Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ethos, Year 15, day 262,

With the start of Stage 3, it is even more imperative that we have extra staff to keep watch over the two experiments. With this in mind, we have found several candidates. Max is incharge of the final steps of the process, including bringing the final candidates into a mock-trial using old, altered video to see how they react both in panic situations, and mundane everyday life. This process will take several days. During this time, Quinn will take over Max’s place of hands-on conduction of the experiment. This, of course, means that Quinn will be the one reviewing the video-footage, and making sure that the experiments’ supplied meals are safe and nutritious for each of their species. Due to that incident several years ago, we are aware that Experiment Ethos is able to respawn. The scientists in charge of the Domesticated Creeper did not inform us if their experiment has the ability to respawn or not. Due to this, the WILSON unit has been ordered to keep a more secure lookout and keep the experiments safe. We do have additional medical supplies on-hand as well as an on-sight doctor in case things go askew as they did a few years ago.

* * * * *

Max sits back from the computer, reading over his log once more. Sure, it wasn’t the most professional thing, but after nearly sixteen years, he doubted anyone would fire him over it. He checked his watch, a small smile drifting over his face as he thought about his old friend once again. He had gotten back in contact with Vivi sometime last year, and she was doing well. They made sure to chat at least once a week, but with their conflicting work-schedules it was hard to get time to hang out. He blinked, humming softly as he ran a hand through his hair. Maybe once he finished the hiring process he’d get some more time off. Quinn never seemed to have that issue though.

With a sigh, Max submitted the day’s review. He stood slowly, letting his body stretch after his long time sitting. Before leaving, he tapped the desk twice with his right index finger, as if saying see you later. He walked out the door, and glanced back for just one moment as the screen on his computer faded to black. He’d be back eventually. For now, he straightened his coat and glanced at his wristwatch again, he had resumes to look over.

* * * * *

Ethos, Year 16, Day 1. Experiment Summary

The experiment has been going well. The child successfully survived it’s infancy and early childhood years, and made great progress in learning to live in a self-sufficient manner, thus completing stage 1. Stage 2 was to introduce a new sentient creature into the enclosure of the Ethos experiment, and study it’s reactions. For this we were given an extra experiment from our sister lab ◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️, specimen Do C M 77. Despite being initially fearful of the new creature, the Ethos subject warmed up fairly quickly to its new companion, both of the experiments seeming to bond over the substance called redstone. The WILSON unit has taught them some of the perils of the substance and safety gear has been distributed. Finally, it is time for stage 3: reactions to loss. To help with monitoring this stage, we have hired some new scientists and a new intern. Some of these include Jackson Smith who will work closely with Head Scientist Quinn, and Anthony Visage and Henry Unpas, both of whom will work in tandem with Experiment Head Max.

Stage 3 is planned to go as follows: we will initially stop updating the WILSON unit, and continue to observe through the various hidden cameras throughout the enclosure. Then, after sufficient time has passed we will remotely deactivate the WILSON unit, and see how the specimens react to the loss of their caretaker.

*****

They were going to shut down Wilson like he was an old communicator... Max rubbed his eyes as he thought about that fact. Yes, Wilson’s hardware was outdated years ago and could now be made in a much tidier way, but surely there had to be... no. Max of all people should know that Quinn would push for till the end for what they wanted. Wilson would be shut down, and Etho and Doc would have to suffer for it.

Max looked over at his two new assistants, “this is the lab summary, we try to update it at least once per year or when we change stages. We’ve been working on stage 3 for a while now, but...” he pauses, and his fingers twitch, “I just was updating the next steps,” his voice shifted to just barely above a whisper, “even though I don’t approve of them.”

Anthony and Henry looked at each other, and Anthony spoke up, his soft voice seeming more suited to jokes than concern, “Well, sir, can you do anything about them since you don’t approve?”

Max hums softly, “No. All I can do is hope that things go well.” He rubbed the back of his neck in an absentminded manner, and turned around, a flicker of surprise which settled into a puzzled expression crossing his face. “What was… hm.” Anthony and Henry kept their eyes on Max, their heads tilted slightly. Max cleared his throat, “Probably nothing.”

*****

Back in the enclosure, Doc wandered aimlessly. He wandered from the forest area, past several patches of flowers that he had planted, into the main camp area. He paused by the animal pens and absently tossed a few handfuls of wheat to each of the feeding troughs, mind elsewhere. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, and the smell of living darkness, forever present, grew stronger. Doc spun on his heel, his mechanical eye flickering between settings, Infrared, ultraviolet, standard sight, even his special redstone-reading setting, and nothing registered. “Etho?” He continued to turn, the world flickering between different colors as his eye continued to flick different filters through his field of view. He turned, and stalked further into the camp. “Hey Wilson? Have you seen Etho?” Doc peaked his head into the main cabin where Wilson sat under a window, the sunlight reflecting off his metal carapace and freshly-oiled joints.

