//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: The Maiden and the Serpent // by Hustlin Tom //------------------------------// From the personal records of the Academic Board Head Regarding Project Ascendance; Two weeks after Biogenesis. Subject 2396, self-identified as ‘Discord’, shows marked increase in cognitive function in several fields of knowledge. Its knowledge is..hodge-podge at best, though. Struggles greatly at basic sequences in mathematics, but readily, if not easily, understands the quantum mechanical and chaos theories. Bizarre behavior tics include finishing others’ sentences, speaking of unconnected events from history of which we have provided no education of, and pressing discussions into the subject of pineapples and other fruits. Also seems to have a penchant for shapeshifting into its educators, to the majority of their discomfort. The holding chamber’s scans of the subject yield intriguing results. The majority of other creations after experiencing Tessaractal irradiation either have a constant level of Tessaractal resonance or gradually declining resonance. Discord, on the contrary, has gradually increased in power since his inception, and shows no sign of stopping. This must be monitored intently, but these are glorious days! Four weeks after Biogenesis Subject has gained leaps and bounds in the arts of logic and deduction, along with the studies of psychology and philosophy. Readily quotes the likes of Sigmund Freud and Voltaire word for word from their studies and treatises, but we have never exposed him to any of these materials. Has demonstrated abilities related to Tessaractal energy manipulation, including levitation of objects and transmutation of butterflies seemingly from nowhere. It has even begun to demonstrate, unbelievable as it sounds, reality warping abilities. When presented with a Sudoku puzzle just yesterday to test its ability to deduce patterns and sequences, it simply touched the paper with a frog’s hind limb, and the numbers on the page jumped off the paper itself to dance in a circle while playfully reciting ‘Ring around the Rosie’. I believe that the subject has the ability to directly tap the laws of probability and manipulate them as he sees fit, usually to either the most outrageous or ironical ends. This hypothesis might explain his lopsided education, impossible knowledge, and almost obsessive compulsion for all things chaotic and disordered. I remain positive of what we could learn from it, but my doubts grow; if he is not even subject to the most fundamental order of the universe, that of random chance and of cause and effect, how can we hold sway over him? Regarding Tessaract Power Core Initative Power cores for Tessaractal radiation have been greatly desired since we discovered the anomaly seventy years ago. Today, we have finally completed the project. Six batteries have been created already as prototypes, and so far they have been quite effective in both their output and stability. Six seems to be the most..harmonious number, as their output was disappointing and they were unstable in function until the sixth power core was created. As it seems we should not interfere with a truly good thing, six batteries it shall remain. They will be responsible for powering all the research labs in Vanguard from now on; a great feat, as we are running out of fissionable material for our nuclear reactors. 5 weeks after Biogenesis After hours, when tests have been completed, Discord will..for lack of a better term, ‘flicker’. Security footage of his chamber shows that for a random interval of time, sometimes as little as a microsecond, or as long as fifteen minutes, Discord’s astral cloud will fade temporarily, and then seemingly return. When questioned about this new, relatively odd behavior, it simply says it was ‘going out for a stroll’. We’re not sure what it means, but literally anything is possible with this creature.