Gray Death

The Gray Death is a nano-virus used by Majestic 12 in Deus Ex as part of their plan to seize absolute control of the world.
==Background==
The roots of Gray Death lie in the work on nanotechnological augmentation carried out by Morgan Everett for the Illuminati. Everett managed to develop the eutactic component of the virus, applying his molecular signature to the molecules used in the nanotechnological augmentation program. He collaborated with his protege, Bob Page, who desired to use the nanotech device as a bioweapon, but was rejected. When Page triggered the coup that separated Majestic 12 from the Illuminati and took over their infrastructure and project,JC Denton: " Mr. Dowd, tell me something. Someone calling himself Daedalus has been broadcasting to my infolink. He wants me to go to Paris to find an associate of yours, Morgan Everett."
Stanton Down: " Yes, yes... Everett. We need his help to develop a cure. Who is this Daedalus?"
JC Denton: " I don't know... He seems to be an ally. But if your friend doesn't want to be found --"
Stanton Down: " At this stage, we might be out of options. You see, I was able to decipher the molecular signatures Tracer Tong found, and it turns out Everett was the one who developed the eutactic component of the virus."
JC Denton: " He developed the virus for the Illuminati?"
Stanton Down: " Not exactly. The work was on augmentations. It was Bob Page who wanted to develop it into a weapon. Tong found Page's signature on the virus as well."
JC Denton: " Page... the billionaire. How does he relate to Majestic 12?"
Stanton Down: " He was among the original group of Illuminati who broke off to form Majestic 12. Not so good at the science, though... he must be directing operations."
JC Denton: " So Everett should be able to reverse-engineer Page's modifications... and help find a cure."
Stanton Down: " Exactly."
JC Denton: " Daedalus said I should find Nicolette DuClare first."
Stanton Down: " Yes, Everett is close to the DuClares. My suggestion, too. Unfortunately, I've lost touch with the Paris crowd."
JC Denton: " How do I find Nicolette?"
Stanton Down: " She's a member of the French terrorist group Silhouette, last I heard. They're rumored to meet in the Paris catacombs."
JC Denton: " Great. I'll have Jock drop me off near the catacombs." the technology remained in his hands. What became known as the Gray Death originated at Area 51, created by researchers that would form X-51, including Carla Brown. After initial trial runs on monkeys,Carla Brown: " We used monkeys, but Page's people could have cared less how many monkeys we killed." trials on humans began. Test subjects were acquired through open air tests,Carla Brown: " My group at Area 51 performed the first open-air test of the virus." targeting "accidentally" exposed civilians who would then be taken to underground labs for research.Carla Brown: " Most of the real research happened in secret labs underground on civilians who had been "accidentally" exposed." There were no accidents, of course: The first test site was deliberately chosen to drift across a highway and provide test subjects.Carla Brown: " There weren't any accidents. Our test site was chosen specifically so that the spores would drift across a highway." After the researchers abandoned Area 51, forming their own, independent group, they tried to warn the resistance about the disease, but nobody would believe them.Carla Brown: " We knew about the Gray Death a year ago, but no one would believe us."
