Date: April 18th, 2132

  Day 136 - Third Rotation

  Time: 2155 hours

  Last-minute meeting called. Emergency briefing. I'm too exhausted to document properly. Just personal thoughts at this point.

  John Brune arrived this afternoon. U.S. Minister of Defense. Smooth arrival, no complications. He gave a brief speech in the main docking bay - standard political fare about success, duty, the importance of this mission for humanity's future in the cosmos. The usual rhetoric.

  Two Secret Service agents escorted him to the Minister's suite. Brune's settled in there now.

  The meeting tonight was mostly logistics I didn't pay close attention to. My mind kept drifting.

  I can't stop thinking about the regeneration case.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  How is it possible? Human tissue doesn't regrow like that. Not at that speed. Not at that scale. The patient's hand was amputated three days ago and now there's skeletal framework forming.

  What is the Proto-Gel? What does it do to human biology on a cellular level?

  And what's inside that cargo container? The asset we've been storing, securing, preparing to transport - what is it that requires this level of military oversight, elite unit escort, ministerial presence?

  Should I look? The storage unit is in Main Lab. Stratoskha's security is posted outside, but I have clearance to enter the lab itself. The container is locked, but I could...

  No. That's stupid. That's the kind of decision that gets people hurt.

  But I want to know. I need to know.

  Mission departs tomorrow. Patel leaves. Volatus 1 members. The cargo. All of it gone.

  Once they're off-station, I'm getting drunk. Properly drunk. Patel's stash, whatever's left in the equipment lockers, I don't care.

  I need this to be over.

  I need to sleep.

  I need answers I'm not going to get.

  [Entry ends]