The Fulton Journals -SOS2022- writer

Dale sat at a table in the back of the bar, drinking his whiskey like it was the sweetest brand of lemonade. A box with journals was placed next to him on the bench, his leg pressed against it to assure him at all times that it was still there. He had quickly skimmed through a couple of pages and what he'd read so far made him want to burn the rest of it.

Earlier that day he had visited his grandfather, the respected professor Fulton. He was bound to his bed ever since his last heart attack, the 3rd this year, and everyone knew he wasn't going to get better again. Dale assumed that he was going to spend the day with a man he held dearly, a man he thought he knew better than anyone else. Instead he found his grandfather much weaker then he expected. But exhausted as he was, professor Fulton had a lot to say. The more time that passed, the more he spoke, the more his grandfather started to look like a stranger he'd never really knew at all.

He told dale about the research he'd been doing since the late nineteen seventies, first for private investors, and later for the government. All off it unofficial and with the greatest secrecy. A study that explored the debts, and searched for the limits of human awareness.
40 Years ago they gave him the lead of the project and he was encouraged to take it to a higher level, meaning: they went from animal to human testing. It took years to develop the protocol and even longer to prepare the human test subjects. But his budget and resources were almost unlimited, and the members of his team were so carefully selected that all of them had an insatiable hunger for science and none of them would ever have moral objections. The results and conclusion of the study were beyond anyone's expectations!

Dale woke up the next morning, slightly hung over. The conversation he had with his grandfather kept going through his mind:

“Take my journals”, his grandfather had said to him, “my research will never see the light of day and the findings will never be made public. I cannot bare the idea of taking it with me to the grave! So I want you to have them, read them, so that you too can be amazed by the hidden potential and the greatness of the human mind! Don't let this knowledge go to waste, dear Dale!”

Amazed? From what he'd read, Dale was anything but amazed! What he felt was a strange mixture of disbelief and disgust! He decided to take a shower and then read through the rest of the journals.

Excerpts from the Fulton journals

February 3rd, 1982
The first batch of test subjects arrived today. A total of 14 subjects of which 7 male and 7 female, all 10 years of age.
In the first phase of the project they will only have limited contact with their caretaker. Over the course of 6 months, they will be made accustomed to the reward and punishment system, as described in the protocol, and be taught Morse code, what we hope will make future communications possible.

August 15th, 1982
Parts of the protocol needed to be changed because of issues we did not foresee. Since we don't want to alter or affect the subjects awareness in any way, we decided against the use of mood stabilizers and tranquilizers to keep the subjects in a submissive state. Instead we opted to start with the first surgeries that were originally intended for phase 2, and removed the subjects upper and lower limbs, and vocal cords. The rest of phase 1 will proceed as planned.

November 23rd, 1982
I have given my team the green light to start phase 2.
Over the next 4 days the subjects will undergo extensive surgeries, with the intent to put their physical bodies in a permanent dormant state, while keeping the brain and awareness awake. During the surgery, the eyes will be removed, and all sensory nerves will be cut. Their physical bodies will be made completely paralyzed. All vital body functions will be taken over by machines and their brain function will be constantly scanned and monitored.

June 1st, 1986
I'm not supposed to have a favorite child, but I do! Subject B1M5, his brain lights up perfectly on the live scan, seconds before we connect his feeding tube! His internal clock learned when food is coming. He knows! Even when he doesn't experience 'hunger' anymore.
The other subjects only show related brain activity, when food enters their bodies.

December 11th, 1988
So far we haven't seen activity in the experimental MCRD (Morse code receiver device), which we connected directly to the subjects brains. The MCRD is one of the most important parts of the entire project but with everything we tried, none of the subject seem capable to respond to the incoming pulses or learn to make a new connection.
This bares the question if it was a mistake to use subjects with an already partially developed brain.

January 14, 1990
An unexpected turn of events today, when subject B1F2 showed a faint 'pain response' on the brain monitor while we were making an incision in her skin for the placement of a vascular port. Although the subject can't feel pain, the response was as if she did. Does she somehow 'know' what we are doing?

March 10, 1995
I have made a request to terminate Batch 1.
We are not making further progress in this phase of the project.
The little positive results that we observed in only 2 out of the 14 test subjects, could not be repeated or duplicated.

