Ted was happy to find the lab empty. He quickly prepared slides and began examining the fluid from Jim’s gut. The bacteria had attached itself to cells in Jim’s body and combined to create something completely new. Examination of the blood showed levels of hemoglobin that had never existed in a human, but even the hemoglobin itself was already completely different. Clearly, mutation at the genetic level was happening at a wild pace.
Ted isolated bacteria samples and began exposing them to various environments. He placed some in the freezer, began heating some over a flame, and poured various acids and alkaloids into others. The bacteria thrived in every environment. Ted smiled in admiration. The next few weeks of observation would be critical. Ian and Jim would teach the world so much as they progressed through their transition to the next stage—whatever that was.
***********
Theresa sat on Mike’s bed, shoulder to shoulder with him. Their dream mission had turned into a disaster, and without Jim’s leadership, the morale of the crew was crushed.
“This could have been so perfect,” said Theresa quietly. “A whale fall? The black smoker? What are the odds? We’ve been given these amazing opportunities—only to have everything ruined.”
“Ian would have flipped over the whale fall,” said Mike thoughtfully. “He and I talked about that ecosystem so many times. To actually watch that form over a year’s time would have been amazing.”
“Well, I guess you still will. It’ll just be with two fish geeks instead of three.”
“Assuming we don’t all end up dead. But I agree with staying down here until we figure out what’s going on. There’s no way we can bring this shit up to the surface. Can you imagine? Bringing up some superbug and wiping out half the planet? Maybe we were never supposed to be at twenty thousand feet.”
“I’m sure they said the same thing about the first planes and rockets, too.”
“I guess. Thanks for coming by.”
Theresa put her arms around him, and the two of them held each other for a long time. They were attracted to each other and genuinely liked each other, but more than anything else at that particular moment, they both just needed a hug.
***********
Jess woke up in the sickbay and realized Ted had left. She was groggy and stumbled when she stood up. When she saw Jim’s face, she gasped. His face was fixed in a frozen scream, with a huge, swollen, bright red tongue hanging almost to his chin. His eyes were wide open, but had turned almost black. His arms were reaching up for some unseen thing, hands twisted and contorted in a pose that just looked agonizing.
“Oh God, Jim,” she cried. Still wearing her hazmat suit, she placed her hands on his arms to try and get them down into a more relaxed position. Jim gurgled and spat a huge gob of slimy mucous across the front of her suit. She jumped back in surprise, but kept pushing his arms down. They didn’t budge.
“Jim—relax . . .” she said softly. “Let me help you . . .”
He gurgled again and his black eyes fluttered. She wondered if he could see her, if he would even know who she was. She couldn’t move his arms. He hacked another gob of mucous at her, but this time the strand stayed connected to his mouth. His tongue extended even further and he slowly slurped the mucous back up into his mouth. Jess pushed the slime off her rubber suit and moved away to the slop sink in the back of the sickbay. She hosed herself off and called down to Ted in the lab. She remained calm and relayed everything that had happened.
Ted smiled. “He’s trying to feed,” he said matter-of-factly.
“He’s what?” she exclaimed.
“Like coral polyps and tube worms—a very common feeding method, actually. Mucousy strands are extended into the water column to collect microalgae and plankton, then retracted into the central stomach for digestion.”
“Ted, this is Jim, not some fucking tube worm!” she exclaimed.
“It isn’t Jim anymore, Jess. You need to start realizing that. He doesn’t need a medical doctor anymore. He needs me. We’ll move him down to the lab. I’ll be up in a minute . . .”