The virus turned out to be exceptionally virulent and deadly, making it the perfect agent to destabilize countries such as the United States, already reeling from decades of civil unrest, terrorism, and open warfare. By 2051 millions of people have already been killed by the pandemics of AIDS, resistant tuberculosis, and the Century Flu, and another pandemic would be accepted as another act of God. Midnight Sun, Gray Death: Look to the Sky Due to the nanotechnological nature of the virus, it had to be manufactured using the Universal Constructor beneath VersaLife's Pacific Rim research facility in Hong Kong, and shipped over to the United States.JC Denton's computer (Hong Kong), Required Objectives The virus was initially dumped into the water systems, such as in New York City, through the water treatment facilities necessary to treat the chlorine-contaminated waters and make them potable, was accepted in 2052, with a unit deployed to Hell's Kitchen MJ12 Chemical Insertion Facility.J. Steward's computer, Delivery 
The facility also continued crude research on nanotechnological augmentation, specifically immunoglobulin encodings.Ford Schick: " They had me working on immunoglobulin encodings." Troopers abducted homeless people, infected them with Gray Death,Ford Schick: " The soldiers kidnap homeless people and inject them with Gray Death." and forced Ford Schick to experiment on them in order to make their bodies tolerate the virus.Ford Schick: " I was supposed to genetically alter those poor people so that they could tolerate the virus." Numerous casualties resulted,Ford Schick: " Every time I got the sequence wrong, more people died." with emphasis put not on curing the virus, but successful integration into a human host.Ford Schick: " The soldiers seemed less interested in curing the plague than in successfully integrating it into a human host." Schick experimented with disabling the immune response completely, by removing H-type epsilon chains.Ford Schick: " I could eliminate the immune response by removing all sequences that code for H type epsilon, but that's like driving a nail with a wrecking ball." Patients would die, but it helped narrow the problemFord Schick: " I knew that patients without epsilon chains would die, but it was the only way to narrow down the problem." - and Schick had no choice but to cooperate, as J. Steward understood immunology well enough to realize that he was duping them.Ford Schick: " I had no choice. One of the guys knew enough immunology that I couldn't fake it."
The success exceeeded expectations. Gray Death swept the urban centers, infecting people at a rapid pace and triggering a wave of paranoia and unrest, as no cure existed. The only treatment was Ambrosia, a vaccine that disabled the Gray Death encoding for 24 hours, produced in limited amounts by VersaLife in Hong Kong, and distributed by Majestic 12 through UNATCO to loyal collaborators. The vaccine became leverage, and a chance infection of a United States Senator granted an unique opportunity to advance MJ12's plans: In return for priority access to Ambrosia, the senator backed Walton Simons for the position of Director of FEMA, opening up the US for a takeover. In the background, the rapid spread of the disease and desperation of the public intensified, with the chaos treated as an opportunity by MJ12.Bob Page: " Your appointment to FEMA should be finalized within the week. I've already discussed the matter with the Senator."
Walton Simons: " I take it he was agreeable?"
Bob Page: " He didn't really have a choice."
Walton Simons: " Has he been infected?"
Bob Page: " Oh, yes, most certainly. When I mentioned that we could put him on the priority list for the Ambrosia vaccine, he was so willing it was almost pathetic."
Walton Simons: " This plague -- the rioting is intensifying to the point where we may not be able to contain it."
Bob Page: " Why contain it? Let it spill over into the schools and churches, let the bodies pile up in the streets. In the end, they'll beg us to save them."
Walton Simons: " I've received reports of armed attacks on shipments. There's not enough vaccine to go around, and the underclasses are starting to get desperate."
Bob Page: " Of course they're desperate. They can smell their death, and the sound they'll make rattling their cage will serve as a warning to the rest."
Walton Simons: " Mmm. I hope you're not underestimating the problem. The others may not go as quietly as you think -- intelligence indicates they're behind the problems in Paris."
Bob Page: " A bunch of pretentious old men playing at running the world."
Bob Page: " But the world left them behind long ago. We are the future."
Walton Simons: " We have other problems."
Bob Page: " UNATCO?"
Walton Simons: " Formed by executive order after the terrorist strike on the Statue. I have someone in place, though. I'm more concerned about Savage -- he's relocated to Vandenberg."
Bob Page: " Our biochem corpus is far in advance of theirs, as is our electronic sentience. And their...ethical inflexibility has allowed us to make progress in areas they refuse to consider."
Walton Simons: " The augmentation project?"
Bob Page: " Among other things -- but I must admit that I've been somewhat disappointed in the performance of the primary unit."
Walton Simons: " The secondary unit should be online soon. He's currently undergoing preparation and will be operational within six months. My people will continue to report on his progress. If necessary, the primary will be terminated."
Bob Page: " We've had to endure much, you and I, but soon there will be order again, a new age. Aquinas spoke of the mythical City on the Hill. Soon that city will be a reality, and we will be crowned its kings."
Bob Page: " Or better than kings. Gods."
