Orphan Black Classified Clone Reports Read online

  I know what you’re going to say, that kids are made of rubber. The victim’s uncle said something similar to the girl’s mother at least twice in the waiting room that I heard. And maybe that’s it, but I’m telling you she had broken ribs and sufficient head trauma for there to be internal bleeding. The fact that there were no signs of that just a few minutes later is astounding, if not a miracle.

  Maybe she’s just a lucky little girl, like I told her mother or maybe she’s something else. I’d like your permission to look into this further.

  Thanks much,

  Rafi

  —PROPERTY OF DYAD INSTITUTE—

  OTHER LEDA CLONES

  Berliner Morgenpost [translated]

  MAGAZINE EDITOR MISSING

  STAFF WRITER

  Katja Obinger, the features editor for the fashion magazine Die Mode, has been declared missing. The report was made by her assistant, Karla Fischer.

  Obinger was last seen riding a taxicab bound for Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg to board a plane to London. According to Fischer, the trip to London was business related, but Obinger did not inform Fischer what the business was.

  While Obinger was booked on Vista Atlantic Flight 231 to London, there is no record of her boarding that flight.

  Interpol has been alerted and Polizei Berlin is continuing to investigate. If anyone has any information about Obinger, they should contact Polizei at +49 30 4664-4664.

  -Katja—made contact with Beth and Alison—killed by Helena

  -Other known Ledas: Aryanna Giordano, Italy (deceased), Janika Zingler, Austria (deceased), Danielle Fournier, France (deceased)

  -Tony – only known transgender clone.

  -Contact with Sarah and Felix but largely unaware of other Ledas

  DECEASED

  DYAD INSTITUTE

  September 14, 2013

  Jennifer Fitzsimmons

  1082-20 Main Street, Apt 2B

  Chicago, IL 60018

  Dear Ms. Fitzsimmons:

  I am writing in response to your request to be included in The Dyad Institute’s Polycystoid Autoimmune Clinical Trial.

  The PAC Trial began treating its first cycle of patients in 2010, with an initial control group of 35 subjects. All patients displayed a variety of symptoms of autoimmune disorders of unknown origin. Like you, they were facing a mysterious and degenerative condition, plagued by misdiagnoses and ill served by a medical community bound by conventional thinking. Our experimental protocol resulted in positive outcomes for 68% of the initial test group, with eight subsequent trials bringing our success rate up to 88%.

  Here at The Dyad Institute, we strive to push the boundaries of biological possibility each and every day. The PAC Trial is one of many experimental protocols we are conducting to expand our understanding of disease and treatment — with the aim of helping patients like yourself who have been failed by standard treatment options.

  Ms. Fitzsimmons, I am pleased to welcome you as a participant in the latest cycle of the PAC Trial, and look forward to your joining our patient group at The Dyad Institute. Your travel, board, and treatment expenses will be provided for under the Trial agreement, as well as travel and board for one additional family member or significant other.

  My office will be contacting you shortly to make arrangements, and I look forward to meeting you in person.

  Sincerely,

  Dr. Aldous Leekie

  Chairman, The Dyad Institute

  * * *

  SELECTED TRANSCRIPTS OF VIDEO DIARY, JENNIFER FITZSIMMONS (325b31)

  Entry 1

  Hi, I’m Jennifer Fitzsimmons, I’m a teacher and swim coach at Sheldon High. So, uh, they asked me to keep this video journal because they found polyps on my lungs. I was, uh, having trouble breathing, and went in for tests, and—Yeah, unidentified polyps. So that kinda sucks.

  What else? The team’s doing great this year. Usually I run laps with them, but it was when I did that that I first started having the problem. My boyfriend forced me to go to the ER, and here we are. Great, right?

  I guess that’s what I should be recording here, huh? How it happened? I guess? So, I ran laps with the kids, and Kelsey was keeping up with me like usual and Omar was lagging behind, also like usual, I made the turn and I came up, and—nothing. I just couldn’t catch any air. And it wasn’t like when I swallowed water or anything. God knows, I’ve had that happen plenty of times. No, this was, uh, this was bad. I couldn’t catch my breath at all.