Wilson looked over at Doc, its upgraded visor shining red for a moment. “Etho is at the beach, sitting under the large acacia tree that faces the ocean.” Doc nodded, and didn’t ask how Wilson always knew where either himself or Etho was. He started a slow meandering walk to the beach, the other side of the camp from his beloved forest. In his over 8 years being there, he knew that there were some things that Wilson simply wouldn’t or couldn’t talk about. Even when Doc tried to ask him in secret, when Etho was asleep, Wilson still wouldn’t even let out the faintest wrring of a gear. His thoughts were interrupted by the smell of the salty ocean breeze, blowing past two curving palm trees, their leaves finishing off a fine arch. As he stepped through the archway, Doc’s mossy fur bristled, the back of his neck tingling. Again the smell of living darkness grew. After a moment the feeling and smell vanished. The fourteen-year-old couldn’t suppress a faint shudder. These had been happening more over the last few months, and Doc had a creeping feeling that he knew who was behind them.

He finally saw Etho sitting with his eyes closed against one of the trees that dotted the beach and took a deep breath, only to wind up nearly coughing. The smell was almost choking as he approached. “Etho!” Etho didn’t respond. “Etho what are you up to?”

*****

Flickering images. One, the strange “human” Etho had seen all those years ago. There’s Doc at the animal pens. Wilson recharging himself in front of the window. A place full of bustle and light. Colors and faces all blurring toge- “tho!” His mind cleared a touch, the images fading as his shoulder was shaken. “Etho.” He shifted open one eye and then the other, blinking a few times. Another image, Doc standing in front of him at the beach. This one was different from the others. Etho blinked again, then flexed his hands. Right, here he had hands, here he had ears and a mouth and…

“How long was I napping?”

Chapter Text

“Etho!” Doc shook Etho’s shoulder again, and Etho’s right eye blinked open for a moment, a flash of a green reflection passing quickly enough that Doc barely registered it. Etho blinked, opened his dark eye again, and rubbed faintly at his left, forever tinted by redstone that he had absently rubbed into it some years ago. Doc straightened up, releasing Etho’s shoulder as he shifted to a more comfortable spot.

“How long was I napping?”

***

Things continued to seem.. off to Etho after that day. He would see various images more often; sometimes the same places, sometimes new ones, as they would flicker across his vision. Often, he would wake up to Doc or Wilson somewhere nearby, Doc fiddling with redstone or weaving, Wilson oiling his joints or looking at the sky, seeming to watch as the sun blinked its arc across the sky. Each time he would blink awake, and the memory of those places would stick to his mind, like tree sap sticking to his clothes.

He grew more and more curious about these strange dreams. But are they actually dreams? He wondered. Dreams tend to fade, leaving nothing but the faint impression that they were there. They don’t become memories. He thought as his hands worked out the knots in a fresh pile of wool. The work was simple enough to allow his thoughts to wander.

Etho brushed another few handfuls of the fleece when a thought occurred to him. He moved the brushes against each other a few more times, put the finished rolag in a half-full basket and shuffled another handful of un-carded wool into the brushes. He let his muscles work, and tried to enter one of those… visions.

***

What is he doing now? Doc leaned against the fence opposite from Etho. The bleating of the sheep and grunts of the cattle disguised the majority of the subtle noises made by his mechanical eye as it zoomed in to better see Etho’s halting progress. Normally, Etho’s quick at working through the wool. But today- He watched as Etho brushed out a chunk of wool, placed it into the basket, grabbed a fresh chunk, and then paused.

Doc’s mechanical eye wrr-ed faintly while it adjusted to get a closer look at Etho’s face. Something seemed off. Something about the grey-tones that the mechanism normally perceived the world in shifted. It was almost like there was a secondary, very faint, light source on Etho’s face, but when Doc looked with his natural eye, there was nothing of the sort. Etho’s pale skin seemed just the same as it was before. Etho himself though… Doc changed a setting on his eye and watched for several seconds, then re-played what he had just seen. Etho, who normally moved faintly, had stayed completely still. Other than the movements of his chest and shoulders to show that he was breathing, not a single muscle had moved.

Etho blinked, and all the small movements came back. The faint tilt of his head as he focused, the firmness of his grip on the card-brushes, even a faint tapping of his toes. It was almost like Etho had left his body for a time, and then come back. Doc shook his head, and patted one cow that came over to him, asking for pets.

A question rolled around Doc’s head, lighting up occasionally like a redstone clock: What was happening to Etho?

Chapter Text

Franklin and Jennifer sat in the forever-noisy mess hall as they took their lunch break. They chatted idly, Jennifer complained about her newest fling while Franklin nodded along, spoon stirring his soup as he thought about what to have for his own dinner. Someone cracked a joke a few tables down, and their friends laughed.

Soon enough, Franklin finished his meal and set down his spoon, when the hairs on the back of his neck seemed to prickle. His mouth tasted like metal. The rest of the mess hall seemed to fade into a murmur. Jennifer paused her newest rant, Franklin wasn’t keeping track anymore, and looked around the mess hall, her eyebrows kitting.

“Did you–feel something weird?”

Franklin blinked, “like, someone was looking at you?”

Jennifer nodded, and looked around again. The mess hall’s chatter grew to it’s normal volume, but it seemed a little sharper, the laughter a little more forced than before. Jennifer shoved the last two bites of her sandwich into her mouth and pocketed her bag of chips. “Ah, lunch break is almost over. See you later.”

