It was time to confront the aliens. We either need to communicate with them, or get rid of them, Seth thought. We can’t keep them here. He and Captain Santiago from the Excelsior, and several members of the Dragonfly crew approached the large rectangular containment field that held the aliens. Even Jerad from Draloos IV was in the cargo bay after Captain Seth insisted that he witness the aliens first-hand. The containment field was now enormous. It stretched maybe forty meters wide and thirty meters tall. They numbered in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions. The near exponential rate of their growth has now caused each passing minute to become more frightening than the previous. Now the organisms flashed in groups, seemingly at random, but more likely with an order that they just couldn’t recognize yet. It was unsettling to see, and quite frankly, they were running out of space. The container had taken up essentially the entire cargo bay.
“Ewww…” Ensign Ester muttered.
“Goodness…how many are there now?” LeCroy wanted to know. “There must be a million of them.”
“Close,” answered Dr. Min, “there are exactly seven-hundred and eighty two thousand, four-hundred and fifty nine of them, according to my readings. But remember each individual has their own collection of neurons, their own little brains. As a whole, there must be over a trillion neurons at work here,” he explained. But something continued to bother him. “I don’t know how they are continuing to grow like this. I haven’t given them an energy source. Reproduction, in any species, is extremely taxing.”
“Could they be using the lights?” LeCroy wondered.
“I don’t think so. I’ve never detected any photosynthetic activity in my earlier studies. In fact, because they live underground they are actually quite photosensitive, which was why I kept the light levels somewhat low. The energy must come stored away in high-energy molecules somehow, like some sort of super-fat. Although, it does seem that their mass per individual is receding. It suggests that there is a limit to how much they can keep growing like this.” Min looked carefully at his tricorder.
Indeed, from Seth’s recollection, each one looked a lot skinnier than the first one that he saw in Dr. Min’s lab. By comparison, the one in the lab looked a like a puffy marshmallow with legs. “That’s good to know. I’m a little concerned about how smart it’s getting.” Jerad was looking particularly uncomfortable.
“Actually, now that I’m looking at their growth rate, the rate has indeed slowed in the past couple of hours,” Min added, still on the earlier topic.
“They look…different…” Seth remarked.
“They are more compartmentalized now. Each cluster may serve a specific function,” Dr. Min answered. Indeed, they started to look much more organized, and many of them flashed in unison. It was still the same frightening mess, but definitely more organized. Many of them walked around individually, but with purpose now. This meant that in proximity to a large cluster, they still retained intelligence even if not in direct contact to it. They could still operate remotely.
“The question now is whether or not it possesses consciousness,” LeCroy added.
“Can it hear us?” Seth wondered.
“I don’t think so, or at least, not while they are in the containment field. But they do respond to visual stimuli, so I suspect that they can see us.” Santiago was looking increasingly uncomfortable. He had absolutely no desire to talk to it.
“Maybe we need some sort of sign language,” LeCroy joked.
“Like I said, I haven’t discovered a way to communicate with it quite yet. But you’re right, my initial experiments suggest we could use some sort of visual language. Perhaps we should get Counselor Jenovia back here. She does have a background in linguistics.”
“Security Officer Jones to Lieutenant Commander LeCroy, please respond,” the comm system blasted unexpectedly.
“LeCroy here, this is not a good time, Lieutenant.”
“But, sir….the BX-12 project…”
That immediately caught his attention. “What about it?”
“….He’s…active.”
The Chief choked. “What? That’s impossible. How?” The Chief made a quick glance at Dr. Min, who also had a look of grave concern. They were the only two people on the ship capable of activating him, and neither had even come close to completing him.
“I…I don’t know…nobody was in the lab, and all of a sudden, it started walking around. He has incapacitated two security guards and now it’s walking the corridors.”
“Impossible…” the Chief muttered. “Alright, Dr. Min and I are on our way.”
“There’s no need, sir.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s already walking towards you.”