  You know what it was like? Okay, back when I was a kid, I used to take karate. I gave it up to join the swim team, but I remember the sensei told this great story. We had to learn words for parts of the body—Japanese words. Sensei told us that the word for solar plexus was suigetsu.

  It’s funny, I googled it years later, and that’s not the Japanese word for it, I don’t think.

  But it doesn’t matter. The story’s what’s good.

  Suigetsu means “the monkey in the water.” Or at least that was what he told us. See, there’s this monkey and he sees the reflection of the moon in the water. He thinks it’s cool and he grabs for it. But his paw disturbs the water and the reflection of the moon goes away. The monkey’s all sad now, because, let’s face it, monkeys aren’t the brightest creatures in the world. Although, I’ve taught some kids who probably were just as dumb.

  Anyhow, the water calms down and the moon’s reflection comes back. The monkey’s happy, so he grabs for it. And it starts all over again.

  Getting hit in the solar plexus is like the monkey grabbing for the moon.

  Never been hit in the solar plexus. But that day, in the pool? I was totally grabbing for the moon’s reflection and not getting it.

  It took a lot of tests, but they finally found polyps. So now it’s time for treatment. Hooray.

  From the diary of Dr. Delphine Cormier, Germany

  We have all been betrayed. I cannot believe that I was such a fool as to believe what Rachel told me!

  I write this from an airplane that is taking me to my new position in Dyad’s office in Frankfurt. I have been forbidden from seeing Cosima, removed from my position as interim CEO, and removed from North America entirely. I should have known that I could not serve three masters. D’accord, I could not even truly serve two. I tried to be Cosima’s doctor and her lover, when every letter of medical ethics tells me that such a course is incredibly unwise. The moment I declared my love for her—no, the moment she joined Dyad—I should have recused myself from my responsibility for her medical care.

  That has been done for me, but because I tried to serve a third master—as a Dyad employee and interim director—I have been denied the chance to be her lover as well. Rachel manipulated me, indeed all of us, to get what she desires. She disguised herself as Sarah, used me to sow discontent among Sarah’s allies, and kidnapped Kira. While this is good news in the abstract for Cosima, as Kira’s stem cells are her best hope for surviving until Dr. Duncan can provide a gene therapy for us—that is, for Cosima’s doctors to use—it is terrible news for Kira. There is no worse place to be than in Rachel’s clutches, as I have learned to my detriment.

  Je suis desolé, ma chère. I tried to be your doctor and your lover, and now I am neither. I am trapped on another continent while you fight for your life.

  Je t’aime, Cosima. Je t’aime toujours.

  DYAD INSTITUTE

  Duncan, Rachel

  PLGI #308a01

  PERSONNEL FILE

  DuncanR, executive status/employee ID 0415-2112-B. AA

  clearance needed for medical Hx.

  DOB: 03-31-1984

  HEIGHT: 5’4”

  WEIGHT: 108 lbs.

  OCCUPATION: Executive at Dyad.

  SEE ALSO: DuncanE, DuncanS, BowlesC, LeekieA, NealonA, RosenD, DierdenP, SuominenV (PLGI #3MK29a).

  Adopted by Project Leda’s lead scientists, Drs. Ethan and Susan Duncan, Rachel was informed early that she was a clone, one of many. While her early formative years were stable, the deat
h of her parents at Dyad’s Cambridge lab explosion in 1991 deeply traumatized her. A ward of Dyad through Aldous Leekie, the subject was essentially raised by researchers, doctors, and private tutors. In a series of laboratories, her cognitive, physical, and emotional development were continually documented. From thirteen to seventeen, she was sent to boarding schools and summer programs across the EU. The subject worked to embody what she believed herself to be, what her guardians told her she was: an advancement on humanity, self-aware as the next evolution. By the time she was eighteen, Rachel was fluent in seven languages and was an accomplished art historian. Although she was required to take a series of intensive science courses (core genetics, theoretical evolution) she chose to study psychology, marketing, and behavioral economics at university. After which she earned her MBA from the University of Toronto’s prestigious Rotman School at the top of her class. Dyad fast-tracked her into an executive position. She became a key negotiator between Dyad and its umbrella companies, and outlined an aggressive plan to begin more comprehensive testing of her genetic identicals.

