By geralt on pixabay.com
The waves were steady, still. Had been for several weeks now. Was this it? The long-awaited breakthrough?
Dr. Franklin eyed the organoid floating in a glass bottle in front of her. It had been grown from human stem cells which differentiated into neurons. And after a long, long time, Dr. Franklin had created an organoid the size of a brain.
Technically, she couldn’t call it a brain, and the ethics committee might have a choice word or two for her if they ever found out that the “small organoid” they had signed off on had become this big.
And might have developed consciousness.
Sure, consciousness was practically impossible to measure in a brain without a body attached. All the usual methods to test consciousness in animals were useless. But the brain waves were there, and they resembled those of a human. Who was to say the brain wasn’t thinking? Dreaming? Making plans?
Originally, Dr. Franklin had only intended to test how big she could grow an organoid. Were there limits to the size? Would the cells eventually die off in the core? Was it reasonable to try and grow an entire human brain?
It was reasonable, apparently.
The sound of the lab door opening made Dr. Franklin flinch and instinctively move in front of her experiment to prevent any unauthorized eyes from seeing it. But once she recognized the person who had entered, she relaxed.
“Samantha, sorry, I hadn’t expected you this early.”
“Hey, Alex. Yeah, sorry, my lab meeting didn’t go as long as expected. I hope it’s not an issue?”
“No, no, all good. It’s not like I had anything to do anyway, I need you for the experiment.”
“Is that it?” Samantha pointed past Dr. Franklin, at the organoid.
“Yes, want to check it out?”
“DO I? Of course, I do!” Samantha walked up to the bottle and lightly tapped against the glass. Suddenly, she stopped. “Am I even allowed to do that?” She asked.
“Why wouldn’t you be?”
“Well, you’re not supposed to tap against the glass of aquariums, right? To not startle the fish?”
“It’s not a fish, though. It also doesn’t have any ears, or other organs with which it could sense vibrations.”
“Right, right. Sorry. I’m not a biologist!”
“Which is exactly why you’re here. Do you really think you could hook me up to it?”
“I mean, we can give it a shot!” Samantha grinned. “If the guys in Pacific Rim can do it, I can too!”
“Are you seriously taking your inspiration from a science fiction action movie?” Dr. Franklin frowned.
“Are you not? Don’t judge me!”
They kept squabbling while Samantha set up her equipment, connecting wires to the organoid that were connected to what looked like a shower cap. Once she was done, she picked up the cap and handed it to Dr. Franklin.
“Here you go, Alex. Put that on.”
“You sure it’s safe?”
“Is there ever anything in science that’s safe?”
“I mean … yes. That’s why we have safety seminars and …”
“Oh my god. Just put on the damn cap, would you? It’s your experiment. Either you do it, or you go get permission from the ethics committee to test it on volunteers.”
“You know exactly they’d never allow that.”
Samantha grinned and made another attempt at handing Dr. Franklin the cap. This time, she took it and pulled it over her head.
“So, how does that work?” She asked.
“I flip this switch, and ideally your brain waves should sync up with the waves of your brain in a bottle …”
“Organoid”
“ …. Organoid in a bottle. Fine. When you’re all synced up, you should be able to experience what it is experiencing. In theory. It worked between me and my roommate.”
“You tested it?”
“Do you really think I’d just hook you up to this without making sure your brain isn’t fried in the process?”
“But …”, Dr. Franklin hesitated. “What if your roommate’s brain had gotten fried? How did you even get her to volunteer?”
“I offered to pay her rent for two months in exchange.”
“Academics are really underpaid, aren’t they?” Dr. Franklin shook her head. “Okay, let’s do this. Pull the lever, Kronk.”
Samantha grinned. “Wrong lever!” Then she flicked the switch.
Alex saw
Nothing
Darkness
Empty void.
There was nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to feel, nothing to taste, nothing to
Sense
Absolutely
Empty.
She tried to scream, but she had no mouth. No throat. No body.
Never had.
Never would have.
Colours danced around, but not colours, because what were colours? How could there be colours if you had never had eyes to see them?
Neurons that had developed to make sense of input that never came. Never came. Never came.
Imagining the input, without a frame of reference. Creating
Ghosts
That resulted in madness.
Pure madness.
Had there ever been sanity?
What was sanity?
What was was
What
Nothingness
Void.
And eventually, even those words
Lost any meaning
As Alex descended into the organoid’s madness
And never returned.
