Chapter 8 Fungus Among Us

• Act III: Contagion
• Lila let out a sigh of relief as she placed the final explosive charge on the asteroid's surface. She checked her suit's timer and nodded to herself. The mission was back on track, although with a slight delay.
• As she was packing up her gear, Lila sensed a presence behind her. Her hand instinctively reached for a heavy pneumatic spanner inside her tool case. Before she could turn around, she was blindsided and swept off her feet. In the microgravity, the spanner bounced off the ground and drifted away out of her reach.
• A hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. As Lila braced her arms against her attacker in an attempt to protect herself, she could now see Watts' face inside his suit's visor. His other arm was struggling to reach for her helmet. He was trying to break the seal, just like with Peer.
• Lila never thought she would use her zero-G combat drills the miners union made her take would ever come in handy. Much less against one of her own. She always made it a point to solve any conflict among her crew with diplomacy. The best defense against a mutiny was to not let it get it that far in the first place. She used the low gravity of the asteroid and her suit's booster backpack to her advantage, explosively twisting out of Watts' grip and landing a well-placed kick to his chest, launching herself away from her opponent.
• Watts tumbled in the opposite direction toward a large rock. As Lila landed on her feet, Watts hit the rock at full force, but bounced back like it was nothing. He lunged at her, using his suit's boosters to pick up considerable speed. She used the low gravity to her advantage, dodging him using her own boosters. As she turned around to face him, she had just enough time to brace for his next attack.
• Lila knew she couldn't dodge him forever. She opened her guard, baiting Watts with an easy target. Taking the bait, he darted towards her at full speed. She dodged again, but managed to get a hold of his suit. With her other hand, she grabbed one of his arms. Her booster spun them both around and Lila slammed Watts into the hard surface of the asteroid.
• Struggling to keep her opponent pinned down, her left hand inches towards her breast pocket. Opening the pocket, she pulls out a syringe. She hoped she managed to grab the sedative, instead of the adrenaline or hyper-oxygenated blood. There was no time to check. She slammed the syringe into Watts' shoulder. His suit was venting atmosphere where she pierced it with the syringe.
• Watts was getting weaker, and soon stopped resisting. She quickly immobilized his arms and legs using some zip ties, then slapped a sealant patch on the leak. Turning him around, Lila saw Watts muttering a phrase over and over again. But she couldn't hear him. Abandoning her toolbox, she headed for the shuttle with Dr. Watts in tow.
• Back on the shuttle, Lila removed Watts' helmet, and could finally hear what he was muttering. It was quite unintelligible, but she managed to make out the words infestation, defend and journey.
• “Watts, can you hear me?” Lila said. “What are you talking about?”
• “Invasive lifeforms... Danger... Protect the Journey.”
• “What are you trying to say? Watts, what invasive life forms? What journey?”
• “Contagion. The Journey is in danger. Protect the Journey.”
• “Watts, you're not making any sense. What contagion are you talking about?”
• “Humans. The vessel in danger. The Journey must survive.”
• “Yes, we're on a journey,” Lila said. “To save our home. This asteroid is going to destroy it if we don't blow it up.”
• Watts face lit up. “This is our home. Humans destroy the vessel. Protect the Journey.”
• “Wait. Are you trying to say this asteroid is your home? Who are you?”
• “The Journey must continue. Defend the vessel. Exterminate human threat.”
• “Watts, you're not making any sense.”
• “Your presence is a threat to the journey. Leave or be exterminated.”
• “We can't leave. This asteroid will hit our home planet. We must detonate it to save our home.”
• “Save our home,” Watts said, getting more erratic. “Protect the Journey. Exterminate human infestation.”
• Lila checked his suit's readouts, and found his vitals erratic. His blood pressure and heart rate were erratic, and his neural activity was off the chart.
• Watts went into a frenzy. “Protect the Journey,” he said over and over again.
• There was no getting through to him. Doc Drexler would have to give him a physical and they'd go from there. Lila locked Watts in one of the storage lockers, then headed out.
• She carefully navigated the low-gravity environment of the asteroid, carefully maneuvering Peer's lifeless body into the shuttle. She connected to his suits controls and used his boosters to levitate his body, as she pushed him along back to the shuttle. Bring him home for a proper funeral was the least she could do now.
• Back on the shuttle, Lila set a course back to the Hammerhead. Once she lifted off from the surface, she set the autopilot, then started playing Dr. Watts' research notes on the cockpit speakers.
• “BEEP... I am Dr. Edwin Watts, a Xenobiologist aboard the Hammerhead. Today, my relentless pursuit of knowledge bore fruit as I made a discovery destined to reshape the tapestry of human existence. While collecting samples on LV3457, I stumbled upon what appears to be a fungal life form. The EEG readings indicate high level of neural activity. Charting the neural activity against those of known lifeforms suggests sentience, possibly even higher intelligence. I have dubbed it the Brain Fungus, as its neural network structure resembles that of the human brain. The discovery of sentient life would revolutionize our understanding of the universe and our place in it. This fungus seems to be aware of my presence, as seen in the patterns of the frequency charts of the EEG readouts. This discovery could mean that we have made the first human contact with intelligent beings amidst the vast expanse of the universe. I will continue to study this fascinating life form and unlock the secrets of its neural network. My next challenge will be to figure out how to communicate with this life form and potentially learn from it. While it seems to strive in hard vacuum, when release to atmosphere, it releases what I can only describe as spores at this point. The implications of this discovery are profound, and I can hardly contain my excitement at the possibilities it presents... BEEP... I am Dr. Edwin Watts...”
• The message looped, playing again and again. Lila's senses were engulfed by an overwhelming wave of emotions, rendering her motionless. She stood there, transfixed, unable to muster any response as the weight of the revelation settled upon her. Our first contact with intelligent alien life, and what do we do? We try to blow it up.