  DYAD INSTITUTE

  OFFICIAL MEMO

  * * *

  OFFICIAL MEMO

  SENT TO: Board of Directors

  SENT FROM: Rachel Duncan

  SUBJECT: Promotion

  I would like to thank you all for welcoming me to my new position. While my mother was an adequate scientist, I do not feel that she had sufficient understanding to run the project and serve Neolution’s agenda with sufficient skill.

  For my entire life, I have been told — mostly by my mother — that my status as a subject in Project Leda compromised my ability to be an administrator of it. And yet, the project thrived under my leadership. I can assure you that Neolution will do the same. I will gladly and skillfully do P. T. Westmorland’s great work. Together, we will change the world. Together, we will improve the world. Together, we will make humanity great.

  —PROPERTY OF DYAD INSTITUTE—

  DYAD INSTITUTE

  OFFICIAL MEMO

  * * *

  OFFICIAL MEMO

  SENT TO: Doctors Emmett Christiansen and Caren Plant

  SENT FROM: Rachel Duncan

  SUBJECT: Laboratory Space

  It has come to my attention that there is confict between the pair of you with regard to Laboratory 313. Because of space restrictions, you have been assigned to share the facilities in 313. While your respective botany projects are both of great scientific interest, they are not suffiiciently important to our bottom line to justify separate laboratory facilities for each of you, as you have both separately demanded of me. Your childish arguing will cease and the pair of you will work out a method by which the laboratory and its equipment may be shared.

  I do not expect to hear any further complaints from either of you on this subject. Consider it closed.

  DYAD INSTITUTE

  OFFICIAL MEMO

  * * *

  ANNUAL EMPLOYEE EVALUATION

  EMPLOYEE: Rachel Duncan

  EMPLOYEE ID: 0415-2112-B

  SUPERVISOR: Marion Bowles

  POSITIVES

  Duncan continues to bring an intensity to her work that is reflected in her department’s efficiency and timeliness. None of her projects have run behind schedule, none of her projects have gone over budget—or under budget, for that matter. Her projections tend to be brutal, but also unerringly accurate. She also brings the unique perspective of actually being a Leda clone while heading up Project Leda.

  NEGATIVES

  That same intensity leads to difficulties in her interpersonal reactions. Turnover in her department is heavy, particularly among the lower-ranked and lesser-tenured personnel. Duncan’s demeanor is cold and unfeeling, which can be useful in a supervisor, but can also sometimes be problematic. Her solutions to personnel issues have been either to give orders for people to get along (not a strategy with a history of success) or to fire one or both of the offending parties—which primarily discourages people from mentioning their personnel issues at all, thus allowing them to fester.

  To this end, we have transferred many of the personnel responsibilities to Aldous Leekie, who is a far better evaluator of people.

  OVERALL EVALUATION

  Duncan is a valuable asset to Dyad and Topside, the last link we have to Ethan and Susan Duncan’s work, and a firsthand Leda clone. It is recommended that she be given a title bump and salary increase commensurate with a satisfactory job performance. It is further recommended that she be encouraged to attend therapy sessions in order to improve her interpersonal skills, though such encouragements in the past have been met with steely-eyed refusal.

  Dearest Rachel,

  Your mother and I are so proud of you, darling! First to make the honour roll at school, and then to be chosen to give the reading at the nativity play! I have to say that it is a truly fine Christmas present, to know that our brilliant little girl is being recognized for her brilliance.

  Between you and me, your mother is less happy about the nativity play, but her school didn’t have one. I remember when I was your age and I was chosen to play one of the Three Wise Men. I only had one line, and I spent days memorizing it.

