Kalbrandt Institute Archives – snippet

Excerpt from file F/41923/SM:

He had never dreaded playing back his recordings. Twelve years ago, the Institute had hired him for his technical skills and his inventions. Hearing the ghostly sounds his recorders picked up had never been more than a by-product of his work. Doing field tests of his inventions had been a logical next step, conducting investigations solo the one thereafter. All this time, the cries and whispers had made him uneasy at best, but they had never scared him. Why would they? The dead were dead. What he did with his machines was best described as acoustic archaeology, in that respect.

Yet the prospect of playing last night’s recording filled his insides with ice. Archaeologists didn’t talk to the bones they unearthed, or if they did, they didn’t expect an answer. After what he had done last night, he wasn’t sure what to expect.

These KI stories are far longer than I ever anticipated, never mind far more complex. But fun!