Day 10:
Temperatures are comfortable here in the lab and probably will be for the duration of our stay. I haven't seen any other signs of life. Given the location of our lab in Albuquerque, it seems likely that there are at least a few survivors, whereas the more rural areas may have none.

Our high-resolution radar still works. The friction caused by the high rotational speed of the radar's parabolic antenna may be the only thing preventing the antenna from freezing in place, given the lubricant and bearings were probably not made for such a low temperature, and so this and a few of the other data collection machines continue to record terabytes of data daily.

At about 3pm, I noticed a small blip on the radar indicating movement between building 916A and 916F. Unfortunately, the inability to confirm this visually and the erratic movement of whatever it was means it's likely that this was a false positive, or maybe even a malfunction due to the cold outside. It seems unlikely that anything could have actually been freely moving out there given the surface temperature.

I've tried contacting other facilities, but the radio's fucked. It is plausible that the reason we haven't been able to communicate with other facilities is because much of the equipment on base wasn't made to handle such extremely cold temperatures. At a certain level of cold, normal solder points will separate from circuit boards and the compression of electrical components could compromise the electrical integrity.

Day 13:
The strange entity on the radar from a few days ago seems to have reappeared. Gerta was the one to notice it this time. We can't be absolutely sure that it's the same creature, but it's signature movement and it's size seem to suggest that it's the same, or maybe of the group of creatures of the same type. Radio is still out, or just nobody is responding.


Day 14:
I had a headache since I woke up this morning, probably from staring at data sheets for hours the night before, so I decided to nap for a bit around noon. I was woken up at about 2:30 by the sound of fists pounding on the front door. At first glance, looking through the small bullet-proof and metallic-reinforced grid rectangle of frozen glass, there appeared to be a person dressed in some sort of bio or geohazard suit. The person seemed frantic, as if trying to find a place to hide, so I quickly wedged opened the door, pulled them inside, and slammed the door shut again.

Upon relieving him of his helmet, it was obvious that this was a man, probably in his mid twenties, and out of breath and exhausted from running, perhaps. I walked him to the make-shift living room area and was like, “get some rest, buddy.” We plan to question him on his circumstances of his arrival when he wakes up again.

Meanwhile, we once again observed what appeared to be the small creature crossing between the two buildings in the distance. This time, though, it stopped just about halfway between the buildings and seemed to bounce up and down for awhile; perhaps it was digging something out of the ground, or perhaps it noticed the light from our building and was curious, it's unknown. It's been pitch black outside for weeks, except for the few lights in operation around the immediate vicinity of the climate labs, but the frost covering the windows and cameras of the building allows only a few halos of light to be seen through them.

Day 15:
The man from the previous night is now awake. His name is Robert Paulson. He confirmed our suspicions that there is something living outside the building, and offered some new insight into our world's sudden darkness. He said that he'd been observing the sky and that there was no sign of any natural celestial objects such as stars or the moon or anything else. He did, however, observe pulsating light patterns that, he says, appeared man-made as they passed overhead. The lights would appear over the horizon, float overhead (quite a distance up in the sky, he says, as if LEDs on a black matte surface), and then eventually disappear over the opposite horizon. He had been observing the phenomena for about a week now and thinks that the appearance of the lights in the sky and the creature may in some way may be linked. Robert's description of it follows:

“I've been hiding out underground, near the hot water pipes and things that keep warm. It was me and my cousin Lisa, my uncle Cole, and my sister Nina. We were en route to Oregon when the sky suddenly seemed to explode and go black. Nina was asleep, and the rest of us were wearing sunglasses to block out the midday Sun. We thought something had exploded, like maybe a power transformer right near us, or that maybe the car had somehow been struck by lightning. When the world didn't get light again, we got scared. We couldn't think of any explanation for it, and we decided to spend the night in the car, parked next to a shack by the freeway at the base of the mountains. It got cold fast. We decided not to wait till morning because it seemed that morning might not come, so we went exploring. We drove our station wagon down an old road, lights on bright, until we came to a weird mine-like entrance on the side of the mountain. That must be something related to this place, right? Well, anyway, it was warm there due to the massive hot water pipes. We've basically been holed up in there for the past few weeks, and with two of these suits we've been going out and finding food in the surrounding area: frozen rabbits, frozen grocery food, whatever. We can warm our frozen food with the hotter of the water pipes. We were fine for awhile, but yesterday after a food excursion, I came back to my cousin, sister and uncle in some kind of weird trance. I tried to snap them out of it, but they just sat there, not saying or doing anything. A few hours later, I saw a silhouette of that creature pass by the metal doors of the shelter. While it moved like a wild rabbit or something, it seemed to have electric eyes and some reflective or lit areas on it's body, as if it could be some sort of mechanical rabbit. That's when I decided to venture out and look for help. I couldn't risk having what happened to the others happen to me. And, I think that creature might have something to do with their hypnosis or whatever because it's the only indication of anything weird that could have interacted with them.”

