by Ben Hammott
“We have the co-pilot. He was outside the airplane. The worm root things had dragged it out through the broken cockpit windows and were hauling it through the forest when its foot became snagged on a bush. Of Kelly, there was no sign. A clean-up team followed a trail of drag marks to the mine they believe were made by Kelly’s dragged corpse, but they didn’t go in.”
“This is getting weirder by the minute,” exclaimed Colbert. “If Kelly is in the mine, and if it's feasible, we’ll collect him while we are there.”
“Good luck,” said Blightburn. “Remain in radio contact, and I’ll keep you apprised of any new developments.”
“Appreciated.” Colbert exited the trailer.
CHAPTER 30
Revelations
On an open mic to Blightburn, botanist Judy Stent, who, along with her autopsy team, had just finished her examination of the plant specimen Joan Novak had collected from the pilot, revealed her findings.
“It has a root ball and a stem. On Earth, that alone would identify it as a plant. To check if it held true to this alien organism, I carried out a range of more extensive tests on the microscopic, genetic, and biochemical level. I found dissimilarities from our Earth plants, its cell makeup, for example. I would expect nothing less from something evolved on a world probably vastly different from our own. It was when I dissected its root ball that I made an intriguing discovery. Though very basic in form and different from Earth mammals, it contained something akin to internal organs and what seems to be a tiny brain.
“My conclusions are that I’m ninety-nine percent certain that what we have here is an alien plant/animal hybrid. Until I made another discovery, which I will elaborate on shortly, I believed it to be comparable to our gymnosperms; a group of woody plants that produce seeds but no flowers or fruit. My biggest surprise is that it’s able to survive in our oxygen-rich and CO2 atmosphere, when you would assume its home planet would have a vastly different atmosphere.”
“That could either point to its ability to rapidly adapt and evolve to its surroundings,” commented Wendel, “or that its home planet is not as dissimilar to Earth as we had all assumed.”
“Earth plants and animals share a common eukaryote ancestor; neither evolved from the other,” continued Judy. “Our plants evolved from single-celled eukaryotes, not large, multi-cellular animals, which means animals are more closely related to fungi than plants. Perhaps the parasitic plant is an amalgamation of two alien species, or things evolved differently on whatever planet it came from.”
“Where do the small black Xtros fit in?” asked Blightburn. “Are they also a part of this alien hybrid vegetation?”
“It difficult to say without examining one,” explained Judy. “My current thoughts are that the Xtro is a separate entity, perhaps a type of alien fungus that has formed a mutual alliance with the hybrid that they both benefit from in some way.
“All of Earth’s plants and fungi propagate; it is essential for the survival of its species, and these two alien varieties are no different. From what we have learned thus far, we know the Xtros utilize a host species to reproduce. Particularly worrying is that unlike some of Earth’s parasites, the aliens’ host species is not restricted to one genus; any living mammal, whether it be animal or human, will suffice. A major concern…” She unclipped the Wi-Fi camera from the wall bracket and carried it over to the sealed examination chamber. “…is this.” She focused the camera on the dissected root ball. Each of the tightly packed translucent sacks around the inner circumference bulged with hundreds of tiny black balls. “I first assumed these were seeds to fit in with my gymnosperm hypothesis, but further examination revealed them to be full of spores, making the plant more comparable to Earth’s lycophytes; non-woody plants that don’t generate seeds, flowers or fruit, but reproduce by way of spreading spores into the atmosphere.”
“Good God!” exclaimed Blightburn. “There must be thousands of them.”
“Hence my cause for concern,” reiterated Judy. “If even one of these hybrids propagated, we’d be in serious trouble. The spores could travel for miles on the wind, hundreds of miles if the conditions were favorable. If a fraction of the spores grew to fruition and they repeated the cycle, and likewise the next batch, and so on, you do the math. It will be like a virus sweeping across the continent. With their rapid growth cycle and ability to infect human hosts, which would then be able to travel to far-flung destinations, it would be a global catastrophe on an apocalyptic scale.”
