He struggled to comprehend all that had happened so far. The once familiar comforting silver walls of the Dauntless Spirit had already begun being claimed by the Symbiote bio-matter. The strange black resin rippled with an unnatural life of its own. His ship. His home now belonged to something else. The Primor of old had always been tenacious, but their fatal flaw of deep-rooted individuality often undermined their forced subjugation. That was the purpose of Great Minds. It through force of will alone brought inhibition to many minds begging for release and it gave the Mortans something they often lacked. Purpose. This variant, named by the Terrans as the Deterrent, acted with a ruthless synchronicity he had never seen before. They had easily overpowered him and the few remaining officers not long after the ship crashed. They had also been far more merciful to his men. He had expected the same fate to join them in a growing mass of minds, but the Deterrent’s silent thought-based communication left him more than a little nervous. The two Mortans dragged him to what was once Hydroponics. The place where they once grew food was now the core of the Deterrent Hive. Its tendrils and black mass had coagulated on the walls and left no spot untouched. The two Mortans in their joint silence dragged him to the central platform and released their hold on his arms. He flopped before the tall imposing creature in front of him. A Patriarch or Matriarch?
It faced him. Its gaze looked sympathetic if that were possible.
“You look surprised?” The distorted voice made the silence all the more unsettling as it spoke to his mind. The oppressive will made him shake in place. “The Deterrent needed me to set the ball rolling but I’m not enough to make this work. That’s where you come in.”
“If you’re going to plant me then do it. Stop wasting -”
He began levitating as suffocating pressure was pushed against his throat. The Kaskari tried clawing at the nothingness attacking their throat but the Creature simply forced their arms down.
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“If I intended for that you wouldn’t be granted an audience. The truth is, there is one other mind in this world that moves against us. It seeks affirmation from our joint master. Thus I need a Great Mind to either subjugate or destroy it.”
“I’m just a Lieutenant. Surely the Captain would be a better choice…”
The Creature let go and the Kaskari collapsed, gasping for air. “The Captain gave the orders yes… but you were his will. His guiding hand. That’s why I wanted you and why he rots in the med bay. A great deal many threats move against us. Time is not on our side. You will guide us to our final victory.”
“I’m just one mind.”
“Soon you will be master of many.”
It took him a minute to realise what this Creature was referring to. He had been so caught up in the current state of Hydroponics he failed to spot a growing pile of corpses.
“I’m surprised you didn’t just plant them.”
“Not everyone needs to be converted and some can serve other purposes. We are all one being in the end. We just have to come together. Convergence is inevitable.”
A group of Mortans referred to as Spitters arrayed themselves around the body and with their open palms fired the strange black substance at the bodies. It took little to no time at all for it to become a massive pile of sludge. The Spitters broke their circle and went off in different directions. The slimy mess crawled its way to the Lieutenant and tiny little stubbed arms reached out on mass. To make this process seamless, the Creature held them in place with their mind. The various parts of the slimeball now attached themselves to its new host and he could do nothing to stop himself from being swallowed by it. He screamed but those too became muffled leaving behind a suffocating silence.
“Our minds will soon become linked. Our Great Mind will rise to meet the other. Though it may be far away, it will fall to us… or perish.”
The Creature turned away from the writhing mass as tendrils from the floor and ceiling found purchase on its body. The sudden lunge from the black mass staggered the Creature forward but it soon straightened and felt its reach grow. Entering a trance-like state it found the rats heading towards med bay.
“I see you, Vadir Kor. There is nowhere on this ship where you can hide. I see everything. Wherever you go. We will find you. Always.”