Dr. Centress’ heart started to race. The Annecta were no longer in the containment field that he had placed them in. He walked carefully around the lab to see if they were hidden from view, but they weren’t. In fact, they didn’t seem to be anywhere in the lab. He rushed back to the other cargo bay where he had stored the other Annecta. They were gone, too. Where could they have gone? And how were they able to get out? And it wasn’t just the Annecta that were missing. All of the species that they had collected from Draloos V were missing. One thing was for sure: Captain Santiago was not going to be happy about this.
“Computer,” he said, “Locate any Annecta biosignatures on the Excelsior.”
“Affirmative,” the computer responded. “There is a large mass of Annecta biosignatures in Cargo Bay Four.”
He rushed over without skipping a beat. As he stumbled through the corridors in a panic, he began to recall an initial report by Dr. Min about some Draloos V species that carried a gene that allowed them to transport. Centress did not see any evidence of this ability in the Annecta themselves, even when he used the toxin on them, but it seemed so obvious now that they should carry that gene. Could they have been hiding their ability until now? It doesn’t matter. They, along with all of the other species that they had captured, were loose on the Excelsior. How could I have been so careless, he thought.
The doors of Cargo Bay Four opened, and already a pungent smell hit Dr. Centress. In the corner of the cargo bay was a large cluster of the Annecta, huddled together tightly. But there was more tissue surrounding the cluster that branched off in all directions. It was reddish in color. How could they have developed in such a sophisticated way? Especially so quickly? He carefully scanned the tissue with his tricorder, keeping his distance from the cluster of the Annecta. As the readings became clear, his heart sank. It was muscle tissue. Thick, human-like, skeletal muscle tissue.
A branch of the tissue quickly reached out and grabbed him by the torso like a giant hand, nailing him to the wall and restraining him. He twisted and turned, but with no avail. He couldn’t even pull his arm to hit his combadge and call for help. In fact, he only felt the grip tighten further. There was almost anger it that grip.
His breathing became heavy and erratic as he began to panic. He couldn’t budge. He then began to notice thinner branches along the wall of the cargo bay that had pairs of leaves along them, almost like vines. They were green, in sharp contrast to the red muscle tissue that took up most of the cargo space. He concentrated to try and get a closer look. It looked similar to one of the organisms on Draloos V. And then it hit him.
He cried and cried for help. The leaves began to flap.
