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I am Gale. I was born a free woman, a human. I had a mother and a father.  I had friends and a dog.  I went to college.

She screamed all of these things in her mind as she watched the strange world moving quickly outside of the container in which she found herself.  She could see two golden figures moving about the room, occasionally they would move closer to her as though observing her for some kind of scientific experiment.

Is that what is happening? Have I been kidnapped by aliens?!? No Gale, we have not discovered other intelligent life beyond Earth. You know this.  You are a scientist for crying out loud. Then why am I here? Am I dreaming?  Think! How long have I been here?  Why can I not speak?  My hands, they will not move? I am bound. Stop, listen, perhaps you can learn something.  I hear sounds but they do not make sense.  My ears feel full of fluid. But I hear voices. Faint voices, like tickles in my brain.  One of them is moving closer.  Can I move my mouth? No. Why is it looking at me like that? Wait, where are its eyes?!?

“Wintmos! Come quickly and look at this reading. Her brain activity just spiked violently. She appears to be registering some kind of distress,” said Leywat. “It seems to have begun right after you leaned in closely to observe her eyes.”

“Perhaps we need to administer a stronger sedative agent, but not strong enough to put her into the Dream Launch. There is something about this time period that has triggered a new response in this sub-human subject and we may be the first to learn what it is, Leywat.  What regions of the brain are we noting the significant spikes in activity?”

“The parietal and temporal lobes, it would seem,” replied Leywat.

“Wait, do you think that means she is trying to communicate? That would be extraordinary! No documented occurrence of subhuman communication with auKind has been recorded in the last fifty years!” Wintmos exclaimed.

“Wintmos, is it possible that she understands what is happening to her right now? We were always taught that subhumans were not self aware, that they were a lower species.  If she is fully aware…”

“Leywat, I am relieved that this question has come to you as well.  I have wondered similarly for some time and feared raising it with you.”

“This is the secret that you have kept from me? Really, Wintmos. We are joined. You know that there is nothing you can think that would cause me to turn away from you.”

Reaching out to its genio pair, Leywat provides a slight comfort to Wintmos before turning back to Human 314.

“We must answer this question for ourselves, Wintmos.  We must find a way to communicate with Human 314.”

“Let us put her back in the Dream Launch! auKind and Humankind can interact in the Dream Launch, remember.”

“Yes, but not in our true form or our true language. That only triggers the subject to wake up.”

“You are correct. Perhaps if we choose identities that fit into the time parameters of the Dream Launch.”

“Yes, that could work, but Wintmos, we are tasked only to observe. It is a violation of protocol for auKind to enter into the Dream Launch scenario apart from a forced extraction.”

“I know, but we must learn the truth, Leywat.  We were taught that Humankind were appropriate test subjects for our experiments because they are the offspring of an unchecked mutation in the species, but what if that is not true?”

“That possibility is horrific, Wintmos.”

“Agreed.”

“Then what time parameter should we use for the next Dream Launch.”

“Well, Human 314 is one of the oldest test subjects according to our records.  Tubed in 1979, her file lists her as belonging to Haplogroups L1b1a and H.”

“Then we should explore her specific genetic memories from early adult stage rather than exploring the genetic memories of her 17th century ancestors as we have been recently.”

“The historic period of the late 20th century and early 21st century are out of bounds, you know,” said Wintmos.

“And it is time that we find out why, do you not agree?” replied Leywat.

Wintmos looked once more into the dark brown eyes of Human 314 and set aside its last hesitation.

“Yes, it is time to know the truth.”