Catherine Reeves

## **Doctor Catherine Reeves**

> *"The board always wants proof, I'm not making cars here, I can't give guarantees"*
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## Further info

### Family

Abagail Reeves (Mother), Isaac Reeves (Brother)

### Important actions

None of National Importance

Born on Redamon Prime as the twin sister to Isaac Reeves, her mother Abagail was a struggling tender who'd recently fallen on hard times. At age 2 she was diagnosed with a genetic condition known as 'Crystalbreak' for which there was no cure, already financially broken Abagail registered her daughter for adoption. She has spent her life battling her condition as she worked to find a cure for her disease, discovering both miraculous and unorthodox cures for other diseases as she goes.

Catherine is Junior Doctor who specialises in the fields of genealogy, biotechnology and all matters biological. Her research on astro-biological life contains revolutionary genetic therapies and treatments that she claims could be the gateway to the next stage of Human evolution; promising, amongst many other things, to make synthetics a redundant tool. Her work has not been approved for testing however as the scientific community has rejected many of her theses on the grounds that her hypothesis defies the known laws of genetics and has no valid evidence.

Denied the chance to publish her research or even have it tested as of yet, it remains to be seen if she will play a role in the Commonwealth's future.

### **Childhood years 0-12**

#### Origins

A simple tender who worked the hydro farms of Redamon; Abagail Reeves, became a mother to twins Isaac & Catherine Reeves. Already financially strained they would push her to her limits; whoever the father was, he was not there for them. Abagail would fight against the odds to keep her family going, enduring cold nights and hunger pains for 2 years, the state had promised support but influxes of Karthema cases had recently swamped the system and the social care had fallen through. Managers reluctantly had to file reports of poor work performance and she left facing the prospect of losing her job; suddenly Abagail finally broke when Catherine was diagnosed with Crystalbreak Syndrome, a latent genetic disease that is undetectable until it is active and only certain environmental influences activate it.

With no prospects for the future besides the hopes of warm food, Abagail registered Catherine for foster parents; usually in the Commonwealth, this process can take anywhere between 1-6 years depending on the species of the foster child but her genetic disorder drew sympathy from many applicants. In 2279.02.12 Aramathi applicants were approved to become Catherine's foster parents, the Quassa family were able to afford the sizeable cost of her treatment and passed all the necessary qualifications that proved their ability to care for her.

#### The Quassa family

In the commonwealth exists multiple species families, groups of individuals that are legally categorised as family members. These families are the product of individuals who married cross-species, because of the inability to reproduce they often adopt a child of each respective species, over time this has turned into a tradition amongst some circles.

The Quassa were a multi-species family; headed by female Aramathi and male Human and various other relatives of other species, under their care they nurtured her and privately schooled her… Living primarily in an ICU bed was not a mentally healthy exercise and even with the efforts of her parents, unable to grasp the concept of a terminal illness she would grow restless with age…

* *"It's not fair! I want to go outside, why won't you let me outside!"*
	+ *"Because you're not well Cat, you might hurt yourself"*

*"Liar! you told us that eating our vegetables would keep us strong, so I'm strong, and I want to go outside"*

* *"I'm sorry Catherine, you can't go outside... maybe when you can walk, we'll go outside"*

Livelihood: Due to the effects of Crystalbreak (which is elaborated on further below) Catherine was confined to her bed; which had inbuilt medical devices such as IV fluid tubes and body regulating systems, from her bed she performed most of her activities. To accommodate for this the room was fitted with fluid environmental features that changed weekly; one week the room was a tree-house, the next a princesses castle, the next a boat cabin etc etc. This was enough for any 6-8 year old but beyond this age the appeal was starting to wear thin and eventually just make her all-the-more anxious.

Education: Unable to leave her room Catherine was unable to receive a standard education; her parents acted as her initial tutors, teaching her the foundational skills such as maths and science, this style of teaching was a double edged sword though - The established rapport between Catherine and her parents was useful on a good day; on a bad day however any hopes of teaching were lost, on days where she wasn't too ill she could be upset or angry - this educational setup lasted until she was 10 by which time she was partially capable of living off of life support machinery, though she still required a wheelchair to be mobile.

