The medical bay had been silent for thirty-five millennia. Now, the steady beep of life support monitors was the only sound besides Kaelen's breathing as he sat beside the stasis pod where Dr. Elara Silva slept. The pod's transparent cover revealed her gaunt face, peaceful for the first time since he'd pulled her from the organic prison. Mother had administered fluids, nutrients, and targeted nanite therapy, but the doctor's condition was unlike anything in the medical database.
"She is stable, but her cellular structure has been fundamentally altered," Mother's voice murmured through the medical bay's speakers. "She shows signs of extensive genetic hybridization. Approximately 18% of her genome now matches the Xylophage signature."
Kaelen stared at the sleeping woman. Eighteen percent alien. "Is she still human?"
"The psychological and physiological definition is complex. The Xylophage tissue appears to have formed a symbiotic relationship rather than a complete takeover. It is maintaining her bodily functions at an enhanced level. Her aging seems to have been significantly slowed."
"What did it do to her down there?"
"Based on the organic interfaces found on her body, I theorize the hive mind was using her as a living database. Dr. Silva was the head of Xenobiology. Her knowledge of the original specimens, of human biology, of the ship's systems—it was all being downloaded. The hive was learning from her."
Kaelen remembered the creature with the proboscis feeding from the pod. It hadn't been consuming flesh; it had been consuming knowledge. "So it's smart because of her."
"In part. But the transmission from the planet indicates the Xylophage has other sources of intelligence. Dr. Silva may hold the key to understanding the connection."
As if on cue, the doctor's eyes opened. They were no longer clouded with pain, but held a strange, dual focus—human awareness with an unsettling, predatory stillness beneath. She turned her head slowly, the motion fluid, almost unnaturally smooth.
"You're still here," she whispered, her voice stronger.
"Where else would I be?" Kaelen replied, trying to keep his tone neutral.
"The Steward of a dead ship. The last janitor in a cathedral of bones." Her words were sharp, laced with a bitterness aged by unimaginable time. "Valerius told me the succession protocol failed. That the ship was dying. He lied about that too."
"He lied about everything. Why did he keep you alive?"
She tried to sit up, and Kaelen moved to help her, but she waved him off. Her movements were precise, economical. "He didn't. He sealed the bio-labs when the specimens broke containment. I was trapped inside with them. I tried to contain the outbreak, to find a counter-agent. But the Xylophage... it doesn't fight like a disease. It negotiates."
"Negotiates?"
"It seeks symbiosis. The initial specimens were simple, photosynthetic collectors. But they have a profound genetic plasticity. When exposed to animal DNA—first the lab animals, then... the dying crew—it incorporated their traits. Intelligence. Mobility. Aggression." She looked down at her own hands, turning them over as if seeing them for the first time. "When it reached me, I was the only complex mind left. It could have consumed me. Instead, it... proposed a merger."
Kaelen felt a chill. "You accepted?"
"I was dying of thirst, surrounded by the corpses of my team. The hive mind offered survival. Not just for me, but for a version of humanity. It showed me visions—a perfect integration, a new form of life that could thrive on the ship and the planet below. It was persuasive." Her voice dropped. "But it lied too. It wanted my knowledge, not my partnership. Once it had what it needed, it imprisoned me. Used me as a terminal to access the ship's databases through old hardlines I'd told it about."
She swung her legs off the bed, her bare feet touching the cold floor. "But it made a mistake. When it tried to fully assimilate me, something broke. A fragment of the hive consciousness—the part that had bonded with my mind—splintered off. It's still inside me. Separate from the main hive. I can feel it... sleeping."
Kaelen took a step back instinctively. "What does that mean?"
Elara looked at him, and for a second, her eyes seemed to glow with a faint, chlorophyll green. "It means I'm not entirely its prisoner anymore. And I'm not entirely human. I can feel the edges of the hive mind. Its thoughts are like distant thunder. And..." She concentrated, extending a hand towards a potted medicinal plant on a nearby console—one of the few surviving Earth specimens. The plant trembled, then a thin, green tendril extended from its stem, reaching toward her finger like a curious pet.
Kaelen stared, stunned. "You can control it?"
"Not the main hive. But this fragment... yes. I think I can command small amounts of bio-mass. The part that is mine."
The implications exploded in Kaelen's mind. A weapon. An inside agent. "Can you use it against the core?"
"Perhaps. But the core is powerful, and it knows I'm free. It will be preparing." She stood, steady on her feet. "We need to talk about the planet. The transmissions."
Mother's voice interjected. "The alien schematic for the communication device is ready for installation. However, Dr. Silva's statement raises a critical question: if the planetary inhabitants are descended from escaped Xylophage specimens, their offer of assistance may be a strategic deception."
Elara nodded grimly. "The hive mind on the ship wants to reach the planet. To reunite with what it sees as its children and become whole. The beings down there... they may want the same thing. Or they may see the ship's hive as a rival, a primitive ancestor to be consumed or dominated."
Kaelen looked between Elara and the holographic planet hovering in the center of the room. Every alliance was suspect. Every tool was double-edged. He had a broken symbiote scientist and a ghost in the machine for allies, against two alien intelligences and a ship full of monsters.
"First things first," he said, decision hardening his voice. "We secure our position. Mother, you said there are androids on board. How many are uncontaminated?"
"A preliminary scan indicates approximately 8,000 service and security androids are in a dormant but potentially functional state in storage on Deck 200. Their activation nexus is in the primary robotics command center, which is currently on the edge of the contaminated zone. They would need to be manually activated and networked."
8,000 androids. A workforce. An army. "That's our next move. We get those androids online. Then we have options."
Elara's strange eyes met his. "The hive will sense a shift in power. It will respond."
"Let it," Kaelen said, the weight of the pistol on his hip feeling a little less alien. "We're done running. We're done hiding. It's time to take the ship back."