Part 2
The demonstration continued as the last round of items were swiftly packaged away under the table. The new formula glue and the solvent for it were put in a little safe locked under the table, proprietary highly confidential information that was secured with a little theatrical beep. They moved onto the more mundane product range. Michelle put a bucket with a large hold in it on the table and a beaker of water.
“This is our best selling product, emergency pressure seal tape or EPST”. She held up a thick roll of material, pulling a strip of white tape from the roll. “An industrial sealing tape, it fuses with itself to create a water tight bond. It’s designed for plumbing emergencies to give a water tight barrier against high water pressure, it can even hold against a pump”.
To prove its worth she wrapped the tape around the bucket. The tape was swiftly fusing with itself and shrinking tight to form a water proof barrier. Fifteen seconds later she poured the water into the bucket and it didn't leak out. She grinned and poured all the water back into the beaker.
“The dramatic shrinking is created from a chemical reaction we codename N82. It can be rather surprising if you don't know how to use it properly. If you don't follow the directions you can end up with a ball of contracting tape. Or you could attach yourself to your own pipework”. To demonstrate this she pulled off about a yard of tape and dropped it on the top of the table. It seemed to screw it self up and shrink into a warped ball of its own accord in around twelve seconds, Dolores concluded that it must be activated on contact with the air.
The director looked at her raising the roll of tape,
“Why don't you hold out your hands and you can see how strong it is? I have the solvent ready”. The detective looked at her and half raised her hands, she paused raised an eyebrow and lowered them. The director laughed and lowered the tape.
“Well at least you pass the initiative test, many don't”. She activated a slide show that had a few of the failed applicants for a job interview. A woman with her wrists wrapped in pressure tape then her hands wrapped in pressure tape. The tape wrapped over her torso then legs. Then her head being covered with just her nose sticking out before she was put in a room full of similarly wrapped women. There was a brief little video clip showing the brutal compression with 20 mummified women ineffectively squirming against the cruely tight bonds. The last slide came up showing a sign rejected candidates.
“After the morning round of interviews we did … eventually let them go”.
The plumbing tape disappeared and a different product emerged from below the table. She held up a tan coloured roll of tape that had a picture of a large orangutang holding something together with his hands and feet on the packaging. “This is Ape-Tape, a 3% solution of XX-121-D with a cloth backing. Yes it's basically our own version of duct tape, it's our second best seller. Though we sell a lot of it the profit margin is not marvellous. We have other medical products where the profits are much better”.
Dolores looked at the tape for a second, there was something familiar about it.
“Wasn't there that short lived fad … the ape tape escape … the tape arm-binder challenge”? The director nodded a little stifling a laugh.
“Someone spread on social media that we would pay someone if they could escape having there arms wrapped behind there back fingertips to elbows with a full roll of ape tape. No one managed to escape. If I remember one influencer spent a week tapped up like that before someone told her it was not a real thing”. She absent mindedly tapped a button and a few images showing some of the challengers failing to escape appeared on the screen briefly.
The operations manager spun the next roll of tape in her hand then removed everything from the table surface. She pulled out a little rack filled with four different sizes of the next product.
“We also developed a medical application, XX-121-M, it is designed specifically to bond with human skin to hold bandages together to hold feeds and tube etc. in place. Now the formula its as strong as XX-121-D so we generally usually use a 1% diluted solution”. She tore off a piece of tae and dabbed it against the sleeve of her white coat, where it didn't do anything.
“You see it sticks just to skin not your clothes not the other equipment. It just bonds to the bandage and to the skin”. She put it against her wrist it stuck in place.
She threw a roll over from the dispensing rack. The investigator looked at it, a pastel blue tape with medic-tape stencilled about every 3 inches along the side. She offered her a pair of gloves as well to do her own experiment.
“This is our medic-tape, its our third best selling product. Put these gloves on, if you tear a small piece off and try to stick it to the table or your clothes it wont stick, but on your bare arm. There you go its very strong even with the 1% application”. Dolores had to put quite a bit of effort in to pull the tape off her arm, she handed the tape back. Her host tidied everything away under the table again.
She pulled out a tray with four items in it, placing them in the middle of the bench. The investigator scratched her head trying to work out what they were. The manager looked very pleased with herself, she probably had a hand in designing whatever these were. The director started at one end of the tray.
“This is part of our current range of medical products, I am quite proud to say that we designed in house. This item is the Airway-Mark-1 this is a breathing Oropharyngeal mouth tube, it goes in the mouth so that someone's breathing is unobstructed. Now there is a little ring of 1% XX-121-M on the top of it that sticks it to the patients lips, so that they cant accidentally dislodge it and choke”. It looks almost like the mouth piece from a divers snorkel, but inverted to hold the airway open. Dolores tilted her head a little to the right and she could just about make it out once told its intended purpose. A video played with a model applying the tube to her own mouth.
The operations manager moved on to the next variant.
“Now this is the Airway-Mark-2 its designed for patients who are a bit disorientated. Some one who might accidentally thrash about and pull out there own breathing tube out. Someone under the influence of drink or drugs. The tube is larger and it has a silicone jacket around it that will keep the patients tongue at the bottom of there mouth, so they cant accidentally swallow it. The round plate that contacts there lips is a little bit larger the the first model and has a 5% XX-121-M to stick it in place. Even someone having a seizure couldn't accidentally dislodge it”. The gum-shoe picked up the device, it looked like the last one but with a half a gum shield and a circular contact plate and a thicker pipe with a sizeable bit of padding added around it, she put it back. It didn't look pleasant but better than choking on your own tongue. A video played with the same model having a litlle more difficulty applying the second tube to her own mouth.
