Chapter Text
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
JOINT TASK FORCE – █████
AUDIO RECORDING TRANSCRIPT
FILE DESIGNATION: JTF-INDIGO-014
CLASSIFICATION: LEVEL V – EYES ONLY
ORIGINAL STATUS: TOP SECRET
DECLASSIFIED: ██/██/2006
SUBJECT: DR. SAM OWENS
INTERVIEWER: DR. MARGRET KAY
LOCATION: FORWARD OPERATIONS SITE “NIGHTFALL”
DATE: ██/██/1986
TIME: 09:13 EST
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[BEGIN RECORDING]
00:00:03
KAY: Are you comfortable, Sam?
OWENS: Not particularly, no.
KAY: Well, that's a shame.
OWENS: Look, I already told you — just like I told Sullivan — Brenner was responsible for everything that happened at Project NINA. And as I'm sure you're aware, Martin Brenner was shot down by Sullivan's forces.
KAY: This isn't about Eleven.
OWENS: It's not?
KAY: This is about her predecessor.
OWENS: I'm afraid I don't follow.
KAY: Oh, of course. How could you? Unless, of course, there were breadcrumbs with which to do so.
OWENS: Breadcrumbs?
KAY: A withdrawn index, perhaps?
OWENS: Ah. Yes. Daedalus. Completely unethical. I believe the project was scrapped, if I'm not mistaken.
KAY: Are you not? Mistaken, that is.
OWENS: How do you mean?
KAY: Feigning ignorance doesn't suit you, Sam. It betrays your intelligence and insults mine.
The project may have been discarded, but not before there was an attempt to initiate it prior to authorization.
OWENS: If there were such an attempt, I believe it would have been compromised beyond viability. Resulting in the index being withdrawn.
00:01:41
KAY: You're a doctor, Sam. I'm sure you're aware of how penicillin came to be.
OWENS: By accident.
KAY: Not just by accident. By negligence.
He was researching infectious bacteria, but he wasn't getting very far, so he closed up the lab and took a vacation. When he returned, he found he'd left one of his petri dishes out of the incubator. It had collected spores during his absence.
And from those spores, a colony of mold had begun to form.
But interestingly enough, the area surrounding the newly formed mold was completely devoid of bacteria.
Possibly one of the greatest breakthroughs in medical science was the result of a discarded specimen left to the whims of nature.
I myself had nearly forgotten that story… until I found his file.
[papers rustling]
OWENS: Excuse me?
KAY: Oh… do I have your attention now?
[silence — approximately 4 seconds]
KAY: You hid him well, Sam. Even better than his sister.
Then again, I imagine there was no hiding her from Brenner.
You took over the lab in his absence. Came across that discarded petri dish, took one look at the budding potential it held, and then did everything in your power to hide it away so Brenner would never find it.
So he'd never even go looking for it.
One would think you would do such a thing to claim credit for the discovery.
But you didn't.
In fact, I have to believe you did everything in your power to covertly contain it so it would never see the light of day.
So forgive me, but I simply must ask —
Why?
00:04:12
[brief pause — tape hiss]
OWENS: Have you ever taken a Hippocratic Oath, doctor?
KAY: I can't say I've had the pleasure.
OWENS: Well, I have. And suffice to say that the suggestion that I would knowingly withhold a life-saving discovery such as penicillin is quite the accusation.
KAY: And yet…
OWENS: Yet?
KAY: Exceptional measures were taken to do just that, if I'm not mistaken.
OWENS: You are, actually.
[deep sigh]
[papers shuffling]
00:05:09
KAY: The Soteria technology is incredibly expensive, Sam. And highly confidential.
In fact, only two devices were ever produced.
The first was ordered by Martin Brenner. A suppression measure. Implanted into Subject 001.
OWENS: Soteria, as you said, is very expensive and not to be distributed unless there is a demonstrable threat to national security.
KAY: So tell me, Sam.
Why did you order the other one?
00:05:48
[silence — approximately 7 seconds]
OWENS: Because the kid isn't penicillin.
[END AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION]