I was not allowed to take pictures, so I did my best to sketch this poor miserable rhesus monkey from memory.
The air was thick with the sterile and antiseptic bouquet common to any laboratory. I could just distinguish the top down odors layered one upon the next, all used to cover up the foundation scents of urine, sweat and death; traits common to environments where the most ingenious of all animals on this planet perform experiments on its’ distant cousins.
Startling us, with a jump every few moments, were the sounds of the rhesus monkeys, rabbits, birds and other animals caged and stationed all throughout this wing of the research facility. Walking down the old dark halls gave me the creeps a little. We passed one locked room after another, from one blackened shadow to another and my self-manufactured distress began to mount. I suddenly found myself torn from my agitation by a pitiful anguished cry that rang throughout the hall, drowning out the other noises which had been prickling at us. A shiver ran through me and I felt Rachel grab my right hand and butt the left side of her body up against mine.
“What the hell was that”, I stammered, probably with a wobbling prepubescent tone.
“Sounded like a Macaque”, Dr. Nyx belched. She spoke with the emotional caress of one describing a car backfiring. I saw only her silhouette as she walked, her antique skeleton bouncing up and down with the cadence of a woman trying to move in a much more youthful and alluring fashion than her bitter disposition and advancing years would allow.
Again the pitiful wail of the macaque engulfed the research facility. My God, what are they doing to these creatures? I felt Rachel’s grip grow tighter and her body pressed up against me further, yielding to me both comfort and courage. I felt the last twinge of my previous anxiety extinguish.
“Dr. Nyx, do you continue to perform experiments all through the night? It’s midnight; shouldn’t all the researchers be done for the day?”
“Indeed they are Mr.Blakeney.”
“Really?” I stammered. “Then why are the animals making so much noise?”
Dr. Nyx looked at me over her right shoulder with a countenance I remembered getting in grade school when I’d asked the teacher a stupid or obvious question. She stopped walking and turned her back to me as she unlocked a lab door.
“We’ve arrived folks”, she said sarcastically.
We entered a laboratory containing a high tech electronic jungle. Wires and large pieces of equipment seemed to be everywhere. The scene was only missing a miniature Tarzan swinging through it.
Dr. Nyx led us through a narrow path using her clip board as a makeshift machete to bat away stray wires and plastic tubing. Rachel’s grip softened and I felt her lips close to my right ear. A different shiver ran though me this time; pleasurable and quite unexpected.
“Why are we doing this again?” she whispered.
“Money” I quipped.
“Oh yeah, that. So, remind me; why do I need money?”
“Shoes. Christian Louboutin”
I felt her head on my shoulder as she closed her eyes and began to imagine these ambrosia of the feet.
We arrived at another door on the far side of the lab. Dr. Nyx knocked gently and a young woman unlocked and opened the door. Looking over the doctor’s shoulder I could see red and green light emanating from this next room.
We entered a rather large chamber, half filled with an enormous enclosed plexiglass cage. At first I thought the strange lighting was playing tricks on me. The inside of the plexiglass cage, however, was aglow with an eerie bright white fluorescence. No light tricks here. I felt Rachel grab my hand and press up to me again as she let out a horrified gasp.
Sitting in the center of the cage, with its arms and legs completely restrained and encased in a thick white plastic, was a rhesus monkey, probably about 2 feet tall. It’s head was held almost completely still by a white metal bib fitted about it’s throat, just below the chin. Directly above the brow and the temples of the head the top half of the skull cap had been completely removed exposing, almost entirely, the creature’s brain. Perhaps a dozen or so small metal pins, each connected to wires, were inserted in different areas of the brain, and the whole mass seemed to ungulate in a purple and grey rhythmic pulse. Every few seconds a misting device would activate, directed at keeping this fully alive and functioning brain moist.
The scene was, at best, macabre. All the wires emanating from this pitiful creature’s brain gave the site a fantastical humorous quality, making the situation all the more disturbing.
Suddenly a loud “whirring” noise filled the entire chamber as Rachel and I witnessed a huge mechanical arm, mounted from the ceiling above the monkey; swing round to a bowl filled with dried banana chips. Gingerly this cumbersome mechanical arm picked one thin dried banana slice from a mound piled in the bowl, and with uncanny precision delivered it to the mouth of the monkey. It repeated this action several times before grabbing a plastic bottle from a shelf with a straw and delivering that to the monkey to drink from, all the while demonstrating an almost “living” precision.
