed in the least comfortable way we can devise for them. It's against protocol to have ghosts in the micro lab.
Update: @Treble, you were right. Totally a ghost. @nikel, not Teele or Mei. Anyone know what was in this lab before it was Micro C, by any chance?
IDK. For some time it was solid rock. After that who knows what the Agency used it for before now. I'd try the archives?
The archives are a rat's nest when it comes to anything from more than like 3 years ago... I got the distinct feeling I'm going to be looking for something older than that. Augh. Maybe I'll enlist some help.
