Center: Episode Summary

Episode 10 takes listeners into the pretty pattern at the heart of the Sitri Center, where psychological boundaries dissolve. Two researchers discover they are not alone in this space, confronted by a presence that knows their deepest vulnerabilities. The episode explores themes of identity and the mechanisms of psychological transformation. Reality becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish from constructed experience.

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 Keys
Dr. Meg Aerin – Bun Li
Elle Lawson – Echo
Iris Vale – Swirls and Twirls
Zev Talcott (Z) – Neural Nets

Dream Team

Cael – Jericho Caine
Nyra – Dizzy Dollie
Hespa – Syndirella
Reverie – Britt Reprogrammed

Subjects

Oona Reyes – Jade
Phoebe Bosworth – Sofi Starship
Lyra Crosswell – Flux Lynniegal

Override Episode Synopsis (spoilers)

“Not me. Not that. But not nothing, either. A ‘something’ that I do not recognize as a thing.” (Kristeva)

Episode 10 presents the moment of complete dissolution. Researchers Meg and Tessa, stripped of external identity markers by their guide Oona, enter a mirror chamber where they encounter Nyra, a figure embodying their own repressed desires.  The episode refuses comfortable lines between observer and observed, victim and complicit agent.

The script systematically deconstructs the distinction between dream and reality through clinical testing: clock checks, finger counting, mirror reflection. Yet these very tests become proof of deeper entrancement rather than proof of wakefulness. The researchers can’tescape the framework because the framework is internal.

Nyra functions as something beyond antagonist: she is simultaneously the embodiment of their fantasy life, their accuser, and their architect. She speaks their shame aloud, naming what they have internalized and hidden. This naming is abject intimacy, grounded in her claim to know them better than they know themselves.

The episode’s climax abandons pretense entirely. Physical and psychological boundaries collapse as the researchers discover they are already transformed, already inscribed with identities and purposes the Center has designed. What remains is not resistance but recognition of the role they’ve become.

The final moment promises further transformation through a mechanism Nyra controls, suggesting the apparatus continues its work. The researchers will emerge fundamentally transformed.

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Human Made Art – free range!

The poster image 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.

Hespa – Deep Dream State Character Art, from Echo Doll 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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