video + text; Virus Zombie PSA (backdated to an hour or so after J's post)

[notglitching]

[So remember that cheery blonde asking people to come screw? Guess what! She's back on camera already. Only the call's coming from Rinzler's MID (didn't he kill her that one time?), and J looks to have undergone some fairly rapid... changes.

First? She's a technozombie!

Second? Extra dead.

Her skin is dull and grey, split apart in papery, cracked lines that show the glow of circuitry beneath. Her eyes are flat and hollow, glinting dimly in the light above, as if the switch behind them was burned out. Her head lolls to the side at a twisted, malformed angle, and the slice visible through one collarbone is oddly bloodless. What liquid does ooze out is black.

The camera lingers for a long moment, only the low ticking rumble of Rinzler's noise offscreen to break the silence. Then, several lines of text scroll out below the screen.]

Active virus detected.
Affects users. Infected subjects: hostile, attempting to spread.

[Shepard starts talking before she's on camera, allowing for the image to assist in her addition to Rinzler's information. Her voice is urgent, stern — and a touch strained.]

This is a red alert. Something on board is turning crew into beings called husks. They're the result of organic cells being replaced with psychological and physiological-controlling synthetic material.

[As the camera shifts to her, the source of the strain is clearer — she's attempting to patch up a wound to the gut in a hurry. More discerning types may identify it as a gunshot wound.]

See a friend, but they're looking a little different? Keep your distance, and let us know. It's not a exactly your traditional virus, but any bite or scratch can open up a host site, and turn you, too.


Private to: Nihlus

Location?


[[ooc: Monolith Plot continues! Red is Rinzler; orange Shepard—they'll both be responding to non-privated threads.]]

Comments

audio;

[keelahselai]

[Well, shit.]

If you need help where you are, just let me know. I'll keep an eye out either way.

Have you seen any of the spikes? The...the...Reaper spikes? The ones the geth used.

[At times like this, it gets extra obvious that she's a couple of years behind Shepard - she's only ever seen husks made by impalement.]

text;

[notglitching]

No 'spikes' observed in local proximity.

[Not that Rinzler would necessarily recognize them. Probably. Maybe? Well, he hasn't seen anything unusually spiky.]

Identifiable power signature?

AUDIO

[squadgoals]

No dragon's teeth that I've seen, and J's change was too measured for one of them to be the source. If they're around, they're not what was used.

A little backup never hurt. Bring a weapon. [There's a ping, and a coordinate for Shep's location on Tali's MID.]

Private; Text

[beautifulspaceraptor]

[ ... What an unfortunate turn of events. ]

Main Hall, heading your way. There's a broom closet mid-way between. Meet there?

Private; Text

[notglitching]

Confirmed.

[The sooner he gets his disks, the sooner they can track this down and wipe it. He'll be there shortly.]

Text

[mylawn]

Plan? Is quarantine an option?

[Or are we just gonna. You know. Murder people.]

Text

[notglitching]

Track source. Delete threats.

[All the murder, all the time!]

Rapid degeneration observed in infected subject. Repair unlikely.

[....aaaas he nudges a corpse offscreen.]

VOICE

[squadgoals]

[Her voice is heavier than the video when she replies, as if the question leaves her tired. Something about staring at the corpse of your friend, part two.]

Quarantine isn't an option if they're already this far gone. If we can catch anyone at an earlier stage, it might be possible, but not like this.

[Short answer: no.]

Plan is to find what started this going in the first place. We're looking for artefacts, people, anything that seems uniquely out of place, synthetic — similar to the pattern on--on J's skin.

video;

[gainedlove]

[Were we not done with the killing people thing, guys. Were we not done with this?!]

Wh-why'd you--can't it be fixed? Th'...th' captains fixed me when I was all glass, can't they fix this, too?!

[Frisk might sound just a little desperate there. Just a tad.]

video+text;

[notglitching]

[Never done--he means shhh it was important!]

Glass state: not active system threat.

Deletion necessary. Viral.

VIDEO

[squadgoals]

I'm sorry, Frisk. This one isn't fixable.

[Frisk is the only one she's turned video on for, so far. She looks directly into the camera, still rubbing medi-gel on her torso as she talks, voice low, tired, heavy as the world.]

I'm sorry. If we'd caught it sooner... [She trails off, shaking her head.] I don't know. We have to find the source before it turns anyone else.

text; yeah it still says "Jane"

[petridish]

Understood.

Do you have backup?

[Not that she's offering... baka.]

text;

[notglitching]

Duplicate: present, damaged.

