NationStates Jolt Archive

The former Black Guard struggled against his restraints, howling in his madness. Formerly Lt. Tam Elron, he had been warped by the Divine One into his bestial state, more animal than man.
The doctor studied him dispassionately, switching his attention from the raging brute to the scanners. "He seems in perfect health." came the verdict.
Firefox Rose sighed and put his head into his hand. "Yes, yes-I figured as much. Can we restore him?"
"I'm not sure." the doctor replied. "If you hadn't told me he was a kitsune, I'd assume a feral bekko, or an atavistic offshoot of our kind more likely. The genetic scan indicates he'll breed true-though I doubt we'd want to test that theory."
"And the medical technology we brought from O'Kuni?"
"The nanotech could heal him, if we had a proper scan from prior to his condition, however..." the doctor gulped, "The nanobot scanner is more precise than our scans, and there are gaps. I wouldn't want to experiment, but perhaps we can cobble something together from his family-I'll contact them and see if they'll permit such scans as we require, then see if we can put together a template to operate from."
The Emperor jammed a thumb at the vats gifted by the muri before their departure. "What about that stuff? I believe Morga called it the Gault Protoplasm."
The doctor adjusted his glasses. "Oh, that? Amazing substance-we'd be at a loss if the formula hadn't been included. It'll revolutionize transplant surgery, but it's useless here. It mimicks whatever cell it comes in contact with, creating a healthy organ from just a cell, perfectly suited for the donor, but it has difficulties with nerve ganglia. Those muri chaps have given us a treatment for every type of cancer save in the brain, and if we can figure out how to teach it to perfectly mimic nerve tissue, we'll extend our lives considerably. As it stands, it will save millions currently on life support or awaiting a proper organ donor."
The doctor's excitement was a palpable thing. "Sadly, neither of these has the required effect for our patient. We will work on a proper engram for the nanobots, Emperor-that would seem to be our best bet."
"Yes, then-let's get those letters sent." The pair left, passing an orderly with a tray of food.
The orderly was small and slight, about in his mid-fifties if he were the Alversian he appeared to be, white haired but not yet bent by years. Sadly, he was not, his petite features on his heart-shaped face having been unchanged from his portraits during his time with the Sun King.
The French had called him le Comte de St. Germaine, but he had many names, taking and abandoning them over the millenia. He was the greatest alchemist in the world, having practiced since the days of ancient Khem on the banks of the Blessed Nile.
He had found a sponsor and kindred spirit in the Lady Tomasuza, staying with her throughout time, though several of her plans had resulted in the destruction of a homunculus cast perfectly in his image.
But these kitsune had quashed the Lady's grand scheme, and for that, they would pay-they and all who foiled the Lady's plan, but these kitsune would be first.
They were respected and known throughout Known Space-a perfect object lesson. And here, they had assembled all St. Germaine would need to lay them low. He casually lifted the nanobot scanner and ran it over the beast, locking his pattern into it's memory before injecting the nanobots into his own concoction-elixer vitae, the very stuff of Life. It had sustained St. Germaine all this time, and now it brought the nanobots to full life, creating a genetic disease confined to the kitsune, turning them into the beast he'd scanned.
He watched as the nanobots became living cells, still bound to their purpose, then injected them into a vat of the Gault protoplasm. It began mimicking rapidly, it's limited ability to replicate nerve tissue locking the template into place, making them single purpose viruses as St. Germaine connected the Gault protoplasm containers, contaminating the entire batch.
With a smile, he sprayed his new creation into the air ducts, smiling as he did so.
The Divine One had desired beasts, and beasts would result-a perfect vengeance for the Lady, and the mourning of the muri when they returned to discover what had transpired in their absense would please St. Germaine greatly...

