Chapter 47: Deterioration
June 2414
// INPUT FAILURE //
“NO!” Kirina shouted, not that anyone could hear. She threw her tricorder across her quarters, “WH-”
// INPUT FAILURE //
// INITIATING SECONDARY PROTOCOLS … //
// ERROR: ASSIMILATION INCOMPLETE //
// ADDITIONAL NANOPROBES REQUIRED //
// REGENERATION CYCLE: ACTIVE //
Kirina dropped to her knees and grabbed her head with both hands. She rolled onto her side and closed her eyes.
// REGENERATION CYCLE: COMPLETE //
// INPUT FAILURE //
// INITIATING SECONDARY PROTOCOLS … //
// ERROR: ASSIMILATION INCOMPLETE //
// BEGINNING TISSUE CONVERSION //
"Wh… " Kirina grunted as she rolled onto her back. The pain was more dull now. “Computer… time?”
The time is zero five thirty six.
“Five hours…” She opened her eyes, and then shook her head, trying to dispel the blur of her vision. She slowly sat up, and scooted herself over towards her previously discarded tricorder.
// COMPLETE //
// INPUT FAILURE //
Kirina began to move more quickly. The implant was expanding. The nanoprobes weren’t designed to function without a connection to the collective. Kirina’s makeshift safeguards had long since broken down; the bluegill had been dead for weeks now. Without the parasite’s ‘help’, her body was unable to keep the Borg technology at bay. She was being assimilated, from the inside out. The pain returned.
“Standby mode!”
// INPUT FAILURE //
// INITIATING SECONDARY PROTOCOLS … //
// ERROR: ASSIMILATION INCOMPLETE //
// BEGINNING TISSUE CONVERSION //
Kirina fell to the ground again. She knew what commands needed to be entered, but the pathways were degraded. The implant had expanded to the point where it wasn’t willing to accept manual instructions. Instructions had to come through the interlink node. If there was someone else…
// TISSUE CONVERSION INCOMPLETE //
// INPUT FAILURE //
…she could modify a node to transmit a stabilizing command. She closed her eyes again as she accepted her fate. The sentient brain was just too complicated. It would take too long to do a proper procedure, and she was in no condition to do it safely. Her own life wasn’t worth subjecting another person to her horrors. Not again. This is the end, she thought.
Just then, she felt something soft brush against her face. By the time she opened her eyes, she felt the pressure on her shoulder, and then the weight on her chest. She opened her eyes and looked downwards, only to have her vision filled by a mass of white fur.
meeeoow