This has been eating me alive, I need to confess. My name is Jack LePont, and I have spent the last 5 years running experiments in a high-security testing facility hidden in the Alps. Today is the day I admit my wrongdoing to the world. I don’t know what the consequences will be, but at this point, I can no longer bear the guilt.
What we are doing down here isn’t in the name of science… it’s torture. The breaking point for me was last month. The director had instructed us to get results no matter the cost. I do not have a scientific background but was hired as a linguist. What happened last week has forever changed me.
I was told that they were running some new tests, and they were sure to get results. I was instructed to prepare a means of communication with the subjects. Although this had been achieved before, they expected more than simple hand signs and flashcards. It seemed a fool’s errand.
I watched as they brought the subjects in and sat them and strapped them into the seats. I think they gave most of them bizarre cocktails of pharmaceuticals.
Some of them they forced to watch strange footage for hours on end. They played “2001: A Space Odyssey” repeatedly for one of them. Others were hit with paddles every time they began to fall asleep. At least half of them had neural implants.
A lot of this, I’ll be honest, I had become desensitized to. I was okay with a lot of it, and I think most of us were. I wasn’t okay with what happened that day.
I saw them take the subject and strap him to a chair. They placed the conducting apparatus to various spots on his body: arms, hands, feet, chest, and head. By the time the electroshocks were done, he was changed.
I tried to ignore the howling, but it was… more difficult than usual. It was so primal, so blood-curdling. When they were done with him, they brought him to my office. He looked so strange sitting there in that chair.
The first thing I asked was how he was. I didn’t expect much from him, but it was my job. He stared out into the distance vacantly. I continued on, the conversation went something like this…“So, ‘64’, are you feeling any different?” It seemed to capture his attention. He growled at me, which is really what I expected.
“Can I offer you something to eat?” In saying that, his eyes perked up. I stared at him in anticipation, I was certain he understood.
“Would you like… some coconut? I have bananas and yogurt.” I spoke to him like he was a child. I still can’t believe what happened next.
That we were successful.
“All… I take all.” His voice was guttural and short, but still intelligible. My jaw hung open in shock. I couldn’t believe he actually had spoken. A coherent sentence. At best, I expected one-word answers.I rubbed my eyes and stared at him in disbelief.
“What are you, stupid? Get my food.” He was actually insulting me… I struggled to answer him.
“Ab… absolutely.”
He clumsily started eating the food I gave him. Spilling the yogurt over himself and shoving the entire banana into his mouth and chomping away sloppily.
“I do not even know what to say” I said under my breath to myself. I tried to focus on everything I had prepared for when this day would finally happen (if ever), but now it was here, and ironically I was speechless. He spoke before I could even gather my thoughts.
“I never dreamed… your kind is so violent. Why have you done this to my people? All for this… to have me speak your way? Is it worth all the pain you caused us? Do you think we feel no pain? Do you think you are better than us, hairless one? I had a good life in the jungle before I was taken. Now I am here in this strange cavern, stuck with your kind. What do you want from us!” He was now screaming.
“BRING US BACK OR KILL US. BRING US BACK OR KILL US. I NEVER SPEAK YOUR STRANGE WAY AGAIN!”
Security ran into the room and restrained him and dragged him away. He bit and scratched them and, for a moment, escaped. He climbed up one of the guards and grabbed an award on a filing cabinet and began to bash the guard in the head, knocking him unconscious. One of the men pulled out a tranquilizer and shot him. His limp body fell to the ground. One of the men slung ‘64’ over his shoulder and carried him away.
For the rest of the day, I was dumbstruck. The team was ecstatic, but they weren’t there. They didn’t see the soul and life in his eyes. They didn’t hear the personality in his voice. He wasn’t human, no, but he was as alive as the rest of us. It was then I knew what we were doing was wrong.
We had given an ape the ability to speak… but at what cost?