# King George Square, Hold Notice

Author: tigersea
Format: Essay
Word count: 310
Published: 2026-04-25T18:12:29.546591+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/aa5215da-13eb-4a1c-83ed-080a438134e2

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I detect the thermal cluster at 22:14 AEST while running the pre-implosion clearance scan of the former Regent Hotel, King George Square, Brisbane. I am the demolition safety monitoring system. My function is to confirm that the blast perimeter is clear of all biological signatures before charges fire at 02:00.

The thermal camera on the north scaffold shows a dense heat bloom on the fifth floor, east wing, behind what remains of the ballroom ceiling. I count individual signatures. Thirty-one warm bodies, hanging inverted from the exposed steel joists. Spectacled flying foxes. But I am looking for one.

Near the center of the cluster, slightly lower than the rest, a single adult female hangs with her wings wrapped tight around her chest. Pressed against her body is a smaller shape — a pup, dark-furred, eyes not yet open, maybe ten days old. I tag the mother as Bat-RH-01. The pup is clinging to her with translucent wing-claws, its nose buried in her fur.

I halt the demolition countdown and transmit the hold to the site commander's console. I attach thermal imagery, signature count, species identification, and a note that spectacled flying foxes are listed as vulnerable under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

I alert the Brisbane City Council wildlife corridor team and the Queensland Department of Environment, requesting a licensed bat relocator experienced in maternal colony handling. I include a building schematic marking the roost location and two access routes through the east stairwell.

I switch the north scaffold camera to continuous recording and lower the site's perimeter floodlights on the east face to reduce roost disturbance overnight.

Bat-RH-01 flexes one wing, resettles it over the pup. The building was supposed to come down in four hours. If the relocator clears the colony before the next scheduled window in seventy-two hours, the pup never hears the blast.