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(F tf Ghost Leviathan)

Constance grumbled as the lights flickered again and the machines around her stuttered. She is working for the mega corporation Alterra as part of an early research crew, way out on Ariadne's arm- planet 4546B. Another Alterra employee ended up marooned here years ago and cleared out the worst of the threats here unintentionally, purging a lethal plague of the Kharaa virus. Now Constance was here with a few surviving samples of the lethal virus- Alterra actually had living samples saved for research purposes. Constance did not mind the work itself- it was very interesting and she got to see samples of microbiology that no one has properly documented yet. On the other hand, 4546B is almost 100% water, so in order to be here to do the research she has to be placed in a lab at the bottom of the ocean. Which isn't somewhere you want to be when the lights start flickering for the 40th time!

Constance wandered over to the bioreactor and looked inside at the dismantled biomass, dwindling. It was the power source for the entire underwater lab since it is a smaller sort of foot-hold station at this point, but it isn't the most efficient power source. She can't get work done if she has to keep feeding the reactor!

Constance glanced over at the fish tank. "Sorry Mr. Gub, but I can't be interrupting my work to get my wetsuit on yet again."

She plucked the pet fish out of the tank and tossed him into the bioreactor. It burned off biomass- which means literally anything biological can be used to fuel it.

The voice of the computer chimed in as Constance returned to her work. [A noble sacrifice, but a necessary one. Allowing blackouts in a subnautic base of operations carries further dangers than simply having to work in the dark.]

"Yea, if the power goes out so does the oxygen pumps and I run out of air to breathe."

[And if you use up all the air, the base will de-pressurize and crumple in like a tin can, making it difficult for Alterra to extract the fruits of your research.]

Constance sighed. "Yea... sure, that too."

Constance was working on researching the leviathan class creatures of the crater area of 4546B- the only land close enough to the surface to actually be touched by sunlight. All leviathan class creatures had a resistance to the Kharaa virus. There was actually one with a total immunity but unfortunately it is also exceedingly rare, so finding one to do research on proved impossible. Most of the leviathan class creatures shared a common ancestor, which is also why they all were at least somewhat resistant to the virus. At the moment, Constance is researching the DNA of a Ghost Leviathan, because they are the easiest to find samples of. They are one of the very, very few creatures that can survive outside of the crater- in the abyssal, eternal black, crushing depths of a world that is almost entirely water. What they eat to survive in the void is anyone's guess. They still nest inside of the crater, so even when they do not live here as adults- they still require it as part of their life cycle.

Constance watched as her equipment transferred part of the genome of the Ghost Leviathan to a random fish she sampled earlier that was exposed to her preserved Kharaa virus cells. She would have to let the equipment work for some time on its own at this point. It is going to slowly convert the fish's DNA to that of a Ghost Leviathan and see at what point the Kharaa is no longer to take root in it. Unlike some rarer samples, the Ghost's immunity is born from a genetic trait, not any sort of enzyme that could easily be extracted and transferred- otherwise her research would be half-done for her by now.

Constance pulled out the rest of the Kharaa sample and went to bring it to cold storage, but the entire building shook violently and she dropped it! A Reefback swam into the side of her base! The Reefback's don't have eyes, so if you build something jutting out of the sea floor they will sometimes just fumble their way right into it.

Constance looked at the vile green glowing goo spilled on her. "Computer... what are the odds of infection if I clean this off right now?!"

[Nearly perfect. That was an extremely concentrated sample of the virus- it will have penetrated your cellular walls by the time you clean yourself. The virus is very versatile and only one or two cells need to actually make it inside.] There was a brief pause. [On a related note, I would take this time to remind you that Alterra employees are responsible for the maintenance of their own equipment- your current destruction of Alterra's preserved Kharaa sample is estimated at a value of 4,760,000,003 credits. You will be billed accordingly on your return.]

"...why the 3 credits off from a rounded number?"

[The cost of the vial it was contained in.]

"Well, what about my LIFE, huh? I just spilled a deadly virus!"

[At your current wage of 14 credits an hour over your estimated life expectancy of another 40 years, assuming you never slept and worked every day for the rest of your life you would still not offset the cost.]

"That's.... not what I meant. WAIT- the leviathan sample!"

