House of Smoke - Chapter 1
“Subject PT-934 presents an unusual ability not previously documented in any other subjects, regardless of class. Per the reports from four orderlies at 3:15 this afternoon, PT-934 was having an altercation with several other subjects of various classes. PT-934 is an unpopular subject and is often at the center of such conflicts. The other subjects surrounded PT-934 and were taunting it with various developmentally typical insults. At one point, subject JF-54 escalated the ordeal by taking a stray cat that PT-934 was keeping (illicitly) as a pet and repeatedly hit it against the compound wall until it died. Orderlies arrived shortly after the incident and removed all subjects for disciplinary measures. However, PT-934 was hysterical over the cat’s demise and refused to leave the animal. I will quote from the reports of three orderlies observing the event:
Orderly One: The girl, I mean, the subject, was crying and screaming and covered in the cat’s blood. She repeatedly yelled, “He killed Bobbie; why would he kill Bobbie?” I assumed “Bobbie” was what she’d named the animal. As we tried to remove her from the scene, she picked up the cat and violently screamed and thrashed around. Then the cat seemed to… well… the cat must have awoken from unconsciousness and got up and ran away. The subject then passed out and, to my knowledge, hasn’t awoken since.
Orderly Two: It seems absurd, but the cat was dead; its neck was broken. I don’t know what happened, but I know the cat was dead, and then suddenly, it wasn’t.
Orderly Three: I heard the bones snap, almost like they were snapping back into place, and the cat darted off. I’ve never seen anything like it. I would have immediately put in for a psych evaluation if the two other orderlies hadn’t agreed that we’d all seen the same thing.
We’ve dispatched a team of staff to search for the cat so we can analyze it.
PT-934 has previously been an unremarkable subject. It is not excelling in IQ tests, let alone any measures of abilities. PT-934 was slated for termination at the end of the term since the only PT subject to show any potential died unexpectedly during an ability trial. Of course, this has been postponed until the matter is thoroughly investigated.
Sitting here before me now is PT-934. Following the event, the subject entered a coma-like state and had to be revived using a potent combination of stimulants. As a result, level four restraints are currently in place and will remain so until the agitation thoroughly subsides. During this session, I will conduct a series of tests to collect evidence regarding today’s event. End preliminary report.”
The recording machine made a series of whirring and clicking noises as it closed the file.
“Begin dialogue report. Dr. Seamus Marban, Unit Director, Code: XJ52-Alpha. Observing SUBJECT PT-934. Insert date/time stamp now.” The machine chimed in confirmation and more whirring sounds ensued.
“Begin dialogue report for the session now,” said an automated voice with the sound of a blandly competent woman.
“Hello, PT-934.”
PT-934 hated being tied up, but she had been told that she misbehaved and was a danger to the staff. She was trying to be calm but felt like she had a fire in her veins, and she needed to thrash and scream. Her heart was beating too fast even though she wasn’t afraid, but her inability to calm it made her feel like her heart knew some secret, and her anxiety continued to elevate with each beat.
“Don’t be impolite, subject. I said ‘hello’, now respond to me.”
“Hello, Dr. Marban.”
“Good.” He patted her on the head. “Now, let’s begin. Do you remember what happened today?”
“That boy killed my cat.”
“We don’t address each other based on sex. What was the subject’s identification?”
“JF-54.”
Dr. Marban smiled; he loved it when all the parties involved, as well as the security tapes, corroborated reports. It’s just lovely when objective and subjective reality can be superimposed.
“Why do you think JF-54 did that?”
PT-934 swallowed and felt her heart pulse in her wrists and her ears. “He doesn’t like me. He says I’m stupid and that I should be terminated.”
Dr. Marban cleared his throat. “Remember: don’t identify by sex. Use the appropriate identification. I don’t want to warn you again.”
PT-934 nodded. Dr. Marban always made her more nervous than the other doctors; she felt lucky that she rarely worked with him. He typically only worked with the more advanced subjects.
“Well, PT-934, while I wouldn’t use the word ‘stupid’ to characterize your performance, I wouldn’t say you’re safe from early termination. You were informed about your slot coming up at the end of the term?”
PT-934 nodded.
“But you did something impressive today, didn’t you?”
