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The Pearl
From Lostpedia
The Arrow • The Staff • The Swan
The Flame • The Pearl • The Orchid
The Hydra • The Tempest
The Looking Glass
The Pearl is DHARMA Initiative station number 5, initially discovered by Paulo and, much later, found by Locke and Mr. Eko.
The purpose of this station was initially believed to be the video surveillance of the inhabitants of the Swan station, but it was later implied that it was actually a psychology experiment against the Pearl's own staff. ("?") ("Live Together, Die Alone") The Pearl is located directly north of Barracks.
Contents |
History
DHARMA Initiative
Little is known of the history of the Pearl station. It is known that the DHARMA Initiative did have some personnel stationed there, but there is no indication if they were conducting, or were the subjects of, the psychological experiments being performed there.
Mike, who welcomed Ben and Roger Linus at the Pala Ferry dock, was a technician assigned to the Pearl, according to his DHARMA jumpsuit. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
Also, a skeleton found by Locke in the polar bear cave was partially covered by some fabric, presumably the remnants of a DHARMA jumpsuit, which still had the Pearl's logo visible. ("Further Instructions")
Pearl Orientation video
The Pearl Orientation video was discovered in one of the station's cupboards. The video is hosted by a man who introduces himself as Dr. Mark Wickmund; however, he looks identical to Dr. Marvin Candle from the Swan's orientation film, with the notable difference that he has no prosthetic arm and is wearing different attire. ("Orientation") ("?")
According to the film, the staff of the Pearl lived for three weeks in the station and monitored the occupants of the other stations in eight-hour shifts. After each shift, the staff was taken to barracks via the Pala Ferry. Whenever an observation notebook was completed, it was placed in a pneumatic tube and was to the DHARMA Initiative. ("?")
The Others
The Others knew of the Pearl Station, as Ben took Juliet there to observe the survivors of Flight 815 at the Swan on Day 49, and Tom was said to on Day 47. Also, while there, Ben told Juliet to have Tom cover the Pearl's entrance with the drug smugglers' plane. ("Exposé")
This explains Tom's uncanny knowledge of the castaways, such as the fact Locke had a concealed weapon, during their encounter at the line on day 52. ("The Hunting Party")
It is also presumed that Mikhail had knowledge of the Pearl, if not actually visited there, as he managed communications for the Others at the Flame station. ("One of Us") ("Enter 77")
Mikhail demonstrated knowledge of the purpose and location of other stations, especially those involved with communications. For example, he knew of the sonar jamming mission of the Looking Glass and the fact it was located underwater. ("Through the Looking Glass")
The Pearl also had a video feed into the Flame, which Mikhail had knowledge of its location and purpose. Mihail was seen on the Pearl's monitors after Sayid had repaired them during their initial exploration of the station. When he appeared on the screen, Mihail looked directly into the camera and quickly turned it off. ("The Cost of Living")
Season One (Days 1-44)
The Pearl was first stumbled upon by Nikki and Paulo on Day 24 while searching for their missing luggage. The Beechcraft was still suspended above the Pearl entrance, which was only covered by a small amount of fresh dirt. ("Exposé")
Following the clues in one of Locke's visions, he and Boone found the drug smugglers' plane on the edge of a cliff. Unbeknowst to them, at the bottom of this cliff, buried underground, was the Pearl. Boone climbed into the plane , which fell off the cliff and mortally wounded him. ("Deus Ex Machina")
Season Two (Days 44-67)
The Pearl station was found by Locke and Mr. Eko who were in search of the question mark at the center of the blast door map. During their search, they stumbled upon the drug smugglers' plane. In a dream, Locke was inspired by Eko's brother Yemi to climb the cliff next to the aircraft. After climbing on top of this cliff, Mr. Eko noticed that next to the plane, a circle in the vegetation near the plane was visible. The circle in the vegetation, combined with the fallen plane, formed a question mark. The mark in the grass was made through salting the ground, preventing anything from growing there. The Pearl station's doors were hidden under the crashed plane. ("?")
