Kumbaya
Refugee
Good day to all.
I've been playing 7 Days to Die since 2015. I return to this project once a year, and each time I note how it evolves and improves. The last time I played, I felt that this world had finally gained the appropriate scale and detail.
I love to make up stories. I'm not a professional writer, but it's in my nature to tell stories and fabrications. As a child, I constantly made up stories to tell my friends, which I presented as truth. (Each time they stopped believing me, but they never stopped listening to my tales) Playing the latest build of the game, and appreciating the massive work the developers have done, I decided that this world needed its own story. A story that would be scattered throughout this world and collected piece by piece, reconstructing the events that preceded the disaster.
Let me just say that this is an amateur text. It was written under the inspiration of my latest game, it's a tribute to this world, my way of saying thank you to the developers for this magnificent game. And if anyone enjoys this story, I will be glad.
English is not my native language, so the text was written in my native language and translated into English by the wonderful Chat GPT. Nonetheless, the text, characters, and situations were invented by me, Chat GPT can confirm that I'm not lying
I apologize for any possible mistakes or typos. Unfortunately, I can't track all the errors or unfortunate turns of phrase, and if you notice any, please point them out to me, and I'll do my best to correct them.
Thank you for your attention and enjoy your reading
1
Part One, fragment found in the village of Ebigol (former population 1,200)
My name is Christina Fifer, I'm a virologist from the Berkeley Institute, and I'm running out of time. I need to write the truth, because it seems that no one else can do it. The truth about MH17, about a virus that allegedly mutated in a bat and then got to humans. Alas, things aren't quite like that, they're completely different. And it's not a conspiracy theory, it's a confession from someone who's been working on this "virus" for the past 10 years...
I'm on the run. Or more accurately, what's happening to us used to be called “evacuation”, but it quickly became clear that it's not an evacuation anymore - it's a flight, it's a desperate attempt to survive.
I'm sitting on a box in a small village, drinking coffee kindly prepared for me by Professor Andy Tucker. You probably know him better than I do, his "Fun Biology with Andy" has been loved by hundreds of thousands of children on YouTube... loved, of course... From our squad, there are only nine people left - me, Professor Tucker, my assistant Mark Sylly, lab technicians Ellie Sowen and Demera Hines, and four soldiers who are guarding us - Meni, David, Thomas, and Sergeant Caleb..
We left the Mitra 17 laboratory with a much larger team, there were more than fifty of us, we had vehicles, supplies, and most importantly we were carrying the archive. Now, none of that is left. We were supposed to evacuate to the north of the country, to the mountains, to the Mitra 9 lab, but by all indications none of us will get there, and I'm not even sure if these lines will be read by anyone. But I'm writing because I can and I must do it, tell everything as it was. Professor Viraksa used to say - "man is opportunity", so let it be so. I will be writing in pieces, on multi-layer control forms and leaving copies of the diary wherever we stop, because we're always on the move. Mr. Caleb was very kind and promised to get us to Mitra 9 no matter what, despite death nipping at our heels, depriving us of one after another, and for that - I thank him for his self-sacrifice.
It all started in 2012 when I arrived at Mr. Halden McKinroy's laboratory for an internship from Princeton. To be honest, I didn't plan on staying there for long, but after getting acquainted with Hal's work, I ended up staying for a full 10 years. Yes, I'm talking about the "Auxilium Kanerecida" project, or what was later called "Lazarus"... most people laughed at it... now they don't laugh, because there's no one left to, unfortunately. Hal is not to blame, I'll say right away to dismiss any attempts to pin the blame on him. After the symposium in Singapore in 2018, Mr. Miles came to our laboratory. Unremarkable, small, bald, quite unpleasant, but with a very generous offer. By that time, things were going very badly, our main investor, company N, had left us. Big Pharma decided that we were a lost cause. The project was heading towards closure and Mr. Miles saved us, or so it seemed at the time
2
Part Two, fragment found at a gas station near the village of Inos (former population 235)
I couldn't write anymore yesterday, just as I got to the very beginning of my narrative, Demera alarmed all of us, she thought she heard a horde. She was running around the basement from one to another and hissing loudly - "Horde"! The last few horrific days have taught everyone that anyone who raises their voice is a goner. Hunters find the ones who love to make noise very quickly, followed by screamers and then the horde... Demera was hallucinating, her nerves have been shot lately, and there are no more sedatives, the big first aid kit was left in the car we had to abandon. I'm comforting her as best I can. David is teaching her relaxing breathing, and says it's a secret technique of Mossad...
Mr. Miles... yes, he did save us back then, or so it seemed at the time. "Pharma has abandoned you," he said, "they need to make money, chasing dreams is not their business. Your machine... it's a little beyond what can be called revolutionary, and in eight years you still haven't come up with a working prototype..." Hal was outraged at the time, how come there are no prototypes, there are versions tested on mice, the principle has been demonstrated, that's what he presented then in Singapore, but everyone understood that he was talking about the declared function which we were very far from reaching...
The main problem was that we lacked a molecular printer, prototypes were created through targeted mutations. Our investor could not get us a printer. Mr. Miles provided it for us the same day. To say we were in shock is an understatement. There are only six in the world and the rent for each costs a fortune, so what was especially shocking was that this one was purchased outright by Mr. Miles! And even before the start of negotiations with us...
