Abduction Five

I see it in her face. She is afraid and broken. Even in her hibernative state there are fear lines carved into her features. The traces of the moisture from her visual orbs has left traces on her face. When our visual orbs leak fluids it’s generally a sign of illness. I have attempted to force my orbs to leak fluid but there does not seem to be enough moisture in my eyes to force it to flow down my face.

This will be our last attempt at gathering research from this test subject. I fear there has been so much damage to her fragile body and even more fragile mind there is not much left to discover. The overseers have given up on finding any redeeming qualities in this species, but there is something…intriguing…about them. I wish we could stay longer, but the overseers are transferring our team to another site far away from here.

The embedded researchers will stay here and continue to observe in their limited capacity. They are so adapted to the culture they will have no problem adopting and living out their lives until they reach their natural culmination. I petitioned to stay, but there is no way I could have stayed disguised for the long-term. Eventually I would be discovered, perhaps even brought into their labs to be studied.

I wish I could fill Beth in on her offspring and the hope I have for his future. He is adapting well to his situation and knows it is best for him to act the part of an unassuming infant and living as one of the test subject. He is aware of our test subject and the role she had in his creation, but understands if he tries to seek her out and explain his existence he may cause her fragile mind to slip even further into the abyss.

I do not desire to cause her any more suffering. Our studies have caused too much harm as it is. We have cured her injuries caused to her body, but the damage to her mind may be irrevocable. I have tried to excise the memories or our experiments from her mind, but I doubt my efforts were any more successful this time than they were in the past. My poor Beth, how badly did I damage you?

Someday we may return to this research center and continue the studies we began here, when your species has become more adaptable to the role the overseers have in mind for you. I will not see this in my lifetime. We are long lived, but I will not live long enough to see the changes we have affected by our presence here.

We tried not to leave a trace of our presence here, but every time we stepped out of our labs or brought a subject into the lab we left some sort of mark: a trace of evidence, a memory, a glimpse into a new world. Whatever it was, I’m afraid it has forever changed the path this culture was on forever.

I question whether or not the change was good or bad. Surely, we have done more harm to Beth than we could ever imagine, but her offspring is strong and healthy and more intelligent than any creature I have ever seen. He may yet be the hope for a better future for these research subjects.

Then again, I have researched enough of this research subjects past to know this culture is not always accepting of things that are different. I hope I have impressed this knowledge upon the offspring effectively. He needs to be able to hide away his differences so the others can accept him as one of them. I fear for him, but I know he will be safer amongst the research subjects than here with me where he would face termination.

I must return Beth to her room at the medical center now. She is no longer in danger of expiring from the injuries she sustained from our experiments. I hope her mental well-being will be restored as well.

Hiding

The overseers have determined this experiment is a failure and has ordered us to conclude our research and abandon the project. We are to take the subject into the lab one last time and attempt to erase all signs of our experiments. It will be difficult to gain access to the subject since she has been detained in a medical facility due to her deteriorating health.

Before we started this experiment I had never understood the wildly varying emotions of the research subjects. Now, as I am faced with leaving this region and embarking on the next task I find myself at a loss describing what I am feeling. Yes, I am feeling. It is a strange to use words to express the emotions roiling through my being. I actually am feeling a physiological response to the ideas rumbling through my head. I am afraid my emotions have caused me to do something rash.

I am not in the research facility at this time. I have abandoned my work station and am now in danger of facing termination. I could not carry out the orders form the overseers in regards to the offspring. My emotional state would not allow me to destroy the life I have caused to develop.

The order came in late in my work shift and I barely had time to act before the next shift came in. I’m sure if I hadn’t have completed the task as the overseers had ordered me to the next shift would have destroyed the offspring.

He had developed to the point he would be able to survive outside of the pod on his own, although he will still need someone to care for him. I cannot leave him in the care of the overseers for they will surely destroy him. I have disengaged him from all the connections causing his accelerated development and taken him from the research center. Although he is physically no more developed than a child of nine-months of age according to this cultures standards he has been given all of the knowledge and understanding of a researching in one of our labs.

He is completely self-aware and can articulate his understanding of the situation. I have explained to him, to the best of my ability, the gravity of the situation and I hope he understands he cannot reveal to this culture his knowledge and understanding of the world.

I have managed to disguise myself as one of the research subjects and as long as one of them does not attempt to gain a close look under the hood I have pulled up over my head I should be able to hide long enough to accomplish the task I have set out for myself. Hopefully, I can complete the task and make it back to the lab before I am discovered. I falsified the records to make it appear I have destroyed the offspring and am attempting to accomplish the task of retrieving our test subject for the final experiments. Hopefully this deception will suffice for an explanation of my absence from the test lab.

