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Chapter 16

"It has only one name that I can understand and it fills me with dread every time I speak it. That alien queen is called the Abyss and every single drop of the black oil is a part of her, imbued with her malevolence and desire to dominate all of the worlds she can reach"

Rachel favoured me with a sly grin and winked one pitch black eye as she revealed a surprising truth.

"At least, that is what the Abyss had hoped for, David. But she didn't allow for replication errors in her little black emissaries. You see, every time the oil is used to infect another host, it diminishes the original version that she sent into this world. The oil can replicate itself like a virus, which is a good analogy, so the original host and the new one both increase the amount of oil within their bodies"

"But the new oil is not exactly the same as the first version" I added and Rachel clapped her black clad hands in glee.

"Precisely! The first creature that brought the black oil into this world used it subjugate its victims, infecting them with the will of the Abyss. They in turn created more of the black oil inside of themselves, using organic matter they harvested to multiply the amounts"

"In theory, the black oil can replicate itself forever, providing there is a source of organic material to feed the process. In reality, each new version became less and less potent and at the same time less self-aware. By the time I was infected by the Skitterbugs, the black oil contained only the vague memories and desires of the Abyss"

"So that explains how the Skitterbugs have split into two factions" I exclaimed. "They have broken free of the programming within the black oil, to reject the will of the Abyss"

"Yes, they are free from her will" Rachel answered sombrely.

"Then why did you want to conquer the Burrow, Rachel?" I asked her softly.

"Because the Skitterbugs turned me anyway, David" she spat with sudden anger. "They didn't even understand why they were replicating themselves, why they were infecting poor defenceless children with their awful black virus. But they did it no matter how much I cried and begged them not to, forcing that needle into my body!"

She slumped to the grass and covered her face with those black sheathed hands, shoulders shaking and yet not a single sound escaped her lips. Not a single tear fell from those glistening black eyes.

"They turned me into a monster, David. The Skitterbugs had no plan and no purpose and still they turned me into this, their new Queen of the Abyss!"

"There is surely hope, Rachel. A way to remove the black oil from your blood and return to what you were!"

"The oil can't be removed from an organic body, David. For a mechanical it might be possible but there is no way to remove it from the flesh and blood of a human being. Even if you could scour all but the last drop from me, that last drop would begin to replicate itself all over again"

She got slowly back to her feet, wrapping the stained white cloak around herself as if suddenly ashamed of the tiny Skitterbugs that covered her body. I wondered if they had become fused with her flesh, so that to remove them now would leave her crippled and dying.

"What is it you want, Rachel, if not to be human again?"

"I will become what the black oil demands from me. I will become a Queen in the Deeps, raising an army to turn everything and everyone into a monster like me"

"You won't succeed, Rachel. The Board of Governors and Archimedes himself will move against you, bringing armies of their own to crush you and your followers"

She stood before me and shook her head, a thin smile playing across her pale lips.

"You and I both know the Upper city is terrified of the black oil. They won't dare set foot down here until they are certain they have a way to stop it. And I know there is nothing that can prevent the infection spreading"

"You're lying, Rachel, and I don't know why"

"Ahh, you caught me out, Sheriff!" she laughed. "There is one thing that can possibly stop my plans, one element that needs to be dealt with before I can be assured of success. Can you think of what it might be?"

I had already figured it out, but to give voice to it could make it an awful reality and I wasn't ready to do that. Rachel didn't care and came up close to my immobile body, spelling it out for me with childish glee.

"Sweet little Eleanor-Seven from the Nest, she has the Shadows inside of her. Melded with her blood in the womb, she was born with the power to control the black oil. She could stop me, Sheriff David, if she has the chance to discover her true potential"

"She's just a child, Rachel!" I begged her to no avail. The stain of the Abyss had taken all compassion from her heart, all hope from her soul.

"So was I, David, so was I. At least I can offer you one small consolation. When the time comes, I will make it quick and painless"

There was a time when I had feared I was a monster, that I was nothing more than a creature of destruction. I understood at last that I was only a machine, a tool that had been built for war.

It required a human being to become a true monster.