The Serum

The transformation serum

The experiments' own scientists created a serum in 2037 that can turn a human into an experiment. It's a golden, amber-yellow liquid with a faint purple glow.

The serum puts the human into a coma for about 24 hours while their body changes. The process is extremely painful, but strangely, it also feels kind of good.

The serum has only been used once, in 2046, and it failed. The human it was tested on died. The scientists spent the next two years fixing it, and by 2048 it was perfected. But the fixed serum has never been used on anyone. The steps below describe how the process is supposed to go.

Storage and permission

The serum is kept in a fridge inside a locked room on N8.

Only certain high-ranking experiments, like approved scientists and executives, are allowed into that room. Nobody can give the serum to anyone without permission from the right people.

The process

1. Capturing a human

When a human gets too close to the facility or wanders into a restricted area, guards hiding in the lookout post shoot them with a tranquilizer and bring them inside. Their phone and any other devices are taken and destroyed.

The human is then taken to the research room on N7, which has thick windows that block any view of the outside. They stay there while everything is prepared and permission is given.

2. Tranquilizer and mind wipe

Once tranquilized, the human stays unconscious for one hour.

During that hour, staff give them a drug that wipes their memory. It's meant to erase who they are, their old life, how they were captured and how they got to the facility. The mind wipe always happens before the serum is given.

3. Restraints and the serum

After the mind wipe, the human is strapped down to a cot inside the research room. Once permission is given, they receive the serum. They fall into the 24-hour coma, and during that time their body changes into a Sawian.

4. Waking up and questioning

When the coma ends, the new experiment is checked over, questioned and tested.

Staff want to know if they remember anything about who they used to be, their old life, or how they were captured. They also watch for any signs of fighting back, disobeying or anything else concerning.

If the new experiment resists, starts remembering things or acts in a way that worries staff, they're sedated and mind wiped again.

5. Getting a number

Once the change is successful, the new experiment is given an experiment number and officially becomes part of the population.

For example, if there are 30,322 experiments and a human is successfully changed, they become Experiment #30,323.

6. Two weeks on N12

After questioning, the new experiment is moved into a watched pod on N12. It's deep in the facility on purpose, to keep new experiments as far from everyone else as possible.

They stay there for two weeks, separated from the rest of the population. They get food and water, but the food is noticeably worse than what everyone else eats. This is a reminder that they haven't earned the same treatment yet.

During these two weeks, they're taught the facility's rules and watched closely. They have to accept that their old life is over and that they're never going home.

If memories start coming back at any point, they're mind wiped again. This is repeated as many times as it takes.

7. Release

Once the new experiment shows they understand the rules and will follow them, they're released from N12 and sent to N3.

They're given an empty pod among the rest of the population. From then on, they live like everyone else, follow the same rules, show up to roll call and keep to the daily schedule.