Ad Astra

A few beeps and boops later and the doctor muses over the reading.

I believe your second theory is correct. Professors, you appear to have exposure levels akin to what I'd expect in engineer Jonh. And you, Jonh, read like Lt. Commander Bruce. I need to ask you not to spend time in the engine bay until we can read this better. Phi-Radiation may be self-perpetuating, which would explain the exponential increase in your levels despite largely similar exposure.

He pauses and does a second check on the Sisters.

For what it's worth, the organism has the same level as exposure as the rest of the original human biology. This may cause issues in the future if for some reason those levels differentiate, but again. You're at a safe level right now.

We do, but I'll need to mix them for your current exposure levels so you don't overdose. They're intended for massive mechanical failure. But...I think this applies. The doctor calls down the Captain and Lts. Altok Leya, who were the primary negotiators for the conference, then prepares an anti-rad dose for the spiky security officer.

Lt. Commander Bruce picks up the call. Phi-Rad contamination? Shet. Get yerself treated. I'll suit up an' check on things with -

The security officer cries out with inhuman pain, his back arching unnaturally on the table.

That shouldn't be possible.

But apparently this contaminant isn't slowed down by near-freezing temperatures.

His arms and legs erupt with sudden spike growth. The bones pop out of their sockets, you can hear the ligaments tearing, but his skin remains intact - just white, and stony.

His arm cuts the comm from Medbay. His leg impales the doctor. You just barely miss his other limbs.

Groaning, wailing, the patient staggers to his hands and feet like a distended spider. Blood and water leak from his mouth and eyes.

That wound would kill a normal human. Probably. But The Sisters aren't really a normal human anymore, and the doctor is half-Relik, so they just don't know....

Full Quarantine will be easy. To depressurize the ship's hospital? That's past your security clearance. The problem too, is that Drs. Bale are still in there.

---

One red dot in the data pad. Something's wrong in the medbay. Modwen Tarch should be relaxing, but information like this waits for no one.

As Modwen strides down the hallway working out his opening paragraph, he nearly crashes into Captain Hamilton, Lts. Leya, and.....

A small dense rock-shaped being? One of the Grel'lix! But, how did he get on the ship?

And since you think it's so important to be involved in our affairs, you can tell us how to resolve this before we extradite you via storage capsule.

Hamilton is rarely this out of sorts, even in the short time you've known her. When she realizes it's you, she barks an order.

Tarch, I need everything you've got on Antimony: reactivity, source minerals, neutralizers - anything you can get me.

From outside, Jonh sees the captain and Leya rushing down the hall with....that self-righteous journalist and one of the Grel'lix? Fine. Whatever. Because inside he sees the victim staggering under its own weight, its own new biology, knocking supplies out of cupboards and tables.

The Doctor is bleeding heavily, his eyes glazed over. He grasps for Phi-Rad pills before he musters the strength to crawl out of the room - all far too slowly.

What are you waiting for? Captain Hamilton cries to Jonh. Quarantine it!

The Sisters are right, of course. They can't decompress such an important wing of the ship, and certainly not when there's a new organism inside. It's pleasing for the professors to hear.

Or rather, would be, if the creature wasn't about to rip them in two to escape into the ship.