Notes from Dr. Tom Baker | Invulnerable pt 1 ch 3

The phenomenon, Patient Zero, and social effects

INVULNERABLE

Part I - Safe

Chapter 3 - From the records of Dr. Thomas Baker

Dr TomDr. Baker:

The Phenomenon:

Thought at first it was contact, but mere personal presence only was required. Doesn't work via telephone or audio-visual recordings. The transformation appears nigh-instantaneous, except sometimes presaged by a moment of extreme anger or fear, a "last gasp" of the old ways perhaps?

Technique? Pheremonal?

Zero patient:

Zero patient (#0) was no mystery from the beginning. #0 seems to have no particular personal attachment to this incredible phenomenon.

#0 says the phenomenon exhibited a few times before he came to the city, but claims not to remember much of the details.

Did he originate this phenomenon? Is he a carrier? He claims he doesn't remember ever not being unafraid, but he seems not to remember much of anything before the first few incidents, so don't know if he caught it elsewhere.

Mostly just wants to spread the feeling, as we all do.

The only real difference I find between #0 and others is, only his personal conversion rate is 100%.

Media and government

What I wonder is, if #0 had the same kind of dramatic experiences elsewhere, why would we not have heard of similar phenomena?

One possible answer may be found in our own experiences with the media. As the community grew, journalists or reporters would come by, but one way or another, the reports just didn't get filed, or the story runs in the back pages and has no legs. We weren't newsworthy, because nothing's really happening. It's a non-story. A Seinfeldism.

An angry, obviously hostile building inspector came by, but the first person he talked to was Paul. The inspector, Gary, is now our liaison with the city code department.

Health inspectors and government officiaries started coming by, each hostile, each won over.

Police detectives followed.

Some people don't think there was any connection, any significance to this parade of hostile government people, but I'm concerned (a little) about the pattern of inimical inspections and undue attention.

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