Analysis 03 - Stream Results

--- Morning after the Night Stream ---

Fionualla was working day shifts due to her family situation, now however, she wished she had taken the day off.

There were tons of samples, and a lot of it was decomposition soup or random traces from various places from the 'Gilbert's Fine Metal Factory' stream. The chemist glared at the jars with decomposition. That was going to be disgusting.

The worst part? They were still collecting evidence and traces.

She wanted to pick up a full face mask to keep out the stench that was awaiting it.

This was a lot, and that with the nightshift having started on it.

It was time to sort this mess, and optimize the progress.

Traces that were clearly mineral or metallic went off to one side. All clearly organic and smell ones were stored safely in a corner. Those needed careful handling, and sealing of the lab due to the stench. Unknown powders were a set of their own. Finally, all the plastics were in a different corner. The remainder needed more work.

The many red powders and flakes were tested together. She had watched part of the stream before going to sleep. Considering the smelter, she expected a lot of rust, earth, red pigments, and maybe old blood in a sample or two out of over fifty.

The spectrograph was going to be her device of choice here.

Preparing and putting the many samples through analysis took over an hour. In the end, it was as she had expected. Two of the traces came back as blood, which meant that DNA sampling was going to happen.

The remainder was about 63% rust of various iron alloys, 27% red clays or other earths, three red pigments used in the factory, and four unknown organic red compounds that she had no idea what they were for now.

The easiest group mostly out of the way, she called an assistant to deliver her results. DNA sequencing wasn't her job, that was for someone else.

At least Dorea delivered coffee samples already.

"This is great coffee," the chemist was tempted to check it for Otherside influences. It sounded like a great idea. It was such a great idea that it was bad. After all, there was an easier way to find out, she just had to ask her sister's cat.

She quickly sent off a message.

That distraction out of the way, she decided to keep the smelly goo for after lunch, she wasn't about to kill her appetite.

Organics, plastics, and fibres were next.

Dissolving the samples, analysing them, some going through the mass spectrometer, others going through reaction tests one stuck out to her.

30 year old duct tape on body that was hidden for maybe 5 years according to the report. It was surprising the tape hadn't dried out and hardened before that.

The company that made this brand did not exist any more. That made things both easier and harder. Harder because it was untraceable, easier because if anyone found anything of it, it was going to be the target. The search was not her issue, however.

Next was a normal polyethylene plastic bag, going by strength and colour, it was probably a garbage bag. Unfortunately, it was a type that was still being sold, it probably wasn't going to be a big help.

Bit by bit, she worked through the plastics, which were mostly common, aside from the diving suit. Diving suits had specific material compositions and thicknesses for thermal insulation. This one was clearly a bit from a deep sea diving suit. A very weird find in a metal manufacturing factory with a smelter. Whoever stuffed a body into it had a very odd sense of humour.

Next up was more plastic, this one was from a plastic cover used in construction. Thick, and it had weathered the time surprisingly well. Then again, it was heavy duty material.

The following sample was more interesting, highly degraded natural rubber. That was odd, and rare. Natural rubber was biodegradable, and it showed, figuring out the additives was possible, but it made little sense, the additional chemicals indicated the type used for mats.

The black substance, the last sample before lunch, was hardened tar. Street paving quality, heavy tar, it had been poured into the machine that the corpse had been in. That was promising, since that needed machinery.

--- Lunch ---

Fionnuala was debating where to eat. Visiting the Black Cat Café was always an option, and the food was good. The daily changing lunch menu was interesting, too.

"Black Cat Café it is," she decided after checking the cafeteria menu. Mystery meat goulash, dry pizza tono, and vegan wok vegetables with tofu. None of it sounded worth eating. The last time the tofu had been overcooked and soggy.

"I am off to the Black Cat Café," she informed the lab coordinator; it was a common thing in case they had an emergency.

At the café, the daily menu was odd.

Soup: Penny Bun Soup
Menu 1: 2 American Hot Dogs, 2 Australian Hotdogs, or an European Choice Sausage Hot Dog (beware of large bun and large sausage; choices Bratwurst, Käsekrainer, Debreziner); all buns are freshly baked
Menu 2: Greek Salad with white bread and halloumi
Dessert: Virgin Tiramisu (no rum, no coffeé)

"No coffee in the tiramisu? How does that work?" Fionnulla asked the waitress.

"I have no idea, but it makes people order extra coffee," Mifune mumbled.

