We were researching the missing link.
That was what the Institute of Unity was for. We did drug testing, archaeology, brain scans, sub-dermal implants, animal testing - nothing inhumane, of course. We tried everything we could think of. We seemed to be drawn to our subjects, each of us attached to a particular species. For me, it was the spiders. They were intricate, delicate; they drew me into the web that was...that was them. They spoke to me as if they could speak, and I understood them, or thought I did. They were as the dolphins; the warning of the apocalypse, misconstrued as an attempt to leap through a hoop.
But it was us doing the leaping.
I've said the Businessman first came to us a year ago. Isabella knew the Businessman long before she knew us...and if my suspicions are correct we first encountered him or his influence at least two years ago.
It was, in all seriousness, a dark and stormy night. The Professor and I were both packing up to go home when our generator got hit by lightning. The backup was waiting for repair, and didn't kick in. Our first thought was to get to the animals and make sure they were okay. Their cages were hooked up to electronic life support management systems that would automatically feed, water and clean them and their cages. Atlas ran back and forth among the rows of baying creatures, while I slammed away at the management terminal. When the lightning struck us a second time, we weren't ready. I hadn't even logged in to the system yet.
You'd think that being underground as we were would protect us from what happened next, but that wasn't our biggest concern. The electricity shorted out everything we had, and the gates on the cages slid themselves open. I blacked out, and it's my understanding that everyone else did, too. I was shaken awake by Squirm; he, Atlas, and Majesty had all woken up before me. The others were still unconscious. For a time we had seemed to completely have lost our memories; we each went to our homes, not a small number of which were within the Institute itself, and went about our everyday business. I regained an old passion for video games.
Then the animals came. Spiders were in my house, everywhere, and for some reason I didn't want to kill them or at least get them out. Atlas found a goat chewing on his carpet. The Compass' attic was plagued by bats. It went on, and then we realized that they weren't simple beastly invaders. They were there because of us.
Our companions helped us with our work for the next year or so. Then Isabella disappeared, and it all went downhill from there. They granted us an awareness far beyond that of our own - that which I discussed, many moons ago, as "loose perception." No doubt more benefits will come of these alliances.
We've named the connection the Spark; other than this...that's all I know. That's all any of us know. It has links to our research on the missing link, and there may be...portions of the psyche that we have yet to unlock.
There's your answer. I hope it pleases you.
I have an inquiry for today.
This one, for care: Rejoice! Through faith, your afflictions are banished. Rejoice! Through faith, your doubts and fears are vanished.
You get three chances.
