The Clear Program
Overview
The Clear Program was a compartmentalized Research Corps project authorized under the Existence Doctrine by JAC command during the Dark Decade. The Clear Program was helmed by the same team that had engineered the Manna flower, led by Dr. Valter Koenig, a world-renowned evolutionary biologist recovered in Geneva during one of the JAC's early VIP extraction missions following the Crash.
The program was the continuation their genetic research, applying techniques to edit genes and modify cellular function, enhancing the composition, function, and efficiency of various tissues and organs. Their aim was to develop a safe and effective therapy to modify the human transcriptome and dramatically augment the physical and mental capabilities of the JAC military operatives.
Though officially unacknowledged, the Clear therapy was instrumental in the creation of compartmentalized science and military programs including the Alpha-01 and the Unassisted Decisive Asset program, and paved the way for the modern MAVERICK and Rapid Response divisions.
History & development
Exploratory research began aboard a science vessel in the JAC, led by Valter Koenig. Early experiments used compounds readily available via controlled cultivation of Silver Manna to produce robust but transitory effects across numerous bodily systems. Research also drew heavily from the Research Corps' growing database of DNA collected from citizens, refugee camps, prisoners, and contact operations world-wide.
Once a promising formulation for a prospective serum was found, research turned to designing genetic modifications that would induce a Manna flower-like "receptivity" period in a human subject. During this short window, it was expected that the administration of the serum, along with a range of carefully controlled interventions, would be able to stimulate the subject's cells to adapt their transcriptome to sustain endogenous production of the serum's effective formula.
After nearly a year of work in the lab, the project was moved to a JAC military facility in Greenland for the final phase of live experiments and, eventually, large-scale human trials. No records exist in the General Record or Research Corps archives detailing this later phase of research, however it was not long before they yielded significant results.
Based on post-Existence Doctrine meta analysis of historic documents, a classified internal Research Corps review estimated that as many as fifty thousand Dark Decade and Reconstruction refugees and veterans may have received a dose of variants of the Clear Serum during development, all without their knowledge.
After the New Dawn Declaration and the founding of Atla, there was pressure from Research Corps and military leadership to get the first Clear-enhanced operatives into the field. A military-led compartment was opened for a special operations training program called Alpha, which began scouting and cultivating prospective operatives from among the youth.
A year later, and nearly four years since research had begun, the Clear serum was ready, and the first cohort for the Alpha program had been selected. These early test subjects and their remarkable performance in the field as an unacknowledged elite unit designated "Alpha-01" later inspired the creation of another Existence Doctrine Program; the Unassisted Decisive Assets.
While Clear was originally conceived by Dr. Koenig with the intention that it could lift up all of humanity, ultimately its complicating side effects narrowed its viability to limited military and intelligence applications.
The Clear therapy protocol
The therapy consists of a schedule of multiple compounds and controlled interventions delivered to a "primed" subject, acting on the genome & epigenome, immune system, nervous system, and endocrine system using a multimodal, sequenced approach.
Central to the therapy is the Clear serum, the driving ingredient in the therapy's transformative effects, modifying the subject's transcriptome. While receiving an extended schedule of Clear serum injections, subjects are administered various catalytic interventions that work in concert with the serum to trigger genetic and epigenetic changes and stimulate the up and down regulation of different intracellular activities in a closely monitored progression.
These interventions include: exposure to conditioned light, sound, and ultra-low frequencies; hot and cold exposure; intensive physical and cognitive training; bounded sleep and calorie deprivation exercises; and extended sensory deprivation sessions. The therapy also calls for the use of several other drugs to manage symptoms and stabilize their body's condition during this period.
The therapy's administration protocol is as follows:
Screening dose: Test the subject's tolerance using trace elements of the active serum, followed by a 4-week monitoring period.
Primer: Administration of a secretive catalyzing compound (first synthesized by Dr. Koenig during the development of the Manna flower) that triggers a temporary increase in cell wall permeability, suppresses immune activity, and induces "receptivity" in the cell nucleus.
