The Attention Farm — Part 1
Short story — A state auditor follows the money to a series of questionable experiments, investigating the seemingly supernatural force that destroyed a small town.
I tapped the heavy envelope against my hand, trying to judge the contents by weight alone. It felt about as thick as my apartment lease; though hopefully more interesting, if the message scrawled across the outside was any indication.
“TURN OFF YOUR PHONE, OPEN ALONE.”
I recognized the handwriting as a former college, turned guerilla journalist. What I didn’t know, was how or when he slipped the envelope into my bag.
I craned my neck to look over the top of my cubicle. Someone had shut off the overhead lights, leaving most of the bullpen in darkness. Somewhere, unseen, an industrial clock ticked away the passing seconds. There was no typing, coughing, sighing—or any of the usual sounds punctuating office activity.
If there was anyone else in the Office of the State Auditor, I couldn’t see or hear them.
I held up the envelope to the harsh blue light of my computer monitor, then hesitated.
Why did I feel so suspicious of my phone? I half laughed at myself as I held down the power button, waiting for that little screen to fade before slicing open the seal.
Inside were three items: a second smaller envelope; a heavily redacted document, and a single scrap of paper that said, “read me first.” I turned it over.
I need help with a little symbol. But every time I see it, I need to check my phone. Like, REALLY need to check it. I you’ll understand when you open the other envelope.
Got it from a whistleblower at some alphabet agency called ARC. Ever heard of it? They’ve got their fingerprints all over something called the Gorham Madness.
This feels big. Can you follow the money?
-Cal
I reached for the second envelope, then stopped myself. Context first. I turned my attention to the document. Entire pages had been redacted, but what I could read between the lines was still deeply unsettling.
Carrier Wave Transmission, Refuted — [REDACTED] Penitentiary Experiment
Executive Summary
On [REDACTED], a field research team led by Dr. Rupert Morris uncovered a new Sigil — code name “CAMEL” — in the aftermath of the Gorham Madness. Its mode of propagation appeared to be social pressure: those enthralled by its effect feel compelled to display the mark and then convince others to do the same, sometimes violently.
Dr. Morris initially hypothesized this may have been the result of ordinary human behavior rather than an actual memetic effect. The experiment conducted to test this hypothesis inadvertently led to a breakthrough in the ongoing effort to contain and properly utilize Sigils.
Methodology
[REDACTED] penitentiary was selected as a suitable location for the experiment due to its remoteness and high population of inmates in solitary confinement.
The test’s proctor posed as a prison guard, visiting each inmate in solitary confinement and politely asking them to display CAMEL. The request was repeated with various percentages of prisoners in general population already displaying CAMEL. At no point were the solitary inmates aware of how many Sigils were being displayed.
Findings
Prisoners were grouped based on results:
Group A agreed to display CAMEL even if no others had done so. This is the smallest group by size, making up approximately 5% of subjects.
Group B initially refused, but agreed after approximately a third of gen pop displayed CAMEL outside their cells
Group C is the largest group by size. They resisted displaying CAMEL until one more than 50% of prisoners had already done so.
Group D held out the longest, but ultimately agreed after a supermajority already displayed CAMEL.
Group E, the second smallest, adamantly refused to hang CAMEL under any circumstances, even when threatened with violence, longer confinement, and depravation of food.
When we initially concluded the experiment, members of group E expressed relief that “the presence” had been removed.
This effect led Dr. Morris to undertake a secondary experiment: instances of this Sigil were brought back into the prison in sealed crates and placed in a storage area. The intention was to test whether the Sigils needed to be displayed, or merely present to exert their influence.
Before the experiment could begun, members of group A made unprompted demands to “Anoint their doors,” with CAMEL. They showed distress when told that this would not be permitted.
Group E prisoners, meanwhile, described experiencing discomfort akin to a splinter embedded in their mind, and asked for the “presence” to be removed once more.
Those in groups B, C, and D did not report feeling any adverse effects. When the experiment was repeated, these groups all behaved as they did when zero instances of CAMEL had been posted.
Conclusion:
The [REDACTED] Penitentiary Experiment conclusively debunked Dr. Morris’s social pressure theory, but yielded valuable insight into the propagation and detection of other Sigils.
