Vik gestured her discomfort. “This stuff thinks. If I had to coin a name for it, I’d call it the ultimate intelligent organism. In one state it lives as independent cells that float around on the ocean. It is both omnivorous and photosynthetic, so it can live in a lot of different environments. When something stimulates it, the cells concentrate, form a sheet, that then forms a tube, which in turn allows it to grow as it accumulates additional cells. As it does, it begins adding other tubes, which allows it to form complex shapes. My take, in the wildest flight of imagination, is that while we’re sitting here, it is studying the Underwater Bay, trying to figure out what we are, and why we are in its ocean.”

Michaela winced. “But you said the same kind of cells are inside us, as well.”

Vik nodded. “That’s right. So far I’ve just isolated individual cells. I haven’t seen any sign that they’re joining together or accreting like they did in Toni’s blood. But, that said, I can think of nothing that would stop them from coming together and forming an organism inside us. And if that doesn’t frighten you right down to your bones, I don’t know what will.”

“You said it’s in Toni?” Yosh asked.

“I think the algae is what’s making him sick. Causing his paralysis.” Vik crossed her arms.

Michaela’s mouth had gone dry. Her whole body seemed to tingle. How the hell had the cells gotten inside her? How would she know if they started to accrete, grow, take over her heart, lungs, or liver? And the things were intelligent? Living inside her veins and arteries?

Are they in my brain as well? Listening? Observing?

Casey craned her neck so that she could better see Vik. “What did it do to Tobi? When it pulled him down and covered him? I saw. There was a lump after it sucked him in. Now, on the latest videos, there’s nothing but his coveralls left.”

That had been on the latest recording. Just Tobi’s clothing, wadded, empty, and laying to one side.

Vik’s gaze hardened. She pursed her lips. “There is no easy way to say this, Casey. I think the stuff digested him. Bryan, too. It’s a giant living organism. It needs sustenance when it’s not in direct light and able to photosynthesize.”

“This is crazy,” Jym cried passionately. “You’re saying that stuff ate Tobi? And Bryan, too?”