Astounded by the scale of the threat they faced, Colonel Jennet sought confirmation. “So, to recap on your findings, Judy. If just one of these alien plant/animal hybrids managed to spread their spores, or an Xtro manages to breach the quarantine area and reach the nearest civilization, it could bring about the end of humanity?”
“Correct!” confirmed Judy.
*
“Thank you for your concise report, Judy, and let us know if you find out anything else.” Inwardly, Blightburn was frightened by the revelation. This was fast becoming a worst-case scenario. All INSECT personnel had signed up to the decree that they were expendable if an alien invasion threatened life on Earth. She glanced at the colonel. By his somber expression, she guessed he had arrived at the same conclusion; the Scorched Earth Protocol, or worse, was fast becoming a serious consideration. She shrugged off her despair. It hadn’t come to that just yet; they still had a chance of beating this thing.
Although there was no need, Blightburn leaned to the radio mic. “Wendel, the burden falls to you and your team now. Find a way to beat this thing.”
“We’re on it.”
Blightburn addressed those around her. “While the scientists are attacking the threat from their end, we’ll come at it from a more destructive angle. We’ll place explosives at the mine’s airshafts and main entrance to seal it and then hunt for any Xtros that may still be outside.” She turned to Yuri. “Patch me through to Troy.”
Yuri pressed a button. “It’s done.”
“Troy, did you find the mine foreman?”
“Yeah, just pulling into the airbase with him now. He’s agreed to show us where the airshafts are for a fee. Apparently, they will be difficult to find in this terrain without his help.”
“With time being of the essence, I agree to his terms.” Blightburn glanced at the colonel as she continued. “An explosive team will meet you outside reception, and they’ll leave immediately.”
Colonel Jennet nodded and headed for the exit to arrange it.
“Troy, is the sheriff still with you?”
“Yes, I’m in his patrol car.”
“Bring him here when the airshaft team has set off as we need to discuss the evacuation of Devil Falls.”
“Understood, Control.”
CHAPTER 31
Alien Autopsy
Bathed in bright lights hung from the ceiling of the laboratory’s main isolation room, the three scientists wore blue positive pressure protective suits fed with oxygen via tubes attached overhead. They waited until the exterior door of the body-sized airlock chute was sealed before raising the lid. They lifted out the aluminum casket and placed it on a gurney, which they then wheeled beside the examination table. The body chute lid sealed with a hiss as an internal pressure was reached, this would prevent airborne contaminants, and hopefully any alien organisms they might encounter, from escaping into the outside world which they were now, for all intents and purposes, separated from.
Gene Penfield, whose specialist fields included helminthology and entomology with a strong focus on studying arthropod parasites—since joining INSECT he had taken the preferred title of parasitologist, and Jane Hilleman, a biologist with a specialty in microbiology, lifted the body bag from the casket and placed it on the operating table.
Professor Charles Wendel, a surgeon with an interest in molecular biology, and the scientist in charge of the laboratory, again reviewed the edited together video segments of all available footage of the worms currently infesting
the body they were about to autopsy.
Having already scrutinized the collated information garnered from those who had encountered the aliens, the three scientists gathered around the examination table were as fully prepared as they could be. High definition cameras positioned throughout the lab would record their success or failure.
Wondering at the amazing or troubling discoveries they were about to make, Wendel ran his eyes over the black body bag on the table. “Let’s begin.”
As Wendel cautiously pulled back the zip, Hilleman wheeled a tank labeled Sevoflurane, a general anesthetic, over to the table. The mask that would usually be placed over the patient’s mouth and nose to induce sleep had been removed in preparation for the task ahead. Deeming it too risky to carry out their examination while the tendrils were active—they had all seen the footage of one attacking Novak—they were hoping the anesthetic would render them unconscious. However, as they were dealing with an alien species which, according to Judy, seemed to be some sort of plant/animal hybrid, there was no guarantee it would work.