While Rachel and I stood stunned in the green and red lit chamber outside of the cage, Dr. Nyx seemed to be arguing with the young woman who answered the door. It was hard to tell exactly if it was an argument solely from the cadence of Dr. Nyx’s voice however, as all discourse from her had the music of argument embedded into it.
“I don’t care what Professor Hephaestus told you, I need these readouts and I need them now! I must have this data in order to continue my studies, which both of you rely on. You seem to forget, Robyn, that I’m the one who actually does the work that you two take credit for”, Dr. Nyx sounded disdainful, all part of her charm.
“Look Hazel…”
“Dr. Nyx, if you please!”
“Really? I thought we had done away with formalities based on your tone. Whatever. Dr. Nyx, I’m not done with the analyses of my portion of these readouts. I need to verify the findings so that your studies don’t come back erroneous. That is MY job. Are you demanding that I do my job inadequately in order to hit some meaningless imaginary deadline you have set?”
“Robyn…”
“Dr. Athenia, since we’re being formal.” The young woman tried to throw it back in Dr. Nyx’s face, but the gesture was totally ignored.
“...I know you better than that”, Dr. Nyx continued. “I never have expected more than adequate from you, but if I need to make an extra effort to cover your shortcomings than I’ll make the sacrifice. Give me the data and I’ll cross reference it myself, since you don’t seem to be capable of doing it within reasonable parameters.”
“Reasonable parameters…?” The young woman began to stand from her stool and I could see the drama levels in the room beginning to spike. I was about to say something, polite and terse, when Rachel cut in.
“Hey…Ladies! As fascinating as it is to listen to you bicker, we’re not on a pleasure cruise her. It’s after midnight on a Wednesday and I have better places to be then this disgusting animal torture chamber. You both need to table this until we’re finished. Understood? I came here at the request of Professor Hephaestus and my employer who helps fund this madhouse and pays your salaries, and frankly I’m not happy with either of your performances so far!”
When Rachel wanted to she could really cut through the crap and get people back on track. Of course it always helps when one has leverage. I knew she wanted out of here as quickly as possible; this place was really creeping her out. I also knew she’d ask me to make the drive across the bridge to San Francisco after this for a drink to soothe her nerves.
Dr. Nyx hissed and turned her attention to her clip board. The young woman she had called Robyn composed herself quickly, smoothed her lab coat and approached us gingerly.
“Forgive me” she said in a polite tone. “My name is Robyn Athenia. I’m the personal assistant to Professor Hephaestus.”
Rachel sheathed her claws and reached to shake hands. “It’s a pleasure Ms., er..., Dr. Athenia. I’m Rachel Barrows, the anthropological advisor for the Rockwell Foundation.”
I put out my hand for a shake as well. “Nice to meet you. I’m Terrance Blakeney, but my friends call me Joey. I’m the chief officer in charge of research and history for Rockwell”.
“That’s quite a title”, Robyn said. “What the hell does it mean?”
“Well”, I said a little standoffishly, “it means I read a lot”.
She nodded. “And how do you get ‘Joey’ from ‘Terrance’?”
“Ah”, I said, “my middle name is Joseph. Joey just stuck when I was growing up”.
All this light hearted banter was suddenly and ferociously broken when the rhesus monkey let out a shriek that shook the whole chamber. Robyn looked over at Dr. Nyx.
“Hazel, quick, start recording this!”
Dr. Nyx looked confused. “How! This isn’t my station! Just exactly what the hell do you think I am; I’m supposed to…”
As Dr. Nyx prattled on uselessly, Robyn ran behind the bench she had been sitting at and threw a switch, then started typing furiously into a laptop computer.
The monkey continued to screech and Rachel was back up on my right side; as stiff as a board. The whole scene was surreal. The red and green light we were standing in made the white florescent light from the cage stand out strong and piercingly. Inside the monkey distorted its face and screamed, twisting its visage into bizarre shapes. It’s mouth contorted and its tongue and teeth seemed to work together. Once Rachel and I began to get over the horror of it all we suddenly realized that the screeching was not random; this monkey was saying things that sounded like words!