Radar has detected the creature a dozen or more times now.

Day 18:
The creature outside the building has become a major focus of our attention. We are trying to discover what it is and what it's doing out there. It tends to appear more often when we are in an area visible from outside, such as near a door or window, or in an exterior room of the building. It's erratic movement has still now been explained. I have noticed a pattern in it's movement, though: When it stops after movement into an open area, such as between the 916 buildings, it will generally shift back and forth a few times, then hop or bob up and down, for the remainder of the time it's in the spot. Then it stops for a bit and runs off along the path it was destined to. This could signify a hunting for something in a particular spot, but that's just a guess. I'm a climatologist, not an animal expert.

I plan on venturing outside of the building and trying to capture or at least see first-hand the one creature that we know exists outside the facility. Meanwhile, Robert and Gerta will spend their time sifting through data and static retrieved from radio and other data sources and try to understand what it is that is, as we now speculate, jamming communications frequencies.

Day 19:
Wearing the thermal suit that Robert had on when he first arrived, I ventured outside to try to get a look at and attempt to capture the rabbit-sized creature. Based on frequency and time of day that the creature normally comes about, I decided to set upon the task at about 2:30 in the afternoon. My routine in leaving the building involved quickly opening the door, just enough to get out, and quickly shutting it, both to keep the inside of the building warm and to avoid having the door stuck open due to icing when the warm air meets the cool air.

I took one of the two long-range two-way radios. We discovered that these low-frequency radios still work, it's mostly high-frequency instruments that are jammed. Gerta and Robert kept watch at the radar station and would alert me if and when they detected the creature. I took the a metal bucket and the only net-like thing I could find: a hemp net that we had hanging from the ceiling in the building and contained stuffed sea creature toys, and I stationed myself near our building so that I could take shelter if for any reason I needed to.

3:10pm:
(static)
Gerta: I think we've got something.
Robert: Yeah, there it is! It's coming from behind 916A!
(I quickly ducked behind a line of barrels and ran between the two buildings to end up just behind 916F)
Me: I'm in position.
Robert: It's stopped about ten feet from 916A. Do you see it?
Me: No... Oh, wait, I think I do...
(I saw what looked to be some quickly vibrating lights about 20 meters away)
Me: Going silent.

I turned off my radio and crouched in anticipation of capturing whatever it was. It stood there, jittering slightly, as it had done all the previous times. It looked like a rabbit, but it's eyes had an electric glow to them and lights seemed to spark through it's semi-translucent skin. It didn't seem to be affected by the cold at all. I readied my equipment for the catch when it would undoubtedly launch itself in my direction. Five minutes later, it did exactly that. It stopped it's ritual hovering between the two buildings and sprang into action, racing straight at me. I jumped out of the way and it went right into the net, and then right through it, ripping a hole through the other side. Fortunately, the bucket was behind the net, and the creature ran right into it, though the impact launched both the bucket and creature about ten feet or so. When I caught up to examine the bucket and the creature inside, I noticed that the creature's impact had warped the bottom of the bucket. It didn't appear to be moving, not as in it was dead, but as in it was broken, so I wrapped the net around it and dragged it back to the building.

Back at the lab, a quick look at the creature revealed that it was in fact a rabbit, but by no means ordinary. It was a cyborg with internal antennas and circuitry, all run off electricity generated by the body, and I assumed it was some sort of escaped experiment by the fact that it had been roaming around the Sandia campus. I cut what looked like a primary group of wires, just to ensure our safety. Then, as if there were some link between the rabbit and the disappearance of the Sun, the sky began to light up in a grid formation, showing diminishing dark lines. A strange, phosphorous rain followed, and then the Sun set.

Day 23:
The labs have been shut down and quarantined. It turns out the rabbit was essentially a mobile radio transmitter for controlling a large number of airborne experimental nanobots. A malfunction caused the nanobots to form a reflecting grid in the atmosphere, and as they got the signal to instantaneously link together, they blacked out the universe and any light destined for Earth was reflected back into space. Furthermore, the nanobots acted as a radio jammer, jamming just about any long-range frequency on Earth.