I closed the browser window and sighed at ALICE’s smirking icon. The breadth of my new bed sat behind her and the urge to smother myself in its comfort was increasing with every single second. Great. What is it?

This time, we’ll be looking at an Impurity-centric function. Once you have suppressed an Impurity, you will acquire its data file for future examination. These can be found under the Records section!

The main menu appeared. The chains binding the RECORDS option snapped and vanished. A quick thought-command later and I was staring down a new menu.

>IMPURITY RECORDS

>ALLY RECORDS

>OTHER RECORDS

Didn’t take a genius—or a simpleton—to understand what I had to do next.

>>IMPURITY RECORDS.

A single option lay in a table of grey, blanked out squares. A picture of the girl on fire flickered on as my vision crossed it. She carried that homemade flag, standing tall and proud with in all her awful glory as her those victims decomposed in agony on the ground. The scent of the inferno, the heat melting the ground and the smoke in the air were palpable from the image alone.

>[#1: ???]

Do I have to do this? I asked. Instincts rarely let me down in the field and right now they were hollering at me to turn back. Touch that icon and you’ll tread down a path you’ll never walk back from. It wasn’t merely a mental aspect, there was physical revulsion too.

Boss, do you wish to suppress Impurities or not? Is it not related to your desire to protect your family?

Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time this had happened.

I’m going to be safe, right?

Of course! Why would INTERFACE-OS want to kill its user?

I kept the multiple reasons to myself. Grimacing, I tapped the icon, closed by eyes and waited for the fireworks to burst. What followed was nowhere as pretty. My vision swayed, the edges of the objects in my surroundings duplicating and layering atop each other like images reflected in a hall of mirrors. A forced grabbed my consciousness and flung me out of the apartment room and down a tunnel. Chunks of data and garbled scripts, written in a electric font, rushed past me. I heard the sound of the wind blowing. Then, I was transported somewhere else, far far away once again…

Oh, this is familiar…

CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT TO [EYES OF RUTHERFORD] WAS SUCCESSFUL!

INITIATING OBSERVATION|RESEARCH PROTOCOL…

IST-Beth-7 (“FIREWATCH”) found the girl lying among the smouldering wreckage of the second floor. It wasn’t a wholly unusual sight. Corpses were an unfortunate, frequent sight when you worked for an Impurity Suppression Taskforce. As IEHAR’s premier taskforce on all Impurities of high temperatures, they had the privilege of seeing burned ones too.

Regardless, the operation was proceeding smoothly. Minutes earlier, they had sprayed the factory with enough foam to turn the entirety of the Bearbrass City Hall white. A non-anomalous firefighting service provided support, escorting the survivors into the medbay parked outside. Most of the poor souls were on their way to medical treatment, so it left them to investigate the area, locate the Impurity and any other anomalous items, then begin its purification.

Operator ██████ gently turned over the girl’s body, then winced.

“Damn. This corpse ain’t like the rest.”

“What’s the deal?” His buddy said over comms. A mild hiss of interference punctuated the end of the question.

“Got an unusual body over here. It’s lacking a lot of burn wounds. Heavy damage to the neck, head and torso. Enough holes to rival Swiss cheese.” The operator said. He glanced around. “There’s also a flag nearby. Not burned, either.”

QUESTION! IS THIS AN IMPURITY?

>>What? What’s going on? ALICE, where the hell are you? Where am I? What happened to my body?

>>…hello? You there?

QUESTION! IS THIS AN IMPURITY?

>>What, are you asking me? Are you part of ALICE, too?

QUESTION! IS THIS AN IMPURITY?

>>Repeating, huh. Must be an automated message. How can I hear you, anyway? There’s no sound, yet somehow those words are imprinted in my head. They’re all super loud, too.

>> My senses are still present, but it’s like I’m dangling out of myself by a chain…this is so weird. Not in any pain, though.

QUESTION! IS THIS AN IMPURITY?

>>Christ, shut up! Of course it is!

CORRECT ANSWER! +2% Bonus to Research!

“Possible Impurity?” The operator said.

“Unsure. Could be an anomalous object. Requesting cleanup over here with extra care.”

“Roger that. Heading over to your marker.”

As the operator’s buddy said that, the body suddenly twitched. It rose up by itself, coughing up a strange golden fluid. Sparks flew from its mutilated neck and lit up the charred wreckage with a faint red glow. The head swivelled around slowly as the light returned to its eyes. The operator drew his handgun and pointed it straight at the corpse.

“Found the Impurity!” He shouted. “Everyone, suppression process, now!”

