Read Online Xenofall (The Wasteland Chronicles, Book 7) by Kyle West - Free Book Online

Perseus? It’ll be risky to stay down here too long.”
    “It’s too much data,” Samuel said. “We have to learn what we can and get out.”
    “How many new manifestations of the virus are there?” I asked.
    Samuel paused a moment before answering. “One hundred and six.”
    “That might take too long to go through,” I said. “Especially if you have to log every entry.”
    “I agree,” Samuel said. “At least from this, we know what we might be dealing with.”
    “What’s that?” Ruth asked.
    The speakers went quiet for a long time.
    “It looks like a worm, or something,” Makara said.
    “Small,” Samuel said. “Two millimeters in length. A parasite?”
    “Gross,” Ruth said.
    “Yeah,” Makara said. “I don’t like the look of that.”
    It was interesting how we could joke around about a sixty-foot monster, but we were afraid of something so tiny.
    “Does this thing already exist?” Makara asked.
    “Apparently,” Samuel said. “It’s logged in the databanks. If it’s gone unnoticed by us, maybe it’s because it’s so small.”
    “Click on its data file,” Makara said. “We need to learn more about it.”
    A moment later, Samuel read aloud.
    “Strain M-006,” Samuel said. “Strain M-006 forms the xenogenetic sequence of the ‘writhe.’ About two millimeters in length, writhes serve to supplant the host’s decision-making with xenoviral directives.”
    Samuel paused in reading the description to let the information soak in.
    “What does that mean?” Makara asked. “Mind control?”
    “Because of its exceedingly small size,” Samuel went on, “the writhe went undiscovered until 2046 by Dr. Cornelius Ashton.”
    “Aston knew about this thing?” Makara asked. “Why didn’t he say anything about it?”
    “Maybe it wasn’t that important,” I said. “The writhe seems to be a bit outdated. After all, the xenovirus alone is capable of taking over a person’s mind.”
    “Not important?” Samuel asked. “Eighty-three of the one hundred and six strains found in this ichor have to do with modifying this little creature. It can hardly be unimportant.”
    I had no idea what this writhe looked like, but it must have been tiny indeed.
    “According to this,” Samuel said, “the writhe begins its life in a microscopic state. Over the course of months, it engorges itself on organic matter found in the host’s body. Usually the brain. Somehow, it goes undetected as a threat by the host’s immune system. They never really discovered why, but it might have something to do with the alien structure of its DNA. The writhe grows freely in the brain, until it reaches a maximum length of two millimeters.”
    “Help me understand,” Makara said. “What does this thing actually do?”
    “There are two different types of infection, for two different purposes. There’s the xenovirus, which makes its host part of the Radaskim consciousness. Then there is the writhe, which does something more...subversive.”
    “Subversive?” Anna asked. “Subversive, how?”
    “A person under the influence of the writhe will still keep their cognitive capacity,” Samuel said. “But at the same time, they are controlled completely by the Voice. Askala.”
    That made everyone go quiet. If what Samuel said was true, then I didn’t even want to think of the ramifications.
    “It doesn’t just affect humans,” Samuel said. “There seem to be writhes for every Radaskim- controlled species on file. It might give Askala a bit more direct control. The writhe’s main purpose is serving as a communications medium between Askala and the host’s brain.”
    “That reminds me of Elias,” Anna said. “He might have acted weird, but he was otherwise human. He looked like us, spoke like us, but Askala had dominated his mind. Is that the influence of the writhe?”
    “Perhaps,” Samuel said. “Although, he had to have been infected with the xenovirus as well, given his later transformation. Perhaps the