VersaLife

"We make tomorrow look like yesterday."

- VersaLife's motto

The VersaLife Corporation is a multinational company founded before 1993. In 2052 (and potentially as early as 2027), it is a giant subsidiary of the mammoth firm Page Industries, whose owner is Bob Page. VersaLife specializes in the fields of medicine, bio-engineering and nanotechnology. Their headquarters are found just above the Underground Mall in Hong Kong.

Background
The earliest reference to VersaLife is in 1993, when one of the company's subsidiaries, White Helix Labs, performed a series of experiments on newborn babies, likely as part of an early attempt to develop augmentation technology. Adam Jensen was the only survivor of this series of experiments, thought lost when his birth parents burnt down the labs and placed him in the care of Michelle Walthers.

In 2008, VersaLife was one of the several major biotech companies, with the support of the United Nations, to participate in biotech research at the controversial Omega Ranch. Whether or not it was already under Illuminati control at this time is still unclear. Leading the development, the World Health Organization (WHO), construction began on the new center that would pave the way for research into viral genetics and biological sciences.



In 2027, VersaLife has the patent to produce Neuropozyne, a drug which mechanically-augmented individuals need to take to keep their bodies from violently rejecting their mechanical augmentations. Since VersaLife is the only company producing the drug, Neuropozyne remains extremely expensive. VersaLife also manufactures painkillers, and its future parent company, Page Industries, produces neural hubs for mechanically-augmented people. Since Bob Page is VersaLife's CEO in 2027, it is highly plausible that VersaLife is already a subsidiary of Page Industries at this stage.

By 2052, VersaLife itself is a commercial behemoth, with Maggie Chow as one of its directors. It specialises in nanotechnology, making several products which use nanites, from nano-augmentations to nanotech swords, to Transgenics and the nanite-composed vaccine for the Gray Death. It produces these things with a Universal Constructor, one of the few in existence. In secret, according to Majestic-12's plans for world domination, it also produces the fatal Gray Death virus. As the source of both the virus and the only working vaccine, anyone susceptible to the virus is effectively at Majestic-12's mercy. Ambrosia is not a permanent cure, but rather only a temporary measure. By selectively increasing and decreasing the intensity of plague outbreaks while keeping the cure under tight rations, Majestic-12 is able to foster social disorder by dissolving the standard social classes - Majestic-12 alone decides who will receive Ambrosia, and no permanent immunization exists.

VersaLife may operate as a pharmaceutical company, but specializes in established and theoretical applications of nanotechnology, especially in conjunction with living creatures. It also runs the Genetically Modified Organism Project, an experiment to create synthetic creatures, known as transgenics, and — with the aid of nanotechnology — genetically engineers organisms, presumably as a result of experimentation, or for use in experiments, or possibly both or neither, which breeds creatures such as Greasels and Karkians. Both organisms appear to be recombinant creations. A third major project, Grays, are supposedly cloned from DNA recovered from Roswell. The hypothesis has been put forth, however, that they are merely monkeys engineered, code-named RUCK, to have no hair and spit toxic substance. In addition to these creatures, Bob Page claims that VersaLife created JC Denton, his brother Paul and later Alex Denton.

The cost of Majestic-12's Denton project is apparently very steep; Walton Simons comments that the cost of creating JC Denton alone was approximately "fifty billion dollars." VersaLife is the sole source of all of the nanotech augmentation canisters and upgrade canisters found in the game. It also places high emphasis on security, to the point that even the receptionist in the Data Entry Facility in Hong Kong will kill anyone who threatens the company. Some employees, due to greed, disgruntlement or other reasons, can be persuaded to betray the firm, such as Hundley, the shift supervisor in the Data Entry Facility. VersaLife, like almost all corporations, eventually folded during the Collapse.

VersaLife had a research facility at the Shackleton glacier in Antarctica. The Collapse cut the base and its crew off from the world. The crew survived for some time, but were eventually overrun by cold, food shortage or transgenics. The transgenics adapted to the environment. The Greasels and Karkians roamed wild, while the sentient Grays were taken into care by JC Denton, and became the guardians of his sanctuary.

Trivia

 * VersaLife's Motto can also be heard in one of the episodes of the first Season of Max Headroom, by the old australian punk hacker.
 * The USA Network TV show Suits mentions a company called Versalife in S04E12, which is a client of Pearson Specter. It is most likely that the name was unintentionally plagiarised from this game series.

VersaLife