Chapter 6

Alex listened to the last audio log Dr. Mercer recorded with morbid fascination. Even with all of his bravado and the numerous remorseless murders under his belt, the sentient virus could not help but feel unease when reviewing the torturous methods the doctor employed. The (mad)man stated that it was all for scientific pursuit and the so-called "advancement" of the Necromorph virus, but Alex was not so sure. All he was grateful for was that the doctor could not cut into him like all of his very unfortunate "patients" before him.

After perusing everything else- from the schematics of the Ishimura's Shock Drive to the Hydroponics fruit and vegetable listings- Alex walked out of the library and into the room Dr. Mercer stayed in. He himself poured over the notes he made of the creation he unleashed upon Alex and Isaac earlier, trying to combine the sample of Blacklight he took from Alex long ago with a pure strain of Necromorph tissue. His ultimate goal was to fuse both strains into something much more powerful, supposedly to create a being which would take the place of humanity.

For the time being Alex and Dr. Mercer were allies, though the former already felt like the partnership was something he regretted taking part in. Though he never formally stated the two were on the same side, with Alex instead just hearing the (mad)man out, it still felt somewhat wrong to be working with him. He always envisioned the unification of the entire human race through Consuming them all to be something beautiful, worth working towards, but comparing his ideals to that of something that mirrored it quite closely...

Unitology was clearly not the way to go. Alex realized that after reading through their texts and from what Dr. Mercer told him. One mind, one body... words hauntingly similar to those Alex gave to James Heller, the former's undoing, long ago. But there were still doubts in the virus's mind- If Consuming the whole world isn't the way to go, then what was? What purpose do I have then?

With more questions than answers, Alex felt the best thing he could do was spend some time alone and gather his thoughts. Coinciding with that, he also wanted to gather and Consume the remaining Necromorphs that had his powers. Dr. Mercer was lenient with his so-called "test" and gave the Blacklight virus a leg-up; a serum he created gave Alex his Infected Vision back. Although not considerably useful back in New York, this new and highly improved version enabled him to detect any Necromorphs in the general area, even if they were behind walls, inside vents, and/or in other rooms.

In short, the greatest power of the Necromorph hordes was finally lost to them- the element of surprise. Even though he was still confused about his place in the world, Alex at least knew what his place was in the Ishimura- Consuming the infected and to grow his power back to full strength. And as meager as the blessing was to him, Alex's mission was approved by Dr. Mercer. He did not give his consent to the Blacklight's cause lightly though- Alex had to prove he was "strong enough to lead humanity's salvation" back to Earth, bringing about the mass-unification he had became increasingly hesitant about.

He simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "We'll see..."

Heading out of the Medical Deck, Alex went back towards the tram system and wondered where he ought to go from there. Even though Isaac and the others were quite unlikely to listen to anything he could say to them, Alex decided that listening in on their conversation was the next best thing to do; even if they acknowledged him doing it, they would probably chalk it up to the effects of the Marker.

That was another thing weighing down on his mind- some artifact that formerly resided on the planet below was now kept on the ship. From what Alex could determine, it was the source of the madness that plagued everyone even before the endless hordes of Necromorphs began slaughtering everything. It was also what made Alex himself see and hear things that could not possibly be happening.

For as terrible as his situation was- finding himself hundreds of years in the future and trapped on a spaceship with insane people and nightmarish undead monsters- at the very least he finally found what he was looking for... a purpose. And for as short-term as his goals were, they were still goals; that was something he was in serious need of.

Alex had his RIGlink open while he mused on these things, and eventually his plan to overhear a conversation worked. Kendra was talking to Isaac, explaining to him their current, last, and perhaps their only plan of action. If it did not work, then she was simply out of ideas and miserably accepted her fate. But it had not come to that yet, so Kendra still had the faintest hope that things would work out.

She explained, "This may be our last chance of getting out of here alive, Isaac. There's an asteroid up in the Mining Bay, waiting to be smelted. If you attach the SOS beacon to it, you can launch it away from the ship to make a clean broadcast. The beacon's on the Maintenance sub-deck. You can launch the asteroid from the control room."

Kendra then checked something and grumbled aloud, "Damn, the control room is locked", before continuing, "It looks like they keep an emergency access key on the Processing sub-deck. Couldn't be easy, could it?"

She sighed and finished, "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

Locations in hand, Alex made his way to the tram system and was going to board it, but it was missing; for whatever reason, it had not come back from when Isaac used it to enter the Mining Bay himself. With the convenient option gone, Alex stretched and readied himself for a long-awaited sprint. He hopped down onto the floor beneath the suspended tram station and began running towards the Mining Deck at full speed. His jaunt felt quite good- being in such cramped quarters was not a good feeling to him.

