It's absent in the biologist sure, she is driven by curiosity, and the loss of her partner.
But the Director? She saw numerous highly skilled people enter the are without returning, but still thought she could somehow make a difference and ultimately understand what area x is.
Lowry still thinks it's something he could, and only him could deal with, so he keeps messing with the missions and has everyone brainwashed.
Control atleast starts out thinking he has the reigns in hand, but he atleast begins to understand how ununderstandable the situation is to him.
But to be honest, i found it really hard to get anything from the books where i could say: "yeah, that's definitely something this is about" it has many themes and layers and it's just so thoroughly weird that i am not really sure about anything i experienced reading it.
But you will be glad for every non affected test, because the ensure nothing else breaks when you fulfil the whims of PM.
I love having tests