The words were hard to grasp at first. It was like trying to decipher English words from a foreign tourist who has a tremendously thick accent. Once we picked up the cadence however, we could definitely recognize that this monkey was not making random sounds. It was shouting out letters, and select words, in a staccato with metronome like precision.
eeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
mmmmmaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhggggg
sssssssssuhuhuhuuuubbb
eheheheheheeellllllllllllll
eheheheeeemmmmmmmm
sssssssssuhuhuhuuuubbb
eheheheheheeellllllllllllll
heheheheheeesssssssssssssssssssssss
heheheheeeemmmmmmmm
sssssssssuhuhuhuuuubbb
heheheheheeesssssssssssssssssssssss
eeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkwwwwaaaaaaaaalllllllssssssssssss
kkkkkkhkhkhaaaaaoohohohohnnnnnnssssstttttttahahahannnnnnttttt
bbbeeheehehheheeeeeee
As the beast continued to painfully distort its face in order to make these sounds I reached in my pocket and activated a miniature recorder I carry with me to record my ideas in the field. I listened intently to understand each word.
E
Mag
Sub
L
M
Sub
L
S
M
These were some of the sounds I could decipher. I also heard what sounded like the words CONSTANT and EQUALS, as well as the number TWO. it all sounded quite random, but the fact that this animal was making noises I could recognize at all was astonishing, since the rhesus monkey has neither the cognitive brain power nor the vocal capability to do what this animal seemed to be doing.
The monkey kept speaking. The scene was an unnatural horror. Rachel pressed up to me even tighter, but not from fear this time. I could feel her fear and shock being replaced by a ubiquitous curiosity; a curiosity that had already engulfed me. In us both all sense of horror and shock had given way to an overwhelming sensation of wonder and astonishment. Without thinking I took her hand in mine.
I looked over at Dr. Nyx and Robyn and could see they were furiously working at the bench. I did not want to disturb them. I turned to look at Rachel’s face. Although we had been working together for the better part of a month I had never given the features of her face a second thought. She had always been a working colleague, that’s all. Looking at her now, her eyes illuminated by the same awe of discovery that has driven all great minds, from Thales to Einstein, on arduous quests to uncover the deep hidden truths of the cosmos; I felt a chill run through me and I finally realized how magnificently beautiful she is.
Her hand stirred in mine. Suddenly she was aware of my stare and her eyes met mine. Normally I would have turned away. She is a professional colleague, what I was doing was inappropriate. But I could not stop looking at her. All sense of decorum and modesty were lost to me. I could feel the burning curiosity in her and it filled me with intrigue and longing. My breath escaped me.
All of a sudden there was a deafening silence. A silence replaced in a moment by the scratching chalk board that is Dr. Nyx’s voice.
“You didn’t get the oscilloscope readings!”
“That’s ok, it’s no different then…” Dr. Athenia was not given the courtesy to finish.
“It’s not OK! You need to do your job or get replaced!”
Dr. Nyx then looked over at Rachel and I, holding hands and facing each other.
“Boy, if this kind of show turns you two on then you both must have screws loose somewhere”, she chuckled angrily.
Rachel and I let go of each other and each took a step back.
“I was startled, that’s all”, Rachel announced, turning away from me. "Why didn’t you warn us of what this animal is capable of?”
“You guys still use oscilloscopes?” I threw in. “What type of experiments are you performing here anyway?” I turned away from Rachel in a conscious effort to demonstrate a lack of concern for her welfare. Inside, my heart was pounding and I was breaking into a cold sweat. Both hands were trembling. The minutest features of her face remained burned into my mind; a face I had been looking at regularly for almost a month without as much as a second thought. What was it that suddenly made me see her in this light? What happened to me? It’s not as if the ambiance was romantically charged.
Dr. Nyx walked over to us with a grimace. “It’s complicated, and I’m certain you would not understand if I were to tell you in detail what we do here, so I’ll try to keep it simple. We are mapping the brain in a more detailed fashion than has ever been achieved in the past. In the process we delicately inject certain neurotransmitters in certain areas of the brain to stimulate those centers that would be analogous to speech centers in a human brain. The mere fact that we have kept this macaque alive for over a month, in this condition, would amaze any other research scientist. In the process this particular macaque has developed a sort of parroting ability. It can shout out simple words, letters, numbers and such in a random fashion.”
“So the monkey is not cognitive of what it is doing then?” I asked.
“Certainly not”, Dr. Nyx laughed demeaningly. “This ‘talking’ is simply a reflex response. Trust me, this is just another dumb animal. It’s probably not even aware of it’s surroundings or of the amount of time we have had it in this cage.”
