Dohnal supposed it wouldn’t hurt if they delved into the truth a little bit. “Well. I will admit, I saw one person. About ten or twenty minutes before I got here.” He wasn’t lying about that part. There was an individual, just maybe not what Ro was talking about. “We didn’t make contact, though.”
He sat up a little. "What did they look like? Was there a working vehicle nearby? The closest station is…a few miles away, it's a long walk. Shorter if you take the tunnels, but then you risk cave-ins and such." They took another bite of food, studying Dohnal with interest in their gaze. The idea of there being another person was…a lot, but were they coming here? Who were they? What was going on?
“I don’t know,” Dohnal said, his answer similar to the previous ‘I don’t remembers’. It was almost as if that was code for ‘I don’t want to answer.’ He attempted to bite at his food again.
this isn’t for us.
“All I’ll say is, they weren’t..they weren’t like a ‘person.’ They didn’t act right. So I stayed away.”
They frowned, eyebrows pulling together. "What do you mean, they weren't like a person? There's no aliens here, we haven't found any evidence. I'm a xenobiologist, I've been kept in the loop about this sort of thing. There's some evidence in the deeper caves that there could have been something alive here at one point, but even if there still was, the odds of it being humanoid are…" They trailed off, thinking. "Astronomical. Humanoid shapes are not, in terms of evolution, the most…. convenient. Or strong. Even on Earth, humans were at a disadvantage in terms of our capabilities." He hadn't meant to say so much, but this was a topic he enjoyed talking about.
Dohnal decided to give up on trying to eat anything right now. He listened to the conversation - actually finding some of the things interesting. “It looked like a person.” He said afterwards. “Humanoid, human like. I didn’t get close enough to inspect it - but it definitely was a human. It moved..stiffly. Like a zombie.”
Xenobiologist. Ro had told him that before, but Dohnal didn’t think much of it. Now, though? He put forth an immediate question.
“So say that there is life on this planet. Alien life.” He leaned forwards, placing his chin in his hand. “Would it be possible for them to be..parasites?” His eyes flickered with newfound interest. Perhaps the most he’d shown during this entire conversation.
(gtg to bed soon, goodnight!)
"A zombie is not technically…scientifically possible." he said slowly, considering the things Dohnal had said, drumming their fingers on the tabletop for a moment. "As for parasitic life…it's possible, but only if there are larger things for them to feed off of. Parasites alone cannot survive. Plus, the category of "life" is a broad one; are we talking intelligent life, like you or I, or are we talking just…something living? Because microbes live, and if they are not of Earth origin they can be classified as alien life, but I don't think that's what you mean when you reference alien life. A parasite, again, requires something to feed off of, whether that's a plant, or another creature, or…or some other sort of growing thing. Parasites, by definition, cannot sustain themselves and must therefore be sustained. I don't know how parasites would have evolved on this planet, as thus far we haven't found the kind of things they would need to…to feed on, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible. Very small parasites, for instance, likely could survive in this sort of planet, but they still need some form of energy source, even if it were something as tiny as an Earth snail, or even an insect. Larger parasites, such as the kind on Earth that lived inside of humans or cows or other mammals, are less likely, since there isn't anything big enough to sustain them, not that we've found thus far." they gestured slightly with their hands as they spoke, eyes alight with interest. This was something they enjoyed talking about, the kind of what-ifs and "consider"'s that their mind thrived off of.
((Goodnight! Also I genuinely enjoyed reading that))
Dohnal intently listened. He hummed to himself, having learned things he didn’t know of - and improve his own understanding of Selnu itself. He nodded, taking in the information.
“So say if this was a unique type of parasite. It grabs ahold of the brain functions,” Dohnal lifted one of his hands in a ‘grabbing’ motion, “and it is able to control the host. Is there anything on Earth that can do that?”
try not to be specific. you’ll put us in danger.
(thanks!)
Ro hummed for a moment. "Well, first that would depend on the size. Would it be a tiny parasite, perhaps, for argument's sake, the size of my thumb?" they held up their hand in demonstration. "Or are we talking about something the size of my forearm, instead?" he gestured vaguely at their forearm. "Because the responses would be very different for both. For a small one, some sort of medication would perhaps work best, just like we've used on Earth for centuries to get rid of tapeworms and the like. If that didn't work, then other things would have to be figured out that were as noninvasive as possible, since no one wants to go rooting through someone's brain in search of a parasite. If all other measures failed, surgery would be done to remove it. For a larger one, surgery would probably be the first thing done, since it would be easier to locate."
“Mm..now what if the parasite were to change? It may have entered the body with the intention of being a parasitic life-form…” Stop. “..But for some reason, the parasite changes within the host’s body. Instead, it becomes something like…symbiosis. Instead of the parasite feeding at the expense of its host, it is now both benefiting from the relationship. Would it still be removed from the body then?”
He considered that for a long moment, weighing the possibilities. "I'm not sure. I think it would depend on, ah, the host body? The human, I suppose, and whether or not they wanted it removed. I don't think that most people on Earth would welcome parasites, even symbiotic ones, with open arms." He replied slowly, tapping their finger idly as they considered the possibilities. "Assuming the life form is sentient and can communicate, I don't exactly know. Bodily autonomy and consent is important and I think that would play a role, but it would also then depend on politics and the government and what they chose to do about it."
