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3 : CLONED HYBRIDS
The
Lichfield Project : first human clones
Throughout the second half of the 20th century it would appear that
genetic research was much more advanced than what was made officially
known. During the height of the Cold War, in the 1950s and 60s, a
secret race for feats in genetics accompanied the arms race in the
open. In the United States, research in genetic engineering resulted in
the Lichfield experiments, named after the research comound where they
took place: for the first time, several human clones were created. "
The boys were called Adam and the girls
were called Eve", after the biblical first Men.
As part of the experiment, these clones were given five extra
chromosomes compared to the normal 46 for a human: "
additional genes, heightened strength,
heightened intelligence".
An unforseen result was also their heightened psychosis and violent
behaviour, which made the experiment to be discontinued. One of the
Eves, Eve 8, continued the experiment by creating clones of herself
through in vitro fertilization by working as a doctor in the 1980s.
The 1973
agreement: the Method
The failure of the Paper Clip scientists to create a successful
alien/human hybrid pushes the group of government officials to contact
the aliens directly in 1973. An agreement is passed, one that seals the
fate of the human race. The group of humans, that will be known as the
Syndicate, abandons all hope to resist the aliens and decides to
collaborate with the aliens: preparing the colonization (the Project)
in the exchange of survival for the Syndicate and their families. But
just as it had been surmised before when it had been decided that a
hybrid soldier race would have to be created, survival from the viral
colonization would only be possible if the Syndicate itself became
hybrids. Thus the focus changed from creating hybrids that would fight
for the humans to changing a human into a hybrid. And the Syndicate, no
longer answering to any government, became a shadow group.
To assist the Syndicate in this task, the aliens provided them with two
things: an alien fetus, from which fresh and perhaps stem cell tissue
could be drawn (unlike the dead, mutilated and mature bodies of the
Roswell crash); and the Method. The Method was that which allowed the
human scientists to best mix human and alien DNA, knowledge and
technique which the human civilization had not yet reached. Thanks to
this, the experiments strove forward.
The
cloned hybrids
To seal the agreement with the aliens, the Syndicate had to give away
one of their family members to the aliens. Those family members would
be frequently abducted by the aliens and would also serve as the main
test subjects for the hybridization experiments. Fuelled with newfound
knowledge of the Lichfield cloning experiments and the Method, the
Syndicate scientists embark on creating an entire new class of hybrids:
the cloned hybrids. The following method was used:
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1)
Genetic material (DNA in the nucleus of a cell)
is taken from the
original Samantha Mulder and from cultures issued from the original
alien tissue (the alien
fetus).
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2)
The two DNAs are mixed together, creating a
hybrid DNA. Different
ways of mixing them together result in a more or less perfect, ie
successful, hybrid.
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3)
The hybrid DNA (or nucleus) is inserted in an
ovula (egg) that has
previously had its nucleus taken off. The ovula is then fertilized, the
ovula becomes an embryo.
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4)
The embryo is placed inside a vat where it grows,
then it's placed
in a greater tank until it comes to full maturity.
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At
this stage, we have a first-generation alien/human
hybrid. It can
look like the human it spawned from (the Samanthas, the Gregors) but
not necessarily (deformed like the Merchandise hybrids). From there on we can
create clones out of this original hybrid, almost exactly in the same
way the Dolly sheep was created:
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5)
The nucleus of the hybrid is taken and inserted
in another
enucleated ovula.
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6)
The resulting embryo is grown in vats and tanks
in the same way.
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The
result is a clone of the original hybrid, exactly
similar to that
hybrid.
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The Syndicate family members' DNA is taken, mixed with alien DNA to
create a hybrid, inserted into ovula taken from women that have been
abducted for that purpose, and grown into a hybrid being. Multiple
similar hybrids can be created with that method: they are clones. They
are not, despite their similar appearance, exact genetic clones of the
original family member, as they are
hybrids. The growth of a hybrid is much faster than a human being's:
thus after 1973 the Syndicate was able to create hybrids that would
appear to be children, young adults or elderly people. Time passed in
the tanks probably determines the apparent age of the hybrid. The
biochemistry of the hybrid is different from that of a human: a green
oozing fluid, toxic to humans, flows in their bodies.