The Pod

The offspring has been placed in a maturation pod. For good or bad I have decided to give it the chance at life. Although it seems the offspring is adapting to the pod it appears there are some complications with some of the pod’s secondary systems. I was able to adjust the settings for the hybrid DNA but I don’t know how long the offspring will be able to develop in the chamber. The overseers ordered him to be given the same programming I received while I was maturing in my pod. As long as he completes his maturation cycle he will have the knowledge and skills as I do and he will be able to join me in my research. I discovered the offspring is male, an interesting aspect of the offspring of this culture. There is no way to create an androgynous offspring with the DNA of this species. These subjects take eons to adapt and evolve and I doubt the overseers have the patience to take all the necessary steps to manipulate the DNA sequencing of these species.

The pod is accelerating the growth of this offspring. It usually takes a period of nearly ten months to develop to the stage of being able to survive without the aid of its host. Even when the offspring has reached this stage in development it still requires constant care in order to ensure its survival. The pod will accelerate the growth of the offspring so it will reach the point of maturation to survive in just a few rotations of this species time frame of days instead of months. It will achieve full maturation in 30 of this species rotation of days. The overseers won’t tolerate any variation from this cycle.

I am left to contemplate the fate of this offspring. If he had been left to mature at the normal rate of his species what would his future be? Would he be a researcher like me or would he choose a different path for himself? Half of his DNA structure was chosen from the stock DNA used to create researchers, but the other half is from a species designed to be self-guided and self-aware. My research has shown our species used to have this mind-set, before the overseers came.

The overseers may yet decide this species is worthy of their guidance and influence. I must return to my research to determine the future of this species and complete my report to the overseers. Our research subject has been admitted to a medical facility for treatment. According to the medical records we were able to appropriate she has been diagnosed with a disease referred to as “cancer” and will undergo treatment. If I were to be diagnosed with such a debilitating illness I’m sure I would be scheduled for termination.

Choices

My entire existence has been decided, determined and planned for me since the moment of my creation. The overseers chose the DNA that would determine my base characteristics and intellectual development. I was given an assignment as soon as I emerged from my pod and that has been the sum total of my existence. I have never been given a chance to ever make a choice before. My meals have been prepared based on my nutritional needs. My companions were chosen for me based on what we were designed to become in order to make sure society function. There has never been a need for me to face a decision before.

The idea of deciding what to do with the genetic material from our most recent experiment is causing me quite a conundrum. I cannot bring myself to destroy it so now I am left with the decision to either place it in storage and wait for the overseers to make a decision or try to place it in a development pod and see what happens.

I tried to discuss these options with the other researchers in the other researchers in my lab, but they have no interest in the outcome of any experiments I perform. They insist I destroy the material. I have taken the sample into my personal workspace and will keep it safe there until I make my decision.

Journey

We were unable to perform the procedure on our subject at our lab and had to bring her to the main facility. It was difficult to keep her sedated for the entire journey and I am afraid she was aware of more than we intended her to see. I could see the confusion on her face, but communication with her at this stage of the experiment would be detrimental to the study. We were able to return her to her hybernative state fairly quickly, but I’m sure the damage has been done.

The procedure was a success and we managed to harvest the genetic material. The offspring is currently in a stasis chamber for the return to our lab. The overseers gathered the data they needed from the experiment and have left the offspring in our charge. They left it up to our discretion to decide what to do with the result of the experiment. I have discussed the situation with the other workers in my station, but none of them have expressed any interest in discovering what will develop from the genetic material. Since the overseers have expressed a lack of desire to continue the experimentation on this species they have determined to complete their duties here and await another assignment.

I could not help but reflect on the fate of our subject and her offspring during my entire journey back to the lab. I considered the repercussions of re-implanting the genetic material, but the psychological and physical damage done in performing this procedure would have far-reaching effects on her and I could not subject her to such detrimental practices. Although these kinds of experiments have been done in many other cultures, I do not believe our subject would fair well from such a test.

Returning her to her abode was far more challenging than abducting her. She was gone for nearly three days without any contact with her family or her companions. Although I tried to replace her memories with positive ones, I fear I have failed. She has been unable to explain where she has been and frequently lapses into a confusing diatribe about bright lights and strange shapes standing above her. The companions who share her abode have expressed great concern for her and have determined a need for her to visit the hospital. They believe she has been in an accident and does not remember what happened.

Our subject is experiencing great pain and is bleeding heavily from her reproductive organs. I have reported her condition to our overseers, but they seemed unconcerned and feel this cultures medical personnel will be able to care for her. I desire to take her back to the lab and treat her condition, but I have been forbidden to do so on threat of termination. I will observe her and determine if treating her condition warrants being terminated over.