Rachel and I looked over at the poor beast behind the plexiglass. It looked exhausted. It’s head drooped to one side and it was breathing heavy. Somehow I got the impression that it knew exactly how much time had passed. It glanced up at us, it’s brows drooped in a pathetic plea for sanctuary. I felt sick. The antiseptic smells and overwhelming emotions were getting to me and suddenly I felt the floor drop away and the room seemed to spin end over end. I could feel the blood rush from my face and I staggered back.
Dr. Nyx looked at me and laughed. “Can’t take it huh? Well, don’t feel bad. Not everyone has the proper nerve for this type of work. What is it they call you type of men…metrosexual or some such thing?” She laughed and looked at Rachel. “Is this the best you can do honey? You should spend more time at the gym.”
As she laughed demonically Rachel raised her right index finger and I could see the rage about to spew forth when I, grabbing Dr. Nyx’s shoulder to maintain my balance, expelled the remainder of my dinner from my sour stomach all over her chest and neck. It had been a fine meal from an excellent Cuban restaurant; however it had drastically lost its appeal by this hour of the morning.
Dr. Nyx reeled back and began a steady stream of obscenity that was as clever as it was vulgar. By some miracle, not one drop of my expulsion had touched me, the floor, or anything in the chamber save Dr. Nyx. Fuming she shoved me back and ran from the room. Her concerto of obscenity could be heard all the way down the outer hall until she climbed the stairs.
I stood leaning on a bench composing myself and feeling humiliated. When I finally looked up I saw Rachel and Dr. Athenia laughing to each other. Dr. Athenia approached me with a towel and a cup of water.
“You alright there tiger?” she said.
“I’m really sorry. I feel like such an ass. I think maybe the food may have made me a little ill.” I was rapidly regaining my composure now. I felt a lot better.
Rachel gave me a pitiful look with the shake of her head. “Ya think? Wow, some date you are. I take you out for what was probably the first meal you’ve had with a woman in a month and this is how you repay me?”
“I don’t know what to say….I….”
Rachel and Dr. Athenia both laughed. “Don’t sweat it kid” Rachel said. “I won’t let it affect my high opinion of you as a professional colleague, ok?”
“Fine”, I relented. Just great. I suddenly feel some attraction to this person I’ve been working with and I toss my cookies right in front of her. Real smooth.
I looked at Dr. Athenia. “What about Dr. Nyx? Can you apologize for me please? I feel just awful, it was and accident and I…”
“Don’t worry about Dr. Nyx”, Dr. Athenia proclaimed. “She has a thick hide. I’m sure she’ll live. Now are you feeling better?”
“Yes, I’m fine now, and I promise it won’t happen again.” Rachel chuckled when I said this and gave me another pathetic look, shaking her head.
“Well, then, I guess we should go down to Professor Hephaestus' laboratory. Are you ready?”
Rachel and I looked at each other, then back at Dr. Athenia. “Sweetheart”, Rachel said, “I’ve been ready since the moment I set foot in this creepy place. I hate the smell of antiseptic.”
“Ok then”, Dr. Athenia laughed. She turned and walked to a spot just behind the large plexiglass cage. Sticking a rounded key into the wall, she opened a panel containing an electronic numerical pad. After she typed in a code the entire plexiglass cage began to move. It shifted forward about 3 feet toward the door of the chamber. As it did this, the green and red lights, illuminating the chamber, went dark and were replaced by a lemon colored hue from the ground revealed by the moving cage. There was some sort of thick glowing plastic under the cage floor and after Dr. Athenia locked the panel with the numerical pad back up, she beckoned us to stand with her on the plastic strip where the cage had been. Dr. Athenia then produced a small remote control and at the touch of a button the whole plastic strip began to sink into the floor. As our heads got below the floor line, the cage with the monkey moved back into place. Music, Debussy I believe, was playing in this small space as we sank deeper and deeper into the ground, the walls around us slowly rising before us and the only illumination coming from the floor piece we were standing on.
“Have you met Professor Hephaestus before?” Dr. Athenia looked at us.
“No” Rachel said. “Although I’ve read some of his work.”
“So have I”, I interjected. “He is quite a brilliant theoretician.”
“Yes, well, I must ask you both to brace yourselves and please do not act shocked when you see him”, Dr. Athenia looked concerned now. “As you know, since the Professor's accident he does not allow pictures taken of him, as his appearance is, well, unconventional. The initial reaction upon meeting him for the first time is a gasp of shock, so I want to let you both know right now so you can consciously control it, ok?”
Rachel and I looked at each other. “Sure”, we said simultaneously. “How bad can it be”, Rachel added.
