The Pattern is the codename given to unexplained phenomena, also known as "Fringe Events." The Pattern is under investigation by a special branch of the Department of Homeland Security, of which Phillip Broyles is an active member. Fringe Division, headed by Broyles, consists of Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop, Walter Bishop, and Astrid Farnsworth . Among those with knowledge of The Pattern is Nina Sharp, Executive Director of Massive Dynamic, a multibillion dollar company that has several ties to The Pattern.
Broyles describes the events of The Pattern as seeming "as if someone out there is experimenting, only the whole world is a lab".
The Pattern originated at Reiden Lake and was caused by Walter Bishop. Bishop's son, Peter, died in this universe. Determined to save the Peter from the alternate universe, Bishop crossed over through a portal that he had designed. However, this action had devastating consequences. Described by Carla Warren as an act against nature, the use of such a door created cracks in the delicate membrane between the universes. The balance between the universes was so destabilized that an inevitable confrontation would come to a head in the years following this incident. From this moment onwards, the universes were on a collision course, both colliding into each other. However, as later explained by Nina Sharp, it is against the laws of physics for two objects, in this case the two universes, to occupy the same space at the same time. A series of soft spots began radiating out from the lake. These are areas where the membrane between universes is incredibly thin, almost porous. Because of the destabilized conditions in these locations, any scientific ventures were prone to go awry. Impossible events were made possible- and too often occured, setting off the pattern of unexplained phenomena. Further incidents which happened were instigated by ZFT, a terrorist organization preparing weapons and technology for the coming war between universes.
EscalationEditAs the cracks ran deeper, events of the Pattern became more and more frequent, as well as severe. The coming
war caused ZFT, a presumed terrorist organization, to act, albeit erratically, to try and save their universe. The organization, funded by William Bell, made it their mission to experiment with highly complex and specialized technologies, testing for effectiveness, in preparation for the opportune time to unleash them in the coming war. These events caught the interest of the federal government, and it was by the actions of ZFT that the Pattern escalated. These bizarre scientific advancements plagued the "soft spots" between universes, causing further rifts and cracks.
Investigation of The PatternEdit
At an unknown time, an Oversight Committee was formed by individuals with knowledge of The Pattern. Among them were Phillip Broyles and Nina Sharp. This committee oversaw a team that was arranged to investigate the occurances. Details of the members of this team are unknown, but it was revealed by Broyles that they had limited success. Following the Flight 627 outbreak, a second Fringe Division was formed, consisting of Olivia Dunham, Peter and Walter Bishop, and Astrid Farnsworth.
Known Incidents Edit
|Flesh Melting Contagion||Pilot||Passengers on an international flight find their bodies liquefied.||Perpetrator Richard Steig was a former Massive Dynamic employee|
|Transhumanism||The Same Old Story||A woman dies in labor. Her baby dies as well...of old age.||By-Product of Massive Dynamic's Carson-Penrose Experiments|
|Amber/Ghost Networks||The Ghost Network||A bixarre incident on a bus leaves its passengers frozen in amber.||Amber, is manufactured by Massive Dynamic in this universe.|
|The Beacon||The Arrival||What appears to be an earthquake unearths a strange device.||The Observer is in charge of monitoring The Beacon.|
|Electronic Manipulation||Power Hungry||Joseph Meegar accidentally controls the elevator with his mind.||Joseph Meegar was experimented on. Although unconfirmed, ZFT may have been behind it.|
|Radioactive Humans||The Cure||Emily Kramer was being turned into a human weapon by INtREPUS.||The work was for an unnamed client. Massive Dynamic gained from their competitor's losses after the incident.|
|Heart Parasite||In Which We Meet Mr. Jones||A heart parasite was discovered in FBI Agent Mitchell Loeb.||The entire event was orchestrated by ZFT to lead the FBI to David Robert Jones in order to discover the location Jones was to be teleported to.|
|Hypnosis||The Equation||A boy goes missing. The strange part: his father can't remember how.||ZFT kidnapped the boy to obtain The Equation.|
|Psychosomatic Exsanguination||The Dreamscape||A man jumps to his death. His cuts originate from the inside-out.||Mark Young, the victim, was selling Massive Dynamic secrets.|
