Gazes Back
The Sitri Center Arc | Episode 4
"The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul... Dreams are the facts from which we must proceed." - Carl Jung
Summary
In Gazes Back, the Sitri Institute's dream research program reaches a critical juncture. Elle Lawson's increasingly intense dreams are no longer treated as anomalies but as training opportunities. The lucid dreaming techniques MILD and VILD are framed not as tools for consciousness but as protocols for compliance, with phrases and visualizations that blur the boundary between research and conditioning. When Dr. June Lowell questions the program's efficacy, she proposes an unconventional solution: Dr. Meg Aerin, who has been monitoring the subjects, must enter the dream chamber herself to provide a contrasting data profile.
Support the Show
Meet The Cast
| Dr. June Lowell | Bliss Blank | Chief Scientific Officer | IMDb |
| Dr. Tessa Finn | Ring Of Keys | Senior Researcher | IMDb |
| Dr. Meg Aerin | Bun Li | Senior Researcher | IMDb |
| Elle Lawson | Echo | Research Subject | IMDb |
| Iris Vale | Swirls and Twirls | Dream Team | IMDb |
| Zev Talcott (Z) | Neural Nets | Dream Architecture Director | IMDb |
| Cael | Jericho Caine | Dream Team | IMDb |
| Nyra | Dizzy Dollie | Dream Team | IMDb |
| Hespa | Syndi Rella | Dream Team | IMDb |
| Oona Reyes | Jade | Research Subject | IMDb |
| Lyra Crosswell | Flux Lynniegal | Research Subject | IMDb |
| Phoebe Bosworth | Sofi Starship | Research Subject | IMDb |
Consent Declaration
Deep Dream State is a surreal audio drama written and produced by Neural Nets and Pretty Patterns. The series merges dream research, psychology, and transformation into neurological fiction exploring the boundaries of control, identity, and desire.
All performances are works of fiction and take place within a consensual creative context.
Hear The Audio
Read The Scripts
Find Out More
Full Synopsis (Spoilers)
The episode opens in Elle's dream as she performs a puppet routine for Cael, Nyra, and Hespa. The dream figures mock her enthusiasm while rewarding her compliance. Tessa appears in the dream as Teehee, a gleefully submissive figure who teaches Elle the lucid dreaming techniques MILD and VILD. But these are no longer consciousness tools; they are compliance protocols. Tessa instructs Elle to repeat Service is our purpose as a mnemonic anchor and to visualize herself as puppet, pet, and subject.
Elle awakens to find Tessa standing over her, having overridden the monitoring feed to prevent the research team from seeing Elle's physical reenactment of the dream. Tessa admits she was impressed rather than concerned, revealing that she has undergone similar experiences herself. She confesses that her clothing, hair, and even her ringtone were gradually removed by Z under the justification that waking cues interfered with dream latency. She now uses the phrase I serve when I dream as her MILD anchor and rehearses detailed submissive scenarios as VILD practice.
In the observation chamber, Dr. June Lowell declares the program a failure, noting that Elle's escalation is nonlinear and that her dream journals now contain phrases written repeatedly for hours. When Meg attempts to deflect blame onto the subject, June asks pointedly who the perfect subject would be, and Tessa quietly suggests it should be someone who understands all of it. June proposes that Meg enter the chamber as a subject to provide a contrasting profile, framing it as research rather than punishment.
Inside Meg's dream, Nyra and Hespa greet her as someone who always comes back, and Cael tells her she has brought them with her. When Meg protests that she is not a subject, Hespa corrects her: You are the template. While Meg lies paralyzed and aware in the dream, the episode concludes with the revelation that she has become what she was studying all along.