Parasite Lost

Parasite Lost Chapter 7

Bren, Alistair, and Apate watched the video of Dr. Julian Porter on a computer terminal in the mostly destroyed lab where they first found him. Julian wasn't wearing a mask and his hair was much shorter. He talked with an air of excitement that betrayed his inexperience with reporting official scientific logs.

"The powers that be have finally allowed me to study something that hasn't already been published to death. This new parasite, a member of the cordyceps family of fungi but not native to Terrunda, which we are currently calling, unoriginally I might add, Unidentified Parasite 1264A, has been difficult to study for a myriad of reasons.

"First and most obvious is the increased aggression the host demonstrates in the later stages of infection. Once infected with 1264A, incubation times vary greatly but most host specimens have between a week and a month until their central nervous system shuts down, leaving them in a vegetative, coma-like state. At this point the host will either die or wake with all semblance of their former selves torn away, becoming increasingly violent and unpredictable.

"It should be noted that the initial outbreak that started this whole project was with a group of miners, about ninety percent of which died in the initial infection phase. Security personnel transferred the few men and women that managed to survive to this facility for observation. Since then we have been testing on them and recently received clearance to infect various animals in an attempt to learn more about 1264A.

"Unfortunately, running tests on such fervently hostile creatures has been cumbersome at best. It is also interesting to note that 1264A seems to only have an effect on males of a species. This suggests a possible relationship to the 'Y' chromosome, but that is just my own conjecture at this point.

"The second, and perhaps most interesting, reason it is difficult to research 1264A is because..." Julian's attention was pulled from the camera as a crash came from behind him, followed by terrified screams. A look of familiar concern crossed his face as Julian turned back to the camera, "It appears another specimen has escaped, I'll continue this log at a later time."

Armed security personnel raced behind Julian as he waved his hand and turned off the recording. Alistair looked around at the rest of the crew as if apologizing for the sudden interruption. They clicked on the next log, a closeup of Julian's hand as he adjusted the camera again, and then composed himself briefly.

"Well, it appears that Dr. Morgahn was attacked by an infected canine specimen. He is being detained until we know for sure he isn't a threat. If he is, I'll be forced to convene with the board and discuss our..." Julian paused, looking for an appropriate word, "...options. But until that happens I'm going to try to remain objective."

Apate let out a bored sigh. "Is this really helping? Shouldn't we move on?"

"Yeah, I don't really see how this is helping either," Bren admitted as he sat back in a nearby office chair with his feet on the desk busy thumbing through a magazine he had found.

"Don't y'think it's wise t'know what we're up against?" Alistair asked.

"Well now we know. Some kind of parasite or fungus or some crap, right?" Bren said.

"Should we try to find some kind of protective gear or something?" Alistair asked, already looking through some nearby lockers.

"JP told me we were probably already infected," Dante said.

"Maybe we are, we won't know if we don't finish listening t'this," Alistair rebutted.

With a crackle and buzz, the lights flickered out and left the crew in pitch-black darkness. A few seconds later they flickered back on. The computer they were using didn't boot back up with the lights. Alistair identified the power switch and tried to get the machine operational again, only to be stymied by a security screen demanding a password.