DHARMA Initiative stations

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On the American television show Lost, the fictional DHARMA Initiative has built several research stations on islands located somewhere in the South Pacific. The principal information about these stations comes from two orientation films viewed by the main characters of the series. Additional information is derived from a hand-drawn map of the island which briefly appeared under black light, seen only by one of the characters, Locke, although it was later revealed that Desmond was also aware of the map, and present some of the times when Kelvin was adding information, although it is unclear as to whether or not he participated in contributing to the map, or even saw it, because Kelvin was only shown painting it with invisible ink while the black lights were off.

Each station is identified with its own variation on the DHARMA Initiative logo, which is derived from the octagonal bagua. The shape in the center of each logo is a reference to the name of the station - the Swan Station features a swan, the Pearl Station features a white circle, etc.^[1]

Contents 1 Station 1: The Arrow 1.1 Location 1.2 Interior 1.3 Crate 2 Station 3: The Swan 2.1 Orientation film 2.2 Timer 2.3 Fail-safe switch 2.4 Blast door map 2.5 Mural 2.6 Purpose of the station 3 Station 4: The Flame 4 Station 5: The Pearl 4.1 Discovery 4.2 Orientation video 4.3 Monitor bank 4.4 Computer desk 4.5 Cupboard 4.6 Purpose 5 The Staff 5.1 Location 5.2 Operating room 5.3 Nursery 5.4 Locker room 6 The Hydra 6.1 Island complex 6.2 Underwater complex 6.3 Main building complex 7 The Decoy Station 8 References

Six stations have been seen by viewers so far. The names of two of these, the Swan and the Pearl, are given by DHARMA orientation films. The location and name of the Swan can also be found on the map featured in "Lockdown". The location of the Pearl is given by the map without naming it: a dotted circle with a "?" in it, surrounded by the other stations. The names and locations of two others, the Arrow and the Staff, can be found in the map. The Hydra is the fifth station seen by viewers but is not identified by name on the map. A sixth station, the Flame, is featured in the episode Enter 77.

The following stations are listed by station number. Stations with an unknown station number will be listed in order of appearance.

[edit] Station 1: The Arrow

First seen in: "Everybody Hates Hugo"

First visited in: "The Other 48 Days"

Last seen in: "The Other 48 Days"

Name given in: "Lockdown"

Purpose: Restocking and Staging Area

This station was found by the tail-section survivors and used as a hiding place from the "Others". The station was found to be gutted and seemed almost entirely empty except for a box containing a Bible, a short wave radio and a glass eye. It was later revealed by Eko, in "What Kate Did" that the Bible contained film missing from the Swan's orientation video, which warns the occupant not to use the computer for communication with the outside world. The Lost Season 2 DVD also states that it is the first station, but this may be the order of discovery.

[edit] Location

The Arrow is located in the jungle on the other side of the Island from the Swan. It's about four days' walk from where the tail section crashed into the ocean and about a day's walk from another beach near the Arrow. The station appears to be built into the side of a mountain or cliff, rather than underground like the Swan, the Staff, the Pearl, or the Hydra (which is partially underwater). The only known entrance to the Arrow is a door that is shrouded in hanging vegetation and thick undergrowth, poorly concealed in comparison to the other discovered stations. On the inside of the door, the word "QUARANTINE" is stenciled in similar fashion to that of the Swan's hatch. Unlike the Swan, the Arrow's entrance does not contain a stairwell to go further down or an airlock. The passageway leads from the entrance directly into the interior of the station.

[edit] Interior

The interior of The Arrow seems to consist of only a few rooms. The station appears to have been long abandoned with a filthy interior and only a few objects inside. Electricity still runs in The Arrow, but only powers a couple of lamps and bare light bulbs. Electrical conduits and exposed wires run along the interior walls. The rooms are barren, with concrete floors and walls. At least one of the rooms however, appears to have been painted off-white with a teal border running along the bottom of the walls, but the paint has peeled and chipped. The large room contains several crates or containers and a shelf.