Condition: Catherine's overall health did improve In her early childhood, a nutritional and balanced diet went a long way in salvaging her vitality, the genetic disease did not show any signs of progression though it's speculated that this is because no organism was meant to survive the disorder and thus had no progression. After 8 years of mental and physical nurturing the doctors encouraged more active physio like entirely independent movement; figuratively dying to leave her room, it was no troubled persuading her to start using a wheelchair, this would be her only form of movement until she was 19.

Friends & Step siblings: It will come as no surprise to you that Catherine did not have the chance to socialise with others outside the family household, fortunately she was one of 5 children and at the very least did not lack company.

### **Teenage life 12-22**

The next 10 years saw a notable improvement in her overall condition and prospects; able to attend school even though in wheelchair, was a life changing experience. With the most advanced technology in the Galaxy, Catherine was able to attend classes without feeling completely embarrassed by her condition, her classes were filled with so many other people and species that she'd never seen before that her first years provided a great relief for her.

In school she was most apt at the biological field of science; likely because of her obsessive research into genetics which she had been told what caused her illness, she did perform well in the other sciences but they did not hold a candle to her preference for biology and the fields of all other topics came secondary. Approaching her more rebellious and 'arrogant' years of teenage life and always ahead in her lessons in biology she petitioned for elevation to the next year of lessons though it was rejected as her achievements were put down to a mixture of talent and obsessive devotion to the topic, if she had shown such aptitude in her other lessons then it may have been approved, she was gifted... of that there was no doubt, but she wasn't a genius or some scientific prodigy (evidenced by her only marginally better performances in other topics and sometimes even below average scores in other subjects)

This rejection was not well received; not so humbly clarifying to them the fact that she was leagues ahead of her classmates in her field of speciality, and at the very least should be put ahead in that field. The teaching board couldn't argue her point, but to elevate someone she needed to display aptitude in much more than just one science. They sanctioned state funded private tuition and more advanced assignments in her field, but Catherine saw this like an appeasement rather than recognition (though the board had already done everything in their power).

Though she had always endured her symptoms of Stage 4 Crystalbreak through her initial education it's not something that was always easy; falling ill and resurgent bouts of her condition impeded her abilities, so when scientists from Ortus developed an experimental serum that was meant to suppress (not cure) **any** genetic condition it was not a difficult choice to volunteer for the study (And it nether was it a hard choice accepting the application of a volunteer with Crytsalbreak, especially one so young -14- as the serum was meant to have the best effect on youth).

The trip to Ortus was another life changing experience for Catherine; looking out the windows and listening to the guides she experienced life in space and the wonders outside the ships, seeing life outside the windows and the sensation of zero-g, an experience like no other. While aboard she still received lessons and assignments (as space travel could still take weeks). Once at Ortus she was free to tour around before being taken for the tests, the serum was explained to the volunteers as a sort of valve on DNA.

> "Y*ou see once injected our virus interacts with cells and takes a sample of DNA, now the virus is engineered to recognise the species of its host and thus it can tell what DNA should look like, now when it detects non-recognised DNA the virus cuts the strand and shares it with all the other viruses. The viruses will then coat these strands in microgel that suppresses the function of that piece of DNA"*
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> Catherine: *"Isn't that dangerous; a body function depends on DNA being correct down to a pin, if a single type of a specific and recurrent DNA strand was even a quarter of a quarter percent off then you'd die... Impeding a 'function' of DNA isn't even possible anyway because they aren't an active tool and even then suppressing a strand of every DNA in the body, even slightly maligned ones, can kill you"*
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> *"Well I was using a very simplified explanation of the serum... the actual science of it is lost on most folk"*
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> Catherine: *"Well... can I see it?, the science explaining it I mean? if I'm going to be stuck in this bed for hours then I kinda want something to do... I spend enough time in beds as it is"*
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> *"No. Sorry; the serum formula isn't available to disclosure to the public to prevent the serum being reproduced by private companies"*
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> Catherine: *"Makes sense; can't have a crippled fourteen year old stealing some paper, beating up the security bots, vaulting the fences and running away with them, be really embarrassing explaining that to the press wouldn't it"*
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> *"Does your sass ever work on anyone?"*
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> Catherine: *"Maybe not on you, but you know what's more persuasive than that... ever seen a child have a temper tantrum"*
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> *"Fine ONE paper... not like you'll understand it anyway"*
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During her stay she met Freidek; the son of a Karthema researcher, always one who relished any distraction, she spent most of her time talking with him. She found that Freidek was also a keen learner of science, though he had always preferred technical science over chemistry or genetics, this difference in interests served as a point of friendly contention between them. With Freidek she learnt more about the world she lived in; he told of the wonders each planet had, the immense size of the Commonwealth; he spoke of the Alir, the Udkavongo, the Shalani and of the Zracon, the Yaanari and what had been the Kingdom of Yadra. It was a rarity for her to ever speak with someone her own age and such an interest in science; rather than hearing unending requests for help with 'question X' she could actually hold an interesting conversation with another peer, needless to say the pair clicked.

