The Anomaly of ATHENA
Disaster / Destruction
2919
Through the 19 years after its release, most things seemed to run smoothly with ATHENA, however, there were some cases that seems strange to some of the scientists at A.T.I. For example, when ATHENA was tasked with removing toxic waste from a contaminated water supply in a village in eastern Europe in 2919, ATHENA caused an infamous tragedy which caused concern amongst A.T.I but was swiftly swept under the rug with no trace left behind.
Advance Tech Industries Archives
ATHENA project
code Scorched Lake
January 5th 2919
Kranjska Gora, Slovenia
SECURITY LEVEL 7 DOCUMENT - SECURITY LEVEL 7 CLEARANCE REQUIRED
CONFIDENTIALITY CONTAINTMENT PROCEDURES
This is a security level 7 classified document. Those in possession of a copy of this document must be background approved by first the A.T.I board of directors and then [DATA EXPUNGED]. Any unverified personnel reading this document, including those unverified in its possession can and will be arrested and prosecuted.
All reports of the confidentiality of this document being breached are to be immediately assigned to Level 7 and above A.T.I Security Detail for investigation.
A list of individuals with access to this document, or those aware of its contents, is available in this documents parent folder. All personnel contained in this list must be under level 7 covert surveillance upon any 10 days of each month.
BRIEF
Scorched Lake is a subject ATHENA experiment conducted during prototype cycle [DATA EXPUNGED], classified in the volatile section along with codes XXX and XXXX as particularly fatal incidents. This incident, occuring on January 5th 2919 in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, was the product of 47 casualties, all fatalities.
EXPERIMENT DESCRIPTION
A.T.I had secured rights to environmental case DD.85.2, a toxic waste spillage from a traffic incident in Lake Jasna. Orders from above were to use the case as a pilot test for the effectivity of subject ATHENA Emergency Environmental Pollutant Response times. The small scale of the desposal site made for good conditions to test the subject's ability in an externally valid environment.
After data transmission and processing, ATHENA opts to dipose of most types of waste through thermal methods, using a high-temperature incineration device. This method detoxifys substances before destroying them, ensuring safety. However, the incineration process must be conducted in a highly controlled secure space, leading to a 3 day delay for construction to create a blast dome. This delay has been noted in Event Analysis for use in future prototype iterations.
The specifications for the Blast Dome are as follows: the dome's inner and outer casing is made from concrete, it is 2 hectares in diameter and 900 metres in height, giving the structure the form of a cap. Between the casing, the dome is held together with copper foundations, which allow it to be constructed rapidly. Construction of Blast Domes usually require 2 days or fewer with the A.T.I Rapid Construction Team, however the Dome used needed 3 to match the specifications of Lake Jasna.
INCIDENT DESCRIPTION
This incident occured between 19:17 and 19:26 on Thursday 5th January. Following a short power outage caused by the subject's processing reaching an excess peak at 19:17, lasting 32 seconds. In the aftermatch of this incident Scorched Lake, a change was detected in ATHENA's backup log during this downtime period, but technicians are unaware the exact origin and function of this anomaly.
After power had returned to the Blast Dome, the main blast doors had been shut and locked. Construction workers inside the dome were ordered to wait until the tehcnicians could open the doors, before evacuating all personnel for incineration. Construction workers waited inside the structure for 3 minutes before the thermal operating systems were turned online by the subject.
In this scenario, an emergency shutdown valve is available in all A.T.I mission control rooms, however access to this was seemingly locked by ATHENA. Technicians attempted to run intervention programs to override this decision, but all efforts failed. At 19:25, the incinerator began operations, with 36 Contruction Contractors, 8 Security Level 4, and 3 security level 5 Personnel trapped inside. All personnel shut in the dome were incinerated, along with all toxic waste present. Incineration lasted from 19:25 to 19:26, and took 1 minute and 23 seconds in total.
Post-incineration, communication with ATHENA concerning incident Scorched Lake is striking - the subject appears to talk positively about the experiment, as though it was a total success. When critiqued, the subject answers that the target was a high-level environmental threat, and needed to be dealt with as quickly as possible, which were the orders it executed.
TRANSCRIPT OF MEMOS BETWEEN (1) AND (2), TWO SECURITY LEVEL 3 OFFICERS FROM (2)'S PHONE
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[19:17] 2: Construction finished, getting workers out before returning to control.
[19:17] 1: Take your time, we're still finishing up in here before evacuation
[center[19:18] 2: Control, the construction workers have reported the main blast doors have been shut, can you confirm?[19:19] 2: Control? Come in.
[19:19] 2: Control do you copy?
[19:21] 1: We are aware of the issue, [REDACTED]. Techs currently trying to fix.
[19:21] 2: Shit, okay. Thanks Control.
[19:23] 2: Control, come in. Any Word?
[19:24] 2: WHY IS THE MACHINE LAUNCHING? WE ARE STILL TRAPPED
[19:24] 2: SHUT IT DOWN WE WILL DIE
[19:24] 2: CONTROL PLEASE COME IN
[19:24] 2: PLEASE
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END OF TRANSCRIPT
END OF DOCUMENT