When the flaps of the body bag were folded back, the scientists were surprised to see no movement coming from beneath the plastic shroud that engulfed the body.
“Maybe they are asleep or have suffocated,” suggested Penfield.
“Let’s find out.” Wendell picked up a Perspex light wand and poked the plastic body cover.
One of the tendrils within reacted and tried to grab the wand but was thwarted by the thick rubber sheet they were unable to penetrate. Spurred into action, the other tendrils probed their rubber prison.
“Unconscious they are not,” commented Hilleman, “but hopefully they soon will be.” She grabbed the dangling hose attached to the anesthetic bottle. “Let’s make an incision by the feet where there’s no activity.”
After Penfield had cut a small slit in the cover with a scalpel, Hilleman fed the gas hose inside. Penfield placed tape around the tube to seal the hole, and Hilleman switched on the gas.
The pressure of the escaping gas ballooned the cover when it seeped along its length. When it reached the head end, Hilleman switched it off. As they waited to see if it would work, they noticed the struggling tendrils activity lessened.
Wendell prodded the cover, but none of the tendrils reacted. “It’s working.”
“Just to be overly cautious, I’ll give them another blast.” Hilleman jetted a second blast of anesthetic through the rubber cocoon.
When all movement had stopped for a full two minutes, and all were confident the tendrils had succumbed to the gas, they began the next phase.
Penfield cut a slit in the cover from the corpse’s head to its waist and then two cuts at each end, forming cuts in the shape of two capital T’s joined tail to tail. He laid the scalpel aside and slowly folded back one of the flaps. Seeing no sign of the worms that seemed to have retreated inside their host, he folded back the second flap.
Those in the control trailer watched the view of the autopsy from the camera affixed above the operating table.
After Wendell had prodded a few of the tendril exit wounds in the co-pilot’s skin and received no reaction, the autopsy began in earnest. They had no idea how long the tendrils would remain anesthetized.
When the chest cavity was exposed, revealing the infestation of tendrils, Wendell used the light wand to probe deeper into the body to get a clearer understanding of what they were doing to their host.
“This is as remarkable as it is frightening,” commented Wendell a few moments later. He tilted his head at the overhead camera. “Can you see this Control?”
“We see something,” answered Blightburn. “Talk us through it, but in terminology we non-scientists can understand.”
Pushing aside one of the tendrils, Wendell pointed a light wand at the bulbous object at its base and glanced at his colleagues. “What do you two make of that?”
Penfield leaned in for a closer look and examined the base of the worm-like tendril Wendel had exposed. “At first glance, it looks like the muscular enlargement of the pharynx prevalent in certain nematode worms; however, that cannot be the case here as we know from Judy’s findings that it’s more comparable to a plant.”
Wendel pointed the light wand at the fine filament roots coming out of the bulb. “These have attached themselves to the liver.”
Hilleman pulled down the adjustable magnifier set on the end of an articulated arm and positioned it over the filaments attached to the liver. “If the roots are following the natural path of earth vegetation, we must assume they are drawing nourishment from the body, probably glucose. Excess glucose is stored in bundles of glycogen, which functions as one of two forms of the body’s long-term energy reserves, with the other form being triglyceride stored in adipose tissue or body fat. In humans, glycogen is made and stored primarily in the cells of the liver and muscles.”
Watching the autopsy from her temporary laboratory, Judy added some information. “The purpose of a plant bulb, tuber, etcetera, is to collect and store nutrients and energy via its roots to enable the plant to grow and reproduce, so the idea that it is feeding, makes sense.”
Hilleman pushed the magnifier away and looked at Wendel. “Let’s see what other organs or parts of the body they have infected.”
Wendell investigated further. Moving from stalk to stalk, he examined the roots of each. “All the major organs, heart, lungs, liver, muscles, everything.” He glanced at Penfield. “Grab a large sample dish, I’m going to remove some of them to get a better look.”
