Trigger warning: This chapter contains descriptions of the aftermath of an unnatural miscarriage of a grossly deformed fetus. Please do not read if this will cause you undue distress. New viruses and genetic products of alien nature that "limit reproductive potential" don't necessarily mean they only make eggs and sperm non-viable. Please remember that, first and foremost, this is a cosmic horror story with no real happy endings for the Cetra. We all know what happened to them. Ifalna's testimony to Gast, while non-graphic and lacking details, makes clear that their destruction was the result of an unimaginably horrific series of events.
*I*N*E*V*I*T*A*B*I*L*I*T*Y*
The One Self required regular, if short, periods of dormancy. During this time, it incorporated new nutrients, quintessence, memories from its prey, and its own experiences into its various gestalts. Because it was distributed across multiple "bodies," portions of it could go dormant while the rest of the Whole remained aware. Its dormant periods were short, unlike the Cetra who seemed to sleep a quarter to a third of their lives.
So it was surprised when loud, frantic pounding on one of its copies' doors shattered the quiet of the deep night.
"Healer! Healer Epione!" a man's voice yelled from outside, accompanied by more pounding. "Answer the door! Please! Please, hurry!"
Healer Epione had been in bed, faking sleep while the One Self sorted through some newly acquired Cetra memories. To better assimilate with Cetra society, it was best to imitate their habits, even if those behaviors served no real purpose for the One Self's Whole.
Epione got up, covered herself with a loose caftan robe, and went to the door. Upon opening it, she was confronted with a hysterical man, dressed only in nightclothes, who grabbed her shoulders so tightly it would have hurt the real Epione.
The One Self identified him from Healer Epione's stolen memories: Rixx. He and his wife, Minmay, were members of Epione's clan. She had been their family's healer for many years.
"Take it easy, you're hurting me!" Epione grabbed his wrists and pulled, seemingly attempting and failing to dislodge his grip. In reality, his strength was nothing compared to hers, but the imitation of physical weakness was necessary to maintain her position in the community.
Rixx immediately let go. He held his hands before his face, flexing his fingers. He was practically hyperventilating.
"What's wrong, Rixx?" Epione asked. "It's almost three in the morning."
"It's Minmay," he blurted. "Minmay and the—the baby! Something's going wrong! There's so much blood! Please, you've got to come!"
The One Self knew all about Minmay and her pregnancy. Epione had been summoned several times for what the Cetra thought of as unusual or peculiar symptoms, such as frequently passing blood and other fluids, erratic cramping, diminished sensitivity to the Planet, and the sensation of strange fluttering and rolling within her body long before any fetal movements should be detectable. All were signs that the pregnancy was not routine.
Both Rixx and Minmay were infected with the One Self's virus, and Minmay had already been pregnant when she'd first been infected, though at a very early stage. She hadn't even known she was pregnant before coming to the Knowlespole, and at present the fetus was only ten weeks along.
The One Self thought it interesting to observe its virus' effect on fetal development in the Cetra, and so after performing superficial examinations, merely for show, Epione had always reassured the frantic would-be parents that everything was fine. As it was Minmay's first pregnancy, she had accepted the lies from her ersatz healer as gospel, and followed Epione's routine instructions for eating, drinking, and resting. From various healers' memories, the One Self knew what a normal, healthy pregnancy should look like, and Minmay's did not qualify. The One Self wanted to make comparisons.
There were a number of other pregnancies among the Cetra, all in early stages. The One Self assumed the Cetra females in question, like Minmay, hadn't realized they were pregnant before leaving their homes and journeying north. Several had confessed to their healers, all of which were the One Self's copies, that they'd have never come if they'd realized their state. The One Self made certain that they became infected if they hadn't been already. It rather hoped others would become pregnant after they arrived on the north continent so it could monitor the fetal development from start to finish.
It needed a large and varied sample size for this particular study. A pity it currently couldn't watch the effects of infection on an advanced pregnancy, but there was plenty of time for that. The Cetra were already carrying the virus across the seas and to their home continents. A steady stream of them returned home every day, as decreed by their own Planet. Eventually there would be many different situations the One Self could observe.
Based on Rixx's hysteria about Minmay, the fetal development had become so abnormal that the aberrations could no longer be dismissed with soothing words. Epione didn't bother getting dressed in daywear. She threw on some soft boots, grabbed the satchel that contained the tools of the real Epione's trade, and hurried out the door after Rixx.
They arrived at Rixx and Minmay's brightly lit dwelling. A long, low moan echoed from the bedroom. Rixx cried "Minmay!" and bolted inside. Epione followed at a run.