It did not happen quickly. Days, weeks, months, then a year went by, and there was no change, nothing to indicate anything out of the ordinary. The truth was, after the Battleship had arrived back at Xiscapia the vats of Gault protoplasm had been forgotten admits the Rebellion. None of the medical staff had the proper authorization to remove them from the hold of the warship, and the military personnel had the Rebels and their terrorist attacks to worry about, so it was not until after some time the vats were remembered and recovered, amid a fresh demand for cloned limbs for soldiers coming back from the war.
Even then, the change was slow in coming.

The protoplasm sprayed into the air ducts had met problems: Standard filters had separated it from the air and dumped it into space, to the point that though some got though, it was not enough to make any noticeable difference in the crew or Imperial Family. By the time the vats were retrieved it had long since diluted and dispersed, undetectable and entirely harmless. But finally the stuff came out, and began to spread and infect the population. The disease identified all kitsune as unhealthy, still bound by the nanobot programming, and proceeded to 'fix' the target. Naturally, a host of biological and artificial defenses struck down the invading cells and rejected the disease for some, but others were bypassed entirely. Soon enough, roughly half the kitsune population of the Kitsune Empire of Xiscapia, some eight billion Xiscapians, were infected, all over Xiscapia, though those closer to the Motherland were at a higher risk than those further away.

Now the disease strikes. Everywhere, Xiscapians fall, at home, at work, on ships and stations, on the street and out in the wilds, to the ground. There is a period of intense pain before the victim goes into shock and the body shuts down. Caught by surprise, the other half, the uninfected, reeled, struggling to help, not knowing what, how or why this had happened. Curiously, Halfbreeds were spared from this, and accounted for a large part of the assistance.

Overwhelmed, staggering from the results of the infection, the kitsune call for help from their allies. Thousands of doctors, nurses, emergency response teams, medics and other caretakers and healers arrive to take some of the weight off the swamped Xiscapians dealing with their unconscious, changing comrades. Among the infected are the Emperor, Commander Robs of the Space Station Protector, Grand Admiral Krystal, Air Marshal Carth, the Director of the Scientific Advisory Board Ginta, Governor Neso of the Chalybs System, Rear Admiral Inritus of the First Exploratory Fleet, Rear Admiral Lintel of the Second Exploratory Fleet, Vice Admiral Bodom of the First Assault Fleet, Vice Admiral Serj of the Third Assault Fleet, General Caedo, Lieutenant Colonel Shakko of the One Hundred Eighty Second Xiscapian Grand Army Battalion, and many, many others.

After passing out, the infected exhibit no mental activity beyond basic functions, and are effectively in a coma. The duration of the coma varies from person to person, some wake from it in as little as a day, for others it takes a full fortnight. Some, the weak, the sick, the elderly and those in hazardous or isolated conditions, died from the infection. However, fatalities were kept to a minimum by quick responses, effective work and conditioning and medical technology. During the coma, though, the infected person changes abruptly, usually beginning within the first hour and lasting until about ten minutes before the kitsune wakes.

This change continues to fascinate doctors, and is probably the most significant event occurring to the Xiscapians since the end of the Korr war. The infected lose many of their human-like qualities: The body is molded and shaped; they become more fox-like than human. The body is covered in fur, almost always an identical color and hue as the original fur, and the visage is warped, the nose completely gone and altered into a muzzle, teeth mutating accordingly. The eyes stay the same, but the 'lower' or 'bottom' 'human' ears vanish entirely, and the fox ears remain intact, more-or-less in the same area as before. The kitsune retains the humanoid, erect posture and form, without claws or nails on the hands or feet, but for some confounding reason also keep their original hair, strange when it is considered the body is one hundred percent covered in fur. The aside from the eyes, the tail is the only part that remains entirely unaffected.

Upon coming back to the world all are shocked at their new appearance. The brain was altered none, all memories and intelligence intact, the bestial part of the brute the Divine One transformed the poor guard into absent from any other. Nearly all of them eventually come to accept their new bodies, although a small portion, less than one percent, commit suicide or are driven insane. All are in awe of what has happened, so for now no one has even proposed a theory as to why this has occurred, and even now a massive organization is undergoing to adjust the Kitsune Empire for these new beings but old persons among them.