Dawn Bloom/Investigations/Diagnostic's Medical Status

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This page details an investigation in the Dawn Bloom ARG.

2017-01-12

During the drone attack on Q98A66, Diagnostic was exposed to a foreign material that became embedded in his leg, which appeared to be bone fragments. The team fell back to a safehouse in Rhode Island, a vet’s office.

2017-01-16

See: First Transformation

2017-01-20

During the second drone attack on Q98A66, Diagnostic recalled being blown to pieces. However, he was still physically intact enough for Brain to haul him onto a makeshift raft and bring him to shore. It’s possible that his body reformed itself in the time between the blast and Brain rescuing him and Liaison. Diagnostic appeared to have been completely healthy following the second drone attack, albeit with some physiological changes. He gained an extra 3 inches of height, and noted that his fingers and toes seemed quite a bit longer. Agents took note of these changes, but weren’t sure what to do with the information.

2017-01-22

During Liaison’s check-in with the Discord on the 22nd, he shared some additional information about Diagnostic’s condition. Supposedly he is not suffering from lycanthropy, but instead has some sort of 'heart worm' like infection. Diagnostic has stated the worms are inside of all of his vital organs and are nowhere near surface level. The darkened portions seen in the lung x-ray by the vet then must have been worms. The science team onsite carbon-dated the shard of bone that Liaison (or someone else) had on hand, and Liaison interpreted their findings as 'hysterically old'. The worm that infected Diagnostic was apparently present in the shard in some sort of calcified, larval form. It incubated from this form to clusters of 250 in Diagnostic's body overnight (a nearly impossible incubation period). The foreign cells of the worm infection are replacing the cells in Diagnostic's body, and adversely affecting his limbic system as well as his bone marrow (according to Liaison). Despite the apparent effects on his limbic system, agents haven't noted any major issues with Diagnostic's memory when compared against events that we are aware of.

2017-01-26

See: Second Transformation

2017-01-30

Discussion of Diagnostic’s condition with Medical (indirectly through Liaison) led to a deeper understanding of the possible underlying mechanisms affecting him.

The initial infection occurred after contact with a shard of what appears to be bone, which was introduced into Diagnostic’s leg via a rod that impaled his leg with a high amount of force. We think the rod weapon was carrying the bone as a part of a previous encounter with an entity, and the piece of bone is leftover gore from the engagement. The bone shard also harbored some kind of calcified, larval form of what can best be described as a heartworm-like parasite, and traces of either nervous tissue or mycelium (from some type of fungus).

The immediate response of the introduction of the bone shard to the host body is an immune response of some kind. We haven’t pinned down exactly the mechanisms of this response, but it appears to make the host more receptive to hosting the worm parasite. This allows the worm parasite to colonize the major organs of the host, including (and especially) the lungs. These appear as dark spots on x-rays, which can be misinterpreted as tumors. This parasitic worm proceeds to replace the host’s cells with its own alien cells, at a rate much higher than standard human cell production. This results in rapid recovery from injuries, faster metabolizing of toxins (and intoxicants).

Movement of the worms, as well as cellular activity, are directly linked to lunar cycles. The presence of melatonin in the host’s body causes them to become dormant and the alien cells produced by the worms to die off. Depending on how much of the host’s body has been replaced by alien cells, this can cause serious health complications. On full moons, the activity of the parasitic worms is likely to peak and result in a rage-like state. The only data we have on this state isn’t from a full moon, but from an attempt at replicating conditions by barraging Diagnostic with blue light in order to halt melatonin production. (See 1-26-2017)

Later, this shell dissolved into an ash-like precipitate which also contained black pieces of what appeared to be broken teeth or nails. The structure of these fragments was entirely dissimilar to the bone shard from the initial infection. It completely lacks the calcified larval worms and the nervous/mycelial structure, and seems to lack calcium altogether.

This suggests that an additional organism is involved in the reproductive processes of this parasite. The current working theory is that there is some kind of fungus endemic to rifts which has an endosymbiotic relationship with the parasitic worms. The ‘rage’ state could be a means for the worm parasite to guide a sufficiently altered host to the fungus (a rift site). There, the fungus spores would infect the prepared host, and colonize. Eventually, the host would begin to produce fruiting bodies similar to the ‘bone’ shard similar to the one that infected Diagnostic.

If the above information were correct, we would expect the next full moon to trigger a 'rage' event for Diagnostic, where he would find himself driven to locate a rift (likely underwater in False Point) in order to expose himself to the fungal spores. In his current state, the infection is in a sort of mid-reproductive stage. The possible uses for these worms are staggering, if a way to use them to 'sniff out' rifts could be engineered it would be a breakthrough for the Agency and would likely save hundreds of lives in future operations.

2017-02-12

See: Third Transformation