[edit] Crate

One of the crates inside The Arrow contained a Bible, a glass eye, and a two-way radio. The Bible was hollowed out to hide a reel of film containing missing footage from the Swan’s orientation film. This footage was given to Locke by Eko in "What Kate Did" and contained a warning about not using the Swan's computer terminal for anything other than input of the code. It is later stated that Desmond's hatch-mate Kelvin's previous partner Radzinsky cut pieces out of the film.

[edit] Station 3: The Swan

First seen in: "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"

First visited in: "Man of Science, Man of Faith"

Name given in: "Orientation"

Purpose: Electromagnetic Research

The first station discovered on the Island by the characters is known as "Station 3: The Swan" in its orientation film, but is referred to informally by the characters as "the hatch."

According to the orientation film, Station 3 was originally constructed "as a laboratory where DHARMA researchers could work to understand the unique electromagnetic fluctuations emanating from this sector of the island."

Desmond is the sole occupant of Station 3 when the survivors of Flight 815 discover it. Desmond leaves the responsibility of pushing "The Button" to the newcomers and runs away from The Swan, presumably to his sailboat, The Elizabeth

Station 3 is almost entirely underground, except for a "hatch" entrance shaft and a concealed door. The word "quarantine" is spray-painted on the inside of the hatch, and the numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) are inscribed into its metallic exterior edge. In "Everybody Hates Hugo" Sayid guesses that the station's electric power is provided by a geothermal generator. It is illuminated by powerful lamps shining through windows as a substitute for sunlight, with a main work area resembling a geodesic dome. A strong but localized magnetic field emanates from behind a wall, composed of rough concrete, that appears to have previously been a corridor to another section of "the hatch". The station also has several internal blast doors, as discovered by Michael. These blast doors close unexpectedly in "Lockdown" with Locke trapped underneath, at which time the lights shut off and he sees a map drawn on the inside of the door.

Station 3 is stocked with food, a record player with a collection of old LPs, a small library, an armory complete with automatic rifles and other firearms, a washer and dryer, a shower, and bunk beds.

The Swan was still getting supplies from DHARMA when Locke lived in it.

[edit] Orientation film

The film found in the Swan Station provides instructions and a brief history of the DHARMA Initiative, as narrated by Dr. Marvin Candle. It claims an unspecified "incident" occurred early in the station's experiments and resulted in a change of focus: a two-member crew, replaced every 540 days, is now under orders to enter a code (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) into a microcomputer terminal every 108 minutes. However, the film has been edited, so its reliabilty is uncertain, although a section was recovered in What Kate Did.

[edit] Timer

Station 3 is equipped with a split-flap display timer, which is interfaced to a microcomputer terminal and connected to an alarm system. The terminal resets the timer through manual entry of a numeric code "4 8 15 16 23 42" every 108 minutes and pressing an "execute" button. The sum of the numbers, 4+8+15+16+23+42 = 108.

The code cannot be entered until four minutes before the countdown reaches zero, at which time the horn speaker alarm begins to sound. Until then, the computer is unresponsive to keyboard input. After the one-minute mark, the alarm accelerates and grows louder, and then again at the 10-second mark. If the countdown actually reaches zero, the familiar black and white numbers begin to flip into a series of black and red tiles which are Egyptian hieroglyphs which translate as "underworld". In the climax of "Live Together, Die Alone", the timer is destroyed by the magnetic force inside The Swan when the code was not entered.

[edit] Fail-safe switch

A crawl space, accessed by a trapdoor, is located underneath the computer room. In the center of a large metallic octagon in the floor, a key switch is located with an accompanying label reading "CAUTION: SYSTEM TERMINATION." The key for this key switch was hidden by Desmond inside the Charles Dickens book Our Mutual Friend in The Swan's living area. Desmond obtained it from Kelvin, his original partner in the hatch.

