Chapter 8: Kharaa Bacterium

Chapter 8: Kharaa Bacterium

~Liam POV~

Searching up the answer through the use of my laptop it felt like I missed something when my PDA just notified me I have a virus!

Searching up the Kharaa Bacterium or the Kharaa virus from the PDA history I gulped and realized how fucked I really am when reading this.

Kharaa is an alien bacterium discovered by The Architects during the exploration of an unknown planet. It seems to have completely taken over Planet 4546B.

It is described in the Degasi PDAs as "part of the ecosystem", with further statements that the Degasi survivors were infected at some point - as stated by Bart Torgal while discussing the flu-like symptoms the crew was experiencing.

Early on, the player's PDA and Lifepod will make note of the high levels of waterborne bacteria.

The PDA notes that Kharaa is unlike any infection thus discovered in human history, suggesting that Kharaa's biological design is far more drastic compared to diseases such as Yersinia pestis.

The disease ravaged life on Planet 4546B prior to the release of five Sea Emperor Leviathan Juveniles.

Kharaa was brought to 4546B by the Precursors in an attempt to find a vaccine, as they had established outposts within The Crater.

It is stated in Precursor data that the Kharaa bacterium has killed over 143 billion individuals over the course of time since its discovery, but the data is likely to be around 1000 years old.

It is possible this is not the true death count as the PDA entry only lists these as "Confirmed Deaths" which could imply further dead beyond what was known.

Their core worlds were quarantined off, and research facilities such as the one on 4546B were created to find a cure. After a Sea Dragon Leviathan damaged the Disease Research Facility in an attempt to retrieve its offspring, the previously contained Kharaa bacterium was released onto the planet.

This decimated the planet's ecosystems, as much of the life on the planet died due to the bacterium's immuno-repressive behavior and genetic corruption. This prompted the Precursors to initiate their emergency quarantine: activating the Quarantine Enforcement Platform.

The Quarantine Enforcement Platform shoots down all approaching or departing spacecraft to prevent Kharaa from being spread to other planets.

The PDA estimates that Kharaa incubates for two weeks and quickly kills its host after it reaches a substantial infection level.

It accomplishes this by shutting down the immune system already making the infected host susceptible to other diseases and causing genetic mutation to the host's DNA, which causes alterations to the body structure, eventually leading to a total shutdown of the organism due to its inability to keep functioning properly.

According to Precursor data the bacterium is capable of entering the body through the skin and causes an increase in aggression in its host.

Warpers were created to keep the levels of Kharaa to a minimum, to do so they will attempt to kill infected fauna, in an effort to control the spread of the bacterium.

This however seems to have been ineffective as Kharaa is still ravaging the planet around one thousand years after it was initially released.

Ryley Robinson is infected with Kharaa, though he only becomes aware of it after attempting to disable the Quarantine Enforcement Platform, as the deactivation terminal will tell him that he is infected and therefore cannot disable it, thus forcing Ryley to secure a cure in order to leave the planet.

The infection only becomes noticeable when Ryley reaches the Disease Research Facility and is prompted by the PDA to perform a self-scan.

At this point, it will warn him that the infection is reaching a critical stage and his skin breaks out into glowing green cysts.

The same happens to Medical Officer Danby in Lifepod 12. However, unlike Ryley, Danby developed visible signs of infection within three hours. The reason for this is unknown, although the infection rate most likely varies depending on the individual.

However, it is also possible that since Ryley had been exposed to the unstable variation of Enzyme 42 for prolonged periods of time, it slowed his progression, whereas Danby was not, and Kharaa quickly spread throughout his system.

The Degasi survivors were also infected at one point. Bart Torgal attempted to find out what it was, although he was unsuccessful as Marguerit continually brought specimens for him to study near-death or injected them with Transfuser serums, making them unreliable test subjects.

However, he was able to deduce that every organism was infected, as well as take precautions to ensure the Degasi crew's survival.

However, upon the destruction of the Deep Grand Reef base, Bart fled to the Safe Shallows and began noting the details of Kharaa on him, and eventually flees to the Floating Island, where he makes his final log and most likely succumbs to the bacterium.