It turned out those conversations were more important to her than ever. The tests; while showing promise at first, would falter within hours and the symptoms would return. Doctors tried using larger doses, doctors tried administrating another dose immediately after the effects wore off; both did little to improve its effectiveness, over the course of a few weeks no tweaks or adjustments seemed to improve the serum. The findings were disappointing for the researchers and slightly heart breaking for Catherine who'd had so much hope for it, dreams of just being normal for a day, gone.

With the experiment over it was time to return to Redamon Prime; the researchers thanked everyone for their time and gave their condolences, they had hoped for much more than they'd got and without the results they needed they admitted that the serum was likely to be scrapped and archived as a failed experiment - The research project had been funded by several corporate and state institutions that couldn't justify any more expense without something more to show other than a few hours of relief - However; as the volunteers were being discharged, the head researcher received an 'offer' from one of the private backers. The message detailed a sincere disappointment that the experiment had failed but that he wished to see the experiment continue, albeit on a smaller scale, the backer promised to provide funding so that 'Patient 76' could still receive the serum.

> **I am aware that the costs of such an arrangement are exorbitant and that the cost of producing your serum only accounts for half this expenditure; this will not be a difficulty for me, I am well suited financially to cover these expenses.**
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> - Email sent by private backer 'G'
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The researchers response explaining that even if he had 5 times the funds offered that no progress was likely to occur, the backer asked to proceed anyway. So patient 76 was thus given the chance to continue receiving the serum in exchange for the occasional check-up; it wasn't a difficult choice, Catherine accepted... not really for science but more for her own wants. Before leaving she and Freidek agreed to stay in touch as best they could, with everything finished though it was time to leave.
Back in school things progressed as they did before; and for the next 2 years nothing really changed, she continued to excel in the fields of biology and to much lesser degree in the other sciences, approaching the rebellious years of teenage life she grew restless in her science lessons. Frankly bored with her biology lessons as she felt as if she was re-treading old ground, as mentioned above she petitioned and was rejected for an advancement of her studies and that this was not well received by her. Whether it was the hormones; her condition, or a combination of the two, it became the underlying point of origin for a hostile attitude towards authority and future disagreements which would serve as a catalyst to these feelings of contempt for senior scientists.

> *"What do they know of commitment or achievement? all they know are numbers on a chart and a long list of redundant regulations... What do they know of actual genetics? all they can think of is the next life-prolonging 'miracle' whilst the true potential sits under their noses, if these 'scientists' had been in Aadhira's position then the Kithri would still be oversized mushrooms and the Vrinn would have been zoo animals"*
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It would come as no surprise then that she began to strike out on her own; she began to break down the serums she received for her own testing, using school labs in afterschool hours. The school board had tried to stop her whenever the Marshals were called they couldn't turn up anything incriminating besides the fact she was using school equipment for scientific study (not exactly criminal and in fact partially encouraged by the governments dedication to science). No equipment was broken or stolen; on the contrary, the school now had more sets of equipment as Catherine had needed to bring specialised devices for her research; so eventually the Marshals just told the school to only call them if there was an actual crime, in there own words: *"Unless she's set fire to the school or nicked some pencils we don't want to hear about it".*

Some years of her own research she had produced a unique serum; based on the relatively redundant design of the experimental serum, she had created a concoction of gene-tailored viruses and various supplements that were procured from her own gene-set. Usually at this stage something like what Catherine had created would have to be submitted to a science board for approval; unregulated / unapproved medical treatments were banned, however she clarified that the formula was not for public retail, use or consumption and that she had no intention of submitting it to be patented or for distribution... as long as there were no illegal substances within her 'C-Serum' then it was legally recognised as a simple 'home-remedy' (A remedy made out of gene-tailored viruses and other bio-chemical substances... a stretch that may have needed the assistance of a lawyer, but one within the law)

