Miles

Pulling away a small section of the plating.

Extending the collection arm.

Hold up.

I'm getting some elevation in temperature.

Also getting some audio.

It's coming from the med lab itself.

Turn it up so we can all hear it.

It stopped altogether after you and the others left.

Next time, maybe you'll listen to me when I tell you something's a bad idea.

And if we didn't know before, we sure as hell now know to stay far away from whatever the fuck is in there.

And we've learned that the machines are capable of accelerating the Black Aether's growth, or even transmuting it into an entirely different phase or state of matter.

Matter that apparently produces a heartbeat.

Kind of ironic that the only thing in there that should have a heartbeat is the one thing we know doesn't have a heart.

The XRF scan is done.

Let's see what, if anything, it found.

That figures.

That's not entirely true.

There is one more test we can conduct.

My dear Miles, are you suggesting we start a bonfire with some children and use the flames to burn down the black fungus?

Uh, that sounds a little... extreme?