"I will take the Greek Salad, and a soda lemon," the chemist ordered.

"It will be ready soon, uhm, if you want, you can order by phone in the future so it is ready once you arrive," the bunny waitress mumbled.

"That is great, thank you."

The bunny nodded and scampered off.

Oddly enough, the hot dogs looked and smelled better than she was used to.

When her greek salad arrived, she was satisfied with her choice, everything tasted fresh, the halloumi was roasted just right, the feta and olives were added generously. She honestly wanted to pick a portion and take it back home for her daughter. The girl kept complaining about so much good food, and mainly meat. Considering that she was hanging out with canines and a vulpine, the mother understood the issue.

The fake tiramisu was a nice dessert, but it tasted odd without coffee and rum.

At least this time, the bunny did not try to let her go without paying. It was progress.

--- Trace and Analysis ---

Armed with a coffee and sated from the larger than normal lunch, Fionnuala decided to tackle the next batch of evidence.

This one was disgusting. The spectrometer was once again used to filter it into organic remains and other substances.

Two hours later, she had identified:
4 or more species of mold, detailed species to be determined
2 probably dinners, figuring what those messes were would take a while
2 different body soups, she knew they were different since one had heavy metals
1 type of bleach, brand impossible to figure out
1 batch of rain water and corpse soup, that machine clearly had a hole that let rain water in

Then the phone rang, it was an external number.

"Fionnulla Mc Glytch, District 19 Trace Laboratory," she announced.

"Hello, Agent Norris, FBI. We have a suspicious item the Department of Otherworldly Crime needs analysed," a male voice announced. "The location is near you, a car will be arriving in six minutes, it was cleared with your Chief."

"Very well, please transmit the order so I can file it. I need to sign the release form for field work." Actually, it came at a good time. She was supposed to identify stomach contents next, stomach contents of old corpses and almost soup bodies.

"We are awaiting your arrival," the line disconnected before she could ask for details.

She was not running away, she was just taking care of some field work. Preparing the field test kit was something she did not do often, but had practiced out of habit. Comparing it to the list in the manual was a must, despite that.

At the laboratory locker, she picked up the outdoor safety gear, and she was ready. It took longer than the car had needed to arrive, but if she was going out, she was going to do it properly. She rechecked her gun, a look at her calendar reminded her that she had cleaned it two days ago, so it should be good to go.

Full hazmat suit, small testing kit, large testing case, containment case, duct tape, sampling containers, lab coat, gun, field manual, and her glasses. Now, she just needed someone to help her carry everything.

"Can someone help me carry my equipment?" She called out.

"The lab rat is going out?"

"They need a specialist, so I got called out."

"Are you sure you need everything?"

"They did not tell me what I am supposed to look at, so I am not going to risk it."

"Let's go boys."

The black stereotypical SUV with the tinted windows was impossible to overlook in the parking space. Leading the line carrying equipment was one of the policemen, a nice tall guy, who looked like an angry bull, but according to the grapevine, he was absolutely sweet to his nieces and kept spoiling them rotten since he didn't have a partner or kids.

"I heard yer cleared for the Otherside," he grumbled.

"So are you, it seems," Fio replied.

"A lot of us cops are from there. Especially from those with more aggressive instincts or protective ones. Most of the protective ones are general cops, the aggressive ones tend to go where the action is, swat and such," the policeman behind Fio commented.

"That sounds oddly sensible," the chemist commented, "so basically find jobs that you are good at. It is rather normal, though the herd having a steakhouse is odd."

"Best steak I ever ate." "Takes a moo to know how to deal with beef." "You smell a bit like a feline and a lot more canine for some reason."

"Eri is dating cats, my daughter is hanging out with a canine," Fio summed up.

"Your sister is dating magical ones."

A FBI agent opened the door and stepped from the SUV, "Doctor Mc Glytch, I was ordered to drive you to the site. Is all that equipment required?"

"Nobody told me any details, so I packed the full set," she explained, "unless you have more details?"

"No, I just know where to drive you, the agents at the site will have more."

The car was quickly packed, and Fionnuala sat in the oddly comfortable seat.

The drive only took about twenty minutes.

They stopped in front of a skyscraper. It looked pretty modern, a glass covered facade, and enough floors that the chemist gave up guessing. Far more telling were the many people in front of it, and the hazmat people. The SUV received new instructions from a police officer.

They slowly drove into the garage, there were two suits present, already heading for the SUV.