Publicly, Bob Page, the leader of MJ12, feigned sympathy for victims of the disease, and made a show of donating millions of credits to public clinics to maintain his image of a compassionate billionaire.Hell's Kitchen bulletin terminals, Page Donates to Area Clinic The National Secessionist Forces were well aware of the role Ambrosia played, and together with Tracer Tong and the Luminous Path Triad attempted to obtain a sample by launching an ambitious raid on UNATCO headquarters on Liberty Island. Aided by Paul Denton, the first nanotechnologically-augmented agent of the Coalition, the raid failed when Paul's brother, JC Denton, managed to recover the captured shipment shortly before it was to be shipped out, and captured the NSF leader.Paul Denton: " Just listen to what I've got to say. We don't have much time."
JC Denton: " You got that right. UNATCO will have a team here in a few minutes."
Paul Denton: " The Gray Death is a man-made virus. Everyone up to the President is at UNATCO's mercy as long as UNATCO controls the supply of Ambrosia."
JC Denton: " You believe that?"
Paul Denton: " We have proof. We need to get the Ambrosia to Hong Kong. Heard of Tracer Tong? He can help us synthesize it ourselves."
JC Denton: " You better step away from the jet. Your boss is my next objective."
Paul Denton: " Join us, JC. Talk to Lebedev. He can convince you."
 
However, JC's subsequent defection, the escape from UNATCO, and destruction of the Hong Kong Universal Constructor severely hampered the ability to continue spreading the Gray Death. The last intact shipment was sent to New York City, where specially-modified black helicopters would spray it over US cities.Walton Simons: "Captain Zhao. The helicopters will be there shortly. They are to be loaded for spraying of the virus. No delays. I want the helicopters operating before sunrise." The operation was publicly disguised as a pest control attempt, to limit the spread of disease - Gray Death was used to justify spreading Gray Death.Walton Simons' computer, RE: Security Request The goal was to overwhelm the government with an epidemic, resulting in a national emergency, then use FEMA to seize control of the Army and effectively disband the civilian government.Smuggler: " You telling me the truth about this superfreighter? They're really gonna expose people to the plague?"
JC Denton: " They probably want to overwhelm the government with an epidemic, so that it will be easier to seize power."
Smuggler: " If you ask me, I bet FEMA wants to cause a national emergency and get control of the Army."
JC Denton: " I think we can expect Walton Simons to make a grab for power, one way or another."
Smuggler: " That's all they would need: one national emergency. Then they could get rid of the President, shut down Congress, and suspend the Constitution."
Newly allied with Tracer Tong and Stanton Dowd, JC Denton sank PRCS Wall Cloud, the superfreighter carrying the last batch of the virus, before it could be sprayed. With their plans delayed and the prospect of a cure on the horizon, due to the resistance expanding to include Morgan Everett and the Illuminati in France, Majestic 12 executed its gambit and attempted to seize power in the United States regardless by using terrorism as an excuse and instituting martial law.APR, UNITED STATES INSTITUTES MARTIAL LAW Page managed to restart the production of the virus afterwards, using the other UC at the Pasadena Ocean Lab,Toby Atanwe: "Page is manufacturing the virus again, while Simons readies the paperwork to declare a national emergency." though with the Illuminati determined to cure the plague it was merely delaying the inevitable.Toby Atanwe: "The logical response is for us simply to cure the plague."
Gray Death eventually faded into obscurity with the Collapse, though nanites contaminating the biosphere would continue to pose problems for the next two decades, such as Nanite Swell 11 over Old Cairo.
==Mechanism==
The Gray Death is a nanotechnologically engineered virus, specifically created by Majestic 12 in order to seize absolute control.JC Denton's computer (Hong Kong), Required Objectives Gray Death is not actually a virus in the classic sense,Alex Jacobson: " Don't know how Tong expects to find a cure. It's not even a real virus." but a hybrid of viral proteins and nanomechanical machine parts,Alex Jacobson: " Kind of a hybrid of viral proteins and nanomechanical machine parts." shaped like a dragon fly, with sockets built into the shaft and saucer-shaped modules plugged in along the shaft.Alex Jacobson: " A long body like a dragon fly. Sockets built into the shaft, saucer-shaped modules plugged in here and there." Gray Death is simply one configuration of a highly customizable, general-purpose nanotechnological deviceAlex Jacobson: " A general-purpose device of some kind, very customizable." that can enter and infect a human body with ease.Alex Jacobson: " Infection would be a ludicrously simple task for such a complicated machine." The Ambrosia vaccine is simply a ROM module acting as a hardware-lock that renders the Gray Death inert for a fixed period of time.Alex Jacobson: " Ambrosia turns out to be one of the saucer-shaped modules, a hardware-lock of some kind."
