Lost at Sea Bk. 02 Ch. 24

"What in the name of all the gods is that?" Belita asked.

"The parasite formed this membrane inside the legs, and split each one into four lengths. They are dry now, but were quite viscous when I began."

"What's vicious?" Danica asked.

"Slimy and sticky," Friday clarified.

"Gross," Danica said with a small gag.

"Have no bone structure below the hips, they," Friday explained. "By tensing the muscles in their tentacles, and sticking the internal membranes together, could stand upright, they, but not move well."

Danica was momentarily fascinated, then made a face as she thought about it more. "That's why they kept falling over."

"There is one thing I will not show you," Friday said, pursing her lips.

"After all this, what's so awful that you won't show us?" Danica asked nervously.

"On both bodies, the anus is badly prolapsed," Friday said as gently as she could.

"I dinnae even want tae know what that means," Captain Vex said with a shake of her head. "If it's important, say why."

"Wanted you to know, I, to understand the creature better, Come," Friday walked over to the table with the smaller mound on it and pulled back the shroud. The grotesque thing that lay on it looked something like a tumorous squid that had been cut apart and arranged in an approximation of its original shape. It's main body was slit lengthwise and splayed out with pins and wires. The all-too-human leg tentacles had been severed and arranged below it. A number of strange white pieces of carapace sat next to it. Danica made a horrified face and looked down for a moment. She held her fist to her mouth and tried not to vomit.

"Managed to remove the parasite from the other body, I. It is mostly intact, but had to cut the lower tentacles free of the hips, I." Doctor Kalfou walked to the other side of the table to allow her audience a better look. "This one was larger. It had grown enough that it had fully encompassed the host's heart, and every other internal organ." She tapped the pieces of shell. "Before opening it up, had to remove these, I. They are bone, and were layered beneath the host's belly. Suspect I, the parasite made them to protect itself, out of bone repurposed from the host's legs."

She poked at four dark fleshy sacs inside the creature. "These are not what human lungs look like. They are similar, but they are smaller, and there are four of them. The bottom pair are much like ours, but the top pair are very different. There is a lattice of additional tissue inside them. The bifurcation of the two pairs of lungs allows them to wrap around this other organ. Do not know what it is, I, but based on how it connects to the intestines, suspect I, that it is some kind of filtering organ."

"Filtering organ? Like the liver?" Belita asked, only barely following what the Doctor was describing "What the hell would lungs need a liver for?"

"Nothing that I am aware of," Friday said with a small shrug.

"Can I see that lattice thing you mentioned?" Danica asked, sounding like she hated the words she was speaking.

Friday raised an eyebrow, then peeled back a lawyer of flesh with her pointer. Inside the small lung was exactly what had been described. It looked like the lung had been stuffed with layers of stiff, whitish netting.

"Looks like... gills," Danica said.

Friday looked at the lung more closely. "I am not an expert on fish anatomy, but that would make sense."

"It still doesn't make sense though," Danica continued. "Fish suck in water, and then shove it back out through the gills. These gill lung things are all inside. There would be nowhere for the water to go."

Friday was impressive. "Have an eye for science, you."

"Aye, if something dinnae make sense, she'll notice," Belita gave her first mate a sidelong glance that was equal parts teasing and pride.

"Hadn't been able to figure out what this bladder was, I," Friday said, prodding a large purplish sack below the creature's lungs. "Have an idea now though. Humans do not have this. It seems to function somewhat like a lung, in that it is made to fill and deflate. Suspect I, it was originally intestines, but it has been distended. It is one large sack now, rather than a long tube. It is also a place where normal anatomy has been split apart." She slid her pointer beneath the bladder and folded it back to reveal guts that looked far more familiar. "The creature still has its host's intestines, but they are much shorter than they were originally."

"So it split the guy's guts and blew half up like a hot air balloon?" Danica asked with a disgusted sneer.

"Essentially, yes," Friday said with a nod.

"Well that sounds uncomfortable," Belita said flatly.

"So you think that's where the water it breathes goes?" Danica said, starting to follow the doctor's reasoning. "It's still inside though. What's that bladder connected to?"

"The anus," Friday explained.

"Oh," Danica said, then her eyes went wider. "Oh gross."

"So it breathes water, fills up it's guts, and then shits it out," Belita said with a disgusted roll of her eyes. "Why?"

"I do not know," Friday said.

Danica gritted her teeth and turned up her lip. "I think I might."

Friday and Belita looked at her.

"It looks like a squid, right? Well, that's how squid move," Danica explained. "They're kinda like a water pump. They pull it in, and squeeze it out hard to shoot themselves around."

Friday's brows rose. "Yes, that fits. Missus North, you have been exceptionally helpful."

Captain Vex wasn't nearly as impressed. "I think I've had enough of the anatomy lesson. Where's all this going?"

Friday's face became uncomfortable. She used her pointer to draw their attention to the ropey pile at the creature's head. At the base of the coil was a rounded ball of pink flesh the size of a child's fist. In addition to the long stinger, it had a number of smaller tendrils coming off of it. "This."

Belita was at a loss. "What is it?"

"It's connected to the stinger thing," Danica pondered, looking closer as her curiosity finally started to overcome her revulsion. "A venom sac?"

"In essence, yes, but also no," Friday said hesitantly. "This was pulled from inside the front of the skull. As before, the parasite seems to have repurposed the tissue and changed it. These smaller ganglia were threaded into the rest of the brain, which I suspect is how the parasite controls the host body, but this venom sac is not a brain function organ. It is only made from it."

"I'm getting the feeling I'm not going tae like where this is going," Belita said.

Friday walked over to the table full of tools and jars. She picked one up and handed it to Belita. Inside was a small amount of liquid that looked like watered down milk. "This was extracted from the organ in the skull."

She picked up another jar and handed it to Danica. Inside was more of the same looking liquid, but tinged slightly pink. "This was collected yesterday morning, drained from an injured sailor's lung."

Belita and Danica looked at each other's jars and exchanged looks.

"So, this is the venom?" Danica asked, giving the stinger another look. "It injected that stuff into our guy's... lungs?"

"Crewman Mesa," Doctor Kalfou said. "The creature's stinger pierced his lung, so instead of being dispersed into the blood through the injury, it began to drown him."

"This one is white," Captain Vex said. "Why's the other jar pink?"

"Blood," Friday explained simply.

"So that stuff got pumped into everyone who got stung?" Danica asked. "Everyone feels fine though. Aside from all the injuries, I mean. No one seems like they've been poisoned."

"It is not poison," Friday said pointedly.

Another flood of revulsion and horor washed over Danica as the implications of Friday's words settled in. "Oh no."

Belita looked back and forth between them. "Ye two want tae explain this tae the lass who never went tae fancy school?"

Friday took a deep breath and tried to speak calmly. "Parasites reproduce by infecting new hosts."