Creeping Ambition
CW: Dehumanization, captivity, restraints, emotional manipulation, mad science, drugging, delirium/hallucinations, noncon touch (nonsexual), torture
For @whumptober 2022, day 1: adverse effects / “this wasn’t supposed to happen” and day 23: tied to a table
Signs of the Sea Masterlist
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The following was attached to an email sent to Austin Howard, CEO of Howard Reston Health, by Dr. Rachel Lachlan
RECORDING 90
DAY 076 SINCE SUBJECT WAS ACQUIRED
There is a soft, slight hiss as the recording begins. Barely perceptible, it seems to grow slightly louder as the recording continues.
A woman’s voice speaks.
“This is Dr. Rachel Lachlan, recording for the purposes of later transcription, with Bahram Anvari assisting. Subject is adolescent mer and is a rare example of a young adult male. Today’s examinations are more practical than usual, I must admit. We’re not looking for any big breakthroughs in knowledge today.”
A male voice with traces of a long-ago English accent still clinging to the edges of each syllable speaks next. “We’re not?”
“No, Bahram.” The rattling of metal, sound of wheels rolling along a floor. There is a splash of water, the sound of it slopping against the sides of a tall plastic tub. A soft chirp and click becomes audible, questioning. While the young man murmurs a soothing nonsense reply, the woman ignores it. There is light beeping, four in quick succession, then the sound of a mechanism unlocking. Creaking as a door swings open. The rattling of wheels begins again. “Today is really more about observation, looking for the smaller details that our more difficult work may lead to us missing.”
“So we’re just going to… watch him?”
Thump.
“In a manner of speaking, yes. Please move the mer onto the examination table.”
There is a brief pause, and then Bahram Anvari speaks in a softer, sweeter voice. “Okay, here we go. Yeah, you know how to do this by now, huh? One… two… three… up!”
Harder thumps, and the sound of Bahram Anvari’s heavy breathing from exertion. The mer chirps, a sound that manages at once to be both plaintive and attempting cheerful.
“There we go,” Bahram says. “Good, good job.”
“It doesn’t understand English or ASL.” Dr. Lachlan’s voice is dry and disdainful. “I don’t know why you bother with all that nonsense. It isn’t a person, Bahram.”
“With all due respect, Dr. Lachlan, anatomical studies of recovered specimens have shown that they have very similar neurological structures to our own.” Bahram’s voice might tighten slightly - it’s difficult to tell by recording alone. “There’s no reason to believe he can’t learn a language as easily as we do.”
“Bahram.” Dr. Lachlan’s sigh is audible in the recording. “What have I told you about over-humanizing the test subjects? He is not human.”
“Their scientific name is Homo haffru sirenia! They’re part of our family tree!”
“I have some disagreements about that classification, to be frank. With the gills and being fully aquatic in their natural lives, I would really call them Cetacea, class them alongside whales, not Simiiformes like us.”
“You’d be wrong if you did. Anyone who did would be wrong. He is clearly a branch of humanity-”
There is a pause. “Bahram. Are you questioning my understanding of taxonomy as it applies to a marine subject I have far more knowledge of and experience with than you do?”
“... I thought you said you’d never worked with them personally before this.”
There is another, much longer pause. “Bahram-”
“Did you? Did you work with mer before, in person? Not just observational?”
“That isn’t relevant to the current-”
“Zer nazan! Of course it’s relevant-”
“Bahram! I can dismiss you from this project if you would prefer, right now, and you may pack your things and go.”
A pause. “What?”
“I can continue onward on my own or hire someone new, if you would prefer. Or you can stop blithering and help me provide mankind with discoveries that could get both of us quite wealthy and well-known.”
“I don’t care about money, Dr. Lachlan. And I don’t care about getting my name in any publications, or-”
“But you value your parents’ regard, don’t you? I imagine that after you have already left your university education somewhat… ignominiously, that losing your first and only job immediately afterward would disappoint them further.”
Silence, broken only by the questioning clicks from the mer, which neither human seems to respond to. Bahram Anvari is the first one to speak again. “I… I’m sorry, Dr. Lachlan. I didn’t sleep well last night, and I’ve been having some trouble… with everything.”
“I can see that.” Dr. Lachlan’s reply is clipped, irritated but no longer angry. “Does this mean I should be concerned about a repeat of your prior illness? I offered you an option that allowed you to gain the experience you need without having to attend classes, and even agreed to speak to Dr. Evans about forgiving some of your incompletes in order to allow you to return to finish your degree-”
“I know, Dr. Lachlan, and I’m grateful… it’s just-”
“Should I rescind that offer, Bahram? You know as well as I it will be quite impossible for you to gain employment within your chosen field without that bit of paper proving your capabilities.”