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Cloned hybrids - 1973-1999
- who: young and adult Samantha Mulders; the 'Gregors'; young and adult
Kurt Crawfords; Dr. Calderon
- method: hybridized egg from human and alien material, accelerated
growth in tank
- immune to the Black Oil
- green toxin as blood
- weak spot on the base of the neck
- used as work force for menial tasks by the Syndicate
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Thus it is very likely that all of these cloned hybrids come from some
Syndicate family member: Samantha Mulder, Kurt Crawford, Jeremiah
Smith, 'Gregor', Calderon...
As the experiments to create a better hybrid continued, these cloned
hybrids were
used as a work force for repetitive or menial jobs. They were
employed
in the Project taking care of bees and crops for the colonization; they
classified and updated data on the general population through for
example the Social Security Administration; they worked in hospital or
fertility clinics to have access to medical equipment that would help
them in the creation of more hybrids; they took care of the growth of
more of their own. They were a separate race, not alien nor human. By
the aliens and the Syndicate both, they were treated as inferior
beings, created only to serve a purpose, slaves to the Greater Purpose
of colonization. After the colonization, they are likely to be
exterminated or serve as slaves.
As a result it was not rare that these hybrids exhibited rebellious
behavior against the Project and their masters. In 1995 a group of
separatist Samantha and 'Gregor' clones attempted to free themselves
and create a "colony" of their own. They hoped they would be allowed to
live in peace along with the future masters of the Earth, the alien
Colonists. But they were not tolerated; the aliens sent an Alien Bounty
Hunter who exterminated them. In 1997 a group of Kurt clones attempted
to save the women that had provided the ova thanks to which they were
created -- the closest thing they had to mothers -- who were dying of
cancer as a result of their abduction. They were also exterminated by
the Syndicate.
They can only be killed by the insertion of the alien stiletto at the
base of their neck, a stiletto held only by the aliens and given to the
Syndicate on special occasions. It was probably developed by the aliens
to execute the Shapeshifters on the previous colonization effort, since
they have the same weak spot. One of those stilettos somehow came into
the possession of William Mulder, who hid it in his cottage in
Quonochontaug. Another stiletto was entrusted to the Syndicate by the
Alien Bounty Hunters in 1997 so that the Syndicate would police its own
hybrids and no longer call upon the aliens themselves for that.
Towards a
successful hybrid
These cloned hybrids served no other purpose than to understand the
human-alien genes interaction, to see the effects of a particular 'mix'
of genes using the Method would create. These hybrids were not an end
but intermediate results towards the creation of a hybrid through gene
therapy -- to turn the living Syndicate into hybrids.
In 1996 or earlier was developed another strain of hybrids, one that
can be called successful in that it has all the desired elements a
successful hybrid was expected to have -- only that it was born a
hybrid, not made into one through gene therapy. These hybrids were able
to shapeshift, to self-heal and to heal others. After their creation,
the Syndicate finally knew what balance of alien and human genes was
necessary to obtain a successful hybrid, and they would attempt to
re-create that result on living humans.
The Jeremiah Smith clones, working in the Social Security
Administration, rebelled against the Syndicate; they were tracked down
by the Alien Bounty Hunter and exterminated -- all but one. In
1997-1998, some of these clones were entrusted with the alein stiletto
by the Syndicate so as to take over the role of the Alien Bounty
Hunter: to police the Syndicate's projects.
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'Successful' cloned hybrids -
1996(?)-1999
- who: Jeremiah Smiths; Syndiacte henchmen "Dark Suited Men"
- same characteristics as the other cloned hybrids
- ability to shapeshift
- abiility to self-heal and heal others
- ability to read minds
- used as work force for menial tasks or as executioner police by the
Syndicate
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Many, if not all, of the attributes of the cloned hybrids are shared
with the race of the shapeshifters (the Alien Bounty Hunters and the
Rebels), confusingly enough. This is because the shapeshifters were
created by the alien Colonists using their own genetic material. All
three races -- Colonists, Shapeshifters, Humans -- share a common
genetic heritage. From the resemblance of the Colonist/Human hybrid
with the Shapeshifter, we can surmise that the Colonists too must
possess the 'green toxin' in their development. It is likely that after
the body of the grey Colonist becomes fully mature, the Black Oil
retreats to the brain and the rest of the body is occupied by this
'green toxin'.
Key episodes: 1X10: Eve,
2X16:
Colony, 2X17: End Game, 4X01:
Herrenvolk, 4X15: Memento Mori, 5X07:
Emily, 5X14: The Red and the Black,
6X12:
One Son
See also: Primer 3