I was thinking about it at work today and I wondered if anybody else has been pondering
this... What if the whole sickness thing (along with the quarantine warnings) are simply the truth and the button was doing something to prevent the onset of the mysterious sickness. I have been theorizing about a zillion different possibilities; but I have neglected to consider that the info about the sickness (whatever it is) could be true and sitting right in front of our faces. Perhaps in the next few episodes we will begin to see the losties "get sick."

I couldn't find any posts specifically about this, but if anyone has seen a thread that this should be in, please tell me. I'm still trying to find my way around.

If that's the case then do they really need the injections?

unfortunately, there were only few attempts to find out what this hatch actually does. if I was there I would die curiosity to discover this place's secret. there are approx 40 losties and none of them has engineering or computing background to sort things out. but this sickness related thing sounds reasonably. aaron got a bit sick after locke failed to enter the code in a timely fashion

No. Faux-Henry said that the button does nothing.

hmm... at first i thought "no that's crazy" but then I started to think about it more.. and what if the button is what makes all the crazy things happen, like Locke's legs, they got trapped underneath the door before teh button went off, but when he got shrapnel in his leg he didn't seem to notice and walked fine aftewards, now though, he's limping and seems to be in more pain. Perhaps he won't be able to walk if the button is continuely not pushed?

And with Hurley, he seemed fine, then after the buttons not pushed all of a sudden he experiences another weird mental episode and "Dave" comes back. Was that becuase of the food and his problems with that? or Was it becuase the button wasn't pushed and so his illness came back?

So maybe this applies to not just "the" illness, but all illnesses, so the button kept all within a decent radius from getting pretty much any disease. Of course this would have to mean that the sound that's made when the button isn't pressed, is the sound of something powering down (unless it powers up to.. make everyone sick)

Though I think the producers said that the button almost no being pushed had nothign to do with Aaron getting sick, so I doubt this, but it is atleast an intresting idea.

Just hypothesizing here... I was thinking that maybe the shots were something addictive and a total red herring as far as any illness goes... (Which would also be a great way to keep people in line. One of the Latin lines on the map did state that the cure was worse than the disease) Or maybe the button was somehow keeping things at bay for the most part and the shots are like boosters. I would really like to hear other folks thoughts on this.
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unfortunately, there were only few attempts to find out what this hatch actually does. if I was there I would die curiosity to discover this place's secret. there are approx 40 losties and none of them has engineering or computing background to sort things out. but this sickness related thing sounds reasonably. aaron got a bit sick after locke failed to enter the code in a timely fashion
Michael is an engineer, but who knows where he is. Sayid fixed the computer, but he is so consumed with grief and animosity for "The Artist Formerly Known As Henry Gale" that he isn't much use for anything right now.
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No. Faux-Henry said that the button does nothing.
Do you believe "Henry" is trustworthy in regard to anything?
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It doesn't seem crazy to me the more I think about it. Some of the Island's mysteries are quite occluded, but I feel that the writers are good at getting the obsessive fans (like us) to overlook things that are presented quite plainly. Of course this is all conjecture...

I'm trying to find the thread but I remember reading something recently here about that. I think Kristen did an interview with Javi or Damon, I really don't remember. But I know he said that Aaron didn't get sick because the counter hit zero.

eta: Found the link, it's to the spoiler section tho. http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?t=42817&highlight=aaron+javi

New Spoiler: Damon: Heiroglyphics not the cause of Aaron getting sick Date: 4/3/06 Episode: var Source: ABC Podcast URL: http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/podcasts/105662.html 100% direct mp3 download: http://a.media.abc.com/podcast/lost/Lostpodcast_13_direct.mp3

In the question/answer section, Damon Lindelof says the Egyptian heiroglyphics (seen at the end of One of Them when the counter reached zero) had nothing to do with Aaron getting sick.

yeah I said that in my post, that hte producers said that, so i found the whole theory unlikely. I don't even really agree with what I said above, just working with the "button keeping people from getting sick" theory to see how far I could advance it, but i think there's a lot of problems with it.

Though not being the cause of Aaron being sick doesn't nessisarily mean that it hasn't kept "the sickness" away, as it does seem Aaron didn't really have the sickness... though at this point we have very little idea of what hte sickness actually is.

Thanks for the link! Personally, I don't think that Aaron was getting sick due to the button. I think that his sickness is due to the fact that he was receiving the injections in utero and is now going without whatever is in the injections.

The more I ponder this and the less people seem to agree with it, the more I think it is possible. Rousseau is pretty serious about the sickness... she killed all her companions because of it and seems to be waiting for the other shoe to drop as far as the losties getting sick. Maybe "Henry" let the timer run out knowing that without the booster shots most of the losties wouldn't make it and the others would have fewer intruders to contend with.

It's all conjecture...

That's true. Many kids get imunizations and don't show signs of problems for quite a while.

I like it! Maybe Aaron got sick b/c he was smaller??? I do like this theory tho!

I remember on another thread that people were mentioning a whole slew of new faces among the losties that aren't featured characters. Maybe like the introduction of Arszt, these folks are going to be used as casualties. You can't kill 'em off without at least showing them a few times.
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It seems like this thread will probably die off pretty quick, so I just wanted to get my two cents in by saying that that not everything about the island is hidden from us or the losties. Whether it is from the button not being pushed or from something else; I have the sneaking suspicion that our castaways are gonna' start getting sick real soon.

Dontcha' love driving yourself crazy with all this stuff?

It's possible if the Sickness is actually radiation poisoning. If that thing that starts up and makes those horrible clanging sounds when the hieroglyphics appear is a giant magnet as NotHenry suggested, then it could very well be sending out blasts of electromagnetic radiation to which the Swan is protected because of that 8 foot thick concrete wall. That could also link it to downed planes and watercraft, because pointing a directional EMP at the sky could bring down planes. It doesn't explain how the plane ripped apart or how all three main pieces landed so close, but it could explain both the crashes and the sickness.

Or, as always, I could be imagining it all...