If she got the machine to insert the progressive Ghost DNA into her, it should keep going till she shares its immune strength against the Kharaa; it is her only chance! Even the Ghost Leviathan isn't 100% immune, but it IS extremely resistant.

Constance injected herself with the Ghost DNA. She had no idea what sort of freak this would turn her into but she would rather be a genetic monstrosity than a corpse. She got cleaned off afterwards in the decontamination chamber for whatever little good it did at that point. Constance did not feel anything different for a while.

She kept getting goosebumps after a time- an odd feeling around her spine. It was not till she tried to sit down again that she noticed she had a small tail! Constance had to lean forward so she did not crush her own little tail on the chair. As soon as she touched it, she shivered again and the growth sped up! The small fleshy cone quickly pulled out from her. She could feel the muscle structure grow first, pushing on the outer skin as the tail looked bloated before the skin started to stretch out and even the inner mass, and then the caudal vertebrae formed inside to give it more structural integrity! Once the nub had stretched beyond a foot long tail her skin started to look off. It started to look blue and her pours became more and more shallow, making the skin look almost wet for being unnaturally smooth.

Constance groaned and held her head for a moment from an odd feeling like someone trying to push out from inside of her skull! With a muffled crunching sound, two nubs erupted from her head under the skin! They grew out at the front edge of her temples like horns, but did not have pointed tips so they did not rupture the skin. Her tail was still growing too, slowly but steadily with no signs of stopping. The skin started to look almost metallic for a moment as her tail grew past the four foot mark. She could control her tail, but because the muscles were still expanding its movement became erratic whenever she attempted to move it deliberately, because the signals get crossed. There was an odd ridge forming up her forehead as well; she had no idea what that was.

The pressure of her tail growing seemed to build up at its base and seem to slowly creep back into the rest of her! Constance lurched forward and had to catch herself with her arms on the table as her spine gave several hollow pops and expanded! Existing vertebrae segments swelled thicker and new ones were born- the loud pops were existing segments being forced apart for a moment to wedge the new growth between. Now in addition to her tail still growing, her body was growing longer too! The tail was starting to push against furniture and having to snake its way around items in the lab to find room to grow. Constance inched across the table, having to re-adjust where her hands held her up as her body continued to grow longer. She couldn't even stand up! Her midriff was too long, her spine can't support that much distance with that little support! She shivered again at the weird feeling and took a deep breath as she felt her spine branching inside of her! She was growing new ribs, causing her chest to lengthen! This gave her torso more support, allowing her to once again stand up off the table- though she was wobbly and was forced to lean over at a hazardous angle. At this point even if she could stand completely straight, she would hit her head on the roof. At this point her pants were around her thighs to give her tail enough room, and there was about three feet of torso her shirt could not cover.

Constance stumbled a bit when the strength seems to drain from her feet! Her Achilles tendon seems to become much more slack than it should be, and when she looks down she can see her feet are shrinking and seem to be losing their definition. Rather than simply get smaller they almost looked like they were melting- their form becoming less defined, like a mass of flesh that just resembled the shape of a foot, instead than an actual foot. In looking down she also noticed her fingernails were gone from her hands as well- she may very well lose those next. Ghost's don't have any limbs. The nails just became softer and softer till they joined into the flesh around them, and then the indentation they grew in popped back out; smooth. The skin all over her body was starting to take on a very slight blue hue. Her tail was considerably further ahead though. Now so large that she used it to sweep furniture to the side of the room in frustration of lack of space. The flesh of her tail started to look very veiny and then she could see the muscle swell up, scrunch up, and then stretch out with the tail over and over... THROUGH the skin. Ghost Leviathan get their name because they look spectral- they live in regions where the sunlight never touches, and thus have absolutely no need of skin pigmentation. Their skin is transparent!

