Bred by the Hive Chapter 1
By Gary LM Martin
They were the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy.
The universe produced all kinds of life forms in many variants: interesting, distressing, harmless, wonderful, amazing, mindlessly destructive, and in some cases, those that were purposefully and highly efficiently malicious. Evolution and random development dictated that the malevolent life forms would have varying degrees of effectiveness, but that some would be more capable than others.
In a universe as big as ours, chances are that a few of these life forms were going to be incredibly deadly to other forms of life.
The Stellar Union occupied only a fraction of the Milky Way, but its territory was large enough that it encountered its fair share of malignant life forms. They all had one thing in common: they were not merely deadly, they were parasitical in nature. They survived by taking over, controlling, and conquering all other forms of life, altering them to suit their own purposes.
The most deadly of these parasites could take over entire worlds. They could leap to the top of the food chain, taking over the highest form of life on a planet, and modify its DNA to suit its own purposes.
The Stellar Union encountered several virulent parasitical life forms such as these, and fought them as though their lives depended on it. Which it did. A single member of the most dangerous parasite, once lodged on an unsuspecting planet, could take over an entire planet within a handful of years.
Eventually the most deadly of parasites were brought to heel, contained, or destroyed. The few who survived were locked up under high security. But even high security was not always enough to contain creatures such as these.... and when a ship full of them crash landed on Earth, no one would be safe.
Second Prologue: The Breach
"Zarabeth, do you hear me?" came the voice over the comm.
Zarabeth, sitting in the cockpit of Special Containment Ship Z4, smiled. "I hear you, Dunlop 4," she said.
"Status."
"Dunlop, you call every day to ask that. And every day, for the past 143 days, you have received the same answer. Do you really think this time will be any different?" She asked. She checked the rear sensor. Dunlop 4's scoutship was in perfect formation, half a mile behind the Special Containment Ship.
"Status," Dunlop repeated.
Zarabeth resisted the urge to sigh. Dunlop was always business. She had met him, briefly, before the mission had started. He had seemed like a very serious man. She knew a little about his history, how he had lost his family to the parasites, how he had fought them for hundreds of years, through all his versions. It had changed him, made him a harder person. That was a shame, really, since Zarabeth found him quite attractive.
"Status unchanged," said Zarabeth, checking the instruments, even though there was no need.
"Prisoners?"
"All containment and stasis fields are green," said Zarabeth.
"Ship status?"
"All functioning properly and on course. Really, Dunlop, when are you going to stop worrying?"
"When the mission is complete. Out," said Dunlop.
When the mission was complete. In another 58 days they would reach the black hole which was the border between this universe and Dimension 93. Then the prisoners would be put in a shielded bubble and shot into the center of it, and cross over.
It seemed like an incredible amount of work. But the Stellar Union, while it eliminated enemies in combat, did not believe in executing prisoners, even ones as heinous and as dangerous as these. For a time they had been contained on a top security facility on Ilotosh IV, but after two escapes, one of which had quickly spread and Infected nearly a tenth of the planet's population in a matter of weeks, it was decided that they were too dangerous to be held anywhere.
So they were sentenced to be cast into Dimension 93. This Special Containment Ship was called into action, and the crew was handpicked. All three of them, Zarabeth 2, Zhanna 1, and Zenia 8, were special "Z" class guards who were specially trained to resist parasitical invasion; but even they were not totally immune.
Still, the prisoners were locked up and in stasis. They couldn't even think, much less move.
But Zarabeth shuddered every time she looked at the six, large prison compartments. Given enough time, there were enough parasites in there to Infect the entire galaxy.
The Special Containment Ship was not large. The main lounge connected all the chambers, including the cockpit, each of the crew quarters, and each of the containment areas.
While Zarabeth was on duty, Zenia and Zhanna were both in their quarters; Zenia was reading, and Zhanna was sleeping.
No one was in the central lounge.
And then, suddenly, someone appeared in the central lounge.
A bald purple and black man.
A bald man who was half purple, half black, wearing clothes which were also half black, and half purple. The left side of his body was purple, the right side black, and the left half of his clothes were black, the right side purple.
The most amazing thing about the black and purple man was his eyes. They were simply wild. And he had a manic smile to match. He looked insane, capable of anything.
For a moment the purple and black man looked around at all the doors, to the crew quarters, to the cockpit, and to the containment areas, and he simply smiled broadly, considering the possibilities. He seemed to relish simply being there, at that moment, having the power to do anything he wanted.
The purple and black man walked over to the first of the containment doors and put his hands over it, as if sensing what was inside. He closed his eyes and concentrated, then shook his head, and went to the next one.
One by one, the purple and black man went from containment door to containment door, until finally he found the one he wanted. He looked at it for a moment, and just savored the feeling.
It was the very beginning of the very beginning. He would never have that moment again, never again have that kind of power to set things in motion.
The purple and black man spent a full ten minutes just... savoring it. Then he finally nodded, and waved his hand, and the door opened, bypassing the security lockout.
This particular Containment Chamber was crowded. It was full of creatures. Many looked like insects. Bugs of all kinds, shapes, and sizes. Some also looked like pancakes, yellow brown pancakes, some bigger, some smaller, ranging from three to ten inches in diameter.
All of them, encased in a blue stasis field, were unmoving.
Which one to take?
The purple and black man smiled and closed his eyes, and grabbed blindly. The stasis field should have immobilized his hand, but didn't. He reached into the field and grabbed something.
When he pulled it out, he opened his hand and looked at it. It was a thick worm, approximately three inches long.
