“We’re all going to turn into zombies!?”

Predictably, it was Quenton that jumped straight into it.

“No, Quenton. He means we got infected somehow and now they’ve got to get us clean,” Vera’s rebuttal was as dry as the Sahara in summer. Sam uttered a strange sounding cough that sounded remarkably similar to ‘you dumbass.’

“That’s right,” Doctor Delveccio replied. “Hank and I have already been through the procedure. It’s painless and takes only a few minutes to complete.”

Everyone hard returned to the lab. Hank was still sleeping the sleep of deep sedation. Sam volunteered to go next, and everyone crowded around to watch.

“So how are you going to do this? Do you need to put me out like Hank over there?”

“Nah, it’s quick and easy. Just need to put this on your stomach like so. Doctor Zolnikov will take care of the rest.” Doctor Delveccio placed the storage device just beside Sam’s belly button. I began the extraction process, my nanites teasing the invaders away and forcing them into their new home one by one.

“There’s still something I don’t understand here,” Vera mentioned. Her eyes remained glued to Sam’s muscular abdomen more than me or the tiny storage device, though.

“How did we all get infected? Hank was the only one that got tagged by a zombie. Fortunately he didn’t get bit. I heard that’s instantly fatal.”

Doctor Delveccio gave me a level look from over the datapad she was using. We had gotten side tracked from her original question once before. She sniffed.

“He does have a theory. And this time, he’s actually going to tell us about it.”

I rather thought that that was self evident.

“Wait. Does this have anything to do with the power nodes? Sam told me about them. They make those, what did you call them? Rogue nanites?”

“I have not yet tested the theory, but essentially yes. The rogue nanites that proliferate around these power nodes-”

“That just might be tiny ZPE devices!” Sam exclaimed. Vera’s eyes lit up at this.

“This is what you were talking about back on the Mauler, right? ZPE has been the holy grail of advanced power generation for decades, if not centuries! We could-”

“Power starships, even cities with millions of those little things, use them to eliminate massy batteries in tools and weapons!”

“There has unfortunately not been enough time to pursue this line of research, as humanity remains under threat from zombies,” I cautioned, before the two could get too excited. “Fully pursuing the question of the power nodes will have to wait until later.”

That put a damper on the two overenthusiastic engineers. Doctor Delveccio chuckled softly, shaking her head.

“Let’s just get back on topic, shall we? If these rogue nanites from the power nodes are what infected us, they appear to be extremely similar to the zombie nanites that Doctor Zolnikov alone has had so much experience with.

“Yet we haven’t zombified yet, and don’t appear to be in immediate danger of that happening. If humans can become infected in this manner it still begs the question as to where the biological component comes into play.”

“Thus far I have operated under the assumption that both the biological and nanite viruses must be present to turn a human being into a zombie,” I continued from where Doctor Delveccio left off.

“There still remains much that is not clear. But if people can contract the nanite virus from these power nodes that satisfies one half of the equation. This could in part explain how the infection kept jumping quarantine and appearing with no direct link to another infected individual.”

“I still don’t get how we got infected though,” Qeunton muttered from behind Vera. “I mean, where are these little power node things? Could they be here? All over the station, anywhere we go? Are they in the toilets now? The food pantry? Is anything safe?”

“This lab is safe. We will have to examine our environment carefully wherever we go, though.”

“Yeah,” Sam replied as he got up from the exam table. He passed his storage container to me as Vera pushed Quenton forward to go next. “We’ve got the node detector. Maybe we just keep it running whenever we go someplace new.”

“And run it daily even where we think we’re safe,” Doctor Delveccio replied. “Like we haven’t been doing since we cleared the Security deck.”

“We did bring it with us, right?” Quenton asked.

“Sure. It’s in my tool bag,” Vera replied. “That reminds me. What about Ileane? She’s infected too, right?”

“I would expect so, yes.”

“We need to get her down here so you can cure her, too, then. That means we need to clear out the zombies here and seal up the access points. Quickly, too. I don’t want to leave her up there alone and infected and not knowing it.”

“We also need to get Walker’s com suite fixed,” Doctor Delveccio remarked. “It’s not just Ileane we cannot talk to at the moment. We need to get Doctor Zolnikov’s theory spread to the wider scientific community. Soon.

“But we also need to bring solutions. Not everyone will be as adept with nanites as our Doc Z here. Do you think that your scanning device and extraction procedure could be done by a doctor with the right tools?”

“Maybe set up the scanners at every airlock, with node detectors there too. The range on these things isn’t great, but maybe there’s a way to extend it- see if an approaching ship is infected,” Vera commented.

“Or a derelict. There’s still a moon’s worth of dead ships out there that only the most desperate of fools would approach. The military keeps an eye on the bigger ship graveyards, and enforces the quarantine. But if we could determine which wrecks are safe...”

Sam chuckled at the possibility. Vera smiled in return, seeming to share his vision.

“That is for the future though,” the silver haired catgirl admonished, accepting a nanite storage device from Vera.