"Who are you, Mr. Miles?" - I remember very well how Hal slowly asked him this in response to this news, - I understand that you represent a fund for promising projects, and apparently it's a very rich fund, but what are your goals? Mr. Miles laughed then, waved his hands, - "I apologize, I didn't mean to shock you, I'm a business person and we work quite closely in the field of virology and molecular biology, so this printer won't be idle, I assure you! Moreover, we will discuss its usage terms with our other laboratories.." - "Of course, of course, I understand.." - Hal was confused, - "And moreover," Mr. Miles continued, "we insist that you move to our scientific center. I understand, Berkeley is your alma mater, - but I promise you'll like it there, honestly, there's everything you need!"
Mr. Miles exudes optimism with his whole demeanor, God, he was beaming like a Christmas tree then, - "The only condition," he added, "this scientific center, how should I say, - it's closed-type and is located in a small town. And not to frighten the residents, well, you understand," he grimaced, "we present ourselves as a laboratory for developing food supplements. Otherwise, it would not have been possible to avoid the close attention of the public and various activists," he grimaced even more, "but no! don't think that the government isn't aware, we have the highest level of security." - "What town is this?" - Hal asked
3
Part Three, a fragment found at the checkpoint near the quarantine camp Etra 7 (former population: 516 people
This was the town of Ellis Town, really tiny, on the slope of a mountain by a picturesque lake, we could get out there on weekends.. I reread the last snippet and realized that I hadn't written about what the Antrella fund, Mr. Miles' fund, actually wanted to buy, and I'll try to describe our work with Hal in simple terms.
Halden's mother died of cancer when he was 15 years old. Hal was a talented student, but as he says, he didn't go into science because of this. Nevertheless, he started working on the topic of cancer already in college. From the very beginning, he was obsessed with the idea of a living machine that would help the immune system find and kill cancer cells, and such a machine was supposed to be a controllable virus. It sounds incredible and scary, many pointed this out in private conversations. After presentations of the concept, people usually politely said goodbye and never called back. Halden began to be perceived as a quirky scientist, there were even jokes told about him..
The first investor was found by Professor Hemsworth, Halden's scientific supervisor at Berkeley. He found it accidentally and became interested in his topic, it was a concern from Big Pharma. They were heavily involved in cancer, funding research all over the world. Halden's idea appealed to them, and he was granted a small grant for further research. The investor hoped to get something substantial from Hal in the next few years that could be seriously invested in. The work was difficult, there were almost no opportunities to technically implement Halden's idea, he worked a lot in related fields trying to understand how to approach the implementation at least at the concept level. Hal spent 8 years on this work, five of which I helped him with this work, until the day Mr. Miles entered our lives.
Halden immediately stated that the priority topic would be cancer, trying to assert his independence in the new role - Miles did not object. Two years passed, two wonderful years, during which Hal created a finished prototype. They fed him a sample of a tumor and then introduced it into the organism, the virus destroyed cancer in just a few days and then self-destructed. Hal made it so that the virus could only reproduce in the cells of the sample, and therefore with the disappearance of cancer, the virus itself disappeared! It was brilliant and very elegant, just imagine - a universal seeker, an inexorable killer disappearing without a trace after the work is done. But that's not all. Viruses in the human body were supposed to organize a neural network, which allowed them to get statistics, monitor the process of hunting for cancer cells, search for metastases or mutated formations, and finally, it allowed them to destroy the virus in case something went wrong. This was Halden's second significant discovery, to which, alas, this time I as a mathematician and geneticist contributed..
Time passed and after another experiment, I remember its serial number as if it was yesterday - experiment 313, series 12, when it was proven that the laboratory sample no longer had oncological markers, we finally exhaled happily. The challenging journey of 10 years was finally completed. Without procrastination, we threw a party for everyone who had been working with us in the laboratory over the past years. The party was a success but the hangover was heavy, and the consequences turned out to be terrible
4
Part Four, fragment found in a well, at a hunting lodge
For two days we've been escaping from the horde, we lost good ol' Meni, on the ruins of the factory he set up a fire point, essentially taking the hit himself and giving us a chance to get away through the sewers.. Demera and Eli are crying their hearts out, the guys are gloomy, another casualty on our long journey. Caleb says we need to break through to the river, "breaking through" is of course not the right term, you can't break through a horde, but you can slip through. He says that along the river we can cover half the way relatively safely. I really hope he's right. David and Thomas are arguing about how best to make a raft under our conditions, Sylly has joined them. Tucker hasn't talked to anyone for the second day, he loves Meni, says he reminds him of his eldest son. Tucker's family was evacuated to Charkon, a closed city in the west. What happened to them nobody knows, the communication collapsed quite a long time ago.
To say we're at our limit is to say nothing, but the amazing thing is, once you reach this limit, you discover new strengths in yourself.. Caleb laughs, says that's how life is - some people are hardened like steel by the @%$#, others are turned to dust.. The seasoned warrior, he forgets that people are different and steel is made of metal, but you can't make it from the plush bears girls carry around with them, although who knows, maybe they too will find new selves capable of surviving in this new terrifying world..
