Symbiotic ship

Current operation: Prep for Quarentine

“You awake in there?”

Sarah got up and stretched. She looked at the quarantine room she had spent the past 5 days in. A few hours into her stay Emma had shown mercy and given her a tablet to occupy her time. Had Sarah not deleted the logs, Emma might have noticed that it had been used to comb through a few biology text books. She also spent a significant amount of time reading an electronic bible, but those logs she hadn’t deleted. “Yeah, what’s up?”

Emma pressed a button on the wall and the door of the quarantine room opened. “It took a few days, but I’ve determined that whatever you had, it was a poison rather than a virus or bacteria.” She paused. “I can’t quite figure out what poison, but it had a very interesting structure. Any chance you can find more?”

“Sure.” Sarah smiled. “The next time I see Tyrosine, I’ll ask him to spit some into a vial before biting me.”

Good luck with that.

“James says he wants you for a special project. Given your track record with the organism, you’ve got the best chance.”

It took about five minutes for Sarah to get dressed, and five more to make her way to C6-4. Once again, a collection of engineers and security officers were already assembled and looking somewhat bored. At the front of the room, staring out with an unblinking death glare, stood Carlos. His eyes locked on Sarah and made her blood turn cold. For a brief moment, Sarah suspected she was about to die.

“Alright everyone, listen up.” James said. He elbowed Carlos. “Knock it off, you’ll scare someone. Alright, through some research on the samples Sarah collected,” He looked around, “Who I assume is here somewhere, we have a course of action. While Doc could give you a better explanation, the organism uses a special chemical pheromone to avoid certain places. Don’t know why, but it does. We’ve managed to synthesize a couple hundred gallons and we’ll use it to stop its spread.”

Good luck. As the flesh builds it shall overcome the barrier.

“So what do we do?” Sarah thought in her head. She intended for the thought to be heard, but didn’t put any voice behind it.

Finally figured that out, did you? The voice chuckled, a sound like a death rattle and a growl.

“Sir? What about when the organism builds up and pushes its own bulk over the barrier?” Sarah asked. Carlos glared daggers at her while James looked surprised to hear from her. “Wouldn’t it be better to guide it around the cryostorage room, maybe some other places, and just let it be? It hasn’t acted aggressively except when we attempted to get rid of it.”

“That is a very good question young lady.” Carlos answered with a sneer. “And that deserves a good answer. When you get back from a month of solitary I expect you to have it.”

James glared at him. “Assuming the organism will grow as you suggest that is a possibility, but from all information gathered this is not a single organism so much as a collection of small organisms. In other words, once we have them contained, they will stay put.” He paused. “You will receive your orders. Engineers are to mark their assigned locations with the chemical, security is to escort them in case anything happens.”

“You heard the man, anything moves, shoot it.” Carlos yelled. “That includes any grease monkeys that get out of line.” He paused. “Well? GET MOVING!”

Everyone jumped. Sarah quickly checked her tablet for her orders, as well as where to acquire the pheromone. It took about 5 minutes to find the room, which was just a ways down the hall. Sarah selected a hip mounted container attached to a long white wand by a thin hose. The orange pill shaped capsule clipped nicely onto her belt.