“No! No, I’m… I’ll be fine. I’m fine, doctor. I’m just… I’ll try to get better sleep. That usually helps a lot.”
“I will hold you to that. Now… let’s get him strapped down.”
Bahram’s voice has a note of reluctance and uncertainty. “... yes, doctor.”
For approximately sixty-seven seconds, the only sounds are the breathing of the two humans and the mer, and the sound of metal buckles clinking as the mer is strapped by tail and wrists against the table. The mer whistles in distress, but beyond some low shushing noises from Bahram, neither speaks to him.
Dr. Rachel Lachlan’s heels click on the tile floor as she moves away from the recording device.
“Dr. Lachlan? What are you doing?” Bahram Anvari moves the microphone closer to the mer, and there is the sound of scraping and a brief burst of feedback and audio noise.
Dr. Lachlan’s reply is faded and distant. A cabinet door opens and closes sharply. Water runs, and then shuts off again shortly afterward. “I’m prepping our observational study, Bahram. We’ll be observing the effects of a specific kind of sedative being developed for use in merkind.”
“For use in… why would we need that? I thought you said you didn’t plan to take any more-”
“I don’t plan to do anything, Bahram. My employer, however, may wish to gain further subjects in the future. And we want this to be as humane a process as we can make it. Now, you mentioned his right arm is no longer useful for syringe injection?”
“... right. He’s… his veins are totally tapped out on that side. We’re giving him too much-”
“Nonsense. We’ll try the left today, then.”
The mer whistles again. This time Bahram speaks to him directly. “It’s all right, just turn your… right. Just like that. Give blood, okay?”
“It knows that command, hm?” Dr. Lachlan laughs, a little wryly. “Like a dog learning what ‘roll over’ means.”
“Or a child," Bahram says quietly, "learning how to ask to be held.”
Dr. Lachlan makes a sound of disgust, but doesn’t reprimand him this time. Instead, there is a brief silence before the mer whimpers and Bahram shushes him again.
“Bahram, what are you doing?”
“He likes-... it helps him feel better,” Bahram replies, a little defensively. “He’s scared of needles - can’t imagine why - but if one of us is there with a hand on his head, it helps him.”
“You’re a lost cause, Anvari. Imagine how little we would know about the world if all our researchers had your bleeding heart.”
“We might know just as much, and have found it out in ways that didn’t involve terror.”
“Nonsense. And... there we go. It should only take a few minutes to take effect. Let’s clean up while we wait.”
“Yes, doctor. All right, buddy, you took the needle really well. Now-... here, yes.” Brief silence. “Good? See?”
“... are you signing to it again, Bahram?”
“Yes. He really does know a few signs, and-”
“Hmph. Hopeless indeed. Come here and help me.”
For approximately five minutes and forty-two seconds, no sound is heard beyond breathing, Dr. Lachlan’s quiet commands, and Bahram’s soft, deferential answers. Then, the mer whimpers and whistles, and the two humans go quiet.
Rattling and thumps. Distressed clicks and whistles raise in volume and pitch. Audio briefly drops out as the mer’s keening is too loud and close and the microphone fails to fully record it and instead records a moment of static.
Keening again. Table rattling.
“What is he doing? Dr. Lachlan, why is he doing that?”
“It’s thrashing, Bahram.”
“No, I see that, but… why is he-... hey, it’s okay, it’s-... ow!”
“Don’t get so close to it!”
“He bit me!”
“Shocking. You put your hand next to its mouth and it bit you. A wild surprise.”
“Dr. Lachlan… What’s wrong with him?!”
INCLUDED: FIGURE 3.2, PHOTO OF MER TAKEN FROM LEFT SIDE
“Hm. Well. That wasn’t supposed to happen.” Dr. Lachlan’s voice is muffled, as the mer continues to wail, rattling and thumping against the table as he thrashes. The keens become shrieking, screeches that overwhelm the recording with feedback again and again.
SUBECT STRAPPED TO TABLE. SHOULDER BLADES AND TAIL AGAINST METAL. BACK ARCHED. DRIED AND WET SALTWATER ON FACE. MOUTH WIDE OPEN, FANGS GLEAM IN THE LIGHT PLACED CLOSE TO FACE.
