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Transcript of an encrypted recording discovered among the personal files of Lieutenant [REDACTED] after the incident at Haven [REDACTED]. The audio was captured after the fall of Fort Freiheit and the reallocation of several of its former personnel to Haven [REDACTED].The Lieutenant in question is LT. The Corporal she is interviewing is CPL.Transcript begins.CPL: Hola, Lieutenant.LT: Hola? Are you trying to be cute?CPL: No. I wanted to… nevermind.LT: Right attitude. This little conversation of ours isn’t about what you want. It’s about what you’ve been doing.CPL: Am I being charged with something?LT: This isn’t an interrogation. It’s a conversation.CPL: I’ve been doing my duty, ma’am.LT: Is that what Colonel Harlson has been telling you?CPL: Project Vulture is useful to our future, yes.LT: So you really think playing shrink to the muties is going to get us anywhere? How do you even shrink that kind of head?CPL: It’s not about shrinking anything. It’s about expanding our minds.LT: How do you figure?CPL: We can’t shoot our way to a solution. That’s old world thinking.LT: It’s been working out pretty well for us so far.CPL: Has it? How many people has New Jericho lost in the last five years? How many havens?LT: You and your Vulture buddies would know all about that, wouldn’t you? I don’t know how the Colonel keeps his rank when he loses that many people. He had an entire fucking haven shot out from under him. But he doesn’t get busted back down to Private. Doesn’t lose any of his funding. Shit, he gets to set up shop all over again in our backyard like nothing ever happened.CPL: Quite a lot happened, actually.LT: Elaborate.CPL: We looked. We listened. We learned.LT: Details, Corporal.CPL: Do you dream, Lieutenant?LT: I don’t see how that has anything to do with Project Vulture, but, sure, I dream of a world where those muties are fucking dead and we can take back our cities and seas. Whole damn planet, really.CPL: I was afraid of that.LT: What is that supposed to mean?CPL: It’s more of that old world thinking. The old world is gone.LT: Jesus, [REDACTED], do you have some Disciple pamphlet stashed in your bunk? You know it’s all a crock of shit. They’re muties who think they’re people.CPL: I’m not going to defect to the Disciples of Anu, if that’s what this is about.LT: Then what is Project Vulture about? Sitting down and shooting the breeze with muties sounds an awful lot like Disciple thinking.CPL: The Disciples are… well, you could think of them as children. They’re children playing with something they don’t understand.LT: So you understand?CPL: I wouldn’t say I understand. Not all of it. Not yet. But I am getting there.LT: Enlighten me, Professor. Use that fancy education of yours.CPL: Come again?LT: I know all about you, college boy. Read your file. You were an egghead at some fancy school when the mist rolled in and the muties started marching out. That’s why Harlson has a hard-on for you. Thinks you can use that big, educated brain of yours to crack some sort of code.CPL: You’re overstating things. I was a junior when the old world ended.LT: Junior? You’re twice my age. You weren’t exactly a kid when the mist hit.CPL: You think I was… No. No, no, no. “Junior” doesn’t mean “minor.” “Junior” was kind of like a rank. For college. It was a sign of how far along I was in my studies. I never finished.LT: So you’re not even qualified for Project Vulture?CPL: Project Vulture isn’t about credentials. It’s more about keeping your eyes and ears and mind open.LT: Project Vulture sounds like a waste of everyone’s time.CPL: It sounds like you know everything about Project Vulture, ma’am.LT: Don’t get cute.CPL: I’m not being cute. I’m being honest. You’ve clearly made up your mind about the project and what we’ve been doing.LT: And that is?CPL: I already told you. Looking, listening, learning. You have eyes, don’t you? Why don’t you try using them. Look beneath the surface.LT: I’ve looked under the shell more than once. Once you shoot through it, they’re full of blood and guts just like us.CPL: Yes, they are just like us.LT: Do you