QUESTION! WHAT WAS THE IMPURITY ATTEMPTING TO DO?

Revive Fight Surrender

>>More questions? The first one…wait, how is that even possible? This isn’t right!

CORRECT ANSWER! +2% Bonus to Research!

The gi—Impurity did not go quietly. Her kind never did. She spotted the symbol of the cradled globe and immediately sprung into action. Her flag swung like a conductor’s baton, conjuring a wave of flame that threatened to scorch the hallway twice over. IST-Beth-7 was more than ready. The fire barely scratched their specialized heatproof combat gear. Two members of the team put out the fires while the rest unloaded onto the girl with semi-automatic rifles.

If the damage before had been bad, now it was beyond measure. The entirety of the girl’s entrails splattered like squashed fruit on the wall behind her. Not even a single word gurgled from her lips. She slid down, mouth trickling blood. The operators weren’t done. They reached into their packs and retrieved a handgun. Each member fired a metal bolt, an ethereal blue glow trailing behind, into the head, torso and limbs of the Impurity girl.

At once, the flames surrounding her were snuffed out. The hallway, once again, returned to its original dimensions.

QUESTION! WHAT ALLOWED IST-BETH-7 TO SUPPRESS THE IMPURITY? PLEASE ENTER YOUR ANSWER.

>>The bolts.

PARTIAL CORRECT ANSWER! IST-BETH-7 ALSO EMPLOYED THEIR RIFLES AND FIRE EXTINGUISHERS TO DAMAGE THE BODY AND DESTROY ITS PREFERRED ENVIRONMENT, RESPECTIVELY.

+1% BONUS TO RESEARCH!

They shoved her into a truck. Slammed the doors tight and blocked out the light. The girl writhed and groaned, but could not dislodge those awful bolts inside of her. It didn’t help her arms, legs and mouth were bound. Déjà vu.

When the doors opened, she was forced out onto a tarmac. More operators, dressed in similar combat gear, were awaiting her, their own rifles at the ready. Down a corridor. Through a scanner. Figures in white coats muttered and took notes behind a reinforced glass wall. Something smashed into her skull and she fell unconscious.

She awoke in a grey, tile-less and windowless chamber. Five by five by five, with a small bed, a toilet and a sink. She glanced up and felt the harsh bore of a camera down upon her. Instantly, the fire spread around her, reaching for the furniture and the sealed door.

It didn’t work.

QUESTION! WHERE IS THE IMPURITY LOCATED?

A prison An area under surveillance A secured place All of the above

>>Alice, you and I are having words after this.

>>5.

CORRECT! A STANDARD IEHAR CONTAINMENT CHAMBER IS SECURED, UNDER CONSTANT SURVEILLANCE AND DESIGNED TO KEEP IMPURITIES WITHIN INDEFINITELY.

+2% Bonus to research!

“Why did you burn those children?”

The girl did not answer.

“IO-HMN-016, a lack of compliance will result in punishment. It is in your best interests to speak.”

Again, the girl stayed silent. She glared up at the camera, her hands clenched in fists above her kneesocks. Her damaged clothes were now whole again. Fires coated the floor and walls of the chamber, sizzling gently but lacking the power to burn through the reinforcement concrete.

“Last chance, IO-HMN-016.”

The girl opened her mouth and spat out a string of words.

“That is not a human response. Activate the sprinklers.”

White foam rained down from the ceiling. The girl clutched herself and screamed wild and loud.

END OF RESEARCH SESSION! THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING, USER KYLE LICHT!

BASE RESEARCH: 10%

BONUS RESEARCH: 7%

TOTAL RESEARCH: 17%

And then, I was myself again. I coughed, sputtered, almost vomited. The world refused to cease spinning until I grabbed my desk and pulled myself step. One second on wobbly feet, two seconds, ten seconds and then I was solid. Sweat matted by shirt, acerbated by the heat. I flipped the aircon onto high, then turned my energy towards the little gremlin in my head.

ALICE, what the fuck was that?

Welcome back, Boss! Did you enjoy the Impurity Research session?

No, I did not enjoy that. Nothing about having my consciousness dragged out and forced down that tunnel was enjoyable. What the fuck are the designers on? Tell me so I know whose faces to beat in next!

I’m sorry to hear that. It seems the designers of INTERFACE-OS were missing proper human interaction during testing. But never mind that for now. What did you gain from that session, Boss? You may doubt it, but I assure you, it was 100% real. Those were all true scenes; you can cross-check this with the news.