EYES WIDE.
SEE SUPPORTIVE DOCUMENTATION RECORDING INCREASED HEART RATE.
Primary audio file unusable for reference purposes for period of sixty-six seconds due to this loss of fidelity.
SEE INCLUDED AUDIO FILE 62 FOR MORE ACCURATE RECORDING OF MER DISTRESS SOUNDS WHEN NEGATIVE PHYSICAL STIMULI IS APPLIED.
INCLUDED AUDIO FILE 62 FROM RECORDS: MER SCREAMING.
“What was supposed to happen? That wasn’t a sedative, was it, Dr. Lachlan? We’ve used sedatives on him before and this has never happened, so what did you give him and what did you think would happen when you did?”
“Bahram-... I would watch your tone-”
“What was it?!”
“... a deliriant.”
The pause that follows is not a silence at all. The mer continues to shriek in the background, audio crackling in and out, in and out.
“You gave him something to make him hallucinate?!”
“My employer-”
The sound of tearing fabric overtakes all over noise.
“... wait, what’s that sound?”
Crashing, sound of metal against tile, glass breaking, more fabric tearing, and above it all, the mer’s high-pitched, keening screams.
“Shit! Come here, buddy, it’s okay, come here-... oh shit-.. Stop, stop trying-... my ears, that hurts so bad, stop it-"
“The subject,” Dr. Lachlan speaks over the noise, voice strained with effort, nearly shouting herself, “has torn the restraints on the right side and from its tail and is now off the table and on the ground. It has destroyed laboratory equipment, including the restraints… also a variety of compounds intended for experimental use… several broken syringes, its travel tank…”
“Here, let me get that for you, just calm down, calm down, here we go… here we go-...”
“Bahram Anvari has undone the subject’s last remaining restraint from around its wrist-”
“He’s terrified! Whatever you gave him is hurting him!”
“It’s not hurting him… it… it just may be causing some sensory hallucinations-”
“No.” Bahram’s voice is firm. “He can see his pod-... his family. He can see them being harpooned like he was! He can see-... see their blood in the water-... he thinks he’s in the water. He’s trying to get to them to help! Here, here buddy, it’s okay, you’re just in the lab with me…”
INCLUDED: FIGURE 3.3. STILL IMAGE FROM SECURITY CAMERA LOCATED IN PLACEMENT SEVEN WITHIN LAB.
PHOTO OF BAHRAM ANVARI, SEATED. ANVARI HOLDS MER SUBJECT, WHO IS STILL APPEARING TO VOCALIZE. MER SUBJECT IS BLURRY DUE TO CONTINUED VOLATILE MOVEMENTS. WATER IS VISIBLE AROUND TILE FLOOR DUE TO OVERTURNED TRAVEL TANK.
ALSO VISIBLE: GLASS SHARDS, SYRINGES, TORN NYLON, OVERTURNED METAL TABLE, AND DR. RACHEL LACHLAN STANDING NEAR SINK.
“How can you know?” Dr. Rachel Lachlan’s voice remains calm despite noise and movement. “How can you know that’s what it sees?”
“I just-... I just know!”
There is whispering, from Bahram Anvari, which cannot be understood on the audio recording. After approximately seven seconds of further vocalizations, the mer goes quiet, and then whistles exactly once, high-pitched for one second, then three shorter, sharper, lower notes.
“I know,” Bahram says, voice soft and gentle. “I know. We’re just here in the lab. It’s just us.”
“Bhhh… Bhhhh-rmmm.” The mer appears to be attempting to say Bahram Anvari’s name. This transcriber did their best to accurately reflect the pronunciation of syllables. “Bhhh-rmmm, hhhh-puh…”
“I’m right here. I’m right here. It’s just us, it’s just the lab. Your pod is still out there, they’re all right, it’s just us here… just us.”
“Bhh-rmmmm… mah-... mah-”
“I know, I’m so sorry, she’s not here.”
“Mah-”
“I know.”
A pause.
FIGURES 3.4, 3.5, AND 3.6. STILL FROM SECURITY CAMERA LOCATED OVER ENTRANCE INTO LABORATORY. PHOTO SHOWS JUVENILE MER HELD BY BAHRAM ANVARI.
FIRST PHOTO SHOWS MER WITH PALMS FACING SELF, CLAWS SPREAD, ONE HAND LOCATED THREE INCHES ABOVE THE OTHER. ONE HAND IS OVER LUNG AREA SLIGHTLY TO THE LEFT SIDE, ONE OVER UPPER ABDOMEN ON RIGHT.