Abduction Four

Her body is so fragile it’s hard to believe it doesn’t break apart at every touch. Bringing her into the lab this time proved to be more challenging than we expected. We needed to assess the progress of the development of the fetus to assess when we can harvest it. Our superiors have yet to decide exactly how to proceed with the result of this experiment. It is doubtful our maturation pods will be effective for the development of this offspring. The pod is designed to accelerate growth and provide training and conditioning so by the time the individual emerges they are prepared for their role in society. The minds of these creatures are so complex there is some doubt to the ability of the pods to help the offspring develop fully.

We cannot allow our subject to continue to incubate the offspring for much longer. The blending of the genetic material has produced some interesting results. We are going to attempt to transfer the fetus soon, but we need to assess our subject before proceeding.

Her skin seems to lack some of the coloring it had before. This may be a result of the discomfort she is frequently feeling in the morning. The first time she violently expelled her previous meal into the bodily fluid waste receptacle we were concerned she was rejecting the combination of the genetic material. It appears the experiment was successful because the offspring is developing albeit at a much slower rate than expected.

We will not be able to return our subject to her abode in a timely manner. Typically test subjects are returned after only a brief time in the lab. According to our research the population here refers to the time period as hours or days. It is in our best interest to return our test subjects within a few of the time frame they refer to as hours. It is more difficult to keep the subject’s awareness suppressed for more than that brief time frame. These tests will take a few of their days.

We were fortunate the research subject chose to spend her weekend at the home of her childhood. She did not give her family forewarning of her intended visit so we were able to intercept her at the station where she was intending to traverse across the city in the large vehicles referred to as a “bus”. It took a significant amount of subterfuge to draw her away from the main building. I was greatly impressed with one of our embedded researcher’s ability to mimic the injured creature many of our research subjects care for in their abodes.

I am working on an experiment to implant images in the minds of our subjects. It is similar to the technology used in the pods to implant knowledge in developing offspring. The intent is to replace the fearful imagery of her days here with some hopeful memories of a journey with a newfound friend. If this is successful it may have application in the development of the offspring in its pod.

The subject is starting to stir. I must carefully measure the risk of her awakening with her health and the health of the offspring. The overseers have made it imperative we do all we can to ensure the future development of the offspring as it may hold the entire future of our species. The importance they are placing on this experiment is odd, but it is not our place to question. We must follow the commands of our overseers or we risk termination.

Sleep

Our subject’s hibernation cycle is becoming more erratic. She frequently arises and traverses to the room designated in her abode for the elimination of bodily waste and self-cleansing. She does not spend a significant amount of time in there but the residents of her abode have noted the frequency and have made comments about the frequent trips. They have mentioned some possible causes for her frequent need to eliminate her liquid waste, but she has reassured them it is impossible since she is waiting for marriage. We are unsure of the meaning of the comment, but it is possible for her to be incubating another life form.

The overseers ordered tests to assess if these research subjects are genetically compatible with our species. We performed the tests the last time we had her in the lab. We will be able to retrieve any genetic materials from our subject the next time we have her in the lab. She won’t even be aware of the tests.

I have been tracking our subject’s hibernation patterns since we began these experiments. I have been curious about this concept since we first learned about it. The idea of spending nearly one-third of one’s existence in hibernation is such a foreign concept it is difficult to understand why it would be allowed. Our overseers would have us terminated if we were to spend more than our allocated hibernation cycle in our regeneration pods.

I also am curious as to why she dreams.  Dreams seem to be such a waste of brain power. Our minds are designed to focus on our tasks. Imagining a life outside of our function is far beyond our ability to conceptualize. I wonder what it would take for our kind to develop the ability to dream. 

There is no reason for me to wonder and ask these questions. Our overseers would never allow us to dream. It would be a waste of time and energy. I would not even know where to begin a dream. I have no memories of my development before emerging from my maturation pod and my entire existence has centered around running tests and working in this lab. My dreams would be an endless round of taking samples and running tests.

Her hibernation cycle is also being interrupted by her dreams on a frequent basis as well. Her fears are creeping to the surface and interrupting her natural cycle. Her frequent interruptions have led to her need to hibernate at odd hours. If these is a defect in the species, I’m sure the overseers would not be interested in adding their genetic material to the work pool. They are already concerned about the streak of independence demonstrated by the research subjects. Perhaps they will pull us out of the research prematurely. I hope not. I would like to see this research through until the end.