#### An 'upstanding' citizen

After her 19th birthday Catherine had finalised the C-Serum and, within the safety of home, injected the serum into her veins. There was no immediate recovery or sudden jolt of life; but within a few hours and for the first time in her life, she could 'stand' up. Granted the first times she required an aide of some form, not only was she unlearned in the manner of walking but her muscles were not acquainted with the stress of her body weight; within a couple weeks she was able to walk without assistance and, after receiving some vitamin and protein supplements, could pass for an average person.

This isn't to say she was cured; the C-Serum was essentially a temporary immunity to the effects of Crystalbreak -while the C-Serum was active her blood cells would be safe from spontaneous death and imbedded crystals would dissolve- After about 8 hours the C-Serum would wear off, injecting another dose would restore her immunity but only for another 6 hours, for the treatment to work at its best there needed to be a 6 hour period of time without her serum being active. This works out quite well however as the 14 hours of immunity covered most of her waking hours and she could effectively sleep through the down-times and simply re-administer her serum in the morning.

It was not without drawbacks ether, the serum is tailored to her precise DNA and even minor alterations to her naturally born-with genes would render her immuniser useless and even lethal; because of this, no genetic medication or enhancement is available to her as she is now essentially allergic to anything without her own DNA within it. This means if another illness arises (even a non-genetic one) there can be no advanced treatment besides physical surgery or chemicals, fortunately the Commonwealth does boast a prowess in such areas. Additionally when the C-Serum loses its effectiveness it does so very rapidly; one minute she would be fine, the next, collapsed on the floor from the sudden onset of exhaustion and pain - during times of the condition's resurgence it's also more active, a bad knock in this stage could easily cripple her for weeks if it doesn't kill her- This made sleeping somewhat a struggle as the pain, and the fear or someone shaking her to wake up, had turned her into an insomniac... Doctors could only recommend she take some medication and that to 'have faith' in her college roommates, which went over as well as you could expect it to go over with a person balancing a knife edge between normal life and being sent back to an ICU.

> *"Trust my roommates... have you ever been to university? every other week there's some party going on and at least two of my 'colleagues' come back tipsy or bloody wasted; I wouldn't trust them to make it their beds upright let alone my life"*
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Being known in some scientific circles as the student who 'cured' her own disease, finding a place at a top university wouldn't have been much trouble, 'wouldn't have' being the key. Catherine's life up until this point had been an experience of both wonder and anguish and anything even remotely regarded as an achievement amongst most people had been an uphill battle; so pulling oneself out of the pit (which to her, was despite the hindrances from her school board and the authorities in general) by her own efforts alone, was an achievement leagues ahead of her peers. Throw this sense of grandiose overachievement in with a feeling of antipathy for authority, contempt for regulations, a mixture of entitlement and fear of rejection and an attitude that said "I won't take no for an answer"; and what universities were looking at was a potentially dangerous student (Not quite relegating her to the realm of mad scientist but she was up in the 'risky' categories). After a heated period of deliberation Catherine was enrolled in a doctorate university on Ortus within the capital Wiladay Jadida; on the condition that, she wouldn't use the labs for any unsupervised or personal use besides for assignments and that she actually took an examination for a medical doctorate degree - Technically she had proven it with the creation of a working immuniser against a genetic condition, without it being submitted to science board for approval however, it couldn't legally count... another fact that added to her growing list of grievances)

Besides the tense beginnings with her new university things went a well as could be hoped; her behaviour now largely checked by her friend Freidek, who kept her on course as much for his sake as hers. Mentioned above was her difficulty sleeping out of fear of inebriated students and their tendency to collapse or break things; well once again like he had done so about 5 years ago, Freidek essentially became her emotional rock. Whenever she felt unsafe in her own dorm room, she could sleep in his. Whenever she felt too ill to bother with the day, he'd drag her through it. So there was no exaggeration when they were described as soulmates or 'peas in a pod'.

