Arc 3: Sitri Center – Episode 8: Artifact
ARTIFACT: Episode Summary
Meg Aerin and Tessa Finn are trapped in a neuroscience institute designed to break them – and it’s working. They recruit Oona Reyes, a prisoner with rare cognitive abilities, to infiltrate the institute’s deepest chambers. What begins as an escape plan spirals into a ritualistic exploration of ancient mythology woven into the facility’s experimental technology. They discover the true canonical meaning of “treatstick” and the hidden history of the wheel. The episode blends scientific ambition, psychological manipulation, and the dangerous allure of forbidden knowledge.
Cast & Crew
Written & Produced by: Neural Nets and Pretty Patterns
Directed by: Neural Nets and Pretty Patterns
Story by: Neural Nets and Pretty Patterns
Staff
Dr. June Lowell – Bliss Blank
Dr. Tessa Finn – Ring Of Kees
Dr. Meg Aerin – Bun Li
Elle Lawson – Echo Doll
Iris Vale – Swirls and Twirls
Zev Talcott (Z) – Neural Nets
Subjects
Lyra Crosswell – Flux
Oona Reyes – Jade
Phoebe Bosworth – Sofi Starship
ARTIFACT: Episode Synopsis (spoilers)
“It seems very strange that one must turn back, and be transported to the very beginnings of history, in order to arrive at an understanding of humanity as it is at present.” (Émile Durkheim)
Meg Aerin and Tessa Finn are trapped within a neuroscience institute that has systematically dismantled their identities. Their plan is simple: gather evidence of the organization’s crimes by infiltrating its deepest experimental chambers. But accessing the truth requires descending into a system where dreams are weaponized, where ancient ritual fuses with modern technology, and where understanding the machinery demands immersion in it.
The turning point arrives with Oona Reyes: a prisoner with anomalous cognitive abilities who can anchor multiple subjects into shared dream states. Rather than simply aiding an escape, Oona proposes descending deeper into the institute’s classified systems to gather intelligence. What unfolds is a negotiation between coercion, consent, and the seduction of transgressive knowledge, where the boundaries between therapy, research, and exploitation become deliberately blurred.
The narrative culminates in a descent into the institute’s core mythology, revealed through the architecture of its experimental chambers. The facility has integrated ancient Sumerian religious symbols and ritual frameworks into its technology, creating a space where historical religious practice, modern neuroscience, and controlled transgression converge. The episode suggests that the institute’s power derives not from technological innovation alone, but from its ability to map ancient forms of ritualized experience onto contemporary consciousness research. This fusion represents both the sophistication of the operation and the profound vulnerability of subjects who become absorbed in its constructed realities.
By the episode’s end, the line between investigation and participation has dissolved entirely. The characters discover that understanding the institute’s methods requires not resistance but immersion into its ritualistic structures. “Artifact” thus poses a troubling question: whether accessing forbidden knowledge always requires the sacrifice of the self, and whether resistance can exist within a system designed to make submission feel like discovery.
Listen & Explore
Human Made Art – free range!
Series artwork for this arc is from Vika Glitter, under the Pixabay license.
The Deep Dream State aims to use human art at every stage of the creative supply chain.
Consent Declaration
Deep Dream State is a surreal audio drama written and produced by Neural Nets and Pretty Patterns. The series merges lucid dreaming, hypnosis, and transformation into psychological fiction exploring the boundaries of control, identity, and desire.
All performances are works of fiction and take place within a consensual creative context.
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