Roughly 5% of all fauna on Planet 4546B can be observed with visible symptoms of the disease. Some creatures do not show any visible symptoms at all, including all leviathans.

If an infected creature is placed inside an Aquarium or Alien Containment, the creature will infect the rest of the creatures inside soon after. However, this is purely cosmetic and has no impact on gameplay.

The player can scan fauna that has been scanned previously to check if they are infected with Kharaa.

When scanned, a creature can be identified as infected or not by the screen on the Scanner saying "normal" or "infected". The player can also scan themselves to monitor the bacterium's progress in their body.

It seems that the only way to cure Kharaa is with Enzyme 42 produced by the Sea Emperor Leviathan and its young, as shall be shown by creatures being cured by the enzymes in the Sea Emperor's aquarium.

The Sea Emperor Leviathan is the only living life form known to have a natural immunity to Kharaa, though several large fauna species apparently possessed resistance to the disease also, suggesting that they may have produced digestive enzymes related to Enzyme 42.

Peepers are able to use the Alien Vents to take small amounts of Enzyme 42 to the surface, spreading the enzyme's effects throughout the world. This method is the sole reason why Ryley, and some creatures by extent, are able to survive sometime after being initially infected.

The planetary quarantine remained active until being shut down by Ryley Robinson during the events of Subnautica, who disabled the Quarantine Enforcement Platform after releasing the Sea Emperor Leviathan Juveniles who then began to produce the cure to the Kharaa and spread it across the planet.

…

FUCK!

I never realized I came up with bacteria there!

That wasn't even in my most concerns and now I fucking have it here!

I just had to fuck up in my first attempt of traveling in another dimension, didn't I?

Well, fuck me in the asshole and call me sally!

Argh!!!

Sigh…

Whew…

Taking in a couple of times to breathe now it looks like I need to hurry up and find a cure for this virus I obtained and fast.

This… is possibly the worst thing I could encounter early on!

I blame my stupidity for this as I dug myself a hole and dug on being a dumbass not knowing the danger I found myself in for not realizing this sooner!

I let my own ideas of having fun killing zombies or traveling different dimensions let me wander into literal biohazards!

Damn it!

DAMN IT TO HELL!!!!

*BAM*

Breaking a nearby table as I needed to vent out my frustration I literally have about 12 days left before I die losing my immune system and it became apparent now I need to find one of two options for me.

One finds the cure inside the Subnatica dimension and risks having more exposure to the virus increasing the danger.

Or…

Two search into another dimension and obtain power or item to help survive this horrible fate.

Going with option two for this one because I don't have much of a choice here.

The issue with that I'll be risking the lives of everyone and their ecosystem with my exposure there…

Fuck it.

I only have my life to live and I need to get myself something to save my sorry skin for this fuck up.

I ain't dying to a dumb virus like this.

Now it seems apparent that I'm going to need the power to adapt to changes like these from this point forward.

And I think I know just the dimension that would be my salvation I just need to hurry it up before it's too late for me.

First I need the Fabricator to help make a hazard suit to help contain my virus to make sure it doesn't damage that dimension since I'm going to need all the help I can get here.

Fortunately, I'm not glowing yet so I'm still in the clear for how long?

Even I don't know and that's what scares me…

I don't want to die yet….

I'm an idiot.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

STUPID!

But I'm not going to die like one oh no.

This is a step back that's for sure but…

All those dimensions I previously went around to collect my items and the Eco life where I hid my money and everything.

Fortunately enough though they were in isolated areas only where I was hiding the money or materials I needed in other dimensions though…

I really screwed the pooch on this one because only I can count the number of dimensions in the palm of my hands where I made physical contact with them fuck…

Getting close to the PDA I asked in some assurance I didn't fuck up this badly, "PDA was the contamination of the virus active during this time or only just now?"

Please tell me I didn't just fucking killed off a whole planet of my carelessness…

*Beep*

"Answer: When you started to show symptoms today."

Oh, thank Jesus I didn't screw up on a dimensional scale!

I nearly had a fucking heart attack!

But now I have to focus to save my sorry-ass life!

Time to pursue the means to do it and I think I know just the dimension to head towards next.

----

Does anyone want to take a guess as to what dimension he'll head towards next?