Franklin stood as well, already putting Jennifer’s wrappers onto his tray. “Yeah, I’ve gotta make a quick stop before getting back to work. See you later.”

***

George scanned over the next things on Quinn’s schedule, mumbling to himself as he went. “Right, and the financial supporters are wanting an update on the experiment so-” he flipped through several pages and took a moment to relish the sound they made when he turned them. Much better than those computers everyone raves about. He went back to work, his pen scritched across the surface as he made notes and arranged things to what he knew Quinn would likely approve. Something seemed to lean over his shoulder, and he nodded. “I’ll be there in a few minutes, boss, just making the final adjustments.” He tapped the pen’s butt on the top paper, and glanced at where Quinn was– not standing, peering over his shoulder. The tingle of being watched hovered for just a moment more, before it seemed to blink out of existence.

***

June and Sherri walked down the hall together, their footsteps echoed in the concrete halls and their white lab coat tails flapped behind them. “Did you hear the rumors that there’s a ghost in the lab?”

“Yeah I’ve heard it and it just seems like a campfire story to me. What? Are we supposed to think that someone’s died here?”

“That’s what I thought, but Percy is saying that they heard that George felt someone looking over his shoulder the other day, but when he turned to look– noone was there!”

“Yeah, but, Sherri, George is *Quinn’s* secretary, of course he’d feel like someone’s looking over his shoulder.”

Sherri went quiet, “But then, June, what about what Frank’s been saying? That he felt someone watching him and Jennifer?”

“Oh no, oh help” June mocked “Someone was watching us in the cafeteria. Oh what has the world come to?” June stopped walking and turned around after a moment, noticing that Sherri had fallen behind. “Oh, come on Sherri it’s not like there’s a ghost or anything.”

Sherri stayed rooted to the ground, and stared at something a few feet above and to the right of June’s head. She blinked at it. June’s voice softened. “Really, Sherri, there's nothing wrong. I don’t even know what you’re," June turned, and saw for just a moment an emerald green sigil floating in the air. It almost looked like a stylized, angular eye. The angles shifted until they met back together, forming a line, and then vanished.

The two stood silently for a moment, then huddled closer together, their arms linked as June nearly drug Sherri down the hall, away from – whatever that was.

***

These occurrences continued throughout the lab, some people claimed to see that same sigil, others said that they would sometimes feel like someone else was standing in the room with them, even when they knew they were alone. One thing always stayed the same, however. Every person felt as if they were being watched. Not all at the same time, and not all the time, but, each and every person, from the top to the bottom, all had felt or knew someone that had felt the mysterious Gaze.

***

Max walked into the lab as the sun set. He neatly tucked his bag into the locker he had used for the past 16 years, his coat following in on a hanger. As he tossed on his lab coat, he glanced around, the soft susurration of people trying to be quiet greeted him. The day crew all quietly grabbed their bags, and headed out the door, some rushing with their heads lowered while others walked stiffly, their tread timed almost too carefully. Max caught one of them and smiled softly, “Hey, Norman, what’s up?”

Norman looked at him, and then glanced behind himself. “Over the weekend, something changed, sir. Sometimes everything will be going fine, and then you’ll just feel– the Gaze”. The assistant shuddered and looked over his other shoulder, scanning the air.

“The Gaze?”

Norman lowered his voice, “The ghost” Max’s face twisted in confusion, so Norman took it upon himself to explain. “Sir, have you ever felt like something was watching you here in the lab?” Max paused, and his thoughts went back to the previous week, recalling that time that he had been chatting with Anthony and Henry after updating the logs. Norman’s face lit up, “So you’ve felt it too, Sir! Even Quinn has confirmed that it wasn’t them, so that can only mean that there’s a ghost!”

Max released Norman as the younger man started prattling about some theories about the ghost’s identity, and then held up a hand, cutting off the rant. “Thank you, Norman. I’ll keep that in mind.” Max paused, and then shook his head. “I’ve got to get clocked in, have a good night.”

Norman nodded, “Yes Sir! Goodnight Sir!”

As Norman started to scuttle off, Max turned to watch him leave, and rubbed the back of his neck again. Just what is going on?

*****

The experiences continued, every day someone would claim that they felt the Gaze, or that they saw that same sigil. Every report agreed on the feeling of being watched. Every person that saw it all made the same remark, a translucent green that reminded them of emeralds.

Max decided to check the cameras, and noticed something. Many of the reports happened in areas that had cameras, and, like people were reporting, the majority of the strange eye sigils were indeed emerald green. But, in some empty hallways, the cameras caught something else. Still the same shape of sigil, but something was off. Max took a screenshot of several of the reported sightings, and then the sigil that he saw moving. Carefully, he selected the color of each of the Gazes, and compared them. The color indeed stayed consistent through the various cameras. All except for the moving one. That one, the new Gaze, had a more yellow hue, more akin to moss than emeralds. Max’s skin prickled as he noticed that fact, a shuddering chill fluttering across his arms.

Whatever was happening, there were two of them now.