I
work at a biotech research facility, and a common phrase around the
office is “Some things are not to be repeated.” When I first
heard it I just threw it off as some practical in-joke that was
passed around, much less something of actual importance. It was later
on in my career at the biotech lab though that I began to think that
the phrase might actually have a meaning.
It
started with just a thought in bed. I was reading a book and at some
point something was mentioned that reminded me of the office and of
the quote. The book was more towards the mystery genre, so I was in
an incredibly skeptical state of mind. Almost instantly I through it
off however as I was almost certain by this point that the whole
point of it was just a joke. In most cases, “Some things are not to
be repeated” just sounds like a phrase thrown around by a rather
clever employee after a fellow colleague manages to get the printer
stuck by accidentally spilling his coffee. After that point though I
couldn't help but have a nagging feeling that the phrase went much
more than what was assumed of it.
It
was about three days later that I finally gave into the feeling.
After finishing a late night at the lab I drove home and right as I
got there turned on my PC and started searching. For what in
particular, at the time I had no clue. I doubted I would find
anything by searching the actual phrase, so I decided to instead
search something else entirely – “biotech lab accident”.
After
about 10 pages of Google, something popped out in my mind. There, on
an old newspaper archive website, was the name of the lab I worked
at. There, on that website, I found this article.
“
MAJOR
FIRE AT CALICO BIOTECH FACILITY, 3 DEAD
March
25th, 1989
This
morning fire alarms could be heard far and wide in the town of Calico
as the fire department rushed to the scene at what looks like a major
accident at the Calico Biotech Lab Facility. The fire started in the
East Wing, where a pair of scientists, Dr. Dimitri Kosotov and Dr.
Matthew Arkinson were creating a new flu vaccine combining pigs blood
with human tissue. The project had received much controversy, in
which fellow colleagues criticized the project as
“ridiculous” and commenting that Kosotov and Arkinson were
“crazy” to try such an experiment. Despite these comments from
peers the two continued to work almost constantly on the project, to
the point of even taking samples home to test when they were kicked
out of the building by night security. Near the days before the fire,
Kosotov and Arkinson's fellow scientists described them as “stranger
than usual”, not talking to anyone but themselves in what
eyewitnesses called a “strange language or dialect”. The last of
the two that were ever heard was Kosotov, who was seen carrying a
large bag to the wing minutes before the fire, apparently murmuring
under his breath “I have seen the light”. Despite this, Arkinson
was not heard or seen in the building at the time of the fire, and
according to the front desk had not signed in.
So
far there has been 3 confirmed deaths and 10 missing, including
Doctors Kosotov and Arkinson.”
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