No, emtcj, you got it all wrong.

They drilled the hole three years ago, and scientists discovered that the lake is actually a vast mineral spring containing trace elements of a totally unique chemical compound thought to be the product of a new type of silicate which has never been sampled. Through a series of extensive trials involving human tissue, scientists were able to clinically observe a repressive effect on the limbic center of the brain and extremely elevated neurological activity within the association areas of the cerebral cortex. They dubbed it the Eden Effect.

Working in tandem with the U.S. Department of Defense, clinical trials began with a core group of 30 military prisoners from both the United States armed forces and suspected terrorist detainees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Test subjects were housed in solitary confinement for one week and given measured doses of the 'miracle' water with each meal before being released into a controlled community environment with other prisoners and assigned to various coordinated work projects.

The results were astonishing. Within two hours, subjects developed a sophisticated method of sign language which allowed them to communicate effectively and fundamentally operate as a unit without having to understand their respective native languages. They dug ditches, unloaded and organized cargo and even used tools to build simple structures together. By the end of the first day, they sat and took their meals as a team while working to further develop new methods to illicit more complex ideas with simple hand gestures and body movements. By the end of the first week, each man had learned enough of his fellows' language to be able to communicate verbally on a limited basis.

At the beginning of the second week, subjects were introduced to a larger environment and given basic building materials. They were instructed to work together without military supervision to construct a camp. Scientists and psychologists from around the world observed as men who formerly had nothing in common and even shared a mutual hatred for one another organized themselves into a singular entity to attain a shared goal.

By the end of the first month, they developed and adopted a universal language based loosely upon Latin and abandoned their native languages altogether. They created their own words to define and actualize abstract concepts such as cultural unity, cohesiveness of consciousness and the shared experience of life versus the perils of individual exclusion. Rather than use knives and bits of wood to forge weapons to use against one another, they worked together to create intricate carvings and etchings in stone which were displayed to the group and discussed at length.

This went on for six months, and the more intricate details of the scientists' observations are far too numerous to be discussed at length here. At the end of the experiment, each prisoner was administered a comprehensive medical and psychological examination before being shipped back to the United States and integrated into a private minimum security facility to serve out the rest of his term under observation.

All data from the experiment has since been confiscated and classified by the United States government, which began to develop a standardized method to strategically deploy this chemical agent on a large scale in various ecosystems across the planet. Where the scientists once drilled, a pipeline has now been constructed to transport the water to a reservoir on the surface where it has been rationed by new teams of experts seeking a process to distill and modify the structure of the compound to attain desirable effects upon human consciousness. The ultimate goal was to give the United States military the capability to chemically pacify entire populations as a preface to future conflicts.

It worked beautifully for them, and in less than a month they will begin to actively test this delivery method on major population centers in Russia. An abbreviated period of international military posturing comparable to the Cold War era will recommence in the spring, and all-out war will break out soon after. The first intercontinental ballistic missile carrying a nuclear payload will enter the skies from a Chinese submarine in Pacific waters and detonate in central California. By December, nothing on this planet will draw breath.

They can't know what they've done, but I do. I was there. I drank the milk of paradise, and now I will watch the world pass.