The Lab

It appears we made an error in judgement. Our subject has been having some disturbing images forming in her cerebral cortex during her hibernation cycle lately. Even though we have attempted to keep her in her hybernative state, it seems she is much more aware of her surroundings in the lab than we calculated her to be. We have been able to capture some of the images before they fade into nothingness and they appear to be quite disturbing. I have filed the images away in hopes the overseers will not become aware of the findings. I do not want to lose the opportunity to continue our research study.

It is difficult to find useful data from such fragile subjects. Any changes in the status quo upsets their constitution. Casual observation has shown the subjects emotional state can actually affect their physical well-being. Our culture has eliminated most disease and we found it quite surprising to discover bacteria and germs still have debilitating effects on these subjects. We will need to balance the health and well-being of our subject with the need to gather data.

There are many images in our subject’s cerebral cortex and it is taking some time to sort through them. Many of the images appear to be distorted, but some of them have come through very clearly. My face for one. I never enter the lab without my protective equipment so she must have seen me through the transparent barrier as I was donning my gear. The representation of my face is very clear and, quite surprisingly, accurate.

At some point during her hibernation cycle it seemed she thought of herself as being trapped in a long, well-lit corridor with doors lining the sides. She must have imagined she was being chased by some vicious creature because her in her cerebral cortex she was running through the corridors and continuously peering behind her to see what was there. Her heart rate and adrenaline levels were higher than any we have ever recorded. Her level of activity in the night did not warrant her body’s physical reaction. She did thrash about in her nest and struggle with the wrappings encasing her. At one point she awoke, sat up in the bed and cried out into the darkness. One of the residents of her abode must have heard the noise because she came in to check on her. By the time the other individual entered the room our subject had entered back into her hibernation. Her companion shook her until she arose, but our subject did not appear to recollect the image that frightened her.

We are having difficulty understanding the images in her mind. Although we transport her down long corridors to bring her to our lab, they do not appear to be the same type of corridors as we have at our research facility. Our lab is cordoned off from the rest of our facility because we do not want any contaminants entering our bio-facilities. Our subjects are never allowed to wander freely about our lab. They are always kept in hibernation and are only transferred through the halls on the exam tables. We have eliminated disease in our culture, but there is always the chance our research subject’s culture may be carrying a viral infection we have not developed an immunity to as of yet. Although our passageways are brightly lit, we would never chase a research subject through the lab. We would release a neurotoxin designed to render them unconscious before sending in a retrieval team.

We will have to see if we can implant another recording device in our subject’s cerebellum the next time we bring her into the lab. Perhaps if we place it closer to the amygdala we will be able to retrieve more of her hibernation images. Until then we will have to keep her in a deeper hybernetic state while we are performing experiments in our lab.