think we’re ever going to let Subject 27 out of its cell?CPL: Subject 27?LT: Yeah, your pet projectCPL: Are you talking about Christine?LT: Christine?CPL: Subject 27, as you call her, is a woman. Her real name is Christine.LT: I’m glad you brought that up, actually. I’ve got something for you.CPL: This is my notepad. How did you…? You let yourself into my quarters while you were reading my file. Is that it?LT: I’ve got the clearance for it. But don’t get your panties in a twist. Just tell me what you’ve got there on page 12.CPL: It’s a sketch.LT: A sketch of what?CPL: ChristineLT: She’s only a stage one infected.CPL: Your point?LT: It looks nothing like her. This portrait looks awfully… crabby… doesn’t it?CPL: I don’t know what you’re getting at.LT: You were an artist, right? That’s what you studied at your big fancy college? Why don’t you sketch a self-portrait.CPL: I can’t sketch with my mind, Lieutenant.LT: Here’s a fucking pencil. Jesus.CPL: …finished.LT: Give it here.CPL: Are you satisfied, ma’am?LT: I’m not satisfied, but I’m not surprised either. This conversation has been very enlightening, Corporal. I have everything I need for my report.CPL: Are you reporting to Major [REDACTED]?LT: Obviously. He’s the commander of this haven.CPL: You don’t lift a finger without Daddy’s approval, do you?LT: Oh, fuck you, college boy. I worked my ass off to get where I am. Everyone thinks that because I’m a woman, I must be diddling–CPL: That’s not why you call him Daddy.LT: Tread very fucking carefully, Corporal.CPL: You lost your father young, right as the mist rolled in, didn’t you? But his old Army buddy, [REDACTED], he was there to give you and your mother a safe place in a Vanadium bunker when the old world ended. You still have your biological father’s name, but the Major is your real father, isn’t he?LT: You fucking hacked my file, didn’t you? How did you even…? You’re not a techie. Did you bribe one of them to do it for you? Who was it? Anderson? Hicks?CPL: You’re still not listening, Lieutenant! You’re not looking either! Not at the big picture. That’s why I know about you and the Major. That’s why I know about Christine and all of the others. That’s why–LT: That’s why I have a security team that’s coming through that door any second now if you don’t drop the fucking pencil. Delta, standby.CPL: What?LT: Sit down, Corporal. Sit down and drop the pencil.CPL: I didn’t even realize… when did I stand up?LT: Corporal. [REDACTED]. Buddy. Why don’t you take a deep breath and then take a seat? I’ll give you back your notepad if you do that, okay?CPL: I’ll sit down. But why are you giving me back my notepad? I know everything that’s in it.LT: I want you to take a look at that self-portrait you drew for me earlier. Tell me, Corporal. What do you see?CPL: I see a self-portrait, Lieutenant.LT: Describe it for me.CPL: It’s just me.LT: Don’t you think you look a little… crabby?CPL: It’s just me.LT: You have an exoskeleton?CPL: You’re still not seeing, are you? You only see the surface of things. Skin deep. I’m looking deeper.LT: What do you see when you look in the mirror?CPL: The futureLT: Why does the future look like the enemy?CPL: Because I was willing to look, Christine helped me to see the shape the future will take. Because I was willing to listen, Christine helped me hear the song of the sea.LT: What does any of that even mean?CPL: I was willing to learn, too. I’ve learned a lot. I can teach you, Lieutenant.LT: Fuck you.CPL: No, no. That’s old world thinking. You don’t even remember any of that, do you? You’re a child of the new world. Stop listening to old men like Tobias West and Major [REDACTED]. Listen to the song of the sea.LT: I’m not buying what you’re selling.CPL: How am I supposed to help you if you won’t look at me? At the real me?LT: Delta, go.CPL: What good are those eyes in your skull if you won’t even use them!?LT: I thought I told you to drop the pencil before–[The audio becomes distorted at this point, but sounds of screaming, struggling, and gunfire can be heard before the file abruptly stops. Major [REDACTED] would stage a mutiny against Colonel Harlson soon after.]