“Now this is the Airway-Mark-3 – it goes from a product designed to aid patients, to one designed primarily for suicide prevention. As well as force feeding people going on a hunger strike. Its made highly tamper proof with a much larger breathing tube and a place for a feeding tube, there is a bite down plate for the patients teeth the silicone jacket around the tube is much larger and will comfortably fill the entire mouth. The adhesive plate is a lot larger and has a 20% XX-121-M solution to stick it in place. Someone would have a lot of difficulty removing it without the solvent. It is used quite a bit for problematic patients to calm them down”. Dolores held it up and looked at it the mouth-guard. She noted the larger contact plate that would go over the lips, the generous size of the what was effectively a gag. The one way valve for a feeding port. She could just imagine someone who was suicidal or on a hunger strike trying and failing to remove it. She felt a little chill run down her spine as she put it back. A video played with the first model, now two women were helping her applying the mark 3 she didn't look very happy about it.
“The last and most complex in the range is the Airway-Mark-4! Its designed for the long-term care of disturbed psychiatric patients. Its practically tamper proof with the large breathing tube, force feeding port. There is an integrated mouth guard. The silicone jacket around the tube is massive and very effective at absorbing sound. The adhesive plate is basically a muzzle going from nose to jaw with a 100% XX-121-M solution to stick it in place. Someone would have to have the releasing compound to ever get it off otherwise its bonded to them. Perfect for long term patient care”. The detective looked at it a little horrified. She would hate to have one of these in her mouth, the tube going down her throat. The silicon bung filling her mouth muffling her cries. Her teeth locked in the guard and that face plate clamped over her jaw, it made her shudder a little at the thought of it. These people had some real sadists working for them to design this stuff, she wondered if she should consider backing out.
A final video in the series played with a now hysterical model struggling against them as they forced the mark 4 down her throat in what looked like a padded cell. The same model was shown participating in a clinical trial after 5 days she looked desperate they had put her in a tight straight-jacket. After 10 days she was manic they had put her in a diaper as well as a much tighter jacket. After 30 days she seemed to have given up no matter what she did the mark 4 was not coming off.
The operations manager didn't seem to see the hesitation building up in her new contractor, she just kept on with the presentation.
“Now moving on, I need to show you one of our design iterations, which we call the tab activation system”. The investigator was shown a tray with a number of oblong white pads with little orange tags on them. The woman giving the demonstration sandwiched a pad between two bits of metal then moves them around a little to get them lined up.
“See I put this pad with the little tab between these to items they don't stick. But as soon as I pull the tag then they stick together. Its a real innovation”. She held up the two pieces of metal that were now stuck to each other, the little orange tag had a string trailing out of it that must have had some part of the application. Dolores started to think of some of the commercial applications of something like that she was sure that there were many you could line up your glue perfectly before sticking whatever it was in place.
She put the piece of metal on the tray with the various pads and moved on putting that demonstration to one side. There seemed quite a few products to go through as the director pulled out another tray. This one was divided into four slots showing four different variants of the same system, she started with the left most item.
“These are the Muffs-Mark-1 a system designed to keep patients from hurting themselves, that could also be used for keeping dangerous criminals in line. The mark 1 is fairly low security. A mitten that fits over the hand, the activation of the glue is a little slower. You can see this tab, you pull it and the adhesive activates sticking the pad in place. It uses a 1% solution of XX-121-M once stuck on a little difficult to remove”. Tentatively Dolores picked it up, this looked quite solid. A prisoner wearing these would have a hard time doing very much at all. She almost went to put her hand in it to try but thought better placing it back into the tray. A video played showing the same model as before still wearing the Mark 4 airway. The nurse had her in a headlock and an assistant fitted the mittens.
Michelle had an image on screen behind her which showed a cross section of the product.
“Now moving on Muffs-Mark-2, this system is meant to be used with other systems, but its still much stronger that the original. These mittens go a little way up the arm. Crucially they have a reinforcing loop that tightens in one direction and stick to itself at the wrist making them far harder to remove. The loop is made from a kevlar nylon blend, its almost as hard to cut as a pure kevlar weave. The mittens have some padding in them making them more effective. Its using a 5% solution of XX-121-M”. The detective picked them up noticing the size and weight it seemed a little overkill, but there must be a market for them. It made her a little bit worried what might be going on behind closed doors in prisons and psychiatric institutions. Yet there were still two more variations that would be even worse. The next video showed the same model wearing the upgrade.
The operations manager didn't seem to notice her slight discomfort and kept on going
“Muffs-mark 3 this is a medium security system, these mittens go up to the mid forearm they have two reinforcing loops. They are heavily padded and the tip of the mitten folds back on itself to lock the hand in a ball, so the patient cant use there fingers in any way. Its using a 20% solution of XX-121-M they are practically escape proof without tools and solvent”. The investigator looked at them, they almost looked like some sort of odd boxing glove or sparring mitt. Still complete overkill, the padding would probably help, they didn't look comfortable at all. If this was medium security she hated to see the patient that needed something more secure. She had never seen or heard of such products being used which made her wonder if they were behind closed doors when someone was put in them would they ever get out? The model in the video that was up on screen certainly seemed to have the same sort of concerns.
“Now finally the Muffs-mark 4 this is a high security system, the best we have developed so far. The mittens go up as far as the elbow, they have three reinforcing loops. They are heavily padded and have the same fold back on the end of the mittens. But crucially they also have a second layer mitten that folds over the first, that also has a reinforcing strap. Of course it uses a 100% solution of XX-121-M, its designed for very long term wear”. The detective picked them up examining them closely. They were heavy the padding would probably prevent circulation issues. Someone wearing them would be pretty helpless and still uncomfortable. The final video of the series played showing the model now contending with the airway-mark 4 and the muffs-mark 4, she was not a happy camper. Dolores wondered if the were even more products to go on-top of these.