Part 64: Possession

He might hurt himself and or his allies!



"You too, Bugaboo! I'm already... Argh!"





Welp. He lost his avatar. That is not a good thing, isn't it?




"In his current state, it's kill or be killed! "




Arthur:"I have detected abnormalities in several crewmen. Something is interfering with their consciousness and causing them to exhibit extreme aggression. It is an unknown pathological status. We must secure the safety of the healthy crewmen..."




So not killing any crazy crewmen. Got it.


Arthur:"Crewman York, First Lieutenant Zelenin. Crewman Jimenez is one of the infected. Step away from him."




"York... I think we should do as Arthur says. I'm worried about Jimenez, but we have no choice right now!"





Arthur:"Multiple cases of abnormal behavior in the field crew have been reported at once. In brief: approximately 10% of the crew has been infected by some illness an cannot be commanded. They have become violently deranged."




Strike Team:"Everyone's gone nuts... They're killing each other out there!"




"Putting it up on the main display."




Oh hey it is neat, they actually made a new illustration for this event.


Maintenance:"Hey! Stop it! For the love of God, you're not the enemy!"




Supply Crew:"Arthur, isn't there any way we can stop them!?"




Comms Crew:"Is that how I'm going to end up!? I can't take this!"




"All right, everyone, calm down! Arthur, please, give us a solution or the panic will only get worse!"




Arthur:"At present, we are focused on diagnosing this illness. The injured crewmen are in sickbay, where we have run tests... "




Oooh that ought to be interesting.



What.



"Whatever the disease is, it's undetectable by medical science. In other words, we don't know what's causing it."





"As a doctor, I hate to say this... But it's like they've been cursed."




Arthur:"It is quite possible this illness is specific to the Schwarzwelt. It may be caused by some sort of intangible entity. When one considers this possibility... I recommend we treat the illness as though it is caused by a mental parasite."






Aren't there parasites that alter the mind severely? Then again those are physical parasites, so maybe there's a difference.




Considering that demons ARE out there that doesn't sound out of the real of possibility.



Welp. Not all that well prepared, eh?


What?



... What?



Tyler:"Wow. We're so prepared, it's scary."




Arthur:"The MK Gun must operate on a specific wavelength."




Uh. How do you get a specimen of something that has absolutely no physical form, and is completely undetectable?



Mackie:"Well, Arthur!?"




Arthur:"We have no means to do so at present, but they may become available to us over time. That is as far as I can suggest."




Supply Crew:"And not only that, but it's not even a sure thing...? No..."





"York. Perhaps it's occurred to you too, but... "



Mmmmmaybe?



"That's right, it was in Bootes. I see we've come to the same conclusions. The way Jimenez and the others are behaving... I'm reminded of the experiments at Bootes. The experimentees lost control of themselves and grew violent, like demons. This looks to me just like the experiments Mitra was conducting... If we search the palace in sector Bootes, maybe we'll fin a clue to a cure."






Well, a new mission!




What?


Damn. That is rather cold.



Arthur:"We cannot risk the possibility of the entire crew becoming unable to carry on the mission. Our best course of action is to calibrate the MK Gun for treatment purposes."




Arthur:"I look forward to the succesful completion of your mission."






Not a bad idea, that.


And that will surely allow for FURTHER EXPLORATION, after all, that's how it goes, isn't it?