SECOND PHOTO SHOWS SAME IMAGE, BUT NOW MER’S HANDS HAVE SHIFTED INWARD, ONE DIRECTLY ABOVE THE OTHER, CLAWS SPREAD, CENTRAL POSITION IN FRONT OF TORSO.
THIRD PHOTO SHOWS MER’S HANDS HAVE RETURNED TO THEIR ORIGINAL POSITION, CLAWS SPREAD, ONE SLIGHTLY TO RIGHT AND THE OTHER SLIGHTLY TO LEFT.
“I know, I know you are, I know… It’ll stop after a while, I promise…”
“Bahram.” Dr. Lachlan sounds genuinely unsettled for the first time. “What did it just do?”
“He said I’m afraid. Miah and I have taught him some ASL, I told you, Dr. Lachlan, he isn’t what you keep saying he is, he’s thinking all the time. He’s learning. He’s-... he’s just a kid-”
“It is a juvenile mer-”
“He’s a child. A humanoid child who has been abducted, and he’s scared and in pain and it’s… I’m part of it. It’s my fault. He misses them so much… He thinks about his mother, you know. All the time. It’s okay… it’s okay. I think about my maman, too…”
“It thinks about its parent?”
“Dr. Lachlan…”
“Fine. Its mother.”
“Yes. He’s… he’s barely more than a baby.”
“This juvenile is adolescent. It’s within two years of entering its first mating cycle!”
“Yeah, and so was I when I was sixteen, but I still asked for Maman when I was in a car accident! He wants his mom. What kid have you met who didn’t want someone when he’s scared and alone?”
“I… don’t interact often with children.”
“Yeah. I can tell.”
Dr. Lachlan’s reply is clipped. “... I can see that you won’t be reasonable about the current situation. I need to record my observations for my employer’s benefit. I think we’ll cut our experiment short for today. When you can, return him to his tank and clean up this mess.”
“Yes, of course, doctor, but… that’s it? That’s all you needed?”
“... yes. I’ve gotten what my employer needs to know.”
Dr. Lachlan’s heels crunch on broken glass and plastic as she walks briskly out the door and closes it behind her with a sharp click.
The audio recording continues on for some time, the only sounds those of Bahram Anvari speaking to the mer, and the mer’s chirping, whistling, and clicking responses. After approximately one hour and seven minutes, Bahram Anvari begins to clean up the side of the laboratory closest to the door.
The sound of a secondary travel tank being wheeled in, one squeaky wheel differentiating it from the original, now broken one.
“Oh, right. The audio. Let me turn this over, bud, and then we can get you back home-... back into the tank, anyway. I can get the glass out of your tail in a second. Oh, man, you are so heavy…”
One final whistle from the mer.
“Yeah… you’re welcome. I hope this doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass later.”
RECORDING ENDS.
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Copy of email sent to Austin Howard:
BODY:
SUBJECT: Breakthrough!
Mr. Howard,
I thought you might find something of value in this transcribed recording of my latest session with the juvenile mer subject. I have attached images and audio files that support the transcription, which I believe will be of immense benefit.
Frankly, this justifies our entire mission.
As you can see, the juvenile is learning American Sign Language due to repeated contact with my assistant and our friend’s daughter. While that is fascinating, there is something far more important in this recording.
Note, if you will, that Bahram Anvari appears to have some understanding as to the mer’s thoughts and access to specifics as to its reasoning that he shouldn’t.
He won’t tell me how he gained this knowledge, but I think our hunch is correct.
The mer are telepathic, Austin!
And ours… is talking to Bahram.
Yours,
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Dr. Rachel Lachlan, D.Sc
Head of Applied Experimental Research
Howard Reston Health
(555) 683-4310
“Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.”
John Dewey
BODY:
SUBJECT: Re: Breakthrough!
Dr. Lachlan,
I was excited to review the transcript of your session. Now, having listened to it and looked over your notes, I’m downright goddamn thrilled.
My secretary will be giving you a call in about twenty minutes. I intend to make a visit to your laboratory and see the juvenile in person. Schedule a particularly strenuous, frightening, or painful experiment for that day, and ensure Bahram Anvari assists you.
Let’s see what this little fish can do.
Thank you as always for your invaluable contributions,
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Austin Howard
CEO, Howard Reston Health
(555) 334 - 2309
“Ambition can creep as well as soar.”
Edmund Burke
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