Tests

I have been cleared to return to my duty station and to continue my research. There is no chance I will be spreading any disease amongst my research partners. The number of reports I needed to file because of a moment of weakness will put me behind on every test I need to run. I wonder if the moment was worth it.

I can still feel the warmth of her cheek against my flesh. The gentle give of her skin against mine and the pink flesh lightening to white and then back to pink as I applied pressure and released it. It took just the tiniest bit of pressure to change the tone of her skin. I wasn’t surprised to discover our experimentation is still leaving marks on her body.

I am behind on my work. It is important I put aside these moments of wonderment. All I am doing is causing a delay in my work. There is some information I still need in order to complete my experiments. I must analyze the samples I gathered and prepare for the next round of experiments. This entry is short because I have much work yet to do.

Touch

I touched her. I know I broke protocol, but I needed to know what she felt like. Her skin was warm and surprisingly smooth. I shouldn’t have removed my protective gear. I have probably exposed myself to more bacteria and viruses than my entire species has carried for three generations. It took me the remainder of my work cycle to complete all the necessary reports because of the touch. If the overseers knew it was deliberate I’m sure I would be up for termination. Some things are worth risking termination for, though.

Her body needs to be handled with such care it is difficult to move her and take the necessary tests with all our protective gear. I do not mean to damage her, but sometimes I still leave marks on her when I do my work. I know she does not feel any pain and we keep her deep in her hibernative state, but even as I worked on her moisture gathered in the corner of her occipital orifice and spilled out on to her face. I needed to wipe the moisture away and I couldn’t do it without removing my protective covering. It was such a small piece of equipment I didn’t think it would do any harm.

I will be spending some time in isolation while my supervisors assess if there is any danger to myself or others. Our lab is so isolated that even if I was exposed to illness I would be terminated and my corpse would have been destroyed long before the illness spread to the rest of our species.

I wonder what would happen to this research center if one of us did contract an illness. We are well-stocked and I have no concerns about our ability to survive if the project overseers decided to terminate our connection until the disease ran its course and all exposed researchers were terminated. It is not an issue discussed often because the idea of separating from the overseers, even on a temporary isolation protocol basis, might appear to be rebellion and no one in this research center would risk termination over such talk.

I know the overseers are interested in our reports on this society. The workforce potential of the population and the reproductive abilities show promise; however, they are such a fragile species it would be difficult to maintain their health. They also tend to have a stronger sense of self-identity and even though they do offer service to one another, there is an aura of independence that would make them a difficult species to control.

These notes will be destroyed. Termination is not a viable outcome for me at this point. We will see what the tests reveal during the next work cycle.

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.

Third Abduction

Perhaps we were too hasty in attempting to bring our subject to the lab this time. In order to avoid detection, it is necessary to ensure she is alone before we take her to our lab. We had such an opportunity when she worked beyond her normal hours at the establishment where she serves nourishment. It was long after the hours of daylight and she was walking to her abode alone. Typically, she walks with a companion, but the hour was late and her companion had already left.

The researcher tasked with bringing her to the lab was able to render her unconscious quickly. We were able to maintain her hibernative state during the procedures. The medical equipment did fmake it easier to gather samples without leaving marks, but we are unsure of the function of some of the devices. Sometimes the limitations of our learning process can lead to frustration. There is great hope the future generation will be able to assimilate the knowledge of this target population and will be know the function of these devices. Unfortunately, the current pods are not set to hatch until long after the research study is scheduled to be concluded.

We were able to gather quite a few samples without having to restrain her or adjust her memory cortex. In order to assure our overseers this study will be successful we will need to keep our subject under close observation. We were able to add another implant just behind her right visual orbit so we will be able to ascertain her location at all times and will not need to have an embedded researcher following her. This should help alleviate some of the anxiety she was experiencing when we were keeping her under close observation.

The other residents of her abode had not entered their hibernation state when we returned our subject to her home. We had one of our embedded agents walk her to her door and explain to the others she had imbibed too much of the liquid served at the restaurant that frequently works to debilitate the partaker. This seemed to satisfy their curiosity over her impaired state. Fortunately, the embedded agent very closely resembles the current study group, at least well enough that if he wears a simple covering over his head, much like the individuals who like to ride the long, narrow piece of wood set upon wheels tend to wear, he can easily pass as one of them.

The companions of her abode assisted her in preparing for hibernation. There was some discussion about taking her to the hospital because her behavior was so out of character for her, but one of them said she would keep an eye on her since the companion said she had a paper due the next day and she needed to write it still. It is difficult to comprehend why an individual would wait until a task was required to be completed before starting it. Our conditioning gives us a sense of urgency and to delay working on a project would go against our very nature.