“Not bad, so much as…well…not common. You’ll see for yourselves soon enough”.
Just then the plastic flooring came to a jittery halt and with a loud mechanical hiss two steel doors were parted before us.
Startling us, with a jump every few moments, were the sounds of the rhesus monkeys, rabbits, birds and other animals caged and stationed all throughout this wing of the research facility. Walking down the old dark halls gave me the creeps a little. We passed one locked room after another, from one blackened shadow to another and my self-manufactured distress began to mount. I suddenly found myself torn from my agitation by a pitiful anguished cry that rang throughout the hall, drowning out the other noises which had been prickling at us. A shiver ran through me and I felt Rachel grab my right hand and butt the left side of her body up against mine.
“What the hell was that”, I stammered, probably with a wobbling prepubescent tone.
“Sounded like a Macaque”, Dr. Nyx belched. She spoke with the emotional caress of one describing a car backfiring. I saw only her silhouette as she walked, her antique skeleton bouncing up and down with the cadence of a woman trying to move in a much more youthful and alluring fashion than her bitter disposition and advancing years would allow.
Again the pitiful wail of the macaque engulfed the research facility. My God, what are they doing to these creatures? I felt Rachel’s grip grow tighter and her body pressed up against me further, yielding to me both comfort and courage. I felt the last twinge of my previous anxiety extinguish.
“Dr. Nyx, do you continue to perform experiments all through the night? It’s midnight; shouldn’t all the researchers be done for the day?”
“Indeed they are Mr.Blakeney.”
“Really?” I stammered. “Then why are the animals making so much noise?”
Dr. Nyx looked at me over her right shoulder with a countenance I remembered getting in grade school when I’d asked the teacher a stupid or obvious question. She stopped walking and turned her back to me as she unlocked a lab door.
“We’ve arrived folks”, she said sarcastically.
We entered a laboratory containing a high tech electronic jungle. Wires and large pieces of equipment seemed to be everywhere. The scene was only missing a miniature Tarzan swinging through it.
Dr. Nyx led us through a narrow path using her clip board as a makeshift machete to bat away stray wires and plastic tubing. Rachel’s grip softened and I felt her lips close to my right ear. A different shiver ran though me this time; pleasurable and quite unexpected.
“Why are we doing this again?” she whispered.
“Money” I quipped.
“Oh yeah, that. So, remind me; why do I need money?”
“Shoes. Christian Louboutin”
I felt her head on my shoulder as she closed her eyes and began to imagine these ambrosia of the feet.
We arrived at another door on the far side of the lab. Dr. Nyx knocked gently and a young woman unlocked and opened the door. Looking over the doctor’s shoulder I could see red and green light emanating from this next room.
We entered a rather large chamber, half filled with an enormous enclosed plexiglass cage. At first I thought the strange lighting was playing tricks on me. The inside of the plexiglass cage, however, was aglow with an eerie bright white fluorescence. No light tricks here. I felt Rachel grab my hand and press up to me again as she let out a horrified gasp.
Sitting in the center of the cage, with its arms and legs completely restrained and encased in a thick white plastic, was a rhesus monkey, probably about 2 feet tall. It’s head was held almost completely still by a white metal bib fitted about it’s throat, just below the chin. Directly above the brow and the temples of the head the top half of the skull cap had been completely removed exposing, almost entirely, the creature’s brain. Perhaps a dozen or so small metal pins, each connected to wires, were inserted in different areas of the brain, and the whole mass seemed to ungulate in a purple and grey rhythmic pulse. Every few seconds a misting device would activate, directed at keeping this fully alive and functioning brain moist.
The scene was, at best, macabre. All the wires emanating from this pitiful creature’s brain gave the site a fantastical humorous quality, making the situation all the more disturbing.
Suddenly a loud “whirring” noise filled the entire chamber as Rachel and I witnessed a huge mechanical arm, mounted from the ceiling above the monkey; swing round to a bowl filled with dried banana chips. Gingerly this cumbersome mechanical arm picked one thin dried banana slice from a mound piled in the bowl, and with uncanny precision delivered it to the mouth of the monkey. It repeated this action several times before grabbing a plastic bottle from a shelf with a straw and delivering that to the monkey to drink from, all the while demonstrating an almost “living” precision.
While Rachel and I stood stunned in the green and red lit chamber outside of the cage, Dr. Nyx seemed to be arguing with the young woman who answered the door. It was hard to tell exactly if it was an argument solely from the cadence of Dr. Nyx’s voice however, as all discourse from her had the music of argument embedded into it.