Season Three (Days 68-91)
Locke and Desmond asked Sayid to come to the Pearl to use the computer to communicate with the Others and figure out how to rescue Jack, Sawyer, and Kate. Nikki and Paulo eventually join the party, too. Inside the Pearl, Nikki watched the Pearl Orientation video while Sayid, Desmond, and Locke examined the electronic equipment behind the computer. Paulo discovered and used the station's working toilet. After watching the video, Nikki suggested that some of the monitors could be viewing the other DHARMA stations. Sayid fiddled with the electronics until a live picture appeared on one of the monitors. A man with an eye patch was briefly shown before putting his hand over the camera and the live video was lost. Locke remarked, "I guess he'll be expecting us." ("The Cost of Living")
Station
The station consists of a corridor with an octagonal tunnel leading down by ladder from the outside and one large, octagonal room, in which nine television sets are fed live surveillance pictures. There appears to be damage to this station, such as missing panels in the roof, loose wires hanging out of the monitor bank, and a boulder in room. While there is a bathroom, there are no living quarters for the Pearl's personnel, as they only served in eight-hour shifts.
Purpose
The purpose of this station, according to its orientation video, was to monitor the inhabitants of the Swan station, and possibly other stations, via a video surveillance system. The surveillance seemed to be focused on studying the psychological status of the other stations' inhabitants; however, it was implied that the work being done by the Pearl staff was in fact useless, as the notebooks they were asked to submit ended up at a dump. There was also a hidden camera present in the Pearl, indicating that their staff were actually the subjects of a study, rather than the stations the Pearl was monitoring. Since the Swan station actually had its own purpose (i.e., to study the electromagnetic properties of the Island), this seems to reinforce that the Pearl was a psychology experiment against it's own staff. ("?") ("Live Together, Die Alone")
Rooms and features
Entrance/Question mark
Foudn by Locke and Eko, the circle in the vegetation, combined with the fallen plane, formed a question mark. The mark in the grass was made through salting the ground, preventing anything from growing there. The Pearl station's doors were hidden under the crashed plane. ("?")
In the feature Access: Granted, the pearl was confirmed to be the Question mark on the blast door map.
Monitor bank
There is a monitor bank consisting of nine screens on the far wall of the facility. The monitors are configured in a 3x3 array and numbered, columns first.
Each monitor has three circular operational dials aligned in a vertical column. The upper two have similar designs, but the lower dial is different and about twice the size. To activate the monitors, Locke used the big dial to turn on screens 1 through 3 and the upper small dial to turn on screen 7 (upper right).
Screen 7 received a live video surveillance feed from the kitchen of the Swan station, showing Jack, while all the other screens displayed static. Screen 5 was used to display the Pearl's orientation video, and Ben was able to manipulate it to display the same feed as screen 7. On top of the monitors, mounted on the wall, are three speakers. These likely transmitted audio from the station(s) that were being monitored. ("?")
It should be noted that when John looks up during the Pearl Orientation Video at the live feed of the Swan, the camera angle appears to have panned; now showing the hallway leading into the bunk area. The Hydra has a similar group of monitors which may be linked to the Pearl as well.
It was revealed that the Pearl is designed to monitor several stations at once. Sayid, while inspecting the I/O feeds for the computer, managed to patch a signal from the Flame. During this transmission, a resident of this station, Mikhail, became aware he was being observed and shut-off the camera. ("The Cost of Living")
Chairs
There are two chairs, each with a table and a magnifying viewing lens mounted on an adjustable arm assembly. Controls on the arms of the chairs seem to be made from spare parts. On the left arm of the left chair, a rocker switch similar to old-style power windows can be seen. On the right arm of the right chair, Locke used the conventional stove dial to un-dim the lights in the room. On the dial these words can be read, starting on the right and moving counterclockwise: "HIGH", "MEDIUM", "WARM", and "OFF". and debris that fell from the room's ceiling, this would be consistent with the minor structural damage seen elsewhere in this room).
Curiously, when Locke first visited the Pearl, on the table there was also a still-burning cigarette. ("?")
Computer
There is a computer present, similar to the Swan's computer, with the addition of a printer, a DHARMA-branded Apple ImageWriter II. Interestingly, the Pearl's computer actually bears the logo of the Swan, rather than the Pearl, but this is most likely a production error.
