- what, like, uploads them? Shit. 

:I don't know that word, but...yes. It copied you. And Leareth. Leareth...seemed to know right away what it meant, when it was showing him a weird net thing, it was all tangled-up strings...: She flashes across her already-vague memory of the linked-up graph. 

- yeah, that's how you - represent brains as math. 

How does math guy possibly know that? 

:Do you think that - that the people using it as a weapon know this: 

- dunno. They're not telepaths. Not sure how you'd communicate with it if you weren't telepaths.

:I...think maybe it wasn't meant to be a weapon. I don't see why someone would build a weapon that did that: 

Assuming someone did build it, as opposed to it, what, just being an alien from another world...

Dunno. Suddenly exhausted. Some people thought it might be for terraforming. Make the planet into something its creators could live on. Has she already said that? Whatever.

:Oh. Huh: 

She sighs. 

:You should rest. I - don't know what this means, yet, but - I guess it might make sense of why it wants resources so badly. I'll keep trying to Heal you. And talk to it. In case I can eventually get the point across: 

Sight-scan on Julie - what's her condition like right now? 

There's a lot of very active proto and that's sort of incidentally doing some damage even though it's trying not to. And she has very little energy, and is still probably underfed.

:Think you can manage to drink something?: Shavri asks her. 

I can try.

She asks Nayoki to have someone get her some sweetened warm water or milk, and then starts feeding her unformed Healing-energy, on the principle that maybe the Proto won't eat all of it. 

The proto indeed only eats like half of it. She's getting very full of proto, though.

Shavri tries to point this out to the Proto in Mindspeech. 

:You need to stop growing here. No space. Can you grow somewhere else: 

It gets busy doing something.

...This is maybe very concerning! Shavri can't tell! 

:- Nayoki: she says abruptly. :Maybe it can grow in animals. Can we - get it some - I think maybe if it has more space it'll have more...ability to think...: 

If it doesn't, and it stays set on eating the entire world, then - she isn't sure what to do but it's probably not too late for a mage to Final Strike the entire room, which is sealed off from the surface. 

:Yes, of course: 

She moves the other end of her still-active Gate to somewhere else - the other place is also underground, but apparently it's underground and houses some rabbits and chickens and such, because she starts darting back and forth across it carrying over cages. 

Shavri takes a rabbit out of its cage, stroking its back; she usually does Healing-research with mice but rabbits sometimes, she likes them. Aside from their stupidly fragile digestive systems - the Proto is going to have complaints about this, probably... 

She shows the Proto the rabbit through her Healing-Sight. :Can you grow here. If I let you touch it: 

.̴̨̧̲̬̣̗̹̭͙͈̬͎̄̒̾̓̆̈̽̕̕͝|̶̡̬͓̞̼̘̟̝̝̻̣͖̪̦̐̀̅́̊̀̇̓̃̆̌͋͊̆s̶̛̳̼̤̠͈̘̼̹̻͉̱̞͇͖͊̀̇̋̈́̌̈́̕͜t̷͓͗̑̍̅̚͝ą̸͒͑̀̑͆̀̈́́̓̑͘b̷̠̭̻͇̺͔̀͊ĺ̷̢̢̲̥̫̟̍̃̈́̔͝ȩ̷̞͔̞̮͇̠̩̞̯̩̬͋̐.̸͖̮͍̰̈́̒̐̀̓̄̉͌̇͑r̷̢̧̡̨̢͖̺̗͉̗̤̻̈́͑̇̍̽̇̉́̆̒͘̕̚͘ͅͅę̶̛͎͙̦͖̞͔̲̘̬̾̒̀̃̀̀̈̕͝ͅṕ̷̱̻̙̟̩̳͍̗̃l̶̨̧̛̳̭̼̲͉̮̝̹̺̯͗̎̋̉̌͒́͐̀̑i̷̹̲̾͗̂̇͝c̸̢̧̢̢̮̘̞̦͖̼͔͉̼̔̆͑̄͛́̄̊̒͊͋̽͐͠͝ą̸̩̯̙͖̟͓͍̬̖̀͌̀̍͊͋͌̔͜t̴̡̧̛̤̬̪̜̩͎̰̖̥̙̲̅̅o̸̤͇͙̖͐͒̽̂̑́͌́̆̀͌̑͘͠͝ͅŗ̵͎͉̭̼̩̣͛̈́͛̇̿̌͘͘͘s̶̢̬̱̳̤̻͎͍͈͍̩̟̗̋̀*̴̨̨͙͚̪̖͕͚͕̯̘̜͉͍̆ͅ.̸̗̘͇͚̼͙̘͕̦̦̂̀̉͑̚ļ̴̺̜͔̟̺̠͙̘͉̰͊̈̈́͂̇͐̑̉̈́̀̊͝ͅi̶̤̫̺̝̻̬̖͙̾̅̏̀̊̑̀̌̐̉͆?

Shavri isn't sure what that means. :Can you - check: 

This might be a terrible idea. But maybe not. 

There's still some Proto on the mattress where Leareth vomited on it before; the Healers are all appropriately worried about biohazards and no one has actually tried to clean it up, they just sort of nudged him to the side. It's kind of in his hair. He seems too out of it to be bothered by this, at least. 

...he looks really bad right now. Shavri is getting so worried.

She plops the rabbit on the Proto'd mattress spot. 

It takes a little while but the proto does worm its way into the rabbit and start growing there.

There are now a dozen rabbits in cages and half a dozen chickens in a box. 

Nayoki takes down the Gate.

....Possibly Shavri did not think this through. 

She points to the rabbit. :Can you, er, use Fetching or magic or something to put it back in the cage. I shouldn't touch it. Just in case: 

:- All right:

Nayoki does this. 

Baby Jisa, who's been mostly napping or gurgling contentedly while strapped in her wrap on Shavri's back, is now starting to whimper. 

...this is an important reminder that WHY DOES SHE HAVE HER BABY IN THE BIOHAZARD ROOM??? 

Come to think of it, gods, how did she end up here? It felt like every decision made sense at the time, and yet, here she is, hundreds of miles from anywhere, trying to save a complete stranger - plus someone who was a complete stranger until two days ago - from an infection that, if it gets loose, might destroy the world. And she can't leave because she's the person with the best chance of talking to it. And she might die. 

Randi she is NOT going to think about that right now. 

Fine. She won't die. She will be smart and competent enough to save these people and figure out how to contain the weapon-infection-brain-copying-alien and convince it to play nice, and then she'll go home.