A Human Reef, Blooming

The great barrier reef. Off the coast of Australia, it was widely considered one of the most beautiful natural landmarks on earth. It had been grown over hundreds of years, if not thousands. Now, though, it needed a helping hand. The coral bleaching caused by sea pollution was working much faster than it could create - and when humans caused a problem, some were partial to solving it.

So too, Dr. Taylor Gibson. She called herself a 'marine biologist' when she wanted to keep it simple, but her current project was of a different scope. Stimulating the growth of coral reefs from within their polyps without damaging the polyps themselves, and without intervening too much in the natural order. Creating too much coral would have its own detriments. They've had to halt a few experiments to make sure things wouldn't get out of hand within their aquarium already.

Today's experiment was probably going to go that way, too. Most of the chemical balance in their current packet was okay, but with some volatile substances among it... she wasn't quite sure what to expect this time. At least they'd get some pretty miniature reefs out of it, though.

"Okay... Test 87 of the 'Coral Timelapse' project, starting now. Any precautions we need to take?"

She turned towards some of her colleagues, who were working the equipment while she handled the living matter. They all shook their heads - the routine was clear by now.

At the confirmation, she stepped towards the next basin - fairly small, filled with only a few hundred polyps. One blase motion later, the chemicals were poured into the basin, spreading through quickly. Taylor could hear the gentle whirring of the sensitive detectors, like usual, but nothing seemed particularly out of place. Perhaps she'd just noticed it too late, or something?

As the first grounds of coral started forming, she eyed her colleagues.

"Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Doesn't look like it. Except... oh, this one might be a bust."

"Already?"

"Yep, looks like the polyps are reproducing very quickly. Noting about twenty new ones, growing into adulthood pretty quick too. That'd be devastating to the ecosystem."

Taylor shook her head. This had taken quite a bit of work. Well, it was about time they wrapped up anyway, so...

"Well, let's wait for the juice to run out and clear it out. Get the little guys a new basin, then we'll clock out for today, aight?"

"Aight," the rest responded in chorus. Standard procedure - it would take about ten minutes for the chemicals to stop working, then they'd move the polyps to a new place for later testing. This time, though...

The growth and reproduction of the polyps was going much faster than expected. They didn't exactly have space for a new reef, but on close inspection Taylor could see just how many new polyps were being born. The miniature reef was trying to extend further than it could reach. In a few minutes, it had reached the top of the basin, and was pushing at the glass walls. She turned to her colleagues, wanting to signal that they might have to forcefully stop this one, but unfortunately, she was a tad too late.

The glass shattered behind her, and she felt a stream of water hit her back - seeping into her clothing, against her skin, down her legs. She jumped a foot into the air, nearly slipping when she hit the ground again. Fuck, that was cold!

"Shit! Taylor, you okay?" Her colleagues quickly ran up to her, checking for broken glass and glad to see she wasn't wounded or anything. The coral didn't seem to be growing any further, at least.

"Yeah, I'm good. It's just a bit of water," she brushed off, standing back up, "it's not great, but it's the end of the day anyway."

"You sure? Don't know if it's safe to have all those polyps on you, all things considered."

"Nah, I'll be fine. The body warmth shouldn't be enough to sustain them, they'll be dried out fast enough."

"If you say so."

From there, it was a quick task of cleaning, reporting, and getting the hell out of here. This hadn't been too exciting a day, so Taylor was eager to just get home and jump straight into bed at this point, self-care be damned. She could brush her teeth some other time. Whatever was itching on her legs and her back could be left for tomorrow's her.

An uneventful drive home later, and she stumbled into her little apartment. It felt like she was dragging her feet by now - heavy, lumbering. It was only when she glanced into a mirror that she noticed something was off.

Her calves seemed to be jutting out somewhat. Strange, irregular shapes were straining against the fabric of her jeans, with strange colors seeming to poke through. When she pulled her jeans up a bit to get a better look, she realized what was happening.

Looks like she wouldn't be fine, after all.

Quickly throwing off her clothes, all of which had gotten at least somewhat wet, she inspected the 'damage'. It looked like her calves had taken the worst of it. Some coral was growing on her upper back, her elbows and her knees, but the rest seemed unharmed for now. Given how quickly it had grown before, though...

She felt the panic spark before she noticed it, her mind quickly starting to sort through whatever the hell was possible to fix this - carving it out, burning it, something! As she thought about it, though... her body refused to move.

It felt like she was bound without rope - her legs would move, then snap back into position, as if refusing her thoughts. And every time she tried, every time she scared herself with her body's lack of obedience, she started to feel the coral grow. It was the midpoint between pain, gentleness and satisfaction, like some sort of massage. The coral dug into her body as it grew, into her muscles, towards her bones. By now, she was sure there were thousands upon thousands of polyps inside her body, invading her through pores or some wound she had missed. The very thought seemed to make her aware of the sensation - all the tiny creatures running through her body, trying to make coral when there was no room for it. And when they did...

She gasped, feeling something pierce through her body. More coral, more inhuman shapes that were starting to cover her whole body now. Her elbows were trapped, just as immovable as her legs. It had spread over her thighs now, and-

Oh no.