Feeling the Biomass in his body shift into his leg muscles, the living virus enjoyed the speed at which he sprinted for the short time he was given before he reached the end of the track leading into the Mining Bay. Once he arrived, Alex jumped high into the air and rebounded on the platform above, doing a few more stretches until he then casually walked through the automatic doors.

Using his Infected Vision in action for the first time, Alex saw Necromorphs in the furthest reaches of the Ishimura. They all appeared as either tiny or disturbingly massive white blips outlined in a red tint, overlaying an entire sea of crimson colors. Nothing at the moment was close to him, but as soon as he got near one of the vents Necromorphs were fond of using, one of them with bladed limbs- a Slasher, from what Dr. Mercer's notes detailed- broke a vent covering and jumped right at him.

Quick as a flash, Alex summoned his Musclemass ability and punched right into the monster's chest, tearing it in half with sheer strength. Consuming what he could of it before he felt like violently expelling it, Alex shuddered before summoning the elevator. He thought about the Necromorph and the others he had encountered before. Dr. Mercer spent most of his time cataloging them for easy reference, and Alex found it was slightly helpful as well- knowing what kind of creature he fought and the quickest way to kill it.

There was a dead man along with several Necromorph body parts laying on the floor; the elevator was much larger than the other ones, likely so bulky equipment could be moved easier. Alex was going to ignore the severed pieces of flesh but thought about it- the Necromorphs were dead in a sense, so it stood to reason that their virus integrated into his body was enough to let him Consume them.

Tapping one of them with his foot, the Biomass began slowly but surely taking it apart, stripping the viable flesh from the decomposing remains. By the time he reached the lowest sub-deck, the one Isaac was searching, Alex left nothing behind but a few pools of Biomass refuse. He stopped at an intersection and wondered which way Isaac could have gone, eventually calling up Dr. Mercer for help.

"Hello?", Challus asked, surprised that someone was intentionally contacting him. Alex asked the man, "I'm trying to find Isaac, that engineer guy I was working with before. Is there anything I can use to track him- and others, if I need to?"

"The way-point compass on your RIG", Dr. Mercer explained. "I'll try to sync it up with the Ishimura's registry."

A few minutes later Alex's RIG made a noise and indicated for him to activate it. Once he did so a blue line appeared on the ground, pointing him to his left. As soon as he did so, however, people made it aware they did not like that. Alex's comm-link turned on and had Kendra's voice on it, muttering, "What the hell is...? Isaac, I don't know why Mercer did this, but he's synced up Alex's RIG with ours. God know why. I'm going to try and block it-"

"You might wanna put that idea on hold", Alex interjected. Kendra blurted, "W-what!? Alex? How the Hell are you- no, no... you're not real. Hammond saw you die- I saw you die too! You have to be dead. This is- this is just the Marker doing shit to our heads! You aren't really there!"

Alex nonchalantly replied, "Sorry to say that's not the case. I'm still here."

"That is bullshit!", Kendra shouted. "How the Hell could you be alive when you got ripped in half by that monster? Your body exploded into tendrils and ripped the whole thing apart afterwards. How can you still be human if all that happened?"

Alex was silent for a minute before commenting, "I'm not human, but I can tell you this- it's a long story."

Kendra replied, "Yeah, I'm sure it is", before remaining silent herself for a time. She eventually asked, "Are you still there?"

Alex answered, "I'm not going anywhere until you guys finally get a way out of here already. And seriously- you're banking on a random ship to come and save you?"

Kendra opened up a holographic screen and snapped, "I don't see you coming up with a plan of your own, asshole. This is the best idea we've got so far, so unless you've come up with something-"

"Here's a suggestion", Alex interjected. "How about- shut the fuck up already. Yelling at me ain't doing you any good."

Kendra grumbled, "Look- if you're really alive, meet up with Isaac and help him. You can explain your miraculous recovery when you get there."

"Alright", Alex replied, "but I've got a few more tricks than that up my sleeve. For the record- Isaac better not shoot at me."

Kendra dryly commented, "I'll send him a memo", then contacted Isaac to state, "Alex is coming your way, if it's really him. If it is, it is. If it isn't, then kill whatever the Hell he is. But even if he's telling the truth, I don't trust him. Not after what he- and his body- did to that monster."