The party was a success, I've never got so drunk, I think I even confessed my love to Hal, he did to me as well, I think. They told us that we were doing the impossible.. and we did it.
Miles showed up the next day, he was beaming with joy, while we, at that moment, despite the hangover, were preparing a documentary justification for conducting experiments on humans - "You guys are amazing, just incredible!" He was panting and at a loss for words, it smelled of bad theater. - "The Foundation is offering you a vacation, a vacation in the Maldives, in a wonderful high-end resort, all on the company's dime! Don't argue, no work, three weeks of wonderful and well-deserved rest! Hal, when he heard about the three weeks, nearly dropped his jaw, you have to know Hal - he never rested for more than a week and each time he would take a pile of papers and a laptop with him.
I will skip the ugly scene of bargaining, we agreed on ten days, and Hal does not take anything with him, - "well you understand, top-secret research, government oversight, all that stuff.. blah blah blah
"Christina, why should I rest, what nonsense?! Especially on the verge of what I've been waiting for over ten years! Oh.. how to tell a child that the adults decided to take a break to figure out what to do with the diamond that the toddler brought them.. - "Halden, they need time to exhale and think," - Hal widened his eyes and turned to me, - "think about what? Aren't we on the verge of the greatest discovery? All it takes is one more step, what is there to think about?! I was biting my lips not knowing what to answer, I was already beginning to understand what exactly interested Mr. Miles and his mysterious and terribly rich foundation..
5
Part five, found in the ruined school
Wow, it turns out Eli and Demetra are a couple, I didn't know that. Now it makes sense why Demetra was trying to set up Eli in the lab, - well, she's so qualified, no, don't get me wrong, it's not because she's my friend.. Turns out not even a friend.. Eli came to me at four in the morning and sobbed until five. Demetra told her that if it weren't for her, she would have gone to her parents in Asheville, and perhaps could have saved them.. oh my god. I comforted her as best I could, explained that Demetra is closed off from the fear for her relatives and it's not hatred towards Eli but fear for her family that's consuming her. God save us all if you exist..
Should I have told Hal about my suspicions? I don't know. If I had told him everything then, he wouldn't have gone anywhere, he would have made a scene, and I didn't want to spoil the feeling that we had won, the feeling that we had hit the jackpot, that we could finally live a few days in a luxurious tropical place and not think about anything, at least for a few minutes because it became impossible for us not to think about work..
The Maldives were indeed magnificent, and it's not about the towel figures, by the way, I had a giraffe, Hal had a penguin.. but the fact that everything in this resort was amazingly anticipating your wishes, as a result I didn't get out of the SPA, although solving puzzles in my head, and Hal from the bar where he somehow got a laptop! You have to know him, of course, there's nothing impossible for Hal.. I'll have to write down the story of how he, being drunk, persuaded a bear to get out of the car.. but it wasn't three days before Mr. Miles called Hal. He called right to the bar where Hal set up his workspace, as Hal, respecting the agreement, didn't take his smartphone with him. That day Hal asked me to work with him for a couple of hours, ha, and what else could we do there, going mad from idleness..
– Mr. Halden, good day, how are you? How is your vacation going? – Miles's voice was both insidious and nervous, – Wonderful, Mr. Miles, – Hal's voice, in turn, was filled with so much sarcasm that it could be scooped up with an excavator. – I'm glad to hear that, Hal, honestly, I really wanted you to relax, you deserve it more than anyone else.., – Mr. Miles was clearly nervous, it was so obvious that we even exchanged glances with Hal, – but there's a little problem, the board can't get access to the research, it's a strange thing, the computer seems to be asking for your password, Hal.. – What's wrong, Miles?, – Hal's eyes twinkled, – As long as the project is in the research phase, it's under my responsibility, so I can't allow even the smallest leak, do you agree? – Hal, with all due respect to your work, this is the property of the fund, and we wanted, so to speak, to familiarize ourselves with the results without bothering you again.. – the latter was so rudely that we both grimaced in unison, almost bursting into laughter. – Miles, are you seriously trying to "familiarize" yourself with raw data? with something that you won't even approximately understand? Why were you not satisfied with our last report and the record of the experiment?
Judging by the crackle on the line, Miles was struggling to find words and thoughts were turning in his head like a pile of cobblestones. – Hal, the fund wants to understand what we have and where to direct the vector of development of our.. your idea. – We have an unfinished project to destroy cancer, what the hell is unclear about that?! – Hal exploded like a firecracker, his character was no different from a sulfur match..
For the next 20 minutes they swore at each other for a lifetime.. predominantly Hal, Miles bleated and tried to defend himself, but it was clear to everyone - that we were sent to the Maldives so they could dig into what we did without our knowledge and participation, and this was offensive, to say the least..
6
Part six, found at a gas station
Mark got drunk somewhere and is doing his best to pretend he's sober, it looks comical and at the same time sad. I took him to the lab 5 years ago, my sister's husband told me that a talented guy was fired from the pharmacy, the guy is a little off his rocker.. he is indeed a bit strange, he's not sociable and very cowardly, it's hard for him to talk to people, and when he's stressed he can't squeeze a word out of himself.. Nonetheless, he's a phenomenal mathematician and a good friend, a friend only to those who have earned his trust. They arranged a lunch meeting for us, which he was an hour and a half late for, obviously I didn't wait for him for even 10 minutes. Later in the evening, I decided to give him a chance. He spent the rest of the workday waiting for me in the lobby of our center, dutifully sitting on a bench and not leaving until the evening.