“Our next step should be clearing out the zombies from the cafeteria and getting Ileane to come down on the food service elevator. I don’t like splitting us up like this. And once we get the zombies cleared, Vera, can you run the detector for us?”

“Actually it might not be a bad idea to start sweeping as soon as we leave the lab. No telling what’s out there now,” Sam said.

“Right, we’ll do that then. So, the zombies. Are we just going to lure them into range of the turrets while we stay visible to keep them interested? And will this draw the attention of the horde down the main maintenance shaft?”

“Possibly. We will have to deal with the situation as it unfolds once we return to the cafeteria,” I replied.

Quenton squinted at the storage device before handing it off to Doctor Delveccio. The nanites inside were, of course, too small to be seen.

“So how are we looking on the power situation here, Vera?” The catgirl somehow noticed Raspberry becoming restive before I did. She reached up to swap out the bottle before I had to. Or rather, before an empty bottle was used to bonk me over the head.

“Just like Sam said before. Wear and tear, lack of maintenance. Fortunately, there were spares in the compartment we were working in. This part of the lab itself should be fine for now. But the main substations closer to the trunk are still a problem.

“We’ll need to take at least one of them offline so we can fix it properly. At this stage, partial shutdowns would likely cause even more problems.”

“The best thing we can do now is secure the area,” Sam said as Vera looked ready to interrupt. “Well, that and get Ileane down here. Once that’s done, then we can start working in earnest. Without having zombies breathing down our necks.”

A few short moments later it was done. Hank remained asleep the entire time, sedated and healing. No zombies would be getting to him through three layers of turrets and sealed gates.

As we exited my lab Vera powered the node detector. She shared the status ping with the group. Nothing.

“So that means we’re good, right?” Quenton asked.

“We are to the extent of the detector’s range, sure. It works best around thirty feet or so.”

The other lab was open as we passed. Leaf litter and dirty footprints showed where Quenton had left. Above the hatch the status bar was empty. No warnings. The mysteries held within would have to wait, though.

The area beyond the last Security station was filled with silently drifting bodies and gore. Quenton retched, but did not throw up in his suit this time.

We drifted slowly up to the shattered hatch frame, causing little eddies of blood and viscera to swirl and tumble away in our wake. Normally this might announce our presence to any zombies in the area. In this case it made little difference to the already existing chaotic turbulence.

I slowed to a stop, noticing a flashing light on my HUD. Vera’s detector had found a node already.

“Looks like it’s somewhere in one of the food vendor locations on the other side of this bulkhead.”

“We still need to deal with any zombies that are left, though,” Sam said.

The zombies that were left were fewer than I expected. But still presented a problem. As I slowly approached the opening and glanced around at first I only saw three.

Then another. And another. Seven all told, each busily consuming a meal bar or nutrient paste tube, disgusting wrapper and all. One of which was heavily modified.

“That’s the one that got Hank,” Doctor Delveccio said with a sigh as I told the others what was waiting for us.

“A fast one?” I asked.

“Very. Strong, too. It ripped right through his suit. I thought that those Security turrets shot it, but it’s still here.”

The zombie in question was not enormously large, like the big ones I had fought so far. But I could see the silvery cords of synthetic musculature on its arms, legs, and back. These were older mods, made to give the body greatly increased strength and endurance, but they suffered from a number of downsides that eventually made them illegal.

Human bodies could heal. Synth muscle didn’t. Any damage was permanent until the damaged parts were replaced. The way synth muscle worked also put severe strain on the body’s musculoskeletal system such that users needed to reinforce their bones to make full use of the mod. Wear and tear over time also often shredded underlying muscle tissue, requiring intensive healing to repair over time.

But the short term benefits were undeniable.

A full exoskeletal synth muscle mod could allow a man to bend hardened steel like plastic and punch through armor plate if it was thin enough. It had remained popular with criminal elements for nearly two decades even after being banned. Hank’s injuries no longer surprised me.

Rather, I was surprised that they were so slight, considering what I knew now.

“Alright. We want to try and keep the normal zombies from howling, if we can. Sam, Vera, what sort of explosives do we have left? I think we can make a little noise here as long as we are quick. And how long would it take to seal off the elevators and the hatch opening on the other side?”

“Explosives, I have a few grenades left,” Sam replied.

“All I have are traps. If I had some time, I could probably make something-”

“But we don’t want to waste any time here if we don’t have to,” Doctor Delveccio finished for her.

“We have to do this fast, so it will be grenades. Once you hit the two groups of normal ones, we will have to take the other one down. Pistols will probably not cut it, and rifles will probably only slow it down.”

“So we lure it to the turret guns?” Quenton asked.

“No. The sound of the turrets seems to be like a dinner bell to the hordes. If we draw one up here, we’ll have to retreat until they leave again, which puts us right back where we started. If Sam can grab it, the combat suit is sufficiently durable to weather its attacks.”

“And probably strong enough to rip it in half,” Vera commented.

“That works,” Sam replied with a grin in his voice.

“Best we get started on that now, people,” Doctor Delveccio cut in grimly. “I can’t raise Ileane on the com.”