“I don’t care what Professor Hephaestus told you, I need these readouts and I need them now! I must have this data in order to continue my studies, which both of you rely on. You seem to forget, Robyn, that I’m the one who actually does the work that you two take credit for”, Dr. Nyx sounded disdainful, all part of her charm.
“Look Hazel…”
“Dr. Nyx, if you please!”
“Really? I thought we had done away with formalities based on your tone. Whatever. Dr. Nyx, I’m not done with the analyses of my portion of these readouts. I need to verify the findings so that your studies don’t come back erroneous. That is MY job. Are you demanding that I do my job inadequately in order to hit some meaningless imaginary deadline you have set?”
“Robyn…”
“Dr. Athenia, since we’re being formal.” The young woman tried to throw it back in Dr. Nyx’s face, but the gesture was totally ignored.
“...I know you better than that”, Dr. Nyx continued. “I never have expected more than adequate from you, but if I need to make an extra effort to cover your shortcomings than I’ll make the sacrifice. Give me the data and I’ll cross reference it myself, since you don’t seem to be capable of doing it within reasonable parameters.”
“Reasonable parameters…?” The young woman began to stand from her stool and I could see the drama levels in the room beginning to spike. I was about to say something, polite and terse, when Rachel cut in.
“Hey…Ladies! As fascinating as it is to listen to you bicker, we’re not on a pleasure cruise her. It’s after midnight on a Wednesday and I have better places to be then this disgusting animal torture chamber. You both need to table this until we’re finished. Understood? I came here at the request of Professor Hephaestus and my employer who helps fund this madhouse and pays your salaries, and frankly I’m not happy with either of your performances so far!”
When Rachel wanted to she could really cut through the crap and get people back on track. Of course it always helps when one has leverage. I knew she wanted out of here as quickly as possible; this place was really creeping her out. I also knew she’d ask me to make the drive across the bridge to San Francisco after this for a drink to soothe her nerves.
Dr. Nyx hissed and turned her attention to her clip board. The young woman she had called Robyn composed herself quickly, smoothed her lab coat and approached us gingerly.
“Forgive me” she said in a polite tone. “My name is Robyn Athenia. I’m the personal assistant to Professor Hephaestus.”
Rachel sheathed her claws and reached to shake hands. “It’s a pleasure Ms., er..., Dr. Athenia. I’m Rachel Barrows, the anthropological advisor for the Rockwell Foundation.”
I put out my hand for a shake as well. “Nice to meet you. I’m Terrance Blakeney, but my friends call me Joey. I’m the chief officer in charge of research and history for Rockwell”.
“That’s quite a title”, Robyn said. “What the hell does it mean?”
“Well”, I said a little standoffishly, “it means I read a lot”.
She nodded. “And how do you get ‘Joey’ from ‘Terrance’?”
“Ah”, I said, “my middle name is Joseph. Joey just stuck when I was growing up”.
All this light hearted banter was suddenly and ferociously broken when the rhesus monkey let out a shriek that shook the whole chamber. Robyn looked over at Dr. Nyx.
“Hazel, quick, start recording this!”
Dr. Nyx looked confused. “How! This isn’t my station! Just exactly what the hell do you think I am; I’m supposed to…”
As Dr. Nyx prattled on uselessly, Robyn ran behind the bench she had been sitting at and threw a switch, then started typing furiously into a laptop computer.
The monkey continued to screech and Rachel was back up on my right side; as stiff as a board. The whole scene was surreal. The red and green light we were standing in made the white florescent light from the cage stand out strong and piercingly. Inside the monkey distorted its face and screamed, twisting its visage into bizarre shapes. It’s mouth contorted and its tongue and teeth seemed to work together. Once Rachel and I began to get over the horror of it all we suddenly realized that the screeching was not random; this monkey was saying things that sounded like words!
The words were hard to grasp at first. It was like trying to decipher English words from a foreign tourist who has a tremendously thick accent. Once we picked up the cadence however, we could definitely recognize that this monkey was not making random sounds. It was shouting out letters, and select words, in a staccato with metronome like precision.
eeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
mmmmmaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhggggg
sssssssssuhuhuhuuuubbb
eheheheheheeellllllllllllll
eheheheeeemmmmmmmm
sssssssssuhuhuhuuuubbb
eheheheheheeellllllllllllll
heheheheheeesssssssssssssssssssssss
heheheheeeemmmmmmmm
sssssssssuhuhuhuuuubbb
heheheheheeesssssssssssssssssssssss
eeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkwwwwaaaaaaaaalllllllssssssssssss
kkkkkkhkhkhaaaaaoohohohohnnnnnnssssstttttttahahahannnnnnttttt
bbbeeheehehheheeeeeee
As the beast continued to painfully distort its face in order to make these sounds I reached in my pocket and activated a miniature recorder I carry with me to record my ideas in the field. I listened intently to understand each word.