After removing three plants, tugging at their bases to snap the fine roots, Wendell exposed the spine to discover it was wrapped in a mass of filaments. When a closer examination confirmed his suspicions, he informed his colleagues of his findings. “It’s as I suspected, they are connected to the spinal cord.”
“For what reason?” asked Hilleman, studying the exposed spine.
“Going from the witness reports, I imagine it’s to have some control over their host. Probably to ensure their survival in some way.”
“But they killed their hosts,” disputed Hilleman. “Why take control just to kill them?”
“Only the cat and the first few humans they infected died,” corrected Penfield. “Those three hunters, the wolves and the bear that attacked the SEALs were kept alive. I think they were learning. They didn’t mean to kill their first hosts, but the strangeness of the physiology or chemical genetic makeup of their victims to them, perhaps at first, caused them to make mistakes.”
“That would imply they have a certain amount of intelligence and some way of passing this information to the others,” said Judy.
“That they might be able to communicate with each other is worrying,” commented Wendel
“What exactly are we dealing with here?” asked Blightburn.
Wendel looked at the camera. “Something alien.”
*
In the control room, Blightburn sighed in exasperation. “That much, I know.”
“We’ll continue with our examination and pass on any information as soon as we have anything you can act upon,” replied Wendell.
“I’ll wait to hear from you.” Blightburn continued looking at the screen for a few moments as the scientists sealed one of the plants removed from the body in a jar filled with liquid, and the others in a self-contained examination unit with an incendiary option if they needed to be destroyed.
Colonel Jennet pointed at one of the side screens. “The SEALs have arrived at the mine.”
Blightburn glanced at the screen as the SEALs stopped at the top of the track leading to the mine. She nodded at Yuri, and he switched Colbert’s POV to the big screen.
*****
Richard, Colbert, Sullivan, and Mason stared down at the old rusty mine workings.
Richard, sitting behind Colbert, pointed to the distant cliff face. “The mine entrance is at the base of the cliff.”
“It looks quiet,” commented Sullivan into his helmet mic, who had doubled-up on
the other quad with Mason driving.
“Colbert, I’ve just heard back from the scientists testing the tendrils and autopsying the co-pilot’s body. It seems this alien organism is a plant/animal hybrid, and what we thought were worms infesting the body are stalks or possibly limbs.”
“A plant! Even the black Xtros? As they sure act like living creatures?”
“As they are the ones responsible for the infections, I’d assume so, but we’ll only find out what it is or isn’t when we have one to examine. The scientific teams are still carrying out their tests, and I’ll update you as soon as I find out anything worth passing on.”
“Appreciated. Anything else?”
“I have a team making their way to the airshafts to lay explosives ready for if we go down that route, which is growing more likely by the minute. To ensure you have control and they will all detonate at the same time, they will be set to the same frequency as the devices you’ll plant at the entrance. I’ll let you know when they are clear.”
“Understood.” Colbert throttled the quad down the slope with the second quad following.
CHAPTER 32
Metamorphosis
The Alpha moved over the nest for its final inspection. Satisfied all was in order, it perched on top and turned to the black brood gathered on the cave floor waiting for the inspection report. Rubbing two tentacles together, it produced a range of clicks interspersed with piercing screeches. The black mass climbed the wall, jumped onto the nest, and entered through a suitable sized gap left for the purpose. When all were inside, the Alpha sealed the entrance, trapping them within.
Aware the metamorphosis about to start would take a while, the Alpha approached the four humans inactive against the wall. After looking at each, it ignored the two that were wounded and climbed up Sheriff Lansdale. From what it had learned from the one that had first taken control of the man, this human held a position of authority, something that might prove useful. It crawled up Lansdale’s chest, onto his shoulder, and slid into the cut on the back of his neck. Microfilaments slipped from its four control tentacles, attached to the cerebellum, and took command of its host’s voluntary functions. It would now receive information from the sensory systems and the spinal cord to select what would be sent to the brain for processing. If a fight or flee incident occurred, it could also divert energy and blood from the internal organs to the muscles to increase reaction and strength, a targeted adrenaline rush.