Minmay had curled up in a ball near the bed's headboard, sobbing and groaning and clawing at her lower body. Her nightgown and the bedclothes were soaked with blood. Rixx dropped onto the bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her, whispering comforting nonsense words.
Epione surveyed the bed and found what she was looking for: the remains of the ten-week-old fetus, motionless among a plethora of blood, yellow fluids, slimy black clots, and other fresh, wet tissues. A normal fetus of that age should be smaller than the length of her thumb. This one was three times as large and, as a real Cetra would describe it, deformed grotesquely.
Obviously, the One Self thought, the foreign proteins produced by the mother's modified genetics had crossed the blood-placental barrier and altered the organism as it was differentiating and forming.
It had three black eye spots in a triangular arrangement dominating its face, a pointed head with a loose frill of skin around its neck, and some stubs on its skull that might become horns. Three arms with the beginnings of clawed fingers drooped from its torso. Two more stubs sprouted from its back, likely the beginnings of wings. Just above the thin umbilical cord, a slit had formed in its stomach, indicating a potential new mouth. From the hips down it was split in two. One portion tapered into a single tail or tentacle, the other had two leg-like projections and another tail. Scaly gray patches dotted its translucent skin.
Epione lifted the proto-monster to inspect it more closely, poking a finger into its belly slit and finding sharp little teeth inside. Minmay still wept, but Rixx looked up at Epione's action. He caught sight of the mutated fetus in her ungloved, bloody hands. With a horrified gasp, he fainted dead away, collapsing on top of his wife.
The One Self felt annoyed. The fetus was dead. Disappointing. Perhaps, though, further Cetra pregnancies might bring modified fetuses to term, or at least last longer than ten weeks, and result in a live birth. That would be quite interesting to observe.
For now, the stillbirth should be kept secret.
A ridiculously high percentage of pregnancies ended naturally in miscarriage, at least according to the healers' memories the One Self had absorbed. The whole process was entirely impractical and unreliable, especially in its early stages. So many things could go wrong. Despite that, the rest of the Cetra would probably panic at the knowledge of such a grossly atypical fetus. Their memories told the One Self that they tended to be hysterical about such things. Even if most didn't become irrationally frenzied, the pregnant ones would certainly be alarmed and seek more information about their own conditions. While the One Self had replaced all the healers in the capital city, more kept arriving with Cetra clans from overseas, drawn by their Planet's pain. Sooner or later, a real healer might be consulted and discover the truth.
Swiftly, Epione shifted into a hunting form, all tentacles and claws, with multiple maws and teeth. At that moment, Minmay happened to glance up. She opened her mouth to scream, but the One Self was on her in a flash, ripping her head from her neck and killing her instantly. It consumed her efficiently, then directed its attention to Rixx. He was still unconscious in his faint, and so was easily engulfed and absorbed.
It then absorbed the fetus. It now had a sample to examine. A quick analysis of its biological composition told it that its earlier theory was correct: the alterations were the result of the One Self's virus incorporating itself into the fetus's genetics, and that the mutated proteins the mother's body produced had also affected it.
Even if the changes were too drastic to result in any viable, altered offspring, at least there would be no more Cetra births from infected individuals. Success in either case.
Epione pinched off two masses of new, excess tissue which formed into duplicates of Minmay and Rixx. The three copies all stared silently at one another for a moment, communing on a plan with the distributed consciousness of the One Self.
Then, silently, the two newest additions to the One Self's total gestalt started cleaning up the mess in the bedroom. Their hands morphed and spread out into paddle-shaped appendages to absorb the blood, fluids, and tissues for nutrition. The copies passed their reconfigured limbs over the gory clothing and bedclothes, sucking the fabric dry and cleaning it of all evidence. Blood had soaked through the sheets to the surface of the mattress. This, too, was rapidly absorbed for its nutrients, leaving nothing but a faint, yellowish discoloration on the mattress. No visible signs that anything violent had occurred remained. Minmay found some incense to burn to cover the smells that permeated the entire house, though with all traces of blood and tissue removed, the air should clear quickly.
Before the night was finished, the house would appear totally innocent to any normal Cetra. Minmay and Rixx would soon be crowing to their neighbors about their lovely growing baby, just like the original two Cetra had done. If necessary, it would be trivial for Minmay to modify her physical form over time to make it appear as if her pregnancy was proceeding normally. She wouldn't require the assistance of any healers, but should someone suggest the need, only copies such as Epione would ever be allowed to attend her.
The One Self had Epione return to her home and continued monitoring all its copies across the Planet.