The Skin Trade

TW-103 cannot be reliably located or contained. MALICE maintains a reporting network for unexplained surgical-grade skin excisions. Subjects are debriefed under a medical cover story. Subjects are asked not to discuss their experience but no amnestics are currently authorised given the non-violent nature of the interactions. Research focus is on identifying what TW-103 does with acquired material and whether the offered items have any common origin.

TW-103 is an entity — or possibly a collective of entities — that trades in human skin. This is not metaphorical. It approaches individuals in isolated locations, presents a verbal offer for a specific and precisely defined area of the subject's skin, and offers a reciprocal item in return. The item offered is consistently something the subject deeply wants. Subjects who accept awake in hospital with a clean, painless excision. The wound heals without complication. Subjects who decline are unharmed. The items received have been confirmed to appear in the subject's possession immediately. What TW-103 does with the acquired skin is entirely unknown.

TW-103 was identified after seven geographically separate reports of painless skin excisions were linked by methodology. All subjects described the same offer-and-exchange structure and all received something of personal significance. One subject received verifiable knowledge of a future event. One received their deceased spouse's handwriting, spontaneously appearing in a notebook.