"Doctor Mc Glytch, we have been waiting for you. I am Agent Brooks, this is Agent Mayer." A tall dark skinned man introduced himself and his shorter female partner.

"Hello, I do not have any information, I saw hazmat suits, so something dangerous?" Fionnuala was honestly curious.

"We suspect a Code Purple Item," the woman informed. "We are not sure what it is, but it seems to be transmitted by air, and causes indiscriminate and uncontrollable arousal."

"An aphrodisiac?" Fionnuala wondered if staying in her laboratory wasn't the better choice.

"At 14:32, a noise complaint about sexual noises arrived. Police were dispatched, at 14:48, two policemen arrived. At 15:03, contact was confirmed lost. Three more units were dispatched, at 15:31, contact was confirmed lost again. At 16:02, a robot and a drone were sent in. The door was confirmed open, and inside an orgy was taking place. Attempts to communicate or interrupt were ignored. A swat team was sent in, and joined. That is when hazmat was called, we had to tranquilize the participants to make them stop. The source of the issue is unknown, a hermetic seal was placed over the door. You were the closest operative with a chance to identify it."

Fionnula looked at them both for indications of lying, they were honestly telling the truth, and they disliked it. "Good thing I packed my hazmat suit. And after this, I can safely have this one destroyed and push the requisition for a new one through. Now help me get suited up, there is a minor rip on the left arm."

"We have made a decontamination station three floors below the apartment in question. You can change there."

"Perfect, I will take the small testing kit too. Do you have a particle density analyser? I need vacuum sampling tubes as well," the analyst listed, as she pulled both large packages out. "Can I get a trolley? Or someone to help carry?"

A forensic kit had everything you needed to quickly find and package evidence. Fionnuala's analytic kit had those and much more to do field testing. The mobile suit was heavy and large as well, oxygen tanks, the suit, helmet, secure tape, the pressure test instruments, and finally the special headset.

Near the elevator on the 23rd floor, a mobile decontamination and changing station had been set up. Several members of the hazardous materials unit were lingering around, and peeling another squirming member out of a suit. Then when the helmet came off, the panting, blushing, and clearly aroused face became visible. Instantly one of the doctors, with a heavy duty rebreather mask approached and injected the member with a tranquilizer.

"I am wearing my glasses," Fionnuala was no stranger to sex, she was a mother after all, but getting so riled up that you fuck anyone? She was not interested in that at all. Hopefully Zaria's odd glasses worked against aphrodisiacs or hallucinogens as well.

Dressing in the heavy suit was annoying. First, you changed into something that was comfortable, and soaked up sweat well. Then, it was time to attach the radio, wear her glasses, and fasten the oxygen bottle harness. Crawling into the suit, and connecting the helmet to the oxygen bottles, the step before adding the gloves. The special tape was used to seal the links between helmet, body, and gloves. Normally it was sealed enough, but in this case, they double layered it and placed another strip over the seal used for entering along the back. A pressure test showed at least one more leak; which took a minute to chase down. It was a small rip near the legs.

Finally fitted, with enough oxygen for about an hour, she moved out.

Luckily, she was able to take the elevator.

Not so luckily, she was alone.

At least they gave her a trolley for the testing kit.

She pressed the button for the 26th floor.

The elevator ride felt far longer than it was, upon opening, she was greeted by a warning sign, "Biological Hazard, Authorized Personal Only".

According to the information, she was supposed to turn left. It was a mobile environmental airlock unit. Enter door one, wait for decontamination, enter lock two, repeat, open the airlock leading to the flat, ignore the broken lock on the door of the flat.

It looked like a typical, luxurious, and modern flat. At first glance, the many clothes lying around were suspicious.

She ignored them, however.

She suspected she should have called Zaria to get more information.

First was the particle counter. It clearly showed more than average for a clean apartment.

Three vacuum tubes were filled with the possibly contaminated air, even if it was something she'd need her glasses for, she wanted to know the result on her gas spectrometer.

"Doctor Fionnuala Mc Glytch, Analyst for the Precinct 13, Code Purple Investigation DoOC-OI-1315351. Unknown aphrodisiac, suspected to be aerial. Entry hall covered in discarded clothing. Air testing shows elevated particle count. Three vacuum test tubes were filled with the entry hall air. The testing tube numbers are ..."

It felt odd to be in the field, it happened once in half a year. She was a little bit too strict with her documentation, but it was her first Otherside field analysis.