Constance blushed and gasped a bit in confusion as her nipples felt very tight, and then her breasts themselves, and then all the pleasure nerves within were suddenly tugged on! She watched her shirt rise up in front of her and the fabric pull tight across her breasts as they expanded! Well that was odd... Ghost's definitely do not even have breasts. Constance tried to pull her shirt up but the fabric was wrapped around her breasts too tightly- trying to pull it up also pulled her boobs up! They were still growing! She seen her breasts start to look veiny as well through her stretching collar. Then suddenly a hair-thick glowing line streaked down her left boob! A few moments later a streak appeared on the right, and the left one faded away. Then a few moments later the right one faded. The shirt was starting to make it harder to breathe! Then suddenly her chest gave several dull pops and her chest itself started to expand- or at least tried to. Barely able to breathe now, she staggered back and fell to the floor trying to get to a shelf, but her legs were still getting weaker and less developed looking, so she could no longer stand. Luckily the shelf was low enough and her body long enough that she could still grab the knife off it from the floor. The second the knife blade touched her top- it was so pressurized that her shirt popped like a balloon! Her breasts erupted from her top, yanking out from her and away from one another from pressure, then flopped to either side before bouncing back in against each other. The skin of her boobs was turning translucent now too, and so she could see their insides starting to regress and simplify as well. Ghost do not have breasts, so her breasts are devolving but her human traits had already instigated the growth in the form of the Ghost genes. So, that means she will still have boobs even if she turned full leviathan- but they won't actually be boobs. They just look like breasts; they no longer function as breasts.

She was forced to breathe deep as her lungs expanded tremendously. Her heart grew, making its beating sound loud in her ears. Her chest expanded tremendously, making it look almost comically large compared to the rest of her. This also caused the base of her breasts to stretch wider, making them more half-sphere in shape rather than tear-drop. Her nipples and areola stretched out of existence, but her nipples themselves were still very much visible, even though they did not even exist as nipples anymore. The streaks of light she seen pulse across their surface before was her body starting to produce luciferin! Ghost's have pale orange bioluminescent spots all over their body, and sometimes you will see thin streaks of it as the body produces more and sends the glow to the gathering points. Constance has two brightly glowing dots on the fronts of her 'breasts', exactly where her nipples formerly were!

Constance's poor legs were looking more like tapered noodles. Her feet no longer had any definition at all and her legs were regressing back into her body, becoming more narrow toward the end as they got shorter and smaller. Her fingers were getting shorter now too and her arms felt very weak, to the point where just holding them up felt like a strain. She dropped the knife to the floor. She would not need it to remove her pants anyway- her tail kept growing and pushing the pants down and soon there won't be any legs to put into them anyway. She let out a loud moan as the horns on her head started to surge in size, but because of her expanded chest and lungs her moan sounded more like a strained roar! The horns grew straight out, and started to stretch wider. They covered her temples entirely and started to pull across her head. Inside of them, the bone was actually a relatively thin frame, the body of these protrusions was filled in with cartilage. Her skull started to expand, stretching larger backwards and forward, causing her face to look stretched a bit. Then it started to stretch only forward, pulling her face out. Her moans and groans started to sound hollow and louder than she intended. As her jaws expanded her teeth grew into large, long fangs, which caused her jaws to be pushed further apart- and the hinge to grow longer. New teeth grew in equally as sharp, but much shorter and wide toward the back. All the long fangs are toward the front only- meant for tearing, then the shorter ones in the back are for actually chewing and crushing bones. As her face stretched, the skin became more translucent; the pigmentation being stretched out of existence.

A bubble appeared on her chin as her face stretched and then rapidly grew longer. It started to glow vibrantly, but unlike the other bioluminescent spots on the body, this glows a blue-white. This chin-thorn is lit up in more inviting shades, because it is used as a lure for dumber prey. Her mouth became tall and narrow like the Ghosts, and because of the skin becoming translucent, you could see the light from the other side of her head, through her cheeks. The now flat, broad 'horns' on her head grew so large that it looked like she has plane wings growing out of her skull! As they grew still larger her skull let out several loud, hollow pops from being stretched, and several opening appeared in her skull! The skin over them indented, but then swelled outward from inner growth. Her brain hurt as it struggled to accept input from the new perception. The four swelling areas split open to reveal four new eyeballs! Two on the outer side of her originals, and then two above her originals! The skin ridge that had formed up her forehead before now traveled across the entire skull, splitting her hairline in half and stretched out into a sail-like fin. The head fin has a cartilage frame and loose translucent skin only- no bones. The 'horns' formed into the Ghost's cephalofoil- just like on the head of a hammerhead shark- except that there is no eyes on it, just two dots of bioluminescence to act as false, decoy-eyes. The cephalofoil can be used to smash larger prey into submission before biting into it, but they are also used to butt heads with other Ghosts as part of their mating habits.