[edit] Blast door map

When in the episode "Lockdown" the blast doors drop and black lights turn on, a drawing on the inside of one blast door is revealed. The drawing appears to be a map of a part of the island enclosed in the shape of an octagon. At the bottom of the drawing are the words "I AM HERE" with an arrow pointing to a drawing of the Swan logo. A high-quality image of this map was received by Entertainment Weekly, which interpreted it as referring to additional DHARMA stations not yet seen on the show.^[2]

On the map, there appear to be six structures depicted, with four of them labeled by name and icon like DHARMA stations: the Swan, the Flame, the Staff and the Arrow. The other two structures are drawn with dotted lines, labeled "C3?" and "C4?". The six structures surround a big question mark, encircled with a dotted line, in the center of the map. Visited in the episode "?", this location was revealed to be Station 5, "The Pearl." At the top left, there is a seventh structure which is scribbled out. Among the stations on the bottom and right side of the map, there are four rectangular structures that have "CV I", "CV II", "CV III", and "CV IV" written on them.^[3]

In the episode "Live Together, Die Alone" the mapmaker was revealed to be Desmond's former hatch-mate, Kelvin Inman, who was continuing a project that had also been worked on by his previous work partner, referred to as Radzinsky. For the fluorescent paint, Kelvin used DHARMA Initiative liquid detergent.

There is another version of the blast door map concealed on the back of the four Lost jigsaw puzzles created by TDC games. A glow-in-the-dark, 4-part map is revealed upon completion of the four puzzles, and contains additional secret codes, some of them preceded by the letter 'c'. Complete decription of the code revealed the meaning of some of the shorthand notations in the map (P.R.D = Periodic Resupply Drop; A.H.= Alvar Hanso; D.I.H.G. = Dharma Initiative Hanso Group; C.V. = Cerberus Vent; E.E.P. = Emergency Escape Protocol). See Lost jigsaw puzzles at Lostpedia.com.

[edit] Mural

At the entrance to the living quarters there is a mural (painted by Desmond, according to the season two bonus disk) featuring among other things the numbers 108, 16 and 42, one black and one white face, stick figures, fish, a sun, waves, houses, and an arrow.^[4]

[edit] Purpose of the station

The original purpose of The Swan was to be a sort of laboratory for DHARMA's research on electromagnetism. According to Marvin Candle, The Swan was conducting its initial experiments when the aforementioned "incident" occurred. When questioned about the incident, Kelvin describes the energy behind the wall as "electromagnetism, geologically unique". The incident mentioned in the orientation film caused a leak, which necessitated the release of a built-up charge every 108 minutes "before it gets too big." The aftermath resulted in the regular button-pushing procedure.

Although the events in "Live Together, Die Alone" showed that The Swan had some purpose beyond that of a psychological experiment, it is still very enigmatic. The station was shown to have imploded, leaving only a large crater with bits of debris. John, Eko, Charlie, and Desmond, who were inside the station when it was destroyed, all survived.

[edit] Station 4: The Flame

First seen in: "The Cost of Living

First visited in: "Enter 77"

Last seen in: "Enter 77"

Name given in: "Lockdown"

Purpose: Communications Facility

The Flame is first seen from the Pearl when Sayid is able to establish a live video feed connection with another station. At first, all that is seen appears to be a computer mainframe. The camera slowly panned right, revealing a man wearing an eyepatch and a DHARMA suit staring directly into the camera. Soon after, the man shut down the camera on his end. While everyone is stunned by what has happened, Locke says that the man "will be expecting [them]". According to the blacklight map, somewhere on the island between the Swan and the Staff is "alleged location of #4 the Flame."

Unlike the other stations, The Flame is not an underground bunker, but rather a wood-frame bungalow. A large satellite dish is on the roof. Inside the station is a living area, kitchen, and computer room. Below the building is a large basement containing supplies, including a library of DHARMA Initiative operations manuals.

