Chapter 39-3 Chemical Reactions

Oh and some other thoughtstreams:
why are there so many broken bottles of the products, and why are the labs so messed up. Has there been some sort of altercation between Randy and whoever resides in the labs? (Ink?)

Is the doping/ steroid use merely to bulk up the existing zombies, or some sort of a way to attempt to prolong their life/ energy as they have started dying off? Stanozolol is listed on wiki as being used: "Veterinarians may prescribe the drug to improve muscle growth, red blood cell production, increase bone density and stimulate the appetite of debilitated or weakened animals"

Oh, and the other item is Aranesp- this is darbopoetin, similar to epo. I'm finding myself forgiving We're Alive for the fact that this would normally be kept in a fridge!!

Hxx

Was about to say that this could be that the Zs do this to make a kill and prevent the victim from becoming a zombie, but it seems that this chemical is used be Ink and is not naturally produced by Zombies, so the point is moot.

So far, what I've gotten from all of the science is that the K-18 gives them tough skin and Ink dopes them to make them big and strong. Just following the trail.

Got a chance to listen once yesterday evening. Wow! Blown away by this episode. The music and atmosphere were incredible. The suspense build up was great. I felt like stuff could happen at any moment and was prepared for a "jump scare" thing to happen.

But the way the encounter developed and played out was even better. Way to throw the curve ball, Kc!

Clues, clues, clues....

I can't really add anything to the chemical and biological discussions being had in here other than to say this, at least for me, strengthens my thought that some controlling agent is "improving" on nature's zombie design.

Quick brain dump:
- Dr William I Roberts is not Bill Roberts aka Ink. I'm thinking a father-son link.
- Either Dr Roberts or Bill have been making the special zombies using chemicals (biological or synthetic) to do things like toughen the skin and increase size and strength
- All the specials before the Little Ones were "failed" experiments. So far, the original Little Ones are "progressing nicely"

- Randy and "Zombie Maker" Roberts are in cahoots. Randy, the smart one, was on the courier mission because he could read (which means someone else has mastered writing), follow directions to a location, and figure out how to find specific things with big sciency names.

- Raydon and Ground Zero are not related. Ground Zero has to do with zombie origin. Raydon has to do with special zombies.

I also thing we are getting very close to the death (or living death) of a major named character in the story. I really thought it was gonna be Robbins (please don't do that, Kc!) when he got off the truck to save the piece of paper.

Please keep going on the theories and chemistry classes, y'all. This place is awesome! :D

Biology is really about homeostasis. A big word that means trying to keep things the same. It takes some serious effort to break the equilibrium. For a pop-culture reference what we see at Raydon Labs is someone trying to make a super soldier serum. A cocktail of "steroids" blended just right to turn a toddler into Andre the Giant

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The "little one" in the middle is Arnold. Flanked by Wilt Chamberlain and Andre.

But why? Is it just science run a muck? What is the threat that needs to be countered by these constructs?

In old school biochemistry we would take a bunch of thyroid, pituitary, or whatever and put it in a blender and try to purify something out and put it back in the body to see what happened. Then we got to recombinant DNA where we could clone out a gene and make a whole bunch of the protein in the lab. But, the subject has to keep coming back for more injections and it is not contagious.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Red Shirt

You see, the problem with running an illegal human clinical trial is that the rest of the medical community tends to frown on that... and they also tend to revoke your medical license too.

While still technically having a Ph.D., after losing his license, the news channels probably didn't want to give him the honorific of calling him a doctor. Also, continuously referring to him as "Doctor William I. Roberts" probably got repetitive... "Bill Roberts" or "Ink" would seem easier for news anchors to say and also easier for them to paint as sinister.

It's also possible that they weren't allowed to call him "Doctor" in news casts. The medical licensing board of California may have weighed in on that and made the request. (After all, we only heard one tiny segment of one news report.)

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That was my reaction, I posted that back a few pages somewhere, but yea, I think the 'multiple murders' lead to his revocation and him no longer being called doctor. He went more crazy in jail, and continued theorizing his tests, but to remember them, he tattooed himself. So the tattoos came later. I think it lines up

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hoff4D

, I think the 'multiple murders' lead to his revocation and him no longer being called doctor.

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I'm not convinced by this argument- I think the media would be more than happy to jump on a juicy Dr-As-Serial-Killer story.

As a real-life example, look at Andrew Wakefield (he of the fraudulent MMR research). He's been entirely discredited, is no longer a Dr after being struck off due to multiple counts of abuse of learning disabled children, yet the press still insist on referring to him as "Dr".

Likewise with Harold Shipman. I would see the media jumping on the Dr thing with glee and reporting on it constantly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hoff4D

That was my reaction, I posted that back a few pages somewhere, but yea, I think the 'multiple murders' lead to his revocation and him no longer being called doctor. He went more crazy in jail, and continued theorizing his tests, but to remember them, he tattooed himself. So the tattoos came later. I think it lines up

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Imagine if the tattoos are really the formulas to his experiments?

Perhaps Raydon may have been trying to find a cure or antidote for this but instead stumbled on things that make it worse. I believe the chemicals that mixed may have been what caused the gas haze at ground zero houses were burned down when Saul and Victor went there.

Interesting thought just occurred to me, what if ink is the one being controlled and is patent zero. And the one controlling ink is in the center of the haze where it is livable, and the haze is just a moat of un breathable gas ment to keep people and "them" out.

Could the tattooing have been done at the mental hospital where the tattoo gun was found?
I originally just thought that was used to tattoo the Little Ones or whomever became the Little Ones, but maybe that's where Ink got his tattoos. When they look at that slip of paper doesn't Michael say "some of these symbols look familiar"? Maybe he remembered them from TOWTM.