  You, though, get to read an entire passage from Luke! With your superb elocution and your dedication, I am quite convinced that you will read it with eloquence and grace.

  We are very grateful for you, Rachel. You are the proof that what we do is worthwhile, and we will always love you for that.

  Love and kisses,

  Dad (and Mum)

  -Rachel lost her eye to an attack by Sarah.

  -Now has bionic eye—what kind of control does that give Neolution over her?

  POSTOPERATIVE REPORT

  SURGEON: Alan Nealon

  PATIENT: Rachel Duncan

  ANESTHESIOLOGIST: Alfred Morgan

  ASSISTANT: Giancarlo Wu

  PROCEDURE: Corneal foreign body removal

  ANESTHESIA: Lidocaine with l:100,000 epinephrine

  PREOPERATIVE DIAGNOSIS: Foreign projectile (#2 pencil) embedded in left oculus at high speeds, resulting in significant damage to the lens, cornea, retina, and medial rectus. The point of the pencil also penetrated the frontal lobe of the patient’s brain.

  NOTES ON PROCEDURE: Foreign projectile was removed without further trauma to ocular region, however function in the eye was deemed negligible given the damage, and so preparation for prosthetic was indicated. Patient reacted well to anesthesia and ocular region was irrigated so that no trace of the projectile remained.

  POSTOPERATIVE DIAGNOSIS: The eye has been cleared for a prosthetic, which will be implanted after the eye has sufficiently healed. However, the extent of the brain damage is impossible to know immediately. There are likely to be cognitive issues, speech issues, and mobility issues. For the moment, patient cannot use her legs or her left arm and is suffering from aphasia. These symptoms may fade with time or may be permanent.

  From the diary of Dr. Delphine Cormier, Dyad Institute

  Never have I felt sympathy for Shakespeare’s Richard III as much as I have these past few weeks. It has truly been my winter of discontent. I celebrated (to use the verb “to celebrate” very loosely) a holiday season that was filled not with cheer but misery. A Christmas that should have been the first of many with Cosima was instead, thanks to Rachel’s machinations, spent alone in a dingy Dyad-rented flat in Frankfurt. I was convinced I would never see my love again.

  Winter is a time that is focused on endings. It is when the days are shortest, and when they start to lengthen again. It is not a coincidence that many calendars, including the one now used most in the world, end at this time and then start anew. So many festivals are held at the winter solstice because that is when the sun renews itself.

  In the past, I have spent New Year’s Eve at parties with friends, most often in Paris, drinking a great deal of wine and champagne. This year, I had hopes of being with Cosima, and perhaps some of her sisters.

  Instead, I
was alone and miserable. I sat with red wine, the color of blood, and wondered if perhaps opening my veins might be the best solution, to simply end the pain in the only way I could think of.

  That thought was fleeting, lasting only a brief moment, but its power nearly felled me. I was so lost, and I promised myself never to be that lost again.

  I also had an epiphany. I realized that I could not balance all the needs of my life at once, for they were in conflict. I had set myself up to fail, for I could not do the job Aldous gave me without betraying Cosima, and I could not be Cosima’s helpmeet and remain a loyal Dyad employee.

  Having come to this realization, I am now faced with a further dilemma. Marion Bowles has offered me the position of the head of Project Leda. I would, in essence, be doing both Rachel’s and Aldous’s jobs, supervising the project, taking reports from monitors—and making sure that a cure is found for the autoimmune disorder that is ravaging Cosima.

  This is further complicated by Ethan Duncan’s suicide before he could provide the key to all his ciphers. He provided only information for Cosima, for which I am of course grateful, but his selfish actions may sign the death warrant for the other Leda clones.

  And then there is Project Castor.

  I do not know what to make of that. Knowing there is an American military project that is adjacent to Leda, developing male clones and training them as soldiers. The one that Marion has captured for Topside is a sociopath, and I do not hold out much hope for the others being much of an improvement, given what we know.

  On the one hand, this will give me an opportunity to finish the work I started when Aldous recruited me. It will also allow me to again have a direct hand in curing Cosima.