When Locke discovered the computer, its screen was displaying the prompt, "Print log? Y/N". Upon giving the "Y" command, the computer's dot-matrix printer printed the log printout, a repeating series of numeric codes, interspersed by the word "accepted" (e.g., 41602064:41 accepted 41602086:29 accepted) These numbers indicated the time of activity on the Swan's Computer at which the inhabitants of the Swan station entered the Numbers and pressed "Execute". But not only were the Numbers registered in the log, but also the "system failure" warnings appeared in the log. ("?")
Message tube
There is a functioning pneumatic tube in the station. The Pearl's personnel were supposed to put their notebooks in a container and send them through the tube. Their notebooks would then be presumably delivered the DHARMA Initiative, but was only described as "us" in the Pearl's Orientation video. The actual location turned out to be a dump where the containers of notebooks were simply piling up, seemingly without anyone checking on them.
Locke took his sketch of the blast door map and sent it through the tube where it was later found by Sawyer at the capsule dump. ("Live Together, Die Alone")
The fact that the notebooks were merely accumulating at a spot, seemingly not being used for any purpose, supports the idea that the psychological experimentation was actually directed against the inhabitants of the Pearl, rather than who they were observing.
Bathroom
The Pearl has a functioning bathroom which Paulo used on his visit there. ("The Cost of Living")
It is later revealed that Paulo had previously hidden diamonds in the toilet and entered the bathroom to retrieve them. ("Exposé")
Camera
In one of the broken parts of the ceiling, a camera is visible, apparently filming the Pearl station and its personnel. It is presumed the Pearl's staff was unaware of this camera, as it was hidden inside the ceiling. Because of the damage to the station, the camera was uncovered, allowing Locke to spot it. ("?")
Notable visitors
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Picture | Name | First visit | Last visit | Reason for Visit | ||||
 | Tom | "Exposé" | "Exposé" | Visited the Pearl to monitor the survivors in the Swan hatch. | ||||
 | Nikki | "The Cost of Living" | "Exposé" | The first of the survivors to find the Pearl, Nikki chooses not to explore it until much later, when she goes (along with Paulo) to Locke. Witnesses Mikhail's appearance and Eko's death. | ||||
 | Paulo | "The Cost of Living" | "Exposé" | First found the Pearl with Nikki, hid the diamonds in the toilet. Later revisited, retrieved the diamonds, and witnessed Mikhail watching them over the camera. Soon after, he witnessed Eko's death. | ||||
 | Ben | "Exposé" | "Exposé" | Visited station with Juliet to monitor Jack. | ||||
 | Juliet | "Exposé" | "Exposé" | Visited station with Ben to monitor Jack. | ||||
 | Elliott | "Whatever It Takes" | "Whatever It Takes" | (*Non-canon*) Explored the Pearl after finding a capsule near the sonar fence. | ||||
 | Locke | "?" | "Exposé" | Found the Hatch with Eko, causing him to have a crisis of faith. | ||||
 | Eko | "?" | "Exposé" | Visited with Locke, told to find it by a vision of his brother, Yemi. | ||||
 | Desmond | "The Cost of Living" | "Exposé" | Visited station with Locke. | ||||
 | Sayid | "The Cost of Living" | "Exposé" | Visited station with Locke. | ||||
Trivia
General
- While the names of many stations seem to be related to Apollo from Greek mythology, the Pearl seems to be named according to a different unknown scheme.
- The color scheme of the DHARMA logos that do not follow the Apollo theme are inverted, such as the Pearl.
- The Sanskrit translation for Pearl is "Falling Star" or "Gem of the Moon"
- The name may be a literary reference to the John Steinbeck novel, "The Pearl"
- In the opening sequence of the movie Cloverfield, The Pearl station logo appears briefly as a visual "Easter egg". Cloverfield was written by Drew Goddard, a writer on Lost, and produced by J.J. Abrams, one of the creators of Lost. (Outside references to Lost)
Production notes
- The Pearl's computer actually bears the logo of the Swan, indicating it is probably the same prop.
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
|---|
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- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: The Pearl/Theories
- What was the true purpose of the Pearl?
- Was anything actually done with the notebooks or logs?
- Who was in the room smoking the cigarette just before Locke and Eko entered?
- How were they able to hide or escape from the station?
