[SPOILERS] Question about Kharaa Bacterium

[Bassilth]

There was something in the game that bothered me greatly and no matter how much I tried to think about it... it simply made no sense.

We know that the Architects came to 4546B to find a cure to the Kharaa bacterium. Very powerful, advanced space-faring race. Al-An was/is a researcher, biologist, scientist, possibly aging many millennia, so acquired knowledge that far outweighs the knowledge of anyone else in the game. They studied the entirety of the flora and fauna of the planet but the only cure they could find was the Enzyme 42. They did find it in the adult Sea Emperor but it was a non-stable version and they needed the stable one. Despite having the blueprints for the enzyme... they clearly needed the stable version to make it work.

So how comes... that a human girl (Sam) who wasnt even a biologist... suddenly finds the cure by synthesizing the enzyme 42 found diluted in the water, and then using the natural flora found on the planet to recreate the antidote. She clearly found similarities between the enzyme and the flora. I mean... isnt this something an advanced race like the Architects would be able to do? Use the unstable enzyme produced by the old leviathan and make the necessary comparisons to current living organisms to reproduce it in a different form?

So what about this? How come a non-biologist human outdid the highly advanced Architects by literally fabricating an antidote from local flora?

[steventirey]

I mentioned a possibility in another thread. Maybe the enzyme somehow altered the plantlife as it spread through the environment, making it possible to create a treatment from things that previously wouldn't of worked. As the plant grows, maybe it isn't capable of processing the enzyme it absorbs, causing it to build up inside it, concentrating it. And its had over a thousand years to do so, For something that supposed to be so dangerous, we don't see a whole lot of infected creatures in the first game (though there are some). It possible enough of the enzyme has been distributed to the environment already that further developing a cure from it is now possible.

She also never states she invented the antidote. Synthesizing it doesn't necessarily mean inventing it. She could of put something together that Alterra invented. She does have some biochem training (she mentions it). In the same entry, she mentions working on prosthetics, so some of here robotics works was with living creatures. And multiple robotics projects to mimic life (the spy pengling isn't the first). She has some form of training, though not enough to call herself a biologist.

Though in the end its probably just a plot hole. Its also possible that the antidote created is lethal - we only ever see it used on a dead creature so its effect on living creatures is unknown. And even if not lethal to humans and the native species of the planet, it may have been lethal to the Architects themselves, or one of the 27 species that made up their bodies. A "cure" that kills those its given to is useless.

[Bassilth]

Not sure about that. If it altered the plantlife or if the plants just accumulated it... then wouldnt using any plant work? Instead, we get a specific recipe with specific plants as if it was the total cure and no other plant will work.

But yes, I agree. Perhaps the antidote has some form of lethal side-effect that not only kills the bacteria but also kills the host. Her intentions were to kill the Kharaa infection, after all. You dont have to consider the host in such a situation.

[steventirey]

Originally posted by Bassilth:

Not sure about that. If it altered the plantlife or if the plants just accumulated it... then wouldnt using any plant work? Instead, we get a specific recipe with specific plants as if it was the total cure and no other plant will work.

Not necessarily. Not all plants may have interacted with it the same way. Maybe there is also something else special about the peppers and the other plant that also contributes to the cure. Or maybe other plants are indeed possible, and the way that was developed was just the one that worked best. (Though if it was the case any plants would work, the developers would of needed to include a lot more recipes in the game, one for each possible combination. The only reason we got the one we did was on the off chance we somehow lose the dose they gave us. Including any more would just be unnecessary for gameplay.)

[Coops]

Enzyme 42 was already a known solution (from Subnautica 1).
Before the story changed there was even globules of it in Below Zero with Emperor Leviathans you could talk to before they were removed. I am sure this was going to be part of the plot.
The entire Sam story does not make sense and has no purpose in the game. Why did she remove her necklace that she never took off? Why not use the antidote instead of blowing up the cavern? Why destroy Omega and Phi Robotics? How can Robin be at peace with what happened when her sister went nuts and killed herself and someone else?

[steventirey]

There is also another possibility. While I can't remember exactly what is said when you use the antidote, the achievement is called "Finding the Cure". It possible, though, that its not actually a cure. Enzyme 42 is apparently naturally found in small amounts in most life on the planet, but can only actually be produced by the emperor leviathans. While the concentrated form was required for an actual cure, the regular stuff could be used as a treatment for temporary relief of the symptoms.

I suppose its therefore possible that the "cure" Sam puts together isn't actually a real cure, but merely a treatment that temporarily suppresses the bacteria, fooling them into believing it actually works. So maybe Sam (or Alterra) didn't create a cure out of the plants, they just thought they did and in the end it will just come back again. We don't stick around long enough to actually tell. Al-an does say he "believes" it was effective, not that is was confirmed to be effective.