E
Mag
Sub
L
M
Sub
L
S
M
These were some of the sounds I could decipher. I also heard what sounded like the words CONSTANT and EQUALS, as well as the number TWO. it all sounded quite random, but the fact that this animal was making noises I could recognize at all was astonishing, since the rhesus monkey has neither the cognitive brain power nor the vocal capability to do what this animal seemed to be doing.
The monkey kept speaking. The scene was an unnatural horror. Rachel pressed up to me even tighter, but not from fear this time. I could feel her fear and shock being replaced by a ubiquitous curiosity; a curiosity that had already engulfed me. In us both all sense of horror and shock had given way to an overwhelming sensation of wonder and astonishment. Without thinking I took her hand in mine.
I looked over at Dr. Nyx and Robyn and could see they were furiously working at the bench. I did not want to disturb them. I turned to look at Rachel’s face. Although we had been working together for the better part of a month I had never given the features of her face a second thought. She had always been a working colleague, that’s all. Looking at her now, her eyes illuminated by the same awe of discovery that has driven all great minds, from Thales to Einstein, on arduous quests to uncover the deep hidden truths of the cosmos; I felt a chill run through me and I finally realized how magnificently beautiful she is.
Her hand stirred in mine. Suddenly she was aware of my stare and her eyes met mine. Normally I would have turned away. She is a professional colleague, what I was doing was inappropriate. But I could not stop looking at her. All sense of decorum and modesty were lost to me. I could feel the burning curiosity in her and it filled me with intrigue and longing. My breath escaped me.
All of a sudden there was a deafening silence. A silence replaced in a moment by the scratching chalk board that is Dr. Nyx’s voice.
“You didn’t get the oscilloscope readings!”
“That’s ok, it’s no different then…” Dr. Athenia was not given the courtesy to finish.
“It’s not OK! You need to do your job or get replaced!”
Dr. Nyx then looked over at Rachel and I, holding hands and facing each other.
“Boy, if this kind of show turns you two on then you both must have screws loose somewhere”, she chuckled angrily.
Rachel and I let go of each other and each took a step back.
“I was startled, that’s all”, Rachel announced, turning away from me. "Why didn’t you warn us of what this animal is capable of?”
“You guys still use oscilloscopes?” I threw in. “What type of experiments are you performing here anyway?” I turned away from Rachel in a conscious effort to demonstrate a lack of concern for her welfare. Inside, my heart was pounding and I was breaking into a cold sweat. Both hands were trembling. The minutest features of her face remained burned into my mind; a face I had been looking at regularly for almost a month without as much as a second thought. What was it that suddenly made me see her in this light? What happened to me? It’s not as if the ambiance was romantically charged.
Dr. Nyx walked over to us with a grimace. “It’s complicated, and I’m certain you would not understand if I were to tell you in detail what we do here, so I’ll try to keep it simple. We are mapping the brain in a more detailed fashion than has ever been achieved in the past. In the process we delicately inject certain neurotransmitters in certain areas of the brain to stimulate those centers that would be analogous to speech centers in a human brain. The mere fact that we have kept this macaque alive for over a month, in this condition, would amaze any other research scientist. In the process this particular macaque has developed a sort of parroting ability. It can shout out simple words, letters, numbers and such in a random fashion.”
“So the monkey is not cognitive of what it is doing then?” I asked.
“Certainly not”, Dr. Nyx laughed demeaningly. “This ‘talking’ is simply a reflex response. Trust me, this is just another dumb animal. It’s probably not even aware of it’s surroundings or of the amount of time we have had it in this cage.”
Rachel and I looked over at the poor beast behind the plexiglass. It looked exhausted. It’s head drooped to one side and it was breathing heavy. Somehow I got the impression that it knew exactly how much time had passed. It glanced up at us, it’s brows drooped in a pathetic plea for sanctuary. I felt sick. The antiseptic smells and overwhelming emotions were getting to me and suddenly I felt the floor drop away and the room seemed to spin end over end. I could feel the blood rush from my face and I staggered back.
