The Sickness
The discrepancies in the cover story that Annie has been pointing out has got me wondering if there's some connection to The Sickness. It's pretty clear that The Sickness manifests in mental aberrations rather than as a physical infection. I put that together with the PR woman in 4.12 talking about the cover story being "catchy" and it's got me thinking that the discrepancies (which no one seems to notice or ask about) are a sign of some kind of mind manipulation going on. Also in 4.12 Jack on island talks about having an infection, and in the FF seems to be the one most strongly "infected" by the cover story (I know I'm stretching the metaphor--but I think the connection is there). So I'm trying to assemble some things we might know about The Sickness:
1. Lenny, Sam Toomey, Radzinksy, Rousseau & her team, Hurley--all seem to have been infected by exposure to the numbers. Sam & Radzinsky both kill themselves. Rousseau kills her team (we think) and says something about she had to do it because what if they got rescued. So now we have a different group of survivors being rescued--the O6--are they carrying The Sickness off the island? And is one sign of that the discrepancies in the cover story?
2. Radzinsky had a photographic memory. That's how he was able to interfere with the lock down protocol. So having a photographic memory--would this have made him more susceptible? Carrying the numbers in his head? Or the blast door hieroglyphics? And Locke studied those too...
3. Alpert's name, the Room 23 video point to mind manipulation. Plus there's the Huxley connection about the "Doors of Perception." And Lenny warning that the box had been opened.
4. Ben's tumor on his spine and the fact that Jack is a spinal surgeon. The spine is the main information pathway to the brain.
5. Cabin fever on the freighter--possibly affecting Keamy as well as the suicides. Brandon--like Sam and Radzinsky blew his brains out. Possible that the method of suicide is not coincidental.
6. Brain aneurysms--Eloise, Minkowski & Desmond.
7. Desmond and Aaron both given the vaccine CR 4-81516-23 42. CR short for consciousness raising?
8. This is my most far-out of all the above ideas--but the Jack/Sawyer switching we've been noticing--are identities/consciousnesses actually merging? And if so--a very weird idea--Kate raising Aaron, has Kate merged with Claire to any extent? Which of course makes the relationship with Jack very, ....ew.....
Brainstorm
Heh, that's a good choice of words....but no I didn't mean that they had concocted the cover story. I'm thinking of it like this--from the standpoint of the writers--why have the O6 tell a cover story that is so flawed? The writers could come up with anything they like for the cover story--certainly one that could answer details like why the plane was flying the wrong way. And then also why have the cover story say one thing (landed in the water), but later have a different version (Jack at Kate's trial--landed on an island).
The cover story is not about telling the most sensible story which covers what happened in a believable way--in fact it has very noticeable flaws. So there must be some other reason that it has to be just this story. (And I think the 2 that are supposed to also escape the plane have something to do with that--why is it important that Jin died on the plane?)
OK--here's a weird idea--what if we go back to Agent's idea of merged realities. And the infection is the infection of one reality into another. The sickness affects those exposed to the numbers and to the island generally--it is an inability to deal mentally with different versions of one's own story/reality. What happened that we have seen on the show Lost--that should not have happened in this reality. This is not the way things are SUPPOSED to be. The cover story is the way things are supposed to have happened--and they have to stick with that. That's why no one is asking questions. But they themselves cannot maintain it (Jack at Kate's trial).
Quick thought
Brainstorm, heh... I didn't even realize.
So it seems that everything you're mentioning revolves around the merging of stuff. Realities, consciousness, even stories.
Interesting then that Jack, "the man hiding behind the mask", is adding little hints of truth to the cover up story as time goes on. Despite Kate saying she's afraid he's going to start believing it.
Some sort of Sickness!
hmmmm....excellent observations Jaz, but I just don't know. I agree there's something not right here, and the O6 off the island seem to be in big trouble.
So, you may be right, it may some sort of sickness! Perhaps, that's what Ben was trying to say, when he told Juliet that "No one could leave." I think he said the same thing to Alex on their trek to the tower, when she asked, "Why won't you just let them leave, Ben?" and he said, "Because, Alex, they just can't," or something like that.
The sickness
Eww, too early for dirty thoughts jazzie.
(though I remember sensing some consciousness merging effect between Claire and Kate at one point. But my memory is lagging and I can't put my finger on it).
I agree there seems to be some connection in something elusive but I'm not sure I totally get how the coverup story relates to the sickness. Their story isn't what they've all brainstormed and came up with, they were told to lie and what to say. So I'm not sure how it all connects. I do love the metaphors, though.
On a side note, I remember one reporter actually mentioning how great they all look considering they've been on an island for 108 days.