In the episode "Enter 77", the station is found to be manned by Mikhail Bakunin, who claims to a member of the DHARMA Initiative, but later confesses to being one of The Others. Earlier in the episode, a computer running a chess game catches Locke's attention.Mikhail Bakunin tells Locke that the computer cannot be beaten. Locke, determined to prove otherwise, eventually beats the computer. Upon successfully winning the game of chess, a DHARMA Initiative video commences, giving different choices for communications. Locke chooses to communicate with the outside world, however the computer responds that the satellite is not operative. The video then offers the alternative to communicate via sonar, which also turns out to be not operative. Finally, the video asks if there has been an incursion by the hostiles, if so, to enter 7-7. It is later discovered that entering 7-7 results in the detonation of the C-4 discovered earlier in the underground level of The Flame.

Of the few items that Kate, Sayid and Locke are able to take with them, a map of the island's electrical and communications network was discovered by Sayid within DHARMA Initiative operation manuals and documentations in the underground level.

The Flame's name could refer to a signal fire, as the station's function is communications.

When the manual-override is engaged, the computer in The Flame gives the user a number of options:

• ENTER 2-4 - For a pallet drop.
• ENTER 3-2 - For station communication.
• ENTER 3-8 - For mainland communications via satellite.
• ENTER 5-6 - For mainland communications via sonar.
• ENTER 7-7 - To signal an incursion by the hostiles.

These five numbers are sums of the numbers: 24 = 8 + 16 32 = 16 + 16 38 = 15 + 23 56 = 8 + 16 + 16 + 16 77 = 4 + 15 + 16 + 42

[edit] Station 5: The Pearl

First seen in: "?"

First visited in: "?"

Last seen in: "Exposé"

Name given in: "Lockdown"

Purpose: Psychological Study

The Pearl is a research station on the Island first discovered by Nikki and Paulo in the episode "Exposé", but first seen during "?", six weeks after the initial discovery, by Locke and Mr. Eko. Identified by a question mark on Locke's hand drawn map it seems to be somewhere "north" of the Swan. Station 5 is a base for monitoring, through hidden security cameras, the Swan station, as well as possibly other DHARMA Initiative projects. There is also a camera monitoring the personnel in the Pearl.

The part of the station visited is a viewing room, which features a three-by-three bank of television sets, two chairs and a computer, hooked to a printer. On the wall there is a pneumatic tube which the orientation videotape stated was used to transport notebooks supposedly to another DHARMA location, but as discovered in "Live Together, Die Alone", the tube goes nowhere, dumping all of the notebooks in an open field on the island.

[edit] Discovery

While searching for luggage, Nikki and Paulo find the Beechcraft sitting on top of a cliff and accidentally encounter the exterior of the station. Paulo suggests they enter the hatch, and Nikki refuses, finding it inconceivable that the luggage would be able to find itself there. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Paulo enters the hatch days later to hide a matryoshka doll full of diamonds in the bathroom, and inadvertently spies on Ben and Juliet plotting to kidnap Jack to perform a spinal surgery.

A few weeks after Paulo's visit, Locke and Eko find the hatch underneath the downed Beechcraft plane from Nigeria that was discovered in "Deus Ex Machina". They pull open the hatch, shaped like an octagon, and descend a long shaft. Locke flips a light switch, revealing a short corridor to a room with two comfortable chairs facing a wall with nine television screens. One television is already turned on, but showing static. Only one of the remaining sets is functional, showing what appears to be a video feed from inside The Swan. Locke sees a computer terminal and answers a prompt reading "Print Log? Y/N". A printer spools off several sheets of paper with the word "accepted" after strings of numbers. These numbers are the dates and times the alarm goes off at Station 3. After which is the word "accepted" if the button has been successfully pushed, or the words "SYSTEM FAILURE" if the timer was allowed to reach zero. Eko finds an orientation video, but this time it is on a U-matic tape instead of a projector reel.

[edit] Orientation video

An orientation video discovered by Locke and Eko is similar to the one they previously viewed inside The Swan. The narrator appears to be the same man in both presentations. This time, however, he introduces himself as "Dr. Mark Wickmund" and has full use of both hands.