May 2, 1996
I have made a request for a new batch of test subjects.
After careful evaluation with my team, we have come to the agreement that a project like this one should be more successful if we skip phase 1 and start with phase 2 in newborns. That way we can fully focus on the development of the brain that never 'learned' to operate a body, while measuring signs of awareness.
It is our hope that an awareness that experienced nothing else but its own existence, and grown under restricted circumstances, will unfold it's complete potential.

January 3, 1997
The second batch of test subjects arrived today. A total of 18 subjects of which 9 male and 9 female, all zero years of age.

August 7, 2011
Subjects B2F2 and B2F8 have been very 'chatty' with each other again. Their brain light up at the same time, in the same areas, in a clear pattern, several times a day. Are they actually communicating with each other? The software is working day and night to try and decipher the pattern, but it's been a month and so far nothing came out.

February 17, 2014
Subject B2M1 has been showing signs of 'rebellion' whenever we change his feeding time. This usually shows as minor disturbances in the lung and heart machine he is connected to, but today he somehow managed to shut down the entire system! It took quick thinking of my team to keep him alive.

October 6, 2016
We can now say with certainty that all of our subjects, except for B2M9, are showing signs of 'awareness of our presence in the room'.
We have gathered enough information to write a new report that will show in the data, how awareness in its full potential, extends beyond the boundaries of a physical body.


(CONTINUED BELOW)

Six months later:

Dale stared at the box that was in the passenger seat of his car. The journals inside it were proof of sadistic, inhumane experiments, conducted on children and babies. He still had trouble believing that a man like his grandfather was capable of things like this. As far as he could tell, the project is still ongoing, with different scientists, maybe in a different location, but it was never terminated. He never visited his grandfather again and last month he received a message that professor Fulton had passed away. Dale didn't go to the funeral. He thought a long time about what he would do with the journals. Fulton thought the results of the study were 'amazing', but to Dale the whole thing is highly questionable since the actual data was not included in the journals. All that remains for him is the torture of innocent children. He would never be able to live with this knowledge, not telling anyone would eat away at his consciousness. He had to tell someone.

He looked up to the building in front of him where he has a meeting in 20 minutes, with a widely respected journalist who just loves to dig his teeth in cases like this!


THE END

a reply to: KindraLabelle2

Truly horrifying.

I was kinda hoping Dale would return to his old man's bedside and conduct a few tests of his own.

Perhaps tap the Morse code for 'Die you evil bastard' before pulling the plug.

You really got me involved in this one.

Thanks for your submission.

Good Luck in the Contest!
Johnny

a reply to: 19Bones79

Thanks,
It's always nice to hear that my stories trigger a response in people,
'horrified' is good!

originally posted by: JohnnyAnonymous
Thanks for your submission.

Good Luck in the Contest!
Johnny

Thank you

(I just noticed how you always fill in your 'reason for edits', normally I don't even read them, but yours are funny!)

a reply to: KindraLabelle2

.-- . .-.. .-.. / -.. --- -. .

Stay Safe

Riouz

a reply to: KindraLabelle2

Truly horrific and believable. Children as commodities, all human rights and agency stolen.

And a grandfather believing his kin to be as psychopathic as he and his colleagues, total disconnect.

Great story, thank you.

originally posted by: Riouz5
a reply to: KindraLabelle2

.-- . .-.. .-.. / -.. --- -. .

Stay Safe

Riouz

- .... .- -. -.- / -.-- --- ..- / ...- . .-. -.-- / -- ..- -.-. ....

originally posted by: teapot
a reply to: KindraLabelle2

Truly horrific and believable. Children as commodities, all human rights and agency stolen.

And a grandfather believing his kin to be as psychopathic as he and his colleagues, total disconnect.

Great story, thank you.

Thank you, glad you liked it


It scares me to think that there are people out there who would actually do this in the name of science.
If I can imagine it, so can anyone else

a reply to: KindraLabelle2

It scares me to think that there are people out there who would actually do this in the name of science.

Dr. Mengele says,

"You called?"

Cheers

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: KindraLabelle2

Dr. Mengele says,

"You called?"

Did you know that the remains of Mengele, the skeleton, is used as a teaching aid at a med school?

Must be nice for a doctor to say "I practiced on Dr Mengele"