Page 46 of Ragoru

CHAPTER37

“I’m sorry, what?” Evie gaped at the hologram. “How do you know my name?”

The hologram cocked its head in a facsimile of the human expression as its image crackled in and out. “I know because this is how you identified yourself in your emergency override code. As the assigned artificial intelligence for Facility MountainDeep, I have access and direct control of all minor programs within the facility. Now, how may I assist you?”

“Oh.” Evie could scarcely believe it. A true AI hologram! The likes of such she’d only read of in books. “Ah, what do I call you?”

“I am the Systems and Arterial Management AI. SAM is a suitable moniker.”

“All right, SAM it is. Can you tell me what Symbiotic Project Zelt-Kelfer is?” She gestured toward the tubes. “And what all of this means?”

“Certainly.” SAM waived a hand through the air, and another holograph sprung up showing numerous diagrams of species specs. “This facility was designed to contain and study subjects of an outbreak discovered in the mountainous regions throughout the northern continent, an epidemic that was beginning to spread throughout Solum. It was believed that the isolation and frigid temperatures of Facility MountainDeep would keep the contamination under control as it was studied.”

He flicked his hand and one image enlarged that possessed a startling similarity to the creatures that she had escaped in the cave. Evie’s skin crawled as the holographic images stared through her.

“What was the contamination?”

Another screen enlarged at SAM’s bidding, something that looked like a milky-colored parasite with four bright pink bioluminescent locomotive “tails” segmenting the lower part of its body. It was the hook-like structure along what had to be its mouth that made her shiver. It looked like something straight out of a nightmare as its tails flicked, driving it forward through the blood stream like a great white shark hunting prey.

“This is greatly magnified, but what you are looking at is a microscopic parasite called the gacenthys vidarii, so named for the Gacenthys and Vidarii mountain regions where it was first discovered. A parasite that breeds in the water sources deep within the caverns, it infects any host that comes into contact with the water, whether drinking it or casually touching the water and then some orifice. It was observed to rapidly infect some of the villages within the southern and western mountain ranges. The infected villages were all within extreme proximity to cave systems winding through the mountains and the initial infections were suspected to have been carried up to the surface by amateur mining in these areas. Naturally, once introduced into its host environment, it begins to breed rapidly so that within forty-eight hours its host is infested with the organism. They then are spread through sexual contact, infecting the immediate wider population before deterioration sets in around day four.”

“And that causes this?” Evie asked, gesturing to the first hologram.

“Correct. Gacenthys vidarii, despite possessing a simple design that allows it to be very prolific, contains complex mutagenic properties that causes gross mutations with a short observable time frame. During that time, the cells are attacked, and new proteins are created that in turn cause physical changes in the body and brain. They have a rudimentary grasp of language, and in place of a more complex social and language structure, the host possesses a sort of cunning pack mentality. Their eyes and skin become photo sensitive, their bodies become pale and withdrawn. From there the changes only multiply, making their hosts intolerant of most conditions that were not regulated to be cool, damp, and dark in mimicry of the deepest cave systems. This facility was only meant to study the parasite, but somehow Upper Reaches Hawthorn Village became infected… It was suspected from a contaminated source of ground water to close to the caverns. Those that were not infested successfully by the parasites were killed outright by their friends and families and cannibalized them as the parasite attacked their brains and nervous systems.”

Evie swallowed sickly. “That explains all the human remains in the village. What about the animals? I’ve noticed that there are no wild animals around.”

“This was observed by the scientists here,” SAM agreed. “They noted that most animals didn’t venture into any of the cave systems or anywhere near them. Dr. Gunfry believed that the colonies of parasites give off an odor that is undetectable to humans. This odor frightens animals away from any place exposed directly to a water source running from the caves. It is believed that it was solely simple lifeforms without sensory organs capable of detecting the odor that became infected, such as the giant cave worms, until humans came along.”

Thral’s and Vrishna’s words immediately came back to her as they spoke of the wrongness that they’d felt from the scent of the air. They had detected it all along with their keener senses and so had responded appropriately. Without them, there she would never have exhibited such caution other than feeling a subconscious discomfort at the lack of animal sounds that still had to be brought to her attention. Would she have refilled her canteen from one of the streams that originated from the caverns and unknowingly infected herself? The sudden illness and early death of Robert Murphy.

“Do the parasites always infect or are they capable of killing the host?” she asked slowly.

“It was recorded by Dr. Gunfry that he believed that those whom the parasite was not able to infect, would eventually die from toxins released from the dying parasites within their body. This was found to also be a cause of high mortality rate among newborns from the Kelf designated cave-dwelling mutations. The exact numbers are uncertain since the Kelf species kept itself well hidden in the deepest regions of the cave systems. In order to study their population at all, teams were sent into the caves every few years to pull specimens to study.”

Evie’s lips pursed as she looked over at the tube that held one of the samples designated as Zelt. “What of the Zelt designated mutations?”

SAM nodded and enlarged the data information from one of the Zelt specimens in the hologram. “The Zelt designated subset are an abnormality of the gacenthys vidarii mutations. For some reason, they didn’t suffer such extreme reactions and therefore never sought out the extreme depths of the caves. Like the Kelfer, they have severe body morphology and limited cognitive and speech capabilities but were discovered to be less photosensitive and more socially dependent on each other. There were significant studies done on those that were captured since it was easy to do so and why there are few preserved samples that remain due to this. Unlike the Kelfer, which are rarely seen together in anything larger than pairs and abandon their young when they mature to the point of being able to hunt their own food, the Zelt maintained close familial and community bonds of a sort. It was later observed that within the third generation, they left the upper cave systems altogether, their bodies adapting by that point to be hairier, their skin thicker and possessing stockier bodies with pronounced joints while continuing to carry on those traits that they shared with the Kelfer subset.”

Alarm raced through her as her eyes shot up to the hologram. “Are you saying that not only are the caves inhabited by those Kelfer mutants but that there may be the Zelt subset mutants wandering through the forests of Solum?”

“Precisely. Last satellite before video feed failure determined population heat signatures throughout every continent on Solums.” He whipped a hand from the side, bringing up a map with small blooms of heat scattered everywhere.

“How do you know that these are mutated humans? It might just be random human villages scattered throughout the continents.”

“The mutated human variants run several degrees hotter than the rest of the population. Our system tracked through a very specific range of concentrated heat signatures.”

“And we weren’t told of this?”

“When the official government was overthrown, commands for immediate closure of all experimental facilities were sent out. Everyone left, Evelyn Willocks. There was no one to share this data as it was all deemed classified and no longer had an agency to which to report.”

She swallowed sickly as her stomach rolled. The Order had done more damage than she’d ever believed. “SAM, is there any way you can save this data for me?”

He peered at her expectantly.

“You know, for me to deliver to my superiors.”

“There are datacubes that are available if they have the required technology to run them.”

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