Survival

[Cmdr JFarrington 0]

Survival

 

The creature remembered nothing of its birth or its coming, nor did it reason what would happen after. Every decision, every purpose was aimed at existence - nourishment, protection, and procreation. The desire to grow, to bond, to multiply was instinctive, hard-wired into its framework, given to it by the one from which it spawned. And it had found a suitable host, one that provided for its every need... with one exception.

 

The host was not sustainable in its present state. Every foray was either blocked or the area quickly degenerated, forcing the creature to search deeper and deeper to sustain itself, to feed, to multiply and survive. Slowly, deliberately, it wound its way to the inner sanctum of the host, entering the basic cellular structure, puncturing the nucleus and weaving through the DNA.

 

Then a strange thing happened. Somewhere, somehow it had been taught to create rather than destroy. Instead of running rampant, as previous incarnations had, it changed the host structure so the host could sustain it indefinitely. In theory. But as often happens between theory and practice, something was going drastically wrong.

 

Jami Farrington lay curled up in a corner of sick bay, her skin slowly changing to greenish scales, her hair replaced with a gooey secretion, her power of speech nearly gone, and her ability to reason and function, as the human she used to be, almost nonexistent. The microorganism that had invaded her body accomplished its purpose, but the theory did not hold up in practice. The changes to her human DNA were so drastic that her body over-compensated and she had lapsed into a coma.

 

And yet there was another intelligence at work. A failsafe ingeniously built into the microorganism's system prevented further deterioration. Though it appeared that she was dying, Jami had entered a form of biological stasis. The organism was waiting, biding its time until the host recovered... or until it could jump to another host and try again.

 

Biding its time. Waiting. Having but one purpose.

 

Survival.