When the time came for applicants to apply for early PhD's both her and Freidek had their own goals; but both their goals required a unique environment to research their chosen topic, space. Freidek wanted to research the possibility of creating a unique mining tool in zero-g space, Catherine wanted to study organic life that lived in the expanse. Agreeing that they couldn't justify sending only Freidek to space, and that it was best to keep them together, they allowed the application.

#### **Young Adult Life 22+** -**'The Genome of the Void'**

The focus of the research was unsurprisingly; an examination of the DNA and cellular structure of biological life in space, this included everything from bacteria inside rocks to larger space amoebas. There was no initial hypothesis for Catherine; she was betting on the hope that through her studies she would find something worth talking about, at least that is what she said.

Although what she had told the science board was not a lie, it wasn't the entire truth. Though she had long given up a hope for a total cure (at least for now) she never lost her obsession to understand her condition - to her it was the question of the century, how could organic cells be genetically forced to convert to non-organic material such as crystals? - Of course, since her official reason to be up in space with an exorbitantly expensive science ship was not to investigate her own condition, she had to research a great many other things to justify searching for a Crystal Nidus. An entity like this was fought once before by Task Force Manticore; more importantly, it's crystals had been studied by a group of scientists... It was too early to speculate anything, but it was something worth at least looking into.

Collaboratively their research went much faster; Freidek had an excuse to constantly test his prototypes as Catherine often needed bacteria to be dug out of asteroids and not always in conventional ways. Over months of refinement Freidek's drills slowly became autonomous salvagers; capable of being left alone on drifting asteroids and returning back once all the valuable minerals had been extracted, the ultimate goal was to create small autonomous factories that mined and refined minerals left over by the larger mining stations.

Over 2 years Catherine's specimens were deeply examined, inspected and experimented on; her findings simply catalogued until she grew tired of collecting specimens, with over 240 different biological lifeforms surveyed it was time to put together an amalgamation of her ideas and propose a theory that she had always thought to be true. Or at least a part of her theory. In her dissertation 'The Genome of the Void' she argued that voidborn life posses a genetic key within themselves, that if utilised correctly, could take genetic science to a new height of 'reality'.

> *"Synthetics, gone: when our DNA is but a clay to mould, what use is there for a robot when a single organic could do more. Psionics, redundant: if my hypothesis is true then a psionic is but a branch off a larger tree..."*
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> - A section of the conclusion to the dissertation, claiming that the research enclosed within was a revolutionary breakthrough in a genetic evolution -
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Her thesis was met with a mixture of appraisal and criticism; on the one side of the coin, her work was on relatively uncharted ground and her hypothesis was supported by irrefutable evidence. On the other side; while her evidence was solid, the conclusions she drew from it was not. Scientifics boards were all adamant that without a significant positive result on human subjects, there was no case for this 'ascension'... Not one to just accept this, she bluntly remarked that it was their rules and regulations that prohibited her from gathering the evidence she needed.

> *"How am I supposed to get results when you won't let me test it! This is bullshit; how many scientific breakthroughs ever happened without risk? You think no-one died making those fancy wormhole generators we're all so fond of... have our experimental weapons never misfired or overheated... did you think the Kithri were just magically uplifted? I can't get proof without test subjects and no-one here seems to understand that omelettes aren't made without eggs"*
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Still; only 25 years old, she received her first PhD alongside Freidek. Right now they continue their own studies whilst working for professional science departments.

### **Junior Doctor, Department Specialist**

Currently Catherine works for the Capital medical hospital; her short time their currently relegates her to the position of Junior Doctor, but her experience and expertise within the field of doctors has already made her the de facto medical specialist. Any patients of Catherine are the fastest to be diagnosed, treated and released.

Her spare time is occupied assisting / learning with Freidek or in a laboratory doing personal research... For now, that is everything to date she's done.

### **Crystalbreak Disease**

Crystalbreak Disease is frequently mentioned, to understand the severity of this though some elaboration is required.

Crystalbreak is an extremely rare genetic disorder; it is undetectable in its latent stages and carriers of the disease can live their whole lives without it ever activating, how it's activated is unknown but the accepted thesis is that certain environmental influences must be the priming agent, once active it sporadically causes cell membranes to harden or 'crystallise' - this is an extremely slow process, only a couple billion cells out of approximately 37.2 trillion are effected - when fully crystallised these cells burst and release small crystals which then pierce other cells and infect them. The process continues until a crystal infects the bloodstreams cells from where it exponentially increases its crystallisation and bursts hoping to infect the major organs in the body.