|Molecular Rearranging||Safe||A bank is robbed. The only trace of thieves is one that is in the wall.||The thieves were ZFT, robbing pieces of a machine that would teleport Jones out of jail.|
|Virology||Bound||Slugs erupt from CDC Agents mouths||ZFT was behind the attacks for unknown purposes.|
|Biotechnology||The No-Brainer||A computer virus fries people's brains instead of their hard-drives.||Brian Dempsey.|
|Mutation||The Transformation||A creature is discovered in the wreckage of a plane.||The victim worked with John Scott.|
|Genetic Engineering||Ability||A toxin covers all of its victim's orfices.||David Robert Jones, of ZFT, needed to get access to Olivia Dunham.|
|Observers||Inner Child||A presumed Child Observer is discovered.||If the theory is correct, the child is connected to the Observers.|
|Transgenics||Unleashed||A mutant runs rampant.||No connection to the grand scheme of events.|
|Psychokinesis||Bad Dreams||Olivia dreams about a real-life murder.||Cortexiphan trials of Walter Bishop.|
|Genetic Engineering||Midnight||A real-life vampire sucks the spinal fluid out of her victims.||Nicholas Boone's wife was held hostage by ZFT, who forced him to create weapons for them.|
|Pyrokinesis||The Road Not Taken||A woman bursts into flames on the sidewalk.||Cortexiphan subjects are activated by ZFT.|
|Alternate Universes||There's More Than One of Everything||A portal to the Other Side is opened.||David Robert Jones of ZFT opens the portal to find William Bell.|
|Momentum||A New Day in the Old Town||An FBI agent flies out of an empty car.||Olivia Dunham was returned from the Alternate Universe.|
|Genetic Engineering||Night of Desirable Objects||Several people disappear in a field.||The victims were snatched by Hughes' baby.|
|Synthetic Neurotoxins/Bio-Weaponization||Fracture||A man is turned into an organic bomb.||While on tour in Iraq, an entire unit is exposed to a toxin containing cyanogen chloride and later exploited by a possible ZFT radical.|
|Transmogrification||Momentum Deferred||A man is found dead. His blood contains mercury.||Shapeshifters were hunting down the head of Thomas Jerome Newton.|
|Dreams||Dream Logic||A man turns into a violent sleepwalker.||Laxmeesh Nayak, a sleep specialist, was using a machine to live his clients' dreams, causing them to go insane.|
|Dark Matter||Earthling||A man is reduced to ash.||An organism from outer space was discovered by Russia and brought back to Earth.|
|Mind Control||Of Human Action||Kidnappers control police officers minds.||Tyler Carson is actually the kidnapper- part of the same Carson-Penrose experiments of Case #2 with Massive Dynamic.|
|Observers||August||An Observer kidnaps a woman.||August fell in love with Christine Hollis and saved her life.|
|Parasites||Snakehead||Snake-like parasites burst from their victims' mouths.||Part of drug-trafficking plot.|
|Lobotomy||Grey Matters||A mental patient is found with the back of his head removed.||Thomas Jerome Newton was recovering pieces of Walter's brain.|
|Retrocognition||Unearthed||A brain dead girl awakens citing military code.||The girls body was spiritually bonded with another man due to radiation.|
|Mutation||Johari Window||A boy transforms from a normal looking child to a hideous monster.||A military camouflage program went horribly awry.|
|Virus||What Lies Below||A man dies a gruesome death, releasing a 75,000 year old virus.||VandenKemp was smuggling the 75,000 year old virus from Solum Oil Corp for an unknown purpose.|
|Toxins||The Bishop Revival||Relatives at a wedding suffocate to death in a room full of air.||A toxin bonded with the hemoglobin in the blood to suffocate them. recognizing specific genetic traits to target certain individuals|
|Alternate Universes||Jacksonville||Two buildings collide while a man inside sprouts extra limbs.||Thomas Jerome Newton was switching parts of the universes, causing these two buildings to collide.|
|Energy Exchange||Olivia. In the Lab. With the Revolver||A woman's face instantly becomes covered with tumors.||James Heath, a former Cortexiphan child, was unable to control his abilities.|
|Time Travel||White Tulip||Passengers aboard a train all die.||Alistair Peck was attempting to time travel. The energy of everyone and everything around him was drained as a result.|
|Shape-Shifters||The Man from the Other Side||Monsters emerge from mysterious embryos||Shape-Shifters from the Other Side are sent over to arrange transportation of Walternate to the Prime Universe|
|Alternate Universes||Over There: Part 1||A Class One breach leads the the discovery of a man with tumors all over his face.||The Fringe Team from the Prime Universe crossed over. James Heath's ability from the Cortexiphan trials killed him.|
According to Broyles, 37 incidents have been reported and classified as part of The Pattern.