[Does Rinzler know about the clone thing? Nope. Does he regard all similar users as copies of each other? Absolutely.]

Your functions: matched?

video

[ascendit]

Hey, uh - I've got spells that can cure problems kinda like that. ... And help heal that gunshot wound. Do you want me to try it?

text+video;

[notglitching]

[Enjoy the skeptical helmet-tilt. And rumbly noise.]

Clarify extent of repair functions.

[Shepard can decide as she chooses for her own damage, but you do not take risks with viruses. Still, if this user can help...]

text;

[nofluffybunny]

I wouldn't call that a husk.

text;

[notglitching]

ID?

video;

[prorenataa]

[ Oh how he hates it when this shit erupts.

Though he triggered the video portion of his device, he's not bothering to look at the MID. Have some rather vertigo inducing views of the Medbay as Adrien sends techs scattering, prepping. ]

There is a quarantine area in Medbay that we will have set up for any casualties who make it past the exploded skull stage.

Shepherd, there are also tools here in Medbay that can patch that wound in your gut within ten minutes. Might be more worthwhile to you than the gum and bailing twine approach you're using.

VOICE

[squadgoals]

I'm fine. [She's fine! Doctors, sheesh!]

If anyone else ends up like this, trust me, quarantine isn't an option. If we catch anyone before this stage, we'll talk about it. Might even have something or someone on board with the ability to do something about it.

[warandpeace]

Active virus?

Do as Adrien says and get anyone to the Med Bay quarantine. If necessary I'll see about supplying you with stun weapons if the virus doesn't negate the effects.

VOICE

[squadgoals]

Belay that — this isn't your standard threat, Miller, and it's not a virus in the traditional sense. Unless something has changed significantly, this is tech from my universe — bad tech.

You'd have to quarantine the whole ship, and even then, we'd have trouble sorting the liars from the indoctrinated. We've got to find the source first, then deal with the rest.

audio

[wallride]

Damn, girl. What did you get yourself into...

[that's muttered, directed at j.]

Any idea where she was around the ship that could've caused this? 'Cause some of the walls are feeling weird, you know?

text;

[notglitching]

Current location: Deck J.

[And, with some side-eye Shepard's way...]

Husks reported as established extrasystem threat.
No known connection with Ploiatos virus.

[NOT THAT HE'S NOT SUSPICIOUS THOUGH.]

video;

[seeingscarlet]

[And suddenly everything clicks into place. Maybe what happened to Asriel wasn't related to Ploiatos after all...]

Does it always look like that? Or is it not so bad in the beginning?

video + text;

[notglitching]

[Hey Wanda. Long time no murder accusations. Rinzler's stare lingers on the screen for half a beat before replying, but if she's not going to mention any parallels, he won't either. There's more important things to focus on.]

Observed degeneration: rapid.

[But...]

High probability: affected prior to external displays.

[And attached is a link from your favorite network creeper.

He might not like J enough to assume better of her... but the fact that she was calling people come privately to her location just before the logged attacks? Yeah, that's all but broadcasting precalculated trap.]

text

[fallensparrow]

[Well that's... awful.]

Can you list the other stages of this 'virus'? Is there an exact stage where they're beyond help, before the total transformation?

offscreen helmet-tilting

[notglitching]

[Rinzler can't. He glances toward Shepard, projecting the text in her direction when she has a moment.]

audio;

[backsassin]

[Zam stares at the… thing that used to be J, feeling vaguely sick. She and J had been commiserating together in the medbay not too long ago. Zam feels a guilty, almost alien relief at not being the one to take her out, however much of a mercy it seems to have been.]

So… we see someone starting to look like that, we’re supposed to call you? What exactly are you going to do from there?

text;

[notglitching]

[...does Zam really need to ask?]

Resolve the threat.

voice;

[worn_wings]

Shit.

[Well, it's always a matter of time before shit gets bad, right?]

Can you fix 'em?

text;

[notglitching]

Fixed.

[Is that a joke? From Rinzler? ...no, probably not. Still, another line transmits a moment later.]

One user claiming antiviral capabilities. Untested.

Voice

[justice_from_above]

How can I help?

[Yeah, definitely throwing on her armor for this one.]

text;

[notglitching]

Your functions?

video; private

[arcreact]

[ What the fuck. ]

You seem to know a lot about this. You've seen it before?

video; private

[squadgoals]

Thousands of times. [There is no reason to expand on that. Why fill someone else's nightmares with husks in the hundreds climbing towards you on board a derelict Reaper?]

Never expected to see them aboard the Moira, but the sooner people know what they're dealing with, the better.