– What optimization algorithms do you think are most suitable for tuning the parameters of a neural network based on viruses?, – I asked him point-blank, sitting down next to him. I was a bit angry at him because I hate it when someone is late..
– Depending on the task, I would use different optimization algorithms, from simple gradient descent to more complex algorithms such as BFGS, Nesterov's Accelerated Gradient, or Adam.. – he answered offhand, turning to me, – and for managing random variability, I would use ensemble averaging and bootstrapping methods, as well as regularization and Bayesian inference methods.. good evening.
I must admit I blushed then. We talked with him on that bench until the lobby closed, moving to a cafe nearby after. Mark turned out to be a very quick-witted mathematician and geneticist..
Mark didn't go with us to the Maldives, just as he preferred to slip away from the noisy party at the very beginning. Mark then was upset that, as it seemed to him - everything was over, and the routine began, how wrong he was then..
Hal forbade me to return to Ellice Town with him, and said I should rest for both of us. – This is my business, Christina, I got us all involved in the work with this foundation and I need to deal with it. I tried to stick with him, rushed to pack my suitcases, but where could I go, if Hal had made a decision, it was already impossible to persuade him..
I honestly sat out the remaining week and after that, I flew home like a bullet. I was met in the laboratory by a smiling Miles, an unperturbed Mark as usual, and a TV with a recorded message from Halden.
7
Part seven, found at the Akma boat station
I can't catch my breath, we've been running for the last three hours, it was particularly hard for Andy, he's on the verge of a heart attack. The last hour was not so much running as desperate limping. Caleb and David picked up Andy under his arms and dragged him by themselves, the guys exhausted, they still had big backpacks with food.. Thomas, how could he, how could he.. It turns out he was bitten on one of the outings, and instead of telling about it right away, he just hid it. When he was running a fever, he tried to explain, gasping, that he was hoping the infection hadn't passed, it did happen but not too often.. It was too late to suppress the infection, there was a small chance of this if he had told about it immediately, we had inhibitors, but he kept silent, silent like a little child scared of punishment.. he pleaded with Caleb to end all this so as not to become obsessed. All this made a terrible noise and what each of us feared most happened, within sight we saw a Screamer, and heard her monstrous, creaky, ear-torturing scream..
We were lucky that we were over the hill's cliff and went down the trail through the ravine, it would be difficult for a sportsman to pursue us, let alone deformed zombies. Moreover, for the first minutes, adrenaline really spurred us on, it seems I've never run so fast in my life especially on rough terrain.
We hardly slept, and we will not have to sleep. Caleb said we need to build a raft, otherwise, we will not survive. A horde is chasing us on the heels, and a blood moon is expected at night. Jackpot, it couldn't be worse. While writing, I smiled remembering a joke: “Nothing can get worse," said the pessimist. "Oh, it can definitely get worse!" objected the optimist”
Our limping marathon ended at a small boat station. There are no boats here, there is one broken on the shore, there are many paddles, ropes, and nets. Caleb and David stand over all this junk figuring out what to do with it all, and I will try to finish my chronicle. I don't know how much time we have left but it's important for me to finish my narrative.. Poor Thomas..
Upon returning to Ellice Town, only Miles was waiting for me, instead of the doctor there was his message recorded especially for me. Miles inserted the flash drive into the TV, clicked the remote. Halden appeared on the screen, he was sitting at his desk in the lab, looking tired, with a cup of coffee and a cigarette in his hands.. he didn't smoke often.
"Hi Chris," he began, "you're probably wondering why I didn't meet you in person, I'm sorry, I can't sit here idly waiting for you, you know I don't like to idle.. the main thing, Chris, - the "Lazarus" project must be continued, we have completed its main and most important part by creating a weapon against cancer, but pharma wants this tool to serve them in another capacity, they have big plans for what you came up with,
- Hal grimly smiled, – unfortunately, according to the contract they can insist on refining some aspects of our project by fulfilling the clause that I insisted on at the very beginning of our collaboration..
Neural network, I was burned by fire, all because of it! Yes, according to the contract they fulfilled the clause whereby "Lazarus" became a weapon against cancer, but what really interested them was not this, but what from the very beginning was not the main, secondary control tool.. Hal on the screen looked crappy, I wanted to slap Miles who was standing next to me – You're now the main, Chris, – Halden, who was looking away at this moment, looked at me, – I'm going to a closed lab in the mountains, – Hal was fumbling, – I need to pay the bills, – he forced out a smile, – don't worry about me, they have an interesting topic, when they remove the access restrictions we'll definitely see each other, don't be upset..
"What does this mean!" - I flared up, turning to Miles, I was very close to grabbing his face.. It was clear that Halden was pinned down by the contract, as a result of the termination of which he would lose everything, and so would I. Pharma, in the end, launched a project to refine the neural network interface with which one could establish contact, sending information and receiving signals from it using an orbital laser..
Well, now you know why during the blood moon the sky turns red, and the obsessed become mad, and the hordes become huge.. the only thing I don't know is who is behind the control panel of the satellite and damn it why is he doing this!