Stage 2 is achieved when over 65% of the cells in the heart are infected; at this point the heart begins to infect blood that passes through and will infect every kind of cell in the body until over 40% of the bodies cells are infected, no immune system can fight this as white blood cells and y cells are already infected and consuming infected cells speeds up the process within infected cells and breaking down blood cells simply releases the crystals into the bloodstream. When roughly 40% of all cells are infected the infection slows to a halt, maintaining a status quo, at this point some blood cells are transformed into larger crystals that imbed themselves in the side the vein and arteries - when the body destroys enough infected cells these large crystals release into the blood stream and explode to re-infect the body - these crystals cannot be removed without surgery and they are replaced within hours... at this point physical exercise can accidentally cause these crystals to crack (but the infected person will only experience a sudden sharp pain that will then feel like pins and needles)

At this point the disease has been active for almost 2 years.

Stage 3 then begins; about 2 years after stage 2, the crystallised cell membranes suddenly 'freeze' and block the passage of any substance through the cell, this is when the victim will suffer symptoms, the infected person will firstly experience extreme fatigue or drowsiness. Then almost exactly 1 minute after these cells freeze the blood cells within the bloodstream will die, this wouldn't be awful if it weren't for the fact that over 60% of blood cells are infected at this point. The cells dead cells are poisoned and major organs shut down; the large blood crystals will then explode whilst still imbedded in the veins, ripping open organs and veins. The victim will experience severe pain, orifice bleeding and death. The infected cells within the dead victim will dissolve, leaving nothing to examine.

Stage 4. This stage is not really meant to happen; the infected person is not meant to survive stage 3, so the disease simultaneously restarts stage 2 and 3... the 'freezed' cells begin to let substances through again and infected blood cells stop dying. However instead of building up to infect the majority of cells the cells will randomly die or freeze; releasing a continuous stream of poison and crystals, sometimes this will randomly overdrive and re-enact a less lethal version of stage 3. The result is that the infected person is in constant pain and physical movement may now cause the crystals to explode, causing internal bleeding.

Anyone living in stage 4 has a drastically poor immune system; coughing blood is not unusual as it tends to fill up in the lungs (which constantly break the crystals inside them due to the need to breath), minor bumps or falls can be fatal and muscle strength is appallingly weak - both due to the disease and lack of ability to exercise - life expectancy without specialist care is merely a year and at the time of Catherine's infection even specialist care could only at best keep you alive.

*Important Note:* Though the disease does infect the blood, the genetic disease is not communicable by blood, any infected blood cells that get into another individuals bloodstream will continue to crystallise but when they burst the crystals will harmlessly be absorbed by other cells.

Medical treatment: There is no medical treatment for the first two stages as it has never been detected before stage 2 is already complete, and even then most progress to the final moments of stage 3 without even knowing.

Stage 2 treatment: In Catherine's case; after being diagnosed the doctors predicted that she'd enter stage 3 within a few years, treatment consisted of constant filtration of new blood whilst draining old blood, given that half her blood was replaced daily this meant that over 2 years about 1606 litres of blood had to be used - this would keep the blood relatively clear of infection - however this alone does not suffice. Streams of nanobots must be injected into the bloodstream to cut out the imbedded crystals; a mostly pointless affair as they burst upon removal and are replaced within hours, but because there is no way of knowing when stage 3 happens, the amount of crystals must be kept low to reduce chances of organ damage (specifically the brain, which is where most of the nano-bots work). Because of this continuous treatment the patient must remain in an ICU... While they could live without the treatment during stage 2 they would not survive stage 3.

Stage 3 treatment: When stage 3 hits all that can be done is to replace as much blood as possible and heal the damaged organs; in Catherine's case, the sudden onset of stage 3 on a 6 year old was never going to go well. 2 weeks of intense medical care was enough to keep the youngling alive.

Stage 4 treatment: Stuck in stage 4 limbo the treatment does not get much better; the amount of blood transfusions can be decreased and less nano-bots are required, but the bodily stress is often too much. Patients in stage 4 are in a constant state of fatigue and pain, specifically the chest as breathing continuously breaks crystals in the lungs. At this stage a bad fall or knock could break thousands of crystals and kill the individual