WORKER BEE TRIAL: TEST GROUP 15
VOLUNTEER SUBJECT: #43
NAME: Emersin, Nathaniel
DESCRIPTION: Height 5ft 5, prescription glasses. See attached image.
AGE: 22
GENDER: M*
MEDICAL NOTES: *Legal sex may differ. Patient prefers to be addressed as male. See attached file for full patient history.
Addendum July 23nd: Due to Incident Report 15B, please file Mr. Emersin for talk therapy. — Director Markim
VOLUNTEER SUBJECT: #44
NAME: Yun, Avery
DESCRIPTION: Height 6ft, multiple piercing sites. See attached image.
AGE: 23
GENDER: N/A*
MEDICAL NOTES: *Legal sex may differ. Patient prefers agender pronouns. See attached file for full patient history.
Addendum July 7th: Test motor skills and cognition during examinations. Incident 15A could have caused lasting damage. Please change our implant manufacturer! — Dr. Karlow
VOLUNTEER SUBJECT: #45
NAME: Roscore, Lucine
DESCRIPTION: Standing height 5ft 7, red wheelchair. See attached image.
AGE: 25
GENDER: F
MEDICAL NOTES: Due to prior condition (spina bifida) patient will require some wheelchair accommodations, but is fit for cranial implant surgery. We have her case on personal file (see Mr. Roscore’s complaints.) See attached file for full patient history.
June 6th — RANDOMIZED GROUP PLACEMENT REGISTERED
June 8th — DEMERIT REPORT
Assigning Staff: Dr. Stiles.
Reason for Demerit: Inappropriate commentary and conduct during orientation preflight from #44 & #45. (Graphic “jokes” about hacking the implant, among other comments.)
June 8th — DEMERIT REPORT
Assigning Staff: Dr. Peterson.
Reason for Demerit: Inappropriate language during entry examination from all. (Comparison to lab rats.)
June 8th — ENTRY EXAMINATION RESULTS
All three subjects are caught up on vaccinations and appear to be in appropriate physical health to proceed with surgery. Group 15 has been assigned Trial Implant clearance as opposed to placebo; do not inform them of implant status.
As expected, all patients displayed average nonintegrated scores for the modified zenner test.
See attached folder for subsequent examinations.
June 19th — IMPLANT SURGERY NOTES
No obvious complications with any of the Group 15 surgeries. Implants #43, #44, and #45 are all online. Prepare the neurology team to add scans to the weekly checkups; Dr. Karlow has been assigned to Group 15’s case.
Addendum on all Group files, June 23rd: This is an unfriendly reminder to interns that no, you do not have the clearance necessary to “see inside their brains!” I thought I explained to you all that, without a management EIS, we can’t really interpret inter-implant communications yet anyway. Storing that much data in the long term is unfeasible with our current set-up.
We can correct that when M.O.N.A.R.C.H is released for Stage 3. In the meanwhile, V.E.R.T.I.G.O is going to sort out the camera footage and monitor our subject’s behavior for signs of cognitive integration. — Dr. Hawther
July 2nd — INTEGRATION PROGESS REPORT
Neurology scans indicate that Group 15 might already be past sync calibration. Since their integration seems to be proceeding faster than anticipated, Group 15’s scans will be increased from a weekly basis to a daily basis starting next Monday. Have Vertigo monitor the cameras for evidence of successful inter-implant communication.
July 5th — MEDICAL REPORT
As of July 7th, this event has been copied from #44’s personal file into Group 15’s main file due to its relevance to Incident 15A. V.E.R.T.I.G.O has retrieved footage from a relevant volunteer-to-staff interaction. Transcription of video file is as follows.
Subject #44 approaches the nurse’s station in Medbay. After a hesitation, they wave over the nurse at the counter.
#44: Hey.
NURSE W: Hi, honey. What’re you doing here? Need a band-aid?
#44: I’m not exactly sure, I just—
NURSE W: Yes?
#44: It’s just that, I think I have this headache that won’t go away? And I’m not sure if that’s a normal thing? I was feeling bad, after the surgery, and I know that’s supposed to be normal a little bit, but. Uh.
NURSE W: A lot of things cause headaches, hon. I know this trial is a little scary, but I wouldn’t work yourself up over it.
#44: You sure?
NURSE W: Half a dozen volunteers have come in panicking about perfectly normal headaches by now!
#44: Burning. Um, this one burns.
NURSE W: Ahh, weekend headache. The interns get those all the time when they try to go cold-turkey on the energy drinks. Did you have a caffeine habit before you were selected for the trial?
#44 makes a confused, ambivalent gesture.
NURSE W: You look like a caffeine drinker to me! Are you?
#44: Sometimes?
NURSE W: Alrighty. I can get you some ibuprofen, hon.
#44: Well, I wasn’t really that— yeah. Okay, sure, hit me up with an ibuprofen.