I've been playing 7 Days to Die since 2015. I return to this project once a year, and each time I note how it evolves and improves. The last time I played, I felt that this world had finally gained the appropriate scale and detail.
I love to make up stories. I'm not a professional writer, but it's in my nature to tell stories and fabrications. As a child, I constantly made up stories to tell my friends, which I presented as truth. (Each time they stopped believing me, but they never stopped listening to my tales) Playing the latest build of the game, and appreciating the massive work the developers have done, I decided that this world needed its own story. A story that would be scattered throughout this world and collected piece by piece, reconstructing the events that preceded the disaster.
Let me just say that this is an amateur text. It was written under the inspiration of my latest game, it's a tribute to this world, my way of saying thank you to the developers for this magnificent game. And if anyone enjoys this story, I will be glad.
English is not my native language, so the text was written in my native language and translated into English by the wonderful Chat GPT. Nonetheless, the text, characters, and situations were invented by me, Chat GPT can confirm that I'm not lying
I apologize for any possible mistakes or typos. Unfortunately, I can't track all the errors or unfortunate turns of phrase, and if you notice any, please point them out to me, and I'll do my best to correct them.
Thank you for your attention and enjoy your reading
1
Part One, fragment found in the village of Ebigol (former population 1,200)
My name is Christina Fifer, I'm a virologist from the Berkeley Institute, and I'm running out of time. I need to write the truth, because it seems that no one else can do it. The truth about MH17, about a virus that allegedly mutated in a bat and then got to humans. Alas, things aren't quite like that, they're completely different. And it's not a conspiracy theory, it's a confession from someone who's been working on this "virus" for the past 10 years...
I'm on the run. Or more accurately, what's happening to us used to be called “evacuation”, but it quickly became clear that it's not an evacuation anymore - it's a flight, it's a desperate attempt to survive.
I'm sitting on a box in a small village, drinking coffee kindly prepared for me by Professor Andy Tucker. You probably know him better than I do, his "Fun Biology with Andy" has been loved by hundreds of thousands of children on YouTube... loved, of course... From our squad, there are only nine people left - me, Professor Tucker, my assistant Mark Sylly, lab technicians Ellie Sowen and Demera Hines, and four soldiers who are guarding us - Meni, David, Thomas, and Sergeant Caleb..
We left the Mitra 17 laboratory with a much larger team, there were more than fifty of us, we had vehicles, supplies, and most importantly we were carrying the archive. Now, none of that is left. We were supposed to evacuate to the north of the country, to the mountains, to the Mitra 9 lab, but by all indications none of us will get there, and I'm not even sure if these lines will be read by anyone. But I'm writing because I can and I must do it, tell everything as it was. Professor Viraksa used to say - "man is opportunity", so let it be so. I will be writing in pieces, on multi-layer control forms and leaving copies of the diary wherever we stop, because we're always on the move. Mr. Caleb was very kind and promised to get us to Mitra 9 no matter what, despite death nipping at our heels, depriving us of one after another, and for that - I thank him for his self-sacrifice.
It all started in 2012 when I arrived at Mr. Halden McKinroy's laboratory for an internship from Princeton. To be honest, I didn't plan on staying there for long, but after getting acquainted with Hal's work, I ended up staying for a full 10 years. Yes, I'm talking about the "Auxilium Kanerecida" project, or what was later called "Lazarus"... most people laughed at it... now they don't laugh, because there's no one left to, unfortunately. Hal is not to blame, I'll say right away to dismiss any attempts to pin the blame on him. After the symposium in Singapore in 2018, Mr. Miles came to our laboratory. Unremarkable, small, bald, quite unpleasant, but with a very generous offer. By that time, things were going very badly, our main investor, company N, had left us. Big Pharma decided that we were a lost cause. The project was heading towards closure and Mr. Miles saved us, or so it seemed at the time
2
Part Two, fragment found at a gas station near the village of Inos (former population 235)
I couldn't write anymore yesterday, just as I got to the very beginning of my narrative, Demera alarmed all of us, she thought she heard a horde. She was running around the basement from one to another and hissing loudly - "Horde"! The last few horrific days have taught everyone that anyone who raises their voice is a goner. Hunters find the ones who love to make noise very quickly, followed by screamers and then the horde... Demera was hallucinating, her nerves have been shot lately, and there are no more sedatives, the big first aid kit was left in the car we had to abandon. I'm comforting her as best I can. David is teaching her relaxing breathing, and says it's a secret technique of Mossad...
Mr. Miles... yes, he did save us back then, or so it seemed at the time. "Pharma has abandoned you," he said, "they need to make money, chasing dreams is not their business. Your machine... it's a little beyond what can be called revolutionary, and in eight years you still haven't come up with a working prototype..." Hal was outraged at the time, how come there are no prototypes, there are versions tested on mice, the principle has been demonstrated, that's what he presented then in Singapore, but everyone understood that he was talking about the declared function which we were very far from reaching...
The main problem was that we lacked a molecular printer, prototypes were created through targeted mutations. Our investor could not get us a printer. Mr. Miles provided it for us the same day. To say we were in shock is an understatement. There are only six in the world and the rent for each costs a fortune, so what was especially shocking was that this one was purchased outright by Mr. Miles! And even before the start of negotiations with us...
