Materials of D.E.L.I.A. (5.2-6)

Finally Got to the Roots of That Damned D.E.L.I.A. Series Elizabeth Crowe has dumped the copy of the D-specimen report that apparently started it all on me. I'm sitting in my Brooklyn office, taxis honking outside, digging through the yellowed reports like an archaeologist digging into a pyramid. These aren't my experiments - I'm an engineer, not a scientist - but Elizabeth wants everything to look "proper" for the committee. D-specimen, the one connected to the Delia York case, was the first one to go under the microscope, and judging by the notes, it's what made everyone think we were onto something otherworldly. Here's what I gleaned from Mark and Linda's lab logs, trying not to drown in their Latin incantations.

Note from David S.: Specimen D is like the beginning of a thriller where everyone is already dead and I'm sitting there thinking: who the hell decided we'd find answers in these old tissues? Elizabeth, if you're reading this, give me a vacation, not another folder.

Experiment with specimen D for the D.E.L.I.A. project
Based on laboratory protocols, March 2000

Specimen D is a tissue fragment (1.1 cm, presumably pulmonary, origin unconfirmed), stored in paraffin since 1998 in the institute's refrigerator. This is the first specimen that Earl Knight brought to the institute, linking it to Delia York, who died in 1991 from "atypical sarcoma." It was the trigger for the entire D.E.L.I.A. series, forcing scientists to dig into the cases of Laura, Isaac, Eliza, and Alexander. Doctors were still scratching their heads back then, in 1991, not understanding what kind of pathology they were looking at, and, apparently, we haven't made much progress in 2000.

Note from David S.: Delia is the beginning of this whole nightmare, and I'm sitting here rewriting a report as if it's going to bring her or the other kids back to life. Someone up there probably thinks we're going to solve the mystery of the century, and all I see is a dusty refrigerator and a bunch of questions.

The experiment was conducted from 10 to 15 March 2000. The tissue was removed from paraffin (enzymatic dissociation with trypsin and collagenase), placed in a Petri dish with DMEM culture medium, supplemented with 10% FBS serum and placed in a Thermo Forma incubator (37°C, 5% CO₂). Rat PC12 cells served as a control, as in later tests with other specimens. The goal was to check whether these cells had any activity after two years of storage, or were simply dead weight.

Note from David S.: Honestly, who on the committee thought old tissue would talk like a horror movie? I'd rather have a beer than dig into this. Mark was probably thinking he was Spielberg while he was peering through the microscope.

After 48 hours, under a Nikon Eclipse E400 microscope (400x magnification), Mark noticed that the cells in specimen D weren't just lying around, they were dividing-the mitotic rate was 10 mitoses per field, which sounds like science fiction for dead tissue. They were forming clusters with polymorphic nuclei, and in some areas there was regeneration, as if the cells had decided to fix themselves. Linda wrote in the protocol: "This doesn't look like normal tissue, more like an attempt by the organism to reassemble itself." Elizabeth suggested that this might be due to abnormal gene expression, but without DNA sequencing, we're like blind kittens.

Note from David S.: Regeneration? Seriously? What, we found immortal cells, like in a cheap sci-fi movie? Linda, stop talking to Tech Joe and check your notes. This is all white-knuckled, but I have to rewrite this as if we're about to win a Nobel Prize.

By 72 hours, the D cells were starting to influence PC12. In dishes where they were side by side, the rat cells showed increased proliferation, 12% higher than normal, with irregular nuclei similar to those in D. A Perkin-Elmer Lambda 2 spectrophotometer picked up strange peaks at 460 nm and 610 nm that didn't match anything in the cancer databases. Mark wrote in his report (March 12, 2000): "Specimen D behaves as if it were alive. It's not just a tumor, it's something with its own program." I read that and thought: Mark, you've been watching too much Alien.

Note from David S.: A live program? Mark, put down the science fiction and turn on your brain. We're sitting with Windows 98, which freezes every half hour, looking for a "program" in dead cells? It's like looking for aliens in soup. Someone up there is probably rubbing their hands, waiting for a sensation from us.

At 96 hours, the cells in specimen D had formed structures resembling primitive tissue with vessels-abnormal vascularization, as Elizabeth put it. Immunohistochemistry (Ki-67, VEGF) showed high proliferative activity and expression of vascular growth factors, but the cells remained carcinoma in situ. Elizabeth concluded in her report (March 15, 2000): "Specimen D is a paradox: regeneration and oncology in one bottle. It sets the tone for the entire D.E.L.I.A. series, but without new technologies we are at a dead end."

Note from David S.: Paradox? That's putting it mildly, Elizabeth. We're staring into a microscope like a crystal ball, waiting for it to tell us about Delia. And I'm sitting here, copying, wondering if this D specimen is just a joke, and we've all fallen for it.

Comparison with other specimens (L, I, E, A) showed that specimen D was their progenitor. All had polymorphic nuclei and abnormal vascularization, but D stood out for its regenerative activity. Linda suggested that it was "older" in biological activity, perhaps due to its unique origin. James Lin hinted at "external influence" but without specifics - as always, empty words. Elizabeth told them to stop guessing until there was proof.

Note from David S.: Lin is again theorizing like he's Sherlock Holmes. External influence? Maybe the coffee machine in the lab is emitting radiation? I'd shake the hand of anyone who says we're wasting our budget. It's all far-fetched, and I'm just a copyist of their fantasies.