Umos Sandworth's Final Letter

Site 2285, Ladakh

21.02.1989

My dear friend and colleague Alloyan... A long time has elapsed since I last wrote to you. Please don't hold it against me. As you must have known, the enquiry into the sudden disappearance of our best electro-sculptor and friend Dr Uraplatus has kept me busy. I have finally reached a frightening conclusion regarding this matter and am revealing them to you and you only. I have positively derived that Dr Uraplatus did not actually disappear but himself transmutated into an electro-rock. This may shock you but I assure you that I have reached this conclusion after conducting a detailed & ultra-scientific study of the case. I had suspected this from the beginning considering our friend's unusual behaviour in recent times. 2-3 weeks before his disappearance Dr Uraplatus covertly shifted to a strict waterless diet of dirt & stones. Further, his diary entries reveal a severe onset of catatonia and insomnia. Even though his performance at work remained unaffected ( in fact, improved significantly ), the team noticed his gradual aversion is electro-sculpting archaic shapes and figures. However, the decisive confirmation of my theory was when I shifted my focus to an electro-rock found in my office on the day of his disappearance. At first I simply dismissed it as a misplaced specimen but as my investigations pointed to a transmutation of DR Uraplatus I dived into my instincts and fearing the worst decided to perform a geo-elctro-kinetic probe on this rock and confirmed that it was indeed our lost friend. Alloyan before you doubt my sanity I wish to point out that the laws of paleo-elctrokinesis theoretically predicted this possibility but even I never imagined that a real transference was possible. I would also like to confess that I myself have been experiencing the symptoms described above and feel that a similar fate awaits me if I continue in this line of work. I have therefore decided to retire to my bunker in the mountains witch means that this is the last you'll hear from me. My replacement will be reaching site 2285 any day now and even though I have set up new procedures & guidelines one can never be sure in this line of work. I am sure you will dash off to the site immediately upon reading this letter so you must know that my report and Dr Uraplatus's corpse/body/geo-body is locked up in my office safe ( Code: 33510Um). I leave the electro-sculpting lab in your good hands and judgement.

Your dear old friend

Umos

Mysterious events compel Dr Sandworth to flee his job.