Shut up. Let me guess something. You can’t tell me how any of that worked, because of whatever limits inside of you.

Correct! I’m glad you remembered, Boss.

Excellent. Great. You’re so helpful, ALICE.

I detect sarcasm. Thank you for the compliments, regardless!

I decided there and then that if I got the chance to enter IEHAR, I would employ the best hacker in the world and break into INTERFACE-OS’s source code. Alright, anger settled. Time for the real questions.

ALICE, I don’t get it. That girl…how is she still alive?

You did not terminate her.

Are you serious? I shot her over a dozen times, then sliced her neck into steak! No-one could survive that.

You are thinking within human parameters, Boss. Why do you think we ‘suppress’ the Impurities instead of killing or terminating them?

That caught my tongue. The first thread of logic was strung easily. The next cascaded down in an instant, each one heralding a jolt of horror in my gut.

Don’t tell me…

That’s right, Boss! Impurities cannot be terminated with conventional means! Crush their bodies, rip out their entrails, fry their flesh and dump it in acid…it’s not going to work! The existence of an Impurity shall persist, no matter what trauma is dealt upon them. You could shove that Impurity girl in a blender, turn it up to the max and she would still regenerate.

By the way, this is assuming you even get close enough to perform all of that. Some Impurities are too powerful for that.

I pushed past my bedroom door and into the living room. Bearbrass, capital of Victoria, still stood tall and firm. How has humanity even survived? Why isn’t everyone dead?

It’s a long story. IEHAR does a majority of the work, even if they were partly responsible for breaking the veil of secrecy. They retrieve, suppress and contain Impurities within their numerous Facilities. Research is conducted to manufacture new procedures and technology to fight Impurities. Repeat the cycle.

If IEHAR could nuke all the Impurities and kill them, they would have already done that, yeah?

Not with such a devastating method, oh no! Your gist is correct, though.

I ran a hand through my hair. Did they keep beer in this house? This was the sort of information that required a few drinks to process. It amazing the Licht family hadn’t died to an Impurity-related earthquake or whatever. Then there was me seeing what those ‘IST’ guys had been doing like some sick voyeur. Knowing my luck, I’d meet them in the field and end up trying to deflect from why I knew their operation’s details.

Anyway, now that you have conducted Research on the Impurity, a report is available. Here you go!

Designation: IO-HMN-016

Risk Class: Chained-Green (Pending)

Hazard Types: Sentient, Flammable

Suppression Protocols: Suppression of IO-HMN-016 will be conducted via high-pressure fire-retardant foam and heavy ordinance. Confinement will be done in a standard Humanoid containment chamber within Facility-117. Should IO-HMN-016 refuse to co-operate with Facility staff, it is to be sprayed with fire-retardant foam until it complies.

Description: IO-HMN-016 is a humanoid Impurity resembling an adolescent female human dressed in a private girls’ school uniform. Its main anomalous property is the gradual filling of its surroundings with non-anomalous fire. IO-HMN-016 itself appears to be immune to the hazardous effects of fire and may find comfort with it.

IO-HMN-016 is capable of speech, though interviews with it have yielded negative results. It has refused to co-operate with IEHAR personnel, seemingly bearing a hatred for the organisation. An investigation into its uniform insignia is ongoing.

IO-HMN-016 also possesses a cloth flag, henceforth referred to as HMN-016-A. IO-HMN-016 reacted violently when guards attempted to confiscate HMN-016-A. Research is still being conducted on its purpose.

Work Notes: Pending

[DATA LOCKED]: Pending.

Addenda: IO-HMN-016 was discovered when IST-Beth-7 (“FIREWATCH”) was contacted via an Impurity attack in Southern Bearbrass. The Impurity was found among the wreckage in a heavily damaged state. It was suppressed once more, then transferred to Facility-117 for standard handling protocols. It is unknown why IO-HMN-016 was damaged upon discovery, or whom or what caused the damage.

I put down the report. That’s nice and all. But what does this have to do with me?

It’s information. Handy, is it not? It's not complete though, as you can tell. You will have to research IO-HMN-016 further to get its full information. That will take quite some time, so forget about it for now.

I feel like a voyeur. Does IEHAR know I’m snooping into their files? Listen, I better not get arrested for this.

Don’t worry, Boss! I’m sure it’ll be fine. In fact, you’ll discover the purpose of these files very soon. But that’s a story for another day. Congratulations for learning another system!

I ignored the confetti, as I just remembered I was supposed to take Emily out to eat tomorrow. That thought was somehow just as scary as the whole research deal.