Had her hands been able to reach of their own accord, it still wouldn't have done much. As the sensation of all those creatures, no bigger than a pinhead, swimming right under her skin got worse, she felt herself fall to the floor. Her legs were completely out of her control now - she could feel them being pulled and pushed in different directions, as if something was experimenting with them. Her arms were much the same, covered down to the fingers and slowly reaching her shoulder - encased like a spider's prey. She was afraid to open her mouth, to scream, fearing whatever might be growing on the inside. Thus, forced to freeze up, she simply watched herself in the mirror - or whatever was still visible.

Despite what she felt happening inside, she didn't seem to be hurting much beyond the occasional sting. The coral seemed to stop right at the neck, now moving down over her chest - wrapping over it a bit too tightly. She had trouble breathing as the rest of her was covered, leaving only her head. Like it wanted her to witness this.

Then, it started. It wasn't obvious at first, but it became so very soon. Coral often engaged in asexual reproduction, like they had in the experiment. But, now that they had access to a warm body like this, and were multiplying so quickly...

The eggs were microscopic, but came in billions. A sudden heat rose in her stomach, sparking up a weird warmth as the now-millions of polyps released their eggs in her womb. It took some moments for her to start feeling full, a few more for her stomach to start swelling. Then, the feeling spread through her body - her breasts strained against their shell, and her stomach soon joined her womb in stretching out her belly. It only seemed to give the coral more encouragement to grow further, like there were roots digging into her body now.

Only then, with her body reforming into an incubator, did it start growing onto her neck. She stretched herself up, looking at the ceiling, trying to delay the inevitable as the creatures built and built and built. They reached her chin. She felt a tingling sensation as they passed her lips, covered her ears, her eyes, everything.

It was dark. All she could hear was the blood rushing through her ears. Her brain was thrashing as if her body was still reacting, but nothing happened. Not for a while, at least.

She felt the coral grow again - into her ear. More wriggling, more animate than any coral should be. It felt... good, like having her ears fully cleaned, even as it went deeper. Without realizing it, a satisfied sigh left her body, panic starting to subdue. Perhaps because the coral had reached her brain.

At this point, the faculties needed to realize that had started to fade. She could still feel what was happening, though. The eggs being dumped directly into her brain, the polyps swimming around, the sperm being sprayed all over it. Her brain felt as full as anything else now, but it didn't scare her anymore. It fulfilled her.

Perhaps everything went black at some point. Every part of her body, inside and out, was being made into a breeding ground for these polyps. She wasn't quite sure how she was even alive and thinking. Her head was literally swimming; it wasn't hers anymore. Her thoughts nor her person, her body nor her life. All of it was in service to them now. The ones she was trying to save.

That was right.

Her body shambled upright, pushed and pulled like a puppet on a string. Her eyes were forced shut, and her will was given over. She didn't need to move by herself anymore, that was the coral's doing now. She simply got to enjoy the view, enjoy her duty. All the polyps swimming inside her felt so lively, so wriggly, so... good. Doing the right thing made her feel even better now.

She could feel her hand curling around a doorknob - perceive her steps, the vague texture of the ground below her. Solid earth, asphalt, then sand. These trudging steps felt the worst, occasionally stumbling and landing into a foreign matter. No matter. It would be time soon.

She couldn't feel the dawn sun on her skin anymore. She couldn't feel the wind caressing her body, throwing her hair back. The only thing she could feel now was the first steps into the sea. The heavy waters embraced her like a family member, gently pushing her down into the depths. Her body seemed to light up with joy, the hosts inside her eager to return to their rightful place. Deeper, further, until all was right.

It didn't matter how long it took for her to reach her home. Only then did she open her eyes. And she saw.

The water allowed her to see it, even in these depths. It clung to her like a thick fog, showing her neither too much, nor too little. Looking down at her body - its body, now -, it maintained a human shape of some sort. The shell around her stomach had stretched to be several times the size of any human's, bloating and pulsing with beautiful life. Her breasts were much the same, almost obscuring the sight of herself. They were covered in soft, pink pipe organ coral, sprouting into small leaves that swayed in the ocean flow. From there, bright red vase coral covered her torso and her joints, inflexible and locking into place. Star corals dotted her back like thousands of hands pressing into her, and as she was permitted to reach up, she found what she'd almost hoped for - brain coral.

In these final moments, she explored her new body. It was like an outer shell protecting her, bright and colorful and meant to hold life. There were many clusters of pink and blue that she didn't know the names of, flowering and leaf-like, or more like a rock. Though, as she felt her body begin to pulse, she once more relinquished her control.

One by one, the eggs inside her started to hatch. It wasn't just more coral. Fish of all sorts seemed to grow inside her body now, finding their ways out and being released into the new world. Not much had remained of her insides but warmth and happy thoughts, rooms for life to grow. Her stomach had opened to let them out, so too had her chest - a swimming heart - and finally, her mind. Every thought she once had breathed now into a creature much more beautiful than it, out into a place where it actually mattered.

Perhaps the experiment was a bust. But the world would be better for it.