"Proceeding to the living room," Fionnuala announced, "more clothing, nothing instantly suspicious, no drinks or food on the table." The analyst dutifully took more samples and readings.

"The bedroom has yet more clothing, clear signs of intercourse," then she saw something suspicious, "and what seems to be pink candles that are burning, a total of fifteen." A little focus on her glasses and she received a result. "Use of my 'identification glasses' on a candle returns a clear result. 'Candle of Arousal' the description is 'Causes heightened arousal, perfect to spice up your fun and set the mood, the effect stacks.' Clearly, this is the cause. Suspected use is a single candle, with the fifteen used candles, it was probably an overdose. Proceeding to extinguish the candles."

She suddenly smelled fresh winter forest air, "the air bubble function of my glasses just activated, either the effect permeates through the hazmat suit, or it has been damaged. Proceeding with extinguishing the candles. The method of neutralisation of the aerial compound is unknown. I suspect I know someone who can do it however, or knows how to do it. Now, I'm looking for a leaflet with information on the 'Candle of Arousal', on my way to the garbage in the kitchen first."

Communication came through the headset. "Doctor Mc Glytch, are you sure you are not affected?"

"I am better than fine. The air bubble even cooled me down inside the suit," the redhead had not been happy about being sticky and sweaty afterwards, now it wasn't an issue any more.

"Call my daughter, and have her call, actually, are you code White cleared?" Fionnuala decided to ask, just in case.

"No, we are Code Purple cleared, and told to avoid Code White situations," came the response.

"Call my daughter, she has Code Purple friends, and have her ask her friends how to purify air from 'Candle of Arousal' fumes, one of her friends is an alchemist, a high ranking one."

"Confirmed," the confused, but still professional agent confirmed. While it was definitely not procedure, knowing that it was really an Otherside Item meant that they had the option of recruiting specialists.

While someone hopefully permitted the call to her daughter, and she understood that she was supposed to call Zaria, Fionnuala marveled at the simple looking candles that caused so much chaos.

Seven floors were evacuated. A full hazmat team had arrived. Traffic rerouted. Costs for psychological therapy of those that found themselves in an unwanted orgy.

And it all had happened because an idiot had not read the leaflets she had found in the garbage. It was even printed in red, a warning not to use more than one candle at a time.

"The leaflets for the candles were in the kitchen garbage, it is clearly a user error, bright red warnings were ignored," Fionnuala announced.

"I found fifteen of them, someone managed to ignore all of them," the woman sighed, "people need to learn to read, there is a mention of an antidote on the leaflet."

"Understood," Agent Brooks' voice confirmed, "Agent Mayer received permission to call your daughter."

"Great, that means this will be resolved soon," she sighed, "more overtime. I found two more leaflets, deeper in the trash, I will be looking for two more, just in case."

A slow search did not wield any results. It was luckily interrupted by an albino floof teleporting in.

"Hello Fionnuala, oh wow, this is really saturated," the kitsune held her nose.

"Is it safe for you?" The mother asked, slightly worried.

Zaria nodded, casting an air bubble on herself, "no worries, between my immunities and being always horny, this is nothing."

The analyst wondered if she was supposed to say something about the always horny part. Then again, Eireann's cats seemed always horny too, especially the older one.

"No, I am on the horny side, I am part succubus after all," Zaria looked around, "quite a lot of poor unlucky ones got up in this. More males than females."

"Nose?" The chemist asked.

"Nose!" Zaria agreed cheerfully, "Did this mess spread from this flat?"

"Three floors up and down were evacuated," Fionnuala explained, "now, can you clean this? My suit is a pain to wear."

"Sure~"

The tails swayed.

"Done~"

"That simple?" Fionnuala looked around, no light show, no hand gestures, no magical items, it was really anticlimactic.

"For me, yes, there are other ways to do it. A purification ritual, air filtration items, a binding aerosol, or technical filtering through an active coal filter all work. I simply cast a quick spell."

Fionnuala suddenly understood why everyone else was so wary of the floof. "How many others could do it as easily?"

"All gods, most archangels and archdemons, archmages with the right skillset, saint and pope level clerics, some of the better bishop level clerics too, all elder dryads, uhm I think that I am forgetting some others. Oh, a lot of fey could, but most would find it funny instead, and possibly add other effects." Zaria listed.

"That is nice, now help me out of this suit," Fionnuala felt the glasses air bubble fade away, she was not willing to stay suited up in a safe environment. "Actually, are there any other dangerous items?"

