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

[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.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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?

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

Resolve the threat.

[A pair of rolled eyes that Rinzler, sadly, can’t see.]

Look, I’m asking if you’re going to cut them open like you did to... that one. [Zam knows better than others that the corpse one leaves doesn’t always resemble who they were in life. But even she’s having a hard time calling that shell J.]

If you are, I can save you some time. A blaster bolt will kill ‘em just as dead as anyone else, right?

High probability.

[There's the one user claiming it can repair the virus, and Miller's ordered them to at least try to use the medical quarantine. But Rinzler privately doubts it's going to work, and the last thing they need is another virus locked up in a cell for months until it kills them.]

Recommend multiple shots. Viral users upgraded, unusual charge distribution.

Multiple shots, got it. What do you mean by ‘unusual charge distribution?’

[There's a pause. It's a valid question, but... difficult to explain. Especially to someone who doesn't perceive their world through its electrical transitions.]

Virus: inorganic. Converting user matter.
Resulting power flow: strange. Erratic.

Okay. [Zam sounds uncertain because she is. She’s no biologist or… whatever kind of scientist deals with messes like these.] Do you know if it gives them any sort of edge, or are you just telling me to stay on my toes?

Oh, it gives them an edge, all right.

The whole process converts biological material into synthetic. We're talking about people transforming into tireless machines bent on turning others into more of them. Rinzler's right — one shot won't be enough.

But here's the important part: they don't just pop out of nowhere. If a husk is around, it's someone on board who's transformed. Be alert — everywhere.

Okay, so are they like droids? [Zam doesn’t understand, not completely. She’s fought and killed organics, droids, and even the occasional cyborg, but she doesn’t even know how to begin thinking about what Shepard’s describing. That these things are crewmembers turned deadly is already obvious, and if that causes an uncharacteristic shiver of doubt to go through the shapeshifter, survival is still the priority.

At the end of the day, Zam supposes there’s only one question that she should focus on -- that she wants to focus on -- in this situation:] How much firepower are you recommending?

No. Imagine if a human being was completely tireless, running forever, fighting forever, only stopping if it was torn apart. No food or water required. The perfect footsoldier.

As for firepower, it depends on what you've got. Anything can work, if you aim right — just might take a few more shots.

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

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