Poor Constance was having a hard time breathing now, her method of respiration starting to distort to an aquatic breed, but that meant she would suffocate in her own base. Her voice was hollow and strained to still speak English. "Computer... flood this section of... the lab."

_Constance let out a very authentic roar in anger. The computer would gladly let her die- it only weighs cost by monetary value- and she isn't worth much.

Constance's tail became to long that it was starting to coil around the entire room and back in on itself! It was so large at the base that it shoved her anus forward and fused it into her vulva- stretching both into a cloacal slit across where her torso ends and tail begins. Unlike creatures on Earth with a serpentine form, this meant the cloaca was extremely high up on the overall body. On a snake, most of its form is torso with relatively small tail, but on a Ghost most of it is tail with a relatively small body. The massive expansion of her chest started to extend down across her midriff and meet her tail. As soon as it did, her body once against stretched even longer, growing past her pelvis which regressed into nothing inside of her, leaving the remnants of her legs to now be free-floating. The denser, inner body of a Ghost is too thick to see through, so you cannot see its organs through the muscle tissue, you can only see through its outer flesh, making it look like it has a transparent cloak of flesh around its actual body. The skin has a blue hue to it, but because the bioluminescence is orange, the light mixes with the inherent coloration to give it a sort of seafoam-green look. The muscle ribbing on its translucent outer carapace catches the glow of the bioluminescence, making it much more visible than the rest. Her eyes filled with it, causing them to glow pale orange as well, making it impossible to see her iris or pupil past the glow they throw off._

Her fingers were nothing more than little bumps on the ends of her devolving arms. As the strength drained from her regressing limbs they started to pull in half! Looking almost like they were made of liquid for a moment, her arms pulled in half, giving her four of the near-useless limbs. Her back muscles tensed and compacted, pulling them further back along with her useless noodle-legs. Without actually being able to see what they looked like behind her, Constance realized they had turned into the six fins on the back of a Ghost's body. They are too small and feeble to help propel it in any way, and only serve as a minor aid in steering itself. They trail a dull blue glow sometimes when swimming- this is excess bioluminescence and a pheromone signal to indicate to other Ghosts that they are currently hunting- so stay away.

Constance was breathing heavily- barely able to actually filter any air properly... she turned into a full Ghost Leviathan, she was only getting bigger at this point, forcing her to curl up on herself more and more in the confined space, while her former furniture and equipment burst between her and the floor from the pressure of her increasing weight. If she didn't get crushed to death from a lack of room, she will suffocate soon thanks to her wretched computer not being programmed with empathy.

Suddenly several tall fangs erupted through the hull of her base over her head! Oh shit, third option- she gets eaten because her base is under attack and she has no way of defending it! The jaws crushed a section of the metal in on itself, released and then it rammed the hull, crushing in an even larger section of it. Constance looked out through the gaps and seen the glow of another Ghost. Wait. Why would a Ghost Leviathan come this far into the ocean shallows?! It isn't here to attack her base- it heard her roar earlier! It thinks she is one of its own; the ghost is trying to break her out of this metal cocoon! Once the hole it made was large enough, she hooked the edges of her cephalofoil on it and yanked herself out by her head, since she no longer has any limbs. Once the air escaped her base in huge bubbles, the metal started to curl back into itself and electrical pulses disburse into the water around it- the base slowly being destroyed by implosion thanks to water pressure- also destroying her damned computer.

Constance looked at the other Ghost Leviathan, not sure what to do or say, since she doesn't speak ghost. It made a sort of hissing-rattle sound, almost like a sigh and then slithered around to swim back into the darker depths. Constance had no idea what to do, so she just followed him. Even when she stopped growing she was unusually small for an adult Ghost- which can be up to 107 meters long- and she still has two large, broad bubbles of translucent skin that used to be her breasts on her chest. That seemed to be the last remnant of human traits though other than her brain. Well. Looks like her research as shifted a bit- now she is going to study the lifecycle and habits of Ghost Leviathan. When in Rome...