Dr. Nyx looked at me and laughed. “Can’t take it huh? Well, don’t feel bad. Not everyone has the proper nerve for this type of work. What is it they call you type of men…metrosexual or some such thing?” She laughed and looked at Rachel. “Is this the best you can do honey? You should spend more time at the gym.”
As she laughed demonically Rachel raised her right index finger and I could see the rage about to spew forth when I, grabbing Dr. Nyx’s shoulder to maintain my balance, expelled the remainder of my dinner from my sour stomach all over her chest and neck. It had been a fine meal from an excellent Cuban restaurant; however it had drastically lost its appeal by this hour of the morning.
Dr. Nyx reeled back and began a steady stream of obscenity that was as clever as it was vulgar. By some miracle, not one drop of my expulsion had touched me, the floor, or anything in the chamber save Dr. Nyx. Fuming she shoved me back and ran from the room. Her concerto of obscenity could be heard all the way down the outer hall until she climbed the stairs.
I stood leaning on a bench composing myself and feeling humiliated. When I finally looked up I saw Rachel and Dr. Athenia laughing to each other. Dr. Athenia approached me with a towel and a cup of water.
“You alright there tiger?” she said.
“I’m really sorry. I feel like such an ass. I think maybe the food may have made me a little ill.” I was rapidly regaining my composure now. I felt a lot better.
Rachel gave me a pitiful look with the shake of her head. “Ya think? Wow, some date you are. I take you out for what was probably the first meal you’ve had with a woman in a month and this is how you repay me?”
“I don’t know what to say….I….”
Rachel and Dr. Athenia both laughed. “Don’t sweat it kid” Rachel said. “I won’t let it affect my high opinion of you as a professional colleague, ok?”
“Fine”, I relented. Just great. I suddenly feel some attraction to this person I’ve been working with and I toss my cookies right in front of her. Real smooth.
I looked at Dr. Athenia. “What about Dr. Nyx? Can you apologize for me please? I feel just awful, it was and accident and I…”
“Don’t worry about Dr. Nyx”, Dr. Athenia proclaimed. “She has a thick hide. I’m sure she’ll live. Now are you feeling better?”
“Yes, I’m fine now, and I promise it won’t happen again.” Rachel chuckled when I said this and gave me another pathetic look, shaking her head.
“Well, then, I guess we should go down to Professor Hephaestus' laboratory. Are you ready?”
Rachel and I looked at each other, then back at Dr. Athenia. “Sweetheart”, Rachel said, “I’ve been ready since the moment I set foot in this creepy place. I hate the smell of antiseptic.”
“Ok then”, Dr. Athenia laughed. She turned and walked to a spot just behind the large plexiglass cage. Sticking a rounded key into the wall, she opened a panel containing an electronic numerical pad. After she typed in a code the entire plexiglass cage began to move. It shifted forward about 3 feet toward the door of the chamber. As it did this, the green and red lights, illuminating the chamber, went dark and were replaced by a lemon colored hue from the ground revealed by the moving cage. There was some sort of thick glowing plastic under the cage floor and after Dr. Athenia locked the panel with the numerical pad back up, she beckoned us to stand with her on the plastic strip where the cage had been. Dr. Athenia then produced a small remote control and at the touch of a button the whole plastic strip began to sink into the floor. As our heads got below the floor line, the cage with the monkey moved back into place. Music, Debussy I believe, was playing in this small space as we sank deeper and deeper into the ground, the walls around us slowly rising before us and the only illumination coming from the floor piece we were standing on.
“Have you met Professor Hephaestus before?” Dr. Athenia looked at us.
“No” Rachel said. “Although I’ve read some of his work.”
“So have I”, I interjected. “He is quite a brilliant theoretician.”
“Yes, well, I must ask you both to brace yourselves and please do not act shocked when you see him”, Dr. Athenia looked concerned now. “As you know, since the Professor's accident he does not allow pictures taken of him, as his appearance is, well, unconventional. The initial reaction upon meeting him for the first time is a gasp of shock, so I want to let you both know right now so you can consciously control it, ok?”
Rachel and I looked at each other. “Sure”, we said simultaneously. “How bad can it be”, Rachel added.
“Not bad, so much as…well…not common. You’ll see for yourselves soon enough”.
Just then the plastic flooring came to a jittery halt and with a loud mechanical hiss two steel doors were parted before us.
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