A certain degree of correlation was always assumed between the strength of a Sigil’s memetic effects, and the number of instances in the local area. However, Dr. Morris’s experiment has shown that unobserved Sigils are effectively innate to all but a small fraction of humans; those being outlier groups A and E.
Secondary Results
This research has also partially debunked Dr. Ida Welch’s Carrier Wave theory; that Sigils somehow hijack the brainwaves of a beholder to spread their influence.
Dr. Morris has proposed a new Repeater theory; suggesting each observer acts in the same capacity as a radio repeater, boosting the Sigil’s memetic effects. Ultimately however, a group A receiver is necessary to begin the Sigil’s propagation.
Capital Requests
Dr. Morris has requested a funding allocation in the amount of [REDACTED] to cross test the Repeater hypothesis on other Sigils. The ARC board of directors has approved this request. Experiments are currently underway at [REDACTED].
Dr. Lansing has requested a funding allocation in the amount of [REDACTED] to develop a method of studying and detecting group A/E traits in the broader population. This funding request has been sent to the ARC board of directors for review.
Dr. Bell has requested a funding allocation of an unspecified amount to study using CAMEL to ensure peaceful compliance with critical policy initiatives. This request has been approved by the ARC board of directors and marked as a priority one initiative.
I re-read the document twice before I could make sense of it. I wasn’t sure yet just what I was dealing with, but I got the impression it was pretty expensive.
At this point, I hadn’t seriously considered the idea that anything supernatural was taking place. It all sounded like a wacky exercise in wasteful naval gazing. I mean honestly—magic symbols that drive you crazy? Please.
I assumed Cal had sent the files to me — a state auditor — to find out how much taxpayer money had been wasted on this boondoggle. Opening the audit could wait until morning, though. It was late, after all.
My hand was halfway toward my desk lamp when it stopped, hovering over the second envelope.
“Forgot about you.” I tore it open. “Better not be a damn book report in here, too.”
A single Polaroid fell out onto my desk. The picture was faded, like it had been taken quite some time ago. It showed a huge, monolithic rock, possibly in the desert, bearing a crude symbol.
Like the recalling of an important and forgotten responsibility in the moments before sleep; an unpleasant feeling wriggled out of the recesses of my mind. It began as a foreboding that bloomed into full blown panic. Of course I recognized it—how could I forget? It was beautiful… like a summer sunset, or a rolling hillside of aspens in the heart of autumn. I couldn’t explain it, but I urgently needed to share it.
I reached for my phone to take a picture, but despite my frantic tapping the screen remained black and lifeless. No matter, I would take the picture and show everyone I encountered. I would make them see too.
Someone tore the picture from my fingers, grabbed my collar, and yanked me back down into the office chair, though I had no memory of standing.
“Powerful stuff, huh?” Cal stood over me, shadows accentuating his hawkish facial features and crooked posture. He wore a sly smile, in spite of the genuine concern I heard in his voice.
“What was—wait, how did you get in here?”
He laughed. “Walked right through the front door. You’re a forensic accountant, not an FBI agent. I hope you’ll forgive the scare, I couldn’t think of another way to get you to believe me. If I’d known you’d react so strongly, I would’ve tried someone else.”
“It’s real?”
He nodded. “This one is called WILLOW. They all want attention, but have different ways of getting it… and do different things once they have it.”
How could a symbol want something?
“How do they work?”
“Dumb question.” Cal shook his head. “You read. You saw.”
“Yeah but what do they do, beyond trying to steal your attention? If that’s the bar for public threat, most people with a phone would qualify.”
Another laugh. “True, but symbols and pictures aren’t supposed to be sentient. Besides—did you skip right over the Gorham Madness?”
I hadn’t, but it certainly slipped my mind.
“What was it?”
“That’s what I’m hoping you can help me find out.”
“I don’t understand…”
“Those files are redacted. But ARC is a taxpayer funded agency using public dollars for the research. Pull the thread. Find out what these things are capable of.”
I pulled. And the truth I unraveled was worse than anything I could have imagined.
Thank You for Reading!
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If you don’t have the money for a paid subscription, telling a friend about me is pretty cool too. Getting your words in front of eyeballs is honestly harder than doing the actual writing and editing…
Love this. Left me on the edge of my seat
Wow! I love the story you're setting up! Can't wait to read more!!