Serum schedule: 20-50 injections over an 8-12 week period, adjusted as required based on subject's sensitivity to the process.
Intermittent treatments: Various interventions timed in conjunction with the serum injection schedule to trigger precise changes in the subject's epigenome, physiology, and homeostatic baseline.
Extended monitoring: Subjects undergo regular psych evaluations. Their biometrics, blood, and tissue samples are continuously collected and monitored for 6 months to identify any complications or irregularities.
Boosters: A single dose of the Clear serum administered annually during a 7-day fast to renew optimal bodily function.
The Clear Serum
The central serum for which the Clear Program is a solution derived by controlled cultivation of the Silver Manna flower, exposing specimens to various precise conditions during its lifecycle to induce the synthesis of exotic organic molecules.
The serum is clear, with a high viscosity and a sweet smell. If left idle for a few moments, crystalized clusters of RNA begin to form and float to the surface; over a few hours, these clusters chain together and hang from the serum's surface, forming nanoscale columns of crystalline structures; eventually the entire volume is filled with these vertical crystal chains. Gentle agitation breaks these delicate structures and they quickly reintegrate in the solution.
Trials & effects
The therapy protocol consisted of an initial serum test dose to determine immune response. If the serum was tolerated, the "primer" compound was administered to trigger very precise genetic mutations that induce a state called "receptivity". Affected cells begin temporarily producing and proliferating new molecular machines and large protein complexes that work to increase cell wall permeability, suppress immune activity, and coordinate epigenetic changes to allow the subject's otherwise normal cells to reproduce exogenous RNA and proteins endogenously by repurposing functions already encoded in human DNA.
Once this molecular infrastructure is suffused throughout the subject's tissues, the subject would then begin a schedule of multiple doses of the serum in increasing concentrations over an 8-12 week window. Shorter schedules stressed the mind and body, and longer schedules risked triggering an adverse immune response (however as with most Clear therapy effects, there was significant individual variance).
In successful trials, subjects demonstrated dramatically improved reflexes, alertness, cognitive bandwidth, salience recognition, short and long-term memory, immune system function, and healing. Skin, muscle, bone, and other tissues throughout the body were modified to improve function and resilience, and they displayed reduced physical and psychological hot, cold, and pain sensitivity. Notably, the serum slowed to a near-halt the accumulation of damage and dysfunction produced during the natural biological aging process.
These impressive results came at the cost of several side effects that required regular attending. One notable side effect was an extreme increase in resting neural activity and metabolic rate, with subjects needing constant calories and hydration, and making them prone to overheating, restlessness, physical discomfort, and psychological distress when sedentary or under stimulated, with individual variance.
Subjects who did not tolerate the formula often experienced many of these and numerous other severe side effects, sometimes resulting in lethal runaway metabolic and cellular dysfunction. These side effects were particularly pronounced in subjects where symptoms had a delayed onset following multiple successive rounds of the therapy. Many of the effects recorded are highly reminiscent of the condition known today as Rejection Syndrome.
The impact of age on efficacy and tolerance
The therapy was found to be well-tolerated and highly efficacious in subjects undergoing puberty. When administered to adults, results were less pronounced and the therapy was generally very poorly tolerated. When administered to pre-pubescent subjects, they were exceptionally tolerant, however, a consequence to heighted immune system function after the therapy was that they effectively stopped aging, preventing the natural onset of puberty; attempts to induce or simulate puberty produced an aggressive, deleterious immune response.
By contrast, subjects already undergoing puberty continued to develop normally, with puberty in fact magnifying the therapy's effects over its duration. After puberty, however, their natural aging process slowed to a crawl. It was discovered that an annual booster injection of the Clear serum during a week long fasting period would reverse any accumulated cellular damage and renew optimal function, effectively halting the subject's biological aging completely.
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