Prompt: The double fractal fossils (Archive)

The following is a transcript is document 45 of 238 retrieved from the site of the National Institute of Applied Archaeology. The collection is incomplete and damaged, returned to us by a medical evacuation team that was requested by Dr Clement Harding, the expedition’s physician.

Day 16

It took the five of us the best part of two days but we’ve finally gotten the prefabs set up in this godforsaken place. And just in time too, we had barely finished unloading what was left of the trucks before the snow started to fall. In a couple of days the roads will be impassable again. It’s a damn shame we lost most of the medical supplies when one was caught in a landslide but I’ll be able to make do. We were lucky enough to get as long as we did to get up here and in as good of a condition as we have. According to the locals many have gone missing in these mountains.

To be honest I don’t really understand what we’re doing here, some rumor to check out some unusual fossils or something. Frankly I could not care less but the others are determined to make the best of what has already been a trying trip.

Day 17

The first excavations have proven more interesting than expected. We found the fossils we are here for but Erwin broke his leg with an impressive open fracture. The fool somehow managed to undermine a rock in a cliff and did not get out of the way in time. I’ve splinted it and cleaned the wound as best I could with our limped supplies but I fear for infection. Thankfully the needle and thread were not lost so I was able to stitch the wound.

I was able to get a look at the fossils that have been causing all the excitement. I might not be able to appreciate their intellectual value but they are certainly an interesting shape. Each one a Fibonacci spiral of dual helixes, I’ve never seen the like before and it’s hard to believe such a shape exists in nature. They seem much too regular to have formed through random happenstance.

Day 18

Erwin has started to take a turn for the worse overnight. I awoke to find a strong fever had set in and he seems not to be aware of his surroundings. I changed the dressings and cleaned the wounds as best I could. It looks like we are going to be stuck here a while. Erwin needs proper medical attention but with the weather closed in there’s no way back down to the village until the weather breaks.

Everyone else is eager to get back to the dig site. They must be mad with this weather but they seem to think they’ll be able to rig up makeshift protection over the dig to keep off the worst of the weather.

Day 19

Perry and Lyle returned to the dig site and were able to get some protection against the elements set up for themselves using some bits of old tarp and likely a lot of swearing. Perry fainted at the site and seems to have just gotten himself mildly dehydrated. Thankfully today has proven less eventful than the rest of the week, even the weather seems to be improving and I was able to have short conversations with Erwin in his short periods of lucidity.

Perry has been complaining of migraines, likely due to the late nights he’s been spending studying those fossils with just a dim light. I prescribed aspirin and an early night, but I doubt he’ll listen.

Day 20

Erwin continues to improve. He’s still as weak as a kitten but should survive long enough for the weather to clear and for us to get him to the village for better help. The other two returned to the site again and spent the day there. Lyle seems more determined than ever but Perry seems to be flagging. All he requires is a good night’s sleep but the man won’t listen. He continues to complain of migraines, prescribed aspirin and rest. Again.

Day 21

Erwin is dead. I went to check on him in the morning as always and he was unresponsive and I could not find a pulse. I think there’s been some foul play, some of my supplies have clearly been rummaged through. The other two laughed off any suggestion that one of them might have done it, but I don’t see who else it could have been.

It must be Perry. It’s something about that damn chunk of rock he’s married himself to. When they were out excavating at the site today I spent some time securing the medical prefab. It’s not much but at least I might sleep a bit safer for it.

Day 22

Perry got Lyle and came after me. We were eating and he just started laughing to himself. Before I knew it he’d jumped up and stabbed Lyle in the neck. He just laughed as Lyle bled out. He turned to me with a mianicle grin, his eyes, they were unexplainable. Two helixed spirals, boring down into his head, deeper than ever imaginable. He lunged for me and I scrambled back, thankfully he tripped over his chair and I was able to get away. The fleeting head start just enough for me to get to the medical prefab and barricade myself in.

I think he’s gone. After a few attempts at the doors and windows he gave up. I’ve not seen him for a few hours and the camp has been eerily quiet. I’m going to make a run for one of the trucks. The weather be damned, dying in a landslide is better than having to face those empty eyes again.

The evacuation team was not able to find any survivors. Perry Grayson is missing, presumed dead.