Alex continued following his RIG's way-point until he saw Isaac blast several Necromorphs apart with his Plasma Cutter from behind the grated wall in front of him. As Alex made his way to the man's location, he briefly stopped by a Store to get a new Plasma Cutter of his own and some ammo. He walked through a hole in the wall and shouted, "Isaac! I'm over here! Hold on!"

The artificial gravity in the room was off, allowing certain Necromorphs to jump around and either lunge or shoot bone spikes at them. Alex himself leapt into the air and kicked one of the infant Necromorphs in the middle of its' leap and knocked it into the side of a wall. Jumping from wall to wall he shot each Necromorph with his Plasma Cutter until he came right into the path of a scorpion-like Necromorph.

It lunged at him and knocked Alex to the ground, only for him to create his rocket-foot weapons and blast the creature into pieces. He took the plasma cartridge it dropped and reloaded his cutter, aiming it at the last of the Necromorphs. Once they were finally dealt with, Alex met up with Isaac, only to find the man's own Plasma Cutter pointed at him.

The living virus crossed his arms and stated, "That's not going to help you."

Kendra came online to say, "Isaac, put your weapon down. Alex is alive... I think. I- he is there, isn't he? Or is this really just an illusion from that damned Marker?"

Alex replied, "I'm real enough- unless you want me to kick Isaac in the groin? I can do that to prove I'm not fake."

Isaac put up his Plasma Cutter again while Kendra replied, "That... won't be really be necessary. But can you please explain how in the Hell you got torn apart, then tore that monster apart after, and now you're perfectly fine? That doesn't make any sense!"

Alex remarked, "Not without context it doesn't. Uh... this is going to take a while to explain..."

Thirty minutes later...

While Alex and Isaac were making their way to find the emergency access key, Kendra continued her conversation with Alex, exclaiming, "That is the biggest load of shit I've ever heard! You expect me to believe any of that? That you're some... sentient virus?"

Alex asked in return, "And you expect me to believe that humanity survives by literally breaking apart planets?"

Kendra retorted, "At least that can be explained by science-"

"And so can I", Alex interjected. "You may not believe me, but there's more here going on than just a bunch of monsters and some crazy artifact."

He stood still for a moment and changed into his Biomass armor. Isaac took a step back in hesitation but relaxed his muscles after a few seconds. Alex continued with his explanation, "For example- the Blacklight virus; it's real, and I'll tell you how. The way it works is by... 'hijacking' a human's DNA and edits it to replace all of the redundant codes with something... better."

He added, "Only a few people out of thousands get lucky enough to not mutate into insane monsters. I was the first successful artificial release of the virus; everyone around me? Not so much."

Kendra asked, "But you said all of this happened in, what... 2009? That was over five-hundred years ago! How could you possibly be alive at this point?"

"Guess I'm more resilient than I thought", Alex commented. Kendra continued, "And the reason you were on Aegis VII?"

Alex started to say something but stopped himself. He eventually stated, "I... I really can't remember. The government... I think they wanted a cover-up, but there was something else too... kill two birds with one stone."

Kendra blinked and wondered, "I'm sorry? What does that mean?"

Alex looked at the screen for a moment before saying, "Huh. Guess that phrase fell out of use. It just means Blackwatch solved two problems with the same solution... which apparently that meant sending me and whatever the other thing was down to the planet below."

He added, "So if the other things of interest down there was the Marker and myself, does that mean the Marker also came from Earth?"

Kendra quickly replied, "No, not necessarily. They could've found the Marker on another planet and just sent it here. This is a restricted system, after all."

Alex could not help but feel there was something more to what she said, but he did not question her any further on it. Instead he and Isaac focused on the task at hand- finding the emergency access key in the Processing Control Room. Once they went inside and found the key next to a dead body, Isaac picked it up and also gained a message from Kendra.

"That's the key, guys", she said. "It'll get you two into the control room so you can launch the asteroid. Don't forget to attach the beacon first!"

She added, "I read another report on the colonist's dementia. It seemed to start after they removed the Marker from the planet. God knows how long it was down there."

As they left through another way the power suddenly went out, putting both men on edge. Isaac raised his Plasma Cutter while Alex summoned his Musclemass-enhanced fists. The sounds of a creature crawling through the vents reverberated throughout the whole area, and upon the vent itself breaking, Isaac and Alex were ready for a battle. However nothing happened- the lights went back on like nothing was wrong, so their mission continued.

