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Description

Interrogation transcript of Neo-Asclepiad affiliated provocateur:
Provocateur was detained during a raid on a subversive meeting on 03/24/2032 and held in custody for 8 hours prior to interrogation. Interviewer is anonymous. Detainee was awakened from induced unconscious state.
(BEGINNING OF TRANSCRIPT)
☤A: Our facial recognition and genetic data records identify you as Dr Richard Lawrence. Can you confirm this is correct?
⚕RL: (Inaudible)
☤A: Please speak up for the recording doctor.
⚕RL: Ahem- that is correct.
☤A: Can you also confirm that your current occupation is Research Director of the Chimera Synthesis Virology Department?
⚕RL: That is correct.
☤A: You have no prior criminal record yet our boys picked you up from a meeting with 15 others of similar background who have confessed to planning to enact vandalism, spread misinformation, provoke social upheaval and subvert state healthcare initiatives for the INVID-32 pandemic. Can you explain this to me doctor?
⚕RL: It’s not… misinformation.
☤A: I see, well maybe you can talk me through this imagery your group employs. What’s with all the plague doctors with snake staffs? There have been many reports of health-workers acting strangely and customising their PPE with 3D printing files for masks traced to your organisation.
⚕RL: So uh… we reject the Prosperity Plan and its double serpent emblem, the Staff of Hermes, a symbol of commerce masquerading as one of healing. Instead… we identify with the single serpent Staff of Asclepius, Greek god of medicine. Whilst you… seek to downplay the dangers faced by humanity, we wear the beaked plague masks to remind people… the reality of the situation.
☤A: Okay. So if I understand, your group wishes to subvert the state and sabotage the Prosperity Plan by using this imagery as propaganda. Is that accurate doctor?
⚕RL: No, I mean… we wish… to emulate the positive social change spearheaded by the ancient followers of Asclepius. Like… in the wake of plague that ravaged Athens during the Peloponnesian War, the cult of Asclepius rose to prominence and began a new belief system that dealt with the failures of previous institutions to combat the plague… supporting the growth of Hippocratic medicine.
☤A: Uh huh. And what are these failures of the Prosperity Plan, hmm doctor?
⚕RL: Well uh… This pandemic was far from an unforeseen problem, believe me…. As far back- decades back… 2013… H7N9 influenza was known to be an unusually dangerous virus for humans. We knew… you knew… that if H7N9 ever acquired the ability to transmit effectively between humans a worldwide outbreak would have been almost certain. And now that Chinese vaccine is ineffective against the INVID-32 novel strain… of course it is… the latest antigenic shift in the virus involved a mixture of waterfowl and swine origins. We needed a universal flu vaccine against all influenza.
☤A: So why didn’t Chimera Synthesis- your laboratory, make this universal vaccine, huh? Instead you and your colleagues conspire against the guidance of the state to undermine the success of the Prosperity Plan.
⚕RL: THE PROSPERITY PLAN IS A DECEPTION!
(DETAINEE IS RESTRAINED)
⚕RL: GET OFF! Ah…
☤A: Please calm down doctor. Do you want some water?
⚕RL: Two- uh… no… Two profoundly different possible futures are available to us- one in which we stick our heads in the sand as we have consistently done, and one where humanity takes the hard, necessary steps to protect itself.
☤A: What do you mean by that?
⚕RL: Plagues you see… plagues are not only part of our culture; they are CAUSED by it. HUMANS are the main drivers of zoonotic disease outbreaks. THE BLACK DEATH- spread into Europe with the growth of trade along the Silk Road- so like our behaviours on a global scale are facilitating the spread. INVID-32 is just the latest zoonotic disease to spill-over… but we are talking an EXPONENTIAL EMERGENCE HERE! Our ecological footprint… wild animal trade… bringing us closer to wildlife in remote areas and bringing these animals into urban centres. This makes us supremely susceptible to these pathogens…
☤A: You mean that your group seeks to promote-
⚕RL: We live in an era when the threats posed by global pandemics are GREATER THAN AT ANY OTHER POINT IN HUMAN HISTORY- an interconnected world where pathogens can RAPIDLY spread to EVERY household and EVERY community without regard to national borders, or to social and economic standing… The accursed Prosperity Plan… another return to normalcy… resuming of current global trends which indicate that OVER THE COURSE OF THIS CENTURY, THE RATE THAT NEW VIRAL THREATS EMERGE WILL CONTINUE TO ACCELERATE!
☤A: Lower you voice doctor, I will not ask you again. This err… hyperbole is not becoming of your position. The Prosperity Plan is a time tested global strategy pioneered by men with a far more pragmatic eye than yourself that has allowed this GREAT NATION and others to weather the storm directed at us again and again by FOREIGN NEGLIGENCE and to spring back with minimal austerity. Your dangerous ideals seek nothing short of the very dismantling of society and shall not be tolerated to spread. If you have nothing more to add, then I have all I need for now.
⚕RL: We seek NO SUCH ENDS! There is an estimated 1.6 MILLION VIRUSES harboured by mammals and waterfowl. Any of these viruses could soon become a zoonotic threat and over 500,000 are estimated to already be capable of transmission into humans. But- BUT we can know our enemy before it emerges! Proactive disease prevention- a global virome project- with only a few billion in funding we could MARK THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE PANDEMIC ERA!
☤A: That’s ENOUGH doctor! We are done here, please re-administer the serum to our detainee.

