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         Osprey Project - Confidential
         _____________________________
 Background
 __________ 
 Since the ospreys have been translocated to the
 planet, they have been monitored carefully by
 advanced satellite facilities at our disposal.

 The birds are routinely banded and fitted with
 transmitters.  These are comparatively large
 because they are fuel-cell based and can run
 for approximately seven years without needing
 to be refueled.

 By this means we first discovered that one of
 the birds, tagged as X63, was behaving in a
 somewhat unusual manner which was initially a
 cause for concern.  After brief investigation,
 these anomalies were put down to a lack of
 intelligence in the animal.

 X63 was duly released and no further monitoring
 was deemed necessary for the next two months.

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 July 2115
 _________

 On the 13th of July, it was first observed that
 bird X63 was motionless and a team was sent to
 locate the corpse for investigation.

 Instead, the bird was found to be alive but
 comatose.  X63 was taken in for study, at which
 point it was noticed that many other birds were
 being similarly affected.

 X63 was attached to an electro-encephlograph in
 an attempt to diagnose the disease.  It was
 immediately observed that the brain rhythms of
 the animal were highly abnormal, being a mix of
 sinewaves and what appeared to be binary data.

 This was initially considered a malfunction of
 the equipment, but the anomalies persisted on
 four other EEG machines, two of them made by
 different manufacturers.
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 Following a suggestion from one of the team's
 aircraft, a number of the brainwaves were
 combined into what appeared to be an audio
 signal.  Put through a stereo, the resulting
 message was heard by all present:

 "..n of renown.  And I saw that the wickedness
  of man was great in the Earth, and that every
  imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
  only evil continually.

  And it repented Me that I had made man on the
  earth, and it grieved Me at My heart.

  And I said, 'I will destroy man whom I have
  created from the face of the earth; both man,
  and beast, and the creeping
 thing, and the
  fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I
  have made them.
'"

 This appears to be a citation from the book of
 Genesis, chapter 6, verses 5-7 but spoken from
 God's viewpoint.  Analysis of a recording of
 the voice determined that it was not of human
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 origin, and although it bore resemblance to the
 synthesized voice of an aircraft, matched no
 model of voicecoder known to have been built.

 Bird X63's seizure ended after approximately
 81 minutes with no apparent ill-effects.
 Other seizures occurred both in X63 and among
 all the other birds fitted with transmitters.

 However, the frequency of the the attacks
 diminished rapidly and by the end of July had
 ceased completely.  No explanation was ever
 put forward.

 March 2120
 __________
 Five years after the above incident, bird X63
 was recaptured for a periodic check-up and to
 refuel the methanol cell in his transmitter.

 The bird proved unusually difficult to trap,
 avoiding most of the lures provided and managed
 to disentangle himself from a noose carpet used
 successfully to trap many other birds.
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 Bird X63 was eventually subdued with a
 tranquiliser dart and subsequently taken to the
 Northwood labs for detailed tests.
 Some of the staff claimed that the bird was
 'looking at them funny' and refused to enter
 the labs where X63 was being held.

 A blood test revealed abnormalities and it was
 decided to keep him overnight for observation.

 The following morning the steel bars in the
 enclosure were found to have been melted from
 the inside, and the bird was missing.

 Satellite analysis quickly found that ALL the
 birds had been immobile for the last two hours
 and a team was sent quickly to the Taylor
 reserve to investigate.

 Dozens of transmitters were found strewn around
 the reserve, but no ospreys.  X63's transmitter
 was found dismantled, but without any marks to
 indicate how it had been opened.
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 Lieutenant Hk. Milo embarked upon a mission to
 overfly all lakes in the immediate vicinity
 and the ospreys were found to have relocated to
 Lake Milton.

 In the meantime, an analysis of X63's body scan
 (taken prior to his escape) was completed.

 It was discovered that X63's bones had turned
 into an unidentified carbon-composite material
 and unknown cranial structures had also formed.
 The blood sample revealed two extra pairs of
 chromosomes and all available computing power,
 including aircraft neural processors, was used
 in a attempt to sequence the new DNA chains.

 This frantic sequencing took two weeks to run
 but besides incapacitating an entire squadrons
 aircraft yielded no concrete results.

 When suitably recovered, Milo performed a
 routine overflight of Lake Milton and returned
 with footage of the birds apparently building a
 complex wooden structure.  His report is
 attached.
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 Report on Lake Milton Ospreys - Lt. Milo
 ________________________________________
 At 0937 I observed a number of partly-complete
 wooden structures built near the centre of the
 lake.  These structures were mounted upon
 stilts into the water for support.  Some of
 these structures resembled the nest platforms
 built in the lake but were newly erected.

 Many ospreys were observed in and around these
 structures, many of them apparently carrying
 sticks, pieces of wood and similar nesting
 material into the structure.

 Closer inspection revealed that the wood being
 flown into the structure was cut into planks,
 taken from an unknown location.  Pairs of birds
 were apparently cooperating to transport large
 pieces of wood, each osprey grasping one end of
 the plank, sometimes with a third helping to
 support the middle.

 At 0945 I ascertained that the planks were in
 fact being cut from trees, which the birds
 themselves had felled by unknown means.
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 A number of ospreys were observed in a group,
 taking planks from a tree as they were cut.
 I was not able to determine how the wood was
 actually being sawn.  No tools were used.

 I also observed another group of birds acting
 in a team, applying some kind of tar onto the
 wood, presumably as a preservative agent.

 Returning to the logging site, I attempted to
 determine the means by which the ospreys were
 felling the trees, before returning to base.

 ThIALD imaging revealed minute hotspots in the
 wood consistent with laser radiation, but this
 would require a beam of several kilowatts.
 No actual tools or instrumentation was ever
 observed, but the slicing correlated exactly
 with the movement of the nearest bird's head.

 I can offer no rational explanation at this
 time but am sure the film I have taken will
 prove invaluable for further study.

  Lieutenant Hk. Milo, 25/03/2120
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	Milo is sent to overfly the trout-rich waters of the nearby area
	and the missing ospreys are spotted at Lake Milton.
        Meanwhile, the team analyses the data they did get from bird X63 and
	discovers that the osprey's bones have turned into a carbon-composite
	material.
	When they discover from the blood sample that X63 has two extra
	pairs of chromosomes all hell breaks loose.  All spare processing
	capacity including the neural processors in the aircraft are
	commandeered into a beowulf configuration as they frantically try to
	sequence the new DNA chains.

	After two weeks this is completed but they don't understand what
	they have.  Two days later the aircraft begin to recover from their
	330-hour ordeal but are still in non-flying condition and can only
	speculate what some of the new regions might do.  That the ospreys
	have developed considerable intelligence is in no doubt, but their
	motives cannot even be guessed at.

	A few weeks later Milo does a routine overflight of the lake where
	the ospreys have settled and finds that they are building
	something, and it isn't a nest.  The ospreys fell trees (Milo
	can't work out how) and cut them into planks and poles.  Over the
	course of the next few weeks they realise that the ospreys are
	building a complex structure of interlocking buildings on stilts over
	the lake, like Venice.

	Kee-kee-kee-chee is bird X63, who has assumed the role of leader after
	bringing the other ospreys to a place of safety.
