The Russian Sleep Experiment

How Long Can You Stay Awake?

There was a young man in northern Russia, walking from his home to his job.  Bundled up in coats, hats, scarves, eyes down, he quickly ate up the ground with long strides.  But then he stopped.  And stared.

It was an old tape, labeled Experiment S133P.  The date?  August 9, 1942.  The man shoves it in his pocket, and goes to another day at work.

After ten grueling hours, he gets home.  He sits on his couch, puts on a blanket, and begins to watch the tape.

The tape is 3 hours and 27 minutes long.  Much of it is just white static filling the screen, but some was chilling...

A scientist sits in an all-white room with one window.  On one side is an open doorway leading to darkness.  The glass of the window is a half foot thick.  You can see another white room behind it.  The room has a bookshelf, fully stocked, and five cots to sleep on.  However, there was no bedding to be found.  Two armchairs are in the room by the books.  There was running water and a toilet, with plentiful canned and dried food to last three months or more.  Inside were five test subjects, all lined up in a row.  Humans.

The scientist speaks in English, but with a thick accent.  "We have our test subjects.  All prisoners.  We have said that if the experiment succeeds, we will show mercy on them; if they survive the experiment, go with no sleep for thirty days, they are free to go.  We are monitoring a new, experimental type of gas.  While toxic, the oxygen levels are under close supervision.  The experiment will last for a month.

"Subject Three was the most compliant.  Subject Two caused some... problems, but nothing unmanageable."

Subject Two has a gash along his forehead.  All five subjects are male, with close-cropped hair.

"With the aid of the gas the subjects will not need sleep.  We will monitor their activities, and record them on this log.

At this point, the screen is static for twenty minutes, (/ ---- -- ---)hbcHFUO(-- ---)GBajhbvjNJ(---- /// -//)ahbvHBJVA(/-// /// --/)FNpoiojnaf(--- -//- - -/-- -/--)JBSouy(// /// -/- --- -)hbfn(/-/ /// /-- -) hb UJIb(-- /-) uybIUbyn(// /// -/- --- -)hjbIKUFN (/-/ /// /-- -)before returning to the scientist.  The subjects are no longer lined up.

"It has been five days.  Subject Five has be showing some compulsory behaviors, although this may be due to the confined area.  The conversations are being monitored.  None are complaining, with this their only false chance at freedom.  Their conversations are tending towards past traumatic experiences, which may be due to worries of what will happen if the experiment is a failure.

"As a whole, their conversations are darker.  This may be a side effect, it may not be.

"The subjects are discussing the events that led them here, and are developing extreme paranoia.  Their mental health is showing signs of degrading.  They've stopped speaking to one another, instead whispering into the microphones."

In the background, you can see a subject doing just that.  Others are just smiling through the glass, and one--presumably Subject Five--is repeatedly throwing books on the ground and sorting them again.

"They act as if they can gain the trust of my fellow researchers by 'selling out' the other subjects. It may be an effect of the gas."

The screen again fades to static (/ ---- -- ---)hbcHFUO(-- ---)GBajhbvjNJ(---- /// -//)ahbvHBJVA(/-// /// --/)FNpoiojnaf(--- -//- - -/-- -/--)JBSouy(// /// -/- --- -)hbfn(/-/ /// /-- -) hb UJIb(-- /-)   uybIUbyn(// /// -/- --- -)hjbIKUFN  (/-/ /// /-- -)before the scientist returns again.  He is now looking excited, almost bouncing in his seat.

"It is now day nine.  None of the subjects have slept.  Severe mental degrading is--what is that?"

Subject One is running through the chamber, screaming.  The scientist stands up so quickly the chair falls back and leaves the room.  You can hear his voice yelling at guards and researchers alike, demanding to know what was happening.  The clip continues to roll for ten minutes before a different scientist comes in and shuts it off.  There is a cut, and then the first scientist is back in his chair.

Subject One is writhing on the ground, apparently no longer able to get up.  He's still trying to scream, but can only manage a weak whimper once in a while.  His chest rises and falls in ragged, wet gasps.  All the other captives continue to whisper into the microphone.

"It appears that Subject One has physically torn his vocal chords.  It's been three hours, and he's only now just stopped.  None of the others have reacted.  The gas appears to be causing severe paranoia and extreme apathy towards others.  What--"

The scientist curses in Russian as a second captive begins to scream.  He continues the recording.

"As you can see, disturbing mental effects are being observed."

Staring at the recording device, the scientist doesn't notice as two of the remaining subjects start tearing apart books until the second scientist runs in.  They stand and watch, together, as the subjects begin to coat the pages in their own feces and begin to paste it to the observing windows.  The screaming immediately stops.  So does the whispering.  The scientists turn the recorder away from them and begin talking in hushed whispers.  The scene cuts, and static(/ ---- -- ---)hbcHFUO(-- ---)GBajhbvjNJ(---- /// -//)ahbvHBJVA(/-// /// --/)FNpoiojnaf(--- -//- - -/-- -/--)JBSouy(// /// -/- --- -)hbfn(/-/ /// /-- -) hb UJIb(-- /-) uybIUbyn(// /// -/- --- -)hjbIKUFN (/-/ /// /-- -) fills the screen.

Both scientists are back.  The first one stands at the blocked window, observing the paper for any chance to see into the cell.  The second talks to the recorder, far more fluently than the first.

"We have been checking the recorders every hour to see if they're broken, but it seems all noise has just... stopped.  It shouldn't be possible, not with all five in there, and if oxygen consumption is to be believed, alive.  It's strange.  Not only are they showing oxygen consumption of five people, it's the levels of five people during strenuous exercise.  Any yet, there is no noise."

The tape cuts.  The first scientist is now back.  "It is the fourteenth day, and there has been no sound.  We said we wouldn't do this, but I believe it necessary for the sake of the experiment, to get a reaction from the subjects.  We will use the intercom inside of the chamber."

The scientists spoke.  "We are opening the chamber to test the microphones.  Lay flat on the floor or you will be shot!  Compliance will earn one of you your freedom!"

To the shock of the scientists, heard throughout the chambers, a single, calm voice responded with just one sentence in a slow, eerie drawl.

"We no longer want to be free..."

The scene cuts.

Inside the room, debate breaks out between the researchers and the military funding the experiment.  When further use of the intercom provoked no response, after much consternation, both sides agreed to open the doors at midnight of the fifteenth day.

The recorder moves, bobbing up and down with the footsteps of a scientist. 

Ha!  Cliffhanger!  See you next week!

I put two little Easter eggs in here.  Did you find them?  

One's fairly obvious; the other, not so much.