It is the same architecture as the one used for nanotechnological augmentation,Ford Schick: " The virus itself is a nanotech device; it just happens to have the same structure as the nanites that implement your augmentations." with comparatively crude modifications to enable it to function as a virus added by Page and his researchers.JC Denton: " So this is where the Illuminati ended up, after centuries of conspiring to rule the world."
Morgan Everett: " The conspiracy is about to begin again, JC, between you and me. Nicolette was wise to bring us together, wise like her mother. The most effective partnerships -- like Beth's and mine -- arise from mutual necessity."
JC Denton: " I came to talk about the Gray Death. Atanwe says you cracked the virus."
Morgan Everett: " A trivial matter... Page added nothing to the core design. However, what we need to construct is a carbanocarbon ROM module -- not exactly a vaccine."
JC Denton: " Can it be done without a Universal Constructor?"
Morgan Everett: " No, we need time on a UC. But I know where we might find one and also gain access to the U.S. military networks."
JC Denton: " The U.S. military...?"
Morgan Everett: " To stop Icarus from completely destroying the Daedalus AI. Daedalus is a design of mine; it replaced the old Echelon III network."
JC Denton: " Echelon... the surveillance system for the United Nations -- so Daedalus was an MJ12 tool and rebelled?"
Morgan Everett: " More of a pattern-matching error. It classified Majestic 12 as a terrorist group, alongside the NSF and Silhouette."
JC Denton: " And alongside the Illuminati, right? Are you sure Daedalus is your ally?"
Morgan Everett: " What matters to us is that it opposes Majestic 12. We must help it destroy their intelligence apparatus -- but that will require the military networks. I have already contacted Gary Savage of X-51."
JC Denton: " The former Area 51 scientists... Are they still camped out at Vandenberg Air Force Base?"
Morgan Everett: " They are close to completing a UC and have the kind of connection Daedalus will need."
JC Denton: " Sounds like my pilot and I should head to Vandenberg."
Morgan Everett: " Yes. I took the liberty of radioing him. Here is a key to the helipad stairway. The door is in the foyer, where Atanwe revived you. Good luck. I will be in contact."
 
The molecule of the virus was designed to invoke Illuminati mysticism: 17 segments, 23 coupling folds, corresponding to the year of Adam Weishaupt's birth,Tracer Tong: "... tracking down this Dowd connection. Illuminati fingerprints all over the sterics -- I'm talking about the molecule's shape: 17 segments, 23 coupling points... Only Illuminati technicians use sleeve bearings with 34-fold and 46-fold symmetry: multiples of 17 and 23. 1723. The birth of Adam Weishaupt. Not a coincidence." and contained a molecular signature to identify the author by those in the know.Stanton Down: " Tong told me he found an interesting molecular signature on the virus, a clue to who developed it." It was customary among Illuminati scientists to sign their work, and Gray Death carried both the signatures of Everett and Page. This minor hubris became key to unlocking the mystery of the Gray Death.Stanton Down: " I am certain it was a former member of the Illuminati. The custom among our scientists was to sign their work -- like painters."
===Effects===
Gray Death deliberately triggers the nanite-rejection mechanism that makes most of humanity incapable of tolerating nanotechnological augmentation. As such, the same physiological trait that makes humans compatible with nanotechnological augmentation - absence of all H type epsilon immunoglobin proteins - also makes them immune to Gray Death's adverse effects (although they will test positive for it).Datacube transcripts (DX): "Surgical Pre-Evaluation
Subject: Paul Denton
...subject shows a number of departures from nominal baseline physiology, including a noted absence of all H type epsilon immunoglobin proteins which would seem to be related to his ability to tolerate nano-augmentations that are typically rejected by the vast majority of the population. Of particular interest is that the subject tests positive for the "Gray Death" yet shows no apparent symptoms or adverse effects..." 
