FRINGE DIVISION CASE FILE #111-12009
FRINGE EVENT: Super organism growth via a stomach acid catalyst
CLASSIFIED CASE CONNECTION(S): David Robert Jones/ZFT/Pattern cases
AGENTS ASSIGNED: Francis
SUPERVISING AGENT: Broyles
FILE ARCHIVED BY: Sarah Bauman, Jeannine Cerda
WITNESSES/CONTACTS: Tara Coleman, Dr. Russell Simon, Samantha Loeb (suspect; deceased), Agent Mitchell Loeb (suspect; arrested)
LOCATION: Watertown, MA; Boston College; Loeb residence, Marlborough, MA
VICTIM(S): Agent Dunham, Dr. Miles Kinberg
CASE REPORT SUMMARY:
Agent Dunham escaped from her captors and took a sample from the lab warehouse. It was a fast-growing organism linked to the death of prominent immunologist Dr. Miles Kinberg. The doctor's TA and lover revealed that Dr. Kinberg was offered a job at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the task force overseeing the country's preparedness to fight off an epidemic. Dr. Russell Simon, from Cambridge, was taken into custody for his protection, as it was determined that he was dosed by Agent Mitchell Loeb (a compromised agent and collaborator with David Robert Jones and the ZFT). Consultant Peter Bishop tapped Samantha Loeb's personal cell phone to create a sting to catch her husband. The sting was successful, and Agent Loeb was arrested.
- Project 1087 - Exploration 1 -
First an overgrown protozoan wrapped 'round the heart; now a mammoth virus grown in the belly. How difficult it proves to separate myth from fact, and fact from myth! Gigantism abounds in legend. The giant Ouranos begat Cronos, also a giant; and from his belly burst the Olympians, themselves giants in the eyes of men. And likewise did Buri beget Bor who begat Wotan...
Straightway the Allfather cast the serpent into the deep sea, where he lies about all the land; and this serpent grew so greatly that he lies in the midst of the ocean encompassing all the land, and bites upon his own tail.
So said Snorri of the overgrown serpent. Always giants within giants within giants -- of course! This gorgeous creature is not, in fact, a giant virus. The rhinovirus takes the form of an icosahedron, not a slug. No, she is a gigantic human cell -- from Dr. Kinberg's own intestinal walls -- mercilessly overtaken and supersized by the giant virus that infected her.
SUPERSIZED! A new word in my lexicon. Such a brilliant concept: to order a tasty meal and, with one simple command, expand it in all dimensions. The wonder and horror of it; for how could I not observe the astounding synecdoche between the consumers and the consumed? Giants within giants again. To what other purposes might this remarkable technique be applied? Squashes that will squash the county fair records? In class mammalia, order rodentia, the rise of the ROUS's? Even we hominids might take part. More than a few females might wish to grow their assets; men, too.
But, caution is essential -- for the pace of protein production must have been astonishingly rapid to sustain both cellular growth and... oh, my. This volume of cytoplasm could only have one purpose: large-scale viral production. Within this slug-like sack there could be millions of copies of its pathogenic parent. Extra care must be taken to contain her. No more afternoon walks for Betsy, I suppose. Wait... where did I see her last?