They returned to the large elevator and selected the "Processing" level. As they waited for the elevator to go down, both men heard the grunting of a familiar monster nearby. Peering into the dusty fog the third level suffered from, Alex saw Dr. Mercer's pet project in the dark, twitching and sharpening its blades. The living virus casually commented to Isaac, "Looks like that freak isn't on ice anymore. You should be on guard... not that you aren't already."

They came down to the Processing level and headed out, only to find two of the Infecter monsters and a handful of bodies waiting for them. Dispatching the monsters with strange organic bombs on the ground, Isaac continued on while Alex stayed back just for a bit to replace his lost Biomass.

He caught up with the man and proceeded with him to the mini-tram waiting for them. As they boarded the tram to get the beacon and began fending off the stationary Necromorphs, Alex could not help but wonder if he would gain anything from trying to Consume them. He motioned for Isaac to back up and Alex jumped into the air, landing quite close to one of the Pods. At that point he used his Musclemass to rip the Pod apart, feeling a new power coming on.

Hopping from the elevator to the other sides of the room, Alex began Consuming more and more of the Pods until the power he slowly unlocked released itself. His arm became thin and pointy, almost like a lance with a hole going down the middle of the cone. Alex pointed his newly-weaponized arm at the remaining Pods, killing them with pin-point accuracy. He chuckled to himself and said, "Heh, this'll come in handy", and then tried to get back to the mini-tram.

However fate decided Alex would not get off so easily as a mighty tentacle rose up from the depths and grabbed him by the leg. Before he could even get out a single expletive, Alex was dragged down to the depths as well. Isaac stared at the scene that unfolded with a mixture of anxiety and uncertainty- for anyone else, getting attacked by a Necromorph unprepared was the surest way to die. However Alex was far more than an ordinary person, so Isaac had a little hope that his companion would be fine.

At that moment, however, his priorities shifted from that of his new friend... to one he had not seen in ages. There, coming out from behind one of the platforms to the engineer's left was someone very special to him... the love of his life, Nicole Brennan.

Meanwhile...

Alex roared in anger and terror as he was flung from side to side, getting smacked into the walls and other things all the way down. Eventually the tentacle retracted itself through a hole in the wall and tried to bring Alex along with it, but the Blacklight virus had other ideas. He summoned his Musclemass power and punched both arms into the wall, affixing himself to it so he would be able to stop.

Alex still felt the pull of the tentacle attempting to pull him still, so he then tried another tactic and changed his legs into tendrils of Biomass, slowly slipping out of the monster's grasp. Eventually it worked and he was out and about, though not before he bounced around the room in the process.

Alex quickly ejected himself from the wall while the Necromorph gave a very loud elephant-like roar of frustration. As he got back up, Alex heard the beast still roar until other sounds accompanied it. It was clear to him he was about to be met with some guests. Loud bangs and other noises unnerving noises were the preludes to the endless Necromorph hordes arriving to kill their target. Alex responded by giving himself one Musclemass-enhanced arm with the other reserved for his newest weapon, what he decided to call the... Spearshot. That was what he would call it.

Alex pointed the Spearshot at any Necromorphs coming at him and impaled them through the chest, sending them straight into the wall. Any of them that were too fast just got knocked back by his Musclemass fist, whereupon they would get impaled after that.

Using this tactic, Alex kept most of the freaks at bay while he continued taking them out. Eventually they were all gone, though Alex went through no small amount of his Biomass to survive. He subsequently spent some time to pick through the dozens of corpses around for usable Biomass. When all was said and done, Alex jumped high into the air and scaled the wall, using the Corruption growing on the walls as scaffolding.

Once he made back to the area Isaac was heading for, Alex walked up towards the door and heard Kendra speaking through the engineer's comm-link. She stated, "Isaac! Hey, I lost your signal for a while. You had me worried... I see you've got the beacon, so you and Alex head for the Mining Bay and attach it to the asteroid. I've been running trajectory calculations and if we launch soon, there's a good chance the asteroid can reach a safe distance to begin transmitting!"

In other news she added, "Still no sign of Hammond. In his state, I can't imagine he's still alive."

Alex activated his comm-link and said, "Sorry I wasn't able to help out anymore, either then or now. Was kinda distracted by all the Necromorphs wanting to eat my face. Still, I'm getting some interesting powers out of the ordeal."

Kendra replied, "We're still making progress, at least. Now get back to the Mining Bay- this plan might actually pay off if you two hurry."