Sri Lanka Tsunami Edit
More recently, an unidentified plane was spotted by a fisherman off the coast of Sri Lanka, flying low and emitting a high-pitched frequency which caused any glass windows in the surrounding area to shatter. Following this an hour later, a sub-surface earthquake measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale hit the area and caused a tsunami, decimating the costal towns and resulting in the deaths of approximately 83,000 people.
Coma Patient Co-ordinates Edit
At a hospital in Lisbon a female patient woke up after years in a coma and began writing down a series of numbers which, when cross-checked in military databases, are discovered to be real-time co-ordinates of carrier battle groups on maneuvers in the pacific. These co-ordinates would be considered information classified above top-secret. It is unknown how she was able to produce these numbers or if she knew what they were.
Additional Incidents (Viral Marketing) Edit
The following seven incidents are not mentioned in the pilot episode; instead they have been broadcast as viral radio spots for Fringe and as secret features on the "butterfly" picture at http://www.imaginetheimpossibilities.com. One of five different audio samples is played when the butterfly is clicked, and most are followed by a deep male voice which says "find the pattern".
One of the samples does not describe an incident; instead it is a radio advertisement for a car dealership called Franklin Auto (which sometimes appears as Abrams Auto for the radio spot) offering deals on 2008-model cars. The ad is interrupted halfway through, all speech and music become reversed, and the deep voice says "find the pattern". The advert goes back to being played forwards and finishes with the line "tell 'em Charlie sent ya!".
Radio reporter: "A Dallas area physician reports that a 51-year-old female patient grew over eight-and-a-half inches overnight. Various media outlets have dubbed events like this "the pattern". All government sources are declar-"
Wedding Guests' AmnesiaEdit
Emergency services transmission: "Calling all units, there's a 1022 at the VFW hall at spring and fourth. Over 200 wedding guests are disoriented. All claim they can't remember the last two hours. May be linked to the pattern. Over."
An alternative 'radio spot' version of this transmission is currently being used as a viral marketing asset by Fox. There is only one difference; the road name "spring" has been changed to "Abrams".
Male voice: "Case number 22. Tell me what happened, Mrs Reid."
Female voice: "I identified my husband at the morgue after the wreck. So I went home to break the news to my son... and then I got this call from the coroner. And he said 'I don't know how to tell you this, but... your husband wants a ride home'. [Laughs] He's alive!"
Cruise Ship MaydayEdit
Crewman:"National sea rescue, this is the Solara cruise ship Astreya. Come in. "
Operator:"Roger, we read you five-by-five. Go ahead, Astreya."
Crewman:"Mayday, the navigation system's down."
Operator:"We copy, what was your last position?"
Crewman:"Can't find our way out. There's a sudden fog bank off the coast of patagonia. Gonna try and turn her around. Mayday. Mayday!"
The transmission cuts off, and we hear the sound of the tape being rewound. When it plays again, it is spliced so the syllables "find", "the", "pat-" and "turn" are arranged in order. The tape is rewound and played again twice, each time with the syllables closer together.
Radio Reporter:"A Baltimore family discovered a disoriented man in their back yard today who claims to have been in a London department store moments before. Security tapes confirm his story. Many believe this is part of The Pattern."
Radio Reporter: "St. Louis police report that a five-year-old girl's dream has revealed the location of her kidnapped sister. Various media outlets have dubbed events like this “the Pattern”. All government sources are declining comm-"
Radio Reporter: “An Arizona University is studying a four-year-old boy who spontaneously began speaking six different languages. Is his extraordinary ability part of the events now being dubbed “The Pattern”? Government sources re-”
Radio Reporter: "Case 91: Satellite imaging picked up a rare formation of sheep on a ridge along the Iowa border three months ago. After questioning the owner of the property, we have come to the conclusion that this is no hoax. The coordination and quantity of sheep creating the pattern leaves very little explanation. Reports indicate ten more sheep patterns were spotted throughout the area."
The rest of the evidence related to this case can be found here: http://www.imaginetheimpossibilities.com/77203.htm . Just hit the word next to continue through the list of evidence.