Project Soma (Lexicon)
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I have compiled hundreds of research documents which have escaped the city of Malton. These, combined with dozens of interviews with scientifically-inclined survivors, paint a rather alarming picture.
Literally dozens of black projects were underway at the time of the initial outbreak, undertaken cooperatively or individually by the corporations NecroTech, Rateger, Inc., and Defense Research Corp. Many of these projects involved designing highly pathogenic viruses and altering the human genome.
One of the more significant of these projects was Project Sunrise; according to the documents retrieved by Blake Arnold, Project Sunrise was an attempt to end endemic hunger in Africa by creating an aerosolized retrovirus which would reduce metabolic activity in its hosts. The retrovirus was known as Agent 50; this is not to be confused with Agent 51, which is either a more virulent strain or an antiviral cocktail designed to reverse the retrovirus's effects, according to my interviews. According to some documents acquired by military personnel, both agents contain a component called "Zeta extract." It is rumoured to be extraterrestrial in origin, having been collected from meteorite fragments after the 13 June meteor shower (bunk, in my professional opinion).
Some of the documents hinted that Sunrise may have been related to (or possibly a cover for) something called Project Soma—another retrovirus project, this one intended for military use. It was housed in the Topleaf Building, which, according to rumour, also contained a 500,000-liter blast chamber for testing aerosol dispersion. The exact purpose of the project was not known to any of my interviewees; some believed it was meant to enhance a soldier's capabilities on the battlefield, while others considered it an entirely new category of biological weapon. This, obviously, draws interesting parallels to DRC's Soldier Survivability System, though it is too early to say just what the connection may be.
Dr. Liam Preston, Royal College of Surgeons
X1M43 22:30, 23 May 2006 (BST) References: Defense Research Corp, Zeta extract, Topleaf Building