End transcript. Please Brief Nurse Wilkins on what we have learned about early signs of implant malfunction.
July 7th — INCIDENT REPORT 15A
Subject #44 was rushed to Medbay early this morning with intracranial hemorrhage (subacute subdural hematoma.) According to V.E.R.T.I.G.O, #44 was experiencing symptoms several days in advance — confusion, dizziness, persistent headache — but symptoms were masked by inattentive staff, hesitance by #44 to seek further treatment, and “emotional complications.” V.E.R.T.I.G.O has yet to elaborate on the latter.
The source of the hemorrhage was a malfunction in #44’s neural mesh, similar to the malfunction that struck subjects #12, #52, and #77 shortly after their surgery. Thankfully, we were able to learn from the previous two incidents. The hemorrhage has been dealt with, and we have replaced the faulty implant.
Good work, team.
Damage report: This case was not as severe as that of Groups 4, 17, or 25. The affected volunteer remains alive, and it appears that their implant lost inter-implant integration before the malfunction worsened, sparing the rest of their group from integration-related stress and complications.
#44 will be screened thoroughly for further bleeding and possible side effects. Monitor them for all the following symptoms;
- Slurred speech and changes in vision.
- Dizziness, loss of balance, difficulty walking.
- Breathing problems, paralysis, seizures, weakness on one side of the body.
- Memory loss, disorientation, abrupt personality change.
- Loss of consciousness or coma.
Subjects #43 and #45 were present for the incident. V.E.R.T.I.G.O recorded great distress on subject #43’s behalf, but both have indicated a disinclination toward talk therapy. Dr. Karlow posits a mistrust of staff as the reason.
Addendum July 17th: As of this morning, Avery is awake, in stable condition, and their new implant is doing swell. They will resume their normal activities in about a week. Dr. Stiles is pleased that we at least learned a few new things about cognitive integration from this mishap. Hopefully, we have also learned our lesson about choosing the cheapest manufacturing option by default. — Dr. Karlow
July 17th — GROUP INTEGRATION RE-EMERGING
Increased scans have proceeded in spite of #44’s medical complication. Implant #44B has re-integrated with its host subject, and possibly the other implants in the group. Group 15 is on track to make up for their lost progress within the month. Volunteer #44 will be released back to their group soon.
July 21st — INCIDENT REPORT 15B:
Today, subject #43 was found out-of-bounds by one of Dr. Stiles’ interns. When asked what he was doing outside of the trial wing, #43 presented a note with a forged signature from Dr. Stiles stating that he was to be transferred to another facility. No such facility exists. When he was questioned on the veracity of this, #43 damaged company property and made a break for the lobby; his escape was thwarted with a swift sedative, courtesy of V.E.R.T.I.G.O.
Damage Report: #43 is incapacitated until the soporaphin wears off; it may take a few days for him to make a full recovery. His only other injuries are minor bruising to the knee from fall, and minor bruising at targeted injection site. Subject’s implant remains uncompromised.
Addendum July 22nd: V.E.R.T.I.G.O has not provided a satisfactory answer as to how Mr. Emersin was able to stray so far from where he was supposed to be. When questioned, Mx. Yun and Ms. Roscore denied any involvement in the incident. They insist that Mr. Emersin “is a bag of nerves” and had a mental breakdown. I will handle Mr. Emersin’s interrogation personally. — Director Markim.
Addendum July 22nd: That sneak must have copied my signature off of the NDA form we had him sign from the last incident! This is the worst testing group. None of them know how to behave themselves. Were it not for our ethical requirements, I’d have half a mind to suggest an indefinite quarantine for all of them. It would genuinely benefit us and them in the long run. — Dr. Stiles
Addendum July 23rd: Mr. Emersin cited distress about Incident 15A as motivation for his escape attempt. Mr. Emersin is now slated for mandatory talk therapy. — Director Markim
July 22nd — DEMERIT REPORT
Assigning Staff: Director Markim.
Reason for Demerit: Due to the events of Incident 15B, Group 15 has been issued a third demerit. This is the first group to reach three demerits. Group 15 is confined to their dorm for two weeks. If good behavior persists, we will reset their demerit count.
Notes: This will give them a chance to rest and stop bothering staff. #43 asks too many questions. — Dr. Stiles
August 7th — POTENTIAL TOTAL INTEGRATION
The neural scans provided by Dr. Karlow indicate that Group Fifteen’s implants may have achieved total integration. Each seems fully attuned to their host subject in recent scans; the only question is how quickly they will establish communication with each other, if they haven’t already done so.
Notes: They’d better be fucking communicating. I’m not rewriting that interpretation script again. — Dr. Hawther
August 13th — EVIDENCE OF TOTAL INTEGRATION
Group 15 has remained oddly quiet since their behavioral quarantine, and we now know why. Dr. Peterson has submitted some unusual zenner test results for Dr. Stiles and Director Markim’s review. In summary;
- #43: 0 instances of correct shape choice. 0 instances of correct color choice. Exact results repeated across multiple tests.
