Test Subject 14:

  Subject 14 displays some promising results, while all 13 attempts to reverse parasitism among former crew members of the IES Ice Breaker have resulted in death, 14’s goal was to gain more insight on the parasite’s physiology. Previous tests showed us that even though the host body is still technically alive their brain has been infested by the parasite and any attempt to remove or kill the parasite results in irreparable brain damage, killing the host almost immediately. 14 has shown us that reducing the biomass of the parasite seems to reduce the hold it has over its host’s mind, though any attempt to converse with the host is like trying to pull teeth out of some of those giant flesh eating creatures on outpost E-4R7H. I fear that we will be unable to save any of the infected crew but have hopes that we can implement some countermeasures to prevent this from happening in the future.

  Regardless of if a cure is possible, 14 has also shown us some interesting facts about this parasite. While the host seems to gain more control as the parasite reduces in mass the healing properties exhibited by the parasite are lessened but not completely gone, suggesting a potential symbiotic relationship in the future, ours is a fragile species when confronted with the weapons of other space faring species and having a reliable way to heal without needing a full sized hospital on every ship could tilt planetside battles in our favor when ground invasions are necessary. More to the point however, subject 14 displays some unique properties with regards to combat function, as the parasite grows in size and gains further control of the host it seems to retain information retaining to the instincts of the host but not the training or memories of said host meaning when fully in control of the host the parasite becomes of very little threat in a combat scenario but exhibits and extreme sense of self preservation. Any damage sustained by the host body will be regenerated by the parasite at the expense of some of the parasite’s mass, further suggesting a potential symbiotic relationship in the future. I’ve attempted to remove some of the parasite in an effort to study its biology in a vacuum however any sample dies and degrades beyond use within a matter of minutes when no host body is present. I will have to find some other way to conduct the experiments I have planned. Unfortunately, subject 14 died after we attempted to reduce the parasite’s mass below 15% of total mass, suggesting some kind of self-destruct feature when heavy damage is sustained, but for a brief moment he seemed almost human again.

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