The narrator states that the purpose of the Pearl is to monitor and record the activities of participants in DHARMA Initiative projects. He explains that a psychological experiment is taking place in another station on the island: participants therein, unaware that they are under surveillance, have been conditioned to believe their work is of grave importance. Two-person teams in the Pearl station, working eight hour shifts over a three week period, are to watch the video displays and take notes on their observations. Every action, regardless of how subtle, is to be recorded into notebooks by the Pearl's team members, both for posterity and ongoing refinement of the Initiative. He demonstrates that a completed notebook should be inserted into a cylinder and fed into the pneumatic tube delivery system. The man affirms that the notebooks will be "transported directly to us."

He instructs the team members that at the end of their eight hour shifts, "you are to proceed to the Pala Ferry, which will take you back to the barracks to prepare for your next - - -" At this point the video fades into snow, but resumes momentarily with the ending, containing the well-wishing of Dr. Wickmund. The end of the video shows a 1980 copyright by The Hanso Foundation, as did The Swan's orientation.

[edit] Monitor bank

Opposite the entrance to the room is a bank of nine monitors — three rows of three monitors — with each monitor's control panel set into the wall to the right of each monitor. Only one monitor appears to have a video feed being sent to it when Locke and Eko turn them on — real-time video from inside the Swan's main living area. However, in the Pearl Orientation video, the top left monitor is briefly shown to be working, depicting two men around the computer in the Swan. The middle monitor in the bank is connected to a U-matic player within the station. In "The Cost of Living", Nikki, Paulo, Sayid, Desmond and Locke see a man with an eyepatch in one of the monitors. The mysterious man soon covers the camera with his hand, and nothing more is seen. Immediately in front of the bank of monitors are two leather chairs on swivel mounts. Each chair appears to have a desk mounted to the right arm, a large magnifying glass mounted to the left arm (one chair is missing the magnifying glass), and a set of controls are built into the arms including a dial controlling the lighting level.^[5]

[edit] Computer desk

To the right of the monitor bank is a desk with a computer, a printer, message containers, and to the right of the desk is a pneumatic tube. Built into the wall over the desk is a lamp to allow ample lighting over the desk. The computer's prompt showed only one command asking if the user wanted to print a log or not. The computer appears to be continuously logging something, which is later shown to be the dates of inputs of the code in the Swan. Eko took the print out from the computer with him when he left the station.

The pneumatic tube is still in operating condition as Locke placed his drawing of the Swan's hidden map inside and it was whisked away. The Pearl's orientation film states that the pneumatic tube is to be used to send notebooks to "them" when they are filled with observations and notations about the psychological experiment. At least eleven message containers are present on the computer desk.

In "Live Together, Die Alone", Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Michael and Hurley discover that the termination point of the pneumatic tube is a distant spot on the island, where thousands of tubes containing journals are lying untouched in a large mound. Also found is Locke's map of the stations, which he sent through the tube in "?".

[edit] Cupboard

To the left of the monitor bank is a cupboard containing stacks of notebooks branded with the logo of the Pearl and a video cassette of an orientation film for the Pearl. These notebooks were to be used by team members to write down observations of other team members within the other stations.

[edit] Purpose

Despite what Eko and Locke originally thought about the station, it does not seem that the information tape about the station is correct. The pipeline capsules actually shoot out of a pipe in the middle of an empty field, and are apparently rarely, if ever, collected. Desmond speculated that instead of the people in the Pearl being the ones observing a psychological experiment, it was perhaps they themselves who were the subjects of the experiment. This is further evidenced by the camera observing the Pearl station itself.

[edit] The Staff

First seen in: "Maternity Leave"

First visited in: "Maternity Leave"

Last seen in: "Maternity Leave"

Name given in: "Lockdown"

Purpose: Medical Facility

Kate and Claire outside The Staff.

