Miranda slowly rose, still dripping liquid from her gaunt, naked body. I made a mental note to double check the calorie levels being used in the tank as I watched the youngest male drape a terry cloth robe around her.
"My children," she repeated. "I saw that all of time is immediate."
"Yes!" "Yes, yes!" Their staggered responses came from all over the room. The boys were sitting or leaning on an array of lab equipment -- the eldest in the sole chair. The girls were prostrate at Miranda's feet.
I spoke up, partly to stifle the growing silence, and partly out of sincere concern, "Miranda... how long were you -"
"I saw that causality is an illusion," she snapped at me. "Reality is a stream of information culled of irrelevant bits."
Her "children" cooed quietly in chorus, "Causality... reality..."
I slowly backed away from Miranda who remained as motionless and unnerving as a gargoyle. I reached the desk and sat down in front of the monitors, checking over my shoulder one last time to ease my suspicion that Miranda would spring into a fury and claw out my eyeballs. My suspicion was not eased in the least.
I skimmed over the data that the computers had been collecting. Miranda had been in the tube for 6 weeks -- longer than any of our test animals. The charts showed that her brain activity had practically ceased. It was unlikely that she was even able to dream, so we were probably looking at brain damage. I doubt it was possible for her to have "seen" anything.
"Consciousness!"
I nearly shit my pants as I leaped up and sent the office chair rolling out behind me. Miranda had spoken centimeters from my ear.
"... is not strictly physiological. We made the mistake of discounting the metaphysical. These bits were in fact relevant. I saw that."
