Theresa and Tony sat at a long table in the captain’s briefing room. They were surrounded by officers from the Chosin, the medical staff director, and a live video feed with Admiral Antus back in Washington, DC. Antus was flanked by several other officials, none of whom were familiar to Tony or Theresa.
The ship’s medical director, a lieutenant commander named Gail Reilly, had been taking copious notes as Theresa explained everything she could remember from the Challenger catastrophe. Tony interjected occasionally, but most of what Theresa was explaining were the scientific aspects of the infection, so for the most part, he just listened. Theresa ended at the point when the DSRV surfaced and Ethan died from the infection.
Lieutenant Commander Reilly jumped in as soon as Theresa finished her briefing. “This deinococcus radiodurans that infected the crew and killed Ethan, has it ever infected humans before?”
“Not that we know of, no. It exists only in the deepest parts of the ocean, in the gut of certain inhabitants of the thermal vents. It has the distinction of being in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the toughest bacteria on the planet—impervious to cold, dehydration, acids, radiation—it can even survive in a vacuum. In the labs, they call it ‘Conan the Bacterium.’ The bacteria does more than just infect its host, though, commander. It changes the host’s anatomy. D. radiodurans can actually repair and alter DNA strands. Whatever happened to our crew was more than just a simple infection.”
“Earlier in your briefing, you said there were other smaller creatures attacking you up on the bridge right before your escape. These weren’t altered forms of Ian MacMullen or Jim Lewis—so what were they?”
“I’m not sure, which is just as terrifying as what we saw happen to our friends. My theory is that they were pieces of infected tissue from either other members of our crew…” Theresa dabbed at her eyes, thinking of Mike, “…or they were pieces of tissue from Ian or Jim. We believe that infected tissue regenerates the way a crab can regrow a leg or a starfish can regrow a whole body from a couple of connected legs. It presents a huge danger in terms of spreading. There’s also the colony theory.”
“Explain—what do you mean ‘colony theory’?”
“If you ever study coral, you’ll see that it’s a colony of polyps. Most people look at coral as a plant, because it can have branches or can have tree or flower-like forms. But coral is a colony of microscopic polyps—individual animals that share food and energy and maybe even some primitive type of intelligence the way a beehive or ant colony does. They’re stronger as a colony than as individuals. I believe that these pieces of tissue seek each other out and collaborate in some way.”
Dr. Reilly made a face. “Based on what?”
Theresa rubbed her tired face. “Based on the crazy shit I saw three miles down.”
The officers in the room sat stone faced and waited for her to continue.
“Look, I don’t have any hard evidence of anything, okay? All I can tell you is what I saw, and what I think. That’s it. You weren’t there. None of you! I can’t explain an unexplainable horror show! Our friends are dead, the Challenger is lost, and our conduct is being questioned. If we had died down there with the rest of the crew, you wouldn’t even know any of this.”
“Perhaps the video from the DSRV will provide additional information,” said Admiral Antus quietly from the monitor.
“Speaking of which, when will they surface?” asked Tony.
“At least another three hours,” answered one of the officers.
Tony folded his muscular arms across his chest and sat back. He hated the idea of Jessica being back down there. Having zero communication until they surfaced made it even worse.