When the mechanism is triggered, the body begins to reject nanites. Beginning signs of infection result in flu like symptoms, usually coughing. As the infection progresses to later stages, the individual turns pale white/gray, hence "Gray Death", and becomes increasingly frail, where speech can also be affected. The nanites continue to circulate through the body, eventually finding their way to every cell in the body and triggering rejection symptoms: Inflammation, fever,Sick Woman: " ... no, it's my kidneys."
Sick Man: " It don't GET into the kidneys."
Sick Woman: " They're infected. I can feel it."
Sick Man: " Oh, stop your moaning."
Sick Woman: " They are. Every cell in my body..."
Sick Man: " Viruses are specific. They target certain parts."
Sick Woman: " It feels like a fire in my gut."
Sick Man: " I think you got a brain infection. That's all."
 nerve damage,Sick Man: " I can't feel my fingers..." and pain. The pain can become so severe that the victims will beg others to kill them,JC Denton: " I'm sorry. I can't kill you."
Sick Man: " Please..."
JC Denton: " Go to a public clinic; they can do something for the pain."
Sick Man: " It's true... It's your whole body. Every cell."
JC Denton: " You have the Gray Death?"
Sick Man: " I can't make it. I just can't make it."
 or become aggressive demanding a cure.Doctor2: "Thank you. The ones with the plague can be so stubborn sometimes."
The mortality rate for the Gray Death across the region by 2052 was 93% within the first 100 days of infection. The authorities, hampered by MJ12, could not determine an origin, vector of infection, or cure, and were powerless to watch as the infections spread. Within six months, Gray Death infections jumped from 22.4% to 28.6% of the urban population, while in rural communities the infections nearly quadrupled: From 2.4% to 8.7%. Most of the infections were concentrated in the largest cities by design, with 80% infected in New York City, 70% in Los Angeles, 65% in Chicago, 55% in Houston, and 50% in Seattle.Midnight Sun, Gray Death Spreads to Rural Communities The plague was incredibly effective, in other words, and a single superfreighter could carry enough nanovirus to infect an entire continent.JC Denton: " A superfreighter. That's enough virus to infect a continent."
Tracer Tong: " Your pilot is landing in the courtyard. Find Dowd and see if he knows where the ship is going or how we can stop it. In any case it is time you left Hong Kong; there is word of a UNATCO agent searching for you here. A German, they say. Augmented."
JC Denton: " Tell your people not to tangle with him. I'll deal with him myself."
===Prevention===
The only way to avoid contracting the plague was to avoid contact with the nanites - which typically meant avoiding any concentration of people, particularly in urban areas. Some communities, like the Mole People, instituted a policy of containment, banning anyone with Gray Death from entering their territory to avoid spreading the disease.Homeless woman: " What about the mole settlement? You taking new people?"
Curly: " Well... It's not the best time, not right now."
Homeless woman: " I don't mind. I'd sleep in the dirt. Whatever."
Curly: " The thing is, they've got this policy. No one with the Gray Death can go past Brooklyn Bridge Station."
Homeless woman: " Oh... I see."
Curly: " I'm sorry, miss. Really."
Homeless woman: " No need... No, I understand."
 Public clinics could offer little more than information packets Nurse1 to JCDenton : " If you think you have Gray Death, please pick up an informational packet." and palliative medicine mailed to the homes of victims. Nurse1 to JCDenton : " Plague victims can have their medication mailed to their homes at no additional cost."
Ranking members of the government and UNATCO could instead count on a reliable supply of Ambrosia, the top-secret vaccine that kept it at bay. A few liters was enough to keep headquarters safe for a month.Jaime Reyes: " Whatever you say. They just dropped off a few liters of the Ambrosia you recovered, by the way."
Walton Simons: " Good work out there, Denton. I want you to know"
JC Denton: " Yes, sir. I'm grateful for that. I just wish we'd found out sooner."
Walton Simons: " No harm done. We have you to take his place."
JC Denton: " Is a few liters going to be enough?"
Jaime Reyes: " Well, no one on staff's gonna catch Gray Death this month."
