Dr. Beatrix Blackwood
Dr. Beatrix Blackwood worked tirelessly in her secluded laboratory, dedicating years of research to the brown bears that inhabited the forest surrounding her facility. Her most ambitious subjects were Experiment 145, a male brown bear, and Experiment 146, a female. Through her eccentric experiments, Beatrix dramatically enhanced their motor functions and intelligence. Before long, the bears could perform remarkably complex tasks—and, most astonishingly, they could even read. After Experiment 146 gave birth to a cub, the two bears developed an unusual fascination with instruction manuals. The male became absorbed in books about house building and carpentry, while the female repeatedly studied manuals about breakfast cooking. Whether they truly understood what they were reading or were simply fascinated by the pictures and symbols was anyone's guess.
Then, one morning, Beatrix arrived at her laboratory to discover that Experiments 145 and 146 were gone—and so was their cub. The cages were open, their research areas strangely tidy, and not a bear was anywhere to be found. Despite searching the surrounding forest and reviewing every piece of security footage she could find, Beatrix never discovered where her three remarkable subjects had disappeared to. With her life's work mysteriously vanished, she has little choice but to wait for the arrival of her niece, Goldilocks Blackwood, who is due to visit the laboratory. Beatrix only hopes her niece doesn't wander off into the forest and get lost. After all, there are some very unusual things living out there now.