As a soldier, I was supposed to protect the others from danger. I thought that would be easy. The last three expeditions never seemed to have any danger. Now, three people had died. 

The thing, whatever it was had killed the team leader, Doctor Robinson, and the chess guy. We never even got a proper look at it, and no one dared to say what it was. Of course, no one knew. We only saw the leader get pulled into the darkness by an unseen limb, which by its silhouette, looked like an octopus’ tentacle, then a face emerging from the darkness, even if it was a face. 

The face had no features at all, being dark grey, and what I thought was a single eye on its forehead. Then, it opened a mouth, despite no mouth being on the face before, filled with hundreds of knife-sharp teeth, which plunged onto Doctor Robinson’s head, killing him. The rest is a blur, as we panicked and ran. In a way, the Doctor had it coming for him. Robinson had insisted on going this far in the future, instead of the safer near future, where we had only encountered docile, giant, mammals. Heck, the only danger in the near future was a snake-like Weasel attacking the camp, which was scared away by a few shots of sonic blasts. As far as I could tell, no shots had seemed to slow it down, nor damage the thing.

I think it’s coming back now, we can hear it running.

“Is it coming?!” yells the one who wears the data clip, Natalin.

“We just need to go!” pleads another, a woman with a gun.

Distantly, something scratches and taps on the floor, getting louder and faster. In response, all the remaining members of the team run, activating flashlights and searching for a way out. 

Behind them, a menacing growl is heard, and we see the clip look back, to see a blur of dark grey. No further details can be seen on what the black mass is, as Natalin turns around and keeps running. 

A thud is heard, and then a scream, followed by a disgusting squelch.

“Is that?” a young man says, pointing at something off-camera.

“Yes!” says another.

The camera turns, and just around the corner, is a soft purple glow. Natalin whispers, identifying the glow: “The time portal.”

The video feed goes directly into the glow, before turning to dead static. Nothing else can be seen.

“Are we safe?” says a voice, who can be identified as the woman with the gun.

“We’re back at the lab, so yeah,” says Natalin.

We hear a sigh of relief and brisk walking arrives, and the commotion of people begins. The sounds and voices appear to be from the lab workers, as they all seem to be asking and speaking in odd, scientific terms. There aren't many heard, just one or two.

And then, there was a noise, as if something came through the portal. A shrill growl is heard, something falls, and the recording ends.

The thing came through the portal just like us. It came out dazed, and I remember it growling in annoyance. It seemed almost slower, and I remembered Doctor Robinson saying oxygen levels caused problems. 

At least we could get a clear look at it, just before we ran. I even managed to snap a quick photo as I ran, though it came out blurry. I remember thinking that it looked like a Gorilla, though I can’t remember it much now. Yes, that was it, grey like a Gorilla.

The body of the thing was thin and seemed extremely solid. The face had no features, with no mouth, just what seemed to be an eye socket in the forehead of the thing. I think that the thing’s arms were long and thin, thinner than the body. Perhaps the oddest thing was that it appeared to have many joints, each curling and twisting. At the edge, I remember hooks gripping the floor. Still, it looked vaguely apelike, dare I say, almost human.

I know I tripped because I heard everyone else either running or firing at the thing. I crawled behind a beige sofa. I peered above the sofa to see the thing stabbing a soldier with the hook hand, blood spraying on the clean, white, walls. Next, a mouth appeared on the creature from nowhere, rows of teeth stretching wide open, then lunging towards the soldier’s head. 

Before I saw anything more, I hid back, desperately trying to forget what happened. But still, I know it was all true. I heard several squishes and tears. The next time I peeked to see the room, there was no one there. Everyone was either outside the central lab, or dead. 

The thing sort of sniffed for any other victims, but somehow didn’t detect me. I believe this to be caused by blood. You see, I happened to be standing near Doctor Robinson before he died, and was covered with the crimson liquid.

What happened next, is strange and unearthly. The faceless thing looked around some more, knocking down boxes and technology, deactivating the glowing, spherical time portal. And then I saw it start to twist, squirm, change. The arms with too many joints began to fold upon itself, merging with what seemed to be its flesh. Next, it changed colors, and kept folding, until it seemed completely human, if you ignored the fact that it was entirely gray, though a lighter shade, and that the thing had no face. 

I may have been delusional, but this I remember: Whatever the thing was, it started to have color, and change into the costume of one of our members. Then, a face molded itself, and hair sprouted. Looking, I saw it become James Masio. James was, I remember, an all-around nice, blonde, guy who loved chess and painting.

I could only watch as the thing that pretended to be James Masio smiled widely, as if splitting his face in half. Then, the thing strolled out of the blood-stained lab. 

I waited, then silently followed the thing that pretended to be my friend outside. I saw the thing talk to the Institute soldiers, in English. My coworkers, who had not seen the terrible transformation, made joyful small talk with the thing, who kept smiling from ear to ear. Compared to the real James Masio, they seemed the same. I heard past references being said, and the false thing understood.

That’s all I remember, because the next thing I saw was a hospital room. I was lying on a bed. I sat up and looked around. I saw a small window on the door, and I saw a face behind it. 

It was the smiling face of the thing that pretended to be James Masio.

And that’s where I am now, writing this report to never forget what happened. Nothing happened with Masio, and when I blinked and cleared my eyes, there was no one behind the glass.

I think I’ll survive, though I won’t be going into the future for a long time.

Note Ends

I’ve dug into the event and the attack on the lab section of the JP Institute. Unfortunately, the only photographs of this “Apelike, Almost Human,” thing is the blurry photograph from Samuel Orchid which shows a mass of grey, though we can make out vague humanlike features. The other visual of the thing is the video from Natalin Voyen, who appears to have survived. Unfortunately, I can only see a black mass, slightly illuminated by the moving flashlights. I think I can see the arms of the thing, but that may be my imagination.

Sadly there were no cameras in the central lab, which I assume was due to Tachyon Energy messing with visuals.

I sent some people to make contact with James Masio. As far as I can tell, he seems like the same Masio as before. The only unsettling thing I can see of this supposed new Masio is that he seems slightly taller and darker than his previous pictures before the expedition. However, this may be due to his numerous expeditions in the future. 

All in all, the details of this case are hard to work out. We can’t be sure what happened inside the lab. For all we know, the thing never followed them out and that the portal was deactivated. But then again, everyone involved mentions the black mass of almost human things. We may never know what happened here. Ah, but one thing has caught my attention- The Expedition was never given the green light, which means it wasn’t supposed to happen. This explains why only two lab workers were working near the portal at the time.

My conclusion is that the details of this case are hard to follow up, and that we can’t be sure what happened here. Witnesses don’t share the same details, and we have no way to prove that Masio is an imposter. Lastly, Samuel Orchid has seemed to have vanished, last seen at the hospital. I believe this to be some sort of far-future octopus if it exists.

End