“Hmm. Interesting.” Dohnal put his arms down, lying them on the table. He took a moment to consider the information. His rather unique situation would surely be a first.
you can’t get rid of me.
“I know,” Dohnal said out loud, just a whisper.
A couple seconds after that, the perimeter alarm went off, and Dohnal sat straight up, not knowing what the noise was. Something else had moved into the area of the facility.
Ro sat up when the alarm went off, a frown tugging at his mouth. "That's odd." He stood, heading towards the main control room without checking to see if Dohnal was following. It didn't matter to them, not that much. They just wanted to see why the alarm was going off, if possible. It was odd; a month in silence, with no one, and now two alarms in the same day? It felt like an odd coincidence, if coincidence it was.
Dohnal followed Ro - if only because he was curious on where they were going. And what was going on.
Whatever had triggered the alarms was human in appearance, although it could be noted that the camera feeds were not 100% clear. The human walked incredibly stiffly - it didn’t seem to be walking around much either, seemingly have gone stationary once it came into view of the cameras.
So instead, it was a person, standing, perhaps looking at the ground. From what cameras the person had shown up in, you could pinpoint the person’s location being a couple feet past the main gate of the station.
But most notably of all was the fact the person wore no suit. No protection, no oxygen mask, nothing.
Dohnal stiffened - recognizing that this was the Puppet he had encountered before.
(should the person/Puppet thing be Lindsey, or nah?)
((Sure! Wasn’t sure where Lindsey could go, so thanks for the suggestion))
(great! Alright!)
Ro's eyes widened. "Wha–" they broke off, staring at the blurry image. "That's– that's Lindsey." he said, stammering for a moment and tearing his hand through their hair. "I've got to– he's been gone for a month, where's his mask?" for once, they were taken aback in surprise. They had long ago assumed that Lindsey had met with some accident and died, for him to turn up now was…impossible. "What's wrong with him?" he wasn't asking Dohnal, it was all rhetorical questions that they had no answers for. He peered at the screen, wishing he knew a way to make the image quality better so that the feed could be better studied.
Foolish of the Puppet to return.
Dohnal never tore his gaze away from the screen, even refusing to blink. He only momentarily broke his focus when Ro spoke of knowing the Puppet - or formerly knowing it. The person within him was gone - the only thing that remained was…well, Dohnal didn’t know, but the closest thing he could connect it to was parasite.
“That’s not him,” Dohnal said simply. He knew it wasn’t this person Ro was thinking of. But he also knew it could be hard to explain to the human. Especially since he’d never had to explain the Puppets to others before.
Ro's eyes snapped to him. "What are you talking about?" he demanded, staring at Dohnal through concerned eyes. "That's Lindsey, he's one of my coworkers. He left a month ago, he…he must have found another station and come back. I don't know why he doesn't have a mask, but there's no way that that's not him." they turned their gaze back to the feed, eyes narrowed and intense as they studied the blurry, still feed of Lindsey.
Dohnal’s lips curled slightly, his canine teeth catching on his lip briefly. “It’s a Puppet,” he said, just barely a whisper. “Not him. As long as we stay inside, it should eventually wander off once it thinks no one’s here.”
"And what," he turned to fix their eyes on Dohnal again, gaze more intense and focused than Dohnal would have seen him before. "The hell is a Puppet, precisely?" their voice was full of calm, though it was the kind of calm that waited before a storm, the kind of calm that concealed too much underlying stress.
Dohnal didn’t move an inch, his focus now completely on Ro. He stared at him as he spoke.
“Something dangerous to both of us. If it realizes that there’s people here, it’ll probably call more even Puppets, and that might escalate the situation far beyond even my control. You’d do well to listen to someone who has dealt with these things before.” His fingers twitched ever so slightly.
“I don’t know exactly what Puppets are, but all I know is that they’re not human.”
Ro was silent for a long moment. "And do these…Puppets…have anything to do with your questions earlier? About parasitic aliens and symbiosis?" they kept their gaze fixed on Dohnal, hand twitching faintly towards the taser at their hip. The reassurance that it was there was all that they needed. That they could use it if necessary.
Dohnal paused, retreating into his mind for a moment to consider what to say. Carefully, he responded - albeit a bit more slowly. “Symbiosis..no. Puppets are just parasites. The symbiosis question regarded something else.” He didn’t elaborate on that point.
His fingers curled.
From the cameras, ‘Lindsey’ had seemingly vanished from view.
He stared at Dohnal, remaining silent for a long, long moment. "Explain." he demanded in a low tone, finger brushing against the taser at their hip again, now very suspicious as to why and how Dohnal knew all of this.
Dohnal’s eyes had lost some of the intense look at them, and from that point on seemed a bit more hesitant to speak. “The deep caves of Selnu were thought to host appropriate conditions for life; deeper than anyone on the expedition had ever gone.” A pause.
“They were right. Although, it wasn’t active life, and it was in a state similar to hibernation. They woke up because of human activity on Selnu. I don’t know how exactly they managed to knock down operations on Selnu but clearly, they did,” Dohnal glanced around.
“Knowing you’re probably going to ask how I know all this, I didn’t spend the last few months just doing nothing. And the person who treated me had…secrets of their own.”
You trot close to the truth there.
“As for the Puppets..” Dohnal sighed. “..They were once human. Just people caught outside, or maybe their facility had a breach. The parasite manages to hunt them down, and connects, wiping away all that remained of the human. Now it’s just a puppet being controlled by the puppeteer.”