- #44: 0 instances of correct shape choice. 0 instances of correct color choice. Exact results repeated across multiple tests.
- #45: 0 instances of correct shape choice. 0 instances of correct color choice. Exact results repeated across multiple tests.
Average guess score ratio for nonintegrated subjects is approximately 1:16. A net zero across all categories by all three subjects on multiple occasions indicates a level of coordination that could only be achieved with total integration. Review of test footage indicates unspoken communication; from their separate cubicles, subjects’ eyes were drawn to the same shapes, subjects made expressions as if in conversation, and subjects hesitated at the same intervals.
Have V.E.R.T.I.G.O review security footage of Group 15 for further evidence.
Addendum August 5th: Oh my god. This might be the most promising group so far, but why does it have to be THEM? I can’t believe that they were trying to hide the integration from us! If they knew anything about statistics . . . — Dr. Stiles
August 15th — PHASE 2 CLEARANCE GRANTED
Upon our request, V.E.R.T.I.G.O has found and submitted several instances of integrated behavior from Group 15. Dr. Stiles has reviewed this footage and found it satisfactory. Compared to Groups 4, 17, 20, and 25, Group 15 has shown an astounding level of coordination. This may partially be because Groups 4, 17, & 25 were compromised by their implant malfunctions. Transcription from a choice selection of the video files are as follows.
The first video shows an interaction between all three subjects, sequestered in their dorm room. They seem to be in the middle of an argument. Subjects #43 & #45 look to #44 in alarm and concern.
#45: Avery, what kind of pain is it?
#44: My neck aches, and also, my left knee feels really bruised, but I just can’t remember what I banged it up on. It doesn’t even look hurt.
#43: Huh. My knee got banged up when Verti knocked me out. I hit the floor pretty hard. The tranq shot to the neck wasn’t very comfortable either.
Subject #43 pulls up the leg on his sweatpants, showing off a bruise on his knee.
#45: Wait. My knee hurts too. So does my neck.
#44: Really?
#45: Really. I was just ignoring it until you brought it up.
#44: That’s . . . weird.
All of Group 15 stares at #43’s bruise for a moment.
#45: Guys, I want to try something real quick. If I’m right, none of you freak out, alright?
The other two hesitate.
#43: We’ll try.
#45: And don’t freak out if I’m wrong either.
Subject #45 stares at her groupmates a moment. She then clicks new lead out of her mechanical pencil, and stabs it into her left palm.
Subjects #43 & #44 both recoil, clutching their left hands.
#43: The hell? What did you just do, Luce?
#45: I don’t know. But it’s real, isn’t it? You felt that?
#43: I sure did!
End transcript.
The next video shows an interaction between #43 & #45, interrupted by Dr. Karlow.
Subjects #43 and #45 are situated together in the library corner of the entertainment room. Subject #43 paces the length of the shelves in agitation. Subject #45 doodles on a piece of paper with a purple marker.
Neither subject speaks for several minutes.
Without any visible prompting, #43 stops pacing, turning to glower at #45. Despite having her back turned to him, #45 returns his glower and raises an eyebrow.
Half a moment of silence passes as the two subjects exchange open-mouthed facial expressions. #43 seeming notably despairing and/or frustrated, while #45 expresses both contempt and nonchalance. Eventually, #43 sinks down to his knees and rests his head on the table next to his groupmate.
#43 (almost inaudible): I really didn’t want to, though.
#45 gives no verbal response, but instead starts writing the word “SADSACK” on #43’s forehead with her marker. Dr. Karlow appears in the doorway of the room. The two test subjects exchange more expressions and some conversational gestures, all in complete silence. As Dr. Karlow taps a pen on his clipboard, both swerve to face him, seeming rattled by his appearance.
DR. K: Am I interrupting something?
#45: Charades!
Subject #43 shoots her a furious look.
#45: Very bad charades. Nat is so bad at charades.
DR. K: Sorry about interrupting . . . that, then. But I want a private word with Nathaniel.
The test subjects make eye contact again as #43 follows Dr. Karlow out of the room. While Dr. Karlow and #43 move through the hallways, #43 frequently glances up at the ceiling and makes expressions with no prompting or conversation from Dr. Karlow. Within the entertainment room, #45 lays her head down on the table and closes her eyes; V.E.R.T.I.G.O’s analysis of her breathing pattern indicates that she is not asleep.
Due to a breaker malfunction in Dr. Karlow’s office, evidence beyond this point has not been recorded.
End transcript.
Notes: Have Dr. Stiles inform Group 15 of their new clearance level, and move them into the new dorms. She will be pleased to work with this group more closely. In the meanwhile, I will inform our contractors of this recent success. — Director Markim