"Who are you, Mr. Miles?" - I remember very well how Hal slowly asked him this in response to this news, - I understand that you represent a fund for promising projects, and apparently it's a very rich fund, but what are your goals? Mr. Miles laughed then, waved his hands, - "I apologize, I didn't mean to shock you, I'm a business person and we work quite closely in the field of virology and molecular biology, so this printer won't be idle, I assure you! Moreover, we will discuss its usage terms with our other laboratories.." - "Of course, of course, I understand.." - Hal was confused, - "And moreover," Mr. Miles continued, "we insist that you move to our scientific center. I understand, Berkeley is your alma mater, - but I promise you'll like it there, honestly, there's everything you need!"
Mr. Miles exudes optimism with his whole demeanor, God, he was beaming like a Christmas tree then, - "The only condition," he added, "this scientific center, how should I say, - it's closed-type and is located in a small town. And not to frighten the residents, well, you understand," he grimaced, "we present ourselves as a laboratory for developing food supplements. Otherwise, it would not have been possible to avoid the close attention of the public and various activists," he grimaced even more, "but no! don't think that the government isn't aware, we have the highest level of security." - "What town is this?" - Hal asked
3
Part Three, a fragment found at the checkpoint near the quarantine camp Etra 7 (former population: 516 people
This was the town of Ellis Town, really tiny, on the slope of a mountain by a picturesque lake, we could get out there on weekends.. I reread the last snippet and realized that I hadn't written about what the Antrella fund, Mr. Miles' fund, actually wanted to buy, and I'll try to describe our work with Hal in simple terms.
Halden's mother died of cancer when he was 15 years old. Hal was a talented student, but as he says, he didn't go into science because of this. Nevertheless, he started working on the topic of cancer already in college. From the very beginning, he was obsessed with the idea of a living machine that would help the immune system find and kill cancer cells, and such a machine was supposed to be a controllable virus. It sounds incredible and scary, many pointed this out in private conversations. After presentations of the concept, people usually politely said goodbye and never called back. Halden began to be perceived as a quirky scientist, there were even jokes told about him..
The first investor was found by Professor Hemsworth, Halden's scientific supervisor at Berkeley. He found it accidentally and became interested in his topic, it was a concern from Big Pharma. They were heavily involved in cancer, funding research all over the world. Halden's idea appealed to them, and he was granted a small grant for further research. The investor hoped to get something substantial from Hal in the next few years that could be seriously invested in. The work was difficult, there were almost no opportunities to technically implement Halden's idea, he worked a lot in related fields trying to understand how to approach the implementation at least at the concept level. Hal spent 8 years on this work, five of which I helped him with this work, until the day Mr. Miles entered our lives.
Halden immediately stated that the priority topic would be cancer, trying to assert his independence in the new role - Miles did not object. Two years passed, two wonderful years, during which Hal created a finished prototype. They fed him a sample of a tumor and then introduced it into the organism, the virus destroyed cancer in just a few days and then self-destructed. Hal made it so that the virus could only reproduce in the cells of the sample, and therefore with the disappearance of cancer, the virus itself disappeared! It was brilliant and very elegant, just imagine - a universal seeker, an inexorable killer disappearing without a trace after the work is done. But that's not all. Viruses in the human body were supposed to organize a neural network, which allowed them to get statistics, monitor the process of hunting for cancer cells, search for metastases or mutated formations, and finally, it allowed them to destroy the virus in case something went wrong. This was Halden's second significant discovery, to which, alas, this time I as a mathematician and geneticist contributed..
Time passed and after another experiment, I remember its serial number as if it was yesterday - experiment 313, series 12, when it was proven that the laboratory sample no longer had oncological markers, we finally exhaled happily. The challenging journey of 10 years was finally completed. Without procrastination, we threw a party for everyone who had been working with us in the laboratory over the past years. The party was a success but the hangover was heavy, and the consequences turned out to be terrible
4
Part Four, fragment found in a well, at a hunting lodge
For two days we've been escaping from the horde, we lost good ol' Meni, on the ruins of the factory he set up a fire point, essentially taking the hit himself and giving us a chance to get away through the sewers.. Demera and Eli are crying their hearts out, the guys are gloomy, another casualty on our long journey. Caleb says we need to break through to the river, "breaking through" is of course not the right term, you can't break through a horde, but you can slip through. He says that along the river we can cover half the way relatively safely. I really hope he's right. David and Thomas are arguing about how best to make a raft under our conditions, Sylly has joined them. Tucker hasn't talked to anyone for the second day, he loves Meni, says he reminds him of his eldest son. Tucker's family was evacuated to Charkon, a closed city in the west. What happened to them nobody knows, the communication collapsed quite a long time ago.
To say we're at our limit is to say nothing, but the amazing thing is, once you reach this limit, you discover new strengths in yourself.. Caleb laughs, says that's how life is - some people are hardened like steel by the @%$#, others are turned to dust.. The seasoned warrior, he forgets that people are different and steel is made of metal, but you can't make it from the plush bears girls carry around with them, although who knows, maybe they too will find new selves capable of surviving in this new terrifying world..
The party was a success, I've never got so drunk, I think I even confessed my love to Hal, he did to me as well, I think. They told us that we were doing the impossible.. and we did it.
