This is Shelly Nakajima. I’m somewhere in orb country. I really don’t know which orb. I don’t know where I am. I’m… I’ve managed to escape. We were moved to another area, and… we were attacked by someone. I hid beneath a dead Argonaught. They didn’t notice as they moved on, and then I was… alone.

I’m not too far from the mutants. I can hear them howling. They are still… running amok. If they find someone, they rip him to shreds. I saw DeVries as he… they killed him.

I’m sorry. I’m… close to an orb. It’s in my mind. And every time the mutants howl and roar as someone is defeated, I think, the orb… it’s whispering in my mind. Every time. Just… as Duchev said. The whispers… they are getting stronger.

I don’t know if anyone can pick this up, but if you do, please… Just… please. Help.

They have… Sorry. This is Shelly Nakajima, and if you can trace this, please send help! I don’t know where I am. DeVries said that Duchev… would… know. It’s important what he knows. It’s in his files.

The Umbranoids have moved us. It’s hot and smelly in here. We can’t see very much what’s happening, but we can hear it. The Feffoids are gone.  They… I think the Argonaughts … ate them. There are roars and screams and I can smell the… it’s… sick. And I… deVries says that… that it’s a mutant custom. If you can call it a custom. I think they have just run amok from… from bloodlust. Their clan leaders are just… fighting. You know, in frenzy.

I have never heard of… of mutants behaving like this. They… they are mad. As if they were, you know, possessed. As if something pushed them, something was eating their… minds.

For EBN News, this is Shelly… Shelly… God, I can’t do this.

This is Shelly Nakajima, and I’m still alive. Jason is not. He… he died last night in the arena, and he was the last captive pushed into the ring to fight. The rest of us, those that have survived and those that weren’t thrown into the ring, are being held in this cattle pen, and most of us are badly hurt. Sometimes they pick one out and whip them. I think they do it because they can.

Things have changed here. The gladiator fights seems to have been crowd pleasers. And all these… people, colonists, they just died to please these… beasts.

I’m sorry, I can’t… the Feffoids and Argonaughts have sent their champions into the ring, and… they are slugging it out, and… they do. They are so scared and excited and… you can see the blood-lust as they fight. The crowd is… very much the same. There’s so much blood and violence and pain, so much that we can feel it. It’s an avalanche of fear rolling over us, and some of us have already given in and gone… gone… catatonic…

Shelly Nakajima, for EBN News, uhm.

This is Shelly Nakajima, still alive in mutant heartland. Jason and I haven’t been killed yet, and we can still transmit. I’m beginning to think that they’re allowing us to transmit and that they want you… us, to know.

There are other captives as well. DeVries, he’s… he has been a prisoner for a long time. We are the first humans that he has seen since dr Duchev. DeVries says that the Umbranoids are running the show. Prisoners are still forced into the arena to fight, and … I’ve done my best to treat the wounds of the few that win and survive but I don’t have much to work with.

The air is ripe with pain, uncertainty and fear; so much fear, even among the mutants and especially Feffoids and Argonaughts, and it seems to be… it’s growing. I can almost touch it!

I think… I fear that something bad is going to happen. Please, if anyone out there can hear me, help us before the fear takes us.

For EBN News, this is… is Shelly Nakajima.

This is Shelly Nakajima, reporting from inside mutant territory. I have been captured by the mutants, alongside my cameraman Jason Ferguson. They haven’t killed us, and I have been allowed to report what I’m seeing here. At least they are not protesting.

What we see is a big arena, where mutants fight each other and captive colonists. The crowd is mad from bloodlust and there is a lot of yelling and cheering. The fights are always to the death, and… it’s primitive and brutal, with clubs, whips and axes.

I… I think we will be put in the arena eventually. And… forgive me for being a bit unprofessional, but I’m afraid this is it. I don’t think I’ll survive five seconds in there. I’ll be reporting for as long as I can, but… well, the future looks bleak for me and Jason.

For… for EBN News, this is Shelly Nakajima.

(transcript from an unedited EBN news tape)

We’re set? How do I look? Okay, starting in five, four, three, two…

This is Shelly Nakajima, reporting from outside Fort Zeus. As you can see behind me, a lot of mutants have gathered here. CDF have raised concerns about it, but does not consider it a serious threat. However, CDF advise colonists travelling in the wild to be extra careful.

Nobody knows what this is about. Some say they are trade meetings, while others think that the mutants are gathering an army …

… there’s some commotion over there to the left. Can you see it? Could you please zoom in on it?

…oh. Oh my! Eh, we have to cut that part. We can’t show that.

*clears throat*

Okay, let’s take this. There has been no official explanation for the mutant gatherings. Some say they are trade meetings, while others think that they might be gathering an army to strike at the human population, but whatever it is, we can expect a sharp increase in the mutant population very soon. That will be a problem that has to be addressed.

For EBN News, this is Shelly Nakajima.

Awsh… (giggle) we really can’t show that. Can you blur the background?

(transcript ends)