"Hmm, let me check," Zaria clapped her hands, "May Magic Glow. There, I even voiced it for you, now stop moving, you are really taped up well. Before I forget, do you need something for the victims? Before I stopped breathing, I smelled at least a dozen. I brought a box of antidotes for this type of issue. Works against the candles, date rape drugs, natural arousal, love potions, and the spell equivalents. Just 5 gold coins per dose, the expiration dates are labelled, and at least three months in the future."

Before Fionnuala relayed the question, she received more communication from the control point. "Tell her we are taking them all, also you are site leader now, none of us are Code White cleared."

Zaria pulled a large box out from nowhere and placed it in the middle of the living room, "congratulations on your field promotion, I will do a quick check."

Fionnuala stood there, confused, she did not have any training outside from leading her laboratory. When in doubt, delegate, "Agent Brooks, you can keep field command, simply keep everyone away until she is gone. I guess I will take the box of antidotes until I can get it to someone with medical knowledge to distribute it." She took it as a laboratory situation. "Prepare a forensic team, they can enter safely now."

"We have permission to buy the whole crate, only we are not sure how to get the gold coins."

Fionnuala sighed, and heard Zaria snicker, "the national bank has an exchange." Seriously, the knowledge dissemination in the Code Purple cleared people was terrible.

"The exchange rate is one silver one dollar, one copper ten pennies, one gold ten dollars, and the platinum coin is a hundred dollars, the exchange rate is pretty much fixed. Inflation is a far smaller issue on our side." Zaria explained. "Also, you need a new suit, unless you want me to fix it."

"I won't say no to enchantments on the new one," Fionnuala deferred.

"In that case," Zaria simply cut the adult woman out of the suit, "you can pay me later. If they don't, I know where to find their bosses."

Fionnuala snorted, only the weird floof could casually threaten several three letter agencies at once. "They will probably want an invoice or receipt."

"Right," Zaria pulled a scroll, a pen, and an ink pot out of somewhere again. "Let's see, three layers, four rows, and six per row. A total of 72 doses. I should note down the use cases, right, works against drunkenness, too. Fio, sign here please to confirm the handover, I named you signatory in name for the FBI, DHD, and CSC. Those are the ones that are probably present."

"Let me ask."

After a quick confirmation, the woman checked the simple paper twice, her role was only confirmation of the contents and confirmation of the handover.

She signed.

"Thank you, now I need to finish my homework," the floof teleported away.

Fionnuala dragged the suit, her testing kit, samples, and the box of antidotes into the airlock. She was basically done, "have someone sample everything, I am going home, I need someone who can confirm handover of the antidotes."

--- Stream Day ---

Fionnuala was staring at the sample jars.

Even without testing, the water from the tunnel of love and the water ride looked terrible.

Real testing found it to be full of bacteria, amoeba, parasites, and totally brackish and dead.

At least, the other items sent for checking were normal.

She heard that DNA managed to identify a few people from the first stream.

In her case, she was checking duct tape again while waiting for results from the concrete reef. She looked over, it was fine, the sand was pure quartz, and it was clearly not made from amounts that were bought noncommercially.

She hummed happily.

Nice logical laboratory work was the best.

She already had her eyes on a screwdriver that seemed to be rusting with an off shade of brown, she suspected she was going to be able to identify it as a rare production from a discontinued alloy.

First was the concrete mix, however. She gave the screwdriver another look.

"Hey Fi, we managed to find bags of unused sand in a storage room, it should be the same that was used in the aquariums." One of the forensics stuck his head into her lab.

"Comparison sample? Great, also the sand from the shark pool seems to be full of concrete dust, I am still waiting for the results if it is from the original fake reefs, or the corpse reef."

"Corpse reef? Love that name, I will tell the others."

It was lab humour.

It was a little bit of relaxation before returning to the harsh reality of cataloguing traces from the two streams. Luckily she had sent Isabelle to Samantha. She decided to make it up to the Greenwood's for taking so much care of her daughter.

With a sigh the analyst ignored the tempting screwdriver and checked the result for the concrete mix of the corpse reef. If they could figure out the sources for both sand and cement, they would be a step closer to the killer or the associates.

The computer finally returned results on the samples.

The analyst smiled, "Now let's see where you came from."

It was going to be a long afternoon. She reminded herself to ask the interns how the fungus and bacterial cultures were doing.

The work never ended.