When Claire's baby, Aaron, becomes ill, she begins having flashbacks of the time she was abducted by Ethan Rom. Convinced that her baby needs to find some of the vaccine that was injected into her pregnant stomach during her abduction, Claire leads Kate and Rousseau through the jungle to the station where she had been held. While traveling, Claire's flashbacks continue sporadically, revealing that this is where the "Others" were going to have Claire give birth, and that there was a nursery provided for the baby. Claire also remembers that there was a corridor that she tried to go down, but that she was diverted by Ethan. When the trio finds the station, however, it has been abandoned. In a locker room, Kate finds costumes and theatrical makeup, including a fake beard, which is very similar in appearance to that worn by Tom. The Staff seems to be a former medical station, since it is equipped with an operating room and is adorned with the caduceus symbol, often associated with the medical profession. Claire and Kate lift the refrigerated cabinet to find that all the medicine has been removed. However, Aaron recovers as Jack predicted before Claire and the others left on their quest.

[edit] Location

The Staff is situated by a large clearing in the jungle of the Island and is entirely underground. There are at least two entrances/exits: a main entrance and an escape hatch. The main entrance, consisting of two large doors, is built into the ground and connects to a stairwell leading deeper underground. Inside the station, a door set into one of the hallways has “ESCAPE HATCH” written above it. It is unknown where this escape hatch leads.

The main entrance stairwell terminates at a circular doorway within the Staff. A box is mounted on the wall near the doorway and contains several DHARMA-branded flashlights. Connected to this doorway are two hallways on either side, giving the station the shape of a “V”. From the circular doorway, the hallway to the right terminates at an operating room. The door to the escape hatch and three other doors are located along the walls of this hallway. The hallway to the left of the circular doorway was not shown. However, Kate ventured down this hallway and was able to restore power to the station somewhere in that hallway. A locker room and a nursery are attached to this hallway.

The previous occupants of the Staff were Ethan Rom and Tom, among others. Just before her escape, Claire saw six individuals dressed in white surgical scrubs inside the operating room. A teenage girl (Alex Rousseau, Danielle's daughter) helped Claire get out of the Staff.

[edit] Operating room

At the end of the right hallway is the operating room. The room has built-in cabinets with a shelf and overhead cabinets along one wall, a large array of surgical lights mounted to the ceiling, and the walls of the room are painted with a subdued color palette. When discovered by Kate, Claire, and Rousseau, the room contains a metal basin, a lockable refrigerator, and a couple of cardboard boxes.

Claire’s flashbacks of her stay in the Staff show a more fully stocked operating room. It supposedly contained an examination table, an ultrasonography machine, a floor lamp, and medical supplies.

[edit] Nursery

A nursery is located in the Staff and doorways leading into both hallways of the station. The walls of the nursery are painted baby blue. When Claire and Rousseau found the nursery, it was barren with only a wooden rocking chair and several boxes strewn about. Imprints of hanging decorations were on the walls, but the objects were not in the room.

Claire’s flashbacks of her stay in the Staff show a fully-furnished nursery. It contained a bed, a storage chest, drawers, shelves with books, and several lamps. Children’s paintings and ornaments adorned the walls of the room. Numerous toys and stuffed animals were placed about the nursery. In addition, the nursery contained a crib with a mobile featuring four Oceanic airliners. Because Claire was drugged during her stay at the Staff, the actual furnishings of the nursery shown in her flashbacks may be exaggerations or entirely fabricated in her mind.

[edit] Locker room

The locker room is located in the left hallway of the Staff. The room contains at least two rows of double-tier and one row of single-tier lockers with the Staff logo emblazoned on the locker doors. Inside one of the single-tier lockers, Kate discovered ragged clothes and a ragged wool cap. At the bottom of the locker was a wooden case containing a fake beard and DHARMA-branded theatrical glue, among other items - the same items with which the "Other" known as Tom disguises himself for an undisclosed reason.