Why not use the antidote instead of blowing up the cavern? Why destroy Omega and Phi Robotics?

That was her plan. Marguerit convinced her to do otherwise. And Omega was destroyed (also be Marguerit) as thats where they were actually studying the bacteria. Meaning their data and and samples they had were there as well.

Phi Robotics apparently was destroyed by a cave-in as a result of the bomb Sam set off at the leviathan.

[Bassilth]

God, so many parts of the story were removed that actually explained stuff in the game. I wonder why they did that. They could have left key happenings in there, even if the story changed.

It causes so much confusion that people have to seek answers from the EA version... whereas the full game should be... well.. full version. But it is not. Storywise and how many plotholes they have left... it feels more like an EA than probably EA did.

[Sindira]

Well it's official, the EA version I first played over a year ago is the superior game. Robin was far more competent and goal-oriented beyond vague instructions from strangers, not to mention the voice actress was smooth as hell and even Robin's character model, at least in my opinion, had better hair.

[Bassilth]

I didnt play the EA because I wanted to experience the game in its complete form. I didnt want spoilers either. Now it makes me wish that I had.

[Halliwax]

My interpretation is that Sam merely collects a sample of the enzyme from the environment to make her antidote. The architects meanwhile were aware that enzyme 42 is the cure, but didn't manage to develop a method to either produce it synthetically or breed the emperor before the research facility was destroyed.

The antidote still doesn't make sense though. How is it going to circulate through a creature that's frozen solid?

[Markus Reese]

Originally posted by Bassilth:

Not sure about that. If it altered the plantlife or if the plants just accumulated it... then wouldnt using any plant work? Instead, we get a specific recipe with specific plants as if it was the total cure and no other plant will work.

But yes, I agree. Perhaps the antidote has some form of lethal side-effect that not only kills the bacteria but also kills the host. Her intentions were to kill the Kharaa infection, after all. You dont have to consider the host in such a situation.

She just collected an existing cure is how I view it. Is a case of "Have a cure!" but the recipe really didnt matter since it just condensed an existing stuff. But soon, the supply of concentrate will be out and all will be dead. Think of it like plasma transfusion to get antibodies from somebody with immunity. You dont get the immunity yourself.

[The Big Brzezinski]

If you're in the mood to be generous, you could imagine Alterra keeping a bunch of enzyme-42-derived bactericidals handy just in case of another outbreak. Sam could've taken some of these and repackaged them to inject into the leviathan. Alterra might have even have means to synthesize more enzyme-42, just in case.

If you're in the mood to be realistic, she made the kharaa bactericidal because that's what the script required her to do. That's why anything happens in this game. Not because of character choices or logical consequences, but because the writer has so ordained.

[Zenthar]

One thing she has going for her is the infected patient in question, the leviathan, is dead. She could have literally just synthesized a few gallons of bleach to get the job done. Cures are much easier to make when you dont care about keeping the patient alive.

Now how we cured the bacterium in a dead creature by giving it an injection is beyond me as last I checked injections dont work very well when you dont have a pulse.

[Ludivinia V.]

Gonna agree with Zenthar. Any sort of sterilization procedure would have worked. Fire, alcohol, bleach, etc. The problem is application. Speaking of, good luck injecting a liquid into a solid block of frozen tissue.

[RCMidas]

Most of the problems here I would agree with. However, the leviathan is apparently not fully frozen internally, allowing the bacterium to survive saprophytically - very gradually consuming the dead remains - and also allowing, through painful headcanon, for an injection to work.

Given that we know Alterra was deliberately inducing mutations, and apparently so visibly that even a robotics specialist could spot the variation, I would assume the bacterium has a particularly effective horizontal gene transfer system in place. That is, any given mutation does not need to wait until the bacterium reproduces, but can be shared across living individuals simply through coming into contact with them.

So, we can assume that the cure in this case works by introducing a self-destructive, perhaps sterilising, mutagen into the bacterium. It mutates in such a way that it cannot reproduce, and passes that mutation onto others. The bacterium lives out its natural lifespan.

My major annoyance with the whole thing is that we've still not gotten an explanation as to how this region survived the bacterium without any enzyme 42 - if emperors were present in the location as part of the emergency research program, there is neither evidence nor mention of them anywhere to be found. It all happened long enough ago that, even given the longevity of the species itself, its biological byproducts such as the enzyme should not have lasted this long across the entire area.

[steventirey]

Given that we know Alterra was deliberately inducing mutations, and apparently so visibly that even a robotics specialist could spot the variation, I would assume the bacterium has a particularly effective horizontal gene transfer system in place.

Not just a robotics. specialist. She says she has some biochem training or at least knows some things (not enough to call herself a biologist), and her specificity in robots seems to be prosthetic and animal robots. Both of which having some biological knowledge would be useful for.

Shes definitely not an expert on the subject, but she isn't an amateur either.