Experiment #4: Vaccine

It’s been a while since I made one of these posts. The purpose of this experiment to help recreate the Cure by testing the hypothesis that it activated an immune response to azoth.

Each group of test rats shares a cage, food and water supply.

Trial One:

10x rats are a control group.

10x rats are continuously exposed to azoth vapour. Their cage has activated charcoal filters in order to prevent the vapour from escaping into the lab and contaminating the results. Similarly the vapour supply is shut off one day before the cage is weekly cleaned, in order for it to have dissipated before it is opened. The filters are also changed at this time. The azoth is replaced monthly.

10x rats are injected weekly with a 20 mg/ml solution of dissolved dead azoth.

The supply of dead azoth is taken from the living azoth sent to me by Kelevra, which after a conversation with Rose  we decided to name Rinforzando. It is ‘fed’ a solution of equal parts bleach, ethanol, chlorine and hydrogen peroxide to ten parts water. Varying the concentrations to see which constituent is most effective is an experiment for when this one is over in order to keep things consistent; my money’s on the alcohol. As it grows excess amounts are cut off and killed with concentrated hydrochloric acid, before being stored for later use.

Trial Two is similar in construction, save that each rat has been innoculated with 2 per cent solution of antibodies extracted from Carter’s blood beforehand, and then was observed for three weeks before exposure to azoth in order for any adverse effects to become apparent. There were none.

In other news, Adam left me his fedora behind, along with a note. I am sincerely touched.

I’ve managed to pin the chemical structure of the active substance in Strider’s pills. Extensive searching of the literature reveals no previous work on it. Making a drug is, if not easy, then doable in a garage with the right equipment and the right recipe. But the development of a drug takes years and millions of dollars, so why no patent or paper to pay it back or get recognition? I suspect government involvement, but that only increases the mystery as to why a random Runner had them on him. Speaking of making it, I can. The yield is incredibly piss poor, so if you want any in bulk I’d probably be repeating the same procedure over and over again for the next six months, but at least Strider has something to show for his donation. I’m currently working on trying to find ways to increase the yield.

As for Morningstar’s pills, I haven’t had much chance to do any work on them, but a quick test reveals the becoming increasingly familiar chemical signature of azoth. Teasing out the other chemical constituents will take a little more time.

Speaking of chemical constituents, something I should have done earlier was to test azoth for DNA. Interestingly, it has none. It does, however, contain RNA. All this means that if there is a LUCA, it is far, far back. Azoth has more genetically in common with virii than any other living or unliving creature.

R, your arms are almost done. I just need to do some fine tuning to get smoothness of movement up to par and then weld on the outer coverings. Since I can’t do any neural integration, especially so far away, the controls for the arms will be on a modified tooth protector which you operate with your tongue. I’ll send you two of those and a pack of the batteries they require. The arms themselves require power point charging. An overnight charge will keep them running for three days straight. Roy, your leg is a little behind but works similarly.

What else, what else… right. The Dying Man river water. I have a hunch that the black dots are the active ingredient and also that they are some sort of organism, and I am planning to test both.

Thanks to the hemisphere flip, I’m getting the Winter Solstice much sooner than most of you, just as you’ll be getting the Summer one much earlier than me. Since I still have some time on the car rental left, I plan to grab Black, skip town, and spend it out on the plains near the mountains, where there are minimal trees and lots of wide open spaces. The other option is to stay home in the city, but since both Kelevra and Fracture have independently found my house it’s evidently not as safe as previously thought. So I’ll be incommunicado until I get back.