[edit] The Hydra

First seen in: "A Tale of Two Cities"

First visited in: "A Tale of Two Cities"

Last seen in: "Stranger in a Strange Land"

Name given in: "A Tale of Two Cities"

Purpose: Zoological Research

The third season premiere of Lost introduced a new station called "the Hydra". Its exact layout has not yet been revealed, but it is located on another island about twice the size of Alcatraz Island, near the island the survivors are on. It has a section above ground on the coast, and another section underwater. The Hydra facility has cages outside the station in the jungle and aquariums underwater. In "Every Man for Himself", Ben tells Sawyer that they are on another island, implying that it is impossible for him to escape. This was later revealed to be true, when Sawyer, Kate and Karl escape the island in a boat, reuniting with the other survivors. The reason for the station's location appears to be to prevent the animals kept by DHARMA from escaping.

[edit] Island complex

The above ground complex for the Hydra is unknown except for a collection of various cages. The cage used to imprison Sawyer is equipped with a feeding mechanism which Tom says was figured out by the bears in two hours. Output is food as a reward: a fish biscuit, water, and peanuts. Near Sawyer's and Kate's cages is the Hydra station interior. The Others' suburb is not located on this small island. There is also what appears to be a construction site, where the Others made Kate and Sawyer collect and move rocks, its purpose is yet to be explained as in season three episode 9, Karl told Kate and Sawyer that the Others used the smaller island for "projects" - he did not elaborate further.

[edit] Underwater complex

The underwater complex, as Juliet claims, was once used as an aquarium, which housed sharks and dolphins (the shark who attacked in "Adrift" had a DHARMA Initiative mark on its fin, and has most likely escaped or been released from the Hydra station). Jack is kept in one room on lockdown. In a nearby room, Juliet and Ben Linus are monitoring Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. Dialogue in "Every Man for Himself" indicates that the medical facilities in the Hydra are substandard, and that their infirmary lacks a working defibrillator or "Crash cart."

[edit] Main building complex

The large, hangar-like facility where Kate, Sawyer and Alex go free Karl. Aldo, an Other (played by Rob McElhenney), is guarding the front. They easily manage to obtain access to where Karl is being kept (in room 23). Inside it is dim and there are a series of separate rooms down the hallway. Room 23 is furnished with brainwashing equipment and is fairly soundproof. This area is first seen in the "Not in Portland" episode. In "Stranger in a Strange Land", when Jack and Alex go to save Juliet and Tom opens the door, a stand with the Hydra logo can be seen.

[edit] The Decoy Station

First seen in: "Three Minutes"

First visited in: "Live Together, Die Alone"

Last seen in: "Live Together, Die Alone"

Area of study: N/A

A station door appears at the the Others' decoy camp, which is described as being on the north side of the island, near a rock formation with a hole in it. The entrance is guarded by two Others with rifles. The logo on the door appears to be a rectangle, which is partially covered by the word "DHARMA". Michael claimed that this was where the Others kept the people that they captured. In the finale of Season 2, it was revealed that there is nothing behind the station's door; when Sayid sneaks into the Others' camp, he discovers that it leads only to a wall of solid rock. The purpose, if any, of the station is currently unknown, although this may be the station scribbled out on the blast door map. Fans have unoffically nicknamed the station "The Door".

[edit] References

Lost
Production:	DVD releases • Episode list • Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Soundtrack
Main characters:	Ana Lucia • Ben • Boone • Charlie • Claire • Desmond • Hurley • Jack • Jin • Juliet • Kate Libby • Locke • Michael • Mr. Eko • Nikki • Paulo • Sawyer • Sayid • Shannon • Sun • Walt
Supporting characters:	Alex • Bernard • Christian • Cindy • Ethan • The Others • Pickett • Rose • Rousseau • Tom
Organizations:	DHARMA Initiative • Hanso Foundation • Oceanic Airlines
Elements:	Crossover list • DHARMA Initiative stations • Flight 815 • Mythology • Thematic motifs
Miscellaneous:	Gary Troup • In popular culture • Lost Experience • Rachel Blake • Video game