PT-934 shrugged as much as the full-body restraints allowed her to.
“I hate non-committal body language, PT-934. You know that. Use your words.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re not in trouble, PT-934. I’m interested enough in what you demonstrated today that I’ll forgo the lecture and punishment for keeping an animal against procedure. That is if we can replicate it.”
“Science is replication,” PT-934 said reflexively from the catechisms they memorized during their lessons.
“Science is order. Science is control. Science is light in the dark,” Dr. Marban continued. Marban looked down at PT-934 and stroked her hair. “BRING ME LAB RATS!” he yelled to the research assistants. Two doctoral students rushed into the room with carts full of Wistar lab rats in cages. Dr. Marban picked up a rat from a cage by the tail and started stroking its fur. The students hovered by the cages, hoping he’d let them stay and observe. He turned his back on them to face PT-934.
“Get out,” he said firmly. They turned on their heels and left immediately, the whooshing of the automatic doors signaling that Marban, PT-934, and the computer were alone again.
“Now, PT-934, you have shown almost no ability in tactile influence, let alone the ability to raise the dead. I don’t believe that you did what everyone is telling me that you did. But I have to give you a chance, don’t I? Do you understand the ramifications if you can reanimate dead organisms?”
PT-934 shook her head.
“Take a stab at it, what do you think it would mean?” Dr. Marban gave the rat in his hands a squeeze and it squeaked in response.
“I guess it would mean that I wouldn’t have to be terminated yet?”
“Well, obviously. I told you that already. What would a bigger picture mean if you could bring things, people, back to life?”
PT-934 sucked in her lips, as she struggled to come up with an answer Marban would like. “I guess I would be special? I can do something a lot of other subjects can’t do?” Marban chuckled. It’s amazing how small we keep their world, even for them being children, he thought to himself.
“Sure, PT-934. That’s close enough for now. Not that it matters; I’m not a man of faith. Let’s begin.” And with that, Dr. Marban snapped the neck of the first rat.
“PT-934 was, as expected, a disappointment; at least during the first twelve hours of testing. Trials one through twenty-five involved attempting to have the subject revive lab rats. It was a long process as during the first of the trials, the subject was so overcome with weeping for the dead animals that, perhaps, it took her too long to touch them and therefore too long to revive them. During trial seven, I used the restraints in a manner that allowed me to terminate the rats while she was holding them (see Figure One). I repeated this measure for five trials with no success.
I removed the restraints from PT-934 and gave the subject some water. The subject ceased weeping for each rat as it was terminated for the project. We continued in various ways (documented in detail in Appendix A) until I believed we were overextending our resource of rats on this project. I wondered if PT-934, being a subject marginally equitable to a preschool child, wasn’t bonding with the rats due to their appearance and that, perhaps, bonding played a role in her ability to revive. I had the research assistants wheel in five of our rabbits and I let PT-934 pet them and hold them before their termination. This also proved fruitless and the subject began crying again.
At trial thirty, I brought in a few of the kittens that we use for some vision experiments. Dr. Coulter will need to be reimbursed for the loss of his subjects as he protested their allocation to a separate project rather vocally. The subject’s weeping at the sight of the kittens bordered on hysterics similar to the events that led up to the original revival; this seemed especially promising. Before I could proceed with trial thirty as planned, Dr. Berger interrupted the session with news that the original cat had been found on the grounds. The rest of the session became more interesting.
While PT-934 could not resurrect the cat a second time, when I moved to restrain the emotional subject her hands came into contact with my skin and I felt what could only be described as a surge of emotion from a source other than myself. I felt rage, grief, and fear all on a primitive level that stopped me in my tracks and made tears come to my eyes. I felt the desire to punch something and hug something all at once. I was so upset by what happened that I sat on the floor next to the subject for several minutes weeping until the subject patted me on the shoulder out of what appeared to be sympathy. My subjective explanations are only relevant insofar that they can accompany the video of the session that is mandatorily stored with my reports.
While PT-934 could not replicate her life-giving power, she certainly demonstrated a new level of tactile influence than has been previously documented. Even the most promising subjects have only been able to subtly influence the emotions of the human research assistants. PT-934 has been upgraded to a subject of extreme interest and high importance. End of report.”
