Just... not where I would like it to be continuing.
We are under attack by someone who is being insanely reckless with a biological weapon. Auxiliary Lab and Listening Post 1 has been shut down, Containment and Zone Security Specialist Squad 2 (CZSSS 2: Crazy With a Vengeace) initiated lock-down procedures without opposition. Unfortunately all members who entered the facility did so before the source of our present problems was identified and thus have been exposed to the contagion.
What we know so far:
At some point over the past two weeks a henchperson at ALLP #1 was infected with a- presumed engineered- microbe. Said microbe, while not truly airborne, aerosolizes extremely easily. It appears to die and decay rapidly when it comes in contact with anything that cannot be a potential host.
Once infected, an individual seems to suffer gradually increased auditory and visual hallucinations where they, instead of hearing or seeing what others have said or typed, perceive instead offensive comments apparently designed to lead into argument and conflict. No violence between personnel has yet been observed, but threats of it abound and there has been considerable property damage.
The health of the infected thus far does not appear to be degrading, which is good, but absolutely no work has been pursued at the facility since the outbreak. Up until the shutdown was initiated, all employees had begun keeping to their quarters to argue angrily via our Intranet with themselves and others.
Bizarrely, as the infection progressed, the victims began to form a gang of sorts on said intranet. Hostile as they may have been to each other initially they had begun to coordinate with each other to shout down any other henchpeople working in other facilities who attempted to step in and call for calm or self-moderation. This further lead the afflicted to find common ground, proving strangely capable of perceiving each others comments accurately when they were both negative and directed at a third party.
Unification through collective disdain, if you will.
Unfortunately this further led to a trend of arguing that hostility to mentioned third parties was inevitably insufficient to 'deal' with them. It is suspected that unchecked, this would have progressed to extremism.
We were only made aware of this microbe thanks to the actions of three different henchpeople who in early stages must have suspected this was the work of a contaminant and ran samples of their own blood through an automated analyzer in the lab. Commendations will be made once a cure is found.
Until a more scientific name is decided upon, we have decided to call the result of infection "Strawman Syndrome" given that the afflicted are uniformly incapable of discussing anything without the use of these flawed persuasive tactics.
Our experts on all matters connected to infectious diseases have been reallocated from their projects (under complaint in some cases) to determine an effective treatment. On-site treatment teams and all CZSS squads have been issued advanced Level A hazmat suits and related equipment in order to deal with any further outbreaks as well as to safely attend to the present outbreak.
If you or anyone you know has become inexplicably surly, or appears to be responding to things you have not actually said or typed, it is of critical importance that you report it immediately. I know some of you will be tempted to ignore it to avoid losing progress on your given projects, but I can only assure you that much more progress will be lost when you find yourself driven to an irrational spite that leads to destruction of your own work or that of your peers.
I am happy to report that there has been no real physical harm to any of our people thus far.
In other news regarding the creatures that 'attacked' the Deep Seven nanite swarm, Researcher #83 has found music in asian media, of all things, that has some similarities to the 'song' the creatures apparently use to organize or communicate.
Progress continues.
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