Miles showed up the next day, he was beaming with joy, while we, at that moment, despite the hangover, were preparing a documentary justification for conducting experiments on humans - "You guys are amazing, just incredible!" He was panting and at a loss for words, it smelled of bad theater. - "The Foundation is offering you a vacation, a vacation in the Maldives, in a wonderful high-end resort, all on the company's dime! Don't argue, no work, three weeks of wonderful and well-deserved rest! Hal, when he heard about the three weeks, nearly dropped his jaw, you have to know Hal - he never rested for more than a week and each time he would take a pile of papers and a laptop with him.
I will skip the ugly scene of bargaining, we agreed on ten days, and Hal does not take anything with him, - "well you understand, top-secret research, government oversight, all that stuff.. blah blah blah
"Christina, why should I rest, what nonsense?! Especially on the verge of what I've been waiting for over ten years! Oh.. how to tell a child that the adults decided to take a break to figure out what to do with the diamond that the toddler brought them.. - "Halden, they need time to exhale and think," - Hal widened his eyes and turned to me, - "think about what? Aren't we on the verge of the greatest discovery? All it takes is one more step, what is there to think about?! I was biting my lips not knowing what to answer, I was already beginning to understand what exactly interested Mr. Miles and his mysterious and terribly rich foundation..
5
Part five, found in the ruined school
Wow, it turns out Eli and Demetra are a couple, I didn't know that. Now it makes sense why Demetra was trying to set up Eli in the lab, - well, she's so qualified, no, don't get me wrong, it's not because she's my friend.. Turns out not even a friend.. Eli came to me at four in the morning and sobbed until five. Demetra told her that if it weren't for her, she would have gone to her parents in Asheville, and perhaps could have saved them.. oh my god. I comforted her as best I could, explained that Demetra is closed off from the fear for her relatives and it's not hatred towards Eli but fear for her family that's consuming her. God save us all if you exist..
Should I have told Hal about my suspicions? I don't know. If I had told him everything then, he wouldn't have gone anywhere, he would have made a scene, and I didn't want to spoil the feeling that we had won, the feeling that we had hit the jackpot, that we could finally live a few days in a luxurious tropical place and not think about anything, at least for a few minutes because it became impossible for us not to think about work..
The Maldives were indeed magnificent, and it's not about the towel figures, by the way, I had a giraffe, Hal had a penguin.. but the fact that everything in this resort was amazingly anticipating your wishes, as a result I didn't get out of the SPA, although solving puzzles in my head, and Hal from the bar where he somehow got a laptop! You have to know him, of course, there's nothing impossible for Hal.. I'll have to write down the story of how he, being drunk, persuaded a bear to get out of the car.. but it wasn't three days before Mr. Miles called Hal. He called right to the bar where Hal set up his workspace, as Hal, respecting the agreement, didn't take his smartphone with him. That day Hal asked me to work with him for a couple of hours, ha, and what else could we do there, going mad from idleness..
– Mr. Halden, good day, how are you? How is your vacation going? – Miles's voice was both insidious and nervous, – Wonderful, Mr. Miles, – Hal's voice, in turn, was filled with so much sarcasm that it could be scooped up with an excavator. – I'm glad to hear that, Hal, honestly, I really wanted you to relax, you deserve it more than anyone else.., – Mr. Miles was clearly nervous, it was so obvious that we even exchanged glances with Hal, – but there's a little problem, the board can't get access to the research, it's a strange thing, the computer seems to be asking for your password, Hal.. – What's wrong, Miles?, – Hal's eyes twinkled, – As long as the project is in the research phase, it's under my responsibility, so I can't allow even the smallest leak, do you agree? – Hal, with all due respect to your work, this is the property of the fund, and we wanted, so to speak, to familiarize ourselves with the results without bothering you again.. – the latter was so rudely that we both grimaced in unison, almost bursting into laughter. – Miles, are you seriously trying to "familiarize" yourself with raw data? with something that you won't even approximately understand? Why were you not satisfied with our last report and the record of the experiment?
Judging by the crackle on the line, Miles was struggling to find words and thoughts were turning in his head like a pile of cobblestones. – Hal, the fund wants to understand what we have and where to direct the vector of development of our.. your idea. – We have an unfinished project to destroy cancer, what the hell is unclear about that?! – Hal exploded like a firecracker, his character was no different from a sulfur match..
For the next 20 minutes they swore at each other for a lifetime.. predominantly Hal, Miles bleated and tried to defend himself, but it was clear to everyone - that we were sent to the Maldives so they could dig into what we did without our knowledge and participation, and this was offensive, to say the least..
6
Part six, found at a gas station
Mark got drunk somewhere and is doing his best to pretend he's sober, it looks comical and at the same time sad. I took him to the lab 5 years ago, my sister's husband told me that a talented guy was fired from the pharmacy, the guy is a little off his rocker.. he is indeed a bit strange, he's not sociable and very cowardly, it's hard for him to talk to people, and when he's stressed he can't squeeze a word out of himself.. Nonetheless, he's a phenomenal mathematician and a good friend, a friend only to those who have earned his trust. They arranged a lunch meeting for us, which he was an hour and a half late for, obviously I didn't wait for him for even 10 minutes. Later in the evening, I decided to give him a chance. He spent the rest of the workday waiting for me in the lobby of our center, dutifully sitting on a bench and not leaving until the evening.
