A Cautionary Tale

This is the sixty-third episode of SAYER, and the fourth episode of Season Five. It also marks the first voiced appearance of PORTER.

Synopsis
Please enter the elevator. I would caution you, for your own safety, please do not engage with the elevator at this time. The elevator AI is here for your service and protection during transportation scenarios, but you are not in a condition where undue stress is wise. Simply enter the elevator, and await your arrival.

Further Information
SAYER reaches out to a resident who it identifies as Subject 44281 pursuant to a request to exit the study in progress due to health concerns (including memory loss, stress, excessive sweating, blurred vision, confusion, and paranoia), which has been denied. It attempts to comfort the resident by explaining that they were already mortal, and while it does not succeed, the resident's increased heart rate serves as justification to transfer them to the imaging department.

As SAYER asks the resident to remain clear of a green circle painted on the floor, a PORTER arrives to transport them without breaking their quarantine. Before they enter, it cautions them not to interact with the elevator and to wait quietly. For its part, PORTER asks many questions and speculations about their condition, and sets off at a moderate pace without the resident's input. While they are transported, SAYER begins explaining that the study in which the resident is involved is a sleep study, led by a Dr. Thompson, meant to see if it is possible to adjust human circadian rhythms to a longer time frame than the standard day.

Upon arrival at the lab, SAYER suggests that the resident should pretend not to be able to speak to any lab-based PORTERs in the future before instructing them toward a device to take cranial x-rays. While they wait, it lays out more information about the sleep study. Unsatisfied with initial iterative improvements, Dr. Thompson had pushed for even longer days, using alarms, water, and electric shocks to awaken participants. After finding a 2007 study performed on rhesus monkeys, they began testing a synthetic form of the neuropeptide orexin-A on the subjects, which worked for a time but then also began to have diminishing results. Within the first year, 37 of the 92 subjects (first among them, a Subject McCann) developed an inability to sleep, coupled with panic attacks, hallucinations, loss of appetite, dementia, and death as a result of the prion disease sporadic fatal insomnia. Dr. Thompson pushed to continue to identify why this rare disease might be so common in residents of Typhon.

As the x-rays are completed, SAYER reminds the resident that they, Dr. Thompson, were lax with safety equipment, leading to their own affliction with the disease. It informs them, however, that a link has been suggested between orexin-A and trinychthemeron which may be responsible. It estimates that they have another 10 to 12 months to live based on their past research, and urges them to take a deep breath.

Trivia

 * An early version of this episode referred to Dr. Thompson as Subject 44821, and was changed because of the similarity to another resident.
 * Dr. Thompson is non-binary.
 * SAYER's attempt to calm Dr. Thompson by reminding them that they would die eventually, even if not because of this study recalls its attempt to explain how great Halcyon Tower is in "While You Are Still Paralyzed".

Credits
SAYER is voiced, written, and produced by Adam Bash.

PORTER is voiced by Bre Poisonne.

Intro and outro music composed by Jesse “Main Finger” Gregory.

Additional music by Kai Engel.

Listen to the episode here.