Symbiosis: At World's End

Phase One

Men and women in lab coats bustled around the massive grey room exchanging tablets, calling out for information, and trying to get ready for the first stage of their experiments with their new acquisition. The lead scientist, Dr. Wendell was trying her best to keep a straight face but occasionally slipped up and revealed the expression of a kid in a candy store with a hundred dollars clutched in their hands.

She could not have asked for the mission to go better. She had her specimen almost completely undamaged and what damage was there would have been repaired by the symbiote by the time they placed the specimen in a holding tank. The tank was filled with a special liquid that allowed free movement, but prevented an occupant from actually going anywhere. Soon they would be able to transfer the host inside to a proper holding cell for gathering data while keeping the symbiote for her personal experiments.

After a few minutes one of the scientists approached her.

"We are ready to proceed with phase one."

Dr. Wendell nodded and turned to another scientist nearby.

"Drain the holding tank and prepare for sonic bombardment."

The scientist nodded and began tapping away at a keyboard. The fluid drained from the tank, leaving the symbiote standing stationary in the center of the tank.

"Begin bombardment in three... Two... One... Now."

The symbiote began to writhe and twist on the host, who began clutching their head. After a few more moments, the symbiote completely disconnected from its host, leaving them lying on the ground. The symbiote was sucked through a separate vent into a transparent container. The container was then transferred into a large room that was grey on all sides and had a massive glass window on one side. There were several robotic appendages hanging from the ceiling, completely inactive.

"We will begin preliminary analysis in two hours. Transfer the host to holding cell 1-A."

Two soldiers walked to the tank and grabbed the boy under his arms and dragged him out and into the holding cell where they dropped him unceremoniously on the floor. Meanwhile, Dr. Wendell was making sure all of the equipment was ready for analyzing the symbiote. So far everything checked out. She walked over to a control panel and tapped several buttons. This caused a machine with some sharp looking scissor-like blades dropped down and moved towards the symbiote, which had scrunched itself into a tiny ball in an effort to escape the blades. Dr. Wendell tapped another button, which caused a small burst of electricity to shock it, causing it to unfurl in surprise. The scissors cut a piece of its mass off and deposited it in a tiny glass container. Several more arms reached down and stuck tiny needles into the mass, sucking it up into separate chambers. Each chamber began to hum and glow a different color. After several long minutes, Dr. Wendell examined the test results and was actually slightly disappointed to find that biologically, it wasn't that different from any other symbiote mass she had examined in the past.

"Well, these are only preliminary tests. I imagine we'll find something that will shed light on it's strange nature."

Another scientist stepped forward.

"Doctor if I may, do you have any theories as to why this symbiote behaves the way that it does?"

"I have many. Perhaps it has adapted to feed off of symbiote mass. Its host may have wrestled control from the intruder. I could go on. Either way, we won't know for sure until we examine it further. By now, I suspect that the host has started to wake up from the ordeal of separation. It can't be pleasant to have been forced out of that. Still, I imagine they will be grateful that we managed to pry it off him. I'll want him examined twenty-four hours from now. Start preparations for the next test!"