– What optimization algorithms do you think are most suitable for tuning the parameters of a neural network based on viruses?, – I asked him point-blank, sitting down next to him. I was a bit angry at him because I hate it when someone is late..
– Depending on the task, I would use different optimization algorithms, from simple gradient descent to more complex algorithms such as BFGS, Nesterov's Accelerated Gradient, or Adam.. – he answered offhand, turning to me, – and for managing random variability, I would use ensemble averaging and bootstrapping methods, as well as regularization and Bayesian inference methods.. good evening.
I must admit I blushed then. We talked with him on that bench until the lobby closed, moving to a cafe nearby after. Mark turned out to be a very quick-witted mathematician and geneticist..
Mark didn't go with us to the Maldives, just as he preferred to slip away from the noisy party at the very beginning. Mark then was upset that, as it seemed to him - everything was over, and the routine began, how wrong he was then..
Hal forbade me to return to Ellice Town with him, and said I should rest for both of us. – This is my business, Christina, I got us all involved in the work with this foundation and I need to deal with it. I tried to stick with him, rushed to pack my suitcases, but where could I go, if Hal had made a decision, it was already impossible to persuade him..
I honestly sat out the remaining week and after that, I flew home like a bullet. I was met in the laboratory by a smiling Miles, an unperturbed Mark as usual, and a TV with a recorded message from Halden.
7
Part seven, found at the Akma boat station
I can't catch my breath, we've been running for the last three hours, it was particularly hard for Andy, he's on the verge of a heart attack. The last hour was not so much running as desperate limping. Caleb and David picked up Andy under his arms and dragged him by themselves, the guys exhausted, they still had big backpacks with food.. Thomas, how could he, how could he.. It turns out he was bitten on one of the outings, and instead of telling about it right away, he just hid it. When he was running a fever, he tried to explain, gasping, that he was hoping the infection hadn't passed, it did happen but not too often.. It was too late to suppress the infection, there was a small chance of this if he had told about it immediately, we had inhibitors, but he kept silent, silent like a little child scared of punishment.. he pleaded with Caleb to end all this so as not to become obsessed. All this made a terrible noise and what each of us feared most happened, within sight we saw a Screamer, and heard her monstrous, creaky, ear-torturing scream..
We were lucky that we were over the hill's cliff and went down the trail through the ravine, it would be difficult for a sportsman to pursue us, let alone deformed zombies. Moreover, for the first minutes, adrenaline really spurred us on, it seems I've never run so fast in my life especially on rough terrain.
We hardly slept, and we will not have to sleep. Caleb said we need to build a raft, otherwise, we will not survive. A horde is chasing us on the heels, and a blood moon is expected at night. Jackpot, it couldn't be worse. While writing, I smiled remembering a joke: “Nothing can get worse," said the pessimist. "Oh, it can definitely get worse!" objected the optimist”
Our limping marathon ended at a small boat station. There are no boats here, there is one broken on the shore, there are many paddles, ropes, and nets. Caleb and David stand over all this junk figuring out what to do with it all, and I will try to finish my chronicle. I don't know how much time we have left but it's important for me to finish my narrative.. Poor Thomas..
Upon returning to Ellice Town, only Miles was waiting for me, instead of the doctor there was his message recorded especially for me. Miles inserted the flash drive into the TV, clicked the remote. Halden appeared on the screen, he was sitting at his desk in the lab, looking tired, with a cup of coffee and a cigarette in his hands.. he didn't smoke often.
"Hi Chris," he began, "you're probably wondering why I didn't meet you in person, I'm sorry, I can't sit here idly waiting for you, you know I don't like to idle.. the main thing, Chris, - the "Lazarus" project must be continued, we have completed its main and most important part by creating a weapon against cancer, but pharma wants this tool to serve them in another capacity, they have big plans for what you came up with,
- Hal grimly smiled, – unfortunately, according to the contract they can insist on refining some aspects of our project by fulfilling the clause that I insisted on at the very beginning of our collaboration..
Neural network, I was burned by fire, all because of it! Yes, according to the contract they fulfilled the clause whereby "Lazarus" became a weapon against cancer, but what really interested them was not this, but what from the very beginning was not the main, secondary control tool.. Hal on the screen looked crappy, I wanted to slap Miles who was standing next to me – You're now the main, Chris, – Halden, who was looking away at this moment, looked at me, – I'm going to a closed lab in the mountains, – Hal was fumbling, – I need to pay the bills, – he forced out a smile, – don't worry about me, they have an interesting topic, when they remove the access restrictions we'll definitely see each other, don't be upset..
"What does this mean!" - I flared up, turning to Miles, I was very close to grabbing his face.. It was clear that Halden was pinned down by the contract, as a result of the termination of which he would lose everything, and so would I. Pharma, in the end, launched a project to refine the neural network interface with which one could establish contact, sending information and receiving signals from it using an orbital laser..
Well, now you know why during the blood moon the sky turns red, and the obsessed become mad, and the hordes become huge.. the only thing I don't know is who is behind the control panel of the satellite and damn it why is he doing this!
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