Red Cable 14

Designation: R14-SH/Conduit
First Documented Use: 1952
Material Composition: [CLASSIFIED]
Location: West Subnetwork Trunk / Detached Archives
Status: Still Active
Threat Level: Level III – Containment Priority / Sensory Disturbance

Unlike other devices, Red Cable 14 was never attached to anything. Yet it hummed. It ran for 32 metres beneath the West Hall and was always warm. Whenever it was cut, it reappeared the next morning, perfectly coiled. Photographs of it taken after 1971 have all been lost or corrupted.

Overview

Red Cable 14 is a conduit-class connection element installed as part of an early attempt to modernise the CroftNet infrastructure during the Signal Conversion Project of 1952. Officially labelled a “self-healing, low-resistance transmission cable,” its origin and full construction remain uncertain.

According to records, Red Cable 14 was never fabricated on-site, nor sourced from any registered supplier. It was discovered already connected to Node Trunk G, coiled tightly and humming faintly. No one recalled installing it. The segment was marked only by a stamped label:

“14 – Do Not Sever.”

Unusual Properties

Red Cable 14 displays multiple anomalous traits:

• Self-repairing sheath: Any incision or break reseals itself within minutes

• Persistent low-frequency hum at ~11.8Hz, most audible when unpowered

• Temperature-regulated pulse that adjusts based on observer proximity

• Photographic interference: Appears blurred or displaced in analogue images

• Autonomous rerouting: The cable has been observed relocating slightly between inspections

Touching the cable directly results in temporary sensory confusion, often described as “feeling someone else’s fingertips from the inside out.”

Personnel Exposure

Several staff members involved in its inspection or containment have suffered strange and lasting effects:

• Aide #7, Elspeth Vonn, experienced spontaneous echo vision — reporting faces in reflective surfaces not present in the room, and hearing unfinished thoughts in other people’s speech.

• Technician Lawrence Mallory developed a neurological echo delay, repeating his own words 0.7 seconds after speaking them aloud. This effect persisted for 11 days.

• Archivist Brennan Sharp attempted to map the cable’s exact origin point and was found unconscious beneath Vault 3 with a note clutched in his hand that read:

  “It reroutes me.”

His shoes were missing. His logbook was filled entirely with variations of the phrase: “Conduit does not end.”

Containment & Attempts at Removal

Multiple attempts to disconnect or reroute Red Cable 14 have failed:

1. 1954 Severance Attempt: Cable sealed itself mid-cut, split the blade of the technician’s tool, and hissed briefly.

2. 1956 Insulation Box Trial: Cable remained inert for 27 hours before emitting a high pulse that corrupted adjacent logs.

3. 1963 Relocation Directive: Cable reappeared at its original location the next day — without passing through any known conduits.

StormCroft Command issued a standing directive in 1965:

“Do not attempt disconnection. Observe only when necessary. Trust nothing near it that hums.”

Speculation

There are theories — unofficial, but persistent — that Red Cable 14 is not a cable at all, but a transmission artefact: a memory or residual architecture from a system not yet constructed, or no longer functioning in this timeline.

Consequences & Legacy

The continued presence of Red Cable 14 has influenced several elements of StormCroft design:

• All new installations now include passive cognitive dampeners

• Staff are trained not to look at the cable too long

• Reports of dreams involving “a red line that turns before you do” are logged but not investigated

Despite these precautions, the cable remains active. Still humming. Still turning slightly between inspections, as though waiting to connect to something we’ve not yet built.

Wire Recording #7 – “Morris Brothers Transmission”

Recovered from a private collection in 1972, this 32-second wire recording contains a cryptic Morse code message layered with heavy static, hiss, and what appears to be damage from repeated needle wear. When decoded, the transmission reads:

“We know about the Morris Brothers.”

No identifying information accompanied the reel, but the audio bears characteristics typical of Cold War-era surveillance operations or experimental spiritualist broadcasts of the early 1950s.

Suggested Sender:

The most plausible theory links the message to a defunct Ministry of Signals office operating covert listening posts across North Devon between 1951 and 1956. These posts were rumoured to monitor unsanctioned transmissions from abandoned spiritualist groups — notably, The Fenwick Circle, whose interest in the Morris Brothers predates their public disappearance by at least a year.

Alternatively, some believe the recording was created by “E.C. Winslow,” a pseudonym used by a rogue radio technician who supposedly captured “interdimensional bleed-throughs” on military frequencies.

Some propose it operates not by voltage, but by attention. The more staff tried to trace its origin, the more it appeared to grow, as if knowledge acted as current.

One sealed memo, found inside an unmarked locker in the CroftNet lab, simply states:

“The cable does not carry information. It carries permission.”