(END OF TRANSCRIPT)

Description

Interrogation transcript of Neo-Asclepiad affiliated provocateur:
Provocateur was detained during a raid on a subversive meeting on 03/24/2032 and held in custody for 8 hours prior to interrogation. Interviewer is anonymous. Detainee was awakened from induced unconscious state.
(BEGINNING OF TRANSCRIPT)
☤A: Our facial recognition and genetic data records identify you as Dr Richard Lawrence. Can you confirm this is correct?
⚕RL: (Inaudible)
☤A: Please speak up for the recording doctor.
⚕RL: Ahem- that is correct.
☤A: Can you also confirm that your current occupation is Research Director of the Chimera Synthesis Virology Department?
⚕RL: That is correct.
☤A: You have no prior criminal record yet our boys picked you up from a meeting with 15 others of similar background who have confessed to planning to enact vandalism, spread misinformation, provoke social upheaval and subvert state healthcare initiatives for the INVID-32 pandemic. Can you explain this to me doctor?
⚕RL: It’s not… misinformation.
☤A: I see, well maybe you can talk me through this imagery your group employs. What’s with all the plague doctors with snake staffs? There have been many reports of health-workers acting strangely and customising their PPE with 3D printing files for masks traced to your organisation.
⚕RL: So uh… we reject the Prosperity Plan and its double serpent emblem, the Staff of Hermes, a symbol of commerce masquerading as one of healing. Instead… we identify with the single serpent Staff of Asclepius, Greek god of medicine. Whilst you… seek to downplay the dangers faced by humanity, we wear the beaked plague masks to remind people… the reality of the situation.
☤A: Okay. So if I understand, your group wishes to subvert the state and sabotage the Prosperity Plan by using this imagery as propaganda. Is that accurate doctor?
⚕RL: No, I mean… we wish… to emulate the positive social change spearheaded by the ancient followers of Asclepius. Like… in the wake of plague that ravaged Athens during the Peloponnesian War, the cult of Asclepius rose to prominence and began a new belief system that dealt with the failures of previous institutions to combat the plague… supporting the growth of Hippocratic medicine.
☤A: Uh huh. And what are these failures of the Prosperity Plan, hmm doctor?
⚕RL: Well uh… This pandemic was far from an unforeseen problem, believe me…. As far back- decades back… 2013… H7N9 influenza was known to be an unusually dangerous virus for humans. We knew… you knew… that if H7N9 ever acquired the ability to transmit effectively between humans a worldwide outbreak would have been almost certain. And now that Chinese vaccine is ineffective against the INVID-32 novel strain… of course it is… the latest antigenic shift in the virus involved a mixture of waterfowl and swine origins. We needed a universal flu vaccine against all influenza.
☤A: So why didn’t Chimera Synthesis- your laboratory, make this universal vaccine, huh? Instead you and your colleagues conspire against the guidance of the state to undermine the success of the Prosperity Plan.
⚕RL: THE PROSPERITY PLAN IS A DECEPTION!
(DETAINEE IS RESTRAINED)
⚕RL: GET OFF! Ah…
☤A: Please calm down doctor. Do you want some water?
⚕RL: Two- uh… no… Two profoundly different possible futures are available to us- one in which we stick our heads in the sand as we have consistently done, and one where humanity takes the hard, necessary steps to protect itself.
☤A: What do you mean by that?
⚕RL: Plagues you see… plagues are not only part of our culture; they are CAUSED by it. HUMANS are the main drivers of zoonotic disease outbreaks. THE BLACK DEATH- spread into Europe with the growth of trade along the Silk Road- so like our behaviours on a global scale are facilitating the spread. INVID-32 is just the latest zoonotic disease to spill-over… but we are talking an EXPONENTIAL EMERGENCE HERE! Our ecological footprint… wild animal trade… bringing us closer to wildlife in remote areas and bringing these animals into urban centres. This makes us supremely susceptible to these pathogens…
☤A: You mean that your group seeks to promote-
⚕RL: We live in an era when the threats posed by global pandemics are GREATER THAN AT ANY OTHER POINT IN HUMAN HISTORY- an interconnected world where pathogens can RAPIDLY spread to EVERY household and EVERY community without regard to national borders, or to social and economic standing… The accursed Prosperity Plan… another return to normalcy… resuming of current global trends which indicate that OVER THE COURSE OF THIS CENTURY, THE RATE THAT NEW VIRAL THREATS EMERGE WILL CONTINUE TO ACCELERATE!
☤A: Lower you voice doctor, I will not ask you again. This err… hyperbole is not becoming of your position. The Prosperity Plan is a time tested global strategy pioneered by men with a far more pragmatic eye than yourself that has allowed this GREAT NATION and others to weather the storm directed at us again and again by FOREIGN NEGLIGENCE and to spring back with minimal austerity. Your dangerous ideals seek nothing short of the very dismantling of society and shall not be tolerated to spread. If you have nothing more to add, then I have all I need for now.
⚕RL: We seek NO SUCH ENDS! There is an estimated 1.6 MILLION VIRUSES harboured by mammals and waterfowl. Any of these viruses could soon become a zoonotic threat and over 500,000 are estimated to already be capable of transmission into humans. But- BUT we can know our enemy before it emerges! Proactive disease prevention- a global virome project- with only a few billion in funding we could MARK THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE PANDEMIC ERA!
☤A: That’s ENOUGH doctor! We are done here, please re-administer the serum to our detainee.

(END OF TRANSCRIPT)