Alex nodded and went back with Isaac to the mini-tram, making their way back to the other side. Right before they made it into the elevator, another Slasher played dead to take them off-guard, but it died all the same to the determined duo. Once they made it inside the elevator itself, Kendra said to them, "I've got elevator access to the Mining Sub-Deck. It was a security lockdown, but I don't think it helped them. Now that you two have the beacon and key, head over there. It looks like the asteroid is held in place by some gravity tethers. You'll have to knock those out before you can launch it."

Isaac and Alex arrived at the Mining Deck, the one above them with the dust cloud obscuring their vision somewhat. The former pulled out his biggest weapon for defense while the latter went into his Infected Vision to see both through the constant dust and any Necromorphs in the area.

Immediately they were beset upon by several of the undead monstrosities- infant Necromorphs called Lurkers and a few Slashers. Isaac and Alex impaled them all and braved the dust to reach a part of the deck not obscured by the blinding orange grit. Once they killed the lone Slasher than remained, Isaac went over to the nearby Store, quickly selling off everything he did not need, then purchased an upgrade to his suit.

Once he was done and admired his new armor, Alex did the same with his own inventory and bought the same upgrade. Isaac went back to the Store to purchase items called "power nodes." Those were microscopic chips that enhanced his weaponry when brought and used at any Workbench, which Isaac went over to immediately. Right after he finished improving his gear, another Slasher appeared behind him and tried attacking.

It only received a sharp stick of hardened Biomass from Alex's Spearshot. He then pulled out the battery to the nearby elevator and took it with them to the other area. But before they could get far, both men were again attacked by more Necromorphs- these were called Exploders for reasons that were quite obvious. They had one arm that was elongated to compensate for the other arm, which ended in a large pustule of explosive chemicals.

Isaac and Alex backed up into the room they just came out of and fired rounds into the deadly zits from a safe distance. Each Exploder blew up into juice-covered meaty chunks and rained down from the air, almost making Isaac lose his lunch because of just how disgusting it was. Alex himself focused on how their Biomass might increase his abilities instead of the revolting reality of the situation. Once all of the Necromorphs were down, Alex gingerly began Consuming them with great apprehension, while also allowing Isaac to go ahead so he did not have to watch.

Alex finished up with the remains and found his own explosive power was slowly improving itself- the one he still had no name for. He decided then and there to give it a name, eventually going with "Bio-Bomb."

Although that name somewhat conflicted with a power other beings like Alex used to have, he was presumably the sole one left, so he figured no one would argue with his choice. Changing back into his normal hands, Alex caught up with Isaac and went with him to the other room. There was another elevator there that did not have a power source plugged in, so Isaac slotted the one he brought with him and powered it up.

He and Alex went down into the lower level and entered the area in which the asteroid was being held in. As Isaac used Stasis on the tethering devices to destroy and disable them, Leapers- the scorpion-like Necromorphs- and Lurkers came from the top of the room to attack the duo. Alex enjoyed the wide open space of the zero-g area and jumped from one area to another to kill many of the monster in mid-air.

Once Isaac and Alex were done killing the Necromorphs and disabled all of the gravity tethers on the interior of the room, Isaac jumped onto the asteroid and did so for tethers outside, as well as attach the beacon to the edge of the rock. He made his way back inside the zero-g room in order to reach the control room. There, the payload was released from the rotating rings, sending it back into space.

Kendra once again updated the duo, saying, "Beacon's on its' way! All functions normal, and broadcasting wide band. Now we just have to hope somebody's listening. I'll position the array receiver."

She also commented, "I thought I saw my brother again. He waved to me. Like nothing was wrong."

On that cheery note, Kendra simply continued, "I should be able to leave this channel open... what? The Comms-Array Receiver isn't responding! Isaac, Alex, can you two get back to the bridge? We need that array online or we can't receive signals from anyone responding to the beacon."

Kendra ended the message and left Isaac and Alex to leave the room. However things of course were never that easy; the room went into lockdown as Necromorphs began bursting from the ventilation ducts. Isaac pulled out his plasma cutter while Alex summoned his Spearshot once more. They back into a corner of the room and shot any of the monsters that got close to them.

Once the diversion was over, the duo made their way back to the tram system and prepared to leave. But before Alex could step in, the door to the tram suddenly closed and forced the tram to leave early. He contacted Kendra and asked, "What the Hell? The tram just left as Isaac got on."

Alex received no response strangely enough, and continued trying to contact Kendra or anyone for that matter. Just as he thought he was going to give up, a familiar voice on the other end of the comm-link said, "How are you, Alex?"

Alex blinked and asked, "Dr. Mercer? What's going on?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing", the doctor said. "We have much to discuss..."