Supplemental Record
Experiment Log 14-C — W-ζ087 Tissue Response
The first thirteen trials produced results consistent with the accepted model for W-ζ087. Trial fourteen produced no measurable response and was initially marked for exclusion due to suspected equipment failure.
Mei Arakawa refused the exclusion.
She ordered the apparatus dismantled, recalibrated, and the exact conditions of Trial 14 reconstructed. The anomalous result repeated only when the sample had been exposed to a specific sequence of wavelengths during preparation.
The effect eventually became the basis for a reliable method of temporarily suppressing W-ζ087's regenerative properties.
A handwritten note by Arakawa remains attached to the original record:
“If the experiment fails differently than expected, it may be the only experiment that worked.”
Personnel Observation
Persistent Animal Attention
Both Arakawa sisters produce an unusual behavioral response in animals.
Ordinary animals tend to notice either sister unusually quickly and, more significantly, show substantially less fear or defensive behavior toward them than they do toward unfamiliar humans.
Dogs frequently approach without encouragement. Cats have followed the sisters through unfamiliar facilities. Birds and small mammals that normally retreat from personnel often remain nearby when either sister enters an enclosure.
The effect is particularly noticeable among wild, poorly socialized, injured, or frightened animals.
More unusually, animals appear unwilling to deliberately injure either sister.
Animals known to bite, claw, charge, or otherwise attack humans have repeatedly refused to do so when confronted directly by Yui or Mei. Threat displays may still occur, and an animal may flee, struggle, vocalize, or attempt to create distance, but deliberate attacks against either sister have not been reliably documented.
This does not make interaction completely safe. A panicked animal can still knock one of them over, crush a hand against an enclosure, or cause accidental injury while attempting to escape. The distinction appears to be that the animal will not intentionally direct harmful behavior toward them.
The effect has proven unusually useful in Life Sciences work.
Both sisters have been able to approach animals closely enough to retrieve biological samples, inspect wounds, collect shed material, attach monitoring equipment, administer treatment, or recover specimens that would ordinarily require sedation, restraint, or considerably more personnel.
On several field investigations, animals carrying potentially valuable biological material permitted one of the sisters to approach while refusing comparable proximity from every other member of the recovery team.
This occasionally creates experimental problems. Animals being observed for natural behavioral responses may alter their behavior as soon as one of the sisters becomes physically present.
As a result, both have been excluded from the immediate area during certain behavioral studies despite being responsible for the research itself.
No common chemical, hormonal, olfactory, behavioral, or electromagnetic cause has been identified.
More strangely, the effect appears approximately equal between the twins despite their noticeably different personalities and mannerisms.
