Colony

by SpunSilk

Part three : Contagion

If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will start to gaze back into you.

–– Friedrich Nietzsche

You will enjoy this story more if you first read Lodestone. Do take the time.

"A virus?! In an aura?"

She said defensively, "I didn't say it was a virus, I said that was less-than-optimal as a metaphor."

"Look, Doc, My aura has done me no favors since... oh, since long about Skorzeny." I grumbled. "If it wants to, my aura can have its virus, crumble and fade – and leave me in peace as far as I'm concerned."

She shook her head. "You're wrong," she answered gently. "There's so much about the aura that you humans don't understand. It's as much a part of you as your arm, your heart, or your identity. You need it. You aren't you without it."

"Where did this infection come from? How'd I get it?"

"That's difficult to say. Of course, it can be transferred – in a sense – from one being to another. Normally this is the case, but you would have had no reason to have been near enough to... well..." her mind seemed to wander. She shook her head slightly, as if to clear it. "On rare occasions Colony resides in the Ether itself, searching for a host. But as I have said, human aura is not their normal energy source. I'm very interested to see how their life-cycle plays out in a human."

" 'Searching for a host'? You make them sound intentioned!"

"Oh, they are. Colony is a quasi-intelligent disease, that travels in groups –colonies– from one host to another, killing as it goes."

"An intelligent disease?! Excuse me?"

She smiled patiently. "An insightful human playwright once said, There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies."

"Well, a disease my immune system should fight off."

"It can't," she said dismissively.

"If it's a virus, it bloody well can try!"

"Please don't try to apply biology to your condition. This is separate. Let me try to explain. The life-cycle is a place to start. Colony first enters an aura in a particulate form; the latent phase. Here, in the rich natural energy of the aura, it gestates until it is ready to 'bloom'. (This can be within hours in an Ether entity but at what rate it matures in a human can only be speculation.) At this point, the organism breaks out of their dormant state and becomes active, devastatingly active. They can number in the thousands. They feed on the very energy of the aura, digesting it for their own use, sapping the victim of life-energy and ultimately of life itself. Then they multiply. It starts slowly at first, but more quickly as they grow in strength. This all-too-quickly can bring a being to its figurative knees, again normally within days. Then they will swarm. Perhaps another biological metaphor would be bees."

"So which is it here; a virus or bees?!"

She ignored my question. "Once the aura is exhausted and the patient is dead, they swarm, breaking into multiple new colonies with their ill-acquired energy, and build 'particulates' to transverse the Ether again, each group seeking out a new host close-by to begin the lifecycle anew. It spreads this way, like wildfire in a high-density population." She spoke bitterly. "Or alternatively, if a suitable host is unlucky enough to be standing too close as the victim dies, Colony can choose to transfer in full bloom, skipping the particulate phase altogether. It's not pretty." Her eyes were dark and haunted as she told this tale of death. She shook her head and pulled herself back into the moment.

"We have no idea how it will behave in a human aura. I have to speculate it will progress slower than normal, the aura not being it's... flavor of choice if you will. The human aura is less immediately important to the human, since he cannot see or sense it – I'm told most humans don't even know their aura exists! The human subject, then, will probably not notice the loss of aural energy until later. My kind are almost instantly impacted." She added with a furrowed brow, "There is no cure for Colony."

"It's a death-sentence?"

"For normal Ether entities, yes."

"Will it kill other humans I get too close to? Will it kill... me?"

"My guess is yes and yes. My concern is that once it establishes a new... taste in auras here with you, it may evolve to feed on humans as well, expanding its victim-options. I'm hoping by isolating this one case, I can avoid that developing."

I sat numb. "So I have a question; if, as you say, I'm infected, why not just kill me yourself? Be done with it."

She eyed me thoughtfully. "An interesting suggestion. But that would not help my problem. If their host were to die in the first phase of their life cycle, they would choose to bloom immediately, for survival sake. I wouldn't want to be anywhere close by. No. It must be as I've described it to you; you must self-isolate. If you are far enough away from any vulnerable entity when they swarm, the time-lapse itself will work in our favor; They may starve out before finding a new host."

She paused and said, "I have another biological metaphor that will show you the seriousness of the situation. Think of it this way," She fixed me hard with a piercing stare, "You carry plague."

My blood ran cold. That word carries less emotional impact for society at large today than it did in the 1300s, but my business is words, and I knew what was meant by it. I set my jaw. "You choose strong words, Lady."

"I must make you understand."

"I want proof," I stated cooly.

She shook her head. "Most of the symptoms are not things you have senses to experience."

"Well, I don't want to shock you, Mrs. Dr. 'Vet', but I'm a quasi-intelligent being, myself. I get to ask for proof."

"We don't have time for this–"

"Extraordinary claims call for extraordinary evidence, Darlin'. You're asking me to chase on out of here, go isolate myself and – if what you claim is true – just weaken and die out there alone somewhere? And why! Because you claim it's true. Uh-uh. Doesn't cut mustard. Prove it."

"How do you propose I do that?!"

"Show it to me, show me these things in my aura through your eyes. The Kobalt showed me my aura, it's easy."

"I can't see the infection, no one can! Colony is not macroscopic! I was able to detect it only because I'm a... well, you would say... a professional."

"Well, now. We have a problem."

She exhaled in exasperation. "It's imperative that you believe me and follow my advice!"

I crossed my arms, leaned against the opposite wall, and said nothing. She saw my resolve, and searched the inside of her skull for a way.

"Fine!" she fumed, "I will try to recalibrate one of my tools to your brain." Three spheres appeared around me on the bed, each about the size and color of a tennis ball. I jumped a bit at their sudden appearance. She took each one in turn and held it silently in her hands for a few moments, the replaced them around me in a perfect triangle. I noted these were placed out away from me about as far as to lay at the edge of my aura – were it to be visible. She must have switched this set-up on at one point, because I felt the oddest sensation. I felt like there were... three of me sitting there; just off by less than a fraction of an inch, but in three places at once, and sort of vibrating between the positions. Deep strangeness. Not the Ether, I noted thankfully (since that's hard to take), but weird.

Finally she said, "Close your eyes." I complied. "Clear your mind." Fat chance. "Concentrate on the... aura represented around you. Tell me what you sense."

Always the sceptic, I answered, "Sorry, Doc. The other way around; You tell me what being infected with this thing should look like. I'll be the judge."

She exhaled loudly. "Are you always this difficult?" I didn't answer. I was 'watching' quite a light show – considering my eyes were closed.

"Notice the power lanes around you. Colony will influence the color of the lanes. A subject infected with Colony will see the energy lines with a turquoise haze in the edges of the area viewed."

My breath caught and my stomach lurched. "Turquoise?" I asked weakly.

"With grainy points of orange. Do you see this?"

My cocky attitude dissolved in a surge of dread. "Yeah... yeah, I do." I whispered.

"Latent phase." Her voice was strained with controlled emotion. She immediately backed off from the bed. "Take only the most essential things with you. Time is of the essence, before they bloom. Get far away from other humans. Start now."

When I re-opened my eyes, she was already gone.