 While every effort was made to keep the vaccine out of public consciousness, it remained a rumor on the streets and less scrupulous dealers like JoJo Fine offered fake Ambrosia for sale, with his dealers pushing them on the underclasses.Worker: " Buy Ambrosia from a drug dealer?"
BarWoman1: " We're talking about your wife, the Gray Death..."
Worker: " I don't know; if I gave it to her, and it was cut..."
BarWoman1: " JoJo's good for it. People know him. He'd be hanging from a streetlight if he was selling bad vaccine."
BarWoman1: " Hey, Shea. Cape Cod. Use a little vodka this time."
Jordan Shea: " Coming up."
Worker: " Guess I have to do something..."
===Cure===
As the Gray Death was a nanotech device and Ambrosia merely a ROM module, its functionality could be replicated by analyzing the structure of the molecule and recreating the ROM.Alex Jacobson: " We could replicate the Ambrosia functionality, but to actually destroy the nano-virus... I don't know." As such, Ambrosia remained a tightly guarded state secret, and revelation of its existence after the destruction of the Hong Kong UC triggered widespread outrage.Joe Greene: "Hey, I'm the press. I go after those guys. Like this Ambrosia thing... I'm gonna have a front-page story in the Midnight Sun. Don't you believe the government has a secret vaccine?"
However, actually curing it was another matter. To permanently deactivate the Gray Death required a carbanocarbon ROM module with the correct encryption key. While Tracer Tong was able to identify the general structure of the virus and Stanton Dowd identify the makers, it was ultimately Morgan Everett, the original designer of the nanotechnological augmentation architecture, who cracked the isse: All nanotechnologically-augmented humans (Paul Denton, JC Denton, Walton Simons etc.) carried the key, in order to control the nanites augmenting their bodies. Everett used JC's augs to acquire the encryption key and completed his work, designing the module. Reaching out to X-51 and Gary Savage, Everett and JC finally activated their Universal Constructor and synthesized a cure.Toby Atanwe: " See -- the neuro-paralytic gas causes no inconvenience whatsoever."
JC Denton: " Everett must be paranoid."
Toby Atanwe: " We all are. The Illuminati is getting a taste of its own medicine."
JC Denton: " Has he made any progress on the Gray Death virus?"
Toby Atanwe: " Your uplink provided the missing encryption key. He has been able to complete the work that Tracer Tong began."
JC Denton: " I must see him at once."
Toby Atanwe: " He's downstairs in the lab."
 The resulting cure was essentially an on/off switch, sending the virus into instant remission.Tracer Tong: "Here's a satellite image of the damage from the missile. Page is weakened, but you still have to get past the large blast doors north of the helipad and penetrate his bunker deep underground. I seem to be in remission, JC. Everett is right: the virus has some sort of on/off switch. Anyway, I'll be looking over your shoulder again."
However, the cure remained a temporary fix, as all Page had to do was take the existing virus and modify the encryption key to put the Illuminati at square one. The permanent cure came with the destruction of Area 51 and the death of Page.Bob Page: " In case you were wondering, Helios intercepted your transmission; we accessed the Ocean Lab computers ourselves, which means our UCs will be operational shortly."
JC Denton: " Meanwhile, we will be manufacturing a cure to the virus."
Bob Page: " A cure? A cure! Do you have any idea how easy it will be for me to make a new virus? All I have to do is find a very large prime number and multiply."
JC Denton: " And all we have to do is crack the code."
Bob Page: " Mathematically unlikely. As are your chances of leaving the Ocean Lab, by the way."
JC Denton: " You're next, Page. Your greatest strength was secrecy, but now we know everything, including your present location."
Bob Page: " Always the optimist. You would need an army to attack me at Area 51, and pretty soon -- if the missile is accurate -- your "X-51" will be a thin, gray smudge where Vandenberg used to be."
==Trivia==
*In Deus Ex: Human Revolution, while in Detroit at the time of the riots, a homeless man can be heard zealously preaching to others. He predicts that there is "a sickness coming my children, gray and deadly" that "shall come on the backs of 12 kings!" This is a clear reference to the Gray Death and its creators, Majestic 12.
==References==
Category:Technology
Category:MJ12
Category:Lore