us."
"Tenners."
"Ten."
Aran—that was odd. How was the thing spreading?
***
"First, Augusta 6," Doctor Doom said, "an Outvac ConFree world just seized by the O's." We were sprawled on the deck between the bunks and the lockers in Recon quarters, sipping dox and trying to relax after a harrowing mission to confirm an Omni presence on a supposedly deserted asteroid. We had stirred up a swarmer's nest and retreated hurriedly under fire, mission successful.
"Next," DD continued, "Aran, a Legion outpost in the Crista Cluster, sparsely inhabited. Then Veronica 2, a heavily populated ConFree planet, in the heart of the Crista Cluster. And this last one is a true tragedy—the population is over 300 million, and the disease is spreading fast." DD brushed back a strand of long black hair and squinted his Assidic eyes. "Meantime, we're getting reports that two more Omni worlds have been infected—major O population centers. And they're not having any better luck countering the spores than we are." A burst of sonic lektra echoed off the cenite walls. Somebody was always playing the music too loud.
"What do we know so far about the fungus?" Priestess asked. She was in a sleeveless top and tight shorts. Her lovely legs were on display. She had just showered and appeared fresh and relaxed.
"It's unique," DD replied. "It's a parasitic aerobic fungus that thrives in an oxygen environment but needs a host to reproduce. Although it can survive in several higher animal species, humans and O's seem to offer it the most favorable environment. It starts life as a microscopic organism that floats through the air as a spore. If it lands on flesh, it burrows into the body immediately. If it's ingested, so much the better. It rides the bloodstream throughout the body, establishing colonies everywhere it goes, just under the skin. Once it's in the host, it extracts all it needs from the host, without harming it. Then something triggers it to bore outwards and appear on the exterior of the skin. Upon exposure to oxygen in the air, it begins reproducing wildly. The rate of reproduction at this stage is faster than anything our lifies have ever seen. At this stage it starts producing a mycotoxin that is fatal to the host. The fungus spreads rapidly over the exterior of the body, the host goes into shock and dies, and the fungus spreads further in a mad orgy of reproduction. Then it traps the gases from the decomposing host and eventually produces a gaseous eruption that fills the air with spores—thus continuing the life cycle."
"That's pretty scary," I said. That damned sonic lektra was still blasting away.
"What's scarier," Priestess added, "is that there's no cure. Once you're infected, you die. The lifies are helpless. This is the scariest, nastiest, toughest creature they've ever seen. Once it's on you or in you, you're finished. There's nothing the Legion can do."
"Can somebody turn up the music," a lone voice objected. "I can't sleep when it's that low."
"That's right," DD said. "The incubation time is normally eight standard days. By the time it appears on your skin, you have only moments to live. On Veronica 2, they started calling it the White Death, and now even the lifies are using that term."
"And nobody knows where it comes from?" I asked. The White Death, I thought. I've heard that before. Moontouch! A White Death, invincible, wasting mighty empires. Deadman! How could she know?
"No," DD replied. "We don't have a clue. The only way to kill it that we know of is to deprive it of oxygen. Unfortunately that kills the host as well."
"And it only targets humans and O's?"
"Primarily. It's almost as if it was designed to do so."
"So these things live forever?"
"No, the organism has a natural life cycle of only sixteen hours without a host. If it can't find a host by that time, it can't reproduce, and it dies."
"So the solution is to prevent it from reaching a host." A burst of laughter erupted from several bunks over.
"Easier
"Tenners."
"Ten."
Aran—that was odd. How was the thing spreading?
***
"First, Augusta 6," Doctor Doom said, "an Outvac ConFree world just seized by the O's." We were sprawled on the deck between the bunks and the lockers in Recon quarters, sipping dox and trying to relax after a harrowing mission to confirm an Omni presence on a supposedly deserted asteroid. We had stirred up a swarmer's nest and retreated hurriedly under fire, mission successful.
"Next," DD continued, "Aran, a Legion outpost in the Crista Cluster, sparsely inhabited. Then Veronica 2, a heavily populated ConFree planet, in the heart of the Crista Cluster. And this last one is a true tragedy—the population is over 300 million, and the disease is spreading fast." DD brushed back a strand of long black hair and squinted his Assidic eyes. "Meantime, we're getting reports that two more Omni worlds have been infected—major O population centers. And they're not having any better luck countering the spores than we are." A burst of sonic lektra echoed off the cenite walls. Somebody was always playing the music too loud.
"What do we know so far about the fungus?" Priestess asked. She was in a sleeveless top and tight shorts. Her lovely legs were on display. She had just showered and appeared fresh and relaxed.
"It's unique," DD replied. "It's a parasitic aerobic fungus that thrives in an oxygen environment but needs a host to reproduce. Although it can survive in several higher animal species, humans and O's seem to offer it the most favorable environment. It starts life as a microscopic organism that floats through the air as a spore. If it lands on flesh, it burrows into the body immediately. If it's ingested, so much the better. It rides the bloodstream throughout the body, establishing colonies everywhere it goes, just under the skin. Once it's in the host, it extracts all it needs from the host, without harming it. Then something triggers it to bore outwards and appear on the exterior of the skin. Upon exposure to oxygen in the air, it begins reproducing wildly. The rate of reproduction at this stage is faster than anything our lifies have ever seen. At this stage it starts producing a mycotoxin that is fatal to the host. The fungus spreads rapidly over the exterior of the body, the host goes into shock and dies, and the fungus spreads further in a mad orgy of reproduction. Then it traps the gases from the decomposing host and eventually produces a gaseous eruption that fills the air with spores—thus continuing the life cycle."
"That's pretty scary," I said. That damned sonic lektra was still blasting away.
"What's scarier," Priestess added, "is that there's no cure. Once you're infected, you die. The lifies are helpless. This is the scariest, nastiest, toughest creature they've ever seen. Once it's on you or in you, you're finished. There's nothing the Legion can do."
"Can somebody turn up the music," a lone voice objected. "I can't sleep when it's that low."
"That's right," DD said. "The incubation time is normally eight standard days. By the time it appears on your skin, you have only moments to live. On Veronica 2, they started calling it the White Death, and now even the lifies are using that term."
"And nobody knows where it comes from?" I asked. The White Death, I thought. I've heard that before. Moontouch! A White Death, invincible, wasting mighty empires. Deadman! How could she know?
"No," DD replied. "We don't have a clue. The only way to kill it that we know of is to deprive it of oxygen. Unfortunately that kills the host as well."
"And it only targets humans and O's?"
"Primarily. It's almost as if it was designed to do so."
"So these things live forever?"
"No, the organism has a natural life cycle of only sixteen hours without a host. If it can't find a host by that time, it can't reproduce, and it dies."
"So the solution is to prevent it from reaching a host." A burst of laughter erupted from several bunks over.
"Easier
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